Travicity
08-07-2010, 08:11 PM
Welcome back to the ROH DVD review series, and we now move on to what may be the best overall show ROH has put on in probably the last two years, the Big Bang iPPV. In addition to being a major show that they spent months building to, this was also ROH's debut in Charlotte, North Carolina and, from all accounts, they were very happy with how they drew here. Just for the record, I did the live coverage of the iPPV version of the show and obviously loved it, so now let's see how well it holds up on a second viewing.
The Big Bang: 4/3/10 - Charlotte, NC
Let me go ahead and get the bonus match out of the way, it featured lucha stars Blue Demon Jr & Magno taking on Super Parka & Misterioso. Because there were travel issues that prevented some of the participants from arriving until late in the show, this ended up going on last...after Briscoes vs Kings Of Wrestling and Black vs Aries vs Strong. So even though these guys stink and most of them were well past their prime, it got the "main event" slot and proceeded to completely stink up the joint. I thought it was a very wise decision to present this as a bonus match on the DVD version and close the main part of the show with the three way. I really don't know anything about any of these guys except that Blue Demon Jr was the NWA World Champion, defeating Adam Pearce in Mexico (the first time the NWA Title changed hands in that country) and holding it for nearly a year and a half before dropping it back to Pearce. I'm not a fan of lucha to begin with, but some of the stuff here was really ridiculous even by lucha standards. They also spent a lot, and I mean a LOT of time stalling, and not even doing stalling like jawing with each other or playing to the crowd, they just stood there staring at each other for a lot of the match. Parka and Misterioso repeatedly hit Blue Demon and Magno with chairs right in front of the ref and didn't get disqualified. Demon pulled off Misterioso's mask in the middle of the match, which I think is supposed to be ground for not just disqualification but also death in Mexico, and still nothing. He then tried to pull Parka's mask off and Misterioso just stood there staring at him for about ten seconds before trying to do anything. The thing that bothered me more than anything about this match is that, other than Magno, none of these guys seemed to care about working to put on a good, or even coherent match. Lots of half-assed moves, casually wandering around the ring for no real reason, and completely disregarding the referee (and not in the heel way, more like the "screw this, I don't give a crap" way), and I feel like if they're supposed to be some of the main draws to bring in the local Latino fans, they really ought to work to put on a good match, but it didn't happen. I went into this already soured on this match because it was a huge letdown coming off the two title matches on the live show, but it wasn't any better the second time around. Magno hit a twisting bodypress on Misterioso to get the win for his team and end this travesty so we can get on to the good stuff.
Okay, so now we're on to the main show, and after being welcomed to the show by Kevin Kelly and Dave Prazak, as well as a local Latino radio show host, we get underway with our first match as NWA National Champion Phill Shatter took on Zack Salvation. I didn't know either guy when I was doing the live coverage and heard the guy's name as Bill Shatter, and I wrote that in the coverage and within minutes I must have received a dozen emails telling me the guy's name was Phill Shatter. This is one of the problems that people don't think about when doing live coverage of shows, and one I often run into when I'm actually at shows since a lot of the local guys' names are hard to make out when Bobby Cruise announces them. anyway, I thought it was a great idea to open the show with local talents, it's a nice gesture to the local fans and a good way to get the crowd hot right at the beginning. solid match, both guys realized they were on a big stage and worked hard to have a good showing. Shatter in particular has a great look and is a solid worker, and he's definitely a guy to keep your eye on in the future. Shatter gets the win with a spinebuster to get the show off to a strong start.
Next up is a Pick Six Contender's Match, as (5)Kenny King puts his spot on the line against Davey Richards, who had recently signed an exclusive deal with ROH, which all but ensured that he would finally get the strong singles push everyone has wanted him to get for the better part of a year and a half. Davey and Kenny had wrestled several times prior to this, and this was probably the best match between them that I've seen. I think the next year is a make or break year for Kenny King, and the more matches he has like this, the better it will be for his future prospects, and he's also at the point where he really should break away from Aries and Titus. But the truth is that both guys are at a point where it's time for them to step it up a notch and make a move to the next level, and this was their real first step in that direction as far as I'm concerned. Even though Davey is the star of the show, I like that this wasn't booked as Davey beating King relatively easy, King held up his end of the bargain and looked like he could have beaten Davey, especially at the end as it was back and forth and back and forth before Davey put him away with a Texas Cloverleaf. Just a fabulous match that would have easily, easily been the match of the night on any other show.
