Ring of Honor TV Report
November 9, 2009
Taped September 10 in Philadelphia, Pa.
Episode #33 - Third episode of Series Six
Report by Mike DeRosenroll, Torch ROH specialist

Overview

- This week's show featured two great tag team matches. The main event between The American Wolves and the team of Bryan Danielson and Roderick Strong was outstanding, and the opener between The Super Smash Brothers and Kevin Steen and El Generico provided an action-packed start to the show. These two matches together made this one of the stronger in-ring editions of ROH on HDNet in a while.

- The show opened with an angle involving Austin Aries trying to burn Tyler Black's eyes with some flash paper. It is good to see ROH finally starting a program between Aries and Black for the World Title. However, the follow-up on Black's apparent eye injury throughout the show was not good. A few weeks ago, Jerry Lynn got injured in an angle with Kenny King and it was almost the only thing anyone talked about for the rest of the show. Black's injury this week only got a couple of small mentions in the rest of the show, which defined down the importance of Aries's attack.

Detailed Show Recap

- ROH World Champion Austin Aries opened the show with his ring entrance. He cut a promo comparing Tyler Black to a pro football team that is good but cannot quite achieve greatness by winning the title, while Aries compared himself to a dynasty like the New England Patriots. Aries acknowledged that people do not think his Austin Aries Lucky Lotteries have been "on the up-and-up," so he invited Black out to personally supervise the next draw. Black came out and drew a piece of paper from the hat. As Black looked at it, Aries lit it on fire with a lighter. Black fell to the mat and sold like his face had been burned. Hogwood expressed concern that Black might be blinded while referees and babyface wrestlers rushed from the back to attend to Black.

- Hogwood plugged the upcoming main event between the American Wolves and the team of Bryan Danielson and Roderick Strong, then threw to the next installment of Bryan Danielson's countdown of his top five ROH memories.

- Number three on Danielson's countdown was his match against Takeshi Morishima at Manhattan Mayhem II in 2007. Danielson talked about the match as clips of it aired. He said he suffered a detached retina and fractured eye socket early in the match, but that matches like those are the ones you really remember because they are such a challenge to battle through.

- In the studio, Mike Hogwood was apoplectic over Aries' attack on Black while Prazak plugged the main event.

1 - KEVIN STEEN & EL GENERICO vs. THE SUPER SMASH BROTHERS (PLAYER UNO & PLAYER DOS)

After a lucha style opening exchange between Generico and both Super Smash Brothers, Generico tagged in Steen who used his power to ground Player Dos at 1:00. Steen and Generico isolated Dos and worked him over in their corner with many of their trademark moves. At 4:00, Dos avoided a double-team chop with a Trish Stratus-style Matrix back bend, then impressively leaped to his feet and landed a double Pele kick on both Steen and Generico. This allowed Dos to reach his corner for the hot tag. Uno cleaned house and threw Steen to ringside, where Dos then nailed Steen with an incredible dive over the top rope to the floor.

In the ring, Generico teased a comeback against Uno but missed a running Yakuza kick. The Super Smash Brothers hit Generico with a wheelbarrow slam-lung blower double-team combination and Uno went for the pin, but Steen made it back into the ring for the save at 5:30. The Super Smash Brothers threw Steen back outside and tried to set up Generico for a double-team with Dos coming off the top rope, but Steen pulled Dos' leg to crotch him on the turnbuckle at 6:00. Steen and Generico neutralized Uno with a double-team spinning DDT-superkick combination, then isolated Dos and landed their package piledriver-brain buster combination finisher.

WINNERS: Steen & Generico in 7:00. A very good action-packed opener. The match was short but told a simple logical story that made sense for the time allotted. The work from all four wrestlers was excellent, particularly Player Dos, who shone in his television debut. Dos' smooth athleticism reminds me of Matt Sydal (WWE's Evan Bourne) when Sydal debuted in ROH five years ago.

-After the match, Steen and Generico shook hands with the Super Smash Brothers and showed them respect.

- Backstage, Kyle Durden interviewed Prince Nana accompanied by Joey Ryan and "Dirty" Ernie Osiris. Osiris had his arm in a cast. Durden asked how Osiris got injured, but Nana rebuked him for "always asking these wild and crazy questions." Nana cut a promo on Grizzly Redwood, claiming that Osiris was in no condition to accept Redwood's challenge from last week tonight because of a strenuous workout. However, he said that Osiris would accept Redwood's beard vs beard challenge at a later date. Osiris looked surprised and upset that Nana accepted the challenge. Good entertaining promo from Nana.

2 - BOBBY DEMPSEY vs. CHRIS HERO (w/Shane Hagadorn)

Dempsey withstood some early strikes from Hero and took the advantage with a backdrop as Hero came off the ropes, forcing Hero to scurry from the ring at 1:00. Hagadorn jumped on the apron to distract Dempsey, allowing Hero to hit Dempsey with an elbow strike to the back of the head to take control of the match. Hero worked over Dempsey heel-style for a short while. Dempsey teased a babyface comeback at 2:30, but missed on a cannonball attempt in the corner at 3:00. Hero then quickly landed his rolling elbow finisher for the pin.

