Unforgettable

Philadelphia, PA

10-02-05

The dvd started off with the magnificent Prince Nana and the crown jewel of the Embassy, Jimmy Rave.  They’re backstage and Nana simply could not believe that Jade Chung left him the night before in New York.  He said that he will make sure that she receives the lesson that she deserves.

Claudio Castagnoli then did a backstage promo…but he really shouldn’t have.  He’s got a great look and he’s charismatic in the ring, but on his own in front of the camera he’s, well…let’s say he needs just a little work.  I realize there’s a language barrier, but still…if he gets promo time he needs to be worth it.

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Photos courtesy of ROHPhotos

(1) Tony Mamaluke & Sal Rinauro vs the Ring Crew Express (Dunn & Marcos).

Y’know, I thought the Express was done as I haven’t seen them in awhile.  I think there’s probably a reason for that.  Ugh.

I must also state emphatically that I really do not enjoy Tony Mamaluke at all.  His facial expressions or horrible, his offense isn’t very good, and he’s got little to zero charisma at all.  I didn’t think having him and Rinauro win the titles was a good idea and after watching them here, I still don’t.

Thoughts:

The match itself was okay, I guess.  There was zero psychology involved and the end was completely botched, but it was five minutes of nothing but high spots that got the crowd excited at the beginning of the night.

Rating:  5/10

It was still better than 80% of WWE matches.

***

Jade Chung was shown backstage and she did a promo herself.  She said that Prince Nana has treated her like a slave since the day he bought her in Ghana (wouldn’t that mean she was, in fact, a slave?).  She said it was now time for payback.

***

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Photos courtesy of ROHPhotos

(2) Jay Lethal vs Claudio Castagnoli vs Davey Andrews vs Nigel McGuinness in a four corner survival match.

Nigel, for some reason, decided to bring an iron to the ring with him.  I will admit that he plays a great heel, though.  He’s very entertaining.

Claudio in the ring is the definition of charisma.  All he has to do is go “HEY!” and the crowd eats it up.  He’s also got a very unique style and should be a big-time player in ROH over the next couple of years.

Davey Andrews is a graduate of the ROH wrestling school.  Unfortunately, he needs a LOT more experience.  He’s small even by ROH standards and is almost as boring as BJ Whitmer.

Jay Lethal is one of those guys who is extremely talented in the ring but has zero personality.  He can do all the moves in the world…he’s just a boring guy.  Of course, he’s still young and if he can become more comfortable as a personality (like, say, Chris Benoit) then he’s got a good future ahead of him.

The match itself is quite well done.  Lethal started off chopping the heck out of all three of his opponents.  After a few minutes, it appeared that Lethal was going to be the only babyface as the other three were content to play the heels.

Castagnoli, in a feat of strength, held Jay Lethal in an inverted suplex until the crowd counted to thirty.  Wow.  Soon after, both McGuinness and Castagnoli got into a shoving contest which ended up taking them to the outside.  This left Lethal in the ring alone with Andrews.  Just as Lethal climbed the top rope he was stopped by Nigel.  Nigel climbed the ropes but was shoved off by Lethal and nailed by a top-rope flying elbow by Castagnoli, who quickly followed it up with a flying plancha onto Nigel on the outside.

Back in the ring, Andrews superplexed Lethal but only got a 2-count.  Lethal quickly regained the advantage and hit a sick-looking dragon suplex on Andrews for the win.

Thoughts:

Strong match which set up a future feud between McGuinness and Castagnoli.  Andrews was completely out of his league, though, and it showed.

Rating:  7/10

It was too short to rate anything higher.

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Photos courtesy of ROHPhotos

(3) Matt Sydal vs Jimmy Rave w/ Prince Nana.

Sydal’s got some pansy-ass entrance music that needs to be changed ASAP.  On the other hand, Jimmy Rave’s music in phenomenal (as is his entrance with Nana).  I absolutely love these two working together.  Fun stuff.

The match started off with a “Die Jimmy die” chant from the crowd.  Ouch.  This, however, is the reason I voted him as my Most Hated Wrestler last year.  He’s got legit heat wherever he goes and it’s not “X-Pac go away” heat, either.  People genuinely love to hate the guy.  Plus he’s always ever-improving in the ring.

