Taso the Greek’s “Bumpin’ Heads 2008″

eye of the storm 2.22.08

i smoked a joiont before popping in this series of dvds from roh. i was gonna enjoy the day, the slizzard way.

due to weather conditions and larry sweeney’s bad cologne, a number of wrestlers could not make it to the building.

eight man singles tournament for a future world title match.

Bryan Danielson vs. Rocky Romero. Someone in the audience calls Rocky “Asuka” Romero, basura, the Spanish word for “garbage”. I thought that was great. Danielson’s entrance is great. Romero is too small, better in tag team with Reyes. Don’t like his tag team with Davey Richards as much. mromero does some good armbars. They work a good match, though. Beter then it should have been actually. ***

I was surprised by the Austin Aries vs. El Generico *** match, thought it could have been better. Kevin Steen vs. Delirious was good too, but not mind-blowing. Sometimes I think these guys know exactly what they are doing in giving the crowd about as much as they need to, but never a ton unless they can, and then they have to have the talent to do it.

Necro Butcher vs Go Shiozaki sounds better then what it was, but I can’t be too dissapointed. #1 I’m not that huge of a Necro fan as far as is wrestling ability. He’s ok as a brawler. But he kicks ass every other way! Go does the best he can in a good hard hitting match. **3/4

Kevin Steen vs. Bryan Danielson ***1/4 was strong, they worked body parts to a good degree and made it work. Bryan working on tjhe ear of Steen is fresh and different. Good technical wrestling, but mostly a story-telling match. Announcers constantly stating Danielson didn’t need this tournament win because he had a title match coming the next night didn’t help. I’m on the fence about the ROH announcers.

Go Shiozaki vs. El Generico ***1/4 It’s great how ROH can put on a tourney and have each match a little bit different then the next. Lots of nice powerbombs and suplexes for fans of that sorta thing, like me!

Four Corner Survival: Jason Blade vs. Human Tornado vs. Pelle Primeau vs. Mitch Franklin *
Strange position on the card, after all those good matches. Maybe it had something to do with the weather. Least interesting Human Tornado match I’ve seen in a long time.

Ruckus & Jigsaw vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Zach Gowen *3/4

Zach Gowen is a great addition to The Age of the Fall. Match was ok for SD! Jimmy needs to use that knife more.

Kevin Steen vs Go Shiozaki to earn a future ROH World Title shot **3/4

It started out strong style, went to brawling on the outside, back to mat wrestling in the ring, and all over the place until right at the end where it got good. I don’t think these guys put a good match together. I think they could have done a better job, but maybe they’re holding out for down the line.

Austin Aries & Bryan Danielson vs. Erik Stevens & Jay Briscoe

Aries & Dragon have made Rrik Stevens look like a milliom bucks in their FIP title matches. Still, Stevens has some good power moves, so I give him some credit. In the end, he reminds me of a poor man’s Tommy Dreamer. Don’t know why that is… hmmm… But it was a well paced & entertaining match, with some good double team moves and the dream pairing feel of Dragon & Aries was in effect. You cant get better then Dragon & Aries. Also, kept short with little time wasted in between the action.

Shane Hagadorn vs. Pelle Primeau

Chris Hero & Sara Del Rey vs. Alex Payne & Kyle Durden
Chris Hero & Sara Del Rey vs. Daizee Haze & Jigsaw

I really enjoyed both of these matches alot. The Intergender Tag Team Title angle is gold. I’m sorry to note that I believe Sara Del Rey has left Sweet & Sour Inc. at some point recently because otherwise I could watch these two wrestle as a tag team for a good 6 months, and no doubt they are great together.

Claudio Castagnoli vs. El Generico **3/4

A good match but the best match I have seen Generico in was against Masato in Dragon Gate. Castagnoli’s matches… I kinda don’t remember.

Mark Briscoe vs. Joey Matthews **1/2

Decent stuff, lots of stalling in the beginning. There’s no doubt this is a solid match but when it’s ROH, you have to be on top of your game and bring it 100% and have your match mean someting otherwise it just doesn’t come off as a big deal, and this one didn’t. I like Matthews, not a big Briscoes fan, I like the Age of the Fall, so there are some variables in the mix.

