ROH RRV REVIEW (eh...)

[swarm]

Review of Ring of Honor's PPV debut

by Tim Graefe

I've just finished watching ROH's first ever PPV called „Respect Is Earned“, which was taped on May 12 at the world famous Manhattan Center in New York City. I have seen every single ROH DVD available but I will try to judge the PPV as if I would be a total newcomer to the product.

The show started with BJ Whitmer in the ring. The crowd was going crazy. BJ made an open challenge to everyone in the locker room. Suddenly the opening of the PPV aired, a nice and short collection of ROH guys coming through the entrance. The whole thing was maybe 30 seconds long. After the opening ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima came to the ring, accepted BJ's challenge and killed BJ with some stiff moves. BJ had a short comeback, but Morishima won after a DANGEROUS~! Backdrop Driver. Perfect opener! Morishima is very impressive in this role, he reminds me at Samoa Joe before he was killed dead by TNA.

Nigel McGuinness climbed in the ring to a big pop (This crowd is AMAZING~!) and challenged Morishima for the title. Bryan Danielson followed (nice shirt Dragon) and issued another challenge. Dave Prazak & Lenny Leonard explained that AmDrag was the champion for over a year. Anyway, Danielson and Morishima attacked Nigel and left the ring.

A great „Coming soon to PPV“ highlight video of Brent Albright aired. Wonderful stuff with lots of suplexes and submission holds. Albright looked like a killer! (maybe not the best sentence to write these days)

The second match was between Naomichi Marufuji and Rocky Romero. I'm not a fan of Romero and I have no idea why this match was featured. The PPV had the perfect opening, everybody was pumped, the action was fast and stiff. THIS is Total Nonstop Action. But the Marufuji vs. Romero match was totally different. It started slow, build to some nice spots, but the crowd was somewhat silent (besides pops for the big moves). Marufuji won after about 15 minutes with the Shiranui. Don't get me wrong, the match wasn't bad at all, but it wasn't the best thing to feature on a debut PPV. Prazak explained that a match like this is what ROH is about. 2 great wrestlers trying to be the better wrestler.

„Super Agent“ Larry Sweeney and his personal trainer Tank Toland were backstage. Sweeney said that „Sweet 'N Sour Inc.“ has Chris Hero under contract and that he has signed another great wrestler to his stable. Toland looked happy but he isn't the new member, it's Sara Del Ray. Toland wasn't too happy. He introduced ROH student Bobby Dempsey, who showed his fat belly. Toland said that he will train Dempsey until the guy looks like a greek god. Dempsey started doing squats, while Sara and Tank had a discussion about who does more squats. They started doing their squats, while Dempsey collapsed after 10 squats. Hmmm, not sure what to think about this segment. The casual viewer might see two little geeks, a fat guy and an amazon woman, who is taller than the guys.

Suddenly „Jimmy Bower“ was screaming that they need to cut to the ring. Morishima and Danielson attacked Nigel again (no idea why Nigel was in the ring). KENTA made the save to a very big pop.

After a short commercial for rohwrestling.com, Claudio Castagnoli & Matt Sydal were in the ring, waiting for the ROH Tag Team Champions Mark & Jay Briscoe. BTW, they had nice little graphics for everybody on this show incl. some clips of their spectacular moves. This was the typical Briscoes match. Some spectacular and innovative moves, some screw ups and no psychology. Sydal plays in the same league and Claudio tried hard to hold the match together. I'm still not a fan of Claudio's new haircut, he looks a bit like the short haired version of Test minus the roids. (Entschuldige bitte Claudio – which means „I'm sorry Claudio“) Short or long hair, Claudio was the best worker in this match. The champs won after a Springboard Doomsday Device on Sydal. Oh, I nearly forgot one thing. ROH has a black & red ring ... and all 4 guys were wearing black & red ring gear. That's not the best idea!

As the Briscoes were celebrating in the ring, Dave Prazak & Lenny Leonard were standing in the entrance way, telling the fans at home that they have upcoming shows in cities like Philly, Detroit, Chicago, Boston, New York City etc. El Generico & Kevin Steen went by and asked the Briscoes for the date of their title match. The Canucks stormed to the ring and a big brawl occured, while the fans were singing „Ole – Ole-Ole-Ole“. A dozen refs and ROH students entered the ring and tried to break them up. Hey, Bobby Dempsey is alive again. Thank god! They got the Briscoes out of the ring and Steen & Generico destroyed some of the students. Steen looked great in this segment. The Briscoes were still held back in the entrance way and El Generico jumped off the top rope with a Hilo on the whole crew. Not as impressive as Kid Kash in the same bulding during the ECW TV Title Tournament a couple of years ago. They brawled to the backstage area where Steen laid out Mark Briscoe with a chairshot.

