ROH Rising Above PPV

A few buddies and I ordered the ROH pay-per-view a few hours ago and I submitted in some feedback to Wrestling Observer. Albeit not the size or depth of an actual review, I figured it'd be prudent to share it here also:

1. Kevin Steen and El Generico vs. Briscoes - 4
2. MsChif vs. Sara Del Rey - 4
3. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Silas Young vs. Alex Payne vs. Sami Callahan - 3
4. Brent Albright, Roderick Strong, and Ace Steel vs. Davey Richards, Go Shiozaki, and Chris Hero - 3
5. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Austin Aries - I Quit Match - 6
6. Nigel McGuinness vs. Bryan Danielson - 7

This was the first time I’d spent money on ROH since driving nine-plus hours to Philadelphia from Cincinnati to see Misawa over a year ago. This was a solid show, and as billed, the main event is certainly worth the price of ordering the show (or DVD down the road) alone. Nigel and Danielson both are great storytellers, and with the athleticism and physicality on display, coupled with the emoting and body language, you’ve got a fine example of how profound a wrestling match can actually be. Aries and Jacobs was nuts, tons of blood and scary bumps, kind of overwrought with unnecessary complicatedness, like Jacobs’ shoddy job of tying Austin to a chair with a steel chain that called for a serious amount of disbelief to accept. The six-man tag was my least favorite bout, just a mess, and not a terribly interesting one at that. When Richards and Strong let loose and fired up, it got compelling, but the painfully dull heat segment on Ace Steel (why’s he back, again?) that went nowhere and legal man issues irked me enough to get me out of it.

The opening tag was a fine start, albeit Mark’s injury changed the whole aura, thanks to the woefully sloppy Crist Bros. botching a spot the night previously in Dayton, so while this didn’t come close to their previous matches against each other it was still decent enough. The women’s match was good if for no other reason then the sheer enjoyment of seeing MsChif getting awkwardly stretched, and the “Claudio Show” as I dubbed it of him throwing around the young guys was an amusing squash even if technically it wasn’t without its problems.