DR: American Dragon is motherfucking great. just really great at commandeering the match and telling the story through rising levels of stiffness and using facial expressions. Dragon is far more old school story-teller than folks care to admit. 

TKG: Aw FUCK SHIT. If there is one thing I love more than knuckle lock sections its headlock sections. I LOVE hold onto a headlock spots and this match was full of the not releasing headlock spots. Dragon was in headlock and he'd just come up with all kinds of sweet ways to force himself out of it only to have it cranked back on. Jay just held on while Dragon displayed a thousand and fifty new ways to try to escape. Even though Jay had the headlock applied, Dragon still looked strong as you felt like Jay was holding onto the headlock for dear life. For a guy who hasn't been in the promotion in a while, Dragon really looked like The Man with Jay as the challenger...while Jay still got in alot of offense. Their was a knuckle lock section but that was just a bonus for me after the headlock work. So pissed that Feinstein doesn't have Dragon in Europe tapes. I desperately need to see Dragon vs. Pn Newz.

PAS: This was amazing, it really felt like Dragon might be #1 on the DVDVR 500 for the next 12 lists. Really smartly laid out, as an opening match so there wasn't lots of horshit, just simple and beautiful.

PP: Really great opener as AD did a stupendous job of grounding Jay and working a spots-free match after the debacle that was the tag title match. AD is your new god.

MATCH 2: "HURRICANE" JOHN WALTERS vs. XAVIER in a fight without honor
RD: Walters was introduced first and he jumped Xavier as soon as he came through the curtain. This was pretty much a garbage match with chairs and ladders getting used quite a bit. Walters pulled out a metal chair from under the ring to use as a weapon. Xavier was throwing punches and he really needs to stick with doing kicks and elbows, which he usually does look a lot better. Xavier did a few moves with knees to a chair, one spot with Walters in the corner and doing a swing off the ropes into a knee to a chair on Walters' face, he also did a knee drop onto a chair on Walters' face which I'm sure did wonders for his knee. At one point, Prince Nana, sporting a great suit, wandered out and was cheering for Xavier. Xavier ended up doing a blade job in this and hit a fucking gusher. I think it was on a Walters move that sort of looked like a Dominator drop onto a set up chair. Walters put him in some hold and as he pulled him back, blood was just squirting out like his head was a fountain. Xavier eventually got Walters out on the floor and hit a springboard 450 to the floor to put Walters through the table, which I sure the people in the front row wish they had raincoats as I'm sure they got doused like it was the Amittyville Horror version of a Gallagher show. They did a couple spots early with a ladder. Walters ended up taking a bump on it as it was propped up between the apron and the railing. Walters ended up bending the thing in half, but I guess that wasn't he bump they were going for as they set the thing up again upside down for the spot they wanted to do as later Xavier did the really out of control jump from the buckles to the middle of the ropes into an Arabian moonsault on top of Walters on the ladder. After this they got a really huge ladder out and propped up the broken ladder across the corner middle ropes and put a chair on top of it to I guess cushion the bump from the jagged metal that was on the legs since they had been bent to hell from two different directions. I think they did a spot off the huge ladder before the finish but I forget what it was if there was even one. Xavier also busted out a super Kiss Your X Goodbye. The finish was both guys climbing up opposite sides of the ladder, Xavier teased like he was going to do a superplex onto the ladder, but Walters countered. Walters ended up doing the sunset flip powerbomb off the top of the ladder onto the one in the corner, though it seemed like Walters hit the ladder first and shifted it out of place and Xavier clocked his head when they did the finish. All and all, this was a bunch of crazy spots, but to be honest, I really hate this "Hey, let's take really stupid bumps on metal things" match when I'd rather watch guys you know, actually wrestle. Both guys had some nasty looking scrapes on their backs from the ladder bumps. Post match, they did the angle where Walters asked that Xavier shake his hand, Xavier said if he did he was out of the Prophecy, which he did and now he's out. Nana said they were forming a new group and I think they were calling it the Embassy. I'm still not seeing what they hype is about Walters, but I don't think this is the type of match to really do that.

