Ring Of Honor

Saturday April 28, 2007

Frontier Park Field House - Chicago Ridge, Illinois

1,100 fans

"Good Times, Great Memories" A Tribute To Colt Cabana

Six Man Mayhem:  Delirious defeated Gran Akuma, Jigsaw, Hallowicked, ROH Top Of The Class Trophy winner Pelle Primeau, and Mike Quackenbush in 10:29 when Delirious pinned Akuma with the Chemical Imbalance II. Outstanding opener where the CHIKARA guys shined.  Mike Quackenbush was welcomed along with his students with total open arms, as in one point in this match, Akuma was thrown to the floor, he got up but was met by  Hallowicked who attemped an electric chair, as Hallowicked was on Akumas shoulders outside the rip, Quackenbush busted out an incredible tope to the outside.  Delirious and Hallowicked reformed their CHIKARA pro team Incoherence after a conversation in which Delirious noticed audibly that they were both "green and black"  Last two minutes saw every man hit their big moves, including Quackenbush hitting Quackendriver's one and two, the shadows over hell by Delirious, A awesome looking stunner by Akuma, a tornado DDT by Pelle (did he ever bodysurf up to Nomb Alaska?), a superkick by Jigsaw and a fisherman bomb by Hallowicked with other guys breaking up the near falls til the end.  The CHIKARA guys need to come back to ROH as their style is reminiscent of the Dragon Gate style of high paced, fast action with great flying and matt wrestling.  With so many people (Shingo, Daniels, Cabana) leaving, these guys seem to have definite character and should be on the 2007 ROH roster (with El Generico and Kevin Steen) 

Erick Stevens vs. Christopher Daniels went to a fifteen minute time limit draw. Slow moving at times, but got good towards the end.  Neither man seemed to have much of an advantage here.  Much of the match was Daniels playing the heel by choking Stevens, slamming him on the outside, and going back with the abdolinal stretch and using his elbow and digging into this side of the body.  Stevens did come back with an overhead belly to belly and another overhead suplex, and did his Cho-Cho run into the corner.  He attempted it a second time only to have Daniels move out of the way, and hit a double knees on Stevens chest for a near fall.  Samoan Drop/ Arabian Press for another two.  Stevens caught Daniels on the top rope and got him in a powerslam neckbreaker (had him up for a powerslam but hit the neckbreaker when Bobby Cruise announced their was only one more minute in the match.  Stevens attempted to hoist up Daniels for a gut wrench move but Daniels grabbed Stevens leg and held on for the draw.  Now it gets interesting… 

The crowd was chanting for five more minutes.  Stevens got on the mic and said even though he was the new guy he was "seconds away" (?) from being Daniels. He wanted five more minutes on the clock.  Daniels got on the mic and gave one of the greatest promos I have heard in sometime "I'm going to tell you – no.  I'm pulling status" Daniels noted as he laughed into his thoughts while telling Stevens to "vacate as I have something to say."  Daniels talked about his exile from ROH after the Rob Feinstein-Perverted Justice issue.  "Two years back – my excile ended – and I should have never come back.  I fought tooth and nail and you don't even care.  I'm insequential" He went on to say he was taken for granted and asked when the last time he was given a shot at the world championship rather then "fill in matches" and "four corner scrambles."  He said "four corner scrambles" with amazing sarcasm.  He felt like he was treading water while the breaks belong to others. He mentioned his world tag team championship title reign with Matt Sydal and how the fans viewed them as "ham sandwiches" waiting to lose the titles to Aries & Strong or the Briscoes.  "You gave up on us."  Then he hit a point "just because I’m part of TNA and the only people thinking there is a rivalry is you people.  I was forced to make a decision three and a half years ago and I chose TNA."  He then noted his bank statement was much bigger then Bryan Danielson.  "Six figures."  He then got super personal "do you think I can feed my daughter because you idiots chant this is awesome?"  He did the clap by hitting the top of the microphone.  He then talked about his son and the internet "giving me a four star match with Austin Aries." He then ripped hard on the fans saying "you have less then no knowledge of this business."  "You used me up the same way you used up Samoa Joe." He also said "TNA tried to protect Joe from you people."  Daniels also mentioned CM Punk and Colt Cabana "who you will forget in a week.  The official Chris Daniels Farwell tour is starting now and ends once I step behind the curtain – you people have seen my last ROH match, you broke my heart, I quit."  The crowd was so hot for him now chanting Don't Come Back.  He pushed down Allison Danger and went to the back.  What a fantastic promo to leave the company under as it was full of real feeling and emotion being used in this setting. 

