Post by BlackHoleMark on Feb 25, 2007 13:40:21 GMT -5
I promised my live thoughts for the Dayton ROH show and here they are.
First, this was the first time I had ever been to the Dayton venue and it was very nice. The people were great and the venue was more spacey than the Cleveland venue that I went to before. I also went with my girlfriend who was not in to wrestling much at all besides liking AJ Styles and knowing about most the wrestler through watching some matches with me. Anyway, onto the show.
All the preshow matches were fine. The person I was most impressed with was Sara Del Ray as it was my opinion she put on the best show out of all the students. I also think Shane Hagadorn is incredibly boring and doesn't have enough talent in the ring to make it to the main show. I would love to see Hagadorn drop the TOTC Trophy to Pelle and have Pelle defend it on the main show to get him over, because Pelle has a bright future ahead of him.
THE MAIN SHOW
The pre-match stuff with Nigel and Morishima was very good putting over Morishima as a monster and was a good lead in to the first match.
McGuinness/Cabana v Jacobs/Albright
This was my first time seeing Albright and what I saw was pretty good, but I was bit underwhelmed. I would have liked to see him get some more offense in, because most of the time he spent working McGuinness' leg. However, a very good match, with one of the highlights being when Cabana went in to go save McGuinness and Sinclair stopped him and Cabana said he was trying to check the ropes and went on to examine the ropes, which got a small "Check the Ropes!" chant. Good match. ***
Rave v Keenan
I saw Keenan's match at In Your Face and was very excited to see him get a chance in ROH again. However, he blew it. He looks totally different, in not such a good way, and the match sucked. Underwhelming. **
Jay Briscoe v Homicide v Christopher Daniels
I'll be honest, for about the first five minutes of the match, I was distracted by Danger's skirt, which covered maybe half her ass. Anyway, the match was very good, with people getting in some good spots and putting together a good match. ***
Lacey v Daizee Haze
I'm still a bit torn about this match. I guess I was expecting something more with how violent this feud has been. It felt very much like going through the motions for me. However, it was alright. ** 1/2
Matt Sydal v Austin Aries
This was really two great wrestlers doing what they do best. This was probably my third favorite match of the night and even though I knew there was no chance that Aries would won, both men kept me interested. *** 1/2
Afterwards, NRC came out and attacked Aries and Sydal before Delirious came in and made the save and cut a promo, which sounded like he was going to join Aries in the Next Generation. I will say this though. Delirious deserves endless amounts of credit for the fact that he has taken a character who speaks gibberish and made him probably one of the most over guys in the whole company. I really think that sometime in the future, the World Title should be around the waist of Delirious.
INTERMISSION
After intermission, Larry Sweeney came out to introduce Chris Hero's new fitness instructor, Tank Tolland. This lead to the next match.
Tank Tolland v Mitch Franklin
I have to say, I thought Tank would never be coming back after the reception he received a couple months ago. I know why he got that reception. Tolland is boring in the ring, not at all the ROH style, and incredibly boring. This match was awful. 1/4 *
Pelle Primeau v Roderick Strong v Claudio Castagnoli v Shingo v Matt Cross v Mark Briscoe
For me, this match was tied, if not better than the Joe/Richards match. Pelle got the shit beat out of him, and still kept ticking. All six men looked awesome and the match was incredible fun. Shingo, a guy who I hadn't heard great things about, really impressed me, and I'm already a big Matt Cross fan, so he was great. The near falls were great, and the action was non-stop. Superb match.
**** 1/4
Joe v Richards
This for me was the MOTN. Joe came out to a huge ovation and took over the match with some of his signature spots. He then kicked Davey in the head with the SICKEST kick I have ever seen. From my view point, I saw the kick and watched Davey's head snap like he had whiplash. The kick got a chant of "You sick f***!" which was funny. Two guys really putting it on the line, and the finisher, a Muscle Buster on the apron, was sick. **** 1/2
Joe then gave his farewell speech, which was awesome and really special at least for me.
BJ Whitmer v Takeshi Morishima
I think that when the DVD comes out, this will really look like a one sided affair. The match was very much Morishima dominating, with Whitmer getting brief spurts of offense. I think this match also got hurt by the fact it had a great, emotion filled match before it. I've seen Morishima before, and I think that a lot of the more impressive stuff he does fell by the wayside because he was dominating the whole match. An OK match that really display Morishima's power. ***
Overall, a great event, probably the best live ROH I've seen. Also, my girlfriend who was not into wrestling, had a blast and said she "loved it" which made me happy. I also picked up Unified, GBH N2, BTOB, and SOTF '06. The people at Dayton were very nice and I thank everyone who helped make the event great.
Onto some closing thoughts.
Do I think it was the wrong thing to do to give Morishima the belt? No. I think putting the belt on Morishima really gives ROH international exposure, and a guy who is rising up in the world of pro wrestling.
Do I think it was the wisest decision to give Morishima the belt?
No. I think that the absence of the belt will hurt some shows, and I think that Morishima destroying BJ made BJ, who I think is a rising star in ROH, look very weak. Destroying everyone in the company can't really be good for anyone's reputation, and I think that Dragon should take the belt back when he returns.
