ROH Chicago Ridge Caged Collision PPV Taping Report
Attendance (estimate): 900 | Recap by Dr. Keith Lipinski
Pre-show match: The Ring Side Review (Gavin Star & another dude in matching yellow tights, Keith Creme) vs. Erin Scott & Andrew Ridgeway. A minute in there was a “Yes we can” chant for Andy’s Obamaesque look. Michigan’s Ringside Review looked very sloppy at times with their double teams and mistimed spots. One of the ring side review guys got loopy from a nice lariat clothesline from Erin. His partner broke up the pinfall attempt and hit the roll of the dice for the pin at 4:34
Pre show main event: Derrick St Holmes ESQ (with “I think therefore I am” written on his tights) vs. Egotistico Fantastico both local guys (Ego is from Mexico City Illinois) received a huge reaction from the crowd. Derrick reminds me of a William Regal type, solid body and a rich astrocrat character. He jumped Ego pre-bell with an elbow. Ego came back and hit some punches in the corner when the punch landed St Holmes (esq) would kick his legs up like a can can dance. Good times. Holmes choked Ego on the ground and did some push ups to boot. Jawbreaker and european upper cut by St Holmes. Holmes tried again but caught in an Ego back slide for the pin in 3:35
The main show began at 745. A shaggy Dave Prazak started the fourth ppv taping in Chicago Ridge. Crowd was hot, therefore the now heelish announcer threw it to broadcast journalist Kyle Durgan in the locker room – which got a nice smattering of boos.
1. Three Way Dance: Kenny King vs. Silas Young vs. sugar foot Alex Payne. Again Chicago ridge loves its sugar foot. As Silas and Sugar foot shook hands (see honor isn’t dead) the brash Kenny King chose grabbed his nuts and didn’t shake and beat on both guys pre-bell. Some nice spots to start including Silas trying a drive only to skin the top rope and meet a Kenny King engizuri on the apron. King hit a glorious lariat on Silas for two. Sugar worked out of a king suplex to hit a crucifix for two. Sugar foot showed more confidence and fire here. Kenny king hit a running codebraker from the corner for two. Fun match. As Silas and King were exchanging blows and moves sugarfoot went to the top rope and hit a dropkick on both men. Sugarplex (fisherman suplex) on Silas for two. Kenny hit a beautiful TKO into a rock bottom on sugar foot for two. King did a Randy Savage like move where Silas neck was rammed into the top rope as King jumped out of the ring. This allowed sugar foot to hit a rana and roll up silas for the pin at 711. Good opener. King and sugar foot both impressed as sugar foot has gotten confidence and Kenny King is very good on several levels.
2. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Kevin Steen. Claudio got on the mic and was not allowed to get in a word thru “hey!” chants for two minutes. This might be the new greatest thing ever. He threw the mic at Bobby Cruise. Steen came out with the ROH world tag team title belt. Steen silenced the crowd and yelled “let me guess…hey!” He wanted Claudio to just say it.” That just sounds wrong. Some nice back and forth from both guys. Claudio has some blood on his sternum from Steen’s knife like Canadian chops. Claudio used the wayward ref to block Steen coming at him and hit a European uppercut and a bicycle kick. Claudio hit three backbreakers each of which got a “hey!” and then as the ref counted got another “hey!” chant every time the referee counted. In an impressive move, Claudio deadlifted the fat man and went for the big giant swing. But instead used a sharpshooter on Steen, rope break. Steen hot a tornado DDT and said Claudio should “get up you piece of Swiss cheese”. Steen