ROH 282 – Honor Takes Center Stage: Chapter 2 – 2nd April 2011
Last night ROH may well have produced the best show of the entire WrestleMania weekend with the outstanding first chapter of their ‘Honor Takes Center Stage’ festivities. It was a fantastic night of wrestling, and one they now have the unenviable task of trying to top with a special afternoon card. The headline bout is a ‘dream match’ between newly crowd Tag Champions Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin and the reformed American Wolves which has received some rave reviews. But the rest of the card looks really good with grudge rematches in the Strong/Generico and Briscoes/ANX feuds, Kings vs Future Shock, the first ROH defence of the SHIMMER Tag Titles and more. Dave Prazak and Kevin Kelly once again call the action from Atlanta, GA.
Kings Of Wrestling vs Adam Cole/Kyle O’Reilly
Hero and Claudio will be in understandably sour moods this afternoon. They are less than 24 hours removed from losing the Tag Titles they held for just short of a year, and are now relegated to the very bottom of the card to compete in the opening match against the promising but lowly-ranked duo of Cole and O’Reilly. Last night they furiously told Shane Hagadorn he had to get them more title shots immediately, and if they want their rematch they’ll have to show they are deserving by beating the youngsters convincingly here.
Kyle and Adam get distracted by the fans chanting their name and don’t see the furious Kings charge at them, flooring them with a multitude of vicious kicks. Cole sneaks away from Claudio to hit a flying bulldog…but Castagnoli quickly shakes that off to floor O’Reilly with a running uppercut. HUGE double pancake from the Kings leave the hapless O’Reilly slumped on the canvas. The Kings take turns beating up Kyle, showing absolutely no mercy as they look to vent their frustration over last nights huge loss. O’Reilly desperately tries to fight them off, finally making the hot tag to the fresh Adam Cole who swings OFF Hero into a headscissors on Castagnoli. SLINGSHOT HEADSCISSORS TO THE FLOOR! MISSILE DROPKICK OFF THE APRON BY O’REILLY! Hero helps his partner by running through both opponents with Roaring Elbows! Cole then saves HIS partner from the Suplex Elbow…then O’Reilly bounces off Claudio into a FRONT CHOKE ON CLAUDIO! HERO BOOTS KYLE IN THE FACE…BUT HE HOLDS ON! SUPERKICK BY COLE! TOPE SUICIDA INTO THE STAGE! CLAUDIO COUNTERS THE CHOKE TO THE POP-UP EUROPEAN! BICYCLE KICK/ROLLING FLASH KICK COMBO! Hero pins O’Reilly at 09:17
Rating – **** – Scorching hot opening match here. It wasn’t quite as spotty and exciting as Future Shock vs ANX from Final Battle, but it had a much better storyline with the Kings looking to vent their anger from yesterday and the plucky youngsters looking to make their names at the fallen former champions’ expense. The last 90-seconds of this were genuinely incredible.
Dave Taylor vs Colt Cabana
This match represents The Embassy looking to beat Colt Cabana at his own game. He’s been going up and down the ROH circuit stating his desire for fair competition and good, honest technical wrestling matches. So Prince Nana, still caught up in his dislike for Cabana two years after their feud started, flew to England and recruited Dave Taylor to fight him this weekend. Taylor is an absolute stalwart, and has spent an age working the All Star scene. He was one of the guys that LIVED the World Of Sport style that Cabana likes to emulate in his work now.
Colt is here to have a good time and spends most of the first minute or two goofing off. Taylor brings the intensity with a headscissors, then a dropkick hit with agility belying his advanced age. They trade off in a stranglehold, and I like the theme they start developing with Dave actually able to school Colt as opposed to the usual Cabana match where he is working circles round an opponent. There’s an awesome section of English fans in the crowd who start an audible ‘England’ chant, and pop loudly as Taylor blocks Cabana’s jabs/elbow combo with a European uppercut. Cabana has been put through the mill by Taylor, but groggily runs into the Flying Asshole, and schoolboy pins him for 3 at 06:32
Rating – ** – Slightly disappointing in that they’d built an interesting little storyline of Taylor dominating Cabana with the European stuff Colt is so good at…but then rather that develop it with Cabana gradually mounting a comeback or anything, they just ended the match. To be fair, most of the live crowd had lost interest so it was probably right to go home when they did. I wanted more though.
The Embassy are devastated and Nana orders Ernesto Osiris to escort Taylor out of the building. RD Evans consoles the Prince by bringing out the ‘Project’ Tommaso Ciampa.