DR: Xavier's blade job had to make Honma cry in the back - as he is the only guy who could POSSIBLY match the spray coming out of Xavier's head. Honma would have also set up the big garbage spots a lot better than either of these two would have- as you cringed as the were sub-Nakamaki in the biz-exposing cooperation to get into position for the spots. The pay-off for the bumps were pretty big but Honma vs Yamakawa would do the same things and then set-ups for the big spots would be seemless. this was more like a Hardy's vs Dudleys TLC match than a really great Big Japan 2000 garbage match. I still haven't seen a Walters match where he has shown me anything.

TKG: Pretty shitty match but a nice spectacle. This started ugly as neither of the guys stuff looked good in the beginning. Walters should never be booked in a brawl again. After an ugly opening section Xaviers stuff started to look crisper and well X carried this thing on his back just going for every possible crazy bump. Walters has one nice move but thats it. Walters really was quite the Michael Shane or Undertaker of this ladder match, even Hall contributed more. The whole handshake sequence at the end really came off dumb since X was spewing blood and was the guy who had taken the beating. A match where the fans around us who started anti-Xavier turned pro him by the end. So the idea that Walters earned X's respect in a match where X earned the fans respect was silly. ROH really needs to hire Mad Man Pondo to do the construction spots for them.

PP: What Tom said. I dug Walters' tag with Mamaluke at the first Elizabeth show but he looked way out of place here, whereas X has worked some really fun gimmick matches against Ki and Balls among others. X's blade job was one of the more gruesome things I've seen live... I could really see Honma in the back going "FUCKOLA!" as X went up for the 450 to the floor on Walters and we got the huge squirt of blood flying out of his head. The booking of Nana as intermediary here is... interesting. From the way he was talking it seemed like he was trying to babyface himself and X as this was the cleanest micwork I've ever heard from him. Great suit, if not as great as the white one he had at the one UCW show in Staten Island.

PAS: The post match felt like it was booked as this coming out part for Walters, which was odd because this match was all Xavier. Walters was a Rey Sr. v. Psicosis in Tijuana level of uselessness in this. He did a big bunch of nothing, and then gets put over. Xavier deserved the spotlight for this as he died like a fucking man.

TKG: Rey SR has better hair than Walters. Maybe Cobarde vs. Nicho in Tijuana. Nah Cobarde has better strikes and won't let anyone outbleed him. This was like Nicho vs. Kiss Tijuana main event. 

MATCH 3: MATT STRYKER vs. BJ WHITMER in the Field of Honor Finals
RD: With Stryker growing out his hair, it's like he's either going for the Doug Furnas look or the Tazmaniac '95 look. This felt like it went on forever. As it was going on, I was explaining to everyone that this match was what it felt like being on that USA Pro show that went 6 hours and then Snow and Raven decide to work like a 45 minute match starting after midnight? this was like that. I think they were trying to work this into a long match that would mean a lot, but it never felt like the match could get in gear and they really lost the crowd. Whitmer worked on Stryker's shoulder, seemingly trying to do the corner posting spot twice, but the problem is that with ROH's corner pads, Stryker really didn't get anywhere near the post and was really just going shoulder first into a blank spot between the padding. Stryker did take some hard shoulder bumps into the post on the floor though, but the in ring ones did kind of look silly. Stryker's offense eventually focused on working on Whitmer's bad knee. Stryker eventually pulled off his knee brace, but we didn't get the greatness of beating someone with their own knee brace. They did a bunch of spots with Stryker working the knee, including a leg lock that I'm pretty sure was Jamie Noble's Trailer Hitch Indian Deathlock variation. They did a bunch of fighting for the ropes spots but after the 3rd or 4th time Stryker got the Trailer Hitch on, Whitmer flipped him off and yelled "FUCK YOU" before eventually fighting to getting to the ropes, but coming up short and tapping out. Post match, a bunch of people from the locker room came out to have this big moment where Stryker gave a speech thanking the fans for their support. Unfortunately, everyone had turned on both guys thanks to the length of the match, so I don't know if it was pre-planned with Stryker assuming the people would be behind him, or them doing a heel turn with him being obnoxious to the fans. Given the results of Whitmer bailing on this and what happened with him later in the evening, I'm guessing this was something pre-planned and they really should have called the audible and taken this back stage because it looks bad when you've got Stryker thanking the fans and getting booed like he was a pre-turn Honky Tonk Man.

