Ring of Honor TV Report
November 16, 2009
Taped September 11 in Philadelphia, Pa.
Episode #34 - Fourth episode of Series Six
Report by Mike DeRosenroll, Torch ROH specialist

Overview

- A very good show overall. Bryan Danielson's farewell match against Roderick Strong was very good, and the rest was entertaining and well-paced. Between Danielson's farewell and the Beard vs. Beard match, it felt newsworthy as well.

- ROH continues to do a nice job of building up Kenny King after running the angle four weeks ago where he and Rhett Titus injured Jerry Lynn. This week King got a solid video package building up his match next week against Brent Albright.

- The quality of the commentary has been up-and-down for the past few weeks, but this week both Hogwood and Prazak were on top of their game. Prazak in particular had a strong week this week, with a couple of laugh-worthy zingers in his heel color commentator role.

Detailed Show Recap

- The show opened with a video package hyping "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson's last match on ROH television coming up.

- In the studio, Mike Hogwood and Dave Prazak reiterated that Bryan Danielson's last match on ROH television would be the main event. Hogwood said that no one has meant as much to ROH over the last few years than Bryan Danielson, and said it would be an emotional night.

1 – CHRIS HERO (w/Shane Hagadorn) vs. DELIRIOUS

Sonjay Dutt attacked Delirious from behind during Delirious' ring entrance. After Dutt beat down Delirious outside the ring, Hagadorn rolled Delirious into the ring and the referee called for the opening bell. Hogwood rightly pointed out how unfair it was for the referee to call for the bell before giving Delirious a chance to recover.

Hero opportunistically continued to beat him down Delirious heel-style. Hero mixed his usual strong offence with various heel tactics. After teasing a couple of comebacks, Delirious finally turned the momentum at 5:30 by catching Hero with a head but to the gut while Hero was charging him in the corner. This gave Delirious the chance to get a short burst of offence. At 6:30, Delirious tried for Shadows Over Hell from the top rope, but Hero rolled out of the way then landed a rolling elbow on Delirious for a near fall. Delirious fought back with a couple of leverage pin attempts, but Hero hit the rip cord rolling elbow out of nowhere for the pin.

WINNER: Hero in 7:30. Solid, logical match. The pre-match attack made it obvious that Hero would win, but Hero is always entertaining to watch and both wrestlers performed well.

- After the match, Dutt ran into the ring and gloated over the fallen Delirious.

- Hogwood again hyped that the main event would be Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong in Danielson's last match on ROH television, then threw to the next installment in Bryan Danielson's countdown of his top 5 ROH memories.

- Number two on the countdown was Danielson's 60-minute draw with Colt Cabana at Gut Check in Chicago in 2006. Highlights of the match aired while Danielson talked about it. He said many of his favorite memories involved times when he got injured but managed to work through the injury and things turned out well. In this case, he separated his shoulder early in the match but still managed to go sixty minutes with Cabana.

2 – BEARD VS BEARD TAG TEAM MATCH: THE EMBASSY (JOEY RYAN & PRINCE NANA w/"Dirty" Ernie Osiris) vs. GRIZZLY REDWOOD & NECRO BUTCHER

The stipulation for this match was that if The Embassy lost, "Dirty" Ernie Osiris would have his beard shaved, while if Grizzly Redwood and Necro Butcher lost, Redwood would have his beard shaved. As the referee carried barbershop equipment to the ring, Prazak said "Not since Big Momma and Jimmy Valiant has there been so much anticipation in the air to find out who gets the shave."

Redwood began the match with Ryan and took control with a combination of hurricanranas and arm drags. Redwood tagged in Necro at 0:30, prompting Ryan to run to his corner to try to tag in Nana but Nana jumped off the apron to avoid tagging in against Necro. This allowed the babyfaces to work over the isolated Ryan until Redwood idiotically left the ring to chase after Nana on the outside at 1:30. Osiris intervened to save Nana, and Redwood chased Osiris into the ring where Ryan caught Redwood with a powerslam at 2:00. This allowed the heels to isolate Redwood in their corner and beat him down for a few minutes. Nana tagged in a few times to take a few shots at Redwood before quickly tagging back out each time.

Nana went for a Jerry "The King" Lawler fist drop off the second rope at 3:30 but missed, allowing Redwood to reach Necro for the hot tag. Nana tagged in Ryan and Necro beat on Ryan for a minute, until Ryan landed a spinning superkick out of nowhere at 4:30. Necro tagged Redwood back in. Ryan took out Necro with a dive through the ropes to the outside, knocking Necro over the guardrail into the first row. Meanwhile, in the ring, Redwood got his hands on Nana and landed a few strikes. Ryan came back into the ring and rolled up Redwood from behind for a near fall, but Redwood kicked out and quickly landed a swinging DDT for the pin.

WINNERS: Redwood & Necro at 5:30. A very basic, kiddy-style match. It was appropriate for this undercard feud, and did not overstay its welcome.

- After the match, Necro chased Osiris into the ring while Ryan and Nana ran up the aisle. Redwood put Osiris to sleep with the sleeper hold and proceeded to cut off Osiris' beard with a pair of scissors.

- A clip aired from the aftermath of Bryan Danielson's last match on an ROH DVD show, the recent Glory By Honor VII show at the Manhattan Centre in New York City. Some female fans in the crowd were tearing up as the crowd chanted "We Will Miss You."

