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DVD REVIEW: RING OF HONOR SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST 2007

What!?! He’s done it again? Just like Manhattan Mayhem 2, and Honor Nation? Who is this Ed Sherriffs guy anyhow? Damn, It’s came to my attention that just as I was about to finish this and send it off, Ed Sherriff, as usual, had beaten me to the line, and already posted a review. You’ve got to be kidding me. Hey, two reviews are better than one, right?

-The DVD opens with The No Remorse Cops doing their silly frat boy routine in the streets of Vegas. These segments are increasingly strange, because Davey is treated like a useless retard who can’t pick up chicks, and has to watch the bags, yet in the ring he’s the one with the most character, who is the most believably aggressive. Yet somehow, I can’t imagine either Rocky or Roderick as being suited to playing the stooge. Odd.

-During this course of this, we’re also interrupted by an Intro highlight package of past Survival of the Fittest Winners. Nice touch.

-Nigel McGuiness, the New Champion, is introduced mid-ring. I notice that the venue looks absolutely horrible. Thankfully, ROH probably won’t be back there. The lighting is amongst the worst seen in ROH in years, and they have to adopt a couple of awkward camera angles. Roderick interrupts Nigel’s bland promo, and puts over his FIP title, calling McGuiness a paper champion. Immediately I lose interest, as this isn’t FIP. Brent Albright struts out, and challenges both guys.

Basic, competitive back and forth match. These two definitely clash personality wise, both limiting each other in that department throughout this effort. But it’s a still a nice, stiff tussle, and entertaining from bell-to-bell. It feels like a first round match up, which is just as well really. Roderick goes over with a tug of the tights. I’m disappointed not to have Albright in the final though. But still, a good opener.

-Back in those streets of Vegas, Delirious cuts a Delirious style promo, the point of which I believe is that he is going to accomplish the impossible and win the tournament for the second year running. I think it’s pretty obvious he won’t though.

Karl Anderson vs. Chris Hero

Anderson is a little bland, but solid, coming across of course, squarely as an adopted child of Ole and Arn Anderson. Basic, and old-fashioned, with a few untraditional spots located in his moveset, ensures that at the very least, he’s different and novel on this ROH show. This has the aura of how I imagine Hero would be booked in his debut if he were on Smackdown. It’s very good in that regard, with plenty of Hero’s ridiculous, almost ineffectual offence. He hit’s the majority of his big maneuvers, and finishes his victim of with the Hangman’s clutch, in a convincing fashion. Entertaining stuff, with Hero on form, but clearly just having fun before the big final. He’s now positioned really nicely as the overconfident, cocky heel heading into the main event.

-Larry Sweeney and Chris Hero cut a promo backstage. Typical stuff, but good.

This is a basic, cruiserweight style bout, that didn’t overly impress me. Throughout the year, I observed several serious, break-out performances by Romero, however they were usually let done by through-the-motions efforts such as this one. That said, it’s by no means a bad match, and at the very least, is stuffed with spots and is busy enough to hold one’s attention. Perkins is looking a little too much like Paul London at the moment, and I forget where the hell I’ve seen him wrestle before.

The finish comes when Romero hit’s a couple of naff looking kicks, knocking his opponent out. This was just the epitome of an average Indy match for me. They didn’t especially do anything wrong, but equally did nothing to distinguish themselves from the pack, and it ensured this left me feeling a little dissatisfied.

The crowd are really into Aries as this one begins, although both guys are of course, popular with the crowd. Prazak points out that two locked up in their very first appearances for ROH (in a multi-person match), which is a nice touch. Aries utilizes mat work to ground his opponent, and has a fair bit of the early control. They build proceedings up though, so that Delirious gets his shots in, and both guys please the crowd with their array of distinctive spots. This is a solid, competitive tie, that puts over both guys as being well aware of the importance of SOTF.

At one point, Delirious nails a Cobra Clutch suplex that had Jimmy Bower still been around, would have certainly called for a “Dangeroooooussssss!” Aries picks up the win following a brain buster, where he rolls through and maintains the Muta Lock position for the tap out victory. I really liked how these two had to meet in the first round, which addresses shoving some fresh faces into the final match.

-Austin Aries cuts a promo backstage, which is absolutely fantastic purely for the fact that he mentions his preparation for his series with Bryan Danielson. Aries informs Delirious that this is the reason he is so adept and sharp right now at countering submissions. Logical, simple stuff that enhances the match.

Nice reaction for Claudio. Davey lunges at him lock a slobbering dog from the get go. Nice, furious beginning, with a couple of cool counters. They do the giant swing early, but it only cuts Davey off for a few moments, as he comes back targeting the leg. Good action in the first few minutes here. Davey takes a back-body drop that looks terrifying because of the zany camera angle ROH is using. I guess Castagnoli being about the height of the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man doesn’t help either. Our incompetent bag-boy finally applies the stretch muffler, after several minutes of back and forth action. Crowd are starting to sound a bit miserable- this is really good action, but they reacted more to Karl Anderson than Claudio. Stay Puff is dumped with a cool Sunset Bomb, and Davey then calls the DR Driver, which used to really annoy me when he was a babyface. Claudio fights back, and manages to hit the Riccola Bomb.

