Ring of Honor: Take No Prisoners Breakdown

Ring of Honor — Take No Prisoners PPV by J.D. Dunn Original Airdate: May 30, 2008 From Philadelphia, Pa. Your hosts are Dave Prazak (looking like the bastard child of Howard Finkel) and Lenny Leonard. The spotlight makes it look like they opened the Ark of the Covenant. Opening Match, #1 Contender’s Match: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Delirious vs. Tyler Black vs. Go Shiozaki. Nigel McGuinness joins commentary for this match. Claudio and Delirious do the requisite comedy segment to get the fans in it. Delirious sells the armdrag well, but when he tries them on Claudio, it just looks fake. Now Black and Go bring the intensity. Shiozaki unleashes (what else?) chops. Claudio hits him with the European Uppercut and spins him around with the Giant Swing. Shiozaki comes back with a thrust kick. Delirious tags himself in before Go can hit the Burning Lariat. Claudio blocks the Cobra Stretch and hits the Match-Killer. Go and Black make the save, though. Delirious hits two Panic Attacks on Go and Claudio. Black avoids Shadows over Hell, though, and finishes Delirious with the Phoenix Splash at 9:31. Black moves on to the title match in what most people would probably consider an upset, especially with Claudio in there. Decent showing for all guys. *** Leonard announces that Takeshi Morishima has been banned from PPV for attacking Bryce Remsberg. They also give us a rundown of the tag team titles. The Age of the Fall hacks into the live feed, though, and announces that they will be giving updates throughout the show from their undisclosed location. We see Tyler and Lacey celebrating in what may or may not be a backstage morgue. Kevin Steen vs. Roderick Strong. Strong’s FIP Title is not on the line. Steen encourages MOCKERY~! of Roderick’s name and overpowers him with shoulderblocks. Strong chops his way back and hits a flying boot to the chest to cut off a dive. Strong blocks a charge and hits a missile dropkick. Steen repays the favor, blocking a charge and hitting a cannonball. Strong rolls through the Sharpshooter into the Stronghold attempt. Steen blocks and DDTs Strong. He goes for a Pump-Handle move, but Strong reverses to a Half-Nelson Backbreaker. Strong superplexes Steen but can’t capitalize immediately, and Steen is able to powerbomb him for two. SHARPSHOOTER! Roderick makes the ropes but eats a Codebreaker. THE SWANTON… misses. Strong hits a press gutbuster but runs right into a thrust kick. He Yakuza Kicks Steen in the face. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Strong sets up for the Tiger Driver, but Steen hits a Cradle Neckbreaker and finishes with the Packaged Piledriver at 11:11. But remember the FIP Title is a “second title,” not a secondary title. Good match, not great match. They didn’t quite seem to connect like I thought they could. I’d be interested in seeing the roles reversed in FIP, though. **3/4 The Age of the Fall proselytizes to a bunch of losers. Zack Gowen says he’s going to change things because he’s tired of being cast aside when he’s an inspirational wrestler. Alison Wonderland says that she’s sick of… something. I’m not sure, I was staring at her boobs. Jimmy gets a text and tells the cameraman to throw it back to the ring. Philadelphia Street Fight: The Briscoe Brothers (w/Daizee Haze) vs. Necro Butcher & Joey Matthews (w/Lacey). The fight starts in the hall and makes its way through the crowd. Jay gets busted open on the top of his head. They all brawl up to the ring where the Age of the Fall hit double slams. They both go up, but the Briscoes pop up and hit double superplexes. On the outside, Lacey reverses a whip and sends Daizee into the crowd barrier. To the ring, Daizee responds with a Regal Cutter and the Heart Punch. A German Suplex sends Lacey to the floor. Necro Butcher pummels Mark, and the AOTF set up a makeshift chair structure and chokeslam Jay through it. Jay reverses a whip and Flatlines Joey Matthews into the turnbuckle. Cool spot as Jay NAILS Necro with a chair and tosses it to Mark, who is in mid-springboard, and then Mark nails Necro with a chairshot. Jay backdrops Joey on Necro. Ouch. They hit a pretty sloppy Springboard Doomsday Device on Matthews and try to do the same to Necro, but he swats Mark out of the