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Kenny King & Rhett Titus vs The Young Bucks

THIS is what the Bucks should be doing - short openers in which they don't go near overkill and get the crowd pumped up for the show. This match worked really well. I enjoyed the Bucks in this way more than their spotfest "dream" matches because this was kept simple and they actually built up to their spots a bit. At one point Buck A tagged Buck B while both were on the apron, which was a bit of a WTF moment. Since when was that allowed...in any promotion? The crowd totally loved this match and I thought it was perfect for an opener too. As I said, THIS is what the Bucks should be doing in ROH.

***1/2


Jimmy Rave vs Necro Butcher

Eh, not really looking forward to this at all. Wow at this. It was going quite well up until the extremely anti-climactic finish. Necro didn't even make a comeback, he just rolled up Rave for the 3-count after being trapped in the Heel Hook for like 2 minutes! What happened afterwards was more interesting. The Embassy got to look somewhat strong for a change when Rave absolutely destroyed and twisted Necro's knee that he'd been working on during the match. He was attacking it for quite a long time and it was only when they decided that was enough...Cabana came out for a run-in! This was the funniest thing Cabana's done since his return. His unhelpfulness was just pure hilarity. Match was decent, but loses a lot of points for the terrible finish.

**1/2


Sonjay Dutt vs Roderick Strong

Another very good match, but it could've been a great one if it weren't for it's obvious flaw - Sonjay's awful selling. Roderick's offense in this was brilliant, loads of unique Backbreaker variations and he worked hard on Sonjay's back, only for Sonjay to forget about that most of the time and continue to do a lot of highflying moves, some which he shouldn't have been able to do with a back that damaged. I think it just made Roderick's offense look a weak, a challenge considering how painful it looked, but Sonjay just ignored it mostly. Sonjay continued to annoy me here. He busted out the FUCKING Jarrett strut AGAIN. You're bitter about TNA, I think I've got it now. Prazak said it best with "Please don't ever do that again in an ROH ring". He also mocked Batista for reasons I can't even begin to fathom. Anyways, it was a fun match with a few good sequences and a really hot crowd, but there was much room for improvement.

***1/2


Four Corner Survival
Claudio Castagnoli vs D-Lo Brown vs Colt Cabana vs Bryan Danielson

I'm surprised I enjoyed it this much, it was just a well worked match. Everyone played their part well and were solid in the ring and they did a good job of building up to their spots. Early on, D-Lo countered a Flying Asshole into a sick German Suplex and Colt betrayed Dragon with a rollup. Later on, Dragon counters another attempt into a rollup of his own, and Colt hits D-Lo with a Flying Asshole via assistance from Dragon. As a result, these got some good pops. This stuff works, people! I also liked the buildup to the comeback in this, with it looking a lot like Dragon and Colt were gaining momentum, only to get shot down, but still weakening Claudio and D-Lo in the process. Really enjoyable match, even if random, that the crowd liked too. So far there's three matches I enjoyed a lot equally, one dud (I Quit match) and one not so good match.

***1/2


ROH World Tag Team Championship
Submissions Match
American Wolves vs Kevin Steen & El Generico

Probably not their best match, but very enjoyable. This was really the typical standard of their series (against each other, not Steen teaming with Dragon or Jay against the Wolves), which is not a bad thing, rather just what I've come to expect from them. There were a couple things I didn't like about this, though. One, Davey's SSP to the outside. Davey likes to go all-out in his matches, but this was really a face move. Davey's a great heel, but it's this sort of thing that gets a positive fan reaction and makes it difficult to root against him. In his promos, he comes across as a dick that you want to see get beat up by Steen & Generico, but in the ring, when he does these big dives, it's hard not to like them, and I don't mean in a "heel you want to cheer, but boo anyway" kind of way. Another thing I didn't like was Steen's Sharpshooter, which he used three times on Davey. The first time, broken up by Eddie rather quick, which is fine. Second time, Davey grabs the ropes, but was in it quite a short while. Third time, he's locked in it for what feels like an extremely long time until Steen just lets go out of exhaustion. This really devalued the move, if you ask me, and I don't think they had to go to that length. Being that it was a Submissions Match, I think it could've benefitted from Steen busting out something different to wear Davey down the first two times, before settling on the Sharpshooter, which he normally uses. Anyway, it was easily the best match of the night so far - they brought the hate, the intensity, the crowd was electric and it was very enjoyable to watch. I really just hope they can make it to the next level of a match without being so spot heavy and so reliant on BIG moves. Generico in particular, everything he did in this match was pretty much just his main moves. I hope they solve these problems because I think they can put on something spectacular, especially when Ladder War II occurs.

