Ring of Honor 2/23 review

[Guest TheDames7]

Well, to start off, my girlfriend and I arrived at the Queens Center Mall at around 12:30 or so and we boarded the bus at 1.  On the way to Philly, we watched a tape of Starrcade 85 (Tully vs Magnum TA "I Quit" Match!!).  After the tape ended, they put in a tape of the last ECW event in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, but we actually arrived to Philly much earlier than anticipated.  We stopped at around 3 and everyone was given about an hour and a half to eat, with many of those on the trip going to Tony Luke's, which is famous for their Philly Cheese Steaks.  My girl and I ended up going to Wendy's cuz the line was too long.  

 

After re-boarding the bus at 4:30, we went straight to the Murphy Rec Center.  At this point, things got kinda hectic on the bus as some fans in the back were drinking heavily and were already drunk.  A number of wrestlers came on the bus to meet and greet, including American Dragon, Low-Ki, The SAT's, Red, Da Hit Squad, Mikey Whipwreck, Spanky, Super Crazy, Homocide, Boolagou and AJ Styles.  One drunken fan kept serving alcohol to the wrestlers, although the only takers were Mikey and Da Hit Squad.  Da Hit Squad then cut a promo on the bus for RF Video.  When Homocide came on the bus, he was still in full heel mode and one of the drunken fans went after him, missed and hit another fan, causing a small ruckus on the bus.  Mike Johnson, of 1wrestling.com, was co-running the bus trip and basically told these guys that they will not be allowed to be on the next trip and most likely drinking on the bus will be banned.  

 

Because of the skirmish on the bus, everyone got off and we waited outside to get in as we already had our tickets.  It was about 5:30 or so, and doors opened supposedly from 6 - 6:30.  A few fans, including myself (my girlfriend, who is a smark, was kinda quiet though), killed time by talking to Harry Slash.  

 

After letting in at about 6:30, we went into the arena which was small, but ROH really looked professional with their sleek banners, their ring apron, etc, all looked top notch and WWF PPV worthy.  

 

Although they were still letting in at 7:30, the event started on time, which the ring announcer Steven DeAngelis(of ECW fame) dutily pointed out.  He was interrupted by the Christopher Street Connection, a tag team that do a flaming homosexual gimmick and their valet Allison Danger.  They even kissed a few male fans on the lips to get the gimmick over.  They are usually faces on the East Coast, simply because they push the envelope in a comedic way, but they Philly fans were egging them on badly with chants.  They declared this promotion, NOT the Ring of Honor, but the Ring...of....Homosexuals, and began MAKING OUT in the ring.  At this point, Da Hit Squad came out and killed them in quick fashion, putting away one of the members of the CSC with a Burning Hammer.  They then took their valet and powerbombed her through a table, which had a member of the CSC lying on it.  Da Hit Squad cut a promo on how tonight we can kiss Sports Entertainment goodbye.  The entire segment was red hot.  

 

First real match was Jay Briscoe vs Red.  Jay Briscoe is a large large guy at age 17.  The match didn't consist of much psychology, but it was a fast paced spot fest.  Red looked like he was killed by Jay's Tiger Driver, but his feet were on the ropes.  Red made a comeback and ended the match after a sky twister press and the Red Star Press (a shooting star press in the ring, not off the top).  Both men received a huge ovation.  

 

Second match of the night was Scoot Andrews vs Xavier.  Solid match, although I felt that it should have gone before the previous match because the pacing was just a bit slower in this contest.  Xavier went for a cobra hangmans neckbreaker (Imagine Regal's Cobra neckbreaker, but hangman style), but Scoot rolled away from it and hit his finish, a pumphandle Rikishi Driver.  Xavier's foot was on the ropes though and he then rolled to the outside to recover.  My only gripe was that we saw the whole "finisher, but the guys foot is one rope" 2 matches in a row.  Personally, seeing as how Xavier rolled to the outside anyway, he should have just done that, and Scott never would have had a pinfall attempt, better psychology, IMO.  Anyway, Xavier sells the head and neck, and Scoot works on it for a while.  He goes for his pumphandle Rikishi Driver in the middle of the ring, but Xavier floats over and his his cobra hangmans neckbreaker for the pin.  Xavier really should have sold that as a blow to his neck, I think.  It makes sense that he finished Scoot that way instead of with the 450 because of his injury. I was pleased that X went over because he needs momentum going into the Super 8 next week.  

 

Next was The Boogie Knights vs The Natural Born Sinners (Homocide and Boogalou).  I was kinda disapointed with the Boogie Knights reaction upon their entrance, because they are over with the Elks Lodge crowd, yet received apathy at the arena.  The Sinners received a pretty decent reaction, and came out with their famous prop, the rubber chicken.  Fun match, with the Sinners getting most of the offense.  I called for them to use the chicken, and lo and behold, they did, but the ref HC Loc DQ'ed them.  Trust me, their rubber chicken shots are stiff.  They then attacked the ref, and Homocide gave him the Cop Killer (Vertebreaker) to a big pop.  

