Quick Results from ROH 2/23 - New York City

Pre-show
Zach Gowen defeated Pelle Primeau.

Main show
Delirious vs. Human Tornado went to a no contest.
Age of the Fall of Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black defeated Human Tornado & Delirious.
Brent Albright defeated El Generico.
Kevin Steen defeated Joey Matthews.
Sara Del Rey defeated Daizee Haze to retain the SHIMMER championship.
The NRC of Rocky Romero & Davey Richards defeated the Vulture Squad of Ruckus & Jigsaw to retain the ROH World Tag Team Championship.
Roderick Strong defeated Necro Butcher & Erick Stevens in a NO DQ match to retain the FIP World Championship.
Nigel McGuinness defeated Bryan Danielson to retain the ROH World Championship.

I was fortunate enough to appear at the ROH sixth anniversary show saturday night at the Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom. I had grand plans for this show. It was going to be my first attempt at literally releasing an audio commentary of the entire show from bell to bell.

I did that two months ago at Rising Above, the audio commentary, and transcribed it in to a 16 page column. I thought it was one of my best efforts. I thought this time around, I'd try and do it audio, and save everybody the effort of having to read my words. Well, it didn't work out that way.

With luck that should be reserved for someone with a black cloud over their heads, I didn't bring the right size batteries for my audio recording devices, and they naturally ran out of juice before the 2nd match began.

Of course, did I have the back up plan of a note pad and pen? Pen, yes, but note pad? Of course not. So, naturally, I was screwed.

This is of course, found out while sitting in the corner of the Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom, literally one hour after balls out running to catch the express train to New York City from my hometown, so to say that the beginning of this adventure was less than stellar would be an understatement.

Oh, did I forget to mention how lost I got trying to get to the building? I have done this trip close to a dozen times now, and each time I do it, I leave the train station out a different exit, and never figure out where the hell I am.

This is, one reason, why I left at 5:31pm, and was in New York by 6:10pm for an alleged 7:30pm bell time.

The one good aspect is, I did make the show with plenty of time to spare, and had the facilities to blossom my ROH collection by four DVDs. I'll talk about that later.

Instead of trying to go blow by blow, I'm going to go through the results, and try and just give some opinions of what I thought from the show. Overall, I was very entertained. It wasn't as good, in my opinion, as Final Battle 2006, which to me, is the best ROH show I have ever attended, but it was definitely very entertaining.

By the way, props out to my new pal Kyle, who told me he is an avid reader of my work, and I guess followed my clues, look for the schlub in the back of the Manhattan Center with the jersey and glasses. I was in the back of section A waiting for the show to start in a Memphis Grizzlies jersey. We talked for a bit, he's a cool dude, and he knows his stuff. The dude wanted to take a picture with me. Bluntly, I'm stunned and flattered. Thanks for the props Kyle, it made my day.

The pre show match was ROH school stalwart Pelle Primeau being defeated by Zach Gowen. Here's my thoughts on this. With all due respect to Zach Gowen's disability, and I give him all the credit in the world for fulfilling his dream of being in pro wrestling, especially with the cards stacked against him as they are, he's just plain awful as a combatant. He was a heel in this match, and not a good heel, an obnoxious, annoying, irritating heel. Someone you don't want to see beaten, someone you want to see hurt, and hurt badly. That's not what this business should be about, in my opinion, but that's just me talking.

A couple of major league blown spots in this match, but then again, this is a dark pre-show match, so I guess I should not be sujrprised.

The show opened with Delirious going up against the Human Tornado. First things first, with Delirious. Two months ago at Rising Above, Delirious was embroiled in a blood feud with the Hangmen 3. He came out in Red, ROH called him Red Poison Delirious, and things looked just plain wicked as where the possibilities could lie with the evolution of the masked man. Fast forward two months, and Delirious is back in green doing comedy matches. Don't get me wrong, I am happy as hell with that, as Delirious is damn good at the schtick, and I don't discount that one bit. However, it's just an aspect of the PPV deal that has really taken ROH storylines and thrown them completely out of wack to the point of no return.

Anyway, back to the lecture at hand, we've got Delirious and Tornado, in a match that I think, Tornado NEEDS to keep a gig going in Ring of Honor. It goes for a few minutes in to a major dance off, before it's stopped by the Age of the Fall, including, of all people, ZACH GOWEN. Gowen was added to AotF friday night in Long Island due to the no shows, but him being involved with the faction in NYC made little sense to me. Anyway, Black and Jacobs did most of the beat down on Delirious and Tornado until both men came around to save themselves. Lacey made her presence felt with a little physical altercation on her behalf, but it was countered by Daizee Haze.

