Dark Pegasus Video Review: Ring of Honor – Reborn: Stage Two

Ring of Honor — Reborn: Stage Two

From Chicago, Ill.

Your hosts are Chris Lovey and CM Punk (who drops Chicago-based names all night).

Bryan Danielson takes Samoa Joe’s place on “Samoa Joe’s Ring.” He tries to demonstrate a proper wristlock, but Homicide comes in and shows his version, which includes a cheapshot to the young guy’s face. Homicide says he’s out for Joe’s blood, but he’ll settle for Danielson. Danielson says Homicide has never been stretched by someone like him before.

Nigel McGuiness interrupts Matt Stryker’s interview time to thank him on a great match last night and wish him luck. Stryker says he knows Joe is hurt, and he’s never seen anyone go after Joe’s leg. He thinks that may be a weak link.

Becky Bayless wants to know where Special K is, but Jack Evans interrupts and busts a move on her ass. SHE GOT SRRRRVED!

Opening Match, Grudge Match: Ace Steel vs. BJ Whitmer.
Steel’s main claim to fame in Ring of Honor is training CM Punk, but we’re in his home area of Chicago, so that evens things out a bit. It doesn’t matter, because the match doesn’t get under way before the Briscoe Brothers run in and give him the Spiked Jaydriller, turning heel on the crowd. The Second City Saints run in and chase them away. CM Punk references Hart vs. Austin and Bret vs. Owen to suck up to the crowd. The Briscoes and SCS brawl all the way to the back. Whitmer says he didn’t come here for a forfeit, prompting Ace to say he’s okay. This is, of course, an extension of the Prophecy vs. Second City Saints feud. Whitmer just dismantles Steel early, targeting the injured neck. Ace comes back with a sunset flip bomb and a corner dropkick. He counters the Exploder to a victory roll for a close nearfall. Whitmer hits it for real moments later and picks up the win at 6:11. Steel never really recovered from the Jaydriller to mount a serious offense. After the match, BJ tees off on Whitmer with a chairshot to the head. *

Masada & Justin Credible vs. Delirious & Shawn Daivari.
Yep, that’s manager extraordinaire Daivari making his debut was an RoH wrestler. Masada and Credible are kind of like the Carnage Crew B-Team. Credible hits Triple Verticals on Delirious early. Delirious plays Ricky Morton only crazy and possibly uglier if you believe ugly’s commentary. Daivari gets the tag, and focuses on Masada’s back. Delirious spazzes out on Masada with a running knee for two. Daivari busts out, what else, a Camel Clutch. Daivari gets tossed over the top but comes back with the Magic Carpet Ride. Credible waits for him and hits That’s Incredible. CM Punk informs us that he knows a lot about carpet. Great, now I got to get that image out of my head. Masada finishes Delirious with the Cradle Backbreaker at 8:10. Delirious and Daivari looked like they couldn’t get out of each other’s way at certain points, but the Magic Carpet Ride was definitely over with the fans. *3/4

Chad Collyer vs. John Walters.
Walters beat Collyer in a Pure Wrestling match at “The Last Stand” when Collyer ran out of rope breaks and was forced to tap out. Now, he wants a rematch under normal rules. It’s back and forth with both guys unable to get an advantage. Walters tries a rear naked choke, but Collyer catches him with a Dragon Screw Twist to work the leg. Collyer goes for the Cloverleaf early, but Walters makes the ropes. Collyer has to settle with the legscissors then an Indian Deathlock. A figure-four leglock puts more pressure on the leg (the wrong leg, but close enough). Walters comes back with the lungblower (backcracker) and a Tiger Bomb. He puts Collyer in the Sharpshooter, but Collyer makes the ropes. Collyer rolls through a sunset flip into the Texas Cloverleaf. They trade rollups, and Collyer comes through with a Cross-legged Wheelbarrow Rollup at 12:49. Not nearly their best work as Walters decided to stop selling the leg. The execution wasn’t so bad, but I was expecting much more from these two. **1/2

