Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Since I skipped going to this week’s ROH TV tapings, I went to their latest developmental-style show from Burlington, NJ – featuring major ROH stars like Austin Aries and Delirious – and offer a full report on a show the closest to my home. Hooray for not paying toll.

Eric Santamaria acts as the ring announcer for Pro Wrestling Respect, and the majority of matches are reffed by student Alexander Bird. In some funny moments, Santamaria made some mistakes and Bird was late coming to the ring for the first match.

1. Elevation Lottery: Harlem Bravado (w/ Lance Bravado) defeated Marker “Connected” Dillinger with a top rope splash he called “X Marks the Spot.” Just okay. Dillinger sort of has a mafia gimmick. By virtue of his win, Harlem will get to wrestle a veteran at the next show.

2. Rob Wolf defeated Professor Milo Shizo with a hangman’s neckbreaker. This too was okay, but had the least amount of heat. Wolf is a angry working-class fella with mutton chops (last seen on ROH TV getting destroyed by Necro Butcher), and Shizo is a masked wrestler who had a major incident in a lab, coming to the ring in a tattered lab coat and sporting a purple and orange motif and a tail.

3. Jamilia Craft defeated Mia Yim with a urinage. By this point the crowd really began to fill up and the heat (from the crowd and the weather) picked up. Craft was the popular young masked woman from the first show and recent ROH TV. Yim was the heel and hit a lot of kicks. Bryce Remsburg was the ref for this and the other women’s match. After Craft won thanks to her babyface fire, heel female student “Bonesaw” Jessie Brook attacked her, and Daizee Haze made the save.

- In-ring interview with a new ROH student whose name I couldn’t quite catch (either Cody or Colby). He’s from Alabama and has seven years of in-ring experience, and he’s come up to the ROH Academy to get even better. He’s also perhaps the biggest student, emphasized by the interviewer being much shorter (one of Eric Santamaria’s friends named “Midge.”) Alabama Man was interrupted by Shane Hagadorn, who basically said seven years outside of ROH doesn’t mean shit. He also made mention of Alex Payne, his chief rival in Respect, “running off to Japan.” Alabama Man kept his cool and left as Hagadorn got ready for his match.

4. Shane Hagadorn defeated Lance Bravado with a takeover chinlock choke after he knocked the ref into the ropes, in turn crotching Bravado on the top rope. Hagadorn has stupid new gear, but continued his undefeated streak in Respect, going 4-0 here thanks to his heel shenanigans.

5. Prince Nana & Mr. Ernesto Osiris def. Grizzly Redwood & Mike Sydal when Osiris pinned Grizzly with Blaze One (high impact DDT). A lot of it was the Embassy beating the shit out of whichever babyface was in the ring before they made their comeback. Pretty good. Sydal’s big move here was a top rope leg drop.

- Intermission, where I met Mike Sydal. Not surprising, he’s a very nice guy. He’s two years younger than brother Matt/Evan but could probably pass for a twin except for different hair (and a bunch of stars tattooed on his back). He had pictures of his brother for sale in addition to his own merchandise. Speaking of nice guys, this kid waiting in line for tickets before the show was given a pair of suspenders autographed by Grizzly Redwood because apparently this kid found and returned Grizzly’s hat the previous night.

6. The Flavors of the Week (Orange Cassidy & Leslie Butterscotch) def. Team WIN [Wrestling's Institute of Naturals] (Christian Merino & J-Red Pink) after Cassidy made Merino tap to the Orange Squeeze (head vice). Orange and Butterscotch were awesome together before as squash victims for the American Wolves on ROH TV, and they were great here as the guy who thinks he’s the greatest (Cassidy) and the other guy who buys into it (Butterscotch). Very much a Bart & Milhouse dynamic, with Butterscotch embodying Milhouse even more than Alex Payne in his demeanor and athletic moves.

Cassidy: “Get in here Leslie!”

Butterscotch: “I will!”

Team WIN, the amateur-based babyfaces, came out to “We Will Rock You,” and during a good portion of the match, this little kid in the crowd kept repeating the chorus. They apparently had an issue with the ref Alexander Bird going into this. All three have amateur backgrounds, but Bird had to retire due to injury and is stuck reffing, and the other two think he’s jealous of them and has in turn screwed them over in matches. So after Merino tapped, he and J-Red took great issue with the finish and had words with Bird. Meanwhile, Cassidy carried a weakened Butterscotch to the back, stopping to play him like a guitar that I sadly didn’t take a picture of.

7. Daizee Haze defeated “Bonesaw” Jessie Brook by DQ. Brook plays an aggressive tough gal. She managed to survive the heart punch/yakuza kick combo, then got Haze in a camel clutch while raking her forearm across her face. She was disqualified for not stopping this after Bryce’s five count, and Craft ran out for the save.

8. Austin Aries & Ricky Reyes & Celso Rivera (w/ Agent Sly Stetson) defeated Delirious & Pelle Primeau & Andy Ridge after Aries gave Delirious a jawbreaker variation that dropped his throat onto Aries’ shoulder. It was cool enough seeing Delirious this close to home before, but it was even cooler seeing Aries as well. Good stuff, following a basic tag formula. Both this and the main event were the longest matches at 10-15 minutes each. Rivera didn’t seem out of place with the vets, and all six worked well. Aries and Delirious went at it a lot. Pelle did a dive onto the heels on the outside. Rivera gave Delirious a torture rack neckbreaker to set up the finish.

9. Bobby Dempsey (w/ Derrick Dempsey) defeated Rhett Titus with an elbow drop barely off the top rope (it was a scary-looking takeoff). Definitely a main event feel for a small-scale show, with plenty of teases of the finish. Bobby was over big time, and it started very well with Rhett giving him a hard slap instead of a handshake. Rhett dodged a lot of the fat-based offense and did a dive to the floor onto both Dempseys. Per the stipulations, Rhett Titus has to leave the promotion for a year, so most of the babyfaces came out and they played the Nana-Nana Goodbye song. Bobby offered a handshake but Rhett refused again. Daizee handed Rhett his bag to get going, but Rhett just got pissed off and kicked it into the air, breaking a pair of sunglasses that came flying out of it. Then the babyfaces threw Jolly Ranchers into the crowd to close the show.

Overall: Two and a half hours of wrestling, an eight-dollar ticket, and a little over twenty minutes of driving since I live in the same county. Like the first Respect show in January that I went to, this was a very simple show that made for a fun time. The two strongest and longest matches closed things up, and I have two new guilty pleasures in the Flavors of the Week, so it wouldn’t hurt to return to see the likes of them, Mike Sydal, Delirious, Daizee Haze, and their promising students.