ROH – Ring of Homicide DVD Review

ROH – RING OF HOMICIDE – EDISON, NJ – 5.13.06

Review by Brad Garoon and Jacob Ziegler

Honor Roll 59 (as voted on by The ROH Message Board)

The first number in parentheses represents the position each wrestler was in on the last Honor Roll, and the second number represents how many consecutive Honor Rolls they have been listed.

This is the same Honor Roll as How We Roll.

ROH WORLD CHAMPION: Bryan Danielson (since 9.17.05)
ROH PURE CHAMPION: Nigel McGuinness (since 8.27.05)
1) Austin Aries (1, 11)
2) Roderick Strong (2, 17)
3) Christopher Daniels (3, 4)
4) Delirious (NR, 1)
5) Colt Cabana (NR, 1)

Introduction

BG says: Be sure to check out the ROH Video Recap available on the main menu of the DVD. Included are Delirious’ challenge to Bryan Danielson for another title match, highlights of the CZW/ROH feud and Jim Cornette’s appeal to Homicide for help. You can view this for free at ROHVideos.com.

BJ Whitmer picks up where he left off the night before by asking Homicide for help against CZW. Homicide is upset because he feels that ROH is screwing him out of title shots, so Whitmer gets into their match history. He knows deep down that ROH means something to Homicide and asks what he wants his legacy to be.

Prince Nana wants Jimmy Rave to beat the chicken fried rice out of Jimmy Yang. That’s Chinese, Yang is Korean. Rave wants Daizee Haze to take care of Yang’s ninja friends. Again, not Korean. Alex Shelley is nowhere to be found even though if memory serves he’s getting a Pure title shot tonight.

JZ says: BJ Whitmer opens the show to talk about Homicide. Jeez, you think the show was named after him or something. He runs through a list of the matches he and Homicide have had together, and wants to know what kind of legacy Homicide wants to leave.

The Embassy (Prince Nana, Jimmy Rave, and Daizee Haze tonight) are backstage to talk about the match with Jimmy Yang tonight. They seem to have some kind of plan.

MATCH #1: Colt Cabana vs. Kikutaro

BG says: Kikutaro takes offense to the crowds’ loud chants for Cabana. Cabana suggests that if he stop changing his name the crowd might chant it. Jared Davin, the commentator from the FIP DVDs that I suspect may be Mark Nulty or his offspring is replacing the heavily injured Lenny Leonard on commentary here. Cabana and Kikutaro goof around to start. Cabana grabs a wristlock but Kikutaro swings Cabana around with the Tango to escape. He gets a wristlock of his own and Cabana escapes with some good old chain wrestling. Cabana baits Kikutaro into a trap that results in him getting shoved to the floor. Cabana follows out but Kikutaro quickly gets back in. He crotches Cabana on the second rope and then does the same to the referee. He fakes a dive on Cabana and the referee and then crotches himself on the top rope. Cabana hits the Flying Asshole and a lariat for 2. He climbs the ropes but Kikutaro catches him with a dragon screw and the Shining Wizard for 2. Cabana whips the referee into a clothesline on Kikutaro and then hits a powerbomb for the win. As a match it wasn’t much but it delivered as a funny opener.
Rating: **

JZ says: Kikutaro calls Cabana a “homosexual” and pops for himself. Dave Prazak is joined by newcomer Jared David, who is subbing for the injured Lenny Leonard. They do some awesome comedy to start, and I don’t see them doing much more than that. They dance and do other assorted entertaining bits. Kikutaro “accidentally” low blows both Cabana and referee Mr. Duke. Another funny spot sees Mr. Duke clothesline Kikutaro. Moments later Cabana hits a powerbomb/folding press combination to get the pin at 6:56. That’s a fun way to start the show.
Rating: **

