ROH live in the UK *Spoilers*

castagnoli

Im just back from a ridiculously expensive weekend following Ring of Honor around the UK, and I have to say it was the best way I could imagine spending both my time and my money.

I attended the Fan Slam gathering that afternoon. It was cool to see the likes of Colt Cabana, Prince Nana and Claudio Castagnoli entertain the fans with their wit and enthusiasm.

The first show in the Liverpool Olympia started with a four way between Cabana (who was probably the most over guy there) Johnny Storm, Matt Sydal and Spud. This was a fast paced spot fest and got the show off to a flier, and the pace never let up all night.

Jimmy Rave vs Davey Richards was next. Rave got the usual toilet paper treatment and Prince Nana was his usual brillliant self at ringside. I hadn't seen Richards before but his MMA background and strong intensity impressed me alot. Richards won, despite Rave pulling out all the stops, including a top rope Ghanarrea.

Bj Whitmer vs Castagnoli was good, if slightly short. I had ringside seats so it was cool when the fight spilled out infront of us. BJ picked up the win before Chris Hero made his surprise arrival. The crowd went into a frenzy of "**** you Hero" chants. He began running his mouth until Cabana came out for an impromptu match. Hero was awesome playing the heel, and dominated much of the match before Cabana did his Dusty Rhode impression with bionic elbows galore. He picked up the win with the Colt 45.

Doug Williams and Jody Fleisch vs the NOAH team of SUWA and Go Shiosaki was the crowds weakest point, despite it being quite an entertaining match. Unfortunaytely Jody messed up the 720 DDT and the crowd shat on him a bit. Williams picked up the win with the Choas Therory.

Next was the pointless FWA title match between Robbie Brooksode and Chad Collyer. It was a good technical battle but the crowd weren't really up for it either. Brookside won after about 5 minutes.

The Briscoes vs Aries and Strong was incredible. The Briscoes are the best teag team in the world, bar none. Their double team moves such as a Burning Hammer leg drop combo and a Domesday springboard spinkick combo (im making up these names here!) prove this. The crowd were on their feet for all of the 20 minutes (it felt like five!) and the roof nearly blew off when Aries kicked out of the Spiked J Driller. In the end Aries (who was also way over, moreso than Strong) picked up the pin with the 450.

The title vs title unification match between World Champ Bryan Danielson and Pure Champ, andd local hero Nigel McGuinness was unreal, it really has to be seen to be believed. No one really saw McGuinness winning, but half an hour into this one, 100% of the crowd were convinced he would. Nigel got busted open after a flurry of headbutts from Danielson, as well as a few stiff collisions with the ring posts (there was no blade job here, you could see his head making full force contact with the post, about 7 times). After this Nigel got real fired up and we were all sure he would do it, until a succession of stiff elbows to the head from Danielson forced the ref to stop the match, making Danielson the unified champ, much to the crowds displeasure.

It was an awesome show and a great way to experience THE BEST WRESTLING PROMOTION IN AMERICA live for the first time.

I've to be up early for work so I'll leave the review of the second show til tomorrow.

Oh yeah, I'll have some big news for Irish ROH fans tomorrow too, long with a few funny stories.

Fozzy

The reviews I read of the shows sounded great! Pity I was convinced I was goin to have to repeat my exams around now..would've loved to have been there. But I hear there's some good news for next March!

Do you know if these shows are being released on dvd? I'd assume so, given the title unification match and the general uniqueness of the events, I just haven't read it mentioned anywhere yet

Cool the way they guaranteed the main event wouldn't be a screw job

castagnoli

Fozzy wrote:

The reviews I read of the shows sounded great! Pity I was convinced I was goin to have to repeat my exams around now..would've loved to have been there.

Ha I had a repeat exam the day before!
These shows will definately be out on DVD in about 6 weeks.

The second show was effected by Aries getting injured so the card was changed completely. I couldnt be arsed writing out another full review so Ill go through the highlights.

