ROH United We Stand
ROH United We Stand (6/22/2007)- Dayton, OH
BRISCOES PROMO- they say that they are going to beat Claudio and Sydal in two straight falls tonight.
IRISH AIRBORNE vs. KEVIN STEEN & EL GENERICO- 6/10
Steen & Generico look strong with a good win, but the Crist brothers got a chance to show off their stuff. The real story of this match, though, was the difference in personality between Steen and Generico, and they got that over perfectly.
BJ WHITMER PROMO- very good. He was fined his entire pay for the last double shot for shoving a referee, so he is pissed off, and tonight he will take it out on Brent Albright.
GAUNTLET MATCH: Jimmy Rave vs. Pelle Primeau vs. Delirious vs. Adam Pearce (w/Shane Hagadorn) vs. Chris Hero (w/Sweet N’ Sour Inc.)- 6/10
NO DISQUALIFICATION MATCH: BJ Whitmer vs. Brent Albright- 6.25/10
On his way out to the ring, BJ goes over to Cary Silkin and yells at him for fining him.
This certainly wasn’t your typical indy No DQ’s match Iindy guys knowing their place on the card! Who’d have thunk it?), but it did its job perfectly well. It was a hard-fought match for BJ to lose and then get frustrated after. After the match, when some referees and a ring crew guy come out to check on him, BJ shoves a ref and gives the ring crew guy a Wrist-clutch Exploder Suplex.
DRAGON & NIGEL BACKSTAGE- they both say they are only teaming with each other to get their hands on the ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima.
ERIC STEVENS & MATT CROSS vs. RODERICK STRONG & DAVEY RICHARDS- 6.75/10
After the match, Strong accuses Austin Aries, who is watching from the crowd because he is (kayfabe) still under TNA contract, of running away from ROH because Strong beat him up so bad. Aries wants to jump the guardrail,, but ROH owner Cary Silkin talks him down and Aries apparently leaves the building.
BECKY BAYLESS INTERVIEWS SWEET N’ SOUR INC.- Good
Sweeney takes the mic from her. She feels disparaged by this. Sweeney tells us that Hero has finally signed an ROH contract. Hero declares that â€"the holdout is over.†Considering that Hero wrestled on the last show, and also wrestled on this show, the â€"holdout†in question has apparently lasted a grand total of zero matches. Some holdout.
Sweeney then cut a good promo while Tank Toland made Bobby Dempsey do jumping jacks. Becky looked on, seeming creeped out.
SERENA DEEB vs. LACEY (w/Jimmy Jacobs)- 4/10
Deeb is both pre-breast enhancement and pre-shaven head. She looks almost unrecognizable.
Rain shows up to distract Deeb and help Lacey get the win. Apparently Jimmy Jacobs couldn’t because… um…
The announcers wonder â€"what’s Rain doing here?!†Isn’t it obvious? She’s here to help Lacey.
Jimmy orders the Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew to lay in a post-match beating to Deeb. They do so until Daizee Haze runs out to make the save, single-handedly taking out both women.
ROCKY ROMERO vs. KENTA- 7.75/10
Nowhere near as much kicking as you would expect, considering who was involved. Good aftermath, too. I kept expecting Davey to attack his former mentor, KENTA, but instead he should respect to both his stablemate, Rocky, and to KENTA. I kept waiting to the attack happen but it never came.
And then it was a good surprise when it finally did. The Resilience and Delirious made the save.
BRYAN DANIELSON & NIGEL MCGUINNESS vs. TAKESHI MORISHIMA & NAOMICHI MARUFUJI- 8/10
Dragon and Nigel show their solidarity by entering to The Final Countdown with Nigel’s London Bridge lead-in. Marufuji and Morishima enter together to Morishima’s music. They managed to work together surprisingly well, even hitting an assisted Tower of London. The place came completely unglued for the finish, too, which really felt like it carried all of the weight that it should have.
