Post by Agent Kev on Sept 1, 2007 14:42:01 GMT -5
Respect Is Earned- New York, NY 5/12/07
Respect Is Earned PPV
They start off BJ Whitmer in the ring and the crowd chanting "ROH...ROH...ROH". The camera pans the crowd and the feeling is electric. Very ECWish feel to the beginning of the PPV. Whitmer introduces ROH and issues and open challenge.
Takeshi Morishima vs. BJ Whitmer (ROH World Title Match)
Morishima answers the challenge and puts his title on the line. Good short heavyweight slugfest here. Good opener as it was kept short and Morishima was put over.
Post-match Nigel McGuinness comes down and issues a challenge for the belt. Bryan Danielson then comes down and also puts his name in the hat. Danielson puts over the fact that he is a former champion and that he was the "Best Wrestler in the World" for 15 months and took out guys like Lance Storm, Samoa Joe and Homicide. Danielson is dressed nicer than usual going for a Flair type heel feel for the PPV. Danielson and McGuinness go at it and Morishima joins in to gang up on McGuinness. Danielson grabs the belt and says that this is his belt but Morishima yanks it from him and takes off. McGuinness then gets back to his feet but Danielson bails out. Good segment putting over McGuinness, Danielson and Morishima as 3 of the top guys in the promotion from segment 1. Also during the first match there was a little different feel to the camera work- not sure if there were some slight upgrades to the production equipment or if they just added an extra camera or two.
Next up is a nice little Brent Albright hype video.
Rocky Romero vs. Naomichi Marufuji
I liked this a lot. This actually reminded me stylistically of an RVD/Jerry Lynn match. Not that this is a great match but I thought it was solid. After the earlier heavyweight slugfest they came out with the next match and provided a more in-ring wrestling hold-to-hold style match with Marufuji and Romero both bringing some innovation without doing anything insane.
Post-match Larry Sweeney and Tank Toland are backstage and Sweeney cuts a promo introducing the newest member of Sweet and Sour Inc the best woman's wrestler in the world Sara del Rey. Then they turn their attention to Tank Toland who talks about Bobby Dempsey. He makes Dempsey do squats in the corner and then Del Ray and Toland get into a "Squat Off" and they are doing a squat competition in tandem and Dempsey has collapsed in the corner. Great stuff.
They cut back to the ring and Nigel, Danielson and Morishima are brawling and KENTA comes down and he is hyped as Danielson's toughest opponent from 2006 and Morishima's rival from Japan. He helps Nigel out and the Main Event for tonight is set-up.
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Matt Sydal & Claudio Castagnoli (ROH World Tag Team Title Match)
This was a really fun back and forth match, typical Briscoes tag with lots of big moves and almost non-stop action. Claudio was sporting some new tights that really didn't seem to suite him too well but other than that he and Sydal looked real solid together and as individuals.
Post-match Lenny Leonard and Dave Prazak are hyping upcoming events and Kevin Steen and El Generico interrupt and make their way to the ring and brawl with the Briscoes. The boys from the back come out and separate them and the Briscoes are in the aisle. Steen KILLS one of the students by throwing them over his head into the turnbuckle and then he and Generico do their finishing combo- package piledriver by Steen into a Brainbuster by Generico that looks real good. Generico then dives out from the top rope onto the floor to take out the Briscoes and they brawl to the backstage area. Great segment and Steen and Generico are put over as big time players just by this one segment.
Delirious vs, Roderick Strong
This was the first match that pitted clear heel vs face and they did a nice little promo package to set the match up. I thought this was better than I'd heard that it was. Nothing great but a real solid match. Ending was kind of out of nowhere but put Strong over strong (no pun intended). No Remorse Corps of Davey Richards and Rocky Romero come down post-match and Roderick destroys Delirious on the guardrail with a powerbomb. Erick Stevens of the Resistance comes down and clears the ring (and looks great doing so) but is a little too late to help out poor Delirious.
Next up is a real solid Adam Pearce promo in which he talks about BJ Whitmer and really targets him as a lost soul who has been broken due to what has happened to him over the last several months and everything that he's given to ROH. Appears that Pearce is about to take Whitmer under his wing.
Bryan Danielson & Takeshi Morishima vs. Nigel McGuinness & KENTA (Dream Tag Team Main Event)
I liked this a lot. It wasn't the epic, grandiose match that ROH probably wished for but it was very good and solid throughout. Bryan Danielson was really the All-Star of this match for me (although everyone pulled their own weight and looked good) and he looked in top shape in just his second show back in ROH from his 2006 injury. This match really did a good job setting up the fact that Morishima, Danielson and Nigel are the top 3 guys in ROH and Danielson and Nigel are the top two contenders. Great finishing sequence where KENTA reverses the Cattle Mutliation into the Go 2 Sleep but then Danielson reverses it into a Dragon Suplex and then back into the Cattle Mutilation.
