ROH Return of the 187
ROH Return of the 187 (10/24/2008)- Danbury, CT
TWO ROH STUDENTS WATCH GRIZZLY REDWOOD TRY TO CHOP DOWN A TREE- they believe him to be insane. The joke, however, is on them, because Grizzly Redwood would go on to be approximately 284 billion times more over than either of them.
RHETT TITUS GOES INTO THE WOMEN'S "LOCKER ROOM" TO PICK UP CHICKS- bad.
The first problem here was that, no matter what they claimed, the sign on the door as well as the presence of sinks and toilets, but no showers or… you know… lockers…. made it abundantly clear that this was actually a women's bathroom. In the "locker room" we saw Sara Del Rey screaming like a mad woman at Ariel and Jessie McKay. They both blew Sara's threats of violence off. Sara stormed out of the locker room just as Rhett entered. Rhett tried to pick them up, but failed. The girls acting was very poor.
OPENING SEGMENT-
Jimmy Jacobs cuts a promo saying that losing the tag titles has brought him back to the epiphany that started the Age of the Fall "nothing saves!" Jimmy says that society is too far gone for the revolution to save it, so he must destroy it, starting with ROH, at Final Battle.
Homicide comes out, getting the expected HUGE pop upon his return to ROH. He then shows his political skill by responding to chants of "F*CK TNA!" by saying "I love tits and ass, too, Holmes. And I f*ck ‘em, too."
Homicide would then deliver one of the most perfect lines in the history of ROH: "Jimmy? Jimmy Jacobs? What the f*ck happened to you, man?" Homicide tries to be nice, but Jimmy says that this isn't Cide's ring anymore. Cide disputes this fact and jumps Jimmy. Delirious comes out to make the heel save and brawls with Delirious until Tyler Black comes out and the heels start to beat Cide down 3-on-1. Ruckus comes out to make the save. Cide put Ruckus over a bit and implied that their mutual friend Julius Smokes did not make it to the arena tonight because he got high instead.
RUCKUS vs. JASON BLADE- 5/10
JERRY LYNN PROMO- he says he wants to climb the ladder and win the ROH Title.
SARA DEL REY vs. PORTUGUESE PRINCESS ARIEL- 2/10
For some unexplained reason, Sara came out in a long, gray-haired wig. Like image a Goldust wig, but with hair from a 70 year old. The match was short. Almost a squash, except Ariel got too much offense in.
SWEET N' SOUR INC. BACKSTAGE- okay. Sweeney cut a promo hyping up Shiozaki's title defense against Austin Aries.
ROH TOP OF THE CLASS TROPHY MATCH: Rhett Titus(c) vs. Grizzly Redwood- 3/10
While Rhett was doing his entrance, he was attacked by Daizee Haze (Rhett had claimed that he and Daizee had bumped uglies, when, in fact, that was not true). Security quickly pulled Daizee off of Rhett. The crowd was not happy about that at all.
Rhett goes over, but Grizz definitely got over. Daizee attacks Rhett after the match, too, and it takes about four people to haul her off.
SWEET N' SOUR INC. BACKSTAGE-
Davey asks where Go is, and Sweeney claims he is in Japan. Didn't we see Go earlier? Why would Sweeney lie about that to Davey. Especially when Go is scheduled to be ON TONIGHT'S SHOW.
Anyway, they hyped up the main event. Hero did most of the talking here, and he was awesome.
BRENT ALBRIGHT vs. JAY BRISCOE- 5/10
Albright wins decently short match, considering that this is a midcard match in ROH.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Albright challenges Sweeney to send out one of his guys for Albright to fight. Sweeney cuts a great promo, then forces Bobby Dempsey to wrestle Albright. (He even told Bobby "you are a very good wrestler," which is something I never thought I would hear him say. Albright told Dempsey to stick up for himself and said that he didn't need Sweeney. Albright then left the ring and the people cheered for Bobby.
NO DISQUALIFICATIONS MATCH: Delirious vs. Necro Butcher vs. Mark Briscoe- 7.5/10
Lots of good hardcore stuff. It kind of seems like a step backwards to have this match after they did the Briscoes & Aries vs. Age of the Fall Steel Cage Warfare match with Necro as the wild card, but Gabe apparently realized that having Necro lose that match was a huge mistake and wanted to put him over here.
CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI vs. JERRY LYNN- 7/10
As this match was about to start, Prince Nana (looking much more shabby than usual), jumped the barricade and grabbed a mic. He says he has lost his throne, his women, and his money, and he begs ROH to take him back. The ROH Wrestling Academy students come out to usher Nana out of the ring and kick him out of the building. Nana goes peacefully, but pleads for them to appeal to management on his behalf the whole way.
The match itself was great. Claudio worked over Jerry's leg and Jerry sold it beautifully. I'd love to see these two face off again.
NECRO BUTCHER PROMO- a simple and basic explanation of his character (he is fighting to make money to feed his family). It would have been a lot better if he wasn’t almost pressing his cheek up against the lens of the camera while cutting the promo.
FIP WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Go Shiozaki(c) (w/Larry Sweeney & Shane Hagadorn) vs. Austin Aries- 8/10
Great psychology and awesome storytelling.
FOUR WAY 30 MINUTE IRON TEAM MATCH: Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. LAX vs. Tyler Black & Jimmy Jacobs vs. Chris Hero & Davey Richards- 7.25/10
In addition to the Iron Team stip, they added a bit of Ultimate Endurance in here, with the first two thirds of the match being regular tag team rules, then shifting to tag team scramble rules for the final ten.
During the entrances we cut to the back for a promo from Brent Albright saying he was going to get Larry Sweeney. This set up for Albright then running around ringside and chasing Sweeney to the back once Davey and Hero got in the ring.
Steen and Generico, who won the tag titles just two shows ago, did not come out with their belts. Steen said that this was because he didn't want any of the others to steal it.
The match itself was disappointing, considering the ridiculous amount of talent involved. The crowd was very into LAX, and the part of the match where Hernandez was just running wild on everyone was pure awesome. The finish of the match told its story well and did a good job of getting over that sense of desperation, but still managed to feel anti-climactic.
After the match, Hernandez put the Mexican flag on Generico's shoulders. The babyface teams then shook hands and Cide cut a promo putting over ROH and hyping up tomorrow's LAX vs. Briscoes match, saying that it was his personal dream match.
Overall, a good show from ROH, despite a very weak undercard and a disappointing main event.
TWO ROH STUDENTS WATCH GRIZZLY REDWOOD TRY TO CHOP DOWN A TREE- they believe him to be insane. The joke, however, is on them, because Grizzly Redwood would go on to be approximately 284 billion times more over than either of them.
RHETT TITUS GOES INTO THE WOMEN'S "LOCKER ROOM" TO PICK UP CHICKS- bad.
The first problem here was that, no matter what they claimed, the sign on the door as well as the presence of sinks and toilets, but no showers or… you know… lockers…. made it abundantly clear that this was actually a women's bathroom. In the "locker room" we saw Sara Del Rey screaming like a mad woman at Ariel and Jessie McKay. They both blew Sara's threats of violence off. Sara stormed out of the locker room just as Rhett entered. Rhett tried to pick them up, but failed. The girls acting was very poor.
OPENING SEGMENT-
Jimmy Jacobs cuts a promo saying that losing the tag titles has brought him back to the epiphany that started the Age of the Fall "nothing saves!" Jimmy says that society is too far gone for the revolution to save it, so he must destroy it, starting with ROH, at Final Battle.
Homicide comes out, getting the expected HUGE pop upon his return to ROH. He then shows his political skill by responding to chants of "F*CK TNA!" by saying "I love tits and ass, too, Holmes. And I f*ck ‘em, too."
Homicide would then deliver one of the most perfect lines in the history of ROH: "Jimmy? Jimmy Jacobs? What the f*ck happened to you, man?" Homicide tries to be nice, but Jimmy says that this isn't Cide's ring anymore. Cide disputes this fact and jumps Jimmy. Delirious comes out to make the heel save and brawls with Delirious until Tyler Black comes out and the heels start to beat Cide down 3-on-1. Ruckus comes out to make the save. Cide put Ruckus over a bit and implied that their mutual friend Julius Smokes did not make it to the arena tonight because he got high instead.
RUCKUS vs. JASON BLADE- 5/10
JERRY LYNN PROMO- he says he wants to climb the ladder and win the ROH Title.