Anyway, the opening minutes were fast and furious as both men traded pinning combinations and arm drags.  As soon as Sydal got the upper hand, Rave headed to the outside to be consoled by Nana.  Sydal took advantage of the situation and hit a top-rope moonsault to the floor to break up the fun.  Wow.

“Kill him!!  I want him dead!!”

-          Prince Nana to Jimmy Rave

Rave got the advantage back and the beat-down began.  Due to his athleticism, Sydal is the perfect babyface as he can both hit amazing aerial moves but also bump around the ring like a madman, thus making the heel look great.

Sydal hit a spinning kick to begin his comeback.  He then nailed a sit-out powerbomb and his absolutely graceful standing moonsault.  As he was coming off the top rope, though, he was caught by a spear from Rave.

Rave then hit a brainbuster but only got a 2-count. At this point Nana jumped to the ring apron and began berating the ref for his slow counting. Rave was about to get a foreign object out of his boot when Jade Chung jumped in the ring from the crowd.  As a distracted Rave turned around he was rolled up with a very unique pin by Sydal.

Thoughts:

Very entertaining match, but it could have been a lot better (and a little longer).  Both men are not even close to being in their primes yet, and I’m looking forward to seeing what they turn into down the road.

Rating:  7.5/10

It was good but, again, it could have been better.

Photos courtesy of ROHPhotos

(4) Ricky Reyes destroyed Derek Dempsey.

ROH is not known for its squash matches.  This was unnecessary.  It was done in less than 30 seconds.  Reyes needs to be in bigger matches with real competition.

Thoughts:

Am I supposed to be impressed?

Rating: 2/10

I get t his nonsense from WWE.

***

As Julius Smokes gets on the mic and begins to tell Colt Cabana that Homicide will get even with him, some nobody grabs the mic away and says, “I…I think you killed him.  Somebody needs to call an undertaker.”

Cue the smoke and blue lights…here comes Percy Pringle (aka Paul Bearer)!! 

Photos courtesy of ROHPhotos

Pringle enters the ring and tells us all that he’s the new commissioner of ROH.  But wait!!!  Out comes Jim Cornette!!!  What the hell is going on??

Photos courtesy of ROHPhotos

Cornette makes his way to the ring and goes on (and on) about various stuff (Percy Pringle, winners and losers, how ROH loves its fans, how great the wrestlers are, how there’s no backstage politics, how champions in ROH are actually athletes, blah blah blah).  It’s actually a great promo where Cornette explains that he’s actually the new commissioner, not Percy.  For whatever reason, Percy Pringle says he’s just fine with that.

Cornette then calls Julius Smokes out to the ring.  When Smokes comes out he is quickly informed that the main event will have no managers or other wrestlers at ringside and if he or the Rottweilers get involved, they will be banned from ROH.

***

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Photos courtesy of ROHPhotos

(5) Roderick Strong vs James Gibson.

This was Gibson’s last match for ROH before returning to WWE and he requested Strong as his opponent.  As Gibson came out he received a tremendous ovation for all of the fantastic matches that he provided ROH during his stay.  When he entered the ring he was showered in green and yellow streamers and given “Please don’t go” and “Thank you Gibson” chants.

This was a great near 30-minute match.  Things started off a little slow, with both men trading holds back and forth.  However, it was soon a solid battle between two excellent wrestlers.  They were trading suplexes and slams back and submission moves for over 20 solid minutes.

After Gibson gave Strong a series of German suplexes, there was a near pinfall about 25 minutes in that was so close even the time-keeper rang the bell.  A few minutes later Gibson hit the Tiger Driver, but only got a 2-count again.  The crowd was going nuts at this point.

Gibson went for a top-rope Tiger Driver but Strong reversed it into a second-rope gut-buster. 

Photos courtesy of ROHPhotos

Strong then immediately went for the Stronghold and Gibson took very little time in tapping out.

The crowd gave both men a standing ovation and a “Thank you Gibson” chant after the match was over.

After the match, Gibson gave a heart-felt speech thanking everybody for the eight months he had enjoyed in ROH.  It was a great ending to a great match.

As Gibson and Strong walked to the back they were met by Prince Nana.  He proceeded to distract both men in order to allow Jimmy Rave to attack Strong from behind.

