ROH: "Supercard Of Honor" Thoughts~!

[Agent Kev]

They start out with a Jim Cornette backstage promo where he fires Low-Ki and then they show Chris Hero heckling fans outside of the building. Pretty great stuff.

Next they go to Jim Cornette in the ring and he cuts a promo and brings out some "hardcore" wrestlers and then has Samoa Joe and Adam Pearce come down and squash them.

Ricky Reyes vs. Delirious vs. Flash Flanagan vs. Shane Hagadorn (Four Corner Survival)

This was a fun opener. Flanagan reminded me a lot of Mike Awesome in his size and the way he moved in the ring, plus his agility. He didn't throw around too many Awesome-esque moves (although he did hit a nice belly-to-back and attempted a move off the top) but he just reminded me of him somehow. I wouldn't mind seeing more of him in ROH as I like to see big guys mixed in and they usually do pretty well if they are booked correctly (see: Abyss). Hagadorn looked good here and didn't do anything to stand out in a bad way and that's good for a student. He really has an 80s heel jobber vibe to him that I really like for some strange reason. Reyes and Delirious seem to be working a mini-angle in this match as Reyes chokes him out for the victory and then he and Smokes tear up Delirious's mask. Good, fun opener and a good way to kick off the show.

Next we get backstage promos from Chad Collyer and Ace Steel setting up their First Blood match later. Really good promo from Ace.

Jimmy Rave & Alex Shelley vs. Claudio Castagnoli & Jimmy Yang

The TP shots are just getting vicious. The most entertaining tag-team in ROH keeps on their roll here as this is another really fun match. Claudio is super over and gets continuous "HEY's" whenever he moves in the ring. Fun stuff and as i've said before I think Alex Shelley has really turned a corner in ROH in combining his wrestling skill and his personality. Actually, both he and Rave have. Good stuff here.

More to come...

[JAYD]

Shelley and Rave rawk.

Looking forward for more to come!

[Agent Kev]

Ace Steel vs. Chad Collyer (First Blood Match)

This was a solid match but not quite what I was expecting from a match to end a fued that had been going on for a while in the Midwest.

AJ Styles & Matt Sydal vs. Austin Aries & Jack Evans

This was really fun and blew away the AJ/Sydal tag-match from the previous night as AJ brought his "A" game here (it was missing the previous night). Everyone looked really good in this one and the finish was really hot as we saw a Sasuke Special reversed into a Styles Clash and then a heatseaking missle and a shooting star press within seconds of each other. Really fun match.

Do Fixer (Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi, & Ryo Saito) vs. Blood Generation (CIMA, Naruki Doi, & Masato Yoshino)

It's seems like forever since I popped in my first Toryumon VHS tape and was wowed. One of the first shows I watched was the El Numero Uno 2003 show that featured a single elimination tournament with the likes of Yossino, Suwa, CIMA, Susumu Yokosuka, Masaaki Mochizuki, Milano Collection AT, Genki Horiguchi and Magnum Tokyo. Other guys on the show were Yoshihiro Takayama, Ultimo Dragon, Anthony W Mori, Second Doi, Kenichiro Arai, Dragon Kid, Yassini, Condotti Shuji and Ryo Saito. I think I watched this show about 10 times the first couple of days. I still think it's one of the finest pro wrestling shows I've ever seen. Fantastic athleticism mixed with entertainment mixed with comedy mixed with great wrestling mixed with drama mixed with speed.

Enter 2006 where Toryumon no longer exists but Dragon Gate has formed in it's place and 6 of the DG guys head to Ring of Honor to make a name for themselves in the States. In 2005 CIMA and Shingo Takagi both wrestled singles matches in ROH. CIMA had a decent match with AJ Styles (who for some reason can't have an above average match with a Japanese wrestler) and Shingo Takagi had a really fun encounter with Curry Man. It was a decent show but it wasn't what Dragon Gate/Toryumon are about. As I continued to watch Toryumon I really fell in love with their multi-man matches as they built nicely on good solid wrestling and then usually exploded in the stretch run to create unbelieveable finishes.

