Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Taped 3/1/09,
Original Air Date 4/25/09
Report by Steve Kriske & Brian Streleckis

What Happened:

The show opened with a re-cap of last week’s main event and a preview of this week’s. Mike Hogewood opined that this show features the strongest line-up we’ve seen yet, and he and Dave Prazak hyped the main event between Bryan Danielson and Tyler Black.

1) The Dark City Fight Club defeated Grizzly Redwood & Andy Ridge. The DCFC won a squash with their powerbomb/neckbreaker combo on Ridge at 4 1/2 minutes.

Kyle Durden interviewed Danielson and asked if he was worried that the fans might support Black instead of him. Danielson was confident and talked up his experience and accomplishments in ROH.

2) Nigel McGuinness defeated Alex “Sugarfoot” Payne. The entrances were not shown, and Nigel cut a heel promo on the crowd before the match. He didn’t have the ROH title belt, and the announcers acted as if he had already lost the title. McGuinness hit a big lariat and the Tower of London to win in about 3 minutes.

Black was interviewed by Durden and was very complimentary of Danielson, and eager to prove himself against him.

3) Kevin Steen & Jay Briscoe defeated Eddie Edwards & Chris Hero. Larry Sweeney and Sara Del Rey accompanied Hero & Edwards to the ring, while Mark Briscoe came out to support Steen & Jay later. Sweeney interjected himself as things were heating up, and after a bit of chaos, Steen hit Edwards with the Package Piledriver to earn the victory in 10 minutes.

4) Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black went to a 20 minute draw. Danielson had Black in a triangle choke, which Black reversed into a powerbomb into the turnbuckle just before the time limit expired.

The preview for next week’s show featured Ric Flair and the main event of Austin Aries vs. Roderick Strong.

Steve Says:

“Slap the porpoise” is back! The first two matches were by-the-book squashes, but did a decent enough job of getting the winners over. The continuity issue gets even more confusing with, as I understand it, the idea being that Jerry Lynn won the title between episodes 4 and 6. Two of Hogewood’s three reasons for why the crowd cheers Sugarfoot were ridiculous; being non-American isn’t a reason to not get cheers, and Nigel does follow the Code of Honor.

The Smacktalk promos setting up the tag match were both very good. They managed to be entertaining and got across the vital info in a short time. As for the match, I think it was the longest non-main event so far, and it definitely featured more near falls than others. Definitely a good match. Hogewood’s inexperience showed in both tag matches as there are certain aspects of the tag dynamic that he doesn’t quite seem to get.

The main event was excellent. Black played more of a babyface role, which fit into issues raised in their interviews earlier. Danielson’s ankle locks to counter his kicks were great. This wasn’t as good as their New Horizons main event, but I’d say it was the best match yet on HDNet.

I’m surprised that Flair’s appearance next week wasn’t hyped more than just in the preview and a commercial after the show. The announcers had plenty of time during the main event where they could have talked about it, which would help since some viewers probably tune out as soon as the main event ends. He’s obviously a huge name compared to everyone else in the company, and his role in the upcoming shows is more than just a token appearance to draw eyeballs.

Based on the strength of the top two matches, this was probably the best HDNet show in the first set of tapings.

Brian Says:

A very good show that had a nice flow to it, and definitely the best episode to air yet. I agree with Steve about the main event too; though not as good as their New Horizons match, it may have topped the first two of their series (from the shows Breakout and Southern Navigation). Lots of great transitions, and a fantastic chemistry between both guys in general. Not only was it the best HDNet match, but as I may have said in audio, it was the one match from the first set of tapings that felt closer to a match from a traditional ROH live event, especially with the time given and the way the crowd reacted. I was bummed that we weren’t shown the fun post-match angle that happened afterward (which I detailed at the end of this live report), but this episode and the more sports-like atmosphere didn’t really need it after all.

Speaking of cutting things out, they did a good job of hiding the fact that Nigel was still the world champion at this time (such as not airing his entrance in which he came out with the title). It muddies the continuity waters in an upcoming episode where Nigel cuts a post-title reign promo (provided that even makes air now), but for now, we got a fine little squash, a more appropriate use of Sugarfoot, and a good heel promo by Nigel (disease-ridden Muppets!).

I love the Dark City Fight Club and would be happy to invest in their Paper Street Soap Company. The other tag team match (and essentially Sweeney’s swan song) was a lot of fun, and the shenanigans outside didn’t hinder the action, but helped the Briscoes’ story (as did that SmackTalk promo before the match). I almost balked at Hogewood saying this episode had the strongest lineup of wrestlers, only to be followed by a promo by Grizzly and his silent partner, but we definitely had a lot more main event talent here. Hogewood in general hasn’t shown a lot of improvement over six episodes, but he still has a lot of passion to give Mike Tenay and Don West a run for their money. And yes, it would have been smarter to hype up Ric Flair’s arrival much much more than what they give the following week’s main event every episode. Those last few complaints aside, still an exemplary episode.