Thoughts:

This was a fantastic match…really strong and rarely slow.  Similar to the Matt Hardy match, this certainly helped to elevate Roderick Strong in the eyes of ROH fans.  He’s absolutely a future champion.

Rating: 9/10

It doesn’t get a whole lot better.

***

The intermission brought us an interview with the ROH tag team champions, Tony Mamaluke and Sal Rinauro.  They’re even more boring on the mic than they are in the ring.

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Photos courtesy of ROHPhotos

(6) Colt Cabana vs Jack Evans.

I’m glad Evans is reportedly going to be part of the new MTV wrestling promotion.  He’s a high-spot artist and with only a 30-minute program to work in short matches, it’ll right up his alley.  If a match goes longer than 10, it’s completely out of his element.

I’ve always enjoyed Cabana’s shtick, but I would absolutely love to see what kind of a monster heel he could be.  He’s just to silly to be taken seriously as a champion in any promotion.

This, as expected, was a fun contest to watch.  It started off as a comedy match, which is what Cabana excels at.  The great thing about watching him in a small setting like ROH is the interaction between him and the fans.  At one point, both men attempted to nip-up with only Evans succeeding.  After multiple failed attempts, Cabana asked Evans for a hand.  When Evans came over he was met with a kick to the head, followed by a kick to the face that flipped Evans completely upside down (sweet).

Both men sometimes wrestled in slow-motion as they were trying to get their moves in properly, which took away from the match at times.  It was similar to a Lucha match in that respect, so the ROH crowd didn’t crap on them too much.

Evans jumped to the outside to give Cabana a hurricarana, but Colt caught him and swung his whole body up against the ring post (ouch!).  Back in the ring, Cabana continued his assault, at one point twisting Evans around his body like a pretzel so his foot touched the back of his own head (resulting in a “That’s disgusting” chant from the crowd).  Evans must be the most flexible wrestler I’ve ever seen…damn.

Photos courtesy of ROHPhotos

The end came when Evans went for the 630 splash but Colt moved out of the way.  Cabana then hit a sick lariat that flipped Evans inside out for the 1-2-3.

Thoughts:

Not a bad match at all.  Evans is great at high spots and selling, but has an extremely difficult time doing anything else.  Cabana showed hints of being a bad-ass, but in the end was still playing the comedic role.

Rating: 7.5/10

The foreshadowing of spots took away my enjoyment of the match.

***

After the match was over, Julius Smokes appeared in the entrance with a mic.  He told Cabana that because Homicide was in the main event tonight, they were going to give him a free pass.  But he needed to know that going forward, he was a dead man.

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Photos courtesy of ROHPhotos

(7) Christopher Daniels w/ Allison Danger vs Jimmy Yang.

Yang is a wrestler that was destined to work for (and succeed in) ROH.  He’s got zero mic skills, but is extremely talented in the ring.  He may never become the ROH champion, he certainly has the ability to become Pure champion or tag team champion.

Daniels is absolutely one of my favorite wrestlers.  I love the gimmick (although the edge still goes to Curry Man), I love the charisma, I love his mic skills, and I think he’s an awesome in-ring technician.  While he ends up getting the short end of the stick in feuds with Samoa Joe and AJ Styles, I think he’s vastly under-rated and deserves any success he gets.

The match started at a very quick pace as both individuals went move-for-move with each other.  That didn’t last long as Daniels quickly took over and began pummeling Yang with high-impact moves (i.e. a flying elbow, suplexes, a knee in the corner, a slingshot press). 

Yang came back with a kick from the top rope and took the action out to ringside.  He proceeded to whip Daniels twice into the ringside barriers before rolling him back into the ring.  Yang kept up the offense and got several 2-counts. 

The action picked up about ¾ of the way through with both men hitting each other with moves off of the ropes, culminating with a Daniels belly-to-back suplex onto Yang.  A couple of minutes later Daniels hit his Angels Wings finisher but Yang kicked out.  However, Daniels then locked on the Koji clutch and the ref called for the bell when Yang passed out and could not continue.

Thoughts:

It’s a match-up like this that separates ROH from WWE.  This match accentuated the positives of both wrestlers and the crowd responded in kind.  Neither wrestler would be able to have this type of match successfully in WWE and would only be relegated to 5-minute matches on Heat or Velocity.

