ROH – Epic Encounter II DVD Review

ROH – EPIC ENCOUNTER II – ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA – 8.25.06

Introduction

BG says: ROH reminds you to watch the ROH Video Recap on the main menu before watching the event. In it are highlights of Bryan Danielson’s title unification win over Nigel McGuinness. Post-match a bleeding, purple lipped McGuinness says that while he didn’t unify the titles he still plans on winning the unified title in St. Paul. Highlights of both England shows are shown. Back at Chi-Town Struggle the fans pelted the ring with garbage in disgust that Colt Cabana didn’t win the title. Cabana didn’t like the small package finish and challenges Danielson to a 2/3 falls rematch the next time ROH goes to Chicago. Danielson accepts on the condition that if Cabana loses it’ll be the last shot he gets while Danielson is champion.

Jimmy Jacobs kicks off the show by grilling Lacey about the rumors that are all over the locker room implicating her in the Colt Cabana’s sexual exploits. Lacey blows off the question by telling Jacobs that she’s booked him in a match against Homicide to impress her and Jim Cornette. She wants him to impress Cornette to get title shots and to take out BJ Whitmer tomorrow night in Chicago. He says he’ll do whatever she wants but whiningly keeps hounding her about Cabana.

JZ says: Jimmy Jacobs and Lacey are backstage, and Jimmy wants to know about the car rockin’ rumors. Lacey tells him not to worry about that, but to worry about impressing her instead. That’s why she signed him in a match with Homicide. I’m still not wild about Lacey’s promos, but Jimmy wearing a Bruiser Brody t-shirt is pretty cool.

MATCH #1: Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Irish Airborne

BG says: The Briscoes are looking to avenge an upset from Fight of the Century here where they were pinned in Ultimate Endurance. Dave Crist is wrestling with a broken hand here. Mark and Jake start. Jake puts Mark on the mat but Mark comes back with a leglock. He puts on a headlock but Jake comes back with a springboard headlock takedown. Dave tags in and gets kicked and elbowed. Jay tags in and gets armdragged. He hits a hurricanrana but Dave comes back with one of his own. Jake tags in and hits a boot to the face for 2. Jay hits a facebuster and tags to Mark. Mark hits a running vertical suplex for 2. Jay tags in and hits a back elbow for 2. He hits a bodyslam and a series of elbowdrops for 2. Mark tags in and hits a gutwrench suplex and a kneedrop for 2. Jay tags in and hits a dropkick. Mark tags in and drop toeholds Jake into the turnbuckle. Jay hits an avalanche to get 2 for Mark. Jake hits a forearm and a slingshot DDT for 2. Dave tags in and they hit a double spinebuster. Dave hits a moonsault press for 2. Mark bails and Jay cuts off Dave’s dive attempt. Back in the ring Mark gets 2. Jay tags in and they hit a big double hiptoss. Jay hits a snap suplex and tags to Mark. The Briscoes hit the double shoulder tackle for 2. Mark puts on the Mark Nulty Special and hits a fistdrop. Dave hits a Manhattan drop and a leg lariat. Jay tags in but Dave uses his cast to escape the Briscoes and make the tag. Jake cleans house on the Briscoes. They bail to the floor so Jake follows them out with a shooting star press. Dave tags in and they go for the finish but the Briscoes block it and come back with the springboard Doomsday Device. Jay hits a DVD and Mark hits a springboard double stomp on Dave. Mark hits a no hands plancha on Jake and Jay puts the Stretch Plum on Dave for the win. This was about as good as it was going to get without any crowd heat. I enjoyed their first spot-tastic match more than this. The crowd reacts more to the announcement of the Briscoes’ victory than anything else.
Rating: **½

Jay gets on the microphone after the match and says he doesn’t care who ROH throws at him, the Briscoes can take on anyone, including Samoa Joe, Homicide and KENTA. Mark just wants everyone to man up.

JZ says: This match is a result of the Crist brothers eliminating Jay and Mark from the Ultimate Endurance match back on 8.5.06. They start off wrestling pretty evenly for the opening few minutes. Jake Crist executes an awesome springboard headlock takeover, earning him cool points in my book. Dave tags in and the Briscoes are soon in control with Jay tagging in. Jake comes back in as the Irishmen are actually in control. Dave has a cast on his broken hand. The Briscoes are relentless in their attack. Jake fights back and is able to tag Dave, who takes both Briscoes out. Jake comes back in with a springboard DDT for a very near fall. Dave takes a nasty knee to the face and the Briscoes are back in control. Jake gets a hot tag and takes out the opposition. The Briscoes try to take refuge on the floor but Jake hits a beautiful shooting star press on both of them. Dave is tagged in and they go for the Irish Air Raid but it gets countered to a springboard doomsday device. Jay hits Dave with the military press to a Death Valley Driver and puts on the Stretch Plumb to get the win at 10:47. They packed a lot into a short amount of time and both teams come out looking good. I’m sure this won’t be the last time we see this match.
Rating: ***

Matt Sydal Promo!!

