ROH – A Night of Tribute DVD Review

ROH – A NIGHT OF TRIBUTE – LONG ISLAND, NY, 11.19.05

Review by Brad Garoon and Jacob Ziegler

Top 5

JZ says: I’ve been using the top 5 as voted on by the ROH message board. After each show (or double shot weekend), go to The ROH Message Board and vote for the top 5. In parentheses after a guy’s name is his position in the last Honor Roll, and how many consecutive weeks he has been listed.

ROH WORLD CHAMPION: Bryan Danielson (since 9.17.05)
ROH PURE CHAMPION: Nigel McGuinness (since 8.27.05)
1) Roderick Strong (1, 5)
2) BJ Whitmer (NR, 1)
3) AJ Styles (4, 2)
4) Christopher Daniels (5, 5)
5) Claudio Castagnoli (2, 3)

Intro

BG says: The locker room surrounds the ring as a ten bell salute sounds for Eddie Guerrero, who had died six days prior to this show. A graphic of Guerrero in ROH is shown. Tonight’s event is dedicated to the memory of Eddie Guerrero, 1967-2005.

Samoa Joe goes over his history in ROH. Christopher Daniels brought him into ROH to hurt Low Ki, which he did. By the time ROH’s first anniversary rolled around Joe had aligned himself with his friend Steve Corino against Homicide and his thug friends. This made him think that just making money wasn’t enough, and he wanted a title. He won the championship and held the belt for almost two years, beating all of the top names in independent wrestling in the process. Guys like Homicide and CM Punk took him to the limit, but couldn’t get the job done against him. Then Mick Foley wanted a piece of him, but wouldn’t even get into the ring with him when all the chips were on the table. He wanted to test himself against the best in the world so he wrestled Kenta Kobashi, and Kobashi knows that Joe took him to the limit. He took Jay Lethal under his wing and then took the Pure title from him to teach him that championship reigns don’t last forever. All that’s left for Joe now is to get the tag team titles to become the first ROH Grand Slam champion. Well, he won the Number 1 Contender’s Trophy, so I guess technically he’ll have won four belts if he takes the tag straps with Lethal. Long, but good promo.

JZ says: Everyone is gathered around ringside for a 10-bell salute to Eddie Guerrero, who died five days before this show. A graphic comes on the screen saying “Tonight’s event is dedicated to the memory of Eddie Guerrero 1967-2006.”

Samoa Joe goes into the history he and Christopher Daniels have had in Ring of Honor, going all the way back to the first Glory by Honor in 2002. Putting clips in throughout the promo is something I like. I also like this promo a lot. He’s really going back into his entire history here, spending a lot of time on Homicide and CM Punk. He also talks about Mick Foley and Kenta Kobashi. You know, I’m not a huge fan of Aries but you think Joe might address him, since he dropped the title to him and all. This all leads to Jay Lethal, who Joe has handpicked to take the ROH Tag Team Titles with him. That was pretty good.

MATCH #1: Dunn & Marcos vs. Jason Blade & Kid Mikaze

BG says: I’d put the new guys over in a big way here, as Dunn and Marcos are stale. Marcos and Mikaze start. Mikaze grabs a headlock but Marcos rolls him up for 2. Jesus that was slow motion if I’ve ever seen it. Mikaze comes back with a dropkick for 2. Blade tags in and hits a dropkick for 2. Dunn tags in and tosses Marcos on Blade for a hurricanrana. They hit the high five bulldog and play some air guitar. All four trade chops and the Ring Crew Express double-team Blade. They go for the Stacker Senton but Mikaze kicks Marcos off of Dunn’s shoulders. Everyone bails so Blade dives onto them. He hits a suplex on Marcos in the ring for 2. Mikaze tags in and hits a dropkick for 2. He hits a springboard kick for 2. Blade tags in and they hit Total Elimination for 2. Marcos hurricanranas Blade into the turnbuckle and tags to Dunn. Dunn cleans house and kills Mikaze with a clothesline. He hits a guillotine elbowdrop for 2 when Mikaze saves. Mikaze hits an inverted bodyslam on Marcos and Blade hits a faceplant on Dunn. Blade and Mikaze climb the ropes but miss a moonsault/senton combo attempt. Dunn hits Mikaze with a Gory bomb as Marcos hits Blade with a falcon arrow. They hit the Stacker Senton on Blade for the win. The wrong guys went over and all four looked like they were moving at half speed, but at least the action was solid.
Rating: *¾

JZ says: Marcos has weird short hair now, as Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard welcome us to the show. The Ring Crew Express dominates to start, as all four men engage in some tag team tomfoolery. Dunn and do all the usual stuff, while Blade and Mikaze try to do their stuff, and some of it hits and some of it misses, so to speak. Assisted Sliced Bread #2 followed by the assisted senton bomb gets the win for the Ring Crew Express at 6:21. That was nothing.
Rating: *¼