Tommaso Ciampa vs Homicide
Homicide was able to win the four corner match on yesterday’s show and, although he didn’t beat Ciampa himself to do it, Tommaso and The Embassy were still disappointed it wasn’t they who left victorious yesterday. Ciampa now looks for what would be an impressive singles victory over a former ROH World Champion.
Prince Nana gets involved straight away, ordering the referee check Homicide for foreign objects and enabling Ciampa to get the jump on him with a dropkick. Unfortunately the Notorious 187 quickly drags him out of the ring and starts battering him against the guardrails. Cide continues the assault back inside the ring…until finally Mia, Evans and Nana ALL climb on the apron to distract him. RACK BOMB from Tommaso gets 2! Homicide tries mounted punches in the corner, and keeps swinging even as Tommaso steps out of the corner looking for Project Ciampa. He drops the Project to one knee…but gets clobbered with a clothesline as he gears up for the Lariat. Homicide leaves the ring again. CANNONBALL SENTON OFF THE STAGE! He flies back into the ring with a tornado DDT, then a t-bone suplex for 2. Impressively, Ciampa still has enough about him to counter the Ace Crusher into a backbreaker. Homicide lines up Greetings From Ghana…only for Tommaso to counter again with a swinging neckbreaker after Princess Mia pops up on the apron once more. Project Ciampa blocked into the Ace Crusher! Cop Killa…misses as Princess Mia gets involved for a third time! Tommaso pins Homicide with a northern lights suplex at 09:44
Rating – ** – I’m pretty sure I remember someone describing this to me on a message board as one of the most boring matches in ROH history. Not even close to it in my book. Don’t get me wrong, that finish was absolutely terrible – Ciampa got his ass kicked for most of the match, so scraping out a win without hitting his finish and after interference from Mia does nothing for his credibility. But the positive side is that before that the whole match was quite fun. Homicide was clearly working a lot harder than he has done in some matches and busted out some entertaining stuff.
Homicide doesn’t like losing at all, so lays RD Evans out with a steel chair. Nana and Ciampa have bailed, but the Prince returns to save Mia as she starts fronting up to Homicide.
Michael Elgin vs Christopher Daniels
This is a rematch from World’s Greatest, which saw Elgin deliver an impressive performance and inflict significant damage to the Television Champion before finally falling to defeat. But, not only did Daniels win that match, he also managed to steal the Book Of Truth (which he subsequently read then tossed in the trash). Will Elgin extract revenge for that show of disrespect?
No Code Of Honor from Daniels (just like after his World Title match last night), instead he charges at Elgin and beats him down. Elgin flees but even that is pointless as Daniels dives after him with a pescado. Despite the fast start, Daniels soon falls victim to the trademark Elgin power – seeing himself hoisted into a suplex with ease. He blocks the Oklahoma Stampede on the floor by shunting Michael into the ringpost, only for Elgin to turn things around again by going through him with a football tackle. No nonsense now, he picks the TV Champion up and runs THROUGH the guardrails still holding him! Seemingly endless stalling vertical suplex gets 2. He throws Daniels shoulder-first into the ringpost and as he hangs there climbs the turnbuckles for a hanging Boston crab! Elgin makes a mistake at last, attempting an ill-advised flying crossbody and getting nothing but canvas. Daniels starts hammering the neck…but it doesn’t stop Elgin hitting a PUMPHANDLE POWERBOMB for 2! Oklahoma Stampede gets another nearfall…then Michael makes another error going for a high-risk move and misses a tumbleweed senton. Fallen Angel capitalises with the running STO, then eats a swinging lariat! Spiral Bomb countered…with a LOW BLOW! BME wins it at 10:18
Rating – *** – Good match, albeit much more rushed and insignificant than their Dayton encounter. Once again, the key to the success of this one was the amount of offence Elgin was able to get in. The best parts were Elgin tossing the veteran around like a child with some amazing power moves. The way he pulled out that pumphandle driver from absolutely nowhere was incredible. He has such power compared to almost everyone else on the roster – on commentary Kevin Kelly started comparing him to Steve Williams (Dr Death) and that’s actually a decent (and very complimentary) comparison. The finish, continuing Daniels’ slow turn was a neat little ending, although personally I’d have liked to see Elgin go over here. By this point everyone knew Daniels was leaving, so I’d have preferred him to put Michael over then do something heelish to progress that storyline.
