ROH The Bitter End
ROH The Bitter End (11/4/2006)- Philadelphia, PA
SAMOA JOE PROMO- good. He introduces Nigel McGuinness as his tag team partner tonight, then says he has a little â€"going away present†tonight for KENTA to bring back to Pro Wrestling NOAH.
MATT CROSS vs. CHRISTOPHER DANIELS (w/Allison Danger)- 6.25/10
Cross got to look impressive by showing off his cool offense then Daniels gets to pick up the win to keep building him up for his tag team title shot with Matt Sydal.
There is one more important note about this match, and that is the following: I normally try to avoid this sort of thing in my reviews but there is no getting around it here: Allison Danger looks SO F*CKING HOT as a cheerleader. I mean… WOW!
Well… now I feel dirty so I will attempt to make this relevant to the match by saying that she looked hot enough to get her own chant, but… just… WOW!
After the match the Kings of Wrestling jump Daniels. Danger jumping on Hero and trying to put him in a sleeper got a big pop and Claudio holding Danger still so Hero could punch her in the face got enough heat that some fans threw their Jimmy Rave toilet paper early. Aries and Strong come out and make the save and brawl away with the heels. Everything got an amazing reaction. This was pretty much everything a booker could ask for, and I’m sure was beaming backstage the whole time.
JIM CORNETTE PROMO- Cornette cuts anti-immigration promo which gets â€"boring†chants. The segment finally started getting good when he started making some ridiculously one-sided rules for the big blow-off later tonight between Homicide and Corino. Homicide comes out with Julius Smokes, Konnan, and Ricky Reyes (who hadn’t been used in awhile) then came out and they traded insults (which Cornette hiding in a corner behind Hagadorn). It got even better when Cornette tries to prove that Ricky Reyes wasn’t good enough to be in ROH by booking him in a match against Shane Hagadorn (who REALLY didn’t want the match).
SHANE HAGADORN vs. RICKY REYES (w/Julius Smokes)- 2/10
This went on too long, IMO. The match started with the crowd chanting â€"THIRTY SECONDS†and was actually counting in the hopes that Reyes would beat Hagadorn that quickly. They should have just ran with that and had Reyes pick up the win that quickly. It would have gotten a huge pop, and Hagadorn’s wouldn’t have really looked any worse because he is a lackey.
FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL MATCH: BJ Whitmer vs. Colt Cabana vs. Tank Toland vs. Pelle Primeau- 5/10
Watching him get picked on by the three much larger guys really got you behind Pelle, to the point where you can’t help but pop when he rolls Toland up. It just makes you feel good inside. The crowd went absolutely nuts for it, too, and body-surfed Pelle all the way to the back of the building (where they then dropped him).
BRISCOES PROMO- pretty much pointless, and it ended with this completely random slow motion effect.
SAMOA JOE & NIGEL MCGUINNESS vs. BRYAN DANIELSON & JIMMY RAVE- 6.75/10
After the match a lone fan threw toilet paper at Jimmy Rave and Jimmy charged into the crowd to get him, but security cut him off. Nigel then picked up a mic and told Jimmy to act professionally because if he didn’t he would be continue to be the â€"laughingstock†of ROH.
CORNETTE SEGMENT- Throughout the night, Jimmy Bauer had been dropping into the commentary booth giving us some updates on a meeting taking place between ROH management (but not including Cornette) and Konnan (on behalf of Homicide). Cornette wasn’t happy about being invited to this meeting so he came out, cancelled the main event and fired Homicide. Cide, Smokes, and Konnan came out and Konnan said that ROH management wants the fans to decide who should stay and who should be fired. The fans (obviously) chose for Cide to stay so Cide gives Corny and absolutely horrible Vince McMahon impression, firing Jim Cornette from ROH.
DAVEY RICHARDS & DELIRIOUS vs. THE BRISCOE BROTHERS- 6.5/10
LACEY & DAIZEE SEGMENT- Lacey says she will all of her Lacey’s Angels money to make Cabana’s life hell. Daizee Haze then shows up and asks Lacey why she slapped her and called her a loser last night. Lacey says that they can have a match any time Daizee wants.