DR: I was sooooo into the two guys in the ring torturing the rubes who turned on this match. I was PRAYING that they would two more rope breaks and that a riot would start and we could be there for it - LIKE IT WAS TIJUANA OR SOMETHING! Unfortunately, they opt to go for the simple shitty match designation and we are all a little lesser for it. The funniest part was the fact that there was no face/heel structure but Matt Stryker stalled for ten minutes anyway. WHAT THE FUCK? 

TKG: Yeah that opening stall when Stryker was semi face was odd. That was followed by a rail riding section followed by going in ring to work the mat. The meaningless brawling section where they were throwing each other into the barriers...was gonna do nothing for anyone after the garbage spots in the last match. Stryker begins the match working on the arm when he hasn't ever used an arm based finisher in ROH. There came a point where the match actually lapped itself and they started rail riding again followed by going back into the ring. Haven't I seen this before? Stryker offense only started working on Whitmer's knee in the second lap. Dean kept on praying for them to go one more lap.

PAS: I honestly don't think Whitmer did anything in this match, as Stryker took about 80% of it. I have no idea why you would book a 30 minute match with your face taking 80% and then winning. Why would anyone get emotionally invested in it? This also desperately needed a heat killer match in between this and the Streetfight, it really felt like Strykers ten minute stall was attempting to be the heat killer match for the rest of his match. Not a smart move.

PP: Sweet baby Jebus was this match complete, utter DEATH live. I've enjoyed matches from both guys this year but this was one of the stinkiest ROH matches I've seen as they never clicked, it went waaaaay too long, and they were pretty much doomed by having to follow the first two matches. Yeah, this was EXACTLY like Snow/Raven from the Lodge except that you could see Snow and Raven wanting to go out there and put on a classic... OTOH we couldn't see WTF Stryker and Whitmer were trying to do. It was darkly amusing watching the bus trip folks opposite us (the reason I moved us to the other side of the ring) trying to start their dueling chant gimmick for each guy and having said chants die on the vine from everyone else in the building. Stryker finally gets the win after about 5 hours and there's a stampede for the concessions as he tries to do his big speech about winning the FOH and entering the Pure Wrestling Division or whatever they're calling it. Like the fans wanted to see more of this in the shows to come. Tom asks me if this match or Shane/Tully I (AKA the Nightmare on Swanson St.) was more perversely entertaining... I have to go with Shane/Tully for the crowd reactions.

RD : Of course, to follow up this, they had Bill Apter come out to present an award from whatever the name of his new magazine is, I think Total Wrestling Magazine. Anyway, they bring out Feinstein and present him with the award for "Classiest Promotion". I guess they didn't consult MLW about the threats of pulling ROH roster guys from their shows if they ran the area. During the presentation, CM Punk comes out and interrupts the proceedings. He insists that he should take the award, which was supposed to be for classiest wrestler, because he's straight edge and better than us and leaves with the award.

MATCH 4 : MARK BRISCOE (w/ Jay Briscoe) vs. SAMOA JOE for the ROH Heavyweight Title
RD: I liked this match better than Mark's sections of tag title defense. He also seemed to be moving around ok so I guess he wasn't too affected by the shooting star press bump he took earlier in the day. Joe controlled a lot of this, with Mark getting in a few hope spots. Joe I guess has a spot where he sets someone up in a chair on the floor and does a running kick to the face while they're in the chair. This was the spot they teased a few times as Joe would set up Mark in the chair, Jay saved him twice, once by pulling him away and later I think distracting Joe. Eventually Joe sent Mark out to the floor and went for a dive, but ended up hitting Jay instead of Mark. But with Jay down, Joe used the opportunity to finally nail the kick with Mark in the chair. He followed it up by pulling a cell phone out and calling someone. Then ROH fined him $30,000. And then his team missed the extra point. Mark I think hit Joe with a dragon suplex at one point for a near fall. He did some other stuff for his segment, but went for his burning hammer variation, but couldn't pick Joe up. Joe took over from there. I think he got a near fall on a dragon suplex. When Mark kicked out, Joe just crushed him with like 3 or 4 knees to the head from a north-south mount and then slapped on the choke sleeper. Mark did a really great eyes bugging out as Joe had the hold on before he passed out from the sleeper.

DR: Mark Briscoe's selling and facial expressions were really key to this match being as good as it was. Joe being the stiffest working motherfucker on the face of the earth was the other part that made this great. This was better than the Joe vs Jay because the former fact. 

