By Sean Radican, Torch Columnist

Radican's ROH on HDNet review series
Episode 5
Philadelphia, Pa.
Originally aired on April 18, 2009

Virtual time analysis

-Hogewood and Prazak kicked off the show from the ROH studio. They hyped the main event between Claudio Castagnoli and Brent Albright.

Jimmy Jacobs and The Necro Butcher cut short promos prior to the opening match. Necro threatened to bring a staple gun to the ring.

(1) Jimmy Jacobs vs. The Necro Butcher. The ref took the staple gun from Necro, which allowed Jacobs to jump him at the bell. Necro fired up and landed several punches on Jacobs before nailing him with a backdrop. Necro continued his assault by tossing Jacobs into the turnbuckle and them tossing him to the outside. Necro took the ring bell and nailed Jacobs with it in the mid-section much to the dismay of Prazak. Necro set up a table on the outside and went for a powerbomb, but Jacobs slipped out and suplexed Necro on the floor. Jacobs pointed the ref in the other direction and took a plastic bag out of his pants to suffocate Jacobs, which didn't seem to upset Prazak as much. Jacobs ended up setting up Necro on a chair and followed up with a dive over the ropes to the outside to take him out.

Jacobs stalked Necro and went for the spear, but Necro punched him right in the face. Necro got to his feet and nailed Jacobs with a chokeslam. Necro then followed up with tiger driver, but declined to cover Jacobs and went for the staple gun. Brodie Lee then ran out from the back and attacked Necro from behind for the DQ. (**1/2)

Jacobs went to staple Necro after the match had ended, but Necro kicked him and fended off Lee and the AOTF bailed.

RADICAN'S ANALYSIS: This is more like it. The match was exciting throughout and Necro was about to nail Jacobs with the staple gun when Lee ran out. This made me want to see more of Necro-Jacobs in the future.

-Kyle Durden interviewed Brent Albright backstage. Albright said they had been fighting all over the country and it had gotten personal. Albright said tonight they would show the entire world how much they hate each other.

-Eddie Kingston and Sami Callihan cut promos before their upcoming match. Neither promo was very good and I know Kingston can talk, so that surprised me.

(2) Sami Callihan vs. Eddie Kingston. Callihan took Kingston down and applied the Koji clutch, but Kingston got the ropes. Callihan continued his assault and talked some trash, but ended up taking a big overhead suplex from Kingston. Callihan was quick to recover and tripped Kingston head-first into the turnbuckles. Both men exchanged chops and slaps. Kingston got the upper hand and nailed Callihan with a series of huge chops. The crowd loves Kingston as far as I can tell from their muffled chants. Callihan ended up poking Kingston's eye and went back on the attack. Callihan and Kingston exchanged more chops and strikes, but Callihan went after his eyes again to maintain control.

Kingston fired back with a boot out of the corner and followed up with a clothesline and Callihan crumbled to the mat. Callihan nailed Kingston with a hard chop, but Kingston fired back with a headbutt and hit a big slam for a 2 count. Callihan bled from the forehead as the stiff action continued. Kingston fired up and hit a backdrop driver and a spinning backfist for the pin. (**3/4)

RADICAN'S ANALYSIS: I'm impressed so far with the action on this show. There was a lot of hard-hitting action here and Callihan was much better than the last time I saw him on HDNet. Kingston was impressive here as well and the fans loved the action.

-Durden was backstage with Claudio Castagnoli, who towered over him. Castagnoli chastised Durden for the way he was dressed. Castagnoli said he was very European and Durden was American trash. Castagnoli ran down Albright and said was a brute as opposed to the more refined activities Castagnoli likes to partake in.

-Hogewood and Prazak interviewed Jerry Lynn from the studio. Lynn was in a different location. Lynn referred to the cynics out there and said he appreciated their passion. Lynn said he would be a fighting champion and referred to some of the great ROH champions of the past.

Hogewood asked Prazak his thoughts on Lynn's title win. Prazak said he had big shoes to fill. Prazak mentioned Castagnoli and McGuinness as the main threats to Lynn.

-Bobby Dempsey said hello to his mother prior to his match.

(3) Bobby Dempsey vs. Orange Cassidy. Dempsey nailed Cassidy with a body block right away and hit the DVD for the pin. (n/a)

RADICAN'S ANALYSIS: Really? Bobby Dempsey should not be winning squash matches. He's a fun comedy character, but this squash was a bit too much for his character.

-A "Buzz Words" segment with Erick Stevens aired. A series of different words to describe Stevens were shown on screen as highlights of Stevens in the ring were shown. The graphics looked low-rent and this segment would have come off much better if it had some better production.

-Cheech & Cloudy cut a promo. Rhett Titus & Kenny King then cut a promo of their own hyping their upcoming match. Titus & King are gold.

(4) Cheech & Cloudy vs. Kenny King & Rhett Titus. Titus & King had the advantage early and went for a double team, but Cheech & Cloudy countered and hit simultaneous bulldogs on Titus and King in the middle of the ring. Titus ducked a shoulder block attempt through the ropes and King ran over and nailed Cloudy with a knee strike. King tagged in and mounted Cloudy before nailing him with a flurry of punches. King & Titus dominated Cloudy for a long period of time. He tried to get to Cheech to tag out, but just couldn't slip away from his opponents.