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Kings of Wrestling(c) vs. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong- 6.75/10
Just like at Glory By Honor V: Night 2, the Kings of Wrestling hit Aries with Claudio’s Halliburton right in his injured ribs… but Aries kicks out this time! They try to use it again but Aries intercepts it and starts beating Hero and Claudio with it… the ref sees it and calls for the DQ. This frustrates Aries even more and he goes nuts with it. They all then brawl away, clearing the way for…
KENTA vs. MATT SYDAL (w/ Christopher Daniels… but without super-hot cheerleader Allison Danger)-7.5/10
A great match, but I was actually hoping for a little bit more out of Sydal getting a rare chance in such a prominent spot.
KENTA & JOE SEGMENT- KENTA gives a short farewell speech (to the best of his ability) but is interrupted by Joe who puts KENTA over on the mic. Joe then asks KENTA to bring a message with him back to Japan to give guys like Morishima and Kobashi: Joe slaps KENTA in the face! They brawl, but it is quickly broken up by the locker room, and we hear Cabana tells KENTA that Joe is standing alone when it comes to his disrespect towards Pro Wrestling NOAH. A great segment!
FIGHT WITHOUT HONOR: Steve Corino vs. Homicide (w/Julius Smokes)- 7.75/10
They did a good job of incorporating earlier elements of their feud such as the ghetto fork, barbed wire, and Cide going after Corino’s ear, and there was a real feeling of hatred here, but it really felt like it was missing something. This was the blow-off to a four year long feud. It needed to be epic, but it wasn’t.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Cide has decided that because he won, he deserves to be able to shave Corino’s head because that is how they do it in Mexico. Corino then says a bunch of disparaging things about Homicide (specifically related to his gangsta-ness), the says that he will allow Cide to shave his head. This whole thing came off very awkward.
COLT CABANA PROMO- Cabana cuts a promo on Jimmy Jacobs. BJ Whitmer comes by and suggests that they could team up against Jimmy.
Overall, not a very good show from ROH. The Sydal vs. KENTA match was great, but other than that we got a disappointing blow-off, a slightly underwhelming way of writing Cornette off, and some good matches, but nothing really of the quality that made ROH famous. Great crowd, though.
SAMOA JOE PROMO- good. He introduces Nigel McGuinness as his tag team partner tonight, then says he has a little â€"going away present†tonight for KENTA to bring back to Pro Wrestling NOAH.
MATT CROSS vs. CHRISTOPHER DANIELS (w/Allison Danger)- 6.25/10
Cross got to look impressive by showing off his cool offense then Daniels gets to pick up the win to keep building him up for his tag team title shot with Matt Sydal.
There is one more important note about this match, and that is the following: I normally try to avoid this sort of thing in my reviews but there is no getting around it here: Allison Danger looks SO F*CKING HOT as a cheerleader. I mean… WOW!
Well… now I feel dirty so I will attempt to make this relevant to the match by saying that she looked hot enough to get her own chant, but… just… WOW!
After the match the Kings of Wrestling jump Daniels. Danger jumping on Hero and trying to put him in a sleeper got a big pop and Claudio holding Danger still so Hero could punch her in the face got enough heat that some fans threw their Jimmy Rave toilet paper early. Aries and Strong come out and make the save and brawl away with the heels. Everything got an amazing reaction. This was pretty much everything a booker could ask for, and I’m sure was beaming backstage the whole time.
JIM CORNETTE PROMO- Cornette cuts anti-immigration promo which gets â€"boring†chants. The segment finally started getting good when he started making some ridiculously one-sided rules for the big blow-off later tonight between Homicide and Corino. Homicide comes out with Julius Smokes, Konnan, and Ricky Reyes (who hadn’t been used in awhile) then came out and they traded insults (which Cornette hiding in a corner behind Hagadorn). It got even better when Cornette tries to prove that Ricky Reyes wasn’t good enough to be in ROH by booking him in a match against Shane Hagadorn (who REALLY didn’t want the match).
SHANE HAGADORN vs. RICKY REYES (w/Julius Smokes)- 2/10
This went on too long, IMO. The match started with the crowd chanting â€"THIRTY SECONDS†and was actually counting in the hopes that Reyes would beat Hagadorn that quickly. They should have just ran with that and had Reyes pick up the win that quickly. It would have gotten a huge pop, and Hagadorn’s wouldn’t have really looked any worse because he is a lackey.
FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL MATCH: BJ Whitmer vs. Colt Cabana vs. Tank Toland vs. Pelle Primeau- 5/10
Watching him get picked on by the three much larger guys really got you behind Pelle, to the point where you can’t help but pop when he rolls Toland up. It just makes you feel good inside. The crowd went absolutely nuts for it, too, and body-surfed Pelle all the way to the back of the building (where they then dropped him).
BRISCOES PROMO- pretty much pointless, and it ended with this completely random slow motion effect.
SAMOA JOE & NIGEL MCGUINNESS vs. BRYAN DANIELSON & JIMMY RAVE- 6.75/10
After the match a lone fan threw toilet paper at Jimmy Rave and Jimmy charged into the crowd to get him, but security cut him off. Nigel then picked up a mic and told Jimmy to act professionally because if he didn’t he would be continue to be the â€"laughingstock†of ROH.
CORNETTE SEGMENT- Throughout the night, Jimmy Bauer had been dropping into the commentary booth giving us some updates on a meeting taking place between ROH management (but not including Cornette) and Konnan (on behalf of Homicide). Cornette wasn’t happy about being invited to this meeting so he came out, cancelled the main event and fired Homicide. Cide, Smokes, and Konnan came out and Konnan said that ROH management wants the fans to decide who should stay and who should be fired. The fans (obviously) chose for Cide to stay so Cide gives Corny and absolutely horrible Vince McMahon impression, firing Jim Cornette from ROH.
DAVEY RICHARDS & DELIRIOUS vs. THE BRISCOE BROTHERS- 6.5/10
LACEY & DAIZEE SEGMENT- Lacey says she will all of her Lacey’s Angels money to make Cabana’s life hell. Daizee Haze then shows up and asks Lacey why she slapped her and called her a loser last night. Lacey says that they can have a match any time Daizee wants.
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Kings of Wrestling(c) vs. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong- 6.75/10
Just like at Glory By Honor V: Night 2, the Kings of Wrestling hit Aries with Claudio’s Halliburton right in his injured ribs… but Aries kicks out this time! They try to use it again but Aries intercepts it and starts beating Hero and Claudio with it… the ref sees it and calls for the DQ. This frustrates Aries even more and he goes nuts with it. They all then brawl away, clearing the way for…
KENTA vs. MATT SYDAL (w/ Christopher Daniels… but without super-hot cheerleader Allison Danger)-7.5/10
A great match, but I was actually hoping for a little bit more out of Sydal getting a rare chance in such a prominent spot.
KENTA & JOE SEGMENT- KENTA gives a short farewell speech (to the best of his ability) but is interrupted by Joe who puts KENTA over on the mic. Joe then asks KENTA to bring a message with him back to Japan to give guys like Morishima and Kobashi: Joe slaps KENTA in the face! They brawl, but it is quickly broken up by the locker room, and we hear Cabana tells KENTA that Joe is standing alone when it comes to his disrespect towards Pro Wrestling NOAH. A great segment!
FIGHT WITHOUT HONOR: Steve Corino vs. Homicide (w/Julius Smokes)- 7.75/10
They did a good job of incorporating earlier elements of their feud such as the ghetto fork, barbed wire, and Cide going after Corino’s ear, and there was a real feeling of hatred here, but it really felt like it was missing something. This was the blow-off to a four year long feud. It needed to be epic, but it wasn’t.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Cide has decided that because he won, he deserves to be able to shave Corino’s head because that is how they do it in Mexico. Corino then says a bunch of disparaging things about Homicide (specifically related to his gangsta-ness), the says that he will allow Cide to shave his head. This whole thing came off very awkward.
COLT CABANA PROMO- Cabana cuts a promo on Jimmy Jacobs. BJ Whitmer comes by and suggests that they could team up against Jimmy.
Overall, not a very good show from ROH. The Sydal vs. KENTA match was great, but other than that we got a disappointing blow-off, a slightly underwhelming way of writing Cornette off, and some good matches, but nothing really of the quality that made ROH famous. Great crowd, though.