wrestling / Columns
Column of Honor: 04.28.07
Well, my mini-vacation plans didn’t go as planned…again…and so once again I sit here in front of my computer monitor at home in Brooklyn, preparing for a full column. What is bad news for me is good news for you, as I am now able to include last night’s Ring of Honor action in St. Paul, MN.
Today is also a busy day for NFL Draft enthusiasts. There are usually three types of people who watch the NFL Draft—geeks, hardcore football fans and losers. Since I find myself in all three categories, I of course have my television tuned into ESPN. Let the endless talking by the ESPN drones commence!
I’m not much of a movie buff and I rarely go to the movies, but there are a number of movies I’ve been interested in watching and that for some reason or another I have not gotten around to doing so. There is Blades of Glory, Hot Fuzz, and Spider-Man 3 next week. Of course, The Condemned with Steve Austin just came out, but I’ve already watched that movie—only it was called WWE Monday Night Raw 2003-2004.
On with the Ring of Honor news and stuffery!
ROH Results: St. Paul, MN 4/27/07
Matches
-The Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew of Rain and Lacey defeated Dangerous Angels of Sara Del Rey and Allison Danger. Lacey pinned Alison with the Implant DDT.
-Rhett Titus vs “Unreal” Mike Elgin went to no contest when Jimmy Rave returned and beat up Titus.
-Jimmy Rave defeated Unreal” Mike Elgin via submission with the Heel Hook.
-SHINGO defeated BJ Whitmer via pinfall with the Bloodfall.
-Ultimate Endurance: ROH World Tag Team Champions Jay and Mark Briscoe retained their titles in a match that included the teams of Pelle Primeau and Mitch Feanklin, Jigsaw and Mike Quackenbush as well as Gran Akuma and Hallowicked. Order of Elimination: a. Pelle Primeau and Mitch Franklin when Franklin taps to a stretch plum by Jay Briscoe. B. Hallowicked and Gran Akuma when Akuma is pinned after a Legdrop / Burning Hammer. c. Quackenbush and Jigsaw eliminated when Mike Quackenbush is pinned after a Springboard Doomsday Device.
-Brent Albright and Adam Pearce defeated Colt Cabana and Homicide via pinfall. Albright over Cabana after a Half Nelson German Suplex.
-Rocky Romero won the 4 Corner Survival by defeating Jack Evans in a match that also included Delirious and Erick Stevens. Romero used a Tigeer Suplex and a killer Kick for the pin.
-FIP Heavyweight Champion Roderick Strong retained his title by defeating Christopher Daniels via countout.
-ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima retained his title by defeating Austin Aries via pinfall with a backdrop driver.
Angles and Issues
-As mentioned above, Jimmy Rave has returned from his jaw injury and is immediately being placed back into the action.
-Jimmy Jacobs, out 6 – 9 months with an ACL injury was in attendance and accompanying Lacey. He tripped up Allison Danger with his crutches, which led to the finish of the SHIMMER attraction match.
-Christopher Daniels lost his match to Roderick Strong because he had his foot stuck in a guardrail that Strong had thrown down to the floor. In FIP, anything goes and that included count outs, so Strong was declared the winner.
-Austin Aries, as expected, did use his Samoa Joe beating combination in his match against Morishima, but this time it did not lead to a title change. Morishima was able to get the ropes.
-There has been no return date set for St. Paul. It looks like ROH will stop running shows in that location, at least for a while. While attendance was up at least 100 from their previous show in the area and fan reaction was a lot more enthusiastic, the expenses of the trip from St. Paul to Chicago are too prohibitive to run constantly in that area A report from Wade Keller of The Torch follows up:
I’d estimate the crowd over 500, including based on a couple people doing chair row counts and figuring the standing room people. Gabe told me they sold 100 more tickets in advanced than last time and the crowds have gone up each time. He and Cary both told me that they love the crowd and the building and that attendance went up each time, but they were hoping for a couple hundred more than they got this time. The main issue, which I hadn’t thought of, is the gas expense for driving two ring/equipment trucks across country to Minnesota. It’s the furthest they travel, and it’s just not feasible without bigger crowds. They have other markets drawing well enough that it’s not smart business to come back – at least not soon. Cary said “never is too strong a word” and Gabe said St. Paul is probably a “once a year town,” but they’re not ready to commit to a date next spring at this point. Gabe did say this crowd would be good enough to make frequent visits if it were nearer their home base. Cary said the next Chicago pairing may be Detroit instead of St. Paul.