Adam Pearce vs. Delirious **1/2

Could have been a better match laid out with more brutality. I don’t think I will ever take the Scrap Daddy very seriously even though he is entertaining as heck, and maybe the same goes for Delirious. Except for a cool tag match with El Generico vs. The Hangmen 3 this year ( if I remember correctly), I don’t have much positive to say about Delirious, now, or ever. I like his schtick and the gimmick and the trademark moves but I don’t see him as this great lightweight he seemed to get praise for not too long ago.

Ultimate Endurance Tag Title Match: Tyler Black & Jimmy Jacobs (c) vs. BJ Whitmer & Brent Albright vs. Bryan Danielson & Austin Aries vs. Rocky Romero & Davey Richards ***1/4

Nigel McGuiness vs. Roderick Strong ***

Shocked at how bored I got with ythis match. I’ll repeat this again, my own opinion, ROH has spoiled me when it comes to match ratings, storylines, feuds, angles, etc., as has Dragon Gate this year. Solid match, no doubt, but it didn’t come off as a “mega-main event super world championship match”. I guess I don’t like Roderick that much, and I dunno who could be put in that position as a possible contender and a guy who COULD win the ROH Title, Roderick isn’t that guy although he is right there as a top guy who could be used for such a match. I like his deal, his backbreakers, but he’s dull. Nigel looks beaten to shit half the time, skinny, face all puffy. It’s the NOAH cursewhen it comes to the world title. There are maybe only 3-4 guys in the promotion you might take seriously as world title contenders.

Proving Ground- Boston, MA 1/11/08

1. The YRR of Kenny King & Jason Blade beat Eddie Edwards & Pelle Primeau **3/4
Strong match… surprised they bring in YRR and not Irish Airborne anymore. Pelle is a guilty vice and Eddie Edwards is the man. I totally dig his backpack chinbreaker. Briscoes show up after the match to punk out the YRR.

2. Daizee Haze beat Alexa Thatcher **1/4
I like the heart punch and the yakuza kick, but not the last bit of Daizee Haze’s finisher. ROH has found another good woman wrestler in Alexa Thatcher.

3. Claudio Castagnoli beat Ruckus *1/2
I like Ruckus and have always been a big fan of his, but I don’t think he’s ready for ROH. That’s not a good sign cuz the guy has been wrestling for 4-5 years?

4. Daniel Puder beat Mikey Bennett
I’m digging Sweet & Sour Inc but not the constant feud with Claudio, that’s got to end at some point. I see the logical match here with Puder vs. Castagnoli, and since I don’t really follow spoilers I don’t know where they’ve gone with this or if Puder has appeared on more then 2-3 ROH events.

5. Bryan Danielson defeated Brent Albright ***
Strong in some ways, lacking heat because no one seems to care much about Albright. Good technical match but Albright has very little charisma. Danielson’s offense is pretty good, unique, the fans pop for all his trademark moves. Thought they should have wrestled a litle more… I dunno. I’m on the fence. Is this the best Albright can do? He’s another BJ Whitmer, basically.

6. Necro Butcher beat Kevin Steen in a Street Fight ***
Good brawling to start this one off but Necro slows things down in the middle. Great finish, stiff match. Brutal chair shots in this match. It helped that Necro had Jimmy Jacobs with him on the outside with one half of the tag titles, and Lacey of course. Steen is over with his personality on camera.

7. Delirious beat Sal Rinuaro**

I only liked the end of this match. Everything seemed contrived and rehearsed. I like some of Delirious’ offense, like Shadows over Hell and Panic Attack. His matches and feud with Hangmen 3 have been good.

8. Roderick Strong beat El Generico **3/4

Good match. Generico made it better.

9. Erick Stevens beat Austin Aries to retain the FIP World Title**3/4

It was a good match, booked well.

10. Age of the Fall (Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black) retained the World Tag Team Titles in an Ultimate Endurance Match that included Jay & Mark Briscoe, Brent Albright & BJ Whitmer, and Jack Evans & Jigsaw***

Pretty good match, most fun match on the card, except maybe Steen vs. Necro Butcher.