air. Mark and Necro fight out into the crowd, and Mark comes off the scaffold and puts Necro through a table. Meanwhile, Jay DVDs Joey through a table and finishes with the Jaydriller at 14:24. I’ve said for the past few months that all of the Briscoe brawls are starting to blend together. This one is no exception. You can only do hatred so many times before it starts to lose its effect. *** Outside, Tyler looks nervous. I know a lot of people dislike the poor lighting, but it was just such a creepy image when he noticed the camera – like seeing Bigfoot footage or something. Larry Sweeney announces a hostile takeover of ROH. He promises to make stars out of his clients and then sell them to “Vince.” He introduces his newest charges — The Hangmen Three. Erick Stevens comes out and says he wants Sweet ‘n’ Sour’s Daniel Puder, but since Sweeney is holding him off PPV, he wants a match with someone right now. Brent Albright jumps him from behind, so we get… Erick Stevens vs. Brent Albright. They no-sell each other’s clotheslines, and Stevens catches him with a Samoan Drop. Albright reverses a whip and belly-to-bellies Stevens into the ropes. He misses a charge, though, and stumbles into the ropes. Stevens gets fired up and hits a flying shoulderblock. Albright ducks his swing but gets German Suplexed. Stevens presses Albright into a clothesline, but the Hangmen hop up on the apron. Stevens goes after them, allowing Albright to hit the Half-Nelson Suplex for the win at 6:15. About average. They worked in a lot of their usual spots and then went to the finish. Stevens looks like an old-fashioned stupid babyface once again. Rather out of place in ROH. ** And now we cut to Orlando for a match taped during Supercard of Honor III (a show that really should have been the PPV). ROH World Tag Titles: The No Remorse Corps vs. The Vulture Squad. The No Remorse Corps attack before the bell, but the Vulture Squad uses their speed and double-teaming to come back. Davey Richards and Rocky Romero use TRIPSICKERY~! to jump Jigsaw from behind. Jiggy plays face-in-peril but quickly gets out of trouble. Looks like they’re rushing. Ruckus dives out on top of the NRC and then hits a Rolling Fameasser on Richards. That gets two. The V-Squad hit their Cradle Suplex/Powerbomb combo for two. An NRC doubleteam backfires, and Richards accidentally crotches Romero into the tree-of-woe. Jigsaw and Ruckus hit double coast-to-coast dropkicks on Romero. Jigsaw goes for the Jig-and-Tonic, but Davey kicks him into the Code Red from Romero. Romero catches Jigsaw on top and takes him down into the Diablo Armbar. Ruckus saves. Jigsaw and Richards trade strikes, and Richards kicks his head in. Romero recovers, and the NRC finish with the Spiked DR Driver at 8:41. The Orlando crowd was on fire (as they were throughout that show), and the action was hot at the end. I still don’t like Ruckus’ offense. The NRC was really starting to gel at this point, though. ***1/4 We get a clip of BJ Whitmer questioning the decision of the Hangmen 3 to sellout to Sweeney, and Adam Pearce and Shane Hagadorn giving him a spiked piledriver to send him packing. Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries. The three-way feud between Danielson, Aries and Nigel McGuinness has been nothing short of stellar. Lots of jockeying early as they fight over an overhand knucklelock and a cross armlock. Danielson makes the mistake of headscissoring Austin Aries, and YOU CAN’T HEADSCISSOR AUSTIN ARIES! Aries gets out of Cattle Mutilation, but Danielson cuts him off on a suicida attempt. Back in, Aries stretches Danielson with a stump-puller and turns him over into a pinning combination for two. Danielson backflips over Aries but gets clotheslined out, and NOW Aries hits that Mach 5.0 suicida. Cool spot as Aries reaches for Danielson, who is laying on the apron, so Danielson traps his arm and snaps it into the ringpost. Aries blocks Cattle Mutilation, though, and hits the shinbreaker/backdrop combo. Danielson traps him in the Triangle Choke, but Aries rolls him onto his shoulders. Danielson rolls through THAT into an armscissors, but Aries is in the ropes. Great wrestling as Danielson O’Connor Rolls Aries right into Cattle Mutilation, but Aries immediately rolls Danielson onto his shoulders for two. AWESOME! Aries sets Danielson on top, but Danielson reverses to a Hanging Triangle Choke. Aries makes him pay for it with the corner dropkick and a Super Brainbuster! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Danielson kicks out, but Aries floats over into the Last Chancery. Danielson reverses to the armscissors. Aries reverses to knee strikes. Danielson reverses to elbows. Aries reverses to knee strikes. Danielson reverses to elbows and applies the armscissors for the submission at 17:24. Another typically awesome wrestling match from two of the best. Like Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho at Judgment Day, they made this work by playing off viewer expectations and adding little twists and reversals to the moves they would do in an average match. ****1/4 From his undisclosed location, Jimmy Jacobs promises that Tyler will bring the power home. ROH World Title: Nigel McGuinness vs. Tyler Black. They immediately establish their roles as Nigel waits for Tyler to turn his back and then jumps him. He snaps Tyler’s arm to the mat. Nigel dominates, going back and forth between working the arm and pummeling Tyler with strikes. Tyler tries to fight back, but Nigel just goes back to the shoulder. Black hits a desperation dropkick, but Nigel tosses him to the floor and whips him into the barricade. Nigel grabs a chair, thinking he’ll finish the kid off, but Tyler kicks it back in his face, sending him into the crowd. Black hulks up and calls for a springboard plancha into the crowd. Unfortunately for him, Nigel sees him coming and pulls a Barry Bonds with the chair (and by that, I mean he hits Tyler with it, not that he shoots it into his own veins). A replay shows it caught Tyler in the arm. ROH doesn’t have countouts, though, so Tyler is able to recover and crawl back to the ring. Nigel sets up for the lariat, but Tyler quickly ducks and rolls him up for two. Nigel gives him a running uppercut and applies the London Dungeon. The lanky Tyler Black gets his foot on the ropes, though. Nigel sets up for the Tower of London, but Tyler fights him off and hits a Super Throwback. Nigel whiffs on the Jawbreaker Lariat and gets booted. Tyler hits the Pélé and the Paroxysm for two. Tyler charges but gets kicked and clubbed for two. Nigel can’t believe he kicked out. Tyler superplexes him and rolls through into a Fireman’s Carry Facebuster! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Tyler goes up for the Phoenix Splash, but Nigel pops up and nails the Tower of London. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Tyler hits a jawbreaker, but Nigel falls back and rebounds for the Jawbreaker Lariat. NO! Tyler ducks and reverses to the SMALL PACKAGE DRIVER! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! The Phoenix Splash misses, and Nigel locks in the London Dungeon. The fans are begging for Tyler to get out of it. Indeed, Tyler reverses to a rollup for two! Nigel sets him on top and lariats him off. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Tyler spits right in his face and dares him to try again. Nigel hits a short-arm lariat. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Frustrated, Nigel rebounds and hits the JAWBREAKER LARIAT! ONE, TWO, THRE-NOOOOOOOO!!!! Now Nigel is REALLY pissed, so he yanks Black around and puts him in the London Dungeon again. This time, Black can’t resist and has to tap out at 21:24. This reminded me a lot of Ric Flair vs. Sting from the first Clash of the Champions in that Tyler Black really won for losing. This, coupled with his breakout performance against Danielson earlier in the year, should cement him as an upper midcarder through the rest of the year. And really, if you look at the story of the match, Tyler only hit 4-5 quality moves and the rest was flash pin attempts and reversals, so Nigel still comes out of it looking like a badass. ****1/4 The 411: After a shaky first hour, they really righted the ship in the last half of the show, producing two MOTYC in the final two matches. The PPVs still have some storytelling problems (from a viewer standpoint, BJ Whitmer was adopted into and kicked out of Sweet ‘n’ Sour in a span of ten minutes). Still, the one-two punch of the last two matches earn this another big thumbs up. Enthusiastic recommendation for Take No Prisoners.