Once Delirious and Tornado fought off Jacobs and Black, a tag match was ordered, which was won by the Age of the Fall, making Tornado submit, if I remember correctly. I hope that's not the end of the Human Tornado in Ring of Honor, because it is an asset to keep him on the roster, but I don't know with the economic cutbacks ROH is seemingly going through, bringing in a Californian as Tornado is, I am not so sure. But, damn, was he over with the crowd, in a big, big, big, big, big way.

Quickly, one thing to note on Tornado before moving on, he did an absolutely insane jump OVER THE BUCKLES and on to the ramp, nailing, from my view, both members of the Age of the Fall during the tag match. It was a hell of a spot to witness.

As I am trying to write this, I am watching Cage of Death from Death before Dishonor IV. Wow. What a brawl. Tough for me to focus on the task at hand watching this, but I will try.

Back to the show, Nigel comes out playing the consummate heel wanting no part of Danielson because he is reckless. Danielson comes out, puts ROH over in a big way and the former world champions with it, as well as talents that haven't had the belt, names I haven't heard in an ROH show in a long time, Punk, Joe, Daniels, etc. Because of Nigel whining about an injury to his head, Dragon promises to not go for the head in any way, shape, or form, during their World title match tonight. We'll see. Danielson/Morishima anyone?

Opinions, a little long, but quite enjoyable from start to finish. No questions asked.

El Generico vs. Brent Albright was the next match. Albright won the match with knee strikes to Generico's head. Generico took an ass whipping. I have to admit, this guy doesn't look the part, but he did take a pounding, and got up until he couldn't get up any more. I give him credit.

The Larry Sweeney show is out next, with Bobby Dempsey in tow. Sweeney brings out the returning Allison Danger, who looks amazing. Sweeney then asks Danger if she's a slut, Danger takes exception, and Sweeney knocks her out with the microphone. He then tells Bobby Dempsey to be a man and take advantage of her, and when Dempsey refuses, Sweeney knocks him out, and he lands on top of Danger.

Personally, I found this offensive. Whether or not that these types of over the top angles are worthwhile in wrestling in one thing, but its one thing that ROH has stayed away from for the most part. It's been who's better than who, and who can beat who, and all that stuff. Nothing that bluntly can be cosntrued as degradation to women. Now, I know Allison Danger is someone who can take care of herself, and she'll probably be back on May 10th, and we'll see where this goes from here, but I thought it was an area that Ring of Honor did not need to go through, because it's sports entertainment, and not wrestling, and that's not what, I think, this company is about.

Kevin Steen vs. Joey Matthews is up. Matthews comes out to the Age of the Fall music. Personally, Matthews needs to grow up. He worked like he was the MNM character Joey Mercury, and it was not fun to watch. Joey Mercury does not belong in the Age of the Fall. If Joey MATTHEWS, the man who wrote the well written blog on ageofthefall.com is the man who is in the faction, that's one thing, but Joey MERCURY in Age of the Fall does nothing for me, and it dilutes the value and impact that the faction can provide. Steen is also insane, to the absolute membrane, and is a lot of fun to watch, no questions about it.

Austin Aries vs. Go Shiozaki is the absolute match of the night, thus far. A ton of false finishes, multiple HEAVY impact spots, Shiozaki falls to the brainbuster/450 splash combination. Aries continues to show the frustration of recent times, and from that, the Age of the Fall try to continue to recruit him to join the faction. Aries doesn't show much consideration to them, but he does when Tammy Sytch comes out and offers some "services" of her own. I assume Sunny is trying to return to managerial duties in ROH.

The spots in this match were too numerous to try and explain. I can tell you this, I am very impressed with Go Shiozaki. Austin Aries continues to show the world how good he is, as well, whether as a heel or as a face. He continues to be one of the main reasons why I will continue to attend ROH shows, because he is that damn good.

New York's next ROH event is May 10th, but it's at a new locale, the Hammerstein Ballroom of the Manhattan Center. I am PUMPED up for the possibility of seeing ROH in that venue.

The SHIMMER title match is the next match following the intermission, and it was the classic Sara Del Rey vs. Daizee Haze match. I was ANNOYED to no end with the crowd basically making fun of the match, as these two ladies tried to show the crowd how women's wrestling is supposed to look, but the crowd is out for blood or skin, and since neither was involved in this match, the fools in the crowd didn't want any part of it.