BG says: Matt Sydal cuts a promo and I pee my pants. He talks about the Do or Die match they had in this very building, and they did. Oh yes, they did. Sydal has been keeping busy by drinking liquid muscles in Japan and Delirious has filled his time by weirding it up in ROH. They both got jobs from their first match against each other, but tonight Sydal will Do and Delirious will Die. This was pretty bad by normal standards but by Sydal standards it actually wasn’t that embarrassing.

JZ says: Matt Sydal cuts a hilarious promo about his history with his opponent for tonight, Delirious. The two made their debut against each other back at the only other show in Minnesota back on 4.23.04. Sydal promises that he will “do” and Delirious will “die.”

MATCH #2: Homicide vs. Jimmy Jacobs

BG says: The ring lights go out before the match so the house lights are turned on. Jacobs cuts a promo to waste time but the bad audio means I can’t understand most of what he’s saying. I do make out Jacobs singing the Ballad of Lacey to Lacey spur of the moment. Homicide’s music cuts him off. Jacobs takes offense to the interruption and throws something at Homicide. They lock up and Homicide pushes Jacobs to the corner. He hits a big hiptoss and a dropkick. Jacobs bails so Homicide follows him out and suplexes him onto a table. He rams Jacobs into the barricade and rakes his back. He starts throwing foreign objects into the ring and throws Jacobs’ head into the guardrail. Back in the ring Homicide kicks the back and hits a kneedrop. He starts singing to mimic Jacobs while he beats him down. He hits a spear in the corner but a second attempt lands him with his shoulder in the post. Jacobs follows him to the floor and rams his arm against the barricade. Back in the ring Jacobs keeps pressure on the arm. He hits a bodyslam for 2. He climbs the ropes but Homicide slams him down. He puts on the STF but Jacobs bites his thumb to escape. He hits a second rope headbutt to the chest but Homicide comes back with a stun gun. He hits a butterfly suplex for 2. Jacobs hits a spear for 2. He climbs the ropes and hits a senton for 2. He climbs again but this time Homicide catches him with a superplex. He rolls through into a falcon arrow for 2. Lacey keeps him from hitting the Cop Killer and Jacobs hits a fisherman neckbreaker for 2. Homicide blocks the Contra Code and hits an Alabamaslam and the lariat for the win. The match lost all traces of a flow pretty early on and never got it back.
Rating: *¾

The Briscoe Brothers attack Homicide after the match. Homicide almost fights them off but ends up falling victim to the spike Jay Driller. They’ve got his number.

JZ says: The lights go out so Jacobs taunts the crowd to try and pass the time. They do not want to hear what he has to say, or sing for that matter. Homicide’s music hits and he gets a gigantic pop. Homicide goes right after Jacobs and beats on him, taking the battle to the floor right away. The house lights are on due to some unknown circumstances. Homicide tosses Jacobs into the guardrail a couple times and continues to generally abuse him. Jacobs appears to have injured his knee when he lands hard on one of them directly on the knee. Homicide offers Lacey $20. I’d probably go for $25. Jacobs is bleeding from the back now. Homicide charges at Jacobs in the corner but he moves and Homicide rams his shoulder into the post and falls to the floor. Jacobs follows and goes to work on the arm, but Homicide doesn’t seem interested in that. Back in the ring and Homicide just goes right back on offense. Jacobs comes back with the missile headbutt. Homicide essentially no-sells it and goes back on offense with a butterfly suplex. Jacobs hits a nice spear for two. Homicide no sells that too as he waits for Jacobs to climb the top rope and does the “you can’t see me” hand motion and jumps up on the ropes. Jacobs pushes him down and hits the senton for two. He goes back up but this time Homicide gets up and hits a superplex followed by a falcon arrow. He then tries for the Cop Killa but Lacey gets up on the apron. That allows Jacobs to hit the fisherman’s neckbreaker with a cradle for two. He goes for the Contra Code but it’s blocked. Homicide charges in the corner but misses. Jacobs tries a charge but Homicide picks him up in an Alabama Slam and follows with the lariat, ignoring the fact that Jacobs had worked on his arm, to get the win at 11:55. For anyone who doesn’t like Homicide, this match will provide plenty of ammunition. He barely took any offense, he no-sold just about everything, and ignored psychology of getting his arm worked on by using the lariat with no problem as the finisher. This was as bad of a match between two talented guys as I’ve seen in a while. After the match the Briscoe Brothers come out to attack and hit an awesome Spike Jay Driller.
Rating: *½

