The Vile One’s Dungeon 01.28.11: ROH – SoCal Showdown II LIVE Report

Thank you Ari Berenstein. After finding out Ring of Honor would be in town, I was able to arrange getting tickets from them at the last minute. There was no way I would miss a chance to see Christopher Daniels and the hottest act in wrestling, the Kings of Wrestling live. So ROH finally returned to Los Angeles with SoCal Showdown II as part of the weekend Wrestle Reunion convention. The event was held in a ballroom at the Hilton Airport hotel. Sort of an odd set-up but the seats were good and the setting was on the smaller and more intimate side for ROH. Both ROH World Champion, Roderick Strong, and ROH TV Champion, Christopher Daniels, were on hand before the show started to sign autographs and take pictures with fans. Strong said his plan tonight was to beat the **** out of El Generico and win.

The show opened with a promo segment by the hottest act in wrestling today, ROH World Tag Team Champions, the Kings of Wrestling, Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero. Hero and Castagnoli ran down their accomplishments including beating their opponent’s for later in the night, the World’s Greatest Tag Team, on 9/11 last year in New York. Hero called the so-called World’s Greatest Tag Team a little overrated and he’s right. Castagnoli said LA should know a little bit about being overrated considering the LA Lakers and Disneyland. Castagnoli then remarked that Disney World is better than Disneyland but they both pale in comparison to Euro Disney! AWESOME! Hero said while he’s never been to Euro Disney that he imagines it’s quite “quaint.” Double awesome. Seriously, Kings of Wrestling carry themselves ridiculously well. I could’ve cared less about the Royal Rumble when they were on stage. This was worth the seven dollar parking charge alone.

Match 1: The Bravado Bros. vs. Cedric Alexander and Caleb Connolly
Don’t know much about either of these teams. The opener was a short but solid match. The Bravado Bros. won in just under eight minutes after reversing a powerbomb attempt into a roll-up.

Match 2: Jay Briscoe vs. Colt Cabana

No one works a comedy wrestling match style as well or as perfectly as Colt Cabana, and it is a damn crying shame that WWE management couldn’t recognize that. Jay and Colt had a fine little match. Colt started acting sad and dejected at first when the fans were only cheering for Jay and chanting to Colt “You’re not funny!” Other thans started chanting, “Yes he is!” Colt eventually perked up and got into the match. Briscoe played the straight man during the match well. Jay eventually wins and gets the clean pinfall with the Jay Driller. IThe match was around 8 minutes. It was hella cool to see thae Jay Driller live.

Match 3: The All Night Express (“Addicted To Love” Rhett Titus and Kenny King) vs. The Cutler Bros.
The Cutler Bros. are local SoCal guys that usually work PWG. I wasn’t expecting much here but it was an extremely solid effort. I think Rhett Titus and Kenny King are a bit of a random, mismatched team though. That said they do work well together. The Cutler Bros. used their workout band on ANX when the ref wasn’t looking. The finish came when the ANX hit their combination back-breaker/flying knee drop for the finish at about 11 minutes in.

Match 4: TJ Perkins vs. Davey Richards
The artist formerly known as Puma faced off against the American Wolf in the sleeper and quite arguably match of the night. Richards and Perkins beat the hell out of each other in an awesome and back and forth match. This was a really good showcase of Richards who mixed in a lot of slick submission transitions in with suplexes. The finish came when Richards hit Perkins with a Falcon Arrow into an armbar and Perkins submitted at about 19 minutes. As far as match ratings go, I call this one about ****.

After the match, Richards got on the microphone and put over TJ Perkins. Richards said he will give Perkins a rematch in ROH whenever he wants it and that he still plans on going after the world title and Roderick Strong. The show intermission followed. Davey Richards went to give fans autographs at the merchandise booth. Jay Briscoe signed autographs and took pictures with fans as well. This was a pretty cool way to have the wrestlers interact with the fans during the show when there were no matches going on. It let everyone have a breather but didn’t really kill the momentum.

