Ring of Honor show results
May 8, 2009
Boston, Mass.
Report by Jason Doring, PWTorch.com reader

Ring of Honor returned to Boston University's Case Gymnasium for the first time since September 2008's "Driven" PPV. BU is by far the best Boston venue in ROH's history since it's located in a highly populous, easily accessible part of the city and not an out-of-the-way slum like all their past locales.

The crowd, by the time the main show started, had filled out to a healthy 650+, with ringside seats nearly completed filled and a strong number in the General Admission bleachers (far more than an actual BU basketball game.) However, this crowd number is misleading, since ROH slashed prices hard for this event, ranging from a 45 percent-off ticket sale on their website to $5 GA seats for students. While as a fan I was thrilled to be able to get an $8.50 third-row seat (which is even less than a GA ticket for most basic indy shows), ROH as a company has to be careful. If ROH keeps reducing prices at such a heavy rate, it'll probably not only impact their long-term bottom line but their image as a premium wrestling product.

The pre-show matches were nothing to really write home about, with the only notable contest being Grizzly Redwood vs. "Dirty" Ernie Osiris in the thrilling continuation of the most heavily promoted feud on the ROH Video Wire. Osiris had Grizzly beat after a fireman's carry slam, but made a lazy cover and Grizzly wrapped him up for the win. Jimmy Rave ran in to beat Grizzly down, but the Necro Butcher quickly made the save to wake the crowd up and remind fans that Necro vs. Rave happens Saturday night (even though Jersey is a multi-hour drive from Massachusetts.)

Live show report

(1) Delirious beat Ricky Reyes. Honestly, if ROH is still truly in cost-cutting mode, they would have left this match off the card entirely. Delirious may be the stalest character on the independents, having played the exact same gimmick with very alteration for over six years. Reyes made his first appearance in ROH after a long absence and has never really caught on with the fans in any real way. This match didn't really do anything to change my mind, as it was the most basic opener two wrestlers could possibly do. It had all the basic match structure cliches (sleeper hold transitioning into a reversal/side suplex, the double-KO spot, the initial finisher block) before Delirious put Reyes away with the Panic Attack and Shadows over Hell.

(2) Kenny King & Rhett Titus beat the Super Smash Brothers (Player Uno & Player Dos). Rhett Titus's awesome theme music was played, so this match was automatically a winner in my book. CHIKARA's former Campeones de Parejas made their debut as a team tonight, with Player Dos leaving his mask at home. The Smash Brothers didn't get to do much outside of an assisted Shiranui and a couple other tandem spots, but what they did looked sharp.

Kenny King and Rhett Titus are two of the most fun wrestlers to watch in "the new ROH," but both guys possess a ton of physical charisma and athleticism. King and Titus were able to turn the tide on the Smash Brothers and hit their double-team combo for the win. Fun match with a few neat spots from both teams, but a bit on the short side and I would have liked to have seen the Smash Brothers showcase themselves.

(3) Jay Briscoe vs. Necro Butcher went to a No Contest. Interesting note: the entire roster has switched to their HDNet themes, even for house shows, possibly I'm guessing to avoid legal issues due to the company's newfound exposure. Man, was this ever a gigantic disappointment. Jay and the Butcher have had a bunch of matches of varying quality, but they've always had a bunch of fun carnage in them. This was literally nothing but punch, kick, chop, stomp until the entire Embassy ran in for the No Contest. Necro fought them all off, with Rave taking a powder and Necro clocking Dirty Ernie. This match was treated basically like a throwaway TV match to promote another, later match, but the problem is, both matches will be sold as $20 DVDs, so that booking strategy doesn't exactly work.

Following this match, in one of the most painfully awkward things I've ever witnessed live (and I was at an independent show in Southern California where a black person was "lynched" to face heat), a random ROH fan was allowed into the ring to propose to his girlfriend. This was of course heckled mercilessly with an awful lot of creative language for the crowd. I dunno, I think it would be fairly easy to come up with a couple hundred other places to propose to the love of your life before you hit on "Ring of Honor show." Bobby Dempsey also hugged the happy couple, which I'm sure is a memory they will treasure forever.

(Asst. editor James Caldwell's Note: Just my opinion, but I believe it's a much better idea to propose to your future wife in private on the beach at sunset. Just my two cents from a successful proposal to my wonderful girlfriend on Thursday night. Plus, you won't be heckled or hugged by a sweaty wrestler.)

(4) Kevin Steen beat Davey Richards in an Anything Goes Match. The American Wolves vs. Kevin Steen/El Generico feud is one of the few storylines I feel Ring of Honor has done right, but a lot of the credit has to go to Kevin Steen and Davey Richards, who are two of ROH's MVPs. They give 100 percent effort every night and do their best to give their fans a unique experience. Following an extended crowd brawl, things got really nasty. Richards wrapped a chain around his foot and repeatedly Kawada-kicked Steen in the head, drawing blood. Steen came back by seamlessly picking Richards up off the ropes for a powerbomb and driving him through a table in the corner in one fluid motion.

The climactic point of the match was when both men fought on a tall ladder outside the ring, and Richards headbutt Steen off it, sending him through a pair of stacked tables. Following a two-count off that, Steen survived and drilled Richards with a package piledriver through a table on the floor for the win. This was an excellent live match and a great use of the old ECW garbage formula. Post-match, the Wolves ganged up on Steen and beat him down some more.

