ROH Review:

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

Ring of Honor presents:Night of the Champions

By Dynamite Kido

 

I’ve recently had the opportunity to make a trade with a guy who had a lot of great ROH stuff, and this was the first one that I watched. I am going to try and review as many ROH shows as I can because I am looking to be getting even more that I originally thought as I now will be attending the ROH:Do or Die II event in Elizabeth, NJ on 3/13, and surely I will be spending some of my hard earned money at the tape tables. This show originally caught my eye because it has a match that I have been waiting to see for a while in Christopher Daniels taking on the UK’s own Doug Williams. Also after seeing AJ Styles and Amazing Red taking on The Briscoe’s on ROH’s The Epic Encounter, I couldn’t wait to see them lock up again on this show. Well what we got in this helping of ROH was the following

 

• BJ Whitmer vs. Dixie vs. Matt Stryker vs. Alex Arion

• The SAT & Quiet Storm vs. Special K

• The Backseat Boyz vs. Dunn & Marcos

• Christopher Daniels vs. Doug Williams (FWA Title & #1 Contender's Trophy Match)

• Homicide & Da Hit Squad vs. Samoa Joe, C.W. Anderson, & Jack Victory

• The Carnage Crew vs. Mase & Hotstuff Hernandez

• A.J. Styles & The Amazing Red vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe (ROH Tag Team Title Match)

• Low Ki vs. Jody Fleisch

• Raven & Colt Cabana vs. C.M. Punk & Ace Steel

• Xavier vs. Samoa Joe (ROH Title Match)

 

-So here we go…….

 

 

BJ Whitmer vs. Dixie vs. Matt Stryker vs. Alex Arion

-When I popped the tape in and this was the first match, I was surprised and I thought it might be able to get the crowd a little hyped up and basically set the show off in a good way to get things started. This match had a lot of action but seemed too many times to come off as a tag match. Well, mainly it was Whitmer working with Dixie (I can’t figure out why for the life of me though) because Stryker and Arion weren’t working together as much as the other two were. Whitmer and Strikyer didn’t do too badly either, with some decent arm work, mat wrestling, and a pretty good feeling out process to start the match between the two. Dixie, on the other hand seemed totally lost out there at times and it culminated during the finish of the match (which was basically a stream of botched maneuvers) and really hurt this one for me. I would have to say that this match reached its potential when it was Whitmer (who I’m starting to like more every time I see him) and Stryker in the ring, as they meshed well. The most memorable thing Arion did was at a certain point in the match he hits a pretty good splash mountain bomb on Dixie. There was solid wrestling from all parts minus Dixie, who couldn’t get in any offense without botching at least a couple moves in every flurry that he attempted. It’s safe to say that this was the run of the mill opener with nothing special in it and totally void of any real emotion or selling but for the most part they kept Dixie off the offensive and basically had him flopping all over the ring of a large portion of the match, so it was a pretty basic opener.

 

Rating - **1/4

 

The SAT & Quiet Storm vs. Special K

-For the second match of the card they decided to go for the tag team scramble. Generally these matches are all over the place, but I enjoy a spot fest from time to time. Not much technical work in this one, but I will say that SAT & QS hit some pretty impressive offense that wasn’t botched(I think it was Jose, who hit a cool two brain busters into a modified Blue Thunder Driver sequence)and Special K was…..well, Special K. Not too bad as they went back and forth as the match didn’t take up too much time, and there was some VERY innovative maneuvers too(Sat’s/QS hit a nice combo move that was a combination leg spring backbreaker into 2 power bombs off the ropes). Keep in mind, the moves may be innovative, but there is virtually no selling and TONS of pointless moves and bumping in this one. Plus I really don’t like The SAT’s either. I actually think I would rather watch Special K’s matches than theirs and at least Special K glimpses of improvement, while the Maximos continue to get worse. Quiet Storm isn’t too annoying in this match, except for his gawd awful “STORM CRADLE DRIVER” spot where he lets everyone know what move he’s doing and leaves absolutely no surprise when he finally hits it. Basically though, the finish is horrible as Mikey Whipwreak comes in to give the whipper snapper to the entire team while Special K distracts the referee. UGH. Now I wouldn’t recommend this match for anyone who is heavy on selling, but it does add something different to the overall card even if the ending is absolutely terrible. Nonetheless, I think at this point in my tape watching, I’ve come to the conclusion that I might have just seen the worst match of the show…….I guess I’ll find out.

