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El Generico vs. Sonjay Dutt
Fun opener. Crowd was very into Generico. Very awkward man hug after the
traditional handshake to start the match. Dueling chants of "Ole" and "Sonjay"
throughout the match. During some slower reversals, a fan yelled "quit
stalling" to which Generico responded "Ok!" and slammed Dutt. Some very nice
back and forth. 15 minute draw, which the entire crowd crapped all over. "Five
more minutes" started, which Generico joined in. Sonjay grabbed the mic "You
want five more minutes (crowd cheers)... well I sure as hell don't." and he
left. Nice heat getter.
Briscoes vs. Super Smash Bros.
Some very nice double teaming throughout and not just from Mark & Jay. Crowd,
our section especially, was very into chanting music from different levels of
the original Super Mario Bros. game to get SSB going. Another fun spot when
Player 1 blocked a Briscoe kick, yelled "Hey ref, catch!" and tossed the leg
to him, then hit a nice hangman neckbreaker for a two count. Briscoes win with
a massive Doomsday Device on Player 2. Very nice reaction to the SSB both
during and after the match.
D'Lo Brown vs. Frankie the Mobster
Frankie is... strange. Slow start to the match. Crowd loved D'lo. Pretty
standard and somewhat slow back and forth. Sky High, 3 count, done. D'lo got
on the mic afterwards, sucked up to the crowd "If I could, I'd be here every
day and twice on Sundays for you guys" and then pushed the Official ROH After
party. Nothing spectacular, but fun and did what it was supposed to.
Jimmy Rave, Claudio Castagnoli, Bison Smith and Joey Ryan vs. Necro
Butcher, Colt Cabana, Brent Albright and Grizzly Redwood - 8 man elimination
tag match
This was lots of fun. Necro started of the match with a flying headscissors,
which immediately got everyone's full attention. Nice "holy $h!t" chant for
Colt Cabana doing some posing. Grizz got to be the first bleeder of the night
and boy did he. Nice spot in the corner where all four heels were grinding
their boots into Grizz's bloody face simultaneously. Bison hits a powerbomb,
then Styles Clash and Grizz is the first out. Bison then goes to toss Grizz to
the audience, Colt rolls him up, and we're at 3 a piece. Rave ends up bleeding
soon after, which was somewhat sick looking as it kept dripping off of his
bangs. Faces get some beat down time, Rave rolls up Butcher (may have held the
tights or the ropes, but couldn't see as the tall guys in front of us kept
standing up. There should really be a thing at Ticketmaster where they don't
sell you tickets for the front row unless you're 5'2" or less... but I
digress...) and it's 3-2 advantage heels. Butcher snaps, takes Rave and brawls
with him outside, so Colt and Albright take the hint and do the same to Ryan
and Claudio. Rave counted out, and it's even 2-2. Nice little tag match breaks
out for the next ten or so minutes. Albright finally catches Claudio with a
half nelson suplex to leave Ryan by himself. Ryan immediately eliminated
Albright, but again, those damned standers, so I have no clue how. Let's go
with... nutshot. Sounds plausible. Couple of minutes of back and forth with
Colt and Ryan. Ryan gets Nana's headdress, pops Colt with it and Joey Ryan is
your winner.
Intermission
Bret Hart Promo
Bret came out, was brief and to the point, but still spoke volumes. Put over
ROH big time, even made a nice little jab at himself about how "this is what
wrestling should be: all these guys busting their butts... and I sign some
autographs." Everyone cheered and all is normal in Canada. I'm very afraid if
he ever runs for office. We don't have a two term max like the U.S. does for
the leader of Canada. Man, the only person who'd beat him is Gretzky.
Kenny Omega vs. Kenny King w/Titus
Seemed to just not be clicking. Omega has that fiery babyface thing down, but
he seemed a step or two off tonight. King was great heeling it up. Does a lot
of those little things that make people boo him but they don't know why
they're doing it. Omega hit a nice inverted hurancanraa (no clue how to spell
that one) and then a... really lame double palm to the torso for the win. I'm
not sure what the hell that was as I'd never seen Omega before, but send it
back to the Street Fighter Hall of Fame; it's not a finisher. After the bout,
Omega grabs the mic, pretty typical Face 101 about wanting a shot at Aries
tomorrow night for the belt.
Lance Storm and Kevin Steen vs. Davey Richards and Chris Hero w/Shane
Hagadorn
Ok, Lance Storm may not be Bret Hart, but he could still get in as a member of
parliament quite easily. The crowd loved him. Really solid wrestling to start
between Steen and Hero. Steen took a shot at Richards and knocked him off the
apron, busting him open hardway behind the ear when he hit the barricade. Both
tag out, and some even nicer back and forth between Storm and Richards. Heels
got some heat on Storm, who made the hot tag and Steen hit a nice dive over
the top for a big guy. Heels gain the advantage and hit some nice double
teams. Hot tag to Storm, he cleans house a bit. Finish comes when Storm and
Steen lock in stereo Sharpshooters and, as Richards rolled out of the ring,
they hit the Hart Attack on Hero and drive the fans insane. Huge pop for the
win.
ROH Champion Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Nigel McGuiness
Aries got some very nice (but cheap) heat before the match, stealing Bret's
"is/was/will be" bit. Crowd was agitated by that one. Very nicely put together
so that it wasn't the typical people breaking up pinfalls and no one sees it
coming. Everyone got their shots in and while they were going for the pin,
instead of having no clue what was coming, they would strike or counter
whoever was coming to stop the pinfall. It makes sense. Right on. Really well
done match, tons of nice spots. Finish came when Tyler Black climbed the top
rope to hit Nigel, but Kenny King came from the back and knocked him off the
top rope, allowing Aries to hit the 450 double leg drop for the win. Post
match, Nigel wasn't moving and I'm pretty sure he wasn't just selling it. He
was lying very still, the ref was touching the sides of his neck, presumably
to see if Nigel could feel it. Took about 5 minutes but Nigel eventually was
able to roll slowly out of the ring and be helped to the back.
All in all, I was extremely pleased with the show. Next event is November out
in Mississauga, I believe they said the 14th but don't quote that as gospel.
The only downside to the show were a couple of knuckleheads that wanted to be
the show. One guy kept yelling out random "inside" comments during matches. He
nearly got mobbed by the entire section though after making a comment during
D'Lo's match about Frankie needing to "watch out for the running powerbomb,
it's quite paralyzing." That stuff is just pathetic. Same goes for the other
moron of the night that, during the main event, any time the ref would count
two and there was a kickout he would yell about how the ref ruined his life or
how the ref was terrible etc. Again, just stupid stuff. I've got no problem
with people being a bit rowdy and getting into it, but don't be a goof.
There's a line, and both of those guys had no clue where it was. The ref
yeller nearly got mobbed too as he wouldn't stop yelling at the ref after the
main event when Nigel was clearly injured. Aside from those two goofballs,
awesome night, worth every penny.