tried cannonball senton off the top rope, Claudio had his knees up. Claduo hit the Alpamare Waterslide for two. Steen tried a superkick, which was blocked, Claudio tried a euro uppercut only for Steen hit the superkick and cannonball into the corner. Steen hit the sharpshooter only to have Super Agent Larry Sweeney distract Steen. Steen’s world tag team champion partner El Generico ran out to run Sweeney to the back. While the ref was distracted Claudio fouled Steen with a punt to the nuts and hit the Ricola Bomb for the pin at 9:05. After the match Claudio attempted to pilmanize Steen’s head but Steen recovered enough and Claudio used a member of the ring crew as a human shield to get to the back
3. Rhett Titus vs. Grizzly Redwood. Rhett has a fantastic gimmick and he came to the ring with a hotel keycard in his mouth. Grizzly Redwood has fantastic entrance music, complete with sound effects from the world of lumberjacking. Rhett attacked Grizzly pre bell as Grizzly was giving his log to the timekeeper. The smallish Griz hit various axe handles and then mimed a chainsaw with his hand to further chop Titus. He lost control of his chopping chainsaw hand in a funny moment. Titus who still had his bowtie on went to work on Americas favorite little lumberjack. Titus mocked Grizzly’s mimed chainsaw, however Grizzly used it against Titus. Rhett then pounded Griz head with his patented thrust. Griz took the suspenders down and shouted “that’s it!” Grizzly and Rhett worked on reversals and a sunset flip and a rollup and your winner in an upset of ROH students in 4:50 was Grizzly Redwood
4. Age of the Fall (Brodie lee & Delirious with Jimmy Jacobs) vs The Necro Butcher and Jerry Lynn. Jerry was sporting a nice black eye this evening. Match started fast on the outside then turned into a standard tag team match with Necro wrestled Delirious. Yes, that¡¦s right wrestling. Necro used an abdominal stretch on Delirious as big Brodie attempted to boot Necro out of the hold. Brodie and Necro were in with one another – big man war – it was neat with headbutts and punches. Jerry Lynn mocked Brodie in dance form and ran from the dirtbag trucker. Jacobs told Delirious to “quit goofing off.” Brodie hit the boot of death on Jerry for a two count. Brodie and Delirious make a good unit and did a nice job of running interference with the ref to keep Necro in the corner. Brodie tried another big boot in the corner with Lynn only to have Lynn duck and Brodie go over the top. The age of the fall team was keeping lynn away from a tag. Delirious hit a backslide on Lynn which made this the fifth straight match with a backslide. Tag to necro. Not so hot. Necro pounded on Brodie and hit a bulldog for two, then a rana from the middle rope on Brodie for two. Jerry hit a crossbody for two, Necro hit a guillotine leg drip off the apron onto Brodie Lee who’s head down across the table. In the meantime Delirious missed shadows over hell and got hit with the cradle piledriver by Jerry Lynn at 11:39 for the win. Afterwards, Jimmy Jacobs came into the ring “you have disappointed me for the last time”. Jimmy was going to use the chain he pulled out of his pants on Delirious. Delirious’ former crush Daizee Haze (who did NOT have a match tonight, regardless of a fan saying she had a great match tonight) came down with the spike and after a moment or two accidentally spiked Delirious while Jimmy Jacobs yelled at her to spike him, only to have him duck and hit Delirious. Jacobs grabbed Delirious and told Haze to stay away as she was crestfallen by her spiking action. Crowd seemed indifferent
Intermission time. Return to Chicago Ridge announced to be April 25.