 

Rating -*3/4

 

The Backseat Boyz vs. Dunn & Marcos

-In the third match of the evening we have what on paper could be considered a solid tag match as ROH brings in some CZW talent in the Backseat Boyz. This match was for the most part a squash with the Backseats dominating The Ring Crew Express. I did enjoy some unique double team maneuvers by TBS and the RCE helps get everything over big time. Also, and this has to be mentioned….there is a sweet spot in this match where Dunn hits a stalling vertical suplex on Kashmere…………….ON THE FLOOR! Some nice double teaming by the Ring Crew as well, when there was a pretty good sliced bread no. 2 hit by Marcos but after that, the TBS really take over the match. They start hitting double team over after double team move and they really put a hurting on Dunn and Marcos as the match wears on. The BS hit a nice double Tiger Driver combo as well as the running knee/shoulder to the gut combo into the corner on Dunn and followed it up with a bulldog on him into the “lower region” of Marcos. This match was pretty run of the mill with the Backseats hitting their usual moves and the Ring Crew made them look good in this one two. Trent Acid & Johnny Kashmere always seem to impress, and it’s great to see them in ROH. I think there is a better crop of tag teams for them to work with, so it’s always positive when they are brought in for shows. Also Dunn & Marcos were effective in their roles to make the match good as they ran though their usual spots in this one and really did good “enhancement” work in getting The Backseats hella over with the Philly crowd(if they needed it anyway).

 

Rating -*1/2

 

Christopher Daniels vs. Doug Williams (FWA Title & #1 Contender's Trophy Match)

- Well, personally I can say that this match is the main reason why I got this tape. Well, for the most part as I am a HUGE mark for Daniels (I am also a fan of his Japanese work under the Curry Man gimmick) and I think Doug Williams can easily be one of the most underrated wrestlers in the entire world (He seems to be getting more recognized as he recently started doing work for Pro Wrestling NOAH in Japan too). These two match up GREAT in this one. There was some highflying by Daniels, some cool mat work by Williams, and I can’t put it any better than to say that both men mesh VERY well. The match stars out quickly with lots of rope running by both guys that ended up with Williams shoulder blocking the Fallen Angel to the floor. This match was action packed from beginning to end with nice neck work by Williams with nice selling of the neck by Daniels. Doug Williams really pulled out some swank O-fence on Daniels hitting some cool neck submissions and different neckbreakers. Daniels sells this stuff like a champ and really shows just how good of a worker he is in this by REALLY putting over Williams neck work. I can’t stress enough how things like this can make a match better and it is refreshing to see this as well. This match is nothing but good stuff from beginning to end and there are some really cool and innovative pinning combinations in this match as well. I love when title matches have lots of pin combos as it always seems to add to the sense of urgency to win the title. This match had nice counter wrestling and I only really noticed one botched spot in the whole match. This was probably the MOTN in my opinion...

 

 

Rating - ****1/4

 

Homicide & Da Hit Squad vs. Samoa Joe, C.W. Anderson, & Jack Victory

-When I first read that this match was on here I must admit, I wasn’t thrilled. I am big on Homicide and Joe (of course), Maff and CW are passable, but I simply don’t care for Monsta Mack or Jack Victory. Also, I had a feeling that with Joe pulling double duty that this might be a throwaway. I was pretty much right as this match had SLOPPY written all over it. Joe seemed to be going half speed in this one, and Homicide came off to me as the only guy that was REALLY trying in this. Da Hit Squad is just terrible and I am extremely glad they not only don’t exist……but Maff has moved on to better things working with The Prophecy. This match was all over the place with everyone brawling in the ring and on the floor, Jack Victory coming out of nowhere and brawling with Julius Smokes on the floor, and basically the suck coming from everywhere except for Homicide. I really felt bad for him, because he was busting his ass in the ring and everyone else was stuck in slow motion. I couldn’t tell you how many times I wanted to fast forward this match, but when reviewing a match……….uhhhh, not a good thing to do. Did I mention that there was a pointless chick fight? No? Well there was and it took the suckage to all new levels, but Homicide wins me over again with a Cop Killer on Ronnie Stevens(aka Simply Luscious) and I didn’t feel as violated by this match at this point. Then came the ending…….well I officially take everything good I said about this match (yeah, I know there hasn’t been much) back as it ended in a NO FUCKING CONTEST!!!!!! Sorry for the language….but UGH. I still find it rather humorous that Jack Victory continues to wrestle, yet he hardly ever leaves the apron. This match couldn’t have been much worse than it was…..sorry if you didn’t want the ending of this match, but if you see it, you’ll be glad that I told you what happened so it didn’t come as a surprise.

