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ROH WRESTLING DVD REVIEWS

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*** Official OWW.com ROH DVD Reviews by Brad Dykens ***
June 23, 2006 - THROWDOWN - Detroit, MI

Top of Class trophy winner Shane Hagadorn was given the opportunity to choose his own tag team partner to go up against the team of Jake and David Crist, collectively known as Irish Airborne. Hagadorn was encouraged to pick from all the other ROH graduates but instead opted to pick a thick monster of a man named Keith Walker. I had never heard of him but Dave Prazak explained on commentary that he has worked for Harley Race's WLW as well as Pro-Wrestling NOAH in Japan, so he has some good experience. Unfortunately, he didn't impress me - but the focus of the match wasn't on him anyway. Irish Airborne has really grown as a team and are really quite amazing considering their youth. Their timing and explosiveness are really good and I couldn't help but imagine a future meeting between them and the Briscoe brothers ( 6 / 10 ).

Nigel McGuinness successfully defended his ROH Pure Championship against "CK3" Conrad Kennedy III, a veteran of the Michigan independent wrestling circuit. They were both very evenly matched and showcased their wrestling skills for the very appreciative and loud ROH audience. CK3 got his lumps in but it was a relatively easy victory for the Pure Champion, who won after his patented Tower of London finisher ( 6.5 / 10 ). It looks like they are continueing to slowly turn Nigel into a babyface while building him up for a big showdown with ROH Champion American Dragon.

The Briscoes are once again climbing the ladder in the tag team division, having failed to capture Tag gold on two separate opportunities. They had their hands full but managed to defeat the team of Colt Cabana and Crazy Ace Steel ( 7 / 10 ). Jay Briscoe got on the microphone after the match and told Austin Aries and Roderick Strong that it was "time to man up" -- this is basically the Briscoe motto now. ROH is definitely cooking with Briscoe. (Get it? Cooking with CRISCO ---- GONG!!!)

Four Corner Survival featured Jimmy Rave, Davey Richards, Delirious and Samoa Joe. There was some added tension between Jimmy Rave and Davey Richards after Richards defeated Rave on the last two ROH shows. Delirious and Samoa Joe have both developed their own separate cult following. The atmosphere in ROH is always at a constant fever pitch and just about every wrestler from top to bottom is over with the fans in some way or another. More so than ever, anybody in this match could have come out as the winner, but it was Delirious who walked away with his arm raised ( 8 / 10 ).

It was a "Falls Count Anywhere" match that took place after intermission and it was a major CZW vs ROH battle between the Necro Butcher and Adam Pearce. They brawled all throughout the crowd putting a lot of fans in danger with a few dozen chair spots. Sometimes I'm really surprised more fans don't get hurt at these ROH shows but what can I say, they are HARDCORE! There was no decisive finish to the match as Claudio Castagnoli interfered and caused the DQ. The match itself lacked anything that resembled a wrestling move but it was an intense battle that furthered the inter-promotional war ( 7 / 10 ).

Homicide ran to the ring to save Adam Pearce from a 2-on-1 beat-down and got his match with Claudio Castagnoli started a little early. There was no break between matches, and no introductions, they just went from one match into the other without missing a beat. Homicide won the battle after a stiff Lariat ( 7.5 / 10 ). The war between CZW and ROH has come to a simmer lately, which is undoubtedly meant to be the "calm before the storm." The "storm" being Death Before Dishonor next month featuring a Cage of Death match that will settle the feud once and for all.

At "In Your Face" B.J. Whitmer and Jimmy Jacobs put their bodies on the line when they performed a dangerous spot which included Whitmer power-bombing Jacobs off the top rope into the crowd. It made for a very interesting dynamic when American Dragon defended his ROH World title against both B.J. Whitmer and Jimmy Jacobs in a 3-WAY Elimination match. There was even one brief moment where Whitmer and Jacobs started working together and hit Dragon with their old tag team finisher. Whitmer was the first to be eliminated, and Jacobs came insanely close to defeating American Dragon for the ROH belt - but in the end Dragon pulled out another victory and kept his championship ( 8 / 10 ).

The main event featured one of ROH's most valuable players in Roderick Strong taking on the man from Japan, KENTA. Both men are known for their painful striking abilities as well as their expertise in submission wrestling. I would not want to be either of these guys crawling out of bed the next morning -- or in 30 years for that matter. There was a portion of this match where KENTA was so dominant that he made Strong look like a half-conscious jobber, but Strong fought back and gave KENTA the exact same treatment. KENTA won with the Go-To-Sleep, one of the coolest finishing moves I've ever seen ( 9 / 10 ). The Briscoe Brothers attacked Roderick Strong after the match but KENTA made the save and chased the Briscoe's away.

Final Thoughts: Solid show filled with solid performances. I've come to expect nothing less from ROH and I'm never disappointed. 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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