5. Winner gets a world title shot whenever he wants; Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler black. Aries got on the microphone and talked about his feud with Mr. Jacobs “the self scarifcing oh my god moments” and his Double A manifesto. He called himself “the A-Star” and said now he’s here the show can begin. Jacobs out-he and Aries gave each other awkward looks and glances-given their huge feud in 2008. Danielson and Tyler came out together as a unit. Danielson got on the mic before the match. “Between the three of you there is tension.” He wasn’t sure he could trust Tyler, the situation the three men were in and how important the ROH World Title was to him, and he called for the tag match to be a four way. Danielson and Jacobs started started off the match, Jacobs went to tag Aries with his hand out and nicely chopped him into the match. Aries and Danielson did some more mat work, Aries attempted to tag Jimmy only for jimmy to duck his tag. After an impressive series by Danielson, Aries tagged in Tyler and yelled “you’re legal now”. Jacobs came back in and beat on Tyler, Tyler came back then Jimmy tagged Aries while Aries was distracted (probably thinking about more old school heel moves or mustache wax). Danielson teased a dive to the outside only to have Jimmy stop him by tossing him off the top rope. Aries and Jacobs worked over on Danielson together. Jacobs found the time to blow a kiss at Tyler, which made Tyler angry. Tyler came back in and was a house of fire on both Jacobs and Aries, hitting a springboard clothesline on Jacobs to get into the ring. Danielson came back and hit a dropkick on Tyler and huge moves on everyone. Cattle mutilation on Tyler was reversed into a suplex for two. Back suplex off the top by Danielson on Tyler. Jacobs attempted a contra code on Tyler but was tossed outside, while Jacobs and Tyler faught on the outside, Aries did his fast ass tope and accidentally hit Jacobs. Tyler hit flip to outside on the two former adversaries. Danielson dove into crowd on all three guys. Then big Bison Smith attacked Danielson in the crowd (did Danielson dive on Smith’s seat?). He then picked up Danielson and lifted him up only to powerbomb Dragon on the floor super hard. It was quite the visual. Aries hit a hot shot on Tyler, Tyler came back and attempted to powerbomb Aries, only to have Jimmy leap over Aries and hit the end game on Tyler. As Tyler and Jimmy and Aries faught in the ring, Danielson still dead outside. In a nice near fall, Jacobs hit the spear while Aries used the Horns of Aries on both guys for the near fall. Aries put Tyler upside down into the corner and Jacobs did the old Jacobs & Black double team dropkick into the corner. Jimmy and Aries argued about something. Jimmy accidentally hit spear on Aries as he was trying to hit Tyler which allowed Tyler to roll up Jacobs for the win at 19:51. Very good match. Not fantastic but very good, crowd was hot for a lot of it. Afterwards four guys carried off Danielson away as Aries and Jacobs made eyes at each other
6. ROH World Title Match: El Generico vs. Nigel McGuinness. These two had two fantastic matches in ROH last year, could they pull off the hat trick on PPV? McGuinness came to the ring with his right shoulder and hand taped up and seems leaner then before. Continuing the trend Nigel attacked Generico pre bell and whiffed Generico’s hand into the ringpost. Nigel hit a tower of London on the apron on the floor. As Generico was to be counted out, his tag team partner Kevin Steen came out not to assist but yell Generico up and back to the ring. Generico selling the right arm. Nigel punched him hard in the chest. Crowd was quiet for a lot of the match. Generico made a comeback and attempted to run the ropes for a dive but Nigel caught his legs took him outside and rammed him into the board. Generico rammed him back into the board and attempted an “ole” in the corner ¡V but Nigel ducked and punted him face first into the boards for another good near countout. Nigel used his arm submission but Generico was near the ropes. More working on Generico’s arm with more submissions, Nigel was so awesome hear just beating on his arm and bending it in painful ways. He was a beast on poor injured Generico. Generico got some offense and attempted a tornado DDT but Nigel just got his arm and twisted it viciously. It was neat. They traded elbows. Rana from Generico which lead to a dive to the outside. Generico did a springboard cross body to the outside but only one leg hit the tope rope and it could have been awful but thankfully was not. Generico hit a modified mich driver for a nearfall. Yakuza attempt in the corner, Nigel ducked and hit Generico with a huge kick to the back as Generico was upside down and a lariat to boot, tower of London in the ring. Nigel set up Generico on the top rope mid ring for another lariat but Generico blocked it with a boot. Nigel came back and hit another tower of London off the top rope outside the ring as Generico hit the apron and went to the outside. Countout? Nigel whipped Generico into the boards at 17. Generico dove