I thought it was a good show. It wasn’t the best I’ve seen live from them, and I think they are in a transition stage talent-wise with some losses and injuries right now. I also don’t think, since they aren’t coming back to this market, they felt pressure to deliver a show-of-the-year here, either. It was a step above an ROH house show, but not much more.
Ringtones Special: GREAT MEMORIES Contest—FINAL WEEK!
This is your last week to enter the Colt Cabana going away contest! I’ve already received lots of entries, so if you want in, you better send your entry today. To those that have entered so far, thank you very much! I will be responding back to each and every one of you personally as well as posting your responses in NEXT WEEK’s Column of Honor.
Colt Cabana is finishing up his run for Ring of Honor with the upcoming double shot in St. Paul and Chicago Ridge. What I’d love to hear from the readers is YOUR favorite “Great Memories” from Colt Cabana’s crazy career in Ring of Honor. Tell me about matches what you enjoyed, what Cabana jokes or shenanigans kept you laughing for hours, whatever baby. It’s all hep, it’s all groovy so long as you’re down with discussing Cabanarama lamadingdong!
Send in your emails from now until May 4th, 2007 and one randomly selected response will be declared the winner! A winner will be selected and announced in the May 5th, 2007 edition of Column of Honor. One entrant per person, please!
Oh…the prize? Reader’s choice of one of the following:
ONE (1) copy of ROH: Best of Colt Cabana: Good Times, Great Memories DVD
-OR-
ONE (1) copy of ROH: Fifth Year Festival-Chicago DVD (Cabana vs. Jacobs Windy City Streetfight)
So get going and help my column to celebrate the good times and great memories and win yourself a fantabulous prize!
ROH Call
ROH Champions—As of 04/28/2007 (heading into tonight’s show in Chicago Ridge, IL)
ROH World Champion—Takeshi Morishima (champion since 02/17/07, 4 successful defenses)
Next Defense: SHINGO, 4/28/07 Chicago, IL
V.1 defeated BJ Whitmer via pinfall / backdrop driver (2/23/07 Dayton, OH)
V. 2 defeated KENTA via pinfall / backdrop driver (3/04/07 Tokyo, Japan)
V.3 defeated Nigel McGuinness via pinfall / backdrop driver (4/14/07 Edison, NJ)
V.4 defeated Austin Aries via pinfall / backdrop driver (4/27/07 St. Paul, MN)
ROH World Tag Team Champions— Jay and Mark Briscoe (champions since 03/30/07, NEW CHAMPIONS)
Next Defense: Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin), 4/28/07 Chicago, IL
V.1 Ultimate Endurance: defeated Pelle Primeau & Mitch Franklin, Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw, Hallowicked & Gran Akuma (4/27/07 St. Paul, MN)
ROH News
(via the ROHnewswire… and other sources when attributed
Updates From St.Paul
Via Gabe Sapolsky’s entry on the ROH Message Board (very handy, that):
At the building I finally meet Mike Quackenbush face-to-face. We both talk about how strange it is that this is the first time we ever met. He and his guys do great, unfortunately Jigsaw gets knocked out in the final fall of Ultimate Endurance. He is questionable for tonight.
In news going into Chicago tonight the three-way will now be a Four Corner Survival with the returning and even more aggressive Jimmy Rave vs. Homicide vs. Brent Albright vs. BJ Whitmer. This one will test Rave’s jaw. Lacey will be in a preshow match. Jigsaw is listed as probable for the Six Man Mayhem.
Quackenbush’s arrival in Ring of Honor was a very long five years in the making. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait nearly as long for his next bookings in ROH. Accoridng to ROH message boarder Cuda, Quackenbush received a great ovation and tons of streamers. Also, Jimmy Rave received a (not Chris) “hero’s welcome” upon his return. Wow. Quackenbush I understand, but Rave? Weird.
Also another quick note thanks to Cuda, is that Christopher Daniels was face once again and playing to the crowd. I think Daniels is having multiple personality disorder problems on a massive Tyler Durden level. Or maybe Big Show.
I bet Samuel Berman is going crazy, tearing his hair out that another change was made to an ROH card vis a vis Rave’s inclusion into the three way dance. The four corner survival now negates 411’s Roundtable predictions. Damn you unexpected booking!
Morishima Eats Cauliflower
ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima received the highest honor at last weekend’s Cauliflower Alley Club 42nd Annual Banquet & Awards. Morishima was given the “future legends” award. He also rubbed shoulders with some of the sports greatest champions like Bret Hart and Harley Race. It is a great honor that the sport’s most legendary champions and figures gave the ROH World Champion this honor.
Sure, sure, this award is very honorable and a great accolade for the big man from Japan. He is definitely worthy of receiving the award given his successful run in ROH thus far. However, this newsbit is missing the answers to the really important question—how much did Morishima eat at the buffet?