2 OUT OF 3 FALLS MATCH FOR THE ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES: The Briscoe Brothers(c) vs. Matt Sydal & Claudio Castagnoli- 7/10
No reason has ever been given why Claudio is getting this shot at the tag team titles when he just lost a tag team title match completely cleanly on the last show, and one two shows before that, too (and with Sydal as his partner for that last one, too). I have my theory on why they were given this shot (more on that later), but the problem here is that Claudio and Sydal just don’t seem like they deserve this title shot. Losing the first fall in less than five minutes to a non-finisher didn’t help, either. The second fall was a lot better, but the match was only just barely main-event quality.
Gabe has said that the reason he booked this as the main event instead of the ROH vs. NOAH match was because he was trying to push the tag titles as being equal to the world title in prestige, and he just couldn’t do that if he was going to put a tag title match on under a non-title tag team match with the world champ teaming with his countryman to take on the two top contenders.
I believe that this line of thinking was the whole reason that this match even took place in the first place. Part of being a good booker is knowing how to get the most out of all of the resources available to you. Gabe had a tag team that was about to break up (Sydal would turn heel the next night), so a loss wouldn’t really hurt them, and it was Gabe’s absolute last chance to do this match. He had the Briscoes 2-out-of-3 falls streak going, so having the Briscoes beat Sydal and Claudio in two straight falls would help the Briscoes at no cost to the guys who they beat, and the 2-out-of-3 falls stip would made it feel fresh and different from their match last month at Respect is Earned. And he was looking for a tag team he could have challenge the Briscoes on this show just so he could make that the main event over Dragon & Nigel vs. Morishima & Marufuji. All of the pieces were in place, so Gabe decided to use them.
I think Gabe’s big mistake here was not doing anything to actually set this title shot up. As I mentioned above this was the second straight show on which Claudio got a 2-out-of-3 falls tag title match against the Briscoes. For the previous show, Domination, Claudio was allowed to pick any tag partner he wanted, and he picked his former Kings of Wrestling tag team partner, Chris Hero. Obviously this was just an excuse for Gabe to give the Briscoes a big tag title defense over a team which, because of the current angles going on, he would not have had an opportunity to have them beat. The thing is, though, that Hero and Claudio were about to start feuding, anyway, so why not have some communication issues in that match help kick off their feud? I get the desire to have a clean finish (both to make the Briscoes look strong and because this ROH after all), but if it helps set up more matches and angles that you want, why not do it (especially if Roddy vs. Morishima was going to be the main event)?
If, at Domination, there were some communication issues between Hero and Claudio which led to Sweeney and Hero deciding to walk out on the match, you could have Claudio fight valiantly on his own, which would not only make him look good in defeat, but between his bravery and his hand-picked partner walking out on him, you have a perfect reason for why ROH management would give him another tag team title match at the next show in the same match type, but with a different partner. This would also allow the main event tag title match to also play into the name of the show (because Claudio and Sydal are united against the Briscoes, in contrast to Claudio and Hero at the last show), which, with the way they did it, really only seems to reference the ROH vs. NOAH tag match (and Dragon and Nigel’s alliance in particular).
Between the lack of reason for Claudio and Sydal getting another title shot, the name of the show only referencing the world title picture, and, ultimately, the tag title match not really living up to the main event spot on the card (it was the third best match of the night, and worse than the previous two matches… and just barely beating out the NRC vs. Cross and Stevens match), Gabe’s plan to elevate the tag titles unfortunately failed. Fortunately, the Briscoes vs. Steenerico feud would do a perfect job at this, getting the titles ready to be the main event in time for the Ladder War at Man Up.
BRENT ALBRIGHT PROMO- decent. He wants the ROH World Title.
Overall, a great show from ROH, brought down slightly by a disappointing main event. The undercard was very strong, KENTA vs. Romero was great, and the ROH vs. NOAH match felt like the major deal that it was. If the show had closed on that note instead of the tag title match, this should be remembered with more fondness. It’s still a great show, but you don’t quite feel that way going out of it after the main event.
