ROH – Dragon Gate Challenge DVD Review

ROH – MILESTONE EVENT #4 – DRAGON GATE CHALLENGE – DETROIT, MI – 3.30.06

Review by Brad Garoon and Jacob Ziegler

Honor Roll

JZ says: I’ve been using the top 5 as voted on by the ROH message board. After each show (or double shot weekend), go to The ROH Message Board and vote for the top 5. In parentheses after a guy’s name is his position in the last Honor Roll, and how many consecutive weeks he has been listed.

ROH WORLD CHAMPION: Bryan Danielson (since 9.17.05)
ROH PURE CHAMPION: Nigel McGuinness (since 8.27.05)
1) Roderick Strong (1, 14)
2) Austin Aries (2, 8)
3) KENTA (NR, 1)
4) Christopher Daniels (NR, 1)
5) Adam Pearce (4, 3)

Introduction

BG says: I won front row tickets to this show by winning a trivia contest on the ROH message board on Christmas Day. One of the benefits to being a Jew I guess. Anyway, thanks to Gregh from the message board for that, as he what bought and gave out all the prizes. You’re a generous man.

Back at Best in the World there was trouble in the Embassy. We get the end of the argument here, as Prince Nana gets Alex Shelley and Jimmy Rave to shake hands and agree to go after the tag titles.

Lacey is focused on helping Jimmy Jacobs beat BJ Whitmer tonight. Jimmy wants to know if Lacey went on ROHVideos.com to see his music video for her. She says that he needs to hurt BJ Whitmer, and if he does so he’ll get a reward. All he wants to do is rub her feet, and if he gets to do that he’ll make Whitmer a dead man. This reminded me of Garth telling Kim Basinger he’d kill her husband in Wayne’s World 2. It was funny then, and it’s funny now.

JZ says: The Embassy is backstage in the midst of another argument. Prince Nana makes them promise to focus on the ROH Tag Team Titles. Nana makes them shake hands or else he’ll start garnishing! They reluctantly shake.

Lacey and Jimmy Jacobs are backstage, and Lacey is trying to give her charge a pep talk. Jacobs starts talking about his ridiculous video, and Lacey seemingly has no idea what he’s talking about. She says that tonight they get their revenge on BJ Whitmer. She says that she wants Jacobs to hurt him, she doesn’t care if he wins or loses. She offers a reward if he can do this, so he offers to rub her feet as his reward. Jacobs declares Whitmer a dead man. His new character is so awesome.

ROH March Top 5 Rankings

5) Samoa Joe
4) Alex Shelley
3) Christopher Daniels
2) Jimmy Yang
1) Roderick Strong

MATCH #1: Falls Count Anywhere Match – Homicide vs. Colt Cabana

BG says: Colt Cabana comes out to the ring early and says that his match can’t wait. Last time in Detroit he and Homicide were taken out of their match after a superplex through a table, but tonight that won’t happen because falls count anywhere.

Cabana beats on Homicide to start. He hits a butt-butt and a clothesline and Homicide bails. Cabana follows him out and hiptosses him into the crowd. Homicide hits a vertical suplex onto a row of chairs. Cabana smacks Homicide over the head with a chair, but it’s hard to see because the spotlight barely shines on the action. Back at ringside Cabana bodyslams Homicide on the floor. He puts a ladder in the ring as Homicide throws in some chairs. Cabana hits a spinebuster and catapults Homicide onto the ladder. He hits an avalanche but then gets hit with an Ace Crusher. Homicide drops the ladder on him and then wedges his head between the two sides of the ladder. Homicide smacks the ladder with a chair, almost decapitating Cabana, and then pins him for the win. This wasn’t much of a match at all, as most of it was in the dark and what wasn’t was very short, but it set up the final two nights of the feud well.
Rating: ½*

JZ says: Bobby Cruise is pimping the Dragon Gate Challenge. Colt Cabana is on his way out, but I would think that his match is scheduled for later. He says he can’t wait for his match with Homicide tonight. Homicide doesn’t waste much time in coming out. This feud started off so lame but has gotten so cool. It’ll end over this triple shot weekend. Cabana goes right after Homicide and knocks him to the floor. Dave Prazak welcomes us alongside Lenny Leonard. Brad and I are in were in the front row for this show, so you can see the two of us a bunch of times. Homicide gives Cabana a suplex on a pile of chairs outside the ring. They continue fighting outside the ring as Cabana slams Homicide on the concrete floor. Back in the ring and a ladder is involved now. Homicide throws Cabana into it and puts his head in between its rungs. He hits it with a steel chair and that is enough to get the win at 5:22. That was short, but since they’re scheduled to fight the next two nights as well I can see why they did it. Homicide and Julius Smokes proclaim the feud now over.
Rating: *½

Backstage

BG says: The members of Do Fixer say that in Japan Do Fixer fights all challengers and that tonight they are here to fight us. It actually sounds like they said that they’re here to white us, which is just racist if you ask me.

Christopher Daniels says that Samoa Joe has always been more trouble than he’s been worse. Daniels always knew that Joe didn’t respect him in the Prophecy, and that’s why he tried to stop him. At every turn Joe has beaten him. They were supposed to end their feud in Ohio, but Joe got a staph infection and that didn’t happen, so tonight they end this.