Generation Next Update

BG says: A fan submitted a picture as evidence of Jimmy Rave hitting Jade Chung with a Pedigree on concrete at the last show. She suffered broken cheekbones and is out of professional wrestling. This leads to Austin Aries telling Roderick Strong to put off his personal feelings until Steel Cage Warfare so that they can focus on Joe and Lethal tonight in their number one contenders match for the tag team title, and Matt Sydal’s number one contender match for the ROH Championship. Aries leaves and Strong tells the Embassy that he’s going to crush their faces, make their chests bleed and break their backs. Tonight he’s going to win his match to show the Embassy that they can’t get into his head.

JZ says: We are shown a digital picture of Jimmy Rave attacking Jade Chung after the last show. Apparently he gave her a Pedigree on the concrete, which essentially broke her face and now she is out of wrestling forever.

Austin Aries and Roderick Strong are backstage, and Aries once again has stupid facial hair. Tonight he and Roderick have a shot to become #1 Contenders to the Tag Team Titles, while Matt Sydal has a chance to win the World Title. Roderick asks Aries to leave so that he can cut a promo about how much he’s going to miss Jade Chung. You know, just because Rave broke her face doesn’t mean you can’t date her Roderick. That seems pretty shallow to me. That was better than most of Roderick’s promos but it still was pretty goofy.

MATCH #2: Jimmy Rave vs. Davey Andrews

BG says: Nana gets on the microphone before the match and promises that the Embassy will end the careers of those in Generation Next in Steel Cage Warfare. He taunts Strong’s loss and tells the fans that the next time they throw toilet paper at Jimmy Rave he’ll boycott the city that does it. Very little toilet paper is thrown, so I guess Nana’s speech worked. Andrews takes Rave to the mat to start. He puts on a headlock as Lenny Leonard informs us that Rave calls his finisher Greetings from Ghana. Rave hits a neckbreaker for 2. He hits a clothesline to the back of the neck for 2. Andrews comes back with a back elbow and a clothesline for 2. Rave gets a roll up with his feet on the ropes for 2. Andrews hits a springboard dropkick for 2. He puts on the Joejigatame but Rave gets to the ropes. Rave hits a spear and Greetings from Ghana for the win. Andrews got in way too much offense, but the match was otherwise inoffensive.
Rating: *½

JZ says: Rave is slumming it here. Nana cuts a great promo about how the Embassy is going to end Generation Next in the Steel Cage Warfare match. Rave comes out and gets the usual toilet paper treatment. Rave calls his version of the Pedigree “Greetings from Ghana.” They do very little for a few minutes and then Rave hits said move to get the win at 4:17. Rave looked good, which is important heading into Steel Cage Warfare, but the match wasn’t good.
Rating: ¾*

Colt Cabana Spells It Out

BG says: Colt Cabana talks about all the things he could have done in his life as opposed to being a wrestler. All his friends became journalists, professional football players, doctors, lawyers and architects. His brother became a director out west. But he chose to become a fighter. Homicide had fighting forced upon him by his surroundings but Cabana had it in his heart from birth. He didn’t hate Homicide before and he was just joking around, but Homicide tried to cut out his tongue and now his blood is boiling. Great promo, as this feud may be taking a turn in the right direction. More Cabana and less J-Train is probably the way to go.

JZ says: Colt Cabana is here to reminisce about everything Homicide has done to him in the last few months. Cabana cuts an awesome promo about how his upbringing was pretty privileged (he even mentions his college days; he went to the same school as Brad and I did) and how he could have done anything but chose to be a wrestler. That was the absolute best promo Cabana has ever done, and he’s already done a lot of good ones.

MATCH #3: Winner Gets a ROH Title Match in the Main Event – AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Matt Sydal

