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ROH WRESTLING DVD REVIEWS

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*** Official OWW.com ROH DVD Reviews by Brad Dykens ***
April 13, 2007 - THIS MEANS WAR II - Long Island, NY

The first show entitled "This Means War" took place on October 29, 2005 and featured an epic ROH World title match between "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson and Roderick Strong. Ring of Honor has come a long way since then, Dragon lost the ROH World title to Homicide and Roderick Strong had an attitude adjustment and formed super heel faction known as the No Remorse Corps. This time around the War covered more ground as Strong's NRC group took on Austin Aries' faction known as The Resilience in a Six-Man Elimination match.

I just realized Daizee Haze cuts a deceivingly great interview when she is really passionate about something. The Haze opened the show with a taped promo talking about her feud with Lacey, but tonight she would be facing one of the best female wrestlers in the world - Sara Del Rey.

Kevin Steen vs. Pelle Primeau: The opening contest was a squash match featuring Canadian-based wrestler "Mr. Wrestling" Kevin Steen turning young Pelle Primeau into his own personal barbie-doll. It lasted a little bit longer than your typical quash match but it didn't take long for Steen to finish Primeau off with this infamous Package Pile-driver ( 3.5 / 10 ).

Daizee Haze vs. Sara Del Rey: The SHIMMER special attraction match included two of the world's top women wrestlers in Daizee Haze and my personal favorite ladies grappler Sara Del Rey. Having these matches on ROH DVDs is the best kind of advertising SHIMMER can get because the quality of wrestling truly is the best anywhere in North America. Daizee Haze managed to hand Del Rey a rare loss on her way to picking up a very impressive victory ( 7 / 10 ). Del Rey sort of snapped after the match and aggressively protested the finish handed down by the referee. Looks like my little Death Rey will be going heel on us in the near future.

Four-Corner Survival - El Generico vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Jason Blade vs. Erick Stevens: Somebody told Eddie Edwards that he was a "white Elijah Burke" before the match which got a chuckle out of me. If you do not get pumped up by El Generico's entrance then you need to check your pulse to see if you are dead. Jason Blade has been around ROH part-time for a long time now and has done absolutely jack squat. Eddie Edwards has made several appearances and I believe there should be a better spot for him in Ring of Honor some day. Erick Stevens hit Jason Blade with a spectacular Release German-suplex off the second rope dropping Blade directly on El Generico's face (OUCH!). Stevens followed up with a Doctor-bomb on Jason Blade and scored the pin to continue his fast ascent up the ladder of success and solidified his status with the fans with yet another remarkable victory ( 7 / 10 ). At least he had to work more than 90 seconds for this one!

Austin Aries, who thankfully shaved the TNA gimmick off his face, came out and praised all four wrestlers with handshakes. Aries then dismissed everybody except Erick Stevens. Aries cut a promo about getting knocked down but always getting back up, and that is why he was naming his faction "The Resilience." Aries then invited Erick Stevens to join The Resilience and partner up with he and Matt Cross against the No Remorse Corps later tonight. Roderick Strong (Erick Stevens' trainer) came out and gave Stevens one opportunity to change his mind. Davey Richards and Rocky Romero attacked from behind for a huge brawl which also included "Iron" Matt Cross.

"Classic" Colt Cabana vs. Delirious: Apparently word had gotten out that Colt Cabana had signed with WWE because he was greeted with chants of "Please Don't Go!" and "Thank You, Colt!" - Whenever Delirious and Cabana square off you better come prepared to laugh your arse off. The masters of the comedy match took the concept to an all-new level when Cabana went under the ring and found an old Curry Man mask and put it over his head. Delirious was dazed and confused by this and said "Screw This!" and retreated under the ring. Cabana followed him under the ring and Delirious resurfaced wearing the Curry Man mask, while Cabana emerged from under the ring wearing a Delirious mask. This REALLY messed with Delirious's head as he couldn't figure out what was going on. Eventually they got rid of the masks and continued to wrestle, bringing referee Todd Sinclair into the act. This was the equivalent of a midget's match in the 80s. Delirious had his arm raised in victory ( 7.5 / 10 ). Cabana received a standing ovation after the match and did a farewell lap around the ring to say good-bye to the Long Island fans as they chanted "We Will Miss You!"

