Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor — Northern Navigation

Ring of Honor — Northern Navigation by J.D. Dunn So when we last left ROH, Austin Aries had effectively driven a wedge between the members of the Age of the Fall. The Briscoes also had problems with the AotF. Brent Albright continued to have problems with Sweet ‘n’ Sour Inc.. S&S brought in hard-hitting Go Shiozaki to the fold as their enforcer. Kevin Steen altered his vow – by Nov. 21, he would have an ROH Title. Also, Rhettski the Jetski Titus hung out with Daizee Haze at the ROH wrestling school. July 27, 2008 From Toronto, Canada. Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard. Larry Sweeney is apoplectic that Adam Pearce has been suspended for the fireball incident, but it’s a push because Brent Albright is out too. In the locker room, Rhett Titus shows the boys in the back some video of his date with “you know who.” Opening Match: Chris Hero (w/Sweet ‘n’ Sour) vs. Ruckus. The crowd is about average size by the looks of it, but they are LOUD. Then again, Canada is always fun. Hero tries to knock Ruckus out early, hitting the roaring elbow twice. Ruckus survives, though, and hits a back handspring kick. That sets up the somersault plancha. Shane Hagadorn tries to interfere, but it backfires. Ruckus gets two off a handstand backslide, but Hero reverses his Irish Whip and knocks him silly with the roaring elbow and roundhouse kick. That picks up the win at 6:27. They packed quite a bit of action into a short amount of time. **1/4 In the back, Rhett shows Bryan Danielson his sex video. Bryan thinks it’s sick that he’s showing it around to people. Delirious vs. Kenny Omega. Omega is a local boy who looks kind of like Cecil Terwilliger. He’s got some damned fine moves, as he shows in this encounter. He also shows a knack for performing in the ring. Cool spot as he tells Delirious to stop hitting him with clotheslines and then busts out an enzuigiri on him. Delirious headbutts him to block a pescado. That sets up the flying clothesline from Delirious. Omega hits a cool leapfrog Fameasser and gets his knees up to block the Shadows Over Hell. That sets up a neat sort of High-Angle German Suplex. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Delirious has had enough and slips over into the Cobra Stretch for the submission at 8:00. Kenny Omega, the ROH audience. ROH audience, Kenny Omega. I’m sure you’ll become fast friends. Omega looked sharp in the loss and hopefully earned more appearances. **3/4 Sara Del Rey (w/Sweet ‘n’ Sour Inc.) vs. Jennifer Blake. Del Rey is aggressive from the start, but “Girl Dynamite” Jennifer Blake is a feisty little one. She busts out a superkick and the Kenta Kobashi machine-gun chops in the corner. Del Rey is burning on CRAZY OCTANE, though, and shoves her down. Blake hits a tope that looked like she was going to come up well short. Back in, Del Rey finishes quickly with the Ax Kick at 3:32. Can you dig it, sucka? Just a token match for the women. *1/4 After the match, Del Rey tries to break Blake in half, but Daizee Haze makes the save. Sweeney is disgusted with Canada, so he calls out Go Shiozaki to get Sweet ‘n’ Sour’s night over. Non-Title: Erick Stevens vs. Go Shiozaki (w/Larry Sweeney & Shane Hagadorn). This should be hard-hitting. Shiozaki is letting his sleazy goatee stubble grow in. Good sign. He ducks a chop and gives Stevens a little Mutombo-ish finger wag. Ahh, there’s the dickishness I was looking for in his first heel match. As expected, they unload with chops and lariats early. Stevens misses the Choo-Choo and takes a tree-of-woe chop from Go. Great spot as Go is standing on the apron with Stevens on the floor, so Stevens clotheslines his legs out from under him and NAILS him with a lariat to the chest. Back in, Go hulks up and locks in the Dragon Sleeper (rather loosely). Erick makes the ropes, though. They brawl up to the top rope where Stevens teases the Super Doctorbomb. Go turns it into a superplex, but time expires at 15:00 (and it actually *was* 15:00. How about that!). The ring announcer actually announced that there