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Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Return Engagment

July 4, 2008 | Posted by J.D. Dunn

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Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Return Engagment

Ring of Honor — Return Engagement
by J.D. Dunn

April 19, 2008

From Chicago Ridge, Ill.

Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard.

The Murder City Machine Guns have a bee in their bonnet over last year’s loss to the Briscoes. Tonight, they look for revenge.

The Briscoes think it’s quite obvious who the best team in the world is, and they have the win to prove it.

Opening Match: Austin Aries vs. Silas Young.
Aries is feisty for someone who just hooked up with Lacey. He slips out of a headscissors and hits a knee to the face instead of a dropkick. That sets up the Supersonic Suicida, and Aries tosses Young down. Back in, the fans get on Young for having a snuggie in his shorts. Aries blocks a charge, hits a missile dropkick and knocks Silas silly with the corner dropkick. Young reverses the Brainbuster to the uranage backbreaker, but Aries tries it again, and it hits. Aries finishes with the Last Chancery at 5:51. Squasheriffic. Young has a small, tongue-in-cheek cult following among ROH fans (and me), so hopefully he finds a regular spot. *1/2

Jimmy Jacobs comes out and tells Austin not to touch his stuff (Lacey), but welcomes him into the Age of the Fall anyway. Austin talks about eating pussy and says true leaders don’t beg people to follow them. He tells Jacobs to stay out of his and Lacey’s business. Big pop for that, and a damned fine promo from Aries. Jacobs screams, “She loves me!”

Mitch Franklin vs. Alex Payne.
They do a little blowjob wrestling sequence before Jimmy Jacobs returns and sicks Necro Butcher on both men to send a message to Austin Aries.

Handicap Match: Necro Butcher (w/Jimmy Jacobs) vs. Alex Payne & Mitch Franklin.
Butcher makes short work of both guys and double pins them at 0:50. He calls out that “big, rice-eatin’ bastard” Takeshi Morishima for the Hammerstein show. 1/4*

Claudio Castagnoli & Pelle Primeau vs. Adam Pearce & Brent Albright (w/Larry Sweeney & Shane Hagadorn).
Pearce calls out Primeau and just spikes him down on his head to counter a headscissors. Claudio uses TEAMWORK~! to help Pelle take Pearce and Albright over. Pelle gets several rollups but winds up as the face-in-peril. He tries a rollup on Albright, which looks really funny, but Albright is in the ropes. Pearce tries to help out, but Pelle fights them off and dives to make the hot tag to Claudio. Claudio rocks the heels with uppercuts and spins Albright around in the Giant Swing. He hits Albright with the Matchkiller, and Pelle takes out Pearce. Hagadorn distracts the ref while Pearce grabs the secret briefcase, but his cheating backfires, and he clocks Albright. That sets up the Ricolabomb at 9:17. The usual tag formula with Pelle taking a beating and Claudio looking strong. Albright continues to be booked as the powerhouse who is better than the guys he’s paired with. **

After the match, Albright gets angry and walks out on Sweet ‘n’ Sour.

In the gym, Kevin Steen wants the ROH World Title so bad he’ll resort to anything – even working out.

Four-Way: Lacey vs. Daizee Haze vs. MsChif vs. Ashley Lane.
Lacey is also still quite grumpy in spite of getting the Horns of Aries on a regular basis. Lane is from Ohio and looks kind of like a younger, far more attractive Terri Runnels. MsChif freaks her out with the PRIMAL SCREAM, and Lane looks puzzled. Apparently, she didn’t read the scouting report. She looks serviceable in the ring, though. Lacey plays the shit disturber, refusing to tag in early and letting Lane do all her dirty work. She fakes a knee injury at one point but still keeps going after Daizee whenever she can. Strong finish as Lane hits MsChif with a running Ace Crusher but gets Heart Punched by Daizee. Lacey runs in and attacks Daizee only to get rolled up in a Rolling Leg Clutch by MsChif. They tumble to the floor where MsChif wipes out the pile with a dive off the top. MsChif drags Lacey in and blocks the DDT. Haze pulls Lacey to the floor, leaving MsChif and Lane. Lane tries a uranage, but MsChif blocks with a bridge and finishes with the Desecrator at 10:31. This was a surprisingly good match, even though Lacey/Haze is played out. It was nice having MsChif in there instead of Sara Del Rey, which is the usual combination. Ashley Lane looked just fine for a non-regular, and I hope to see more of her if she develops more of a distinct personality. **3/4

Jimmy Jacobs returns to talk to Lacey. He wants her to deny everything Austin said about her. Funny moment as Lacey takes the microphone and tells the fans that this is a private moment. She tells him they need to go their separate ways. She makes out with Aries again and leaves. Jimmy sits down and cries in the ring, so Tyler Black, Joey Mathews and Allison Wonderland come out to take him to the back.

