Post by Agent Kev on May 13, 2007 0:18:42 GMT -5
Battle of the Icons- Edison, NJ 1/27/07
Show starts off with Rebecca Bayless backstage with ROH Champ Homicide and Julius Smokes. Cide speaks on the upcoming match tonight with Samoa Joe. Joe buts in and talks some crap setting up the match.
Jimmy Rave vs. Nigel McGuinness- I Quit
Rave cuts a promo that says he is here to bring back respect to ROH and announces that anyone throwing toilet paper at him in the ring will be thrown out. Rave also raises the stakes in his match tonight with Nigel moving it to No DQ as well as "I Quit" and "Kiss My Foot" match.
Nigel hits the ring running and as streamers fall for Nigel he nails a clothesline. Nigel takes the mic and says he accepts the stipulations and says to ring the bell. Nigel looks great early hitting forearms and clothesline and taking the lead. Nigel begins to work over Rave's shoulder and arm. Nigel kills Rave with a running european uppercut on the outside that sends Rave over the barricade. Nigel takes a chair to Rave on the outside as they brawl through the fans. Nigel all over Rave in the early parts of this match as they go back to the ring again and Nigel works over Rave's arm some more. Rave finally gets some offense as he hits the move formerly known as Ghanaria and then they spill outside and he begins to work over Nigel's leg to set him up for the heel hook and he takes a chair to the side of Nigel's leg. Rave goes to work with a figure four and uses the ropes for leverage but Nigel breaks it with a chairshot to Jimmy's knee and then Nigel goes back after the arm. Nigel hits some nice looks palm strikes to the shoulder and then does an over the head throw focusing on the shoulder and then drops in another arm submission. McGuinness comes up with some nice inventive offense by driving his head into Rave's shoulder. Rave then reverses and move and tenaciously goes after the heel hook several times. Jimmy Rave hits From Dusk Til Dawn and clamps on the crossface on Nigel but due to the pain he pukes in the ring while he is on the offensive! Dangerous! Nigel then takes over and sits Rave up on the top rope and hits a SICK clothesline. Nigel then hits a tremendous Tower of London. Nigel then does a variation of the Spinning Toe Hold but uses Rave's arm instead of his leg. Nigel then sits down in this position and bridges back. Rave rolls though and goes for the heel hook, Nigel reverses, Rave hits a super kick, Nigel goes for the rebound clothesline but Rave ducks and clamps on the heel hook. Nigel tries to climb over the ropes but Rave refuses to let go. Rave gets on the mic and tells Nigel to quit, Nigel refuses and says to break his ankle because he's not going to quit. The ref makes the call to stop the match as Nigel refuses to quit.
Great opener. I honestly thought this match was better than anything on the first ROH show of 2007 "Dedicated". Great post-match sell job by Nigel as well. Fans chant "You Still Suck" at Rave and Rave tells them that come February 16th they are looking at the new ROH Champion.
Pelle Primeau vs Adam Pearce w/Shane Hagadorn
Match starts out with Primeau ducking out of the way of Pearce and then bitch slapping him and hitting a dive seconds later. Fun start and the crowd seems to be into the diminutive Primeau. Unfortunately for Primeau, David gets caught by Goliath and Pearce bitch slaps him and then destroys him with a chokeslam. Pierce takes control but they do some fun comeback sequences with Pelle. Pierce kills Primeau with a Pile Driver for the win. Good for what it was and it was kept short.
Backstage The Briscoes cut an awesome promo and set-up their match with The Havana Pitbulls tonight.
Claudio Castagnoli vs Chris Hero w/Larry Sweeney vs Christopher Daniels w/Allison Danger
Interesting 3-way here as Daniels is taking on two former tag-team partners (2 shows ago Hero signed with Larry Sweeney but Sweeney was not interested in CC). CC and Hero work together a lot in the opening stanza in order to get the advantage on Daniels. Miscommunication and Sweeney breaking up a CC on Daniels pinfall leads to a falling out between CC and Hero and evens out the match as Daniels makes his comeback. Ending comes when Sweeney gets involved and crotches CC. Daniels takes exception and gets involved with Sweeney and Hero cradles CC for the quick win. Pretty decent match. Hero is rocking so far this year with Sweeney at his side.