PPV Thoughts:
Overall, I liked this PPV a lot and thought it fell definitely in the upper half of ROH shows this year. Not the best show but it did a good job establishing the Top talent (Morishima, Danielson and Nigel), did a great job setting up Generico/Steen vs Briscoes and also did a great job establishing Generico and Steen as big-time players in ROH.
I also liked how ROH got a lot of guys camera time despite having only 5 matches: Takeshi Morishima, BJ Whitmer, Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuinness, KENTA, Brent Albright, Naomichi Marufuji, Rocky Romero, Larry Sweeney, Tank Toland, Sara del Rey, Bobby Dempsey, Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe, Claudio Castagnoli, Matt Sydal, Kevin Steen, El Generico, Delirious, Roderick Strong, Davey Richards, Erick Stevens, and Adam Pearce.
Definitely a solid PPV debut, and while it wasn't their best show I thought it did a good job showcasing what ROH is and focusing on in-ring action with realistic storylines that lead to settling things in the ring and setting up for future matches.
DVD Bonus Matches:
Brent Albright vs. Tank Toland
I didn't like this match-up on paper because neither of these two guys really need a loss here and both lean more toward the heel side of the spectrum. Also, neither guy is your typical ROH wrestler as Albright works more of a heavyweight style and Toland is limited in his ability but has more than made up for it so far in ROH with his persona. I liked this one ok and thought it was probably better than it should have been. There were some minor miscues but overall it didn't bring the match down too much.
No Remorse Corps cut a promo backstage and give an example of No Remorse by grabbing Pelle Primeau (who was also backstage) and beating him up.
Davey Richards vs. Erick Stevens
I liked this a lot. This would have fit in perfectly on the PPV IMO if they had more time. I think this might be Davey Richards best singles match in ROH and Erick Stevens is just AWESOME and continues to impress me. This was a really fun match.
Day 2 of the Jimmy and Lacey dates is shown. Jimmy takes out Lacey shopping in Chicago and buys her a fur coat and runs up his credit card bill.
Daizee Haze vs. Sara Del Rey
This was a solid woman's wrestling match, which has become a staple of ROH shows.
Day 3 of the Jimmy and Lacey dates is shown. Jimmy takes her to the beach on Lake Michigan and to the Ferris Wheel and then things turn south when he talks about wanting to take care of her and have her stay at home.
El Generico & Kevin Steen vs. Irish Airborne vs. Pelle Primeau & Mitch Franklin vs. Jimmy Rave & Adam Pearce (Tag Team Scramble Match)
This was a lot of fun. Great stuff between Rave and Primeau and I thought IA and Steen/Generico had some good sequences. Overall, this was short and action packed and pretty much what you would expect. Steen and Generico continue to impress on their second tour of duty with ROH.
Day 4 of Jimmy and Lacey and Jimmy gives Lacey a ring to show his love for her and she gives him something else..wink...wink. Ends with Lacey telling Jimmy that she thinks she loves him too and Jimmy seemingly not knowing how to respond.
Verdict:
Overall, this was a strong show as the PPV was very good and the bonus matches were a good compliment. Stevens/Richards and the Tag-Scramble were both really fun and would not have looked out of place on the PPV. I definitely recommend this DVD and/or PPV.
2007 Show Rankings:
1. Fifth Year Festival: Finale- Liverpool, UK 3/4/07
2. Fifth Year Festival: Liverpool- Liverpool, UK 3/3/07
3. Respect Is Earned- New York, NY 5/12/07
4. Fifth Year Festival: NYC- New York, NY 2/16/07
5. Good Times, Great Memories- Chicago Ridge, IL 4/28/07
6. Supercard of Honor II- Detroit, MI 3/31/07
7. All Star Extravaganza III- Detroit, MI 3/30/07
8. Fighting Spirit- Edison, NJ 4/14/07
9. Fifth Year Festival: Philly- Philadelphia, PA 2/17/07
10. Battle of the Icons- Edison, NJ 1/27/07
11. Fifth Year Festival: Chicago- Chicago, IL 2/24/07
12. The Battle Of St. Paul- St. Paul, MN 4/27/07
13. This Means War II- Long Island, NY 4/13/07
14. Dedicated- Braintree, MA 1/26/07
15. Reborn Again- Hartford, CT 5/11/07
16. Fifth Year Festival: Dayton- Dayton, OH 2/23/07
Respect Is Earned PPV
They start off BJ Whitmer in the ring and the crowd chanting "ROH...ROH...ROH". The camera pans the crowd and the feeling is electric. Very ECWish feel to the beginning of the PPV. Whitmer introduces ROH and issues and open challenge.