On this night the six Dragon Gate guys set out to make their mark on US wrestling. This to me is kind of like the equivilant of the Michinoku Pro six-man tag from the ECW PPV Barely Legal (a match that is widely considered one of the Top 5 ECW matches of the 90s). This isn't the best Dragon Gate/Toryumon Six-Man match of all-time but it's kind of like a Best Of. What I loved about the match is that it was pretty much non stop action from beginning to ending and also that the match flowed very well. The match ultimately was a huge collection of spots, but the spots weren't awkward and didn't play like a spotfest. The spots flowed naturally from one to the next and IMO that's one of the things that the DG guys do better than anyone (and a lot of it has to do with their familiarity with each other). There has been a lot of debate about this match since it's gotten so much press (I believe Meltzer gave it *****) and this match has a lot of fans and alot who say it's not as great as what people are saying. If you've never seen Dragon Gate then I think you will absolutely love this match. If you've seen the high-end Dragon Gate/Toryumon stuff then I think you'll still think this is a pretty special match but maybe not as great as some say it is. Me...I've seen the high-end Dragon Gate/Toryumon match and I think this is pretty great. More than that it's fucking fun as hell. I watched it last time and so far I've watched it 2 more times and it's been a long time since i've watch a wrestling match more than once without moving on to another match.

Next up is a solid Nigel McGuinness promo.

MsChif vs. Cheerleader Melissa vs. Allison Danger vs. Daizee Haze vs. Lacey vs. Rain (SHIMMER 6 Way Match)

This started out really poorly but eventually recovered and finished up with a really nice stretch run.

Homicide vs. Mitch Franklin

RIP Mitch Franklin. You will be missed.

Homicide vs. Colt Cabana

This was good for what it was and continued the saga of Cide and Cabana.

As Cabana is being helped from ringside Chris Hero and Necro Butcher hit the ring and get instant heat. Hero gets on the mic and talks sh*t until Adam Pearce and Claudio hit the ring. Pearce and Necro brawl and Hero and Claudio pair off. The camera follows the Pearce/Necro brawl and it's a pretty good little fight. They eventually make back to the ring and Pearce sets up a table and ringside but then Hero comes out of nowhere and just smacks Pearce with a chair. Necro then Russian Leg Sweeps Pearce off the ring apron thru a table. Jim Cornette comes down and he hits Necro in the gut with a baseball bat. Hero grabs Cornette and puts him in an armbar submission until Samoa Joe comes down and brawls with Hero. Hero and Butcher run for the hills but BJ Whitmer is there with a chair which causes Hero to get another beatdown before fleeing and then BJ, Joe, Pearce and Cornette celebrate in the ring. Good little continuation of the CZW/ROH angle.

Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Jimmy Jacobs

Joe is left in the ring and cuts a short promo and we go from pissed off Samoa Joe to Jimmy Jacobs coming out with Lacey to the emo "Ballad of Lacey". Just a great subtle shift of gears as the fans hold up their cell phones to the ballad.

Overall, I actually liked this match better than the previous nights main event (which was Joe vs Daniels). I think putting Jacobs in this match in the role of the gnat really freshened it up and everybody worked great with each other. Good stuff.

More to come...

[Agent Kev]

Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong (ROH World Title Match)