MATCH #2: Homicide & Ricky Reyes vs. Dunn & Marcos

BG says: It seems strange to have Homicide in such a meaningless match when the show carries his name. I can’t say I’m happy to see Dunn & Marcos again. They attack before the bell and hit the high five bulldogs. Reyes cuts off a stacker maneuver and the Rottweilers double-team Marcos. Dunn gets his groin shoved against the post before Reyes dropkicks him. Marcos comes back with an armdrag and a dropkick but Homicide swats him away and hits a butterfly suplex. He sets Marcos up top and hits a superplex. He holds on and hits a falcon arrow for 2. Dunn gets the tag and hits a crossbody for 2. He hits a back bodydrop and a dropkick for 2. Reyes hits a cheap shot and tags in. He hits a stiff kick to the back and one to the chest for 2. Dunn gets a sunset flip for 1 but Reyes comes back with a back elbow. Reyes hits a gutwrench suplex for 2. Homicide tags in and they hit a running powerslam/frog splash combo for 2. Reyes tags in and hits a snap suplex and a kneedrop. He puts on a chinlock but Dunn escapes with a chinbreaker. He hits a neckbreaker and tags to Marcos. Marcos blocks a blind charge and hits a swinging DDT for 2. Homicide quietly takes off his elbow pad and nails Dunn with the lariat. He hits Marcos with a big boot and Reyes follows up with the dragon sleeper for the win. It was a nice change of pace to see a tag team squash in ROH.
Rating: *¾

Adam Pearce comes out after the match and asks him, this time to his face, to back ROH. Homicide says “this shit again,” and at this point, even though it’s only been two shows I’m starting to agree. Get some new material guys. Aside from his offhand comment Homicide takes a rain check on revealing a concrete position.

JZ says: We haven’t seen Dunn & Marcos since Arena Warfare. I wasn’t really missing them. This match is being taped for ROHVideos.com. Dunn & Marcos take an early advantage but it sure doesn’t last long. Homicide and Reyes soon take control and abuse Marcos. Homicide gives Marcos the Falcon Arrow, which is pluralized by Jared David. I already really don’t like him. Dunn & Marcos make a brief comeback before Reyes locks the Dragon Sleeper on Marcos to get the win at 6:15. That was a nothing squash, but at least the Rottweilers look strong.
Rating: *½

Adam Pearce comes out, presumably to get an answer from Homicide. He tries appealing to Homicide’s sense of loyalty. I like Pearce in this role. The crowd is just begging for Homicide to pledge his allegiance to ROH. He just says nothing and walks out.

MATCH #3: Jimmy Yang vs. Jimmy Rave

BG says: Yang intimidates Rave at the bell and Rave stalls. Rave powers Yang to the corner and slaps him before bailing. Back in the ring Yang starts to take over so Rave threatens to walk out on the match. This goes on long enough to completely lose my interest. The match finally gets back underway with Yang hitting an armdrag, a hiptoss and a dropkick. They fight to the floor where Yang shoves Rave into the barricade over and over. He’s all kinds of fired up after all that waiting around. Back in the ring he gets 2. He hits the tiger flip and a back heel kick. They struggle to block hiptoss attempts and Yang hits another dropkick. Nana distracts the referee allowing Haze to hit an insanely contrived looking inverted DDT on Yang. It gets 2 for Rave. Rave hits a neckbreaker for 2. He puts on a chinlock but Yang fights out. Rave hits a spear in the corner and follows it up with a dropkick to the face. He hits a snap suplex for 2. He hits a hard clothesline for 2. Actually at 1. Yang has been kicking out at 1 this entire match to be honest. Rave puts on a modified abdominal stretch and hits a legsweep. He puts on the royal octopus but Yang comes back with a dropkick. He hits a back elbow and a clothesline. He hits a back bodydrop and a moonsault press for 2. Rave had to walk into that one. Rave distracts the referee allowing Nana to gouge at Yang’s eyes. Yang hits Nana with a low blow and nails Rave with a superkick. He climbs the ropes but Haze crotches him. He falls to the mat where Rave hits Greetings from Ghana for the win. There were quite a few little things wrong with the match but overall it was harmless and the finish was hot. This was the last match Yang had before leaving for the WWE, and he left the way he spent most of his time in ROH, by doing nothing special.
Rating: **½

JZ says: This is the fifth time these two have wrestled each other: the finals of the Trios Tournament at Tag Wars 2006, a one-on-one match Yang won at Best in the World, a tag team match with Alex Shelley joining Rave (they won) and Claudio Castagnoli joining Yang at Supercard of Honor, and a four-way match with Jimmy Jacobs and Delirious at The 100th Show. Daizee Haze and Prince Nana are with Rave at ringside of course. Rave starts it off slow, avoiding Yang and stalling a lot. When Yang finally gets a hold of his adversary they go outside the ring and Yang abuses him. Nana distracts the referee and Daizee comes in and hits a bit of an inverted DDT on Yang, but it only gets two. Rave continues dominating with good heel offense. Yang hits a big moonsault but it only gets two. Rave distracts the referee so Nana interferes but takes a low blow for his trouble. Yang delivers a superkick and goes up for Yang Time but Daizee grabs the foot and Yang takes a nasty bump on his balls. The Greetings from Ghana follows and Rave gets the pin at 12:28. That started very slow but picked up nicely and made Yang look good on his way out and made Rave look like a good heel.
Rating: ***