MATCH #3: Christopher Daniels vs. Claudio Castagnoli

BG says: The story here is that Daniels finally decided to shake hands in ROH and the first person he did it with was Claudio. The problem was that later on in that same show Claudio turned his back on ROH and joined up with CZW, a very dishonorable thing. You’d have to be a huge Daniels fan to care about this issue at this point, since the Code of Honor has been dead for so long. Claudio attacks before the bell. He stays in control by choking and hitting cheap shots for 2. Daniels comes back with a hiptoss and a back elbow. He hits another hiptoss and another back elbow before hitting a leg lariat for 2. He pulls Claudio to the floor and hits him with an Arabian press. Claudio goes to the eyes and drops Daniels’ head on the apron. Back in the ring he hits an elbowdrop for 2. He hits a European uppercut for 2. He rams Daniels into the turnbuckle and hits a delayed pancake for 2. He tosses Daniels to the floor and follows him out with a double axe handle. The house lights go off as ROH gets the ring lights back on. They trade strikes and Claudio rams Daniels into the apron. Back in the ring he gets 2. He hits a European pop-uppercut for 2. He puts on a chinlock but Daniels fights out and hits the STO. Daniels hits an enziguiri and a moonsault press for 2. He hits a blue thunder bomb for 2. Claudio hits the Match Killer for 2. He climbs the ropes and hits a flying elbowdrop for 2. Daniels hits an uranage but misses the moonsault. He hits a flatliner and puts on the Koji clutch. Claudio gets to the ropes. He tries to hit Daniels with his briefcase but Daniels ducks and gets a weak roll up for the win. This match had no steam and was actually less fun to watch than their previous encounter.
Rating: **¼

JZ says: These two are feuding because Claudio was the first person to shake hands with Daniels in ROH, and then he turned his back on Ring of Honor. Daniels is supremely over, so Claudio attacks him right away. Daniels comes back with an offensive flurry. He hits a nice Arabian Press on the floor, but back in the ring Claudio regains control. The ring lights have finally been fixed as they exchange strikes on the floor. Back in the ring Claudio controls again for a few minutes, but Daniels fights back with a spear and is a house-a-fire. He hits a nice enziguiri and a quebrada for two. Claudio goes up top and hits a flying elbow for two. Daniels comes back and goes for the Best Moonsault Ever but misses and lands on his feet and winds up getting the Koji Clutch on but Claudio reaches the ropes. I wish Daniels had once or twice won a match with that move. Claudio tries to hit Daniels with the briefcase but Daniels ducks and rolls him up to get the win at 12:33. That was fine but the finish didn’t do much for me.
Rating: **¾

Lizard Face!

BG says: Delirious cuts an extended rambling promo. Of the points that are interpretable are his mentioning of his first match against Matt Sydal in ROH, their elevation in ROH over the last two years and his promise that he’ll get his win back from Sydal by beating him with the cobra stretch.

JZ says: Delirious is outside to cut a promo on Matt Sydal, his opponent for tonight. I love that this guy is getting promo time now, and you can pretty much understand what he’s saying.

MATCH #4: Colt Cabana & Davey Richards vs. Jimmy Rave & Sal Rinauro

BG says: There’s really no reason for either Cabana or Richards to bother with the Embassy anymore. Both men throw toilet paper at Rave after the opening bell. Rave rightly asks for a disqualification but is unjustly denied. Cabana and Rave start. Rave puts on a wristlock but Cabana reverses to a headlock. He gets a roll up for 2. Sal tags in and puts on a wristlock only to have it reversed. Richards tags in and kicks the thigh. He puts on a headlock and then kicks Sal’s arm. He goes back to the headlock and knocks Rave off the apron. Rave trips him up in retaliation and pulls him to the floor. Richards kicks him back but Sal dives out onto him with a plancha. Back in the ring Sal tags to Rave. Rave puts on a front facelock and hits a knee to the gut for 2. Sal tags in and hits a dropkick. He knocks Cabana off the apron and hits a vertical suplex on Richards. Richards tries to fire himself up but gets slapped down. Rave tags in and gets hit with a side suplex. Cabana tags in and cleans house. He hits a moonsault press onto both opponents but Rave catches him with a spear for 2. Cabana dumps Sal to the floor and tags to Richards. They trade strikes and Richards hits the handspring kick. He hits a German suplex for 2. Cabana comes in and walks into a stunner from Sal. Sal hits a superkick on Richards and Rave follows up with the running knee for 2. Sal tags in and gets hit with a gutbuster. Cabana tags in and hits a crossbody off the top. He hits a neckbreaker on Rave and a powerbomb on Sal. He floats into a reverse Boston crab for the win. A mess for the majority the final minute of action saved it from being garbage.
Rating: **

