Duckman's ROH TV Review - No.7

[Duckman]

Sunday can only mean one thing!  Duckman’s ROH on HD Net Review is back!!  Alright settle down folks I know it’s exciting but I can’t get through this review if people are going to throw panties at me when I do the intro!

It’s the first taping from the 2nd set of TV tapings for ROH and it’s a loaded line up for tonight!  We’ve got the first ROH TV appearance of ‘The Nature Boy’ Ric Flair!!  It’ll be interesting to see what kind of role Flair is going to play in ROH.  We’ve also got a great looking main event as former Generation Next members and ROH World Tag Team Champions Austin Aries and Roderick Strong face off!

The Strong vs Aries match should be a belter and I know that the new heel character Aries has been playing is going to work really well against the ultra serious and stiff Roderick Strong!

The show opens differently this week as we go straight to the arena where they announce the arrival of the new ‘Ambassador of Ring of Honour’ Ric Flair!  Oh Naitch with these chops you are really spoiling us!  Sorry, couldn’t help it!

This announcement gets a huge pop from the crowd and rightly so.  Flair is the most well known wrestler to ever appear in ROH.  Foley and Steamboat made a big splash when they came in back in 2004 but I think it’s safe to say that Flair is on another level of success in wrestling compared to those two and that’s taking nothing away from Foley and Steamboat who are two of my favourite wrestlers of all time.

Flair’s music hits as Prazak and Hogwood hype Flair coming to ROH!  He arrives to a ton of ‘woos’ as he makes his way to the ring.  He does a little styling and profiling inside the ring as the crowd applaud and do the ‘we’re not worthy’ move.

Flair is on the mic and he woos before confirming that he is never going to leave professional wrestling which gets a big pop from the crowd.  Flair puts over ROH and the owner as well as the  ‘young and talented’ wrestlers in the back.  He mentions, even though it’s hard to believe, that there could be a new Nature Boy backstage which brings another good reaction from the crowd!

He says there might be a new Shawn Michaels which gets a pop.  He says there might be a new Triple H which gets a big boo!  Classic.  Flair says it’s not about “that,” by which I assume he means; marrying into a position of power, fucking over everyone on the way to the top, booking yourself to be dominant over all the other talent, failing to build new stars and then not putting over Randy Orton at Wrestlemania cleanly like he should have fucking done because he’s so insecure he needs his babyface Wrestlemania moment even though the crowd were dead and then only losing the WWE Title in some clusterfuck six man tag match!  Oh and not being sympathetic as a babyface even though some dude beat up your wife…twice. 

Ahem, anyway Flair talks about the growth, the belief and the sport of professional wrestling and says that those two (HBK and HHH) work as hard at pro wrestling as anyone he’s ever associated with.  Can’t argue with that I suppose.  Then again after reading Bret Hart’s autobiography I’m convinced Michaels and Hunter are the spawn of Satan! (see above rant!)

Back to the show!  Flair mentions it being a historic night as his first night as ROH Ambassador and then introduces the ROH World Champion Jerry Lynn.  Lynn gets a big pop and makes his way out to the ring in his wrestling gear. 

Flair puts over Lynn big time and says he’s “more than World Champion calibre, he is THE World Champion.”  He says Lynn is in a good place and has a big job as ROH World Champ.  Flair does his ‘to be the man’ line and says that right now Jerry Lynn is The Man!

Lynn cuts a promo thanking Carey Silken (ROH owner) for allowing him to come to ROH and show everyone that he still has what it takes.  He also thanks Ric Flair and talks about back in 1995 they wrestled when Flair had been in a major car wreck just a few days before the show.  He talks about how Flair made the show, worked through the pain and taught him about honour, pride and passion for wrestling. 

Hogwood talks about this being a great moment when they are interrupted by Austin Aries!!  Sweet!  Aries looks like a star in his trendy black coat, white shirt and sun glasses.  He talks about there being too much talk about ‘beating men’ and also about how there’s ‘this kind of guy in the locker room and that kind of guy in the locker room, well guess who is in the locker room?  ME!  Austin Aries.’

