WrestleReunion 4 Day One/Ring of Honor show results
January 29, 2010
Los Angeles, Calif.
Report by Luke Fleeman, Torch VIP member (West Coast Correspondent)

Thus far, the WrestleReunion Event has been incredible. Registration was pretty easy, and there were many stars milling around in the hotel, all very friendly and very willing to take pictures with fans. Jushin Liger was incredibly personable and nice, and was great to take a picture with.

Prior to the ROH show, VIP fans were allowed in to meet the stars of ROH. They were universally friendly and great to their fans, happily posing for photo-ops at no charge. Austin Aries goofed on many of his fans, which was a fun part of the experience. Necro Butcher didn't just take pictures with fans, but had long conversations with them, and was made himself available to any fan who approached. The only major ROH stars who were not present were Kevin Steen and the American Wolves. Some ROH wrestlers were around but not technically part of the meet and greet, like Kenny King and Roderick Strong, still posed for pictures and talked with fans. Altogether, the first day's interactions have been amazing, and worth the price of admission.

The ROH show was very good, but the crowd was quite rowdy. Many of the local PWG fans chanted "PWG" or hassled ROH wrestlers, sometimes jokingly, and other times seemed very unappreciative. A few vocal and angry fans, many of whom were drinking, started a lot of derogatory chants and tried to get themselves over. Aside from this vocal minority, the crowd was pretty good.

The ROH card was a great wrestling event, and had some incredible in-ring action. El Generico and Colt Cabana had a very competitive and entertaining match with Scott Lost and Scorpio Sky, and Roderick Strong and Delirious also delivered a good match. One of the best matches in terms of crowd heat was the Human Tornado and Kevin Steen. Steen trash-talked the audience (he took a shot at my sexual prowess at one point) and Tornado played to the crowd before ultimately losing. Jerry Lynn and Kenny King engaged in a hot brawl, and seemed to really, truly dislike each other, and it came through in the match.

At one point, the bottom ring rope broke, and the local ring crew took quite a while to fix it. Some of the rowdier fans were very vocal in their displeasure, so the ROH crew stalled. They played songs with various roster members and referees dancing, and Colt Cabana escorted Human Tornado out to dance to "Beat It," which Kevin Steen broke up.

Larry Zbyszko and Scotty 2 Hotty put on a surreal segment. Referee Johnny Fairplay came out with Alexis Arquette (the transvestite sister of David) and put her over as the best member of the family of the greatest WCW champion. Scotty put over ROH for having a lot of passion, which was nice, but ultimately didn't mean a lot to the hardcore fans who already were aware of the fact. Zbyszko did his classic stall, and won by rolling up Scotty with a handful of tights after Fairplay interfered in the worm, and then Fairplay fast-counted him. Scotty prepared to do the worm on Fairplay after the match, but Colt Cabana did a run in, beat them both, and then rubbed his butt on Fairplay's face in the corner. Scotty was a really good sport, but the ROH crowd was not into him.

The best matches of the night were the final two. Austin Aries and Jushin Liger had a very, very good match. Before the match, Aries cut a promo saying that Liger couldn't speak English, like most of the crowd, and said he did not speak "Japanese or Mexican." Liger responded by saying "You asshole." Liger gave Aries a brainbuster on the outside of the ring early on, which drew blood from Aries. Aries repeatedly grabbed Liger's horns for leverage, and they teased a lot of big spots. Aries ultimately won, retaining the ROH title.

Finally, there was an eight-man tag match. The Briscoes & the Young Bucks had a long match with the American Wolves & the Kings of Wrestling, and the heels controlled the action early, focusing on the Young Bucks. There were a lot of great tag team spots between the various teams, and a really hot segment near the end where most of the eight men ended up on the outside, with the Young Bucks crashing down on them, which was great because it was right in front of me.

Altogether, a great first day for the show, highlighted by the ROH show and the ROH stars.

[Torch photos credit Wade Keller (c) PWTorch.com]

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