Just got back from the hot RoH show at the Michigan State Fairgrounds. Fantastic show. If this is the pace that RoH is going to run at for all three shows, then they are going to have one hell of a weekend.

First I paid five bucks to park (what a gyp) and then I spent some time in the parking lot, getting into the proper frame of mind for the show. Once I got inside I found the seating arrangement still sucks as I had seat number twenty in a row that looked like it could hold about twelve chairs. But I paid for my front row seat, so I flashed my ticket, pulled a chair up to the rail, and got comfortable. I’m glad to say that I sat in the rabid RoH fan corner, with crazy fans screaming, yelling, and pounding on the boards on the left and right of me. The atmosphere was fantastic. My hand is numb from all of the ridiculous pounding on the ringside signs.

Pre-show Gabe was pacing around the "Michigan Mart" looking pretty stressed out. But the crowd was hot and he has to be happy with how tonight went down.

The Shimmer girls were in the ring when I sat down and I had a hard time concentrating because I was sitting right in the corner, staring up at woman with a fine ass standing on the ring apron. The match was apparently Lacey & Tiana Ringer vs. Allison Danger & Shantelle Taylor. I recognized Lacey and Allison, but the other two were new to me. The match was better than your standard girl on girl action. I wish I could have paid more attention, but as I said, I was distracted. One of the blond girls (Tiana?) scored a three count with a leaping DDT. We told Allison that we love her anyway, even though she can’t seem to score a victory.

Colt Cabana came out (sans intro or music) right at the top of the show to a huge "Colt Cabana" chant. He said he wanted to get the fight with Homicide over right away. So The Notorious 187 came out with Julius Smokes and they got it on. They brawled all over the building and finally back into the ring. Cabana pulled a ladder out from under the ring but he ended up getting trapped in it by ‘Cide. Homicide used a chair to smash Cabana inside the ladder and then dragged a lifeless Colt out of the carnage and covered him for three. Cabana sold death while Julius and Homicide celebrated. Gabe came out to check on Colt who was helped to the back.

Next was one of two "special attraction matches" as Chad Collyer came out (sans Mohawk to the disappointment of the crowd). Ricky Reyes was introduced and Julius came back out. Reyes took some abuse from the crowd : "Get that fake Low-Ki out of here" but he and Chad put on a pretty decent match. Collyer got the cloverleaf, but Ricky escaped and then found the Dragon Sleeper and the tap out.

Jimmy Jacobs is next and he won’t "huss", much to the disappointment of his home town crowd. Lacey is with him and has a nasty looking bruise on her thigh (from the earlier match perhaps). Very attractive. BJ comes out and these two tore the f’n house down with a stiff match where BJ just beat the hell out of Jimmy, who just would not die. They did a "botched" spot off the top rope where BJ had Jimmy set up for a top rope powerbomb, but fell back off of the turnbuckle and both guys crashed to the floor. Jimmy took a nasty head and neck bump on the ropes on his way down, while BJ crashed straight to the floor. It looked ugly as hell and the fans bought into the idea that both guys could be hurt. They erupted when they rolled back in the ring and Jimmy kicked out of a cover. They went back and forth for a while with Jimmy getting destroyed but refusing to lay down. Jimmy got the Paul London "please don’t die" chant, but BJ hit a top rope exploder and scored the three count.

After the match the fans wanted Jimmy to shake BJ’s hand, but Lacey told him not to. The fans booed Jimmy for not accepting the handshake, but if you had the option of shaking BJ Whitmer’s hand and spending the night alone, or refusing and staying in Lacy’s "good graces", what would you do? That’s what I thought. Winner or not, Jimmy Jacobs is a smart man.

It looked like BJ might have tweaked his ankle bad on the "botched" spot, as he limped around and pulled his boot off. Gabe came out once again to check on him, but quickly disappeared. Post match BJ cut a promo on the CZW guys challenging them to come out and fight but they were no where to be found.