JZ says: Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, and Genki Horiguchi comprise the faction Do Fixer, one half of the Dragon Gate contingent on hand for the next three shows. They say something that I couldn’t really understand, but I look forward to their matches.

Christopher Daniels says that Samoa Joe has always been more trouble than he’s worth. He says that Joe has beaten him every time they’ve wrestled one-on-one in ROH. That’s awfully specific. These two were supposed to end their feud back in January in Ohio, but fate intervened and now tonight is their last one-one-one match. Tomorrow they’ll face each other in a three-way with BJ Whitmer and the next night in a four-way with Jimmy Yang and AJ Styles. He promises to finally defeat Joe tonight.

MATCH #2: Ricky Reyes vs. Chad Collyer
BG says: Collyer has the hair of a nine-year-old here, a big step down from the Mohawk. They lock up and Reyes grabs a hammerlock. Collyer reverses to a headlock and hits a dropkick. He hits another but misses a third. He hits a leg lariat and Reyes bails. Back in the ring Reyes hits a hanging DDT for 2. He hits a bodyslam and a kneedrop for 2. He goes to the eyes and hits a neckbreaker. He hits a back elbow for 2. He kicks away but Collyer dodges one and hits a German suplex for 2. He hits a neckbreaker and another German suplex for 2. Reyes hits a back heel kick and a Golden Gate swing for 2. Collyer flushes the toilet for 2. He goes for a bodyslam but Reyes reverses to a triangle choke. He floats into a cross armbreaker but Collyer reverses to the cloverleaf. Reyes gets to the ropes. Collyer goes for the cloverleaf again but Reyes blocks. Collyer gets a roll up for 2 but gets caught immediately after in the dragon sleeper giving Reyes the win. Really good for the time it was given.
Rating: **¾

JZ says: This was supposed to be the opener, but Cabana and Homicide had alternate plans there. Collyer had a really good match with Reyes’s Havana Pitbull counterpart Rocky Romero back at Death Before Dishonor II Pt. 2 in July of 2004. They trade some mat wrestling until Reyes hits an elevated DDT for two. Collyer tries to fight back but Reyes pokes him in the eyes. Collyer comes back with a German Suplex that gets two. Brian Gorie is the referee here. Prazak receives word from producer Artie that Cabana is in rough shape. Prazak says he’s going to try and get a word with him later. Reyes puts on a triangle choke, which Collyer tries to fight out of. He does, and puts on the Texas Cloverleaf. Reyes reaches the ropes and the crowd is actually solidly behind Collyer. He goes back to the cloverleaf but Reyes blocks it. Collyer gets a pinning combination but Reyes reverses it to the Dragon Sleeper and Collyer taps out at 7:10. That was a solid little match but didn’t really kick into a higher gear.
Rating: **½

Backstage

BG says: Blood Generation says that the word ‘next’ in Generation Next means second, and Blood Generation is number one. RAAAAAHHHH!

Samoa Joe says tonight will be the same as every night he faces Christopher Daniels, with his hand raised in victory. And tonight, when he wins, Daniels will shake his hand whether he likes it or not.

JZ says: Blood Generation, comprised of CIMA, Naruki Doi, and Masato Yoshino, are facing Generation Next tonight in a six-man tag team match.

Samoa Joe says he hates Daniels. He promises that he will defeat Daniels tonight, and that he will shake his hand whether he likes it or not.

MATCH #3: BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Jacobs

BG says: Jake and I were the first people to put up cell phones/lighters in the building during Jacobs’ entrance, so that’s our little nerdy ROHbot claim to fame. They show a clip of Whitmer beating Jacobs up on the FOX morning show the same day as this show, as well as Whitmer’s initial turn on Jacobs. They lock up and Jacobs grabs a wristlock. Whitmer suplexes out and puts on a wristlock of his own. Jacobs escapes with a head scissors takedown. Jacobs gets distracted with Lacey so Whitmer goes after her. Jacobs tries to dive out onto him but Whitmer catches him and tosses him into the barricade. Back in the ring Whitmer gets 2. He chops Jacobs down for 2. He hits a back elbow for 2. He hits a leg lariat for 2. He hits a snap suplex for 2. He tries to powerbomb Jacobs out of the corner but gets hurricanranad into the turnbuckle. Jacobs hits a double stomp and dropkicks Whitmer’s head into the post from the floor for 2. He hits a series of double stomp and an elbowdrop for 2. He hits some JYD headbutts and a dropkick for 2 with a cocky pin. He hits an elbowdrop and climbs the ropes. The senton hits knees and Whitmer hits an exploder suplex. Jacobs ducks a boot and goes for the Contra Code. Whitmer blocks it and drops Jacobs head first on the turnbuckle. He hits a German suplex and a dragon suplex but Jacobs reverses a powerbomb to a sunset flip for 2. He gets a roll up for 2. Whitmer goes for a suplex and they fall over the top rope to the floor. There’s nasty bump number 1. Jacobs goes for a hurricanrana off the apron and gets powerbombed on the turnbuckle. There’s nasty bump number 2. Back in the ring Whitmer hits a brainbuster for 2. He hits a boot to the face for 2. He climbs the ropes but Jacobs crotches him. They fight up top and Whitmer goes for a superbomb, but everyone’s lives fall apart when Whitmer falls out of the ring and Jacobs ends up hitting his head on the top rope before hitting his head on the apron as a stop on his way to the floor. We get two replays from different angles. Scariest bump ever. Back in the ring Whitmer gets 2 and loses his mind. Jacobs comes back with the Contra Code but Lacey demands he hurt Whitmer more. She sets up a table on the floor and Jacobs rolls Whitmer onto it. He climbs the ropes to go for the senton but gets distracted with Lacey and Whitmer has time to recover. He brings Jacobs down with an overhead superplex and then hits a lariat for the win. Well, he definitely earned that victory. The match live was the craziest thing I’d ever seen, with huge bumps and quality wrestling before the scariest moment in wrestling. If you watch the third replay you can see Jake and I freaking in the front row. Whitmer’s ankle was completely screwed after the fall. At any rate, this stuff has to be seen to be believed.
Rating: ***¾