Brent Albright defeated BJ Whitmer, Homicide, and Jimmy Rave after pinning Whitmer at 10:15 after an Half Nelson Suplex, right after Whitmer hit a full nelson roll thru suplex on Homicide.  Jimmy Rave, coming back from having a broken jaw at the hands of Nigel McGuinness in Liverpool) seemed to hurt again tonight while bumping heads with BJ Whitmer.  His left eye looked extremely swollen and was bleeding and it seemed like he was missing from a lot of the end of the match.  Rave also had to eat a top rope jawbreaker (too soon?) and a vicious Albright clothesline.  Fine for what it was, even though they could have gone longer.  Finish saw Whitmer hit his roll thru full nelson suplex on Homicide (where he hits the suplex and rolls thru it for another one).  Albright is stiff and works great in ROH for a big man, I'd be very curious to see him vs. Morishima down the line.  After the match, Whitmer and Homicide seemed to hint they would face each other again (for the first time in three years) very soon.   

Austin Aries of the Resilience defeats "Chicken Legs" (at one point tonight the crowd chanted this) Rocky Romero of the No Remorse Corps in 12:29 after the brainbuster 450 Splash combination.  Rocky looked very polished here and does a very nice Latin Salsa heelish dance as part of his lack of remorse.  At one point of the match as Aries was on the top rope, Romero grabbed Austin's arm and applied an arm bar and drove him down to the mat from the rope, then into an ankle lock.  He used submissions and kicks but it was all for naught. After the match, Roderick Strong came down to beat on Aries, only to be driven off by Delirious who went after Strong.  Please note:  this is the fourth time Delirious went running after a member of the No Remorse Corps, can the next time this happens – can Wayne the ROH sound guy play the Benny Hill chase music? 

ROH Wold Heavyweight Championship:  Takeshi Morishima defeats Shingo in 15:24 after a back drop driver.  Second best match of the night and a very entertaining match.  Shingo got a lot of offense against the big man, and even though he had little chance of beating Morishima this presented well where you believe an upset could come at any time.  Shingo worked for some time but finally got Morishima in a suplex, and even hit a Death Valley Driver on the outside.  Shingo used his speed and quickness to battle Morishima, but then tried to rely on power moves against the large Japanese world champion.  He attempted a powerbomb but he fell back and Morishima sat on him earthquake style, after a super larieto, he hit the backdrop driver for the win.  Excellent match – and it seems like SHINGO is going back to Dragon Gate in Japan and will be missed greatly as he has improved by leaps and bounds in ROH and has become a much better all around wrestler.  While Takeshi Morishima is becoming more over with the fans for his style and doing Samoa Joe's OLE type moves into the barricades while using his rear end. 

Natural Superior Athlete Tank Toland defeated Sugarfoot Alex Payne in 2:40 with the overhead spinebuster.  Toland has a new Simon Dean like gimmick where he is trying to get Bobby Dempsey in shape and turn the chuck into hunk.  This works perfect for Tolland who isn't as high flying as the other guys, but has a good body and the promo ability to make this work.  It could at least lead to some very entertaining vinyettes.  Oh yeah, Sugarfoot was way over in Chicago Ridge as he even got a theme (Down On Me by Jackyl) but no win.  

