WrestleMania Weekend 4.04.09: ROH – Supercard of Honor IV Live Report

So basically I had to wait online for a while at Reliant Center to get my media credentials. This was followed by a quick rush through and photo-op of the WWE Axxess area and then rushing over to George R. Brown Convention Center for Ring of Honor. For yours truly, this was my first ever ROH live experience, and it included no less than KENTA in a GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title defense.

I got to the arena, Alex Paygne and Andy Ridge vs. Ninja Brown and Ernie Osiris had already ended. My group took out seats in the second row. We were in section A facing the entrance way on the opposite side. Don Juan and Andy Dalton. Someone said that Dalton was either Zach Ryder or Curt Hawkins, I forget which. Dalton looked pretty out of shape. They faced Ring worker Grizzly Redwood and Bushwhacker Luke. Pretty average, little match. Grizzly and Luke win with the running headbutt move.

Titus prepares to suplex Stevens.

First official match of the night was Erick Stevens against Rhett “Addicted to Love” Titus. The match went about 6 minutes and played a lot like an HDNet TV match. Titus plays a heel really well and based most of his act on rubbing his crotch over some part of the disgusted Stevens during the match. Stevens picked up the clean victory.

The saviour of wrestling cares not for a broken top rope.

The team of the Young Knockout King Chris Hero, Eddie Edwards & Incognito beat Jay Briscoe, Kevin Steen & Magno when Hero pinned Magno. What the ROH boards neglect to mention is that early in the match when Magno was taking a bump on the ropes, the top rope broke off. One of the corner turnbuckles came clean off the ring post and there was basically only two ropes on all four sides after the match. Freaking indy, but still freaking crazy and awesome. All six guys just played off of it, and it actually worked fine. Jay Briscoe masterfully reacted accordingly when he tried to run the ropes but realized he couldn’t use them, so he stops says the heck with it and jumps doing a beatufil dropkick. Match was about 10+ minutes that ended when Magno was going for a diving move off the top, but Hero snuck in his loaded elbow pad and hit Magno with it. Hero gets the pin and wins the match for his team.

Nakajima debuts in Houston, TX.

Next bout was Roderick Strong vs. NOAH wrestler, Katsuhiko Nakajima. Probably my first time seeing Nakajima let alone live, and I was very impressed. Strong looks to be in fantastic shape, even when in 2005 he had gotten rid of most of his pudge. He’s got a really great look now. Strong’s chops in the match were sickening, and Nakajima’s chest was totally inflamed proving that there’s nothing fake about knife edge chops. Nakajima didn’t have an enough of an answer to Strong’s chops, so instead Nakajima went after Strong’s legs. That majorly hurt Strong when attempting his patented backbreakers. The match was about 9-10 minutes, and Strong wins after coming back from a sick series of three superkicks from Nakajima. Strong does his modified double knee gutbuster thing for the win. Note that Strong seems to be the only ROH wrestler now that still has his older entrance music.

Kamala in da heezy!

Bobby Dempsey came out for a Sweet ‘N Sour challenge match against the one and only Kamala escorted by Kimchee and Shane Hagadorn. Kamala got streamers after his entrance and was utterly befuddled by them. Hagadorn tries to set Kamala on Dempsey, but Dempsey rips off his shirt revealing his tubby body having the same paint as Kamala. Kamala and Dempsey then start playing by patting on their stomachs and this angers Hagadorn who gets into it with Kimchee (who looked to be Bushwhacker Luke). They all beat up Shane Hagadorn and that’s it.

Next was the Four Corners Match: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brent Albright vs. El Generico vs. Blue Demon Jr. Claudio didn’t appreciate the fans going “Hey” anymore. The rules were a little confusing since it sounded like tags weren’t in play and this was under lucha rules, but they still used tags anyway. Basic ROH Four Corner Survival match special. Decent match that played up the Albright/Claudio feud. The end came when Albright was showing no mercy to Claudio and the ref was trying to get him to ease up. Albright shoves the ref away and Claudio nails a low blow. Claudio capitalizes and gets the pin to win the match. Demon Jr. didn’t really do very much.

Danielson and Koslov uphold the Code of Honor.

Alex Koslov faced the “American”American Dragon” Bryan Danielson in a surprisingly great match. The crowd was definitely jacked to see the American Danielson facing the Russian national, Koslov. Koslov and Dragon did a great job of playing up the Russia/America angle. Koslov constantly tried to get the fans to chant Russia, and some did at one point. Koslov and Danielson mostly had a very technical, submission one-upsmanship match, but it was by no means boring. The pace quickened more after Koslov suplexed Danielson over the ropes to the floor. Danielson made it back in, but Koslov eventually puts Danielson in the Cattle Mutilation. Danielson eventually comes back putting Koslov in the Cattle Mutilation submission to get the victory. Koslov totally brought everything and more to this match. A very pleasant surprise. It figures that TNA would have a worker this good and let him pass by. Funniest moment in the match came when Koslov downs Danielson and Koslov grabs his Russian fur cap and does that Russian squat kick dance while kicking Danielson in the head. Danielson didn’t come out to “Final Countdown,” and I wanted to cry. Danielson shook the unconscious hand of Koslov after the match.

This match was followed by an intermission before the second half of the show.

D’Lo in ROH?!