BRISCOES PROMO- they say that they are going to beat Claudio and Sydal in two straight falls tonight.
IRISH AIRBORNE vs. KEVIN STEEN & EL GENERICO- 6/10
Steen & Generico look strong with a good win, but the Crist brothers got a chance to show off their stuff. The real story of this match, though, was the difference in personality between Steen and Generico, and they got that over perfectly.
BJ WHITMER PROMO- very good. He was fined his entire pay for the last double shot for shoving a referee, so he is pissed off, and tonight he will take it out on Brent Albright.
GAUNTLET MATCH: Jimmy Rave vs. Pelle Primeau vs. Delirious vs. Adam Pearce (w/Shane Hagadorn) vs. Chris Hero (w/Sweet N’ Sour Inc.)- 6/10
NO DISQUALIFICATION MATCH: BJ Whitmer vs. Brent Albright- 6.25/10
On his way out to the ring, BJ goes over to Cary Silkin and yells at him for fining him.
This certainly wasn’t your typical indy No DQ’s match Iindy guys knowing their place on the card! Who’d have thunk it?), but it did its job perfectly well. It was a hard-fought match for BJ to lose and then get frustrated after. After the match, when some referees and a ring crew guy come out to check on him, BJ shoves a ref and gives the ring crew guy a Wrist-clutch Exploder Suplex.
DRAGON & NIGEL BACKSTAGE- they both say they are only teaming with each other to get their hands on the ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima.
ERIC STEVENS & MATT CROSS vs. RODERICK STRONG & DAVEY RICHARDS- 6.75/10
After the match, Strong accuses Austin Aries, who is watching from the crowd because he is (kayfabe) still under TNA contract, of running away from ROH because Strong beat him up so bad. Aries wants to jump the guardrail,, but ROH owner Cary Silkin talks him down and Aries apparently leaves the building.
BECKY BAYLESS INTERVIEWS SWEET N’ SOUR INC.- Good
Sweeney takes the mic from her. She feels disparaged by this. Sweeney tells us that Hero has finally signed an ROH contract. Hero declares that â€"the holdout is over.†Considering that Hero wrestled on the last show, and also wrestled on this show, the â€"holdout†in question has apparently lasted a grand total of zero matches. Some holdout.
Sweeney then cut a good promo while Tank Toland made Bobby Dempsey do jumping jacks. Becky looked on, seeming creeped out.
SERENA DEEB vs. LACEY (w/Jimmy Jacobs)- 4/10
Deeb is both pre-breast enhancement and pre-shaven head. She looks almost unrecognizable.
Rain shows up to distract Deeb and help Lacey get the win. Apparently Jimmy Jacobs couldn’t because… um…
The announcers wonder â€"what’s Rain doing here?!†Isn’t it obvious? She’s here to help Lacey.
Jimmy orders the Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew to lay in a post-match beating to Deeb. They do so until Daizee Haze runs out to make the save, single-handedly taking out both women.
ROCKY ROMERO vs. KENTA- 7.75/10
Nowhere near as much kicking as you would expect, considering who was involved. Good aftermath, too. I kept expecting Davey to attack his former mentor, KENTA, but instead he should respect to both his stablemate, Rocky, and to KENTA. I kept waiting to the attack happen but it never came.
And then it was a good surprise when it finally did. The Resilience and Delirious made the save.
BRYAN DANIELSON & NIGEL MCGUINNESS vs. TAKESHI MORISHIMA & NAOMICHI MARUFUJI- 8/10
Dragon and Nigel show their solidarity by entering to The Final Countdown with Nigel’s London Bridge lead-in. Marufuji and Morishima enter together to Morishima’s music. They managed to work together surprisingly well, even hitting an assisted Tower of London. The place came completely unglued for the finish, too, which really felt like it carried all of the weight that it should have.