I have to say though, the fools were slim in volume this show. It was pretty much a hot crowd for most of the show. It was a 4 hours show, so there's dead spots, obviously, but the show did flow pretty well, from the points that I could observe.

Next up was the ROH World tag title match with the Vulture Squad and the NRC. Davey Richards continues to remind me of Chris Benoit as a wrestler in every single way. This match continued to follow the premise of a typical faction warfare tag match, nearly a tag scramble, which the Squad lost. There were rumblings of Smokes forcing Jigsaw to unmask if the Squad lost, but Jigsaw wanted no part of it, and left for the back. Mercedes Martinez was at ringside, and this was the first time I had the chance to see her live. I'd like to see her compete in the near future. She looks like she has a lot of athleticism. Romero picked up the "Azucar" nomicker in full effect with this matchup.

Following the match, Steen and Generico appeared at the GA section, and mentioned back to Respect is Earned, where they challenged the Briscoes in that very spot for a tag title shot. The Briscoes manned up, and got the job done. Steen wanted to know if history could strike twice. Richards said bring it, but by the time the Generic Luchador and Mr. Wrestling got to the ring, the NRC laughed their way to the back, and high tailed it out of the Manhattan Center.

The next match was the No DQ 3 way FIP World Heavyweight title match between former champion Erick Stevens, 2 time and current champion Roderick Strong, and the Necro Butcher.

One word described this match.

Intense.

It was all over the place. Multiple chair shots that sounded like gun fire. One shot on Necro I swear to God echoed throughout the building. The chops from all three men were off the page with their intensity and ferocity. The crowd was way over with Necro, which was a bit of a surprise to me, but Necro's insanity is a favorite of mine as well, so I didn't complain.

Strong pinned Necro to retain the belt. I don't remember the spot, but I have to tell you, it was a draining match to watch, and an awfully tough match to follow up. Nigel and Dragon had a tough act to follow. I was exhausted after this match. But, damnit, it was fun to watch.

The ROH World title match was dangerously similar to Final Battle 06's epic between Homicide and Danielson as Dragon faced Nigel McGuinness. One thing to be said right off the bat. DRAGON KEPT HIS WORD. Only on RARE OCCASIONS with back suplexes, did Dragon go for the head. He did elbows to the ribs and stomach.

Nigel continued the heel act, and one time when Dragon suplexed Nigel on his head, Nigel got pissed, hit the ref, and the ref DQed Nigel to end the match. As Nigel sauntered back to the locker room, he's stopped by Aries on the mike, and he said that he had the former ROH world champs with him, and Aries told Nigel that he had two choices, go back and defend the belt with honor, or get through the multiple combatants that were blocking the locker room entrance for Nigel.

Once the match was restarted, per order of Cary Silkin, ROH president, the amount of damage done to Danielson's shoulder made MY shoulder's hurt. Nigel was bloodied in the head in a huge way, he was spurting blood from the side and front of his head. It was really tough to watch how bad he was bleeding. The intensity of this match almost made the FIP title match seem easy on the eyes. Nigel did the roaring elbows to Danielson's head, and tried the cattle mutilation as well, to really piss off the crowd, and outside of one Dude Love looking doofus who was sitting near us, he did a damn good job of pissing off the crowd.

Danielson tapped out to the London Dungeon. Nigel said, who in this company can stop him now after this match, and bluntly, I'm kind of wondering that now, myself.

Dragon had to be carried out of the ring because of the damage done to him by the ROH World Champion. I was kind of worried for Dragon as to how badly he may have been hurt from this encounter with the British native and ROH World Champion.

In closing, this show was VERY LONG, but very enjoyable. For missing some stalwarts like the Briscoes, Hero, Claudio, and others, it was a damn good show, none the less. I thought there was some dead spots, and some spots that could have been re-done, or not done at all, but overall, the show was very entertaining from where I sit.

Quickly, I mentioned I picked up five DVDs. Four ROH, and one WWE. WWE Royal Rumble 2008, ROH's PPVs, Driven, Undeniable, and Respect is Earned, as well as the Death Before Dishonor IV featuring the ROH vs. CZW Cage of Death. Anyone who wants reviews, let me know. I'd be happy to post that stuff on my blog.

I'm going to go to sleep now, ladies and gentlemen. Before I do, I want to apologize again for not being able to provide the same type of column I've done from past shows I've attended. I hope you guys can understand, I did try.

Please check out my blog by going to mikesiciliano.blogspot.com.

And drop me a line when you can at klac1102@aol.com.

Thanks for reading.