Chris Hero (w/Sweet ‘n’ Sour Inc.) vs. Delirious.
Delirious does his Chris Hero impression but pays for it with a straight right to the lizard face. Delirious fights back but stops to chase Larry Sweeney around the ring. Hero takes over and smacks Delirious around for several minutes. This is like watching a Ricky Steamboat match where he just keeps selling and selling. Cool spot where Hero goes for his rolling forearm, but Delirious headbutts his shoulder. Delirious hits Daizee Haze’s Heart Punch in a nice touch. That sets up a huracanrana. He goes for the Panic Attack, but Hero pops up, clocks Delirious with a forearm and finishes with a second on at 9:50. This was just a showcase for Hero’s more bad-ass persona. I’m not sure it’s working to get Hero more over as a heel because the fans still love Sweeney and are still obsessed with Bobby Dempsey. It’s almost as if Hero takes a backseat to them. Anyway, this was a good match for what it was. **1/2

Non-Title: The Briscoes vs. The Murder City Machine Guns.
Ah, now here’s the selling point for the show. Sabin and Shelley stopped off in ROH last year for one match with the Briscoes, and the result was a bonafide Match of the Year candidate. With ROH heading to PPV, TNA pulled their talent, but a recent agreement not to put TNA talent on national DVDs or PPVs allowed the MCMG to come back for a rematch. It’s all Guns early as they dazzle with their usual array of doubleteams. They do a neat comedy spot where Shelley and Jay battle over a sunset flip and get help from their partners. The Guns come out on top of that one. The Briscoes knock Sabin to the floor and isolate Shelley. Sabin recovers, though, and yanks down the ropes, spilling Jay to the floor. The stereo kicks swing the pendulum back to the Guns. Great sequence where the Guns send the Briscoes to the floor and Sabin fakes out Mark only to have Shelley hit a jumping knee off the apron. Referee Todd Sinclair blocks Sabin from diving out, so he pulls a Rey Mysterio and jumps over Sinclair into a somersault plancha. Back in, Sabin holds Jay as Shelley punts him in the nuts. The Briscoes take over with a Veg-o-Matic-ish maneuver and isolate Sabin. Sabin gets out of trouble with a bulldog and enzuigiri. HOT TAG TO SHELLEY! Jawbreaker! Tornado DDT! Border City Stretch! Sabin puts Jay in the Octopus to keep him from making the save. Mark wriggles free of the BCS and makes the ropes, though. Mark blocks a pair of charges and hits a moonsault. Jay gets the tag, and they do a spiffy little spot where Shelley goes for the Schwein, but Mark springboards in to tilt them over so Jay can go for the Jaydriller. Sabin saves. The Briscoes go for the Springboard Doomsday, but Sabin cuts them off, and Shelley reverses to the Skullfuck. Shelley superkicks Jay over Sabin’s knees and adds a senton. Sick! Sabin Tiger Suplexes Jay for a pinfall attempt, but Mark Exploders Shelley onto him to break up the pin. Great spot there. The Jaydriller only gets two on Sabin, so the Briscoes hit the Springboard Doomsday Device. ONE, TWO, THRE-Shelley makes the save! Mark misses the Shooting Star Press, and Shelley gets the tag again. Shelley hits Sliced Bread #2. Shelley goes up, but Jay catches him for a Super Jay Driller. Sabin breaks that up and hits a German Superplex. That frees Shelley up to hit Super Sliced Bread #2 for the win at 23:38. On par with last year’s phenomenal match, although maybe just a shade under thanks to expectations. The MCMG really do bring out the best in the Briscoes, and I think it’s obvious to anyone who watched closely that they really are the superior team. Everything they hit was crisp and quick, even things with a tremendous degree of difficulty. Another MOTYC from these two teams. ****1/2

The Age of the Fall comes out and attacks an exhausted Briscoes. In the fracas, Mark gets stabbed in the arm by Jacobs’ spike. Everyone looks concerned but Jimmy.

Outside, Jay takes Mark to the hospital because “they sliced his wrist open.”

