From WorldWrestlingInsanity.com
Report From Ring of Honor 's Cleveland Debut
By Kevin Peel
Oct 14, 2005, 23:33
Tonight's the night. ROH makes its long awaited debut in Cleveland Ohio with an absolutely loaded card. The big main event is the fourth meeting between ROH champion Bryan Danielson and Austin Aries, this time with Danielson defending the belt. Also new ROH tag champs Tony Mamaluke and Sal Ruinaro defend the belts against former champs BJ Whitmer and Jimmy Jacobs who are now accompanied by the lovely Lacey. Jimmy Yang takes on Roderick Strong, Colt Cabana and Steve Corino take on Homicide and Low Ki of the Rotweilers in a grudge tag match, Jack Evans takes on the monster Abyss and Samoa Joe and Jay Lethal take on Prince Nana's team of Jimmy Rave and Alex Shelly. Let's go to the rundown:
While standing in line tonight, the Rottweilers were pushing their tee shirts. It's really funny hearing that deep Low Ki voice saying "Get your Rottweiler T-shirts. 1 for $20 or 2 for $30. And get the brand new Low Ki T-shirt at the front of the line." Guess you had to be there.
Show opened with Dave Prazak bringing out the new ROH world champion Bryan Danielson. The champion coming out at the beginning of the show is part of ROH's new format. The Final Countdown was played as Danielson came to the ring in his street clothes wearing blue jeans. He said that some people think that the way a champion is dressed tells what kind of champion they are. He said based on the way he is dressed, he is obviously not one who thinks that way. He goes on to say that he think a champion is measured by how important the title he carries is viewed. Then he went on to thank all the past ROH champions for making the ROH title so valuable. He thanked Low Ki, Xavier, Samoa Joe who he called the greatest champion North America has seen in a long time, and Austin Aries. Upon mention of Aries, personal jesus hit on the speaker and Aries came out. Aries showed respect for the champion, but reminded him that he was the one who ended the longest reign in ROH history and tonight he would be the one to end the shortest reign in ROH history when he faces Danielson later tonight. After Aries left, Danielson said that he couldn't let his reign be the shortest because Aries works for TNA. This brought on a "fuck TNA" chant. Danielson wasn't going for that kind of reaction and said he finds TNA to be a great alternative to WWE on TV, but by working TNA Aries wouldn't be able to fulfill all the commitments that an ROH champion should fulfill. He went on to say that the ROH title to him means "wrestling freedom."
(1) Claudio Castagnoli defeats Pure Champion Nigel McGuiness in a non-title match with a backslide.
In the opener, newcomer to ROH Claudio Castagnoli takes on Nigel McGuiness in a non-title match and this is contested under normal rules so we aren't using the ropes breaks here. Claudio's gimmick seems to be very similar to the million dollar man in the way he dresses. This was my first time seeing him and I was really impressed. He escaped a headlock by doing a handstand and walking backwards on his hands, something I had never seen before. He does alot of posing, but he was really over with the crowd. Whether its heel or face, Nigel just seems to be missing something. Good wrestler, but there's just something about him that isn't quite there. Finish came when Claudio reversed into a backslide out of nowhere for the 1-2-3. Good match and I assume this will lead to a pure title shot for Claudio somewhere down the line.
(2) Ricky Reyes chokes out Matt Stryker
For those who think Matt Stryker gets cheered on all the midwest shows, it sure didn't happen here in Cleveland. Stryker went after the leg of Reyes right off the bat and set up for an early Strykerlock, but Reyes made the ropes. Shortly after, Reyes choked out Stryker for the submission win. Very short match and this was either the beginning of a big push for Reyes or the end of the line for Mr. Stryker.
(3) Tony Mamaluke and Sal Rinauro defeat B.J. Whitmer and Jimmy Jacobs with a doubleteam powerbomb on Whitmer to retain the ROH Tag-Team Titles
Lacey sorta had a Sarah Michelle Gellar look going on tonight. The tag champs come out to the theme from Rocky. Sal was wearing trunks saying "Saved by the Sal" on the rear. Jacobs no longer has the fuzzy boots and Lacey informed some fans that they don't need to chant Huss anymore. Some arguing early on with the champs as Sal kept tagging out after breifly being in the ring. Great hard hitting match. Tony Mamaluke still sells like a madman. Finish came when Mamaluke and Risnuro hit a doubleteam powerbomb on Whitmer to score the pin. Rinauro had slipped off initially but recovered and they hit the finish. Really good back and forth action. One of the better matches of the night.