They showed clips from the 2007/02/17 show in Philly where Delirious suffered a concussion through the hands of Roderick Strong. They also showed highlights of Delirious. BTW, the video was narrated by Delirious. Funny!

The following match between Roderick Strong vs. Delirious was a disappointment. It never had the feeling of something special or of a grudge match. They did some nice stuff, but it was a bit boring overall. The crowd was quiet for this one. The match went about 15 minutes but they felt like 60. Some fans lost their patience and booed the match. It wasn't that bad, but nothing special. Strong won with the Gibson Driver aka. Tiger Driver. Thank god it's over ... but wait, there is the rest of the No Remorse Corps (Rocky Romero & Davey Richards). They brought a steel barricade to the ring, placed it between the ring apron and the barricades and Strong gave Delirious a Gibson Driver on the barricade. Erick Stevens made the save and the NRC left the ring.

„Scrap Iron“ Adam Pearce, who referred to himself as „Scrap Daddy“, was talking backstage to Shane Hagadorn. „The eyes are the gateway to a man's soul“. Yeah, whatever. Anyway, Pearce talked about the evolution of ROH, starting out as a small promotion in front of a few hundred fans. They are in front of 50 million homes now and every wrestler has to step up. BJ Whitmer was sitting in the hallway and Pearce talked in a quiet voice about poor BJ, who had sacrificed himself in a brutal feud with Jimmy Jacobs. He has given his soul to ROH and it's fans. But BJ is a broken man right now because he has to live with the fact that he lost the first ever ROH PPV match. Pearce went to BJ, laid his hand on BJ's shoulder and that was it. This was sooooo much Raven in 1996.

Time for the main event between Takeshi Morishima & Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA & Nigel McGuinness. 25 minutes of excellence! Danielson lost nothing during his 6 months off, KENTA is the best lightheavyweight in the world, Les Thatcher's kid Nigel McGuinness gets better every month and Morishima is a great big man. Lot's of near falls building up to a climax. Morishima was pounding on Nigel while Dragon submitted KENTA to the cattle mutilation (Poison Sawada JULIE~!).

Danielson took the ROH World Title belt after the match and put it on his shoulder. Morishima didn't like that .... DANGEROUS~! Backdrop Driver! Nigel picked the belt up and gave it to Morishima. „This is your belt!“ Morishima doesn't speak english and he killed Nigel with a lariat.

The show ended with Dave Prazak screaming „Can anyone stop Takeshi Morishima???“.

I'm not sure what to think about the show. Was it better then TNA? Of course! It was well booked, no stupid run-ins, no useless shannigans. Was it the best ROH show ever? No, there were many shows better than this one. Don't get me wrong, I liked the show, but I think that they could've done better with other match-ups.

As a fan I know the history between Strong and Delirious, but a first time viewer would just see a generic indy guy against a masked freak. Marufuji was misused, he looked like just another japanese guy.

The goal of the PPVs is drawing new fans outside the internet wrestling clique. To reach that goal they need more time to explain the different characters and personalities. This will be difficult without TV.

Overall a good debut on PPV. Let's hope for the sake of the whole wrestling business that ROH will be even stronger and better in the years to come.

Best Match: Morishima & Danielson vs. KENTA & Nigel

Worst Match: Roderick Strong vs. Delirious

[swarm]

I won't buy this I don't like the idea of a taped wrestling PPV but it could have been worse.

[dukedave]

swarm said:

Worst Match: Roderick Strong vs. Delirious

Not possible. We all know Delirious Rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JamieOD]

Interesting to see a possible program with Adam Pearce and BJ Whitmer.

[Knapik]

jamieod said:

Interesting to see a possible program with Adam Pearce and BJ Whitmer.

Yeah especially since Pearce and Whitmer were the first and the main guys to battle CZW last year.

