411 Video Review: Empire State Showdown

As usual thanks to ROH for sending me this tape. You can pick it up here-

http://www.rfvideo.com/merchant/index.cfm?action=moreinfo&id=8187 (VHS)
http://www.rfvideo.com/merchant/index.cfm?action=moreinfo&id=8421 (DVD)

Samoa Joe cuts a promo about his match with Homicide.

Colt Cabana interrupts a session between J-Train and Homicide to inform them that their match is now No Holds Barred. J-Train yells stuff.

BJ Whitmer (1-1) v. Dan Maff (w/Allison Danger, 1-0) in a Field of Honor Group B match

Maff attacks as Whitmer is distracted by Danger. Whitmer comes back and they trade chops. Whitmer hits a high knee and chops him more. Maff chops him and dumps him out. Maff sends him into the rail and then does it a couple more times. Whitmer high knees him and hits a tope. Whitmer slaps him and sends him into the rail. Whitmer forearms him and slaps him. Whitmer whips him into another rail. Whitmer suplexes him on the floor. Whitmer hits a running knee and the Exploder gets two. Maff suplexes him on his head. Maff blocks a forearm and hits a cannonball for two. Maff gets a full nelson suplex for two. A half nelson suplex gers two. Whitmer blocks the Burning Hammer and hits two superkicks. Whitmer hits a wrist clutch exploder for the win. **3/4

This was really good and very stiff with lots of hard hitting action. It was just way too short and needed more time to tell a story.

Trent Acid is all alone in Philly with no Johnny Kashmere. He has a plan for 11.1 though.

The Outcast Killahs v. Fast Eddie and Don Juan (w/Rudy Boy Gonzalez) v. Dunn and Marcos v. Jimmy Jacobs and Alex Shelley in a tag team scramble

Eddie and Shelley start. They lock wrists and Eddie backslides him for two and armdrags him. Marcos and Santiago go. Marcos hurricaranas him but gets clotheslined. Santiago and Duinn go. Dunn armdrags him but gets kicked in the face. Jacobs and Tortuga go. Jacobs gets a tilt-a-whirl headscissors. They slap each other. Tortuga calls for a test of strength and we get a tag team test of strength chicken fight! Dunn and Marcos run in and roll everyone up. Cute spot. Eddie tombstones Marcos. Eddie and Don Juan celebrate but get booted by Shelley and Jacobs who use THE POWER OF HUSS. Team Huss take out the Outcast Killahs. Shelley tornado DDYs Dunn. Everyone brawls. 4 guys go up and all get caught and hurricaraned by the OTHER 4 guys for two. The Outcast Killahs take out Fast Eddie and Don Juan. Dunn-n-Marcos take out the Outcast Killahs. This calls for the JUMPING HIGH FIVE AND AIR GUITAR!~ But then AIR GUITAR meets HUSS and Huss wins. Shelley gets dumped to the floor and Fast Eddie and Don Juan hit moonsault neckbreakers onto Jacobs. Outcast Killahs take out Eddie and moonsault onto everyone on the floor. Dunn-n-Marcos take out the Outcast Killahs and Dunn powerbombs Tortuga for the win.

DUNN AND MARCOS WIN! DUNN AND MARCOS WIN! OH MY GOD WHAT A MOMENT!!!

This was the usual fun scramble match with some innovative spots thrown in for fun. Plus- Dunn and Marcos won! ***1/4

John Walters v. Christopher Daniels (w/Allison Danger)