MATCH #4: ROH Pure Title Match – Nigel McGuinness vs. Jay Lethal

BG says: Nigel McGuinness comes out to proclaim that ROH has the best champions in professional wrestling. He also proclaims that he is the best champion in ROH, mostly because he’s held the belt longer than the other champions but also because he’s beaten all three other champions in Pure Title matches. Since he’s beaten everyone he puts out a challenge to any champion past or present. Former Pure champion Jay Lethal answers the call and comes out to a respectable pop.

They knuckle up and Nigel grabs a hammerlock. He keeps Lethal on the mat by working the arm and then puts on a headlock. He blocks all of Lethal’s strikes and puts on a chinlock. Lethal gets his first offense of the match with a wristlock but Nigel elbows out. He reverses all of Nigel’s holds and hits chops in response. He hits a hiptoss and a dropkick for 1. He puts on a modified STF and Nigel uses his first rope break. Nigel uses the handstand to club Lethal down and pin him near the ropes. Lethal uses his first rope break to stop the count. Nigel shoves him to the floor but he’s back in the ring at 6. Nigel hits an armbreaker for 2. He suplexes Lethal by his arm for 2. Lethal puts on the head scissors but Nigel reverses to a lateral press for 2. He puts on a half nelson and hits a hammerlock DDT for 2. He keeps the pressure on Lethal with pin attempts and Lethal has to use his second rope break to stop him. Lethal blocks the Tower of London and hits a second rope leg lariat. He hits a clothesline and a back elbow. He hits another leg lariat and a spinebuster for 2. They trade European uppercuts and Lethal ducks the rebound clothesline to hit a superkick for 2. Nigel crotches Lethal on the top rope and clotheslines him down to the mat for 2 after Lethal uses his last rope break to stop the count. Lethal hits the running suplex and climbs the ropes. He hits the diving headbutt for 2. Nigel blocks the dragon suplex and hits a running European uppercut and the rebound clothesline for 2. The crowd gets behind Lethal as Nigel climbs the ropes. Lethal slams him to the mat and climbs himself. Nigel pulls the referee into the line of fire and then crotches Lethal to hit the Tower of London for 2. He hits it again and this time it gets the win. Nigel pulled out some new tricks to beat the former champion, which makes sense given Lethal’s experience with the rules.
Rating: ***¼

JZ says: Alex Shelley was initially scheduled to face McGuinness, but a bridge burning accident left him too injured to compete. Nigel has been champion since 8.27.05 and this is his twelfth title defense (second against Lethal). Nigel cuts a good dick heel promo before the match, talking who the best champion in ROH is. Nigel makes an open challenge which Lethal accepts. This is his first match since losing to Samoa Joe at the Fourth Anniversary Show. The former Pure Champion gets a nice pop. They do some chain wrestling to start and the crowd is supportive of both guys. Nigel coaxes Lethal into using one of his rope breaks with multiple covers in a row. Tower of London attempts leads to a nice leg lariat by Lethal. A couple of rope breaks later Lethal is making the comeback and hits the diving headbutt for two. They trade blows and Nigel hits a huge lariat for two. Tower of London also only gets two for Nigel, who is getting frustrated. A second, sicker Tower of London is enough for Nigel to get the pin and retain the title at 14:23. That was a good little match and reminds me that Jay Lethal could be a player in ROH.
Rating: ***¼

