By Sean Radican, PWTorch Columnist

ROH live event report/DVD taping
May 11, 2007
Hartford, Conn.
By Sean Radican, PWTorch columnist

Attendance was around 450-500.

The show began with Bobby Cruise announcing that Nigel McGuinness would be unable to wrestle due to a back injury. B.J. Whitmer came out and said he wanted to tag with Takeshi Morishima and take McGuinness’s spot against ROH World Tag Team Champions The Briscoes.

The Briscoes jumped Whitmer and Morishima came out to make the save.

(1) Jimmy Rave d. Pelle Primeau. This was a good opening match. The crowd was into the action and Primeau bumped well for Rave, but also got in a lot of offense. Rave submitted Primeau with the heel hook. (*1/2)

(2) Nikki Roxx d. Daizee Haze. This was a good match, but the crowd wasn’t into it. Haze got the pin after hitting the mind trip. (**)

Sara Del Ray came out after the match and sarcastically congratulated Haze on her win.

(3) El Generico & Kevin Steen d. Eddie Edwards & Jason Blade. This was a very good match. Generico works as a face and Steen works like a heel, so they have a fun dynamic. Steen does things like get mad when Generico isn’t taking shortcuts, so he tags himself into the match to dish out his own brand of punishment. The crowd really got into the match after Edwards took out Steen and Generico with a dive to the outside. The finish saw Steen & Generico pick up the win after Steen hit a package piledriver on Edwards and then Generico hit a brainbuster on him for the pin. (***)

(4) Claudio Castagnoli d. Bobby Fish. Castagnoli has cut his hair short. Fish looked good in his ROH debut. The crowd was into both men. Things heated up when Fish hit a nice springboard flip to the outside on Castagnoli midway through the match. Castagnoli won the match with a gut wrench powerbomb. (**1/2)

Bryan Danielson’s music played and someone came out covered in his old robe. The lights came on and it was Hagadorn. Adam Pearce came out and ran down the crowd. He said he had signed a dream match and announced Danielson vs. Hagadorn.

Danielson’s music played and he came out to a big ovation.

(5) Bryan Danielson d. Shane Hagadorn. Danielson defeated Hagadorn quickly with an arm submission. (*)

Adam Pearce jumped Danielson, which set up another match.

(6) Bryan Danielson d. Adam Pearce. Peace had a brief advantage, but Danielson grabbed his leg in a submission and Pearce tapped immediately. (1/4*)

The No Remorse Corps. came out and confronted Danielson. Roderick Strong asked Danielson to join them, but Danielson said no. The No Remorse Corps. jumped Danielson, but Erick Stevens and Matt Cross of The Resilience came out and made the save. Danielson said he wouldn’t join the Resilience, but would fight with them tonight.

(7) The No Remorse Corps. (Roderick Strong & Rocky Romero & Davey Richards) d. Bryan Danielson & The Resilience (Erick Stevens & Matt Cross). This match featured a lot of brawling. Stevens and Cross both looked good. Stevens does a lot of impressive power moves and Cross is a good high flyer. Danielson wasn’t really featured in this match and wasn’t involved in the finish. Davey Richards got the pin out of nowhere on Cross with the DR driver. The crowd wasn’t happy with the finish, but the match was very good. (***)

Intermission took place. It was announced ROH would return on Aug. 24.

(8) Tank Tolland (w/Bobby Dempsey) d. Mitch Franklin. Tolland is Dempsey’s trainer and makes him do exercises on the outside during his matches, which was funny. Tolland won the match easily after hitting several power moves. (1/4*)

Dempsey came into the ring after the match and hit a rolling cannonball on Franklin in the corner.

(9) Naomichi Marufuji d. Matt Sydal. This was a very good match, but nobody believed Sydal was going to win. Sydal got a nearfall down the stretch with a nice standing moonsault. The finish saw Marufuji block an inverted DDT from Sydal and hit sliced bread #2 for the pin. (***1/2)

(10) KENTA d. Delirious. The crowd was into early, as both men did a lot of comedy. KENTA’s offense consisted of a lot of kicks to Delirious’s chest during the course of the match. Delirious hit all of his signature spots and locked in the Cobra Stretch, but the crowd didn’t believe he could win and there wasn’t much heat for the spot. KENTA eventually got the pin after hitting his Go 2 Sleep finisher. (***1/2)

(11) ROH World Tag Team Champions The Briscoes d. ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima & B.J. Whitmer. This was an excellent match from start to finish. The crowd wasn’t into Whitmer when he was involved in the action, but Morishima got over with his high-impact offensive maneuvers. At one point, the Briscoes went for the double team shoulder tackle, but couldn’t take Morishima down. The finish saw Morishima accidentally clothesline Whitmer. Jay hit a Jay-driller on Whitmer. Mark then came off the top with a SSP press. Jay covered Whitmer for the pin as Mark took out Morishima with a dive to the outside. (****)

Overall thoughts: This was a good show. It felt like a house show outside of the main event, as none of the matches outside of the main event really got the chance to develop into anything special. The matches were still very good from an in-ring standpoint, but there weren’t many storyline developments. The main event was excellent and worth checking out on DVD. Danielson’s return was also a highlight. He looked good and was featured in three matches.

Score: 7.0

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