The Furious Flashbacks – ROH Driven 2007

The Furious Flashbacks – ROH Driven

Nigel McGuinness & Bryan Danielson once again clash in a MOTYC

It feels like forever since I even sat down to think about an ROH show. Going back a few years I used to spend the majority of my reviewing time with the promotion. I think Ring of Honor was the first promotion to lose my time when I got married. The shows felt more time consuming and because the production standards are lower its not so much fun for my wife to sit through if she’s in the room. Although, to be fair, she’s usually on her laptop anyway. Also, and this is weird, if I know a show is supposed to be good before I see it I find it far harder to get motivated to watch it. I can’t explain why.

Taped 23rd June 2007. Aired on PPV 21st September 2007.

We’re in Chicago Ridge, Illinois. Hosts are Dave Prazak & Lenny Leonard.

Crowd is rabid! Prazak opens the show in ring. Resilience charge in to demand No Remorse Corps in a six man tag!

No Remorse Corps v Resilience/Delirious

Normally I see 6-man tags opening the show in TNA and I usually hate them BUT here there’s a point to it all. There’s an actual issue that’s caused this. Erik Stevens & Matt Cross hate the No Remorse Corps and Delirious has a major issue with Roderick Strong. The other NRC members are Davey Richards & Rocky Romero. Seeing as there’s a reason for having this match it takes it a notch above the usual TNA opening spotfest. It helps that everyone is over. Also Delirious knows when its time to calm things down and make it about character rather than spots, which is a massive difference. NRC work their heat on Delirious while the crowd ride Strong over his dorky first name. For me this match is about two guys and whether they can measure up. For Resilience its Matt Cross who’s overly reliant on high spots and for NRC its Rocky Romero who confuses and irritates me at times. The other guys will all carry their weight. Erik Stevens is perhaps the biggest surprise in that. He’s come a long way in a short time and is revelling in his powerhouse persona. Like Hernandez in TNA. After the hot tag the match totally breaks down and everyone gets laid out but at least they don’t go with the cheesy early finishers sequence. They continue ignoring tags but at least they drop down to two guys in the ring. Strong-Stevens is really good and would make for an excellent powerhouse brawl. The great thing about forgetting the tags is when Stevens has an advantage, over Richards, he’s set up for SHADOWS OVER HELL and Cross adds the SSP but NRC save. That whole sequence got the crowd amped. It comes down to Cross & Romero, which is an interesting combination of high spots vs striking/submissions. Davey DDT’s Stevens on the floor and that gives NRC the numbers advantage so he can lay Cross out with the DR Driver! That’s your match, heels take it. ***1/2. Like seeing the old Evolution Vs Babyfaces stuff from when Raw used to be good…on speed. Davey would be a tiny Batista.

POST MATCH NRC continue their assault and the crowd is very aware that Austin Aries is in the crowd (he was in TNA at the time) and Aries answers the call! He runs the heels off with Strong chickening out of a fight. Awesome storyline stuff as they re-signed a major talent to further an undercard war. Aries pulls out an ROH contract and signs it. Crowd chants “fuck TNA”. Its like ECW used to be. They’ve established a whole company as the heels. TNA could do an awesome cross-promotion here…if ROH booked it.

BACKSTAGE The Briscoes MAN UP! They’re wanting the best tag competition Japan has to offer. I’m going to review the Tokyo show after this one.

Matt Sydal v Claudio Castagnoli

These guys are former tag partners and both enter as babyfaces. The opening sequence is quite brilliant as they run through the lucha hand held stuff but switch up as Claudio tries to flip Sydal into the Alphamare Waterslide only for Sydal to armdrag right out of it. Beautiful stuff. Claudio showboats a little but has enough power to keep Sydal in his control. GIANT SWING! Claudio is left groggy himself but as long as he can grab Sydal he can overpower him. Sydal has to change his approach so he goes to the air. Sometimes high spots are necessary! Sometimes diving over the top rope makes perfect sense. Claudio improvises a few spots ahead of the Alphamare Waterslide but the follow up kick is countered into a leg drag. They go into the Eddy-Malenko stuff, which Sydal takes by flipping out of the last pin into the standing moonsault. Yeah, baby! Claudio tries to re-establish the power but a spinebuster is countered right into a DDT. Sydal is too slow going up top, perhaps forgetting how fast Claudio is, and gets caught in an evil Bicycle Kick for 2. Claudio goes to the trademarks and the European Uppercut gets 2. Claudio tries more power but when he throws Sydal into the air Sydal is able to counter into a rana on the way down. A powerbomb is then countered into a rana into a pin…for 2. Sydal goes to the well and tries the same again only for Claudio to sucker him into it and roll through for the win. ***3/4. This match was amazing. The speed, the slickness, the counters and both men went out there to win from the opening bell. It was only 8 minutes long but damn if it wasn’t one of the best 8 minute matches I’ve ever seen. It reminds me of Claudio-Quackenbush from IWA-MS. It was on that sort of level.

