By Sean Radican, Torch columnist

RADICAN'S ROH DVD REVIEW SERIES
A Cut Above
Dayton, Ohio
April 24, 2009
By Sean Radican, Torch columnist

Star ratings and analysis

(1) Bryan Danielson vs. Eddie Edwards (w/Shane Hagadorn). They started off slow, but built to a series of nice counters and came to a stalemate during the early stages of the match. Edwards taunted Danielson and slapped him across the face, but Danielson only got pissed and quickly fired back with a huge slap of his own. Danielson got the win in the end with a pinning combination (***)

(2) Claudio Castagnoli vs. Silas Young vs. Matt Cross vs. Rasche Brown. There wasn't much to this match early on, as Castagnoli and Brown took turns trying to show each other up by beating on Cross and then Young. Young and Cross fired back and got in some offense, but they were quickly cut off. Castagnoli got the win when he applied his new submission the Swiss sleeper on Young for the win. (*3/4)

(3) Jimmy Rave (w/Prince Nana and Ernie Osiris) beat Grizzley Redwood. Rave beat Redwood after Osiris distracted Redwood by giving him his log back that he had stolen. Yes, that was the finish. (n/a)

(4) Austin Aries & Rhett Titus beat The Phoenix Twins. Not an impressive debut for the Phoenix Twins. They showed very little charisma. Aries & Titus dominated the bulk of the match and thwarted a comeback attempt from the Phoenix Twins, but ultimately got the win in the end. (*1/2)

(5) Colt Cabana beat Chris Hero. This was a solid match, but they never got out of second gear, so the crowd never got into the action all the way. Cabana got the victory in the end with the Billy Goat's curse. (**3/4)

(6) Jimmy Jacobs beat Egotistico Fantastico. Fantastico had a good showing here and got a couple of nearfalls on Jacobs. In the end, Jacobs got his knees up on a moonsault attempt and locked in the end time submission for the win. (**1/2)

(7) Davey Richards beat Tyler Black. This was really good. Richards worked Black's arm most of the match and had an answer for all of Black's signature maneuvers. Black made a heck of a comeback and nailed Richards with a sick dive over the top, but Richards managed to duck a superkick from Black and rolled him up for the pin. (***3/4)

***Image3***(8) Jay Briscoe & Kevin Steen beat the DCFC. There wasn't much to this match. The DCFC dominated most of the match, but Steen managed to get Jay out of a double team attempt and he ended up rolling up Chavis for the win. (**)

(9) ROH World Champion Jerry Lynn beat Roderick Strong. Awesome main event. Strong got busted open after he missed a dive off the apron to the outside on Lynn and went crashing into the guardrail. Strong stumbled around for awhile, but eventually turned into a machine while attacking Lynn with backbreakers. Strong got several nearfalls, but ultimately Lynn put Strong away after 2 cradle piledrivers. (****)


Overall thoughts: (6.0) There was some good wrestling content on this DVD, but there wasn't much to really sink your teeth into outside of the main event and the Richards-Black match.

The undercard was weak. From the second to sixth match on the card, there just wasn't a heck of a lot going on. Colt Cabana got a strong win over Chris Hero heading into his title shot on the next show, but the match didn't do much to draw the crowd in.

The only real letdown on the card was the Jay Briscoe & Kevin Steen vs. DCFC semi-main event. I was expecting a really hot match, but instead the match was rather short and uneventful with Steen & Jay picking up the win heading into their title shot against the American Wolves on the next night.

The Richards-Black match was really good, but it wasn't as good as their previous match from the "Proving Ground" weekend. Richards was a step ahead of Black the entire night and seemed to have an answer for everything he threw at him, which played well into the finish.

The main event was excellent. Strong got busted open early on and really picked up his intensity in attacking Lynn in trying to capture the ROH World Title. The gusher from Strong really added some drama to the match and got the crowd into the action, but Lynn ended up taking the win in the end after two cradle piledrivers.

This is worth picking up in a sale to see the main event, but otherwise this was a skippable release. ROH seems to be doing a better job of putting more effort into their production lately, but the backstage promos, vignettes, and video packages were almost non-existent on this release.

You can purchase A Cut Above by visiting ROHWrestling.com

Contact Sean at PWTorchSean@gmail.com

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