Post by Agent Kev on Sept 29, 2007 23:26:10 GMT -5
Live In Tokyo- Tokyo, Japan 7/16/07 (DVD)
We open the show backstage with Nigel McGuinness as he is arriving at the building. They just show him walking through the arena and then cut to Takeshi Morishima, who proceeds to cut a promo in Japanese.
The ring announcer is in the ring and he introduces Delirious. Delirious walks down the ramp to ringside on his knees and slaps hands with the fans. They've got the ramp set up just like the NOAH shows in that it leads right to the ring and is connected. Delirious then proceeds to cut a promo in Delirious speak to welcome the Japanese fans to Ring of Honor. The No Remorse Corps cut this a little bit short as they hit the ring for a beatdown. Jack Evans and Kotaro Suzuki come in to help out Delirious and it looks like we are on our way. Jack Evans grabs the mic and cuts a promo in Japanese. Delirious then does a dive that takes out Roderick Strong and they brawl backstage and we have our first match-up...
Rocky Romero & Davey Richards vs. Jack Evans & Kotaro Suzuki
Jack looks real good in the opening sequences. Overall, this was ok. Definitely different watching this with a Japanese crowd as the NOAH crowd was pretty quiet but really came to like when Kotaro was on offense. This one definitely picked up with Romero and Kotaro as they got the crowd going. Richards went for his handspring off the ropes but Kotaro countered with a great dropkick while Richards was upside down about to rebound from the handspring. The crowd definitely bought in more as the match went on but for me it felt like this was a little long for an opener. Romero wins this one over Evans with kicks to the head.
Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Akihiko Ito
Next up is a match-up of two young lions of NOAH. This was pretty solid, especially considering the youth of these two. Nothing to go out of your way to see but good solid wrestling. I think this one went a bit too long as well.
Next up is a Bryan Danielson promo. He says that he hears that Go Shiozaki might be brought in as an ROH regular. Says he will test out Go tonight and see if he is worthy. Also, says that he is going to be checking out the Main Event tonight and will be coming after the winner.
Jimmy Rave vs. B.J. Whitmer
This one if announced to the crowd as "2 ROH veterans". This was decent. Not much else to say.
The Briscoes are backstage and talk about their 6-man for tonight. They bring in Naomichi Marufuji as their partner tonight in the 6-man and they all say "Man Up".
Bryan Danielson vs. Go Shiozaki
This one is announced as a "Special Challenge Match". Final Countdown hits and all is right with world although the venue cuts it off before it really has a chance to kick in (boo Tokyo!). Announcers put over the Go is someone that ROH is considering using as a regular in 2008 so they are testing him versus Danielson. Real solid opening sequence with both guys matching each other and neither gaining a clear advantage, they do a double dropkick standout sequence after a series of back and forth moves. Good back and forth with Go dishing out more than he is getting until he is dropkicked off the top rope by Danielson to the outside. Danielson's chest is red from Go's chops. From this point Danielson really seizes control and takes Go to the mat and works him over for a while. They go back and forth again and then Danielson hits a big leap into the crowd (over the guardrail) to take out Go. Back in the ring and Danielson hits a missile dropkick for the top, northern lights suplex and then a diving headbutt. Danielson then clamps on a cross-armed chicken wing but Go gets to the ropes. Really hot sequence where they go back and forth with forearms and chops and then Danielson hits a roaring elbow, Go counters with a lariat, Danielson hits a side suplex and then Go hits a superkick to get the fans going. Danielson hits a german suplex with a bridge for a near fall so Go hits two in a row. Go's injured knee from the match makes him unable to hit a moonsault so instead he eats a big Back SuperPlex. Danielson hits uppercuts but they are reversed into a back slide, a superkick, strikes and then a big lariat. Go goes up top again and this time misses the moonault. Danielson jumps on him and locks in Cattle Mutilation but Go gets to the ropes. Danielson then hits a Tiger Suplex for a near two and holds un and hits the elbows to the face and then rolls it in the Cattle Mutilation until Go is finally forced to tap. Really good match, just a real solid pro wrestling contest. Post match the Japanese fans chant "ROH...ROH".