MATCH #5: ROH World Title Match – Bryan Danielson vs. Delirious

BG says: Danielson rightly points out that Delirious doesn’t deserve another title shot. He wrongly states that Nigel also doesn’t deserve one. He runs his mouth a while longer so Delirious takes the microphone and cuts a promo of his own. He attacks with forearms before the bell using the promo as a distraction. Danielson goes to the eyes and bails. Back in the ring Danielson goes after the mask and then tries the Cow Killer early. Delirious gets to the ropes. Danielson hits a kick to the back and a kneedrop. He targets the shoulder and gets 2. He puts the Cow Killer back on but Delirious gets to the ropes. Delirious reverses a back suplex to a head scissors takedown. He hits a leaping clothesline for 1. He chokes Danielson with his tassel and then wins a chop battle. He hits a back suplex and goes for the cobra stretch but Danielson gets to the ropes. Delirious hits a crossbody and they both fall to the floor. He throws a chair at Danielson in front of the referee so Danielson hangs him on the barricade and then returns the favor. Back in the ring Danielson puts on the Mexican surfboard in spite of the fans. He chokes Delirious with a tassel until 5, referee. He forearms Delirious to the floor and rams him into the barricade. Back in the ring he puts on the Mexican surfboard again while jawing with the fans. He hits a butterfly suplex and puts on a cross armbreaker in a beautifully smooth chain. Delirious gets to the ropes. Danielson puts on an abdominal stretch but Delirious hiptosses out. Delirious shoots him to the floor and follows him out with a suicide dive. Back in the ring Delirious unloads with chops. Danielson hits a cravat suplex for 1. He hits the neck wrench suplex and climbs the ropes. Delirious reverses the headbutt to an Ace Crusher. He hits a dropkick for 2 and then gets a crucifix pin into the cobra stretch. Danielson gets to the ropes. He hits a second rope European uppercut and a running forearm. Another forearm and a clothesline get 2. A roaring forearm and a dragon suplex get 2. He puts on the crossface chicken wing but Delirious gets to the ropes. Danielson sets Delirious up top but the back superplex is reversed to a crossbody. Delirious hits a dropkick and the Panic Attack. He hits Shadows Over Hell for 2. He hits a cobra clutch backbreaker and puts on the cobra stretch but Danielson gets to the ropes. He goes for Shadows Over Hell again but Danielson reverses to the Cow Killer. Delirious gets to the ropes. Danielson goes for the MMA elbows but Delirious fights away. He starts unloading with running kicks but Danielson catches him with a small package for the win.

Delirious brought his A game, avoiding Danielson’s signature moves and being as vicious as possible in response to the beating he took at Danielson’s hands at The 100th Show. This was worlds better than their first match. This match was worthy of being for the World title rather than the extended squash that was their last match. Danielson was a bit too concerned with the crowd at points, making Delirious look silly for just laying around and not capitalizing on the distraction, however.
Rating: ***¾

JZ says: Who would have predicted that this feud would get so hot? Danielson has been champion since 9.17.05, and this is his twentieth title defense, second against Delirious. The Champ cuts a good promo about how no one deserves a shot at his title. He tells Delirious that he should go home, and the crowd chants “shut the fuck up.” Delirious provides a rebuttal and the crowd is going crazy. It ends when the challenger goes after the champ with forearms, and he has him reeling. Danielson finally powders out, where he removes the World Title from his waist and tries to regroup. Danielson comes back in and goes right after the mask, just to be a dick. He continues to act as such, and dominates Delirious for several minutes. Delirious makes a comeback but gets cut off by the vicious champion. They go outside the ring and Danielson drops Delirious face first on the guardrail. The champ talks trash to his opponent outside the ring. Danielson goes for the surfboard, and the crowd chants “same old shit.” Prazak says it’s all CZW fans doing those chants. Cross armbreaker by Danielson, but Delirious is able to get out of it. Delirious comes back and dumps Danielson to the outside and hits a nice dive. Back in the ring some more wrestling leads to a cross face chicken wing by Danielson, but Delirious reaches the ropes. Panic Attack by Delirious and he goes for Shadows over Hell and hits it for two. Danielson fights back and locks on the Cattle Mutilation. Delirious is able to slide to the ropes, and the crowd is seriously behind him at this point. Danielson is fed up and goes for the elbows to the face but Delirious escapes and hits a few kicks to the face. Unfortunately for him, he runs into a small package and Danielson gets the win at 24:50. It started slow but built really nicely and the crowd was into it the whole way.
Rating: ****

Intermission

JZ says: The ROH Straight Shootin’ Series is available at ROHWrestling.com. It features a lot of great ones, and some not-so-great ones. Choose wisely.

Gary Michael Capetta is backstage with Julius Smokes. I’m not looking forward to hearing him talk. He says something, and then Joe comes in and talks some trash. Smokes says he’ll talk to Homicide.