Briscoes Insanity
Jay Briscoe suffered a deep gash in his head at last Saturday’s FIP event when Necro Butcher headbutted a light tube that was pressed against Jay’s head. Briscoe just shrugged off the injury and said he would glue it together. Briscoe says that he and Mark will be ready to put the ROH World Tag Team Titles on the line in both St. Paul and Chicago. Mark Briscoe was back in action last weekend with FIP and reported that he felt great after the wild brawl on Saturday against Necro & Mad Man Pondo. Mark was feeling so good that he jumped off the ring truck through two tables that were on top of each other that had Necro and Pondo laying on them. The Briscoes say they will prove why they are the best tag team in the world this weekend. Respect is earned in ROH.
Lighttubes… grrrreat. Mark Briscoe’s flying suicide….double grrrreat. Look, I know being a pro wrestling means making a number of sacrifices and even being masochistic on occasion. It may even count as double points when your gimmick is “manning up” . However, does the phrase “play it smart” mean anything to The Briscoes? Mark is just coming back from a concussion and already he’s taking a number of bumps to the head AND flown through the air with the greatest of ease and through two tables. Take it easy there buddy.
Sell Out With Me Oh Yeah
We want to alert everyone that the 5/12 event at the Manhattan Center is almost sold out.
The show sold out with only the announcement of Morishima, KENTA and Marufuji being booked. No official matches have been announced, and yet tickets to a building that holds 1,300, that’s ONE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED people are almost gone. This statistic is impressive for independent wrestling that doesn’t feature Hulk Hogan vs. Big Show, errrrr, Paul Wight and Bubba the Love Sponge attempting to wrestle.
Guess Who’s NOT Back?
We are sorry to announce that Jack Evans has been called to Japan and will not be on the May 11th and 12th events.
AWWW, CRAP! This is very disappointing news given Jack’s rise in popularity this year (even more so than in past years). He is in demand and wanted in both ROH and in Japan, and it sucks that something had to give here. At least he hadn’t been signed to a match yet.
Jimmy’s Hammy Helps Him out of Jammy
Jimmy Jacobs will be in both St. Paul and Chicago this weekend. Jacobs will not be able to wrestle for 6-9 months. Last week saw Jacobs undergo successful surgery on his knee. His torn ACL was replaced with a tendon from his hamstring. It was also found that Jacobs had a partially torn meniscus, which was also repaired.
As noted above, Jacobs will still be at ROH shows and it looks to be that he will be helping Lacey out with her wrestling.
Hero’s Sandwich
This week, Chris Hero has sent me…well, nothing. It looks like Hero has decided to boycott Column of Honor for the time being thanks to his losing streak and well, that’s fine by me. The sun is shining brighter and the birds are chirping away.
Moving on…
Honorarium
-The Fifth Year Festival PLUS Edition-
-If we’re going to continue to use the count out finish as a way of retaining the title for FIP defenses, tell me again why we couldn’t keep the ROH Pure title?
Lots of comments on the most recent shows and DVD releases from Ring of Honor.
Battle of the Icons
-Samoa Joe and Homicide are fighting for the first time in over two years and have a build up promo at the beginning of the DVD. You’d think it’d be tremendous—huge fireworks, lots of drama and tension. After all, these two go way back and have waged war many times over. Well, you’d think wrong…because their promo and encounter—very weak. Very much a disappointment and I think honestly its because after months of being friends and allies I don’t necessarily buy Samoa Joe’s change in temperament. “Have you forgotten who I am boy?” Um, obviously not, since he’s been riding with you for quite a while now. Meanwhile, Homicide is repeating lines and I’m just not feeling it. Becky Bayless is all bubblegum and clueless. Unbelievably, the guy who puts the most emphasis on selling the fight the right way, as a revisiting of history and Homicide;s way of settling the past…is J-Train. Yes, the same J-Train who’s antics with two old biddies DURING the match ruined the title match. Life is just fruit loops sometimes, you know?
-ROH is starting to edit some of its matches in order to cut down on messed up moves and in certain cases where setting up moves or a sequence takes up too much time. I’ll note this later on the NYC Fifth Year Festival show. It gets me wondering why they didn’t take a more active hand in editing out Jimmy Rave’s improvised projectile vomiting. It was pretty sickening live and quite frankly, I don’t feel like revisiting the moment on digital video technology. A nice cut away or two could have helped ease the pain…not Rave’s pain, but at least mine.
