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DVD REVIEW: RING OF HONOR UNITED WE STAND

ROH: United We Stand

By Michael Campbell

Welcome back to “The Cynical DVD Review”, in which I rant about the latest releases, hoping someone out there is listening. This is the first of my Ring of Honor reviews, which yes, is a little behind, but I will catch up, I promise. First off, a note… I don’t do star ratings, as I do not believe they’re necessary, and in fact are part of a negative trend that I find has become completely off-putting, especially for newer fans. Also, I don’t intend to do move-for-move recaps of matches (although I’ve done that to some extent here), hopefully, as I go on, these things will become more analysis/thought based.

-Rebecca Bayless is looking for the Briscoes for an interview. Tank Toland hasn’t seen them, as he’s working out with the trim-looking (ahem) Bobby Dempsey. Jimmy Jacobs hasn’t seen them either, as he’s just smoking by his car. When she does find them, they don’t really contribute anything other than “Man-up”, which makes this pretty pointless.

Basically, this opener is a showcase for Steen and Generico, in the midst of their feud with the tag team champions, The Briscoe Brothers. They look great here, but it’s nice to see Irish Airborne back on the show, as they have a lot of potential. Dave Christ looks far too much like Randy Orton however. That’s never a good thing.

Airborne show some good energy, but Generico and Steen are clearly the guys with the experience, and they control this, which reminds me of the old WCW tag matches, they would show on Saturday afternoons, where the format wasn’t quite a squash, but you always knew who the stars were.

Generico showboats, instead of hitting a big dive, which frustrates Steen, who hits his own, and wails at Generico “Do something… jackass…”. They’re really starting to tease dissension between these two. At one point, Dave is going for springboard to the outside, on both of his opponents, and Steen actually speaks to Generico, to give them reason to be standing so close, to “catch” Dave. I really like this, as it means they’re not standing there like buffoons, waiting, rather Steen in berating Generico because things aren’t going their way. It’s little touches like this that really make you appreciate these two. The finish sees the Package-Piledriver, Brainbuster combo give Steen-Erico the victory.

Great little opening match. During the celebrations, Steen is pumped-up and overly aggressive, and shoves Generico out of the camera’s view, hogging the limelight.

-Backstage, BJ cuts a typical BJ promo.

For some reason I cannot explain, I’m starting to really love Primeau’s music. As Primeau makes his way to the ring, I notice Austin Aries sitting front row (not as talent, he isn’t mentioned at all, though unsurprisingly, this was just before he announced he had signed with ROH and left TNA).

Pretty much what you would expect, with Primeau the obvious underdog. Rave attempts a slow-paced dominance approach, but isn’t successful, until he hit’s a big spear on his smaller foe. Soon, too-soon I think, Rave is back on the defensive, as Primeau starts to actually dominate this one. At one point, he hits a DDT that looks more like he is nailed with a spine buster. Rave eventually applies the heel-hook for the win.

Rave is pinned after Delirious hits the Bizarro driver almost immediately. Pretty funny stuff, that doesn’t greatly benefit Delirious as it being Delirious, everyone kind of just laughs at the sudden win. Doesn’t benefit Rave much either obviously.

Shane Hagadorn accompanies Pearce of course. As usual, Pearce is so old-school, it’s unbelievable. Again, this is exactly what you would imagine it would be. Pearce works over Delirious with every trick in the book, while Delirious strikes back with his speed, and high-flying, but is continually cut-off. Delirious picks up the win after Pearce and Hagadorn bang heads, and he rolls him up for the three.

Hero comes to the ring with his entourage, and Delirious sensibly hides under the ring. Hero goes under to look for him, so of course, the man “with the Lizard’s face” pops up, heads to the top rope, and wipes out Sweet ‘N’ Sour Inc. Hero surprises him from behind, with a springboard dropkick, and takes control of the early part of the match. The action is exactly what you would expect of these two. Hero dominates, with basic, heellish offence, peppered with some heat-magnet style stalling. The crowd are pretty hot, as Delirious makes several attempts at comebacks, and manages at some point or another, to hit all his signature moves. Hero manages to survive the Cobra Stretch, which almost had me thinking it was over, and eventually gets the Hero’s Welcome (a similar move to “The Roll of the dice“, or “Overdrive”), for the three. Afterwards, Bobby Dempsey attempts to Fireman-carry Hero to the back, which is pretty funny.

