ROH Misawa Weekend (Glory By Honor VI Night 1 and 2)

[Hawk 34 0]

Philadelphia

 

Mitsuharu Misawa & KENTA vs. Takeshi Morishima & Naomichi Marufuji

 

ROH World Tag Team Title Match

Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Roderick Strong & Rocky Romero

 

Deciding Match In Best Of Three Series

Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries

 

Tag Team Scramble

Jack Evans, Ruckus & Jigsaw vs. Jimmy Jacobs, Tyler Black & The Necro Butcher

 

Delirious vs. Davey Richards

 

Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Brent Albright & BJ Whitmer

 

Top Of The Class Trophy Match

Mitch Franklin vs. Ernie Osiris

 

NYC

GHC Heavyweight Title Match

Mitsuharu Misawa vs. KENTA

 

Bryan Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima

 

ROH World Tag Team Title Match

Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. two of Jimmy Jacobs, Tyler Black and The Necro Butcher

 

Jack Evans, Ruckus & Jigsaw vs. Roderick Strong, Davey Richards & Rocky Romero

 

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Naomichi Marufuji

 

El Generico vs. Chris Hero

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

I'll be at NYC and I can't wait for AmDrag/Morishima.

[The Flamboyance 0]

I'll be at NYC and I can't wait for AmDrag/Morishima.

 

I'll be there too. Besides that match, I'm really excited for Marufuji vs Castagnoli

 

Obviously, I'm excited about Misawa vs KENTA but Maru vs Claudio is gonna be ridiculous

[DangerousDamon 0]

 

Results

 

~Misawa came through the door at 5 to massive applause.

 

~ROH returns to Philly 3/15/08.

 

 

Preshow

 

1) Alex Payne defeats Kyle Durdin with a fisherman suplex.

 

2) Shane Hagadorn defeats Rhett Titus holding the ropes on a sunset flip reversal. Botchy but OK.

 

 

Main Show

 

1) Kevin Steen & El Generico defeats Brent Albright & BJ Whitmer with a Swanton Bomb on Whitmer. Hangm3n attack afterwards.

 

2) Claudio Castagnoli defeats Hallowicked with a European Uppercut in a good match. Crowd was on fire. Larry Sweeney offers to buy out Claudio's contract, but he refuses.

 

3) Davey Richards defeats Delirious via submission. Great match.

 

4) Jay & Mark Briscoe defeat Roderick Strong & Rocky Romero to retain with a springboard doomsday on Roderick. The Age Of The Fall attack The Briscoes afterwards.

 

5) The Age of the Fall defeat The Vulture Squad in a great fast paced match that had the crowd on their feet with Jacobs locking Jigsaw in the guillotine choke.

 

~After the match the Briscoes, NRC, Delirious, Hangmen3, Steen & Generico, and Daizee Haze hit the ring for a massive brawl with a ton of dives that brought the house down.

 

~INTERMISSION~

 

6) ??

 

7) Austin Aries defeats Bryan Danielson to win the best of 3 #1 contenders series with a 450.

 

~Chris Hero comes out and demands his title shot RIGHT NOW after winning Survival of the Fittest.

 

8) Nigel McGuinness defeats Chris Hero to retain the gold (with the Thames Barrier) Hero won the match, but Nigel had his foot on the ropes and it was restarted.

 

9) GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa & KENTA vs. Takeshi Morishima & Naomichi Marufuji ended in a 30 minute time limit draw.

 

 

 

 

 

From what I heard, Nigel wrestled his match in jeans, The Briscoes/NRC match was not good, and Aries/Dragon was a chain wrestling clinic.

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

They kept the title on Nigel? Really? Unless they plan on putting the title on Hero tomorrow (which I hope to God they do), that doesn't make much sense.

 

 

And the tag match going to time limit draw? Sounds awesome.

[Ravenbomb 0]

Normally, I'm slow to criticize ROH's booking practices. But...they have Misawa in for the weekend, and they book him against other NOAH guys?

[Hawk 34 0]

Normally, I'm slow to criticize ROH's booking practices. But...they have Misawa in for the weekend, and they book him against other NOAH guys?

 

That was NOAH's call.

[Ravenbomb 0]

Oh. Well, I guess it kinda makes sense, then.

[SamoaRowe 0]

Plus, you know, booking Dragon Gate guys against each other has worked out pretty okay in the past too.