MATCH #6: Matt Sydal vs. Christopher Daniels

BG says: Daniels is up 4-0 on Sydal in singles and triple threat matches. Sydal attacks Daniels at the bell. He gets a pair of roll ups for 2. He hits a clothesline in the corner but Daniels drops him to the floor. He follows him out with a suicide dive and then rams his back into the barricade. Back in the ring Daniels hits a bodyslam and a leg lariat for 2. He hits a backbreaker and stretches out the back. He hits a stiff kick to the back for 2. He hits a Samoan drop for 2. Sydal hits a hurricanrana and a roundhouse kick. Daniels bails so Sydal follows him out with a no-hands plancha. Sydal goes to the top and hits Daniels with a moonsault. Back in the ring he gets 2. He hits a dropkick and a climbing knee for 2. He puts on a modified seated abdominal stretch but misses a moonsault. He hits a kick to the chest for 2. He puts on a butterfly hold but Daniels gets to the ropes. The crowd is absolutely dead for this match. Daniels hits a knee to the back and a back suplex. He hits the Arabian press and a blue thunder bomb for 2. Sydal hits a flatliner and puts on the Koji clutch. Daniels gets to the ropes. Sydal goes up top but Daniels catches him with the palm strike. Sydal blocks the Iconoclasm and a hurricanrana. He comes off the top with a hurricanrana of his own for 2. Sydal goes up again and rolls through into a roll up when Daniels tries to slam him off to get 2. He hits an enziguiri and reverses the uranage to an Angel’s Wings attempt. Daniels reverses that to a roll up for the win. The dead crowd hurt hits a lot and made it inferior to its most recent predecessor but they still worked in some really cool stuff. Sydal does a lot of fun reversals and such, but he needs to find a way to capture the attention of viewers for longer periods of time.
Rating: ***

JZ says: This is the third one-on-one match between these two, and Daniels is up 2-0. They also wrestled in a pair of three-ways, both of which Daniels won. They show a video package of some of their prior encounters, and they get the date on Dissension wrong. I hate that. Sydal attacks right away, as he wants this victory badly. He attacks Daniels with a series of pinning combinations. Sydal has his shoulder taped, so I imagine that will play a part in the match at some point. Sydal showboats so Daniels dumps him to the floor and hits a nice dive. He works on Sydal’s back. Sydal fights back with a big moonsault to the floor. He goes to work on Daniels’ neck. Daniels goes for a top rope rana but it’s blocked and Sydal hits a jumping rana off the top rope for two. Sydal goes for the Angel’s Wings, but Daniels obviously knows how to counter it and gets a rollup to win the match at 14:52. That was good and makes me want to see the rematch a few months down the line when Sydal is back from Dragon Gate.
Rating: ***¼

MATCH #7: ROH Tag Team Title Match – Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. The Briscoe Brothers

BG says: This is pretty much the most anticipated match the tag team division has seen in years. Strong and Jay start. Jay grabs a leglock but Strong fights him on the mat. Strong grabs a headlock but runs into a hurricanrana. Mark tags in and gets a headlock takedown. Strong comes back with an armdrag into an armbar and crucifies Mark for 2. Aries tags in and goes to work on the arm. Strong tags in and gets suplexed for 1. Mark hits a mini piledriver and tags to Jay. Jay hits a snap suplex and goes back to the leg. Strong rolls him up for 1 and puts on an armbar. Aries tags in and stays on the arm. He hits the escape dropkick and tags to Strong. Mark tags in and hits a gutwrench suplex and a kneedrop for 2. He puts on a chinlock but Strong hits a back suplex to escape. Aries tags in and hits a gutwrench suplex for 2. Aries and Strong slingshot Mark to the floor and ram him into the barricade. Back in the ring Aries gets 2. Strong tags in and they hit a double atomic drop. They hit a double back suplex for 2. Strong hits a butterfly suplex for 2. Aries tags in and they hit the Hart Attack for 2. Strong tags in and puts on a chinlock. He slams Mark to the mat and tags to Aries. Aries hits a slingshot senton and an elbowdrop for 2. He hits a bodyslam and goes for the replay kneedrop but Jay stop s it with a cheap shot. He tags in and hits a dropkick for 2. The Briscoes work Aries over in their corner and Jay puts on an abdominal stretch. Mark adds some illegal leverage and then tags in. They hit a double shoulder tackle for 2. Mark hits a clothesline and a bodyslam. He hits an elbowdrop for 2. Jay tags in and hits a back elbow for 2. He pitches Aries to the floor where Mark works him over. Aries fights back and gets a sunset flip on Jay for 2. Hay hits a clothesline and tags to Mark. Mark gets 2. He hits a vertical suplex for 2. Jay boots Aries in the face on the apron and Mark hits a double stomp for 2. Jay tags in and sets Aries up top. Aries fights them off and hits a missile dropkick on Jay. Strong tags in and cleans house. Jay clotheslines Mark and gets dropkicked. Strong hits a swinging gutbuster and the Sick Kick on Mark for 2. Aries hits a running dropkick and Strong hits the uranage backbreaker for 2. Mark hits a northern lights suplex for 2 but Jay quickly hits a top rope legdrop. It gets 2. Jay hits a backbreaker and Mark follows it up with a springboard kneedrop for 2. Aries hits a shinbreaker on Jay and then suplexes him onto Mark. Aries and Strong hit a double backbreaker and chop into a brainbuster for 2. Strong hits the gutbuster and goes for the half nelson backbreaker. The Briscoes block it and hit the spike Jay Driller on Strong. Jay goes for the pin but at the same time the legal Aries rolls up the legal Mark for the win. This took forever to get going but once it did it was a lot of fun. It didn’t live up to the hype so hopefully one of the many rematches does.
Rating: ***½