Lockup- Walters armdrags him. Lockup- Walters armdrags him twice. Daniels bails. Lockup- Daniels takes him down. Lockup- Daniels with a headlock. Walters goes to a hammerlock. Walters with an armbar and they battle on the mat. Daniels takes him down and they continue to battle on the mat. Daniels goes to a chinlock and they continue to battle it out. Walters gets a dropkick. Daniels forearms him and chops him. Walters gets a leglock and hooks another submission hold. Walters gets a pinfall for two. Walters works on the leg and he stretches him. Daniels to break it and he makes the ropes. Daniels chops him but Walters hooks a leglock. They trade chops while Daniels tries to fight out. Allison Danger interferes and Walters chases her. Daniels goes for a baseball slide but Walters moves and slams his leg against the apron. Danger throws Walters off the apron. Daniels kicks him in the back and knees his back twice. Daniels backbreaks him and hits a gutwrench suplex for two. Daniels drops an elbow. Walters tries to fight back but misses a dropkick. Daniels hooks a Boston crab and turns it into a bow and arrow. Walters makes the ropes. Walters bails and gets whipped into the rail a few times. Back in- Daniels continues to work on the back. Daniels backdrops him and kicks him in the back. It gets two. Daniels then does a Davey Boy suplex. Daniels hits the Arabian press and hooks a crossface. Walters makes the ropes. Daniels hits a Blue Thunder Driver for two. Walters lands on his feet after a suplex and does his double knees to the back for two. Walters clotheslines him and spears him for two. Daniels backbreaks him. STO gets two. Picture Perfect Moonsault gets two. Walters comes back with a middle rope powerbomb for two. A Hurricane DDT gets two. Daniels sits on him to block a sunset flip for two. Walters reverses for two. Two more pinfalls for two. Daniels comes back with Angels Wings and the Last Rites for the win. ****

Daniels made Walters look like a million bucks while still going over in the process. Daniels worked on the back the whole match and Walters sold it like a champ. Daniels gave Walters so much and made the fans think that Walters could win the match. Daniels is held in such high-esteem by the ROH faithful that a loss doesn’t hurt Walters at all. The endless nearfalls at the end were great and made it seem like the match could end by any teams. A great match that just shows you amazing Daniels is.

Daniels puts Walters over and teases shaking his hand but well you know- he doesn’t. Daniels offers him a spot in the Prophecy. Xavier interrupts and is against this. Walters talks trash to Xavier. Xavier attacks him. Xavier jaws with Daniels which allows Walters to attack Xavier.

Daniels and Xavier squabble backstage. Maff interrupts and he almost gets into it with Xavier.

Steve Corino cuts a long winded promo on Daniels and his impoliteness. He denies stooging him out to Punk about the Lucy incident. This then segues into a promo on Punk. He tells Punk he needs to learn respect. This segues into a promo on Homicide and then on ROH fans. This guy’s got issues.

Izzy and Dixie (w/everyone in Special K) v. The Carnage Crew for the ROH Tag Titles

Special K and the Carnage Crew have been at it since the spring when the first class white trash resented the fact that Special K were a bunch of rich kid ravers who could do anything they wanted because of their rich parents. At Epic Encounter they faced off in a scramble that saw Special K win after interference. At Night of the Grudges Justin Credible debuted by taking out Angeldust and inserting himself into a 4 corners match. Later that night he saved Loc and DeVito from Special K and revealed himself to be the new member of the Carnage Crew. At Wrestlerave, TCC defeated Special K in a fun 6-man tag. At Wrath of the Racket, Deranged pinned Loc in a scramble match thanks to outside interference. In September the feud heated up. At Beating the Odds TCC won another 6-man tag match and proceeded to give Becky Bayless a spike piledriver through a table. Later that night Special K attacked Justin Credible while he was doing a Q-n-A. At Glory by Honor 2 TCC faced off against Special K in another 6-man tag that saw Special K win via DQ.