BG says: The winner faces Bryan Danielson for the ROH title in the main event. Daniels and Styles were both tied at number 1 in the rankings at this point, and Sydal really had no business being in this. They show clips of Daniels and Styles getting wins over the other in 2002 during their entrances. Daniels and Styles are only interested with each other before the bell and Sydal looks like he feels left out. The veterans go after each other, only hitting Sydal as an afterthought. Daniels shoves Sydal to the floor and fights it out with Styles. Sydal comes back into the ring and dropkicks both of them. He hits a running knee in the corner on them and then hits Styles with a legdrop off the top for 2. He hits Daniels with a leg lariat for 2. Styles hits him with a dropkick and he rolls to the floor. Styles hits Daniels with a vertical suplex for 2. Sydal comes back in and he and Styles hit a double back elbow on Daniels. Styles hits a bodyslam and a kneedrop. Daniels tosses Sydal into Styles and then hits Sydal with a uranage and Styles with an inverted DDT. He gets 2 on each of them. He hits a backbreaker on Sydal and a delayed vertical suplex on Styles for 2. He dumps Sydal to the floor but gets hit by a roundhouse kick from Styles. It gets 2. He hits Styles with a neckbreaker for 2 when Sydal saves. He hits Sydal with a back suplex and then hits one on Styles. He hits an Arabian press on Styles for 2 when Sydal saves. Sydal drops Daniels into the turnbuckle and then throws Styles into him. He hits a dropkick on Styles and goes for an inverted DDT on Daniels. Styles hits the flip DDT on Sydal forcing Daniels down as well. It gets 2. He hits Sydal with a backbreaker and knocks Daniels to the floor. He hits a sick DDT on Sydal for 2. Sydal comes back with a clothesline and a standing moonsault for 2. He sets Styles on the top rope but Styles fights him off. He goes for the Styles Clash but Daniels breaks it up. Sydal hits a legdrop on Daniels and a dropkick on Styles. He hits a clothesline on Daniels but Styles launches him into the air. Daniels catches him with a DVD on the way down for 2. Styles hits a hammerlock driver on Daniels for 2. Daniels comes back with a blue thunder powerbomb for 2. He hits a palm strike and goes for the Iconoclasm but Styles blocks. Daniels hits a uranage but Styles cuts off the moonsault. He hits a torture rack powerbomb for 2. Daniels bails and Styles follows him out with a plancha. Sydal comes off the top rope with a corkscrew body press onto Daniels. Back in the ring Styles gets 2 on Sydal. He hits a pumphandle gutbuster but Sydal comes back with a crazy hurricanrana for 2 when Daniels saves. Daniels dumps Styles to the floor and hits Sydal with a uranage and the triple jump moonsault for the win. This was like a TNA X-Division match with WWE triple threat structure. Good action up and down, but nothing amazing.
Rating: ***½

JZ says: I’m not sure how Matt Sydal deserves to be in this match. Daniels and AJ are here because they tied for the top spot in the ROH Top 5, which is ludicrous because AJ Styles pinned Austin Aries in a match in which the winner got to be #1, so I don’t understand how Daniels also gets to be #1. They show a few clips of the past matches between Styles and Daniels from 2002. AJ is wearing the TNA X-Division title belt of course. AJ and Daniels are focused on each other as Sydal feels slighted. This match is one fall to a finish. Sydal uses the hatred the other two men have for each other to take control of them. AJ comes back with his trademark dropkick. Styles and Sydal, who have teamed twice before, form a team of sorts to try and take Daniels out. They do some contrived three-way spots and some cool ones too, but the crowd is pretty into it. Daniels and Sydal wind up alone together and Daniels hits the ridiculously named Best Moonsault Ever to earn a title shot at 14:43. That had some good, fun stuff in it, but I still don’t see the reason Sydal was in it, or why AJ didn’t automatically get the title shot for being #1 in the Top Five.
Rating: ***¼

Claudio Thinks I’m Okay

BG says: Claudio Castagnoli is having a hard time concentrating on his match with Milano Collection AT tonight because he’s too preoccupied with begging Jim Cornette to give him another Pure title shot against Nigel McGuinness. Nigel made him bleed for the first time in his career, and he wants revenge.

JZ says: Claudio says that he is facing Milano Collection AT tonight, but will have a hard time focusing because he is so angry about getting screwed out of the Pure Title. He asks Jim Cornette for just one more shot.

MATCH #4: Bryan Danielson vs. Azrieal

BG says: The Scoopster brings ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson to the ring. Danielson doesn’t want to have too much of an advantage against Christopher Daniels in the main event and says he has procured himself a tough opponent to wrestle so that the odds can be more even in the title match. Azrieal comes to the ring, and I have to say I don’t think he’s quite on the level of AJ Styles and Matt Sydal together. The following match can actually be viewed in full on Ring of Honor’s website.