TKG: I don't know if this is the better, I'd like to rewatch Jay vs. Joe again. As the MD match had the crowd really behind underdog Jay and against Joe. This crowd seemed to be behind Samoa Joe which created a different dynamic. Joe does the take a cell phone out from behind the ring apron end zone celebration. Frank Talent threatens to fine him.

PP: Crowd reactions were way better for Jay/Joe but for work this was easily the better of the two. Dynamic was definitely different here as the Balto crowd was more old-school and into the storyline of Jay as the wee feller against the monster Joe while here everyone was more into Joe as the killer. Samoa Joe Horn shtick was a cute bit that came out of nowhere... really, he should've then gone wide right on the ensuing kick. That would've made it perfect.

PAS: This was really freaking great, although I liked the Jay match a little better too, as the rabid Balto crowd was really behind Jay. I do think the work in this match was a little better, Joe has gotten so fucking good.

RD: Post match, CM Punk came out in the ring to do more mic work, but Joe got the microphone and told him to get out of his ring or he was going to kick is ass. Punk thought about staying, but eventually slid out and was on the receiving end of "CM Pussy" chants. After Joe left the ring, Punk immediately snuck back in and got the mic. Punk started calling out Christopher Daniels because he supposedly knew who attacked Lucy. Daniels, Maff and Danger come out on the aisle as Joe is heading to the back. Maff and Joe end up going at it and brawling to the back. Punk runs out and attacks Daniels and drags him to the ring. Also during this, Colt Cabana runs in and grabs Danger. Daniels gets tied up in the ropes by Colt as Punk throws a towel around Allison Danger's throat. Punk starts choking her and tells Daniels that he'll kill her unless he admits that the Prophecy had something to do with what happened to Lucy. Daniels admits that the Prophecy was behind it, but that it wasn't him, Danger or Maff who did it. At this point, Whitmer comes out and saves the Prophecy. He tells Punk he did it because he never forgave him for dropping him on his head. I was kind of hoping it would have been Vince McMahon who had done in Lucy. And look at Vince's body, he's clearly not straight edge. Anyway, after this clears up, Maff comes out to the ring. He's upset with Daniels because he swore on the memory of his father twice that the Prophecy had nothing to do with what happened to Lucy. Daniels tries to convince Maff to stay, telling him that Whitmer was always part of the plan just like Maff was. Maff seems to be upset, but finally lets up and they do the group pose. Then we go to an intermission.

DR: this was really long and kept going and going and going...

TKG: Danny Maff's lifts look to have eaten Slyk's lifts. He really needs to go all out and put the goldfish in them already.

PP: Man, they really should've called an audible on this angle as no one gave a shit about Whitmer after the FOH final. Or at least tease it until the next show. Everything leading up to it at least was good and really intense as Alison sold the abuse like a champ.

MATCH 5: THE SECOND CITY SAINTS (CM Punk & Colt Cabana) vs. TURMERIC STORM (Tomoaki Honma & Kazushi Miyamoto)
RD: Punk and Cabana came out first. Cabana was hilarious during this as Colt was dancing around to Copacabana, the DJ slowed down the song and as a result Colt slowed down, then they sped it up and Colt sped up. Turmeric Storm came out using "Smooth Criminal" by Alien Ant Farm which I think is their theme music. Colt looked great in this and facially and with the British stuff he's been picking up, he's reminding me of Steve Regal. Honma's back is really fascinating to look at. When the light hits it at different angles, you get to see all new nooks and crannies you missed earlier. I think it sort of reminded me of Neve Campbell's back in "The Craft." Dean insisted it looked like a road map of Texas. It turned out the guy in front of us had come up from Texas for this and we then requested he point out where about on Honma's back he was from. The match was better than I expected as I really don't think much of Miyamoto's work. Honma took a huge bump into the railings at one point. This match was really the Colt Cabana show as he impresses me more and more each time I see him. They did a bit where Punk was going to drop an elbow, but Cabana caught him in mid-air, pushed him up to his feet, grabbed his arm, did the wave and stole the elbow drop. There were some near falls in this with Honma hitting the Buff Blockbuster at one point and Miyamoto hitting a swanton. The finish was Punk catching Honma up top and hitting the Pepsi Plunge, which Honma took like he was trying to take a Yamakawa reverse tiger driver. Post match, both Punk and Colt checked on Honma's head which we weren't sure if he bladed or all those years of scar tissue opened up after the bump, but he seemed ok.

