Post by Agent Kev on Oct 13, 2007 10:53:29 GMT -5
Race To The Top Tournament Night 1- Deer Park, NY 7/27/07
El Generico and Kevin Steen are up first and Kevin Steen cuts a promo. Says he was a little disappointed at first because he doesn't run real fast but then he was told it was a wrestling tournament and says to put your money on him and even on El Generico. Good interaction between Steen and Generico in the promo and Steen cuts a solid promo.
First Round: BJ Whitmer vs. Pelle Primeau
Whitmer gets taken out of the ring early and gets distracted by one of the students and when he turns around Pelle nails him with a dropkick off the ring apron and then gets a near fall in the ring with a rana. Whitmer then starts to destroy Pelle and Pelle eats his offense tremendously. Whitmer pretty much dominates until he is crotched and then gets rolled up for the win giving Pelle the shocking upset win. Pelle then jumps into the crowd and crowd surfs until BJ pulls him out of the crowd and posts him and then powerbombs him into the turnbuckle and gives him a big boot and then a brainbuster. Fans chant "BJ Blew It". Good, fun opener that puts over the fact that anyone can win in this tournament.
Claudio is backstage and he cuts a promo about taking it to the top. Tells Sweet and Sour Inc to watch out because he is coming for them.
First Round: Davey Richards vs. Jigsaw
Jigsaw looks real good early as he hits a series of moves but then misses a dive to the outside and crashes and burns. Overall this was a pretty decent match and moved quickly. Richards was Richards and Jigsaw looked real good.
Austin Aries is backstage with Erick Stevens and Matt Cross. He pep talks them about the Race to the Top tournament and tells them to show the people what they are all about. Aries tells Strong he is gunning for his FIP title tonight.
First Round: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Hallowicked
Real fun start to this match as they have some nice sequences. Overall, I liked this one a lot. Probably my favorite match so far. The first 3 matches all had a pretty quick pace so that's a good thing. Nothing great but everything has been solid so far.
First Round: Matt Sydal w/Sweet and Sour Inc vs. Mike Quackenbush
I missed my Tank Toland and Bobby Dempsey fix during the ROH shows in Japan. Larry Sweeney gets on the mic pre-match (fans tell him to "Shut the F Up"). Sweeney talks about Sydals offers from ROH, Dragon Gate, TNA and WWE. Sweeney says he's got some phone calls to take from those guys. Toland has some training to do with Chris Hero, Sara del Ray needs to go backstage and luxuriate herself with the masseuse that Sweeney has got for her and Dempsey has to get to the back and guard the buffet to make sure no one gets any free food. Sweeney tells Sydal that he knows Quackenbush and tells him that he has an easy night ahead of him.
This was real solid. Good overall match with some really nice sequences. Quack fits really well in ROH.
First Round: Erick Stevens vs. Chris Hero
Erick Stevens does some Chris Heroesque taunts to start the match and it is great. Hero does a ton of showboating during the match but eats a ES shoulderblock to knock him back to his sensibilities. Overall, this was a good match but probably went a tad too long.
Delirous is backstage and he cuts a promo in gibberish.
Roderick Strong vs. Austin Aries vs. Gran Akuma vs. Jimmy Rave (FIP Title Four Way Fray)
Aries gets a pretty big pop and a "Welcome Back" chant. Fans are definitely behind Aries to start out as he chases off Roderick to get the match started. I do believe this is the match that led to Jimmy Rave leaving ROH due to some stiff/stray kicks from Akuma but I could be wrong. I didn't see anything specific here that went wrong and Aries gets eliminated first by all three men and then goes Akuma so it comes down to Rave versus Roderick for the FIP belt. They have a decent run for about 5 minutes and Roddy comes out on top. Overall, a decent fast paced match that only lasted a little over 10 minutes.
Rebecca Bayless is backstage with Jack Evans. He cuts a promo.
First Round: Delirious vs. El Generico
Generico's theme music is up their with Bryan Danielson's in that it just gets you pumped to see their match. Overall, this was pretty good. Nothing great but definitely enjoyable.
First Round: Brent Albright vs. Matt Cross
This was OK, probably better than it had any right being and Albright was put over strong.