Now comes the big surprise moment of the evening, as following his announcement that he's targeting Tyler Black and the ROH World Title now that he's ranked in the Pick Six, Davey is confronted by the returning Christopher Daniels, who nobody was aware had left TNA at that point. Daniels said he has worked for 17 years to become known as the Best In The World, and now he's back in ROH to prove that and challenged Davey to a match, saying that if Davey wants to be known as the Best In The World, he's got to go through Daniels. I think bringing Daniels back was a no-brainer, and not just because he's an awesome worker and talker. ROH has lost a LOT of its original name talent, and even though some guys have stepped up to try and take their places, the loss of those originals hurt them, especially the departures of Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness, and bringing a bonafide ROH original in Christopher Daniels back was a great step toward giving ROH some much needed star power.
We move on to a Butcher's Rules Match pitting Necro Butcher against Erick Stevens in the ongoing Necro-Embassy feud that had been going on for over a year. This was completely out of control, as they brawled around ringside, in and out of the crowd, onto and off of the apron, the Section B sign got used as a weapon, and Necro got slammed off the apron to the floor before they finally made it into the ring. At that point, a wrestling match broke out for about two minutes until Necro pinned Stevens off an O'Connor Roll, leading to a postmatch beatdown on Necro by the Embassy. This was good, if not the brutal war I expected it to be.
We then go to Rhett Titus taking on Cassandro El Exotico, who is like a lucha version of Adrian Street, coming into the ring wearing makeup and pantyhose and feeling Titus up during the match. He looks like one of those old Mexican women you see on the bus, except he's a dude. He's also a hell of an athlete for a guy who doesn't appear to be on the lower side of 45. Titus even started pulling out the lucha, including a nice backwards roll into a flying headscissors on Cassandro, which I never expected to see out of him. This was a solid match where Titus was able to temper some of the lucha with actual wrestling, but a lot of the story to this one revolved around the very effeminate Cassandro making homoerotic gestures at the lady-lovin' Titus and the antics that ensued. Cassandro clearly injured his leg on a dive to the floor that apparently resulted in him needing to go to the hospital after the match, yet he came back in with a top rope dropkick and ran the ropes a couple of times before rolling Titus up for the pin. God bless the guy for working through the pain and still playing to the crowd after the match as they got ready to carry him out of there.
Okay, time for a good old fashioned blood feud, as El Generico and Colt Cabana faced Kevin Steen & Steve Corino, and Generico would finally stand across the ring from Steen in a match for the first time since Steen turned on him at Final Battle 2009. For months, Generico refused to exact revenge on Steen, and couldn't even bring himself to fight back when Steen would continually attack him. Meanwhile, Cabana had been doing everything he could to bring Generico's self esteem back up and mentally prepare him for this match while Corino continued to whisper in Steen's ear and convince him that Generico had been holding him down all this time and Steen needed to do this. Generico and Steen still didn't touch as this match began, and every time they got close, Corino or Cabana would interject themselves before it could happen. Cabana spent the match playing Face In Peril while Steen and Corino would continue to mock Generico while putting the beatdown on his friend. Finally Cabana makes the hot tag to Generico who comes in and cleans house...on Corino, as Steen avoided getting in the ring with his former partner, waiting until he was hurt on the floor before he struck by powerbombing Generico on the ring apron. Steen got his team disqualified when he came in and hit Cabana with a chair, then he and Corino beat Cabana down until Generico crawled back into the ring and disposed of Corino and then stood face to face with Steen, who covered his hand with Cabana's blood and then slapped Generico. That was finally enough to cause Generico to snap, and he nailed Steen with a running Yakuza Kick, and then when Steen bailed out to the floor, Generico hit a dive off the top onto Steen on the floor and then threw him back in the ring to unleash more punishment, but Corino saved Steen before Generico could give him the top rope brainbuster. A slew of security came out of the back to try and stop Generico, who wiped them all out one by one with suplexes and brainbusters. Cabana grabbed a mic and declared that Generico is back, and then challenged Steen & Corino to a Chicago Streetfight when ROH returns to Chicago on April 24th. This has been my favorite angle this year in ROH, and we got a huge moment here with Generico finally growing a spine and standing up to Steen.