Takeshi Morishima vs. BJ Whitmer (ROH World Title Match)
Morishima answers the challenge and puts his title on the line. Good short heavyweight slugfest here. Good opener as it was kept short and Morishima was put over.
Post-match Nigel McGuinness comes down and issues a challenge for the belt. Bryan Danielson then comes down and also puts his name in the hat. Danielson puts over the fact that he is a former champion and that he was the "Best Wrestler in the World" for 15 months and took out guys like Lance Storm, Samoa Joe and Homicide. Danielson is dressed nicer than usual going for a Flair type heel feel for the PPV. Danielson and McGuinness go at it and Morishima joins in to gang up on McGuinness. Danielson grabs the belt and says that this is his belt but Morishima yanks it from him and takes off. McGuinness then gets back to his feet but Danielson bails out. Good segment putting over McGuinness, Danielson and Morishima as 3 of the top guys in the promotion from segment 1. Also during the first match there was a little different feel to the camera work- not sure if there were some slight upgrades to the production equipment or if they just added an extra camera or two.
Next up is a nice little Brent Albright hype video.
Rocky Romero vs. Naomichi Marufuji
I liked this a lot. This actually reminded me stylistically of an RVD/Jerry Lynn match. Not that this is a great match but I thought it was solid. After the earlier heavyweight slugfest they came out with the next match and provided a more in-ring wrestling hold-to-hold style match with Marufuji and Romero both bringing some innovation without doing anything insane.
Post-match Larry Sweeney and Tank Toland are backstage and Sweeney cuts a promo introducing the newest member of Sweet and Sour Inc the best woman's wrestler in the world Sara del Rey. Then they turn their attention to Tank Toland who talks about Bobby Dempsey. He makes Dempsey do squats in the corner and then Del Ray and Toland get into a "Squat Off" and they are doing a squat competition in tandem and Dempsey has collapsed in the corner. Great stuff.
They cut back to the ring and Nigel, Danielson and Morishima are brawling and KENTA comes down and he is hyped as Danielson's toughest opponent from 2006 and Morishima's rival from Japan. He helps Nigel out and the Main Event for tonight is set-up.
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Matt Sydal & Claudio Castagnoli (ROH World Tag Team Title Match)
This was a really fun back and forth match, typical Briscoes tag with lots of big moves and almost non-stop action. Claudio was sporting some new tights that really didn't seem to suite him too well but other than that he and Sydal looked real solid together and as individuals.
Post-match Lenny Leonard and Dave Prazak are hyping upcoming events and Kevin Steen and El Generico interrupt and make their way to the ring and brawl with the Briscoes. The boys from the back come out and separate them and the Briscoes are in the aisle. Steen KILLS one of the students by throwing them over his head into the turnbuckle and then he and Generico do their finishing combo- package piledriver by Steen into a Brainbuster by Generico that looks real good. Generico then dives out from the top rope onto the floor to take out the Briscoes and they brawl to the backstage area. Great segment and Steen and Generico are put over as big time players just by this one segment.
Delirious vs, Roderick Strong
This was the first match that pitted clear heel vs face and they did a nice little promo package to set the match up. I thought this was better than I'd heard that it was. Nothing great but a real solid match. Ending was kind of out of nowhere but put Strong over strong (no pun intended). No Remorse Corps of Davey Richards and Rocky Romero come down post-match and Roderick destroys Delirious on the guardrail with a powerbomb. Erick Stevens of the Resistance comes down and clears the ring (and looks great doing so) but is a little too late to help out poor Delirious.
Next up is a real solid Adam Pearce promo in which he talks about BJ Whitmer and really targets him as a lost soul who has been broken due to what has happened to him over the last several months and everything that he's given to ROH. Appears that Pearce is about to take Whitmer under his wing.
Bryan Danielson & Takeshi Morishima vs. Nigel McGuinness & KENTA (Dream Tag Team Main Event)
I liked this a lot. It wasn't the epic, grandiose match that ROH probably wished for but it was very good and solid throughout. Bryan Danielson was really the All-Star of this match for me (although everyone pulled their own weight and looked good) and he looked in top shape in just his second show back in ROH from his 2006 injury. This match really did a good job setting up the fact that Morishima, Danielson and Nigel are the top 3 guys in ROH and Danielson and Nigel are the top two contenders. Great finishing sequence where KENTA reverses the Cattle Mutliation into the Go 2 Sleep but then Danielson reverses it into a Dragon Suplex and then back into the Cattle Mutilation.