was a 15-minute time limit before the match, which kind of tipped the result. Stevens wants five more minutes, but Sweeney won’t allow it. Hard-hitting stuff, and I can’t wait to see their FIP stuff together. See, *that’s* a much better way to promote FIP than having the title defended on the ROH midcard. ***1/2 Canada’s own Lance Storm comes out and tells Sweeney that ROH is all about leaving it in the ring, not about payoffs. Chris Hero runs in and attacks Storm from behind. Go joins in and puts the boots to Stevens. The faces make their own save with stereo Straight-shooters. Shane Hagadorn makes the save but eats a superkick from Storm. Kenny Omega hopes to be back to ROH soon. Rhett Titus stops by to introduce himself and show Kenny footage of his date. Ha ha! That’s awesome! “Hey, I’m Rhett Titus. Check this out.” Bryan Danielson vs. Claudio Castagnoli. These two had a pretty good, but not great, match at Vendetta II. This is actually much better. They open with a very fast reversal sequence, with Danielson staving off the Giant Swing. A nice monkey-flip sequence follows and ends with them in a double bridge. Claudio works in the “I have ’til five” catchphrase, forcing Danielson to steal Claudio’s “Hey!” It’s back to wrestling after that little interlude as Claudio grabs a headlock. He works in a Torture Rack (!) but runs right into a dropkick from Danielson. See, that’s why Danielson is so awesome. He’s usually so fluid in the ring, but he can also add moves with a snap. That sets up a corner dropkick and the tope suicida. Back in, Danielson goes for the Stampede missile dropkick, but Claudio catches him in the Giant Swing. Claudio is too out of it to capitalize immediately. He hits a Bicycle Kick, but Danielson counters the Ricolabomb to a rollup. Claudio reverses *that* to his own rollup. They trade uppercuts, and Danielson is able to sucker Claudio into going for the press European. Danielson counters that (in mid-air, mind you) to a backslide for the win at 17:26. Danielson’s counter was tremendous, as was the match. **** Rhett Titus shows the video to Bobby Dempsey. ACTING~! This is starting to look like those “2 Girls, 1 Cup” videos where you’re just watching the reactions. Delirious wants to know what’s going on, but Rhett says he’s “too innocent” to see. Rhett comes to the ring and lets us know that the “thrust is a must.” Daizee Haze asks him why he’s such an asshole when they talked about him focusing on wrestling and not womanizing. Rhett looks at her and says he’s been there and done that. Sara Del Rey runs down and attacks Daizee from behind, so Rhett just leaves. Delirious makes the save and covers Daizee from harm. Roderick Strong vs. Naomichi Marufuji. Ooh, this is one I hadn’t even considered when I bought this, but it should also be good. They open with some wrestling, but the fans are like, “To hell with that. Do the chops!” Pretty soon, they’re exchanging chops and Roderick is ducking out of the way of a superkick. Strong connects with a leg lariat to take over. Strong hits a snap suplex for two. Marufuji comes back with the running knee to the back of the head. He closes the gap and DESTROYS Strong with a lariat. Roderick blocks the Shiranui and turns it into a backbreaker for two. Marufuji hits the coast-to-coast tree-of-woe dropkick. Roderick counters another Shiranui to a backbreaker. And another! Boston Crab, but Marufuji squirms out and stomps Roderick’s face right into the mat. That sets up a thrust kick. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Roderick catches him with a Tiger Driver. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Marufuji comes back with a Butterfly Neckbreaker and fakes Roderick out with a fake kick. That allows him to hit a second try square and finish with the Shiranui at 17:02. Marufuji’s hair is just bizarre. Thought I’d throw that out there. They worked well together with Strong constantly working toward a submission move and Marufuji just looking for an opening for the Shiranui. ***1/2 ROH World Title: Nigel McGuinness vs. Kevin Steen. Kevin Steen is obviously hugely over with his home crowd. Nigel gets a lot of heel heat too. Steen works in the SNOTTLE ROCKET, but Nigel gets in the early licks with several forearm uppercuts. Steen fights back and smothers Nigel with the Canadian flag. He gets caught on the barricade, though, and Nigel slams him into the edge of the apron. FUUUUUUUUUCK! You ever watch a wrestling match and *your* body part hurts from watching a move? Back in, Nigel tries to bend him like a pretzel. Steen reverses to a Sharpshooter attempt, but Nigel rakes the eyes. Nigel goes back to bending him in half and hitting uppercuts. He delivers more uppercuts on the floor. Back in, Steen hulks up and stomps a mudhole. CANNONBALL! Steen puts on the breaks on a corner whip and HAMMERS Nigel with a lariat. That sets up a powerbomb for two. Steen goes up but gets crotched. Nigel follows up with a Tower of London on the floor. Steen is out. Back in, Nigel hits another Tower of London, but it only gets two. Like a true dick heel, Nigel puts Steen in his own Sharpshooter. Steen makes the ropes. He weathers the crotched lariat and hits a cannonball out on Nigel on the floor! Back in, Steen slaps on the Sharpshooter, but Nigel makes the ropes this time. Steen hits the Fisherman’s Neckbreaker! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Steen goes up but misses a moonsault. Steen ducks a lariat. PACKAGED PILEDRIVER! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Fans think that was three. Nigel hits a lariat, and then a short-arm lariat. Nigel’s getting frustrated. He hits a series of strikes and the JAWBREAKER LARIAT! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Steen rolls him up in a small package for two, but Nigel hits a lariat. That groggies Steen up enough for Nigel to hit the crotched lariat. That’s enough for the win at 20:57. Outstanding, dramatic match with Steen fighting his little heart out but being overmatched by Big Evil Nigel (man, does that sound weird!). Steen’s back injury didn’t play into it as much as you might think because everyone knew if Nigel was going to win, it would be by lariat. This was more of “dropping bombs” sort of match rather than a “whittle away” match. Good stuff all around, though. ****1/4 Daizee Haze says Sara Del Rey has to EARN a title shot. Her promo is interrupted by Ruckus, who leers at her. You know, maybe if they didn’t tape promos in the bathroom, that wouldn’t happen. Non-Title, No DQ: Jay Briscoe & Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black. Big brawl to start with Jay and Austin controlling. Necro Butcher runs down and turns it into a three-on-two. The Tyler and Jimmy set up for the Torture Rack Guillotine, but here comes Mark Briscoe to make the save! He hits a springboard kick on Necro and cleans house on Tyler and Jacobs. Suddenly, it’s a six-man match, and they all brawl out into the crowd. Mark goes up, but Necro throws a chair at him and knocks him off. BULLDOG THROUGH A TABLE! Mark appears to reinjure his hand and has to be helped to the back. That leaves the faces down 3-2. The Age of the Fall dominates, although Jay does get a nice flying Cactus Clothesline to take out Tyler Black. Jimmy gets on the mic and tells Necro to “earn his keep.” Jay knocks Jimmy out long enough for Aries to try and talk sense into Necro. The fans chant, “Earn your keep!” Necro is conflicted, though, and walks out instead of stabbing Aries in the eye. You know, I never thought I’d say this, but that was good judgment by the Necro Butcher. Jay recovers and starts throwing chairs. Jacobs catches him with the End Time, though. Aries saves, and they hit a Doomsday Device! JAYDRILLER! ONE, TWO, THREE! Jay and Aries pick up the win at 20:11. Not quite as epic as I think they were going for with the whole “battle for Necro’s soul” angle. Still, it was a crazy brawl with a lot of wince-inducing spots. ***1/4

The 411: Probably ROH's best show since Supercard of Honor III. The last 4-5 matches are easily worth your money, and the running Rhett Titus gag just pulls the whole thing together. Hot crowd too. Thumbs up.
Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]