ROH Driven 2008
ROH Driven 2008 (9/19/2008)- Boston, MA
The show opens with a quick little segment in which Austin Aries calls out Jimmy Jacobs, which results in…
AUSTIN ARIES vs. DELIRIOUS (w/Jimmy Jacobs)- 5.25/10
After the match all three Age of the Fall members attack Aries. Jacobs sets Aries up on a table on the outside and goes to the top rope to hit Aries with a Back Senton. Tyler yells at him for putting his body on the line with this high-risk move when they have a big ROH World Tag Team Title defense later tonight, but Jacobs hits the move anyway (which looked sick, by the way).
JESSIE MCKAY vs. SARA DEL REY (w/Sweet N’ Sour Inc.)- BRUTAL squash.
Sara looked like a complete and total killer here. This was like one of those Erick Stevens squashes from March 2007. Speaking of Erick Stevens, the next match was…
ERICK STEVENS & BRENT ALBRIGHT vs. ADAM PEARCE & EDDIE EDWARDS (w/Sweet N’ Sour Inc.)- 5/10
After a bland but solid match, the babyfaces chase Sweeney to the back.
JERRY LYNN PROMO- Jerry says he has come back to ROH to get revenge on Chris Hero for cheap-shotting Jerry’s good friend and traveling partner Lance Storm at the last Pay-Per-View.
JERRY LYNN vs. CHRIS HERO (w/Shane Hagadorn & Eddie Edwards)- 6/10
TRIPLE THREAT ELIMINATION MATCH: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Go Shiozaki (w/Larry Sweeney)- 6/10
Claudio and Dragon go at it while Go waits on the outside like a good heel. Claudio got DQed for shoving and then suplexing the ref who tried to get between him and Dragon, but he doesn’t care and hits dragon with the Ricola Bomb anyway. He then goes to get a chair to stomp on Dragon’s head with, like at Death Before Dishonor VI (which ROH was smart enough to show a replay of before the match to help explain Claudio’s new heelish persona to the PPV only audience), but a bunch of students are referees pour out from the back to stop him. Claudio manages to dump a few of them into the front row before he is forced backstage. Dragon then hits GO with a bunch of finishers, interspersed with Go getting some regular offense in. This part of the match was pretty disappointing, considering the epic match these two had last year at Live in Tokyo. After the match, Dragon cuts a promo telling us that he wants an ROH World Title shot.
TAG TEAM SCRAMBLE MATCH: The Briscoes vs. the YRR (Kenny King & Jason Blade) vs. The Vulture Squad (Ruckus & Jigsaw (w/Julius Smokes) vs. Necro Butcher (by himself)- 6/10
This match did a great job of shining Necro as a machine, even when he is on his own, which would be important heading into Steel Cage Warfare tomorrow night at Glory By Honor VII. Everyone else got a chance to shine as well, and it delivered the fun, past-paced action that we have come to expect from tag team scramble matches.
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Nigel McGuinness(c) vs. Roderick Strong- 8/10
Standard awesomeness you would expect from a Nigel McGuinness title defense. Heel Nigel actually wrestled this one surprisingly cleanly.
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Age of the Fall(c) (Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black) vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico)- 9/10
Great spots, great babyface in peril stuff, and an extremely hot crowd combine for one of the most emotional title wins in ROH history. The only thing I would change is the finish. I get that it played off of the finish from the last time these two teams met, but I think that having Jacobs tap to the Sharpshooter would have done a better job of playing into the angle from the beginning of the show.
BONUS MATCHES:
GRIZZLY REDWOOD vs. CHASYN RANCE (w/the YRR)- 4/10
Mitch Franklin comes out dressed as a Lumberjack and tells everyone that his real name is â€"Grizzly Redwood.†The fans crapped all over this… but within three minutes they would be popping every time Grizz chopped Rance down to size. A standard short ROH match, but Grizz made it fun. Grizz being introduced as weighing 238 pounds was also hilarious.
MADISON EAGLES vs. DAIZEE HAZE- 1.75/10
Daizee hit one offensive move all match, but that move was the Mind Trip, which is apparently all it takes to put down Madison Eagles.
JOSH DANIELS vs. RHETT TITUS- 4.25/10
Overall, a great PPV from ROH, but mostly on the strength of the main events. Those main events, especially the tag title match, are worth picking up this DVD to see, though. The show also did a very good job of getting over the angles and building to the next PPV.
