ROH Trios Tournament 2005: March 5, 2005 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

ROH … Trios Tournament 2005 … March 5, 2005 … Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Review by Brad Garoon and Jacob Ziegler

Top 5

JZ says: There were three anniversary shows, so there’s plenty of matches and results to incorporate into this top 5 voting. Let’s see what the good people over at rohwrestling.com decided on.

ROH World Champion: Austin Aries (since 12.26.04)
ROH Pure Champion: John Walters (since 08.28.04)
1) Jimmy Rave
2) James Gibson
3) Samoa Joe
4) Homicide
5) Spanky

Intro

BG says: This is the first of what will presumably be an annual tournament for ROH. The winners of the eight-team tournament will all be able to choose any match for themselves.

Steve Corino and his lackey wait backstage for CM Punk and Colt Cabana. Cabana shows up and tells him that Punk is still pretty crazy because of what the Embassy did to him in Chicago. He will be there later, however. Cabana leaves and Corino tells Landell he may have to replace Punk tonight. Corino wants to win so that he can give more exposure to his students, get a pay raise, and go one more time against Homicide. And of course, he wants the World title match he’s never gotten.

Dunn, Marcos & El Generico are ready to rock the trios tournament like some kind of crazy triple hurricane.

JZ says: Weird, Corino’s actually on time tonight, waiting for Punk and Cabana. Cabana assures Corino that Punk will indeed be there, and plugs 411. Corino proceeds to cut his own promo. Corino has an agenda, so he really wants to win the tournament tonight.

El Generico has a Tito Santana t-shirt on, thus becoming my new favorite wrestler.

MATCH #1: First Round match – Davey Andrews, Chris Hagadorn & Anthony Franco vs. Generation Next

BG says: Punk enters the show on commentary, complaining about his eyesight. Generation Next jump the students before the bell. Strong destroys all three of the students but Andrews comes back with a German suplex. Evans breaks the pin with a standing corkscrew. All at once, Evans hits his 630 senton, Strong hits a hurricane DDT and Aries hits a brainbuster for the win. This is only a match in that there were two bells.
Rating: DUD

JZ says: I think the second guy’s name is Shane Hagadorn, but that’s what the chryon says for his name. Punk’s on commentary with Jimmy Bower. The whole thing only takes 1:11, as Austin Aries, Roderick Strong & Jack Evans just dominate Punk’s kids.
Rating: DUD

MATCH #2: First Round match – Steve Corino, CM Punk & Colt Cabana vs. The Embassy

BG says: The trading down of WMDs continues here, as the weapon is a short and pudgy HC Loc doppelganger. Punk attacks Rave on the ramp and all six men start brawling. Dave Prazak debuts on commentary as the Extreme Saints dominate the floor. The rest of the match basically consists of the Embassy beating on Punk and then the babyfaces taking over. Everything breaks down as Punk chokes out and says naughty things to Rave in the corner. Rave bails and runs to the back as Punk puts the Anaconda Vice on the WMD for the win. Nothing to see here match-wise, but I did like the way that it continued the Rave/Punk feud.
Rating: *

JZ says: They start it off with a big brawl as Punk is furious with Rave. Dave Prazak makes his ROH commentary debut, and is instantly a million times better than Nutly. It’s too bad Fast Eddie or Diablo Santiago couldn’t be on this team. Oman Tortuga is one of those guys who is bigger in real life than he looks on TV. The WMD taps at 4:56. It furthered Punk versus Rave but as a match it has very little to offer.
Rating: 1/2*

Backstage

BG says: Samoa Joe and Bryan Danielson talk about why they want to win the tournament while Vordell Walker stands around and looks out of place. Sugar Sean Price runs up and tells Joe that someone has attacked Lethal. They run up to him and he’s is laid out and doesn’t know who hit him.

JZ says: Vordell Walker doesn’t get a chance to talk, but Joe says plenty as we learn that Jay Lethal has been attacked backstage.