DR: This was waaay better than I thought it would be - mostly because Colt Cabana is a miracle worker. Honma looked better here than any time I've seen since he left Big Japan - but come on, it's Honma. If he isn't spraying blood out of his forehead while going face first into barbed wire, I can't get overly excited.

TKG: Also better than my expectations. Miyamoto blew everything he did and is roided out of his gills. It looked like he was trying to get a job as the Asian member of La Resistance. Honma was willing to take the Pepsi Plunge exactly the way Cham Pain took the Pedigree. But this match was the all Cabana show as he's really great at getting crowd into match and consistently saves matches that otherwise have no reason to be watchable. I'm willing to say it: Cabana looked like the best worker on the AJ vs. ROH portion of the show. Shocking that he hasn't had a Japanese tour yet.

PAS: Tom stole my Asian La Resistance joke. What was Japan's stance on the war? Miyamoto is better then Grenier but I don't think he is as good as Conway or Dupree.

PP: I'll go along with everyone else and call this the Colt Cabana Show as this was all about Colt getting over first with his persona and then his work once the match started. Punk comes out first and it's neat to see how many kids in the audience are actually singing along to his music (AFI, "Canteria Misere"), which leads me to think Phil is dead-on when it comes to Punk and how ROH should be pushing him to the younger straight-edge kids that flock to these shows. Punk has a Z1 towel with him in a cute nod to the promotional stuff. Then "Copacabana" hits and Colt immediately establishes the Odd Couple dynamic to the Second City Saints as he struts out while Punk makes with the "get serious, this is a big match" facials. For whatever reason the ROH sound guy slows down the workers' theme music as opposed to fading out, which leads to the hysterical bit with Colt slowing down, then speeding back up, then slowing down again. Priceless. Later on during the match Punk tries to drop the elbow only for Colt to rush in, grab Punk's arm and do the Electric Boogie before dropping the elbow himself while Punk does the slow burn. Turmeric Storm is on our side of the ring as the match progresses and we are all mesmerized by Honma's back whenever he's on the apron. I was actually the guy who said it looked like a Texas map as you have this big scar over by Midland, some older puncture wounds heading east towards Beaumont, a couple of nasty abrasions down south around Kingsville, etc. Truly fascinating. TS hit the stacked-up superplex on Colt near the finish. Saints go over after Colt hits his huge Asai Moonsault to the floor on Miyamoto while Punk hits the Pepsi Plunge on Honma who really tried to Cham Pain himself taking this. Maybe not the MOTN but almost certainly the most important one as Colt had to have elevated his stock to the nth degree with his performance here.

MATCH 6: KAZ HAYASHI vs. AJ STYLES
RD: This was probably my match of the night. I've been a fan of Kaz for a long time, but inspired appearances by him have sort of been fewer and further between. The last match of his which I really liked was in the 2002 Michinoku Pro Anniversary show so I was hoping he wasn't going to mail it in and he didn't. He and AJ had a really fun match. Early on both were hitting each other with stuff shots including both seeing who could hit the nastier spin kick on the other. This was another example of good saving of spots as AJ would go for the Styles Clash only to have Kaz counter out of it a few times, including at least one, maybe two really great ranas which Styles took like he was Psicosis or Susumu Yokosuka. They did some fighting on the floor and Styles did the big leap over the railing to counter a corner whip. Kaz busted out a hurty looking piledriver at one point to. Styles did two really whacked out backbreakers in this, one out of what looked like a running STO and another where he was holding Kaz in front of his body and then spun him around to AJ's back so they were back to back and dropped down. The finish was AJ countering something Kaz was doing and picking him up into the Styles Clash for the pin. I think this might have been a series of counters which lead to the finish. I know Kaz countered out of a super Styles Clash attempt, but I forget if that was the finish sequence. At any rate, I dug the hell out of this match. Post match, Kaz was pissed off with the referee and was calling for a rematch with Styles and only agreed to shake his hand after the referee left the ring.

TKG: Had recently seen the Styles vs. Lynn Sweet Science match and well that soured me on Styles. Fuck it soured me on wrestling. Wasn't looking forward to this but damn did it deliver. Styles takes a dropkick bump straight to the floor at one point which ruled. Halloween needs to steal that bump. AJ Styles is currently the only "innovator of offense" who I like as the neat stuff he adds doesn't make me laugh.

