Csonka Reviews This Week’s ROH Free Matches

Csonka Reviews This Week’s Free ROH Matches

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– The Tempura Boyz defeated Coast 2 Coast @ 10:42 via pin [***½]
– Kelly Klein defeated Jenny Rose @ 7:02 via submission [**¾]
– ROH Title Match: Austin Aries defeated Champion Samoa Joe @ 17:40 via pin [****¼]

---

Coast 2 Coast (Leon St. Giovanni & Shaheem Ali) vs. The Tempura Boyz (Tanaka & Komatsu): Ali and Komatsu to begin, they work a solid back and forth, with Ali hitting a dropkick. He follows with strikes, covering for 2. LSG tags in, but Komatsu rams him back to his corner, and Tanaka tags in. Nice fast paced action here, LSG hits arm drags and dropkicks, covering for 2. Ali & LSG work some double teams, scoring a near fall. Tanaka and Komatsu take control, double teaming LSG and picking up a near fall. They continue to work him over in the corner, and lay in some sick sounding chops. Komatsu back in, hitting a bridging butterfly suplex for 2. Komatsu and Tanaka keep working quick tags, but LSG counters out of the shock arrow and tags in Ali, who runs wild. Ali hit an Angle slam, but it got broke up. Tanaka sent to the floor, allowing LSG and Ali to hit double teams on Komatsu for the near fall. Tanaka pulls Ali to the floor, it breaks down, and Komatsu heads up top and wipes out this own partner. Ali then hits a tope, and LSG hits a ropewalk 450 to the floor! Back in and Komatsu tries to fight back, he hits superkicks, Tanaka tags in and they double team Ali in the corner and wipe him out with the doomsday spin kick. LSG fights by himself as Ali rolls to the floor. The Tempura Boys hit shock arrow (toss up flatliner) for a great near fall. Tanaka then hits a variation on the piledriver, the solo shock arrow, for the win. The Tempura Boyz defeated Coast 2 Coast @ 10:42 via pin [***½] This is easily the best Future of Honor match I’ve reviewed, not only did it not feel like pre-show filler, but everyone was working hard to provide quality tag team action and on top of that, they had a great sense of urgency, looking like the win meant everything to them. This was very good and very fun.

Kelly Klein vs. Jenny Rose: Mandy Leon is on commentary. Klein has never been pinned or submitted in Women of Honor competition, but recently lost by countout. They trade strikes right away, Rose works a quick pace, hitting a single arm DDT and then transitioning to a camel clutch variation. She then plays with Klein’s hair, which pisses her off. Klein comes back, hitting a clothesline, and covering for 2. Klein then works over Rose in the corner, she talks some shit and then works a cravat. Knee strikes follow from Klein, and then takes Rose down, hitting a kick to the back and then covering for 2. Klein works a sleeper now, Rose looks to fire up so she just slams her down. Klein goes back to the sleeper, grounding Rose. Rose again tries to escape, and gets an O’Connor roll for 2. Klein follows with a DDT and running knee to the back, covering for 2. Klein is frustrated now, they trade rollups and Rose gets a crucifix for 2. Code breaker by Rose and a spear follows, but Klein kicks out at 2. Klein takes a powder to the floor, Rose follow and gets slammed to the barricade. Klein gets a chair from Leon, and they argue and Leon accidentally hits Rose. Klein takes out Leon, and back in the ring Klein hits the suplex, rolls into the guillotine and Rose taps. Kelly Klein defeated Jenny Rose @ 7:02 via submission [**¾] Pretty good match, with the closing stretch on the floor being the latest storyline development. Rose is protected in loss, while starting an issue with Leon; they trained together, have previously faced off and even teamed together so it will be interesting to see how it plays out. Unfortunately, with no TV time, this is pretty much the only way they can shoot any angles of importance to move things along. This was an overall strong outing.

Champion Samoa Joe vs. Austin Aries (From Final Battle 2004): Aries is completely fired up, charging Joe at the bell. Aries works over Joe in the corner trying to take the fight to the dominant champion. Joe then cuts him off, laying in kicks and then grounding the faster Aries. Aries escapes the grounded head scissors, as Punk talks strategy on commentary. Roderick Strings is in Aries’s corner, while Joe’s protégé Jay Lethal is in Joe’s corner. Aries tries to pick up the pace, but just runs into a Samoan wall that won’t move. They work a criss-cross, Aries dropkicks the knee and then follows with a dragon screw leg whip and starts to focus on the knee. Solid plan by Aries, but Joe quickly ends that bullshit and takes Aries to the corner and just beats him down with chops. Aries drops into the fetal position, but Joe shows no mercy and continues his assault and hits the face wash. Joe had such command during their title run, everything he did had purpose and looked as if it was done with little effort. Aries sent to the floor, but Aries avoids the elbow suicida; he looks for the suicide dive but Joe cuts him off with a kick and then slams him to the barricade. Joe then absolutely crushes Aries with the OLE kick. Joe tosses chairs around, and follows with another OLE kick. Joe looks for a third OLE kick, but Aries moves and Joe crotches himself on the barricade. This allows Aries to fight back, hitting the shotgun dropkick on the floor. Back in they go, but Joe locks in the choke. Aries escapes but runs into the snap slam for a close 2. Joe goes for a powerbomb, but Aries turns it into a RANA, covering for 2. Aries hits a series of shotgun dropkicks, but cuts off Aries with an island driver, which got a great near fall. Joe looks for the muscle buster, Aries fights him off, but Joe follows him up and they trade strikes; Aries sends Joe to the mat, and hits the 450! Joe survives, Aries looks for the brainbuster, but Joe stops that. Aries cuts off the elbow suicida with a sunset flip, and then transitions into the crab. Aries blocks the lariat, works an odd version of the crossface, but the ref breaks it up. Aries again goes for the brainbuster, but Joe again stops that and sets Aries up top. He follows with strikes, slaps and kicks. Joe looks for the muscle buster, but Aries counters into a crucifix bomb. He follows with clotheslines, takes out thee knee, hits the big kick and FINALLY hits the brainbuster! Aries up top and hits the 450! 1…2…3! The king is dead, and after 645 days and 29 defenses, Samoa Joe finally lost the ROH title. Austin Aries defeated Champion Samoa Joe @ 17:40 via pin [****¼] I have not watched this match for years, and was really curious to see how well it would hold up. The good news is that it’s still a great match, Joe plays the dominant and cocky champion so well, with Aries playing the resilient, never say die babyface challenger just as well. They layout is very good, with Aries getting enough hope spots that he’s never out of it, but you know he’s completely vulnerable and could be taken out by Joe at anytime. The tease throughout the match in regards to the brainbuster was excellent, they kept making you doubt if Aries could possibly pull it off, and when he did, it ended up being the kill shot.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

7.7

The final score: review Good

The 411

This is a good and overall strong collection of matches this week, with Joe vs. Aries shining as the best with the memorable title change...