PPV Thoughts:
Overall, I liked this PPV a lot and thought it fell definitely in the upper half of ROH shows this year. Not the best show but it did a good job establishing the Top talent (Morishima, Danielson and Nigel), did a great job setting up Generico/Steen vs Briscoes and also did a great job establishing Generico and Steen as big-time players in ROH.
I also liked how ROH got a lot of guys camera time despite having only 5 matches: Takeshi Morishima, BJ Whitmer, Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuinness, KENTA, Brent Albright, Naomichi Marufuji, Rocky Romero, Larry Sweeney, Tank Toland, Sara del Rey, Bobby Dempsey, Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe, Claudio Castagnoli, Matt Sydal, Kevin Steen, El Generico, Delirious, Roderick Strong, Davey Richards, Erick Stevens, and Adam Pearce.
Definitely a solid PPV debut, and while it wasn't their best show I thought it did a good job showcasing what ROH is and focusing on in-ring action with realistic storylines that lead to settling things in the ring and setting up for future matches.
DVD Bonus Matches:
Brent Albright vs. Tank Toland
I didn't like this match-up on paper because neither of these two guys really need a loss here and both lean more toward the heel side of the spectrum. Also, neither guy is your typical ROH wrestler as Albright works more of a heavyweight style and Toland is limited in his ability but has more than made up for it so far in ROH with his persona. I liked this one ok and thought it was probably better than it should have been. There were some minor miscues but overall it didn't bring the match down too much.
No Remorse Corps cut a promo backstage and give an example of No Remorse by grabbing Pelle Primeau (who was also backstage) and beating him up.
Davey Richards vs. Erick Stevens
I liked this a lot. This would have fit in perfectly on the PPV IMO if they had more time. I think this might be Davey Richards best singles match in ROH and Erick Stevens is just AWESOME and continues to impress me. This was a really fun match.
Day 2 of the Jimmy and Lacey dates is shown. Jimmy takes out Lacey shopping in Chicago and buys her a fur coat and runs up his credit card bill.
Daizee Haze vs. Sara Del Rey
This was a solid woman's wrestling match, which has become a staple of ROH shows.
Day 3 of the Jimmy and Lacey dates is shown. Jimmy takes her to the beach on Lake Michigan and to the Ferris Wheel and then things turn south when he talks about wanting to take care of her and have her stay at home.
El Generico & Kevin Steen vs. Irish Airborne vs. Pelle Primeau & Mitch Franklin vs. Jimmy Rave & Adam Pearce (Tag Team Scramble Match)
This was a lot of fun. Great stuff between Rave and Primeau and I thought IA and Steen/Generico had some good sequences. Overall, this was short and action packed and pretty much what you would expect. Steen and Generico continue to impress on their second tour of duty with ROH.
Day 4 of Jimmy and Lacey and Jimmy gives Lacey a ring to show his love for her and she gives him something else..wink...wink. Ends with Lacey telling Jimmy that she thinks she loves him too and Jimmy seemingly not knowing how to respond.
Verdict:
Overall, this was a strong show as the PPV was very good and the bonus matches were a good compliment. Stevens/Richards and the Tag-Scramble were both really fun and would not have looked out of place on the PPV. I definitely recommend this DVD and/or PPV.
2007 Show Rankings:
1. Fifth Year Festival: Finale- Liverpool, UK 3/4/07
2. Fifth Year Festival: Liverpool- Liverpool, UK 3/3/07
3. Respect Is Earned- New York, NY 5/12/07
4. Fifth Year Festival: NYC- New York, NY 2/16/07
5. Good Times, Great Memories- Chicago Ridge, IL 4/28/07
6. Supercard of Honor II- Detroit, MI 3/31/07
7. All Star Extravaganza III- Detroit, MI 3/30/07
8. Fighting Spirit- Edison, NJ 4/14/07
9. Fifth Year Festival: Philly- Philadelphia, PA 2/17/07
10. Battle of the Icons- Edison, NJ 1/27/07
11. Fifth Year Festival: Chicago- Chicago, IL 2/24/07
12. The Battle Of St. Paul- St. Paul, MN 4/27/07
13. This Means War II- Long Island, NY 4/13/07
14. Dedicated- Braintree, MA 1/26/07
15. Reborn Again- Hartford, CT 5/11/07
16. Fifth Year Festival: Dayton- Dayton, OH 2/23/07