This was a fun gauntlet all round, but I definitely wouldn’t want to see too much of this kind of match, especially one that being early in the card, can’t really be given much time, and also feels kind of pointless. But used sparingly, it’s a format that can be very effective. I also felt that as soon as the final bout began, with Delirious having already defeated two guys, it was obvious Hero would win. Otherwise, Hero would really have looked dumb, and as much as I love his bragging -but-generally-looses shtick, it wouldn’t have credible for him to go down here. Thus, there was no real suspense for the final match. That said, both guys did really well, and it was enjoyable, so it’s pretty pointless grumbling. Rave though, looked like a clown.

Having been “fined”, for hitting a referee on the shows prior to this, and coming off a big losing streak, this one is built as being a really crucial fight for Whitmer, who is pissed. Hot start, with a chop-exchange, and the crowd behind Whitmer. Good, stiff action between these two, with Albright getting an early advantage with his superior size. If you haven’t see Albright outside of his WWE run, you really should check out some of the great stuff he’s been doing in ROH.

After a few minutes, they end up on the outside, and both guys tumble into the front row. A great brawl ensues, these two being guys who can both really go in this environment. Albright eats a few chairs, just for fun, and somewhere or other, looks like he may have picked up a black eye. Back inside the ring, Brent uses a leather strap, but Whitmer catches him in an exploder, and whips his enemy with the strap. At the end of this brawl, BJ goes for a frogsplash, which looks excellent, but he misses, and is trapped in the armbar, but upon his escape, is tossed into the turnbuckle with a belly-to-belly throw. The former Gunnar Scott then brings a table into the fray, and gets the win when BJ attempts super-backdrop through, only to see it countered into a big splash.

Really enjoyable bout, that offered something different from the rest of this show. Brent Albright has been great in Ring of Honor throughout this year, whilst BJ continues to do his thing well. After the match, he snaps on a student.

-Backstage, Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuiness are having a discussion clarifying that they’re only teaming up for the sake of a common goal. Horrible segment.

Up to this point, If I’m completely honest, I can’t say I’ve been enjoying the Resilience/No Remorse Corps rivalry. In fact, I’ve found it the least interesting aspect of ROH all year. For me, it got off to a miserable start, with the heels losing far too much. Personally, I don’t see the baby faces as clicking at all, whilst the heels need a manager or mouthpiece, as leader Roderick Strong has added very little to his persona since supposedly going to the dark side. It didn’t help matters when the promotion lost Aries, but knowing his return is coming in a coupe of shows time, I’m trying to stick with this stuff.

The No Remorse Crops emerge first, with Richards sporting his new-fangled long tights (a big improvement). Amongst this bunch, only Richards really gives me the impression of being in tune with his character. Still, the crowd are lively, and the bout starts with lots of stalling. When they get going, the action is solid, designed to make Stevens look tough. Cross comes in and does a bit of flying, and follows with some nice, basic work, tagging out and in with Stevens. Davey comes in and is worked over too, and I’m surprise by the one-sidedness’s of the early stages of this. A brutal, sly kick to Cross’ back, from Davey, puts the heels in charge. Cross gets worked over, and double-teamed, and this is where the heels are at their best. Good heat from the live crowd, but I can’t get excited by Roddy’s heel antics, which consist of mixing cowardliness with spitting on his opponents. Eventually, Cross escapes his predicament, and Stevens comes in, doing the big man thing, slapping both his opponents around like bugs. It all breaks down, and from this point, they’re all in the ring. Cross hit’s a ridiculous dive to the outside on Davey, which leaves Stevens and Strong to duke it out. Best few moments of the match follow. Stevens gets the advantage, but Davey hit’s a dropkick off the top, right to Erick’s noggin, then hit’s a suicide dive on Cross, in a really good spot. Roddy finishes Steven, to get the pin. Afterwards, he calls out Aries, who is held back by Cary Silken, as he’s supposedly just there as a spectator.