The Carnage Crew take out Special K to start. DeVito beats on Dixie and tosses him out of the ring. Lit is bleeding already. DeVito gets whipped into the rail. Dixie goes into a rail. DeVito beats the crap out of him and Dixie gigs. DeVito continues to kick his ass. Dixie gets a jawbreaker and tags Izzy. Izzy promptly gets dumped out of the ring. Loc dives onto all of them. Izzy eats post and is dumped into the rail. Loc knees him in the face and beats on Izzy. DeVito is tagged in and he kicks the crap out of Izzy. Izzy has now gigged. A Carnage plex gets two. Loc beats on Izzy. Lit interferes allowing Angeldust to run in and hit Loc with a blockbuster. Loc becomes the face-in-peril as Special K work him over with nothing exciting going on. Loc comes back with chops and drops Dixie on his head. Hot tag DeVito who cleans house on Special K. A pier-4 brawl sees Carnage Crew kick ass but they can’t put them away. Izzy gets a double moonsault dropkick for two. Loc hooks a sleeper and DeVito takes out all of Special K. Becky distracts the ref and Lit runs in with a belt shot. It only gets two though. DeVito DDTs Izzy. Hijinx takes out DeVito with straps and Izzy powerbombs Loc for the win. These matches seem to get worse with each passing month. The problem is is that they have no flow to them. It’s just random spot after random spot and it gets boring after a while. Ѕ*

Colt Cabana is backstage with a scoop! He runs into Maff who denies taking out Lucy. Maff wears on his father’s grave that the Prophecy had nothing to do it. Cabana then challenges him which causes Maff to yell.

Xavier (1-0) v. Chris Sabin (0-1) in a Field of Honor Block A match

Xavier tries to jump him on a handshake but Sabin pushes him off. Sabin works on his arm but Xavier reverses and headlocks him. Xavier armbars him. Sabin goes back to the arm. Sabin gets a dropkick and forearms him. Xavier bails. Sabin chops him on the outside and gives him a hurricarana back in. Xavier thumbs him in the eye and chops him. Sabin lariats him for two. Sabin dumps Xavier. Xavier tries to skin the cat back in but Sabin knocks him to the outside. Sabin gets a twisting pescado and a springboard dropkick for two. Sabin forearms him but gets sent face first to the mat. Xavier gets a running dropkick and a fishermans buster for two. Xavier hammers away and works him over in the corner. Xavier with a hard knee to the face for two and he hooks a headscissors. Sabin fights back and gets a cross-arm German for two. Xavier with a kick to the jaw for two. Xavier punches him and kicks him in the head. Xavier slaps him and hits a reverse full nelson suplex for two. Xavier chops him and hooks a surfboard. Sabin kicks him to block a powerbomb. Sabin chops him and backdrops him. Sabin gets an enziguri. Sabin throws Xavier off the top into the ropes. Brainbuster gets two. Crucifix gets two. Xavier comes back with a cobra clutch suplex and he stretches him for the tap out win.

This was a good back and forth match with both guys being able to show their stuff. ***

CM Punk v. Steve Corino (w/Guilltoine LeGrande and Bobby Cruz)

Ever since Corino came back to ROH as he’s had some odd exchanges with CM Punk. At Bitter Friends Stiffer Enemies Corino told Punk that Daniels was the one who took out Lucy. At Glory by Honor 2 Punk picked Corino to take on Raven which didn’t sit well with Corino. Corino won the match but only because of Punk’s interference. Corino didn’t like that and afterwards he slapped Punk. In his promos he said that Punk reminded him of a young Steve Corino.

Corino’s extended ring intro is hilarious as Bobby Cruz names every wrestler with a substance abuse problem. Included is such drunks as Raven, Johnny Polo, Scotty Flamingo and Scotty the Body. Corino even drinks some alcohol.

CM Punk responds by making Stephen D’Angelos read a LONG list of drugs that he has never done and he will never do. They even have to clip it since it goes for so long. Pure goldage.

