411’s ROH Driven ’08 Report 11.14.08

ROH Driven 2008

-Taped from Boston, MA on September 19th, 2008

-Austin Aries is already in the ring as the crowd is jacked and chanting for him. Aries says “right now I have one goal in my mind, and that is to take out Jimmy Jacobs and the Age of the Fall.” Aries talks about his agenda, to make Jacobs suffer. We get clips from the last PPV with Necro dumping Aries and Jacobs off the ladder. Aries wants some action now, but Jacobs’ offers a rebuttal. “You want to crash this show like we did at the last PPV? There’s one difference. As one half of the world tag team champions in Ring of Honor I come and go as I please.” Tonight they will defeat everyone’s favorite team of Steen and Generico in the main event, but Austin can deal with Delirious for now.

Austin Aries vs. Delirious

Delirious attacks from behind, back raking and hip tossing him. He chokes him with the ring jacket and this isn’t your friendly neighborhood Delirious. Hair pulling and a grapple is reversed into a uranage and Aries twisting elbow. Aries runs the turnbuckles and gets in body shots. Jacobs jumps to the apron but Aries clear him off, but the distraction is enough for Aries to miss the missile dropkick in the turnbuckle. Jacobs is laughing as Delirious just smashes his feet jumping over and over onto Aries. Forearm rake and Delirious looks for the cobra clutch but Aries elbows out, now Delirious with a uranage and a two count. Delirious with an interesting side slam and floats right into a butterfly lock. The crowd pumps Aries back and he drives him into the turnbuckle. More shots to Delirious and Delirious reverses it and stomps a mud hole and bah bah bahs it dry. Panic attack is slipped into a roll up, knee strikes and Last Chancery and this one is… NOT over as Delirious rakes the eyes. Cobra clutch is applied but Aries uses momentum to bring him down and then hits the heat seeking missile onto BOTH Delirious and Jacobs outside! Great stuff. Knees and a neckbreaker on the rope for a close two. Brainbuster attempt is stopped, switch and Delirious bites at the back, hope Aries got his rabies shot recently. Cobra Clutch release suplex! Panic Attackl And again! And a third time! Jacobs on the apron is demanding more and Delirious goes back to work but Aries is back to his feet, nails a missile dropkick to the corner, and another! And a third! Brainbuster float over into the ground knee strikes and the last chancery for the tap out! Jacobs attacks immediately after the match, using the title belt to hit Aries into stomach and in the head, Tyler Black is out and kicks Aries while he is down. Jacobs pounds down on Black and Aries is bused open. Jacobs is consumed with Bloodlust and even Tyler Black is asking Jacobs what he’s doing. Black wants Jacobs to stop because he has to defend the titles later but Jacobs disregards him and hits the senton through the table onto Aries. Black rushes out to check on his tag partner. The crowd chants “former champs” at Black as he and Delirious rush Jacobs to the back.

WINNER: Austin Aries via submission
Both men worked at a fast pace and their smooth flow from move to move really helped to get the crowd into the action. A good opener if there ever was one. ***

-Opening video package with highlights from the last PPV.

-Larry Sweeney and the gang of Sweet & Sour Inc. are out. Sweeney sports some sweet looking glasses. He demands SILENCE! Hero, Pearce, Edwards, Del Rey are out with him. First though an appetizer and a very buxom young lass comes out to fight Del Rey.

Sara Del Rey vs. Jessie McKay

Jessie is never identified by name, and maybe it’s for the best as we get a complete squash including a kick and the royal butterfly for three. Gotta love Del Rey’s 60’s style bathing suit outfit. Very Fabulous Moolah.

WINNER: Sara Del Rey via SQUASH
SQUASH to get Sweet & Sour Inc. off to a good start. 1/4*

Brent Albright & Erick Stevens vs. Sweet & Sour Incorporated of Eddie Edwards and Adam Pearce