Roderick Strong (with Rocky Romero) defeated Jack Evans in 15:12 with the CX '02 (Crucifix hold rotated into a cutter).  Poor Evans was abused in this match, but at the same time he ran to the ring and hit on Roderick before the bell.   Lots of high flying by Evans and a total lack of remorse by Strong.  At one point Strong got the crowd to do the "shhhhhh" before one of his harsh chops –only to hit an eye poke. What a heel.  Strong then would stretch out flexible and quarter century old Evans including doing a camel clutch and pulling back on Jack so much he ended up with Jack's head in his crotch.  The crowd chanted "Tea Bag" - I was ashamed.  Jack, who looks incredible sharp due to many tours for Dragon Gate came back with his high flying quick feet.  But Roderick took advantage of a mistake on a corkscrew elbow into the corner when he caught Jack and dropped him flat to the mat.  Jack made another comeback and called for the 630, only to have Roderick catch him on the top rope and hit the Scott Hall last call overhead slam off the middle rope. Another backbreaker, and then Strong put on his Stronghold.  Evens got to the ropes, but as the referee was admonishing Strong, Romero got him with a kick to the face which set up the pin after the CX 02.  Afterward, Romero joined in on a beating and Delirious made the save again, cutting a promo with plenty of spoken English about Roderick, Rocky and June 23^rd.

ROH World Tag Team Titles: Mark & Jay Briscoe defeated The Motor City Machine Guns. (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) in 34:19 after Mark delivered a cutthroat driver to Shelley while at the same time Jay came off the top rope with a guillotine legdrop. Match of the night.  An outstanding showcase of tag team wrestling by a very strong and powerful team (Bricoes) and a graceful team who should be a perminant tag team every Thursday night on Spike TV.  I was amazed how good the former Murder City Machine Guns were live and how well their double teams worked and how they gelled together.  I have 7 pages of notes on this match alone (plus I went to another show today for IWA-MS 180 people in Midlo where I saw an outstanding comedy match with the incredible Chuck Taylor's mullet vs. Joey Ryan's mustache and its almost 6am), and it was anything but a let down as it started slow but built up towards a crazy finish and so many near falls toward the end.  Really, anything I write here doesn't do this baby justice – please get the DVD and please bring back the Motor City Machine Guns to ROH.  They impressed the s*** out of me and it sure beats anything with them jumping out of a tree onto Bob Backlund. This f****** ruled.  

Colt Cabana defeated Scrap Iron Adam Pearce in 13:28 with the Billy Goat's Curse (Inverted Boston crab).  Cabana got the 1000 streamer treatment and Pearce attacked him while he was being introduced and they did some moves on the streamers as Colt almost mummified him with steamers.  High on comedy (not as funny as CHUCK TAYLOR~!) but had its moments as it was the final match in ROH for the funny kid from Maxwell Street (or at least he was billed by then tonight).  Match started with a test of strength which led to a YMCA by colt.  Shane Hagadorn interfered but got booted after Colt pulled an Eddy and hit a chair against the ring apron and acted like it hit him in the head from Hagadorn.  Colt selling this chair shot was quite sensational.  Ooooooooow.  Oooooooooooowe.  Colt sold this like he was brain damaged from this chair.  Really, it was quite great and Zach the ROH security guy escorted Hagadorn out.  Fight went to the outside, Pearce pulled out some gold bond power (Cabana, CM Punk, Prazak, and Cabana were part of the gold bond mafia in the Midwest indys in the early 00's) but it didn't work.  Colt hit a moonsault of the second rope, Pearce came back with a spine buster.  Colt attempted his flying asshole into the corner, but Pearce in an awesome moment picked him up and hit a german for a near fall.  Cabana a minute later got the flying asshole and the reverse crab for the submission. Short sweet and funny at times.  Good stuff.  Afterward, Cabana put over Pearce and them coming up together in the business and Cabana wanting to be like him – and Pearce spit in his face and went off in a huff.  Then the ROH faces came down along with Mr. & Mrs. Cabana and Cabana gave a great speech about how he became a star in ROH and how much ROH means to him and how it’s the greatest company in the world and his only regret was not holding the world title and maybe someday down the road he can have Gabe Sapolsky use his pencil to give him a shot.  Or something to that point…Very good speech and an emotional moment. 

ROH returns to Chicago Ridge on Saturday June 23 with Takeshi Morishima, Naomichi Marufuji, and a rematch of the ROH match of the year in 2006 – American Dragon Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA.