Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Fighting Spirit

Ring of Honor — Fighting Spirit by J.D. Dunn April 14, 2007 From Edison, N.J.. Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard. Nigel McGuinness gives a heartfelt promo about knowing he wanted to be a wrestler when he sat in Wembley Stadium and watched Bret Hart against the British Bulldog. He talks about not knowing how much longer his body can hold out, and he’s tired of always coming in second. Opening Match: Chris Hero & Tank Toland vs. Jason Blade & Eddie Edwards. For whatever reason, Blade and Edwards are the heels as far as the crowd is concerned. They don’t get much offense in early. Hero does some wrestling in between self-aggrandizing. Toland overpowers Blade, blocking his armdrag. The jobbers get in a few Rockers-ish doubleteams, but mostly it’s all Hero and Toland. Toland chokes out Edwards with his exercise rope while Hero distracts the ref. Blade and Edwards hit dives to the floor. Back in, Blade sunset flips Toland. Hero helps Toland block, but Edwards takes him out, allowing Blade to complete the move and pick up the upset win at 11:23. I like Blade and Edwards, so it’s nice to see them get a win, but Hero also has a lot of potential but he got jobbed out on this doubleshot weekend. **1/2 Claudio Castagnoli talks about making the most out of his second chance in ROH. Top of the Class: Shane Hagadorn vs. Pelle Primeau. This feud has been going on *forever.* Hagadorn attacks during Pelle’s entrance. Pelle comes back with a rana that looked like it landed Pelle on the crown of his head. Back in, Hagadorn takes over with nothing really happening. Pelle comes back with a Satellite DDT and a springboard bodyblock. Hagadorn tries to choke him out and then goes for the brass knuckles. Bobby Dempsey runs out, though, and tells the ref about it, and Shane gets caught brass handed, as it were. That allows Pelle to hit a Stunner and roll Hagadorn up for the win at 6:02. Dempsey adds a rolling avalanche to Hagadorn after the match. *3/4 Claudio Castagnoli vs. Rocky Romero. Nice little trade-off of basic moves early as they try to humiliate one another. Romero, of course, tries a lot of stiff kicks to the leg while Claudio uses uppercuts. Finally, Romero gets pissed off and hits a Hart Attack Clothesline. He busts out a 619, drawing HUGE boos. Claudio comes back with the Matchkiller, but a series of roll-up reversals send him to the floor. Rocky tries to follow but falls right into an uppercut. Back in, Claudio gets two off the Ricolabomb and presses Rocky into a Eurocut. Romero keeps countering the Apomari Waterslide, though. They kick each other in the head, but each guy shows FIGHTING SPIRIT and shrugs it off. Rocky hits a flukish Tornado Small Package to get the win at 10:38. I liked the tradeoff of the kicks and European uppercuts, and both guys have that kind of smirking one-upmanship personality that makes the match that much more fun. **3/4 Sara Del Rey promises to take out whoever they put her up against just to show Daizee Haze that she means business. Jay Briscoe & Erick Stevens vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico. Mark is being held for observation after being attacked by Steen, so Stevens is subbing. In a nice bit of characterization, Jay completely ignores Generico in favor of attacking Steen time after time in retaliation. Stevens hits his close-the-gap lariat on Generico and follows up with a backbreaker. Jay tags in and goes after Steen again. See, what’s cool about that is it makes perfect sense and it affects the match strategy. Suddenly, the No Remorse Corps run down and take out Erick Stevens (a member of the Resilience). That leaves Jay alone against Steen and Generico. This is so Mid-South! Funny moment as Steen lays the boots to Jay and then goes over to Jay’s corner and desperately reaches for a tag to taunt him. Jay comes back against Generico and hits a Falcon Arrow Brainbuster for two. Suddenly, Mark Briscoe hops the rail in his street clothes and hops on the apron to replace Stevens. In a nice touch, Jay and Mark’s mom yells for him to get down. HOT TAG TO MARK! Mark cleans house on both guys, but Generico elbows him in the head. Generico’s Yakuza kick misses, though, and Jay tags back in. Generico crotches Jay on top and sets up for something, but Mark springboards in with the Ace Crusher! Jay follows up with a splash for two. Mark comes back in and takes a Half-Nelson Suplex from Generico. He MANS UP, but runs right into a Yakuza Kick. That sets up another Half-Nelson Suplex. All four guys brawl on the outside, and Mark’s head goes into the barrier again. Back in, Steen drops Mark directly on his head with a Package Piledriver and Generico adds a Brainbuster for the win at 24:49. This is epic booking at its finest, and the Steen/Generico versus the Briscoes feud is quickly becoming one of my favorites after Jacobs/Whitmer was blown off earlier this year. Steen & Generico were more confident and heelish here, and their roles were better defined than in the overhyped FYF match. ****1/4 Doug Williams vs. Colt Cabana. This is vintage Cabana, and shows the character he’ll probably never be able to play in the WWE. A recap really can’t do it justice, but it’s basically Cabana doing comedy shtick from the 1960s for ten minutes. Classics include: crotching both Williams and the ref with the middle