Punk kicks him in the ass to start. Lockup- Punk armdrags him. Punk taunts him and rolls him up for two. Punk taunts him. Lockup- Punk goes to the arm and he pushes Corino off. Punk does jumping jacks. They lock wrists and Punk pushes him back. Punk chokes him and poses. Corino gets pretty pissed and demands Punk hit him. Corino then takes him down and locks in an abdominal stretches. He does an ‘X’ pose to really rub it in. These mind games are awesome. They stare each other down and forearm each other. Corino forearms him out of the ring and they brawl on the outside with Corino winning. Punk chops him. They then go OLD SCHOOL and do a criss-cross sequence. Corino powerslams him for two. Corino hits him with a running clothesline and Punk gets a high knee. Corino gets a backslide for two. Punk gets a high knee for two. Punk chops him and hammers away. Punk headbutts him and hits a running clothesline. Punk kicks him in the back for two. Punk chops him and stomps away. Punk slams him and drops an elbow for two. Punk misses a running knee but lands on his feet after a German. Punk hits a running knee and bootscrapes him. Punk hits a backbreaker for two. Punk bends his arm back but Corino gets a rollup for two. Punk kicks him and hammers away. Corino gets a sunset flip for two, Punk ballshots him. Punk gets a Davey Boy suplex (holding him up for like 20 seconds) for two. Punk kicks him and channels Chris Jericho with an ARROGANT COVER for two. Corino blocks a suplex and does his own Davey Boy suplex for two. Corino only holds him up for 8 seconds and that gets the crowd to heckle him.

Corino: HE’S GOT A FAT ASS!

Punk clotheslines him for two. Punk gets a backbreaker for two. Punk headbutts him and chops him. A Russian leg sweep gets two. Punk dumps him into the rail. On the outside Punk tells the fans to the move out of the way….and then throws Corino into the ring. Punk is the man. Punk hammers away. Corino fights back but gets hit in the ear. Punk misses a frog splash and gets chopped. Corino with a leg lariat and he hits a DDT and a STO. The Colbykaze gets two. Corino slaps him and gets a superplex for two. Northern lights bomb gets two. Punk elbows out and kicks him. Corino lariats him for one. Punk blocks Old School Expulsion and hits a Northern lights suplex. Shining Wizard gets two. Corino superkicks him for two. Corino gets a DDT for two. Corino gets a backdrop driver but the bell rings and we have a time limit draw. Didn’t like the finish but this was a fun match. Both guys messing with each other was great to watch and the work was solid as expected. ***1/4

Corino demands 5 more minutes which the crowd chants for. Corino decides to be a heel and just walks off. Punk decides to rip on the crowd some more. The crowd sings the Goodbye song so Punk just sits there and waits for them to finish. Awesome. Before Corino leaves Punk reminds him that “straight edge means I’m better then you.”

Jimmy Rave v. Colt Cabana v. Justin Credible v. John Walters

Walters and Rave start. They trade moves and reversals so Cabana tags in. Cabana locks in a headlock on Walters. Credible tags in so Cabana tags him back. Cabana knocks Walters down. Walters gets a headlock. Credible tags Walters. Cabana blocks a superkick but Credible hammers away. Credible stomps away and chokes him. Cabana causes Credible to get crotched on the post. Cabana and Credible go as the commentators go over the Code of Honor. Credible suplexes him seven times. Cabana and Credible brawl on the outside. Back in- Walters dropkicks both of them. Rave crossfaces Cabana and they do the 4-way submission spot. Rave and Walters chop each other. They collide in mid-ring. Rave knees Credible and hits him with the Shining Wizard. Walters takes out Rave. Cabana takes out Walters but walks into a Credible superkick. Rave dumps Credible but gets suplexed by Walters for two. They do another three way suplex spot. Cabana gets dumped outside. Credible hits That’s Incredible on Rave but Walters breaks it. Walters hooks the Sharpshooter and Credible taps in about 5 seconds.

