ROH Showdown in Motown
ROH Showdown in Motown (11/4/2013)- Detroit, MI
BRYAN DANIELSON PROMO- Dragon explains his new tweenerdom by saying that he wrestles the way he wants to wrestle. Then Chris Sabin shows up and tells Dragon that he has signed one of Dragon’s open contracts and that he will change the course of ROH history tonight.
OPENING SEGMENT- Cornette has some fun with the fans, reminiscing about The Sheik. Adam Pearce comes out and demands that Cornette give him high-profile matches and title shots. Cornette says Pearce will have to earn those things. Pearce says he will do that. The segment cut away almost immediately after Pearce finished his sentence which was kind of weird. It felt like there was more to that segment and we didn’t get to see it.
DELIRIOUS vs. BJ WHITMER (w/Lacey)- 5/10
GENERATION NEXT PROMO- okay.
ROH PURE TITLE MATCH: Nigel McGuinness(c) vs. Claudio Castagnoli- 6/10
Nigel got the win via Eddie Guerrero DQ schtick. This got GREAT heat!
HOMICIDE PROMO- GREAT! The way that Cide set this promo up, I was completely okay with him using his shoot name and talking about â€"gimmicks.†Then Julius Smokes cut a sh*tty promo which completely brought this down.
SAL RINUARO & CHAD COLLYER vs. JACK EVANS & RODERICK STRONG- 6.75/10
Chad Collyer had no problem using dirty tactics in this match, but Sal Rinauro, being a babyface champion, told him off for it. I love this sort of thing.
Looking back in hindsight, taking the tag belts off of Jimmy and BJ and putting them on Rinauro and Mamaluke seems like a big mistake, but at the time, it had two things going for it. The first is that Tony Mamaluke was a phenomenal technical wrestler, who, while still young, had big time experience in both ECW and WCW, who Gabe had been trying to get on the roster for years (as evidenced by his stints in 2002 and 2003). The second was that Sal Rinauro, who was barely twenty-three at the time, was a great wrestler and seemed to be just a few steps away from showing some real breakout star potential. Unfortunately that potential never materialized, but watching matches like this one reminds you that the potential was certainly there.
HOMICIDE CALLS OUT CABANA- They had an awesome brawl. There two were actually supposed to be in the four corner survival match that was on next, so Daniels made his entrance while they were fighting, but once it became clear that this was more than just your normal brawl, Gabe piped in, ordering them to hold Joe’s entrance. This was a nice little touch that added to the feeling that this was escalating muck quicker than anyone expected and just spiraling out of control, which was a major element of this feud.
Cornette comes out and orders Cide and Cabana replaced with Jimmy Jacobs and Adam Pearce.
FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL MATCH: Samoa Joe vs. Adam Pearce vs. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Christopher Daniels (w/Allison Danger)- 7/10
Lacey was not at ringside with Jimmy, and as a result, he was having fun with the fans and hussing. The match was great, and they told a great little story with Daniels and Pearce teaming up on Jimmy, but not quite getting along. Daniels pinning Joe here seemed like a mistake to me. They are about to start a program about Daniels never having beaten Joe in a singles match… so why let Daniels pin Joe here? Not only does it take some of the wind away from the feud you are about to start, but you could have the feud be about Daniels never having pinned Joe at all, which is much better than just never having pinned him in a singles match.
ALLISON DANGER vs. DAIZEE HAZE- 4.75/10
Very good for the time it got. Danger busted out a whole lot of moves I had never seen from her before.
RELAXED RULES MATCH: Austin Aries (w/Jade Chung) vs. Alex Shelley (w/Prince Nana & Jimmy Rave)- 6.75/10
So Jade was hanging all over Roddy in their promo earlier tonight, but she comes out to ringside with Aries instead of Roddy? Anyway, we get some shenanigans on the finish and The Embassy beat Aries down after the match. Abyss even comes out to help with the beatdown… until AJ Styles and Matt Sydal send all three guys… INCLUDING ABYSS… running. That was lame.
AJ STYLES & MATT SYDAL (w/Daizee Haze) vs. JIMMY RAVE & ABYSS (w/the Embassy)- 7.5/10
There was an utterly awesome spot early on where Abyss through AJ what seemed like twenty feet in the air… and then Sydal ran in and Abyss through him even higher! Anyway, everyone did awesome stuff, and as a result, the match was great!
DAVE PRAZAK INTERVIEWS NIGEL- awesome! Nigel is such a dick!
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Bryan Danielson(c) vs. Chris Sabin- 8/10
Sabin works over Dragon’s neck, Dragon works over Sabin’s back and gets the win with the Stronghold to build up to his match with Roddy tomorrow night.
