ROH in Dayton

[bigfreaky]

Montgomery County Fairgrounds - Dayton, OH

Pre-show:
a) Josh Raymond & Christian Able vs. The Soul Shooters ends in a no contest when The Dark City Fight Club comes in and tries to attacks everyone with chairs.

(I thought that was Ash and not Josh Raymond. Wow, he changed his look!) I've heard alot about the Soul Shooters & Able. The Pre-show wrestlers weren't advertised so I was pleasantly surprised when they came out. They didn't do anything wrong the crowd just wasn't really paying attention.

b) JT Vega & "Dirty" Ernie Osiris over Tim Donst & Andy "Right Leg" Ridge when Osiris pins Donst after a flatliner.

(This was a fun match! The crowd wasn't very vocal but they seemed to be watching the match instead of milling around buying merch and such. )


c) Mikey Nichols over Samson with a top rope cross body.
( Another fun match, Samson's gimmick is being crass and gross. Mikey played well off of him)


I was at the show and I would say attendance was about 400 give or take. However, I could be wrong. The bleachers and seats were full. There were a few chairs laying on a skid in the back and by the opening of the main show those were gone.

Main show:
1) Bryan Danielson over Eddie Edwards via pin fall when reversing a small package. Back and forth match, but with Danielson being one move ahead.

( They beat the crap out of each other! Bryan's arm submission's looked brutal and agonizing!)

2) Claudio Castagnoli over Silas Young, Matt Cross and "Skullkrusher" Rasche Brown in a Four Corner Survival when Young submitted in the Swi$$ Sleeper. Cross is sporting a massive Mohawk and took a scary bump in the match, but appeared to be OK. Brown did a front-flip spear.

( Double C's entrance was awesome! The crowd was eating out of his hand. I regret that Young didn't come out to Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" Although I didn't think The techno theme was as bad as some other fan did.

Cross was so much Smaller then everyone else. He was jumping up for his forearm strikes to Brown & CC. Young was supposed to Wrestle in my home town for an NWA show but he didn't make it. I was syked up to finally see him and I wasn't disappointed.

3) Jimmy Rave over Grizzly Redwood with the Ghanarhea after Osiris distracts Redwood. The Embassy's new music is "fantastic." The Embassy beat down Redwood after the match.

(Some one else said it best the match was so good because it was short. lol! It was a fun match though, Griz played his character to the T. I cracked up when Rave attacked Griz with his wooden log and someone screamed out he's got splinters. Nana was gold!)


4) Austin Aries & Rhett Titus over The Phoenix Twins via pin fall after a brain buster from Aries.
("AA" cut a great promo on the Twins. About how he was glad the Twins had finally made it the main show, even though its in a B town. I personally would have liked to see the Twins respond on the Mic. Another good match.)

5) Colt Cabana over Chris Hero via submission with the Billy Goat's Curse. My friends and i were syked for this match. After Colts Promo someone by us said "The WWE fires Colt and keeps guys that can't cut a promo half as good"

INTERMISSION

6) Jimmy Jacobs over Egotistico Fantastico when Fantastico misses a merosault and taps in The End Time.

( I fulfilled a dream when I started a chant at an ROH show during the match. Let the chant off "EMO Pirate" live forever!)

7) Davey Richards over Tyler Black with a schoolboy while holding the tights.

( Hell of a match!)

8) Kevin Steen & Jay Briscoe over The Dark City Fight Club (Kory Chavis & Jon Davis) when Steen rolled up Chavis.

(My favorite part of this match was when a fan started a "Steen Scares me" chant. Then Steen replies with something like, Your wearing my old shirt maybe I can scare you into buying my new one.)

9) Jerry Lynn over Roderick Strong to retain the ROH World Title after two cradle pile drivers. Strong was busted open the hardway and bleeding like a faucet.

(Whats left to say? This match capped off an awesome show. A funny story: Through out the night there was a fan who in the bleachers who kept yelling out things during the matches just to amuse himself. Not wanting this match ruined I walked over to him before it was under way, said something like: Your awesome sir I'd like to shake your hand, now please shut up. I can't tell you how many people walked up to me before I left and thanked me.

Of course after that I get into a shouting conversation with a fan who was heckling a Jerry Over looking like Randy" The Ram" and how the Ram is still alive. I countered with He's dead! It end with "Why are we talking about this?"

Things that struck me: After all I've read about the ROH fans being nerds and losers I couldn't help but notice how normal so many fans were. I saw families and plenty of lovely ladies with fans.

2. After all the thrashing ROH gets on a certain board

[oldschool]

Thanks Bigfreaky , a great report here on the show . Thanks , again .

Just hope to see ROH put together more shows here in Indianapolis area as Ohio is getting in the near future .