The last few minutes of this were really great, with some nice, crisp spots, and good integration of roll-ups to throw off the tradition of trading trademark moves. Davey looked excellent throughout this match, although the best moments certainly came from the one-on-one exchanges between Strong and Stevens. I liked the nice simple, clean, victory for the bad guys, but at this point, its still a feud that I find pretty depressing to watch.

Serena is out first, and gets a strong response from the fans. Lacey, despite being accompanied by Jimmy Jacobs, plays the usual role of squealing at fans trying to touch her or take her picture.

Basic action from the two with Lacey making a lot of noise, and Serena outwrestling the “more experienced” ROH regular. Serena hit’s a nice series of faceplants on Lacey, with her head between her knees, which gets a very positive reaction. This is completely one sided, until Lacey uses the hair, and hit’s what resembles a top-rope bulldog. Outside the ring, Jimmy is smoking, which is just awesome, and he blows the smoke into Serena’s face, which is even more awesome! Serena fights back, hitting some big chops, but it doesn’t last long. This is pretty good stuff, putting over Serena’s spirit, while avoiding having her do anything major. In the end, Serena locks on a version of the Anaconda Vice, and Rain comes out, distracting her, allowing Lacey to recover, hit the implant DDT, and pick up the win. Together, they beat the crap out of Serena, until Daizee Haze makes the save. The Fans chant for Daizee, but amusingly, also for Jimmy Jacobs, who does nothing else, other than fumble with the ladies a bit as he helps them backstage.

This was straightforward, simple stuff, but it was good. It’s nice to incorporate workers like Serena, who the ROH fans may not all be as familiar with as say, they are with Sara Del Rey, in an outing like this. She gets a bit of rub, and benefits from being here, whilst the storyline between Haze and Lacey is allowed to continue.

The fans are big into KENTA, as expected. The two errr, kick this off with lots of strikes, in what resembles a Muy Thai style opening. Romero does the annoying No Remorse Corps heel gimmick of spitting, which bugs me, but hey, otherwise he’s excellent. The two go into a big, stiff, slap sequence, that the crowd come to life for, before Romero gets the advantage. This is really fast-paced stuff early, with a neat moment, where KENTA goes for the leapfrog, only to have Rocky counter by grabbing his leg. Following this, Romero takes control, with a mixture of his cocky strikes, and really cool stretches. Already, I get the impression this one will really enable the No Remorse corps member to shine. KENTA comes back after countering a suplex, and hits his flying knee strike, as Rocky is laying across the top rope. KENTA then begins to wear Romero down. I really like how even early, their incorporating the big moves, which are used more to capitalize on mistakes, rather than an actual strategy for winning. Otherwise, both guys look like they’re going for the simple, effective approach. KENTA works the head-and-neck area, but Romero escapes, into a bow-and-arrow. Really smooth stuff. The action goes back and forth for a few moments, and Romero comes back to life, his comeback again reminding me that KENTA wrestles like a heel, perhaps a little too much.

Throughout this bout, they pepper the action with little strike-fest battles, which works really well, and doesn’t feel like they’re stuck in a routine, as some guys who do that sort of thing, clearly are. At one point, Romero crunches KENTA with a dive to the outside that absolutely looks like it killed him. He also hit’s the Diablo arm-bar (a rolling-arm bar off the top-rope), which looks as sick as ever, and has the crowd on their feet. Some more, great, back-and forth stuff follows, including a couple of really hot near falls. In a sweet spot, Romero counters the Go to Sleep, with a roll-up, which KENTA counters into a cross-arm breaker. This leads to the finish, when Romero converts this to an arm-bar, but is picked up off the mat, and onto KENTA’s shoulders, who hit’s the Go To Sleep. Afterwards, Davey Richards comes down, and pays respect to both guys, but it’s obviously a set-up, and he turns on KENTA. I can’t believe the crowd actually buys the handshake and stuff, especially as Davey’s mannerisms are so ridiculous and unexaggerated. The Resilience run in, to chase off the NRC, then celebrate with KENTA.