The faces rush the ring and the heels get a double back body drop for their troubles. Albright gets thrown to the floor by Pearce and then closelined from behind. The heels isolate Stevens and pummel him with punches and kicks. Irish whip to the turnbuckle and Stevens avoids a double team and gets a tag to Albright. Exploder suplex and then a double leg to Pearce and punches him down. Albright closelines Edwards. Half Nelson on Pearce attempted by Edwards stops it. Albright flips them the bird and points behind them, and Stevens levels them with a closeline. Atomic drop and shoulder tackle combo. Edwards is LATE on the save and the ref has to hold up the count—BOOOO! Albright with a forearm band punches Pearce but Edwards catches him from behind and hits Stevens with a boot to the floor. Edwards DDT and lionsault but Stevens with the ON TIME save. And then messes up Edwards in the face just for fun. Edwards ties another springboard but Albright swivels it into a powerslam for two. Albright’s arm is still giving trouble so he tags to Stevens and we get the CHOOO CHOO blocked and gets the knee buster and an enziguri by Edwards. Stevens comes back with an elevated powerslam. Dropkick by Pearce (!) onto Stevens but the faces quickly comeback with double punches and the heels get pingponged mercilessly. Double noggin knocker on the heels—old school! Now to the outside irish whip on Stevens into the barricade. Stevens and Pearce in the ring and he gets closelines down. Now the goof troop is in but gets wiped out by Stevens. Pearce catches him from behind. Pearce irish whips Stevens on accident into The Inc, including Hero and Hagadorn and Albright comes from behind with the half nelson suplex for three! Albright and Stevens chase Sweeney to the back and The Inc is sucking on some lemons tonight.

WINNERS: Erick Stevens & Brent Albright via killing Pearce.
This one was fun but didn’t have much of a rhythm going for it. It was bordering on the edge of too much packed in too short of a time. Edwards, aside from the late save, probably looked the best he ever has in ROH, and coming from me that’s a pretty big compliment. I also liked the combination of Stevens and Albright together—they have something as a team.**3/4

-ITS JERRY LYNN! –”Well , what do we have here?” The crowd pops like mad for Jerry Lynn. Lynn wonders if his body has some more left in him, until he watched an ROH DVD and saw Hero disrespectfully cheap shot Lance Storm. Hero playfully reenacts the moment with Shane Hagadorn—nice funny moment. Lynn wants a match with Hero to see if he still has it against “that young knock out kid—what a lame name! Please let me teach him a lesson!” the crowd I ready for it and Lynn rushes the ring.

Chris Hero vs. Jerry Lynn

They fight to the outside and Lynn slams his head on the mat. Lynn gets the leg drop on the rope, but tries a springboard and gets a knee to the stomach to stop him. Hero attacks with forearms and works the wrist and shoulder. Lynn kicks out and gets the arm drag and works Hero’s arm. Elbow and boot stops Lynn and a downwards elbow drops Lynn to his knee. In the corner Hero works on Lynn some more, Lynn fires back and is caught. Low drop kick puts Lynn to the mat for a two count. The story Prazak and Leonard try to sell is that Lynn is trying to prove himself to everyone. Lynn springboards into a cross body for two and drives the knee to the arm. Hero goes to the eyes to stop the offense. More elbows to the side of the head. Lynn is tossed out and pulls the mats out. Body slam on the floor! Suplex to the floor is blocked and Lynn drives Hero into the turnbuckle, springboards into a dropkick and sends Hero to the floor! Running flip senton! Awesome. However he is DRIVEN into the ring apron and a senton from Hero gets two. Atomic drop gets two. Hero needs a shave I think. Hero takes too much time to posture and Lynn gets a final cut DDT! BAAAAACK body drop and three sentons from Lynn! 10 punch in the corner! The crowd loves it. Boot missed by Hero and a DDT is attempted but Hero drives him into the corner. Boot by Lynn, Swinging DDT. Close two count! Hero is cross-eyed in exasperation and Lynn looks for the cradle piledriver avoided and snake eyes into the corner. Rolling KO elbow—TWO COUNT ONLY! The crowd is fired up and Hero hates it! Hero pulls him back up, elbow combinations and blockbuster but Lynn pulls on the brakes. Cradle Piledriver attempted again and now Sweet & Sour to the rescue! Del Rey throws the elbow pad into the ring, Hero nails Lynn with it and that’s 3!

WINNER: Chris Hero via loaded elbow pad
Jerry Lynn just knows how to deliver a good to very good match every time out. This was old school babyface vs. heel and the crowd loved it. ***1/4

-Highlights from Respect is Earned II with McGuinness’s challenge to Danielson to defeat everyone he defeated for a title match on PPV. We get the Claudio turn on Danielson from the four way elimination match from Death Before Dishonor VI and the crowd giving Claudio whatfor. Castagnoli gives the Pillmanizer to Danielson’s head.