It’s disappointing that Davey won’t be in the final, but at least he was eliminated in the best match thus far. Claudio is also nicely positioned as the sympathetic babyface for the final, as he’s going to have to work through injuries now. This encounter was like a big greasy doughnut- full of stuff it probably shouldn’t have been, and not especially healthy, but damn sweet and satisfying all the same.

-Claudio cuts a quick backstage promo. To the point.

Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuiness

Right off the bat, I’ll say I’m not overly looking forward to this, because it’s obvious as hell it’s going to a draw. Having Danielson in the final would work so much better, though perhaps Hero will take his role of intelligent sneak. Fans chant “ROH” at both guys. They start out slowly, with some chain wrestling, and one-upmanship. Danielson grounds Nigel, and applies a variation on a dragon clutch, but Nigel reverses it. Good mat work. They continue working submissions, and show great intensity in trying to gain the advantage. The crowd are behind Nigel, though sound a little impatient with the slower pace of this one. Hey, why not have every match be the same, eh? Dragon see’s his opening and takes it, working the champions leg. Nigel goes for the shoulder. This is quality stuff, where everything each guy does, is meaningful and deliberate, while the other legitimately appears to be trying to fight back. That means lots of messy, fussy attempts at applying holds, which I personally, think is really cool. I hate in the WWE, when submissions are generally applied in such a clean, predictable manner. At one point, there’s a nice stand-off, where both guys are on their feet, jockeying for position, while trying to protect their respective fragile body parts. Nigel builds up a head of steam, and starts going for the bigger moves, introducing pinfall attempts into the clash for the first time. He misses out on the Jawbreaker Lariat though, but Dragon is caught out on the Diving Headbutt. Dragon locks on a heel hook, but can’t get the tap out. In he final minute, he hooks on cattle mutilation, and tries out the MMA elbows, but Nigel battles into a Tower of London position, but the bell rings before he can hit it. Both guys are done, and the crowd boo, chanting for five more minutes. Both guys are willing to go for it, but before referee Sinclair can ring the bell, Bryan charges Nigel, and is caught in a shoulder submission, to which he taps out. But since the match hadn’t restarted, it doesn’t count, and Dragon slinks off to the back, rather than continuing.

Really enjoyable first round match different from the other entries, and different from the usual Nigel/Dragon effort. It felt like it was maybe a segment of a longer bout, but was still enough to be satisfying. The climax may have been predicable, but it didn’t prevent this from being a match you could dip into and just enjoy.

Tony Kozina vs. Human Tornado vs. Shane Hagadorn

Tornado is over with the Vegas crowd. Hagadorn enters to Adam Pearce’s music, which is appropriately kiss-assy. This is not a first round tournament bout, thanks to the draw in the previous match. Tornado dazzles the crowd with some jiving, while Kozina plays the straight man, and Hagadorn the toad. It’s a decent mix for sure. Some good action, and they flow as if they’re all fighting each other, not pairing up for routines. Kozina hits an impressive, unexpected springboard moonsault, but Tornado picks up the win by pinning him shortly thereafter. Big, big win for Tornado.

The Age of the Fall (Jimmy Jacobs and Necro Butcher) vs. The Briscoes (Non-title Street Fight)

They start out hot, brawling around the floor. In a slapstick moment, Jacobs is dragged across the counter of the bar by Mark. The lighting and camera work really suck throughout this scrap, more so than on the rest of the show. On commentary, Prazak and Lenny Leonard struggle to explain the motivation of The Age of the Fall, which admittedly, is hard to decipher. They’re trying to best the Briscoes, and take their belts, and thus have a greater forum from which to vent their “sick” message. What, that like, K-mart is evil? I don’t buy much of the execution of the gimmick, which in theory, I like. The four battle across a stage, and tease a table spot, which eventually, ends up with yep, Mark Briscoe tasting the broken wood. In all likelihood this is to give him a breather, as he was suffering a dislocated foot at the time. Jay is beat down by Jimmy and Necro, who just don’t, for me, flow as a twosome, before being Tiger Driven unto a chair. Eventually, Mark recovers enough to whack Jimmy with another steel chair, which pops the crowd, but leads us into a silly dueling chairs episode with Necro. Ugh. The usual sick chair shots ensue, including the horrible one where Necro gets double-back body dropped through the edge of one. Surprisingly, Mark eventually taps out to the guillotine choke of Jacobs, in a decisive enough ending.