They lock up and Danielson gets a crucifix pin for 1. He puts on a wristlock but Azrieal gets to the ropes. Danielson puts on a hammerlock but Azrieal reverses to a wristlock. Allison Danger jumps onto commentary to talk up Christopher Daniels. Danielson sets Azrieal on the top rope to break the hold. Azrieal puts on a full nelson but Danielson feels no pain. Azrieal switches to a sleeper hold and Danielson pretends to fade. He mockingly hulks up with a big smile on his face and slams Azrieal into the turnbuckle. Azrieal hits a springboard crossbody for 2. He hits a bodyslam and a slingshot senton for 1. He puts on a cravat but Danielson goes to the corner. He chops Azrieal down and hits the neck wrench suplex. He stands on Azrieal’s face and puts on a wristlock. Azrieal hits a hurricanrana to escape. He chops Danielson but it only hurts his hand. Danielson chops back and dodges a double stomp. He hits a sick German suplex and puts on the Cow Killer for the win. Fun squash to put Danielson over as a disingenuous prick.
Rating: **

JZ says: GMC introduces ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson, who comes out bedecked in his wrestling gear. He puts over the last match and makes sure the crowd knows that Christopher Daniels will challenge him for the World Title later. Danielson says that this isn’t fair, so he procured a match of his own, a non-title match against Azrieal. Remember when he was getting a push? Allison Danger joins the commentary team to put over Daniels. Danielson is just not interested in selling any of Azrieal’s offense. I know it’s just Azrieal, but this is really burying the guy. Also, what’s wrong with Azrieal’s sleeper? It looks just like anyone else’s. Danielson puts on the Cattle Mutilation and gets the win at 5:55. Well, so long Azrieal. I understand that the idea was to put Danielson over strong, but that seemed patently unnecessary.
Rating: *½

MATCH #5: Grudge Match – Homicide vs. Colt Cabana

BG says: They lock up briefly and slug it out. Cabana pounds Homicide down and pulls a fork out of his boot. Homicide bails and Grim Reefer comes off the top rope with a missile dropkick. Cabana hits him with a big boot and catches Homicide with a Manhattan drop. He tries to fork him but Homicide fights him off. Cabana hits a back elbow and rips at Homicide’s mouth. Homicide tosses him to the floor and follows him out with a tope. He rams Cabana into the barricade but Cabana comes back with a mini Ole kick. J-Train distracts him and Homicide rams his face into a chair. He rams Cabana into the barricade and knocks J-Train down in the process. They choke each other and Cabana chases off the Rottweilers. Homicide pokes Cabana in the eyes and chokes him with a baseball bat. Back in the ring Cabana fires away with elbows. Homicide blocks a blind charge but gets caught with a powerslam. Cabana sets up a chair in the corner but Homicide rams his face into it. He dumps Cabana where the Rottweilers beat on him. Back in the ring Homicide drop toeholds Cabana into a chair. He dropkicks the chair while Cabana’s arm is caught in it and then hits the arm with another chair. He throws a chair at Cabana’s face and then dumps him to the floor. He follows him out and opens him up with the fork. Back in the ring he goes to work with the fork and chases the referee out of the ring. He throws another chair at Cabana’s face and kicks him low. He climbs the ropes but Cabana catches him with a chair to the face. He hits a superplex onto the chair and Homicide’s selling of it is priceless. Cabana hits a lariat for 1. Homicide goes low and hits his lariat for 1. Homicide hits it again and Cabana stays on his feet. Cabana hits one and Homicide goes down to a knee. They clothesline each other down. Back on their feet they block each other’s finishers. Cabana hits an Air Raid neckbreaker for 2. He gets a lead pipe from under the ring but J-Train runs in. Cabana takes him out and Homicide bails. Cabana dives out after him. He knocks Homicide out on a table and goes to dive onto him but Grim Reefer cuts him off. Homicide runs up and hits an Ace Crusher from the second rope through the table. The Rottweilers roll both men back into the ring and Homicide goes for the pin but Cabana kicks out at 2. Homicide grabs a coat hanger and wraps it around Cabana’s neck. Cabana fights but ends up passing out. Homicide keeps choking him with the coat hanger after the match until referees and ROH students break it up. This was a really good and intense brawl. A lot better than their first match.
Rating: ***¼

JZ says: In addition to being a grudge match, this is also a no-disqualification match. Cabana pulls out a fork early on. The Rottweilers try to interfere but Cabana is ready for them. The battle spills to the floor and it’s just a brawl all the way. Cabana gets busted open as Homicide attacks him with a fork. Homicide hits a low blow followed by the Lariat but Cabana kicks out at one and outright no-sells the next one. He must be really angry with Homicide. Homicide gives Cabana an Ace Crusher from the apron through a table on the floor. Homicide then wraps a coat hanger around Cabana’s neck. Cabana passes out and Homicide gets the win at 19:33. Homicide refuses to let go, as some of the wrestlers and more referees come out to try and help Colt. That was an insane brawl and kept the feud going nicely.
Rating: ***½

INTERMISSION

BG says: Christopher Daniels tells Bryan Danielson that just because he doesn’t hate him like he hated CM Punk doesn’t mean that he won’t be as hungry to beat him. The belt means everything to him, and tonight his destiny will be fulfilled. He says that a lot.

