ROH: 5 Year Festival/Samoa Joe Farewell Tour Night 2 (Philly)

[Hawk 34 0]

Night two of the Festival/Tour continues in Philadelphia, the birth city of ROH. Last night saw the shocking upset of Joe choking out Morishima along with Homicide pulling off the victory in his home town while NYC also witnessed the stunning betrayal of Roderick Strong turning on long time partner, Austin Aries alongside Davey Richards to form the NO REMORSE CORPS.

 

Due to Richards minor injury, he was taken off the show and his match with Samoa Joe originally scheduled for tonight has been pushed back to Dayton next week allowing Rave to get his shot at Joe tonight instead.

 

Here's the full card for tonight's show

 

ROH World Title

Homicide Vs Takeshi Morishima

 

Samoa Joe Vs Jimmy Rave

 

ROH World Tag Team Title

Christopher Daniels and Matt Sydal Vs Jack Evans and Shingo

 

FIP Heavyweight Title

Roderick Strong Vs Delirious

 

Tag Team Attraction

Jay and Mark Briscoe Vs El Generico and Kevin Steen

 

Grudge Match

Austin Aries Vs Claudio Castagnoli

 

Six Person Street Fight

Colt Cabana, BJ Whitmer and Daizee Haze Vs Adam Pearce, Jimmy Jacobs and Lacey

 

ROHVideos.com Match

Nigel McGuinness Vs TJ Perkins (Puma)

[bob_barron 0]

I wouldn't exactly call Strong's betrayal stunning- more like stupid.

 

Neither him and Richards should be allowed to talk.

[Hawk 34 0]

I wouldn't exactly call Strong's betrayal stunning- more like stupid.

 

Neither him and Richards should be allowed to talk.

 

I have a good feeling they'll add to this group with a third man and that guy will likely be the chief promo machine. I'd say Claudio but he's turned to many times but there's always Sweeny and Hero would could be a promising group.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I like the booking of Joe/Morishima, because it puts the Morishima/Homicide match into question. On one hand, Morishima winning the ROH Title seems unllikely, but on the other hand, it seems even more unlikely that Morishima will lose twice in a row. They could go either way with this, and it's great.

[DangerousDamon 0]

I wouldn't exactly call Strong's betrayal stunning- more like stupid.

 

Neither him and Richards should be allowed to talk.

 

From my understanding, seeds of Roddy's heel turn were planted when he won the FIP title. He'd been acting more and more like a jackass in FIP and ROH. Strong and Richards' Alliance also makes no sense to me because in FIP they hate each other, but in PWG they're former tag champs.

[theintensifier 0]

It's called kayfabe. It's non-existent.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Ring of Honor Presents: Night of The Factions

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Saturday, February 17

 

Event Results: Provided by ROHPhilly, Head-On, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and PETA.

 

Pre-Show

 

1) Rhett Titus & Pelle Primaeu defeat Bobby Dempsey & ???. Pelle pins Payne after a stunner.

 

2) ROH Top of the Class Trophy: Shane Hagadorn defeats Alex Payne. Hagadorn won by forcing Alex to submit.

 

3) Sara Del Ray defeats Mitch Franklin. The American Angel won via submission.

 

ROH 5th Anniversary - Event 2

 

1) Nigel McGuinness defeats TJ Perkins. Nigel pins Perkins after the lariat. Said to be a great opening match.

 

2) Austin Aries defeats Claudio Castagnoli. Aries said to be walking fine to the ring, but showing pain during the match. Austin won after hitting a 450 splash.

 

- Austin called out Roderick after the match, but Jack Evans comes out instead. He's against taking sides. Roderick and Davey come to the ring. "Roddy is awful on the mic"... Roderick calls out Jack to pick sides, but he doesn't decide anything. End of segment.

 

3) Street Fight: Colt Cabana & BJ Whitmer & Daizee Haze defeat Adam Pearce & Jimmy Jacobs & Lacey. Whitmer pins Jimmy after "super exploder". Very bloody match, with chairs being thrown all over the place, including into the audience.