Three Way Elimination Match: Bryan Danielson vs. Go Shiozaki vs. Claudio Castagnoli

Claudio and Danielson go right at it and Shiozaki is content to just stand aside and let them fight. Danielson want to go for the Cattle Mutilation by can’t get him down to the floor. Shiozaki finally interrupts and clears Claudio out to have Danielson for himself. Danielson trips up Shiozaki and looks for the Mexican surfboard. He locks it in but before he can swing it over Castagnoli plants him with a bicycle kick. European uppercuts on Danielson but go slips behind him for a two count. Claudio drives down with the knee onto Go from the top rope, haven’t seen that one before. Castagnoli goes to work on Danielson. Weird back body drop by Claudio and Go gets sent to the floor. Chops by Go and Danielson boots Go. Strike exchange from Go and Danielson but Danielson gets the flying soccer kick to clear out Go. Danielson and Claudio pair off culminating with a kitchen sink and kick from Danielson. Running forearm and forearms strikes by Danielson. Pop up euro by Claudio but he’s in the turnbuckle so no over. Claudio shoves the ref aside on a five count…and again… and now suplexes the referee for the DQ. Claudio gets the Ricola bomb for good measure on Danielson. He’s looking to Pilmanize Danielson again, but the security and suits are out to stop him. They get slammed for their efforts and finally they are able to restrain him. Then he breaks free and throws one of them in the front row! Sweet!

Its Go and Danielson and the latter is prone. Lots of chops from Go as Danielson stumbles around, reeling. Running knee in the turnbuckle gets two. Running knee on the apron. Short armed lariats from Go. A fourth one turns Danielson over and it’s a close two count. Irish whip into a chop for Go. Go off the second rope but Danielson uppercuts him in mid-air! Back elbow by Go, irish whip gets the tiger flip and Danielson fires up! Butterfly suplex into an armbar. Go rolls over but Danielson floats over into the elbows and into the Cattle Mutilation. Go doesn’t give up, so he switches back to elbows and one more time into the Cattle Mutilation, but Shiozaki gets the ropes. Shiozaki breaks out and levels Danielson with a palm strikes for a close two. Shiozaki gets a massive lariat and Danielson 360 flips over but still only two! He chops Danielson down and Bryan looks to be glazed over and not fighting back. Superkick blocked into a step up enziguri by Go nails the superkick! Go goes up for the moonsault but it hits knees and then right into the triangle choke. Elbows to the top of the head by Danielson and Shiozaki is going nowhere. The ref calls for the bell!

WINNER: Bryan Danielson by submission.
Claudio’s initial offense looked kind of weak but the match took an awesome turn starting from when he flipped out. Go and Danielson turned it up a notch or two after that—Danielson fighting from behind is always fantastic to see because his comebacks are that much more dramatic. ***1/2

-Danielson notes that he has defeated everyone McGuinness asked him to beat. “They have been ducking Bryan Danielson for far too long…whoever wins tonight…you gotta deal with me!”

Tag Team Scramble Match: Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. YRR (Jason Blade & Kenny King w/ Chasyn Rance) vs. The Vulture Squad (Ruckus & Jigsaw w/ Julius Smokes)vs. Necro Butcher

Oh good god. I can only type so fast. By the time I looks up a million moves have already happened. Ruckus does some crazy flipping stuff. The YRR does some crazy enziguris. The Briscoes are content to beat the piss out of anyone in their way. Necro does the same, as a one man wrecking crew. Everyone does flying moves but then Necro comes in and just busts everyone with punches and boots. The Briscoes build a massive chair mountain on the outside of the ring. Necro flies onto everyone! However, Necro gets thrown onto the chair mountain and The Briscoes get the win on a member of the YRR.

WINNERS: The Briscoes via Manning Up
FLIPPY, FAST, good for what it was. **3/4

-Roderick Strong vs. Nigel McGuinness promo building up his challenge for the title.