I must say, however, that I really don’t see the need for Allison Danger to accompany Daniels to the ring.  People don’t want to cheer for her…she walks like a man…she doesn’t seem to serve any purpose.

Rating:  8/10

Another very good match.

***

Lacey is out back with Izzy and Deranged.  She gave a promo about how great she is.  She went on to tell the guys that they were fired because they could never get the job done.  As she got up she introduced the new Lacey’s Angels, Jimmy Jacobs and BJ Whitmer (who proceeded to beat the crap out of a surprised Izzy & Deranged).

***

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Photos courtesy of ROHPhotos

(8) Kenta Kobashi & Homicide vs Samoa Joe & Low-Ki.

This was the match that made me purchase this DVD to begin with, so needless to say I might be a little biased in my review.  All I can say is that it was an awesome sight to see as a wrestling fan.

Photos courtesy of ROHPhotos

While Homicide and Low-Ki were about to start things off, Kobashi pushed ‘Cide back and said that he wanted to start off against Samoa Joe…much to the fan’s delight.  In a play off of their one-on-one match the night before in New York, Kobashi and Joe show each other signs of respect before really getting into it.

Joe hit a plancha through the middle ropes on Kobashi and rolled him back in for a 2-count.   Both men are not going at each other as fast as they were the night before.  Joe and Kobashi then got into a chop-fest with each other before Low-Ki was tagged in.  Out of all the wrestlers who give chops, Kobashi’s look like they hurt the most.  Damn! 

Later, ‘Cide got the upper hand after a thumb to the eye and tagged in Kobashi.  I sat watching this match and just cringing at the chops Joe received.  Goddamn those must hurt.  You could clearly see Joe’s beet-red chest. 

Tempers began to flair as the Rottweilers kicked the holy crap out of each other.  Ki was thrown to the floor where Kobashi took advantage and gave Ki some stiff chops (I admit I cringed while watching it).  Then Ki was on the wrong end of a DDT on the floor before getting chopped over the guard rail. 

Back in the ring, Homicide caught Ki in a camel clutch and made a signal to Kobashi.  As Samoa Joe distracted the ref (as a good face is supposed to, I guess), Kobashi took advantage of Ki’s plight and chopped him again (as I mumble “Holy f*ck” out loud).  When Kobashi asked the crowd if they wanted one more, the crowd was more than happy to oblige.  ‘Cide set Ki up again with the clutch and a second wicked chop pops the crowd.

As Homicide gave Low-Ki a sunset flip, Ki blocked it and performed a double-stomp.  This brought out Kobashi and then in came Joe and all four men were battling each other.

As the match progressed, Kobashi made the hot tag and began to do his “choppy choppy” onto Joe in the corner.  Low-Ki tried to stop him but was thrown into the corner for some “choppy choppy” of his own.  Kobashi then threw out Ki and started chopping Joe some more.  Kobashi then turned a sleeper into a dragon suplex and the crowd popped.  Ki thought he could attack but was met with the exact same fate.

Joe caught Kobashi in a powerslam for a close 2-count.  Joe then gave Kobashi a power-bomb for another 2-count before flipping him over for an STF.  Joe then delivered a belly-to-back suplex that dropped Kobashi right on his head (as I cringed I heard a Jimmy Bower “DANGEROOOUUUSSS!!” from my television…wow, what a move). 

Photos courtesy of ROHPhotos

Joe then nailed Kobashi with a muscle buster, but the international star still kicked out before the count of three.

The end came when Joe and Homicide were on the outside, leaving just Low-Ki and Kobashi in the ring together.  Kobashi got a 2-count off of a power-bomb.  He then hit an Orange Crush for another 2-count.  Kobashi finished off Ki with a stiff lariat and finally got the pin.

Wow…what a fantastic match.

Thoughts:

With the talent inside the ring you just knew you couldn’t go wrong.  From top to bottom this was a great, stiff, hard-fought match.

Rating: 9/10

It doesn’t get much better.

After the match, Joe got on the mic to tell everybody that a stand must be made for professional wrestling and that Kobashi honored everybody with his presence.  As his music hits I see something I’ve never seen before…Kobashi smile.

***

Overall Rating: 8/10

Why do I continue to pay $35 for WWE PPV’s that suck?  All future WWE PPV money will go to ROH from now on.  Guaranteed. This one’s a keeper that you can pick up by going here.