Breakout- Dayton, OH 1/25/08
1. Mark & Jay Briscoe beat Matt Cross & Jigsaw **3/4
2. Claudio Castagnoli beat Adam Pearce **1/2
3. Erick Stevens defeated Davey Richards & Austin Aries to retain the FIP World Title **1/2
4. Brent Albright & BJ Whitmer beat Delirious & El Generico in a NO DQ Match ***
5. Daizee Haze beat Lacey **1/2
6. Roderick Strong & Rocky Romero beat Jimmy Jacobs & Joey Matthews ***
7. Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black ****1/4
8. Nigel McGuinness beat Chris Hero to retain the ROH World Title in a Steel Cage Match ***1/4

Black vs. Danielson had match of the year qualities in my opinion, but probably not , but when all is said and done it should get some recognition as a match where Black proved he could hang, and just another notch on the belt of the greatest wrestler in the world today. Two great athletes. I am surprised by how good Tyler Black is on the mic and in his role. AOTF is definitely one of my favorite groups entering 2008.

The Briscoes are a pretty good tag team, but I am not toally sold on them. I’ve seen them since they started out and they’ve improved and this last year where they ran with the titles had some great matches but they are getting kinda mediocre in 2008. Still, they are great workers. M-Dogg has some cool moves and Jigsaw is fine and this is all about the spots and there is little story line to the match.

ROH matches kinda have their won scale, because they are usually all good to excellent, never really a abd match on the show. Adam Pearce makes a good heel, but he’s a little lame. I prefer Claudio as a heel. Haven’t really been into his ROH run as a face. Good match but a little boring.

Haven’t seen a good three-way match in a long time. I didn’t like the interplay between all three guys in the match. Maybe Davey’s comedy stuff was decent, but it was just another match to me. I don’t like Erik Stevens, nor do I hate him either.

Albright & Whitmer vs. El Generico & Delirious started slow, but ended up being a damn good match. They were building to a dog collar match between Delirious and Pearce the next night and Pearce came out and dragged Delirious away by the neck with a steel chain. Pelle Primeau and Shane Hagadorn both interfered earlier, with Pelle eventually getting killed two-on-one by Whitmer & Gunner Scott. El Generico is one of my favorite wrestlers today.

Haze has a yeoman’s hard working match with Lacey. Did I mention the AOTF are the best thing going in wrestling today. Gotta nominate Jimmy Jacobs for charisma/promos, and also, hey! Surprise, Joey Matthews in ROH!

AOTF vs. No Remorse was a solid match with a good ending. no remorse is a better tag team then AOTF’s various incarnations except Black & Jacobs.

Main event, they started it off too cutsie. Sweet and Sour were outside the ring and they tried to help Hero out of the steel cage a number of times, the highlight of the match, because in between it was sorta boring. Hero would target a leg, hiot a big move, and then try to escape and Nigel would cut him off or grab a leg at the last moment. It was good but it got old quick. Tank Toland passed Hero a chair into the ring. They tried to both climb out a number of times. Back & forth, some innovative moves, but surprisingly lacked the heat I would have expected. Bobby Dempsey chants are definitely fun to hear. They built up to the use of the cage as a weapon, which worked out real well, as they truely used the build up to get the fans hot for the finish. But the finish sucked.

ROH “Rising Above”

1. Brent Albright vs. Delirious **1/2
2. Adam Pearce & BJ Whitmer vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black vs. Jack Evans & Ruckus (Tag Team Scramble Match) ***
3. Lacey vs. Sara Del Rey vs. Daizee Haze **3/4
4. Erick Stevens vs. Davey Richards **
5. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Chris Hero **3/4
6. Bryan Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima (Relaxed Rules) *** (need to rewatch)
7. Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Roderick Strong & Rocky Romero (World Tag Team Title 2/3 Falls Match) ***
8. Nigel McGuinness vs. Austin Aries (ROH World Title Match)***3/4

I need to watch some of these again but that’s the feeling I get from this card. Pretty good main event.