Got a question here for you --did they advertise the show in the market place in Ohio ?

[ghostwriter]

Can't past this one up here .

Posted by ROHFAN

I went into tonight shows with a bad attitude. I have been down on the Pearce era ever since the atrocity that was escalation. There I saw a display of everything I hated about pro wrestling. Tonight was their opportunity to show me they were still the wrestling-first company.

Also, my dad is the BIGGEST Roderick Mark ever. He loves Roddy so much, and was excited to see him in the Title match. I went ahead and told him that there was nearly no chance of Roderick winning, because I didn’t want him to get his hopes up.

Preshow wasn’t too bad. Opening match had two black dudes against two flamboyant 80s dudes. Match was going nowhere when DCFC comes in and chases everyone off. They didn’t actually touch any of the competitors, all four just ran. Kinda weird, but whatever. A run in on the pre-show? Not setting a good tone. Then again, I hear this was a shoot….so yeah.

In the second match we were treated to an appearance from Tim Donst, who teamed with Andy Ridge to face Ernie and some other guy who was AWFUL. Seriously, Ernie’s partner botched almost everything. Ridge messed up a couple spots, but wasn’t bad, and Donst was great. Ernie won, but Donst got over.

Third match had some Australian dude against Samson. Samson is a big black dude…..who is hilarious. He had so many funny ideas for a big guy to do….I can’t really do it justice. He’s just a big dude who acts like a bad ass, but has silly little things happen to him. Australian dude won, but we all agreed Samson should be welcomed back. Just a unique character, and I would love to see more.

Attendance was very good….I’m awful at counting, but they brought in more bleachers, which is a good sign and usually means 500+ around here.

My friend Mike was attending for the first time, and just absolutely marked out for Dragon. He had watched a lot of DVDs and was just so excited to be experiencing such an environment. I was very worried about putting this match first, because I thought it meant it was gonna be short. (Pearce has been notorious for burying his opening matches and not giving them time.) The early chain wrestling was great, and Edwards came off looking very smooth and strong. Edwards got thingyy, slapping Dragon around….until Danielson made him pay. Edwards also played rope-a-dope a lot with Dragon, and his strategy was very clear, and worked to his advantage. Dragon just made this kid look like a million bucks. Danielson finished with a small package….into a small package for the win. Match got almost 20 minutes, which was excellent. I was so happy to see this match go the way it did. Mike was in awe of the superstar presence that is the American Dragon. I love seeing a first time fan have a good time.

The 4-way was really good, in that they didn’t really do the tags: they just let them go. Claudio’s just great as a heel, and just came off awesome. Silas is good, but forgettable. Skull Krusher made a really great first impression, coming off strong without feeling like we’ve seen all he’s got. He had a couple stare downs with Claudio, and he came of looking very tough. This guy has potential. Matt Cross is still Matt Cross…even with a stupid new mohawk, he’s the same sloppy as hell dime a dozen gymnast. The finish came when Cross tried to do an ‘ode to bulldogs’ like Jack used to do, but f*cked it up and almost killed his dumb ass self. How many times does this guy have to botch for ROH to realize what a freaking waste he is? Enough is enough. After that, Claudio either pinned or choked out Silas. I missed the finish because I was laughing at Matt Cross’ dumb ass. Mike seemed pretty sure there was no pin, and that Claudio used some kind of anaconda vice. Match was ok, but was too short. If Matt hadn’t botched so bad, it would have been pretty darn good. Bring back Skull Krusher.

Jimmy Rave is back….and he is everything he was before, and more. The man just IS heat. He just has it. Without doing anything at all: people hate him. He just walks in the ring, does his pose, and sneers, and its just perfect. The guy just has presence. Push this man, I’m begging you. My friend Mike is in awe of how evil and douchey he comes off. Great to see Nana do his thing; he’s hilarious. Grizzly was Grizzly: he did his chopping bit, and then Rave just beat him down. Match went maybe two minutes, Rave wins with Ghanarea. I hope that’s not his finisher now: I love the heel hook. It was a squash, but Jimmy was great. New theme music ROCKS.

Next match between Rhett/Aries and the Phoenix twins was pretty forgettable. I’ll say this: Rhett has a lot more actual wrestling skill than I originally thought. Crowd was way into him, either grossed out or laughing the whole time. Aries did ok, but I hate him as a heel. Its just a waste. Why does he think he has to tone down his moveset to be a heel? Why is the brianbuster his finisher? Use the Horns, or the 450: the brainbuster isn’t enough. Blah. Match was kinda dull: one of the Twins botch off the top rope pretty bad. The Twins are ok, but their double team moveset is bad, and that really hurts them. Aries ends it with a brainbuster. Not bad, but very forgettable.

