Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Check out results of two hot shows featuring title matches, title changes, Briscoe Vs Briscoe and Joe’s farewell match in ROH!!!

Credit: The Wrestlingobserver.com via Steve Lyon

3/3 Liverpool Show

The evening show itself began at 6:25pm (bell time delayed 25 minutes to allow the crowds queuing round the block to get inside) and ended at 10pm. I’d estimate the crowd at about 1,300 fans. Lots of fans had travelled not just from all around the country, but also from overseas for this show. There were guys from Germany, Holland, even the U.S.

1) In the opener, Homicide (w/Julius Smokes) defeated Davey Richards. Good match, went about 15 minutes. Homicide was very over with the crowd, and Smokes was a riot at ringside. Richards garnered very sarcastic chants of ‘Davey’ and received decent heel heat. Lots of big spots in this match, including Richards clotheslining Richards into the crowd near where I was sat. Finish came when Homicide hit the Cop Killer on Richards for the pinfall win. About ***.

2) In a Shimmer womens’ match, Sara Del Rey defeated Allison Danger. Crowd were very quiet early on and were kind of sceptical about this match being on the card. But the work of both ladies was fundamentally sound, many levels above WWE diva standards, and these two ended up winning over the crowd and having a good match. Rey pinned Danger after a suplex. I’d have this at **1/2.

3) Jimmy Jacobs & Jimmy Rave defeated Colt Cobana & B.J. Whitmer in a very good tag team match. The card definitely kicked up a notch here. The first part of the match was dominated by a brawl, with all four guys brawling into the crowd, and at one point, near one of the balconies. All four guys were over, with loud chants for each. Rave & Jacobs had notable heel heat as the match progressed, particularly Rave, who does an excellent job as a heel. After several near falls, Jacobs pinned Whitmer after a powerbomb. ***1/2.

4) Matt Sydal defeated Delirious in a two out of three falls match, by two falls to one. Delirious’ gimmick is hilarious live. On paper it should be such a one dimensional, opening match, dumb comedy gimmick, but his in-ring ability, combined with the way he shows he’s smarter than people give him credit for at times, really helps him stand out. This was another very good match. Sydal took the first fall, after low-blowing Delirious and pinning him via small package. Delirious won the second and equalising fall when he made Sydal tap out in a Cobra stretch. Sydal took the third fall and the match, when he crotched Delirious on the top rope and belly-to-belly suplexed him off the top rope and pinned him. ***1/2.

After a 20 minute intermission, two British women wrestlers (who both looked no older than 21) entered the ring and played heel. This segment bombed. Nobody had a clue who these two were, and the girl who delivered the heel promo seemed nervous. It was like a Stephanie McMahon heel promo from when she first turned heel back in 1999, only worse. They said their names were ‘Jetter’ and ‘Eden Black’, and they basically challenged Allison Danger & Sara Del Rey to a tag team match tomorrow night. Crowd booed them and chanted ‘boring’.

5) Roderick Strong retained the FIP Heavyweight Title match, defeating Pac. Great match, second best match of the night. This match is definitely one to look out for, as it ‘made’ Pac. His constant high flying and high risk moves were incredible. I think he hit at least two 450 splashes during the match, and did a corkscrew dive into the crowd on to Strong. Strong won the match with a Tiger Driver for the pinfall, but the crowd gave Pac a standing ovation after the match, loudly chanting his name and ‘Bring Back Pac’. ****.

6) In a huge surprise, Naruki Doi & Shingo (of Dragon Gate) won the ROH Tag Team titles, defeating Mark & Jay Briscoe in the match of the night. Awesome match. Doi & Shingo may have won the titles, but the Briscoes are the best tag team in the world today in my eyes. The Dragon Gate guys, especially Shingo (tremendous facials) were hugely impressive. Big crowd pop when Shingo pinned Jay. ****1/4.

After the match, the Briscoes did some mic work, acting devastated that they’d lost the straps. Crowd were giving them a standing ovation whilst this was going on. Jay did the mic work, saying that they’d gone soft and needed to man up. He said they should face each other in a singles match tomorrow night, and Mark agreed, to a big pop. They hugged, then left the ring.

Everyone was shocked at this match outcome. I’m presuming Takeshi Morishima as ROH champion and Doi & Shingo as ROH tag team champs is preparation for the Japanese tour in a few months’ time.