Post-match Danielson gets on the mic and says that it is the first night ROH is in Japan and talks about the Morishima/Nigel match for tonight. Danielson says that he wants a title shot at whoever wins that fight and gets a pop from the crowd. He then extends his hand to Go and they shake. Fans chant "ROH...ROH" again. The best damn theme music in pro wrestling then hits as Danielson and Go exit separately.
Post-match Todd Sinclair is backstage (he's no Becky!) and Ricky Marvin is with him. Marvin cuts a short promo that was hard to understand.
Roderick Strong vs. Delirious (Fight Without Honor)
This was decent and had it's moments but just didn't feel right. Not sure that a "Fight Without Honor" that really wasn't any more serious (they did use a ladder but Roderick has used the guardrails in previous match-ups even if it was after the match officially ended) than their previous match-ups was the right thing for a Japanese show in which the crowd is probably not going to be emotionally invested in the story lines like the local crowds would be. They did get a nice "Holy sh*t" chant from the Japanese crowd.
Nigel McGuinness is backstage and cuts a promo on his upcoming World Title match tonight with Morishima.
Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Matt Sydal, Ricky Marvin & Atsushi Aoki
They start off with Marufuji/Sydal but when Marvin gets in the ring he really brings it. Marvin looks great in there against Jay. Aoki tags in and he gets isolated quickly. Mark gets in trouble from the ref for using closed fists so he hits a nice slap right to Aoki's kisser. After this the teams go back and forth with some decent wrestling. This leads to the young Aoki getting isolated again. That's pretty much how this match seems to go for the first 20 or so minutes. Aoki gets in trouble, he makes the tag and they go back and forth until Aoki gets in trouble. Nothing wrong with it as it's pretty solid and Sydal and Marvin are able to get in quick bursts of offense. Overall, this was a good match but not as much Ricky Marvin as I wanted.
Takeshi Morishima vs. Nigel McGuinness (ROH World Title Match)
Really solid start. They do a SICK spot about 5 minutes in where Morishima is on the apron and Nigel does a sunset flip over the ropes and tries to powerbomb Morishima onto the floor but Morishima sits down on Nigel's chest instead as Nigel's feet are on the floor and upper body on the ring apron. Just really solid back and forth wrestling throughout this match. They do a good job drawing the crowd into the match and from what I can remember the crowd seems to be into this match more than another on the show. This just felt like a real good Main Event and slugfest to me.
Crowd chants "ROH" after the Main Event. Danielson hits the ring after the Main Event and grabs the World Title, says it's his belt and slaps Morishima but Nigel gives him an uppercut and grabs the title, tells Morishima it's his belt and then hands it to him and shakes Morishima's hand. Morishima then eats the belt as the fans chant "ROH".
No Remorse Corps are backstage and Roderick Strong tells Jack Evans he's gonna finish him off tomorrow. Davey takes the mic and says he and Rocky beat the "Dream Team" that was lined up tonight and they will do the same thing tomorrow night.
Brent Albright then cuts a promo on Morishima and their upcoming match in Philly. Says he will be walking out of that match as the champ.
Verdict:
This was a really solid show but not on the level of the other shows they've done on foreign soil like the UK shows. Go vs Danielson and Morishima vs Nigel are definitely 2 reasons to watch this DVD as they were both Main Event caliber matches IMO. The rest of the stuff is decent to good with nothing really standing out as a must see. I did like how the show came off on camera as it really gave ROH a big-time look/feel.
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. Live In Tokyo- Tokyo, Japan 7/16/07
8. All Star Extravaganza III- Detroit, MI 3/30/07
9. A Fight At The Roxbury- Boston, MA 6/8/07
10. Domination- Philadelphia, PA 6/9/07
11. United We Stand- Dayton, OH 6/22/07
12. Fighting Spirit- Edison, NJ 4/14/07
13. Fifth Year Festival: Philly- Philadelphia, PA 2/17/07
14. Battle of the Icons- Edison, NJ 1/27/07
15. Fifth Year Festival: Chicago- Chicago, IL 2/24/07
16. The Battle Of St. Paul- St. Paul, MN 4/27/07
17. This Means War II- Long Island, NY 4/13/07
18. Dedicated- Braintree, MA 1/26/07
19. Reborn Again- Hartford, CT 5/11/07
20. Fifth Year Festival: Dayton- Dayton, OH 2/23/07
We open the show backstage with Nigel McGuinness as he is arriving at the building. They just show him walking through the arena and then cut to Takeshi Morishima, who proceeds to cut a promo in Japanese.