This was okay but it was really really rushed and never got a chance to tell a story or establish any psychology. I also don’t understand why Credible didn’t make any attempt to fight the hold at all. It just seemed rather odd. **1/4

Samoa Joe v. Homicide (w/J-Train) in a non-title No Holds Barred match

Homicide and Joe have been going at it since Joe came to ROH. At Scramble Madness Homicide defeated Joe. At Do or Die Homicide faced Joe again and this time it was for the ROH Title. Homicide and Joe put on a classic hard hitting brutal match that saw both guys take it to the limit. Homicide was about to win when he became distracted by an argument between J-Train and Low Ki. Joe was able to capitalize on that distraction and he hit Homicide with a muscle buster for the win. Since then Homicide has claimed that he is better then Joe and can beat him 1 on 1. Even though this isn’t for the title- Homicide has something to prove.

Lockup- Homicide tries to take him down but can’t. Homicide trips him up but Joe goes into the ropes. They lock wrists and Joe controls with a knee. Joe works on the arm. Homicide forearms him and they trade brutal slaps. Homicide thumbs in the eye and chops him. Homicide hits a running knee and bootscrapes him. Homicide chops him and hits a big boot. Homicide chops and chokes him. Homicide knees him but gets forearmed. Homicide comes off the ropes but gets driven into the mat. Joe hits his CRAZY BIG MAN TOPE!~ and then becomes even more of a hero to all the Joe-a-maniacs by doing an even more brutal move: The Olay kicks. OLAY OLAY OLAY OLAY OLAY OLAY and Homicide is down. Joe suplexes him and crossfaces him. Homicide makes the ropes. Homicide dumps Joe and does his CRAZY OUT OF CONTROL TOPE!~ J-Train goes crazy on the outside. Homicide sends him into the rail and hits him with a running chairshot. Homicide covers him for two. Piledriver gets two. J-Train gets a table (What is he- D-Von?). Homicide chops Joe and sets up the table. Homicide chops him. Joe blocks a table shot but gets ballshotted. Joe comes back with a powerslam. Joe powerbombs him through a table for two. Joe powerbombs him (sans table) for two. Homicide blocks an STF so Joe is all: You do not block my STF. Time to die! Joe dragon suplexes him, powerbombs him and then hooks the STF. That’s a good way to teach someone a lesson. Homicide makes the ropes. Joe pushes him off the top. Joe comes off the top but gets Ace Crushered. Homicide lariats him for two. Joe boots him but Homicide gets a backdrop driver. Joe slams him and slaps him around like a bitch. Joe kicks him and Homicide is up at 9. Joe slaps him and knees him. Joe headbutts him and slaps him. Homicide forearms him and chops him. Homicide blocks the Island Driver and kicks him in the knees. Homicide hits a Yakuza and then hooks the STF. Homicide then gets a noose and chokes Joe out for the win.

I wanted to like this match a lot since I love both guys but they just couldn’t top the Do or Die match in workrate or in terms of atmosphere. Both guys didn’t seem to go all out which I can understand since they didn’t draw a good live crowd. But considering this was a No Holds Barred match and there was no blood, only a few weapons and no sick spots it was a big letdown and it made the match come off kind of flat. I liked the match but it was really flat and was missing something that really hurt it. **1/2

Special K are raving backstage. Rob Feinstein shows up and won’t hug Becky. I’m not even gonna touch that one. Rob them books Special K in a tag title match against the Briscoes. Lit’s reaction is priceless.

Jim Cornette cuts his usual awesome Cornette promo about what he’s going to do at Main Event Spectacles.

The Bottom Line- This a really underrated show. Daniels v. Walters is an excellent match and there are three other good matches on there. While I was disappointed by Joe v. Homicide- your mileage may vary as it wasn’t too bad. The exchanges between Punk and Corino are hilarious and were my favourite part of the show. Even if this whole tape was just endless TJ Wilson v. Teddy Hart matches I would still recommend it if it just for the great mic work of Punk and Corino. This is a fun show and well worth picking up.

Recommended

http://www.rfvideo.com/merchant/index.cfm?action=moreinfo&id=8187 (VHS)
http://www.rfvideo.com/merchant/index.cfm?action=moreinfo&id=8421 (DVD)