 

Rating – ½*

 

 

The Carnage Crew vs. Mase & Hotstuff Hernandez

-This match is pretty basic with the Carnage Crew hitting their spots (brawling and the Carnage Driver) and Mase hitting his usual homospots too. Hernandez actually did some high spots in this one (his dive over the top to the floor) and didn’t mess anything up bad. He does come off as a train wreck at times, but didn’t do bad in this one. Apparently DeVito has the most nagging ass wife of all time……..if you ask the announcers. That shit is sooooo tired…….why are they constantly trying to sell me on the annoying nature of the Carnage Crew’s family? Seriously……I want to know, because I can’t figure out the purpose of me knowing that. Look on the bright side though; you’ll get to see Hernandez almost kill Loc with a forearm that would kill small cattle if they took it in the head, as well as doing a terrible double suplex on the CC too. They didn’t give them an obscene amount of time and let them run through their spots, so I guess that it could have been WAY worse.

 

Rating - *

 

A.J. Styles & The Amazing Red vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe (ROH Tag Team Title Match)

-I would say that Daniels/Williams was the best overall match on the card, but this one runs a close second. It seems the more AJ/Red vs. Briscoe’s happens, the better it gets. The Briscoe’s are quickly becoming my favorite tag team, and even though Red may have his faults there is always AJ. AJ seems to ALWAYS deliver, and he sure pulls out this match with flying colors. AJ hits some brilliant combo moves(I enjoyed the backbreaker/gutbuster combo) and really keeps the pace of the match up. AJ hits a sweet stalling spinning vertical brainbuster that I had never seen him use before. Also, AJ REALLY does a good “clean house” job in this match with move after move that was really cool considering they did a great job of building up the hot tag. This was I believe Mark’s first match in Philly (because of his age) and he helped make it a good one. This is backed up by one spot in particular that I enjoyed was a nice sequence where he hits two consecutive brainbusters on Red. Also, Mark did do a really great job keeping up with the faster Red and it didn’t seem akward with him and Mark in the ring. AJ and Mark seemed to have great chemistry in this match as they hold for hold and really work well together. This is also one of the last times I remember Red hitting the Brain Damage. Not many negatives in this match, however but there is some terrible no selling a nice double brainbuster followed by a DDT. But Red manages to hit the code red off the top rope and Jay gets killed here on the landing. I don’t wanna ruin it……but the finish in this one rocks and is something you may never have seen before. These teams seem to building more chemistry and I wish it would have happened after Red’s return from injury until TNA cut that off. AWESOME match.

 

Rating - ***3/4

 

Low Ki vs. Jody Fleisch

-Now this match made me have my doubts. First let me clarify. I do like Low-Ki’s work but I feel as he needs the right opponent to make the match. On the other hand I am a huge fan of Fleisch(watch CZW’s Best of the Best 2 if you don’t think he’s AMAZING) but I also simply didn’t think he could mesh with the striking style like Low-Ki’s. Now I know Ki used to have more high flying moves in his arsenal, but he has changed his style drastically since then. But I was wrong again, and this time I was terribly mistaken. This match was fantastic, as it seemed like both guys were in a little competition I like to call “top this”. We see the match start out with a bunch of Low-Ki stiff shots and actually Jody does pretty good with submission stuff in the beginning as well. The crowd was totally into this one and as time went on…..it definitely favored Jody(believe it or not). Nice hold for hold wrestling by both guys to start with lost of submissions and reversals too. Jody’s highspots in this match are incredible and he even got Low-Ki going. There is a point in the match where Jody goes for a moonsault off the ropes(like how Jericho does the Lionsault) and Low Ki does the same….except he hits a spinning face kick on Jody. Everything in this one gets more and more intense as the match rolls on and the spots are build up nicely. When one guy seems to have the edge the other would catch them with an outstanding move and go back on the offensive and vice versa. Cool finish in this one as both men almost both fell off the top rope and fell to the floor…..but it actually culminated with Ki hitting the Ki Crusher off the top rope for the pinfall. Fleisch hit a SHOOTING STAR PILEDRIVER in the match and it may have looked sloppy but watch it in slow motion, as I don’t think it’s possible to hit a move like that any better. Truly impressive as I didn’t think they would work together so solidly.

