ROH Survival of the Fittest 2007
ROH Survival of the Fittest 2007 (10/19/2007)- Las Vegas, NV
THE NO REMORSE CORPS ON A VEGAS STREET CORNER- Davey is very upset because he has just figured out that Roddy and Rocky ordered a bunch of drinks and charged them to his room. They say one of them will win Survival of the Fittest and then party in Vegas. Davey is told that he won’t be allowed to go out with them because he has to watch their bags. Davey is upset. Whiny heel Davey in the NRC was always funny.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM PASSED SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST MATCHES- good.
MORE NRC HIJINKS- funny.
TRADITIONAL INTERVIEW WITH THE NEW ROH CHAMPION- the fans here in Vegas were very into Nigel. He cut a standard babyface â€"I just won the belt an achieved my dream, and will be a fighting champion†promo. Roderick Strong, the FIP World Heavyweight Champion came out and called him out. Roddy’s opponent tonight, Brent Albright, came out and said he would take the title from Nigel. Albright and Roddy wanted to start their match right now, so we got the first…
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: Roderick Strong vs. Brent Albright (w/Shane Hagadorn)- 5.75/10
Albright worked over Roddy’s arm, but Roddy managed to get the win after hitting Death By Roderick and pulling the tights.
DELIRIOUS PROMO- he cut this promo on the streets of Las Vegas, and I was very disappointed that none of the random passers-by looked at him funny in any way at all as he stood there, wearing a mask and speaking gibberish into a camera.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: â€"Machine Gun†Karl Anderson vs. Chris Hero (w/Larry Sweeney)- 4.25/10
Much shorter than I was expecting, especially for what was essentially a tryout for Anderson.
CHRIS HERO & LARRY SWEENEY BACKSTAGE PROMO- good.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: TJ Perkins vs. Rocky Romero- 5.75/10
Fantastic for such a short match.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: Austin Aries vs. Delirious- 7.25/10
These were the perfect two guys to pair up in the first round. Aries had the â€"always makes it to the finals but never wins- maybe this will be his year†thing going for him, while Delirious had just cut a promo vowing to repeat. Both of those things make you think that each guy should make it to the finals, but there was only room for one.
AUSTIN ARIES PROMO- good.
He says he’ll finally win SOTF this year, and also reminds us that he and Dragon are in the middle of a Best of Three series.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Davey Richards- 7.5/10
Great storytelling and working the bodypart all through the match. Claudio won the match, and his angle going into Survival of the Fittest is that he is looking to win his second straight big tournament in ROH.
CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI PROMO- good. He pushed the fact that he has an injured neck, so I assume that will be important in the finals.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness- 8/10
A fantastic display of submission wrestling and storytelling. Nigel was about to hit the Tower of London when the time-limit expired, eliminating both men from the tournament with a draw. They did a short post-match segment afterwards with a Dusty re-start to get a bit of heat on Dragon.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: Human Tornado vs. Tony Kozina vs. Shane Hagadorn- 2.5/10
This match was made in order to have six participants in the SOTF Finals because both Nigel and Dragon were eliminated with their draw. The match featured a regular ROH heel jobber, a relatively unknown wrestler, and a big star from the west coast making his ROH debut. Who do you thing won the match?
The match was (obviously) all built as a mechanism to show off Tornado’s stuff, but Kozina was the one who really impressed me here.
STREET FIGHT: The Briscoes vs. the Age of the Fall (Jimmy Jacobs & Necro Butcher)- 7.5/10
Short, but very violent and with a great finish.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST FINALS: Roderick Strong vs. Austin Aries vs. Rocky Romero vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. - 7.75/10
The story of this match was that Hero would sit on a chair on the outside and not do anything for most of the match but then run in, tag himself in, and eliminate someone either by stealing a pin or by hitting someone from behind with the Hero’s Welcome.
Human Tornado didn’t do much in this match. When things started off, it was all about ROH angles, with Claudio wanting a piece of Hero and the NRC double-teaming Aries, while Tornado stood there and did nothing. Tornado was the first man out, and was eliminated very early on. It made his entire presence on the show feel pointless, and did him a disservice. They could have at least let him stay in the match for ten minutes, couldn’t they?
After that, Hero retreated to the stage and it broke down into what felt like a tag team match, with NRC working over Aries and preventing him from tagging Claudio in. Once that happened and Aries/Claudio comeback started, Hero stole some more pins, leaving Hero, Claudio, and Roddy left.
Sweeney paid Roddy off to work with Hero to eliminate Claudio first, and they double-teamed him for a while until Hero betrayed Roddy by giving him a Hero’s Welcome and pinning him, then stole the money Sweeney had paid Roddy. This really should have led to heat between Roddy and Sweet N’ Sour Inc., but never did. Even when Roddy rejected joining Sweeney’s stable next year, it wasn’t even mentioned.
Claudio put up a good fight, but wound up passing out in the Hangman’s Clutch, which was probably the best way to go with this finish, as it emphasized how worn down Claudio was in contrast with Hero being fresh because he kept out of the match.
CHRIS HERO & LARRY SWEENEY PROMO IN VEGAS- okay.
A very good show from ROH, although the eponymous Survival of the Fittest match was one of the weakest SOTF matches in ROH history, and definitely the weakest one not hampered by the restrictions of TV time or injury.