JZ says: The Briscoes won both singles matches last night, so the outcome seems pretty obvious here. I don’t understand why Roderick Strong has a line from “Boondock Saints” at the beginning of his music. This feud actually started at the Fourth Anniversary Show, as a video clip explains. That’s cool that they do that, because I wouldn’t have remembered that. Jay and Roderick start it off with some mat wrestling. Aries gets tagged in and does some of his stuff. The challengers make a brief comeback but the champions are soon back in control. Mark gets dumped to the outside as Aries continues to go to work on the shoulder. Aries goes for the stupid rewind knee drop thing and pays for it. Finally someone breaks that stupid thing up. Aries is very talented and athletic but I hate all the cutesy-poo stuff he does. This allows the Briscoes to work Aries over. The Briscoes have stupid gear. Aries finally makes the hot tag to Strong, who hits some cool stuff. They wrestle for a while and Aries goes for the 450 but gets tossed off. Back in the ring the Briscoes hit a spike Jay-Driller on Roderick. Jay goes for the pin at the same time that Aries rolls up Mark, and since Aries and Mark are legal, Todd Sinclair makes the right call and the champions retain at 19:29. That took a little while to get going, and the champions didn’t look to be as “on” as they usually are. It was still a good match though, which shows how good these guys are.
Rating: ***½

Lacey’s Angels

BG says: Lacey is excited about Jimmy Jacobs’ success and promises to wear better and better clothes for him. Time to move this storyline forward.

JZ says: Lacey is backstage to plug herself and her new clothing line. I like that even though Jacobs barely gets booked for the East Coast they at least mentioned him on the DVDs.

MATCH #8: Samoa Joe vs. Necro Butcher

BG says: Necro brings CZW referee Bryce Remsburg with him, as per usual. Necro takes out the ROH referee right away. Joe does the same to the CZW referee. They trade forearms to start and Joe slaps Necro down. He hits a running knee and the crowd is on fire. This must have been what they were saving all their energy for. Joe and Necro fight to the floor where Joe has fans hold Necro for the Ole kick. That is freaking awesome, as ROH fans should hate the Butcher. Chris Hero runs out and attacks Joe but Joe fights back. The numbers catch up and the CZW pair takes over. Joe goes low to come back but Claudio Castagnoli comes out from the back and smacks him with a chair. All hope seems lost until BJ Whitmer and Adam Pearce come to the rescue. ROH flunkies drag Joe to the back as Whitmer and Pearce ram Claudio into the guardrail. They set up two chairs in the ring and APA bomb Necro through them. Pearce slams Claudio through a bunch of chairs in the crowd and has fans hold up chairs to ram his face through. He hits a piledriver on the floor and then jabs Necro’s ankle with a chair. Whitmer tries to powerbomb Hero through a table on the floor but has to settle for an exploder suplex in the ring. Hero gets the upper hand on Whitmer as Claudio and Necro finally pacify Pearce. The crowd chants for Homicide as Pearce eats the Hero’s Welcome: Kings of Wrestling Edition. The CZW boys try to superbomb Whitmer onto Pearce lying on the table on the floor when Homicide’s music hits. He takes a moment to think his situation over and then clears Hero and Claudio out of the ring. The crowd explodes in what is probably the loudest pop in ROH history. Only Necro is left and we get a main event!