Up next is an in-ring promo segment, which is nice as there haven’t been any backstage segments to break up two nights of non-stop wrestling action thus far. Jim Cornette brings Davey Richards to the ring. He looks forward to facing the reuniting the American Wolves tonight, getting to face the new ROH Tag Champions in a dream match. He stops to put over Eddie as new ROH World Champion and squashes the rumours that he’s jealous or wants to challenge him for the belt (even though Jim reiterates his offer of a title shot anytime he wants). Cornette tries to guilt him into accepting on the grounds that it would make ROH a lot of money if he and Eddie agreed to a match. Davey refuses since he doesn’t want to be the guy who ‘destroys his dream’. That brings Eddie Edwards out – not happy about Davey’s assumption that he would beat him…pointing out that he won their only singles match! Jim Cornette is still playing sleazy promoter trying to back them into agreeing to a match so Richards sidesteps by calling the American Wolves the ‘world’s greatest tag team’…and we leave it there. Good stuff, and an amazing example of how these two have come from midcard tag team to headline acts.
Daizee Haze/Tomoka Nakagawa vs Hiroyo Matsumoto/Ayumi Kurihara – SHIMMER Tag Title Match
This is the first time we’ve seen the SHIMMER Tag Titles defended in ROH. Daizee and Tomoka hold the belts, and weren’t booked last night but still showed up to spit water in Matsumoto and Kurihara’s faces after they successfully beat Sara Del Rey and Serena Deeb.
The champions don’t shake hands, much to the dismay of their cheerful little challengers (although they don’t let it stop them toddling around the ring squealing like real-life anime characters). Haze jumps Matsumoto from behind but Hiroyo hits a mega-cheerful double crossbody on both opponents seconds later. And Daizee keeps breaking rules, sliding in again to punt Kurihara in the face as she works a toehold on Nakagawa. ‘Eat a sandwich’ – Atlanta at Daizee. Ayumi hits the hanging armbar in the ropes, forcing Haze to leave the ring, perhaps in search of a sandwich as suggested. Finally the champs establish themselves after Nakagawa spits water in Ayumi’s face. They hit an awesome facebuster/knee dropkick combo for 2 as they isolate Kurihara from her partner. Of course, Hiroyo does eventually get the tag, battling to drop Tomoka into a back suplex. Haze works a sleeper on Matsumoto…so Kurihara climbs on Daizee to chinlock her…and they ALL fall in a heap on top of Nakagawa! Tomoka starts selling that like death which is fantastic, and collapses in the corner for Ayumi to smash her with a running double knee strike, then a dropkick through the ropes! Haze tagged, only to be dragged into a lungblower. She blocks Matsumoto’s Back Drop Driver…and that’s a cue for everyone to start tagging everyone else with big strikes. URINAGE FROM AYUMI TO DAIZEE! BACK DROP DRIVER BY MATSUMOTO! Nakagawa saves her partner from certain defeat! Heart Punch/Yakuza Kick/tiger suplex combo puts Hiroyo down at 07:38
Rating – *** – Both the Joshi matches this weekend have been disappointingly brief, but refreshingly packed full of high quality action. Matsumoto and Kurihara in particular looked good, whilst Haze did a great job and busted her ass to hang with the Japanese women at their level. If you’re looking for a comparison, I thought the match yesterday had better spots, but I really liked the heel team of Haze and Tomoka particularly as they gelled so well with the almost-irritating happiness of their challengers. If you prefer storyline over spots this may well be your favourite.
All Night Express vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe
Ring Of Honor have chosen to bill this one as a ‘grudge match’ and that is a fitting description as the animosity between these two teams continues to grow. Last year it wasn’t too sinister, with the up and coming Rhett Titus and Kenny King looking to make names for themselves at the expense of the Briscoes. But at Manhattan Mayhem 4 things went to another level. ANX snatched a surprising win over the 6-time former ROH Tag Champions, and the unhappy defeated brothers then instigated a brawl which saw the New York fans loudly cheering ANX and booing them. Fast forward to last night, the All Nights were removed from the show after an alleged ‘incident’ with the Briscoes, but still invaded the ppv anyway to get into another fight with Jay and Mark.