 

4) Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe defeat El Generico & Kevin Steen. Briscoes get the win after hitting a combo Shooting Star Press-Guillotine Leg Drop combo on Kevin Steen. "Unfuckingbelievable" match, with the crowd chanting "Please Come Back" at Generico and Steen afterwards.

 

5) Samoa Joe defeats Jimmy Rave. Samoa Joe pins Jimmy Rave, and is now giving a goodbye speech. "Match was nothing special"...um, except that it was JOE'S LAST ROH MATCH IN PHILLY!

 

- Crowd near 1,000.

 

- INTERMISSION -

 

6) FIP Championship: Roderick Strong vs Delirious. Aries tried to attack Strong before the match, but never got to him. Match is ongoing now. During the match, Delirious was knocked out cold. The ref made the 'x' sign, as Roderick dragged Delirious out of the ring. Strong gave Delirious a powerbomb on the outside and went back to the ring. Ref made the 20 count. Delirious looked badly injured. Aries tried to attack Roderick again after the match but doesn't get to him again.

 

7) ROH World Tag Team Titles: Sydal & Daniels defeat SHINGO & Evans. Sydal gets the victory over Jack after a top rope doubleteam Angel's Wings on Jack. Fun match.

 

- After the match, Austin Aries comes out demanding that Jack Evans picks which side he will be on. Jack refuses. Aries says that he's going to find the next generation of stars and begin his own group. Evans vows to do the same, thus making this weekend the weekend of factions.

 

8) ROH World Championship: Takeshi Morishima defeats Homicide. Three suplexes and a strong lariat later, ladies and gentlemen, we have a new ROH World Champion!

[bob_barron 0]

Homicide shouldn't have had a long reign, but I can't say I care that Morishma is champion.

[World's Worst Man 0]

Joe vs. Morishima in Joe's last match seems a given doesn't it? And Morishima is so clearly going to win that match, unless Sapolsky and Misawa are both incredibly insane. They should have had Morishima win both matches. I don't see the point in booking for another Joe-Morishima match when it will likely be Joe's last match with the promotion for a while.

[Corkscrew_Senton 0]

I wonder who the title gets hotshotted to? I doubt they'd have him go back to Japan with the strap.

[bob_barron 0]

He's facing Whitmer next week and Richards on March 3rd.

 

So those are wins. How the hell did Davey Richards get an ROH title match?

[World's Worst Man 0]

AJ Styles clone from what I can tell.

[tigeraid 0]

Well.... I'm not unhappy that Morishima has the belt. But I am unhappy that Homicide jobbed so early.

 

I have a feeling Sapolsky is getting paranoid now about TNA locking up Homicide next. This situation just really sucks.

 

The only credible guy I see to beat Morishima now (in Misawa's mind) is Nigel. In everyone else's mind, Danielson can still become the first two-time ROH champ, thankyouverymuch.

 

On the plus side, this means I'll likely get to see Morishima in person at the Wrestlemania Doubleshot.

[Eclipse 0]

Yeah..he pretty much dropped the title due to TNA locking up Homicide. There is no denying it. Sucks that it was such a BIG deal that Homicide finally won the belt, and now he loses it in quick fashion.

[Corkscrew_Senton 0]

I don't think Davey Richards is bad by any means, he's just so fucking bland. At least he's turned heel, maybe he'll have more character now than just "guy who loves and want to emulate KENTA."

[Open the Muggy Gate 0]

When I first read this, the Triple H situation in 2002 came to mind. He won the title at Wrestlemania, and he was supposed to have a nice run as champion after a storyline of attempting to get the title. What happened? In short time, he lost it to the big deal at the moment, Hulk Hogan.