Jimmy Bower talks over a clip of Eddie Guerrero beating up Bryan XL at A Night of Appreciation. Bower talks about the different influences that Guerrero had on ROH, and also talks about how honorable it was for Guerrero to wrestle on that show because he was already back with WWE and was the Intercontinental Champion.

JZ says: GMC is with Christopher Daniels, who will have his shot at Bryan Danielson’s World Title later in the evening. Daniels does an amazing job putting over the match, even though it doesn’t have the history or heat that some of his matches have had. Daniels rules.

Jimmy Bower talks over a clip of Eddie Guerrero from A Night of Appreciation back in 2002, talking about how important Eddy Guerrero was to the early success of ROH. He mentions how important Eddy was to the wrestling business as a whole. That’s as classy as any tribute WWE put together.

MATCH #6: Milano Collection AT vs. Claudio Castagnoli

BG says: They lock up and Milano grabs a hammerlock. Claudio reverses to a wristlock but Milano goes to a leglock. Claudio goes back to the wristlock but Milano reverses and ties Claudio up in the ropes. He hits a springboard crossbody and puts on an armbar. Claudio fights out and hits a springboard armdrag. He hits a basement dropkick and a European uppercut for 2. He puts on an inverted surfboard and rolls Milano up for 2. He hits the rolling uppercut and tosses Milano to the apron. Milano hangs him up on the second rope and hits a high running dropkick. Nice stuff. Back in the ring Claudio hits a bodyslam for 2. He hits a delayed vertical suplex for 2. He hits a high knee in the corner and goes for another but Milano catches him with an enziguiri. Milano ties him up on the bottom rope and hits a dropkick. Claudio hits a Manhattan drop and a European uppercut for 2. Milano hits a tornado armbreaker and they trade strikes. Milano hits a leaping forearm and a senton for 2. Claudio hits the Match Killer for 2. He climbs the ropes and hits an elbow drop for 2. Milano dodges the roaring uppercut and hits an enziguiri. He hits a springboard elbow drop for 2. Claudio runs from the AT Lock and hits a popup European uppercut for 2. Milano dodges the Ricolabomb and hits an armbreaker. He puts on the AT Lock and Claudio taps out. Fun match that showcased the unique offense of both competitors.
Rating: **¾

JZ says: This is just Milano’s second appearance in ROH, after losing to Samoa Joe in a good match at Survival of the Fittest ’05. We get lots of mat wrestling in the early going, as that’s what both men specialize in. Claudio’s nemesis Nigel McGuinness is on a tour of Japan right now, and has the Pure Title with him. I guess that’s reason enough for not defending the Pure Title for a while. Milano ties Claudio up in the ring ropes and challenges him to get up, which is a difficult task at the time. He continues to work on the arm to set up for his finisher, the AT Lock. They wrestle a little longer and Claudio appears to come back but Milano does indeed put on the AT Lock to get the win at 12:48. That was a solid match and made both guys look pretty good.
Rating: ***

MATCH #7: Samoa Joe & Jay Lethal vs. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong

BG says: The winners of this match face Italians for the tag titles in December. Strong and Lethal start. They lock up and Lethal grabs a hammerlock. Strong reverses to his own and rolls Lethal up for 2. He puts on a cross armbreaker but Lethal gets to the ropes. They knuckle up and Lethal grabs a cravat. Strong takes him to the mat but Lethal comes back with a half crab attempt. Strong gets a full nelson but Lethal comes back with a dropkick and an armbar. Joe tags in and puts on a chinlock. They lock up and Joe dodges a chop in the corner. Aries tags in and Joe grabs a headlock. Aries comes back with a headlock takedown but Joe forces him to his corner and makes the tag. Lethal hits a vertical suplex for 1. Aries blocks a blind charge and hits a discus chop. Strong makes the tag and he and Aries pummel Lethal. Aries tags back in and they hit the Hart Attack for 2 when Joe saves. Strong tags in and hits a leg lariat for 2. Aries hits a clothesline in the corner and tags in. He hits the corner elbow for 2. Strong tags back in and they hit a double delayed vertical suplex for 2. Strong puts on a full nelson leglock but Joe breaks it up with a legdrop. Strong hits a bodyslam and tags to Aries. Aries hits a slingshot splash for 2. Lethal ducks the springboard elbow and hits a spinebuster. Joe tags in and hits a cool leg lariat. Lethal tags in and hits a dropkick. Joe hits a kneedrop and Lethal gets 2. Lethal hits a back suplex for 2. Joe tags in and they hit a double shoulder block for 2. Joe puts on a chinlock but Aries fights out. Joe hits a back elbow and tags to Lethal. Lethal climbs the ropes and holds Aries upside down for a dropkick. It gets 2 for Lethal. Lethal puts on a strangle hold but Aries fights out. Lethal hits a knee to the gut for 2. Joe tags in but the referee missed it and sends Joe out. That looked silly. Aries hits a clothesline and both Joe and Strong tag in. Strong cleans house on Lethal and chops Joe as best he can. He hits a dropkick on Joe and goes for the gutbuster but Joe reverses to the choke. Aries breaks it up with a dropkick and Strong hits the capture backbreaker for 2. Joe hits the STJoe and Lethal tags in. Lethal hits the running suplex and climbs the ropes. He hits the diving headbutt for 2 when Aries breaks up the pin. He drags Strong to the corner and tags in. He hits the stiff kick to the face and a brainbuster for 2. Joe drags Lethal to his corner and tags in. He hits a powerslam for 2. He blocks the crucifix bomb so Strong nails him with the Sick Kick. Aries hits the crucifix bomb but Lethal runs in and cleans house. Strong hits two half nelson backbreakers on Lethal and Aries comes off the top rope with a frog splash for the win. The last few minutes were great, but a good portion of the match leading up to it was pretty dull.
Rating: ***¼