First Round: Jack Evans vs. Kevin Steen
This one started off pretty hot with Evans using his quickness and Steen trying to use his size. Really good opening including Evans taking Steen to the floor and then jumping from the inside of the ring to the outside and hitting Steen with a dropkick. Overall, this was a lot of fun. Probably my favorite match of the First Round of the tournament. Man, has Kevin Steen ever stepped up his game over the last 2 years. He's gone from someone I could not stand watching to someone that I look forward to watching on ROH DVDs. One of the things I liked about the tournament so far is that none of the matches were really overly long. They are being kept between 5 and 15 minutes which I think works really well with the undercard/mid-card guys and gives them a chance to shine without having to try and go out and have a MOTY candidate..
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Bryan Danielson & Nigel McGuinness (World Tag Team Title Match)
The greatest theme music in pro wrestling hits and out comes the greatest pro wrestler. Bryan Danielson and a not too shabby tag-team partner in Nigel McGuinness. Good back and forth stuff to start with Briscoes being more of a team and Danielson/McGuinness being more of individuals. People complaint about Nigel hitting too many lariats but man he nailed an awesome one early on outside against Mark Briscoe. Overall, I think you can just tell from this match that McGuinness and Danielson are on another level than most of the guys who have wrestled earlier in the tournament, it will be interesting to see who will step up their game on the next show. Danielson and McGuinness actually really start to work well together and reverse a Doomsday Device into a Cattle Mutilation and then the elbows to the face finisher and then back to Cattle Mutilation. Just watching this match, I'm personally really enjoying Nigel's lariat based offense. It's simplistic but damn effective and the ultimate goal of a pro wrestler is to win the match not use as many different moves as possible. Just a really good Main Event. All 4 guys looked strong and the finish looks to re-charge the Danielson/McGuinness fight for #1 Contendership.
Verdict:
I liked the flow of this show a lot. The matches were kept somewhat short and most seemed to be worked in a sprint sort of fashion which made for easy watching. This is a good show but probably not in the upper half of ROH shows this year. It's a good show to see to take a look at some of the mid-card guys being showcased in a different fashion. A lot of good solid matches on this show but nothing great.
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. Race To The Top Tournament Night 1- Deer Park, NY 7/27/07
17. Live In Osaka- Osaka, Japan 7/17/07
18. The Battle Of St. Paul- St. Paul, MN 4/27/07
19. This Means War II- Long Island, NY 4/13/07
20. Dedicated- Braintree, MA 1/26/07
21. Reborn Again- Hartford, CT 5/11/07
22. Fifth Year Festival: Dayton- Dayton, OH 2/23/07
El Generico and Kevin Steen are up first and Kevin Steen cuts a promo. Says he was a little disappointed at first because he doesn't run real fast but then he was told it was a wrestling tournament and says to put your money on him and even on El Generico. Good interaction between Steen and Generico in the promo and Steen cuts a solid promo.
First Round: BJ Whitmer vs. Pelle Primeau
Whitmer gets taken out of the ring early and gets distracted by one of the students and when he turns around Pelle nails him with a dropkick off the ring apron and then gets a near fall in the ring with a rana. Whitmer then starts to destroy Pelle and Pelle eats his offense tremendously. Whitmer pretty much dominates until he is crotched and then gets rolled up for the win giving Pelle the shocking upset win. Pelle then jumps into the crowd and crowd surfs until BJ pulls him out of the crowd and posts him and then powerbombs him into the turnbuckle and gives him a big boot and then a brainbuster. Fans chant "BJ Blew It". Good, fun opener that puts over the fact that anyone can win in this tournament.
Claudio is backstage and he cuts a promo about taking it to the top. Tells Sweet and Sour Inc to watch out because he is coming for them.
First Round: Davey Richards vs. Jigsaw
Jigsaw looks real good early as he hits a series of moves but then misses a dive to the outside and crashes and burns. Overall this was a pretty decent match and moved quickly. Richards was Richards and Jigsaw looked real good.
Austin Aries is backstage with Erick Stevens and Matt Cross. He pep talks them about the Race to the Top tournament and tells them to show the people what they are all about. Aries tells Strong he is gunning for his FIP title tonight.
First Round: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Hallowicked
Real fun start to this match as they have some nice sequences. Overall, I liked this one a lot. Probably my favorite match so far. The first 3 matches all had a pretty quick pace so that's a good thing. Nothing great but everything has been solid so far.