The crowd chant ‘Austin Asshole’ as Aries says he has respect for both of them but the facts are before they came to ROH Aries was The Man.  He says if you want to talk about Champions you need to mention him as he’s been a Champion his whole life.  He says he’s still at the top and he’s coming for the ROH World Title and will destroy Roderick Strong later tonight. 

Flair comes back and says he likes Aries attitude and says if you’re in the main event for ROH you must be good.  He says he looks forward to seeing Aries in action and hopes he can back up his talk.  Aries says you don’t need to worry about that and then does a very serious ‘woo’ which is just brilliant before heading to the back.

A good opening promo and appearance by Flair.  It was good to see both Lynn and Aries get the rub from Flair.  Aries especially was solid on the mic and looked like a star.  I’m still not too sure what Flair’s role is in ROH.  I don’t think he can book matches but is more a kind of figure head for the company.  That’s probably better because he won’t be able to work every TV show or every other show for the company.  Still it’s just amazing to see Flair in ROH and I liked the way he put over the company, the TV show and also Lynn and Aries.

First match of the night and it’s going to be Chris Hero vs Kenny Omega!  Hogwood mentions this should be a great match and I think he’s right about that.  Hero makes his entrance first without Larry Sweeny who recently quit ROH after going fucking loco.  If you want more details check out his scary MySpace rants.  Weird!  So Hero is seconded tonight by Shane Hagadorn and Sara Del Ray and he’s not wearing his short shorts anymore, thank fuck!

Hogwood puts over Omega for his skills and how each time he’s seen him he gets better.  Omega had a great outing a few weeks back against Aries.  They talk about Omega having to look out for the knock out power of Hero and Hogwood speculates about the loaded elbow pad that Hero uses which Prazak refutes as all good heel commentators should.

Omega tries to shake Hero’s hand but Hero kicks it away and will have none of it.  They start off working some mat based moves around wrist locks and front face locks.  Hero is great at working this style but Omega is able to increase the pace of the match with an Irish whip off the ropes, a drop down, leap frog, a deep arm drag and a drop kick which sends Hero to the floor! 

Omega does an insane dive over the top rope to the floor and gets some serious height on the dive!!  He lands on top of Hero and ends up sitting on the top of the guard rail before falling to the floor!  The crowd are going fucking nuts for the dive as we get a replay from a wider angle that makes the dive and the crowd reaction to it look even more impressive! 

The editing and camera work that the HD Net crew do for ROH is brilliant, it’s never looked so professional and yet still in the style of ROH with not being over polished.

Omega rolls Hero back in and goes up top and hits a frog splash cross body block and then rolls Hero into a cradle pin for a 2 count.  Omega does a few flips and rolls out of the corner as Hero tries to catch him but Hero avoids a moonsault and Omega lands on his feet before Hero grabs his hair and violently wrenches him back to the mat!  Omega landed right on his neck with that!  Hero gets some good crowd heat before throwing Omega out to the floor and then hitting a big running boot through the ropes to the chest of Omega!!  That looked really impressive as Hero went through the ropes with the kick but held on and landed on his feet on the floor, for a big guy that was awesome!

Hero takes control back in the ring with a couple of hard shots but Omega gets back into it by yelling ‘stop’ at the charging Hero!  He does and Omega nails an enzeguri and then a sick looking dragon (full nelson) suplex for a close 2 count! 

Omega goes for his electric chair suplex finisher but Sara Del Ray gets on the apron.  With Omega distracted Hagadorn hands Hero the loaded elbow pad and he nails the rolling elbow to the jaw of Omega knocking him out and scoring the 3 count!! 

Winner, via pinfall:  Chris Hero

On commentary Hogwood goes nuts about the loaded elbow pad while Prazak talks about it being handed down to Hero by Misawa (famous for the rolling elbows in Japan) and that’s why it works so well!  Classic heel commentary!