-Watching that I Quit match and the Last Man Standing match after seeing it live, my feelings on the matches remain the same: great stuff, until the finish of each match. Actually, I can buy “senior official” Todd Sinclair’s concern for Nigel McGuiness’s wellbeing, enough for him to stop the match. I just don’t believe it was the right call for a finish to the opening match of the entire show. It really pissed off the crowd, especially since Nigel said he would never give up (Then again, that was the point of the stoppage). If doing this finish, I would have rather seen Nigel’s ankle visibly twisted in an awkward way (kind of like how Kurt Angle initially got over the impact of the anklelock in the match against Soctty 2 Hotty back in 2000) and have him carted off, as opposed to just seeing Sinclair call for the bell. In the case of the Jacobs-Whitmer last man standing match, Albright’s interference was just so visible and in front of the referee’s face that it was obvious the ten count should have been stopped and restarted. When Albright kicked the leg out of Whitmer’s leg, so to speak, and Sinclair still finished his count, the finish again killed what had turned out to be a very decent grudge brawl.
-Over in CHIKARA, Chris Hero has defeated Claudio Castagnoli at the Rey de Voladores show. This means that Claudio must now rejoin The Kings of Wrestling and listen to and do everything that Chris Hero says. While this particular storyline will probably not be followed up within ROH continuity, it does interestingly reflect upon the events of the KOW break up in ROH. Hero left Claudio in order to join up with the services of Super Agent (DAH DAH DUMMMM!) Larry Sweeney, but Claudio has been having problems “getting over” his being jilted. Taking another look at the Daniels vs. Hero vs. Castagnoli three way match from BOTI, this match is all about Castagnoli’s yearning to return to his partnership with Hero. He teams up with Hero willingly and never outright attacks him during the match. Several times during the match, Claudio gives the thumbs down to a Chris Hero pose, but certainly this is out of sadness and a sulking because they are no longer together as a team. When Sweeney pokes his nose in the match, Claudio is sure to yell at him for it, and the distraction this causes is enough to allow Hero to backslide his former partner for the victory. It is truly a heartbreaking situation—a stalled friendship played out during this match.
Fifth Year Festival: NYC
-I went into in depth coverage on this show during my live thoughts coverage over two months ago, so I’ll keep this brief.
-First of all I want to make mention of the tremendous opening video montage and graphic package that opens up each show of the Fifth Year Festival. The montage is the same one that has been used on previous DVD’s to hype up the series of matches. However, the video graphic of spiraling polygons in movement with the words “Fifth Year Festival” is new and very, very cool. I definitely marked out when it opened up the NYC show, one because it was so unexpected, but also because these shows now reflected something that WWE and TNA do on their pay per views. The opening video package is a small but nonetheless important added detail that makes a show stand out as something special. ROH has experimented with moving graphics on the title menu of their DVDs, but mostly sticks to solid and static logos and fonts. I don’t know if ROH will continue to do these kinds of video montages for shows following the FYF, but they should. It’s another step towards higher video quality that along with the better lighting and audio techniques they have been using on recent shows bring about a better impression of the overall ROH product.
-Editing and cutting out botched moves makes its way onto this DVD and is noticeable on two occasions. The first is during the SHIMMER women’s match of Alex Thatcher and Daizee Haze vs. The Dangerous Angels, where a major mistake that occurred was completely left out of the finished product. Alison Danger and Sara Del Rey were doing a combination giant swing / dropkick on Thatcher, but Danger whiffed on the target. That got a major “You F—Ked Up!” chant. On the DVD? GONE. The second incident that was edited out was during the Tables Are Legal match between BJ Whitmer and Brent Albright. There is an obvious cut late in the match when Albright is collecting tables. Live, the table legs were breaking and Albright was having major trouble standing one up. At one point he stopped, cut a huge promo directed AT the table, and then smashed it to pieces. On DVD, we cut to several replays of some of the table smashing action that came before, and when we came back live we still saw the smashing of the table. However, the sequence didn’t play as well as it did live, when he got one of the most over reactions of the entire night. On video, it was just another “moment” in the match, and afterwards, it was pretty much right to the finish. I’m sure those fans who complained that the match was too much like a Smackdown video game will be happy there was some major video editing done to cut down the build times for the table spots. Yes, truthfully, the cut probably will help elevate people’s perceptions and opinions of the match, but if you were there live, something will definitely be lost in the translation.
