*** ROH DVD Reviews by Brad Dykens ***
September 14, 2007 – Detroit, Michigan
MOTOR CITY MADNESS 2007
MATCH
Davey Richards vs. Silas Young: Wisconsin-based wrestler Silas Young made his ROH debut against the No Remorse Corps enforcer Davey Richards. The match was good but less than spectacular compared to traditional opening matches for Ring of Honor. Davey Richards won by submission, and surprisingly offered to shake the hand of the newcomer after the match. Silas Young foolishly extended his hand only to get spit on by a remorseless Davey Richards!
TAG TEAM MATCH
The YRR (Chasyn Rance & Kenny King w/Valerie Malone) vs. Alex “Sugarfoot” Payne & Mitch Franklin: This would be the debut of the FIP heel faction known as the YRR, which stands for “Young, Rich, and Ready for action.” I have seen them on many FIP DVD’s and they are extremely over as arrogant heels in Florida. Up in Ring of Honor, however, I don’t believe they will enjoy anywhere close to the same success. They had a girl with them named Valerie Malone, who is NOT So-Cal Val, but she does share her name with the character Tiffany Amber Theissen played on Beverly Hills 90210 (useless trivia). The YRR picked up a quick victory, and Chasyn Rance did his annoying YRR shtick on the microphone. The southern fans really eat that stuff up but I don’t think it has an ice cream’s chance in hell of getting over with the ROH audience. “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson came out wearing an eye patch to protect his injured eye (detached retina on 8/25). Dragon wanted a match so he could test out the depth perception in his eye before his scheduled ROH World title match the following night.
SPECIAL CHALLENGE MATCH
“American Dragon” Bryan Danielson vs. “The Natural” Kenny King by Submission: American Dragon played with Kenny King for a while before making him tap out with the Triangle-choke in a dominant manner. Dragon scolded Chasyn Rance for cheap-shotting him during the match, and challenged HIM to a match as well.
SPECIAL CHALLENGE MATCH
“American Dragon” Bryan Danielson vs. Chasyn “Not Cocky” Rance by referee stoppage: I think it’s safe to say American Dragon is ready for ROH World champion Takeshi Morishima at “Man Up” the next night – which was a PPV taping.
4-CORNER SURVIVAL
Erick Stevens vs. Delirious vs. Roderick Strong vs. Kevin Steen: The winner of the match would receive an ROH World title shot later tonight. There was lots of pre-existing heat between Strong and Stevens as well as Strong and Delirious, but Kevin Steen seemed like he was the odd man out with no extra baggage weighing him down. This gave Mr. Wrestling (Steen) the advantage in my opinion. It was rising star, Erick Stevens, who won the match after a Doctor-bomb on Delirious. The fans are usually solidly behind Erick Stevens, but they were quick to voice there disapproval upon witnessing his victory over cult-favorite Delirious. In order to smooth things over with the fans, Delirious endorsed Stevens with a post-match hand-shake. One group of fans continued to heckle Stevens with chants of “Shut the F up” before he could even open his mouth. Despite the negative reaction, Stevens said he was facing Takeshi Morishima tonight and promised not to let the people down.
MATCH
Jimmy Jacobs w/Lacey vs. Chris Hero w/Sweet & Sour: The babyface wonder Jimmy Jacobs was accompanied by his beautiful girlfriend, Lacey, who hasn’t been seen or heard from in several months. After two years of rejection, Jimmy Jacobs has finally earned the unconditional love of the lovely Lacey, who seems to be even more infatuated with Jacobs than Jacobs ever was with her. They make a good pair, but this babyface stuff just doesn’t feel right! Chris Hero was accompanied to the ring by the Sweet & Sour entourage, including Larry Sweeney, Tank Toland, Bobby Dempsey, and the devilishly sexy Sara Del Rey. Hero and Jacobs performed a methodical smart technical match that would make old school fans proud. Larry Sweeney distracted the referee and Sara Del Rey snuck into the ring to help Chris Hero. The barefoot Lacey jumped into the ring for a brief, but intense, brawl with Sara Del Rey! Hero had to physically pull Lacey off of Del Rey. Bobby Dempsey got up on the apron and Hero lost his focus so he could go over and slap Dempsey across the face. Jacobs caught Hero and forced him to tap out in a stiff Choke-submission hold. Not sure how that is legal. Tank Toland ordered Bobby Dempsey to go after Jimmy Jacobs, and he ended up in the Chokehold too. Sweet & Sour Inc. quickly abandoned Bobby Dempsey, who struggled to catch his breath after Jacobs finally released the hold.
BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
Becky Bayless & Jimmy Jacobs & Lacey: Jimmy Jacobs said his knee was good, he was ready – then looked at Lacey and said “WE are ready.” Jacobs said it wasn’t about him beating Chris Hero tonight, it was about what happens next. Lacey said “Soon, you all see” and turned away from the microphone with an all-knowing grin on her face.
MATCH (ROH VS. NOAH)
El Generico vs. Naomichi Marufuji: This was a first-time ever match anywhere in professional wrestling featuring top notch international talent. Great chemistry. Excellent match. It earned a loud “ROH! ROH! ROH!” chant from the fans after Naomichi Marufuji scored the pin on El Generico. The fans chanted for Marufuji (MA-RU-FU-JI!), who grabbed the microphone and led the audience in a loud chant of “Oleee! Ole-ole-oleee!!”
TAG TEAM MATCH
Nigel McGuinness & Claudio Castagnoli vs. B.J. Whitmer & Brent Albright: Albright & Whitmer came out wearing hangmen masks. Their faction with Adam Pearce would eventually become known as the HANGMEN 3. B.J. Whitmer must have taken a wrong turn into a San Francisco beauty parlor because he has been mysteriously made-over and is barely recognizable. He now sporting short blond hair and a dark goatee – sorta-kinda looks like Jeff Jarrett. Whitmer still has the dirty brown fuzz on his chest and stomach though. The announcers assumed it was Adam Pearce who told him to do it. Claudio Castagnoli, on the other hand, now has a nice clean buzz-cut. This match seemed to go on forever. Albright & Whitmer eventually came out of it with an impressive victory over the European combination of Castagnoli & McGuinness.
STREET FIGHT
Jack Evans vs. Rocky Romero: It was the Vulture Squad vs. No Remorse Corps as the fuse slowly burnt down the wick before faction warfare eventually explodes all over the ROH community. It started out as a regular match, but the leader of the Vulture Squad (Evans) was so fired up he wanted to do it “Detroit style” – with no rules! The hard-fought violent match ended with Jack Evans using a Double-knee stomp to put Rocky Romero through a table and scoring the 1-2-3 to win!
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH
Takeshi Morishima (Champion) vs. Erick Stevens: Any regular member of the ROH roster can get a shot at the ROH World title on any given night – well, okay, everybody except Pelle Primeau and Shane Hagadorn. You may not believe that they have a bar of soap’s chance in France of winning the championship, but in most cases they will provide a dramatic impression of uncertainty during the moments just before end of the match. The ROH crowd, who was booing Erick Stevens earlier when he won the Four Corner Survival match, suddenly started believing and chanting the challenger’s name. However, the dominant World champion crushed everybody’s dreams with a Back-drop Driver and retained his championship. Morishima usually grabs his belt and quickly exits, but he stuck around to help Erick Stevens up and shook his hand – while the fans rewarded Stevens with a loud appreciative chant to show their respect.
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH
The Briscoe Brothers (Champions) vs. Austin Aries & Matt Cross: This was your typical Briscoe brother attraction, which as many of you know, means the match was off the charts fantastic.
If you would like to purchase this or any other ROH DVD, please check out ROHwrestling.com —- if you need some convincing, you can check out streaming video of various ROH matches for free at www.ROHVideos.com