ROH World Title Match: Nigel McGuinness © vs. Roderick Strong

Strong offers a handshake and Nigel shakes it tentatively. Arm work early on by both men, switching in and out of positions with wristlocks and arm wringers. It sounds boring, but it’s all solid and well paced. A leap frog / dropkick situation actually results in a busted lip for Nigel. Leonard notes the slower pace favors Nigel. Back heel trip and Roderick throws Nigel to the mat. Both men roll through some arm flips and we get a chop or ouch from Strong to Nigel. Backbreaker of the standard variety and now a scoop backbreaker for two. Wow, a hammerlock powerslam (again, never seen that before, and it looks cool as hell) from Nigel traps Strong’s arm and gives Nigel to in for later work on the arm and shoulder. To the outside and some strike exchanges that Nigel gets the best of. In the ring and it’s more of the same and Strong is in trouble. Nigel gets the painfully-looking arm bending hold…yeah, that’s no fun. Strong fires back with two chops and then Nigel knocks him right back down again. Lots of heat from the crowd on Nigel. Poke in the eye for good measure. HEEL! Irish whip reversed back elbow by Nigel and headstand mule kick for two. Strong fires off some desperate chops and Nigel bats him right back down.

Strong is on the come back with a boot and dropkick off the top, elbow by Nigel send him to the floor but Roderick slides back in, dropkicks through the ring ropes and then a forearm smash down to the floor wipes out Nigel Strong covers for two. Leg cradle backbreaker for two! Pump Handle back breaker for two! Choppy choppy choppy but Nigel gets the kick and closeline to the back for two. Hard chop by Nigel sees sweat fly off of Nigel but Roderick moves from the running euro., jumping enziguiri, gutbuster, boot and a close two! Rotation lariat from Nigel! TWO count! Tower of London attempt, stopped, no look lariat from Nigel for a two and nine tenths count! TOWER OF LONDON One…two…foot on the ropes! McGuinness looks for the lariat from the top but Roderick ducks, slingshot powerslam for two! Strong gets a super backbreaker on the top turnbuckle for two and nine-tenths! Everyone bought that one! Headstand caught with a chop and strong has McGuinness in a tree of woe position and just chops him like crazy! Sick backbreaker but Nigel juuuust kicks out! McGuinness gets a closelines and then the lariat from the top rope. Two count! TOWER of London to the floor down to the ring apron! A good camera edit helped that look great. Two and nine-tenths again! Jawbreaker blocked into a lariat for Strong, Gibson Driver, one two….NO! Is there anything more close than two and nine-tenths? Well whatever it is, this was it. Strong goes for a top rope Gibson Driver, McGuinness fights it off…lariat off the top turnbuckle and Gibson flips over! TWO COUNT! Arm trap lariat! Running lariat! Tower of London! ONE, TWO, THREE!

WINNER: Nigel McGuinness by pinfall
Never doubt the power of McGuinness. He sets the pace slowly in the beginning of the match, but that lulls you into not seeing when the match will turn up a gear. The finale of close kick outs has been done in plenty of other McGuinness matches this year but he gets the crowd to buy into it every time, even here against Strong when there was seemingly no chance the title would switch. ****1/4

-Steen & Generico promo to build up their tag title shot.

ROH World Tag Team Titles: The Age of the Fall of Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black © vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico

Steen shows some great fire, screaming to the cameras “Tonight! This is it! We’re leaving with the goddamn tag team titles!” Jacobs is slightly selling the pain of the senton with his grimace and a late entry onto the stage. We get a stand-off between the two teams, some pushing and shoving and then we get an all out brawl! Black and Jacobs duck out of the ring and Steen and Generico pace back and forth wanting them back in. We settle things down starting with Generico and Jacobs one-on-one. Jacobs pushes Generico in the corner and Tyler blind tags in and puts Generico in a facelock. Generico reverses and pushes Black in the corner, allowing Steen to tag in and fire some shots at Black. Hammerlock by Steen reverses into a side headlock, held on by Black then reverses into an arm wringer by Steen. Black can’t chain out so he just punches Steen in the mouth to regain leverage. Steen demonstrates his agility by spinning out in the reversal. Tag to Generico, in with some boots and chops. Back and forth and Black chokes out Generico on the ropes. Jumping calf kick by Generico and Jacobs comes in by Generico punches him in the breadbasket on the way in. Tag to Steen, who hammers on Jacobs. Steen goads Black in and the ref catches him, allowing Steen to attack Jacobs’ back. Drop toehold and somersault legdrop. Steen powerbombs Generico on Jacobs! Two count. The crowd is massively behind Generico, loud Ole! Chants with every move. Jacobs attacks from behind. Black stomps on him but an easy kick out. Waistlock elbowed out by Generico, switched, back suplex for two. Tag to Steen and a loud chop and forearm! Running forearm levels Black for two. Generico tags in and tags Black with some right hands. Body slam and and Generico goes up to. Jacobs catches his foot and Generico chops him down by Generico is caught by Black in mid-flight who tosses him all the way down to the floor!