into the ring at 19 to the hugest ovation of the night at that point. A Generico brainbuster for two, Generico finally hit the yakuza into corner. Generico, attempted a brainbuster off the top turnbuckle. Nigel wasn’t getting up for this. He counted it and got Generico off the top rope. He got the arm submission in middle of the ring, Generico went for ropes. Nigel pulled him back and got the submission victory in 17:06. Good match with some great drama. Not on par with their previous matches in ROH last year. Nigel looked awesome here playing a total prick world champ and working on the arm. Then, Tyler Black came back out and said he could exercise his title shot he won tonight at any time. “What better time to do this, but tonight, on PPV. What better place to do this, but Chicago.” It appeared we would see Nigel vs. Tyler for the ROH championship tonight. Unfortunately, Jimmy Jacobs and Austin Aries attacked Tyler on the ramp as Austin yelled into the mic about Tyler receiving his shot “Never!” Nigel was yelling “Get me out of here.” Jerry Lynn and Necro Butcher came down to run off Jacobs and Aries as Nigel escaped thru the crowd. Fans were not happy with not getting the title shot tonight, but this was a nice tease to show Nigel’s fear of Tyler and how Tyler can use his shot at any time
Intermission to set up the cage
7. Five on five Cage Collision-Steel Cage Warfare: Sweet N Sour Inc (Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards, Tank Tolland, Adam Pearce, Bobby Dempsey) vs. Brent Albright, Ace Steel, Erick Stevens, Roderick Strong, Jay Briscoe; Davey Richards was the first man in for S&S and Roddy was the first for the other team. Sweeney seconed Davey which was sad as I was hoping to see a bloody Sweeney participate in the match. Davey (who has improved greatly in the last year) and Strong tore into each other. Strong hit a firemans carry and put Davey head first into the cage. Three minutes into the match, S&S won the pre-match coin flip which allowed them to have the third man into the cage. The man was former Dick, Tank Tolland. No reaction. He came in and did jumping jack stomps on Roderick Strong. I wasn’t sure if guys were coming in a minute or two later, but them 30 seconds went by and the countdown started for the next man into the match. Confusing. Ace Steel was the next man into the match as he went to work on both members of S&S driving them into the cage and hitting stereo dropkicks into the cage with Strong on both guys. Another minute countdown music but no one came into the ring. The guys fought into the corners on the top ripe. Jay Briscoe came down but was jumped by Sara Del Ray and the other American wolf Eddie Edwards (#5) who had a chair, they beat on Briscoe and his knee (maybe in honor of his brother who wasn’t in Chicago tonight as he was healing up after knee music). Edwards entered the ring with a steel chair and went to work on both Strong and Steel. More countdown music, Bobby Dempsey came down got in the ring and went to work after a minute on Ace Steel with tentative punches. Strong was lacerated as Briscoe laid prone on the outside and was taken to the back. Erick Stevens in next. He worked on everyone in S&S. Larry was yelling at Bobby Dempsey to do something as Stevens was throwing people left and right into the cage. Adam Pearce was a surprise as he was the final member of S&S. He was thrown into the cage right as he entered the cage by Stong right away and started bleeding. Edwards also cut open. Albright was the final man in. A bloody Strong hit everyone in S&S with chairshots. Davey and Edwards were thrown out of the cage door savagely by Steel and Stevens. Albright went up top but was stopped by Pearce, who was alone in the cage with all of the face team and Bobby Dempsey who just stood in the corner. Pearce was powerbombed off the top rope by Albright. Fight went outside. Bobby Dempsey was left alone in the ring. Strong hit a beautiful mafia kick on the outside on Edwards and broke a plastic chair over his head. Jay Briscoe came out with his knee taped up and attacked Dempsey and threw him into the cage busting him open. Jay went up top of the cage and hit a huge dive onto everyone on the floor which got the ovation of the night (so far). Dempsey was alone in the ring bloody. Pearce was thrown back into the ring as Albright and Steel picked him apart. Everyone hit their moves on Pearce. Strong hit a beautiful backbreaker then Brent Albright hit a half nelson German suplex on Pearce for the pin at 17:24. Sweeney came into the ring and spit at Dempsey and Dempsey finally hit Sweeney. The faces took turns putting Sweeney into the cage Strong chopped Dempsey and Dempsey hulked up breaking out of his shirt and hitting a cannonball into the corner and a death valley driver on a bloody Sweeney. Strong got on the mic and said tonight’s not about us “it’s about Bobby Dempsey becoming a man!” Huge ovation and Bobby Dempsey chants. Nice finish to a good show. Match was confusing at times but told a good story and the ovation for bobby Dempsey after a year of Sweeney abuse was quite grand