MATCH #3: First Round Match – Dunn, Marcos & El Generico vs. The Rottweilers

BG says: Maybe we’ll get an actual match here. Reyes and Marcos start. Marcos dodges all of Reyes’ attacks and hits an armdrag. He keeps it quick and gets a series of roll ups for 2. Reyes comes back with a belly to belly suplex. He hits a backbreaker for 1. Generico tags in and goes to work on the arm. Reyes tags out to Romero who hits a back elbow. Generico and Romero get into a cool sequence that ends with a Generico leg lariat. Dunn and Homicide tag in. Dunn hits a dropkick and tags Marcos in. Marcos comes off the top onto the arm and hits a flying forearm for 2. Homicide hits a hanging DDT and tags Reyes. Reyes hits a kneedrop for 2. Romero tags in and puts Marcos in the tree of woe. He kicks away and then tags to Homicide. They Rottweilers triple-team him with the ref distracted. Reyes suplexes Marcos getting 2 for Homicide. Homicide hits a bodyslam and goes to the top rope but misses the diving headbutt. Marcos makes the tag to Generico who gets a crossbody for 2. The Pitbulls come in but Generico takes them out. The RCE and Generico all kick at Homicide for a close 2. Dunn and Marcos get pulled out of the ring and Homicide hits Generico with a pair of Clotheslines from Hell for the win. Much like the tag team title match from two shows prior, you knew the babyfaces didn’t have a chance, but the hope spots still worked really well.
Rating: **1/2

JZ says: Punk is back to replace Prazak on commentary. The predictability factor finds its way into the third match in a row, as it is painfully obvious who is going to win. Romero is a really good cocky heel, I think to myself as he has Marcos up in the tree of woe and kicks him in the face while he’s at it. Homicide KILLS Generico with a lariat to get the pin at 8:44. That was a perfectly serviceable match with an obvious result.
Rating: **1/4

MATCH #4: First Round Match – Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson & Vordell Walker vs. Spanky, Nigel McGuinness & James Gibson

BG says: Joe was impressed with Walker’s squash-ability back in New Jersey so he recruited him for his team here. That really makes no sense, and Walker looks at least three steps below everyone else in the match. Spanky and Walker start. They work the mat where Walker dominates. Spanky grabs a headlock but Walker makes the tag to Danielson. Spanky flinches and tags out to Gibson. They trade armdrags and suplexes. Danielson dropkicks him out of the ring. Joe tags in, as does Nigel. Nigel gets a legvice and pins Joe’s shoulders for two. Joe turns a headlock into a camel clutch and leans way back with it. Spanky makes the save. Danielson tags in and starts head-butting Nigel’s back. They trade wristlocks and Spanky tags in. He stays on the arm and puts him to the mat. Danielson comes back and puts on a headlock. Spanky puts Danielson down with a knucklelock but can’t break his bridge. Danielson monkey flips out and gets a sunset flip for 2. Walker and Gibson tag in. Walker puts Gibson on the mat and gets a 1 count. Gibson puts Walker in the corner and kicks his knee out from under him. He stays on it and tags in Nigel. Nigel keeps on the knee, snapmaring it into the ropes. Nigel goes to bait Walker in with the headstand but Spanky interjects and takes out Walker first. Joe goes to kick Nigel off the turnbuckle but he dodges and hits him with a superkick. Nigel tries the headstand on Joe but Walker runs in and dropkicks him down for 2. He kicks away and hits a bodyslam. He hits a standing moonsault for 2. Joe tags in and they trade forearms. Nigel blocks the face wash, although it does hit Gibson. Gibson totally no-sells it and the match breaks down.

