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ROH WRESTLING DVD REVIEWS

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*** Official OWW.com ROH DVD Reviews by Brad Dykens ***
August 4, 2006 - TIME TO MAN UP - Long Island, New York

Lacey was looking better than ever in a pre-show segment where cameras caught her giggling on her cell phone -- as soon as she saw the camera pointed at her she hung up and took a hissy fit. All I have to say about this is, "Lacey, call me back!"

Ring of Honor was back in Long Island for "Time To Man Up," a show dedicated to the rise of Briscoe Brothers. ROH World Champion American Dragon was jerking the curtin on this night, facing the ever-flexible Jack Evans in a Non-title match to open the show. Evans couldn't understand why Dragon wouldn't put up the ROH World title, and concluded that Dragon was obviously afraid of him. It was a great match, which I'd like to see again sometime in the future, possibly higher on the card. Jack Evans lost the bout, but managed to earn the respect of American Dragon ( 7.5 / 10 ).

Allison Danger's new team of Christopher Daniels and Matt Sydal began their ascent up the ladder of the tag team division with a victory of the young Irish Airborne team ( 7 / 10 ). The atmosphere was very electric with these two big-time fan favorites. I don't think Irish Airborne will be very successful in ROH unless they turn heel at some point.

Nigel McGuinness cut a promo saying American Dragon might be the #1 Contender for the Pure title, but he (McGuinness) is the #1 Contender to the ROH World title -- as the inch closer the showdown between ROH's two singles champions! Nigel proposed they have a unification match!

Colt Cabana came out for his match with Claudio Castagnoli and was willing to give Castagnoli the benefit of the doubt and agreed to have a good old fashioned wrestling match. Contrary to mass suspicion, Claudio kept his word and it was a fair battle from bell to bell with Colt Cabana having his hand raised in the end ( 7 / 10 ). Great stuff here, really entertaining. You can tell Castagnoli is sort of in limbo here and he's getting ready to change the direction of his character in Ring of Honor for the better.

ROH presented "Ultimate Endurance," specifically designed for the tag team division. For those who are unfamiliar, the Ultimate Endurance is like ROH's version of WWE's Tag Team Turmoil match, except it's an even playing field. It is a grueling competition between four tag teams consisting of three stages, each ending with an elimination until only one team remains. The teams selected were The Embassy's Jimmy Rave and Sal Rinauro, Adam Pearce and B.J. Whitmer, The Rottweiler's Homicide and Ricky Reyes, with Austin Aries and Roderick Strong rounding out the pack. The first match was a four way fast-paced Tag Scramble match which ended with the elimination of The Embassy. Prince Nana was back in the corner of The Embassy and has his usual altercations with Rottweiler Julius Smokes. The next stage was fought under tap-out rules, which ended with the elimination of Adam Pearce and B.J. Whitmer. Adam Pearce was apparently more worried about taking out Homicide as he ended up getting his team disqualified -- something that didn't make B.J. Whitmer very happy. The third and final stage of the match was a straight tag team match to a finish with the ROH World Tag Team titles on the line. Austin Aries and Roderick Strong came out on top, like they have so many times in the past, and retained their championships against Homicide and Rickey Reyes ( 6.5 / 10 ). The finish came when Steve Corino showed up and knocked Homicide out with a roll of quarters and caused Homicide to lose. The first two stages were sub-par but the Aries/Strong vs Homicide/Reyes portion was really intense, and the return of Steve Corino was extremely unexpected!

After the intermission, Steve Corino showed his face again and attacked an ROH student preparing for a dark match. Corino went into heel-mode and insulted the fans and said Jim Cornette called him and told him Homicide was calling him out. Homicide showed up to attack Corino, only to get blind-sided by Adam Pearce and fell victim to a double team. B.J. Whitmer ran down and tried to talk some sense into Adam Pearce. Homicide got up and knocked out Adam Pearce with a chain and then brawled with Steve Corino for several brief minutes. This set up a tag team match for the following night.

Standing side-by-side, it doesn't get any more different than ROH Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness and the lizard-man Delirious, but I absolutely LOVE to watch them wrestle each other. They have amazing chemistry together in the ring; There was one brief moment where it looked like McGuinness was going to tap out but he gutted it out and broke the hold! Nigel sent a message to American Dragon by using his Cattle Mutilation submission hold to put away Delirious and retain the Pure championship ( 8.5 / 10 ).

Lacey cut a quick promo telling Jimmy Jacobs (who she sent home as punishment) that singing her songs won't win her over, but suggested he start winning matches for Lacey's Angels.

It was time for the Briscoe brothers to man up and prove that they are worthy of having an entire DVD named after them. They indeed stepped up to the plate and had a match of the year contender with KENTA and Davey Richards. It started out slow but had an steady increase in pace and culminated in an explosive finish that brought the fans to their feet. It took a spike Jay-driller to finish off Davey Richards for the win ( 9 / 10 ). Davey Richards is clearly the break-out star of 2006 and KENTA is one of the MVP's. The Briscoe Brothers proved once again that they are one of the top tag teams in the World.

The main event featured two of ROH's greatest all-time wrestlers in Samoa Joe and A.J. Styles. Both men have become franchise players for Total Nonstop Action, but their roots are firmly planted in Ring of Honor. Their 20-minute battle was billed as the final match for Styles in ROH and was as epic as any match in company history. Samoa Joe won what I would consider an extremely short match against one of his greatest opponents ( 9 / 10 ). Joe now looks ahead to the "Fight of the Century" with American Dragon the next night. The DVD concluded with a great video package honoring A.J. Styles' contributions to Ring of Honor.

Final Thoughts: If your parents, grandparents, or friends grew up as wrestling fans and were turned off by the garbage on TV today, I suggest you buy this DVD and watch it with them. The final two matches especially will make them feel like a kid again. I can't tell you how many ROH shows I have watched and wished my grandfather was still alive so I could share it with him.

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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