Post by Agent Kev on Oct 6, 2007 22:41:14 GMT -5
Live In Osaka- Osaka, Japan 7/17/07
Show opens with the No Remorse Corps talking about their night of partying last night but say that tonight is going to be even more fun. Roderick talks about his match with Jack Evans and Davey Richards says that they will show the Dragon Gate guys exactly what the No Remorse Corps are all about. Roderick says he found someone that he feels will fit into the NRC and asks Rocky and Davey to come see.
Next up they show a "Video Diary" from the trip to Japan which shows Delirious out in the lobby of the event interacting with the fans.
Jimmy Rave's theme music hits and he comes out with Genki Horiguchi. Bryan Danielson's "Final Countdown" then hits and out comes the American Dragon. As they get ready to lock-up music hits and CIMA comes out to the ring. He extends his hand to Bryan Danielson and then gets on the mic and cuts a promo. The No Remorse Corps comes out and attacks CIMA but Danielson comes to CIMA's aid. Naomichi Marufuji comes out and chases off the NRC. Danielson gets on the mic and puts over CIMA as the best wrestler in Dragon Gate, Marufuji as the best wrestler in NOAH and himself as the best wrestler in ROH. Says that tonight they should form a team and fight the No Remorse Corps. CIMA and Marufuji agree and it looks like we have our Main Event for later.
Jimmy Rave takes the mic and says that he didn't come to Japan not to fight and challenges anyone in the back to fight. The Briscoes theme music hits and out come the ROH tag-team champions. Jay gets on the mic and says that the dumb ass airlines lost their title belts but that they don't need the belts to prove they are champions and say that they will defend the belt twice tonight and tell Rave that it looks like he has a partner there with him (Horiguchi came down to the ring with him).
Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe vs. Genki Horiguchi & Jimmy Rave (ROH World Tag Team Title Match)
This was a fun opener and they worked it at what seemed to be a much quicker pace than anything from the previous nights show. Good opener.
Video Diary from Japan is shown as they show footage of Japan downtown and then cut to Jack Evans who is going to show us one of the greatest things we have ever seen. He is at a fast food restaurant and points to the "Mega Teriyaki". Puts it over by saying that the burger is delicious and that is an understatement, like Lost is the greatest TV show ever the Mega Teriyaki is the greatest burger ever. There has been none better before and there will be none better after. To quote Bret "the Hitman" Hart it's the "Best there ever was, the best there is and the best there ever will be". Tells us to hop on the first plane over to Japan because it's going away in 2 days!
Nigel McGuinness vs. BJ Whitmer
This was decent but that's about it. BJ has been really boring since the Jimmy Jacobs feud ended.
Video Diary of Japan is shown and they show Jack Evans he says we are looking at the beautiful scenery that surrounds Japan and makes it superior to America and that's why he is denouncing his citizenship and turning Japanese just like the 80s hit song.
Jack Evans comes down to the ring and cuts a promo on Roderick Strong and calls him out. Says to make the match No-DQ and No countout. Roddy gets on the mic and accepts, but first introduces Masaaki Mochizuki as an honorary member of the NRC and says Mochi will take his place in the Main Event so he can fight Jack tonight.
Roderick Strong vs. Jack Evans
This was pretty decent. Nothing spectacular but I liked it and Jack looked really good in some of his early spots and some of his comeback spots.
Ryo Saito, Matt Sydal, & Dragon Kid vs. Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, & Delirious
This match has a 45 minute time-limit! A 45-minute time limit? Man, I'm looking forward to this match but I hope it goes about 15. Delirious and Sydal start and do some decent stuff and then the 4 Dragon Gate guys go at it a warped speed in some really fun sequences. Then they kind of meander for about 10 minutes. They pick back up as Dragon hits a nice springboard rana from the ring to the outside on Sydal. Overall, this was pretty good but not as action packed as I kind of thought it would be.
Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe vs. SHINGO & Susumu Yokosuka (ROH World Tag Team Title Match)
This was pretty decent. No where near the level of the Briscoes UK match they had against the Dragon Gate guys but it was ok.
CIMA, Naomichi Marufuji, & Bryan Danielson vs. Masaaki Mochizuki, Davey Richards, & Rocky Romero (Six Man Dream Tag Team Match)
This is more what I expected from the ROH in Japan shows. Guys like Mochi in there with guys like Marufuji and CIMA and a mix of ROH guys as well. Really liked how this one opened with CIMA/Richards then Romero/Danielson then Mochi/Marufuji and then CIMA getting involved. Nice feeling out process and it felt like a star-studded match. CIMA's shtick can sometimes get old but he's really seemed on top of his game in his last couple ROH matches. Overall, I liked this match a lot and it was definitely the best match of this show. Good match that showcased these guys pretty well and everyone seemed to be on spot.
Verdict:
This was definitely IMO the lesser of the 2 Japan shows. The Main Event delivered but everything else (while not actively bad) was just kind of there. I would have liked to have seen more guys that you don't usually see in ROH on some of these shows (maybe one big name guy like a Jun Akiyama, Minoru Suzuki, Kensuke Sasaki or Tenryu) and would have liked to see more interaction between the NOAH and DG guys. Just would have liked to have seen more that would have set this apart from just being a normal show but set in Japan (how about more Ricky Marvin!). The appearance of ROH on DVD did look really good due to the set-up of these shows.
