ROH Return Engagement
ROH Return Engagement (4/19/2008)- Chicago, IL
AUSTIN ARIES vs. SILAS YOUNG- 5.25/10. Very good for such a short match
ARIES & JIMMY JACOBS SEGMENT- good (but also slightly sad to see Lacey leaving Jimmy. He deserved it, but it was still sad, based on all of the time that they put into that relationship (but this would have turned out much better if had Pearce stuck with Gabe’s plan for this angle when he took over, rather than ruining it the way he did!).
NECRO BUTCHER vs. MITCH FRANKLIN & ALEX PAYNE- No rating. A good segment, but I’m not sure how this became an official match.
CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI & PELLE PRIMEAU vs. ADAM PEARCE & BRENT ALBRIGHT (w/Sweet N’ Sour Inc.)- 5.75/10. Pelle played a great babyface in peril.
KEVIN STEEN PROMO- very good
FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL: Lacey vs. Daizee Haze vs. Ashley Lane vs. MsChif- 4.75/10
AFTERMATH WITH JIMMY JACOBS & LACEY- Great. Jimmy is tremendous!
DELIRIOUS vs. CHRIS HERO (w/Sweet N’ Sour Inc.)- 5.5/10
THE BRISCOE BROTHERS vs. THE MOTOR CITY MACHINE GUNS- 9/10. Freakin’ awesome! I liked it better than their first match.
POST-MATCH- The Age of the Fall beat the Briscoes down, slicing Mark’s wrist open. This was eh. It really wasn’t apparent what they were doing when they did it. Jay had to tell us in a short backstage piece.
KOTA IBUSHI vs. EL GENERICO- 8.25/10 All fast paced action. Awesome.
THE VULTURE SQUAD (Jack Evans. Ruckus, & Jigsaw) vs. THE AGE OF THE FALL (Tyler Black, Joey Matthews, & Zach Gowen) (w/Allison Wonderland)- 7/10. Past paced with a cool series of dives, made even more impressive by the fact that there was only about four feet between the ring apron and the barricade. Awesome finishing sequence, too.
JACOBS CALLS OUT ARIES- BRILLAINT! Everything seemed 100% natural, and Jimmy is such a psycho you really thought that he might kill Aries.
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Nigel McGuinness(c) vs. Kevin Steen- 8/10. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED Steen kicking Nigel in the nuts before the bell. Even as a babyface, Steen was never a particularly nice guy, and with everything that had happened the week before (Nigel “sent Steen a message” by assaulting his tag team partner El Generico, and then Nigel using the ropes for illegal leverage to pin Steen to retain the title), it is 100% understandable and in character for Steen to do this.
DAIZEE HAIZE & DELIRIOUS SEGMENT- kicked off the “Delirious has a crush on Daizee” angle that would prove to be Rhett Titus’ big break.
Overall, an awesome show from ROH, with three matches worth going out of your way to see, and some extremely important storyline developments. MCMG vs. Briscoes and Ibushi vs. Generico are particularly awesome.
AUSTIN ARIES vs. SILAS YOUNG- 5.25/10. Very good for such a short match
ARIES & JIMMY JACOBS SEGMENT- good (but also slightly sad to see Lacey leaving Jimmy. He deserved it, but it was still sad, based on all of the time that they put into that relationship (but this would have turned out much better if had Pearce stuck with Gabe’s plan for this angle when he took over, rather than ruining it the way he did!).
NECRO BUTCHER vs. MITCH FRANKLIN & ALEX PAYNE- No rating. A good segment, but I’m not sure how this became an official match.
CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI & PELLE PRIMEAU vs. ADAM PEARCE & BRENT ALBRIGHT (w/Sweet N’ Sour Inc.)- 5.75/10. Pelle played a great babyface in peril.
KEVIN STEEN PROMO- very good
FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL: Lacey vs. Daizee Haze vs. Ashley Lane vs. MsChif- 4.75/10
AFTERMATH WITH JIMMY JACOBS & LACEY- Great. Jimmy is tremendous!
DELIRIOUS vs. CHRIS HERO (w/Sweet N’ Sour Inc.)- 5.5/10
THE BRISCOE BROTHERS vs. THE MOTOR CITY MACHINE GUNS- 9/10. Freakin’ awesome! I liked it better than their first match.
POST-MATCH- The Age of the Fall beat the Briscoes down, slicing Mark’s wrist open. This was eh. It really wasn’t apparent what they were doing when they did it. Jay had to tell us in a short backstage piece.
KOTA IBUSHI vs. EL GENERICO- 8.25/10 All fast paced action. Awesome.
THE VULTURE SQUAD (Jack Evans. Ruckus, & Jigsaw) vs. THE AGE OF THE FALL (Tyler Black, Joey Matthews, & Zach Gowen) (w/Allison Wonderland)- 7/10. Past paced with a cool series of dives, made even more impressive by the fact that there was only about four feet between the ring apron and the barricade. Awesome finishing sequence, too.
JACOBS CALLS OUT ARIES- BRILLAINT! Everything seemed 100% natural, and Jimmy is such a psycho you really thought that he might kill Aries.
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Nigel McGuinness(c) vs. Kevin Steen- 8/10. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED Steen kicking Nigel in the nuts before the bell. Even as a babyface, Steen was never a particularly nice guy, and with everything that had happened the week before (Nigel “sent Steen a message” by assaulting his tag team partner El Generico, and then Nigel using the ropes for illegal leverage to pin Steen to retain the title), it is 100% understandable and in character for Steen to do this.
DAIZEE HAIZE & DELIRIOUS SEGMENT- kicked off the “Delirious has a crush on Daizee” angle that would prove to be Rhett Titus’ big break.
Overall, an awesome show from ROH, with three matches worth going out of your way to see, and some extremely important storyline developments. MCMG vs. Briscoes and Ibushi vs. Generico are particularly awesome.