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RADICAN'S ROH DVD REVIEW SERIES
Never Say Die
Boston, Mass
May 8, 2009
By Sean Radican, Torch columnist
Star ratings and analysis
(1) Delirious beat Ricky Reyes. This was a good opening contest and the crowd was into. Reyes got some nearfalls down the stretch, but Delirious made a comeback and got the win after hitting shadows over hell. (**1/2)
(2) Kenny King & Rhett Titus beat the Super Smash Bros. This was a fun tag match. The Smash Bros. showcased some impressive double team maneuvers and then hit a crisscross dive to the outside onto Titus and King during the early stages of the match. King & Titus got the heat on Player Dos until Player Uno got the hot tag. Titus & King managed to get the win in end with a springboard blockbuster/powerbomb combination on Player Uno for the win. (***)
(3) Jay Briscoe beat The Necro Butcher via DQ. This was developing into a really good match until the Embassy interfered and attacked Necro causing the DQ. The crowd was into it, but angles like this should be saved for HDNet. Necro managed to fight off the entire embassy and sent them packing. (**)
(4) Kevin Steen beat Davey Richards (w/Shane Hagadorn) in an Anything Goes match. This was a really good brawling style match. They didn't many unnecessary risks with chairshots to the head, which was nice for a change. Richards was fantastic here inciting the crowd when he was on offense. There were a couple of big table spots down the stretch that set the crowd on fire, but Steen won after putting Richards through a table off the apron with a package piledriver. (***3/4)
(5) Bryan Danielson beat Eddie Edwards (w/Shane Hagadorn) and Sonjay Dutt in a Three Way Dance. This was a good match that the crowd got into. Danielson and Dutt worked together at one point to take out Edwards. Edwards and Dutt got nearfalls on Danielson, but in the end, Danielson caught Edwards in a triangle out of nowhere for the pin. (***1/4)
(6) Joey Ryan & Claudio Castagnoli & Jimmy Rave (w/The Embassy) beat Colt Cabana and Claudio Castagnoli and Brent Albright. This was a fun tag match. The babyfaces ran wild until the Embassy cut them off. The match then went back and forth with both teams getting a long heat segment until the action broke down again. Castagnoli managed to pin Stevens after nailing him with a low blow behind the ref's back. The finish was weak and they didn't do much to establish Ryan in his ROH debut, but otherwise this was fun with the crowd really into the action. (***)
(7) ROH World Champion Jerry Lynn beat Chris Hero (w/Shane Hagadorn). This was a solid main event. This was very slowly paced during the early stages of the match. The crowd was split in their support of Lynn and Hero. Hero dominated most of the match until the last 10 minutes when they began exchanging nearfalls. Lynn ended up getting the win when he finally managed to hit the cradle piledriver. (***1/4)
-The American Wolves opened the show with a promo. Edwards talked about his three-way against Dutt and Danielson. Richards then cut a good promo on Steen and said he was going to beat him in their match.
-Chris Hero cut a promo hyping his match against Lynn for the title. He went off on a bit of a tangent in the middle, but finished strong with his signature catch phrase. Who wants to hear about swine flu in a promo?
-Eddie Edwards attacked Steen after he beat Richards.
-Lynn cut an angry promo after the match on the fans that booed him and said they couldn't deny his effort in the ring.
Overall thoughts: (7.0) From an in-ring standpoint, this was a solid show. There wasn't a bad match on the card. In fact, there are five good matches with the Steen-Richards match standing head-and-shoulders above everything else on the card. The problem is that this felt like a show where you wouldn't miss anything if you didn't watch it.
Joey Ryan debuted for ROH on this show and Sonjay Dutt made his in-ring return, but it didn't seem like it mattered. The matches they were in didn't showcase them as anything special. The consequences of the matches on this show didn't seem to mean anything going forward from a storyline standpoint either for the most part.
The only angle that was built during the show was the ongoing feud between Kevin Steen & El Generico against the American Wolves, although Generico was out at this time with an injury. Richards cut a solid promo at the beginning of the show hyping his Anything Goes match against Steen that set the stage for what should have been the main event on this show.
The match itself was really good, as Steen and Richards delivered a satisfying brawl with a lot of big spots that didn't make you cringe because of the risks they were taking. Richards has come so far this year with his in-ring persona and overall presence in the ring and the crowd was really hot for his match.
The booking seems to be lacking a real creative spark. There's no reason given for certain matches taking place. They just seem randomly thrown on the card. The ROH World title picture is especially a concern given that Lynn seems to be facing random challengers.
The main event of Hero-Lynn was a good match, but it wasn't special like an ROH main event should be. They wrestled a slow pace early and didn't take the action into a higher gear until the very end of the match with Lynn selling for Hero most of the time otherwise.
The Boston crowd was good tonight and was into everything, but this seemed like a self-contained show instead of being part of a larger overall picture. If you're looking for a collection of good matches, this show is worth picking up.
Contact Sean at PWTorchSean@gmail.com Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.
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