Danielson puts the airplane spin on Spanky and takes out Nigel. He puts it on Gibson and takes out Nigel and Spanky. He puts it on Walker, his own teammate, and takes out Nigel again. He tries to put it on Joe but can’t get him up. That was fun. Joe goes after Spanky and he bails. He hides behind the camera girl but Joe tosses her aside and gives chase. Back inside he hits a powerslam and a senton for 2. Walker tags in and hits an ocean cyclone suplex for 2. He goes for a dragon suplex but Spanky gets in the ropes. Joe tags in and hits the Big Joe Combo for 2. Danielson tags in and puts on a Mexican surfboard. Joe and Walker cut off the save as Danielson wrenches it in. Gibson saves and Walker tags in and puts on a double underhook submission. Spanky rolls into the ropes. Danielson tags in as Spanky fights off all three opponents. Danielson cuts off the hot tag but Spanky comes back with a flatliner and tags to Gibson. Gibson takes it to Walker and hits a vertical suplex for 2. Danielson runs in but Gibson dives onto Joe. Nigel pulls the ropes down as Danielson goes for a dive himself. Walker misses a cue and gets enziguiried for 2. He hits Gibson with a belly to belly suplex and an Asai moonsault for 2. Gibson gets a front facelock but Joe saves. Gibson takes out his knee and hits a running knee to the face. Walker gets sloppy with a back suplex for 2. Danielson tags in and gets side suplexed. Nigel tags in and starts working the arm. Danielson hits a flying uppercut for 2. They trade uppercuts but Danielson loses focus and Nigel hits him with a clothesline to the back for 2. Danielson goes for the Cow Killer but Spanky makes the blind tag and hits a frog splash for 2. Joe tags in and withstands a ton of offense from Spanky. He reverses Sliced Bread #2 to the choke for the win. Spanky acted very heelish in this, so I guess it’s fitting that he took the pin. This was good in that it gave all six guys a chance to do their thing against all of their opponents. The downsides were Walker showing why he looked so out of place and a lack of a constant focus throughout the match.
Rating: ***1/2

As everyone shakes hands in the ring, Trent Acid makes his non-anticipated re-debut. He claims he made Philly, and he’s mad that six guys who aren’t from the area get cheered when he gets booed. The Rockin’ Rebel hits the ring and tries to get Acid to leave peacefully. What the crap? Spanky loses it and starts going off on Acid. A brawl breaks out as the ROH stars chase Acid out of the ring. The crowd chants “Don’t come back.” What a weird segment.

JZ says: The Philadelphia crowd has difficulty not only in chanting James Gibson’s name, but knowing it as well. Punk and Prazak are on commentary together in this one. This is Vordell Walker’s third match in ROH, and he’s getting to be in the ring with all these guys. The crowd pops big for the James Gibson versus Bryan Danielson altercation. In fact, all of the combinations between these two teams make for intriguing match-ups. Except ones involving Vordell Walker of course. The winners of this match will go on to face The Rottweilers in round two. This appears to indicate a win for Team Joe, so that Danielson and Homicide can fight on this show. Mary Kate gets involved and Joe tosses her aside, gently though. Spanky takes a beating for a while before making the hot tag to Gibson, who takes out everyone. The awesome finish comes at 23:46. Joe had just had enough of Spanky and choked him right out, it’s that simple. Danielson and Homicide will now get their chance to do battle in the second round.
Rating: ***1/4

Trent Acid comes out? What the fuck? This segment is just screaming “leave me off the tape!!” Spanky takes offense to Acid, what’s with his attitude tonight? What a bizarre, unnecessary segment.

MATCH #5: Semifinal Match – Generation Next vs. CM Punk, Colt Cabana & Steve Corino

BG says: Colt Cabana asks to read a list of his own during Corino’s extended entrance. His work of art consists of people he would like to have a three-way with. We learn from this that Cabana has low standards, as long as it’s funny. Punk draws the line at Slyk Wagner Brown. Punk makes sure to steal a bit of Corino’s thunder when he eventually gets introduced too. Aries and Corino start. Corino no-sells a bunch of offense from Aries and hits a northern lights bomb. Cabana and Strong tag in. Cabana works the wrist and puts on a cravat. He does some European style chain wrestling but gets caught in a submission. Cabana rolls out and slaps Strong down after snapping the ropes on an Irish whip. Cabana puts on a cravat and tags Punk in. Evans tags in and manages to do all kinds of springboard moves off the broken ropes. Punk hits a lariat and the Extreme Saints take turns chopping Evans in the in the corner. Punk hits a seated dropkick for 2 and tags in Corino. He hits a Tree of Woe dropkick and signals for his 2 partners to do the same. They all hit dropkicks for 2. Punk goes to the top but gets kicked down and stuck. Aries tags in and dropkicks the knee. He goes to work on it and reverses an enziguiri to a shin breaker and a back suplex for 2. Strong tags in and they double-team Punk. Evans tags in and hits an assisted corkscrew splash on the leg. Punk reverses a handspring elbow attempt into a tombstone piledriver. Cabana gets the tag and cleans house. Things start to get ugly as Corino comes in and cleans house in the most contrived way possible. He hits a ton of powerbombs on Evans for 2. What is this crap? Punk tags himself in and hits a Shining Wizard. He hits a screwdriver for 2 and everyone starts brawling with everyone. Punk goes for a Pepsi Plunge on Evans but Aries blocks and hits an electric chair drop. Evans hits the assisted awesome-sault off of Cabana onto Punk for the win. I’d like to say it was the broken ring that held this one back, but it wasn’t really doing much for me before that.
Rating: **

