ROH! ROH! ROH!

Saturday March 21st, 2009 marked the day that I finally attended another Ring of Honor Wrestling event. This is the first one since February 2007 when they run the shows in the Manhattan Center (upstairs from Hammerstein Ballroom) in New York City. I love the atmosphere at the Hammerstein Ballroom. I mean, not only is it a nice, small arena but just from looking, it seems as if there isn't a bad seat in the house. But enough of my rambling..let's get to the event..

Tag Team Action
Roderick Strong & Erick Stevens vs. Kenny King & Rhett Titus
I thought this was a pretty good opener. I've seen Roderick Strong wrestle at other ROH shows and his brief run with TNA and he has always entertained me. His stiff style makes you "oooo" and "ahhh" whether it's a hard chop that is echoed throughout the arena or if it's a famous backbreaker. I've heard of the other 3 but haven't seen them wrestle (Kenny King was on WWE Tough Enough 2). I thought that both teams did very well having good chemistry with not only as tag teams but as in putting a match together. Strong and Stevens got the win in this one. I actually really like the team of Titus and King and think they will do very well..possible ROH tag champs? I think so..

Sweeney's Challenge
Bobby Dempsey vs. ??? with Larry Sweeney
The ??? turns out to be "Scrap Iron" Adam Pearce. Pearce rips on this guy from the TV show "First Look" on NBC. The NBC guy got lots of heat as chants of ""CBS! CBS! CBS!" broke out loudly in the Ballroom. Then Bobby Dempsey comes out to a big pop and pins Pearce in less than a minute with a death valley driver. Winner - Bobby Dempsey

Grudge Match
Brent Albright vs. Claudio Castagnoli
Another entertaining match. This one went the distance as the 15 minute time limit expired. The crowd wouldn't take that.."5 more minutes" chants broke out. So they agreed to go 5 more minutes. A little later the bell rings as Claudio low blows Albright for the DQ finish. Brent Albright wins this one by DQ.

Special Challenge Match #1
Jerry Lynn vs. Mike Quackenbush
Good match right here. First time seeing Quackenbush in person and seeing him wrestling someone like Jerry Lynn was a great experience. Jerry Lynn wins this one with a Cradle Pile Driver. Both men shake hands afterwards.

Ultimate Endurance- Revolution Rules
Jimmy Jacobs & Austin Aries & Brodie Lee vs. Tyler Black & The Necro Butcher & Delirious
*Six man elimination contest with the rules of each falls changing based on the previous elimination
This match was cool. Not only because it was a 6 man match, but because the falls changed based on the previous elimination. We get Daizee Haze with Delirious, Black and Butcher and she is lookin hot. Delirious gets eliminated first. Then Necro Butcher and Brodie Lee both get eliminated after brawling to the back. With just Jimmy Jacobs and Austin Aries against Tyler Black, it gets interesting. At one point in the match, Aries turns on Jacobs, stirring some problems. Black eliminates Aries by submission. Then pins Jacobs to win. Very good match. I think Necro Butcher is awesome. It's just something unique about him..probably the fact that he wrestles bare-foot because there are like, no bare-footed wrestlers around. I like Tyler Black a lot. I think he is very talented and could be a major contender someday in ROH.

Then we go to the long intermission.

Tag Team Grudge Match
Bryan Danielson & ??? vs. Bison Smith & ??? with Prince Nana
Awesome way to get fans back into the action from intermission. Bison Smith and Nana come out first. Nana cuts a promo on Obama and that crap. Then he introduces Bison's mystery partner..the crown jewel of the Embassy - JIMMY RAVE! That's right..Jimmy Rave is officially back! Rave gets a huge pop and "Welcome Back" chants from the NYC crowd. The American Dragon Bryan Danielson then comes running out to the ring, only to get double teamed. Grizzly Redwood comes out and I'm thinking to myself "THAT'S his partner?!" He gets thrown to the floor by Bison Smith. But luckily that wasn't his true partner. All of a sudden "Copa Cabana" hits and the crowd went bananas. I thought the roof was gonna come off the Hammerstein Ballroom! Danielson and Cabana win when Cabana rolls up Rave. Ahh, great to see Jimmy Rave and Colt Cabana back in ROH.

Special Challenge Match #2
Jay Briscoe vs. D Lo Brown
D-Lo cuts a good promo here:
"We wish you the best in your future endeavors. I've only got two words to say to that...thank you because my future endeavors are here in Ring of Honor." Says his return to the WWE was nothing but a waste of time, which I agree 100%. Big pop from that. Good back and forth action here. D-Lo shoves the ref, and low blows Jay. He apologizes, helps him up and BAM! clothlines him, now playing the heel. D-Lo eventually hits a sky high but Briscoe kicks out! D-Lo wins his ROH debut by holding Briscoe's shorts. Glad to see D-Lo in ROH. Hopefully he will have a lot of success and I hope ROH uses him better than WWE.

World Tag Team Title Match- No Disqualification
Kevin Steen & El Generico defends vs. The American Wolves with Larry Sweeney
Well, no Larry Sweeney with the Wolves. However, we get a 2nd appearance by Shane Hagadorn and the lovely Sarah Del Ray. Intense match as this was no DQ and basically, Texas Tornado rules. Chairs and a ladder were brought into this. Steen and Generico get the win here. After the match, Steen gets his wrists taped to the top rope and gets chairshots to his legs. This was hands down, the match of the night in my opinion. These 4 men were absolutely amazing. They kept the crowd into it every way they could..wow what a match.

ROH World Title Match
Nigel McGuinness defends vs. GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion KENTA
Main event of the evening right here. The match started out slow in the beginning but it picked up and turned out to be good. KENTA slaps McGuinness in the face throughout the match and my god..the hardest slaps I have heard in my life! Nigel retains the ROH title by making KENTA submit.

Overall, I thought the show was amazing. Ring of Honor NEVER lets me down. This was a night of a lot of near falls, great exchanges, and overall some of the best wrestling I have ever seen. If you have never went to a Ring of Honor show, please do. You will NOT be let down. Not only will you see great quality wrestling, but the ticket prices aren't bad at all either. I mean, great wrestling for a decent price..how can you beat that? Hopefully I will be able to go back on June 13th when "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair will make an appearance...
Wooooooooooooooooo!