1. Matt Fish & M-Dogg 20 vs. Ruckus & Jigsaw **
2. Larry Sweeney vs. Claudio Castagnoli * (angle ***)
3. Necro Butcher vs. Jack Evans ***
4. Naomichi Marufuji vs. Davey Richards ***1/2
5. Adam Pearce, Brent Albright, & BJ Whitmer vs. Delirious, Kevin Steen, & El Generico :Tables Are Legal Match ***1/4
6. Rocky Romero vs. Ernie Osiris * SQUASH
7. Roderick Strong (c): FIP World Heavyweight Title vs. Erick Stevens ***1/4
8. Bryan Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima vs. Austin Aries vs. Chris Hero: #1 Contender’s Four Way Elimination Match ***3/4
9. Jay & Mark Briscoe (c) vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black: ROH World Tag Team Titles ***3/4

Heck of show. Yes, not one HELL of a show, just one heck of a show. I felt various things throughout watching. Like, “Wow, this is really looking indy-tastic,” (That isn’t a good thing). Best thing on it were Chris Hero’s antics and Nigel McGuiness’ promo after taking a massive beating the night before. All really good matches but I think it paled in comparison to the past events they’ve had. I think their roster is suddenly, or not so suddenly, depleted. Good looking out for a guy like Tyler Black and shit, but it’s still not even on the level of TNA, if TNA wanted to be serious.

Unscripted III- Chicago Ridge, IL 12/1/07
1. Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black **3/4
2. Sara Del Rey vs. Lacey **3/4
3. Six Man Mayhem Match: Dingo vs. Silas Young vs. Seth Skyfire vs. Danny Daniels vs. Dan Lawrence vs. Trik Davis **
4. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Chris Hero ***
5. Adam Pearce & Shane Hagadorn vs. Ernie Osiris & Mitch Franklin *
6. Brent Albright vs. Jigsaw **
7. BJ Whitmer vs. Delirious ***
8. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Bryan Danielson ***
9. The Briscoe Brothers & Erick Stevens vs. Roderick Strong, Davey Richards, & Rocky Romero **1/2

There’s a big back story about this card. It was going to be a trios tournament, but snow screwed up the traffic and people didn’t get to the show on time or at all. I think the three matches I liked the most could have been better and probab;ly will be better then the stuff these guys will bust out in 2008. BJ Whitmer vs. Delirious might be the best thing that went down here because it had story and Delirious is super over as a babyface and is being booked really well to look strong. Lacey is awesome. Jimmy Jacobs is pretty awesome as is Danielson. Chris Hero and Claudio and Larry Sweeney. Top to bottom ROH has the best American indy wrestling. I watched all these guys a few years before they became a part of this promotion and the growth of ROH and of its wrestlers has been really awesome to watch.

Dragon Gate Challenge- Detroit, MI 3/30/06
1. Homicide beat Colt Cabana in a Falls Count Anywhere Match
2. Ricky Reyes beat Chad Collyer
3. BJ Whitmer beat Jimmy Jacobs
4. Ryo Saito defeated Jimmy Yang
5. Alex Shelley & Jimmy Rave beat Bryan Danielson & Delirious
6. Claudio Castagnoli beat Shane Hagadorn
7. AJ Styles & Matt Sydal beat Dragon Kid & Genki Horiguchi
8. Blood Generation (CIMA, Naruki Doi, & Masato Yoshino) defeated Generation Next (Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, & Jack Evans)
9. Christopher Daniels defeated Samoa Joe

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The Whitmer/Jacobs match is memorable, and not just for the botched powerbomb off the top rope.. but I would suggest people see this match for that spot anyway. Plus, Lacey spits on someone.

I also felt that in many ways the Blood Gen vs. Gen next tag was just as good as the 6 man DG match Meltzer pimped. The heat wasn’t there and of course they didn’t work together as well as the DGate guys do together, but the match really got rolling towards the end… and that fucking kid Jack Evans always steals the show to some degree, even when he doesn’t.

credit results to rohwrestling.com:

1. Ricky Reyes defeated Delirious, Flash Flanagan, & Shane Hagadorn
2. Jimmy Rave & Alex Shelley beat Claudio Castagnoli & Jimmy Yang
3. Ace Steel beat Chad Collyer in a First Blood Match
4. AJ Styles & Matt Sydal beat Austin Aries & Jack Evans
5. Do Fixer (Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi, & Ryo Saito) beat Blood Generation (CIMA, Naruki Doi, & Masato Yoshino)
6. MsChif beat Cheerleader Melissa, Allison Danger, Daizee Haze, Lacey, & Rain in a SHIMMER 6 Way

7. Homicide beat Mitch Franklin. Colt Cabana came out afterwards for his match with Homicide. Both men fought until Homicide put Cabana’s head between a ladder and smashed it with a chair.