And now we move on to what is at this point, far and away my pick for Match Of The Year for 2010, as the Kings Of Wrestling challenged the Briscoes for the ROH World Tag Team Title. The KOW reunited at Final Battle 2009 and attacked the Briscoes following their title victory over the American Wolves, and although they had tangled in six and eight man tags and singles matches, this was their first straight 2-on-2 meeting since that time. This match was thirty minutes of pure wrestling bliss, as they continued to build and build this match until it just turned into this insane melee by the end. Both teams threw everything they had at each other and they just kept going until finally, Hero used the golden elbow pad to knock Jay out and Claudio covered him to regain the ROH World Tag Team Title nearly four years after they last held it. Jay actually vomited from the intense physicality and they didn't show it on the live broadcast, but this time around they decided it was something we needed to see. This was just beyond anything I've seen this year with the possible exception of the rematch at Death Before Dishonor VIII. MOTYC for sure, and well worth the price of the DVD by itself.
And with that, we now move on to the main event, a Triple Threat Match that saw Tyler Black defend the ROH World Title against both Austin Aries and Roderick Strong. Aries was the former champion looking to regain the title, while Roderick was looking to win his first title and was forced into a three way when he expected a straight 1-on-1 title match. Aries cut a hilarious prematch promo talking about how he didn't know Tommy Young (former famous NWA referee and guest official for this match) was still alive, and then tried to play Tyler and Roderick against each other by claiming they both told him they don't respect one another. Unlike the impromptu match in Phoenix, this was held under elimination rules, but like most three way matches, it was less of a three way match than it was three guys taking turns having singles matches against one another. That was my only knock on this match, I would have preferred to see them try and do something different by having all three guys in the ring for more of the match, but aside from that one knock, this was a terrific match. This played very well into the idea that Roderick keeps getting cheated out of a fair shot because he had Tyler beat with a Gibson Driver, and Aries broke up the fall and then Roderick took a brainbuster and Last Chancery frm Aries, then the Buckle Bomb, and two superkicks from Tyler and he still was able to kick out, and it took Aries coming in and giving him two more brainbusters to finally put him away, so Roderick had the match won and it took two guys literally destroying him with all of their biggest moves to eliminate him and reinforce the idea that Tyler can't beat Roderick in a straight up singles match. So now it was down to Aries and Tyler, and Aries survived God's Last Gift, a Buckle Bomb, and a superkick before Kenny King came out to try and distract Tyler, but Tyler rammed Aries into King and gave Aries three more superkicks and a second God's Last Gift to finally beat Aries and settle their feud once and for all. King and Aries attacked Tyler after the match, but Roderick ran out to make the save and Tyler tried to shake his hand, but Roderick flipped him the bird and walked out. This match was an absolute war and all three guys came out looking like warriors, Aries and Strong because of how much it took to beat each of them, and Tyler because he came out the winner.
