wrestling / Video Reviews
Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Bedlam in Beantown
June 13, 2008 | Posted by
7.5
The 411 Rating
Community Grade
Your Grade
Loading...
| Ring of Honor — Bedlam in Beantown by J.D. Dunn Re: “Evans jumps off the top of the cage and springboards off Rave’s I can’t even imagine how that spot would begin to work. Sounds
This should fall under the same rule as the Royal Rumble winner and… well, just about every TNA #1 contender. Don’t come up with a new #1 contender until the old one has used his title shot. A freshly shorn Erick Stevens starts with Roderick. Good idea! They slug it out, and Stevens stomps a mudhole. To the floor, Stevens hits the Choo-Choo Avalanche against the railing. Romero and Generico tag in. Lots of armdrags and headscissors ensue. Generico hits a low dropkick and tries the Azucar dance. It starts to resemble a tag match (as most ROH four-corners matches do). Stevens plays face-in-peril as the No Remorse Corps doubleteam him. Prazak ponders whether Larry Sweeney will sweeten his offer to buy out the NRC if one of them should win the ROH Title. Strong slings Romero into Stevens and tosses him on into a senton. Generico gets the hot tag and cleans house. The Michinoku Driver gets two on Romero, but now Stevens has to make the save for the NRC. Romero goes up but gets booted right in the face by Generico. He sets up for the Turnbuckle Brainbuster, but Strong makes the save, and the NRC hit the Doomsday Knee. Romero goes for the cover, drawing the ire of Roderick Strong. IT’S TIME TO PLAY THE FEUD! Strong and Romero start slapping each other in the face. ANTI-TEAMWORK~! That leads to Stevens avalanching Strong into Romero and schoolboying him for the win at 11:07. Good, fast-paced opener. Stevens and Generico made for an interesting reluctant pairing, and I like that Romero and Strong’s presence here in a seemingly can’t-miss situation helped lead to dissention in the NRC’s ranks. ***1/4 No YRR or random broads for Blade tonight. Bennett is localish. He blocks an armdrag, but Blade hits him with an AJ Styles-ish dropkick. Bennett makes the I’m-a-generic-guy-but-otherwise-solid comeback and hits a spinebuster. Blade hits a Full-Rotation Backdrop for the win at 3:25. Bennett has a good upper body, but he’s pretty generic otherwise. I’d like to see him once he gets some kind of hook (or personality). *1/2 On paper, this would seem to be a sure win for Jigsaw because Edwards only occasionally wrestles on the main ROH roster. They do some mat wrestling first and then chop it out. Edwards hits a Packaged Stunner and a superkick for the double KO spot. Larry Sweeney comes down to stand at the top of the ramp. Jigsaw is so distracted that Edwards is able to hit the 2K1 Bomb at 5:36. Sweeney announces that Edwards has signed with Sweet ‘n’ Sour International. The second short match in a row. Edwards has always been a solid wrestler, but I’ve never seen star potential in him. Then again, that’s probably why I’m not running Sweet ‘n’ Sour International. Decent match while it was going. ** Prazak actually gives us a “Yeah, yeah, yeah!” Mark answers Jack Evans’ dance challenge. Jack does a lot of flippy stuff, thus demonstrating that he’s back and healthy. He avoids a lot of kicks from mark, but Mark catches him with a boot. Ruckus tags in and hits a spinning kick. He sets up for a dive, but Jay cuts him off with a spinning wheel kick. Mark cuts off Jack’s Space Flying Tiger Drop, but Jack ducks a swing and hits it anyway. Mark flies out on the pile with a springboard somersault plancha. His second dance attempt is not as successful. Back in, the Briscoes run through their usual stuff on Jack. Jack pinballs around, making the Briscoes’ offense look even better. They isolate Ruckus and try their double hip-toss spot. Ruckus counters to a double jawbreaker, though. Jack gets the hot tag and back handsprings under a clothesline. Jay chokeslams him, though, and the Briscoes hit a knee decapitation move. Ruckus hits his Rolling Fisherman and breaks up the Doomsday Device. That sets up the 630-senton from Jack Evans at 10:59. Whoa. That’s a pretty big upset. This was just right – with Jack hitting his usual flippy moves and then selling like a Superball for Mark and Jay’s offense before finally hitting a quick move for the