After the match Jacobs leaves without shaking Whitmer’s hand. Whitmer gets on the microphone and says some mean things about Lacey and her control over Jacobs. Jacobs goes back to the ring and asks for a handshake before spitting in Whitmer’s face. He shakes it off to talk about CZW’s attack on him. He heard that Chris Hero and Necro Butcher were in Detroit tonight, so he calls them out. Nobody answers, but Whitmer says he’s watching the rest of the night to see if they show up.

JZ says: Jimmy Jacobs’s new entrance music is “The Ballad of Lacey,” which is a song written and performed by Jimmy Jacobs for the love of his life, Lacey. We see clips of Whitmer savagely attacking Jacobs on Fox Detroit’s morning news show, as well as Whitmer turning on Jacobs back at Dissension on 1.28.06 after they lost a tag team title shot against Austin Aries and Roderick Strong. Prazak and Leonard talk about the disturbing nature of the music video Jacobs made. Jacobs connects with a multiple revolution head scissors and the crowd is kind of behind him even though he’s a heel. He’s very preoccupied with Lacey’s presence outside the ring. Whitmer goes after her so Jacobs goes for a catapult outside the ring but Whitmer catches him and throws him into the guardrail a few times. They get back in the ring and Whitmer remains on offense. Big leg lariat gets two. Snap suplex gets two. Whitmer asks the referee if he knows who he is, which I find amusing. Jacobs comes back with a headscissors and a springboard double stomp in the corner. Jacobs hits a dropkick on Whitmer’s head as it was up against the ringpost. That gets two. Jacobs stays on offense but directs most of his attention in Lacey’s direction. He goes for the back senton off the top but Whitmer gets his knees up and nails the Exploder. Lacey looks irritated. Whitmer starts killing Jacobs with suplexes and goes for a powerbomb, but Jacobs gets a few rollups for near falls. Whitmer goes for a vertical suplex and both men tumble outside the ring to the floor. The crowd chants “holy shit” at that. Boy they just have no idea what they’re in store for. Jacobs goes for a rana but Whitmer catches him and powerbombs him against the railing. That looked sick. Back in the ring a brainbuster gets two. Big boot to the face gets two. Whitmer goes to the top and Jacobs knocks him down. Jacobs goes up but Whitmer stops him and sets up for a powerbomb. Then, in the most horrifying bump I’ve ever seen in my life, they slip and fall off the top rope backwards to the floor. I was right there in the front row in person and I was convinced that someone was going to have to call Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs and tell them their son is at least in the hospital. I can’t believe that both guys are standing. Whitmer is limping pretty badly, he’s gotta be hurt. Back in the ring though it only gets a two-count and the crowd is going pretty nuts now. Whitmer goes for the exploder but Jacobs reverses to the Contra Code. Instead of going for the pin, Lacey tells Jacobs to put Whitmer through a table outside the ring. The crowd chants “Please Don’t Die” at Jacobs, but he’s more concerned with blowing kisses to Lacey. This allows Whitmer time to recover and give Jacobs a belly-to-belly suplex off the top and follow it up with a sick lariat to get the win at 15:15. That was an excellent match before they took that horrifying fall, and it just got better afterwards because the crowd was more into it. Whitmer immediately starts unlacing his boot, which is not a good sign for him. ROH booker Gape Sapolsky (who came out to check on them after the match was over) was promising up and down that this match would steal the show, and he was right. The crowd gives both men a standing ovation and chants “BJ.” Whitmer wants a handshake, as does the crowd. Lacey doesn’t approve though, so Jacobs won’t do it. Lacey should really start acting like a businesswoman rather than a petulant child. Whitmer gets on the mic and asks Jacobs again to shake his hand. Jacobs gets up on the ring apron and spits on Whitmer. BJ is still in the ring and he starts talking about CZW. He heard that Chris Hero and Necro Butcher are here somewhere, and he challenges them to come out right now. They fail to show.
Rating: ****¼

