wrestling / Video Reviews
Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Injustice
June 17, 2008 | Posted by
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| Ring of Honor — Injustice by J.D. Dunn Generico gives Jack a big welcome-back hug. BUT FIRST… a dance-off. Generico does a little Electric Slide. Jack does a lot of flippy stuff and contorts his spine in ways that aren’t human. With that out of the way, Jack uses his bendy ability to bridge out of a hold and then applies a Rings of Saturn. He takes it to the mat, using his speed to stay up on Generico. Generico catches him with a flying leg kick to take over. He gets two off a backbreaker and two more off a tilt-o-whirl backbreaker. Jack back handsprings under a big boot and hits a cartwheel kick. Another cartwheel takes Generico to the floor, and Jack hits a twisting Dragon Rana to the floor. Back in, a standing corkscrew press gets two for Evans. They do an awkward sequence with Generico going for a cross-armed powerbomb only to have Jack wind up in a Fisherman’s Suplex position. Jack fights out of that and hits a reverse rana for two. Jack’s handspring elbow misses, allowing Generico to hit a big boot in the corner and finish with the Turnbuckle Brainbuster at 10:06. Jack looked like he was changing up his offense a bit early on, which would be a good thing. Once the pace picked up, it was just more Jack flippery, which is entertaining to a point, but once you’ve seen him do it once, you’ve seen him do it a thousand times. Fun and good choice for the opener, though. **1/2 Lots of armdrags early. Jigsaw bends him in a Gory Stretch but gets rolled up for two. An enzuigiri and running kick get two for Jiggy. He works in the Pendulum Stretch and rocks Mitch’s face into the buckle. Mitch comes back with a Tornado DDT but runs into a missile dropkick. That sets up the Jig and Tonic at 4:17. Spirited squash. ** Stevens, like a good babyface, is upset with the treatment of poor Bobby Dempsey. Edwards tosses Pelle around and calls out Stevens. Edwards boots Stevens in the face a few times, but Stevens gets pissed and ROLLS over him with a shoulderblock. He powerbombs Pelle on Edwards for two. Pelle tags in and goes for his springboard Thesz Press. Hero avoids him and nails a lariat. Eddie tags in and hits the Edwards Express in the corner. Edwards slingshots Pelle into a chop from Hero, and Hero suplexes him on Edward’s knees. Pelle comes back with a Tornado DDT and tags in Stevens. Stevens and Pelle clean house. Pelle somersaults into a rana on the floor as Stevens tosses Hero. Edwards blocks a charge and missile dropkicks Steven’s shoulder (injured from the previous night). Pelle tags himself in, but Hero KOs him with the rolling forearm at 8:53. It’ll be interesting to see if fans buy into this “more serious” Chris Hero. Edwards fit in quite nicely, but he needs to do something to stand out. He looks a lot like Davey Richards and Jason Blade in there. **3/4 Albright dumps Delirious over the top early to take over on offense. He gets pissed at the fans for giving him the “John Belushi” treatment. That allows Delirious to headbutt his way back into the match, but Albright catches him with an overhead belly-to-belly (sort of) into the turnbuckle. That was sloppy, but Albright salvaged it by being a power wrestler. Delirious hits the Panic Attack and enzuigiris Albright to the floor. He follows with a somersault plancha and flying clothesline. He cinches in the Cobra Stretch, but Albright reverses to the Crowbar. Delirious rolls him up but eats the 61-knee. AIR RAID CRASH! That gets two. Delirious blocks a superplex and hits a sunset flip bomb. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! He comes off for Shadows Over Hell, but Albright rides him down into the Crowbar. Delirious escapes and tries a drop toehold, but Albright reverses to a modified wristlock. Nice counter. Look at the big brain on Brent! Delirious makes the ropes but can’t lock in a good Dragon Stretch. He calls for the finish, but Albright yanks him down into an arm stretch and finishes with the Crowbar at 12:00. Albright seemed to have a lot more gravitas in there than he did in their 2007 feud, but maybe that comes from not being a third-stringer. It jittered along between average and getting good, but they couldn’t seem to get a good