The Briscoe Brothers come out to taunt Richards. Jay points out that with KENTA and Matt Sydal he has been unsuccessful against them. Tomorrow night he’s teaming up with Homicide and he still won’t be able to get it done. Richards think he’ll win and he wants to fight them now. Some ROH school students try to keep the Briscoes from the ring, which is enough of a distraction for Richards to dive out onto them. They brawl into the next-to-silent crowd until the students finally break it up. That came off as incredibly awkward due to the lack of heat.

JZ says: Davey Richards may challenge Matt Sydal for resident ROH Tag Team Division Whore if he keeps wrestling with so many different partners. This is already his fourth partner within the last month, and he’ll add number five tomorrow night in Chicago. This is also the sixth time he has been opposite Jimmy Rave in the ring. Rave doesn’t get toilet papered for some reason, but Cabana finds a roll and throws it at Rave, but it hits the referee instead. While he chides Cabana, a member of the crowd and Richards both hit Rave with a roll. Cabana and Rave do some cool mat wrestling in the early going. Rinauro comes in and Cabana takes the advantage and tags in Richards. He kicks Rinauro so hard that Cabana sells it too. Rinauro is actually able to take the advantage and then tags in Rave. They dominate for a while, and then Richards makes a comeback and tags Cabana. Richards and Rave are back in and they trade strikes. It breaks down into a big brawl and Cabana eventually hits Rinauro with a powerbomb and the Billy Goat’s Curse and he gets the win for his team at 14:50. That was a formulaic but fun tag team match. The Briscoe Brothers want to know what Davey Richards’s problem is. He keeps trying and keeps failing. Richards cuts a generic promo and the ROH students try to keep the Briscoes from getting to the ring but with little success. Richards dives onto them on the floor and the fight is on.
Rating: **½

Intermission

BG says: Colt Cabana is all fired up that they beat the Embassy. All he has on his mind now is to study Bryan Danielson when he takes on Nigel McGuinness tonight so that he can beat him in their 2/3 falls match tomorrow night in Chicago. Why don’t the cameramen actually cut when the director says to cut? Jimmy Jacobs approaches Cabana to ask him about the Lacey rumors. Cabana teases him rather than answer the question.

JZ says: If you didn’t know, FIP DVDs are available at ROH Wrestling Dot Com. I hate the way they’re releasing their DVDs right now, as long as they brought it up.

Colt Cabana is backstage to talk about Bryan Danielson, whom he will face for the ROH World Title (if Danielson retains tonight) tomorrow night in his own hometown. Jimmy Jacobs comes in and wants to talk about the rumors that Cabana and Lacey were a-rockin’ in the car together. Cabana sings part of Jacobs’s song and tells Jacobs that his self-esteem is too low, in a way.

MATCH #5: Delirious vs. Matt Sydal

BG says: I’m begging for the crowd to care about anything at this point. Sydal runs scared from Delirious’ opening bell freak out despite knowing better than anyone to expect it. They lock up and then fight it out on the mat. Sydal puts on a headlock but Delirious counters to an armdrag. Sydal goes back to the headlock but Delirious shrugs him off. Sydal hits a pair of armdrags but Delirious comes back with a stun gun. Sydal hits a clothesline in the corner and a slingshot dropkick for 2. Damn. He hits a bodyslam and climbs the ropes. He hits the cannonball legdrop for 2. Delirious hits a lung blower and a back suplex for 2. He puts on a cobra clutch and flings Sydal out of the hold for 2. He hits the Panic Attack for 2. Sydal hits a crossbody sending Delirious to the floor. Delirious crawls under the ring and tries to surprise Sydal, but to no avail. Sydal hits a pair of clotheslines and an enziguiri. He hits another enziguiri and the pumphandle piledriver for 2. He climbs the ropes and hits a hurricanrana. He hits a leg lariat and Delirious bails. He follows him out with a no-hands twisting plancha and rolls him back into the ring. He hits a roundhouse kick but Delirious sets him on the top rope and hits a neckbreaker for 2. He slams Sydal to the mat and puts on the cobra stretch. Sydal gets to the ropes. The standing moonsault hits knees on the first attempt but not the second. Delirious comes back with a reverse hurricanrana and puts on the cobra stretch. They trade roll ups and Delirious hits a kick to the face. He hits the Bizarro driver for 2. He climbs the ropes but Sydal cuts him off and hits the overhead superplex for the win. Like the last match the home stretch saved it, but this time it was saved from mediocrity rather than catastrophe.
Rating: ***

