Online World of Wrestling (original) (raw)

The second night of the powerful Weekend of the Champions was kicked off by an in ring segment which included one of Jim Cornette's most memorable tirades since joining Ring of Honor. Cornette let loose on WWE and Vince McMahon and told it like it was and didn't hold back on the issues he has consistently been against. Jim Cornette gave the injured BJ Whitmer the night off for his own safety and then appointed Adam Pearce as his Lt. Commissioner while he (Cornette) took time off for knee surgery. It was a great torch passing moment and Adam Pearce was catapulted even higher in the minds of the fans just by Cornette's endorsement.

The opening match was a tag team bout featuring the young team of Irish Airborne taking on the make-shift team of Colt Cabana and Conrad Kennedy III. Colt Cabana led his team to victory over the ROH rookies, which I thought was a shame, as David & Jake Crist should be rising up the ranks of the tag team division right now ( 5.5 / 10 ). I say it in every ROH DVD review so I'll say it again: I want to see Irish Airborne vs Kid Mikaze & Jason Blade! Let the cream rise to the top!

TNA's Chris Sabin made a rare appearance back in Ring of Honor to take on mega-fan-favorite Delirious in a sleeper hit of the night. Delirious is simply amazing the way he combines his extremely entertaining character with equally impressive wrestling skills. Chris Sabin did the right thing and jobbed to Delirious ( 7 / 10 ), who later that night confronted American Dragon, apparently upset over Dragon's abuse in their match the previous night.

Next up was a huge 6-Man Mayhem match where the lovely Lacey gave Jimmy Jacobs one more last chance and said if he doesn't win tonight she would be through with Jacobs. About thirty second into the match, Jimmy Jacobs ripped the crotch of his pants performing a simple leap from in a moment of unplanned hilarity that sent the fans into laughter. Jacobs continued to wrestle despite his pants being shredded early on; He was up against Jimmy Yang, FIP's Jay Fury, ring veteran Flash Flanagan, IWA Mid South's Trik Davis, and UK-sensation Spud. Just looking at the names you know it was pretty much between the two Jimmy's as to who was going to win. Jimmy Jacobs managed to pull out the victory, much to the surprise of Lacey who proclaimed "I can't believe you won! You never win!" ( 6 / 10 ).

Claudio Castagnoli's punishment for turning his back on ROH was to face Samoa Joe on this night. As the crowd chanted "Joe is Gonna Kill You," Castagnoli requested that Joe face him in a "wrestling" match as opposed to the chaotic brawls that have become a big part of the ROH/CZW feud. Samoa Joe heartily agreed and the match was on. They went toe-to-toe for a while with some classic wrestling action before CZW's Nate Webb & Necro Butcher showed up to spoil the whole thing! ( 7 / 10 ). The chaos escalated with the emergence of Ace Steel & Adam Pearce to even the odds. CZW's Super Dragon appeared out of no-where, which prompted BJ Whitmer (with a broken neck) to hit the ring -- leading to a match.....

BJ Whitmer courageously fought the man who destroyed his neck the night before in a spectacular match which ended with Whitmer executing an insane Exploder off the second ropes crashing through two tables set up at ringside. A thrilling stunt. I sure hope Whitmer's injury is a work because he would be a foolish man if it weren't. This is the first time I've been impressed with Super Dragon since this whole inter-promotional feud began. I was a big fan of his 2 years ago and was wondering why he wasn't the same type of wrestler, but after this match I saw that he was much better than before ( 8 / 10 ).

Christopher Daniels, who was without Allison Danger, went up against Matt Sydal in a rematch from several showed before where both men were injured during the match and couldn't perform at full capacity. I remember really enjoying the effort put into the previous encounter so I was really looking forward to seeing the two healthy combatants face off again. It was another great match from two of ROH's most consistent guys -- I'm not even going to tell you who wins because it is irrelevant, it was just a great match up and worth watching ( 7.5 / 10 ).

ROH World Champion American Dragon faced off against ROH Pure Champion Nigel McGuiness in what could have been described as an underdog match. It wasn't until I saw the two of them standing in the ring together that I realized how cool it would be to see them wrestle each other. It was a match to see who the best pure wrestler in ROH was, and to determine who the best Champion in ROH was. Both titles were on the line but the match was fought under Pure rules. It made for a very interesting dynamic. I'm here to tell you this match was everything a wrestling match should be; It had action, comedy and a whole lot of drama -- the crowd was eating it up the whole time. As I type this review, I am debating on if I should reveal the finish of this match. It was truly unique and struck a major chord with the fans in attendance. Considering then were hooked into the match and were emotionally involved for the full 40 minutes it wasn't a shock to see the fans react the way they did. I am not telling you how it ended; you are out of luck..... unless you go to ROHwrestling.com and buy the DVD yourself -- you will not be disappointed. ( 9 / 10 )

As if that were not enough, the Tag Team titles were defended in the main event of the night. The storied history between Generation Next and The Embassy goes back over a year and they have been through every kind of brawl you can think of. After cooling down for several months, the flame was quickly reignited as Austin Aries and Roderick Strong stepped into the ring with challengers Jimmy Rave and Alex Shelley. Two extremely effective tag teams who work well together and against each other. Aries & Strong squeaked out a victory over Shelley & Rave to continue their amazing streak on top of the tag team division.

Final Thoughts: Go out of your way to see American Dragon vs Nigel McGuinness. It is a sure fire match of the year contender. If you would like to purchase this or any other ROH DVD, please check out ROHwrestling.com ---- if you need some convincing, you can check out streaming video of various ROH matches for free at www.ROHVideos.com