The ring announcer is in the ring and he introduces Delirious. Delirious walks down the ramp to ringside on his knees and slaps hands with the fans. They've got the ramp set up just like the NOAH shows in that it leads right to the ring and is connected. Delirious then proceeds to cut a promo in Delirious speak to welcome the Japanese fans to Ring of Honor. The No Remorse Corps cut this a little bit short as they hit the ring for a beatdown. Jack Evans and Kotaro Suzuki come in to help out Delirious and it looks like we are on our way. Jack Evans grabs the mic and cuts a promo in Japanese. Delirious then does a dive that takes out Roderick Strong and they brawl backstage and we have our first match-up...
Rocky Romero & Davey Richards vs. Jack Evans & Kotaro Suzuki
Jack looks real good in the opening sequences. Overall, this was ok. Definitely different watching this with a Japanese crowd as the NOAH crowd was pretty quiet but really came to like when Kotaro was on offense. This one definitely picked up with Romero and Kotaro as they got the crowd going. Richards went for his handspring off the ropes but Kotaro countered with a great dropkick while Richards was upside down about to rebound from the handspring. The crowd definitely bought in more as the match went on but for me it felt like this was a little long for an opener. Romero wins this one over Evans with kicks to the head.
Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Akihiko Ito
Next up is a match-up of two young lions of NOAH. This was pretty solid, especially considering the youth of these two. Nothing to go out of your way to see but good solid wrestling. I think this one went a bit too long as well.
Next up is a Bryan Danielson promo. He says that he hears that Go Shiozaki might be brought in as an ROH regular. Says he will test out Go tonight and see if he is worthy. Also, says that he is going to be checking out the Main Event tonight and will be coming after the winner.
Jimmy Rave vs. B.J. Whitmer
This one if announced to the crowd as "2 ROH veterans". This was decent. Not much else to say.
The Briscoes are backstage and talk about their 6-man for tonight. They bring in Naomichi Marufuji as their partner tonight in the 6-man and they all say "Man Up".
Bryan Danielson vs. Go Shiozaki
This one is announced as a "Special Challenge Match". Final Countdown hits and all is right with world although the venue cuts it off before it really has a chance to kick in (boo Tokyo!). Announcers put over the Go is someone that ROH is considering using as a regular in 2008 so they are testing him versus Danielson. Real solid opening sequence with both guys matching each other and neither gaining a clear advantage, they do a double dropkick standout sequence after a series of back and forth moves. Good back and forth with Go dishing out more than he is getting until he is dropkicked off the top rope by Danielson to the outside. Danielson's chest is red from Go's chops. From this point Danielson really seizes control and takes Go to the mat and works him over for a while. They go back and forth again and then Danielson hits a big leap into the crowd (over the guardrail) to take out Go. Back in the ring and Danielson hits a missile dropkick for the top, northern lights suplex and then a diving headbutt. Danielson then clamps on a cross-armed chicken wing but Go gets to the ropes. Really hot sequence where they go back and forth with forearms and chops and then Danielson hits a roaring elbow, Go counters with a lariat, Danielson hits a side suplex and then Go hits a superkick to get the fans going. Danielson hits a german suplex with a bridge for a near fall so Go hits two in a row. Go's injured knee from the match makes him unable to hit a moonsault so instead he eats a big Back SuperPlex. Danielson hits uppercuts but they are reversed into a back slide, a superkick, strikes and then a big lariat. Go goes up top again and this time misses the moonault. Danielson jumps on him and locks in Cattle Mutilation but Go gets to the ropes. Danielson then hits a Tiger Suplex for a near two and holds un and hits the elbows to the face and then rolls it in the Cattle Mutilation until Go is finally forced to tap. Really good match, just a real solid pro wrestling contest. Post match the Japanese fans chant "ROH...ROH".
