ROH Proving Ground
ROH Proving Ground (1/11/2008)- Boston, MA
BECKY BAYLESS TRIES TO INTERVIEW AUSTIN ARIES- it was WAY too dark to see anything. I think they were going for a brooding atmosphere, but this was just way too dark. Not only did Austin refuse to give his thoughts on his upcoming FIP World Heavyweight Title match against former Resilience stablemate Erick Stevens, but he ordered Becky to â€"go inside and put some clothes on before you catch a cold.†That made me chuckle.
EDDIE EDWARDS & PELLE PRIMEAU vs. THE YRR (Kenny King & Jason Blade) (w/some chicks and some other YRR members)- 4.75/10
SAL RINAURO PROMO- he brags about how great the YRR is and how they beat the Briscoes for the FIP tag titles, so the Briscoes came out and beat them up.
BRISCOES PROMO- they admit that the Age of the Fall was the better team in New York, but vow to regain the tag titles tonight.
ALEXA THATCHER vs. DAIZEE HAZE- 4/10
That didn’t look very good, but they managed to actually make the Mind Trip look good, which is rare.
ERICK STEVENS PROMO- good.
CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI vs. RUCKUS (w/Mercedes Martinez)- 5.5/10
SWEET N’ SOUR INC. SEGMENT- Hero is on crutches and has his knee and leg in a gigantic brace. He uses Bobby Dempsey as a human bench. Sweeney claims this injury was suffered while attempting to set the Guinness world record for consecutive back flips. I’d believe it.
Obviously Hero won’t be able to wrestle tonight, but Sweeney’s newest client, DANIEL PUDER will make his in-ring debut. Sweeney says that everyone in the locker room is afraid of Puder, so he issues an open challenge which is answered by CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI… but Sweeney has a restraining order against Claudio so he can’t accept the challenge and must be taken to the back by security. The next man to accept the challenge is Mike Bennett. Yes, that Mike Bennett.
MIKE BENNETT vs. DANIEL PUDER (w/Sweet N’ Sour Inc.)- no rating, perfect squash.
Puder taps Bennett in about twenty seconds. Sweeney then declared Puder to be â€"the man who nobody can make tap out.â€
Then Bryan Danielson’s music played and Bryan cut a promo saying he’ll take Puder on right now. Sweeney said it wouldn’t happen now because there wasn’t enough money on the line for him. Claudio jumped Puder from behind and they brawled to the back, while Hero forced Dempsey to carry him to the back.
BRENT ALBRIGHT vs. BRYAN DANIELSON- 8/10
Albright cut a promo before the match refusing to shake Danielson’s hand unless Dragon actually defeated him. They then had an awesome match with Albright working over Bryan’s arm the whole way through, setting up some interesting spots, like Bryan needing to switch arms when using the repeated elbows.
JIMMY JACOBS PROMO- very good.
STREET FIGHT: Kevin Steen vs. Necro Butcher (w/Lacey)- 8/10
A wild brawl with Necro working over Steen’s back. There were quite a few cringe-inducing bumps and one scary chairshot right to the head. The finish was one of those fun spots that only Kevin Steen could possibly make work as a babyface.
BECKY BAYLESS INTERVIEWS KEVIN STEEN & EL GENERICO- Steen is not in good shape after that battle with Necro, so Steen will not be at ringside with El Generico tonight.
DELIRIOUS vs. SAL RINAURO (w/the YRR & a bunch of chicks)- 5.5/10
EL GENERICO vs. RODERICK STRONG- 6.75/10
Roddy dominated the match more than I expected him to. Being Roddy, he worked over Generico’s back and midsection.
THE HANGMEN 3 JUMP EL GENERICO- well… two of the Hangmen 3 anyway. Albright then cut a promo saying they would win the tag titles tonight, and also that he wasn’t done with Bryan Danielson yet, either.
BECKY BAYLESS INTERVIEWS EL GENERICO- Steen comes back to the building, still selling his beating. He vows revenge on the Hangmen for this heinous, cowardly attack, challenging Albright to a match tomorrow night in Edison, NJ at ROH Transform.
THE FIP WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Erick Stevens(c) vs. Austin Aries- 7/10
They originally went to a double count-out (the FIP World Heavyweight Title can do that) but Stevens didn’t want to retain that way, so he asked for the match to be restarted. The match had been rather hum-drum until that point, but when they restarted, they did so with a vengeance, and went into a GREAT couple of minutes to close things out. This all got started by Aries kinda-sorta jumping the Stevens before he was ready, which did a good job of getting over Aries’ desperation. Aries didn’t shake hands after the match and was very annoyed that he had lost.