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. Live In Osaka- Osaka, Japan 7/17/07
17. The Battle Of St. Paul- St. Paul, MN 4/27/07
18. This Means War II- Long Island, NY 4/13/07
19. Dedicated- Braintree, MA 1/26/07
20. Reborn Again- Hartford, CT 5/11/07
21. Fifth Year Festival: Dayton- Dayton, OH 2/23/07
Show opens with the No Remorse Corps talking about their night of partying last night but say that tonight is going to be even more fun. Roderick talks about his match with Jack Evans and Davey Richards says that they will show the Dragon Gate guys exactly what the No Remorse Corps are all about. Roderick says he found someone that he feels will fit into the NRC and asks Rocky and Davey to come see.
Next up they show a "Video Diary" from the trip to Japan which shows Delirious out in the lobby of the event interacting with the fans.
Jimmy Rave's theme music hits and he comes out with Genki Horiguchi. Bryan Danielson's "Final Countdown" then hits and out comes the American Dragon. As they get ready to lock-up music hits and CIMA comes out to the ring. He extends his hand to Bryan Danielson and then gets on the mic and cuts a promo. The No Remorse Corps comes out and attacks CIMA but Danielson comes to CIMA's aid. Naomichi Marufuji comes out and chases off the NRC. Danielson gets on the mic and puts over CIMA as the best wrestler in Dragon Gate, Marufuji as the best wrestler in NOAH and himself as the best wrestler in ROH. Says that tonight they should form a team and fight the No Remorse Corps. CIMA and Marufuji agree and it looks like we have our Main Event for later.
Jimmy Rave takes the mic and says that he didn't come to Japan not to fight and challenges anyone in the back to fight. The Briscoes theme music hits and out come the ROH tag-team champions. Jay gets on the mic and says that the dumb ass airlines lost their title belts but that they don't need the belts to prove they are champions and say that they will defend the belt twice tonight and tell Rave that it looks like he has a partner there with him (Horiguchi came down to the ring with him).
Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe vs. Genki Horiguchi & Jimmy Rave (ROH World Tag Team Title Match)
This was a fun opener and they worked it at what seemed to be a much quicker pace than anything from the previous nights show. Good opener.
Video Diary from Japan is shown as they show footage of Japan downtown and then cut to Jack Evans who is going to show us one of the greatest things we have ever seen. He is at a fast food restaurant and points to the "Mega Teriyaki". Puts it over by saying that the burger is delicious and that is an understatement, like Lost is the greatest TV show ever the Mega Teriyaki is the greatest burger ever. There has been none better before and there will be none better after. To quote Bret "the Hitman" Hart it's the "Best there ever was, the best there is and the best there ever will be". Tells us to hop on the first plane over to Japan because it's going away in 2 days!
Nigel McGuinness vs. BJ Whitmer
This was decent but that's about it. BJ has been really boring since the Jimmy Jacobs feud ended.
Video Diary of Japan is shown and they show Jack Evans he says we are looking at the beautiful scenery that surrounds Japan and makes it superior to America and that's why he is denouncing his citizenship and turning Japanese just like the 80s hit song.
Jack Evans comes down to the ring and cuts a promo on Roderick Strong and calls him out. Says to make the match No-DQ and No countout. Roddy gets on the mic and accepts, but first introduces Masaaki Mochizuki as an honorary member of the NRC and says Mochi will take his place in the Main Event so he can fight Jack tonight.
Roderick Strong vs. Jack Evans
This was pretty decent. Nothing spectacular but I liked it and Jack looked really good in some of his early spots and some of his comeback spots.
Ryo Saito, Matt Sydal, & Dragon Kid vs. Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, & Delirious
This match has a 45 minute time-limit! A 45-minute time limit? Man, I'm looking forward to this match but I hope it goes about 15. Delirious and Sydal start and do some decent stuff and then the 4 Dragon Gate guys go at it a warped speed in some really fun sequences. Then they kind of meander for about 10 minutes. They pick back up as Dragon hits a nice springboard rana from the ring to the outside on Sydal. Overall, this was pretty good but not as action packed as I kind of thought it would be.
Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe vs. SHINGO & Susumu Yokosuka (ROH World Tag Team Title Match)
This was pretty decent. No where near the level of the Briscoes UK match they had against the Dragon Gate guys but it was ok.
CIMA, Naomichi Marufuji, & Bryan Danielson vs. Masaaki Mochizuki, Davey Richards, & Rocky Romero (Six Man Dream Tag Team Match)
This is more what I expected from the ROH in Japan shows. Guys like Mochi in there with guys like Marufuji and CIMA and a mix of ROH guys as well. Really liked how this one opened with CIMA/Richards then Romero/Danielson then Mochi/Marufuji and then CIMA getting involved. Nice feeling out process and it felt like a star-studded match. CIMA's shtick can sometimes get old but he's really seemed on top of his game in his last couple ROH matches. Overall, I liked this match a lot and it was definitely the best match of this show. Good match that showcased these guys pretty well and everyone seemed to be on spot.
Verdict:
This was definitely IMO the lesser of the 2 Japan shows. The Main Event delivered but everything else (while not actively bad) was just kind of there. I would have liked to have seen more guys that you don't usually see in ROH on some of these shows (maybe one big name guy like a Jun Akiyama, Minoru Suzuki, Kensuke Sasaki or Tenryu) and would have liked to see more interaction between the NOAH and DG guys. Just would have liked to have seen more that would have set this apart from just being a normal show but set in Japan (how about more Ricky Marvin!). The appearance of ROH on DVD did look really good due to the set-up of these shows.
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. Live In Osaka- Osaka, Japan 7/17/07
17. The Battle Of St. Paul- St. Paul, MN 4/27/07
18. This Means War II- Long Island, NY 4/13/07
19. Dedicated- Braintree, MA 1/26/07
20. Reborn Again- Hartford, CT 5/11/07
21. Fifth Year Festival: Dayton- Dayton, OH 2/23/07