POST MATCH the storylines continue as Sweet & Sour Inc join us. Sweeney with Hero, Toland and Dempsey in tow. Larry Sweeney is so good on the mic. He’s an old school manager. An awesome throwback. Sweeney hits Matt Sydal with the sales pitch promising to turn him into a winner. Claudio rips up the contract on behalf of Sydal. Claudio goes to clear them out but Sydal makes the save for Sweeney! HEEL TURN! Sweeney grabs the mic again to yell at Claudio calling him “a ham and egger”. Sydal leaves with his new buddies. Great wrestling, great storytelling. I was loving this.

They stop off to plug the “main event” of Jimmy Rave challenging for the ROH title.

BJ Whitmer v Naomichi Marufuji

I sense the crowd needs a buffer for them to digest the action so far. They start suitably slow before duelling dropkicks. That’s a nice spot for BJ as it shows he can hang with Marufuji. Shortly afterwards he hits a tope and the reaction is a lot quieter than earlier, which reinforces my point. This crowd has been mentally exhausted by those first two matches! Marufuji ends a suplex over the ropes duel by slingshotting into a DDT on the apron. Nice spot. Marufuji then loses focus somewhat and goes to the arm. They go to striking, which Whitmer takes by switching to the rolling variety suplexes. Marufuji throws in a Codebreaker for 2. Marufuji gets generous and spoon feeds BJ a few spots that make him look better than he is then nails him with a stiff clothesline. Marufuji wants the Shiranui but BJ counters into a brainbuster for 2. Marufuji is giving BJ a lot of good spots but it doesn’t help BJ who crotches himself on the top rope. Marufuji is set for the Coast to Coast dropkick. That whole thing looked contrived. They run a nice standing counters bit to set up the Shiranui and Marufuji takes the pin. **3/4. The crowd needed a buffer match to calm things down. Marufuji brought just about enough of his game to get by Whitmer. Solid but unspectacular outing for both guys.

POST MATCH Becky Bayliss is with the Chicago crowd to shill the live experience to the PPV audience.

Pelle Primeau v Brent Albright

Poor Pelle. Albright has a huge size advantage. His first forearm shot pretty much knocks Pelle out. Everything after that is just icing. I must admit it is fun watching Albright throw Pelle around the ring. Big dudes love those skinny jobber kids who’ll take any bumps. Crowbar finishes as Pelle taps to save his arm. SQUASH.

Tag titles –Briscoe Brothers (c) v Kevin Steen/El Generico

Steen is a jerk while Generico is fun loving. Its like the Second City Saints in reverse. They set this up on the last PPV. Generico leads off setting a gentle, entertaining pace. Jay kicks it up a notch with aggressive crossfaces. Steen gets fed up with watching and comes in to duel with Mark. Steen just isn’t prepared for the level of teaming that the Briscoes bring though. It takes a double team beating for Steen to realise his team NEEDS to bring teaming not just good individual moments. This shows when Generico tries to go solo against both Briscoes and gets annihilated. Briscoes teaming is something they’ve worked their whole life on so its no surprise that, by and large, they dominate the match. Which is a long term issue for ROH; who can really compete with the Briscoes in tag competition? Motor City Machineguns or Beer Money would be good but sadly not available. The Briscoes command the ring. They cut it off, isolate Generico and control the pace. Steen’s attitude helps to get his team back into it during a dive sequence. Briscoes still win because they’re better at diving too. Generico gets bieled into the crowd…except they’ve moved so he lands in a bunch of chairs. OWWW. Steen rags on him for it. “What are you doing all the way over there?” Steen tries to go it alone, again, and gets beaten up, again. Generico recovers to hit a top rope Asai moonsault. They finally isolate a Briscoe. Yakuza Kick is followed by the Fat Boy Senton…for 2. Mark returns to stop the double teaming but Generico catches him with a swinging DDT. Mark hates Steen though and double stomps him through the ringside table. Selling has rather gone out of the window but with Steen down Generico gets caught with the Spike Jay Driller for the win. ***1/4. I saw some serious love for this when it happened but besides the excitement of the spots it didn’t have that special X factor. In particular Steen’s attitude wasn’t enough by itself, which is arguably why Steenerico lost. It just felt like Steenerico came into this with something to prove, which is why they kept attacking the Briscoes, but when their time came they didn’t bring their A game.

POST MATCH The Briscoes celebrate so Steen, always the asshole, attacks them with a ladder thus setting up another match. Steen coaches Generico on why they lost; because he’s too nice. It’s a simple enough storyline but I felt like that match wasn’t the right one. Its hard to explain beyond that. It just didn’t feel right.

BACKSTAGE Sweet and Sour Inc talk money and endorsements. Sweeney says Claudio gets nothing out of them until the money is right. Everyone stops off to abuse Bobby Dempsey, the fat fuck. Tank motivates him with a cookie.

ROH title – Takeshi Morishima (c) v Jimmy Rave

This is billed as the main event although the actual show ended with Danielson-KENTA. Morishima doesn’t even wait for the streamers to finish before pummelling Rave. The crowd seems more into it than I expected and Rave even gets a spear in. Morishima then reasserts himself. The match sees Rave trying an assortment of things that don’t work and getting destroyed because of it. With every option that goes wrong he receives more punishment. The only opening he gets is when Morishima misses something. Rave gets the heel hook but Morishima is too big and powerful. Rave survives the lariat but gets finished by the Backdrop Driver. *1/2. Bit of a squash but the aim of ROH in these lesser title defences on PPV is to build Morishima as a killer monster.

