Be warned there be spoilers about, if you be the sort who waits for the DVDs to come out.
Thought I'd bring a little discussion to the independent section by starting up a series of discussion threads for ROH's show, their goings on, their developments, and where big things will lead. So, last weekend, ROH put on two shows, one of which is their annual big Anniversary show, and saw the returns of KENTA, Jimmy Rave, and Colt Cabana.
ROH Results: 3/19/2009
*Delirious b. SJK
-I couldn't even tell you who SJK is. Some jobber, I guess. He's probably champion in his home fed.
*Kenny King and Rhett Titus b. Matt Cross and Erick Stevens
-The new tag team goes over the off and on ROH team of M-Dogg and Stevens. Much sadness for me here, as my local hero and Pro Wrestling Ohio champion from Cleveland suffers another defeat, but I don't think he's ever won in ROH, so oh well. Good getting over the new team.
*Bryan Danielson b. Mike Quackenbush
-Really no story here, just Quackenbush coming back to ROH and having an exhibition match. Fortunately Dragon went over.
*Claudio Castignoli b. Jerry Lynn and Brent Albright
-Nothing too special storyline wise here, just more push for Castagnoli, I guess. Lynn tapped out to a Crowbar from Castagnoli. It seems like CC is getting push up to the main event as well. He could probably benefit from joining up with Sweet and Sour, to get Sweeney's mic skills on his side and could tag with Chris Hero again.
*Jimmy Jacobs and Brodie Lee b. Tyler Black and Necro Butcher
-More Age of the Fall fallout, with the surviving members of AotF against it's two breakaways, both of whom have benefited enormously from the break off. I'm not sure if Brodie Lee will break off, or if he can get the kind of results that Black and Necro did. If Jacobs wants AotF to survive, he really needs to start recruiting, but it seems like with the new Embassy forming (that's covered later), the Age of the Fall might be passing out. Of course, he could merge with the Embassy, and a Jimmy Jacobs and Jimmy Rave tag team as the Crown Jewel could be great. It could definitely be a way to catapult Jacobs into the world title as well.
*Austin Aries b. Roderick Strong
-The fairly new tag team of Rhett Titus and Kenny King interfered here on behalf of Aries, and it looks like they might be teaming up. Aries could definitely give a big rub to the young guys and make them a legit tag team contender.
*El Generico and KENTA defeated Davey Richards and ROH champ Nigel McGuinness.
-KENTA defeated Nigel with a GTS, and this was apparently a really great main event tag match. Really nothing storywise here, just throwing four guys together and making a great tag match. Led into Nigel vs KENTA the next night.
So I haven't heard anything, but on paper, this looks like it turned out to be a decent show. The main event, again, on paper, looks pretty good, as does Strong vs Aries, and I'm sure the tag match and three way came out well. The exhibition with Dragon and Quackenbush was probably fairly good as well.
Moving on, to 3/20/2009...
ROH Seventh Anniversary Show
*Roderick Strong and Erick Stevens defeated Rhett Titus and Kenny King
-I'm told Strong and Stevens looked really great, and I like these guys as a tag team a lot. Stevens gets revenge on the new guys from last night, and apparently he and Strong are working really well together. I could see them as top tag team contenders.
*Brent Albright defeated Claudio Castagnoli by DQ
-Castagnoli has apparently started to have his weight announced in kilos to keep with the European heel gimmick, which is a nice touch. Albright is apparently quite over. Claudio continues to dominate as he low blows Albright, hits the Ricola Bomb and gets a chairshot in. Apparently it was a pretty good match.
*Bobby Dempsey defeated Adam Pearce
-Dempsey squashes the booker in like 30 seconds to continue his storyline of raging hate against all things Sweet and Sour. Apparently the lights went out in the middle, which is either a mistake or some sort of angle. Who knows.
*Jerry Lynn defeated Mike Quackenbush
-Just like the night before, just an exhibition mach but apparently a real good one, as you could expect out of these two names. Some happy, honorable face handshaking and such after the match.