NIGEL MCGUINNESS UPDATE- he has recovered from his injuries, and is currently in Japan on tour for Pro Wrestling NOAH, defending the title against Go Shiozaki.
ULTIMATE ENDURANCE MATCH FOR THE ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES: The Age of the Fall(c) (w/Lacey) vs. the Briscoes vs. the Hangmen 3 (Brent Albright & BJ Whitmer) (w/Shane Hagadorn) vs. the Vulture Squad (Jack Evans & Jigsaw) (w/Mercedes Martinez)- 7.5/10
This started off as a scramble match. Between eight competitors in the ring and three people at ringside, there were WAY too many bodies to keep track of, so Lacey and Mercedes alleviated this a bit by brawling to the back (which also helped get Mercedes over as the Vulture Squad had brought her in at the last show to help neutralize Lacey). After that point they also did a good job of keeping the action localized in the ring and at a pace that you could keep track of until the Vulture Squad got eliminated and it became a No Disqualifications match.
JACOBS AND WHITMER FACE OFF!
JIMMY’S GOT HIS SPIKE!
AND WHITMER HAS ONE, TOO!
They have a very tense stare-down, ready to strike and stab each other at any moment, but then Jacobs proposes that the AOTF beat up one Briscoe while the Hangmen beat up the other, and they’ll settle things once the Briscoes are eliminated.
The Briscoes both got stabbed in the head a lot. They also got hit with chairs and Jimmy’s cane, but the stabbing was the most brutal part of it. Eventually they did a spot where Tyler was aiming for a Briscoe but accidentally hit a Hangman instead, and we got a flurry that ended with BJ Whitmer in the ring against two VERY angry Briscoes, and BJ get this FANTASTIC expression on his face and lets out a big â€"OH F*CK!†as the Briscoes charge at him, kick his ass, and eliminate him.
Things came down to the Age of the Fall and the Briscoes in a regular old tag team match which actually managed to be more exciting than the rest of it did.
BECKY BAYLESS INTERVIEWS THE YRR- the others are partying but apparently Sal Rinauro is sad because he got pinned by Delirious. Then he and Becky made out because YRR. That was random.
A great (and very underrated) show from ROH! A good way to start 2008.
BECKY BAYLESS TRIES TO INTERVIEW AUSTIN ARIES- it was WAY too dark to see anything. I think they were going for a brooding atmosphere, but this was just way too dark. Not only did Austin refuse to give his thoughts on his upcoming FIP World Heavyweight Title match against former Resilience stablemate Erick Stevens, but he ordered Becky to â€"go inside and put some clothes on before you catch a cold.†That made me chuckle.
EDDIE EDWARDS & PELLE PRIMEAU vs. THE YRR (Kenny King & Jason Blade) (w/some chicks and some other YRR members)- 4.75/10
SAL RINAURO PROMO- he brags about how great the YRR is and how they beat the Briscoes for the FIP tag titles, so the Briscoes came out and beat them up.
BRISCOES PROMO- they admit that the Age of the Fall was the better team in New York, but vow to regain the tag titles tonight.
ALEXA THATCHER vs. DAIZEE HAZE- 4/10
That didn’t look very good, but they managed to actually make the Mind Trip look good, which is rare.
ERICK STEVENS PROMO- good.
CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI vs. RUCKUS (w/Mercedes Martinez)- 5.5/10
SWEET N’ SOUR INC. SEGMENT- Hero is on crutches and has his knee and leg in a gigantic brace. He uses Bobby Dempsey as a human bench. Sweeney claims this injury was suffered while attempting to set the Guinness world record for consecutive back flips. I’d believe it.
Obviously Hero won’t be able to wrestle tonight, but Sweeney’s newest client, DANIEL PUDER will make his in-ring debut. Sweeney says that everyone in the locker room is afraid of Puder, so he issues an open challenge which is answered by CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI… but Sweeney has a restraining order against Claudio so he can’t accept the challenge and must be taken to the back by security. The next man to accept the challenge is Mike Bennett. Yes, that Mike Bennett.
MIKE BENNETT vs. DANIEL PUDER (w/Sweet N’ Sour Inc.)- no rating, perfect squash.
Puder taps Bennett in about twenty seconds. Sweeney then declared Puder to be â€"the man who nobody can make tap out.â€
Then Bryan Danielson’s music played and Bryan cut a promo saying he’ll take Puder on right now. Sweeney said it wouldn’t happen now because there wasn’t enough money on the line for him. Claudio jumped Puder from behind and they brawled to the back, while Hero forced Dempsey to carry him to the back.