I really enjoyed this match.  Omega looked great and got in a ton of offence.  Hero as usual worked heel really well and the loaded elbow pad finish is getting over with the live crowds.  There was a lot of energy for a short 8 minute match and both guys worked hard and the crowd were into it. 

I think Hero is one of the unsung quality heels in independent wrestling and I wouldn’t be surprised if TNA or WWE came calling for him soon.  He can talk, work and with more time in the gym and less weird ring gear he could be a big star.  The match was a good opener once again for ROH on HD Net. 

We cut to the back where Kyle Durden is standing by with ‘The Messiah of the Backbreaker’ Roderick Strong.  They talk about Strong being back from a successful tour of Japan.  Strong isn’t the strongest promo guy in the world and he talks a bit like a young kid.  He talks about his team with Aries and how he used to look up to Aries and respect him.  He says tonight is about beating Aries and making him respect him.  Decent promo from Roddy.

It’s 2nd Match of the night time.  We cut to highlights from two weeks ago when Brodie Lee attacked Necro Butcher to stop him using a staple gun on his Age of the Fall Stable mate Jimmy Jacobs.  Lee and Necro are going to meet tonight in what should be a crappy match with lots of brawling!

Lee cuts a promo looking like a bit like Jason Lee from My Name is Earl but on serious roids!  He says he won’t use one wrestling hold tonight, he’s just going to punch and kick Necro in the head.  I would expect nothing less!

Necro does his usual promo and talks about how Lee attacked him in New Jersey and cost him a Title shot in Canada.  This is actually a really good promo that ROH wrestlers should cut more of.  They should make mention of the events on the DVD shows to encourage people to buy more and follow the feuds in more detail.  Necro also promises no wrestling holds and an all out brawl.  So just like every other match you’ve ever had then Necro?

Lee and Jacobs come to the ring and Necro makes his way out with a steel chair in hand!  He rolls into the ring as Jacobs and Lee take a powder and Necro gets a big pop from the crowd as he bashes himself in the head with the chair.  The crowd chant for Necro, man this dude is over!  I would never have thought ROH fans would chant for Necro and make him such a big babyface!

Necro starts the match by diving off the ring apron with a rolling senton on Lee.  He then takes a chair from a fan, throws it at Lee and it bounces off his head.  Necro catches it before it hits the ground, shoves Lee’s head into the chair and then runs him into the ring post as the crowd go fucking nuts!  Necro chases Jacobs around the ring with a chair and then ducks a punch from Lee and throws the chair at him again!  He hits some chops and punches and they brawl up the aisle way but Lee takes over thanks to an assist from Jacobs.

Lee grabs Necro on the entrance ramp and nails him with a sick looking black hole slam on the metal entrance ramp!  Necro is totally fucked after this and Lee carries him to the ring and rolls him inside and FINALLY the bell sounds to start the match!!  Lee makes the cover and gets a 2 count. 

There’s an on screen graphic to follow ROH on Twitter.  Don’t forget to follow The Efed Knights on Twitter as well (cheap plug!).  Lee takes control of the match beating Necro up with strikes and chokes.

I don’t know if it’s my copy of the show but the audio goes out of synch during the match.  Seems like the crowd and ring noise is ahead of the commentary.  No biggie though.  Necro tries to come back with chops and punches but he eats a big boot in the corner and then one off the ropes from Lee for a 2 count.  Jacobs get on the apron and Necro slips off Lee’s shoulders and runs him into Jimmy before getting the O’Connor roll for the 3 count!  Pah, no wrestling moves eh?!  Lee tries to charge Necro after the match but gets back dropped over the top to the floor for his troubles! 

Winner, via pinfall:  Necro Butcher.

We then get the same ‘Buzz Words’ section from Eric Stevens as last week.  Not sure if that was done on purpose or not.  Seems like a production mistake because it would make sense to feature a different wrestler each week.  Then again they might be hard pushing Stevens, I don’t know.  Ah what do you know he’s coming up in a match next!  It all makes sense now!