***3/4


ROH World Championship
Three-Way Elimination Match
Jerry Lynn vs Austin Aries vs Tyler Black

I have to say, I REALLY liked this match. I'm surprised at how good it was, because I haven't been high on Lynn or Tyler at all lately, but Aries was easily the best thing about this. He made it into a very good match. It had some good drama to it, namely the finisher kickouts. He was able to beat Lynn and Aries' most effective moves, the Cradle Piledriver and the 450. What made it dramatic the most was probably the crowd reaction. As soon as Lynn was eliminated they were just on their feet and livened up significantly, anticipating a new champ and they didn't quieten down. Aries' legwork played a bigger part than I thought it would, which I liked. I think Tyler could've sold it better, but Aries kept on it and at least he collapsed under the pressure when trying for the Buckle Bomb. Very good match and everything that comes after Lynn's elimination is great stuff. Well worth seeing for the title change alone, but it was a very enjoyable match.

***3/4

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Kenny King & Rhett Titus vs Brent Albright & Erick Stevens

A better match than I expected. I'm loving King & Titus as a team, just about all of their matches are enjoyable and they're really entertaining. During this, Titus got caught with his tights down and his ass showing, something I can't believe hadn't been done already. Even more unbelievable is Albright spanking him. So glad no one walked in while this was happening, but the crowd loved it and this got a surprisingly huge pop. Another interesting part was Albright getting busted open on the back of his head somehow. I rewinded a couple times and can't figure out how, but it looked nasty. King's Michael Jackson dancing was great too. Good match, solid stuff and really fun.

***


Claudio Castagnoli vs Nigel McGuinness

I actually liked this quite a bit for what it was, probably more than most people. Nigel worked really slow and quite sloppy, which kinda forced Claudio to slow down too, but I liked the brawling style of it and the story it told. It's a crime we couldn't get an actual feud between these two before Nigel left. It had a great beginning, Claudio cut a fantastic promo explaining his actions, and we had this decent first match which gained some heat for upcoming matches. I would've loved to see one last match with these two, with Claudio finally going over on Nigel. The crowd wasn't really into this at first, but they really livened up when Claudio stole the London Dungeon and they started teasing the countouts. Already knowing the result, it worked better on me because each time they were outside for a long time, I thought that was it. I really liked the moment where Nigel slid in at 19 and just went crazy on Claudio, before trapping him in the submission outside. It's a totally different style for these two, but I think it worked and the only thing making this bad was Nigel's injuries forcing him to be sloppy.

***


House of Truth vs Kevin Steen & El Generico

I enjoyed this quite a lot. It was a simple match designed to make Steenerico look good without too much effort and that's what it did, while at the same time putting on a really fun match. Everything just went perfect. The crowd was into Steenerico, HoT were able to get some heat, no one messed anything up, and it had an exciting finish. The match was really at the HoT's expense - they hardly got to look like the next big team in ROH and they only got to hit like one big move, but they looked solid and I can see why they were brought back to lose in a few more low profile matches. I enjoyed the finish with Josh Raymond hitting a Lungblower off the ropes, then Steen countering his top rope twisting dive by lifting his knees. A little eye for eye there before the Package Piledriver/Brainbuster combo. Really good match.

***1/2


Six Man Mayhem
Rasche Brown vs Sami Callihan vs Delirious vs Joey Ryan vs Petey Williams vs Austin Aries

Pretty much a comedy match, but a decent one. Everyone played their part well and the crowd was loving this. The Aries/Joey Ryan interactions were hilarious, playing up the fact they look so much alike, then having a nice indy standoff sequence. Rasche Brown was much better to watch than the last time I saw him, but he was a face this time. Legit WTF moment when Sami kissed him. Have no idea why he did. Petey Williams was hella over and while he wasn't exactly being showcased, at least I'm liking him more than another former X Division wrestler who's recently come to ROH. There was barely any psychology or structure to this, just a bunch of moments and the awareness of Joey Ryan helping out Aries, plus a little buildup to the Canadian Destroyer. Fun match.