win. *** Pelle starts with Hero and tries to avoid locking up with him. Jeez, Pelle is tiny. Hero overpowers him and tosses him through the air. He misses a senton, and a second attempt finds Pelle’s knees. Delirious tags in and uses his head to block a back fist and catch Hero in the gut. Hero plays heel-in-peril before catching Pelle with a slam. Albright has his way with Pelle. Poor Pelle plays face-in-peril. Sweeney refuses to tag in, letting Hero and Albright punish the little guy. Albright no-sells a missile dropkick, but Pelle slips over his shoulder on a powerbomb attempt. Pelle finally knocks him down with a Thesz Press, but Albright just gets pissed and hits the Half-Nelson Suplex. Sweeney tags himself in and gets the pin to eliminate Pelle at 9:21. Sweeney immediately tags out, waits for Hero to get the advantage on Claudio, and then tags back in. He keeps having problems, though, so he lets Hero and Albright do all the heavy lifting. Delirious gets the hot tag and cleans house on everyone until Sweeney calls over Daizee Haze. Albright sneaks in, hits Delirious with the Half-Nelson Suplex, and finishes Delirious with the rapid-fire knees at 13:08. That leaves Castagnoli alone in a three-on-one. He gets stomped down in the corner. Hero tries to counter an uppercut to a backslide, but Claudio rolls through and hits the Ricolabomb at 15:35. Sweeney sends Albright in, but Claudio gets a series of rollups. Claudio keeps going after Sweeney, so Sweeney runs to the back. Albright comes back with a neckbreaker, but there’s no one to tag so he can get a breather. Albright pummels Claudio down with forearms but gets ROCKED by an uppercut. Albright cuts off the Crabwalk Elbow and gets two off a neckbreaker. Claudio comes back with the Giant Swing and gets two off a forearm uppercut. Albright counters the Ricolabomb to the Air Raid Crash! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Claudio goes up and comes off for the flying uppercut, but Albright reverses to the Crowbar in mid-air. COOL! Claudio desperately reverses to a rollup, but Albright reverses to a modified cross-armlock. Claudio makes the ropes. Albright goes up, but Claudio springboards into an enzuigiri and hits a tope. Back in, Albright counters the Ricolabomb to the Half-Nelson Suplex. ONE, TWO, THRE-Claudio grabs the ropes. Albright tries another one, but Claudio counters to the Match-Killer. That sets up the Ricolabomb at 23:46. As much as I like to see Pelle get tossed around like a ragdoll, the match really picked up when it got down to Claudio and Albright. Albright shows flashes of brilliance, but he’s never been able to demonstrate a real personality. Hopefully, he can find his niche because he has all the physical tools. ***1/2 Ibushi of DDT in Japan is making his debut here. Davey welcomes him by blowing snot on his hand in lieu of a handshake. They tease each other with stiff kicks, and Davey slaps him in the face. If you didn’t already know, Davey is a dick. Ibushi responds with a kick to the leg, and they take it to the mat. Davey misses a roundhouse kick and gets kicked in the face by a flying Ibushi. Ibushi dropkicks him to the floor and peppers Davey with stiff kicks. Davey suckers him to the ringpost and asks him for another kick, but Ibushi has LEG CONTROL~! and avoids kicking the ringpost. He gives Davey another stiff kick. They chop it out on the apron, and Davey snaps Ibushi’s shoulder down to the mat. Back in, Ibushi kicks his way back into the match and hits a corner quebrada. Back in again, Ibushi misses a low kick but hits a moonsault all in one motion. Davey hits a superplex, but Ibushi elbows him off on another attempt. Davey avoids a moonsault, but Ibushi lands on his feet and immediately hits a standing moonsault for two. SWEEEEEEEET! Ibushi goes up for another, but Richards pops up and hits a Full Rotation German Superplex. Davey hits a spinning thrust kick and small packages Ibushi on the rebound. That gets two. A powerbomb gets two more. Ibushi does a semi-Matrix move to duck a roundhouse kick and then kips up and kicks Richards in the head. AWESOME! Davey locks in the Chimera, but Ibushi makes the ropes. Ibushi kicks his way back again and hits a Dragon Suplex for two. His Phoenix Splash misses, and he posts himself on a missed charge. That allows Davey to hit a