Jimmy Jacobs w/Lacey vs. BJ Whitmer- Las Man Standing
Jimmy Jacobs theme hits and the cell phones light up the sky. BJ Whitmer destroys Jacobs with a chair to the back as he comes down the ramp and this one is on. These two work well together and Jacobs always seems to get the best out of Whitmer, who always gives great effort but doesn't always gel with his opponent. They do a lot of brawling and then Jacobs whips out a spike and nails Whitmer with it. Both guys are busted open and Jacobs continues to destroy Whitmer with the spike. Whitmer gets the advantage and Jacobs goes head first into a chair, then Whitmer hits a spinebuster on the chair and then a sick brainbuster onto a chair. Jacobs barely gets up at nine and a half. Lacey interferes and Jacobs gores Whitmer off the ring apron and they both crash to the floor and go through a table and hit the steel barricade. Jacobs went for another spear but instead ate a chairshot to the head. Whitmer hits a superplex and the ref counts to 9 but then Whitmer interrupts him so that he can inflict more damage on Jacobs. Whitmer is about to put Jacobs through a table when Brent Albright hits the ring and puts BJ through the table with an exploder and Whitmer is counted out. Good match and typical of the series that these guys have had. Colt Cabana comes out after the match to save Whitmer from further damage.
Jay and Mark Briscoe vs Ricky Reyes and Rocky Romero
This one starts before the ring introductions and we are off and running. Good back and forth match. Towards the end The Pitbulls grab stereo cross armbreakers on the Briscoes but they have to break the hold because the hold is not being applied to the legal man so they can't get a tap. Soon after this Reyes and Romero have a disagreement and Romero walks out on Reyes and then Reyes eats a Jay Driller for a Briscoes victory.
Rebecca Bayless is back in the locker room and Jimmy Rave approaches her and talks about why he attacked Samoa Joe at the last show and that he is now finished with Nigel and is setting his sights on the World Title.
Lacey and Brent Albright vs Colt Cabana and Sara Del Ray
Del Ray is filling in for Daizee Haze who got destroyed on the last show by Albright and Jacobs. This is solid with some great interactions between Cabana and Albright. The women definitely held their own here as well. Del Ray and Cabana win when Del Ray puts away Lacey. Daizee Haze then hits the ring calls Lacey a stripper and throws dollar bills at her.
Shingo/Davey Richards/Delirious vs. Austin Aries/Roderick Strong/Jack Evans
This was really fun. Really picked up towards the end with a great string of spots. Really fun ending with Roddy and Evans hitting the Ode to the Bulldog (where Jack jumps off the top rope and then onto his fallen opponent) but jumped to the outside of the ring to take out his foes. Then Roddy and Aries combined for a sidewalk slam and a 450 for the win. Good stuff.
Post-match Colt Cabana cuts a promo backstage.
ROH Title Match: Homicide (c) vs. Samoa Joe
It was strange seeing Homicide basically work as heel here but I guess he was going for more of a tweener. Overall this was a decent match but not at the level of their 04 fued mainly due to the roles they were playing then fit them better than their roles here. I like Homicide much more as a straight-up heel and/or as a contender than as a champion. And Joe plays a much better champ than a contender in this type of match. The match takes a good more heated turn towards the end as Joe makes a run for the belt. Ending kind of came up abruptly to me as I was expecting Homicide to have to hit a little bit more offense to keep Joe down.
Post-match backstage promo with Nigel saying that he never quit and that it isn't over between the two of them.
Cut to Joe and Homicide talking about their match and then Joe cutting a promo about losing to Homicide and moving on to his Pro Wrestling NOAH challenge. Homicide then talks about being the champion and standing strong for any competitors that want to challenge him.
Verdict:
I liked this show better than the first ROH show this year but wasn't overly satisfied with the Main Event. I think the best match was probably the first match (Nigel/Rave) as I thought that was very good. Overall, there isn't anything on the card that's not bad so it's good top to bottom. The 6-man tag is really fun and Rave/McGuinness is well worth watching.