Cloudy finally hit a sunset slip for a nearfall and scrambled to his corner to tag in Cheech, who ran wild. Cheech went up top and ducked a punch from King by doing a cartwheel on the ropes. Wow! Cheech & Cloudy followed up with a double team dive off the top where Cheech slammed Cloudy on top of King. That was impressive! Titus ran in to break up the pin and dragged King to their corner so he could tag himself into the match. Cheech & Cloudy hit the dropkick/6-1-9 combo on Titus. They then set up for their finisher, but King pushed Cloudy off the top to barrier at ringside. King & Titus hit a double team springboard blockbuster/powerbomb combo on Cheech for the pin! Wow! (**1/2)

RADICAN'S ANALYSIS: Innovative moves? Check! Great action? Check! This was a fantastic little match for television and both teams pulled off some fantastic maneuvers. Although the match went under 10 minutes, I couldn't take my eyes off the screen and this is the type of undercard action that might get fans to check out ROH's DVDs and PPVs that has been missing from the other HDNet shows.

(5) Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brent Albright. Castagnoli jumped Albright as he made his entrance and the action was hot and heavy off the bat. Albright fired back and nailed Castagnoli with several chops and the crowd sounded hot in the background. Both men ended up in the ring and the bell sounded. Albright hit a spinning backbreaker on Castagnoli as he came off the ropes and the fans chanted for Albright. Castagnoli ended up on the outside after a clothesline over the ropes. Albright went for a springboard to the outside, but Castagnoli caught him and slammed him into the barrier! Wow! The crowd went nuts for that maneuver, which was an impressive feat of strength from Castagnoli.

Prazak talked about Castagnoli and Albright's previous encounters on ROH DVD as Castagnoli continued his assault on Albright. Hogewood seemed very excited that Castagnoli was kicking and punching Albright in the eye on a frequent basis during his heat segment. Castagnoli hit a European uppercut on Albright on the apron and the crowd booed, but erupted as Albright caught Castagnoli with a belly to belly suplex on the floor. Albright went to roll back into the ring, but Castagnoli pulled him back to the floor. Albright caught Castagnoli as he came off the ropes with a Rock bottom. Albright followed up with an exploder and the crowd erupted. Albright hit a powerslam for a 2 count. Castagnoli fired back with a springboard European uppercut and hit the big swing on Albright. Castagnoli went for a European uppercut, but Albright countered with a backslide for a 2 count. Castagnoli immediately got up and nailed Albright with a bicycle kick for a 2 count.

Castagnoli argued with the ref about his count and Albright locked him in the crowbar, but Castagnoli reached the ropes. Albright went up top, but Castagnoli thumbed Albright in eye. Castagnoli set up Albright for a superplex, but he pushed him off and nailed Castagnoli with a big crossbody off the top for a nearfall. Castagnoli blocked the half-nelson and used the ropes for leverage to roll up Albright for the pin. (***1/2)

RADICAN'S ANALYSIS: This was a really good main event. Albright is hit and miss for me, but he had fantastic chemistry with Albright here and these two delivered a very good television main event

-An ad plugged Danielson vs. Black for the next show.

-A full plug for the Dayton, Ohio on April 24 and Chicago, Ill. on April 25 aired to close the show.

Quick thoughts: (7.5) Finally! This was the best episode of ROH on HDNet. The show addressed a lot of the problems on the previous shows. The wrestling was really good from top to bottom and really gave viewers a look at what they can expect to see when buying an ROH DVD. Nothing seemed toned down, as had been on the case on previous shows. A lot of things about this show just felt right.

The opening match with Jacobs vs. Necro was well-done for a television angle to hopefully build towards another match between them down the line. Callihan-Kingston delivered some entertaining strong style action. I was critical of Callihan the last time around, but he held his own in his match against Kingston. I didn't like their pre-match promos, but they delivered in the ring and got the fans hot for the action.

The semi-main event featured a fun tag match with Cheech & Cloudy taking on King & Titus in a match that featured a ton of innovative maneuvers that should be a staple and not an exception on these shows. I was really impressed with Cheech & Cloudy here. If they changed their look, they would be more credible in the ring. King and Titus are a fine heel unit as well and their double team finisher had me yelling out from the edge of my couch.

The main event did everything I had hoped for from the previous ROH on HDNet in terms of using the match to guide fans towards the DVDs. The announcers talked about the Albright-Castagnoli feud that had been taking place on DVD and told fans which shows their matches would be featured on. Castagnoli and Albright also referred to their previous battles that were taped for DVD during their promos prior to the match. The match itself was really good for a TV main event, as these two have good chemistry together. Thumbs up!

Sean Radican and co-host Derek Burgan record ROH themed audios on the Radican Audio Showcase on most weekends that are made available exclusively to Torch VIP members. Sean also reviews nearly every ROH release for Torch VIP members. You can contact Sean at PWTorchSean@Gmail.com.

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