Really, really fine match, with Romero especially shining. The two used a whole cocktail of stuff in this, which I wouldn’t have minded seeing go a few minutes longer. This is definitely a perfect example of just what nonsense it is when people lump ROH into the no-psychology spot-fest category. This sure looked sound to me. A rematch would be swell.

Both teams come to the ring with their partners, rather than separate, which other than for time issues, I can’t agree with doing, as Nigel, Danielson, and Morishima are all engaged in a rivalry. Perhaps this was to push the NOAH/ROH aspect of the bout. Nevertheless, this match feels big and important.

Dragon and Marafuji start off with some nice mat work, which they go for, for several minutes, until they reach a stalemate. They both tag out , which allows Nigel and Morishima to slow it down, with some back an forth strong style action. This is a nice variation which continues throughout the match.

After a nice opening few minutes, Marafuji finds himself being on the reviving end of much punishment from both his opponents. However, a brawl erupts on the outside, with the ROH champion, Morishima, brawling with, and getting the better of former title-holder, Danielson. Stiff action indeed. It ends up being Dragon’s turn to sell, which he does effectively, as he endures a sustained beating. The crowd rally behind Danielson’s comeback attempts, while the Noah stars capably demonstrate good at strategy. Marafuji applies a really neat modified surfboard, whilst Morishima uses his weight to remain in control. They go to a double-down, and Nigel is tagged in, tough I would have built to it for a while longer. Nigel creams Naomichi with a sinister Lariat, and gets a two, following up with some more familiar Nigel spots, but only getting a two once more. Marafuji reverses a tower of London attempt, and leaps off the top, but straight into a super kick, in really nice spot. Nigel misses his Jawbreaker, which is great, because I hate that move, and Nigel is at the disadvantage. ‘Shima comes in, and pounds Nigel, using his handstand splash, which always looks impressive. The action really picks up here, as Nigel fires up, is squished, Dragon comes in, fires up, but is also knocked senseless, this time by Morishima’s ass, or “hip” as Prazak discreetly labels it on commentary. Marafuji returns to the fray, and engages in some great sequences with Dragon, which makes me believe that I need to see their Final Battle 05 match again, which I feel is underappreciated. As Nigel and Dragon double-team Marafuji, there seems to be some miscommunication, and they miss a couple of spots, but it really doesn’t affect the match, as these two guys are feuding, so It is logical for them to be a little messy. ‘Fuji and ‘Shima end up double-teaming Nigel with some fantastic high-impact work, which leads to Nigel taking the backdrop driver. But Dragon breaks the pinfall attempt up! Not long after, Dragon helps Nigel’ out on the top rope, enabling him to then hit a clothesline on the ROH champion, from the top, to the outside. Back in the ring and Morishima is bleeding from the nose, as usual, and he misses his top-rope dropkick. Nigel synchs in a Half- Boston, while Marafuji is trapped in Cattle Mutilation by Danielson. Nice moment. No submission occurs however. The ROH guys try to double-suplex Morishima, but he reverses, nailing a suplex on both of them! A minute or so later, sees Nigel hitting Morishima with a Tower of London, but it’s again broken up, and by this point, the crowd is hot indeed for this fine match. Finish comes when Nigel throws some combinations together on Morishima, Marafuji side-kicks him, but Nigel is able to use the momentum to hit the Jawbreaker, which again…I think just looks silly. They make it work here however, and it’s a worthy finish, as Nigel pins the Champ. In ROH, pinning a Champion, regardless of it being a tag-match, actually means something, as the belt, is “gasp“… valued.

Start to finish, this was a great match. And it was the sort of encounter, that really benefited from paying close attention to it. It wasn’t a spot-fest, and in fact, it wasn’t even a super-paced sort of deal. It developed nicely, and with a sense that the Noah guys were the more solid unit, but the Ring of Honor guys, who were both desperate to defeat the champion, had that little bit more heart. Afterwards, Nigel celebrated on his own, as Dragon stormed to the back.