Tombstone. It only gets two, but he immediately locks in the Chimera for the submission at 13:30. Fantastic, impressive debut from Ibushi. The similarities to KENTA are striking, so it’s no wonder he has great chemistry with Davey Richards. Hopefully, he can replicate his success in this match with others on the roster. **** But first! Roderick Strong jumps Stevens from behind and posts his shoulder, leaving him a lame duck for this match. Nigel says he totally understands what it’s like to be injured, so he advises Stevens to take the night off. But don’t worry, we’ll see the title defended because he’ll be taking on Ernie Osiris. If Paul Heyman books, Ernie Osiris would win that match. Stevens says he’s not going to disappoint the fans, so he wants his title shot. Nigel goes right after the arm, of course. Stevens chops him and sends him to the floor. Cool spot as Nigel grabs a chair in anticipation of Stevens coming at him with a tope, but Stevens just stops short and kicks the chair into his face. Nigel stays on the arm, though, in between arguments with the crowd. Stevens catches a breather after a Samoan Drop and roars back with clotheslines. He hits a TKO for two, but he charges and gets backdropped over the top and into the Tower of London. Nigel applies the London Dungeon, but Stevens is in the ropes. Stevens ducks the Jawbreaker Lariat, and they enter an awkward spot like someone was supposed to do something and didn’t. Stevens German Suplexes him and cuts off the Jawbreaker Lariat with his own lariat for two. His arm is too injured to hit the Doctorbomb, so Nigel hits a Hammerlock DDT and turns him over for the London Dungeon. Stevens reverses to a rollup for two. Nigel hits a short lariat for two. Stevens avoids the corner handstand mulekick and goes up, but he slips coming off an lands on his shoulder. Nigel finishes with the London Dungeon at 15:11. Decent one-armed-man-against-the-odds match. I thought this was much better than the similar Hero/McGuinness match in late 2007. Stevens makes a great babyface… not in ROH, but everywhere else. I’d like to see what would happen with even odds. Instead, the match is more of a plot point in the Strong/Stevens feud. ***1/4 Necro gets a pop from the crowd for kicking Referee Todd Sinclair before the match even begins. Steen sneak attacks Necro when the lights come up from his entrance. They take it to the floor where Steen bites Necro’s foot and can’t get the taste out of his mouth fast enough. They brawl up to the entrance where Steen goes for a pin only to find out that it’s not Falls Count Anywhere. More brawling up to the ring where Necro puts Steen through a table with a neckbreaker. Back in, Necro hits a right cross and a bulldog for two. Necro sets up a pair of chairs, but Steen Ace Crushers him into them. Steen puts a garbage can over Necro’s head and cannonballs into it. Steen goes up, but Necro tosses a chair at his head and dumps out a bunch of thumb tacks. He huracanranas Steen into the tacks for two. Necro brings in a barbed-wire board, but Steen goes for a powerbomb on it. Instead, Necro backdrops him into the barbed-wire. Steen extricates himself and hits that powerbomb. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Steen turns him over into the Sharpshooter in the barbed-wire. OUCH! That’s enough for the submission at 17:50. I wasn’t a big fan of their Proving Ground match like a lot of people were. This was just a shade under that one. Necro has lost a bit of his hardcore mystique amidst all the jobbing. **1/2 |
The 411: Good matches from the Briscoes/Vulture Squad, Six-Man, and World Title, plus a tremendous debut for Kota Ibushi make this an easy thumbs up. Fans of the first Steen/Butcher brawl will probably get more out of the main event than I did. But this will always be remembered as the show where Eddie Edwards joined Sweet 'n' Sour Inc.. Well, okay, maybe not. Check it out for the Kota Ibushi debut. Thumbs up. |
|
| Final Score: 7.5 [ Good ] legend |
More Trending Stories
- Backstage Update on Status of WWE NXT’s Eddy Thorpe, Absence From Main NXT TV
- Jeff Jarrett Recalls Working In WWE’s Attitude Era, Meeting Rick Rude
- Matt Hardy Says CM Punk’s WWE Promo Led To Jeff Hardy Joining TNA In 2010
- The Undertaker Comments On His Issue With Great Gonzalez, Admits It Wasn’t His Fault