rope, doing about a dozen wristlock reversals (some involving the ref). Williams eventually hits the Chaos Theory for the win at 12:25. *** Colt gives his East-Coast goodbye speech, which is almost Foley-ish in the way it goes off on a tangent but still makes sense. He compares the WWE to McDonalds and ROH to Burger King. You’d have to hear it. Rebecca Bayless interviews Chris Hero and Tank Toland who argue over what cost them the match. Steen and Generico interrupt and demand a title shot. Is Steen related to Steve Corino? They look just alike in the face, and Steen’s promo sounds very Corino-ish. Intergender Match: Sara Del Rey vs. Ernie Osiris. Ernie Osiris wins the prize for first and last names that go together the least, narrowly edging out Cletus Takayama. Del Rey wanted to send a message to Daizee Haze. Beating a dude would be the best way to do that. Speaking of the Haze, we see her looking on from the back. Osiris’ only offensive move is a backdrop suplex as Del Rey squashes him and finishes with the Royal Butterfly submission at 1:49. Well, there’s your message. 1/2* Shingo vs. Matt Cross. The announcers talk a lot about Shingo possibly being in line for a title shot, which would be an interesting political situation because Shingo is a Dragon Gate wrestler while Morishima is a NOAH guy. Cross hits a lot of headscissors, but it’s mostly the Shingo show early. Cross comes back with a Tornado DDT and fakes Shingo out on a dive. He somersaults into a plancha to wipe out Shingo for real, though. Back in, Cross hits a double-stomp and narrowly grazes Shingo with a Twisting Press. The SSP misses, but Cross lands on his feet. Shingo hits him with a Helicopter Bomb and NAILS him with a lariat. Cross reverses a Fireman’s Carry to a Crucifix Bomb for two. Shingo doesn’t panic, though, and quickly finishes Cross with a Cradle Shock at 11:17. Cross has some cool moves, but he needs to develop a personality STAT. Shingo gave his usual solid performance. **1/2 Roderick Strong & Davey Richards vs. Jack Evans & Delirious. This came about because Roderick tried to trample Jack and Delirious en route to establishing his own identity. Jack hits an over-the-top rope dropkick on Strong and then quebradas on him from the railing. Delirious wipes out both members of the NRC with a somersault. The tide finally turns as Jack winds up upside down on the apron, so Richards simply nails him with a kick. Jack plays face-in-peril for a while, as Strong and Richards show NO REMORSE in working him over. Seriously, Davey just haphazardly tosses him right into the buckle at one point. Delirious gets the hot tag and takes on the NRC by himself. The numbers catch up with him, though, as Davey hits an Alarm Clock (press into a kick). He hits another one only with an assist from Strong. Evans has recovered enough to save, though. Jack hits a tree-of-woe double knee on Davey and then a SPACE FLYING TIGER DROP on Strong. Delirious gets two off Shadows Over Hell. COBRA STRETCH on Richards! Richards goes low and rolls up Delirious for two. Richards kicks out of a rollup, sending Delirious right into a chairshot from Strong. Delirious is out of it, so Davey gets the easy pin at 15:57. Roderick needs to step a bit more with the personality in these tag matches because Davey, who is supposed to be his lieutenant, is overshadowing him. The match was the usual formula with all of the great moves you’ve come to expect from Jack. It was just lacking something to elevate it to that next level. *** ROH World Heavyweight Title: Takeshi Morishima vs. Nigel McGuinness. Takeshi shows Nigel no respect early, taking him to the floor and tossing him into the barrier. Nigel rebounds with a lariat and hits a flying crossbody to the floor. Nigel tries a sunset flip powerbomb off the apron, but Takeshi blocks and splashes him. Back in, Nigel tries a Jawbreaker lariat, but Morishima cuts him off with a hip block. Morishima hits a few more hip attacks. The handspring avalanche misses, and Nigel hits the Tower of London for two. Nigel tries another Jawbreaker lariat, but Morishima blocks again and counters to a Bossman Slam. Morishima misses a swing and gets BLASTED by a lariat. To the floor, Nigel hits a Tower of London off the apron! Morishima shows FIGHTING SPIRIT, though, and no-sells a series of thrust kicks. JAWBREAKER LARIAT! ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Nigel tries another Jawbreaker Lariat, but Morishima blocks and hits one of his own. Backdrop Driver! Nigel shows FIGHTING SPIRIT and goes for yet another lariat, but Morishima shows even MORE FIGHTING SPIRIT and finishes with another backdrop driver at 14:40. Nigel comes up short yet again. Both guys have bloody noses and lips after that final exchange. This was a stiff and brutal battle, but it was kind of the equivalent of throwing long bombs in football without having any running game. It was just big move after big move. *** The No Remorse Corps gloat about their wins tonight and decide to have even more fun by attacking a member of the ROH ring crew and showing NO REMORSE!

The 411: Nigel can't get it done in the main event, which is nothing new. The undercard is mostly okay-to-good, but the Steen/Generico versus Briscoes feud is something that has come out of nowhere to be one of the most entertaining tag feuds of the year. Thumbs up.
Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]