Review of Honor: Escalation 11/21/08

ROH Escalation
November 21st, 2008 | Montgomery County Fairground in Dayton, Ohio

My latest Review of Honor is a show towards the end of a fun 2008. Nigel McGuinness still held the ROH World Title and was coming up on holding it for a full calendar year (and then some). This was a strange time period because Gabe Sapolsky had recently wrapped his tenure as ROH head booker and the company would hit a lull, in my opinion at least, without him in 2009. As an added bonus, I will not just review this show, but also the bonus match on the DVD.

Brent Albright def. Davey Richards w/ Sweet n’ Sour Inc. in 9:41
A few months earlier, Brent Albright split from Sweet n’ Sour Inc. and turned face. Davey Richards was no longer the goof of No Remorse Corps and began portraying a more serious role around this time. Albright takes it to Davey early, causing him to regroup outside. Davey is able to evenly battle Albright in strikes despite a size disadvantage. He talks smack while laying in the kicks. Albright starts with the babyface comeback but it gets a lackluster reaction from the crowd. Referee Paul Turner stops Albright from diving outside, so Brent threatens to half nelson suplex him. When he goes attempt the dive, Davey kicks him. Bobby Dempsey interference backfires and Albright rolls up Richards to win. Disappointing start. The work wasn’t bad but it had little to no heat and Albright was already losing a lot of popularity. Neither guy seemed to put in much effort either. **

Kyle Durden is in the ring and calls out ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness. Nigel just cuts a promo about his opponents for the night, Austin Aries and Tyler Black. He says that the main event is non-title because ROH can’t risk the title changing at a place like Dayton. Funny story though, the ROH World Title did change hands in Dayton when James Gibson won it from CM Punk

FIP Champion Go Shiozaki w/ Sweet n’ Sour Inc. def. Grizzly Redwood, Rhett Titus and Sami Callihan in 11:43
This is the ROH main show debut for Sami Callihan who would go on to become Solomon Crowe in WWE and later appear in Lucha Underground. Go spends the early portions kind of just being a badass. Grizzly stops him for a second with a three stooges like stunt but ends up taking a fall away slam for his troubles. Each guy gets a chance to show off their character work. Go is tough, Grizzly plays the wacky little man, Callihan is kind of insane and Titus is sleazy. Rhett does his best to avoid Go and his vicious chops. Go ends up alone with Sami in the end and beats him with the Go Flasher. A fine, fun little four corner survival match. Go was the star, rightfully so, and everyone else got a chance to showcase their stuff. Fine work. **¾

The Briscoes def. Irish Airborne in 7:51
Though they aren’t heels, this is a much more aggressive Briscoes. They decline to follow the Code of Honor and attack Irish Airborne from behind. The Briscoes use the size and strength advantage, while their opponents try to use speed and aerial skills. The issue is that the Briscoes are also fast and can fly. Mark really gets hurt on a leg drop. He is unable to springboard on the next spot, which comes off awkwardly. He does help out on a weak spike Jay Driller for the win. Not the best match between these teams. The Mark injury definitely didn’t help but it wasn’t going too well before that either. **

Lights Out Match: Roderick Strong and Chris Hero w/ Sweet n’ Sour Inc. fought to a no contest in 16:09
A Lights Out match is similar to a Last Man Standing one but with no weapons. Just two dudes trying to knock the other one out. Hero is “That Young Knockout Kid”. Strong runs in and immediately starts the fight. The feud has been going on for a while and should see strong get his revenge here. Instead, Hero kind of kicks his ass, nearly knocking him out several times. Strong spends a lot of this match down on the ground. They tease both guys coming close to winning. Hero tries to use the loaded elbow pad but Strong takes it from him and levels him with it. Just when it seems like Strong is going to win, Sweet n’ Sour get involved and cause a DQ. Lame finish to a match that was mostly dull. The crowd was bored and so was I. Apparently this was a no contest, not a DQ. *¾