Jimmy Yang vs. Ryo Saito was next. They had a pretty decent match complete with a Tiger Mask somersault kick in the corner, and a Yang-time from Jimmy. Ryo was over big with the crowd and got a loud "Dragon’s Gate" chant. Ryo scored the win here to put the Dragon’s Gate guys up one in the series and the crowd gave both guys a polite ovation. Not incredible, but nice and solid.

Right around here I started to really get caught up in the incredible atmosphere and I forgot all about taking notes, so please forgive me if my memory is a bit hazy. I can tell you that the Detroit crowd was way into the show. If they have a crowd like this in Chicago, it’s going to be insanity.

The Embassy is out next and I passed out a bunch of TP so we could welcome Jimmy Rave to Detroit proper. A number of fans came prepared as I did, and Rave and Shelly went ballistic in the TP shower, flailing around and hurling TP back into the crowd.

Bryan Danileson and Delirious are out next and both are over big. Delirious channels George Steele and gets distracted eating some of the streamers that are thrown for Danielson. Hometown boy Alex Shelly must have his entire family in the crowd as they are surprisingly unified behind him. Lots of "Alex Shelly" chants from the same people who are alternately chanting "Die Jimmy Die". Shelly has good new "tights" as it seems he is now renting out advertising space on his ass (www.hidacatch.com). Brilliant.

Daziee Haze tried a springboard move off the back of Nana onto Delirious but botched it badly and earned the one and only "you fucked up" chant of the night. Nana did not seem happy (that’s what happens when you let them wander around without a leash). Delirious and Danielson use competing airplane spins on Shelly and Rave, but predictably the Embassy boys come back to score the pin fall over Delirious. Danielson stormed off disgusted with his partner while Nana jumped up and down and told us that the Embassy was going to "party all night in Detroit".

Next there was a brief intermission. They announced a return date for the next show in Detroit (sometime in June) and promised that KENTA would be at the show. I went outside to smoke and have a drink. I bumped into Nana in the parking lot walking his bags to his car. I gave him a hand naturally. For the record, the Crown Prince on Ghana tipped me…… nothing. Cheap bastard. Looked like he was heading out to Chi-town right away. So much for partying all night in Detroit.

Post intermission there was another special attraction match with Shane Hagadorn and the always popular Claudio Castagnoli (hey!). Castagnoli dominated the RoH school graduate with many variations of the European uppercut. Claudio was over HUGE once again in Detroit. I can’t say that I understand exactly why, but …….. why fight it? HEY!

Post match Chris Hero and Necro Butcher hit the ring and starting ranting on the mic. Hero got a huge "shut the fuck up" chant that made it difficult to understand what he was saying, but we didn’t care. He claimed that Castagnoli was his discovery and then cried about how his "friend" Claudio has turned his back on him. Hero gave him one more shot to join the CZW army by joining him and Necro in beating on poor Shane Hagadorn. Claudio teased a CZW turn but then lit into hero and Butcher much to the delight of the crowd.

Next was AJ Styles (HUGE pop) & Matt Sydal vs. Dragon Kid & Genki Horiguchi. The Dragon’s Gate guys got another good reception here as the crowd chanted "Dragon Kid" at the Ultimo Dragon look alike, but they didn’t seem to know who the other guy was.

This was an awesome match that had the crowd standing on their feet. AJ and Matt seemed to have a number of obvious "communication problems" through out the match. I had a brief debate with the guys sitting around me as to whether this was AJ or his "little brother’s" fault (I blame AJ, he’s suckering that poor kid in for a big heel turn, that sanctimonious bastard, you heard it here first). The end came off of multiple counters back and forth ending when AJ hit the Styles Clash out of nowhere on Horiguchi and scored the three count. Incredible match punctuated by a loud "that was awesome" chant.

The guys sitting/standing next to me, who were sweating bullets and rapidly losing their voices, talked about how much better this show was then the TNA show they had gone to see just recently. They didn’t even bother to compare it to the recent local WWE snooze-fest.

Huge match next with "Blood Generation" of CIMA, Naruki Doi, & Masato Yoshino taking on Generation Next of Austin Aries, Roderick Strong & Jack Evans (sporting a black eye). Both teams were over big and the Dragon’s Gate guys seemed to be enjoying how much the fans in Detroit were into them. Lots of dueling chants back and forth. I was surprised at how much support the Dragon’s Gate guys had considering the over whelming popularity of the GenNext guys. Jack was over big as the crowd erupted into a "Jack" chant, and then followed it with the classic "you got served" chant following Jack’s break dancing. Crowd popped big for all Jack’s crazy aerial shit, all of Roderick’s chops and Austin Aries who reminds the guy sitting next to me of a "young Randy Savage".

This match was also off the charts. Fans were standing about half way though and never sat down again. Lots of "this is awesome" chants as these guys put on a clinic in the trios match. It was supposed to be under "dragon’s Gate" rules (no tag needed) but the ref enforced standard rules anyway which infuriated the guys sitting around me.

This one went back and forth with a fantastic number of false finishes and near falls. Late in the match Jack missed the "Phoenix Splash Skipping a Generation". He landed on his feet but got picked up and put down with an Emerald Fusion that looked like it could have killed him. The crowd counted to three along with the ref and the Dragon’s Gate guys went up 2 to 1 to win the series. The crowd came unglued and chanted "that was awesome" - "Dragon’s Gate" - and finally "R.O.H."

Main event time and the guy sitting next to me and I realized that our short lived friendship was over as he confessed that he had come to see Joe, while I had paid my hard earned money to see The Fallen Angel Christopher Daniels.

Joe was over big as was Chris who naturally had Allison Danger with him. Huge pops for both guys on just about every move. In my section there was a nearly perpetual dueling "Let’s go Joe/Fallen Angle" chant that went on for the entire length of this match. The commitment was impressive to say the least.

The match was good but was made into an incredible match by the absolutely electric crowd reaction. Joe plopped Daniels down in a chair right in front of us. I tried to tell Chris that he should move but he didn’t listen and Joe kicked his face, and the ringside sign into oblivion with the "Ole–Ole Kick".

With nothing left to pound on, we had to borrow space on the sign next to us in order to continue making a racket for the remainder of the match. Joe countered a Last Rights attempt into a choke and half the crowd chanted "Tap" while the rest of us chanted "please don’t tap". Daniels hit a reversal into a beautiful Angle’s Wings (which was the move he used to beat Joe the last time they were in Detoit, and which I was sure was the end of the match) but Joe kicked out at two. Daniels then hit three B.M.E.s in succession and scored the clean three count. Fantastic finish. Daniels celebrated while Joe rolled to the floor to sell his wounds. I saw no handshake.

This was just an awesome match. Words alone can not capture it. Pro Wrestling at it’s absolute best. It was privilege to be in attendance to witness it.

Post match, Chris Hero and Necro Butcher made their return to yet another rousing "shut the fuck up" chant. Daniels retreated to the back while Joe rolled back in and attacked the CZW boys. BJ Whitmer made his return and plastered Hero and Butcher over the head with fierce wicked chair shots. After BJ literally shattered the chair over Necro’s head, Joe got on the mic and said that the CZW guys had not gotten the attention of the RoH big guns…. "until now". He cursed up a blue streak using both the S and the F word, saying they could bring their light tubes and weed whackers and he would pound them down with the only weapons he ever needs, his bare hands. He declared that the war between RoH and CZW was officially "on".

This was an incredible promo to finish the night. Whoever said that this guy can’t cut a promo is totally off of their nut. Joe looked and sounded like he was going to literally choke the life out of Chris Hero and anyone standing near him. This promo left the Detroit fans jacked up, and hungry for more.

All in all – An incredible show. As the sweaty, voiceless maniacs who sat/stood next to me said as the lights came up – "Now that, is how you do a wrestling show". I highly recommend that you go out of your way to see these guys when they have a show anywhere near you. It is a fantastic time. The rabid Detroit crowd said it best over and over tonight – "that was awesome". Indeed.

I envy all of you who are going to the shows on Friday and Saturday.

Thanks for reading gang.

I’m out.