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ROH WRESTLING DVD REVIEWS

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*** Official OWW.com ROH DVD Reviews by Brad Dykens ***
April 22, 2006 - WEEKEND OF CHAMPIONS 1 - Dayton, OH

It seemed like Ring of Honor was taking it down a gear or two after reaching an crazy peak of intensity at their last show. I mean you can only put on so many shows like that before you have to cool the engines. Just when the engines were cool, they went straight back into high gear for another all out street fight between ROH and CZW to close the show. More on that later.

This double-shot weekend in Ohio was all about the ROH championships, with each one being defended on both nights of the weekend events. But before any titles were contested, Jimmy Jacobs made one last attempt to win Lacey's heart in a match with "Mr. Back to the Bottom of the Ladder" Colt Cabana. Lacey gave Jimmy her final ultimatum, demanding that Jacobs win or he would never be allowed to talk to her again. Ouch. Jacobs lost. That's gotta hurt! ( 6.5 / 10 ) After the match, Commissioner Jim Cornette enlisted the services of Colt Cabana to join ROH in its war against CZW. Cabana wisely accepted.

Match #2 featured the rising stars known as Irish Airborn, David & Jake Crist, taking on FIP's Jay Fury and some guy named Spud, who I think is a British import. No offense to Spud, but I'd rather buy popcorn from him than watch him wrestle. Everyone gave it their all and scored some pretty impressive offense ( 5.5 / 10 ). Irish Airborn is clearly working their way up the tag team division -- I personally enjoy watching them wrestle. I still want to see Irish Airborn vs Kid Mikaze & Jason Blade go at it and see if the cream rises to the top.

Jimmy Rave (with Prince Nana absent and Daizee Haze by his side) took the always bizarre Delirious to a Time Limit Draw in a bout that proved there doesn't have to be winners and losers at the end to have a good match ( 6 / 10 ). And it has to be said that no matter how many times I see it, Jimmy Rave getting showered with rolls of toilet paper continues to send me into fits of laughter.

Nigel McGuinness returned to ROH after missing the last four shows to defend his Pure championship against "Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels. Nigel McGuinness used up all three of his rope breaks and left me wondering how he was going to escape with his championship belt against one of ROH's top guys. While tussling outside of the ring, Nigel grabbed the unsuspecting ringside photographer (the beautiful and talented Mary-Kate Grosso) and pushed her into Daniels and launched himself back into the ring just as the referee counted Daniels out. Say what you will about Mr. McGuinness but he's one clever brit! McGuinness indeed escapes with his championship in tact ( 7.5 / 10 ).

Next up was American Dragon's latest in a string of successful ROH World title defenses. I've never seen a Champion literally take on all comers like American Dragon has done since winning the ROH strap seven months prior. What's so good about it is that Dragon always brings out the best in everyone he wrestles, and that's the sort of champion you want carrying the ball for your wrestling promotion. Like so many before him, Yang put up a great fight but tapped out to one of Dragon's many submission holds ( 7.5 / 10 ).

The last scheduled match on the card was for the ROH Tag Team titles, as Austin Aries and Roderick Strong defended their belts against Matt Sydal and Samoa Joe, who is still trying to become the first ROH Triple Crown winner. The champions retained their titles in the best match of the night with action from bell to bell and everyone putting in a killer effort ( 8.5 / 10 ).

........then it was time for Combat Zone Wrestling to crash the party. Samoa Joe quickly found himself over-whelmed by Necro Butcher, Spyder Nate Webb and Super Dragon, until Colt Cabana and Ace Steel came out to help. Amidst the chaos, Joe was incapacitated backstage when Necro Butcher and Claudio Castagnoli tied him up. The back-story is that BJ Whitmer was out with a broken neck, and Adam Pearce was out with 20 staples in his head. Despite their injuries both Whitmer and Pearce foolishly showed up to defend ROH (I say "foolishly" because there was about 20 ROH guys sitting backstage picking their noses). The insane brawl, which pretty much picked up right where the 4/22 show left off, lasted about 20 minutes and ended with BJ Whitmer having his face viciously double-stomped into a chair by Super Dragon and then unnecessarily Muscle-busted by Claudio Castagnoli, leading to CZW winning the battle over ROH for the second straight event.

Final Thoughts: As I've said before, I'm not big fan of chaotic brawling but I must admit ROH and CZW are doing it right. The feud so far has been amazing and fun to watch and should be studied by anybody looking to get into the wrestling business, at any level. 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



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