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Tape Review: ROH Manhattan Mayhem
Available at ROHWrestling.com
Running Time - 3hrs approx.
Quality - Excellent.
Commentary by Jimmy Dower and Dave Prazak.
The tape begins on the streets of New York, outside the New Yorker Hotel. Colt Cabana presents... "Good Times, Great Memories" as he scours the street asking passerbys their thoughts on Nigel McGuinness. Surprisingly, most seem to ignore Colt. Cabana is gold on the mic.
We then go to Samoa Joe, in the ring prior to the show. Jay Lethal comes to the ring and thanks Joe for all he has taught him. Joe tells Jay that he is going to take what Jay's got so Jay better be prepared. Jay then pushes Joe into the corner, shoving his face, as he tells him that he is going to show Joe exactly what he was taught.
The first contest is scheduled to be a three way tag match. The losing team must break up.
Dunn and Marcos enter the ring first. They are attacked by Loc and Devito. Devito pildrives Dunn off the ring apron, through a table. Loc then gets on the mic and says it's been 90 days but they're back and everyone can kiss their a$$es.
Since Dunn and Marcos are unable to continue the match will now be a straight tag match (so doesn't that technically mean Dunn and Marcos lost and should break up?)
Lacey's Angels defeat Dixie and Azreal when Dixie gets pinned. The match was full of highspots by all four men but not too much psychology. Once the commentators got over the constant talking about Jay Z and the like being in attendance (yeah, sure), they were much less annoying. The finish saw Deranged hit a reverse hurricanrana piledriver on Dixie for the win.
Nigel McGuinness defeated Colt Cabana in a great match. I still think Colt is one of the most underrated guys in the business today. He does such a good job at combining comedy spots with technical wrestling and chain moses that it is such a pleasure to watch. To even begin to describe it could not do it justice. Tons of great pinfall attempts and escapes by both men. Nigel hits with a rolling kick that hits Colt low. He then pins Colt with a Victory Roll. Of course, now the question is.. was it an intentional low blow?
Alex Shelly cuts a promo talking about how he is not even allowed in the ROH locker room. He talks about his debut in ROH 2 years ago and about his breaking his collarbone and losing his spot in ROH. He discusses the formation of Generation Next and Austin Aries turning on him, which leads to tonight's main event. Great way to tell the backstory for those who may not know it.
James Gibson defeated Black Tiger in a phenomenal match. This was my first time seeing this incarnation of Black Tiger and I was pleasantly surprised. A highlight of the match was Gibson reversing a Fujiwara Armbar into a Texas Cloverleaf. Gibson was able to apply the Guillotine Choke to force Tiger to submit.
BJ Whitmer and Jimmt Jacobs retained the ROH Tag Team Titles against Jack Evans and Roderick Strong. Jacobs and Whitmer hit a Contra Code/Powerbomb combo on Evans for the win.
Samoa Joe then faced Jay Lethal in a Pure Title Match. On paper, who would have thought that these two men could have one hell of a good match. Control of the match switched back and forth throughout, with both men hitting their signature moves, until Samoa Joe was able to hit a German Suplex followed by a Dragon Suplex then a Chimeraplex for the three count and the title.
After the match, the two men shook hands and hugged. The lights dimmed and Homicide, Low Ki, Julius Smokes, and Rocky Romero entered and attacked them both.
A commercial for the ROH Straight Shooting Series was next.
Intermission time sees Gary Michael Cappetta in the back with Nigel McGuinness. Gary asks Nigel if the low blow was intentional but Nigel denies that it was.
A commercial for the ROH Wrestling School followed by a clip of Spanky wrestling in FIP. The clip was being played at Spanky's request since he will be returning to ROH in the near future.
Jimmy Rave and the Embassy make their way to the ring. Prince Nana gets on the mic and tells the crowd that Rave is sick and will not be able to face CM Punk tonight. Rave heads to the locker room. Nana announces that Mike Kruel will take Rave's place.
CM Punk enters the ring. As the two men are about to be chained together by a dog collar, Jimmy Rave attacks Punk from behind. The match is on. Rave v Punk in a Dog Collar Match. Punk is busted open early when he goes to use a chair but Rave pulls Punk head first into the chair and ringpost. Rave dominates the match until Punk is able to hit a Shining Wizard. Punk then hits a Pepsi Twist and goes for the pin. Fast Eddie runs out, climbs the rope, and goes for a moonsault on Punk. Punk moves and Eddie nails Rave. Punk then DDT's Kruel. Prince Nana enters the ring and distracts Punk long enough for Jade Chung to jump on his back and apply a sleeper. Punk snapmares her to the canvas but is met with a chairshot by Rave. FIVE chairshots later, Rave pins Punk to win the match. The Embassy continues to beat down Punk until Cabana, Gibson, and others make the save.
The camera follows Punk back to the dressing room. Punk says he finally figured out that Rave was trying to take him out before next week's cage match. He JUST figured this out? How come all the viewers knew this before the match even started? Hell, I'm not even a Punk fan but I enjoyed this match from start to finish.
The ROH Title is on the line next as Alex Shelly faces ROH Champion, Austin Aries. Simply amazing. The finish saw Shelle hit a superkick and the Shellshock for a two count. He went for the Border City Stretch but Aries reversed it into a roll up for two. Shelley blocked a crucifix bomb and hit the TKO. He followed that with a tornado DDT and the Shellshock for another two count. Aries hit the roaring elbow and kick to the face. He followed it up with the brainbuster and the 450 splash for the win. While many feel Shelly should have won the match, I'm an Aries mark and am more than happy with the outcome.
Low Ki, Homicide and Julius Smokes hit the ring after the match. Aries heads to the back as Samoa Joe and Jay Lethal attack the Rottweilers from behind. They toss them to the floor and hit dual suicide dives. Lo Ki and Homicide decide to get back in the ring and a match ensues. All 4 men begin by brawling before an actual tag match takes place. Lethal hit Homicide with a running suplex. Low Ki dropkicked Joe into the corner. He calls for the double stomp but Lethal cuts him off. Low Ki knocks him off the top and into Homicide who picks him up for the Cop Killa. Low Ki stomps onto him, adding even more force to the Cop Killa (and this one looked more sick than any I have ever seen.) Low Ki and Homicide get the win after that.
In the lockeroom (?) Prince Nana disses CM Punk and tells Jimmy Rave to put him in his grave during the cage match in Chicago. Rave isn't scared of Punk, and next week he's going to be just another stepping stone for Rave.
It is announced that the Homicide/Bryan Danielson feud will come to an end, inside a steel cage, at The Final Showdown!
James Gibson knows he should be happy because of his victory over beat Black Tiger tonight. However, he's not happy, because he got screwed out of the title at Stalemate. He says he's got Aries again at The Final Showdown, and he won't make the same mistakes.
Sugar Sean Price is with Colt Cabana. Colt's upset because of the low blow in his match earlier. He starts to get frustrated and then just starts making fun of Nigel's Britishness. Nigel walks up, makes some comments, and they have a stare down.
It seems every match was solid. With matches like Cabana v McGuinness,
Gibson v Tiger, Lethal v Joe, Aries v Shelly, and yes, even Punk v Rave,
it's no wonder this has been one of the most talked about shows in ROH
history. If you want to see ROH at it's best, I highy suggest you get
this tape/dvd!