* * *
This show was awesome live, but may have been even better on a second viewing. For years, I've held Glory By Honor V Night Two up as the best show in ROH history, but this may very well have beaten it. You had a MOTYC in Briscoes-Kings Of Wrestling, two other blowaway matches in the three way and Richards-King, and two vicious brawls in Necro-Stevens and Steen/Corino-Cabana/Generico. The undercard was strong as well, and the only bad thing on the entire show was the lucha tag match, but since history will now record it as a bonus match instead of the main event, there is really nothing bad you can say about anything on the main show. In fact, I'll say it now: this not only beat Glory By Honor V Night Two, but was as close to a perfect show as anything ROH has ever done. Highest recommendation possible for this one, go get it from ROH NOW
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The Big Bang: 4/3/10 - Charlotte, NC
Let me go ahead and get the bonus match out of the way, it featured lucha stars Blue Demon Jr & Magno taking on Super Parka & Misterioso. Because there were travel issues that prevented some of the participants from arriving until late in the show, this ended up going on last...after Briscoes vs Kings Of Wrestling and Black vs Aries vs Strong. So even though these guys stink and most of them were well past their prime, it got the "main event" slot and proceeded to completely stink up the joint. I thought it was a very wise decision to present this as a bonus match on the DVD version and close the main part of the show with the three way. I really don't know anything about any of these guys except that Blue Demon Jr was the NWA World Champion, defeating Adam Pearce in Mexico (the first time the NWA Title changed hands in that country) and holding it for nearly a year and a half before dropping it back to Pearce. I'm not a fan of lucha to begin with, but some of the stuff here was really ridiculous even by lucha standards. They also spent a lot, and I mean a LOT of time stalling, and not even doing stalling like jawing with each other or playing to the crowd, they just stood there staring at each other for a lot of the match. Parka and Misterioso repeatedly hit Blue Demon and Magno with chairs right in front of the ref and didn't get disqualified. Demon pulled off Misterioso's mask in the middle of the match, which I think is supposed to be ground for not just disqualification but also death in Mexico, and still nothing. He then tried to pull Parka's mask off and Misterioso just stood there staring at him for about ten seconds before trying to do anything. The thing that bothered me more than anything about this match is that, other than Magno, none of these guys seemed to care about working to put on a good, or even coherent match. Lots of half-assed moves, casually wandering around the ring for no real reason, and completely disregarding the referee (and not in the heel way, more like the "screw this, I don't give a crap" way), and I feel like if they're supposed to be some of the main draws to bring in the local Latino fans, they really ought to work to put on a good match, but it didn't happen. I went into this already soured on this match because it was a huge letdown coming off the two title matches on the live show, but it wasn't any better the second time around. Magno hit a twisting bodypress on Misterioso to get the win for his team and end this travesty so we can get on to the good stuff.
Okay, so now we're on to the main show, and after being welcomed to the show by Kevin Kelly and Dave Prazak, as well as a local Latino radio show host, we get underway with our first match as NWA National Champion Phill Shatter took on Zack Salvation. I didn't know either guy when I was doing the live coverage and heard the guy's name as Bill Shatter, and I wrote that in the coverage and within minutes I must have received a dozen emails telling me the guy's name was Phill Shatter. This is one of the problems that people don't think about when doing live coverage of shows, and one I often run into when I'm actually at shows since a lot of the local guys' names are hard to make out when Bobby Cruise announces them. anyway, I thought it was a great idea to open the show with local talents, it's a nice gesture to the local fans and a good way to get the crowd hot right at the beginning. solid match, both guys realized they were on a big stage and worked hard to have a good showing. Shatter in particular has a great look and is a solid worker, and he's definitely a guy to keep your eye on in the future. Shatter gets the win with a spinebuster to get the show off to a strong start.
Next up is a Pick Six Contender's Match, as (5)Kenny King puts his spot on the line against Davey Richards, who had recently signed an exclusive deal with ROH, which all but ensured that he would finally get the strong singles push everyone has wanted him to get for the better part of a year and a half. Davey and Kenny had wrestled several times prior to this, and this was probably the best match between them that I've seen. I think the next year is a make or break year for Kenny King, and the more matches he has like this, the better it will be for his future prospects, and he's also at the point where he really should break away from Aries and Titus. But the truth is that both guys are at a point where it's time for them to step it up a notch and make a move to the next level, and this was their real first step in that direction as far as I'm concerned. Even though Davey is the star of the show, I like that this wasn't booked as Davey beating King relatively easy, King held up his end of the bargain and looked like he could have beaten Davey, especially at the end as it was back and forth and back and forth before Davey put him away with a Texas Cloverleaf. Just a fabulous match that would have easily, easily been the match of the night on any other show.