**3/4


D-Lo Brown vs Colt Cabana

Wasn't really into this much. I like D-Lo, but I'm just not digging Cabana anymore. It was going ok up until the finish, which I hated. Colt was just saying earlier that he was pissed at D-Lo for attacking him with a weapon in their last match, and guess what? Cabana hits him with the ring bell for the dirty finish. That surely makes Colt look good. Decent filler match, but I just don't see the logic in that finish.

**1/2


ROH World Tag Team Championship
American Wolves vs Roderick Strong & KENTA

Can't wait to see this, just look at the talent involved. Not to mention that Davey has big issues with both of his opponents. Well, this certainly delivered. This was a great match, pure and simple. Unlike Steve, I didn't think it was boring at any point. From start to finish, this had all of my attention. I especially liked things breaking down early because of all the tension there would be in a match like this. The only problem I have at all with this is that I don't think that in time it will stand out from the big matches the Wolves have had. They were pretty much doing their usual stuff. I think it could've been a few minutes less, because it got to a point where they were just repeating moves, particularly Roderick, and I didn't think it was completely necessary for Eddie to kick out of the Gibson Driver. I must say though, I loved the interactions with just about everyone. Eddie has improved so much that I love seeing him hold his own against Roderick and KENTA in standoffs. He may get his ass kicked most of the time and he's never in the ring longer than Davey, but it's just enough to show off his potential. He needs to face KENTA at one point, that match could make a real star out of him. I also liked him getting another win for the Wolves with the Half Boston Crab. Just a great match.

****


Steel Cage Match
Jimmy Jacobs vs Tyler Black

Eh, was hardly into this at all and didn't seem like the crowd was either. Could be because there's been very little heat to this feud and I just wanted it to be over. Dissapointing, because this feud had so much story behind it and potential, but it was as if they thought they could live totally on just those two things. Jimmy has been booked terrible. He's not the best wrestler on the roster and he can't be totally over on just his character alone. A win over Bryan Danielson once a year is not going to help him if it's not followed up on. He's looked bad in this last three feuds - Necro, Delirious, Aries, now this. I mean, look at Tyler. He's bigger than Jimmy, has been booked so much better, has gone over Jimmy a few times in this feud. Jimmy didn't get to look like a threat at all. Within this match he didn't get to look that strong either. The heat portion of the match was like a minute of Jimmy on offense, creating little support for Tyler. The only things I really liked about this was the callbacks to their history. From pre-AOTF, Jimmy doing that spinning headscissors that I haven't seen him do since they tagged as DIFH in WSX. And him also coming to the ring in the infamous bloodstained white jacket from AOTF's debut. Tyler barely has a character, so he couldn't do anything like that, unless there's some Misery Signals aspect of their relationship I've forgotten about. I also quite liked that sick Frogsplash off the cage, through the table for the win. Dissapointing end to a dissapointing feud that's done little for either man.

***


The aftermath was a LOT more interesting. It was a great visual of like 30-40 guys in black tearing apart the cage, surrounding the ringside area and beating up Tyler while Jimmy's screaming "...FOREVER!!!". Moments like these always made me like the AOTF, except for the dissapointing countless tag matches and brawls that came in between.

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Kenny King vs Petey Williams

Pretty good match, quite enjoyable. It was solid and didn't really make either guy look great, but the crowd was into this. Even though Petey seems to be really lacking in the personality department (mocking heels by dancing doesn't count), I'm finding him quite enjoyable so far. I don't like the Canadian Destroyer as a move, but crowd was begging for it here and the teasing towards it was done well. I hope he's not really the one-trick pony everyone says he is and that I remember him to be, because judging by his ROH matches so far and the live results, his matches all seem to be built around that move, so I'm hoping that's not the only thing he can bring. Decent match, not much more.