Post-match Danielson gets on the mic and says that it is the first night ROH is in Japan and talks about the Morishima/Nigel match for tonight. Danielson says that he wants a title shot at whoever wins that fight and gets a pop from the crowd. He then extends his hand to Go and they shake. Fans chant "ROH...ROH" again. The best damn theme music in pro wrestling then hits as Danielson and Go exit separately.
Post-match Todd Sinclair is backstage (he's no Becky!) and Ricky Marvin is with him. Marvin cuts a short promo that was hard to understand.
Roderick Strong vs. Delirious (Fight Without Honor)
This was decent and had it's moments but just didn't feel right. Not sure that a "Fight Without Honor" that really wasn't any more serious (they did use a ladder but Roderick has used the guardrails in previous match-ups even if it was after the match officially ended) than their previous match-ups was the right thing for a Japanese show in which the crowd is probably not going to be emotionally invested in the story lines like the local crowds would be. They did get a nice "Holy sh*t" chant from the Japanese crowd.
Nigel McGuinness is backstage and cuts a promo on his upcoming World Title match tonight with Morishima.
Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Matt Sydal, Ricky Marvin & Atsushi Aoki
They start off with Marufuji/Sydal but when Marvin gets in the ring he really brings it. Marvin looks great in there against Jay. Aoki tags in and he gets isolated quickly. Mark gets in trouble from the ref for using closed fists so he hits a nice slap right to Aoki's kisser. After this the teams go back and forth with some decent wrestling. This leads to the young Aoki getting isolated again. That's pretty much how this match seems to go for the first 20 or so minutes. Aoki gets in trouble, he makes the tag and they go back and forth until Aoki gets in trouble. Nothing wrong with it as it's pretty solid and Sydal and Marvin are able to get in quick bursts of offense. Overall, this was a good match but not as much Ricky Marvin as I wanted.
Takeshi Morishima vs. Nigel McGuinness (ROH World Title Match)
Really solid start. They do a SICK spot about 5 minutes in where Morishima is on the apron and Nigel does a sunset flip over the ropes and tries to powerbomb Morishima onto the floor but Morishima sits down on Nigel's chest instead as Nigel's feet are on the floor and upper body on the ring apron. Just really solid back and forth wrestling throughout this match. They do a good job drawing the crowd into the match and from what I can remember the crowd seems to be into this match more than another on the show. This just felt like a real good Main Event and slugfest to me.
Crowd chants "ROH" after the Main Event. Danielson hits the ring after the Main Event and grabs the World Title, says it's his belt and slaps Morishima but Nigel gives him an uppercut and grabs the title, tells Morishima it's his belt and then hands it to him and shakes Morishima's hand. Morishima then eats the belt as the fans chant "ROH".
No Remorse Corps are backstage and Roderick Strong tells Jack Evans he's gonna finish him off tomorrow. Davey takes the mic and says he and Rocky beat the "Dream Team" that was lined up tonight and they will do the same thing tomorrow night.
Brent Albright then cuts a promo on Morishima and their upcoming match in Philly. Says he will be walking out of that match as the champ.
Verdict:
This was a really solid show but not on the level of the other shows they've done on foreign soil like the UK shows. Go vs Danielson and Morishima vs Nigel are definitely 2 reasons to watch this DVD as they were both Main Event caliber matches IMO. The rest of the stuff is decent to good with nothing really standing out as a must see. I did like how the show came off on camera as it really gave ROH a big-time look/feel.
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. Live In Tokyo- Tokyo, Japan 7/16/07
8. All Star Extravaganza III- Detroit, MI 3/30/07
9. A Fight At The Roxbury- Boston, MA 6/8/07
10. Domination- Philadelphia, PA 6/9/07
11. United We Stand- Dayton, OH 6/22/07
12. Fighting Spirit- Edison, NJ 4/14/07
13. Fifth Year Festival: Philly- Philadelphia, PA 2/17/07
14. Battle of the Icons- Edison, NJ 1/27/07
15. Fifth Year Festival: Chicago- Chicago, IL 2/24/07
16. The Battle Of St. Paul- St. Paul, MN 4/27/07
17. This Means War II- Long Island, NY 4/13/07
18. Dedicated- Braintree, MA 1/26/07
19. Reborn Again- Hartford, CT 5/11/07
20. Fifth Year Festival: Dayton- Dayton, OH 2/23/07