8. The CZW-ROH angle continued when Chris Hero & Necro Butcher called out Adam Pearce. Pearce and Necro brawled until Claudio Castagnoli came out to even the sides.

9. Samoa Joe beat Christopher Daniels & Jimmy Jacobs in a Three Way Match

10. Bryan Danielson defeated Roderick Strong to retain the ROH World Title in 56 minutes
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***1/2 A good card all around that makes me want to watch everything ROH has put out so far this year. My interest in Bryan Danielson was peaked when I heard Gabe Sapolsky on WOL and he commented that Dragon was wrestler of the year. Well, he had a good match here, but it didn’t light my fire. I want to blame Roderick’s blandness, but I don’t want to take away from alot of what he does which I feel is very solid.

Matt Sydal & Jimmy Yang & Jack Evans vs. Adam Pearce & Jimmy Jacobs & BJ Whitmer w/Lacey
Jacobs Loves Lacey is an angle of the year, probably won;t win but it’s funny. Good brawl to start with everyone of the small guys going airborne, Jack with a Sasuke Special over the top rope into a head scissors on BJ on the floor that got it going good. Cascading powerbomb senton by BJ and Jacobs on Sydal who became the the whipping boy for the bigger team. Once Sydal tagged out the place went crazy with insane spots and fluid switches and offense. Jack Evans is turning into a good wrestler. Very innovative match with good ideas and a good finish with a 630 from Evans. ***
The Embassy (Jimmy Rave & Alex Shelley & Abyss) vs. Tony Mamaluke & Sal Rinauro & Jay Fury Good match, Jay Fury is awesome the first time I saw him and I hoped he would get more time here. Abyss didn’t so all that much either and Sal is sorta a boring wrestler. Shelley vs. Mamaluke had some good mat wrestling and Rave is a great heel as everyone knows. Throw in a whacky Prince nana and the love of my wrestling non-life, Daizee Haze, and ya had a fun match here with some good stuff all the way through. **3/4
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Chad Collyer
I agreed with the fans, pretty boring. Not very crisp and nothing explosive. *1/4
Ace Steel vs. Sterling James Keenan
I’ve watched Keenan work once in Doe’s fed and I knew he was a decent talent right away. Good charisma too. But this all went nowhere when the CZW feud went down. N/A
Nigel McGuinness vs. Delirious
This should make for some good comedy wrestling was my first thought, and it was a good comedy match but it was also more then that. Both guys did a fantastic job. Nigel is one of the best wrestlers in the world to watch if you like mat wrestling and arm work and fancy footwork. Delirious keeps up with him. ***
Low Ki vs. Christopher Daniels
Daniels gimmick makes no sense. he comes out with Allison Danger who is wearing a nun’s habit in leather with a miniskirt… she looks great but I don’t get it. Fallen Angel, right? But then what? He wrestles. That makes about as much sense as the Bible itself. The match was good but I don’t like Daniels, as you can see. These guys don’t click for me, even though they do very well in the ring. I have alot of respect for Daniels, don’t misunderstand me. Maybe I don’t like Daniels style and I prefer Low Ki in a more hard hitting and more high flying match. he didn’t do any of his springboard kicks. You can look at the finish of the match two ways, as brilliant and different or just highly anti-climactic. I saw it as the latter. **1/2
The Embassy (Jimmy Rave & Alex Shelley & Abyss) vs. Matt Sydal & Jimmy Yang & Jack Evans Went a little long but an excellent match. Good use of Abyss working with smaller guys, the moves look much better and he’s a good foundation for them. Evans got in some good offense but most of the match is Shelley and Rave being dicks and Shelley is so much better at it, but that was my only complaint. Weird finish as Rave seems to botch a pedigree, but it got real hot as it headed to the finish line. ***
Bryan Danielson & Jay Lethal vs. Roderick Strong & Austin Aries (Tag Titles)
Sometimes the ROH wrestlers get a little too cutesy for my taste. Two dozen bodyslams in the corner is still cool, and it is different, and it makes the heels out to be real dicky. But I want more wrestling and less dicky heel personas. Lethal isn’t that great a heel, and Danielson is good but he’s got all that great athletic ability. Here’s to wrestlers attemtpts at art and storytelling. Also another quite long match that dragged. A good, surprising finish but it didn’t seem to LEAD to that final. Good match. ***1/4