El Generico vs. Kota Ibushi.
Generico actually seems to work a bit heelish in this match, and even more surprising, he’s actually kind of methodical about it. Ibushi fires back with a huracanrana but runs right into a tilt-o-whirl backbreaker. Generico goes up but gets hit with a handspring back kick. Ibushi adds the corner quebrada. Back in, Ibushi hits the standing corkscrew moonsault for two. Great spot where Generico blocks a kick with a kick of his own. He hits a sloppy Michinoku Driver and drops Ibushi right on his head. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Ibushi unleashes strikes, Matrixes under a big boot, and hits a German Suplex! ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Generico catches Ibushi going up, but Ibushi blocks the Turnbuckle Brainbuster and goes for the moonsault. Generico avoids, but Ibushi goes right into the standing moonsault for two. Generico hits the Yakuza Kick and a bodysplash for two. Ibushi grazes him with a kick and goes up, but Generico rolls through the sunset powerbomb and kicks him in the face. Generico goes for the Turnbuckle Brainbuster, but Ibushi counters to the reverse rana. That only gets two, but Ibushi quickly hits the Firebird Splash at 16:03 to pick up his first ROH win. Kudos to them for being able to get the crowd into it after following a great match and big angle. The great thing about Ibushi’s run in ROH is that, even though much of his shtick is the same in each match and gets less impressive, to the crowds everything is fresh because the DVDs aren’t out yet, so you get everyone marking out whenever they see the missed moonsault spot or the Matrix. Hopefully, when Ibushi comes back, he’ll be able to change things up a bit. This series was just a bunch of quality exhibitions repeated over and over. ***3/4

In the back, Larry Sweeney tells Adam Pearce it was all Albright’s fault anyway. Albright storms in and wants to know what’s up, but Sweeney tries to smooth things over.

Six-Man Tag: The Vulture Squad vs. The Age of the Fall (w/Allison Wonderland).
Black, Matthews and Gowan are representing the AotF here. Jacobs, who was supposed to be in Gowan’s place, is nowhere to be found. This match just sputtered along in the opening. Basically, it goes like this: Vulture Squad guy hits an offensive move or two, gets caught in the heel corner and takes a beating, makes desperate comeback and tags out, repeat with each of the Vulture Squad members. Finally, they start hitting dives to the floor to pick things up. Back in, Tyler Black catches Jack with the Small Package Driver at 11:39. For some reason, the heat segments just didn’t click, and then they just went home quickly. Black looked good, though. **1/4

Jimmy Jacobs sends everyone to the back and says Aries broke his soul. He challenges Aries to a face-to-face, and Aries quickly answers. It was all a ruse, of course, as the Age of the Fall return and attack Aries. They hold him up, and Jacobs threatens to slice Aries’ throat with the spike. Lacey runs out and begs for mercy, so Jacobs considers stabbing her in the face before he breaks down and walks out. Tyler, meanwhile, was screaming for him to “do it,” and looks confused and disappointed by Jacobs’ mental breakdown. Good stuff here. It’s like emo Kevin Sullivan.

ROH World Title: Nigel McGuinness vs. Kevin Steen.
Finally, someone just kicks Nigel in the nuts when he’s doing that stupid splits entrance. To the ring, Nigel goes for the Jawbreaker Lariat, but Steen dropkicks him to the floor and splashes him. He stops to jaw with the pro-McGuinness fans, and Nigel is able to recover and snap his arm to the outside mat. Nigel zeroes in on the arm, of course. Steen chops his way back and bites Nigel’s tit. The cannonball misses, and Nigel gets two with his feet on the ropes. Steen blocks the Tower of London, though, and applies the Sharpshooter. Nigel makes the ropes. He takes Steen down into the London Dungeon, but Steen makes the ropes. Steen applies the Sharpshooter again, but he’s having problems keeping it. Nigel is able to make the ropes. Steen hits a Fisherman’s Neckbreaker instead and follows up with a Swanton and frogsplash. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! They slug it out, and Steen cuts off the Jawbreaker Lariat with a thrust kick. Steen gets two with his feet on the ropes and then hits the Packaged Piledriver! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Nigel gets his foot on the ropes. Steen sets up for a Packaged Piledriver on the apron, but Nigel blocks and lariats Steen through a table. Back in, Steen struggles to his feet and stumbles into a lariat. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Nigel goes for the Packaged Piledriver just to be a dick, but Steen blocks and gets two. Nigel goes to the eyes to block a Sharpshooter attempt and finishes with the Jawbreaker Lariat at 19:23. On par with their Injustice match only with a righteously pissed-off Steen coming for revenge for being screwed. The scary thing – from a storyline standpoint – is the Nigel really looked off his game here, and yet his work on the arm still paid off and led to a win. He’s slowly becoming one of those “well, if it’s not Dragon, Aries, or Steen, then who?” champions. ***3/4

Delirious cools off in the back, and Daizee comes in to give him a massage as a thank you. Delirious gets a little over-stimulated, so Daizee freaks out and leaves. Oh man! You blew it!

The 411: The Briscoes and Machine Guns turn in another great performance, and that alone is worth the purchase. The main event and Ibushi/Generico matches are good too, plus you have Jimmy Jacobs' descent into madness scattered throughout the show. Good wrestling + good angles = hell of a show. Strong thumbs up.
Final Score: 8.5 [ Very Good ] legend