3rd match of the night and it’s Eric Stevens taking on Sal Rinauro.  Sal is actually not a bad little worker who has been doing a lot in ROH’s sister promotion FIP in Florida.  Looks like he’s drawn the jobber card for this show though as he’s about half the size and half as well known as Stevens!   

Stevens hits a powerslam, German suplex, splash in the corner, running lariat off the ropes and the Doctor Bomb (gut wrench powerbomb) for the 3 count in about 30 seconds!  Nice squash and thanks for coming Sal!  I hope they start doing more with Stevens as he had one of the best feds of 2008 against Roderick Strong but he hasn’t done much of note since.  With the right kind of push Stevens could be a total monster.

Winner, via pinfall:  Eric Stevens.

We get some highlights from last week’s main event where Bryan Danielson and Tyler Black went to a 20 minute draw.  Prazak calls it a wrestling clinic, hard to argue with that as it was a great match from two of the top talents in ROH today.  We then get the announcement that they will face of again next week in a match to decide the Number One Contender to the ROH World Title!  FUCKING SWEET! 

They also confirm that former ROH World Champion Nigel McGuiness will make an appearance next week on the show!  Good stuff from ROH here hyping appearances and matches with the big names that are coming up! 

It’s Main Event time!  We get the tale of the tape and Aries makes his usual cocky and arrogant entrance.  We see some clips from his excellent promo earlier in the night where he confirmed he was coming for the ROH World Title!  Strong hits the ring to a good reaction from the fans and immediately Aries is backing off as Strong looks pissed!

They follow the Code of Honour handshake but Aries has the most phoney smile on his face when he does it!  It’s those little things that are getting Aries over HUGE as a heel these days.  They start out slowly with some reversals working over each others arm as Prazak talks about Aries pinning Samoa Joe for the ROH World Title back in 2004.  They talk about how no one has been a 2 time ROH World Champion as Aries does some nice chain wrestling to work over the arm of Strong and then prances across the ring to tell the referee that Strong isn’t good enough to beat him.

On commentary they discuss the pros and cons of facing a former tag team partner as Aries hits some nice arm drags.  Strong tries to get out of an armbar with a headscissors on the mat and Aries nails his headstand and drop kick to get out of the hold!  Aries hits an overhand chop to Strong but dives out the ring when Strong tries for a chop of his own!  Strong is known for his brutal chops which Prazak talks about on commentary.  A nice way to set up the chops that Strong will no doubt land later in the match.

Aries comes back in the ring, fakes to shake hands and then chops Strong again!  He ducks a chop from Strong, then hits the ropes and ducks two more, hitting the ropes each time, before sliding out under the bottom rope and celebrating on the floor to some big crowd heat!  Aries is too busy jawing the crowd to see Strong dive off the ring apron with a wicked flying forearm shot to the jaw for a big crowd pop!

Strong sends Aries into the barricade and goes for another chop but Aries ducks it and runs off around the ring!  Strong drives Aries into the barricade but again Aries ducks the chop attempt!  They get back in the ring and Strong nails a forearm shot while standing on the ring apron, but Aries kicks his feet away and Strong drops and whacks his face off the ring apron.  Aries goes to the top turnbuckle and leaps off with a tomahawk chop to the top of Strong’s head!  Now that is old school!

Back in the ring Strong finally connects with a chop to the chest and face of Aries by the look of it!  Nasty!  Aries is able to throw Strong out through the ropes using his trunks and then whips him into the barricade.  Back inside the ring Aries hits his power-drive elbow which gets some good heat as he sets up for it and he gets a 2 count. 

The crowd chant ‘Austin Asshole’ again as Strong fights back with a mule kick and then a cross body block off the second turnbuckle for a 2 count.  Aries cuts him off with a running elbow smash and runs his eyes across the top rope!  Strong gets his comeback going with a boot in the corner to a charging Aries and then nails some wicked chops that lift Aries off his feet and he bumps like a mad man for them! 