 

The next match was the Aeriel Elimination match with Mikey Whipwreck as the guest ref.  After the 5 participants were introduced (Joel and Jose Maximo of the SAT's, Quiet Storm, Chris Divine and Brian XL), Whipwreck pointed out that 4 out of 5 of the participants were his students.  He teased the one that wasn't, Brian XL, calling him Lil' Bow Wow and started singing the Trix commercial song.  He then pointed out that it looked as if the SAT's were being short handed, because the other 3 guys are heels, so he brought out Red (3rd member of the SAT's) to tag with them.  Total spot fest, but fun.  Red was eliminated first by one of his partners, accidentaly.  Storm and Divine turned on XL, as he wasn't "one of them", to even up the odds.  Divine and Jose Maximo were pinned at the same time by Joel and Storm respectively and it would now down to Joel (my girlfriend's favorite..ugh) and Quiet Storm, a vastly underrated worker who looks like Bret Hart if he was 5'5.  Storm got the pinfall after a Storm Cradle Driver, which looked sloppy because Joel didn't take the move correctly.  Fun match.  

 

Next came intermission, which was about 15 minutes.  

 

Next was Prince Nana vs Towel Boy.  Prince Nana is a decent worker, who has a great gimmick (A "Coming To America" Ghanian Prince), who is also an excellent talker and has the best facial expressions in the indy scene.  Unfortunately, he wasn't given the stick tonight.  The Towel Boy is the kid that used to clean the ropes in ECW.  Total squash by Nana, who kept his moves simple, yet powerful to get over as a force in ROH.  

 

Then came the Shawn Michaels Acamedy tag match, where the winner got a contract with ROH.  I had a feeling that Spanky would win the match because he has gone pretty far in the indy scene over the last 2 years. This was the first time I had ever seen his wrestle, however.  It was Spanky and Ikaika Loa, vs Michael Shane and Oz.  Spanky was the only one who impressed me at all, with Michael Shane being solid and the other guys needing a lot of work.  Spanky won after giving Oz, i believe, his finish.  He goes for an acid drop, but after his feet touch the top turnbuckle, he moonsaults while holding the guy.  Pretty impressive.  Even though Spanky works as a heel, his natural charisma got him over by the end of this match and all of the other students trained by HBK came into the ring to contratulate him.  

 

Super Crazy def. Eddie Guerrero for the IWA IC Championship.  The belt is the classic IC belt with "IWA" where the letters WWF used to be.  I don't know why this match was for that title, because it wasn't explained or even noted in the weeks leading to the show.  The match was good, but the fans seemed divided on who to cheer for because Eddie played the heel here.  The finish had Eddie go up top for his frogsplash, but missing it and Super Crazy getting a quick roll up afterwards for the title.  

 

The main event was Low-Ki vs American Dragon vs Chris Daniels.  This was the first time that I had ever seen American Dragon either on tape or live, and I became a fan after this match. Chris Daniels "Fallen Angel" gimmick is awesome and he has the best entrance in the indy scene.  The match didn't disappoint what so ever and was probably the best match that I've ever seen live.  

 

A little backstory.  Low-Ki and American Dragon have traded wins in the indy scene, including a victory by Low-Ki in the ECWA Super 8 tourney finals last year, so there is a rivalry between them.  Chris Daniels has also traded wins with the both of them, but the rivalry between Low-Ki and Dragon was the focal point of this match.  

 

They started out trying to feel each other out, but every chance that they would get, Dragon and Low-Ki would just stiff each other, while the other was trying to get the best of Daniels.  Daniels would try to sneak his way back in and got some moves off of the both of them.  At one point, Low-Ki and Dragon were giving Daniels STIFF kicks to his back, alternating turns, to see who could do it better.  Daniels back had WELTS immediately.  Finally, Daniels played off of their attacks and had the advantage until Dragon reversed one of his moves into a bridging double underhook submission.  Low-Ki, who was recovering from one of Daniels moves, recovered and his a Phoenix Splash onto Dragon, while Dragon was still bridging for his hold.  That took care of Dragon and he put Daniels away with the Ki Krusher (Fishermans Michinoku Driver) for the pin.  Standing ovation from the fans for a few minutes, with the fans chanting all 3 names at different times.  

 

Dragon took the mic and told Low-Ki that he might have won the match, but he didn't pin him.  He proposed a one on one match at the next ROH show, and Low-Ki was about to agree when Daniels took the mic and said that it took the both of them to beat him.  Low-ki then said that at the next show, there would be a round robin tourney to really see who is the best.  (Low-Ki vs Dragon, Low-Ki vs Daniels and Daniels vs Dragon).  That was the end of the show, but not the end of the events for the NYC bus trip.  

 

At this point, Steve Corino got on the bus and did a Q&A session with us, and I asked him if anyone had ever given him any heat for any of his comments.  He said the only person was Missy Hyatt, and that Bagwell nor Dusty were mad about the comments that he made and he elaborated.  He was a good sport, joked around with us and answered a lot of questions.  

 

On the way home, Steven DeAngelis rode back with us and showed us a tape of an indy show that he participated in.  It took place in Alaska in October.  The matches were Eddie Guerrero vs Chris Daniels in the main event, Spanky vs American Dragon, Taylor from Tough Enough vs Donnie B (Nova's twin brother and AWESOME talker) and Evolution Frankie Kazarian vs Samoa Joe.  

 

We arrived back in NYC at about 1am and it was WELL worth the 40 bucks.  

 

Dames