Jay and Mark come through a different stage door to the designated entrance (using the unique venue to their advantage) and attack the All Nights from behind to get us started. They use the guardrails to assault King and Titus, who are reeling but hit back quickly with the springboard leg drop/running splash combo. All four guys start brawling, going to such lengths that Todd Sinclair joins the assigned referee Paul Turner to help him in restoring some order – nice touch. Mark tries to take Rhett’s head off with crossface strikes then drags him outside to do more damage using the guardrails and ringpost. That’s enough to lacerate Rhettski and Jay takes over, knowing better than most how difficult it can be to fight once blood starts to pour into your eyes. Titus cuts a desperate figure, bleeding profusely and trying in vain to fight back as the Briscoes tag in and out, taking turns to try their hand at opening that cut up further. Even when he does collect himself for long enough to try a crucifix pin, Jay quickly puts him back down with a kick straight to the top of the bloody head. DOUBLE KNEE DROP from nowhere, and at last Kenny King takes a hot tag. Capo kick, then a capture suplex on Jay gets 2…before he backflips into the Shotgun Knees. Titus is uncoordinated and flailing like a loon, which makes what happens next all the more shocking. SUPER SEX FACTOR THROUGH A TABLE ON JAY! In the ring King and Mark are laying into each other with big forearms. Jay is bleeding as well now – not that it stops him returning to the ring to hit a falcon arrow. Titus blocks Mark’s Iconoclasm and SNAKE EYES HIM INTO THE RINGPOST! Jay and Rhett, both covered in blood, square up then tee off on each other sending blood spraying through the air. There are legit pools of blood forming in the ring as ANX get 2 with the Springboard Blockbuster. Royal Flush backbreaker blocked then countered into the JAY DRILLER! Jay pins King at 14:51
Rating – *** – Better than New York, but still not quite good enough to reach 4* for me. They had some good ideas such as the brawling being so intense they needed a second ref, whilst the last few minutes were really hot. But I found the heat segment on Titus to be very predictable which took away from the match somewhat and in the end I felt it to be a little too reliant on bleeding heavily rather than good wrestling. Credit to Jay and Rhett for continuing though, as they were both messed up badly. For this stage in the feud, this was a solid building match, and they certainly did enough to get over ANX as babyfaces, Briscoes as heels and the escalating hatred between them.
Jay cuts a promo, slating ROH, the fans, ANX and multiple other things even with blood spurting out of his head. He is completely soaked in blood as he finally leaves…
Roderick Strong vs El Generico
We saw these fight for the World Title at SoCal Showdown 2, where a combination of questionable tactics and a brutal assault on the luchador’s back was enough for Strong to escape with his World Title on that evening. But the problems between these two haven’t gone away – even after the 9th Anniversary Show, or last night when Strong and Martini sent their enforcer Michael Elgin to put a beating on the masked man. Tonight Generico will be looking for that redemption of a win over Roddy, and the springboard back into the ROH Championship picture that would provide.
Strong comes out working wristlocks, making sure Generico can’t get any momentum going by repeatedly tying him up in submission holds. Even when he does get to the ropes for some respite, Roderick simply denies him a clean break and goes for a cheap kick to the ribs. Finally Generico starts getting his act together and mounting some offence…so Truth sweeps his legs and rattles his jaw against the ring apron. Cobra clutch by Strong then as El Generico tries to roll out of the ring to escape, he meets him on the floor with an enziguri kick. He whips the masked man into the guardrails, and grabs Truth Martini to whip HIM at Generico too! In the ring again, with Strong working a leg full nelson, doing damage to both the arms and back at this stage. Roderick is getting pissed off at the fans continuing to support Generico, and that support motivates the luchador into mounting a comeback. He counters an elbow smash into the Blue Thunder Driver, then turns the Black Superkick into a schoolboy pin for 2. Strong can counter too though, blocking the Yakuza Kick with another enzi then scooping him up for a cradle backbreaker. Rope run lucha armdrag attempted…but Strong doesn’t budge and completely floors Generico with a jumping knee. He starts teeing off on Generico…but this time it’s his turn not to go down. They spit at each other, then Generico hits a rope run tornado DDT! Truth Martini sweeps his legs again! Strong inadvertently low bridges his own manager! YAKUZA KICK OFF THE APRON! TOPE ATOMICO TAKES OUT STRONG AND MARTINI! HALF NELSON SUPLEX GETS 2! Turnbuckle Brainbuster blocked…and as Martini distracts the referee Michael Elgin tries a run in. YAKUZA KICK ON ELGIN! SUPLEX FLIP BACKBREAKER COUNTERED TO THE BRAINBUSTER! Generico wins in 16:11
Rating – **** – These two have developed strong chemistry working together in recent years. Going back to Pick Your Poison in 2010 they had a terrific match, and that remains the same here almost two years later. They are such natural opponents, with Generico’s ability to be a believable and enduring whipping boy making a terrific foil for Roderick Strong’s hard-hitting but sometimes slightly dull routine. Generico makes it look like Strong is trying to snap him in half with every move, and that makes their matches incredibly engaging. This wasn’t quite on the same level as SoCal Showdown 2, but it was a commendable successor to that, and you suspect they may have more matches yet.