Now comes the big surprise moment of the evening, as following his announcement that he's targeting Tyler Black and the ROH World Title now that he's ranked in the Pick Six, Davey is confronted by the returning Christopher Daniels, who nobody was aware had left TNA at that point. Daniels said he has worked for 17 years to become known as the Best In The World, and now he's back in ROH to prove that and challenged Davey to a match, saying that if Davey wants to be known as the Best In The World, he's got to go through Daniels. I think bringing Daniels back was a no-brainer, and not just because he's an awesome worker and talker. ROH has lost a LOT of its original name talent, and even though some guys have stepped up to try and take their places, the loss of those originals hurt them, especially the departures of Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness, and bringing a bonafide ROH original in Christopher Daniels back was a great step toward giving ROH some much needed star power.
We move on to a Butcher's Rules Match pitting Necro Butcher against Erick Stevens in the ongoing Necro-Embassy feud that had been going on for over a year. This was completely out of control, as they brawled around ringside, in and out of the crowd, onto and off of the apron, the Section B sign got used as a weapon, and Necro got slammed off the apron to the floor before they finally made it into the ring. At that point, a wrestling match broke out for about two minutes until Necro pinned Stevens off an O'Connor Roll, leading to a postmatch beatdown on Necro by the Embassy. This was good, if not the brutal war I expected it to be.
We then go to Rhett Titus taking on Cassandro El Exotico, who is like a lucha version of Adrian Street, coming into the ring wearing makeup and pantyhose and feeling Titus up during the match. He looks like one of those old Mexican women you see on the bus, except he's a dude. He's also a hell of an athlete for a guy who doesn't appear to be on the lower side of 45. Titus even started pulling out the lucha, including a nice backwards roll into a flying headscissors on Cassandro, which I never expected to see out of him. This was a solid match where Titus was able to temper some of the lucha with actual wrestling, but a lot of the story to this one revolved around the very effeminate Cassandro making homoerotic gestures at the lady-lovin' Titus and the antics that ensued. Cassandro clearly injured his leg on a dive to the floor that apparently resulted in him needing to go to the hospital after the match, yet he came back in with a top rope dropkick and ran the ropes a couple of times before rolling Titus up for the pin. God bless the guy for working through the pain and still playing to the crowd after the match as they got ready to carry him out of there.
Okay, time for a good old fashioned blood feud, as El Generico and Colt Cabana faced Kevin Steen & Steve Corino, and Generico would finally stand across the ring from Steen in a match for the first time since Steen turned on him at Final Battle 2009. For months, Generico refused to exact revenge on Steen, and couldn't even bring himself to fight back when Steen would continually attack him. Meanwhile, Cabana had been doing everything he could to bring Generico's self esteem back up and mentally prepare him for this match while Corino continued to whisper in Steen's ear and convince him that Generico had been holding him down all this time and Steen needed to do this. Generico and Steen still didn't touch as this match began, and every time they got close, Corino or Cabana would interject themselves before it could happen. Cabana spent the match playing Face In Peril while Steen and Corino would continue to mock Generico while putting the beatdown on his friend. Finally Cabana makes the hot tag to Generico who comes in and cleans house...on Corino, as Steen avoided getting in the ring with his former partner, waiting until he was hurt on the floor before he struck by powerbombing Generico on the ring apron. Steen got his team disqualified when he came in and hit Cabana with a chair, then he and Corino beat Cabana down until Generico crawled back into the ring and disposed of Corino and then stood face to face with Steen, who covered his hand with Cabana's blood and then slapped Generico. That was finally enough to cause Generico to snap, and he nailed Steen with a running Yakuza Kick, and then when Steen bailed out to the floor, Generico hit a dive off the top onto Steen on the floor and then threw him back in the ring to unleash more punishment, but Corino saved Steen before Generico could give him the top rope brainbuster. A slew of security came out of the back to try and stop Generico, who wiped them all out one by one with suplexes and brainbusters. Cabana grabbed a mic and declared that Generico is back, and then challenged Steen & Corino to a Chicago Streetfight when ROH returns to Chicago on April 24th. This has been my favorite angle this year in ROH, and we got a huge moment here with Generico finally growing a spine and standing up to Steen.
