Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Final Countdown Tour: Boston

Ring of Honor — Final Countdown Tour: Boston by J.D. Dunn Twitter.com/jddunn411 Brightkite.com/jddunn411 Facebook.com/jddunn411 Examiner.com September 25, 2009 From Boston, Ma. Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Chris Hero. Opening Match: The Young Bucks vs. Cheech & Cloudy. This is a rare instance where the Bucks are facing someone their own size. The Bucks open up in control, using their doubleteams on Cloudy. He comes back with a missile dropkick, and Up in Smoke work in the no-hands Sharpshooter. Cloudy hits a wicked double knee to the jaw on Matt as they isolate him. Nick gets the hot tag, and they clean house with more doubleteams. The baseball slide into the tope con hilo wipes out Up in Smoke. Big pop for that. Cloudy hits a DDT, though and breaks up More Bang for Your Buck. Up in Smoke hit the 619/dropkick combo on Matt, but Nick hops in, and the Bucks finish with More Bang for Your Buck at 12:10. Hot opener from both teams with many cool tandem maneuvers. I’d love to see more, with maybe the House of Truth getting involved to stir things up. *** Delirious (w/Daizee Haze) vs. Sonjay Dutt. Dutt abused Daizee on HDNet to set this up. Prazak and Hero talk about how Delirious went to train with Grizzly Redwood and The Briscoes to prepare, so prepare for him to be bathed in maple syrup and moonshine. Dutt tosses Delirious early and won’t let him back in, so Delirious goes under the ring and emerges on the other side as Daizee distracts Dutt. Dutt suckers him to the floor and darts back in so they’re right back where they started. Delirious goes under again, and this time comes back with a flying clothesline. See, cute stuff that gets the crowd involved and doesn’t require that you kill yourself. It doesn’t have to be so hard. Don’t worry, actual wrestling follows, and it’s pretty good. Neither guy really controls for very long because the other always has a counter. That leads perfectly to the finish as Sonjay goes for la majestral, but Delirious counters to his own rollup at 11:03. I’m guessing this is not over, given that finish. Fun match that didn’t rely too much on comedy but didn’t shy away from it either. **1/2 After the match, Dutt tosses Delirious out of the ring and forces himself on Daizee. She slaps him, so he puts her in the Camel Clutch. That brings out a gaggle of jobbers from the locker room to chase him away. Four-Corner Survival: Chris Hero (w/Shane Hagadorn) vs. Claudio Castagnoli (w/Prince Nana & Ernesto Osiris) vs. Petey Williams vs. El Generico. They imply that the winner might get a title shot, but it’s not technically a #1 contender’s match. Hot start as the former Kings of Wrestling duck to the floor, so Generico jumps out on Claudio. Hero goes after Petey, but Generico crossbodies him. Claudio returns, and the Kings of Wrestling work in the Giant Swing into a dropkick. The match breaks down pretty quickly as it turns into a tag match between the Kings, who don’t trust each other, and Peterico. Petey and Generico go for the Brainbuster and Canadian Destroyer, but Hero shoves Generico into Petey to break it up. Generico tosses Hero only turn around into the Bicycle Kick from Claudio. That leaves Petey alone to take the Ricolabomb at 9:37. Just wall-to-wall action with the Kings of Wrestling tease as a bit of a backdrop. **3/4 Bret Hart thanks the fans for supporting him back in his Hart Foundation days and reminisces about Boston fans. Boston Street Fight: Kevin Steen vs. Eddie Edwards (w/Shane Hagadorn). We open with a promo from Steen about how sick he is of waiting, so he charges Edwards and drags him out into the arena. It’s all Steen for the first five minutes. Eddie fights back but does a Benoit with a tope right into a chairshot from Steen. That messed up Edwards’ arm pretty badly, one night before the big Ladder War II. Steen smashes Edwards knee with the chair repeatedly. Todd Sinclair gets in the way of Steen’s cannonball. Steen pokes Edwards’ eyeballs in to counter the Sharpshooter. Hagadorn tries to interfere and winds up getting Package Piledrivered on Edwards’ back. Steen grabs a ladder, but Davey Richards runs down and steals it. That distraction allows Edwards to hit a chairshot for two. Eddie sets up a platform of chairs, but he can’t get Steen up. Steen hits the Great Equalizer and finishes with the Packaged Piledriver on the chairs at 14:00. Started out okay, but it was a tad overbooked for what it was – an appetizer for the ladder war. The finish was crazy, though. *** The Dark City Fight Club vs. Alex Payne & Bobby Dempsey. Not surprisingly, this is unmitigated slaughter early on. Payne gets in Davis’ face. Yeah, that’s smart. The DCFC isolate Payne for quite a bit, but they’re just playing with him. Bobby actually cleans house when he tags in. Hero: “He just hit him like he owes him… food.” He hits the cannonball in the corner on Davis. Payne tags back in, which Hero rightly labels a stupid move. Payne goes up, but Davis POUNCES Bobby from behind, knocking him into Payne. That sets up the Greater Good (renamed from Project Mayhem, presumably because Amy Winehouse’s biographer trademarked that) at 6:42. They need to tread carefully with making Bobby into a serious threat because the fans are willing to go along with it as a joke, but I have a feeling that will only go so far. Plus, you have the opportunity cost of having guys like Chavis and Davis sell for him. It was a fun squash, though. ** Nigel McGuinness vs. Roderick Strong. Nigel outwrestles Strong early and takes him to the mat. Strong gets chippy and makes with the chopery, but Nigel absorbs them and knocks him silly with the forearm. Nigel stomps on Roderick’s wrist and goes to work on the arm. Roderick’s chops have no effect, so he bails. Nigel chases him into the crowd and emerges wearing a Red Sox