Should ROH be continuing to edit out the mistakes and messed up spots? One part of me says no, that in some ways it’s not as “truthful” to edit stuff out like that. Once upon a time ROH would leave just about everything in, warts and all. However, I know and understand that now that ROH has a larger audience, there is more demand for a vastly more professional product. Matches that are not at an acceptable level have been left on the cutting room floor, so to speak, and often for the better (Anyone who was there live at the last New Yorker show and watched the two Irish Airborne singles matches knows of what I speak). The New York show is also a “showcase” DVD—a product that is going to be talked about and really pushed as a center piece of recent shows given the Samoa Joe-Morishima encounter and other high profile matches. ROH wants to put the best foot forward, and if that includes cutting out a botched move or some down time in match, then that’s what they are going to do. Of course I applaud that, as I applaud the better video production and the new logo techniques, but again, in a way, it’s a bit saddening to know that ROH is losing some of the “innocence” of its raw form.
-Jack Evans: spot on during the Four Way Fray, and largely spot on during most of his 2007 matches for ROH. The guy is improving in a major way.
Fifth Year Festival: Philadelphia
-What a really cool show—I mean I really, really enjoyed this one. It was a fun card overall and of course the title change at the end of the show makes this a must buy for historic value. Yet even without Morishima-Homicide, this one had me smiling, laughing and oohing and ahhing all the way through.
It’s funny, because the crowd was DEAD, D-E-A-D, DEAD for the last show, The Bitter End. In this one, the crowd is almost always with the matches. This was a complete turn around from the echo chamber that was The Philadelphia National Guard Army last November.
-Claudio Castagnoli and Austin Aries had one dandy of a match. Keep in mind this was ONE day after Aries almost killed himself on a botched moonsault quebrada in New York City. Here, his ankle was still giving him problems but his efforts were still there and along with Claudio it led to a groovy encounter. It was a pleasure to see some new sequences from each wrestler as well as some great interplay and switch around on established moves. Claudio has also been building up a reputation among message boarders as “a great base for smaller guys and high fliers”. This was true of his match against Matt Sydal back at “Honor Reclaims Boston” and it is once again true in this match. For instance, when Claudio is in there against a smaller guy, his European uppercuts look that much more powerful and impressive. Claudio’s new springboard ricochet into a euro uppercut is THE definition of wrestling as art. It is beautiful in its fluidity and damn impressive looking in its brutality upon impact.
-Lacey is starting to warm up to Jimmy Jacobs and his bloody beat downs of Colt Cabana…or so it seems. For the first time, Jacobs believes his feelings for Lacey are being reciprocated. She could just be using Jacobs’ infatuation with her to motivate him into more violence. Or…she could be one freaky chick. Either way, this is a welcome twist in a story that has been going on for a while.
-The much vaunted Briscoes vs. El Generico and Kevin Steen match—well it lived up to the hype. Actually at first, it was a bit of slow going and I was getting a bit concerned. Then, about half way through, the match kicked up a notch and did not let up. Definitely go out of your way to check this one out.
-The bump that takes out Delirious in his match with Roderick Strong is seemingly ordinary…but then when you don’t see Delirious moving…you can tell it’s serious. It’s a very scary moment watching it on TV and realizing what’s happening, but unfortunately Prazak and Leonard’s screaming comes off as too sensational. It throws off the mood and turns the whole thing into a wrestling angle, which is the point I suppose, but oh man is that not called for at that time.
Fifth Year Festival: Dayton
-Samoa Joe’s farewell promos have been tremendous each and every time out, but this one so far may actually be my favorite. Joe is genuine and heartfelt in what he says and the emotion comes through the screen.
-The Joe vs. Davey Richards match is the one to check out on this card, as Joe does his thing, but he does it incredibly well. This match I believe is also the beginning of “wacky Davey Richards” as his selling of getting his ass kicked by Joe is just wacky and entertaining. There are two huge moments in this match. The most obvious one being the much talked about finish of the Muscle Buster off the apron. Talk about painful, cringe inducing moments, this is one of them right here. The second is early in the match, when Joe delivers one of the sickest sounding kicks in the history ROH. I mean there is a SMACK of boot on head that could be heard a mile away. It ranks up there with the sickest of Low Ki kicks.
-If you watch the Six Man Mayhem match, you will see the beating of a lifetime as everyone just beats the holy hell out of Pelle Primeau as the chop marks are just all over his chest.. Yet they took a mildly unresponsive crowd in the beginning of the match and drove the crowd wild by the end of it. A standing “O” for Pelle that was well deserved—maybe he will become a legitimate mid carder after all.
-Poor Mitch Franklin.
-Unfortunately, this was as advertised, one of the weaker shows of the FYF. Some of the matches were less than thrilling. Some of the matches that had potential (Aries vs. Sydal) were bogged down and didn’t work out as well as expected.