***


Tyler Black vs KENTA

This I'm looking forward to. I've heard nought but good things and, even though Tyler has gotten really stale, KENTA will surely bring out the best in him. Great match, liked it a LOT and I'm not sure why. The action was quite typical of what you see from these two, but it must've been the psychology of the match. Tyler trying to hold his own against someone as dangerous as KENTA - getting destroyed by kicks early on, making a comeback but getting cut off early by a devastating and long series of big moves and strikes. The crowd seriously loved KENTA and popped for just about every move he did and KENTA knew that well enough, which is probably why that situation worked. The buildup to Tyler's next comeback was done really well and had a great payoff, despite there not being a lot of fire from Tyler. I can hardly say this was either guy's greatest performance, but something just worked between these two and I think they had good chemistry, despite the obvious botch at the end that kinda ruined a nice little sequence. The Go 2 Sleep kickout was a nice touch, but I felt quite unnecessary. I don't see the need for much more Tyler pushing, since in my opinion, he is already at a main event level and doesn't need such a rub like beating KENTA's main finisher. Worth seeing, for sure, but I don't think it will be loved by all.

****


Street Fight
Claudio Castagnoli & Joey Ryan vs Colt Cabana & Brent Albright

Wasn't into this much. They're doing a real bad job of making The Embassy seem like a real threat and it's quickly becoming Sweet 'n' Sour Inc. 2008 v2. The majority of Claudio and Ryan's offense came only when Dirty Ernie and Nana interfered for them. Nana even took a bit of a beating, something which was rare and special when done to Larry Sweeney, but I think it's already been done a couple times to Nana. This just didn't make The Embassy look good at all. A good example is the Moustache Ride. Isn't that Ryan's finisher? Cabana took that onto a pile of chairs and kicked out, yet won the match with a Flying Asshole - a minor move of his - through a table. Hardly makes Ryan look good in defeat to me. The crowd was into this, but I wasn't. Pretty average match, despite the weapons.

**1/2


D-Lo Brown vs Roderick Strong

Exactly what I expected, in a good way. I enjoyed this quite a bit. Some solid, hard-hitting action with a lot of slams. I think D-Lo's a good heel, but to contradict myself, he has a problem with getting the fans to boo him. I think it's simply because he's pretty well-known and respected, but I think it's a problem when no matter what he does, he gets a face pop from the crowd. The crowd were more into D-Lo than Roderick, which is definitely a problem. Not much to say about the match, it was just typical stuff from both guys but it was enjoyable. It's a shame D-Lo's retiring, I'm liking him in his midcard role as a badass heel putting on quite consistant matches.

***1/4


Kevin Steen & El Generico vs American Wolves

Predictable outcome, but let’s see if the in-ring stuff makes up for it. Very good stuff, really liked it. It was similar to their other matches, but I didn't at all feel like they were going overboard on the big moves or getting trapped in submissions for an insanely long time. I still don't think they've managed to reach the next level, but I'm sure that's all saved up for Ladder War II. I thought the simple things were done well in this, like Generico selling better than he has been lately and not being so reliant on spots. I also thought they weren't too focused on big moves and told a better story. Davey still does face moves like trying the Shooting Star Press, which I really don't like because he's a great heel when he's not doing that. At least he wasn't doing that crowd dive again. I liked getting one of the belts involved in this, shows the Wolves doing something heelish besides doubleteams and post-match attacks. Plus, it was a good nearfall in an other-wise predictable match. I liked this more than their Submissions Match, but I'm sure others will feel differently. Very good match.

***3/4


ROH World Championship
Austin Aries vs Nigel McGuinness

Who's ready for a better match than their one at Rising Above? I KNOW I AM! I thought this was surprisingly good, given Nigel's condition. He was still pretty slow and didn't take many bumps aside from two Brainbusters, but he was certainly more agile than the night before, against Claudio. What they lacked in fast-paced, hard-hitting action, they made up in antics and personality. The promo they cut before this was hilarious and so was Aries continuously mocking Nigel for not being able to use the "McLariat". Aries was pretty great in this, despite those annoyingly obvious contrived spots he seems to do now where he gets caught in the ropes somehow. I'm glad Nigel was able to hit a Lariat in this, though it did seem to cause him pain, which leads me to wonder why he's even in this situation. Why bring him back when he's clearly not fully recovered? He needs the money? Sure. But why not give him some matches with lowcarders and jobbers to ease him into the process? Is anyone really expecting him to perform at the level he was last year? K, that's too obvious of a question, but I still wonder why he's wrestling big matches with the likes of Claudio, Tyler and Aries so soon. Really good match, but I don't think it should've been the main event.