MATCH #4: Ryo Saito vs. Jimmy Yang

BG says: Yang powers Saito to the corner and slaps him across the face. He takes Saito to the mat with a headlock but Saito escapes and puts on a hammerlock before slapping the back of Yang’s head. He hits a hurricanrana and a bulldog. He hits a dropkick and Yang bails. Back in the ring Yang hits a back heel kick. He hits the tiger flip but walks into an overhead suplex. Saito hits a legdrop for 2. He puts on a chinlock and then drops a series of elbows on Yang. Yang crotches him on the top rope and kicks him to the floor. Yang follows him out and rams him into the barricade. Back in the ring Yang hits a dropkick and puts on a leglock. Saito gets to the ropes. Yang stays on the leg with stomps and another leglock. Yang hits a pair of spinning kicks for 2. He puts on a hammerlock but Saito gets to the ropes. He catches Yang coming off the top with a dropkick and then hits an overhead suplex. He hits a running forearm and the Fisherman Express for 2. He climbs the ropes but dives into a leg lariat. Well, in theory. Yang hits a brainbuster and climbs the ropes. He hits Yang Time for 2. That looked unplanned. Saito hits a nasty DDT and climbs the ropes. He hits a big splash for 2. He dodges a moonsault press and hits the Premium Bridge for the win. This was the best Jimmy Yang match since Tag Wars, but even so it featured a healthy amount of goofs at the end and never got out of first gear for any significant amount of time.
Rating: ***

JZ says: I believe Saito is the Dragon Gate Champion. This is the first match of the Dragon Gate Challenge for which this show is named. They mat wrestle to start with Yang coming out on top. Prazak confirms my suspicions about Saito being the Open the Dream Gate Champion. They do some stuff and then trade chops, which Saito wins. Yang comes back and takes control and hits a combo of kicks to the head. Saito comes back with a dropkick on Yang as he was coming from the top rope. Saito hits three rolling fisherman’s suplexes and that gets two. Yang comes back and hits Yang Time but Saito kicks out. Saito hits Yang with a sick looking DDT. Big splash by Saito gets two. Yang goes for a moonsault but Saito moves out of the way and hits the Dragon Suplex to get the win at 11:53. That was technically solid but never very exciting. Dragon Gate goes up 1-0.
Rating: ***

MATCH #5: Bryan Danielson & Delirious vs. Jimmy Rave & Alex Shelley

BG says: This is the culmination of Danielson’s feud with the Embassy, as he picked the weakest partner he could find to prove that he could in essence beat both Shelley and Rave on his own. This is also Shelley and Rave’s first step on their path to the tag team titles. Delirious and Shelley start. Shelley stalls when the opening bell freaks Delirious out. They knuckle up and Shelley bails again. Back to the knuckle lock where Shelley gets into the power position. Delirious comes back with a roll up for 2. He puts on a headlock but Shelley reverses to the head scissors. He gets a front facelock but Delirious armdrags out. Rave tags in and drapes the Ghana flag over Delirious. Delirious fights back and starts eating the flag. Shelley tags in and bites Delirious’ hand to escape a chinlock. Delirious hits a leaping clothesline and tags to Danielson. Danielson works on the arm and pins Shelley for 2. Danielson puts on a Mexican dragon sleeper but Shelley goes to the eyes and tags to Rave. Delirious tags in airplane spins Rave. Danielson tags in and shows Delirious how it’s done. Delirious counters the force of the airplane spin so as to not start a hurricane in the Eastern hemisphere by running the opposite way around the ring. Danielson then pins Rave for 2 when Shelley saves. He hits a slingshot suplex for 2. He puts on a chinlock but Shelley pokes his eyes to break it up. Delirious tags in and gets hit with a chinbreaker. Shelley and Danielson tag in and Danielson pokes his eyes. He hits a chinbreaker and they trade slaps. Danielson puts on a bow and arrow lock but Rave breaks it up. Delirious and Danielson hit a double dropkick on Shelley and a double backdrop on Rave. Danielson goes after Nana and gets dropkicked by Shelley. The hard camera thankfully cuts off haze’s botched clothesline off of Nana’s back. Back in the ring Rave tags in and puts on a chinlock. Shelley tags in and they pound away. He hits a stiff kick to the back and tags to Rave. Rave hits a bodyslam and tags to Shelley. Shelley goes for a back suplex but Danielson reverses to a crossbody. Rave tags in and hits a dropkick for 2. Shelley tags in and they hit a double clothesline. Danielson dropkicks them both and tags to Delirious. Delirious cleans house, hitting a cobra clutch backbreaker for 2 on Rave. He dumps Shelley to the floor and dropkicks Rave’s back. He sweeps Shelley into Rave and hits the Panic Attack on Rave. He misses Shadows over Hell and gets hit with a superkick from Shelley. Danielson hits Shelley with a dropkick off the top and puts the Cow Killer on Rave. Delirious puts the Cow Killer on Shelley but he gets to the ropes. Rave bails and Danielson follows him out with a suicide dive. Meanwhile Shelley dropkicks the top of Delirious’ head. Haze and Nana distract the referee long enough for Shelley to go low and hit Sliced Bread #2 for the win. Rave cut Danielson off from making the save with his beautiful spear. This took a really long time to get interesting, which was disappointing given the competitors. Still, it was a solid match.
Rating: ***¼