*Tyler Black, Necro Butcher, and Delirious defeated Jimmy Jacobs, Brodie Lee, and Austin Aries
-More and more of the collapse of the Age of the Fall with the addition of Aries and his program with Tyler and Jacobs here. There's some fancy pants rules here: it's elimination tag, there's a stipulation on each fall, and everything is no DQ. It was all Jacob's idea. Apparently the first fall is Tornado tag, and Brodie and Aries work together to get Delirious out first. The second fall can't be won by a pin, so when Necro and Brodie go brawling outside the ring...they both get DQed...in a no DQ match. Just like Beer Money vs Team 3D from Destination X, refs apparently have forgotten the meaning of no DQ rules. Whatever. I guess there's no stipulation on fall 3, damning the rules even further, and Jacobs eliminates Aries with the End Time. The fourth, highly creative fall is no submissions...okay...Tyler finished off with the God's Last Gift and ended it. Apparently, the match was complete shit and it sure sounds like it. Taking a card out of TNA's book, ROH really over stipulated this one. A 2 out of 3 falls bout, or a no DQ bout, could have been so much better instead of complicating things.
*Bryan Danielson and Colt Cabana defeated Bison Smith and Jimmy Rave
-Cabana and Rave both return to ROH, and they certainly fit much better here than in their former employers companies. Nana is out with Rave and Smith and has a new Embassy running, and I think Ernie Osiris is part of it as well. Told it was a crazy, but fun match, and obviously the crowd was pumped for Rave and Cabana being back.
*D'Lo Brown defeated Jay Briscoe
-D'Lo's back and apparently ROH is the place for him. Alright. No story here, really, just D'Lo as a veteran...okay...against Briscoe. Decent match, I'm told, the crowd wasn't into it. Good enough, I guess.
*Kevin Steen and El Generico defeated the American Wolves to retain the ROH World Tag Team Title.
-This is no DQ, I believe. Steen and Generico continue their feud with Sweet and Sour/American Wolves here, as the Wolves get a real main event tag team push as they challenge for the titles in the co main event. Big time stuff for them. The Wolves were beat clean when Richards tapped to Steen's Sharpshooter, but snapped afterwards, laying out both of them and stealing the belts.
*ROH Champion Nigel McGuiness defeated KENTA.
-Do I really need to tell you it was good? McGuinness is apparently hurt, his arms are all taped and up and he looks bad. But it's hard to have a bad match with KENTA. It went over quite well, according to what I've read, ending with KENTA tapping out to the London Dungeon. Couldn't really expect KENTA to win, but it was a hell of an exhibition.
What I've read seems to indicate the show was decent, with some great matches, but a lot of crap, especially the six man tag which came out to be an overstipulated crazy match. Taken as a whole, the show came out pretty well, but I think more was expected out of the Anniversary show.
This is the card line up for the next two shows, the second of which is PPV:
4/3:
Supercard of Honor IV
*Nigel McGuinness vs. Jerry Lynn for the ROH World Championship
*KENTA vs. Davey Richards for the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Championship
*Tyler Black & The Necro Butcher vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Austin Aries
*Roderick Strong vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
*Bryan Danielson vs. Alex Koslov
*World Tag Team Champion El Generico, vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brent Albright vs. NWA World Champion, Blue Demon, Jr
*World Tag Team Champion Kevin Steen, Jay Briscoe, & Magno vs. Chris Hero, Eddie Edwards, & Incognito
*Colt Cabana vs. D-Lo Brown
*Rhett Titus vs. Erick Stevens
Annually, this show lives up to the name Supercard, and with this card it doesn't look any different. It looks really excellent and if the guys are on, this could be an excellent show.
4/4
Take No Prisoners PPV
*GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion KENTA & Tyler Black vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Austin Aries
*Bryan Danielson vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Erick Stevens vs. D-Lo Brown
*ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness & Claudio Castagnoli vs. NWA World Champion Blue Demon Jr. & Brent Albright
*Jimmy Jacobs vs. The Necro Butcher
*Alex Koslov vs. Roderick Strong
*ROH World Tag Team Champions Kevin Steen & El Generico, Jay Briscoe, & Magno vs. The American Wolves, Chris Hero, & Incognito
*Colt Cabana vs. Ace Steel
This looks like it'll make a good card, but I question not defending the world title on PPV. Why not change the four way to Danielson vs D'Lo, make Lynn vs Nigel, and replace Nigel in the tag match with Chris Hero in a Kings of Wrestling reunion.
Seeing Cabana again is always good, Jacobs vs Necor is good stuff, and the two big tag matches look really good. I like the idea of Claudio and Nigel together - it's an idea for a tag team Nigel drops the title, or a great feud regarding opposing European nations.
So, there you have it. Discuss ROH's last two weekend shows and what they've got coming up. If anyone was live at them, your thoughts are greatly appreciated.