***1/2

Originally Posted by Smarketh. To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 20 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Tyler Black vs KENTA This I'm looking forward to. I've heard nought but good things and, even though Tyler has gotten really stale, KENTA will surely bring out the best in him. Great match, liked it a LOT and I'm not sure why. The action was quite typical of what you see from these two, but it must've been the psychology of the match. Tyler trying to hold his own against someone as dangerous as KENTA - getting destroyed by kicks early on, making a comeback but getting cut off early by a devastating and long series of big moves and strikes. The crowd seriously loved KENTA and popped for just about every move he did and KENTA knew that well enough, which is probably why that situation worked. The buildup to Tyler's next comeback was done really well and had a great payoff, despite there not being a lot of fire from Tyler. I can hardly say this was either guy's greatest performance, but something just worked between these two and I think they had good chemistry, despite the obvious botch at the end that kinda ruined a nice little sequence. The Go 2 Sleep kickout was a nice touch, but I felt quite unnecessary. I don't see the need for much more Tyler pushing, since in my opinion, he is already at a main event level and doesn't need such a rub like beating KENTA's main finisher. Worth seeing, for sure, but I don't think it will be loved by all. ****

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Originally Posted by King Steventon To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 20 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. [/CENTER] I think you are overating this quite a lot. This match was the same as a lot of KENTA's 2006 run where it felt like two guys just hitting their trademarks with not much story to it all. I also recall a few sloppy parts on key moves. At this point the Go 2 Sleep is such a whored out move Black would have looked bad had he NOT kicked out of it. Rest of what I saw from the show was fun but I think my lack of interest stopped me from thinking of highly as you did. I thought Nigel looked bad, and he didn't wrestle smart enough or show enough personaliy to make up for his physical limitations. But whatever.

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Sonjay Dutt vs El Generico

Great choice for opener but...FOR FUCK'S SAKE, GET SONJAY OUT OF ROH. He is so fucking irritating. Stop mimmicking other wrestlers randomly. Jarrett, Ultimate Warrior, Colt Cabana, nWo Wolfpac...RENE DUPREE! What is the point? He was still doing it when the 1 minute warning happened. All it is is irritating, even Leonard and Prazak seemed annoyed by it, and it just makes it look like Sonjay is incapable of having his own personality and seem bitter at losing his TNA gig. I think I said the first time I reviewed a Sonjay match that if he was going to keep this up, I don't want him around, and now I stick by it. It's not even heel heat, I fucking cannot stand him. Right now I find him more annoying than Daizee Haze and Necro combined. Ranting aside, this was a solid highflyers match that I didn't go too spotty and had a nice pace to it because of the 15-minute time limit. The hot crowd really loved this and were into it. Call me picky, but I really do have to take this down a notch for sheer annoyance of Sonjay.

***1/4


Super Smash Bros. vs The Briscoes

Solid match, nothing too exciting. Player Dos was impressive, taking most of the bumps for his team and selling pretty well, Player Uno was just...there, and The Briscoes were just The Briscoes. It's easy to see why Dos gets all the praise from this team, since Uno was quite sloppy and botched trying to do a fancy rollup a guy his size shouldn't be doing. Not digging this Briscoes' return so far. I really wish I got my dream of them splitting up, because Jay going over some established singles wrestlers during Mark's absence, only to just get back together as a team doesn't seem right to me. All it does is hurt some other guys and continue to make Jay look like the superior Briscoe. Ok match, nothing more.

***


Kenny King vs Kenny Omega

Good match, not their best, but good enough. I really like seeing both these guys in the ring together, because they mix well and it hasn't been a bad match yet, whether it's singles or tag. The only thing I didn't like this was the finish, with Omega hitting the Hadouken for the win. I just don't like it, it looks like a weak move that I'd have trouble taking seriously. Seemed really anti-climactic after the big moves that came before it. Not much to say here, if you've seen these two wrestle before, it was pretty similar to what you normally see, with lots of flashy moves and Titus interference. I think this is the first time there's been a decisive victory, though. Good match.