After the match Corino and Punk get confrontational. Cabana tries to calm things down, but when Corino compares Punk to Triple H and Punk calls Corino an errand boy for Zero-One feelings appear to be irreparably damaged. Corino shakes Cabana’s hand but won’t shake Punk’s and then leaves.

JZ says: Cabana’s list of people he’d like to have a threesome with (in honor of the Trios Tournament ya see) is really hilarious. Aries and Cabana start and decide that they’re not selling anything tonight. Jimmy Bower notes that Cabana & Nigel McGuinness will be getting a tag team title shot at Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer next week in Woodbridge, Connecticut. Cabana and Strong manage to break the ring, so Cabana slaps him. The crowd chants for Dunn & Marcos, which is awesome. The match pretty much falls apart at this point, as commentator Jimmy Bower somehow manages to be in two places at once. Bower keeps saying that ROH officials need to stop this match and restart it after intermission. He informs us that the ring could collapse at any moment but that doesn’t really add any drama to the match though. The neat finish comes at 14:46, with Evans getting the pin on CM Punk. That’s pretty cool, but wow this match sucked. I like all six of these guys, but be it the broken ring or whatever it was, this match was severely not good. Dissension in the ranks of the Extreme Saints, as Cabana tries to play peacemaker between Corino and Punk. Unfortunately, we didn’t know this at the time, but this would be Corino’s last appearance in ROH (for the time being anyway).
Rating: *

Intermission

BG says: Jay Lethal (and his shiner) is backstage with the Scoopster. He says he was kicked in the eye after being attacked from behind earlier and he still doesn’t know who done it. It won’t stop him from winning the Pure title from John Walkers though.

SSP is with Spanky and Gibson. Gibson is undefeated and needs Spanky to pick up his game if they’re going to be teaming together. Spanky gets a little defensive, but Gibson really just wants them to be a good and focused team. Spanky also doesn’t want to talk about Trent Acid.

JZ says: The Scoopster says that intermission might be a little bit longer than usual, which doesn’t really affect those of us viewing the tape at home. Jay Lethal says tonight is his night.

My boy SSP is with an angry Spanky and James Gibson. Gibson says Spanky dropped the ball tonight. They try to talk about Trent Acid, but Spanky doesn’t want to. I really hope this isn’t leading to Acid’s comeback program.

MATCH #6: Semifinal Match – The Rottweilers vs. Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson & Vordell Walker

BG says: Danielson rushes the ring and the Rottweilers bail. Danielson and Homicide start. They trade strikes and Homicide bails. Back in the ring Homicide cheap shots Joe and then attacks the unsuspecting Danielson. The Rottweilers choke him out in their corner. Reyes tags in and hits a bodyslam for 2. He pulls at the beard but the ref calls for the break. Punk on commentary says there is no heat between him and Corino. Romero tags in and gets beaten up. Homicide comes in and hits a neckbreaker for 2. Reyes tags in and goes to the beard again but Joe kicks him to break. Homicide comes back in and hits a vertical suplex for 2. Romero tags in and rakes the chest. He grabs a headlock and Reyes tags in. Danielson gets distracted going after Homicide and ends up getting triple-teamed. Homicide tags in and punches away. Danielson gets fired up and hits a dropkick. Romero catches him with a dropkick but Joe tags in and cleans house. He hits a powerslam on Homicide for 2 and then puts on the cross arm breaker. Reyes breaks the hold. Walker tags in and hits a leg lariat for 2. Homicide comes back with a dragonscrew and tags in Reyes. Walker hits a pumphandle black hole slam for 2. Homicide and Danielson fight on the floor as Joe and Walker fight with Reyes inside. Joe hits a suicide dive onto everyone on the floor. That leaves Walker alone to get guillotine leg dropped for the Rottweilers’ win. I liked how they kept things strong in the Danielson/Homicide feud, but the match was very disappointing.
Rating: **1/4