DR: Kaz hayashi makes this match by playing off the slow burn. Styles keeps BESTING him and then finally snaps- crosses his eyes like a samurai and ups the stiffness to a truly manly level. It was a simple story and it worked REALLY well. AJ Styles has ruled it this year because he can have a match as esoteric and complex as the match against American Dragon and then he can have a match as basic and primal and hate-filled as this. I await the hinted at rematch and the return of Kaz to the land of watchable, exciting professional wrestling.

PAS: I thought this was going to fucking stink, but it actually was damn great. Styles has turned into a guy who delivers every time out the shoot. Which was someplace I never thought he would get. Hayashi looks like a guy who needs to leave All Japan and just work ROH full time.

PP: This is probably my MOTN as both guys were on fire here. Early on AJ does his spot where he gets whipped to the railing only to jump over it... I flash back to the Carnage Crew/Special K match from the afternoon show and wonder what the riot would be like if the PSAC stopped it here. Sadly/thankfully it's a moot point as the match... continues. They do a great job of protecting the Styles Clash as Kaz counters out of it twice, including with a Frankenstein that has Styles eating hot firey death before he finally hits it for the pin. Kaz looked like a world-beater in the wrestling sense and his facials were truly off the chart as he sells the frustration of not being able to overcome the tricky gaijin. I think we have our fourth Mugshot. I think this was the match where we noticed one fan screaming bloody murder at the Japanese cameramen... "IDINTPAYFORTHIRDROWTOHAVEDESEJAPSBLOCKINMYVIEW" or somesuch.

MATCH 7: SATOSHI KOJIMA vs. HOMICIDE (w/ Julius Smokes, Monsta Mack & Low Ki)
PAS: I fucking hated this match. Homicide has been built up as the ace of the promotion, your top guy, and Kojima flies over and treats him like a Worldwide jobber. I am pretty sure Tim Cheeks got more offense in on Chono on the Pro. This was either incredibly stupid booking on ROH's part, or incredibly selfish wrestling on Kojima's part. Because there is no reason that Homicide should have gotten less offense then WING Kanemaru. Maybe they had to call an audible when sloppy ass Kojima concussed Homicide on the outside, but this ended up being nearly as big a disaster as Whitmer v. Stryker.

RD: Homicide had some big talk up prior to going into "The Truth" which I'm not sure is as good as his usual Carlito's Way quote. Monsta Mack and Low Ki were both sporting "Hit Squad" shirts and stayed as seconds for the match, with Ki either hand helding or taking pictures of the match. Smokes is great as a second and it was funny watching Kojima's reactions to him. At the start he was trying to figure out what was up with Smokes' teeth. Later on, he started goofing on his arm shaking deal and getting in shouting contest with him. I think the opening chop segment hand Homicide tag Kojima to the point there was a clear hand print on his chest. I liked this match better than Phil did all things considered, but then again I think Phil has a grudge against Kojima. Like Kate has a crush on the guy and Phil knows if he screws up he's going to lose her to him. I was pretty sure that Homicide got knocked silly at some point in this, but I'm not exactly sure when and I think that resulted in this sort of being a little more one sided than I expected it to be. Homicide got his huge tope con hilo in this and they nuked the ring railings in this, sending the plastic wraps holding the metal ROH signs flying off into the crowd. Homicide took a belly to belly suplex out on the floor. Kojima was beating on him on the floor, took someone's camera, took a picture and stomped Homicide and gave the camera back. Kojima hit the Rydeen bomb at one point and Homicide took an ugly bump on that, which sort of had the whiplash effect, so I'm not sure if that was the one that dazed him or if it was before that. At any rate, it was pretty noticeable he was effected from that point on. He ended up doing 2 diamond cutters in this, almost like he had forgotten he had just hit one minutes before. Kojima eventually put Homicide away after a running lariat for the win. Even though he was dazed when he was being helped out to the back, I could see Homicide had a big grin on his face. Post match, Kojima did some mic work basically saying that he'd like to come back to the US. 