[Knapik]

swarm said:

I'm not sure what to think about the show. Was it better then TNA? Of course! It was well booked, no stupid run-ins, no useless shannigans. Was it the best ROH show ever? No, there were many shows better than this one. Don't get me wrong, I liked the show, but I think that they could've done better with other match-ups.

Sounds like a good show, but I agree with the generic indy guy and masked freak business. Anyone thats read how I feel about Strong on here knows I think he doesn't do anything to make me care about his matches. He needs to step his psychology ala Davey Richards (who also felt like generic indy guy #12 until this year.) When I first saw Delirious me and my friends made fun of him. "Delirious, what a gay name" blah blah blah. I'm glad I got to watch that second match.... Delirious is one of the most talented guys in wrestling today. My friend is having a party on the 7th, we may get the PPV then. The only thing that sucks is that it isn't live. Bleh. Good for ROH though!

[LWPD]

Knapik

Who are the announcers for ROH? There's one guy who sounds like a complete Joey Styles rip off.

[Knapik]

It's Dave Prazak and someone else. I really dislike the ROH announcers. They often get into a groove where the use the same inflection over and over no matter what they're saying. Did you watch the PPV? What did you think?

[JamieOD]

Normally it's Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard (who is actually ROH's booker, Gabe Sapolsky).

[LWPD]

knapik said:

It's Dave Prazak and someone else. I really dislike the ROH announcers. They often get into a groove where the use the same inflection over and over no matter what they're saying. Did you watch the PPV? What did you think?

For the price it was a fair show. There's definitely room for improvement in terms of the formatting. The show started with a layered mic work challenge/challenge answered/dueling promos from other entrants in the aftermath angle. That set the pace for the main event to come...but there was no layout for the rest of the card. It came off as confused and haphazard.

The work ethic from everyone was phenomenal and the move sets were state of the art...VKM could stand to let some of this stuff into his 'approved list'...my problem was with the pacing. One high end move after the other...after the other...after the other...it becomes too much. A more methodical pace and more of a focus on storytelling would give all the great things these guys do more meaning. It's similar to the problems CM Punk had when he first came to WWE...where he had to learn how not to 'simulate a great match' and learn how less is more...working smart and safe isn't about becoming a human video game machine.

All in all some very promising young talent. The Biscoes impressed me. They work very well as a unit. Sydall worked as hard as a guy could work. Claudio Castagnoli looked like a giant next to the other three. He was solid in the ring (loved the giant swing) and I'd like to hear him promo. He may have a shot at WWE.

Morishima has a bit of a Terry Gordy resemblance...but he comes off as somewhat unsure of himself at times. I've seen great Japanese stars in the role he's trying to portray...and he's not at that level. He comes off as 'physically big' next to the other guys in the tag match (similar to the old Fat Joe niche) but it seems forced.

McGiness was pushed really hard throughout the show. I'll have to see more of him before forming an opinion. Watching KENTA requires a great deal of 'suspended disbelief'. How tall is that guy?

Danielson impressed me. He really is the standout wrestler on the roster and connects extremely well with the ROH crowd. He's found his niche and seems to excel in it.

I'd buy the next one. It's tough having to combine intro builds for the wrestlers...and teaser builds for the next offering...while mixing in the wrestling content effectively...all with-in a two hour block. You have to expect mistakes and a learning curve along the way.

[BDS]

jamieod said:

Normally it's Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard (who is actually ROH's booker, Gabe Sapolsky).

Gabe's not Lenny ... Gabe is Jimmy Bower. Lenny's just some guy.

[JamieOD]

My mistake.

[smathis]

I watched the PPV and was impressed. It can't be beaten for the price. My personal favorite was the Marufuji/Rocky Romero match. It was great seeing these guys on PPV. I hope Ring of Honor continues to grow and wish them all the best.

[Knapik]

Castagnoli was actually on the WWE radar and I think was signed, but something happened... maybe passport issues? He is tall, I believe a legit 6'5". Some of the guys (Davey Richards) are way short... I said on a post in the past that ROH needs shorter referees.

I haven't seen the show, but most of the ROH matches I see have a nice pace to them. I understand maybe some of the younger guys wanting to impress on the first PPV and maybe over-doing it. I'm glad you dug The Briscoes, LWPD, they're my favorite wrestlers in the world now.

[Wildfire]

bigdaddyswank said:

jamieod said:

Normally it's Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard (who is actually ROH's booker, Gabe Sapolsky).