JZ says: The big story is Danielson and Homicide, but Samoa Joe has heat with all of these guys as well, and has wrestled them all in tag team and singles matches. Lots of brawlin’ and stallin’ starts this one out. Danielson has his William Regal tights on and pretty much decides to fight this match by himself. He finally tags in Joe just over seven minutes in. The match breaks down around nine minutes, as everyone is brawling with everyone. Vordell Walker continues to look lost in the ring. Reyes and Romero give Walker the Cuban Missile Crisis to get the win and move on to the finals at 9:54. Nothing much to see here, but it did work on the Homicide/Danielson feud, so it wasn’t entirely worthless.
Rating: *3/4

MATCH #7: Six Man Mayhem – Dixie vs. Azrieal vs. Kevin Steen vs. B-Boy vs. Izzy vs. Deranged

BG says: This is Steen’s debut, although he’d already received an ROH title shot at this point. B-Boy is also making his evening show debut here. Deranged and Izzy start. They try to tag out so as to not fight one another, but nobody will tag them. They take the New Age Outlaw route of immediately letting one another go for the win but Azrieal breaks it up. He hits an STO on Deranged but takes a hurricanrana. Deranged hits a climbing knee in the corner but his supercanrana is blocked. Azrieal misses the double stomp and gets armdragged out. Dixie comes in and hits a tornado DDT. Izzy comes in and eats a leg lariat. He hits the standing Sliced Bread and Dixie rolls out. B-Boy comes in with a tornado backbreaker. Steen comes in and hits a gutbuster for 2. Azrieal comes in and hits a dropkick. Everyone brawls on the floor as Azrieal goes for a dive. Izzy cuts him off and hits the moonsault kick, knocking Azrieal and himself onto everyone. Back in the ring he hits B-Boy with a hurricanrana. B-Boy blocks another and powerbombs him into the corner. He hits a dropkick in the corner. Azrieal comes in and hits a cobra clutch backbreaker for 2 when Steen saves. Steen hits a side Russian legsweep and a somersault legdrop for 2. Deranged comes in and goes low. He hits the Code Red but Dixie saves. Dixie hits a German suplex but Izzy saves. He hits a powerbomb but B-Boy saves. B-Boy hits a cross arm piledriver but Steen attacks with an enziguiri and a package piledriver. Deranged comes in with a double stomp but gets hit with an Azrieal lariat. He hits the Demon Driver but Dixie saves. Dixie hits him with a backbreaker. Steen hits Dixie with a spinning back suplex. Evil Special K double suplex Steen. B-Boy hits them simultaneously with side suplexes. Azrieal catches him with an inverted blockbuster. Dixie takes Izzy out and Steen hits Deranged with an unsafe overhead suplex. Can I get a Dangerouuuus?! He dives onto everyone on the outside leaving B-Boy and Azrieal in the ring. Azrieal goes for a crucifix pin but B-Boy reverses to a DVD. He hits a reverse DDT on Steen on the apron. Azrieal catches him with the top rope double stomp for the win to officially end the babyface Special K losing streak. If you like spots you’ll like this, but that’s all it was.
Rating: **

JZ says: Steen and B-Boy are both making their main show debuts, but B-Boy had wrestled on two Do or Die cards, and Steen had received title shots against both Samoa Joe and Austin Aries. Bower and Punk are on commentary here. Steen has some size, he should really concentrate on getting cut. This is just an insane collection of spots, and everyone is hitting them pretty well. The head drops these guys take are absolutely brutal. Azrieal and Dixie end up fighting each other, which is okay because there are no friends in six man mayhem, only foes. The Unsafe Overhead Suplex is totally sick. We end up with Azrieal and B-Boy alone in the ring. Azrieal gets the win at 11:08. This was a nice change of pace from the six man tag team matches, even if it was the usual sick spot-no selling stuff that these multi-purpose (©Mark Nulty) matches usually are.
Rating: **1/2