2 OUT OF 3 FALLS MATCH FOR THE ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES: The Briscoe Brothers(c) vs. Matt Sydal & Claudio Castagnoli- 7/10
No reason has ever been given why Claudio is getting this shot at the tag team titles when he just lost a tag team title match completely cleanly on the last show, and one two shows before that, too (and with Sydal as his partner for that last one, too). I have my theory on why they were given this shot (more on that later), but the problem here is that Claudio and Sydal just don’t seem like they deserve this title shot. Losing the first fall in less than five minutes to a non-finisher didn’t help, either. The second fall was a lot better, but the match was only just barely main-event quality.
Gabe has said that the reason he booked this as the main event instead of the ROH vs. NOAH match was because he was trying to push the tag titles as being equal to the world title in prestige, and he just couldn’t do that if he was going to put a tag title match on under a non-title tag team match with the world champ teaming with his countryman to take on the two top contenders.
I believe that this line of thinking was the whole reason that this match even took place in the first place. Part of being a good booker is knowing how to get the most out of all of the resources available to you. Gabe had a tag team that was about to break up (Sydal would turn heel the next night), so a loss wouldn’t really hurt them, and it was Gabe’s absolute last chance to do this match. He had the Briscoes 2-out-of-3 falls streak going, so having the Briscoes beat Sydal and Claudio in two straight falls would help the Briscoes at no cost to the guys who they beat, and the 2-out-of-3 falls stip would made it feel fresh and different from their match last month at Respect is Earned. And he was looking for a tag team he could have challenge the Briscoes on this show just so he could make that the main event over Dragon & Nigel vs. Morishima & Marufuji. All of the pieces were in place, so Gabe decided to use them.
I think Gabe’s big mistake here was not doing anything to actually set this title shot up. As I mentioned above this was the second straight show on which Claudio got a 2-out-of-3 falls tag title match against the Briscoes. For the previous show, Domination, Claudio was allowed to pick any tag partner he wanted, and he picked his former Kings of Wrestling tag team partner, Chris Hero. Obviously this was just an excuse for Gabe to give the Briscoes a big tag title defense over a team which, because of the current angles going on, he would not have had an opportunity to have them beat. The thing is, though, that Hero and Claudio were about to start feuding, anyway, so why not have some communication issues in that match help kick off their feud? I get the desire to have a clean finish (both to make the Briscoes look strong and because this ROH after all), but if it helps set up more matches and angles that you want, why not do it (especially if Roddy vs. Morishima was going to be the main event)?
If, at Domination, there were some communication issues between Hero and Claudio which led to Sweeney and Hero deciding to walk out on the match, you could have Claudio fight valiantly on his own, which would not only make him look good in defeat, but between his bravery and his hand-picked partner walking out on him, you have a perfect reason for why ROH management would give him another tag team title match at the next show in the same match type, but with a different partner. This would also allow the main event tag title match to also play into the name of the show (because Claudio and Sydal are united against the Briscoes, in contrast to Claudio and Hero at the last show), which, with the way they did it, really only seems to reference the ROH vs. NOAH tag match (and Dragon and Nigel’s alliance in particular).
Between the lack of reason for Claudio and Sydal getting another title shot, the name of the show only referencing the world title picture, and, ultimately, the tag title match not really living up to the main event spot on the card (it was the third best match of the night, and worse than the previous two matches… and just barely beating out the NRC vs. Cross and Stevens match), Gabe’s plan to elevate the tag titles unfortunately failed. Fortunately, the Briscoes vs. Steenerico feud would do a perfect job at this, getting the titles ready to be the main event in time for the Ladder War at Man Up.
BRENT ALBRIGHT PROMO- decent. He wants the ROH World Title.
Overall, a great show from ROH, brought down slightly by a disappointing main event. The undercard was very strong, KENTA vs. Romero was great, and the ROH vs. NOAH match felt like the major deal that it was. If the show had closed on that note instead of the tag title match, this should be remembered with more fondness. It’s still a great show, but you don’t quite feel that way going out of it after the main event.