Gabe's not Lenny ... Gabe is Jimmy Bower. Lenny's just some guy.

Gabe as Jimmy Bower is defaintely the best on the mic for RoH.. I always felt the other guys were doing bad imitations of either him or Joey Styles, depending on the night

[BDS]

DAAANGEERRRROOOOOUUUSSSSSS!

[JamieOD]

I have that as my ringtone.

[BDS]

jamieod said:

I have that as my ringtone.

Best. Ringtone. Ever.

[Hegemony]

Here is another review from Derek Burgan, a pretty well known writer in the IWC.


PPV Review
RING OF HONOR: Respect is Earned
Taped May 12th at The Manhattan Center in New York City
Available on PPV starting on July 1st, check your local listings
Currently airing on DishNetwork
Starting on July 8th on TVN
July 20th at 8PM on inDemand

Several years ago I found myself writing weekly reviews of WWE SmackDown and was slowly going out of my mind. I had been a diehard WWE fan since the first WrestleMania, but the stuff I was watching on TV each week left a lot to be desired. Dear lord, do you remember The Cat?! I found myself filling my recaps with links to Pre-Federline Britney Spears pictures and finding new ways to drive Wade Keller insane just to keep myself interested. For at least six months two of my friends, Keith Lipinski and Sean Radican - both of whom have gone on to bigger and better things - tried to get me to watch Ring of Honor. I gave them all the excuses most people give to justify not watching ROH; I already watch too much wrestling, indy wrestling is unwatchable on DVD, I don't know any of these guys, etc.

I was finally sick of their relentless attack and decided to sample some ROH. Taking advantage of one of the weekly buyer-friendly ROH sales, I figured I would try the shows that featured Jim Cornette, as anything the "Louisville Lip" is a part of is usually fun to watch. I popped in the show Wrath of the Racket and thought I may be onto something. Then I watched the first Death Before Dishonor and had to pick my jaw up off the floor. The only experience I can liken it to was watching Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and realizing everything I knew about movies was about to change. Ring of Honor contained everything that I wanted WWE to be. Hot matches, believable characters, and most importantly, consistency in the booking, made watching ROH as addictive as heroin.

It wasn't long before I stopped reviewing SmackDown and switched over to recapping ROH DVDs. I also went to every ROH show that I could drive to, which included road trips to shows in Boston, Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia. Every year, without fail, I would think ROH had peaked and would never be able to top themselves. From the booking of Samoa Joe's 21 month long title reign ending in a 450 splash from Austin Aries in 2004, to CM Punk's shocking 2005 run with the title on his way to the WWE, to the incredible inter-promotional feud with CZW and Homicide's electric title win in 2006, ROH has been a roll. 2007 has more shows in red hot markets such as Chicago and New York, tours in the UK and - later this month - Japan, and the first ever ROH PPV. They already have my money, but will this PPV attract new fans or people who have given up watching thanks to current WWE and TNA bullshit? Let's check it out!

RESPECT IS EARNED
Being taped in New York City, this show has one advantage over most wrestling shows in that the fans in attendance are one hundred percent certified batshit insane throughout the show. A good wrestling show is fun to watch. A good wrestling show with a rabid crowd makes you remember the all time great shows such as WWE's Canadian Stampede and ECW's One Night Stand. You can't help but feel the energy and excitement thanks to the awesome crowd reactions, and not since the first ECW PPV, Barely Legal, has a crowd looked so great and reacted so well to a show. It was fucking awe inspiring and so jacked that it seemed like that building was the place to be. The New York crowd for ROH shows in this building – such as Final Battle 2006 and Glory By Honor V Night Two - is the perfect setting for this event, the biggest show in ROH history. ROH should see if there is enough money in the coffers to fly each and every one of these fans to every single ROH PPV.

BJ Whitmer, fresh off being on the losing end of an epic feud with Jimmy Jacobs, started off the festivities by welcoming us to Ring of Honor and issued an open challenge, one that was immediately accepted by ROH champion Takeshi Morishima. At this point in the show the announcers have not said one word and yet there is no way in hell anyone watching wasn't completely captivated. In a glorified squash, Whitmer was manhandled by Morishima as everyone in the crowd was losing their mind. That is exactly how you book a champion. You watch enough RAW and iMPACT and you begin to realize that everyone is equal with the asinine even steven booking. ROH immediately shows you who is THE MAN. It reminded me of when I first saw Joe vs. Kobashi. I don't watch Japanese wrestling, nor do I have any interest in it, but within a minute or two ROH can establish guys such as Kenta Kobashi and Morishima as wrestlers I want to see more of. And fear not, if you are a BJ Whitmer fan – and God help you if you are – the match also did a nice job of getting over Whitmer's never-say-die attitude. A fun squash that made it somewhat believable that Whitmer could possibly beat Morishima.