Jimmy Rave attacks Strong and Aries with a chair on their way to the back. He hits Strong with Greetings from Ghana on the ramp and Aries goes to look after him in a seriously gay way. As he carries Strong to the back we see that Matt Sydal has been beaten up and hung upside down on a ladder. That was a cool horror movie-style image.

JZ says: The winners get a Tag Team Title shot at Final Battle 2005. Everyone in this match has held ROH gold except Roderick Strong. Strong and Lethal do some mat wrestling to start. When Joe and Roderick get in the ring together I remember how good their matches in FIP are and how much I’d like to see them go one-on-one in ROH. Aries comes in and I remember how good their matches in ROH are. Strong and Aries exhibit their teamwork early on. Roderick gets a hot tag and comes in and takes out both Lethal and Joe, no small feat. They do some more tag team stuff and the last few minutes get really crazy until Roderick nails Lethal with two half-nelson backbreakers and Aries hits a frog splash for the victory at 17:22. That got really good at the end but most of the beginning stages were pretty pedestrian. As Strong and Aries make their way to the back, Jimmy Rave and Prince Nana attack them and Strong takes the Greetings from Ghana on the ramp. Aries has more problems when he gets through the curtain and Sydal is hanging upside down from the ceiling. The Embassy is great.
Rating: ***¼

MATCH #8: ROH World Title Match – Bryan Danielson vs. Christopher Daniels

BG says: This is a rematch of the opener from the second ROH show ever, and they show a clip from that match. Danielson again makes Bobby Cruise call him the best wrestler in the world. After watching his matches with Strong it’s getting hard to argue that point. They lock up and struggle in the corner. Danielson grabs an armbar but Daniels fights back and grabs a headlock. They knuckle up and Danielson forces Daniels to the ropes, slapping him on the break. Daniels puts on a wristlock but Danielson gets out with a northern lights suplex. He puts on his own wristlock but Daniels gets out with a northern lights suplex. He puts on a hammerlock but Danielson goes to the corner. Daniels hits a hip toss and a head scissor takedown. Danielson gets out and slaps him. He puts on a leglock but Daniels gets to the ropes. Danielson puts on a deathlock and slaps Daniels as he has it on. He adds a butterfly hold and floats into a royal octopus. Daniels gets under the ropes. Danielson hits a pair of knee drops for 2. He misses a third and Daniels gets a roll up for 2. He gets another for 2. Danielson stops his momentum with a clothesline. He puts on the Mexican surfboard and drops Daniels back for 2. He chokes Daniels in the ropes and hits a dropkick. He goes for another but a bleeding Daniels moves and Danielson gets crotched on the second rope. Danielson comes back with a forearm to the back and hits a butterfly suplex for 2. He alternates between a noselock and ripping at Daniels’ cut. He hits a slingshot suplex for 2. He bites Daniels’ cut and spits the blood into the crowd. I don’t see where people calling him a babyface are getting their support at this point. Daniels comes back with an enziguiri. He hits a knee lift and Danielson falls to the floor. Daniels follows him out with an Arabian press. Back in the ring Daniels comes off the top with a crossbody for 2. He hits a blue thunder bomb for 2. He sets Danielson on the top rope but Danielson blocks the palm strike and hits a European uppercut. He climbs the ropes and hits the diving headbutt for 2. Daniels blocks the dragon suplex and gets a roll up for 2. Danielson hits a Finley roll instead of the airplane spin to piss off the fans. He climbs the ropes but Daniels pulls him down and hits a DVD for 2. He puts on the Koji clutch and hooks the arm with his other leg when Danielson gets close to the ropes. Danielson drapes his leg on the bottom rope to break. Danielson reverses the Last Rights and goes for a dragon suplex but Daniels blocks. Danielson hits a stiff kick to the back and puts on the Cow Killer. Daniels gets to the ropes. They trade forearms and Danielson goes to the eyes. Daniels hits a uranage and the triple jump moonsault for 2. Danielson catches him and sets him on the top rope. He hits a superplex and a dragon suplex for 2. He puts on the Cow Killer but Daniels powers up. He blocks the crossface chicken wing but Danielson nails him with a roaring elbow and seemingly knocks Daniels out legit to pick up the win. There’s another great title match out of Danielson, who is becoming an unstoppable monster on top of the promotion.
Rating: ****¼