-- Intermission hit at this point, with ROH doing a meet and greet/autograph session featuring Bryan Danielson, Sonjay Dutt, Colt Cabana, Brent Albright, and Bobby Dempsey. Sort of an eclectic mix of people, to say the least.

(5) Bryan Danielson beat Eddie Edwards and Sonjay Dutt in a three-way match. When Mike Quackenbush pulled out of the show due to a back injury (a huge disappointment for me since I'm an enormous Quack fan), I was not happy that this was how ROH re-shuffled the card. I understood that ROH wanted to heavily feature Eddie Edwards for this show since he's a local (even though he's a heel), but this wasn't the way to do it. Instead of Danielson-Edwards or Danielson-Dutt, either of which I would have been totally happy with, we got a three-way that diluted the contributions of all three guys. Personally, I felt either Edwards or Dutt should have been stuck in the boring-as-sin Delirious-Reyes match to spice it up a bit.

Anyway, this was a standard three-way, with the "two in, one out" formula. Nobody really got to showcase themselves, as I predicted, but it wasn't too bad. Sonjay did a big dive to the outside and a few neat flippy spots, and Edwards showed some heel charisma. The finish came when Eddie got cocky and used Danielson's "USB" elbow strikes, only to get caught in Dragon's Triangle Choke and tap out. Post-match Danielson asked Sonjay to "please come back," which would be cool with me since I've been a big Sonjay fan since the CZW days. Also, I feel it's worth noting that Bryan Danielson has a total superstar aura on the independent level, and fans definitely need to check him out live as long as he's still wrestling.

(6) Claudio Castagnoli, Jimmy Rave and Joey Ryan beat Colt Cabana & Brent Albright & Erick Stevens. I wasn't too jazzed about the babyface team for this match (except Colt Cabana, who's always awesome) but the heel team featured two of my inependent favorites. Jimmy Rave in my opinion is the best and most natural heel in ROH, with a ton of physical charisma and a great rapport with the live crowd. Joey Ryan has always been ridiculously underrated and one of the highlights of PWG for years (he is, after all, the highest-drawing PWG champion in history.)

This match was worked in the standard six-man formula, which made for a solid contest, but it didn't really showcase anyone outside of some funky pinning combos from Cabana. Following the "big move" schmozz, Claudio abruptly pinned Stevens after a low blow. Joey at least managed to get some strong heat from my section of the crowd in his debut.

(7) ROH champion Jerry Lynn beat Chris Hero to retain the ROH World Championship. Unlike the card changes caused by the Quackenbush injury, I actually found this match an improvement over the previously announced Lynn/Tyler Black match. Since it's a Friday house show and the the biggest main event of the HDNet tapings featuring Lynn as champion hadn't aired yet, it was obvious a title change wouldn't happen here. Another failed title shot here would have damaged Tyler in fans's eyes, and plus, I find Hero a more enjoyable wrestler overall. Plus, Hero is seriously over in Boston.

Again, this match was worked within a formula, the ROH "title match main event" style, and while it was good, it didn't feel like the "epic battle" ROH title matches are known for. The crowd was split roughly 60/40 in favor of Hero. The big sequence of a match was Hero catching Lynn on the outside in a Dominator position and running him chest-first into the guard rail. Lynn recovered and evaded Hero's follow-up move, and when Hero jumped to the rail to avoid crashing, Lynn shoved him into the crowd. Lynn also hit a frankensteiner from the top rope to the outside at a different point of the match.

While the finish was never in doubt, there were a couple close nearfall sequences. Lynn managed a lightning-quick rollup out of a powerbomb attempt for two, but Hero's was even closer. Shane Hagadorn, who seconded Hero and the Wolves (and sadly has nowhere near the managerial presence of the departed Larry Sweeney) distracted the referee and tossed Hero the loaded elbow pad. Hero went for the shot, Lynn blocked and pulled the pad off, but Hero drilled Lynn with a regular rolling elbow for 2.9. Lynn eventually got the clean victory with the Cradle Piledriver, which sent the fans running for the exits (hey, the MBTA is incredibly unreliable, sticking around could mean being stranded in the city all night.)

Overall Thoughts: I'll admit that I haven't been to a Ring of Honor show before tonight since September 2005 (Survival of the Fittest '05), and haven't bought a DVD since fall 2007 (Double Feature) but the difference in the company's presentation is obvious. The main positive is that tonight's show was short and moved along at a good pace (ROH's marathon shows could suck your energy dry.) However, that's the only positive as the in-ring talent is clearly being reigned in, and what fans got was a lot of formulaic wrestling with minimal dynamism outside of the top-quality Steen/Davey match.

Honestly, I felt like I've gotten a lot more bang for my wrestling buck from my past few years at live PWG shows, and even the CHIKARA show I attended last year than I did tonight. While the new style is safer, ROH has to open things back up a bit or they'll keep losing fans and the company's original unique selling point will be totally gone.

We suggest these recent related articles...

SHOW RESULTS - 10/9 AAW in Berwyn, Ill.: Gargano challenges for AAW Hvt. Title, more title matches, big women's tag match, more

SHOW RESULTS - 10/3 NWA Smoky Mountain in Kingsport, Tenn.: NWA Hvt. Title match, Rob Conway, Kid Kash, Ricky Morton, more

LIVE REPORT - 10/4 TNA BFG PPV in North Carolina: Live notes on technical glitches, pre-Angle match announcement, Captain America Fan, more