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ROH WRESTLING DVD REVIEWS

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*** Official OWW.com ROH DVD Reviews by Brad Dykens ***
June 9, 2007 - DOMINATION - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Matt Sydal vs. Hallowicked: Matt Sydal continued his crusade to defeat every masked wrestler in Ring of Honor with this bout against the mysterious Hallowicked. Matt Sydal was greeted by a sea of rabid ROH wrestling fans chanting his name loud and proud. Sydal is one of those guys who can help get somebody over just by being in the ring with them - an asset to any roster. They are pushing Mr. Sydal as the "hottest free agent in wrestling," citing that he is one of the few ROH wrestlers on the roster who hasn't signed a contract yet. Sydal kept up his winning streak and begged ROH to give him every masked man on the planet ( 7 / 10 ).

Lacey w/Jimmy Jacobs vs. Daizee Haze: The biggest women's grudge match in the history of Ring of Honor featured two of the most spunky girl wrestlers the industry has ever seen. The Haze was fired up and ready to get some revenge, but lovely Lacey said she knows Daizee is all about "Peace and Love" and wants to have a nice clean technical wrestling match because she now knows about "Love" too (referring to Jimmy Jacobs). The Haze humored her nemesis with a polite handshake but she clearly didn't buy Lacey's "act." Both girls fought fiercely until The Haze managed to connect with the Heart-punch but couldn't hit the Mind-trip properly, which allowed Lacey to roll out of the ring to let the time limit expire ( 7.5 / 10 )..


Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico: It seems like there is an endless number of interesting match combinations in Ring of Honor, and everyone rises to the occassion like total professionals to deliver the best possible performance every time! Case in point..... Chikara's Mike Quackenbush and Jigsaw took on IWS Canada's Kevin Steen and El Generico in a great tag team match that stole the show! The flamboyant El Generico was sporting brand new baby blue and white ring gear that I totally do not approve of. I hope somebody steals his gear and sells it on eBay for twelve cents. Seeing El Generico and Jigsaw lock it up really makes me wanna see Generico vs. Jigsaw vs. Hallowicked vs. Delirious - you know you want to see that! Quackenbush and Jigsaw were extremely close to scoring an upset victory, but the powerful Kevin Steen stepped forward to temporarily put an end to that dream. They went into a series of near falls which had the crowd going absolutely crazy but Steen and Generico pulled off yet another impressive show-stealing victory ( 8 / 10 ). El Generico, who is the fun-loving half of Team Steenerico, initiated handshakes with his opponents, but Steen had to be a spoiled sport and fling the half-conscious Hallowicked across the ring into the ropes.

Irish Airborne (Dave & Jake Crist) cut a short promo asking Ring of Honor to give them another chance.

Davey Richards vs. "Iron" Matt Cross: It was the cold-hearted Davey Richards taking on the resilient acrobatic Matt Cross - formerly known as "M-Dogg20." Davey Richards hit a stiff Tombstone Pile-driver and then made poor Iron Matt tap out with the Kimura submission ( 6.5 / 10 ). Davey Richards was joined by Roderick Strong and Rocky Romero in a post-match beat down until Delirious and Erick Stevens hit the ring to make the save - leading to the next match.......

Delirious vs. Rocky Romero: The big brawl that ended the last segment morphed seamlessly into the next match between the Lizardman Delirious and No Remorse Corps enforcer Rocky Romero. After some intense back-and-forth action, Delirious a surprise pinfall to win, but Romero jumped up to his feet and nailed Delirious with one of his deadly stiff kicks to the head! The No Remorse Corps hit the ring once again for a three-on-one beat-down until Erick Stevens and Matt cross returned to make the save and send the NRC packing.

"Sweet & Sour" Larry Sweeney cut a promo backstage - he's one of the best in the business right now! Sweeney was excited about Ring of Honor making the jump to PPV and promised that Sweet & Sour Inc. would be front and center - "and there is no stopping us now, baby!" - It sounds like super-agent Larry Sweeney has something up his sleeve for tonight.

4-Corner Survival: Erick Stevens vs. Brent Albright vs. B.J. Whitmer vs. Jimmy Rave: The story here was the frustration building inside of B.J. Whitmer, which was evident the previous night during his match with Brent Albright when he head-butted the referee and walked out on the match. Tonight Whitmer was feeling the same pressure, and was about to once again take it out on the referee, but Brent Albright caught him and hit his finisher to win the match ( 6 / 10 ). The question one must ask is if Whitmer really is in the middle of an emotional break-down or is there somebody secretly influencing and re-programming him in the background?

2/3 Falls Match - The Briscoe Brothers vs. The King's of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli w/Sweet & Sour Inc.):
The shocker of the night was the reunion of former ROH World tag team champions, Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli, collectively known as the King's of Wrestling, for seemingly no rhyme or reason. I was under the impression that this combination was finished with each other. I think Chris Hero could bite the head off a puppy in the middle of the ring and the fans would still cheer wildly for him. The announcers eventually explained that Claudio Castagnoli earned a shot at the ROH World Tag Team titles with a partner of his choosing. Claudio curiously picked his former partner, Chris Hero, despite his hatred for manager/agent Larry Sweeney. The crowd was split 50/50 with dueling chants of "Let's Go Briscoes!" and "King's of Wrestling!" The issues between Hero and Castagnoli were far to much for the team to succeed, and it resulted in the Briscoes winning two straight falls and retaining their ROH World Tag Team titles ( 8 / 10 ). Predictably, Sweet & Sour Inc. abandoned Claudio Castagnoli after the match - thus setting off a major feud between Hero and Castagnoli that would last the rest of the year.

Backstage, Daizee Haze cut a promo about Ring of Honor jumping to Pay-Per-View and getting excited about showing the world how good the "Women of Honor" really are at wrestling. Suddenly she was violently body-checked by Lacey, who started laughing out loud and high-fiving the equally amused Sara Del Rey.

ROH World Title Match - Takeshi Morishima vs. Roderick Strong: It seems every challenger that Takeshi Morishima comes face-to-face with has a hard time figuring out just how to handle the all-time most dominant ROH champion. But I assure you, Morishima has never faced anyone like No Remorse Corps leader Roderick Strong. Morishima should be a card-carrying member of the No Remorse Corps, as his philosophies seem to mirror those of the NRC faction. Roderick Strong MUST hold the record for most challenges without ever winning the ROH World championship. Strong put up a good fight but Morishima continued his "DOMINATION" over the ROH roster to retain the ROH World title ( 7.5 / 10 ). WHO WILL STOP TAKESHI MORISHIMA???

Final Thoughts: I was left wondering why American Dragon and Nigel McGuinness did not appear on the show, but then I remembered that they wrestled each other on this card, but it was taped for the "Driven" Pay-Per-View. Phenomenal - I saw it!

Since they didn't use the Danielson/McGuinness match, the DVD was cut uncharacteristically short (2:20), so they included a bonus match from Full Impact Pro (ROH's sister promotion) in the Extras section between Bryan Danielson and Jay Lethal.

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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