JZ says: This came about when the Embassy challenged Danielson to a tag team match and Danielson allowed them to pick his partner. That’s me standing next to the guy with the Ghana flag. The crowd having the patience to not throw toilet paper until the Embassy gets into the ring is awesome. Shelley gets a pretty good babyface reaction though, because it’s his hometown I’m guessing. Delirious and Shelley start it out. Refereeing for Delirious is the most fun I may have ever had in my life. He sings the tune to Danielson’s entrance music. Shelley stalls in the early going. Delirious appears to be trying to impress the Champ. Rave tags in and drapes the flag of Ghana over him but Delirious is able to see through it and knocks Rave down. He puts the flag in his mouth, infuriating Nana. Shelley is back in and Delirious tags Danielson. These two had an awesome match back at Arena Warfare. Danielson puts on the surfboard / dragon sleeper combo but Shelley pokes the eyes and tags to Rave. Delirious is tagged back in, so he runs around the ring once before getting in. He gives Rave the airplane spin. Danielson tags in and shows Delirious how it’s done. Delirious takes his cue to run around the ring in circles around Danielson, which is hilarious. Slingshot suplex gets two. Alex Shelley comes and, and he also has till five, referee. Jimmy Bower invades the booth, reeking of alcohol. Tomorrow night in Chicago Danielson will defend the ROH World Title against Roderick Strong. The Embassy will take on Jimmy Yang & Claudio Castagnoli. Danielson and Delirious display some pretty good tag team work. Rave and Shelley of course cheat to take control. Danielson makes the hot tag to Delirious and he’s a lizard face on fire. Panic attack on Rave and he goes up for Shadows over Hell but Shelley pulls Rave out of the way and Shelley comes in and levels Delirious with a superkick. Sliced Bread #2 avoided by Delirious and Danielson hits Shelley with a missile dropkick and he and Delirious do a dueling Cattle Mutilation on their opponents. Danielson hits a dive on Rave outside the ring. Daizee gets up on the ring apron for some reason, then gets down. Now she and Nana both get on the apron as Shelley hits a low blow and Sliced Bread #2 to get the pin at 20:56. That was a really good tag team match that featured great work from the Embassy. I wouldn’t mind them getting the tag team titles. Danielson looks angry with his partner.
Rating: ***½

INTERMISSION

BG says: Colt Cabana has to cut his promo outside because after the match his head hurts too much to be around all those people. He can’t even get through the entire thing and probably has a concussion. Good thing he has Dave Prazak looking out for him.

JZ says: Prazak is outside the building with Colt Cabana. It’s dark out there. He wants Homicide to know that he’s still there, and he’s not going anywhere. Cabana stops mid-way through and Prazak cuts off the interview out of concern.

MATCH #6: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Shane Hagadorn

BG says: Hagadorn’s hair makes me hate him so, as does the way he sings along with his own theme music. Claudio grabs a headlock as the commentators claim that this match is being filmed for ROHVideos.com. That’s just not true. Hagadorn starts to fight back and taunts Claudio. He hits a knee to the face for 2. Claudio hits a springboard back elbow and a series of European uppercuts. He dropkicks Hagadorn’s head and hits another uppercut for 2. Hagadorn boots his face for 2. Claudio hits the inverted Angle slam for the win. This did nothing to grab my attention.
Rating: ½*

Chris Hero and Necro Butcher enter the ring, microphone in hand. Hero talks about his relationship with Claudio in Chikara and CZW as Necro jumps around looking for his attention. Hero is ready to forgive Claudio for turning on him in New York if he joins CZW’s side in the battle against ROH. BJ Whitmer comes down to the ring and tries to fight Hero and Necro off. Claudio stands back for a minute but then decides to side with ROH and saves Whitmer. Hero is livid.

JZ says: Leonard says this match is being taped for www.ROHVideos.com, but I don’t remember ever seeing it on there. Claudio pretty much dominates everything here. He gets the win with the water slide move at 4:02. That wasn’t much at all, but it looks like a more important event is coming, as Chris Hero and Necro Butcher come in from the crowd. Hero talks about his history with Claudio and how upset he is that Claudio has sided with ROH. BJ Whitmer comes out and attacks the invaders, but they soon use their 2-on-1 advantage against him. I can’t believe Whitmer is physically capable of coming out there right now after the fall he took earlier. Claudio feigns attacking Whitmer but gives Necro a big shot instead. Hero is pissed. Claudio and Whitmer shake hands as the crowd chants “ROH.”
Rating: ¼*