So, those are my thoughts. Please feel free to add questions or comments, and I'll be sure to answer them.
First, this was the first time I had ever been to the Dayton venue and it was very nice. The people were great and the venue was more spacey than the Cleveland venue that I went to before. I also went with my girlfriend who was not in to wrestling much at all besides liking AJ Styles and knowing about most the wrestler through watching some matches with me. Anyway, onto the show.
All the preshow matches were fine. The person I was most impressed with was Sara Del Ray as it was my opinion she put on the best show out of all the students. I also think Shane Hagadorn is incredibly boring and doesn't have enough talent in the ring to make it to the main show. I would love to see Hagadorn drop the TOTC Trophy to Pelle and have Pelle defend it on the main show to get him over, because Pelle has a bright future ahead of him.
THE MAIN SHOW
The pre-match stuff with Nigel and Morishima was very good putting over Morishima as a monster and was a good lead in to the first match.
McGuinness/Cabana v Jacobs/Albright
This was my first time seeing Albright and what I saw was pretty good, but I was bit underwhelmed. I would have liked to see him get some more offense in, because most of the time he spent working McGuinness' leg. However, a very good match, with one of the highlights being when Cabana went in to go save McGuinness and Sinclair stopped him and Cabana said he was trying to check the ropes and went on to examine the ropes, which got a small "Check the Ropes!" chant. Good match. ***
Rave v Keenan
I saw Keenan's match at In Your Face and was very excited to see him get a chance in ROH again. However, he blew it. He looks totally different, in not such a good way, and the match sucked. Underwhelming. **
Jay Briscoe v Homicide v Christopher Daniels
I'll be honest, for about the first five minutes of the match, I was distracted by Danger's skirt, which covered maybe half her ass. Anyway, the match was very good, with people getting in some good spots and putting together a good match. ***
Lacey v Daizee Haze
I'm still a bit torn about this match. I guess I was expecting something more with how violent this feud has been. It felt very much like going through the motions for me. However, it was alright. ** 1/2
Matt Sydal v Austin Aries
This was really two great wrestlers doing what they do best. This was probably my third favorite match of the night and even though I knew there was no chance that Aries would won, both men kept me interested. *** 1/2
Afterwards, NRC came out and attacked Aries and Sydal before Delirious came in and made the save and cut a promo, which sounded like he was going to join Aries in the Next Generation. I will say this though. Delirious deserves endless amounts of credit for the fact that he has taken a character who speaks gibberish and made him probably one of the most over guys in the whole company. I really think that sometime in the future, the World Title should be around the waist of Delirious.
INTERMISSION
After intermission, Larry Sweeney came out to introduce Chris Hero's new fitness instructor, Tank Tolland. This lead to the next match.
Tank Tolland v Mitch Franklin
I have to say, I thought Tank would never be coming back after the reception he received a couple months ago. I know why he got that reception. Tolland is boring in the ring, not at all the ROH style, and incredibly boring. This match was awful. 1/4 *
Pelle Primeau v Roderick Strong v Claudio Castagnoli v Shingo v Matt Cross v Mark Briscoe
For me, this match was tied, if not better than the Joe/Richards match. Pelle got the shit beat out of him, and still kept ticking. All six men looked awesome and the match was incredible fun. Shingo, a guy who I hadn't heard great things about, really impressed me, and I'm already a big Matt Cross fan, so he was great. The near falls were great, and the action was non-stop. Superb match.
**** 1/4
Joe v Richards
This for me was the MOTN. Joe came out to a huge ovation and took over the match with some of his signature spots. He then kicked Davey in the head with the SICKEST kick I have ever seen. From my view point, I saw the kick and watched Davey's head snap like he had whiplash. The kick got a chant of "You sick f***!" which was funny. Two guys really putting it on the line, and the finisher, a Muscle Buster on the apron, was sick. **** 1/2
Joe then gave his farewell speech, which was awesome and really special at least for me.
BJ Whitmer v Takeshi Morishima
I think that when the DVD comes out, this will really look like a one sided affair. The match was very much Morishima dominating, with Whitmer getting brief spurts of offense. I think this match also got hurt by the fact it had a great, emotion filled match before it. I've seen Morishima before, and I think that a lot of the more impressive stuff he does fell by the wayside because he was dominating the whole match. An OK match that really display Morishima's power. ***
Overall, a great event, probably the best live ROH I've seen. Also, my girlfriend who was not into wrestling, had a blast and said she "loved it" which made me happy. I also picked up Unified, GBH N2, BTOB, and SOTF '06. The people at Dayton were very nice and I thank everyone who helped make the event great.
Onto some closing thoughts.
Do I think it was the wrong thing to do to give Morishima the belt? No. I think putting the belt on Morishima really gives ROH international exposure, and a guy who is rising up in the world of pro wrestling.
Do I think it was the wisest decision to give Morishima the belt?
No. I think that the absence of the belt will hurt some shows, and I think that Morishima destroying BJ made BJ, who I think is a rising star in ROH, look very weak. Destroying everyone in the company can't really be good for anyone's reputation, and I think that Dragon should take the belt back when he returns.
So, those are my thoughts. Please feel free to add questions or comments, and I'll be sure to answer them.