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Jay Briscoe: Claudio "HEY!" Castagnoli took on one-half of the ROH World Tag Team champions, Jay Briscoe. Younger brother Mark was there but could not get doctor's clearance after suffering a severe concussion on a brutally botched shooting star press two weeks before in Detroit. I'd really like to know what happened to Claudio Castagnoli that caused him to lose his WWE developmental contract. Both men fought really hard but it would Double C who left Long Island with the much needed victory ( 7.5 / 10 ). After the match, Claudio Castagnoli said that he thinks he deserves a title shot with a partner of his choice. Mark Briscoe said Claudio was a tough customer, and whenever he (Mark) is cleared to wrestle Claudio get a title shot. Kevin Steen and El Generico hit the ring and said if anybody deserves a title shot it's them. Mark granted Steen and Generico a title shot as well, but made the mistake of calling Steen "tubby." Steen punched Mark in the back of the head and big brother Jay came to his rescue. El Generico did not approve of his partner's actions.

Homicide w/Julius Smokes vs. Brent Albright: Homicide continued his feud with the "Gun for Hire" Brent Albright. I don't think anybody has ever lost the amount of steam that Homicide has lost in the last four months since winning the ROH World title at December's Final Battle '06 and losing it in February at Fifth Year Festival: Philly. This was the mass hysteria match of the night as they spent the first part of the match anywhere but inside the ring. Brent Albright used a Half-Nelson Suplex to finish off Homicide ( 6 / 10 ). After the match, Shane Hagadorn attacked the fallen Homicide until Julius Smokes stepped in and showed that he really can fight! Homicide got up and was assisted by Julius Smokes in giving Hagadorn a Spike Pile-driver!

During intermission, the bubbly Becky Bayless interviewed Sweet & Sour Inc's Larry Sweeney, Chris Hero and fitness guru Tank Toland. Larry Sweeney bragged about being a super-agent, and taking Chris Hero's career to the main event level.

Jack Evans vs. Shingo: These two ROH/Dragon Gate wrestlers went at it tooth and nail. Jack Evans is an American wrestler who splits his time between ROH and Dragon Gate, and Shingo is a Japanese wrestler who splits his time between Dragon Gate and ROH. Jack Evans used his home-turf to his advantage and walked away with a nice victory over Shingo ( 6.5 / 10 ). They teased bitterness after the match but both wrestlers shook hands and hugged in the middle of the ring.

Six-Man Elimination Match - The Resilience (Austin Aries & Matt Cross & Erick Stevens) vs. The No Remorse Corps (Roderick Strong & Davey Richards & Rocky Romero): Faction WARFARE is taking over the Ring of Honor; I guess you could say Roderick Strong cast the first stone when he turned on his long time friend and Generation Next partner Austin Aries back in February. Roderick Strong almost immediately built his army while Austin Aries had to deal with some unfortunate TNA politics. Aries escaped from TNA and returned home to ROH, where he began to build his own army to go up against Roderick's No Remorse Corps. Aries recruited "Iron" Matt Cross and Erick Stevens, and The Resilience was born. This would mark the first of many meetings on the battle field for these two rival factions. Roderick Strong eliminated Erick Stevens after a Gibson-driver. Davey Richards eliminated Matt Cross. Rocky Romero eliminated Austin Aries. A shocking clean sweep for the No Remorse Corps ( 8 / 10 ).

Main Event - Takeshi Morishima & Chris Hero vs. Nigel McGuinness & Doug Williams: Takeshi Morishima returned to Ring of Honor with the ROH World title after a brief hiatus to team up with an unlikely partner in Chris Hero, taking on the #1 contender Nigel McGuinness and his hand-picked partner Doug Williams from the UK. Fans who were on the ROH bandwagon during its first year of existence will remember Doug Williams as a very integral part of the company's initial development, so it was great to see him back in an ROH ring. In fact, Doug Williams was involved in the 4-WAY Iron Man match to crown the first ever Ring of Honor Champion at "Crowning a Champion" on July 27, 2002. After a long match, Doug Williams shoved Chris Hero into Takeshi Morishima, and Nigel McGuinness speared Hero to the mat for the 1-2-3 ( 7.5 / 10 ). Good action-packed match with a finish meant to hype the McGuinness vs. Morishima taking place the following night.

Final Thoughts: This was a hot show for Ring of Honor, but by ROH standards it was probably below-average. Lots of good stuff included in this show, but I think the show that followed this one is the one to look out for. Some of you may call me a total ROH mark that has nothing bad to say about the product, but believe me I try really hard to find negative things to say about ROH. There isn't a doubt in my mind that any wrestling fan could get hooked on ROH if they were able to view the product regularly. Unfortunately with about four DVD's released each month, it's hard for the average fan to keep up with everything that is going on. So I encourage you to stay up-to-date by reading the OWW results archive, my exclusive DVD reviews, and check out the Ring of Honor website too.

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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