THE NO REMORSE CORPS ON A VEGAS STREET CORNER- Davey is very upset because he has just figured out that Roddy and Rocky ordered a bunch of drinks and charged them to his room. They say one of them will win Survival of the Fittest and then party in Vegas. Davey is told that he won’t be allowed to go out with them because he has to watch their bags. Davey is upset. Whiny heel Davey in the NRC was always funny.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM PASSED SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST MATCHES- good.
MORE NRC HIJINKS- funny.
TRADITIONAL INTERVIEW WITH THE NEW ROH CHAMPION- the fans here in Vegas were very into Nigel. He cut a standard babyface â€"I just won the belt an achieved my dream, and will be a fighting champion†promo. Roderick Strong, the FIP World Heavyweight Champion came out and called him out. Roddy’s opponent tonight, Brent Albright, came out and said he would take the title from Nigel. Albright and Roddy wanted to start their match right now, so we got the first…
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: Roderick Strong vs. Brent Albright (w/Shane Hagadorn)- 5.75/10
Albright worked over Roddy’s arm, but Roddy managed to get the win after hitting Death By Roderick and pulling the tights.
DELIRIOUS PROMO- he cut this promo on the streets of Las Vegas, and I was very disappointed that none of the random passers-by looked at him funny in any way at all as he stood there, wearing a mask and speaking gibberish into a camera.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: â€"Machine Gun†Karl Anderson vs. Chris Hero (w/Larry Sweeney)- 4.25/10
Much shorter than I was expecting, especially for what was essentially a tryout for Anderson.
CHRIS HERO & LARRY SWEENEY BACKSTAGE PROMO- good.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: TJ Perkins vs. Rocky Romero- 5.75/10
Fantastic for such a short match.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: Austin Aries vs. Delirious- 7.25/10
These were the perfect two guys to pair up in the first round. Aries had the â€"always makes it to the finals but never wins- maybe this will be his year†thing going for him, while Delirious had just cut a promo vowing to repeat. Both of those things make you think that each guy should make it to the finals, but there was only room for one.
AUSTIN ARIES PROMO- good.
He says he’ll finally win SOTF this year, and also reminds us that he and Dragon are in the middle of a Best of Three series.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Davey Richards- 7.5/10
Great storytelling and working the bodypart all through the match. Claudio won the match, and his angle going into Survival of the Fittest is that he is looking to win his second straight big tournament in ROH.
CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI PROMO- good. He pushed the fact that he has an injured neck, so I assume that will be important in the finals.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness- 8/10
A fantastic display of submission wrestling and storytelling. Nigel was about to hit the Tower of London when the time-limit expired, eliminating both men from the tournament with a draw. They did a short post-match segment afterwards with a Dusty re-start to get a bit of heat on Dragon.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: Human Tornado vs. Tony Kozina vs. Shane Hagadorn- 2.5/10
This match was made in order to have six participants in the SOTF Finals because both Nigel and Dragon were eliminated with their draw. The match featured a regular ROH heel jobber, a relatively unknown wrestler, and a big star from the west coast making his ROH debut. Who do you thing won the match?
The match was (obviously) all built as a mechanism to show off Tornado’s stuff, but Kozina was the one who really impressed me here.
STREET FIGHT: The Briscoes vs. the Age of the Fall (Jimmy Jacobs & Necro Butcher)- 7.5/10
Short, but very violent and with a great finish.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST FINALS: Roderick Strong vs. Austin Aries vs. Rocky Romero vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. - 7.75/10
The story of this match was that Hero would sit on a chair on the outside and not do anything for most of the match but then run in, tag himself in, and eliminate someone either by stealing a pin or by hitting someone from behind with the Hero’s Welcome.
Human Tornado didn’t do much in this match. When things started off, it was all about ROH angles, with Claudio wanting a piece of Hero and the NRC double-teaming Aries, while Tornado stood there and did nothing. Tornado was the first man out, and was eliminated very early on. It made his entire presence on the show feel pointless, and did him a disservice. They could have at least let him stay in the match for ten minutes, couldn’t they?
After that, Hero retreated to the stage and it broke down into what felt like a tag team match, with NRC working over Aries and preventing him from tagging Claudio in. Once that happened and Aries/Claudio comeback started, Hero stole some more pins, leaving Hero, Claudio, and Roddy left.
Sweeney paid Roddy off to work with Hero to eliminate Claudio first, and they double-teamed him for a while until Hero betrayed Roddy by giving him a Hero’s Welcome and pinning him, then stole the money Sweeney had paid Roddy. This really should have led to heat between Roddy and Sweet N’ Sour Inc., but never did. Even when Roddy rejected joining Sweeney’s stable next year, it wasn’t even mentioned.
Claudio put up a good fight, but wound up passing out in the Hangman’s Clutch, which was probably the best way to go with this finish, as it emphasized how worn down Claudio was in contrast with Hero being fresh because he kept out of the match.
CHRIS HERO & LARRY SWEENEY PROMO IN VEGAS- okay.
A very good show from ROH, although the eponymous Survival of the Fittest match was one of the weakest SOTF matches in ROH history, and definitely the weakest one not hampered by the restrictions of TV time or injury.