ROH Fighting Spirit
ROH Fighting Spirit (4/14/2007)- Edison, NJ
NIGEL MCGUINNESS PROMO- heartfelt and awesome.
CHRIS HERO & TANK TOLAND vs. EDDIE EDWARDS & JASON BLADE- 5.5/10
CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI PROMO- Claudio explains his babyface turn and kicks off his search for a tag team partner.
ROH TOP OF THE CLASS TROPHY MATCH: Shane Hagadorn(c) vs. Pelle Primeau- 4/10
A good payoff to all of Hagadorn’s cheating.
CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI vs. ROCKY ROMERO-6.75/10
SARA DEL REY PROMO- okay
KEVIN STEEN & EL GENERICO vs. JAY BRISCOE & ERICK STEVENS- 7.25/10
Jay went right after Steen because last night Steen punched Mark in the head, when Mark had recently suffered a concussion and was not cleared to wrestle. During the match Rocky Romero came out and distracted the ref while Roddy and Davey pulled Stevens off the apron and powerbombed him into the guardrail. Stevens was helped off and Jay was left alone, just like last month in Detroit.
Jay desperately tries to fight off both Steen and Generico until Mark hops the barricade and gets on the apron. Several security guys and Cary Silken try to stop him, but Mark won’t listen, so despite what the announcers were putting over as a risk to Jay’s life, they let him wrestle the match. Normally I hate it when a team switches partners in the middle of the match because one guy got injured, but I’m okay with it here because 1) apparently Cary said it was okay, and 2) the other partner was injured by an outside force. It’s not something I’d like to see often, but I’m fine with it in small doses.
Neither Steen nor Generico have any qualms about hitting the concussed Mark Briscoe in the head, and that quickly became the story of the match.
COLT CABANA vs. DOUG WILLIAMS- 4/10
They tried to mix British wrestling and comedy and as a result, we didn’t get much of either.
After the match, Cabana gave a short goodbye speech for his final East Coast appearance.
BECKY BAYLESS INTERVIEWS CHRIS HERO & TANK TOLAND- they argue over whose fault their loss is until Steen and Generico show up and steal the interview.
KEVIN STEEN PROMO- great! Steen petitions for a tag title shot. Even better, though, is that Generico is wearing an L.W.O. t-shirt!
ERNIE OSIRIS vs. SARA DEL REY- DUD!
Sara really didn’t look dominant enough for me to call this a squash, so it gets a dud.
MATT CROSS vs. SHINGO- 6/10
RODERICK STRONG & DAVEY RICHARDS vs. JACK EVANS & DELIRIOUS- 7.5/10
Jack Evans plays a ridiculously flexible Ricky Morton.
DAIZEE HAZE PROMO- okay
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Takeshi Morishima(c) vs. Nigel McGuinness- 8/10
I would imagine that this match is probably much more exciting if you are 100% spoiler free, as Nigel got one or two extremely close nearfalls, but knowing the history, they didn’t affect me quite as much. I really hate it when guys overdo â€"fighting spirit,†but this wasn’t too horribly egregious (I was expecting much worse because of the name of this show). I really didn’t like that Nigel worked over Morishima’s arm in the beginning and then it never mattered again. Don’t get me wrong; the match was awesome, but this is a match that usually rates among people’s favorite matches of Morishima’s title reign, so I was expecting a lot more from it.
NO REMORSE CORPS BACKSTAGE- they talk about their wins this weekend, then go beat up someone on the ring crew for no reason (one of Gabe’s classic go-to ways to get guys over as bullies… and it might have worked if the person in question wasn’t Alex â€"Sugarfoot†Payne, also known to the ROH fanbase as the â€"worst in the worldâ€).
Overall, a good show from ROH, but nothing really worth going out of your way to see.
NIGEL MCGUINNESS PROMO- heartfelt and awesome.
CHRIS HERO & TANK TOLAND vs. EDDIE EDWARDS & JASON BLADE- 5.5/10
CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI PROMO- Claudio explains his babyface turn and kicks off his search for a tag team partner.
ROH TOP OF THE CLASS TROPHY MATCH: Shane Hagadorn(c) vs. Pelle Primeau- 4/10
A good payoff to all of Hagadorn’s cheating.
CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI vs. ROCKY ROMERO-6.75/10
SARA DEL REY PROMO- okay
KEVIN STEEN & EL GENERICO vs. JAY BRISCOE & ERICK STEVENS- 7.25/10
Jay went right after Steen because last night Steen punched Mark in the head, when Mark had recently suffered a concussion and was not cleared to wrestle. During the match Rocky Romero came out and distracted the ref while Roddy and Davey pulled Stevens off the apron and powerbombed him into the guardrail. Stevens was helped off and Jay was left alone, just like last month in Detroit.
Jay desperately tries to fight off both Steen and Generico until Mark hops the barricade and gets on the apron. Several security guys and Cary Silken try to stop him, but Mark won’t listen, so despite what the announcers were putting over as a risk to Jay’s life, they let him wrestle the match. Normally I hate it when a team switches partners in the middle of the match because one guy got injured, but I’m okay with it here because 1) apparently Cary said it was okay, and 2) the other partner was injured by an outside force. It’s not something I’d like to see often, but I’m fine with it in small doses.
Neither Steen nor Generico have any qualms about hitting the concussed Mark Briscoe in the head, and that quickly became the story of the match.
COLT CABANA vs. DOUG WILLIAMS- 4/10
They tried to mix British wrestling and comedy and as a result, we didn’t get much of either.
After the match, Cabana gave a short goodbye speech for his final East Coast appearance.
BECKY BAYLESS INTERVIEWS CHRIS HERO & TANK TOLAND- they argue over whose fault their loss is until Steen and Generico show up and steal the interview.
KEVIN STEEN PROMO- great! Steen petitions for a tag title shot. Even better, though, is that Generico is wearing an L.W.O. t-shirt!
ERNIE OSIRIS vs. SARA DEL REY- DUD!
Sara really didn’t look dominant enough for me to call this a squash, so it gets a dud.
MATT CROSS vs. SHINGO- 6/10
RODERICK STRONG & DAVEY RICHARDS vs. JACK EVANS & DELIRIOUS- 7.5/10
Jack Evans plays a ridiculously flexible Ricky Morton.
DAIZEE HAZE PROMO- okay
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Takeshi Morishima(c) vs. Nigel McGuinness- 8/10
I would imagine that this match is probably much more exciting if you are 100% spoiler free, as Nigel got one or two extremely close nearfalls, but knowing the history, they didn’t affect me quite as much. I really hate it when guys overdo â€"fighting spirit,†but this wasn’t too horribly egregious (I was expecting much worse because of the name of this show). I really didn’t like that Nigel worked over Morishima’s arm in the beginning and then it never mattered again. Don’t get me wrong; the match was awesome, but this is a match that usually rates among people’s favorite matches of Morishima’s title reign, so I was expecting a lot more from it.
NO REMORSE CORPS BACKSTAGE- they talk about their wins this weekend, then go beat up someone on the ring crew for no reason (one of Gabe’s classic go-to ways to get guys over as bullies… and it might have worked if the person in question wasn’t Alex â€"Sugarfoot†Payne, also known to the ROH fanbase as the â€"worst in the worldâ€).
Overall, a good show from ROH, but nothing really worth going out of your way to see.