Colt vs. Hero was a chain wrestling CLINIC early on, with Colt’s hijinx getting way over. Before the match, Colt said how happy he was to be back. My dad, who had never seen him before, loved him, and wants him to wrestle Steen. I love how Cabana incorporates comedy in chaining: very cool. It soon broke down when Hero started using strikes, and ended all the chaining. This match was good, but could have used 5 more minutes than it had. Hero just didn’t get any nearfall knockouts. If there were a couple falsies with Hero KO, and if the elbowpad had gotten involved, this match becomes downright excellent. The match was good, don’t get me wrong. The chaining and early portion was just so good that it covered up for a finish that came too soon. Hero taps to the BGC, which the crowd loved.

Intermission.

Sign Egotistico Fantastico….now. He was great. I thought this would be a squash to get Jimmy over….but Ego looked awesome. This went a good ten minutes, and there was a good workover. Jimmy tore off a horn from Ego’s mask…that got heat. Jimmy was also wearing an eye patch, which got a lot of good comments from the crowd including ‘crunchatize me, Jimmy.” A Little kid in the back yelled ‘make him walk the plank” And the WHOLE crowd stood and cheered the little kid. Ego had an awesome moveset including a modified Cop Killer that had the WHOLE crowd thinking Jimmy was getting the MVP treatment. Jimmy eventually locks in the End Time for the tapout, but Ego got a standing O. This guy was awesome, and needs to be used more.

I was nervous about Davey vs Tyler. I was SO sure the front office would tell these guys to tone it down so they could force Lynn down our throats more. Man was I wrong. This match was off the charts. Davey worked Tyler’s arm, and Tyler’s selling was excellent. Then Davey unloaded the kicks, but Tyler came up with key counters, and surprised Davey with kicks of his own. The finishing stretch here was perfect. Tyler went for God’s last gift, but the arm couldn’t do it. Just so many counters to each others’ offense. Finish comes when Tyler drops Davey in the corner with the powerbomb, then goes for the basement dropkick, only to get schoolboyed for 3. Tyler acted like he had his tights grabbed, which I didn’t see, but which would make sense. Match was off the charts good. I cannot express how happy I was to see these two young guns tear the house down with counter after counter. I loved every second of it, and thought these guys had stolen the show…..(foreshadowing)

This was followed by DCFC vs. Steen/Briscoe. Steen waited at the end of the ramp for Briscoe, who slowly made his way down. The two looked at each other, and just parted, walking opposite ways around the ring. This was a great tip of the hat to their history and rivalry. Dark City worked over Jay, and I was shocked to see how strong their storytelling was. Jay sold well, and the hot tag to Steen was awesome. Steen just works a crowd so well. He talks with the fans, and goofs off with their chants: “do that ‘Man up’ thing you guys do.” He’s awesome. Finish comes when Steen blind tagged himself in: DCFC thought Jay was legal, and tried to give him their double team finisher. Instead, as the popped Jay up, Steen schoolboyed chavis for the pin. I actually had no problem with this pin, because it was a roll-up out of DC’s finisher. Match was very good, and I was happy with it. Nothing excellent: they are definitely taking care of DC. Nevertheless, I was very pleased.

So, the main event…..

Let me preface with this. There was a lot of places for this match to fail. I don’t like Lynn as champ: its not that I think he’s too old, and I DO think he can still wrestle, but I have problem with the fact that he is not over, and cannot be counted on to put on the best match of the show, to the point where Pearce tells the others matches to ‘tone it down.’ I mean, not even DANIELSON could pull a great match out of the guy. How is he supposed to be counted on to have the best matches on the card if DANIELSON can’t get a classic out of him? Not to mention, this is titleshot number 10 for Roderick, and he’s 0-9. Plus, in an awful booking decision, he was rolled up by Briscoe last week. Then we go to tonight, where Davey and Tyler absolutely tore is down only two matches before. This is all the ingredients for a Lynn meltdown. If his title reign wasn’t dead yet, it looked like tonight would bury it.

I came in tonight with one thought in mind: Jerry, I know you can go, but not at the level a World champion can go. I know the people kinda like you, but you’re not even close to being over enough to be world Champion. I know you are trying really hard, but your very best isn’t good enough. Prove me wrong.

So he did.

I’ll admit it: I booed Jerry when he entered. I wasn’t booing him: I was booing a booking group that forced him down our throats when he wasn’t over, and put the belt on him when he wasn’t a top caliber wrestler. In response, he went out there and had a CLASSIC with Roderick.