MATCH #7: Dragon Kid & Genki Horiguchi vs. AJ Styles & Matt Sydal

BG says: Genki and Sydal start. They trade holds and fight to a stalemate. They trade armdrags and beg off. Styles tags in and puts on a headlock. He hits a really cool armdrag and asks for Dragon Kid. Dragon Kid tags in and gets overpowered by Styles. Dragon Kid hits a head scissors takedown and Styles bails. Sydal comes in and gets caught with the Christo. For whatever reason most of Dragon Kid’s offense is named within a Christian theme. Horiguchi simultaneously surfs on Styles’ back. Dragon Kid dropkicks Styles in the corner. Genki tags in and hits a top rope double stomp. It was a nasty one too. He puts on a half crab but Styles pulls what’s left of his hair to escape. Sydal tags in and hits a clothesline. He hits a guillotine legdrop for 2. He puts on a strange half crab and tags to Styles. The crowd gets behind Genki with an H-A-G-E chant but its not enough to stop Styles from tossing the Dragon Gate boys around. Sydal tags in and hits a dropkick for 2. Horiguchi hits an enziguiri but Sydal cuts off the tag. Horiguchi hits a vertical suplex and tags to Dragon Kid. Styles tags in and gets dropkicked. Dragon Kid goes for the Déjà vu but has an insane amount of trouble with it. He forces Styles to the floor and dives out onto him with a moonsault. Genki follows suit with the Tope Toubida. Back in the ring Styles catches Dragon Kid with a back suplex for 2. Genki hits Styles with a tornado DDT while kicking Sydal away. He goes for a double jump moonsault but it hits knees and Sydal nails a standing moonsault for 2. Dragon Kid hits Sydal with an Arabian press. Styles catches Genki with his German suplex/facebuster combo. Dragon Kid hits Styles with the dragon rana, getting 2 for Genki. Sydal hits his legdrop on Genki and the enzirana on Dragon Kid. Dragon Kid goes to the floor so Sydal follows him out with a plancha. Genki gets the Backslide from Heaven on Styles for 2. He goes for another roll up for Styles reverses it to the Styles Clash for the win. They struggled through a lot of the bigger sequences here, but what they did hit looked very pretty. Styles looked beyond frustrated for most of the match. This could probably have been so much better than it was.
Rating: ***¼

JZ says: Dragon Kid and Genki Horiguchi are members of the faction Do Fixer along with Ryo Saito, who we saw earlier. Matt Sydal is a member of Generation Next, AJ Styles is not. This is match #2 in the Dragon Gate Challenge. Horiguchi and Sydal start it off. They trade some stuff and then tag out to their partners. Sydal and AJ take control with some double team maneuvers and Sydal goes to work on Horiguchi’s arm. The fans chant “H-A-G-E” at Horiguchi, because apparently it is the Japanese word for balding, which he is. AJ doesn’t seem to be willing to sell for Dragon Kid. They all start doing high-risk stuff and the crowd is getting into it big time. AJ hits the Styles Clash on Horiguchi to get the win at 12:32. They did some really cool stuff there but AJ’s apparent lack of cooperation takes it down a notch. That evens up the Dragon Gate Challenge at one win per team.
Rating: ***¾

MATCH #8: Blood Generation vs. Generation Next

BG says: This match right here is the reason you pick up the DVD. No tags are necessary in this match. CIMA, Doi and Yoshino are all tanned, cut and wearing matching outfits, making them look much more intimidating than Generation Next. CIMA and Strong start. Strong surfs on CIMA’s back, I guess thinking that he’s Genki Horiguchi. Strong grabs a headlock but CIMA comes back with a dropkick. Strong gets a sunset flip for 2. They trade roll ups and CIMA tags to Doi. Evans tags in and gets forearmed down. He hits a crazy double springboard armdrag and Doi bails. Learn to cover things up better Lenny Leonard. Evans follows Doi out with a springboard 450. Aries and Yoshino come in and Yoshino flies across the ring before hitting a dropkick. Strong comes in and gets dropkicked in the corner. He goes for the dropkick on Aries but gets powerbombed for 2. Evans tags in and hits a springboard double stomp for 2. Generation Next members all take turns chopping Yoshino, with Strong’s chops sounding scary. He backdrops Evans onto Yoshino and hits a standing moonsault. Aries comes in with the slow motion kneedrop, that I like more now because of how much it bothers Jake. It gets 2. Strong hits a backbreaker and Aries comes in with a slingshot elbowdrop for 2. Yoshino hits Strong with an inverted DDT that’s faster than you can imagine. CIMA catches Evans with an Ace Crusher. Doi and Yoshino hold Evans in the corner and CIMA dropkicks his tailbone. Doi hits the Dai Bosou and tags to Yoshino. Yoshino hits a vertical suplex for 2. He hangs Evans in the Tree of Woe and hits a dropkick. CIMA tags in and he and Doi hit a double shoulder block. CIMA puts on a leglock but Strong pulls Evans to the ropes. Blood Generation start triple-teaming Evans with butt splashes and double stomps. Evans comes back with a springboard back flip elbow. Aries tags in and hits the corner elbow on CIMA. He hits the Finley roll allowing Strong to hit a flying elbowdrop. Aries hits a frog splash for 2. Doi tosses Strong to the floor as CIMA dragon screws Aries onto the second rope. Evans gets destroyed in the corner and hit with an elevated double stomp. CIMA hits Aries with a double stomp and then follows him to the floor with a suicide dive. Doi hits Strong with a leaping forearm but gets caught with a tiger driver for 2. He hits a spinebuster for 2 when Aries saves. Aires hits the shinbreaker/back suplex combo on Yoshino followed by the corner dropkick. Doi tosses him to the floor and hits the Doi 555 on Evans. Yoshino and CIMA hit simultaneous Tokarevs on Evans. Yoshino hits the Torbellino on Strong but gets caught with the gutbuster. CIMA hits the Venus on Evans but Strong stops the Iconoclasm with the Sick Kick. He hits Doi with the half nelson backbreaker and tries to superplex Evans onto Doi but Doi moves and CIMA hits Evans with a superkick and the Schwein for the win. CIMA motions that he wants the tag titles after the match. Doing play-by-play for this was harder than it could have possibly been for any scramble match. I had more fun watching this spotfest than any TLC match or Michinoku Pro match than I can remember. I can’t say enough nice things about this, so I’ll just throw rating on it.
Rating: ****½

JZ says: Blood Generation is greeted with streamers, despite being a heel faction. This match should be all kinds of wicked, and if you expect me to be able to keep up with it you’re dreaming. Evans treats the crowd to some break dancing. Blood Generation has been hereby served! Gen Next goes for the handshake but Blood Gen will have none of it. Generation Next is represented by Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, and Jack Evans, and Blood Generation is comprised of CIMA, Naruki Doi, and Masato Yoshino. CIMA is the only one of the Dragon Gate guys who has been in ROH before, as he beat AJ Styles back at Dragon Gate Invasion on 8.27.05. It looks like they’re working Dragon Gate rules, which means tags aren’t necessary. Aries does a knee drop in slow motion, which looks ridiculous and is in fact ridiculous. Speaking of ridiculous (but in a good way), I’ve never seen anyone as fast as Masato Yoshino. Blood Generation isolates on Evans and just kicks the crap out of him. At a certain point the action just gets out of hand and way too fast for me to catch. CIMA hits his finisher on Evans to get the win for Blood Generation at 16:00. It’s gonna be tough for Joe and Daniels to top these guys. This is probably the best six-man tag team match in ROH history.
Rating: ****½

MATCH #9: Grudge Match – Christopher Daniels vs. Samoa Joe

BG says: The history of the Samoa Joe/Christopher Daniels rivalry is shown. This segment was available ROHVideos.com for free, but I’m not sure if it is anymore. At any rate it’s a pretty comprehensive look at the feud.

Daniels beat Samoa Joe for the X-Division title in TNA shortly before this, and he taunts Joe by showing off the title belt and using Joe’s “The Champ is here” entrance music. Joe attacks Daniels on the ramp while he’s still wearing the belt. Daniels fights back and poses for the fans. In the ring Joe dodges a leg lariat and sweeps Daniels’ legs. He hits a jumping knee and goes for the muscle buster but Daniels reverses to a body scissors pulling Joe to the floor. Daniels follows him out with an Arabian press. Back in the ring Daniels hits a shoulder tackle off the top for 1. He hits a leg lariat and a head scissors takedown for 2. He hits a swinging DDT for 2. Joe comes back with a facebuster and the Big Joe Combo for 2. He kicks Daniels down and puts on a chinlock. He hits a back elbow and puts on the Samoan Crab. Daniels gets to the ropes. Joe hits the STJoe and Daniels bails. Joe follows him out and hits the Ole Kick, twice. Back in the ring Joe hits a high knee in the corner. He goes for the muscle buster but Daniels escapes and sets Joe up top. Joe dodges the palm strike and puts on the choke. Daniels escapes and hits the palm strike and the Iconoclasm. He unloads with forearms and hits the blue thunder bomb. Daniels hits the STO for 2. Daniels blocks a blind charge but jumps into a Manhattan drop. Joe hits a big boot but his senton hits knees. Joe hits a powerslam for 2. He hits a powerbomb for 2 and goes right into the STF. He floats into a crossface but Daniels gets to the ropes. Danger grabs Joe’s leg and Daniels hits him with an enziguiri. He goes for the Last Rights but Joe reverses to the choke. Daniels escapes with a jawbreaker and hits the Angel’s Wings for 2. He hits the triple jump moonsault, but knows that that’s not enough and hits it twice more for the win. I loved that finish, and it really put this over the top as my favorite match between the two in ROH.
Rating: ****

JZ says: The video package for this match is pretty great, showing all of the history between these two from 2002 onward. IT was actually Daniels who brought Joe into ROH to be a hired gun for the Prophecy. Daniels comes out wearing the TNA X-Division belt, which he recently won from Joe in TNA. This angers Joe, so he goes up to fight Daniels in the aisle. They fight all around ringside with Daniels actually controlling for the most part. They get into the ring and the match officially starts. Joe goes for the Muscle Buster early, but Daniels body scissors’ Joe outside the ring and gives him the Arabian Press. Everything each of them does looks like it has a little something extra on it, really selling the hatred between them. The momentum keeps shifting between both guys. Angel’s Wings by Daniels gets two. He goes up and hits three consecutive BME’s to get the pin at 15:36. That was extremely energetic and the hatred felt real and these guys are both awesome, so I really liked this match.
Rating: ****

Aftermath

BG says: Hero and Necro get in the ring. Danger begs Daniels not to fight them so he doesn’t. Joe starts fighting them but the numbers catch up to him. BJ Whitmer, ever faithful to ROH, comes out to even the odds with a chair, actually breaking it over Necro’s head. Joe cuts a profanity-laden tirade against John Zandig and CZW, declaring that they’ve caught his attention now.

JZ says: Chris Hero and Necro Butcher come out and Daniels looks ready to fight them. Allison Danger wants him to reconsider though. As he’s walking to the back, Joe gets into the ring. He has no love for either Hero or Necro. The 2-on-1 advantage soon comes into play as they beat Joe down. BJ Whitmer comes out and murders Necro with a chair and gives a shot to Hero as well. Joe gets on the microphone and tells CZW that they now have his attention. He says that he declares war on CZW. Joe gets the crowd all riled up with this kick-ass promo.