[Ravenbomb 0]

Yes, but they also booked Dragon Gate guys against ROH guys. Just seemed like an opportunity for ROH to put on a "dream match" or something. But NOAH wanting him to just do matches with other NOAH guys makes sense I suppose.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Two sets of reports on what's happened so far:

 

LIVE ROH RESULTS FROM NYC

by Mike Johnson

 

Ring of Honor returned to the Manhattan Center with the following results:

 

*Chris Hero defeated El Generico. The Hangmen 3 attacked Generico and powerbombed him out of the ring onto two stacked tables. Kevin Steen and El Generico made the save, sparking a tag match....

 

*Brent Albright and BJ Whitmer defeated Kevin Steen & Delirious after Shane Hagadorn lowblowed Steen and Whitmer nailed him with an exploder suplex through a chair for the pin.

 

*Shane Hagadorn took the ring mic and addressed the crowd. He said the Hangman 3 are on a roll tonight and its up to him to continue. He said that a year ago, he was blessed enough to become Adam Pearce's man servant and issued an open challenge to anyone in Pearce's honor. Out came Austin Aries.

 

*Austin Aries pinned Shane Hagadorn with a brainbuster and 450 splash in a quick match. Aries took the ring mic and said he had an announcement to make. He announced he was disbanding the Resilience in order to chase the ROH World title. ROH champion Nigel McGuinness came to the ring in street clothes. McGuinness shook Aries' hand and said he has all the respect in the world for him. He said he'd like to defend the title tonight but tore his left biceps the week after he won the belt. He said he was taking a month off to rehab because surgery would mean 4 months off. The crowd turned on McGuinness and he said it's not a joke because he wants to tear the house down. He said he's proud to be ROH champion and to compete before the best fans in the world. He pointed out a fan heckling him and said that fans like him make him want to quit but they are really just sad, pathetic, ignorant pr**ks. He promised to defend the belt at the 12/29 return. Aries said he wanted Nigel to be 100% when he beats him at the ROH PPV taping that night.

 

*Claudio Castagnoli pinned Naomichi Marufuji with the Backlund Bridge in a good back and forth match. Chris Hero attacked Castagnoli, setting up Larry Sweeney to hit a top rope elbow. Sweeney said that anytime Claudio has something to be proud of, they will be there to rain on the parade.

 

*ROH Tag Team champions The Briscoes fought Necro Butcher and Jimmy Jacobs to a two minute double DQ when both were disqualified for brawling and using chairs. The crowd crapped all over this and chanted,"F*****g Bulls***" and for a refund.

 

Hero over Generico via Hero's Welcome ***1/4

 

Immediately afterwards, Blowjob & Albright come out to attack Generico, so Sweet & Sour Inc. get the Hell out of there. Steen & Delirious come out, leading to Steen & Delirious vs. Blowjob & Albright.

 

Blowjob & Albright over Steen & Delirious via an Exploder on a chair ***1/4 Some miscommunication between the makeshift team at times, and a postmatch beatdown on Delirious, including a lowblow from Hagadorn.

 

Hagadorn sends the Hangmen away and makes an open challenge in honor of Pearce. Aries accepts that challenge.

 

Aries makes quick work of Hagadorn. He then disbands the Resilience. Nigel then comes out to talk to him. Nigel bitches about being disrespected as a champ and claims that the fans call him a fluke. He then promises to defend the title against Aries at PPV #5 in NYC on 12/29.

 

Claudio over Marufuji in a **** match "played off itself well" "Claudio still limping" after the match

 

Post-match, Hero shows up and jumps Claudio.

 

Briscoes vs. Jacobs & Necro is only 20 seconds before it's called for a double DQ due to a chair fight between Mark and Necro.

 

Race/Higuchi ceremony - some fucking idiots chant for the Briscoes. [My note: the Briscoes couldn't carry Harley Race's fucking coffee mug.]

 

Black makes quick work of Sugarfoot. Briscoes come out and chase Black away. Briscoes offer to defend the titles later tonight in a hardcore match.

 

Morishima beats Danielson by DQ in what is said to be an awesome **** match when Danielson curbstomps Morishima's nuts. Nigel comes out post-match and he gets a kick in the head. Place goes crazy for Danielson.

