$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

RD : Rev Ray Duffy, old, but not Dean old
PP : Pogo Pete Stein, old enough to know better

-------------------------------------

Ray's note : This is a super half assed report. I think our most half assed report since the second Jersey J Cup. I wrote my part some time in Novemember and this kind of sat around and didn't get done. 2 ROH shows have passed and it's close to 2 months old, so here you go.

RD : For the most part, I've avoided going to ROH shows. In the past it was because RF was such a douche before the whole "loli'll pretend you said 18" deal, that I kind of avoided their shows. Since they were bringing in Lyger to do Ki/AmDrag against Joe/Lyger, I figure it was worth it to check it out. Last time I saw Lyger live was in like 91 or 92 the night after he won the Light Heavyweight title from Pillman and they tore the house down. So I figured what the hell. I meet up with Pete at the RexPlex and plot on getting a ride with Tom who's coming up from DC. There's a pretty fair sized crowd for this show, I wouldn't say it was as big for the Final Battle '03 show which had the 4 All Japan v. ROH matches, but it was still pretty full. We keep watching the clock for Tom after we hear he's near NewarkAirport and he's still not shown up. We end up getting a ticket for him as Pete grabs seats and I wait for Tom. Tom finally shows up and turns out he took public transportation up which sort of screwed up my plans to scam a ride home. They had some neat merch at the tables including New Japan/Lyger t-shirts and a bunch of neat figures including a Mutoh/Ebuto two pack, though I decide to save some cash and don't get anything. Pre-show there's some guy wandering around in a Winnie the Pooh outfit. Initially, I didn't know what he was there for as the Rexplex is open for a bunch of things at once. I wasn't sure if he was there for a kid’s party, but he ended up being there for the show. I tell Tom that there's a lack of fans with gimmicks at shows and he proceeds to tell me one of his many disturbing stories, this time about old guys at some gaming convention dressed as Sailor Moon hitting on little girls dressed as Sailor Moon. That story was almost as scary as the thought of sitting next to your average wrestling fan who's been stewing in his own juices for 4 hours in a bear suit.

PP: I was stoked for this show going in just because I was getting Jushinmotherfucking Liger LIVE on my birthday. Make the shlep out from Port Authority and show up around 5pm, 3 hours early to brave long lines which surprisingly didn't really materialize. Somehow I manage to pick Johnny Sorrow out of the crowd and introductions are made. Ray shows up with some birthday Pocky for me (sadly the store didn't have Crunky) and we wait for Tom. At one point he calls to let us know that he's at NewarkAirport... this cheers us considerably since the airport is almost literally across the road from the RexPlex. A half hour passes... no Tom. Hour... no Tom. Doors open and I head in to stake out some seats in the bleachers where I take note of the NJPW merch. Shirts looked cool, just not $35 cool. Head back over just as Ray shows up with Tom, who had the nerve to screw us all out of rides by taking the train from DC to Newark. Bix shows up as well and a grand old time is had by all for the next few hours. I break out the new Super Luchasmag and Tom is hypmotized by Veneno's "gunshot wound" of a bladejob at this hair/hair match he had somewhere.
 

MATCH 1 : CHAD COLLYER v. NIGEL MCGUINNESS :