JZ says: They helpfully show clips of their first meeting from the inaugural Round Robin Challenge back in 2002. Danielson goes for the handshake but Daniels is still not into that. They start slowly and do some of that wrestling stuff that they’re always talking about. Danielson takes over and starts dominating Daniels, and his heelish tactics make Daniels the de facto babyface. The crowd is actually really getting on Danielson’s case, which irritates him into punishing Daniels more. So if the crowd wanted Daniels to win and was really smart they’d cheer everything Dragon did and he would be going a little easier on Daniels. Daniels is busted open but is able to fight back and use some of Danielson’s own tactics against him. Danielson regains control and is just sadistic as he works Daniels over. Both men exchange forearms in the middle of the ring and Danielson recovers first and hits a Dragon Suplex for two and then locks on Cattle Mutilation. Danielson then hits a roaring forearm (which I believe knocked Daniels out legit) to get the pinfall and retain the title at 29:33. That was a super match and even with the lack of buildup I thought they did a really great job at building drama. These are two of the best in the world today.
Rating: ****¼

Aftermath

BG says: Samoa Joe thinks his loss tonight is just a temporary setback, and he knows that Lethal will help him become ROH’s first Grand Slam Champion. Lethal seems less enthused, leaving because he can’t deal with something.

A clip is shown of Eddie Guerrero’s final ROH appearance, with the crowd chanting “we will miss you,” as he cries in the ring. That was a really powerful image, as an old moment takes on a whole new meaning.

JZ says: Samoa Joe says tonight was a minor setback and he will become the first ROH Grand Slam Champion. That would be true if ROH had four titles, but they only have three, thus he would be a Triple Crown winner. Jay Lethal decides to go have stupid hair someplace else.

The last Eddy Guerrero bit is a nice way to end the disc.

MVP

BG says: I’ll give it to Christopher Daniels here, for being in the two best matches of the night and sacrificing his consciousness so that Danielson could continue to look unbeatable.

JZ says: Colt Cabana, for cutting the promo of his life and finally making the feud with Homicide seem credible and real.

BONUS MATCHES

We have decided to try and include a bonus section in each of our reviews, featuring matches that are in some way pertinent to the show. We decided to include Eddy Guerrero’s two matches in Ring of Honor here.

BONUS MATCH #1: IWA Intercontinental Championship – Super Crazy vs. Eddy Guerrero, The Era of Honor Begins, 2.23.02

BG says: At this point during Eddy’s time off he’d cleaned up his act and begun tearing it up in the Indies and Japan, thus proving that he deserved another chance at the big time. This match is for the IWA Intercontinental Championship. Guerrero breaks the Code of Honor by slapping Crazy rather than shake his hand. He takes Crazy to the mat and stomps on his face. He hits a vertical suplex for 2. He takes him down with a headlock and gets 2. Crazy hits a back suplex to break the hold. Guerrero hits a European uppercut to knock Crazy down. He hits a back suplex for 2 and puts on a sleeper hold. Crazy powers out of the sleeper and hits an armdrag. He climbs the ropes and hits another armdrag. He hits Los Mounted Punches and Guerrero bails. He catches Crazy going for a dive and rams his face into the apron. He knocks Crazy around and hits a brainbuster on the floor. Back in the ring Guerrero hits a slingshot senton for 2. He hits a fall away slam for 2. He puts on a seated abdominal stretch but lets go to stomp on him. He hits a dropkick to the face for 2. Eddy blocks a dropkick to the face but gets hit with a dropkick to the back of the head. Awesome. Crazy hits a bodyslam and a springboard moonsault. He hits a missile dropkick for 2. He climbs the ropes again but Guerrero cuts him off and hits a hurricanrana for 2. Crazy hits a leg lariat for 2. Guerrero blocks a suplex and hits a powerbomb for 2. He hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and a pair of rolling brainbusters before climbing to the top rope. Crazy dodges the frog splash and reverses a backbreaker attempt to a roll up for the win. Eddy heeled it up nicely and the action was good. Crazy no-selling the brainbusters at the end left me with a bad taste in my mouth however, and the match definitely had enough gas in it to go a few more miles. I can’t blame them for not going all out though, as I’ve heard that they were holding back so as to not show up the main event.
Rating: ***¼