This was an average brawl, that was certainly designed to gain a little momentum for the Age of the Fall in this feud, and put them over as able to hang in this environment. It was also a reasonable diversion from the tournament itself, though nothing memorable, and at times it really dragged. It probably also suffered in comparison to the other similar epics the Briscoe have contested throughout 07, and was not helped by the horrific production values.

That’s a groovy, open line-up for this final. At the beginning, Hero takes a chair, and has a seat on the ramp way, not getting involved in the action. Oh boy, this should be fun. It takes a few minutes for the action to click though, stumbling along a little, while Sweeney is the highlight on the outside. Tornado is eliminated in sharp order, by Hero, although only after a flurry, where he’d expended much energy, leaving Hero the opportunity to take the advantage.

Tornado stays strong thanks to Hero’s sneakiness, and the fact that of everyone involved, he’s easily had the least recovery time.

There’s a lot of good action to follow, as the NRC obviously pair up. The match lights up every time Claudio is involved, which he is a good deal at this point. He and Aries make a great combo, as they pair off against the heels. Hero retains his lack of involvement, which is great. In one of the finest sequences in the match, after some hot antics, Aries slams Rocky with the brain buster, and hits his 450, but Hero steals the pinfall by immediately scooping up Aries, and power bombing him onto the NRC member!

Rocky still looks strong at this point because he fell to the top finishing moves of one of the top babyfaces on the roster.

The crowd in Vegas are still inconsistent, and like 2006, it’s something of a detriment to the match. But they HATE Hero, this anytime he’s involved, they turn up the heat. Which is something of a dilemma you see, as his cunning lack of investment in the match is the whole point. Strong and Aries have a great old’ scrap at this point, during which Hero pulls the old banana skin out for a third successive ridiculous pinfall, stealing one on Aries, with a blind-tag led backslide.

Aries also isn’t harmed by the loss, as he had worked the majority of the match, and did much of the damage on the NRC.

Brilliantly, at this point, Sweeney offers hard cash to team up with Hero. He agrees, which is even more brilliant, and the two attempt to take out Claudio. What’s really fantastic, is that Hero never, ever tags into the match willingly, unless it’s to take advantage of something someone else has done, or to steal a pinfall. This is glorious booking. Strong does the work against Claudio, but Hero blind-tags him, and runs in and hit’s the Hero’s Welcome on his “buddy”. Awesome means of eliminating Strong. He retains his credibility through surviving so long, and also being tricked, although he does look like a right mug when Hero steals Sweeney’s money back from Roderick, when he’s lying flat out after the pinfall! Heel genius right there.

The finale see’s Claudio and Hero have a very satisfactory, at times thrilling, one-on-one bout. Hero picks up the clean win with the Hangman’s clutch when Claudio passes out. Tremendous action between these two, is probably the best of the show, along with the Dragon/Nigel stuff. But this is a fitting climax to the bout, and some of the best interaction seen between the two in ROH. Hero emerges looking like an absolute god. He was willing to sink to any depth, plunder any rule, and sacrifice all dignity to win, and it’s just startlingly fresh and different for ROH. Highly amusing, and very entertaining.

-Afterwards, Hero and Sweeney have taken the NRC’s spot on the strip, and are goading members of the public, and generally being ass***s. Pretty funny stuff.

That’s that! This was a really enjoyable show, and like all Survival of the Fittest’s, comes recommended, even though as usual, it’s absorbed a bit of flack. I think it’s about time ROH took this annual show back to the big stage, to a Chicago, or Manhattan, and made a really big deal out of it. After all, it’s like the Royal Rumble or the Survivor Series- it’s key strength and appeal is built in, regardless of the talent available, or other circumstances. It remains a unique, purposeful, and although in some ways self-contained, a vital part of continuity. I get the impression that because this one feels as if it’s a small deal, done in a crappy venue, people have avoided it. But that’s not doing it justice. Almost without exception, this was very entertaining. Rocky Romero’s collision with Perkins was a mild disappointment, and the tag match felt a little empty and repetitive, but neither was particularly poor, nor did they derail the overall show. Everything else was good at least, and great at best, with the booking of the main event being most inspired. Dragon/Nigel was something of a shippable installment of their feud, because of the context within which it took place. However, in that context, it’s very successful indeed, really adding to the tournament, and helping to emphasis the competitiveness. I was worried heading into the last bout, that I wouldn’t enjoy it, thanks to the absence of Albright, and Richards , whom I really wanted to see in the final, but it wasn’t the case. Instead. Each person had their chance to shine, but in doing so, it played into the hands of the ultimate winner, who shined more than anyone else. Unless you really genuinely dislike Chris Hero, in the X-Pac sense, there’s no reason not to enjoy the final match. It’s a doozy. Ignore the crap location, ignore the wonky hard camera, and Hunt For Red October lighting, and you’ll enjoy this.

I’m off to read Ed Sherriffs’ review.