And now we move on to what is at this point, far and away my pick for Match Of The Year for 2010, as the Kings Of Wrestling challenged the Briscoes for the ROH World Tag Team Title. The KOW reunited at Final Battle 2009 and attacked the Briscoes following their title victory over the American Wolves, and although they had tangled in six and eight man tags and singles matches, this was their first straight 2-on-2 meeting since that time. This match was thirty minutes of pure wrestling bliss, as they continued to build and build this match until it just turned into this insane melee by the end. Both teams threw everything they had at each other and they just kept going until finally, Hero used the golden elbow pad to knock Jay out and Claudio covered him to regain the ROH World Tag Team Title nearly four years after they last held it. Jay actually vomited from the intense physicality and they didn't show it on the live broadcast, but this time around they decided it was something we needed to see. This was just beyond anything I've seen this year with the possible exception of the rematch at Death Before Dishonor VIII. MOTYC for sure, and well worth the price of the DVD by itself.
And with that, we now move on to the main event, a Triple Threat Match that saw Tyler Black defend the ROH World Title against both Austin Aries and Roderick Strong. Aries was the former champion looking to regain the title, while Roderick was looking to win his first title and was forced into a three way when he expected a straight 1-on-1 title match. Aries cut a hilarious prematch promo talking about how he didn't know Tommy Young (former famous NWA referee and guest official for this match) was still alive, and then tried to play Tyler and Roderick against each other by claiming they both told him they don't respect one another. Unlike the impromptu match in Phoenix, this was held under elimination rules, but like most three way matches, it was less of a three way match than it was three guys taking turns having singles matches against one another. That was my only knock on this match, I would have preferred to see them try and do something different by having all three guys in the ring for more of the match, but aside from that one knock, this was a terrific match. This played very well into the idea that Roderick keeps getting cheated out of a fair shot because he had Tyler beat with a Gibson Driver, and Aries broke up the fall and then Roderick took a brainbuster and Last Chancery frm Aries, then the Buckle Bomb, and two superkicks from Tyler and he still was able to kick out, and it took Aries coming in and giving him two more brainbusters to finally put him away, so Roderick had the match won and it took two guys literally destroying him with all of their biggest moves to eliminate him and reinforce the idea that Tyler can't beat Roderick in a straight up singles match. So now it was down to Aries and Tyler, and Aries survived God's Last Gift, a Buckle Bomb, and a superkick before Kenny King came out to try and distract Tyler, but Tyler rammed Aries into King and gave Aries three more superkicks and a second God's Last Gift to finally beat Aries and settle their feud once and for all. King and Aries attacked Tyler after the match, but Roderick ran out to make the save and Tyler tried to shake his hand, but Roderick flipped him the bird and walked out. This match was an absolute war and all three guys came out looking like warriors, Aries and Strong because of how much it took to beat each of them, and Tyler because he came out the winner.
* * *
This show was awesome live, but may have been even better on a second viewing. For years, I've held Glory By Honor V Night Two up as the best show in ROH history, but this may very well have beaten it. You had a MOTYC in Briscoes-Kings Of Wrestling, two other blowaway matches in the three way and Richards-King, and two vicious brawls in Necro-Stevens and Steen/Corino-Cabana/Generico. The undercard was strong as well, and the only bad thing on the entire show was the lucha tag match, but since history will now record it as a bonus match instead of the main event, there is really nothing bad you can say about anything on the main show. In fact, I'll say it now: this not only beat Glory By Honor V Night Two, but was as close to a perfect show as anything ROH has ever done. Highest recommendation possible for this one, go get it from ROH NOW
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