TKG: Ooh I was dreading this. Kojima is hit and miss for me. He's really great when he's working like Choshu...lots of great facial expressions and a super lariat. He stinks when he decides he wants to be the worst FMW heavyweight style wrestler....all the AJ bumps headbumps with no selling at all just pop up and go on offense. Homicide has been booked as the guy who can't be taken down in ROH which often leads to too much popping up from him too. So I was dreading that this was going to just be a headropfest match that would SUCK ASS. This was alot better than that. The interactions between Kojima and J-Train were great and set up Kojima as a star with almost as much charisma as the Train. Homicide worked really tight and looked really good in beginning. Not that great of a match though, not as good as anything (other than the Stryker/Whitmer match) on the first half of the show. Kojima didn't give Homicide as much as he gave Jerry Lynn or Kuroda...which makes no sense. But this was better than the Kuroda match and way better than what I was expecting.

DR: I concur completely with both Ray and Tom. I was DEEPLY dreading the Endless Finisher feel that this match could have adopted and was happy that this was basically a goofy houseshow, cheapheat match- with Kojima working the crowd and making good use of J Train (who is fucking BRILLIANT). The fact that Homicide's concussion kinda cut this short got rid of the kicking out or no-selling of 45 finishers, so this was way better in the end. Not that this was good or anything. Homicide vs Tea Kea is your money match.

PP: You have to feel for Homicide as going in this must've been a dream match for him considering how much he's aped Kojima in the past. They had the big intro for him leading into this with the extended monologue plus the criminally-underused Monsta plus Ki in his corner, so it's doubly disappointing. Kojima comes off as a total superstar with the charisma to match as you can tell he was having a blast out there interacting with J-Train and the referee. Early part of this is really good with the aforementioned chop segment as Homicide just ROASTS Kojima with one chop that leaves a giant handprint on his chest for the early part of the match. Kojima controls the early part of this... and then Homicide gets knocked loopy either on the floor or taking the Rydeen bomb, so whatever he had planned for his turn to go on offense sadly goes right out the window. The clincher for me that he was out on his feet was when he went for the second diamond cutter less than a minute after hitting the first one... you could sense the crowd knew something was up with him at that point as they got quiet all of a sudden. I am ever the eternal optimist and would like to think that they wouldn't have turned this into a Cavalcade of Killed Finishers. Hopefully they give this match another shot down the line.

MATCH 8: THE PROPHECY ("Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels & Dan Maff) w/ Allison Danger vs. THE GREAT MUTA/ ARASHI for the AJPW Tag Team Titles
RD: Before the match, Stephen DeAngelis read a proclamation from PWF sanctioning the match for the tag titles which was signed by Stan Hansen. Muta's gear and head piece are pretty great. The crowd did the streamers for the match. You can really see how bad Muta's knees are as you can make the outlines of the huge braces under the pants he's wearing. Dean joked a lot about the amount of time Muta was on the mat during this but seeing him walk like an 80 year old man, I'm sure he wants to do anything to get off his feet. We ended up rooting for Arashi a lot during this and we marked out when he busted out the sumo slaps and later in the match when he busted out the fat man drop kick. Muta got huge reactions for his spots, like when he did the flashing elbow and blew the green mist early in the match. Maff was great in this with his facials and selling in this, especially when he was on the apron, selling fear like when Muta would do the mist. They did two different heat segments in this with Arashi making one hot tag to Muta and later Muta doing a hot tag to Arashi. Muta got in the dragon screw and figure four on Daniels. I was kind of hoping Arashi would hit the frog splash while he had on the hold, but I was denied as Maff made the save for Daniels. They did a spot where Maff got a chair and went to hit Muta but got misted in the face. The finish was Daniels going for his moonsault (which he declared as "THE GREATEST MOONSAULT EVER"), but Muta getting out of the way and hitting the shining wizard to retain the titles. Post match, Muta offers them a handshake, but Daniels stops and instead of the handshake, Daniels, Maff and Danger all bow to them. Overall, this was slightly better than I expected, but I had really low expectations. It didn't go to long and the crowd popped for seeing Muta hit his trademark stuff so it was OK. Plus there was lots of Arashi and the Prophecy did a few cool double teams too.