 

Here, Homicide had a long storyline of getting the title, and he finally gets it. And in short time, he loses it to the big deal at the time, Takeshi Morishima. Now I'm NO WAY comparing HHH to Homicide and Takeshi to Hogan, but that was what came into my mind when I first read it.

[Timmy8271 0]

I'm so not looking forward to Davey Richards: ROH champion in the winter.

[King Cucaracha 0]

AJ Styles clone from what I can tell.

 

Now, I watch a lot of PWG and have seen Davey Richards wrestle for about a year now and how anyone comes to that conclusion, I don't know. He works a totally different style.

 

 

4) Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe defeat El Generico & Kevin Steen. Briscoes get the win after hitting a combo Shooting Star Press-Guillotine Leg Drop combo on Kevin Steen. "Unfuckingbelievable" match, with the crowd chanting "Please Come Back" at Generico and Steen afterwards.

 

YAY!

[Tim Cooke 0]

Not sure how Morishima will face Joe in the UK on March 5 since there is a Budokan show on March 4.

[bob_barron 0]

Yeah..he pretty much dropped the title due to TNA locking up Homicide. There is no denying it. Sucks that it was such a BIG deal that Homicide finally won the belt, and now he loses it in quick fashion.

 

I'll deny that. It goes against Homicide's character to hold a long title reign. I think he was always destined to have a short title reign. I mean the guy loses 50% of his matches anyway

[Garth 0]

So, I guess this means that ROH is now Takeshis Castle.

[tigeraid 0]

Not sure how Morishima will face Joe in the UK on March 5 since there is a Budokan show on March 4.

 

Ya, I'm not so sure now, that I've looked at the dates. I've got to expect a Morishima title run until the summer now, with Nigel or a returning Danielson winning it back then. And if it's Danielson, the only way he's winning it is by "SURPRISUUU ROLLUPUUUUU" like every other "junior heavyweight beating a heavyweight" scenerio... This is the definite downside to the GPWA formation--ROH will definitely be influenced by the "big guy always beats the smaller guy" syndrome from Japan.

[The Flamboyance 0]

Yeah. Sad news and good news for me. I've been a huge Cide fan for maybe 6 or 7 years and him winning the ROH title was just amazing for me. I definitely wasnt expecting him to have a long reign but I did think he'd have it for a few more months. However, I kind of had a slight feeling Morishima would beat Cide when Joe beat him on Friday.

 

I'm glad Morishima is the champion though. To me, he is a much more believable champ than Rave or Nigel. I can see Rave taking the belt sometime this year but I think he is only starting to come across as a legit threat. These months have been good for him. I like Nigel but there is something about him that makes him dull for me. Morishima is probably the future of NOAH and it's just a good angle. He's a monster that almost beat Joe so him carrying the title is good stuff.

 

I'm also glad that I didnt go to this show because although I like the idea of Morishima with the belt, I'd probably be pissed off seeing him actually beat Homicide for it. I would have gone from being the happiest dude in NYC after seeing Cide beat Rave on Friday to then Cide losing the belt in 15 minutes to a guy that only first wrestled for the company the night before.

 

I am torn.

 

 

Also, I think I read Morishima is facing KENTA at the Budokan Hall on 3/4, and the ROH title might be on the line. That would be pretty darn cool.

[Hawk 34 0]

Homicide wasn't meant for a long title reign, it wouldn't suit him anyways. In ROH, he has reached that Tommy Dreamer status as in he had so many shots but couldn't get it done but finally won the title but couldn't hold onto it long enough to really enjoy the ride. A long title reign with Homicide really wasn't right especially after Danielson's 15 month reign. The comparison between HHH/Hogan to 'Cide/Morishima is atretch given that the situation is totally different. Hogan got the title reign because HHH was bombing and because Vince was a pop mark and thought he could strike with nostalgia. This present situation is far different.