JZ says: These two met in the first match after intermission at the only other ROH Show in St. Paul back in April of 2004, as a clip helps illustrate. I like that kind of symmetry. Both have improved a ton since then, especially Delirious. They chain wrestle to start, because that’s what people who have wrestled each other a million times do. They begin to trade moves and Sydal gets the advantage and plays the heel a bit. Delirious comes back with a modified lung blower and a back suplex for two. He continues going to work as the crowd is basically silent. Delirious outsmarts Sydal and the crowd pops for a second and then dies again. Sydal comes back with the Here It Is Driver for two. He follows that up with a nice plancha to the floor. Delirious comes back with a nasty neckbreaker and he tries the Cobra Stretch but its blocked. The next attempt he locks it on but Sydal makes it to the ropes. He comes back and tries the standing moonsault but he eats Delirious’ feet instead. Moments later he does connect and it gets a near fall. Delirious is able to put on the Cobra Stretch again but Sydal slips out and they trade pinning combinations until Delirious stops all that nonsense with a kick to the face and the Bizarro Driver for two. Sydal comes back and hits the moonsault belly-to-belly suplex to get the win at 16:22. That was fun and a nice exhibition, but now flow was ever really established. It was still enjoyable though.
Rating: ***¼

MATCH #6: ROH World Tag Team Title Match – Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. BJ Whitmer & Samoa Joe

BG says: I believe this was Joe and Whitmer’s reward for sacrificing themselves in the CZW feud. Strong and Whitmer start. Strong grabs a wristlock but Whitmer suplexes out. Joe and Aries tag in. They trade holds until Aries claps his legs on Joe’s head. Joe dodges a dropkick and Aries dodges the Big Joe Combo. Whitmer tags in and works over Aries’ ribs. He hits a knee to the gut and tags to Joe. Joe punts Aries’ ribs and elevates him up before slamming him to the mat. Whitmer tags in and hits a pancake. He hangs Aries on the top rope and dropkicks him to the floor. Joe rolls him back into the ring for 2. Aries hits the STO and an elbowdrop. Strong tags in and hits a leg lariat. He hits a dropkick for 2. Aries tags in and hits a slingshot splash for 2. Strong tags in and the champions hit a double backbreaker for 2. Aries tags in and hits the corner elbow for 2. He hits a clothesline and a second rope elbowdrop for 2. Strong tags in and runs into an exploder suplex. Joe tags in and hits an enziguiri. He hits the Big Joe Combo for 2. Whitmer tags in and hits a back elbow for 2. Joe tags in and they hit a double shoulder tackle. Joe puts on a wristlock but Strong comes back with a chop. Joe hits a falcon arrow and kicks Strong’s chest. Whitmer tags in and hits a leg lariat for 2. He puts on a chinlock and then hits a high knee. Joe tags in and puts on a camel clutch. Strong hits a back suplex and tags to Aries. Aries hits a roaring forearm and dives onto Whitmer on the floor after Joe launches him into the air. He comes back in with a slingshot senton and then hits the Heat Seeking Missile on Whitmer. He hits a missile dropkick on Joe and then dusts off the babyface dropkick for 2. Strong tags in and they hit a double uranage backbreaker. They hit the chop/brainbuster combo for 2. They hit the double uranage backbreaker on Joe but he comes back with kicks. He hits a senton on Strong for 2. Whitmer clotheslines Strong into a back suplex from Joe for 2. Whitmer tags in and hits a German suplex. He hits a dragon suplex and gets a sunset flip for 2. Strong comes back with a roll up for 2. He hits the uranage backbreaker and a powerbomb for 2 after Aries flies in with a missile dropkick. Whitmer falls to the floor while suplexing Aries out of the ring. Joe hits a powerslam on Strong for 2. Strong gets a sunset flip for 2. He hits the half nelson backbreaker for 2. Joe sweeps the legs and puts on the choke. Strong powers out and hits the gutbuster. He hits the Sick Kick and the tiger driver for the win. The second half of this match was very strong and the finish was awesome. The match would have been better had the first half not been so lumbering but it still blows away everything else on the show so far.
Rating: ***½