2007 ROH Show Rankings:
1. Battle of the Icons- Edison, NJ 1/27/07
2. Dedicated- Braintree, MA 1/26/07
Show starts off with Rebecca Bayless backstage with ROH Champ Homicide and Julius Smokes. Cide speaks on the upcoming match tonight with Samoa Joe. Joe buts in and talks some crap setting up the match.
Jimmy Rave vs. Nigel McGuinness- I Quit
Rave cuts a promo that says he is here to bring back respect to ROH and announces that anyone throwing toilet paper at him in the ring will be thrown out. Rave also raises the stakes in his match tonight with Nigel moving it to No DQ as well as "I Quit" and "Kiss My Foot" match.
Nigel hits the ring running and as streamers fall for Nigel he nails a clothesline. Nigel takes the mic and says he accepts the stipulations and says to ring the bell. Nigel looks great early hitting forearms and clothesline and taking the lead. Nigel begins to work over Rave's shoulder and arm. Nigel kills Rave with a running european uppercut on the outside that sends Rave over the barricade. Nigel takes a chair to Rave on the outside as they brawl through the fans. Nigel all over Rave in the early parts of this match as they go back to the ring again and Nigel works over Rave's arm some more. Rave finally gets some offense as he hits the move formerly known as Ghanaria and then they spill outside and he begins to work over Nigel's leg to set him up for the heel hook and he takes a chair to the side of Nigel's leg. Rave goes to work with a figure four and uses the ropes for leverage but Nigel breaks it with a chairshot to Jimmy's knee and then Nigel goes back after the arm. Nigel hits some nice looks palm strikes to the shoulder and then does an over the head throw focusing on the shoulder and then drops in another arm submission. McGuinness comes up with some nice inventive offense by driving his head into Rave's shoulder. Rave then reverses and move and tenaciously goes after the heel hook several times. Jimmy Rave hits From Dusk Til Dawn and clamps on the crossface on Nigel but due to the pain he pukes in the ring while he is on the offensive! Dangerous! Nigel then takes over and sits Rave up on the top rope and hits a SICK clothesline. Nigel then hits a tremendous Tower of London. Nigel then does a variation of the Spinning Toe Hold but uses Rave's arm instead of his leg. Nigel then sits down in this position and bridges back. Rave rolls though and goes for the heel hook, Nigel reverses, Rave hits a super kick, Nigel goes for the rebound clothesline but Rave ducks and clamps on the heel hook. Nigel tries to climb over the ropes but Rave refuses to let go. Rave gets on the mic and tells Nigel to quit, Nigel refuses and says to break his ankle because he's not going to quit. The ref makes the call to stop the match as Nigel refuses to quit.
Great opener. I honestly thought this match was better than anything on the first ROH show of 2007 "Dedicated". Great post-match sell job by Nigel as well. Fans chant "You Still Suck" at Rave and Rave tells them that come February 16th they are looking at the new ROH Champion.
Pelle Primeau vs Adam Pearce w/Shane Hagadorn
Match starts out with Primeau ducking out of the way of Pearce and then bitch slapping him and hitting a dive seconds later. Fun start and the crowd seems to be into the diminutive Primeau. Unfortunately for Primeau, David gets caught by Goliath and Pearce bitch slaps him and then destroys him with a chokeslam. Pierce takes control but they do some fun comeback sequences with Pelle. Pierce kills Primeau with a Pile Driver for the win. Good for what it was and it was kept short.
Backstage The Briscoes cut an awesome promo and set-up their match with The Havana Pitbulls tonight.
Claudio Castagnoli vs Chris Hero w/Larry Sweeney vs Christopher Daniels w/Allison Danger
Interesting 3-way here as Daniels is taking on two former tag-team partners (2 shows ago Hero signed with Larry Sweeney but Sweeney was not interested in CC). CC and Hero work together a lot in the opening stanza in order to get the advantage on Daniels. Miscommunication and Sweeney breaking up a CC on Daniels pinfall leads to a falling out between CC and Hero and evens out the match as Daniels makes his comeback. Ending comes when Sweeney gets involved and crotches CC. Daniels takes exception and gets involved with Sweeney and Hero cradles CC for the quick win. Pretty decent match. Hero is rocking so far this year with Sweeney at his side.