RD : Your HWA offer match. Nigel came out to a pretty big pop. The whole booking of this was kind of baffling. It was a good opening match work wise, but it was weird. First off, you've got Nigel who's coming off a big win over Homicide on a recent show and seems to be a guy they're grooming for a title shot of some sort in the near future and you're putting him on first. The second was the end result of said match. This was as Tom mentioned both guys had worked series in HWA which was good. Nigel does a lot of freak British mat work which means that Pete, Tom, Bix and I were going to love this no matter what. Nigel busts out what Tom described as the Flip Flop and Fly Arm Drag which he falls in love with and when I think Nigel uses a short arm scissors, Tom's ready to propose. Nigel's got good presence and has a bunch of nice spots. They work some fun comedy spots : Collyer claiming that McGuiness' spiked hair either greased him or stabbed him when Nigel does a handstand/somersault move across his back. They do a bit where Nigel's outside the ring and Collyer stomps on his hand. Nigel goes over to a girl in the crowd and gets her to kiss it. He gets up on the apron, gets punched in the face, Nigel goes for a kiss on the cheek. Collyer ends up getting crotched on the ropes and goes outside and asks the girl to kiss his dick. It seemed like they were setting up for the finish as Nigel hits something that's like an arm lock with a drop toe hold which is really simple but really hurty looking which Tom says is his set up for his finisher. Collyer ends up fighting back and gets Nigel in the clover leaf as fans chant "please don't tap at Nigel" Nigel starts to go for the ropes, Collyer pulls him into the middle of the ring, but the time limit expires, resulting in a draw. It wasn't a bad match, but if they are pushing Nigel, why are you having him go to a TLD in the opening match with Collyer who I don't think they've really pushed at all during his whole run in ROH.

PP: Nigel is the goods, from his entrance music (Living End, "Roll On..." gotta love the British wrestler using Aussie music) to his freaked out matwork and his overall presence.... which is why the booking of him is so confusing. How does a guy go from pinning Homicide to struggling with ChadCollyer in the opener? Nigel is funfunfun with his matwork that I could sit and watch all day, including the flip-flop-and-armdrag off a corner whip that pops the whole place. Match is fine even with the baffling booking, as Collyer's a guy I've always wanted to like.
 

MATCH 2 : THE CARNAGE CREW (Devito & Loc) v. DAVEY ANDREW & ANTHONY FRANCO :

RD : This was a "Rookie's get beat up match". Having never really seen them, Andrew and Franco didn't do anything horrible, but it was pretty much a squash match with the rookies getting squashed, but getting one or two hope spots. Tom insists that Loc is turning into a mini-Perry Saturn. Devito looks like he's putting on weight to me. Tom said he was always sort of chubby, but then again, I was used to Devito standing next to Vic Grimes, which will make most people look thin. Carnage Crew hit their Au Revoir move and get the win with a super spiked piledriver. Post match, Allison Danger comes out and starts trying to court the Carnage Crew into letting her manage them. She looks like she's dressed to go to the prom. A number of "Carrie" jokes are made by us. Devito calls her a rat and says they want nothing to do with her, but offer to consider if she gives them a lap dance. She gets pissed and leaves.

PP: Perfectly fine rookie discipline match as the Crew give the spinach-chins just enough to keep things interesting, including a nice tease of the upset at the finish as (I think) Devito gets slammed off the ropes for a flash near-fall before they finally get put away. Alison comes out in the latest of her incredibly unflattering ROH outfits and does her best impression of Maryanne from Brooklyn calling the Stern show. "CARNAGE CREW LEMME BE YOUR MANAGAAAA I LOOVE YOUR SHOW!"
 

MATCH 3 : FAST EDDIE v. IZZY of Special K w/ Special K v. TRENT ACID v. JACK EVANS :

RD : I got a kick out of the fact that Fast Eddie uses "Going Blind" by Korn as his theme music since he's legally blind. Tom quizzes us on what Northeastern rookie Cheech is, but Pete and I don't recognize him. Acid used his new gear and music that he used at JAPW. Tom is disappointed as he liked the Chase theme since he thinks Trent looks like someone who'd end up in a Turkish prison. Acid end up having a contest to see who can throw the more laughably bad punches and the winner is both. I'm not remembering a lot of this except that it was a clusterfucky high flying match. There was a big dive sequence which had Evans do the turnaround 630 dive onto the pile of Special K. They did a spot where a bunch of guys hit big spots at once. Which had Eddie getting knocked down and Trent yakuza kicking Evans into the face which resulted in him doing a Red Star press onto Eddie and then I think Izzy hitting the reverse frankensteiner on Acid. Special K ended up being the catchers on a second spot when Fast Eddie gave Evans a moonsault blockbuster suplex from the post to the floor. Izzy went up the ropes, Acid climbed up behind him and tried to do something to him, but Izzy blocked it and hit a sliced bread no 2 from the top rope to score the pin. Tom says he loves it when CZW main event guys and brought in to do jobs and I try to convince him that it's actually Gabe trying to keep Pro Wrestling Unplugged down.
 