Four-Corner Survival Match: Nigel McGuiness vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Rocky Romero (w/Ricky Reyes) vs. Austin Aries.
Romero and McGuiness start, prompting a smart-ass “U.S.A.” chant from the crowd. McGuiness and Romero have sharply different styles, but they work quite well together. Aries is highly over with the crowd being a semi-local. Nigel wrestles circles around Rave, drawing a standing ovation from the crowd. In fact, Rave seems to be everyone’s bitch as Austin Aries handstands out of a headscissors and dropkicks him in the grill. Romero snaps Rave’s arm on the top rope, and Aries goes to work on it. Romero doesn’t bother with that when he tags in, he just punts Rave right in the face. Rave’s just getting rolled up and smoked in there. Finally, he gets an enzuigiri and tags out to McGuiness. McGuiness snap suplexes Romero onto Aries, nearly knocking him unconscious. Aries misses a rolling elbow, and Romero snaps off a rana into the jujigatame. Aries and Romero lose track of what’s going on as they brawl, so Nigel locks in the keylock for the submission at 16:42. Fun stuff, with Rave playing the part of Jeff Hardy — the guy who gets his ass kicked and the fans love it. McGuiness and Romero looked really good in there. ***1/2

Bryan Danielson vs. Homicide.
Homicide is a locker room pariah thanks to his actions last night, and Lovey sells the mystery of who turned off the lights last night. Thankfully, that didn’t become the “who drove the Hummer” of RoH. Danielson frustrates Homicide early, prompting Homicide to toss a chair in the ring and upset the ringside table. It all looks like mind games, though, as Danielson chases him out, and Homicide darts back in with a smile on his faces. I was hoping Homicide would come out more crazy and violent, but instead he goes hold-for-hold with Danielson. He works over Danielson’s neck in between jawing with the fans. The fans get all over Homicide, making Lovey nervous about what Homicide will do if someone sets him off. Homicide takes him to the outside and hits him with the ringbell. Danielson comes back with chops, so Homicide begs off and offers a handshake (with his fingers crossed behind his back). Danielson boots him in the face off the shake. Homicide comes back with his tope con hilo, but Danielson gets the Airplane Spin and Swandive Headbutt. They trade strikes, with Homicide’s injured hand coming into play as he’s not able to get as much power behind his blows. He opts for a piledriver and an STF. Danielson goes for the Cattle Mutilation, but Homicide powers up and goes for the Cop Killa. Danielson flips over his shoulder, so Homicide repositions the ref and goes low. A lariat finishes Danielson moments later at 29:47. Lovey kept putting over the fact that Homicide had snapped and “was a different Homicide,” but he looked the same to me. It’s not like the old Homicide was above cheating to gain an advantage. After all, this was the man who stabbed Corino in the eye with a fork and gave his girlfriend the Cop Killa. ***1/2

This time, Jimmy Rave and Jack Evans interrupt Stryker’s promo time and wish him luck. Midwest Correspondent Dave Prazak says that Samoa Joe still hasn’t showed, and if he no-shows, Ring of Honor will hand Stryker the title. Stryker isn’t happy with that. Chad Collyer interrupts again and tells Stryker that he can just hand the title over to him to avoid the embarrassment of being beaten again.

Ricky Reyes (w/Rocky Romero) vs. Danny Daniels.
You know how there are certain wrestlers that just rub you the wrong way, and you have no rational reason not to like them? Well, that’s the way I feel about Danny Daniels. Maybe it’s because he constantly reminds me of that “Lenny Leonard/Carl Carlson” gag on The Simpsons. Dave Prazak interrupts the match to say Samoa Joe has arrived. Daniels actually dominates the early part of the match, running counter to my expectations. Reyes fights out of the Electric Chair and rolls Daniels into the Leg-scissored Anklelock. That’s enough for the tap out at 5:40. Ricky didn’t get in much offense before the finish. 3/4*

Scramble Tag Match: The Carnage Crew vs. The Ringcrew Express vs. Jack Evans & Matt Sydal (w/Daizee Haze) vs. Alex Shelley & Jimmy Jacobs.
The CC is still searching for who defecated in their gym bags. I’m still not sure how beating people up eliminates them as suspects, but the Carnage Crew was never sold as MENSA members. Shelley dominates Dunn & Marcos, including using a one-man Taffy Machine. Evans hits some nice spot stuff, but Devito tries to break his neck with a series of forearms. He actually busts out a Standing Corkscrew Shooting Star Press. The fans love that. They work in the spot where everyone hits a dive to the outside, ending with Evans hitting an Arabian Twist. The Carnage Crew drags Jacobs in and hits the Second-Rope Spiked Piledriver, but Evans sneaks in with a 630-legdrop for the win at 12:50. Evans informs all the “bitches” that he “runs this shit.” After the match, Shelley blames Jacobs for the loss and walks out on him. **3/4

Ring of Honor Championship: Samoa Joe vs. Matt Stryker.
Joe’s face is bandaged from last night’s fireball. He tears it off early, revealing a nasty burn. Lots of feeling out stuff to start with Stryker unable to get anything going because he’s trying to force a technical match. Joe matches him hold for hold and overpowers him with an STO. He puts Styker down with the Facewash and challenges him to hit him with his best forearms. Stryker blocks the Olay kick, but Joe thrust kicks him and hits it anyway. He slaps the sense out of Stryker and hits him with another Olay kick. Back in, Joe picks him up with a Guillotine Figure-four. Stryker hits a super belly-to-belly and fires away with strikes. Joe blocks any attempt to go after the legs, though. Joe shoves him off the top, but Stryker hits a Super Dragon Screw and locks in the Strykerlock. Joe makes the ropes and unleashes the kneelifts. Stryker catches him with the Death Valley Driver! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Stryker goes after the leg again, but Joe hits him with an enzuigiri and locks in the Triangle Armscissors for the tapout at 18:57. This showed that the gap between Joe and Stryker was wide, as Joe pretty much toyed with him for the first 10-15 minutes, and the only two moments where Stryker became a significant threat were the Strykerlock (which Stryker didn’t really build to) and the DVD. After the match, Joe tells the cameraman to tell Homicide to meet him in the back to settle things. ***

In the back, Shelley hypes “Generation Next” and says he doesn’t need losers like Jimmy Jacobs hanging around.

Ring of Honor Tag Championship: The Briscoe Brothers vs. The Second City Saints.
This was so fun. They work the old school southern style but update it with their usual moveset. Lots of manly jockeying from Punk and Mark to start. The fans are solidly behind the hometown guys, especially Cabana, who embarrasses Jay by tripping up so he lands on his face. Even Punk looks like he’s having a good time, and Punk never looks happy in the ring. The Saints dominate Jay early to get the crowd really fired up. Mark gets a blind tag and hits Punk with a missile dropkick to give the champs the edge. Cabana plays the impatient Robert Gibson role perfectly as he keeps arguing with the ref at just the wrong time and letting his temper get the best of him. The Briscoes beat Punk like they own him until Punk breaks out the Ricky Morton roll to his corner and gets the HOT TAG TO CABANA! Cabana cleans house on both Briscoes with a quebrada and the Schwein Neckbreaker. Colt lifts Mark up for the Doomsday Device, but Mark counters to the Poisoned Rana. Punk makes the save and hits Mark with the DDT, but Jay legdrops him and gets a DVD for two. Awesome spot as the Briscoes team up for the Springboard Doomsday Device, but Punk counters to a powerslam in mid-air! That only gets two. All four men take turns hitting each other with wicked strikes, including a Punk Shining Wizard that knocks Jay out. Mark takes out Punk with the Ace Crusher, and Jay gives Colt the Jaydriller! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! The Briscoes stop to argue the count before putting Punk on top for a double superplex. Colt is out of it but manages to crotch Mark on the top rope. Punk shoves Jay to the floor and drops Mark right on his head with the Pepsi Plunge for the win, the titles, and one of the biggest pops in RoH history at 19:47. BJ Whitmer attacks an exhausted Punk only to have Ace Steel return and hit him with an absolutely psychotic chairshot as a receipt for the opener. See, all the faces win in the end. ****1/4

In the back, Joe invites Homicide into the bathroom. He tells the cameraman to hang back and wait to see who emerges.

The Carnage Crew decides that, since they didn’t find any answers, they’ll go to the nudie bar.

Joe and Homicide continue to brawl behind closed doors.

Punk tries to cut a serious promo, but Colt interrupts with a party.

Worried because there is no noise in the bathroom, the cameraman goes in and finds both Samoa Joe and Homicide laying unconscious.

The 411: Ring of Honor proved they were still alive with the pair of Reborn shows. With many of their top talents gone, RoH decided to build around Punk and Joe, starting here. Homicide also stepped up even above his 2003 MVP performances. Plus, these two shows had the elevation of a lot of undercard talent that would make their mark over the next year. Easy thumbs up for "Reborn: Stage Two."
Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]