flow going. Also, Albright’s spot-calling needs work. Quietly, Brent. Quietly. **1/2 Necro attacks Roddy as he’s getting in the ring and knocks him out into the crowd. Roderick unloads the chops, but Necro has no feeling in his chest from all the crack. Necro starts tossing chairs at him and hits him with the Section C sign. Back to ringside, Roderick hits a SICK flying Yakuza kick and erects a “fort” of chairs. It nearly backfires as Necro catches him on the apron and goes for a bulldog. Roderick blocks and takes them both off the apron into the chairs with a Russian Leg Sweep. Roderick recovers and tosses the chairs in the ring. He goes for a Tiger Driver on the chairs, but Necro blocks and hits a bulldog (missing the chairs, though). Roderick comes back with a press gutbuster on the chairs and boots him right in the face. They fight in the corner, and Necro gets a Victory Roll for two. I appreciate that he’s trying to wrestle, but that just doesn’t fit his character at all. A right cross sets up a Tiger Driver by Necro. ONE, TWO, TH-NO! Strong knocks him to the floor and hits a Half-Nelson Suplex on the barricade. Strong rips up the mats and hits a sloppy Tiger Driver on the wood floor. Actually, it was more like Necro doing a front flip in Roderick’s general vicinity. To the ring, Roderick sets up a table, but Erick Stevens runs in and tosses him through the air with a German Suplex. He puts Roderick through the table, knocking him out. Necro recovers and gets the pin at 14:38. Hey, Necro got a win! Like the title match the previous night, this was more to fuel the Stevens/Strong feud than to exist as a match on its own. It was about on par with the Steen/Necro match from the previous night except that Strong’s super serious demeanor actually works better for him in matches like this. **3/4 This was supposed to be Kota versus Austin Aries, but Aries and Lacey have been MIA since they got together in Florida. Now this should be good. Claudio’s always good against speedy guys. They start out respectfully enough as Kota applies a headscissors, but Claudio reverses to an Indian Deathlock. Enough of that. Kota starts unleashing the kicks. Claudio quickly grounds Ibushi to neutralize his kicking. The Crab Walk elbow gets two. Kota comes back with a Back-Handspring Kick. A low kick misses, but Ibushi gets two off the standing moonsault. Claudio knees him in the gut, though, and gets two off the Match-Killer. The running uppercut knocks Ibushi into next week, but Ibushi kicks out at two. Ibushi sweeps Claudio’s leg, sending him to the floor and hits his corner moonsault. He follows that up with a springboard 450-splash off the railing! Impressive. Most impressive. Back in, Claudio catches Ibushi with the European Uppercut and spins him around with the 20-Rotation Giant Swing. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! The Apomari Waterslide gets two more. Claudio goes for the top-rope version, but Kota kicks him away and hits the missed-moonsault-into-a-standing-moonsault for two. He Matrixes under a Bicycle Kick, but Claudio hits him on a second attempt and finishes with the Ricolabomb at 14:58. Kota’s performance here was pretty much the same thing he did the previous night. I loved it then because it was fresh, but this was like watching a remake. Claudio always works well with smaller guys, but I think Davey Richards provided better chemistry at Bedlam in Beantown. That’s not to say this isn’t a fabulous little match, but it’s a shade below the night before. ***3/4 Steen blows snot in Nigel’s hand in lieu of a handshake, so Nigel slaps him with the snotty hand. Steen blows his nose in his hand and slaps Nigel with it. Well, this is off to a lovely start. Nigel baits him in and gives up him an uppercut shot. Nigel tries for the Jawbreaker Lariat early, but Steen just walk away from him and mocks the move. Steen knocks him to the floor and chops him, but Nigel blocks getting tossed into the ring and elbows him. To the ring, Nigel locks in a Cobra Clutch. Steen comes back with a DDT and a flipping legdrop for two. Nigel hits the kick/club spot. He keeps dedicating moves to some “fruit” in the audience. Athletes are entirely too preoccupied with homosexuality. He bends Steen’s fingers back to flip off a fan and reminds the ref that “he has ’til five.” Steen posts himself on a missed charge, so Nigel goes to work on the arm. Steen comes back with the cannonball and a flying crossbody, but Nigel goes back to the arm and tries the London Dungeon. Steen immediately makes the ropes. Nigel goes up but gets caught and slammed off. Steen locks in the Sharpshooter, but Nigel makes the ropes. Steen goes up but gets caught with the Tower of London. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Nigel stretches Steen’s arms behind his back with a sickening modified surfboard. Steen rolls through and applies the Sharpshooter, but he can’t hold it, and Nigel is able to knock him silly with the Tower of London on the floor. Back in, Nigel goes for a superplex, but Steen lands on him and squashes him. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Steen hits the superkick and Swanton. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Steen closes the gap on the Jawbreaker Lariat and yanks Nigel out into the Sharpshooter. His shoulder doesn’t hold up, though, and Nigel is able to make the ropes. Nigel trips Steen down and grabs a handful of ropes for the sleazy pin at 21:35. That was the perfect cop-out ending for Nigel, who found that using his offense on the… erm, ‘zaftig’ Steen. The psychology was great too, with Steen unable to lock in the Sharpshooter effectively because of the injured shoulder. Nigel has been on a roll ever since the heel turn. ***3/4 Leonard announces that “Artie the Producer” has told him that Nigel vs. Steen II has been signed. I wonder if Artie is the same guy from The Larry Sanders Show. This would be the match where the tag title scene went from mildly disorganized to total clusterfuckery. Rocky goes for the cross armlock immediately, but they’re in the ropes. Davey whips Mark hard into the corner, but Jay saves Mark on the second try. Romero tries to the same tactic and takes a boot to the chest. Davey plays heel-in-peril for the Briscoes offense. Mark decides it would be a good idea to do a somersault plancha on Romero, and that winds up turning the tide for the NRC. The NRC’s stereo kicks backfire, but the ref misses the hot tag. The NRC drag Mark back to their corner. Mark blocks a superplex, though, and dives off the top turnbuckle into the tag. That should have been a much cooler spot. Jay hits a Ron Simmons-ish spinebuster. DAMN! Mark springboard splashes Richards for two, but the NRC breaks up the Crucifix/Neckbreaker. Cool spot as Davey sees Mark coming off the top with a moonsault, so he just falls to his back and holds up his knees. Mark crashes into them, exposed. Davey applies the Texas Cloverleaf, and Romero keeps Jay from interfering with the Cross Armlock. Mark makes the ropes on his own, though, and the Briscoes hit that Crucifix/Neckbreaker on Romero. They all slug it out, and Davey clotheslines Mark to the floor. Richards breaks up the Doomsday Device, and the NRC hit the Doomsday Knee. Mark makes the save, though. Jay hulks up and hits Romero with the Jaydriller. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Mark recovers, and the Briscoes hit the Springboard Doomsday Device for the win and the titles at 17:31. The Briscoes are turning into the HHH of the ROH Tag Titles. No matter how far the titles stray, they still come crawling back almost as if by divine intervention. The match was just fine – the usual tag team formula until they threw out the rules at the end. It was just typical Briscoe style, which is in *desperate* need of a shakeup. My suggestion: have Mark join Sweet ‘n’ Sour upon his return, only don’t break up the tag team. It will nicely wedge in some drama between them with Sweeney pulling one way and Jay the other. Again, not a bad match by any means, but the Briscoes are starting to resemble the Dudleys in terms of freshness. ***1/2 |
The 411: This show was disappointing, considering the roll ROH was on in the Spring. Lack of Danielson and Aries hurt this one, as did the focus on the issue between Strong and Stevens. Their matches are fantastic, but I'd rather see them in FIP where the feud belongs. The last three matches are good, but not so good that you have to order this one if you're not a completist. Thumbs in the middle. |
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| Final Score: 6.0 [ Average ] legend |
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