RD : Gary Michael Cappetta came out to read a letter from Jim Cornette where Cornette challenged ROH to bring in Bobby Heenan, which Gary announced they would happen at the December show in Elizabeth and I guess they're going to do a debate or something.

PP: I love both of these guys but I get the distinct feeling that Heenan's current condition is going to make this less fun than it could've been.
 

MATCH 4 : JAY LETHAL v. JIMMY RAVE w/ Prince Nana, the OutKastKillaz & unknown valet :

RD : Nana came out and did mic work putting down everyone in attendance. He said that the fans stunk and gave the OutKastKillaz air freshener to spray for when Rave came out. Rave was wearing one Nana's old robes. In a great heeling spot, Nana had the valet serve as the ringstep so Rave could get into the ring. A lot of the bus trip ROH fans I've talked too seem to hate Jimmy Rave and I can't figure out why. He's perfectly fine in this. Jay Lethal is great as the young up and coming baby face. This had some pretty stiff chops in this with both guys really lighting each other up. Though it seemed like Jay tried to duck and chop and took it right on the back of the neck/shoulders. Fans boo Rave for his attempts at the Styles Clash. Nana works at ringside, berating the unknown valet, telling to stand in specific places, usually in front of people. In the end, Jay was setting up I think for the dragon suplex, Nana distracts the ref, Rave uses the low blow and then hits the Styles Clash to steal the win. Post match, Jay Lethal pimp slaps the members of the Embassy before running before they can get him, resulting in Nana getting upset and vowing revenge.

PP: Rave's entrance is absolutely STUPENDOUS and you have to love it when 1000 "smart fans" give him a 100% old-school heel reaction. I'm still trying to figure out why the OKs would be spraying the air freshener after he walks around when the idea is to have the air presentable for when he comes out. This was really fun and probably the best match on the first half of the show as both of these kids can go and are heat magnets for entirely different yet no less entertaining reasons. Lethal falls to the Rave Clash after getting nutted while Nana & Co. distract the ref, but he immediately gets his heat back by paintbrushing everyone and bailing out. As over as he was, I was hoping for him to submit just because it would piss Rousseau off some more.

MATCH 5 : AUSTIN ARIES & RODERICK STRONG w/ Jack Evans v. CM PUNK & ACE STEELE in a no DQ match :

RD : Punk and Steele come through the crowd and jump Aries and Strong from behind. This had some stuff that looked good, some stuff that looked really ugly and some stuff that was really crazy. Since it was no DQ, it actually made sense for Evans to interfere to help his team mates. A ladder got involved early and there were a lot of big bumps onto it. The problem was they did a bunch of spots where guys landed on the ladder, but later in the match, they tried to use it for dive spots and it was all bent to hell. It looked like they wanted to find another one, but couldn't. Evans died a ton in this. In one spot, GenNext was setting up for the Sky High Cross body on Punk, but as Evans dived, Punk caught him and turned it into a powerslam onto the ladder. Strong and Aries both took some nasty bumps into a ladder set up in the corner. Aries did the kamikaze onto the ladder and went for his 450, but landed on nothing but ladder. Strong hit a really nice looking yakuza kick in this at one point. There was something going on in the floor which apparently got sloppy with people missing or moving out of the way that we missed because everyone was standing up. They worked over Punk's leg by smashing his leg with a chair as it was trapped between the ladder legs and giving him a shinbreaker onto the ladder which looked more like Punk got crotched on the chair. Evans eventually got taken out of the picture when Ace gave him a powerbomb off the apron through a table. Ace saved Punk from a submission attempt. The finish was all kinds of ugly. They set up I think Strong for the Pepsi Plunge, they placed the ladder on the second rope in the corner. I think they were trying to do it so Strong would land on the ladder, but it seemed like it got kicked when Punk jumped, so it got knocked back and looked all kinds of ugly.