Match 5: ROH TELEVISION TITLE MATCH – The Fallen Angel Christopher Daniels(c) w/ Allison Danger vs. Mark Briscoe

Allison Danger seems to be decked out in more of a Fabulous Moolah type garb these days. One of the best wrestlers and talents in the world put his title on the line against the other half of the Briscoes in Mark. Daniels and Briscoe had a really good match. They kept a fairly quick pace and Daniels broke out the Koji Clutch but Briscoe managed to get to the ropes. Daniels was able to hit the Angel’s Wings, but Briscoe kicked out. Daniels followed it up with the BME (Best Moonsault Ever) around that did it. Daniels retains his title at about 12 minutes. As far as star ratings, I give it ***1/4 out of 5. Just a really good, solid midcard title match.

Daniels and Briscoe face off.

Match 6: NON-TITLE TAG TEAM REMATCH – The Kings of Wrestling vs. The World’s Greatest Tag Team

The World’s Greatest Tag Team of Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin came out to AC/DC music for an undeserved rematch against the greatest wrestling tag team in the history of history, the Kings of Wrestling. This was a great match and a lot of fun. WGTT definitely look strong and motivated being able to tag together again in ROH but they don’t hold a candle to the Kings of Wrestling. The finish comes when Haas puts Claudio in the Haas of Pain. Chris Hero attempts to break it up using his lucky elbow pad. But Shelton Benjamin being the disrespectful and disgraceful cheater that he is knocked Hero off the top rope. Shelton was on the outside and wasn’t even the legal man. Claudio submits after this heinous cheating attack and WGTT unfortunately won the match at about 17 minutes. Haas got on the mic and said in 2011 they are going to win the ROH World Tag Team Titles. Yeah, whatever. I rate the match ***3/4 out of 5. The cheating and disrespectful offbeat shenanigans of WGTT prevent it from getting higher. WGTT will never hold the belts because they rightfully belong to Kings of Wrestling. They didn’t even deserve this rematch anyway. It was through the overly-generous and good graces of the Kings of Wrestling they were granted the rematch. The Kings reign supreme.

Match 7: ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH – Roderick Strong(c) vs. The Generic Luchador, El Generico

Strong and El Generico closed out the night with a great title bout. Strong brought the hate and the heat by spitting on El Generico throughout the match. According to CM Punk that’s how diseases spread, “Somebody spits on you. Somebody has sex with a chimp, and the next thing you know — AIDS.” El Generico and Strong beat the hell out of each other for well over 20 minutes. The story though eventually became being Strong absolutely destroying the resilient but weaker Generico over the latter half. Generico worked back to a comeback eventually and was able to get Strong with the brainbuster, but Strong kicked out. Generico tries to go for the Turnbuckle Brainbuster but Strong blocks it. Strong creates a distraction by throwing a chair into the ring. The ref moves to toss it out, and Strong comes in and waffles El Generico with the title belt. Strong hits El Generico with the Tiger Driver and that is it. I’d call it about **** out of 5 for the rating, but I’d like to see it again first.

Following the match, Strong got on the mic and ran down the challengers vying for his title. He called Davey Richards the “American Pussy.” Daniels, Jay Briscoe, and Davey Richards chased Strong out. Daniels got on the mic and promised that someone from their group would come for him and soon take his title. Daniels then put over the Wrestle Reunion weekend and the wrestling stars of yesterday that helped forged the path for the wrestlers of today. And that closed the show.

Daniels vows vengeance on Roderick Strong.

Overall a great event. This only the third ROH event I ever attended, the last one being the Take No Prisoners PPV in Houston during Wrestlemania Weekend in 2009. The show and matches did a good job of building on itself. The earlier matches accomplished what they needed to do without starting too strong too quickly. And the best stuff came near the end. The Kings of Wrestling are wicked cool and the best thing in wrestling today.