WINNER: Hero in 3:30. A decent squash match. Dempsey is still very green in the ring, but his size makes Hero seem impressive in beating him. Although the announcers acknowledged that Hero and Dempsey were "once part of the same stable", there was not enough acknowledgement of Hero and Dempsey's history in Sweet and Sour Inc. during ROH's pre-HDNet history. That history deserved better than this squash match.

- After the match, Eddie Kingston came to the entrance set with a microphone. He praised Hero, said maybe he should be more like him and left. The announcers did a good job of raising questions about what Kingston might be up to.

- Hogwood hyped the main event tag match, and promised that Jim Cornette's first interview as Executive Producer of ROH would follow the commercial break.

[Commercial Break]

- Jim Cornette cut a backstage promo. He said he has always stood for professional wrestling, not sports entertainment, comedy or a dog-and-pony show. He said that professional wrestling is what you find in Ring of Honor. Cornette said he may not be a NASA rocket scientist, and he may not be able to perform open heart surgery, but he knows professional wrestling inside and out. He said that he, ROH and HDNet will be joined at the hip from this point on and that, as good as ROH has been in the past, we haven't seen anything yet. Good promo.

3 - "SKULLKRUSHER" RASCHE BROWN vs. SAL RINAURO

Brown is a big scary-looking guy. Rinauro used his quickness to dodge a strike attempt early in the match, but Brown eventually caught him. He held Rinauro over his head in a military press for an impressively long time, then landed a torture rack-burning hammer combination for the easy pin.

WINNER: Brown in 1:00. A good dominating debut for Brown as a new monster heel.

- Hogwood announced that next week Bryan Danielson will wrestle his last ROH match on television. His opponent will be Roderick Strong.

4 - ROH tag team champions THE AMERICAN WOLVES (DAVEY RICHARDS & EDDIE EDWARDS with Shane Hagadorn) vs. "AMERICAN DRAGON" BRYAN DANIELSON & RODERICK STRONG -- non-title match

Danielson's generic TV entrance music is finally starting to grow on me just as he is leaving ROH. The fans greeted Danielson with a "Thank you, Dragon" chant.

Danielson and Richards started off the match with a great exchange of chain wrestling and mat wrestling with neither getting a sustained advantage. At 2:00, they each tagged in their partners. Strong gained the advantage on Edwards and dragged him into his corner, where Strong and Danielson worked over Edwards for a while. The Wolves reversed the momentum at 4:00 when Richards illegally hit Danielson with a high kick from the apron. Richards then hit Strong with a spinning DDT from the apron to the floor, leaving Danielson alone in the ring with Strong out of commission on the outside. The heels then beat down Danielson for a few minutes.

At 8:00, Richards went for a springboard back elbow on Danielson, but Danielson cut it off with a standing dropkick. This allowed Danielson to reach Strong for the hot tag. Strong unleashed some of his trademark offence on Richards and got some near falls, but Richards slowed Strong with a head butt and tagged out to Edwards at 9:30. Edwards and Strong had an even-steven strike exchange until Richards intervened with a missile drop kick from the top rope, enabling Edwards to get a near fall on Strong. Danielson tried to come to Strong's aid but Richards caught Danielson from behind with a Texas cloverleaf. Meanwhile, Edwards locked in his half crab submission on Strong, but Strong made it to the ropes to force a break at 10:30.

Danielson and Richards fought to the outside while Strong and Edwards continued to exchange strikes and counters in the ring. Danielson made it back to the ring and he and Strong hit a Hart Attack clothesline on Edwards at 11:30. Strong then locked in the Stronghold on Edwards. Richards tried to break it up, but Danielson caught him from behind with a sleeper. Strong converted the Stronghold into a leverage pin attempt for a near fall at 12:00. Richards broke free from Danielson and all four men began exchanging hard strikes in the ring until all four were laid out at 12:30. The crowd was red hot at this point.

Danielson and Richards were the first two to their feet and fought back to the outside. Next Strong and Richards got to their feet and began exchanging forearms. The crowd cheered each of Strong's strikes and booed each of Edwards'. Edwards got the better of the exchange and landed a backpack chinbreaker for a near fall at 14:00. The Wolves tried to set up Strong for a Doomsday Device, but Danielson caught Richards on the top rope and knocked him to the floor. Danielson then hit Edwards with a missile drop kick from the top, then dove through the ropes onto Richards on the floor at 15:00. Strong nailed Edwards with a series of hard-hitting strikes and power moves but Edwards kicked out of repeated near falls.

Back outside, Richards grabbed one of the tag team title belts and used it to lay out Danielson. Then Richards brought the belt into the ring, but the referee grabbed it from him. While the referee's back was turned, Richards hit Strong with a low blow. This allowed the Wolves to hit a powerbomb-lung blower double-team for a near fall at 16:30. Edwards then locked in the half crab and Strong was forced to tap.

WINNERS: The American Wolves by submission in 16:30. An excellent hard-hitting tag match. Other than the tainted finish, this was an outstanding showcase of top notch tag team wrestling.

We welcome your 0-10 score and comments on this show for an "ROH TV Reax" feature in the Torch Feedback section of PWTorch.com. To contribute your thoughts on ROH, email to pwtorch@gmail.com using our Feedback form.

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