Jimmy Jacobs w/Lacey vs. BJ Whitmer- Las Man Standing
Jimmy Jacobs theme hits and the cell phones light up the sky. BJ Whitmer destroys Jacobs with a chair to the back as he comes down the ramp and this one is on. These two work well together and Jacobs always seems to get the best out of Whitmer, who always gives great effort but doesn't always gel with his opponent. They do a lot of brawling and then Jacobs whips out a spike and nails Whitmer with it. Both guys are busted open and Jacobs continues to destroy Whitmer with the spike. Whitmer gets the advantage and Jacobs goes head first into a chair, then Whitmer hits a spinebuster on the chair and then a sick brainbuster onto a chair. Jacobs barely gets up at nine and a half. Lacey interferes and Jacobs gores Whitmer off the ring apron and they both crash to the floor and go through a table and hit the steel barricade. Jacobs went for another spear but instead ate a chairshot to the head. Whitmer hits a superplex and the ref counts to 9 but then Whitmer interrupts him so that he can inflict more damage on Jacobs. Whitmer is about to put Jacobs through a table when Brent Albright hits the ring and puts BJ through the table with an exploder and Whitmer is counted out. Good match and typical of the series that these guys have had. Colt Cabana comes out after the match to save Whitmer from further damage.
Jay and Mark Briscoe vs Ricky Reyes and Rocky Romero
This one starts before the ring introductions and we are off and running. Good back and forth match. Towards the end The Pitbulls grab stereo cross armbreakers on the Briscoes but they have to break the hold because the hold is not being applied to the legal man so they can't get a tap. Soon after this Reyes and Romero have a disagreement and Romero walks out on Reyes and then Reyes eats a Jay Driller for a Briscoes victory.
Rebecca Bayless is back in the locker room and Jimmy Rave approaches her and talks about why he attacked Samoa Joe at the last show and that he is now finished with Nigel and is setting his sights on the World Title.
Lacey and Brent Albright vs Colt Cabana and Sara Del Ray
Del Ray is filling in for Daizee Haze who got destroyed on the last show by Albright and Jacobs. This is solid with some great interactions between Cabana and Albright. The women definitely held their own here as well. Del Ray and Cabana win when Del Ray puts away Lacey. Daizee Haze then hits the ring calls Lacey a stripper and throws dollar bills at her.
Shingo/Davey Richards/Delirious vs. Austin Aries/Roderick Strong/Jack Evans
This was really fun. Really picked up towards the end with a great string of spots. Really fun ending with Roddy and Evans hitting the Ode to the Bulldog (where Jack jumps off the top rope and then onto his fallen opponent) but jumped to the outside of the ring to take out his foes. Then Roddy and Aries combined for a sidewalk slam and a 450 for the win. Good stuff.
Post-match Colt Cabana cuts a promo backstage.
ROH Title Match: Homicide (c) vs. Samoa Joe
It was strange seeing Homicide basically work as heel here but I guess he was going for more of a tweener. Overall this was a decent match but not at the level of their 04 fued mainly due to the roles they were playing then fit them better than their roles here. I like Homicide much more as a straight-up heel and/or as a contender than as a champion. And Joe plays a much better champ than a contender in this type of match. The match takes a good more heated turn towards the end as Joe makes a run for the belt. Ending kind of came up abruptly to me as I was expecting Homicide to have to hit a little bit more offense to keep Joe down.
Post-match backstage promo with Nigel saying that he never quit and that it isn't over between the two of them.
Cut to Joe and Homicide talking about their match and then Joe cutting a promo about losing to Homicide and moving on to his Pro Wrestling NOAH challenge. Homicide then talks about being the champion and standing strong for any competitors that want to challenge him.
Verdict:
I liked this show better than the first ROH show this year but wasn't overly satisfied with the Main Event. I think the best match was probably the first match (Nigel/Rave) as I thought that was very good. Overall, there isn't anything on the card that's not bad so it's good top to bottom. The 6-man tag is really fun and Rave/McGuinness is well worth watching.
2007 ROH Show Rankings:
1. Battle of the Icons- Edison, NJ 1/27/07
2. Dedicated- Braintree, MA 1/26/07