The show opens with a quick little segment in which Austin Aries calls out Jimmy Jacobs, which results in…
AUSTIN ARIES vs. DELIRIOUS (w/Jimmy Jacobs)- 5.25/10
After the match all three Age of the Fall members attack Aries. Jacobs sets Aries up on a table on the outside and goes to the top rope to hit Aries with a Back Senton. Tyler yells at him for putting his body on the line with this high-risk move when they have a big ROH World Tag Team Title defense later tonight, but Jacobs hits the move anyway (which looked sick, by the way).
JESSIE MCKAY vs. SARA DEL REY (w/Sweet N’ Sour Inc.)- BRUTAL squash.
Sara looked like a complete and total killer here. This was like one of those Erick Stevens squashes from March 2007. Speaking of Erick Stevens, the next match was…
ERICK STEVENS & BRENT ALBRIGHT vs. ADAM PEARCE & EDDIE EDWARDS (w/Sweet N’ Sour Inc.)- 5/10
After a bland but solid match, the babyfaces chase Sweeney to the back.
JERRY LYNN PROMO- Jerry says he has come back to ROH to get revenge on Chris Hero for cheap-shotting Jerry’s good friend and traveling partner Lance Storm at the last Pay-Per-View.
JERRY LYNN vs. CHRIS HERO (w/Shane Hagadorn & Eddie Edwards)- 6/10
TRIPLE THREAT ELIMINATION MATCH: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Go Shiozaki (w/Larry Sweeney)- 6/10
Claudio and Dragon go at it while Go waits on the outside like a good heel. Claudio got DQed for shoving and then suplexing the ref who tried to get between him and Dragon, but he doesn’t care and hits dragon with the Ricola Bomb anyway. He then goes to get a chair to stomp on Dragon’s head with, like at Death Before Dishonor VI (which ROH was smart enough to show a replay of before the match to help explain Claudio’s new heelish persona to the PPV only audience), but a bunch of students are referees pour out from the back to stop him. Claudio manages to dump a few of them into the front row before he is forced backstage. Dragon then hits GO with a bunch of finishers, interspersed with Go getting some regular offense in. This part of the match was pretty disappointing, considering the epic match these two had last year at Live in Tokyo. After the match, Dragon cuts a promo telling us that he wants an ROH World Title shot.
TAG TEAM SCRAMBLE MATCH: The Briscoes vs. the YRR (Kenny King & Jason Blade) vs. The Vulture Squad (Ruckus & Jigsaw (w/Julius Smokes) vs. Necro Butcher (by himself)- 6/10
This match did a great job of shining Necro as a machine, even when he is on his own, which would be important heading into Steel Cage Warfare tomorrow night at Glory By Honor VII. Everyone else got a chance to shine as well, and it delivered the fun, past-paced action that we have come to expect from tag team scramble matches.
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Nigel McGuinness(c) vs. Roderick Strong- 8/10
Standard awesomeness you would expect from a Nigel McGuinness title defense. Heel Nigel actually wrestled this one surprisingly cleanly.
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Age of the Fall(c) (Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black) vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico)- 9/10
Great spots, great babyface in peril stuff, and an extremely hot crowd combine for one of the most emotional title wins in ROH history. The only thing I would change is the finish. I get that it played off of the finish from the last time these two teams met, but I think that having Jacobs tap to the Sharpshooter would have done a better job of playing into the angle from the beginning of the show.
BONUS MATCHES:
GRIZZLY REDWOOD vs. CHASYN RANCE (w/the YRR)- 4/10
Mitch Franklin comes out dressed as a Lumberjack and tells everyone that his real name is â€"Grizzly Redwood.†The fans crapped all over this… but within three minutes they would be popping every time Grizz chopped Rance down to size. A standard short ROH match, but Grizz made it fun. Grizz being introduced as weighing 238 pounds was also hilarious.
MADISON EAGLES vs. DAIZEE HAZE- 1.75/10
Daizee hit one offensive move all match, but that move was the Mind Trip, which is apparently all it takes to put down Madison Eagles.
JOSH DANIELS vs. RHETT TITUS- 4.25/10
Overall, a great PPV from ROH, but mostly on the strength of the main events. Those main events, especially the tag title match, are worth picking up this DVD to see, though. The show also did a very good job of getting over the angles and building to the next PPV.