Strong hits a perfect drop kick as Aries comes off the ropes for a 2 count.  Aries is trapped in the corner as Strong chops the crap out of him and the crowd chant ‘one more time’ which Strong gives them with another brutal chop.  Strong hits a big forearm in the corner and then a cradle backbreaker for a 2 count. 

Aries uses the momentum again to send Strong to the floor and then hits his wicked looking heat seeking missile dive through the bottom and middle rope!  That is one impressive looking move no matter how many times you see it!  Aries hits a slingshot twisting splash onto Strong for a 2 count.  Once again Aries jaws with the crowd too much and Strong nails him with a half nelson backbreaker (or body breaker as Hogwood miscalls it on commentary) for another 2 count which Aries breaks up with his foot on the ropes!

Strong is all fired up and hits a wicked enzeguri to the back of Aries head for the closest 2 count of the match so far.  The crowd are really starting to get behind Strong now!  Strong waits for Aries to stand and goes for his big running Mafia kick but Aries moves, goes for a roll up, but Strong rolls through but Aries hooks him in a front face lock, rams some knees to the top of his head and then hooks on his ‘Last Chancery’ submission move which is just a thing of beauty!  Strong makes it to the ropes to break up the hold!

Aries starts to get aggressive with some forearm shots and then bites Strong on the top of the head!  Aries charges in the corner for his trademark drop kick but Strong catches him on his shoulder nails a perfect gut buster and then hits one of the most wicked Mafia kicks off the ropes I have ever seen!!  Aries flips 180 in the air and lands on his back and Strong quickly hooks him into ‘The Stronghold’ Boston Crab as the crowd go nuts!  Aries looks like he might tap but he makes it to the ropes! 

Strong keeps trying for the hold and can’t lock it in but again Aries uses his momentum to put him through the ropes, this time using his legs.  Strong tries to get back into the ring but Aries nails him with a drop kick to the head as he steps through the ropes!  Aries tries for the brainbuster but Strong blocks it and turns into ‘The Stronghold’ again but Aries reaches the ropes again! 

Strong goes for the Tiger driver but Aries counters in mid move with a headscissors, stunning!  He nails a rolling elbow to the head of Strong and then goes for Strong’s own Boston Crab on him but Strong rolls him up for a close 2 count!  Aries is up and he blasts Strong with a punt to the head and then hits a sick looking brainbuster for the 3 count and the win!

Winner, via pinfall:  Austin Aries.

Really good match.  In my opinion one of the best matches of the 7 ROH TV shows so far.  Aries is just looking so good at the moment and his heel work is really standing out on the shows.  Strong looked decent here but didn’t get as much offense in as I expect him too.  Then again they are building up Aries from his involvement with Flair and Lynn at the top of the show through to this hard fought win, so no complaints here.

We then get a short promo from Bryan Danielson about his match next week with Tyler Black.  He’s looking to prove he is the top contender in ROH and he’s looking to forward to another match with Tyler Black.

Black then cuts a short promo about establishing a new pecking order in ROH to take on the new ROH World Champion.  He says he knows Danielson better than anyone but he says in this life we make our own destiny and his is to beat Danielson next week and become the ROH World Champion in the future.

This was probably the best show so far by ROH on HD Net.  ROH looks much more legitimate now Flair is on their TV show.  The opening match was fun and quick and both guys got over their respective characters and styles.  Necro vs Lee was a throw away brawl but it did follow a storyline set up on the first six shows.  The main event was great and Aries looks like a star. 

The hype for next week was also extremely well done.  The show flowed a lot better than previous weeks and to me it looks like with this second set of tapings ROH are really finding their feet with how they want to showcase their product on TV.  The show next week should be stacked with Nigel McGuiness appearing and the number one contenders match between Danielson and Black sure to be another classic.

Hopefully you guys have enjoyed this review of ROH on HD Net and I’ll be back next week with more rambling opinions on the best hour of wrestling you can currently see on TV!

Peace

Duckman