TKG: This wasn't anywhere near as good as the Gaffari vs. Arashi sections of the fat man battle royale...but this wasn't unwatchable. Muta really lesser performance than ROH Konnan. Daniels seemed really smart as he built all his offense around Muta laying on the mat. Muta goes to the mat with Daniels. Lays in a hold. Daniels fights out of the hold. Daniels puts Muta in a submission that allows Muta to lay down. Muta lays there. Doesn't fight out of the hold, just lays, doesn't even struggle or sell for it, just lays. Arashi comes in to break up hold. Daniels does a lionsault on Muta and a couple other moves built around Muta laying prone. Muta eventually gets up well rested from all this, threatens Allison Danger , and then squats in the corner breathing more heavily than Mascara Sagrada. How do you get blown up from laying down? Maff had to do all the selling for this and did a lot of schtick to get over the dangerousness of Muta. I've seen Maff work the Roadwarriors and he was working Muta even looser than that, looser than he'd work current Hawk. He worked alot tighter against Arashi, and took a huge upside down ring barrier bump at one point. I expected this to be absolutely the worst thing ever. I expected this match to be Collosal Kongs level bad. It wasn't. If they had Dragon Master Kendo Nagasaki and Gary Hart on the ring apron....it might've passed for good. 

DR: Fuck the po-lice, Muta's entrance was fucking motherfucking AWESOME. Muta sucked in the ring like we knew he would and it was FUN timing how much he actually layed on the mat and did nothing. But fuck it, the mask was fucking AWESOME. Arashi carried the good parts of this match- as he sold like a man trained by Tenryu, with the measured and hostile selling of anything by Danny Maff. Arashi vs Maff would be a good little singles match. The Arashi dropkick was FUCKING AWWWWESOME and I popped like a fucking monkey. If you don't like Arashi, you can suck my dick. But yeah, this wasn't very good.

PAS: Konan is as big a legend in Mexico as Muta is in Japan. I bet Konan and Gran Markus v. Daniels and Maff would be better then this. I kept waiting for the ROH crowd to turn on lazy Muta but they never did. I haven't seen the Funk match yet, but for ex-NWA champs Dusty did a shitload more in his ROH match.

PP: As the show worked its way towards the main event I mentioned to Dean or Ray how they needed to have someone from the AJPW office with a proclamation announcing the titles... and much to my surprise DeAngelis had one! Deangelis name-checks "PWF President Stan Hansen" to one of the biggest reactions of the night as the whole place erupts in "HOOOOOOOO" calls, and I think how great it would've been if they actually had Stan read the proclamation in person. Shit, it isn't like he has anything better to do nowadays. Match is an OK spectacle as everyone is popping hard for what currently passes for Muta's stuff while we're the only ones cheering for Arashi... there was one throwback in the crowd trying to get a "YOU FAT FUCK" chant started for Arashi that went over like a fart in church. Maff pulls up a stool, sits down and milks reactions to Muta's mannerisms for all they're worth, from cowering behind the ringpost when he blows the mist to when he hits the Powerdrive elbow on Daniels, the building EXPLODES and Maff does his "hang from the ropes" shtick in a panic. You really have to see the tape of this just for the crowd reaction to the elbow. Arashi getting the hot tag and hitting the Fat Boy dropkick may have been the most sublime moment of the whole show.

RD: After the show we said good bye to the gang and headed back to the buses. Unfortunately, with all the traffic, it took us about 20 minutes to get out of the parking lot so we weren't even rolling until 12:20am or so and didn't get back to NYC until like 2am. Overall, I had a pretty good time. The second half of the show was worth the trip. Kaz/Styles was probably my match of the night but I liked AD/Jay as well. I also have to give props to MKJ's bus tour thing as once again, no problems with the trips in the times we've gone with them.

PP: Good if not exhausting day of the professional wrestling, which is fine as we got to see some new match-ups and what hopefully was the international coming-out party for Colt and Maff. Big-ups to Mike Johnson for the trip thing... I also have to compliment him on the theme CDs printed up in Hebrew lettering, very festive. Mazel tov, meshuggah.

PAS: Not in the upper echelon of ROH shows I have seen, but pretty fun nonetheless. One good thing about ROH is they always at least give you your money's worth, most of the time way more.

DR: Postmatch, we drive back to DC and we drop Tom off in the approximate area of his home. The next day, me n Phil saw 56 accidents in the 14 hours it took to get from DC to Richmond. I wanna give all my love to all my fellow playah homiez - Phil S, Tom KGEE and mothahfucking Pete 2 tha Stein - for bankrolling my fat ass. You all finger-licking good and I owe you all a solid that U WILL GET. WORD.