Thought I'd bring a little discussion to the independent section by starting up a series of discussion threads for ROH's show, their goings on, their developments, and where big things will lead. So, last weekend, ROH put on two shows, one of which is their annual big Anniversary show, and saw the returns of KENTA, Jimmy Rave, and Colt Cabana.
ROH Results: 3/19/2009
*Delirious b. SJK
-I couldn't even tell you who SJK is. Some jobber, I guess. He's probably champion in his home fed.
*Kenny King and Rhett Titus b. Matt Cross and Erick Stevens
-The new tag team goes over the off and on ROH team of M-Dogg and Stevens. Much sadness for me here, as my local hero and Pro Wrestling Ohio champion from Cleveland suffers another defeat, but I don't think he's ever won in ROH, so oh well. Good getting over the new team.
*Bryan Danielson b. Mike Quackenbush
-Really no story here, just Quackenbush coming back to ROH and having an exhibition match. Fortunately Dragon went over.
*Claudio Castignoli b. Jerry Lynn and Brent Albright
-Nothing too special storyline wise here, just more push for Castagnoli, I guess. Lynn tapped out to a Crowbar from Castagnoli. It seems like CC is getting push up to the main event as well. He could probably benefit from joining up with Sweet and Sour, to get Sweeney's mic skills on his side and could tag with Chris Hero again.
*Jimmy Jacobs and Brodie Lee b. Tyler Black and Necro Butcher
-More Age of the Fall fallout, with the surviving members of AotF against it's two breakaways, both of whom have benefited enormously from the break off. I'm not sure if Brodie Lee will break off, or if he can get the kind of results that Black and Necro did. If Jacobs wants AotF to survive, he really needs to start recruiting, but it seems like with the new Embassy forming (that's covered later), the Age of the Fall might be passing out. Of course, he could merge with the Embassy, and a Jimmy Jacobs and Jimmy Rave tag team as the Crown Jewel could be great. It could definitely be a way to catapult Jacobs into the world title as well.
*Austin Aries b. Roderick Strong
-The fairly new tag team of Rhett Titus and Kenny King interfered here on behalf of Aries, and it looks like they might be teaming up. Aries could definitely give a big rub to the young guys and make them a legit tag team contender.
*El Generico and KENTA defeated Davey Richards and ROH champ Nigel McGuinness.
-KENTA defeated Nigel with a GTS, and this was apparently a really great main event tag match. Really nothing storywise here, just throwing four guys together and making a great tag match. Led into Nigel vs KENTA the next night.
So I haven't heard anything, but on paper, this looks like it turned out to be a decent show. The main event, again, on paper, looks pretty good, as does Strong vs Aries, and I'm sure the tag match and three way came out well. The exhibition with Dragon and Quackenbush was probably fairly good as well.
Moving on, to 3/20/2009...
ROH Seventh Anniversary Show
*Roderick Strong and Erick Stevens defeated Rhett Titus and Kenny King
-I'm told Strong and Stevens looked really great, and I like these guys as a tag team a lot. Stevens gets revenge on the new guys from last night, and apparently he and Strong are working really well together. I could see them as top tag team contenders.
*Brent Albright defeated Claudio Castagnoli by DQ
-Castagnoli has apparently started to have his weight announced in kilos to keep with the European heel gimmick, which is a nice touch. Albright is apparently quite over. Claudio continues to dominate as he low blows Albright, hits the Ricola Bomb and gets a chairshot in. Apparently it was a pretty good match.
*Bobby Dempsey defeated Adam Pearce
-Dempsey squashes the booker in like 30 seconds to continue his storyline of raging hate against all things Sweet and Sour. Apparently the lights went out in the middle, which is either a mistake or some sort of angle. Who knows.
*Jerry Lynn defeated Mike Quackenbush
-Just like the night before, just an exhibition mach but apparently a real good one, as you could expect out of these two names. Some happy, honorable face handshaking and such after the match.