- The final installment of Bryan Danielson's top 5 ROH memories countdown featured Danielson's match against KENTA at Glory By Honor V in 2006. This was Danielson's first match after separating his shoulder against Cabana a month earlier at Gut Check. He said that the emotion from the crowd was overwhelming, and after getting through the match despite his shoulder injury he knew then that he was going to be able to get through the rest his ROH World Title reign.

[Commercial Break]

- A clip aired of Austin Aries' fireball attack on Tyler Black last week. Hogwood announced that, in two weeks, Aries will wrestle Colt Cabana. It was unclear whether the title will be on the line.

- A clip aired of Kenny King and Rhett Titus' post-match attack on Jerry Lynn four weeks ago. ROH has done a fine job of selling this angle by keeping Lynn off TV all this time while revisiting the angle each week. Hogwood announced that King will face Brent Albright next week.

- A video package aired with action clips of Kenny King interspersed with King cutting a promo talking about how great he is. King is getting a solid build-up. Hopefully, Lynn does not simply squash him when he returns for revenge, because ROH needs to elevate some new stars.

3 – "SKULLKRUSHER" RASCHE BROWN vs. CAMERON MATTHEWS

Prazak said that Brown had his neck broken when he was hit by a Mack truck, and came back quicker than most people come back from a hang nail. Brown quickly took control of the match and landed a spinning suplex. Matthews teased a comeback at 0:30, but Brown cut the comeback off with a flying shoulder block, showing good agility to go with his size and strength. He quickly followed up with his torture rack-burning hammer finishing combination.

WINNER: Brown in 1:00. Another good squash victory for Brown. Matthews sold well for him.

- A hype video of Bryan Danielson highlights aired.

4 – "AMERICAN DRAGON" BRYAN DANIELSON vs. RODERICK STRONG

The fans showered Danielson in streamers during his ring entrance. The fans chanted "Thank you, Dragon." The wrestlers began the match with an intense sequence of chain and mat wrestling. At 3:30, Strong countered an arm bar into a backbreaker, and then began working over Danielson's back. Strong backed Danielson into the corner and unleashed some searing chest chops at 4:00. Danielson made a comeback at 7:00 with a stiff series of leg kicks. Danielson's chest was beet red from Strong's many chops. Danielson got a spell of offense until 9:00, when he charged Strong in the corner but Strong met him with a kick to the head, followed by another backbreaker. Strong continued to work over Danielson's back, and locked in a Boston Crab at 10:00 but Danielson managed to reverse it into a leverage pin for a near fall. They went into a nice exchange of holds and counters until Danielson caught Strong with a triangle choke, forcing Strong to go to the ropes for the break.

Strong rolled to the floor to recover from the triangle choke, so Danielson tried for a dive through the ropes but Strong saw it coming and met the dive with an elbow to Danielson's head at 11:00. As Strong tried to re-enter the ring, Danielson dropkicked him back to the floor from the apron then landed a baseball slide dropkick to send Strong into the front row. Danielson then landed his trademark springboard dive from the top rope into the seats, and the wrestlers crashed into the third row at 12:00. The fans chanted "Best in the World."

Danielson rolled Strong back into the ring and followed up his advantage with a missile dropkick from the top rope, followed by a flying knee strike for a near fall at 13:00. Danielson then tried for his cattle mutilation submission hold, but Strong fought out of it and managed to mat wrestle Danielson is the Stronghold submission at 13:30. Danielson countered out of it back into a triangle choke at 14:00. Strong countered the triangle into a backbreaker at 14:30. Both wrestlers struggled to their feet, and started exchanging strikes in mid ring. Strong came out ahead in and landed a combination of backbreakers for a near fall at 15:30.

Frustrated, Strong tried to set up Danielson for a superplex from the top rope, but Danielson slipped out of it and instead caught Strong with a back superplex at 16:00. Danielson then went for cattle mutilation, but Strong countered it into a lung blower followed by a Gibson driver for a near fall. Strong once again lifted Danielson to the top rope, but Danielson fought out of whatever move Strong was going for with a series of elbows. Strong fought back with a kick to Danielson's head, followed by super gutbuster-running kick combination for the pin.

WINNER: Strong in 18:00. A very good match. Not quite up to the level of matches these two had during Danielson's title reign in 2005-06, but very good nonetheless. The opening sequence was very good and there were several great exchanges and transitions in the middle part of the match. The finishing sequence seemed rushed, making me wonder if they were going long and had to cut the finish down for TV purposes.

- After the match, Strong cut a short promo praising Danielson. He said "Thank you Bryan Danielson, I love you like a brother." The locker room emptied out and the wrestlers surrounded the ring to pay tribute to Danielson while the fans chanted "Thank you, Dragon." Danielson grabbed the mic and seemed about to cut a promo when the show ended. I wanted to hear the promo, so the ending seemed jarring. Hopefully ROH will include Danielson's farewell promo to the Philadelphia fans as an extra on a future DVD release.

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.

We suggest these recent related articles...

PARKS'S WWE SMACKDOWN REPORT 10/8: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Thursday show, including Roman Reigns & Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt & Braun Strowman

METZGER'S ROH TV REPORT 10/4 & 10/7: IWGP World champ Okada vs. Roderick Strong main event, plus Briscoes vs. Time Splitters, more from "Field of Honor," Overall Reax

MCMAHON'S TNA IMPACT REPORT 10/7: TNA Title Series kicks off, Bound for Glory fall-out, more; Overall Reax