 

NRC over the Vulture Squad in what was called a high quality spotfest. ***1/2 Finish came when a Tiger driver was delivered on the exposed floor and then Strong put a Liontamer on someone. Smokes bitches out the Vultures afterwards and demands better at Final Battle. Rematch at that show in a TLC match.

 

Sweeney interrupts the ring announcer and on the 12/29 PPV requests a Hero vs. Claudio loser leaves ROH match.

 

Misawa retains the GHC title against KENTA after a suplex into an Emerald Frusion. Said to be awesome "****1/2 at gunpoint but maybe less after seeing it on DVD"

[The Buzz 0]

Some guys on the ROH boards are saying Nicholas Cage is backstage at the show researching for his new wrestler movie he's making. Has anyone else heard anything about that?

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Mike Johnson is saying the same thing as well.

[The Buzz 0]

Wow, Nicholas Cage, Misawa, and Harley Race all backstage at an event never would pictured that.

[Hawk 34 0]

I can't even begin to imagine who Cage will "adapt". He is probably mindfucked with Delirious. The movie is called "The Wrestler" and is directed by Darren Aronofsky (The Fountain, Requiem for a Dream). That should be interesting.

 

KENTA-Misawa isn't the main event. That's a shocker. AotF and Briscoes will close the show.

[bob_barron 0]

I got to meet Misawa and Harley Race before the show. I didn't go though

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

I just got back from Manhattan and heres the run down.

 

 

First and foremost, fuck ROH for overbooking the Manhattan Center once again. Every time they have a show here, more people come, which is a good thing. But when the place has been overbooked so badly in the past, one has to wonder what the fuck they are thinking. I bought 3 4th row tickets at $40 a pop. The bell time was 7:30, me and my friends get there at 7:45 and there is a line all the way around the block. We didn't get in till 8:30, so I missed everything leading up to Claudio/Maraufuji. We get up to the 7th floor and the place is completely packed. After a little while, we found our section and there isn't one empty seat. There were no ushers to help us and when we found that all the seats were taken, security said that the place had 2000 people and we had to deal. I didn't pay $120 to fucking "deal", I paid $120 to have 4th row seats. So me and my two friends ended up standing the whole show, which was bullshit. But anyway,

 

--> Claudio def. Maraufuji wasn't ****'s by any means. It was a good back and forth match, but only went about 8 minutes. ***'s is being generous. Hero got major heat when he came out to attack Claudio.

 

--> Briscoes/AotF was a complete disaster. Crowd was HUGELY into the Briscoes. They, by far, got the loudest pop of the night. Match didn't even go two minutes before Necro and Mark got chairs and Todd Sinclair called for the DQ. Saying the crowd shit all over this is going lightly. Chants of "Fucking Bullshit" and "Refund" went on and on.

 

--> Race/Higuchi segment didn't get such a big reaction, but that might be because it was after the tag match fiasco. Race got a big ovation. And for the person who said that "some fucking idiots chanted for the Briscoes" and "the Briscoes couldn't hold Race's coffee mug," yeah, take a look at what happened not even 10 minutes before. And the "We Want Briscoes" chant didn't start until everyone was out of the ring. Like I said, the Briscoes were insanely over and the crowd felt robbed.

 

--> Tyler Black def. Sugarfoot. Sugarfoot got such a bad reaction, the crowd was still chanting for The Briscoes. Tyler came out and got an even worse reaction. Briscoes finally come out and set up the No DQ tag match for after the main event, which got the crowd back to normal.

 

--> Morishima def. Danielson. Jesus, Danielson was crazy over and Morishima is a monster. They just beat the hell out of each other. At one point, Danielson grabbed the hammer for the ring bell and went after Morishima's eye. Danielson bladed and the ending came when he kept stomping on Morishima's nuts. Nigel came out and the crowd shat all over him. Danielson didn't kick him in the head, but in the bicep, which the crowd loved. Danielson also did Nigel's stupid bounce through the ropes and pose.

 

--> NRC def. Vulture Squad. Match was so much fun. The Vultures were all over the place, NRC was just beating the hell out of Jigsaw, and the ending came when Roderick Strong turned Jack into a human pretzel with the Stronghold. It was seriously sick to see. It matches up with anything AmDrag or Alex Shelly did to Jack. Roderick locked in the Stronghold and actually sat down on the mat, pulling back on Jack, and Jack's feet were touching the back of his head. Absolutely sick. Crowd loved Julius Smokes.