JZ says: Joe was pretty injured heading into this match, so I’m curious to see how they work around it. This came about because Joe hates Necro and vice-versa. Necro and Bruce Remsberg come in through the crowd. Joe and Necro eliminate the opposing referees and the fight is on. There’s no commentary for this one, and I’m okay with that. Jared David was pissing me off. Joe is dominating so Chris Hero comes out to help his buddy but he gets beat up too. Claudio Castagnoli comes out when Joe’s not looking and hits him in the head with a chair. This brings out BJ Whitmer and Adam Pearce, and this whole thing has broken down. Now Necro and Whitmer are fighting inside the ring. Pearce and Whitmer give Necro a SICK double powerbomb through two chairs. Pearce and Claudio are in the crowd now. This is really more reminiscent of the main event of The 100th Show than Joe vs. Necro III. The CZW team gains the advantage until Homicide’s music hits and holy shit you’d think Hulk Hogan just walked into the Pontiac Silverdome in 1987 with the pop he gets. So I guess Joe versus Necro is a no-contest in about 13:39. I don’t think I can rate this since it was barely the match it said it was. Good brawl though. Homicide takes out Hero and Claudio and the crowd is going ballistic. Todd Sinclair gets in the ring and rings the bell and we have a fight here.
Rating: N/A

MATCH #9: Homicide vs. Necro Butcher

BG says: They slug it out and Homicide tosses Necro to the floor. He rams him into the barricade and rips off a metal sheet. He repeatedly rams Necro’s head into the barricade but Necro comes back with the chair-backed bodyslam on the floor. Necro steals chairs from the fans to throw at Homicide and they brawl through the crowd. Homicide comes back with a suplex onto a row of chairs. I just realized that there hasn’t been commentary since the tag title match. Back at ringside Necro is busted open. Homicide rolls Necro into the ring and tells the fans to throw their chairs at him. In an amazing scene we get what is to my knowledge the first chair riot that covers an actual person. Homicide has to get on the microphone to get the fans to stop. He digs Necro out of the mess and hits a piledriver for 2. Necro comes back with a tiger driver for 2. He climbs the ropes but Homicide slams him onto the chairs for 2. Necro hits a neckbreaker on the chairs and they fight to the apron. Homicide seemingly goes for a suplex from the apron through the table but instead he suplexes himself and Necro off the apron onto a pile of chairs on the floor. He sets Necro on the table and them comes off the top rope with an elbowdrop. Back in the ring he gets 2. Necro starts to fight back so Homicide goes low and hits the lariat for the win. That was about as satisfying a babyface turn as you’re ever going to see, and one hell of a brawl to boot.
Rating: ***½

After the match Homicide says that he didn’t do what he did for Ring of Honor, but rather that he did it for Ring of Homicide!

JZ says: The crowd is just going apeshit from the get-go. Homicide is abusing Necro outside the ring, ramming his head into the guardrail repeatedly. Necro comes back and delivers the chair assisted bodyslam, drawing some chants of his name from the crowd. Speaking of the crowd, Homicide gets tossed into them and Necro follows. He whips chairs at Homicide. They make it back to ringside and Necro is busted open. Homicide starts throwing chairs into the ring and decides that it’d be easier if the fans did it for him, and they oblige. This is a cool chair riot because there’s actually a person underneath that huge pile of chairs, although the second one in six weeks is a bit much. Homicide actually has to get on the microphone to ask them to stop. He finds Necro under the pile of chairs and delivers a piledriver that only gets two. That’s a tough bastard right there. Homicide goes for another one, but Necro reverses to a Tiger Driver for two. Necro gets slammed off the top rope and a big splash gets two. I’d like to raise a practical question at this point – why isn’t either guy just grabbing chairs to nail the other guy in the head with? Necro goes for a piledriver on the ring apron, then a Death Valley Driver, then a suplex, which Homicide reverses and they take a nasty spill to the floor. Homicide sets Necro up on a table and delivers a splash off the top rope. Back in the ring (now chair-free), that gets two. The crowd wants to see the Cop Killa. They don’t get their wish though, as a kick to the nuts and a lariat finishes off Necro at 10:05. That’s a tough match to rate because it was all brawling, but the crowd was super hot and both guys busted ass big time.
Rating: ***½

MVP

BG says: This time around it goes to Homicide for cementing himself as the top babyface in the feud against CZW and probably the entire company.

