I didn't understand it either. I went into both events
(Caged Rage & MM II) thinking Generico & Steen had a good chance at getting a fall on their side or winning the championships in the cage. No go. While Briscoes won every match during that series pardon the Death Before Dishonor sweep, it still ruled. The booking for NRC left a lot to be desired. Maybe b/c NRC was originally being groomed for the gold considering the AOTF win come Final Battle would only last a few shows.
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ROH Honor Reclaims Boston
1) Nigel McGuinness vs John Walters ~ ***1/2
2) Daizee Haze vs Mercedes Martinez ~ **
3) Christopher Daniels vs Chris Hero ~ ***
4) Matt Sydal vs Claudio Castagnoli ~ ***1/2
5) Relaxed Rules
Samoa Joe, Homicide, & BJ Whitmer vs Steve Corino & The Briscoe Brothers ~ ***3/4
6) Colt Cabana vs Jimmy Rave ~ ***
7) ROH World Championship
Bryan Danielson(c) vs Delirious ~ ****
8) Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs KENTA & Davey Richards ~ ***3/4
Best post GBH V Night 2 show till Final Battle? I'm sure that is a lock. Maybe International Challenge gives it a run for its money. Great show.
~ Perhaps the best opener of 2006 for ROH. Total surprise. Walters looked good and got put over well for the majority. If only they gave him a comeback at the end. It could have been even better. Finish fell a touch flat when Walters kicked out of the jawbreaker lariat only to be hit with another lariat, followed by a lackluster nearfall ---> second Tower of London to finish it. I wanted more. I suppose it being an opener was the logic there. Walters should have returned. Instead years later we get Chad Collyer back. Why?
~ Women's was short...but sweet. Less than 5 minutes the quality dames gave me something I really got behind. Big win for Martinez. Odd it lead to nothing. Solid little match.
~ Daniels vs Hero was about as bad as it could have been. Which means it was still at it's worst a nice competetive & solid match. No complaints yet again. It could have been better, but Hero's work in ROH during 2006 wasn't nearly up to the level he could always give. Pardon his debut match vs Danielson.
~ Classic Claudio + junior heavyweight formula = awesome match. vs Sydal was no exception. It helps when the high flying talent that is working vs Claudio is really good all on their own. MOTN so far and it was the shortest match involving the men yet. Those guys didn't need 11 minutes to make anything special. OWNS.
~ Oh yeah, I was digging the 6 man. It surprised me with it's makeshift indie fusion of incorporating the southern style + heated feud brawling. It had the less than common TWO FIP segments. First Whitmer was worked over, faces regain a bit of control, Homicide loses focus on the match due to his hatred for Corino, eventually the next segment was Homicide being the beaten down chump. JOE~! finally gets the hot tag and things get stiff. Really, really well done formula here. Replace the traditional southern style "face domination" in the early portion with face domination during a 5 minute brawl on the floor and there you go. Quite the surprise. Granted I walked in expecting a good match.
~ Colt vs Rave kept the old school vibe rolling with their match. It was simple. That of which was why I enjoyed it so much. Both have that flavor in which I could see rolling in some promotion from the 80's or possibly 90's in Smoky Mountain Wrestling. Cabana the fun loving face & Rave rocking the STALLING HEEL work. I was digging it. One aspect of the match left me puzzled. Rave got the advantage on Cabana having hitting him in the throat with a...wait for it...TOWEL. Not even in comedic fashion. Colt sold it as if it was damaging too. I've seen some wacky things in wrestling; that goes right on up there. DAT TOWEL ATTACK.
~ Danielson vs Delirious III - yet another great match. Not nearly on par with their match at Ring of Homicide. Doesn't have any negative outlook on this bout. Delirious's comeback was great. He had some brilliant callbacks from the previous matches & Danielson's counter to sneak out another win was sweet. Survivor Series '96 style in fashion of Austin vs Hart. Shame about the crowd oddly dying during this one. Regardless, it rocked. Danielson's title reign was nuts. I don't think he had a match that was lower than ****.
~ Main event was pretty great - if you enjoy the style. Working the tag was able to keep KENTA a bit more fresh than usual. Lots of STRIKES in this. Shocker? Of course not. Aries & Strong being such a fluid team help keep this grounded and it didn't go over the top. Flies on by for 24 minutes. I had fun. Crowd ate it up too. Fitting end to a major sleeper of a show. Out of nowhere with all of the underwhelming ROH events following Glory By Honor V Night Two - Final Battle this shows up. Certainly wasn't a 2-3 match show. Everything was well worth a watch.