 

To make the connection that Gabe was paranoid that TNA would strike is scurrilous. The shift to put the title on Morishima is a good booking move as in it truly shakes things up not just for Ring of Honor but NOAH as well. It actually does more for all the involved characters with the title change. ROH is a strong enough brand name that it can support it's world champion not being at every show. In fact, it raises their international profile meaning in the long run, it will conclude with a bigger payoff with the NOAH/ROH joint show this summer. The obvious favorites to march over to NOAH and take the belt back are Nigel and Danielson but it's too early to starting pondering where the title shift next.

 

Sapolsky is a meticulous booker, this isn't done on a whim. He doesn't book like Vince Russo, Jim Cornette, Gerwirtz and pretty much every other booker/writer in the business. He planned on Homicide winning the title world in NYC before Danielson had even won the title from Gibson. He had that event planned 18 months in advance. He intended for Homicide to have a brief reign. Did he expect to put the title on Morishima that far in advance? No but he knew Homicide wasn't getting a long reign. He wasn't booking to capitalize on Morishima's appeal nor out of fear regarding TNA.

 

Many people doubted that a angle between ROH/CZW could work but it worked far greater then anything else did in 2006. This title change may prove to be the best move the company has made and given their track record, that's a tough thing to do.

[CheesalaIsGood 0]

Many people doubted that a angle between ROH/CZW could work but it worked far greater then anything else did in 2006. This title change may prove to be the best move the company has made and given their track record, that's a tough thing to do.

These are all good points, however I have my doubts that this years results will be as highly regarded come the end of the year. Not always because of certain booking CHOICES but because circumstances of the ROH/TNA crossover guys may leave ROH with thin options. I know alot of people are down on how strong Jimmy Rave gets booked these days but eventually he may end up being the guy to go to by default. Which will kill Raves career in ROH and set the company back quite a bit with what they have gained in the last two years.

 

Plus, I am not even sure that AmDrag coming back will be as strong as I'd hope. He has wrestled just about everybody on the roster at this point several times (and recently at that).

 

I just hope this working deal with NOAH and Dragon Gate can help keep them afloat for awhile while this (almost a mess) gets sorted out.

[Hawk 34 0]

What mess? Yes, they lost Joe. They lost London, Punk, Gibson, Daniels, Styles and Low Ki. The strength of ROH is the fanbase and the consistant ability to create new stars. ROH is at a high right now and their past indicates they aren't about to drop especially given the relationship with NOAH and DG.

 

ROH really only has 3 regular TNA wrestlers now playing any important role within that company (Aries, Daniels and Cide). The rest don't belong to TNA or play important roles with them. They have already prepared for the distant possibility that TNA will pull talent for good. That's why the emphasis on Strong, Nigel, Whitmer, Rave Colt, Sydal, Delirious, Richards among Danielson and KENTA over the past year. ROH isn't going to fall apart because Joe is gone. Fact is, it might actually thrive without him in the long run.

 

You take an already strong american fanbase, mix that with two healthy fanbases in UK and Japan with talent spread out along with great booking, great wrestling and great personalities, you're going to improve even greater then the already lofty status they have put themselves into.

 

2 1/2 months in and they already have their first international champion, a tour in Japan on the horizon, tons of new fresh talent that just make the product better, a wider base and most importantly, making money. It's hardly a mess.

[CheesalaIsGood 0]

What mess? Yes, they lost Joe. They lost London, Punk, Gibson, Daniels, Styles and Low Ki. The strength of ROH is the fanbase and the consistant ability to create new stars. ROH is at a high right now and their past indicates they aren't about to drop especially given the relationship with NOAH and DG.

 

ROH really only has 3 regular TNA wrestlers now playing any important role within that company (Aries, Daniels and Cide). The rest don't belong to TNA or play important roles with them. They have already prepared for the distant possibility that TNA will pull talent for good. That's why the emphasis on Strong, Nigel, Whitmer, Rave Colt, Sydal, Delirious, Richards among Danielson and KENTA over the past year. ROH isn't going to fall apart because Joe is gone. Fact is, it might actually thrive without him in the long run.

