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*** Official OWW.com ROH DVD Reviews by Brad Dykens ***
December 9, 2006 - THE CHICAGO SPECTACULAR: Night 2 - Chicago Ridge, Illinois

Adam Pearce cut a promo about his Strap match with Homicide tonight vowing to finish what his mentor Jim Cornette started - thus ending the Road of Homicide! Pearce has the potential cut some of the best promos in Ring of Honor. Pearce talked about Pelle Primeau's challenge to Shane Hagadorn and Hagadorn said he has been beating up Pelle Primeau for two years and the next match will be no different.

Lacey caught up with Shingo, who was scheduled to wrestle Colt Cabana tonight, and offered him some of Lacey's Angels money if he "hurt" Cabana.

The night started with an in-ring segment featuring Chicago's own "Classic" Colt Cabana talking about Lacey kicking him in the 'junk' with her high heel last night. Cabana called out Jimmy Jacobs for a fight, right HERE, right NOW! Jacobs ran out with Lacey right behind him and brawled for a few seconds before Lacey jumped in the ring and applied the claw on Cabana's injured testicles!! Daizee Haze attacked Lacey and hit her with the Heart Punch followed by the Mind Trip. Jimmy Jacobs got up and cornered The Haze but B.J. Whitmer ran out and attacked Jacobs! Jimmy Rave, Shingo, and Bryan Danielson hit the ring to attack B.J. Whitmer, followed by Delirious and Nigel McGuinness making the save and clearing the ring. This set up Team Delirious vs. Team Danielson in an 8-Man Elimination match. At some point, Jimmy Jacobs had a chunk of his face ripped off resulting in some blood flow. This was an awesome way to start the show!

Tank Toland was in the opening match for the second night in a row, and he was welcomed with chants of "Dick! Dick! Dick!" as he made his entrance. Tank's a great guy but I'm not sure he fits in with everybody else in Ring of Honor. Hometown hero "Crazy" Ace Steel came out with some energetic entrance music featuring a famous Blues Brothers introduction that really got the audience pumped up! I could tell that Ace was trying really hard to help get Tank over with the ROH faithful. Crazy Ace scored the victory with a small package to make the Chicago fans happy ( 5 / 10 ). They edited it off the DVD, but at the live show the fans chanted "Don't Come Back!" at poor Tank Toland. It makes me wonder what else they edit off their DVD home releases.

Christopher Daniels and Matt Sydal got some promo time so that Sydal could explain his knee injury. Sydal has adopted an arrogant over-confident attitude that somewhat irritates his partner, Christopher Daniels, and their valet, Allison Danger. I think it's the most charismatic Sydal has ever looked. Daniels called in "M-Dogg" Matt Cross and told him that he impressed him the night before and offered him the opportunity to team with him tonight. Matt Cross enthusiastically jumped at the chance, and Matt Sydal said, "that's what I like to see... good luck kid!" before slapping him on the back.

Six Man Mayhem featured C.J. Otis (trained by Sabu), Pelle Primeau, Trik Davis, Jake Crist, Dave Crist, and Japan's Kikutaro. I'm trying to think of how many combined victories in ROH all of these guys have and I think it's around three or four. This was a huge opportunity for someone who doesn't win much to get an important "W" on their record. C.J. Otis was trained by Sabu, and kinda looks like Sabu if Sabu was a blonde model. The Crists worked together and Dave allowed his brother Jake to score the victory over C.J. Otis ( 5 / 10 ). Handshakes all around after the match.

Pelle Primeau was left in the ring alone and Top of Class Trophy holder Shane Hagadorn came out and said he would give him a shot at the Top of Class Trophy right now if he shook his hand. Adam Pearce snuck in from behind and whipped Primeau with a leather strap! Hagadorn and Pearce gave Primeau a Spike Pile-driver and then Pearce called out Homicide. Homicide came out but somehow it ended up being Homicide vs. Shane Hagadorn.

Homicide made short work of Shane Hagadorn and actually finished him off with the Cop-killa ( 4 / 10 ). After the match, Adam Pearce attacked Homicide and whipped him with the leather strap and carried Shane Hagadorn backstage in his arms. Homicide said he didn't want a Strap match tonight with Adam Pearce because he just saw a steel cage out in the truck.

Samoa Joe was fresh off a disappointing loss to Bryan Danielson in a Steel Cage the previous night but he seemed to be in good spirits as he came to the ring to face the younger, crazier Briscoe brother, Mark, in a one-on-one match. Joe already defeated Jay Briscoe in a singles match, not to mention the series of tag matches between the Briscoes and Joe/Homicide. Joe hit a Muscle-buster, but then picked him up and took Mark's head off with a Lariat to send a message to Pro Wrestling NOAH ( 7.5 / 10 ). Samoa Joe cut a promo saying he called out the biggest promotion in Japan and have yet to get an answer. Joe told anybody from NOAH to come to ROH and "get some." Nigel McGuinness came out representing NOAH and made some comment about Samoa Joe getting his ass kicked in Zero-1 and said if Joe wants NOAH then he'll have to deal with him first. Joe said "I'll tell ya what Frenchy, you got a deal." Nigel's new promo style is annoying because he's quiet and you can hardly tell what he's saying.