Generico wins the battle, but with all three current members of the House Of Truth in the ring he’s on the wrong end of a three-on-one beatdown until Colt Cabana tries to help. The numbers are still too much though…so Chris Daniels (brandishing the Book Of Truth he’d previously thrown in the trash) runs in too. He belts Generico with the book and hits Angel’s Wings on Cabana to cement a somewhat confusing heel turn. Strong smiles, then puts Generico through an open chair with a modified urinage backbreaker
SIDENOTE – So I’m glad Daniels is a heel again. I much prefer him as a bad guy to the kindly, Code Of Honor-following veteran he’s portrayed since returning. And I’d even be ok with buying him as a FOLLOWER in Truth Martini’s stable rather than building his own group as he did in ROH’s early years. But I don’t get how him joining House Of Truth makes sense? I know he’d stolen the Book Of Truth…but he threw that in the trash. Why air that segment if he was going to use it in a heel turn? Why, if he had joined HOT, were he and Elgin fighting earlier tonight? Why was Elgin not more pissed off considering Daniels cheated to beat him? There’s not been any closure to the Daniels/Strong issue, so why is Daniels suddenly smiling and happily teaming with Roddy? I really hope ROH tries to answer some of those questions. Even if this is just a functionary heel turn to give Daniels a way out of ROH before returning to TNA in the coming months, I don’t want to be treated like an idiot with a ‘oh by the way you have to boo him now’ heel turn. It’s not a SWERVE if it doesn’t make any sense at all…long term followers of the failures of Vince Russo’s booking will tell you that.
Charlie Haas/Shelton Benjamin vs American Wolves
The Kings vs Wolves dream match at Tag Title Classic 2 was billed as Davey and Eddie’s ‘last hunt’ as an active tag team. They’ve stuck to that since then, with Eddie concentrating on the TV and World Title pictures since then, whilst Richards has put together a formidable winning streak as he trains to potentially challenge for the World Championship again at some unspecified future point in time. But when WGTT put out a challenge to them to reform and face them, the lure of facing Shelton and Charlie was too much. The Wolves think they have a legitimate claim to being the ‘world’s greatest tag team too’, and despite disagreeing somewhat over the future of the World Title picture, reform their team tonight to face the new ROH Tag Team Champions.
Haas and Richards start, with Davey doing a good job to hang with the decorated amateur wrestler on the canvas. Edwards doesn’t fare as well with Shelton and has to grab a rope to stop Benjamin riding him in a mount position. That’s not his game, but explosive pro-wrestling is and he comes up to take Benjamin off his feet with a hurricanrana. Richards and Haas go at it again, and since Davey is a seasoned amateur grappler in his own right some of the things they can do on the mat are really interesting. The Wolves start working Charlie’s arm, spending several minutes varying between submission holds and direct axehandle or stomp strikes straight to it. He is wounded, so it’s lucky for him Benjamin manages to get a tag. He lunges into the ring and goes after Davey’s ribs. In a matter of moments the momentum has completely switched with WGTT now well on top, working over a body part and looking dominant. Boston Crab by Shelton, and it has Eddie significantly worried that he dives in to break it rather than trust his partner to make the ropes. Davey lands the Handspring Enzi, but is attacked by Shelton seconds later.
The Wolves fling both WGTT members to the floor for STEREO TOPE SUICIDAS! Assisted diving headbutt from Richards gets 2! Edwards is legal now, hooking up both Haas’ arms to do damage to those body parts as well as he works an abdominal stretch. His advantage doesn’t last as Benjamin comes in and DESTROYS his leg! He almost snaps it with a stomp, delivers rolling Knee-DT’s then applies a spinning toehold in quick succession. Charlie tags and works a deathlock, despite Edwards trying to engage him in a chop duel at the same time. Benjamin gets 2 with the Dragon Whip at 20 minutes. Finally Eddie comes out of the corner with a flying Codebreaker, screaming in pain at the damage that does to his own bad leg, before getting the hot tag to Richards. He pursues Haas up the turnbuckles to deliver a multitude of headbutts which leave Charlie hanging limp over the ringpost…and completely defenceless as Davey hits a superplex for 2. Edwards dragon screws Haas in the ropes, which sets up for Richards to put him in the Anklelock.