First Round: Matt Sydal w/Sweet and Sour Inc vs. Mike Quackenbush
I missed my Tank Toland and Bobby Dempsey fix during the ROH shows in Japan. Larry Sweeney gets on the mic pre-match (fans tell him to "Shut the F Up"). Sweeney talks about Sydals offers from ROH, Dragon Gate, TNA and WWE. Sweeney says he's got some phone calls to take from those guys. Toland has some training to do with Chris Hero, Sara del Ray needs to go backstage and luxuriate herself with the masseuse that Sweeney has got for her and Dempsey has to get to the back and guard the buffet to make sure no one gets any free food. Sweeney tells Sydal that he knows Quackenbush and tells him that he has an easy night ahead of him.
This was real solid. Good overall match with some really nice sequences. Quack fits really well in ROH.
First Round: Erick Stevens vs. Chris Hero
Erick Stevens does some Chris Heroesque taunts to start the match and it is great. Hero does a ton of showboating during the match but eats a ES shoulderblock to knock him back to his sensibilities. Overall, this was a good match but probably went a tad too long.
Delirous is backstage and he cuts a promo in gibberish.
Roderick Strong vs. Austin Aries vs. Gran Akuma vs. Jimmy Rave (FIP Title Four Way Fray)
Aries gets a pretty big pop and a "Welcome Back" chant. Fans are definitely behind Aries to start out as he chases off Roderick to get the match started. I do believe this is the match that led to Jimmy Rave leaving ROH due to some stiff/stray kicks from Akuma but I could be wrong. I didn't see anything specific here that went wrong and Aries gets eliminated first by all three men and then goes Akuma so it comes down to Rave versus Roderick for the FIP belt. They have a decent run for about 5 minutes and Roddy comes out on top. Overall, a decent fast paced match that only lasted a little over 10 minutes.
Rebecca Bayless is backstage with Jack Evans. He cuts a promo.
First Round: Delirious vs. El Generico
Generico's theme music is up their with Bryan Danielson's in that it just gets you pumped to see their match. Overall, this was pretty good. Nothing great but definitely enjoyable.
First Round: Brent Albright vs. Matt Cross
This was OK, probably better than it had any right being and Albright was put over strong.
First Round: Jack Evans vs. Kevin Steen
This one started off pretty hot with Evans using his quickness and Steen trying to use his size. Really good opening including Evans taking Steen to the floor and then jumping from the inside of the ring to the outside and hitting Steen with a dropkick. Overall, this was a lot of fun. Probably my favorite match of the First Round of the tournament. Man, has Kevin Steen ever stepped up his game over the last 2 years. He's gone from someone I could not stand watching to someone that I look forward to watching on ROH DVDs. One of the things I liked about the tournament so far is that none of the matches were really overly long. They are being kept between 5 and 15 minutes which I think works really well with the undercard/mid-card guys and gives them a chance to shine without having to try and go out and have a MOTY candidate..
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Bryan Danielson & Nigel McGuinness (World Tag Team Title Match)
The greatest theme music in pro wrestling hits and out comes the greatest pro wrestler. Bryan Danielson and a not too shabby tag-team partner in Nigel McGuinness. Good back and forth stuff to start with Briscoes being more of a team and Danielson/McGuinness being more of individuals. People complaint about Nigel hitting too many lariats but man he nailed an awesome one early on outside against Mark Briscoe. Overall, I think you can just tell from this match that McGuinness and Danielson are on another level than most of the guys who have wrestled earlier in the tournament, it will be interesting to see who will step up their game on the next show. Danielson and McGuinness actually really start to work well together and reverse a Doomsday Device into a Cattle Mutilation and then the elbows to the face finisher and then back to Cattle Mutilation. Just watching this match, I'm personally really enjoying Nigel's lariat based offense. It's simplistic but damn effective and the ultimate goal of a pro wrestler is to win the match not use as many different moves as possible. Just a really good Main Event. All 4 guys looked strong and the finish looks to re-charge the Danielson/McGuinness fight for #1 Contendership.
Verdict:
I liked the flow of this show a lot. The matches were kept somewhat short and most seemed to be worked in a sprint sort of fashion which made for easy watching. This is a good show but probably not in the upper half of ROH shows this year. It's a good show to see to take a look at some of the mid-card guys being showcased in a different fashion. A lot of good solid matches on this show but nothing great.
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. Race To The Top Tournament Night 1- Deer Park, NY 7/27/07
17. Live In Osaka- Osaka, Japan 7/17/07
18. The Battle Of St. Paul- St. Paul, MN 4/27/07
19. This Means War II- Long Island, NY 4/13/07
20. Dedicated- Braintree, MA 1/26/07
21. Reborn Again- Hartford, CT 5/11/07
22. Fifth Year Festival: Dayton- Dayton, OH 2/23/07