*Tyler Black, Necro Butcher, and Delirious defeated Jimmy Jacobs, Brodie Lee, and Austin Aries
-More and more of the collapse of the Age of the Fall with the addition of Aries and his program with Tyler and Jacobs here. There's some fancy pants rules here: it's elimination tag, there's a stipulation on each fall, and everything is no DQ. It was all Jacob's idea. Apparently the first fall is Tornado tag, and Brodie and Aries work together to get Delirious out first. The second fall can't be won by a pin, so when Necro and Brodie go brawling outside the ring...they both get DQed...in a no DQ match. Just like Beer Money vs Team 3D from Destination X, refs apparently have forgotten the meaning of no DQ rules. Whatever. I guess there's no stipulation on fall 3, damning the rules even further, and Jacobs eliminates Aries with the End Time. The fourth, highly creative fall is no submissions...okay...Tyler finished off with the God's Last Gift and ended it. Apparently, the match was complete shit and it sure sounds like it. Taking a card out of TNA's book, ROH really over stipulated this one. A 2 out of 3 falls bout, or a no DQ bout, could have been so much better instead of complicating things.
*Bryan Danielson and Colt Cabana defeated Bison Smith and Jimmy Rave
-Cabana and Rave both return to ROH, and they certainly fit much better here than in their former employers companies. Nana is out with Rave and Smith and has a new Embassy running, and I think Ernie Osiris is part of it as well. Told it was a crazy, but fun match, and obviously the crowd was pumped for Rave and Cabana being back.
*D'Lo Brown defeated Jay Briscoe
-D'Lo's back and apparently ROH is the place for him. Alright. No story here, really, just D'Lo as a veteran...okay...against Briscoe. Decent match, I'm told, the crowd wasn't into it. Good enough, I guess.
*Kevin Steen and El Generico defeated the American Wolves to retain the ROH World Tag Team Title.
-This is no DQ, I believe. Steen and Generico continue their feud with Sweet and Sour/American Wolves here, as the Wolves get a real main event tag team push as they challenge for the titles in the co main event. Big time stuff for them. The Wolves were beat clean when Richards tapped to Steen's Sharpshooter, but snapped afterwards, laying out both of them and stealing the belts.
*ROH Champion Nigel McGuiness defeated KENTA.
-Do I really need to tell you it was good? McGuinness is apparently hurt, his arms are all taped and up and he looks bad. But it's hard to have a bad match with KENTA. It went over quite well, according to what I've read, ending with KENTA tapping out to the London Dungeon. Couldn't really expect KENTA to win, but it was a hell of an exhibition.
What I've read seems to indicate the show was decent, with some great matches, but a lot of crap, especially the six man tag which came out to be an overstipulated crazy match. Taken as a whole, the show came out pretty well, but I think more was expected out of the Anniversary show.
This is the card line up for the next two shows, the second of which is PPV:
4/3:
Supercard of Honor IV
*Nigel McGuinness vs. Jerry Lynn for the ROH World Championship
*KENTA vs. Davey Richards for the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Championship
*Tyler Black & The Necro Butcher vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Austin Aries
*Roderick Strong vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
*Bryan Danielson vs. Alex Koslov
*World Tag Team Champion El Generico, vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brent Albright vs. NWA World Champion, Blue Demon, Jr
*World Tag Team Champion Kevin Steen, Jay Briscoe, & Magno vs. Chris Hero, Eddie Edwards, & Incognito
*Colt Cabana vs. D-Lo Brown
*Rhett Titus vs. Erick Stevens
Annually, this show lives up to the name Supercard, and with this card it doesn't look any different. It looks really excellent and if the guys are on, this could be an excellent show.
4/4
Take No Prisoners PPV
*GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion KENTA & Tyler Black vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Austin Aries
*Bryan Danielson vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Erick Stevens vs. D-Lo Brown
*ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness & Claudio Castagnoli vs. NWA World Champion Blue Demon Jr. & Brent Albright
*Jimmy Jacobs vs. The Necro Butcher
*Alex Koslov vs. Roderick Strong
*ROH World Tag Team Champions Kevin Steen & El Generico, Jay Briscoe, & Magno vs. The American Wolves, Chris Hero, & Incognito
*Colt Cabana vs. Ace Steel
This looks like it'll make a good card, but I question not defending the world title on PPV. Why not change the four way to Danielson vs D'Lo, make Lynn vs Nigel, and replace Nigel in the tag match with Chris Hero in a Kings of Wrestling reunion.
Seeing Cabana again is always good, Jacobs vs Necor is good stuff, and the two big tag matches look really good. I like the idea of Claudio and Nigel together - it's an idea for a tag team Nigel drops the title, or a great feud regarding opposing European nations.
So, there you have it. Discuss ROH's last two weekend shows and what they've got coming up. If anyone was live at them, your thoughts are greatly appreciated.