ROH Night Of The Butcher
OPENING STUFF BACKSTAGE - Awkward, and really didn’t fell like something we needed to see, but if my guess is right, it will eventually build to something between Special K and Da Hit Squad.
MICHAEL SHANE PROMO - Very good, and built well to Shane eventually joining The Group.
BUILD FOR THE REMATCH - good.
#1 CONTENDER’S TOURNAMENT SEMI-FINAL MATCH:
#1 CONTENDER’S TOURNAMENT SEMI-FINAL MATCH:
Really felt like it dragged towards the end.
SLUGGER ASSAULTS A REFEREE - Um… okay
CW ANDERSON WORKED SHOOT - If you were at the arena, this probably felt like a real shoot. On the DVD, though, a few things killed it. The first was the tapes continuing to roll even after “Chris Lovey” on commentary told them to cut the footage and “edit this off the DVD.” The other thing that made it feel a lot less like a shoot was them following it backstage. I’m not holding it against them, obviously, because you (usually) have to do these sorts of things for a worked shoot, but it does kill it for me a bit. Another thing I really didn’t like was Joey Matthews being one of the guys to come out and confront CW. Da Hit Squad were perfect for this roll, as they were respected indy veterans who were also large enough to restrain someone like CW Anderson, if necessary. With Joey Matthews, though, doing so was at odds with his character at this point, so he shouldn’t have come out.
#1 CONTENDER’S TOURNAMENT FINALS:
London putting Dragon over as being better than he was really didn’t make sense here. London was the one who won the match and was getting the title shot. He shouldn’t be saying that Dragon is better than he is.
ROH TITLE MATCH:
BUNKHOUSE MATCH:
Utter crap. The worst main event in ROH history. By far. The Carnage Crew got almost no offense in whatsoever. This match was just Butcher stabbing people with a fork. No psychology. Almost no story. Just hard to watch violence. The only reason I didn’t give this a dud was that the crowd was into it. Sort of.
AFTERMATH - I really didn’t enjoy it, as, after everyone got Loc away from Cide, it just seemed like random violence for its own sake (involving a fork, no less). I guess it was intended as a glimpse of things to come with Homicide and the riot at the One Year Anniversary Show, but I still didn’t enjoy it.
HOMICIDE PROMO - Great.
THE CARNAGE CREW PROMO - AWESOME!. (Especially if you thought Abby was as crappy out there as I did, but it was still awesome if you did like the main event)
PUNK & CABANA IN THE CAR - It made Colt as reasonably obnoxious as possible. GREAT!
PROPHECY PROMO - Bad. More goofily-scripted not being nice to Luscious.
Final Thoughts
Overall, an okay show from ROH, brought down even more by a terrible main event. Recommended only for completionists or people who like collecting special appearances.
MICHAEL SHANE PROMO - Very good, and built well to Shane eventually joining The Group.
JEREMY LOPEZ vs. MICHAEL SHANE - 5.25/10
CM PUNK vs. COLT CABANA - 6/10
BUILD FOR THE REMATCH - good.
#1 CONTENDER’S TOURNAMENT SEMI-FINAL MATCH:
Paul London vs. EZ Money - 5/10
#1 CONTENDER’S TOURNAMENT SEMI-FINAL MATCH:
Bryan Danielson vs. Chad Collyer - 6.75/10
WINNER GETS AN ROH TAG TEAM TITLE SHOT AT FINAL BATTLE 2002: The S.A.T. vs. Da Hit Squad vs. Amazing Red & Jay Briscoe vs. Special K (Joey Matthews & Deranged) (w/Dixie & Angeldust) - 7/10
Really felt like it dragged towards the end.
SLUGGER ASSAULTS A REFEREE - Um… okay
JEFF STAR & SHOCKWAVE vs. DIVINE STORM (Chris Devine & Quiet Storm) - decent squash
CW ANDERSON WORKED SHOOT - If you were at the arena, this probably felt like a real shoot. On the DVD, though, a few things killed it. The first was the tapes continuing to roll even after “Chris Lovey” on commentary told them to cut the footage and “edit this off the DVD.” The other thing that made it feel a lot less like a shoot was them following it backstage. I’m not holding it against them, obviously, because you (usually) have to do these sorts of things for a worked shoot, but it does kill it for me a bit. Another thing I really didn’t like was Joey Matthews being one of the guys to come out and confront CW. Da Hit Squad were perfect for this roll, as they were respected indy veterans who were also large enough to restrain someone like CW Anderson, if necessary. With Joey Matthews, though, doing so was at odds with his character at this point, so he shouldn’t have come out.
#1 CONTENDER’S TOURNAMENT FINALS:
Paul London vs. Bryan Danielson - 7.5/10
London putting Dragon over as being better than he was really didn’t make sense here. London was the one who won the match and was getting the title shot. He shouldn’t be saying that Dragon is better than he is.
ROH TITLE MATCH:
Xavier(c) (w/Simply Luscious) vs. AJ Styles (w/Alexis Laree) - 7.25/10
BUNKHOUSE MATCH:
Abdullah The Butcher & Homicide vs. The Carnage Crew - 1/10
Utter crap. The worst main event in ROH history. By far. The Carnage Crew got almost no offense in whatsoever. This match was just Butcher stabbing people with a fork. No psychology. Almost no story. Just hard to watch violence. The only reason I didn’t give this a dud was that the crowd was into it. Sort of.
AFTERMATH - I really didn’t enjoy it, as, after everyone got Loc away from Cide, it just seemed like random violence for its own sake (involving a fork, no less). I guess it was intended as a glimpse of things to come with Homicide and the riot at the One Year Anniversary Show, but I still didn’t enjoy it.
HOMICIDE PROMO - Great.
THE CARNAGE CREW PROMO - AWESOME!. (Especially if you thought Abby was as crappy out there as I did, but it was still awesome if you did like the main event)
PUNK & CABANA IN THE CAR - It made Colt as reasonably obnoxious as possible. GREAT!
PROPHECY PROMO - Bad. More goofily-scripted not being nice to Luscious.
Final Thoughts
Overall, an okay show from ROH, brought down even more by a terrible main event. Recommended only for completionists or people who like collecting special appearances.