*** Nigel McGuinness, who I can't fathom won't be a big star in WWE or TNA in the next two years, came to the ring and challenged Morishima to a title match. This brought out Bryan Danielson in street clothes, who told Nigel that Danielson was the one who deserved the title shot. It's hard to argue with one of ROH's greatest world champions ever. In a fantastic moment, Bryan put his finger in Nigel's chest, a la Shane Douglas to Terry Funk in ECW's Crossing the Line show closing promo, and Nigel informed Danielson that if it happened again he would break the finger off and shove it up Danielson's ass. This all led to Danielson and Morishima teaming together for a bit to teach McGuinness some old school respect. Danielson and Morishima even had a little stare down themselves once Danielson picked up the ROH title. Danielson held the belt and looked at it like his pride and joy, sort of like Vincent Verhei's look when holding up a Quizno's Baja chicken sub. Morishima was sure to remind Danielson exactly who was the champ. Fantastic little segment that made the ROH world title seem like the biggest deal in the company.

*** Video package aired for Brent Albright, who had a cup of coffee in WWE last year as the horrendously named Gunner Scott. Albright is "coming soon to ROH PPV" and this little clip job was effective in making you want to see more of this gun for hire as he beat the hell out of people. Sort of like the opposite effect of watching those horrible skits promoting the Highlanders for weeks on Raw last year.

Naomichi Marufuji versus Rocky Romero - This match is a great example of what ROH is all about. To the common fan watching wrestling on Monday nights, no one knows Marufuji and even less know Romero. In the Manhattan Center, these two guys are like Boba Fett and Darth Maul at a Star Wars convention. Such a high percentage of ROH fans appreciate good workrate that anyone can get over if they bring their "A" game to each show. I became a big fan of Romero once they put him with Homicide in the Rottweilers group a few years ago and I couldn't get enough of Marufuji after watching the fantastic Best of Japan 2005 DVD. Both guys got a nice little video package before the match and, as expected, the two put on a strong opener that had the crowd salivating for more wrestling action, especially after the red hot last minute. No going into the stands, which must be impossible for any TNA fan to believe. No bullshit interference. Just a hard hitting, super athletic match with some innovative spots that finished with Marufuji finishing off Romero with a Shiranui for the win. I was impressed with the announcing duo of Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard as they did a good job putting over both guys and answering any question –before it was asked – that viewers may have had about who Marufuji and Romero were. This looked to me like Romero's breakout singles match and one that can hopefully elevate him into a singles "star."

*** Backstage, Larry Sweeney was with Tank Toland. Tank was another guy who spent a short time in WWE and I can honestly say I don't remember one damn thing he was a part of. I know I watched it, but nothing stuck. Wait a second, wasn't he part of that fucking THE DICKS tag team? Dear lord, and here I spent so much time trying to forget that shit. Anyway, Sweeney, who is probably one of the best talkers in indy wrestling today, talked about his Sweet and Sour Incorporated stable and his number one client, Chris Hero. Sweeney also bragged about signing a new client, Sara Del Ray. Sweeney told Del Ray that she now had the services of Toland as a personal trainer and this segued into a great segment with Toland, Del Ray, and ROH trainee Bobby Dempsey. Toland vowed to whip Dempsey into shape, and let me tell you, that's a lot of whipping. Toland, Del Ray, and Dempsey then had a SQUAT OFF that ended with Dempsey passing out. I'm loving this Toland gimmick, and it makes me think of how much the WWE screwed up on the Simon Dean character. This whole skit from beginning to end was 15 kinds of fantastic and everything from Toland's interactions with Sweeney, to Del Ray's squat challenge, to Dempsey blowing up and crawling to the back, was hilarious. On an unrelated note, I think I may be in love with Sara Del Ray. We're talking "future stalker" type appreciation here.