MATCH #8: ROH Pure Title Match – Jay Lethal vs. John Walters

BG says: A video package is shown of Jay Lethal’s road to this Pure title shot. It was definitely one of the more enjoyable feuds for me, and the only thing I dislike about it was that the Outkast Killaz versus Lethal & Josh Daniels match from It All Begins got axed off the tape. Lethal’s eye is bandaged up. The crowd and Lethal tease Walters about his loss to Chris Masters on Raw shortly before this. Nana and Rave are ejected from ringside before the match. Nana vetoes that idea, so Punk comes out and chases them out of the building. Lethal kicks things off with some chops and hiptosses. He hits a leg lariat in the corner and a bulldog for 2. He hits a missile dropkick for 2. He hits a back bodydrop and Walters bails. Lethal follows him out and gets him back in the ring at 8. He hits a monkeyflip and an inverted Mexican surfboard, forcing Walters to use his first rope break. Walters gets set on the top rope but catches Lethal with a super backpack stunner. He stomps him down for a pair of 2 counts. He works over the swollen eye but the ref calls for the break. He hits a vertical suplex for 2. He puts on a Steiner Recliner but Lethal powers out. Lethal gets a crucifix roll up for 2. Walters reverses a hurricanrana to a cloverleaf. Lethal uses his first rope break. Walters clubs him down for two. Walters hits an electric chair drop and a dropkick for 2. Lethal reverses the Lung blower to a roll up for 2. Walters gets a backslide for 2. They mirror each other’s roll ups until Walters grabs the ropes to break one of them. That’s two for him. Lethal hits a dropkick and a leg lariat. He blocks a vertical suplex and hits a powerbomb for 2. He hits three backbreakers and puts on a camel clutch. Walters reverses out and hits three Lung blowers for 2. Lethal counters the super Lung blower into a DDT from the top rope for 2. After blocking each other’s finishers Lethal hits a lariat and the dragon suplex to end the John Walters experiment for good. That was a solid match and a satisfying end to the feud.
Rating: ***

JZ says: I like ROH making use of the video package to recap their feuds, especially great ones like this. We get clips of the two Lethal versus Jimmy Rave matches from Weekend of Thunder Night 2 (11.06.04) and Third Anniversary Celebration Pt. 1 (02.19.05), as well as the Lethal versus Walters match from 02.19.05. This is Walters’ seventh defense of the Pure Title, and Lethal’s third title shot (one tag team title shot, and this is his second shot at the Pure Title). Nana and Rave will not be allowed to stay at ringside for this one. Bower says that Punk has left the broadcast area, which is all it takes to chase Nana away. The crowd doesn’t pop for Punk at all. Prazak is back in the booth. The crowd is slowly getting into this one, though it’s getting a little sloppy at times. Walters hits three Lung blowers to almost no reaction, but the crowd pops when Lethal kicks out. Lethal gets the win with the dragon suplex at 11:32 to become the third ROH Pure Champion. The match was fine but pretty much heatless and that always hurts. This would be John Walters’ last match in ROH.
Rating: **3/4