RD : Post match, Punk gets on the microphone and says thanks to Ace for being there for him and Ace yells something incomprehensible over the mic, I think it was "WEKICKEDTHEIRASSESYEAHHHH!" or maybe "DEYTOOKURJERBS!" before heading to the back. Punk calls out Joe saying he wants another shot. Explaining that he took Joe to the limit twice, and even though he didn't beat Joe, Joe couldn't beat him either. Punk said he wanted a no time limit match with Joe and basically would calling him out in front of Lyger and the NJPW office members that were in attendance. Joe didn't come out. Punk said he wasn't going to leave until Joe answered him. Mick Foley comes out and explains that he was here tonight for free, not to plug his book (which he was carrying with him) because he was a fan of ROH and to see Lyger. Foley said he had a picture to show Lyger which he hands to Punk which was actually of Foley with Yurple the Clown from the Vince McMahon in the hospital bit, before pulling out the picture of Foley with Lyger. He basically said he the thought that guys like Heidenreich and Snitsky were seen by millions of people and that Joe and Punk weren't was a shame. He said he didn't think it was good that just because they didn't have chemically enhanced bodies or man made breasts that they shouldn't be given a chance. He said that when he goes back to WWE, he'd like to take them along with him. Foley also called Joe out to answer the challenge and when he didn't, Foley accused him of having a case of Steamboatitis and being softcore. Punk and Foley played well off each other, with Punk beating Foley to the cheap pop on mentioning Elizabeth, NJ and them getting cheap heel heat by mentioning TNA and Triple H. To his credit, Punk spent the whole intermission, which was like 20-30 minutes in ring reading "Tales from Rescal Lane".

MATCH 6 : ANGEL DUST & DIXIE w/ Special K v. THE RING CREW EXPRESS (Marcos & Dunn) :

RD : They do ring intros for this, with Punk still sitting in the middle of the ring. Punk apologizes to everyone but says he's not leaving until Joe comes out. He reads part of Foley's book which is about Angle bragging about being brave and then crapping his pants on a rollercoaster. Followed with Punk saying "And the moral of the story is... well, I'm not sure what the moral is." Joe eventually comes out and accepts Punk's challenge, but ends up taking him down and bad mouthing him. After Joe leaves, Punk says he's glad he's getting the match and tells Joe he better do some cardio. I say that match should end in like 5 minutes with a surprise roll up. Oh yeah, there was a match too. This was an OK little match, but I'm having a hard time remembering it. Dunn and Marcos went over when the big one (I don't remember which is which) threw his partner off his shoulders onto one of Special K and got the pin. Post match they continue the break up of Special K as everyone else leavesDixie and Angel Dust behind.

MATCH 7 : HOMICIDE w/ Julius Smokes v. "HURRICANE" JOHN WALTERS for the Pure Wrestling Title :

RD : I hit the can during the intros, so I missed Smokes and Homicide's apparent freak out during the reading of the rules. There was a warning at some point for Homicide doing something illegal, but later he gets in a bunch of cheap shots as Smokes distracts the ref. There's a problem in the fact that it looks like Homicide is warned for throwing punches at one point and Walters does later in the match but isn't warned. The big thing during this is when Homicide is setting up for a superplex in the corner. He's trying to lift up Walters and something happens, either someone slips or falls, but Homicide practically takes a back body drop from the floor. It looked like he rolled through to land on his back, but I didn't see the total landing and he was holding his head during this. He eventually makes it back into the ring and I'm not sure what Walters was thinking, but he immediately spikes Homicide on his head with a DDT and then something that I think was supposed to be his Hurricane DDT move... which is really smart to do on someone who might have just concussed himself. In doing so, Homicide who was working heel and getting "Homocide" chants prior to falling to the floor how has the fans cheering for him to gut it out. Walters puts Homicide in a scorpion hold, Homicide makes it to the ropes, but Walters doesn't break. Smokes ends up coming in and clubbing him from behind for the DQ. Smokes gives Walters a few piledrivers and the Rottweilers come out to beat on him as well as Homicide rushes to the back.