But given that he was in Team Angle, Charlie has seen that hold before and counters out. Davey COUNTERS the slingshot Samoan drop spot WGTT do into a crucifix pin. DUELLING MACHINE GUN CHOP/KICK SEQUENCES BY THE WOLVES! Stereo enziguris, into stereo knock-out kicks on Shelton for 2. Double Alarm Clock scores…STEREO ROLLING GERMANS BY HAAS AND BENJAMIN! COUNTERED TO ROLLING GERMANS BY THE WOLVES! They switch opponents…MORE GERMAN SUPLEXES! BACK TO GERMANS BY WGTT! All four wipe each other out with duelling clotheslines and lie flat out on the mat as the crowd comes to their feet to applaud. Shelton is first up, almost knocking Richards out with a superkick. Edwards meets him with a superkick…HAAS WITH THE OLYMPIC SLAM! Benjamin gets another superkick on Davey for 2! ROPE RUN KICK BY SHELTON! But he gets caught on the ropes for the DOOMSDAY LUNGBLOWER! HE KICKS OUT! ANKLELOCK ON SHELTON! ACHILLES LOCK ON HAAS! Shelton kicks Davey into Edwards, and pounces with a flatliner to win it at 31:56
Rating – **** – Here’s where my ‘no quarter stars’ ratings policy sometimes comes back to haunt me. This was clearly better than Kings/Future Shock or Generico/Strong, but I really don’t think it did enough to get into MOTYC territory, so I have to give it the same rating. But yeah, despite getting the same rating as a couple of others, this was a showstealer and a wonderful way for ROH to end a hugely successful weekend for promotion. Two experienced, well-travelled and well-rounded teams taking it to each other for 30+ minutes – how could that not be a good thing? If I’m being critical, I could have done with ANY of the body part work going somewhere or being sold for more than a couple of minutes. Be it Haas’ arm, Davey’s ribs or Eddie’s leg, none of them were sold for anymore than the brief heat segment they were part of – which made it harder for me to invest in it emotionally. I also thought the finish was a little flat after the frantic and thrilling five minutes that built to it. But those are reasons this wasn’t an MOTYC, not reasons not to enjoy a fine main event.
They all shake hands as the fans applaud…but Davey Richards doesn’t look pleased and seems to be blaming Eddie for their loss. Finally Edwards walks out and leaves Davey looking pissed off.
To the bonus features, and the House Of Truth get some promo time which does answer some of my questions. Elgin isn’t happy about Daniels but is quelled by Strong and Truth. Daniels can walk promo circles around Strong and Martini, although the reasons for him joining still don’t seem entirely clear – other than sulking because he wasn’t the most popular wrestler in ROH.
El Generico challenges Roderick Strong to a No DQ Match on a separate feature. Speaking of challenges, the Briscoes challenge All Night Express to a First Blood Match in Detroit too…
Tape Rating – **** – A patchy undercard means tonight was a step below the quality of Honor Takes Center Stage Chapter 1. From Cabana/Taylor through to the SHIMMER Tag Title Match – all of those matches were short and slightly inconsequential. But three strong 4* matches, and the engaging Briscoes/ANX bloodbath which many people enjoyed more than me still make this an outstanding show as ROH continues their blistering start to 2011. Last year at WrestleMania I thought they produced some solid events, but nothing on them was anywhere near as memorable as the DGUSA shows, or WWE’s WrestleMania itself. This year (admittedly I’m yet to see DGUSA’s Atlanta shows) I really feel like Ring Of Honor may be able to leave Atlanta thinking they produced the best shows of the weekend. Certainly wrestling fans in the area were a privileged bunch if ANYTHING is better than HTCC Chapter 1.
Top 3 Matches
3) Kings Of Wrestling vs Adam Cole/Kyle O’Reilly (****)
2) El Generico vs Roderick Strong (****)
1) Charlie Haas/Shelton Benjamin vs American Wolves (****)
Top 5 Honor Takes Center Stage Weekend Matches
5) Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Adam Cole/Kyle O’Reilly (**** – Chapter 1)
4) Kings Of Wrestling vs Charlie Haas/Shelton Benjamin (**** – Chapter 1)
3) Charlie Haas/Shelton Benjamin vs American Wolves (**** – Chapter 2)
2) Eddie Edwards vs Christopher Daniels (****1/2 – Chapter 1)
1) Davey Richards vs Roderick Strong (****1/2 – Chapter 1)