wrestling / Video Reviews
Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Southern Navigation
July 9, 2008 | Posted by
8.5
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| Ring of Honor — Southern Navigation by J.D. Dunn Sweeney explains that he put all of his guys in the first half of the show so he could get the hell out of Manassas. They make Bobby hide under the ring to avoid chants. Hero knocks Pelle off the apron but stops to preen and Pelle nails him with a missile dropkick. That leads to about a half-dozen different kinds of headscissors. Hero blocks a headscissors from the ring to the floor to take over. He batters Pelle for a while until Pelle fights back and makes the comeback. He tries a shoulderblock set up to a sunset flip, but Hero rocks him with the rolling elbow. That sets up a big boot at 5:42. This was just here to get Sweeney some promo time. *3/4 Rhett Titus’ gimmick is that he’s the sexiest man alive. I’m not sure how valid these rankings are. He has a nicely groomed beard, though. I’ve only ever seen Sean Denny against Bryan Danielson – and he won! He reminds me of a less sleazy Joey Ryan. Sterling has been in FIP a few times. He’s only an inch or two taller than Mitch Franklin. Speaking of Franklin, he spends most of the match as face-in-peril. Sterling has a neat enzuigiri in the corner. Denny gets the hot tag and cleans house, but Mitch tags back in and goes for a Tornado DDT. “Rhettski the Jetski” blocks and hits Splash Mountain at 5:32. Needed more Denny. Otherwise, it was nothing special and a bit rushed. *1/2 Wayne is a local boy who would otherwise *really* not belong. He looks like one of the Right Said Fred guys with that bald head and leather pants. He appears to botch an armdrag early. At any rate, Albright just stands him up and levels him with a forearm. Wayne awkwardly turns his back so Nigel can jump him from behind. Nigel refuses to get in there with Claudio and, instead, opts to work over Wayne’s arm. Albright pitches in, and the heels isolate him, turning it into a tag match. Claudio gets the hot tag and rock Nigel with uppercuts. He survives a short clothesline and works in the Giant Swing. The Running European Uppercut gets two before Albright saves. Wayne wakes up and preps for a dive, but Nigel knocks him down with a bitchslap. Ho, get me some money! He sets up Wayne, but Claudio saves. Wayne legdrops Albright and goes for a flying elbowdrop. Albright avoids it, locks in the hammerlock, and finishes with the knee strikes at 13:06. This was a nice tease for Nigel vs. Claudio the next night. Wayne looked awkward in the beginning, but he started to warm up near the end. *** Stevens insists, so Aries clocks him. Stevens roars back, but Aries knocks him to the floor and hits the 88 MPH Suicida. Back in, Stevens goes for a hanging suplex, but Aries knees him down. Stevens sticks with it, though, and turns it into a TKO. Aries hits the shinbreaker/backdrop suplex combo and the corner dropkick to set up the Brainbuster. That leads to the Last Chancery. Stevens hits a released German, but Aries backslides him to set up the punt to the face. Aries finishes with the End Time at 6:19. This was rushed and disappointing as just a backdrop for the Aries/Age of the Fall. I don’t mind, though, because that’s the hottest feud right now. For a six-minute match, though, it wasn’t bad. **3/4 Necro attacks as Jack’s getting in the ring, but Jack hits a back-handspring kick and the Space Flying Tiger Drop. He add a flying chairshot, but that just wakes Necro up. Necro rips up the mats and slams Jack on the bare floor. He adds a senton. Back in, Jack elbows out of a bearhug, but Necro smashes him with a chair and slams him on it. Necro sets up a few chairs and goes for a backbreaker. Jack counters to a bulldog into them and hits the 630-senton. He’s slow to cover, though, and only gets two. Necro punches his way back and swats Jack out of the sky with a straight right. He hits that sickening backbreaker on the open chairs and picks up the win at 7:15. These guys have good chemistry together. Outside of some goofy Jack offense early on, the match actually featured decent psychology. **1/2 Before the match, Austin Aries attacks and brawls all the way to the back with Tyler Black. That makes it a fair match. Jay works in the old ringbell against the head spot. To the ring, Jimmy hits MANY STOMPS and tosses a chair in Jay’s face. He adds MANY STOMPS to the chair and spears Jay with the chair. They slug it out, and Jimmy wins with the TESTICULAR CLAW! Did he watch Royal Rumble 1999 before this or something? Jimmy wedges a chair in the corner, but Jay Flatlines him right into it. He hauls off and nails Jimmy with the chair and gives him a DVD. He piles some chairs in the middle of the ring and goes for the Super Jaydriller on them, but Jimmy blocks and shoves him off. Now, Jimmy tries an elbow drop, but Jay moves, sending Jimmy into the chairs. Jay nails him with a chairshot and goes for the Jaydriller, but Jimmy reverses to the End Time. Jay powers up and plants him in the chairs. Jimmy struggles to his feet but gets SMASHED with a chairshot. He sets up for