Fifth Year Festival: Chicago
-This show took place in the Windy City Fieldhouse and early reports ragged on the fact that there were soccer (or volleyball?) games being played in the same venue at the same time as this show. There was a distraction in the form of constant referee whistles throughout the night. While they are muted and not as obvious, you can really tell that they are there and they sometimes got in the way of my enjoyment of the card. Sometimes ROH comes across as super professional and ready to be seen by all as the next step up from the common independent wrestling show. Then there are times that they come off as very, very indy. Unfortunately, the latter was true on this occasion, to the detriment of one of the bigger shows that took place during the FYF.
-I rarely skip matches, but I skipped the BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Rave match. I was just not in the mood to watch what many were calling a very mediocre match.
-Many fans were raving about The Briscoes title match. The enthusiasm was genuine as there was a ton of excitement about the title switch and the opportunity that Jay and Mark had going forward in 2007. However, I watched the match and in my opinion, it’s quite a bit of a mess. Things really got thrown off as far as the hot tag situation and who was acting face and heel. Elsewhere on the web, the Briscoes have been criticized as not being able to work the tag team formula properly…but I haven’t necessarily seen it as a problem. Usually when The Briscoes matches are all out action, the excitement of the moves and the in match rivalries that develop stop me from thinking about who should be building the “heat” and going for the hot tag. However, this match…this match really bugged me when it came to exactly that.
It was the champions, Daniels and Sydals, who were initially acting as the heels. They were working over one of the Briscoes, generally acting heelish (not outright cheating, but being vicious in a “champion who wants to keep the belt” manner). They work over a Briscoe until they get to the hot tag…and then there is no real hot tag. There work done to get the hot tag is negated and now it is Sydal who is getting worked over, getting heat. But the crowd was rooting for The Briscoes, and they don’t want Sydal to make the hot tag. So the reaction of the crowd is stunted and the match slowly grinds away. The wrestlers seemed lost until the hot finish.
-Granted the post match title celebration was tremendous and The Briscoes’ speech was short and fun. The match did not live up to my expectations, especially having seen both teams have awesome matches over the last few months.
-Also a bit of a mess was the four corner survival match with SHINGO, Matt Cross, CJ Otis and Trik Davis. I’d been impressed with Otis in preshow matches, but he did not do well in this match. The whole thing was a bit of a dud as the wrestlers were off timing, rushing things and blowing some spots. Matt Cross redeemed himself by participating in the very good tag match with Aries later in the night, although his injury (flying onto the guardrail and hitting his legs) was particularly nasty.
-It’s great to see Claudio work in his “most money making man” gimmick within the ROH storylines. How smart was it for him to offer Brent Albright, a man in it for the money, more than what Larry Sweeney was offering in order not to have the match? Brilliantly played move by Claudio that would have worked if only Sweeney wouldn’t have pulled out the “I’m going to sue” card. This should teach Albright not to sign a written contract for his bounty hunting.
-Colt Cabana has this awesome promo in the beginning of the show. The visual direction of the promo is genius. Cabana is looking out at his town of Chicago while we catch his face in the reflection of the window. It’s powerful and poignant, and Cabana hasn’t even begun to talk yet. His words are very well spoken. While not as “charging bull” in their emotion as Joe or “methodically building up” as a CM Punk or Mick Foley promo, there is a sense of urgency and importance in them. Cabana speaks to the fans in his promos as if he were having a friendly conversation with them, one on one, shooting the bull. Then he works himself up to a point where it becomes total wrestling promo 101 selling the reason to have this match, the reason why he has to win, and the reason why we should watch.
-The match itself is excellent although I’d say a hair behind last year’s brawl with Homicide that settled their feud. There are plenty of blood and weapons in this one. As with the Homicide match, everything that has been done to Cabana is repaid, and there is the added benefit of Lacey getting her just deserts. There is a bit of an awkward section involving setting up tables and such (if ROH is so big into video editing these days, why didn’t they do something with that?) but other than that it is totally on point, must watch TV.
-I caught the Samoa Joe “standing ovation” on one of the ROH Videowires a few weeks back. It was impressive then and it very much holds up now. That moment (and really, all the moments during Joe’s farewell) are going to live on for quite a while.
ROH Preview: 4/28/07—”Good Times, Great Memories” in Chicago Ridge, IL
Frontier Fieldhouse
7:30pm belltime
9807 Sayre Ave.
Chicago Ridge, IL 60415
Colt Cabana’s Final ROH Match
Colt Cabana vs. Adam Pearce
This is the big goodbye for Colt Cabana and I have a feeling this will be great. Adam Pearce delivers in big matches and I expect the match not only to be entertaining but also pretty good quality in the wrestling department. Cabana should receive a tremendous ovation from the hometown crowd and his farewell speech may be one for the record books.