JZ says: It’s weird to think of a time where Eddy Guerrero was taking Indy dates. It’s weird to see him in this setting. It’s also weird to hear the commentators plugging a certain website that I won’t even bother naming here. Guerrero dominates early on with his heelish tactics. This would be Super Crazy’s only appearance in Ring of Honor. They have a good back and forth match until Crazy gets a flash pin to win the IWA Intercontinental Title at 10:42. That was pretty short and you could tell they were holding back a little bit, but that was for the best, for reasons that Brad already said.
Rating: ***¼

BONUS MATCH #2: Eddy Guerrero & Amazing Red vs. The SAT, A Night of Appreciation, 4.27.02

BG says: Red and the Maximos haven’t been getting along, so their trainer Mikey Whipwreck put them in a match against each other and got Guerrero to be Red’s partner. Guerrero had already signed back with WWE and won the Intercontinental Championship, which he is holding here. This is his last appearance in ROH. Red and Jose start. Red hits a hurricanrana and a pair of armdrags. Jose hits a dropkick so Red tags to Eddy. Eddy tosses Red into Jose and hits Joel with a backbreaker. Joel tags in legally and walks into a hammerlock. Eddy switches to a wristlock and goes to town on the arm. Joel grabs a headlock and hits a hurricanrana for 1. Eddy puts on the Sharpshooter but Joel gets to the ropes. He hits a back suplex and a slingshot senton for 2. He puts on a sleeper hold but Joel fights out. Joel hits a back bodydrop and a dropkick. Jose tags in and they hit a double drop toehold. Joel puts on a Mexican surfboard and Jose dropkicks him for 2. Jose tags in and puts on a sleeper hold. He hits a German suplex for 2. He hits a northern lights suplex for 2. He climbs the ropes but Eddy cuts him off and hits a superplex. Red and Joel tag in and Red hits a DDT for 2. He hits the Red Star Press for 2. Joel hits a sit-out powerbomb and tags to Jose. Jose hits a vertical suplex for 2. Joel tags in and hits a basement dropkick for 2. Jose tags in and gets 2 after Joel hits a spinebuster. Jose hits a superkick for 2 when Eddy saves. Joel tags in and puts on a pendulum. Jose hits a legdrop and Joel gets 2. The locker room empties to watch the match as Red brings Joel off the top rope with a roundhouse kick. Jose and Eddy tag in. Eddy hits a brainbuster for 2. He goes for Splash Mountain but Jose reverses to a roll up for 2. Eddy hits a clothesline and climbs the ropes. Joel cuts him off and the SAT goes for the Spanish Fly. Red kicks Joel out of the ring and dives onto him. Jose blocks a hurricanrana from Eddy but can’t block one from Red. Red dives onto Joel again and Eddy goes for the frog splash. Jose moves so Eddy hits him with Splash Mountain for the win. Probably the best SAT match I’ve ever seen, as they kept their nonsense to an absolute minimum and the match hit on all counts.
Rating: ***½

After the match the fans chant “we will miss you,” a very powerful image now that Eddy is gone.

JZ says: There’s actually some build for this match stemming from events that happened on the last two shows. Eddy was allowed to work this show even though he had gone back to the WWF and won the Intercontinental Title. That was huge for ROH, as it was just the third show in company history. Donnie B, the worst commentator of all-time, is calling the action here with Steve Corino. Jose and Joel Maximo are now wrestling for “who knows and who cares.” They are clearly not in Eddy’s league (or even Red’s really), but Eddy and Red find a way to make it look competitive. I like Red, but the Red Star Press is one of the weakest finishers ever. Donnie B is just terrible here; he calls a move a “stand still spin wheel back flip kick.” What the hell is that? Eddy gets a Splash Mountain on Joel for the win at 13:33. That was a pretty good tag team match and a nice ROH sendoff for Eddy.
Rating: ***½

You can pick up this show, as well as all other ROH shows at ROH Wrestling Dot Com.

Coming soon will be our next review!

Have any thoughts, comments, or concerns? Like how we’re doing our reviews? Let us know!

E-mail Brad at [email protected]
E-mail Jacob at [email protected]

The 411: BG says: The first two matches aside this show is solid from top to bottom. The main event is excellent and the Guerrero segments were more tastefully done than most of the WWE's tributes. “A Night of Tribute” gets a definite recommendation. JZ says: I’ll give another easy recommendation to this show, which has a great main event, some awesome promos, and some good matches and angle developments throughout. ROH is really on a roll right now.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]