MATCH 8 : DAN MAFF & BJ WHITMER v. THE ROTTWEILERS (Rocky Romero & Ricky Reyes) w/ Julius Smokes for the ROH Tag Team Titles :

RD : This was kinda eh. Maff really works hard at working the crowd. Whitmer is kind of there. I think I was getting burned a bit at this point and we were also trying to figure out how we'd be getting home since the show ran so long if we were staying for Lyger's match, we'd be missing the last public trans bus out. Maff spent a lot of time in early, before Whitmer got the tag before becoming face in peril. He hit a super Exploder I think at one point but wasn't able to follow up. Maff eventually hits Romero with the Burning Hammer but gets distracted by Smokes on the apron. With Maff not looking, Reyes gets Romero out of the ring and lays down and sells like he got hit. Mind you, Romero and Reyes aren't wearing matching tights. Maff comes over and gets small packaged and the Rottweilers retain. Post match, prom queen Allison Danger comes out and tells them they need her and they chase her off.

MATCH 9 : LOW KI & "AMERICAN DRAGON" BRIAN DANIELSON w/ Julius Smokes v. SAMOA JOE & JUSHIN "THUNDER" LYGER :

RD : Ki used his new music but had wrestling tights on for the match. Danielson's entrance with his cloak and lighting for the Star Spangled Banner into an instrumental of "Self Esteem" was good. Lyger came out to a huge pop and there were tons of streamers being thrown. Ki worked really well in this being a bastard. Dragon was great as he was sort of working like Regal as a chickenshit heel in spots of this. Dragon's jumping forearm uppercut was beautifully brutal. Joe started most of this before getting the tag to Lyger and the big pop. Lyger ended up doing a lot of selling in this with Danielson and Ki doing a lot of cheap heat spots, including them doing an assisted abdominal stretch which I was disappointed that Smokes didn't latch onto as well. Smokes was great with his shit talking to Lyger, even getting in his face as he was pulled out of the apron and having his throat stepped on. Dragon did the Hase/Lyger hip swivel while setting up an indian death lock at one point and busted out I think a 20 rotation airplane spin. Dragon got Lyger in the bridged armbar (it's not the cattle mutilation!) and Joe made the save by running in and hitting thesenton on Dragon. Joe hit the "ole ole" kick on the floor and Lyger did one as well. I forget what happened at the finish, but I think it was Danielson accidentally hitting Ki or Ki accidentally hitting Danielson as one of them held someone. This lead to Lyger hitting the running Lyger bomb for the win. Post match, Lyger and Joe leave and Ki turns on Dragon as he, Smokes and I think Reyes and Romero beat on him. Joe and Lyger come out and make the save. Smokes ends up eating a shotay and does the big seizure sell for it. Post match, Dragon shakes hands with Lyger and Joe and they all pose on the ropes. It was an OK match. It was more about the fact that everyone was jazzed to see Lyger and both Ki and Dragon were great doing their shticks as mentioned earlier.

RD : Overall, it was a pretty good show, though it ran kinda long. Fortunately, Mike Johnson was nice enough to give Tom, Pete and I a ride to the city on their bus. So, as promised, if you're going to a show and don't have a ride, I recommend wrestlingbustrips.com. It was worth the trip to see Lyger again though it's kind of hard to top his last match with Pillman, especially since this was more or less a working vacation.