ROH World Tag Team Championship: Kevin Steen and El Generico (c) def. The Age of the Fall (Delirious and Jimmy Jacobs) w/ Allison Wonderland in 14:50
Steenerico finally have the titles are chasing them for over a year. Delirious does his bel ring gimmick but Jacobs keeps him calm. It’s a small thing but I really like how it shows the control of Jacobs. Steen parodies it by “controlling” Generico on the other side. AOTF take the upper hand on Steen but he charges out of the corner with a double clothesline. Of course once Generico gets tagged, he gets picked apart. Generico was always so good at the sympathetic babyface role. Steen’s hot tag gets a pretty good reaction from the crowd. Delirious goes up top in the end but Rhett Titus shows up to shake the ropes and distract him. Steen uses that to beat Delirious with a fisherman’s neckbreaker. Fine tag match. I wish there was no Titus interference. Steenerico didn’t need it. Also, I had a crush on Allison. **¾

Grudge Match: Bryan Danielson def. Claudio Castagnoli in 14:24
Back in August, Castagnoli turned heel out of frustration and destroyed Danielson in a four way ROH World Title match that I saw live. Danielson attacks quickly and beat up Claudio outside while his theme plays so the fans can sing “IT’S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!” They continue to fight outside, giving this the feel of a match between two guys that dislike each other. Claudio comes back with big strikes, while Danielson fires off kicks. He misses a kick, gets his knee tied up in the ropes and Claudio targets it. Danielson fires up with kicks and I don’t hate it since he uses his right leg and it is the left one that Claudio has worked over. They go at it and just as things are picking up, Danielson uses a small package for the surprise win. A good match that felt heated but ended just as it was starting to really get good. ***

A pissed off Claudio attacks Danielson’s leg with a chair.

Non-Title Match: Austin Aries def. ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness and Tyler Black w/ Allison Wonderland in 13:01
Both Aries and Black have come close to dethroning Nigel McGuinness during his reign. The fans call Nigel a pussy but he doesn’t care. He wants Aries and Black to face one another but they would much rather involve him in the action. Nigel makes the mistake of putting Aries in a headlock, which ends with a dropkick from Aries. He and Black go at it while Nigel is content to just watch outside. Allison tries to get involved, so Aries plants a kiss on her. Black goes after him because of it and again, Nigel encourages the singles action. His character work is pretty good here. The match finally picks up down the stretch, with some pretty cool spots. Aries wins in surprisingly short order with an avalanche brainbuster on Black. I’d say this was a disappointment. While it was still good, it felt like minimal effort from all three men. They knew it was non-title and going to be short, so it never fully clicked. It reminded me of your standard WWE triple threat, where one guy is usually outside killing time. When all three were involved, it was at its best. ***

Samoa Joe def. Tyler Black w/ Allison Wonderland in 18:56
This is that bonus match I was talking about. Joe is still under TNA contract here but did a one-off with Black, who was on the verge of becoming ROH’s top star. Joe asserts his power dominance early so Black takes to the air. VINTAGE JOE when he calmly and casually avoids a Black dive. Joe does his typical shit like the BIG BOY SENTON, elbow suicida and OLE boot. Allison protects Tyler by stepping in front of a boot, opening the door for Tyler to turn things around. Joe does the powerbomb into the STF, which he then transitions into a crossface when Black reaches for the ropes. I love things like that. When he hits the Island Driver, Black kicks out at one! Black starts getting in his offense before they fight up top. Black nails an enziguri but Joe comes back with the Muscle Buster. The rear naked choke gets applies and Black passes out. The best match on this DVD, though it still wasn’t as good as I had hoped. It felt like a greatest hits release for Joe. He got his shit in, Black did a few of his things and Joe went over. ***½

5.0

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

A very middling ROH show. You could tell they were killing time until Final Battle. There isn’t really anything I’d classify as flat out bad here, but everything just feels average. Even Claudio/Danielson and the main event, which features three great wrestlers, both lacked. The special attraction bonus of Joe and Black was the best thing on this and even that didn’t quite live up to its potential.