 

--> Sweeny came out and announced Hero/Claudio with Claudio's ROH career on the line. Hero started talking about how he made Nigel tap out last night and he should be number one contender. Aries came out and challenged him to a match, where if Hero wins, he gets his title shot at the Final Battle PPV, but if Aries wins, Claudio gets a match with Sweeny. Hero called Aries "Mr. 2005," which was hilarious.

 

--> Austin Aries def. Chris Hero. Chris Hero was super over. No one really cheered for Aries. They more or less booed Hero or cheered Hero. Hero kept attacking Bobby Dempsey, which was funny. The crowd eventually started cheering for Dempsey over Aries. Ending came when Claudio chased Sweeny away and Aries locked in his submission that he used to beat Danielson for the tap out.

 

--> Misawa def. KENTA. Match of the night and for the live crowd, a match of the year candidate. I have to rewatch it on DVD to make sure. Misawa was amazing. KENTA bounced around the ring and sold like a champ. Crowd went nuts for the Elbow Suicida by Misawa (I really thought he would have been too broken down to do it) and the Tiger Driver. KENTA hit a Go 2 Sleep out of nowhere for a 2 count. Crowd was eating everything up by this point. Misawa hit the Emerald Frosion and KENTA kicked out. He hit it for a second time and got the pin. GREAT match. ****'s easily.

 

--> Briscoes def. Age of the Fall. Fun brawl. Jimmy bladed, Necro busted his lip. Necro was crazy over. Finish was Jimmy took a dive off the top rope through a table, Necro got beat on with chairs and a Jay Driller to send the crowd home happy.

 

 

Show was decent enough, but the over packing and the original Briscoes/AooF fiasco pissed the crowd off. ROH will be back for a double shot in NYC in December, including the Final Battle 2007 PPV.

[The Flamboyance 0]

The show owned.

Got front row tickets for the next NYC ppv AND Final Battle

Misawa vs KENTA was soooo much better than expected. Incredible.

 

The post above mine is pretty much spot on in regards to the matches.

[King Kamala 0]

Some guys on the ROH boards are saying Nicholas Cage is backstage at the show researching for his new wrestler movie he's making. Has anyone else heard anything about that?

 

 

I'm pretty sure Cage is a big wrestling fan actually. I think Goldberg mentioned meeting him backstage in his shitty autobiography in the lame chapter where he talks about all his celebrity buddies.

[JHawk 0]

Shit on the DDQ in the Briscoes-AOTF match if you'd like, but honestly, while a longer match would have been nice, given the angle it's the only sane finish to make. You need a Fight Without Honor to blow it off.

 

Plus you got your hardcore brawl at the end of the night anyway.

 

People are too quick to bitch about the booking

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

They didn't announce the Fight Without Honor until after Tyler Black/Sugarfoot. The crowd isn't full of psychics.

[JHawk 0]

I understand that, but why, under conventional booking practices, would a feud between two teams that hate each other not have a DQ finish of some sort? It comes off as "WAH, forget the other eight matches, I got screwed of a clean win in the midcard and want my money back!"

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

Because AotF beat the Briscoes in a non-title match a couple of weeks ago? So why would the tag title match go to a DQ? And again, the Briscoes got the biggest pop of the night, every time they came out. So of course the crowd shit all over it when it went to a DDQ in under two minutes and all four guys just walked to the back and nothing else happened.

[JHawk 0]

But it wasn't like it was Misawa's match going to a shitty DQ when he's the reason they jacked up ticket prices. It was a feud with a backstory where the heels hung one of the babyfaces upside down and showered in his blood for chrissakes. Should a match under traditional rules have ended with a roll up or something?

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

It wasn't Misawa's match, but it was one of the more high profile matches on the card. Why do you think it ended up being the main event? The crowd wanted to see the Briscoes/AotF, not a two minute DDQ.

[King Cucaracha 0]

What the hell is with the overkill booking at the moment? I kinda understood it on the PPV tapings, try and pack storylines in. But that NYC show sounds HORRIBLE.

 

Starts off okay, Hero vs. Generico. Sure it was a great match. Post-match Hangman 3 run out and do a beatdown, causing Steen and Delirious (which is random in itself) to run out, setting up an impromptu match. BJ and Albright win with an Exploder on a chair (we'll come back to this later), then another POST-MATCH beatdown, after which Hagadorn issues an open challenge for an IMPROMPTU MATCH. Aries comes out and beats Hagadorn, then cuts a POST-MATCH~! promo, leading Nigel to come out. From what I can summise, this all happens in one 'segment'. That's 3 matches (2 un-announced), 6 sudden appearances for run-ins or accepted challenges and another match set-up for the PPV taping. My head hurts already.