Heat on Generico now as Black grounds and pounds Generico. Black just snapmares him into the corner—ouch. Tag to Jacobs and now a double pound and ground by Age of the Fall. Jacobs uses the tassles on the back of Generico’s head to hold him in place and lands a huge knee strike. Jacobs holds him so that he can’t crawl to the tag and Black hits Steen. Wishbone to Generico. Generico thrown to the floor and Jacobs comes off with a double axehandle, punches him and tosses him in. Two count. Generico fights both men off but Jacobs single leg picks Generico to stop any comeback. Jacobs stomps him repeatedly and gets a senton.Generico makes a leap for Steen but Jacobs stops him and tosses him back outside and now its Black doing damage. Generco pitched outside but this time Generico catches Jacobs, dodges Black and runs baqck in the ring to make the hot tag to Steen. Flying tope con hilo to the outside on both men! Powerbombs Jacobs on the ring frame! Steenalizer for two! The fans are now hot and alive, ready for Steen to get the win. Steen signals for the moonsault, goes up but NO WATER IN THE POOL. Tag to Jacobs and we get The End Time. Steen holds him in place and a yakuza kick followed by a flip over pinfall for a close two! Black with the romp em stomp em but gets elevated over. Kick to the back of the head spear, frog splash…close two count for Age of The Fall!

Black picks Steen up the top turnbuckle, superplex attempt, but Steen fights back and slaps Black down. Jacobs up top now—bites at Steen (hope he had his tetanus shot as well). Jacobs is pushed down but Black stops him. Generico goes wild on Black! Yakuza kick to Black is stopped but Generico sends Black all the way up to Steen on the top rope. Yakuza to Jacobs! Steen with a gutbuster off the top to Black. Swanton by Steen and splash by Generico! ONE… TWO…NO! Everyone in attendance thinks its three and pops like crazy for it, but it’s only two! Steen sets up for the Package Piledriver, but Black rolls through, enziguiri—God’s Last Gift (small package driver)! Broken up by Generico. Jacobs and Generico fight on the floor while Black goes up top for the Phoenix. NO WATER IN THE POOL AGAIN! Yakuza by generic to Black! brainbuster from the top is attempted and the fans want to see it, but Jacobs again stops Generico’s movements. Powerbomb & Contra Code combination is fought off and Steen gets the rolling cannonball down on Black! Steenshooter! Generico has Jacobs up top and Black is in pain Jacobs fights him off and tries to stop the move but Steen elbows him out. Jacobs is thrown out by generic and dive! Steen has it locked in and the crowd can sense a title change! Black has his eyes closed in pain. Jacobs finally clears off Generico and rushes in at the last second, biting the face and raking the eyes to break up the hold. Double tags and Generico and Jacobs are legal. Half Nelson Suplex to Jacobs! Yakuza kick is countered by rushing right into the End Time! Generico is trying to fight it off, picks him up and turns it into a brainbuster attempt. Jacobs floats over but Black errantly hits his own partner with a springboard closeline! Package Piledriver…brainbuster! ONE, TWO, THREE! WE HAVE NEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!

WINNERS: Kevin Steen and El Generico via pinfall
This was everything you’d want in a pay per view main event—a title situation (and eventual title switch), a molten hot crowd and a fantastic stretch run where it seems anything and everything could happen. Steen & Generico’s title win is one of those special moments that skeptics of ROH say the company can’t provide but yet seems to do so on a regular basis.****1/2

-Steen & Generico embrace in the ring, then celebrate out with the crowd as we get replays of the closing moments of the match.

The 411: Driven 2008 is another terrific Pay Per View show from Ring of Honor. It follows the format of the last three Pay Per Views by having a very solid first hour and a blow-away second hour of main event matches. This one is well paced, just like “New Horizons” and “Respect is Earned II” and ends at just the right moment with Steen & Generico winning the tag titles. This is one of the better “feel good” moments of the year and is a must-see for any wrestling fan looking for those must-see moments in professional wrestling. Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuinness, Roderick Strong and Jerry Lynn also shine brightly this time around with excellent performances in worthy undercard matches, while Claudio Castagnoli officially turns heel in PPV continuity.