BRENT ALBRIGHT vs. BRYAN DANIELSON- 8/10
Albright cut a promo before the match refusing to shake Danielson’s hand unless Dragon actually defeated him. They then had an awesome match with Albright working over Bryan’s arm the whole way through, setting up some interesting spots, like Bryan needing to switch arms when using the repeated elbows.
JIMMY JACOBS PROMO- very good.
STREET FIGHT: Kevin Steen vs. Necro Butcher (w/Lacey)- 8/10
A wild brawl with Necro working over Steen’s back. There were quite a few cringe-inducing bumps and one scary chairshot right to the head. The finish was one of those fun spots that only Kevin Steen could possibly make work as a babyface.
BECKY BAYLESS INTERVIEWS KEVIN STEEN & EL GENERICO- Steen is not in good shape after that battle with Necro, so Steen will not be at ringside with El Generico tonight.
DELIRIOUS vs. SAL RINAURO (w/the YRR & a bunch of chicks)- 5.5/10
EL GENERICO vs. RODERICK STRONG- 6.75/10
Roddy dominated the match more than I expected him to. Being Roddy, he worked over Generico’s back and midsection.
THE HANGMEN 3 JUMP EL GENERICO- well… two of the Hangmen 3 anyway. Albright then cut a promo saying they would win the tag titles tonight, and also that he wasn’t done with Bryan Danielson yet, either.
BECKY BAYLESS INTERVIEWS EL GENERICO- Steen comes back to the building, still selling his beating. He vows revenge on the Hangmen for this heinous, cowardly attack, challenging Albright to a match tomorrow night in Edison, NJ at ROH Transform.
THE FIP WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Erick Stevens(c) vs. Austin Aries- 7/10
They originally went to a double count-out (the FIP World Heavyweight Title can do that) but Stevens didn’t want to retain that way, so he asked for the match to be restarted. The match had been rather hum-drum until that point, but when they restarted, they did so with a vengeance, and went into a GREAT couple of minutes to close things out. This all got started by Aries kinda-sorta jumping the Stevens before he was ready, which did a good job of getting over Aries’ desperation. Aries didn’t shake hands after the match and was very annoyed that he had lost.
NIGEL MCGUINNESS UPDATE- he has recovered from his injuries, and is currently in Japan on tour for Pro Wrestling NOAH, defending the title against Go Shiozaki.
ULTIMATE ENDURANCE MATCH FOR THE ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES: The Age of the Fall(c) (w/Lacey) vs. the Briscoes vs. the Hangmen 3 (Brent Albright & BJ Whitmer) (w/Shane Hagadorn) vs. the Vulture Squad (Jack Evans & Jigsaw) (w/Mercedes Martinez)- 7.5/10
This started off as a scramble match. Between eight competitors in the ring and three people at ringside, there were WAY too many bodies to keep track of, so Lacey and Mercedes alleviated this a bit by brawling to the back (which also helped get Mercedes over as the Vulture Squad had brought her in at the last show to help neutralize Lacey). After that point they also did a good job of keeping the action localized in the ring and at a pace that you could keep track of until the Vulture Squad got eliminated and it became a No Disqualifications match.
JACOBS AND WHITMER FACE OFF!
JIMMY’S GOT HIS SPIKE!
AND WHITMER HAS ONE, TOO!
They have a very tense stare-down, ready to strike and stab each other at any moment, but then Jacobs proposes that the AOTF beat up one Briscoe while the Hangmen beat up the other, and they’ll settle things once the Briscoes are eliminated.
The Briscoes both got stabbed in the head a lot. They also got hit with chairs and Jimmy’s cane, but the stabbing was the most brutal part of it. Eventually they did a spot where Tyler was aiming for a Briscoe but accidentally hit a Hangman instead, and we got a flurry that ended with BJ Whitmer in the ring against two VERY angry Briscoes, and BJ get this FANTASTIC expression on his face and lets out a big â€"OH F*CK!†as the Briscoes charge at him, kick his ass, and eliminate him.
Things came down to the Age of the Fall and the Briscoes in a regular old tag team match which actually managed to be more exciting than the rest of it did.
BECKY BAYLESS INTERVIEWS THE YRR- the others are partying but apparently Sal Rinauro is sad because he got pinned by Delirious. Then he and Becky made out because YRR. That was random.
A great (and very underrated) show from ROH! A good way to start 2008.