Overall, a very, very good show from ROH. Definitely enough to get the fans in Detroit to come back next time.
BRYAN DANIELSON PROMO- Dragon explains his new tweenerdom by saying that he wrestles the way he wants to wrestle. Then Chris Sabin shows up and tells Dragon that he has signed one of Dragon’s open contracts and that he will change the course of ROH history tonight.
OPENING SEGMENT- Cornette has some fun with the fans, reminiscing about The Sheik. Adam Pearce comes out and demands that Cornette give him high-profile matches and title shots. Cornette says Pearce will have to earn those things. Pearce says he will do that. The segment cut away almost immediately after Pearce finished his sentence which was kind of weird. It felt like there was more to that segment and we didn’t get to see it.
DELIRIOUS vs. BJ WHITMER (w/Lacey)- 5/10
GENERATION NEXT PROMO- okay.
ROH PURE TITLE MATCH: Nigel McGuinness(c) vs. Claudio Castagnoli- 6/10
Nigel got the win via Eddie Guerrero DQ schtick. This got GREAT heat!
HOMICIDE PROMO- GREAT! The way that Cide set this promo up, I was completely okay with him using his shoot name and talking about â€"gimmicks.†Then Julius Smokes cut a sh*tty promo which completely brought this down.
SAL RINUARO & CHAD COLLYER vs. JACK EVANS & RODERICK STRONG- 6.75/10
Chad Collyer had no problem using dirty tactics in this match, but Sal Rinauro, being a babyface champion, told him off for it. I love this sort of thing.
Looking back in hindsight, taking the tag belts off of Jimmy and BJ and putting them on Rinauro and Mamaluke seems like a big mistake, but at the time, it had two things going for it. The first is that Tony Mamaluke was a phenomenal technical wrestler, who, while still young, had big time experience in both ECW and WCW, who Gabe had been trying to get on the roster for years (as evidenced by his stints in 2002 and 2003). The second was that Sal Rinauro, who was barely twenty-three at the time, was a great wrestler and seemed to be just a few steps away from showing some real breakout star potential. Unfortunately that potential never materialized, but watching matches like this one reminds you that the potential was certainly there.
HOMICIDE CALLS OUT CABANA- They had an awesome brawl. There two were actually supposed to be in the four corner survival match that was on next, so Daniels made his entrance while they were fighting, but once it became clear that this was more than just your normal brawl, Gabe piped in, ordering them to hold Joe’s entrance. This was a nice little touch that added to the feeling that this was escalating muck quicker than anyone expected and just spiraling out of control, which was a major element of this feud.
Cornette comes out and orders Cide and Cabana replaced with Jimmy Jacobs and Adam Pearce.
FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL MATCH: Samoa Joe vs. Adam Pearce vs. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Christopher Daniels (w/Allison Danger)- 7/10
Lacey was not at ringside with Jimmy, and as a result, he was having fun with the fans and hussing. The match was great, and they told a great little story with Daniels and Pearce teaming up on Jimmy, but not quite getting along. Daniels pinning Joe here seemed like a mistake to me. They are about to start a program about Daniels never having beaten Joe in a singles match… so why let Daniels pin Joe here? Not only does it take some of the wind away from the feud you are about to start, but you could have the feud be about Daniels never having pinned Joe at all, which is much better than just never having pinned him in a singles match.
ALLISON DANGER vs. DAIZEE HAZE- 4.75/10
Very good for the time it got. Danger busted out a whole lot of moves I had never seen from her before.
RELAXED RULES MATCH: Austin Aries (w/Jade Chung) vs. Alex Shelley (w/Prince Nana & Jimmy Rave)- 6.75/10
So Jade was hanging all over Roddy in their promo earlier tonight, but she comes out to ringside with Aries instead of Roddy? Anyway, we get some shenanigans on the finish and The Embassy beat Aries down after the match. Abyss even comes out to help with the beatdown… until AJ Styles and Matt Sydal send all three guys… INCLUDING ABYSS… running. That was lame.
AJ STYLES & MATT SYDAL (w/Daizee Haze) vs. JIMMY RAVE & ABYSS (w/the Embassy)- 7.5/10
There was an utterly awesome spot early on where Abyss through AJ what seemed like twenty feet in the air… and then Sydal ran in and Abyss through him even higher! Anyway, everyone did awesome stuff, and as a result, the match was great!
DAVE PRAZAK INTERVIEWS NIGEL- awesome! Nigel is such a dick!
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Bryan Danielson(c) vs. Chris Sabin- 8/10
Sabin works over Dragon’s neck, Dragon works over Sabin’s back and gets the win with the Stronghold to build up to his match with Roddy tomorrow night.
Overall, a very, very good show from ROH. Definitely enough to get the fans in Detroit to come back next time.