SARA DEL REY vs. PORTUGUESE PRINCESS ARIEL- 2/10
For some unexplained reason, Sara came out in a long, gray-haired wig. Like image a Goldust wig, but with hair from a 70 year old. The match was short. Almost a squash, except Ariel got too much offense in.
SWEET N' SOUR INC. BACKSTAGE- okay. Sweeney cut a promo hyping up Shiozaki's title defense against Austin Aries.
ROH TOP OF THE CLASS TROPHY MATCH: Rhett Titus(c) vs. Grizzly Redwood- 3/10
While Rhett was doing his entrance, he was attacked by Daizee Haze (Rhett had claimed that he and Daizee had bumped uglies, when, in fact, that was not true). Security quickly pulled Daizee off of Rhett. The crowd was not happy about that at all.
Rhett goes over, but Grizz definitely got over. Daizee attacks Rhett after the match, too, and it takes about four people to haul her off.
SWEET N' SOUR INC. BACKSTAGE-
Davey asks where Go is, and Sweeney claims he is in Japan. Didn't we see Go earlier? Why would Sweeney lie about that to Davey. Especially when Go is scheduled to be ON TONIGHT'S SHOW.
Anyway, they hyped up the main event. Hero did most of the talking here, and he was awesome.
BRENT ALBRIGHT vs. JAY BRISCOE- 5/10
Albright wins decently short match, considering that this is a midcard match in ROH.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Albright challenges Sweeney to send out one of his guys for Albright to fight. Sweeney cuts a great promo, then forces Bobby Dempsey to wrestle Albright. (He even told Bobby "you are a very good wrestler," which is something I never thought I would hear him say. Albright told Dempsey to stick up for himself and said that he didn't need Sweeney. Albright then left the ring and the people cheered for Bobby.
NO DISQUALIFICATIONS MATCH: Delirious vs. Necro Butcher vs. Mark Briscoe- 7.5/10
Lots of good hardcore stuff. It kind of seems like a step backwards to have this match after they did the Briscoes & Aries vs. Age of the Fall Steel Cage Warfare match with Necro as the wild card, but Gabe apparently realized that having Necro lose that match was a huge mistake and wanted to put him over here.
CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI vs. JERRY LYNN- 7/10
As this match was about to start, Prince Nana (looking much more shabby than usual), jumped the barricade and grabbed a mic. He says he has lost his throne, his women, and his money, and he begs ROH to take him back. The ROH Wrestling Academy students come out to usher Nana out of the ring and kick him out of the building. Nana goes peacefully, but pleads for them to appeal to management on his behalf the whole way.
The match itself was great. Claudio worked over Jerry's leg and Jerry sold it beautifully. I'd love to see these two face off again.
NECRO BUTCHER PROMO- a simple and basic explanation of his character (he is fighting to make money to feed his family). It would have been a lot better if he wasn’t almost pressing his cheek up against the lens of the camera while cutting the promo.
FIP WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Go Shiozaki(c) (w/Larry Sweeney & Shane Hagadorn) vs. Austin Aries- 8/10
Great psychology and awesome storytelling.
FOUR WAY 30 MINUTE IRON TEAM MATCH: Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. LAX vs. Tyler Black & Jimmy Jacobs vs. Chris Hero & Davey Richards- 7.25/10
In addition to the Iron Team stip, they added a bit of Ultimate Endurance in here, with the first two thirds of the match being regular tag team rules, then shifting to tag team scramble rules for the final ten.
During the entrances we cut to the back for a promo from Brent Albright saying he was going to get Larry Sweeney. This set up for Albright then running around ringside and chasing Sweeney to the back once Davey and Hero got in the ring.
Steen and Generico, who won the tag titles just two shows ago, did not come out with their belts. Steen said that this was because he didn't want any of the others to steal it.
The match itself was disappointing, considering the ridiculous amount of talent involved. The crowd was very into LAX, and the part of the match where Hernandez was just running wild on everyone was pure awesome. The finish of the match told its story well and did a good job of getting over that sense of desperation, but still managed to feel anti-climactic.
After the match, Hernandez put the Mexican flag on Generico's shoulders. The babyface teams then shook hands and Cide cut a promo putting over ROH and hyping up tomorrow's LAX vs. Briscoes match, saying that it was his personal dream match.
Overall, a good show from ROH, despite a very weak undercard and a disappointing main event.