ROH World Title Match
Takeshi Morishima defends vs. SHINGO
Its power offense vs. power offense and something has got to give. The visual of these two guys in the ring facing should be memorable. Its history in the making as NOAH vs. Dragon Gate occurs in an ROH ring.
ROH World Tag Team Title Match
Jay & Mark Briscoe defend vs. Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin
This is your show stealer right here. Expect lots of craziness, lots of intensity and some great crowd reactions. ROH fans have been waiting for this match up for a long time now and there is plenty of buzz behind it. The Briscoes are uber popular in Chicago, as witnessed by the crowd pop during their title win back in February. Expect the crowd to be very much behind them here, but hoping that Shelley and Sabin impress as well.
Grudge Match #1
Jack Evans vs. Roderick Strong
Evans will not appear for the next two shows after this one…so maybe this makes an “injury” angle stand out as a possibility. These two have had great matches in FIP and previous in ROH, so a return bout is pretty much guaranteed to be at a minimum solid and probably very hot and heavy as far as crowd reaction.
Grudge Match #2
Austin Aries vs. Rocky Romero
The Resilience vs. No Remorse Corps feud continues with the high man on one side vs. the low man on another. Basically we are still in the first-third of this group warfare feud, so expect some good to very good action, and then plenty of extra curricular action on the outside by other members of both groups to kick things up a notch. Will we get a clean finish? I’m not expecting it.
Four Corner Survival
Jimmy Rave vs. Homicide vs. BJ Whitmer vs. Brent Albright
The addition of Rave to this match actually reduces the amount of intrigue in the Homicide-Whitmer-Albright triangle. Both Homicide and Whitmer have grudges against Albright and it seemed like they might have to go through each other to get to the hired gun. Now we might get more of the push Rave to the moon booking, when most fans would rather see the push Albright to the moon booking.
Special Challenge Match
Christopher Daniels vs. Erick Stevens
A gateway match for Stevens—basically if he looks good with Daniels, expect more and bigger things from him in the future. I’m pretty sure these two will pull of a good to very good match as Daniels is one-hundred percent smooth in the ring and Stevens is a guy with a lot of promise who is starting to build on his potential.
Six Man Mayhem
Delirious vs. vs. Pelle Primeau vs. Mike Quackenbush vs. Gran Akuma vs. Jigsaw (probable) vs. Hallowicked
Of course I’ve said it plenty of times now, but I’m looking forward to Mike Quakenbush being able to show his wares in this match. The other CHIKARA guys should get some chance to shine as well. You can’t overlook Akuma, Hallowicked or Delirious either. This match, if it’s opening up the card or early on, will be a great tone setter. There are many popular wrestlers in this one, and each of them has a lot to contribute.
Plus a big preshow!!!
Going Home
**The Independent Buy In**
Support independent pro wrestling, ROH or non ROH, I don’t care. But if you out there are spending so much time complaining about how WWE sucks, then dammit, spend some money so you won’t have to spend so much time complaining. This list stays in the column and will be added to as the year goes on. Remember: don’t bow out, BUY IN!
2007
**PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2006: Night One (Strong / Romero, CIMA / Cross, Deliirous / Generico, 8 Man Tag)
**SHIMMER Women’s Athletes Volume 6 (MsChif / Melissa Last Woman Standing, Rebecca Knox / Allison Danger Pure Rules)
**PWG Hollywood Globetrotters (Super Dragon and Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong and Jack Evans; Cape Fear (El Generico and Quicksilver) vs. Arrogance (Chris Bosh and Scott Lost); B-Boy vs. Frankie Kazarian; Alex Shelley vs. Chris Sabin.)