Colt Cabana back in ROH faces off against D’Lo Brown. Colt Cabana’s new music is OK, but it just isn’t quite as powerful as Barry Manilow and Copacabana. The match was about 10 minutes and pretty average. Colt didn’t do enough schtick for this one me thinks. And in yet another screwy finish, D’Lo wins after sneaking in some wrapped up tape knucks, knocking down Cabana with them. Fans chanted for D’Lo to shake his head because they were looking for the real deal now! D’Lo refused and instead would only do his new double-handed gesture he had been using in NOAH. The match was OK, but it feels like they could’ve done better by Cabana here considering his history and importance in ROH.

Davey Richards

VS.

KENTA

This was followed by the Global Honoured Crown theme. Hells yeah, time for the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title match! Davey Richards came out in long tights, somewhat reminiscent of Low Ki’s NOAH tights from Final Battle 2005. KENTA tries to uphold the code of honor, but Davey Richards refuses. This was without hyperbole the match of the night and very could be a match of the year candidate. They built it up over the course of the match very well and they both went all out. Davey Richards gave one of the best performances in his life and totally nailed the heel role in this match to KENTA’s badass babyface. Davey’s kicks looked awesome and there some amazing dueling kicking sequences in this match that need to be seen to be believed. Davey put KENTA in the Texas Cloverleaf twice, but KENTA escaped both times. Davey surived taking a falcon arrow off of the apron in the most jaw-dropping spot of the match. Finish came where it looked like KENTA was going to try and pull off a Fire Thunder Driver/Go To Sleep combination, but KENTA whiffs. Tries it again, and KENTA slips it up again. So KENTA just does the regular GTS and gets the pin. KENTA did blow it a little at the end, but still a great match. The crowd got so into the match they broke out in “This is wrestling” and “**** WrestleMania” chants. That was pretty funny. Following the match, Davey did shake hands with KENTA and grabbed the mic quickly to say, “This is what Ring of Honor is all about.” At the time it felt right. Match time was about 20 minutes. If I were to give it a star rating off the top of my head, I’d say ****1/4 or ****1/2.

Kenta was victorious in retaining his GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title at ROH: Supercard of Honor IV.

Aries lays out how their tag teaming will work.

Jimmy Jacobs & Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black & The Necro Butcher had the unenviable task of following the best match of the night. The crowd I think got a little tired and worn out after the KENTA/Richards match. The tag match was based around Jacobs and Aries working together despite not trusting each other against their common enemies in Necro and Black. They built up and teased a big table spot, but the outcome was ultimately underwhelming. The match had a couple good brawling spots and bumps, but was ultimately pretty dull. I feel it was a mistake to put this match on the second half of the show or at the very least after Richards/KENTA.

Jerry Lynn faces off against the second longest reigning ROH World Champion, Nigel McGuinness.

Ring of Honor World Title match time, and the sound for venue suddenly decided to die. They tried to fix it, but ultimately it was very low and hard to hear. So now we have Lynn vs. the very injured ROH World Champion, Nigel McGuinness. Fans were still happy to proudly label Lynn as “The New F’N Show.” Lynn and Nigel worked hard, but the crowd still wasn’t up for this one for the most part. Very hard to follow KENTA. Ultimately, Nigel and Lynn were able to win the crowd over with their work and the dramatic arm submission, reversal, to arm submission sequences. Nigel went after Lynn’s shoulder as well, since Lynn does have a history of such. Lynn wouldn’t let up with the cross armbars and shoulderlocks, but Nigel refused to tap and always found a way to the ropes. Ultimately after the last submission escape, Nigel returned to his feet. His arm was done but he continued to fight. Lynn however took advantage of the weakened yet fearless Nigel and got the victory after a second cradle piledriver. *NEW* ROH World Champion, Jerry Lynn. Lynn was handed the title, and Cary Silkin went into the ring to briefly congratulate the new champion. Fans were much more excited for the finish and afterward. Lynn got the microphone and said this meant to a lot to him. He mentioned how he didn’t get to talk much other times in his career so he doesn’t sound very smooth. Lynn said a lot of wrestling fans don’t like his work and that’s fine because they are passionate about it, but “that’s why I do this because I love and I’m passionate about this.” Lynn thanked Nigel McGuinness for representing the title and shook hands with him. Lynn left with the title, leaving Nigel who everyone knew would probably not be leaving with the belt tonight. Nigel got a little mic time as well. He was emotional, but didn’t seem to be crying. Nigel said how in wrestling a lot of things go by quickly, like in life, but moments like tonight make it all worth it. And thus the second longest ROH world title reign in the history of the company has come to an end. The match was good and technically sound. Star rating I’d say is about ***1/4-***1/2-ish just because I don’t feel it was quite there to be a four star match. The end of the match is very well done though.

Lynn addresses the fans following the grueling bout.

Overall this was a great show and a hell of a way to experience ROH for the first time ever. There were some technical and ring issues, but the boys worked them out and handled themselves beautifully. I don’t get the complaints of indy wrestlers not knowing how to work a match. Not knowing how to sell. Not knowing how to work character, gimmicks, facials, and reactions in their matches because I saw all of that tonight. Davey Richards gave the performance of his life and proved he can be a good heel. Danielson showed why he is still “Best In the World.”

The room at George R. Brown had about 800 floor seats. There was one bleacher area open that also looked pretty full. As far as attendance goes, I’d say in the 1,500 range. Someone said 2,000, but that seems a little hard to believe.

What was good about the show is that most of the fans knew what ROH was even though this was a new region for them they had never been to. This at least proves that in economic times such as these, ROH can successfully tour new cities. The show had a good setup and some really good matches. The GHC title match was freaking great.

Anyway, back tomorrow with more on Axxess and of course the ROH PPV, TAKE NO PRISONERS!