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Ring of Honor is streaming Death Before Dishonor IX in honor of this Friday's ROH PPV from Philadelphia:
My original thoughts from the 2011 NYC event:
Pre-Show Notes:
Among those visiting are ring announcer Larry Legend, Julius Smokes and former TNA office staffer Brian Wittenstein.
The show is a legitimate, turnaway sellout.
ROH's Joe Koff led the crowd in singing "Happy Birthday" to Jim Cornette, who turned 50 today.
ROH will return to the Manhattan Center on 12/17 for Final Battle 2011, which will be the company's next Internet PPV.
Rhino and Ciampa vs. Homicide and Lethal - Putting this on in the opener was something of a surprise to me, given Homicide's strong fan support in the NYC market. The exchange between Rhino and Lethal, which may have been the first time they ever worked, was pretty good. Lethal and Homicide looked good in their double team combinations. The Embassy took over and looked really strong. The crowd loved the back and forth exchange of chops between Lethal and Ciampa. By the time Lethal made the hot tag, the crowd was really into the match, which is the mark of guys doing their job right. Ciampa beating Homicide with the powerbomb across the knees makes sense as they are building Ciampa as the undefeated threat while Homicide won't be in as often. Decent opener.
Bennett vs. Benjamin - This made sense in that Bennett is the brash upstart while Benjamin is the well known veteran, so the story would be whether Bennett shined. I get a big kick out of Bob Evans' doing his Rocky trainer homage every time I see him. Bennett did a good job getting heat on himself stalling early, especially since the NYC crowd wants hot action. Bennett did a good job controlling the match. He's really started to come into his own over the last few months. Benjamin hit a great throw suplex. I was surprised to see Benjamin go over as I thought for sure they'd have Benjamin steal one here. Not an off the charts match but a solid, competitive effort.
Bucks vs. Bravados vs. Future Shock: Big F*** TNA chant when the Bucks came out Lots of hot pandemonium to open things up. Some fun high flying spots from all involved, which took the roof off the place. The babyfaces were able to get their revenge on the Bravados for ruining their match on the last iPPV and then when the Bravados were eliminated, it was time to throw the hell down. The back and forth sequences once it was down to the Bucks and Future Shock were awesome. Just great, futuristic crazy double team moves and aerial spots. Absolutely loved the hell out of this. There is just a ridiculous amount of great young talents right now - not just here in ROH but in every independent. It's somewhat insane in that this is the most loaded the talent level has been since 2001-2003 but there's nowhere nea the level of buzz for many of them.
Generico vs. Jimmy Jacobs - Some really good back and forth stuff here. They built a really good deal. Once they went to the outside, you KNEW Kevin Steen was hopping the rail. Once that went down, it was a hell of an angle. I never thought we'd see the day where Cary Silkin even teases that he'd be involved in a physical role and when it looked like Steen was going to nail him with the package piledriver, the building went nuts. The Cornette-Steen interplay was awesome. As Steen was being dragged out, he screamed that Vince Russo could kick Jim Cornette's ass, which was a great line.
Really fun first half of the show.
Haas vs. Elgin - This was an interesting one since Elgin has been booked to be a real powerhouse while Haas, being a little larger than your average ROH wrestler, was closer to Elgin in power. They had quite the slugfest here. Surprised to see Elgin losing this one as he's been pretty protected in recent months.
Edwards vs. Strong - Some really great back and forth wrestling to begin the match. They worked a hell of a match with some great back and forth spots. The crowd was really down on the draw, but Jim Cornette coming out and restarting it was exactly what they wanted. Cornette's delivery was perfect. I could see someone saying this was a little long but hey, when everyone else is giving you 3-6 minute matches, going long is a way to differentiate yourself from the masses and Strong and Edwards are two of the best talents going right now.
Briscoes vs. All Night Express - What an absolutely insane collection of talents these guys are. This was just a crazy and sometimes ludicrious war of attrition. Sometimes a grudge matches call for blood and sick spots and well, you had them here. In a lot of ways, this sealed the deal on making the Express a top tier act for the company. When the storyline began, they were the heel team that weren't taken seriously, then they turned and became men via the wars with the Briscoes, especially in Atlanta. This was the crowning moment for them and it was a pleasure to watch. This was just off the charts brutality and I loved it. Mark Briscoe is an especially sick man, and I mean that as a compliment, for diving off a 12 foot ladder. The ending with the two sides slugging it out at the end was great.
A very, very strong show. Can't wait for Glory by Honor.
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