JZ says: Aries and Strong have been the champions since 12.17.05, and this is their seventeenth defense. WE get some clips of the Joe vs. Aries matches for the World Title and the Pure Title. Aries has actually beaten Joe twice. Aries is wrestling with broken ribs tonight, suffered in a title defense against the Briscoes back in England. Strong starts it off and he and Whitmer battle for a minute or two. Joe tags in, and Aries follows suit. Joe takes the early advantage on him. They show everyone how well they know each other and Joe tags out to Whitmer. They take control of Aries and go to work on his injured ribcage. Aries somersaults over to the corner and tags Strong, who is a flaming house. Joe illegally comes into the ring to exchange slaps with Strong. Boy that singles match is gonna rock the shit. The champions then take over on Whitmer. I just wonder what Joe and Whitmer did to earn this title shot, as I think it is the first time they have ever teamed just the two of them. If it’s just residual love from the CZW feud, that’s a pretty weak reason. Anyway Joe gets tagged in and now his house is on fire. He and Whitmer then take over on Strong. Strong finally comes back with a back suplex on Joe and makes the hot tag to Aries. Joe tries to back body drop Aries over the ropes, but Aries makes it a cross body on Whitmer. Back in the ring Aries continues to dominate. Joe fights back and takes out both champions. Joe and Whitmer have some really good double team moves here. Strong fights back on Whitmer and the champions hit a nice missile dropkick / powerbomb combo for a near fall. Joe comes in and goes for the Muscle Buster on Strong but Aries breaks it up. Aries and Whitmer suplex each other over the top ropes to the floor in a neat looking spot. That leaves Joe and Strong in the ring. Roderick hits a flurry of moves culminating in a Tiger Driver that gets the victory at 20:10. Roderick Strong has just pinned Samoa Joe 100% clean. That is the perfect end to a really fun match, and I’m super hyped to see Joe vs. Strong in a singles match.
Rating: ***½

The Gospel

BG says: Christopher Daniels talks about his lack of direction in ROH. He clears things up by saying that he wants to be a champion in ROH again. He and Matt Sydal are going to accomplish that by beating Aries and Strong for the tag titles. Jimmy Jacobs approaches to ask Daniels if he’s seen Lacey. Daniels has but he doesn’t want to be the bearer of bad news so he just points Jacobs in the right direction. Jacobs walks into the shower and finds Lacey and Cabana making out. He breaks down as Lacey beams about Cabana being the new member of Lacey’s Angels. Cabana doesn’t seem to be on the same page as her. Jacobs’ reaction there was priceless.

JZ says: Christopher Daniels is here to say that he is completely focused on winning the ROH World Tag Team Championships with Matt Sydal tomorrow night in Chicago. When the promo is over, Jimmy Jacobs comes in and asks Daniels if he’s seen Lacey. He says that Jimmy needs to figure out where she is for himself. He finds her alright, making out with Colt Cabana in the shower! Cabana looks proud of himself, and Lacey wants Cabana to win the title for Lacey’s Angels. Poor Jimmy!

MATCH #7: ROH World Title Match, 2 out of 3 Falls – Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness

BG says: If Nigel loses here he won’t get any more title shots as long as Danielson is the champion. They knuckle up and Nigel powers Danielson to the corner. Nigel slaps him and Danielson bails. Back in the ring Danielson returns the slap and puts on a headlock. He violently pulls Nigel to the mat and tells the fans that he’ll hold the headlock for sixty minutes. He lasts a few minutes but then puts on the head scissors and hits a mini piledriver. The crowd becomes heavily invested in the headlock. Nigel escapes a few times but Danielson repeatedly gets it back on. He hits a back suplex for 2. Now that the crowd wants the headlock Danielson changes his game plan. He kicks Nigel’s back and puts on a chinlock. The crowd cheers so Nigel tells everyone the difference between the two holds. Danielson hits a kneedrop and goes back to the chinlock. Nigel hits a hammerlock DDT and Danielson bails. Nigel follows him out and pulls his shoulder against the post. Back in the ring Nigel puts on a crossface and rolls Danielson up for 2. He kicks the back for 2. Danielson puts on a headlock but Nigel counters to a wristlock takedown for 2. He puts on a hammerlock and tosses Danielson to the floor. Nigel follows to ram Danielson’s shoulder into the barricade. Back in the ring Nigel puts on a wristlock. Danielson escapes and slams Nigel’s leg on the mat. Nigel slams Danielson’s shoulder to the mat keeps the pressure on Danielson’s arm Danielson escapes but Nigel comes back by tossing Danielson into the turnbuckle by his wrist. He suplexes him by his shoulder for 2. Danielson hits a dropkick and Nigel bails. Danielson follows him out with a suicide dive. Back in the ring he hits a missile dropkick and a forearm in the corner. He hits the neck wrench suplex and climbs again. He hits the diving headbutt for 2. He hits the Thesz press for 2. He puts on a crossface but Nigel gets to the ropes. Danielson hits a superplex for 2. He puts on the crossface chicken wing but Nigel gets to the ropes. Nigel hits a lariat for 2. He hits the handstand kick for 2. Danielson takes the first fall with a small package out of nowhere.