(4) Roderick Strong defeated Jimmy Yang with a triple backbreaker series
Roderick Strong has really turned into the breakout ROH star of 2005. Its also a real pleasure to see Jimmy Yang in a promotion where he can show everything he can do. Really stiff back and forth action between the two. Jimmy's chest was red as red can be. Yang was trying to go to the ariel moves while Strong was trying to keep the action groundbased. Jimmy hit the Yangtime on a standing Roderick Strong for a two count. He tried to follow up with a second Yangtime but Strong rolled out of the way. Yang missed with a roundhouse kick and Strong hit a triple backbreaker series to score the pinfall.
(5) Steve Corino and Colt Cabana defeated Homicide and Low Ki when Corino hit the northern lights bomb on Homicide.
Steve Corino came out wearing a pair of C.M.Punk's boxer shorts. Corino had marker all over his body in the places where Punk has tattoos. He had "I love beer" on his chest where Punk has the "Straight Edge" tattoo. For Corino's schtick they read off all the people whose careers were killed in WWE from Ludvig Borga to The Red Rooster to Duke "The Dumpster" Drose to Kazarian to The Gobledygooker to finally C.M. Punk. Really funny stuff if you are a long time fan. They then gave a 5 bell salute to all the people whose career's were killed since "Vince owns the rights to the 10 bell salute." Low Ki hit the sick looking stomp on Corino while Homicide had him in the tree of woe. Finish came later as Corino hit the northern lights bomb on Homicide and when Cide tried to put his foot on the rope, it was shoved off by Cabana who was on the outside. It should be noted than in the tag matches tonight the referees are making a really big deal about refusing to count pinfalls that don't involve the legal man. I didn't like this match. Low Ki's stiff offense was the only saving grace. Otherwise I wasn't too into it.
Intermission
(6) Abyss defeated Jack Evans with the blackhole slam
We started out with a tag match featuring the kids from the ROH wreslting school. They were bascially just trading headlocks. Then, Prince Nana came out and said "Why in the hell would anyone want to watch a match with four people who were trained by someone who who left the company?" He sent Abyss down to clear the ring. Nana went on and on about the Embassy and was speared by Davey Andrews. For his trouble, Davey was on the receiving end of a blackhole slam shortly after. Nana went on some more challenging anyone to take on Abyss. He invited some fat guy in the crowd to come take his shot. Instead, Jack Evans came down accompanied by Jade Chung. Evans hit some high flying offense and did a double flip off the ropes onto Nana and Abyss on the outside but in the end Abyss hit the blackhole slam with what seemed like twice as many rotations as usual and scored the pin on Jack. Pretty short match much like the Reyes one. Abyss looks so huge in ROH as compared to TNA. After the match, Jade attends to Jack, but Nana orders Abyss to "take her out." Abyss grabs her, but Roderick Strong comes down to save the day. He knocks Abyss out of the ring and gives Nana one of his custom backbreakers. Nana sold it afterwards like he was really hurt bad.
(7) Samoa Joe and Jay Lethal defeated Alex Shelly and Jimmy Rave when Joe hit the musclebuster on Shelly
No Nana this match after the injury in the last match. The story in the match was mostly Rave and Shelly trying to avoid Joe as much as possible. There was a spot where Rave gave Joe three chops which he no sold, so Rave tagged to Shelly who came in and delivered three chops with the same result and he tagged Rave back in who tagged Shelly back in and then Rave jumped off the apron so Shelly couldn't tag him back in. Late in the match, Joe hit the musclebuster on Shelly to score the pin. Pretty good match. Rave and Shelly really work well together as a great pair of chickenshit heels. With this win, Joe and Lethal may get a tag title shot and give Joe the opportunity to win ROH's triple crown.
(8) Bryan Danielson defeated Austin Aries with a crossface chickenwing to retain the ROH title
This was the fourth meeting between the two in ROH with Aries leading the series 2-1. In this one, Danielson was showing alot of great matwork with Aries trying to hit his explosive high impact moves. Danielson kept reminding the ref that he had till 5 to break his holds. These two absolutely put on a wrestling clinic. At one point, Aries went what seemed like ten or twelve minutes without hitting an offensive move and the fans were hanging on every hold and ready to pop when he did. Late in the match, Aries got Danielson up for his brainbuster while Danielson was kneeing him in the face. An exhausted Aries covered for the two count. Aries went up for the 450 splash but Danielson rolled out of the way. Aries rolled through but got caught in the cattle mutilation. Aries wouldn't submit and managed to get back to his feet, but Danielson turned it into a crossface chickenwing and Aries tapped out. After the match, Danielson reminded us again that "ROH title = freedom."
THE VERDICT
Another fantastic ROH show here in Ohio in 2005. When you have the chance to pick this up on VHS or DVD, I strongly recommend it. I liked seven out of the eight matches so its a definite thumbs up. I have no complaints and it was nice to not have that 3 hour drive to Dayton I usually have. Return date was announced as January 28, 2006. The attendance was about on par with what we usually get in Dayton.
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