 

You take an already strong american fanbase, mix that with two healthy fanbases in UK and Japan with talent spread out along with great booking, great wrestling and great personalities, you're going to improve even greater then the already lofty status they have put themselves into.

 

2 1/2 months in and they already have their first international champion, a tour in Japan on the horizon, tons of new fresh talent that just make the product better, a wider base and most importantly, making money. It's hardly a mess.

 

I didn't call it a flat out mess and you are overreacting. When I say it is "almost a mess" I mean there is quite a bit to get sorted out. With the bar being set so high last year with so many great storylines coming from so many directions and still managing to crossroad in a manner that makes sense, losing a cornerstone can still be devastating in that there are so few fresh matches left in ROH. That coupled with Homicide's underwhleming title reign could produce some problems in getting this year to be as highly regarded as last year was. Don't get me wrong, I WANT ROH to exceed what they accomplished last year. However, the DG/NOAH thing will only take them so far in continuing to build in-house stars. So let me say that it isn't over by any stretch and I do have faith they'll pull off something good. I just see this as something of a rocky start.

[DangerousDamon 0]

I'm so not looking forward to Davey Richards: ROH champion in the winter.

 

Don't worry he has no chance in hell of winning the ROH title while he's being Strong's lackey.

[Corkscrew_Senton 0]

Emphasis on Delirious as anything more than a midcard comedy act is ridiculous, but I agree with the rest of your points Hawk about Gabe booking new stars. Whitmer's obviously been groomed for the top, although he's lost some steam since the end of the CZW feud when he was red hot. Nigel and Rave are two who come to mind also as being ready to step into the leadership roles, and both are much better than Whitmer all-around. It would be kinda cool if Rave was the man to defeat Morishima -- I know the size differential is ridiculous, but if Rave wins through very underhanded tactics, it goes along with his character. You get a heel champion who can brag about beating a giant, and the fans hate him for doing so by spitting in the honor code's proverbial face.

 

EDIT: Just wanted to tack on rather than double-post: The crowd chanted "please come back to Steen?" For all the heat someone like AJ Styles gets from the ROH message board, it's amazing they'd eat up a guy who's 10x more of a spot-wrestler, and a bad spot-wrestler at that.

[tigeraid 0]

Emphasis on Delirious as anything more than a midcard comedy act is ridiculous, but I agree with the rest of your points Hawk about Gabe booking new stars. Whitmer's obviously been groomed for the top, although he's lost some steam since the end of the CZW feud when he was red hot. Nigel and Rave are two who come to mind also as being ready to step into the leadership roles, and both are much better than Whitmer all-around. It would be kinda cool if Rave was the man to defeat Morishima -- I know the size differential is ridiculous, but if Rave wins through very underhanded tactics, it goes along with his character. You get a heel champion who can brag about beating a giant, and the fans hate him for doing so by spitting in the honor code's proverbial face.

 

EDIT: Just wanted to tack on rather than double-post: The crowd chanted "please come back to Steen?" For all the heat someone like AJ Styles gets from the ROH message board, it's amazing they'd eat up a guy who's 10x more of a spot-wrestler, and a bad spot-wrestler at that.

 

Nigel and Rave for sure. Whitmer as champ, I dunno, I just can't buy it, because of how often he's LOST in the past... Ya he did eventually "end the CZW feud" with War of the Wire, but overall it just seemed like he was getting killed... And taken out of action by Jimmy Jacobs twice? eeeeeh....

 

Delirious on the other hand, I would be perfectly comfortable as champ except that his gimmick requires him to spout gibberish for promos--you can't cut promos that support the whole damn company when you talk like that. Having said that, I'd completely mark if he got the title somehow.

 

This is why I truly believe they need another, mid-card title. Either that or make the FIP title a regular occurance, and have Delirious, Davey Richards, etc feud for it... But then it could sort of be seen as "inferior" to the ROH straps. I dunno.