cap. Suck up. Back in, Nigel hits the headstand mulekick, drawing a “same ol’ shit” chant from the Boston fans. Roderick roars back with forearms and chops, but Nigel blocks a backbreaker. The Tower of London is countered to a Falcon Arrow. That sets up the Stronghold, but Nigel makes the ropes and snaps it back into Roderick’s face. London Dungeon, but Roderick makes the ropes. Roderick ducks the crotched lariat and puts Nigel in the Tarantula Tamer. His tope is cut off by a forearm, though, and that sets up a Tower of London to the floor attempt. Roderick slips out and gives him a backbreaker on the apron. Back in again, Roderick sets up for a superplex, but Nigel counters to a sunset flip bomb! Roderick with the press gutbuster into the Yakuza Kick! ONE, TWO, THR-NO! That sets up the Tiger Bomb, though, and Roderick gets the upset at 16:47. The hypocritical crowd gives him a standing ovation in the loss, so Nigel puts over everyone in the locker room. Nigel didn’t seem quite back to form in this one. Roderick going over was the right decision, but I doubt he’ll get the same rub as Hero did in his win over Danielson. This seemed to move in fits and starts, but the high points were good. *** Austin Aries & Rhett Titus vs. Colt Cabana & Kenny Omega. Titus makes an ass of himself, so Colt makes him do the splits. MY GROIN! YOU’RE GRINDIN’ MY GROIN! Wow, an opportunity at a Smokey and the Bandit III reference. It truly is Christmas (as I write this). Aries saves with backrakes but takes a DOUBLE BACKRAKE! The heels try doubleteams, but they go horribly awry as the babyfaces make Rhett give his own partner the Broncobuster. Aries pauses to talk strategy, which apparently involves yanking Colt off the apron so they can isolate Omega. Whatever works. Aries constantly talks trash because Omega wants a title shot. Colt eventually gets the hot tag, but Aries cuts off his Flying Apple. Omega tags back in but busts up his knee, allowing Aries to zero in. Omega hits a fluke Croyt’s Wrath, but Titus makes the save. Colt gets the hot tag and puts Rhett in the Billy Goat’s Curse, but Aries tosses Omega into the barricade and punts Colt in the nuts behind the ref’s back. Rhett rolls Colt up for the win at 13:34. **1/2 Bryan Danielson vs. Davey Richards. Ahhh, now this is why you want to buy this show. Davey comes in with intensity, determined to get that elusive win over Danielson. Danielson deftly reverses all of his mat moves, though, and the Boston crowd gets on Davey’s case. His constant jawing with them isn’t helping, especially when all he has to say is “American Wolves!” He does hit a nice Super Divorce Court to take over on offense, though. Lots of armbar variations follow. Dragon comes back with a flying clothesline and the Stampede Dropkick. Davey tries the running soccer kick, but Dragon counters to the Anklelock. Davey holds out, so Danielson converts it to a German Suplex for two. Davey reverses *that* to a Kimura, but Danielson squirms out and locks in the triangle choke. Great sequence there. Richards tries to turn it into a Cloverleaf but opts instead to knock Danielson to the floor and hit the rolling suicida. Davey: “AMERICAN WOLVES!” Um, yeah. “STEVE HOLT!” Back in, they go toe-to-toe and slug it out. Davey wins with a spinkick and puts Danielson back in the Kimura. Danielson makes the ropes and drags them to the apron. Davey charges, so Danielson counters to a belly-to-belly from the apron to the floor. A baseball slide sends Davey into the crowd, and you just know that means Dragon is going to hit the springboard plancha. Davey slips in at 19, avoiding the countout. They open up a kick duel as we suddenly pull back into what looks like fancam footage. What the hell? Danielson takes Davey down into the CATTLE MUTILATION and then the trapped elbows. Davey fights out and hits the Alarm Clock. Butterfly Suplex (or perhaps botched DR Driver). Danielson crotches him on top and hits the backdrop superplex! FACE STOMPING! That sets up the Triangle Choke, but Davey powers up. Danielson just drops it and turns it into CATTLE MUTILATION! Davey isn’t giving up, so Danielson gives him about 30 elbows to the head. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Davey backflips out of a German suplex and avoids a charge, sending Danielson into the post. Missile dropkick! SHOOTING STAR PRESS! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Davey turns the pin right into the Kimura. Danielson has to tap out at 36:05. The fans chant, “Davey Richards” as he spits out blood. Now that’s a wrestler! I’m not sure what else I can say about this. I’d put it just behind Danielson vs. Morishima Danielson’s matches of the wrestling year, and only then because the hatred put that match over the top. The fans did them no favors, but the work was nearly flawless. ****1/2 Davey tells Danielson to get to his feet like a man. He says he doesn’t buy into the “good guy/bad guy” crap, he just loves the privilege of wrestling in a great company with a great wrestler. Davey thanks Danielson for making him a better wrestler and making the company better. Davey clears out to let Danielson have his moment. Danielson says ROH wished him well once he got his WWE contract because he did everything he could for them. He just wanted to leave it all in the ring before he left. He says Davey is now the “best in the world” – Bobby Dempsey is a close second. Haha. He says he’s nothing special, but he’s thankful to the fans for treating him like he is. What a classy promo to go out on.

The 411: The main event really delivered and felt just like what they were going for – a pass-the-torch moment. Davey is the new "best in the world" and the future is likely in his hands. The rest of the card was okay-to-good, but the main event is really the reason to pick this up. Strongly recommended.
Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]