*** The camera quickly went to the ring where a brouhaha was going down between Bryan Danielson, Morishima, and Nigel McGuinness. KENTA made the save by running to the ring and delivering a nasty kick to Danielson. This all set up the main event of KENTA teaming with McGuinness to face off against Danielson and Morishima. Again, Prazak did a masterful job of explaining who KENTA was, including how he had been Danielson's toughest opponent over the last year and a big rival to Morishima's stable in Japan.

The Briscoe Brothers versus Matt Sydal & Claudio Castagnoli for the ROH World Tag Team Titles - Earlier I wrote that Nigel will be a superstar in the big leagues someday. Well, I can't fathom how the Briscoes aren't dominating the tag team scene in WWE or TNA right now. INCONCEIVABLE~! These guys have money written all over them.

This match was worth the price of admission alone. Fans who have only watched wrestling in the last several years probably don't understand how great tag team wrestling can be. I grew up in a time when wrestling was filled to the brim with great tag teams. The Midnight Express. The Hart Foundation. The Four Horsemen. Demolition. The Can-Am Connection. The Killer Bees. The list could go on and on and on. Clearly, at some point Vince McMahon decided he didn't give a shit about tag teams and basically gutted that part of his company, and will only give half-assed pushes to any other team now. It's hard to watch a tag team match in ROH featuring the Briscoes or any others for that matter, and then turn on SmackDown and see Deuce & Domino or those fucking goofs the Major Brothers on WWE. It's like comparing apples to oranges. Long story short, if you are a fan of tag team wrestling, ROH is the one wrestling company that has delivered top shelf tag team matches and has been for over five years.
I hate to sound like a broken record putting over the announcing, but I honestly feel that good announcers are vital to enjoying wrestling on TV. This isn't a house show. Announcers and the cameramen become almost as key to enjoying the matches as the wrestlers and referee inside the ring, they just don't get the acclaim because the only time most people notice them is when they fuck up. How many great TNA matches have been completely screwed up thanks to their director picking the wrong camera to cut to? Anyway, the announcers clearly got across why Sydal was teaming with Castagnoli and what led up to this match taking place. It's the little things you appreciate when watching ROH, as a bigger picture starts to develop when you notice all the details along the way. This is a stark contrast to WWE and TNA where just about everything means nothing in the long run. ROH is about continuity and rewarding viewers for paying attention, and that is such a refreshing experience in a wrestling company. It's the exact same reason why shows such as LOST and Heroes are getting so much acclaim, and ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky deserves some major kudos for bringing the goods to wrestling fans.

As for the match itself, anyone who thinks that the Briscoes only do highspots needs to sit down and watch and both Mark and Jay hold a clinic on exciting wrestling. I might even have to drive to the state of Washington and tie Bryan Alvarez to a chair, make him watch this match, and add another list to the Bryan Was Wrong folder on www.F4Wonline.com. It certainly helped the Briscoes to have two world class opponents, Sydal with the high flying background and Castagnoli who can stand toe to toe with the best of them. Super fast action throughout, and at some points, you almost feel like you are watching a video game. It's incredible how good these guys are at this point in their careers. Seemingly a million fantastic spots in this match including the ROH trademarked supernova last few minutes.

*** The camera cut to Lenny Leonard and Dave Prazak as they put over the psychotic New York City fans. Kevin Steen and El Generico interrupted the proceedings by walking over to the announcers and made a challenge to the Briscoes. This led to a HUGE brawl that seemed more impromptu than anything I can remember on TV in the last year. Gabe Sapolsky has deftly accomplished a lot of major feats in the last five years, but one thing he can do better than just about anyone in the business is making certain things feel "real" even when every single fan in the building knows it is not. Super exciting sequence, and I can't wait for Steen/Generico versus the Briscoes.

Roderick Strong versus Delirious in a GRUDGE MATCH - Clips aired of a match Strong and Delirious had back in February during the Fifth Year Festival in which Delirious just about had his head cracked in two. Here's a great line from Prazak: "You don't threaten to rip the mask off of Delirious, that's where he gets a lot of his energy and power from!" The crowd seemed slightly down during this match, but that's bound to happen when you just seemingly had ten straight orgasms. I have to wonder if new ROH viewers would understand why Delirious speaks in his gibberish tongue, but these two were given a lot of time to build up the psychology on the mat. I think the deliberate pace, instead of being frenetic, helped establish the blood feud developing between these two men. The way Roderick Strong can weave backbreakers throughout a match is fun to watch. After yet another great finish to a match, save for a kick from Delirious that showed more light than a Sylvania 1000 watt bulb, the victorious Strong was joined by stablemates Rocky Romero and Davey Richards and the three men put the boots to Delirious. Strong and Romero set up a metal barricade and Strong than powerbombed Delrious on it! Sick. Erick Stevens came down to make the save. I'm a big fan of stables, but the names of these particular ones drive me insane. The No Remorse Corps? The Resilience? Ugh. Where have you gone Generation Next and the Rotweillers?!!