JZ says: I’d be hard pressed to give it to anyone but Homicide.

THE FOLLOWING MATCH IS NOT ON THIS DVD

BONUS MATCH: Samoa Joe vs. Necro Butcher, IWA Mid-South Wrestling, 6.11.05

BG says: ROH couldn’t quite deliver on Joe vs. Necro, so here’s a review of the match that made ROH fans want to see this pairing in the first place. Dave Prazak, CM Punk and Eddie Kingston are on commentary. They go nose to nose to start and Joe tosses the referee. They trade forearms and it is revealed that Necro is actually a good deal taller than Joe. Joe hits an enziguiri and Necro bails. Joe follows him out with a suicide dive. They brawl into the crowd and Necro gets busted open with a headbutt. Necro throws chairs at Joe and then hits him with a fireman’s carry over the guardrail onto the ramp. Joe comes back with a powerslam driving Necro’s face into the floor. He hits the Ole kick and Necro starts bleeding hard. Back in the ring Joe gets 2. The commentators keep name-dropping Rob Naylor, which isn’t surprising, as I’ve heard wrestlers say that he’s the kind of fan that they put on good matches for. Necro boots Jot to the floor and rams him into the barricade. He puts a section of the guardrail into the ring and throws it at Joe. He puts it on Joe and then hits a senton. They fight to the apron where Joe hits an exploder to the floor. Necro landed on the top of his head and the blood is everywhere. That turned my stomach. Joe smacks Necro with a chair and rolls him into the ring. He sets the guardrail up in the corner and powerbombs Necro onto it. Naturally only Necro’s head touches the guardrail, making it all the more horrifying. It only gets 2. Joe sets up a chair and German suplexes Necro through it for 2. Necro starts to fire back but Joe blocks his strikes and unloads with knees to the face. He hits a kick to the face and wins by knockout when Necro can’t get to his feet by 10. That was quite a spectacle don’t get me wrong. The problem is that there was no build to any of the spots and thus Necro’s kicking out wasn’t dramatic. They did go balls out and that’s worth something. Necro starts to fire back after the bell so Joe goes to the back.
Rating: ***

JZ says: Astute viewers will recognize the date of this match as the day before the first WWE-ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view. It was a big weekend for wrestling. Necro is wearing a shirt that says “choose death.” The referee gets tossed right from the get-go and they exchange blows. They fight to the outside of the ring and continue the brawl. Necro is already bleeding. Joe delivers a big powerslam on the floor, dropping Necro directly on his head. That was sick. The Olay Kick is pretty sick here too. Back in the ring and a cover only gets two. Necro actually goes on offense now, bringing the guardrail into the ring and throws it on Joe a few times. He delivers a senton onto it. They fight on the apron and Joe drops Necro to the floor DIRECTLY on his head. That was absolutely sickening. Joe delivers a chair shot, just to be a jerk. He sets up the guardrail between the turnbuckles and powerbombs Necro onto it. This is just inhuman. A German Suplex onto a chair follows, but Necro kicks out again. I’m not used to seeing Necro with footwear. Joe is getting Necro’s blood all over him and this is just sick. After a vicious knee to the face, Joe just winds up and kicks, and that’s enough for Necro to get counted down. That wasn’t so much a match as a systematic beating of Necro Butcher. That was perhaps the worst beating I’ve ever seen anyone take. Necro basically no-sells it by going after Joe after the bell.
Rating: ***

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 DESTINY!

Have any thoughts, comments, or concerns? Like how we’re doing our reviews? Let us know!

E-mail Brad at [email protected]
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The 411: BG says: The whole business of the ROH wrestlers getting the ROH fans to help them was awesome. From Joe having the fans hold Necro for the Ole Kick to Homicide having them cover him with chairs the whole thing added a new element to the feud. Add to that a string of ***+ matches and a very effective night for Homicide and you’ve got yourself quite an entertaining show. JZ says: The first two matches are a bit meh (though Cabana vs. Kikutaro is at least fun), and the rest of the matches are *** or higher and one of them even hits ****, so that’s a pretty good show right there. For some reason I had a tough time getting through it, so it doesn’t flow as well as some of the other great shows, but this still warrants a solid recommendation.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]