 

So, after a breather, we get Claudio vs. Marafuji. Seemingly a good, normal match... but wait, because POST-MATCH~!, Hero and Sweeney come out for a beatdown.

 

Then Briscoes vs. AOTF... well, where to start. A 2 minute-DQ because chairs got brought into the match, which of course didn't stop Whitmer and Albright earlier (presumably because their match was IMPROMPTU~!), purely to set up THE EXACT SAME MATCH later on. But, not before a segment with Harley Race, right after the 2 minute no contest no less. So, then, Tyler Black has a quick match and finally we get the IMPROMPTU RE-MATCH~! set-up after a POST-MATCH~! run-in by The Briscoes.

 

Next, Morishima vs. Danielson. Ends in a DQ... okay, no real problem with that, except it being the first genuine match since that Double DQ earlier. But before you've had time to take all that in, let's have a POST-MATCH~!~! segment with Nigel (that's 2 for him!) ending with him getting beat down.

 

NRC beat The Vulture Squad, good. POST-MATCH~!~! promo by Julius Smokes, setting up a TLC Match for Final Battle. I must have missed the part where Julius Smokes had booking powers. Oh, wait, no he doesn't, because here's Larry Sweeney to interrupt the ring announcer (who can't have been surprised by now, let's face it, everyone else has been interrupted or run-in on by now) to make a match for the PPV taping. Refs, Julius Smokes, Shane Hagadorn, Larry Sweeney. Does anyone NOT have booking power? It's not over yet though, because Chris Hero wants to talk too. Unfortunately he's interrupted by Austin Aries, which sets up... you've guessed it, an IMPROMPTU MATCH~!~! (that's 2 for Aries!) And Aries wins, only after Claudio's run out to chase off Sweeney. Got all that?

 

Finally we come to KENTA vs. Misawa. A great match, no post-match run-ins, no promos, no matches set up for the future, no impromptu matches stemming off of it. Just a wrestling match. Pity the only match of this kind on a ROH show is actually a match NOAH booked.

 

And then we eventually get The Briscoes vs. AOTF which apparantly went off without incident. So that's 2 matches total without any sort of schenanigans pre or post-match, one of them a NOAH match and the other which ended in a 2 minute Double DQ earlier in the night and was re-arranged into a No DQ match because... well, because The Briscoes said so.

 

 

Now that's not ROH booking as far as I'm concerned. I've already said in one of the PPV threads about how the impromptu matches are getting out of hand. Well, all the post-match antics are officially out of hand as well. I don't want to compare it to Russo's booking (after all, his run-ins happen during matches rather than after them and I don't think anyone turned allegiance without warning at the NYC show). But, it's WAY too chaotic. What happened to ROH being the wrestling company? You know, a card is booked, the matches happen, the wrestling is allowed to speak for itself, you're not bombarded with distractions after the match every match?

 

Unless it's a deliberate change in philosophy by Gabe to book like this, it seems like they desperately need a new Commissioner or authority figure of some sort. Someone to at least give the impression that there's some sort of control. That'd stop some of the impromptu match bullshit and make more sense than everybody making their own matches on the fly. At the moment, it just seems like (on screen) anybody can do whatever they want, whenever they want. It's turning into ECW booking, not ROH booking. And that's not a positive.

[The Flamboyance 0]

I agree that the impromptu shit has gotten out of hand and I really didnt like the beat down Claudio got after pinning Marufuji. That win that warranted some sort of respect/handshake/celebration segment IMO. Pinning Marufuji should have been treated as a big fucking deal.

 

I also though bringing out Higuchi and Race was stupid right after the double dq.

 

However, in the end, was it a HORRIBLE show? No way. It might look bad on paper but it was chock full of good matches that you'll only know about if you watch. Questionable booking aside, there were still loads of entertainment last night night that left people in a good mood after the show. There wasnt one match that sucked.

[King Cucaracha 0]

Well, obviously I wasn't there and I'm sure the wrestling itself was great. I'm just going by the results, which kinda made my head hurt. When I called it horrible, I was only talking about the booking.