 

Rating - ***3/4

 

Raven & Colt Cabana vs. C.M. Punk & Ace Steel

-I LOVE the ROH feud between Punk and Raven, but I must say I was slightly disappointed in this match. I could have been expecting too much, but whatever. The match starts out as basically they workers doing anything and everything to make sure that Raven and Punk didn’t get in the ring together. Too bad, they basically at a point in the match get in there together will no build to it……and it comes off like crap. The work in the match kinda halts in certain places and picks up in others giving it a “lost” feel to it. I especially notice this as they have to work in the stupid weapons(garbage can and lid) and basically do nothing but slow down the work they were accomplishing before they go to the weapons. But Raven is probably the main one guilty of this in the match though. Raven goes for a crossbody block over the top rope to the floor, but it was terribly botched. But it’s honestly not a total waste, there are solid spots in the match and some good work by Punk and Raven. But it feel a little bit short of my expectations for such a high match on the card, and I was probably harder on it after just watch Daniels/Williams, AJ/RED vs. The Briscoes, and Low-Ki/Jody. The finish in the match is pretty bad too and takes away from the match as much as half of the garbage wrestling. I’ve seen all guys in the match work better in other matches, so maybe they didn’t turn it on for one night.

 

Rating - **1/2

 

Xavier vs. Samoa Joe (ROH Title Match)

-Now I must say that I was REALLY looking forward to this one. Now not because I think either competitor is the best in the world or anything, it’s just I wanted to witness how Joe won the title before his successful year run as the Ring of Honor Champion that continues today. Although I was looking at this one as it could be terrible as I HATED Xavier’s match where he won the title from Low-Ki. I just thought the match was going nowhere fast with pretty poor selling on Xavier’s part. Now since then he has improved quite a bit, and Joe usually works well within reasonable boundaries. He does good mat work in this one and Xavier responds well to it well with decent selling. Xavier hits a decent belly to belly suplex and hits an awesome spot where he does a spinning DDT onto Joe on the floor. There is some mindless work in the match by Xavier and he really looks to be on cloud nine in the match and really does pointless kicks and submissions. Also, I HATE when Xavier goes the submission route, especially because he doesn’t understand that submissions need to be clean and tight. Apparently he thinks they should make no sense and shouldn’t look remotely convincing what so ever. I couldn’t have been happier when Joe choked him out to win the title. But to no avail….we would see Xavier again in ROH, thank god they never gave hi the opportunity to come back and fight for the title again though. Not too good of a match, definitely disappointing for ROH standards but for the main event they would have been better off with Daniels/Williams or AJ/Red taking on the Briscoes. But it’s pretty obvious why this was the main event being for the title and all.

 

Rating - **1/2

 

-In closing I would have to say that this was a solid show from top to bottom. It’s definitely not the best or worst I’ve seen ROH do, but it’s one show that had some really great upsides(ex:AJ/RED vs. The Briscoes, Daniels/Williams, and Fleisch/Low-Ki. And not too many downsides, although I wasn’t the biggest fan of the six man tag match, or Xavier/Joe but I would still have to recommend this tape to check out as it has some stuff on here that is must see ROH..

[Guest Real F'n Show]

nice review man, havent seen this show, so I might pick it up if they release it in stores after reading your review. The card didn't look that good on paper to me, but I see that you didnt think any matches were bad.

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

Thanks for the feedback, it's definately a kickass show, that I would recommend. So check it out if you get a chance.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

Nice review man. I look forward to seeing your next tape review.