**PWG Beyond The Thunderdome (Super Dragon and Davey Richards vs. AJ Styles and Chris Daniels); Cape Fear vs. Arrogance; Joey Ryan vs. Chris Sabin)
**PWG Enchantment Under The Sea (Cape Fear vs. Briscoes; Matt Sydal vs. B-Boy; Super Dragon and Davey Richards vs. Arrogance; Austin Aries vs. Kevin Steen)
**wXw World Lightweight Tournament 2006 (Ares / Baron von Hagen, Pac / El Generico, Quackenbush / Roudin, 5 Way Tournament Match)
**ECWA Super 8 Tournament 2001 (Danielson / Low Ki, Danielson / Reckless Youth, Low Ki / Billy Fives, Danielson / Spanky)
**ROH FWA IPW:UK Frontiers of Honor 2 (Sydal / Richards, Cabana / Burridge, JC Thunder / Nigel McGuinness, Danielson / Brookside / Stone)
**PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2006: Night Two (Necro Butcher/Super Dragon, Hero/Horiguchi, Evans/Castagnolli)
**PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2006: Night Three (Generico / CIMA, Hero, Claudio, Necro, Romero / Cabana, Quicksilver, M-Dogg 20, Delirious, Generico / Sabin, Richards / Strong, Evans/ Horiguchi, Richards / CIMA)
**Chikara The Crushing Weight of Mainstream Ignorance (Quackenbush / Akuma, Steel / Steel, Sweeney / Kingston, Hair vs. Mask: Jigsaw / Icarus)
**Chikara King of Trios Night One (Order of the Neo Solar Temple / Los Ice Creams, Miyawaki, Yago & KUDO / Iron Saints, Sweeny, Eliis and Ryder vs. Neo Solar Temple POSEDOWN, Shima Xion / Nobutaka Moribe)
**SHIMMER Volume 7 (Daizee Haze/Cheerleader Melissa, Mercedes Martinez/LuFisto, Sara Del Rey/Nattie Neidhart) (NEW ADDITION)
**Chikara King of Trios Night Two (Sabin, Shelley and Dutt vs. Quackenbush, Jigsaw and Shane Storm / Hallowicked, Cheech and Cloudy vs. Lince Dorado, Pantera and Sicodelico Jr. / Olsen Twins vs. Miyagi and Yago / Quack T-Shirt Squad vs. Boyer and 2.0) (NEW ADDITION)
**Chikara King of Trios Night Three (Pantera, Lince Dorado & Sicodelico, Jr. vs. Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw & Shane Storm / Kings Of Wrestling vs. Kudo, Yoshiaki Yago & Miyawaki / Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw & Shane Storm vs. Kudo, Yoshiaki Yago & Miyawaki / Ricochet vs. Claudio Castagnoli / Daizee Haze vs. Sara Del Ray / Mokujin Ken vs. Mecha Mummy / Matt Sydal vs. Hallowicked) (NEW ADDITION)
The ROH List
Fifth Year Festival: NYC (Samoa Joe / Morishima, Homicide / Rave, Briscoes / Cabana & McGuinness, Albright / Whitmer, Evans / SHINGO / Xavier / Jacobs) (NEW ADDITON)
Fifth Year Festival: Philly (Homicide / Morishima, Sydal * Daniels / SHINGO & Evans, Briscoes / Generico & Steen, Castagnoli / Aries, McGuinness / Perkins) (NEW ADDITON)
Fifth Year Festival: Chicago (Morishima & McGuinness / Joe & Homicide, Cabana / Jacobs, Strong & Richards / Aries & Cross, Daniels & Sydal / The Briscoes, Albright / Castagnoli) (NEW ADDITON)
ROH @ 411 This Week
It’s BUY OR SELL featuring Ring of Honor commentary…by yours truly and Stuart Carapola! Check it out as we discuss Morishima as champion, ROH shows, Pelle Primeau and more.
J.D. Dunn has a great look at the two part Chicago Spectacular.
Brad Garoon returns to reviewing SHIMMER with his write up on Volume 7. I haven’t read this yet because I still haven’t watched the DVD, so no spoilers!!!!
Brad and Jacob Ziegler finish out the year 2006 in Ring of Honor with their look back at the awesome show that was Final Battle 2006.
It’s halfway over, but you can still take a look at 411’s ROH Roundtable for 4/27 and 4/28.
The Independent Mid Card concludes its look at the epic CM Punk vs. Raven feud by looking back at one of the most memorable matches in ROH history.
Honor Bound Links
Mutual Appreciation Society time! The awesome Nick Marsico and his News To Start Your Weekend begins the weekend news reports.
John Meehan always delivers awesome insights within his Saturday Spectacular.
The 411 Staff (including yours truly) has its look at WWE Backlash.
Stuart Carapola is in with his usual double shot of columns, Friendly Competition and That Was Then.
High Road / Low Road on Tri Branded PPVs.
Rob Halden thinks that Kurt Angle is an idiot.
Weyer’s look at The Four Horsemen continues this week.
Bayani looks at the disaster that is TNA in Truth B Told.
Cook and Ask 411 Wrestling.
We are done with one more week of honor. Next week, results from Chicago and a preview of what’s looking to be an awesome card in Connecticut. I’ll also have the very special “Great Memories” feature in tribute to Colt Cabana and announce the contest winner. “Chris Hero” may be back—who knows? Enjoy the weekend!
BROOKLYN! DAH EM BAH SEE!
–Ari–