We throw to Philadelphia (June 9th) for a bonus main event, which was the Danielson-McGuinness number one contender’s match.

EARLIER Adam Pearce educates Shane Hagadorn. Pearce talks about BJ Whitmer’s need for fan approval, which has broken his spirit. He offers BJ a hug before punching him in the face. Tough love I guess. Brent Albright shows up to have a good laugh about it. The angle is advancing nicely.

#1 Contenders Match: Bryan Danielson v Nigel McGuinness

I love that the main event is a number one contenders match because that’s been the big issue for ROH so far; building to a big PPV main event. Whoever wins this gets the monster Morishima. Both guys get massive babyface reactions. Danielson’s “best in the world” chant is so loud it drowns out his music. They rock the mat to begin with. Danielson shoot-style dominates by getting the mount and being exceptionally mean. Grinding his fist into Nigel’s ear, for example. The handshake results in Nigel getting slapped in the face. Danielson means business! They start slapping the shit out of each other and Danielson gets the majority of that too. Nigel succeeds with his headstand kick and gets the Divorce Court to begin working Danielson’s arm. Nigel starts torturing Danielson, who isn’t far back from a shoulder injury, and they counter back and forth some more. The intensity of these moves is incredible. Its like they’re trying to inflict serious permanent damage with every single hold. At least, that’s what it looks like. Perception is everything. Nigel clocks Danielson with a lariat, his first of many no doubt, so Bryan bails to recover. Nigel follows and lays in the European Uppercuts. For the first time in the match Nigel has taken over but it doesn’t last. Danielson retorts with his own European Uppercuts before throwing a chair AND A TABLE at Nigel’s head. Not in a hardcore, nothing spot, kind of way but it was just something within reach so it got used. It fitted in. Nigel gets the Rebound Lariat on the floor and again the lariat has given him a huge opening. He hits it hard and out of nowhere. Danielson falls over the rail and Nigel dives off the top rope into the crowd. I remember the first time I saw Rob Van Dam do that and it was mind-blowing but for two mat wrestlers/strikers to be doing stuff like that shows how varied their skillset is.

Not to be outdone Danielson suplexes Nigel ONTO the rail. FUUUUUUUUCCCCCKKKK. The spine isn’t supposed to bend that way! This is a big opening for Bryan and he starts driving knees into the spine. Danielson gets a receipt for the earlier mat torture. Danielson, not content with everything that’s gone before, tries to break Nigel’s nose by forearming him across the bridge. Then he headbutts him in the jaw. Danielson’s offence has been at an insane level of evilness. Its like watching Shinjiro Ohtani! He tries to beat Nigel up more and gets caught with a lariat. That’s his defence mechanism! Danielson flips over another lariat but gets winged with a superkick and the lariat…for 2. Nigel tries to manhandle Bryan but can’t because his back is too fucked up. Nigel, to me at least, is showing heart and the odd impact move but otherwise he’s been outclassed. Danielson almost gets caught going up top and they counter off the top, through some submission attempts and Nigel gets a powerbomb out of it for 2. Beautiful wrestling. “This is wrestling” chant Philly. It sure is. Nigel is finally getting a spell where he looks good enough to win, which the match really needed. Nigel tries his stupid headstand again, which gets him into trouble. Danielson just kicks him in the face by sliding out sideways. Then its back onto back work; back superplex gets 2. CROSSFACE CHICKENWING! Nigel gets out and segues into the Tower of London despite the bad back but because of the back injury he can’t capitalise. Meanwhile Danielson’s shoulder is killing him so he’s down. Nigel sets up the rope lariat, which is another move I don’t think he should be wasting time setting up even if it looks good. Danielson baits Nigel into an Enzuigiri showing his superior intellect. For me this is still Danielson’s match. He’s worked smarter. Then they start HEADBUTTING EACH OTHER, DANIELSON BUSTED HARDWAY…LARIATOOOOOO, JAWBREAKER DUCKED, TIGER SUPLEX FOR 2, CATTLE MUTILATION BLOCKED, PIN FOR 2, ELBOWS!!!! Nigel is out…CATTLE MUTILATION! IT’S OVER! What a finish. Holy shit. ****3/4. Epic. I have minor quibbles about Nigel’s tactics but there was a tonne of effort, variety, intensity, technical excellence and heart. Brilliant match and a perfect showcase for ROH. Great choice for their PPV main event.

POST MATCH Crowd shows appreciation for both. A bloody Danielson leads the crowd in celebration.

The 411: First two matches start the show off with a bang. The midcard slows everything up a touch but finishing with an epic MOTYC caps off a very strong show. The main event is fantastic because it shows why Nigel never got the belt off Danielson during his reign. He’s just too good! ROH’s loss is very much the WWE’s gain.
Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]