Tag Team Title 2/3 Falls Match

Lot’s of yelling of “Man-up” from the fans to start. Mark and Claudio start out, while the announcers emphasize the fact that the Briscoes are confident due to their past success in 2/3 falls matches. In WWE, that would instantly mean that they would lose this one.

Nice, quick action from the beginning, with things really picking up when Jay and Sydal are in the squared circle together. The Briscoes seem to have an advantage with their always effective double-team strategy, while the Claudio/Sydal combo have the surprise factor, coming from Claudio’s strength, and Matt’s extreme pace. This is really good, as these guys instantly distinguish themselves from the tag match prior, with an early impression of how important it is to the Briscoes to maintain their record, and the challengers knowing they really need to get the initial pinfall.

Claudio attempts a running Powerbomb on Jay to the outside, but it’s reversed into head scissors, in a great spot. Not long following this, Matt falls victim to a Military-Press Death Valley Driver, followed by a Moonsault, and that’s the first fall!

With the second fall, Claudio is beat-down a little, and the action is slowed slightly, while the Briscoes seem to play it more cautiously. Claudio fights back with his impressive big-man move set, but isn’t able to withstand the combinations of his opponents, who tag in and out, using the tag system to isolate Castagnolli, and wear him down. Crowd are behind Claudio’s comeback attempts, and he makes a recovery, with, unbelievably, a double-airplane-spin, on both Briscoes at the same time!

Sydal comes into the fray, hitting some nice spots, before tagging out again, (which he does really quickly actually, and to me, that makes no sense whatsoever, but is something A LOT of teams do). Claudio cannot stay in control, and is again beat down, until he dodges a karate chop from Mark, that ends up striking Jay on the Noggin. All four then get involved, in a mixture of back-and-forth action, and some insane high-flying. Really smooth work this, and each time someone goes for a pinfall, it’s broken up by a really crazy looking springboard, or top-rope manoeuvre. The Dayton crowd are on their feet for this one now. Sydal uses his legs to shoot for a really special pinfall predicament, which looks incredible, but then falls prey to a sick big-boot, that he takes by landing with his neck at all sorts of angles. Not nice at all…

It starts to look really likely that the challengers will even things up with a pin, but instead, in an abrupt ending, Mark destroys Claudio with a Cut-throat driver. And that’s it!

I was really surprised by the finish, which was nowhere nearly as prolonged and insane as what these guys did at Respect is Earned. However, that’s not to say that this wasn’t a really top-drawer encounter. In fact, I think it might really reward repeated viewings, as the big-spots, and typical Briscoe moments, were more spread out around both falls. Also, in having the match start out so quickly, it made for a different approach to the usual slower approach to 2/3 falls situations. A nice match, and definitely main-event worthy, but I would still think that the Noah/ROH semi-main, was the better tag match.

The Skinny: This was a great show, with several really rewarding matches. The best of these was arguably KENTA/Romero, with the Noah vs. ROH tag match, a close second. The main event was also great, and the last few minutes of the No Remorse Corps tag match, made it a must-see. Everything else was really enjoyable, with perhaps only the Gauntlet match being a disappointment. It’s a minor quibble indeed though.

However, with that said, I wouldn’t recommend this to newcomers at all. While it was by no means confusing, or atypical of Ring of Honor, it just wouldn’t be a show that one could get the most out of, having not experienced ROH before. This one really rewards those who have been following the promotion, and for them, whilst it’s maybe not a must-have, it’s not a show that’s going to disappoint. That said, if you’re into your tag wrestling, you’ll enjoy this even more, as it features a bunch of (all great) really different sorts of tag encounters. As usual with Ring of Honor, it’s nice to see them take the lost art of tag teaming seriously.

Thumbs up for this one. If you’re a follower, I’d say go for it. If you’re a newcomer, buy a couple of the more accessible shows, and stick this on your Christmas list.

Thanks for taking the time to read this wacky review/rant/gibberish. If you have any comments, I welcome and encourage all feedback. please get in touch at bazilalfonso@hotmail.com Until bell-time, thanks again.