Danielson starts the second fall by stalling. In the ring Nigel goes after the wrist but Danielson gains control with a dropkick. He puts on a chinlock and hits a cheap shot. Nigel gets fired up after seeing his own blood and shoots back. Danielson goes back to the chinlock and keeps the pressure on Nigel’s face. He hits a kneedrop but Nigel hits his corner combo for 2. He hits a hammerlock bodyslam for 2. He puts on a chinlock of his own but Danielson fights out. Danielson hits a butterfly suplex for 2 and goes back to the chinlock. He slaps Nigel in the corner and goes back to the headlock. Nigel hits a back suplex but Danielson holds on. Danielson hits a dropkick for 2. He hits the thigh stomp and puts on a figure 4 leglock. He uses the ropes for leverage but Nigel rolls the hold over. Danielson sets him up top but Nigel slips away and hits an electric chair drop from the second rope for 2. He puts on TAS but Danielson gets to the ropes. Danielson crawls under the ring and hits a top rope dropkick after coming out on the other side. Nigel comes back with the rebound lariat and locks in TAS to win the second fall.

Nigel goes for TAS but Danielson slips out and puts on a leglock. He puts on the Regal stretch and then has the referee pop his shoulder back into place. Nigel sneaks in and puts on the Cow Killer but Danielson quickly gets to the ropes. Nigel hits a pair of hiptosses and goes for the handstand but Danielson hits him with a running headbutt for 2. He sets Nigel up top and hits a back superplex for 2. He puts on the Cow Killer but Nigel quickly gets to the ropes. You could probably hear a pin drop in that building. Danielson hits a vertical suplex for 2. They trade slaps and Danielson goes back to work on Nigel’s face. He puts the chinlock back on but Nigel counters to one of his own. Danielson hits a jawbreaker for 2. He puts on a modified half crab but Nigel gets to the ropes. He stays on the leg but Nigel comes back to trade slaps with him. Danielson dropkicks him to the floor and then knocks him into the crowd with a baseball slide. He goes for the springboard somersault dive but Nigel nails him with a chair. Hey, that’s how he won their first match! There are no count outs in this match so he rolls Danielson back into the ring and clotheslines him off the top rope for 2. Danielson comes back with a Chimeraplex for 2. He sets Nigel up top and hits a dropkick. He brings Nigel down with the Tower of London for 2. He hits a butterfly suplex and climbs the ropes. Nigel gets his boot up to block the diving headbutt and puts the Cow Killer on Danielson. Danielson gets to the ropes. He puts the Cow Killer on Nigel but Nigel counters to the Tower of London. I can’t really explain how he did it but it was awesome. It only gets 2 however. Danielson counters the top rope lariat into the Cow Killer but Nigel gets to the ropes. Nigel hits a lariat for 2. He puts on TAS as Bobby Cruise announces that five minutes remain. Danielson gets to the ropes and Nigel stupidly waits for him to get to his feet. They slowly trade strikes and Danielson hits the roaring forearm. He hits another but Nigel comes back with the rebound lariat for 2. He puts the Cow Killer on Danielson as Cruise announces that two minutes remain. Danielson gets to the ropes so Nigel hits the Tower of London for 2. He puts on TAS but Danielson counters to the unprotected elbows. Nigel fires up and hits unprotected elbows but Danielson stays conscious long enough to beat the clock and retain his title.

Paul London vs. Bryan Danielson this was not. The first fall was never boring but never really exciting either. It was more cutely entertaining than anything. The second fall was actually quite dull for the most part but it had a few fun moments playing off of their earlier matches. The dead crowd once again hurts things as the third fall suffered from the loudest silence I’ve heard (or not heard) in a long time. The way they paid homage to their earlier matches was nice but between those nice moments were stretches that felt like time-filler. I actually liked this the least out of all of their matches.
Rating: ***½

It takes Danielson quite a while to get to his feet after the match. Nigel, the referee and a handful of other concerned parties check on Danielson until he regains his composure. After drinking some water he gets on the microphone and apologizes for being in the rough state he’s in. He calls Nigel his toughest opponent and then addresses the fans’ concern over the Pure title. He declares the title retired but gives the physical belt back to Nigel as a trophy because he “made” it. Nigel says some things I can’t make out but I’m pretty sure it boils down to saying thank you.