7) In the main event, Samoa Joe defeated Nigel McGuiness via the choke, in what was Joe’s 129th and penultimate ROH match of his career (according to the ROH program I bought). I was very surprised by this result, as I figured with Joe leaving, he’d put over McGuiness on the way out. McGuiness had his hometown fans, but the crowd split was about 60/40 in Joe’s favour as far as chants and support. Great main event match. Highlight of the match was Joe hitting a muscle buster on McGuiness on to the ring apron. McGuiness sold this big, and was assisted towards the back by two referees. Joe did some mic work, first asking McGuiness to shake his hand, then calling him a pussy. This brought back McGuiness, who slapped Joe in the face. Joe hit another muscle buster, but McGuiness kicked out, only to be placed in the choke and eventually tap out. ****.

After the match, Joe delivered a big speech about what ROH meant to him, and said McGuiness was the future of it, and put him over strongly. The two of them embraced to end the show.

Overall verdict: Very good show. The second half of the card was excellent, with three matches definitely in the **** range. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow night’s show.

3/4 Liverpool Show

Tonight’s show began on time at 6pm, and ended at around 9:45pm. I’d estimate the crowd at about the same level as the previous night, in the 1,200 to 1,300 range. The second balcony was largely full, but the third balcony tier had a number of empty seats.

About ten minutes before the show began, B.J. Whitmer and Jimmy Jacobs came out of a side entrance and had a brief brawl in the crowd before disappearing backstage, ahead of their falls-count-anywhere match that was to take place later in the night.

1) In the opening match, Delirious defeated ‘Colt Daddy’ (Colt Cobana, doing a ‘Big Daddy’ spoof) in a hilarious comedy match. This match ruled, and got over huge with the crowd. Cobana came out to British wrestling legend Big Daddy’s old entrance theme, and was dressed like him too, wearing a sparkly top hat and waistcoat. On his singlet he had the words ‘Colt Daddy’. Before the match he did a lot of Daddy’s old schtick, like picking small children out of the crowd and putting them on his shoulders, as well as leading the crowd in chants of ‘Easy, Easy’. When the bell rang, Cobana went nuts and did an impression of Delirious, which threw him off guard. There were so many funny incidents in this match, with Cobana constantly interacting with the crowd, at times laughing at their creative chants. The wrestling was strictly limited, but that wasn’t the point of the match. After numerous midget wrestling spots involving the referee, Delirious won via roll up. Cobana shook his hand afterwards. * for the in-ring wrestling, ***3/4 for the comedy.

2) In a womens’ challenge match, Sara Del Ray & Allison Danger defeated British women wrestlers, Jetta and Eden Black, after Del Ray DDT’d Black. This was a pretty good match, and the crowd were into it. Del Ray and Danger carried the two Brits, although Jetta (something of a Lita lookalike with long red hair and facially too) was impressive at times. **1/2.

3) B.J. Whitmer defeated Jimmy Jacobs in a crazy Falls Count Anywhere match. Fantastic match. Whitmer and Jacobs brawled all over the arena, into the crowd and up the spiral staircase to the third tier balcony. The fans went crazy, with many leaving their seats and scrambling after the wrestlers. In between the crazy action, there was a lot of humour, as the fans on the floor were chanting “We can’t see this!”, and the fans in the third tier balcony where the action was taking place letting them know what was happening by replying, “B.J.’s winning!” Whitmer knocked Jacobs down the staircase, and Jacobs took the bump, rolling all the way to the bottom. After a brief brawl on the floor, the two made their way up the staircase again, this time to the second tier balcony. In a crazy scene, Whitmer was knocked over the side of the balcony and after hanging on for a few seconds by his finger tips, took the bump, maybe a 12 feet drop. Then Jacobs did a great crossbody block dive off the balcony edge and on to Whitmer below. The two recovered enough to stagger their way back through the crowd and to enter the ring. Jacobs used a pencil-like instrument on Whitmer, busting him open. Jacobs spread the blood all over his own body and face, which was pretty gross. Whitmer recovered enough to hit a sick looking tombstone driver on Jacobs for a near fall. Towards the finish, Whitmer also DDT’d Jacobs on the entrance ramp, before throwing him back into the ring for the pinfall and victory. Just tremendous work all round. Both got a standing ovation afterwards. ****.

