Online World of Wrestling (original) (raw)

Another historic night for Ring of Honor started with clips from the closing moments of the previous show when members of CZW attacked and tortured BJ Whitmer with a barbed wire bat and a staple gun. It was a violent end to a horrific afternoon, which was a prelude to a CZW event held later that night. Thankfully for ROH fans, most of CZW's garbage wrestlers don't make enough money to pay for the gas needed to drive to New York City.

The show itself started with the quick annihilation of ROH student Pelle Primeau by the Embassy's Jimmy Rave ( 2 / 10 ). Rave was not satisfied with his opponent and began running his mouth to a celebrity sitting at ringside named Bruce Leroy (some fighting guy) until Jimmy Yang hit the ring for an impromptu match. This contest was much more entertaining and featured Yang scoring the victory and retaining his spot in the Top 5 Rankings ( 7 / 10 ). The big highlight reel moment happened after the match when Bruce Leroy karate kicked Prince Nana out of the ring!

The SHIMMER Women's Athletes promotion was featured on this DVD with a unique 4-Corner Survival match between Allison Danger, Mercedes Martinez (debut), Daizee Haze and Lacey. I can't say enough about all four of these girls, who wrestle as well as any man on any night in any promotion in the world. God bless Daizee Haze; she might be the smallest wrestler ever but what she lacks in size she makes up for in aggressive forcefulness. I've seen better outings from Mercedes Martinez, but she was great in her ROH debut. Danger won the match and I'm sure more than a few SHIMMER DVDs were purchased as a direct result of this match.

Jason Blade & Kid Mizake looked to impress their fellow ROH wrestlers by issuing an open challenge to any two CZW wrestlers to come and face them. Unfortunately for Blade & Mikaze, Chris Hero & Necro Butcher accepted their challenge and quickly destroyed them in a tag team match ( 5 / 10 ). Chris Hero was then granted a match with an ROH wrestler of his choosing, so he called out the self-appointed leader of the ROH locker room Adam Pearce. Pearce hit the ring with great intensity and had a brief chaotic match which ended in a No Contest which was not a popular decision with the fans ( 4 / 10 ). Chris Hero then called out his best friend and tag team partner Claudio Castagnoli and asked him to help finish of Pearce. Castagnoli chose to remain loyal to ROH and helped Pearce clear the ring!

Christopher Daniels and Alex Shelley faced off in a fantastic match between two solid performers. There was no storyline or heat involved in this match, so I will keep the result of this contest a secret so you will be surprised when you buy this DVD ( 8 / 10 ). After that it was time for Nigel McGuinness to defend the Pure title against Claudio Castagnoli in what is billed as Castagnoli's last chance at that championship. Unfortunately for Double C, he came out on the losing end of this challenge and was sent home with the losers' share of the purse.

In a rematch from "Hell Freezes Over" in January, Austin Aries took the fight to Rotweiller Ricky Reyes in a 1-on-1 match; Reyes wasn't interested in picking up the win, instead opting to send a message to Aries by putting him in a submission and refusing to release it, causing a disqualification ( 7.5 / 10 ). I guess this is leading towards an Aries/Strong vs Homicide/Reyes match sometime down the line for the ROH Tag Team titles. Roderick Strong & Jack Evans made the save for Aries, but were then jumped by the Briscoe Brothers, which led to their scheduled tag team match. Strong & Evans managed to score the victory with their extra-spectacular finisher (got to buy the DVD is you want to see it) ( 8.5 / 10 ). Once again, I thought the Briscoes should have won this match, as they are pushing for a tag title match with Aries & Strong in the future. But they must have something else in mind. .

The main event finally took the stage, as ROH World Champion American Dragon teamed up with Samoa Joe to take on two of the top wrestlers from Japan - KENTA and Naomichi Marufuji. Back at Final Battle '05, Marufuji lost an ROH World title match to Dragon and KENTA defeated Low-Ki in the main event. This match seemed to focus on some unknown animosity between Samoa Joe and KENTA, who refused to shake hands before and after the match. I don't think I need to sell you on this match, especially since my description will do it no justice. All you need to know is that it was 45 minutes of dream match material that could only be delivered by Ring of Honor ( 9 / 10). KENTA assured fans that he would be back soon.

Final Thoughts: The presence of such big names from a far away country made the whole match feel incredibly special. Many people can afford only limited numbers of ROH DVDs, and if that's the case then I would definitely recommend you start with any shows that involve talent from Japan. If you would like to purchase this or any other ROH DVD, please check out ROHwrestling.com