the Jaydriller on the chairs, but Necro Butcher runs down and attacks him. That sets up the DDT into the chairs and the End Time for the submission at 13:13. Jacobs did a lot to advance his character here with the ball twist and the cheating at the end. I like that the Age of the Fall is behaving like a real stable now, helping each other to get wins instead of standing around in the back. ***1/4 Black had his breakout match against Danielson at the appropriately titled Breakout. With the newfound confidence, he goes right at Danielson this time and whips him into the railing. Danielson actually seems a little flustered early. Black takes advantage, stomping him in the head and putting on the Mexican Surfboard to mock Dragon. Danielson blocks, so Black just drops an elbow on him. Finally, Danielson blocks a corner charge and hits the lightning legline to come back. He puts Tyler in the surfboard and rips at his nose to show him how it’s done. He applies the Cattle Mutilation, but Black makes the ropes. Dragon punches him down in the corner and lays in the kicks. It seems Black’s early success just made him surly. He systematically dismantles Black with a half-crab and a bow-and-arrow and more kicks. Leonard notes the differences in strategies as Black wanted to end things early, but Danielson is content just wear Black down into nothing. That leads to a sick Dragon Sleeper. Black finally tosses Danielson to the floor and hits a somersault plancha. Black springboards back in with a lariat for two. He makes the mistake of slapping Danielson in the face, so Danielson shoves him to the floor to block a springboard move. Dragon follows him out and nearly wipes out the front row with a tope. Back in, Danielson hits the Stampede Dropkick and a kick to the head for two. Black blocks the Cattle Mutilation and the Crossface-Chickenwing. Danielson reverses a rana for what looks like three, but Tyler kicked out. They slug it out, and Tyler knocks him silly with an enzuigiri. That sets up the turnbuckle powerbomb. Black goes up, but Danielson keeps blocking him. Finally, Black knocks him back, but the Phoenix Splash misses. Danielson rides him down into the Cattle Mutilation and the Trapped Elbows. Black fights out of that but gets Heel Hooked. He has to kick his way out of that. Danielson holds on and turns it over into the half-crab for the submission at 20:13. Another quality match between these two. Very different from their first match, obviously, because Tyler isn’t the same wrestler he was when they first squared off, but it’s a worthy successor to Breakout. ****1/4 Morishima, Marufuji & Go are all representing NOAH. Morishima is the current GHC World Champion, Marufuji is a former champion and Go is a future champion. Richards makes a dick of himself early, slapping go around. Go gets pissed and chases Davey out of the ring. Morishima and Rocky tag in, and Rocky has to beg off. He tries a forearm, but Morishima shrugs him off and clubs him down. Roderick and Marufuji tag in, and Strong chops right through a leapfrog attempt in a play on an earlier spot. Marufuji quickly flip-flops out of a wristlock and dropkicks Roderick down. The NRC isolates Go, and Rocky mocks the Kobashi chops. Morishima drags Richards out and knocks him into the crowd. Go holds him for Marufuji’s running dropkick. Funny spot as all three of the NOAH guys hop on Davey’s back and squash him in the corner. Davey drags Go over, and the NRC pile on him. This time, it looks much more gay. Marufuji blocks the gutbuster and goes for the Shiranui, but Roderick ties him in the tree-of-woe. Roderick launches Romero into a dropkick, and Davey adds the nutshot. The NRC isolates Marufuji again, but he hits the low dropkick on Richards. Morishima tags in and starts crushing stuff like Godzilla. The NRC finally has to tripleteam him to get him down. Go tags in, though, and trades chops with Roderick. Roderick catches him with the Pump-Handle Backbreaker, but Go swats away a kick and rolls up Romero. Marufuji tags in, and the NOAH contingent tripleteam Romero. The NRC hit the Doomsday Knee, and Romero ranas Marufuji to the floor. Another cool spot as Go blocks a sunset flip, but Richards catapults Romero into a headbutt on Go’s bits and pieces. Roderick takes out Morishima with a gutbuster, leaving Romero and Marufuji. Marufuji gets two off a series of kicks and finishes with the Shiranui at 27:48. Exhaustive wall-to-wall action with nary a bit of a downtime. In fact, it could have used a bit of downtime as it nearly burned itself out. Great performances all around, though, and the fans loved Morishima. **** |
The 411: Gabe should use this as a template for all of his first-night shows. It corrected all of the problems I had with ROH shows dating back to 2007. It was the right length at only about 2 1/2 hours. It had one running storyline throughout with the Age of the Fall versus Aries & Briscoe, and it had good wrestling. Give me more shows like this, and I'll be a happy guy. Thumbs up! |
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| Final Score: 8.5 [ Very Good ] legend |
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