The bus trip to Broxbourne was great. We shared the bus with some of the roster, although Rave and Sydal weren't too happy to be travelling with fans (Rave cos his hot wife was there, and Sydal cos he was still twisted from the night before). Sydal did break the ice by marching up and down the bus boasting about his sexual escapades from the night before (I wont go into the disturbing details, but it did result in a "two fingers" chant aimed at him during his match!)
We stopped for breakfast and got a chance to chat to the wrestlers. They are all really cool, except Rave who seems to live his gimmick. Nana, even when hung over is a joy to see.

The Kings of Wrestling (Hero and Castagnoli, along with Collyer) running in after the UK three way was highlight number one. The crowd were all over the KOW, with plenty of chants about Hero's sexual preferances! Hero is a tremendus heel and Castagnoli is just plain cool (hence the usernsame!).

Danielson had a warmup match against SUWA. This was a stiff affair and Danielson took a nasty bump which busted his head open, and poured blood all night. Danielson won this with his now patented roll up finish.

The crowd really got geed up after intermission for the Rave Williams match. As always, the TP treatment for Rave and Nana waas amazing. Rave was hit by one roll and he went down like a tonne of bricks!!! The match was basicllly Rave getting heel heat, Nana interfering, Williams taking out Nana ending with Williams winning with the Chaos Theory, much to the delight of the crowd. Rave is so over as a heel that he could fight anyone and it would still be fun.

The Briscoes vs Davey Richards and Matt Sydal was simply amazing, one of the best tag matches Ive ever seen. Sydal hit a moonsault off the top into the crowd, as well as the most beautifully executed Shooting Star Press Ive ever seen. Davey hit an astonishing suicide dive at full speed, nearly ending up up the entrance. The Briscoes won after 20 mins of phenomenal action. The crowd chanted "That was Awesome", and it well and truely was.

The main event was Danielson vs Strong. This was their 4th meeting in a year and it was clear they knew eachother well. Strong was the overwhelming fan favourite, and the crowd went nuts after every chop. The niose of his chops really dont come over on DVD half as loud as they actually are. This was another stiff match. Again Danielson hit a flurry of elbows to Strongs head, whivch softened him up for Cattle Mutilation. The ref had no choice but to end the match. Only after the match did the crowd show their appreciation for Danielson, hailing him as "the Best in the World". A great end to a great weekend.

As for the good news, ROH are returning to the UK on ythe 2nd and 3rd of March next year and there is a good chance they will come to Dublin on the 4th. I spoke to Cary Silkin (the owner of ROH) before the show at Broxbourne and he was very posititve about coming to Dublin. I saw him again when we were leaving and I shouted "See you in Dublin" to which he responded "definately", so its looking good! Real wrestling in Ireland at last!!!!!

gimmick

Cool reviews there, and hopefully ROH in Ireland comes to pass. One thing though

Real wrestling in Ireland at last!!!!!

Im sure the fine people at IWW, NWA Ireland, and CPW would take exception to that. Ive been to plenty 'real' wrestling shows on these shores.

Sounds like you had a mad weekend anyway. Was it all done as a package or what?

Fozzy

Seriously?!! That'd be ****in excellent!! Absolutely no chance I could ever miss that!

Sounds like a deadly weekend. Bus trip must've been fun! Haha

castagnoli

gimmick wrote:

Im sure the fine people at IWW, NWA Ireland, and CPW would take exception to that. Ive been to plenty 'real' wrestling shows on these shores.

Sounds like you had a mad weekend anyway. Was it all done as a package or what?

I was referring to crap WWE house shows there, but apogogies to IWW and NWA Ireland if I caused any offence!

Me and a friend went over. We paid through the teeth to get ringside tickets for both shows and sorted out our own transport. Luckily a cool poster on the ROH boasrds setup the bus so we just had to sign up for that. We didn't even know we would be travelling with the wrestlers until day before, so that was a nice surprise.
I'm already making plans to go over again in March, and I would highly reccomend it to anyone here to make a weekend of it. Ive checked the football fixtures and Man Utd are playing Liverpool on the 3rd, the day of the Liverpool show, so that would make a great day even better!
I mentioned the Ambassador as a possible venue in Dublin, although its probably way too big. You never know though, if the TNA talent is going to be there they might draw the crowd, its doubtful TNA would have a PPV in the first week of a month. The only downside to last weekend was the absence of Joe, Shelley and Homicide.