ROH live event report
October 24, 2008
Danbury, Connecticut
Report by Eric Gall of Bridgeport, Ct., PWTorch reader
ROH's first show in Danbury was pretty good. As I write this, I understand that this was, in all likelihood, the second-to-last show of the Gabe Sapolsky era. Wow, I wonder what the future will be for ROH. Let's get back to the show, though. The Danbury PAL is an intimate setting, and the show's wisecracking fans fed off each other in a more positive manner than some of the more annoying chants back at the Expo Center in Hartford.
Pre-show - Alex "Sugarfoot" Payne vs. Antonio Thomas. Not bad, but I admit I used this match to get Shimmer volumes 19 & 20 at the merchandise table. Stepping into the lobby, I saw Sara Del Ray coming out of the women's locker room. I told her I got the two latest volumes, and she said, "That's great" and kept on walking. Since her heel turn, she hasn't come out to the merch table like she used to when she was a face. Oh well.
Show Proper
Jimmy Jacobs comes out and does his thing on the mic. Lately his look has gotten more ragged; he looks less emo now and more depraved. I'm not crazy about his workrate, but his psychology is excellent. He'd be, in my opinion, a great booker. Homicide comes out to "Welcome Back" chants. Homicide is also great on the mic, and we see how TNA is missing a chance to give him opportunity to speak.
(1) Ruckus vs. Jason Blade. Ruckus always puts on a nice visual treat for the crowd with his agility. He doesn't have charisma that jumps out at you beyond that, though. This match was a good way to get things going. Blade is a good wrestler, but these two need to each work on interacting with the crowd more.
(2) Sara Del Rey vs. Ariel. A decent match, shorter than it would've been in Shimmer, but it did a good job of showing ROH fans a quality women's match. Sara received a good amount of cheers despite being the heel and Ariel being more or less a hometown wrestler. I like Sara as a bruising heel, but the make-up and her platinum wig she wears to the ring has me scratching my head. It's such a departure from her babyface look, but I guess that's the idea.
(3) Rhett Titus vs. Grizzly Redwood. This was another one of those "Top of the Class Trophy" matches. Rhett Titus (with the possible exception of Shane Hagadorn) is the only one of the ROH students with the height and physique of an actual wrestler. Still, I'm not digging his "addicted to love" gimmick or whatever he's calling it. It could be worse, though; he could be Mitch Franklin. Franklin is a legit 5'0" with no crazy luchadore skills, no awesome build, and no real charisma. What he needs is a gimmick. Unfortunately, he chose being a lumberjack. With his new hobo beard, "Grizzly" looks a lot like a short Necro Butcher. That should be his true calling, Necro's mini-me. Oh, how was the match, you might ask? It was a Top of the Class match; it sucked.
(4) Brent Albright beat Jay Briscoe. A good, physical match that showcased each wrestler's style. Some guys in the crowd decided they would boo the Briscoes tonight for no apparent reason. Jay responded with a hilarious stare down and a gesture appropriate for the situation. Albright gets the win. He's a good wrestler, but he isn't a natural when it comes to connecting with the crowd. Jay is so popular; he can lose ten matches in a row and would still get cheered and held in high esteem.
(5) Necro Butcher beat Delirious and Mark Briscoe in a three-way match. I like heel Delirious's modified ring entrance. He's much more slithery, and you can tell he put in some careful thought on how to show the darker, evil side of his persona. Necro gets opened up in the first 30 seconds by a Delirious chair shot. Nice chaotic match that you'd expect from Mark and Necro, with Delirious not losing a step. Big spot of the match had Mark hitting a moonsault from the top of the bleachers to the floor. Necro gets the win. His new entrance music, Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down," is absolutely perfect to his character. Not surprisingly, Necro is unfortunately continuing to take disturbing, unprotected chair shots to the head. You can admire his willingness to absorb punishment only up to a point.
(6) Austin Aries vs. Go Shiozaki. One good thing about this match was Aries's constant ducking of Go's attempted chops. Go had become much like Nigel in the over-use of one particular move, in his case, the chop. The match had a more deliberate pace than most of Aries' matches, but I think the story here was "how would Go defend his title without resorting to chopping?" It was effective in that regard. The last two minutes of the match were awesome. The highlight of the match, as far as I'm concerned, was Larry Sweeney. He was wired tonight, jawing with anybody and everybody at ringside who would say something to him. He had the moment of the night when a fan shouted "Too much coke," then he turned, looked, raised his eyebrows, and shrugged. Hilarious.
(7) Jerry Lynn vs. Claudio Castagnoli. Good match here. Claudio as a heel doesn't seem to be as inspired as babyface Claudio. Still, a solid match, but I've seen each of these two wow me a lot more than with this match.
(8) LAX (Homicide & Hernandez) beat ROH tag team champions Kevin Steen & El Generico and Age of the Fall (Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black) and Chris Hero & Davey Richards in a four-way 30-minute iron team match. A very good iron team match. LAX looked to be having a lot more fun than they usually do in TNA. LAX wins but everyone manages to look good, including the champs, who do not get a pinfall in the match, but since it was a non-title affair, they didn't really need to. One well-booked thing about ROH is that babyface champs don't always blow away the contenders and overcome the odds.
ROH has always offered a much better product than WWE or TNA that die-hard wrestling fans could enjoy with Sapolsky booking it. There's some guys already in the company (Dave Prazak, Jacobs) who could jump in and do well taking over its creative direction, too, I believe. I hope so, because the "Big Two" are floundering right now. Wrestling needs a strong, viable Ring of Honor.
INCREDIBLE BENEFITS! Over 50 full-length audio updates per month (iPod compatible)... New weekly award-winning Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter (text and printable pdf versions) with latest exclusive insider news, new Torch Talks, great columns, Keller's cover story, much more... Hundreds of full-length back issues of PWTorch Newsletter from late-'80s to today... Ad-free access to PWTorch.com's Main Listing... VIP Forum with interaction with other subscribers and Torch staff... Torch Talk Library with text and audio of hundreds of interview installments from last 20 years... Great layout... Deepest archives on pro wrestling history anywhere... Keller's PWTorch Today PDF Bulletins with email alerts... VIP Email reports on major PPVs and TV shows... Staff Roundtable Reviews (text and audio) followiing major events... The best staff of writers and world class reporting since 1987... We'd love for you to join us and experience the most entertaining, authoritative, experienced staff of professional reporters and commentators in the business... SIGN ME UP NOW!