*** Promo backstage with Shane Hagadorn and Adam Pearce. ScrapDaddy Pearce has really grown on me since his ROH debut last year, and he has really taken his promos up about three notches to be among the best in the company. This was a creepy one, and I mean that in a good way, as Pearce talked about the history of ROH and how he was going to save BJ Whitmer's soul by destroying him. This is one worth going out of your way to see.

Nigel McGuinness & KENTA versus Bryan Danielson & Takeshi Morishima - Each team came out together, but I would have taken a page out of WWE's book and had each guy come out separately to further emphasize the "dream match" aspect. That's pretty much the quote/unquote bad news about this match as these four guys tore down the house. Prazak astutely noted that Morishima "hits people hard and dumps them on their heads." Short and to the point. I must note here that everyone reading this should check out the insanely awesome match between Nigel and Morishima at ROH's Fighting Spirit event. You should probably be watching Nigel and Danielson battle it out at Unified as well. Shit, you also have to see KENTA versus Danielson at Glory By Honor Night Two. That's one of the things I love most about ROH, the big time matches that contain months of various storylines all intersecting at once. What can I say about this match that you won't figure out reading any of the blow by blow writeups? It was fucking AWESOME. Every guy got in all their signature spots, and it reminded me of the best RAW main events where all the top names are in a tag match and hit every spot precisely when they have to. I remember distinctly how much I marked out when Shawn Michaels finally superkicked John Cena in a perfect spot and this match had at least half a dozen or so moments exactly like that. This is a match for wrestling fans who like wrestling. What's even better is that ROH has almost co-opted the realism of MMA while still remaining a pro-wrestling company. I've already rewatched this match three times, it's that fucking good, with four of the world's best wrestlers at the top of their game.

*** After the match, Danielson put the ROH belt on his shoulder, but was immediately given this crazy backdrop driver by Morishima. Nigel then returned to the ring, picked up the title, and handed it back to Morishima. Nigel started putting over Morishima by saying, "This is your belt, and I'm gonna –" WHAMMO! Nigel was taken out with a Morishima lariat. Just all kinds of awesome. Morishima closed the show by swinging the ROH belt around like Stan Hansen at his wildest and it was actually a nice bookend that tied into the start of the show with a raging beast showing his dominance.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: ROH, the little indy that could, is finally on PPV, and with a potential audience of fifty million homes they needed a good show for their PPV debut. What they brought to the table was a great introductory show for new fans while also providing a show that should please the demanding ROHbots. Because of all the real world stuff going on, there is a good chance many potential fans are going to be sick and/or disgusted with the world of professional wrestling, especially if Vince McMahon does any more talk shows or issues asinine press releases, but the ones who do drop the ten bucks for this show are going to be impressed. A great combination of highspots and UFC-like matwork with a wonderful crowd that really became the MVP of the show. I've noted throughout that the announcing in ROH is really hitting its stride as Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard (even with that goofy name) proved themselves to be the best duo in wrestling today as they artfully weaved in the explanation of detailed storylines with what was going on in the ring.

What can you say about Takeshi Morishima - just an absolute monster and this show did a perfect job of showing his dominance while also continuing to put over the importance of the ROH belt (as every good wrestling program should). Speaking of feuds, what about Steen & Generico versus The Briscoes? Everything those four have been a part of has been incredible so far and tonight they somehow raised the anticipation bar even further. What exactly is going on with BJ Whitmer? What has made Scrap Daddy so damn evil? Will Delirious get his revenge on the No Remorse Corps? How will the returning Austin Aries figure into everything? Who can possibly defeat the monster that is Morishima?! I'm already looking forward to ROH's second PPV!

[swarm]

Whoever said Morishima looks like a fat 13 year old Asian girl is dead on.