4) Matt Sydal defeated Pac after a shooting star press. Very good match, with tons of high flying and high risk moves. It was almost as if they were playing a game of ‘Top this’. Sydal took control midway through the match, and almost put Pac away with several submission moves. Near the end of the match, Pac hit what is becoming his trademark 450 splash on Sydal for a near fall. Sydal eventually recovered to pick up the win. ***3/4

5) Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe wrestled to a draw in around 30 minutes, after both guys were knocked out and counted down for a ten count. A truly outstanding wrestling match. Before the match started there were duelling ‘Let’s go Briscoe/Let’s go Briscoe’ chants, which cracked up the two brothers, who started asking the crowd, “Which one?” It soon led into ‘Let’s go Jay/Let’s go Mark’ chants, with the crowd in total support of both guys, and neither guy playing heel. A totally even match up, with both guys pulling out some big moves. The match was fought mostly in the ring, although at one point Mark suplexed Jay on the ramp. There was just way too many high impact moves to list here. Finish of the match came when an exhausted Mark hit a death valley driver on Jay and both went down in the ring and got counted out. After a few boos, the crowd unanimously gave these two a standing ovation. Awesome match. ****1/4.

A 20 minute intermission followed this.

6) Naruki Doi & Shingo retained the ROH Tag Team titles, defeating Davey Richards & Roderick Strong in another fantastic match. Just superb action. Richards and Strong garnered strong heel heat, with lots of chants towards them. Shingo is great. His mannerisms and actions remind me a lot of Eddie Guerrero, particularly his facials and his playing to the crowd, involving them in the match. Shingo brings the charisma, but Doi definitely brings the workrate. Strong & Richards had many near falls, but the finish came when Doi pinned Richards after a top rope bulldog. ****1/4

7) Nigel McGuiness defeated Jimmy Rave in a ‘Fight Without Honor’ match. McGuiness was the overwhelming fan favourite in this match. The main spots in the match came on the outside, where Rave teased posting McGuiness, in a nod towards the Danielson-McGuiness match in the same venue last August. McGuiness reversed the move, and posted Rave instead. He then used a chair on Rave, and also retrieved a guard rail from under the ring. He set it up like a table top, between the edge of the guardrail and the ring apron. What followed was numerous spots, including McGuiness DDT-ing Rave on the rail, and also backdropping him on to it too. Finish of the match came when he nailed Rave with a stiff clothesline to pick up the win. Excellent action, and there was even a ‘Thank you Jimmy’ chant after the match. ****.

In the main event, in his 130th and final match for ROH, Samoa Joe defeated Homicide. Crowd popped huge for Joe, with tons of streamers thrown towards the ring and party poppers going off in the crowd, upon his entrance. Both guys acted jovial towards each other earlier on, with Joe fooling around, leaving the ring and going through the crowd to grab a beer from the bar. Eventually the fun and games ended when Homicide slapped Joe, and from that point onwards, it was classic Joe. Tons of power moves and suplexes. Julius Smokes tried to interfere, but Joe slammed him off the top rope, and hit the Ole kick on him on the outside. Finish came when Samoa Joe put Homicide on his back, and from the top rope, hit the muscle buster on him for the pinfall victory. A fitting end to Joe’s ROH career. ***3/4

After the match, the entire ROH locker room stood on the ramp and applauded Joe. Joe himself cut a farewell promo, saying that he had been struggling to think what to say all day, and then mentioned that the ‘creative genius’ Gabe Sapolsky had helped him out by writing a few notes for him on his taped wrist, which he read from. He then said a bunch of long words that Joe would obviously not normally say in a promo (this was almost like a spoof on WWE scripted promos) and stopped when he realised he was putting Gabe over, saying he’d wing it from here. He put over ROH, said the company would be alive and well after he had gone and paid tribute to the entire locker room. He then said his goodbyes and made his way up the ramp, where he was congratulated and hugged by the entire locker room. The crowd chanted ‘He’s a legend’. Joe then came back to ringside and jumped on to the guardrail, slapping hands with fans, before making his way to the back for good.

Overall verdict: Excellent show, better than the previous night, and probably the best card of wrestling I have ever seen live. Last night’s show was better than ROH Unified (which I was blown away by), and tonight’s show was better than last night. Out of 8 matches tonight, there really were 4 **** matches, 2 of which were at least ****1/4 in my eyes. The quality of wrestling over the past two nights has been off the charts and easily exceeded my high expectations. I really hope ROH returns to the U.K. soon, and specifically Liverpool (no return date was announced), as they really are developing something of a fan base in this area by virtue of such strong shows. These DVDs are going to be ‘must-buys’