MATCH #9: Tournament Final – The Rottweilers vs. Generation Next

BG says: Homicide and Evans start. Homicide threatens Evans with the FOAM turnbuckle but the ref takes it away. Evans hits a really bad crossbody for 2. Homicide face plants him and tags to Reyes. Reyes hits a kneedrop and tags in Romero. Romero hits a running kick to the back and throws Evans to his corner, challenging Strong to get into the ring. Strong comes in and they slap it out. Strong blocks a hip toss but falls victim to a head scissor takedown. Romero hits a cool hurricanrana but Strong comes back with a backbreaker and a big boot. Homicide tags in and dumps Strong. Back in the ring Homicide puts on a double underhook and gets a 1 count. Reyes tags in and hits the chinlock. He hits a side slam for 2. He puts on a seated abdominal stretch and Romero comes in and kicks away. Homicide tags in and he and Romero double-team Strong. It gets 2. Evans tags in and hits a handspring elbow. He dives into the ring with a springboard dropkick for 2. He hits a vertical suplex and tags in Aries. Aries hits explosive elbow #4 for 2. He hits explosive elbow #1 and the babyface dropkick for 2. Strong tags in and chops away. He hits a double underhook suplex for 2. He puts on a surfboard stretch but Homicide gets to the ropes. Aries tags in and everyone brawls with everyone. Reyes hits a gut wrench suplex on Aries as Strong and Homicide fight on the floor. The Pitbulls hit their corner dropkick on Aries. Homicide hits an overhead belly to belly suplex on Aries and tags Reyes. Reyes hits a fisherman’s suplex for 2. He hits the chinlock and tags to Romero. Aries hits a rib breaker and explosive elbow #2. Evans tags in and hits a senton/corkscrew combo for 2. Romero slides to the apron and hits a knee lift from there. Homicide tags in and hits a double underhook superplex for 2. He hits an Alabama slam and tags to Romero who comes in with a kneedrop for 2. Homicide tags back in and relieves Evans of his doo rag. He goes for a super backdrop but Aries cuts him off. Evans comes off the top with a crazy flippy DDT for 2. That was pretty cool, even if Homicide blatantly looked for the move. Evans hits an enziguiri and makes the tag to Aries. Everyone starts brawling to the floor. In the ring Evans hits Homicide with a missile dropkick. Homicide dumps Evans and dives onto everyone on the floor. Evans follows suit. Aries and Homicide make their way back into the ring where Aries hits a brainbuster for 2. He goes for the 450 splash but Homicide crotches him. He hits a super Ace Crusher and the Clothesline from Hell for 2. Strong comes in and hits a gutbuster on Homicide for an Aries 2 count. Romero takes Strong out of the ring and the Pitbulls hit the guillotine kneedrop on Aries. Evans breaks up Homicide’s cover with a 450 splash. The Pitbulls dump Evans onto Strong (who was just standing there). Aries dumps the Pitbulls. Homicide blocks a brainbuster and hits the Cop Killer for the win. The heel//heel dynamic robbed the match of any heat it could have had. They did however tell a better story than any of the other matches in the tournament, so something can be said for that.
Rating: ***1/4

JZ says: Two of the big heel factions in ROH collide in the main event! The winning team gets to book a match of their choice. This match just feels very awkward, like everyone seems unsure about what to do, which is weird because I like five of the six guys involved. Aries gets into the match for the first time about 10 minutes in. That babyface dropkick gets more annoying each time I see it. Wow this match is just so not interesting. That Evans DDT off the top rope is a pretty neat move. Homicide hits the Cop Killa on Aries to finally get the victory at 21:06. Homicide now holds a victory over the World Champion. The match was technically fine, but it just didn’t really do anything for me from an excitement or emotional investment standpoint. And Ricky Reyes was in it.
Rating: **3/4

Aftermath

BG says: The Rottweilers teleport backstage where they beam about their win. Homicide wants the ROH World title and he’s using his tournament win to get a shot. Homicide calls for the Pitbulls to go after the tag titles, but they have some other things in mind.

SSP catches up with the Embassy as they’re exiting the building. Nana says Jay Lethal’s win was a fluke. CM Punk comes after them with a chair and they all run away. That was the last we would see of John Walters in ROH.

JZ says: Homicide is going to go after the World Title, and the motives of Romero and Reyes are a little more mysterious.

SSP comes up to Prince Nana, who is mysteriously missing his third Weapon of Mask Destruction. So long John Walters, we hardly knew you.

MVP

BG says: Homicide. He had the most solid performances in all three of his matches.

JZ says: Jay Lethal (the second time this year!) for winning his first title and capping off a really great feud.
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The 411: BG says: Pretty lackluster show here. It has a title change, so if you're like me and you like to see all of the changes then pick this up. But I have to say this show really doesn't hold up on its own and can be pretty easily skipped. JZ says: The idea of a six-man tag team tournament is nice, but seeing seven six-man matches in one show can be a little much, as it was here. The opening round matches (excluding the last one) were jobberiffic and not interesting. The title change is important and some feuds were furthered, but this show doesn’t really offer a lot match-wise.

Final Score:  4.0   [ Poor ]