Danielson has the ref introduce him as the best wrestler in Chicago this weekend (since it's Wrestlemania weekend) and after this match I can't argue. This match is the version of professional wrestling that I love and why I am still a fan. I grew up watching NWA live at the Omni and UWF on TV, so i've always been a fan of actual wrestling not the soap opera version of pro wrestling that Vince McMahon know offers where a feud is started because one wrestler is caught sniffing the panties of another wrestlers girlfriend mentality. This is the type of match where you have a champion who feels, no he KNOWS, that he is the best wrestling in the company, the best wrestler in Chicago on Wrestlemania weekend and the best wrestler on the planet. And you have an upstart challenger who has already had two shots at the belt. Both matches were great matches and IMO I had them both ranked in the Top 7 matches in ROH in 2005. In both of those matches Danielson was clearly the dominant wrestler and Strong hung around with his heart and desire. Both matches went 40+ minutes. In this match Strong hangs with Danielson for a little longer than in the previous two but Danielson once again becomes the dominant one when both of Strong's top weapons get taken out and he is put on the defensive and hurts himself when he's on the offensive. I thought the first 10 minutes of this match were phenomenal to get the match started and show how Strong has progressed from the other two matches into a really legitimate challenger to Danielson's title. Danielson takes over with Strong hitting comeback sequences to try to get back in it. At around the 45 minute mark Danielson starts to pull out all the stops and hits a flying springboard shoulderblock/forearm from the ring into the crowd. Match ends up going around 56 minutes and I think it's easily the best match i've seen this year and definitely the Best ROH match of the year to this point.

Great stuff. In comparing this trilogy to the Joe/Punk trilogy I think I like this one better because the overall 3 matches were better (even though the 3rd Joe/Punk match was better than any of the 3 Strong/Danielson matches) and in Danielson/Strong we started out with one wrestler clearly better than the other (whereas Punk/Joe were more equals) and the fued has lifted Strong up to where he is one of the most legitimate challengers to Danielson title (along with Joe, KENTA, Nigel and Cide) even though he's already lost 3 times. In these matches we've also seen Danielson progress into a world class worker. He has actually improved his execution of moves (which is almost flawless at this point), he has cut down on his repetition of moves, he opened up his aerial game more and he's improved on his personality/mic skills which people always said was his biggest weakness. I am hard pressed to find a better pro wrestler right now than Bryan Danielson, he is at the top of his game and is clicking on all cylinders with the Lance Storm and Nigel McGuiness matches looming on the horizon.

Post match we get Lance Storm and Colt Cabana promos setting up for the next night.

Verdict:
Easily the best ROH show of 2006 and one that any true wrestling fan needs for their collection. On this DVD we have the top 2 matches in ROH so far this year in Strong/Danielson and the Dragon Gate Six-Man. Plus, we have a fun 3-way in Daniels/Joe/Jacobs, a solid tag in Rave/Shelley vs Yang/Claudio, a really fun tag in AJ/Sydal vs Aries/Evans and a bunch of other good stuff. Buy this DVD.

2006 Show Rankings:
1. Supercard Of Honor- Chicago Ridge, IL 3/31/06
2. Best In The World- New York, NY 3/25/06
3. Tag Wars 2006- Dayton, OH 1/27/06
4. Dragon Gate Challenge- Detroit, MI 3/30/06
5. Arena Warfare- Philadelphia, PA 3/11/06
6. Fourth Anniversary Show- Edison, NJ 2/25/06
7. Dissension- Cleveland, OH 1/28/06
8. Hell Freezes Over- Philadelphia, PA 1/14/06
9. Unscripted II- Long Island, NY 2/11/06

[novocain]

I'm glad you ranked Danielson/Strong III so high. It seems like most people don't care for this match for some reason. I absolutely loved this and it's my MOTY so far.

These two guys epitomize wrestling as a sport. I LOVE watching a wrestling match and being able to analyze it from a competitive perspective.

Danielson just DOESN'T make mistakes. Poor Roddy has all the heart in the world but he makes critical errors that a technician like Danielson completely capitalizes on.

[brad512]

I really enjoyed this show. It reached the high expectations I had going into it. The Dragon Gate 6-way was awesome and Danielson/Strong was just the same. It did a good job building to another possible rematch. Strong pushed Danielson even more it sounds like from the previous 2 matches. Plus, he did it with both his knee and right hand being taken out of the picture during the match.

Just a great show.

[novocain]

If Roddy can cut out his mistakes and control the pace himself, he has a chance to fell Danielson. Problem is he always has to fight back with all he's got and in the process exposes himself somehow and Danielson jumps all over it.

That's why Danielson is the best wrestler in the world.