They chain wrestled with perfection. Lynn did all his good technical work. Lynn goofed off the in the early match and got the crowd laughing. Roderick chopped him to DEATH…and at one point, Lynn turned, winked at the crowd and said: “That one got my tit.” Then it picked up, and got brutal. Roderick tried a shoulder block off the ring apron, but Jerry moved and Roderick went head first into the guardrail. There was a HUGE dent, and when Roderick got up, he was busted open hardway. I cannot tell you how much blood there was. Imagine what happened with Nigel, and then put it in a Tarrantino movie, and THAT’S how much blood there was. It was bad enough that Turner jumped OUT of the ring to make sure Roddy was ok. You couldn’t even see any white on his face: just a solid red layer of blood. Never in my live experiences have I seen this much blood. But Roddy continued, and crowd was RED HOT. Every backbreaker he hit, we all thought it was over. Even though I KNEW there was no way he was going to win, I believed it. That’s marking out. My Dad, the biggest Roderick mark on the planet, was losing it. Every time Roddy got the Stronghold, we thought it was done. Every chop was brutal, and Jerry sold it like a champ, and kept coming back with huge DDTs and reversals. Eventually, he turned out of a half nelson attempt into a roll up into his Cradle Piledriver. That’s it, I thought……but Roddy kicked out. A second cradle finally put him away….but wow. Match was incredible. Best I’ve ever seen in Dayton, at least from a live experience.

And the best thing was the post-match. Lynn crawls…..and I mean CRAWLS over to Roderick, and you can see him talking in his ear, telling him how good the match was. Then, with both men exhausted and on their knees, Roddy bleeding his GUTS out, Jerry grabs Roddy’s wrist, and lifts his arms up, pointing at him, and the crowd goes crazy. It just just awesome to see Lynn selling how brutal the match was, and putting Roddy over afterwords. With how hot the crowd was for Roddy, and how bad they wanted him to win, it was just awesome to see Lynn, ever the humble man, put over the other guy. Now THAT’S how you get people to like your champion. HUGE Roderick chants from the crowd.

After Roddy was carried to the back, Lynn grabbed a mike and said how much he loved the fans that kept him going for 20 years. Then he acknowledged the people who don’t like him and said that even if you still don’t like him, after a match like that, you cannot deny that he gives his all. The crowd goes crazy, and there isn’t a single boo to be heard, especially not from me.

That’s how you get your champion over when he’s not: you have Tyler and Davey have a great match, and then have your champion TOP IT…..when no one thinks its possible. You have him put over his popular, babyface opponent after a classic that showed Roddy’s heart. You have him make a speech like that, thanking his fans, acknowledging his detractors, and making a claim that can’t be denied. Perfect.

Make no mistake: he hasn’t saved this reign yet. I still don’t think he was the right guy to beat Nigel, I still think he was force fed, and I still think he’s not over enough. Yes, he had a great match tonight, but he needs to consistently have the best match: and not just because management tells others to ‘Tone it down.’ He needs to go out there and make his reign memorable with SEVERAL matches like this.

Do I think he can do it? Before tonight, I would have said no. But after tonight, I’m a believer. I want him to succeed now. I’m cheering how him now. He made a mark out of me tonight.

Roderick……thank you, man. We want you to be champ so bad.

The Verdict: This show was great. My first show was FYF:Dayton, and I’ve seen every Dayton show since, plus Age of Insanity. I can safely say I haven’t had as much fun at ANY of those as I did tonight,. And that includes Breakout, which I loved every bit of. Dragon/Edwards, Cabana/Hero, DCFC/SteenBriscoe, and EVEN Ego/Jacobs are over *** to me. Davey/Tyler and the main event are both over ****, and I initially want to give the main event ****1/2. Granted this is live, so when I see it on DVD, it will probably be lower all around, but this was just great. My friend Mike, who was there for the first time, cannot stop raving about how much fun he had. “best live experience of any kind ever…..better than ozzfest!”

My only downside is finishes: 4 roll-ups and three tap outs. Luckily, the roll-ups were used well, and didn’t look like escapes: in all the matches where they were used, it didn’t feel forced. Even this is nit-picking: this show was great.

My message to ROH is this: do what you did tonight. Tonight you had no run-ins. Tonight there were no count-outs and no count-out scares. There were no DQs. You gave matches time. (except Hero/Cabana) Your storylines weren’t insulting. You didn’t throw your house show under the bus. I’m not asking for classics every time: I know Dayton is a B-market. I’m asking for respectful storylines, matches with time, and a minimal usage of screwy finishes. You did that tonight, and you reclaimed a customer who was very negative about the current product. If ROH can do this kind of show, I can be hopeful. I am very thankful for this company, and thankful for what is probably the best wrestling show I’ve ever seen live.

Thanks.


DaytonROHFAN