***1/4


Chris Hero & Davey Richards vs Lance Storm & Kevin Steen

Enjoyed this match a lot, everything just seemed to work well. Everyone was over, the crowd was very into it, and I thought it was a well-structured, well-worked match. Every man was fun to watch in this, especially Storm and Hero. Lance Storm, for what he lacked a lot in personality here (although, who really cares at this stage in his career?) I thought had an impressive showing. He took some good bumps and I'm sure I saw him do a couple flips during this. Not bad for a man his age. Hero was just as good as he's been lately, which is great. Prazak noted how he's in the best shape of his life, which could be true, Hero looks like a star right now. A few spots I particularly liked, the double Sharpshooter spot got a great reaction from the Canadian crowd, but once again it sort of demeaned Steen's submission finisher, because Davey was in it for a very long time without tapping. I can't actually remember the last time Steen beat someone with the move. I also liked Storm getting the Canadian Mapleleaf in, but unfortunately that was broken up rather quickly. Very good, enjoyable, worth-seeing exhibition-style match. It didn't do much to further Steen and Davey's rivalry, but it did a good job of setting up for Hero vs Storm.

***3/4


ROH World Championship
Four Corner Survival
Austin Aries vs Nigel McGuinness vs Tyler Black vs Jerry Lynn

Fourways for the world title normally aren't anything special, unless it's the one from DBD last year or the HDNet one, but I'm hopeful this will at least be solid. Unfortunately, Nigel is hardly back to full health, I'm bored of Tyler and Lynn in the ring, so it looks like it's up to Aries to make this match something interesting. Looks like Nigel's back to being a heel. Shame. There was great potential for a feud with Claudio. That really should've been one of his final matches. Roderick was already going over Dragon, so they could've replaced the match with Roderick with one against Claudio. This was good enough. It wasn't a dissapointment, but it wasn't anything special. I think they tried to make it seem important with all the finishers and big spots, but the fact pretty much everyone expected Aries to retain was against it. Also, how excited can you be for Tyler getting a title shot in a fourway anymore? I think this is the third world title fourway he's failed to win. I liked this match, but at times it just seemed like a bit of a mess and that they were doing their finishers and submissions early in order to make it more exciting than it really was. It's a good thing to make a match more exciting, naturally, but some of it seemed unnecessary. I liked Nigel quite a bit in this, he seemed to be able to do more stuff in this than his previous return matches, although his Jawbreaker Lariat was quite sloppy. He hardly left this better than we started though, as he took an awful Cradle Piledriver directly on the top of his head and the turnbuckle broke under Aries' 450, causing him only to do a flip legdrop right on Nigel's head as well! Poor guy gets some awful luck. Good match, some enjoyable stuff. They put in so much effort, but to be honest, I just didn't think it was anything special.

***1/2

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Super Smash Bros. vs Kevin Steen & El Generico

Very surprised by the result, which I don't see the point of. You've got a team that have lost all their ROH matches so far, who are also non-regulars going over the top face team who are currently part of the biggest feud in the company. I guess that's why this is an upset. Still think Steen was pinned rather easily and I don't think it was necessary for Dos to survive the Sharpshooter. I don't think I can even call that one of Steen's finishers anymore, the way everyone keeps beating it. It was a good match, easily the SSBs best ROH match, but far from Steenerico's best. I wouldn't even put this over the tag they had with the House of Truth. Good, fun opener with a result that baffles me but has some good action. Just gets the ***1/2 treatment from me.

***1/2


Toronto Gauntlet Match
D-Lo Brown vs Jerry Lynn vs Sonjay Dutt vs Jimmy Rave vs Necro Butcher vs Davey Richards

Interesting match. Worth watching for the concept, but not a great match. I don't think the booking really helped some guys. D-Lo was out in just a few minutes after taking about two moves, Davey came out as a super hot babyface to get the win on Rave who's been softened up by two previous matches. The latter isn't really a major issue, my problem is mostly that I hate badass heels who turn into a hot face for one night. As far as temporary turns go, this was really entertaining and I think Davey would make an excellent face, God forbid they turn him, as long as he stays the way he was here. This match should be how they book Rave. The guy is talented and still draws a lot of heat, so it's good he got a win over a guy like Jerry Lynn. It's just a shame the reason I feel he made it to the final two is so they could compare it to Davey's ROH debut. It was pretty sweet that Rave wore (I think) the same tights as he did then. Good match, fun stuff.