JZ says: Danielson has been champion since 9.17.05, and this is his thirty-second defense. He has already successfully defended the title against McGuinness three times, and this is his last shot at the American Dragon. The code of Honor is tensely observed. Nigel is aggressive the early going, so Danielson backs off. Prazak gives an excellent history of these men’s prior matches against each other. They start chain wrestling, and Danielson puts on a headlock. He threatens to keep the hold on for the entire 60 minutes this match is sure to go. He switches it up to the headscissors. Danielson continues to dominate, switching over to the chinlock. Nigel makes the comeback and goes to work on the champion’s shoulder. The tease Danielson taking the head bumps to the steel ring post, but he takes it on the shoulder instead. Back in the ring Nigel continues to work on the shoulder. The action finally picks up when Danielson fights back with a dropkick and hits a nice looking dive to the floor. Back in the ring he his a missile dropkick and nips up. Danielson uses the Thesz Press and puts on a crossface of sorts. We’re about twenty minutes in and the champion hits a superplex. Nigel comes back with a lariat and the headstand mule kick. Danielson scores a small package out of nowhere to get the pin and win the first fall. Danielson stalls like Larry Zbyszko. He does take control back in the ring with his purposefully slow offense. Nigel finally gets fed up and the crowd tries to get behind him for a bit but Danielson goes right back to the side headlock. He varies it up a bit and scores a couple of near falls. Nigel’s nose is bloody, so the commentators speculate on the possibility of it being broken. Nigel makes a comeback and locks on That Arm Submission but Danielson reaches the ropes. Danielson crawls under the ring again and hits Nigel with a missile dropkick, and Nigel responds with the Rebound Clothesline and locks on a New Arm Submission and Danielson taps out to even things up at one fall apiece. Wow, and Prazak says over 20 minutes are left in the time limit. Both men are up and they trade submission holds. Nigel goes after the shoulder, so Danielson commissions referee Todd Sinclair to put it back in place. That awkward spot leads to Nigel trying the Cattle Mutilation. Danielson reaches the ropes and Nigel continues to dominate. Danielson comes back and hits the super back suplex and the Cattle Mutilation but Nigel reaches the ropes to absolutely zero reaction. They get up and trade slaps, and Danielson is all “no way man” and hits the face again and locks on another chinlock. They do some more stuff and the crowd pretty much sits on their hands, and I’m not far behind them. Danielson dives to the floor but Nigel gets a chair up. Back in the ring Danielson hits Nigel’s own Tower of London finisher. Danielson goes for the diving headbutt but Nigel gets the knees up and puts on Cattle Mutilation. Danielson reaches the ropes. Nigel tries the Tower of London, but Danielson reverses to the Cattle Mutilation, which Nigel escapes and gets a Tower of London for two. Danielson comes back with Cattle Mutilation for real. Nigel hits a big lariat for two and puts on his New Arm Submission. We’ve got five minutes left. They start hitting some big stuff and there’s two minutes left. Danielson eventually starts cranking Nigel in the face with elbows, and just when it seems Nigel is out he comes back with just 30 seconds to go. He hits his own elbows to the face. The bell rings during this, signifying the end of the 60:00 time limit. The match was technically good and even exciting in the last ten minutes (even though all they did was finishers), but jeez was a lot of that match really boring. I understand the whole “Bryan Danielson wrestles for no one but himself” thing, and that’s all well and good, but in this match it felt like they were stalling because they knew they were going 60 minutes. The Joe versus Punk matches never blatantly seemed like they were going to go 60. Perhaps booking this as an Iron Man match would have helped alleviate that problem, I don’t know. After about 10 minutes, Danielson gets up and gets on the mic to put over Nigel as his toughest opponent. He then offers the Pure Title belt as a trophy to Nigel, who held that championship for almost a year. Nigel takes a turn on the mic too, and they shake hands.
Rating: ***

MVP

BG says: Bryan Danielson for actually getting the fans to react to something consistently. Too bad it couldn’t be his entire match.

JZ says: None of the matches did that much to really super impress me, so I’ll give it to Jimmy Jacobs for doing a great job furthering his angle and advancing his character.

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 GUT CHECK!

The 411: BG says: The crowd was painfully silent all night and it really hurt the show. I feel that most matches (the tag title match especially) could have been much better had the crowd not been so utterly silent. I’ve actually not been this frustrated with a crowd since watching New Jersey fans sit on their hands through the Danielson/AJ Styles match at Main Event Spectacles. What we’re left with on this show is a lot of wasted potential. You could see the quality just being buried by the lack of enthusiasm in the building. I can’t recommend this one in good conscience considering how many shows ROH put on in August of 2006. JZ says: This was a very underwhelming show, helped in no small part by the crowd hardly getting into anything. The main event proved that sometimes more can be done with less, as evidenced by how much better Danielson and Nigel’s match in England was than this one. There’s some fine stuff here and there on this show, but for those who don’t buy every show this one is a pass.

Final Score:  6.0   [ Average ]