The previous night in the same building, Austin Aries and Roderick Strong defeated Matt Sydal and Shingo (replacing Christopher Daniels). Tonight it was Aries and Strong against Christopher Daniels and Matt Cross (replacing Matt Sydal) with Allison Danger and the injured Matt Sydal at ringside. It was the "opportunity of a lifetime" for Matt Cross, being handed the chance to become a star in one night. Aries and Strong were victorious for the second night in a row and solidified their psychological advantage over the ROH World Tag Team champions ( 7.5 / 10 ).

During intermission, Dave Prazak interviewed Jimmy Jacobs with a stream of dried blood stuck on his face. Lacey said she doesn't care how much Jimmy Jacobs has bled, she wants him to take out both Colt Cabana and B.J. Whitmer tonight. Jacobs said Whitmer might have hurt his eye, but Cabana has hurt his heart... and from now on he will wear the blood on his face as a reminder (or something like thing) - does that mean he's never going to wash his face?

The strap match between Homicide and Adam Pearce was cancelled and replaced by a grudge match inside the walls of an unforgiving steel cage. Chicago was blessed with steel cage matches on two consecutive nights. Homicide went to get the ghetto fork but somehow it disappeared from his boot. A fan tossed a fork into the ring (not sure if that was planned or not) but referee Todd Sinclair threw it back out and was showered by chants of "You Fat F***!" Shane Hagadorn ran down and passed a leather strap into the cage and then slammed the door on Homicide's face, resulting in an immediate laceration on Homicide's forehead. Homicide sling-shot Pearce into the cage slicing Pearce's forehead open too. Referee Todd Sinclair got knocked out and Homicide found his ghetto fork hidden in Sinclair's pants pocket. The crowd began chanting "fork him up!" and Homicide did indeed fork Pearce up. Pearce fought back and used the fork to carve Homicide's forehead up some more. Homicide kept putting his bandana on to help stop the bleeding and keep the blood out of his eyes. Pearce hit a double-arm hip-toss off the top rope and triggered a "This is Awesome!" chant. Homicide went for the Lariat but got flap-jacked face first into the side of the cage! Homicide whipped Adam Pearce with the strap and then delivered an Ace Crusher off the top rope! Homicide finished Pearce off with the Lariat to win the match ( 8.5 / 10 ). The Road of Homicide is now clear of all obstacles as Homicide looks forward to Final Battle!

The older Briscoe brother, Jay, was up against #1 Briscoe nemesis Davey Richards in a singles match. After an awesome match, Jay Briscoe finished off Davey Richards with a Jay-driller to win an extremely hard hitting contest ( 8 / 10 ). Not a good weekend for Mr. Richards.

It was main event time and it was a huge 8-Man Elimination match between Team Delirious (Delirious, Colt Cabana, B.J. Whitmer and Nigel McGuinness with Daizee Haze) and Team Danielson (Bryan Danielson, Jimmy Rave, Shingo and Jimmy Jacobs with Lacey). Yes friends the main event was stacked with a lot of star-power and over-flowing with unresolved conflict. Jimmy Jacobs still had that dried blood on the side of his face - is that healthy? Dragon vs. Delirious, Nigel vs. Rave, Jacobs vs. Cabana, Jacobs vs. Whitmer, Shingo vs. his mullet, and don't forget Lacey vs. Daizee at ringside. Less than ten minutes into the match, Jimmy Jacobs pulled out the railroad spike and tried to use it on B.J. Whitmer but Colt Cabana stepped in and caused Jacobs to drop the spike. B.J. Whitmer picked up the spike and went after Jimmy Jacobs, but Jacobs moved, and Whitmer accidentally spiked Lacey! Jimmy Jacobs immediately panicked and carried Lacey backstage - reminiscent of The MegaPowers/Elizabeth storyline back in 1989. Jimmy Jacobs returned and jumped into the ring and repeatedly smashed Whitmer's ankle with a steel chair! The referee disqualified Jacobs to eliminate him, and then Rave forced Whitmer to tap out thus eliminating him as well. It was a chaotic couple of minutes but eventually it settled down and we were left with a three-on-three scenario. Team Danielson worked over the previously injured ankle of Nigel McGuinness and he eventually tapped out to Jimmy Rave's ankle-lock too! Next, Shingo (who was hired by Lacey to take out Colt Cabana) was eliminated by Cabana himself after a sunset flip. Colt Cabana was the next to be eliminated after Bryan Danielson kicked him in the previously injured testicles and Rave rolled him up. That's what Delirious gets for recruiting his team-mates in the hospital parking lot. Officially, Jimmy Rave had eliminated all three men on Team Delirious. Delirious courageously fought Bryan Danielson and Jimmy Rave until he miraculously eliminated Rave! Delirious fought ROH World champion Bryan Danielson for another ten minutes before submitting Danielson with the Cobra Stretch ( 8.5 / 10 )!!!!! During his post-match celebration, Delirious literally stole the shirt off the back of internet legend, and wrestling journalist, Dr. Keith Lipinski.

Davey Richards cut a backstage promo, saying win, lose or draw he has always learned his lessons in Ring of Honor. Richards said tonight he learned that being one hell of a wrestler is not enough - and that to be successful in Ring of Honor, he needs someone watching his back.

Final Thoughts: I think Night #1 of the Chicago Spectacular was better but this show was really cool too. Delirious is such an unlikely contender for the ROH World title but he has worked his ass off and deserves the monster push that he has been receiving. ROH is the only wrestling company that I know of where work rate really is the ultimate factor on who goes to the top and who doesn't.

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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