***1/2


European Rules Match
Claudio Castagnoli vs Brent Albright

So before this Ric Flair really pumps up the crowd and encourages them to give their support and cheer as loud as they can for ROH's guys. Flair meaning nothing of what he says, of course, it still works. But then this match follows it up? I kinda find that funny. I don't see a match that works in three minute rounds being anything other than a buzzkill to this crowd. That's coming from a guy who likes the Claudio/Albright matches. This wasn't much of a match. A lot of it was predictable and the crowd hardly took to the concept. Albright continued to play the dumb babyface when he countered Claudio's closed fists with a shot of his own while Todd Sinclair was looking, to earn himself a yellow card. In all honesty, the highlight of this match was everytime Prince Nana said "MR CASTAGNOLI! PLEASE HURT HIM, MR CASTAGNOLI!". Nana is awesome like that. I've seen matches where this concept actually worked, even outside of ROH, when World Of Sport was the only thing on The Wrestling Channel. That was back in the days when it was the only wrestling British people had experienced and were extremely passionate about it. This had the opposite effect.

**1/2


Tyson Dux vs Tyler Black

It's refreshing seeing Tyler in a singles match with someone who isn't a main eventer like Dragon, Nigel or Lynn, so let's see how this goes. This was surprisingly good. Easy MOTN so far. The crowd was totally into Dux and this had some good action in it. Did not expect Tyler to be falling off the apron ribs-first onto the guardrail. Tyson was certainly impressive in this and I'd like to see him return. Tyson was actually the best thing about this match as Tyler was his typical self, just running through all his moves predictably and not selling the two big bumps he took on his ribs. I also didn't care for the random German Suplex no-sell. Oh Tyler, how he has fallen. It's not even just the way they've dragged out his title hunt for over a year, he's become incredibly stale in the ring and no one is as high on him anymore. The guy needs to be taken out of the main event scene for a while. Really good match, much better than I expected.

***1/2


No Disqualification Match
Joey Ryan vs Colt Cabana

Hilarious stuff, most likely ROH's Comedy Match of the Year. For the first time since Cabana returned, I was genuinely amused by him. Everything he did was over with the crowd and I found little of what he did lame for a change. It was probably the most tame No DQ match to ever occur, but that wasn't the point and was part of what made this funny. This didn't do much for either man, particularly Ryan since he was basically tortured the whole match physically and mentally by Colt's antics before being finished off by a single chairshot, but I give this it's ratings based on enjoyment despite the lack of good action.

***


Austin Aries, Kenny King & Rhett Titus vs Kenny Omega & The Briscoes

ROH has been on the ball with six-man tags this year and this one was no different. Sure, I can think of several off the top of my head that were more enjoyable, but this wasn't far behind. This had great action, supported by a great crowd and was spotty, yet smart at the same time. I enjoyed little things like Aries preventing Mark for doing a big dive to the outside early on, only for later on Mark attempts it again but goes ahead before Aries can push him down. I liked the simultaneous Doomsday Device and Powerbomb/Blockbuster to take out the main two guys, Aries and Omega, for a nice little showdown between The Briscoes and King & Titus. I wasn't very fond of the finish, with Aries definitely having the win but breaking his own pin to inflict more punishment on Omega. If you haven't seen this yet, you can guess what comes next. It was just plain silly and didn't make Aries look good at all. I don't think it much for Omega either. Couldn't he at least got the rollup out of his own skill, than by Aries' stupidity? Very enjoyable, very good match.

***3/4


Chris Hero vs Lance Storm

Really enjoyable match. I was kinda dissapointed, but I wasn't expecting anything epic either. Storm wasn't as athletic as he was the previous night, I thought and most of his strikes were very weak in comparison to the elbows he was taking from Hero. I know Storm has a reputation of being a very safe worker, but my goodness what a huge difference in their strikes. There wasn't much to complain about for this, it was just a really good match. The aftermath was far more emotional with Storm breaking into tears and thanking the fans. The great crowd reaction and just the idea of it being Storm's last match helped this quite a bit, I felt. Normally, I would hate it when someone cheats to win a match which is their opponents' last, but I thought they made it work quite well with Storm being able to survive the Loaded Elbow, first person to do so, I think. It's not the best match of the weekend, but it's certainly the most important and is still worth watching. The action was worth three and a half stars, but the aura surrounding this - the crowd, the emotion, Storm's possible last match in front of Canadian fans, bumped this up to the next level barely.

***3/4

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