Backstage

BG says: The more Lance Storm sees of Bryan Danielson’s title reign the more he wants to be a part of it.

Jim Cornette is on the phone with someone who knows who knocked his tooth out. The guy on the phone will remain anonymous as long as he tells Cornette who it was. We don’t get to find out yet though because the Milestone Series is… TO BE CONTINUED.

JZ says: Lance Storm says he wants to be a part of Bryan Danielson’s title reign. I like that they’re building this match, but by the time this show had happened the match had been announced for a few weeks.

Jim Cornette is talking to somebody on his cell phone about the man who knocked his tooth out back in Ohio in January.

TO BE CONTINUED…

MVP

BG says: Jack Evans. He took an insane beating in that trios match and made Blood Generation look like gods.

JZ says: Jimmy Jacobs. He participated in one of the sickest falls I’ve ever seen and, it made a good match even better. BJ Whitmer gets an honorable mention here for the same reasons.

THE FOLLOWING MATCH IS NOT ON THIS DVD

BONUS MATCH: Dragon Gate – Milano Collection AT vs. Ryo Saito, 1.14.05

BG says: Saito’s hair is not quite as awesome as it would be when he came to the states. They work the mat for a while and then Milano grabs a headlock. Saito knocks Milano to the floor with a running elbow. Saito follows him out and rolls him back into the ring. He struggles for and hits a bodyslam for 2. He puts on a chinlock but Milano gets to the ropes. He stays in control for what feels like forever with some dull offense until Milano ties him up in a strange submission. He hits an armbreaker and a dropkick. He wraps Saito’s arm around the middle rope and then hits a senton to the arm for 2. He ties Saito up in the ropes completely and then pulls his elbow pad down before dropkicking the arm. He hits another armbreaker and a dropkick to the side of the head. He pulls on the arm until Saito gets to the ropes. Milano stays on the arm and goes for a powerbomb but Saito hits a hurricanrana and an overhead suplex. He hits a running forearm and a fisherman’s suplex for 2. Milano catches him with an enziguiri that sends him to the floor. His second sprays some crap on his elbow while he’s on the floor but he gets back in before the 20 count expires. Milano hits a handspring elbow and goes for Sliced Bread #2 but Saito blocks. A Saito blind charge ends with his elbow rammed into the post and Milano hits a top rope armbreaker. Saito gets a roll up for 2. He hits a hurricanrana for 2. He hits a fisherman’s suplex and a spinebuster for 2. Milano puts on a unique wristlock but Saito gets to the ropes. They trade forearms until Milano does the Matrix dodge of a clothesline and hits a pair of enziguiris. He hits a leg lariat for 2. He hits a springboard elbowdrop for 2. He puts on the AT Lock but Saito rolls over for 2. Milano goes for another springboard move but Saito stops him and hits a German suplex. He hits another for 2. Milano hits an enziguiri but Saito stops him momentum and sets him up top. He hits a fisherman’s superplex for 2. Milano tries to run away but Saito catches up with him and hits the Premium Bridge for the win. I loved the ending there, as Milano totally flipped out with fear before getting caught with that dragon suplex. The first half of the match was very slow, but built entirely to the AT Lock and the tease of Milano winning. The second half of the match was a lot of fun and featured a very fun finish.
Rating: ***½

JZ says: This match is from a DVD I got from the website PuroresuDVDSource and it’s on “The Best of 2005 Volume One.” This website has a ridiculous amount of Japanese wrestling, I suggest you check it out. The only Milano matches I’ve seen are the ones from ROH, ditto for Saito, so this is the first time I’ve seen either guy in their natural environment. They do some mat wrestling to start and Milano avoids Saito; I’m assuming he’s the heel. Saito takes control and goes to work on the back and the neck. Milano comes back and puts on a creative submission hold I don’t believe I’ve ever seen before. Then he starts going to work on the arm to set up for the AT Lock. I spy Genki Horiguchi at ringside. H-A-G-E! Milano is just dissecting the arm here. Saito comes back and hits a fisherman’s suplex for two. Saito tries to springboard in but Milano hits an enziguiri instead, and that looked sweet. It would have been fun to see Milano wrestle for the ROH Pure Title. Flash rollup by Saito almost gets three. They exchange slaps and both men are down. Back up and they do a cool exchange that ends with a Milano arm submission, but Saito reaches the ropes. The referee has awesome hair. Milano hits a beautiful springboard corkscrew senton. He puts on the AT Lock but Saito gets a rollup for two. Saito hits a pair of nasty looking German Suplexes for two. Super fisherman’s suplex by Saito only gets two, so he hits the Dragon to get the win at 20:44. That started off a mite slow, but it got going and was tremendous by the end.
Rating: ***¾

You can pick up this show, as well as all other ROH shows at ROH Wrestling Dot Com.

Coming soon will be our review of SUPERCARD OF HONOR!

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E-mail Brad at [email protected]
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The 411: BG says: One of the best ROH shows to date without a doubt. Well, maybe a little doubt as my having been there live may have influenced me. However, I can't see anyone watching this show and coming away without finding something they liked. Pick this up ASAP. JZ says: Three matches over four stars and some good undercard stuff makes this easily one of the best shows in ROH history. There’s not much else that needs to be said – buy this DVD now!

Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]