ROH in Philadelphia, Pa. at The Arena
Report courtesy of Brian Streleckis and Steve Kriske of PWChronicle.com.

Bryan Danielson came out to talk to the crowd. He told everyone that he had a staph infection and couldn’t wrestle tonight, nor is he likely to wrestle next week at the Midwest shows. A real bummer, but he assured us we’d still be in for a great night. It was funny in that he initially said he had bad news, fans wanted to hear good news, so he gave us some good news of how the nurse at the hospital today said it wasn’t herpes.

Pre-Show

1. Jon Moxley defeated some Florida guy whose name I didn’t catch. Moxley, who came up through Les Thatcher’s HWA and has been appearing in CZW recently as a tag team partner to Sami Callihan, has some size and charisma to him. I can see him filling a Callihan/Silas Young role on TV one day.

2. Bobby Dempsey and Sawada (an Asian wrestler working in a gii) defeated The Set. Dempsey pined the heavier member of The Set after a Death Valley Driver.

3. Eddie Kingston defeated Orange Cassidy. Kingston dominated and won with the backfist. Kyle Durden interviewed Kingston afterward, asking what it would take to end his issue with Chris Hero. Kingston said it would take him eliminating Hero from the wrestling business.

Durden called out Tyler Black for an interview. Before the interview could start, Austin Aries came out and asked why he wasn’t getting any interview time, especially since he beat Black and won the World Title. Black said he’s bigger, stronger, and hungrier to hold the title. Nigel McGuinness came out and told Black that he needs to keep his eye on the prize if he wants to win the title. As Nigel finished and Black had his back turned, Aries clocked him with the title. Good little TV angle, if it in fact makes TV.

HDNet Tapings

1. Kevin Steen and El Generico defeated Sami Callihan and Tony Kozina. Kozina, who’s apparently doing this character of a hothead constantly frustrated by his own shortcomings, took the loss to the former tag champs via the Package Piledriver and Brainbuster.

2. D-Lo Brown defeated John Kermon. If Kermon was given the frog splash, I would have laughed at the irony, but instead he was put away by a Sky High off the second rope to end this squash.

Durden asked D-Lo about the rumors of Jerry Lynn retiring. D-Lo told him to “get steppin’,” said that Lynn should retire because he just turned 65 last week, and that it’d be even better for him to shrivel up and die. Guess we have a Brown-Lynn feud to look forward to. Tyler Black came out again, talked about the rumors of Jerry Lynn retiring, but said he’d work just as hard as Lynn to win the ROH World Title.

Lynn came out himself, briefly mentioned D-Lo’s comments as being a bit harsh, and addressed the rumors. He said coming to ROH was the shot in the arm his career needed, but that’s been hard to say goodbye to his youngest daughter when he leaves to wrestle, as well as to come home to her and be too hurt to play with her. He said semiretirement has crossed his mind. He brought up how Black was the one who eliminated him from the World Title match last week, and their upcoming match might be the most important one of his career. I thought this was all fine, but the majority of the crowd wasn’t into the melodrama.

3. Austin Aries defeated Roderick Strong in a non-title match. Aries countered a backbreaker attempt into a rollup and put his feet on the rope for leverage. Great match with a lot of nearfalls toward the end. This blew their previous HDNet match out of the water and was my favorite match this entire weekend. Fans chanted how awesome it was and gave Strong a standing ovation afterward.

-Intermission

4. Delirious (w/ Daizee Haze) defeated Sonjay Dutt. After several pinfall attempts in succession, Delirious scores with one of them. Solid stuff, a little overlong, and Dutt looked good here. He’s grown out a beard, and did a Fargo strut during the match, but otherwise showed some good agility.

5. The American Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards w/ Shane Hagadorn) defeated Up In Smoke (Cheech and Cloudy) in a non-title match. Cloudy got creamed by a powerbomb/lungblower combo and tapped to Edwards’ Achilles Lock. As the Wolves left the ring, the Dark City Fight Club came in through the crowd and decimated the already beaten Cheech and Cloudy. The Wolves watched this from the entrance way and had a brief staredown with DCFC. Consider the seeds planted.

6. Nigel McGuinness defeated Aaron Scott. Tough collar for Scott. Nigel attempted the Jawbreaker Lariat, Scott ducked, so Nigel turned it into a DDT for the win. He locked in the London Dungeon for good measure afterward.

7. Colt Cabana and Brent Albright and Necro Butcher and Grizzly Redwood defeated Jimmy Rave and Claudio Castagnoli and Ernie Osiris and Prince Nana in an 8-man elimination tag team match. Funny spot relatively early in which Necro got Claudio in an abdominal stretch, and the other babyfaces created a chain with fans in the front row to add extra leverage. Grizzly was the first one gone when Osiris rolled him up when he attempted a dive to the outside (following in the footsteps of his partners).

Claudio and Albright brawled into the crowd and both were eventually counted out. Necro tapped out to Rave’s Heel Hook, leaving Cabana alone. He overcame the odds, eliminating Osiris with the Colt 45, Rave with a sunset flip, and Nana with the Billy Goat’s Curse. A very fun match that the crowd (especially the kids) were into, and Cabana was over big time.
-Intermission again

Austin Aries came out for a repeat of what he did the previous night. He said this was the second edition of a segment called “Straight Talk with A Double.” He again ran down a bunch of fans again, including the two scrawny ticking time bombs from the previous night. He dared them to come in the ring again, saying he would wave off security. These two guys were acting really intense, playing right into Aries’ hands, but were at least smart enough to not cross the guard rail. A black guy dressed like Hulk Hogan started getting on Aries’ case, but Aries simply remarked that he thought Pistol Pez Whatley had already passed.

He finally turned his attention to this heavy guy in the corner who was calling Aries a homo during his match, now daring him to come in. He actually did, but security got a hold of him and dragged him away as Aries called for them. He said he wouldn’t risk a fan coming in to give him staph infection like Bryan Danielson. He closed the segment responding to the fans calling him a pussy by saying, “You are what you eat.” So goes the World Champion puppet master. Gotta think this won’t end up on TV, even though two cameras were right in the faces of the crazy fans. I hope this continues for every night of tapings at The Arena so as to possibly weed out all the assholes.

8. Jay and Mark Briscoe defeated Kenny King and Rhett Titus. King was pinned following a Doomsday Device. Pretty good match, though a lot of people were distracted early by some outside activities, ending when someone in the crowd got kicked out. After the match, the American Wolves came out and said they’ll only end up crippled again. Steen and Generico ran out to attack them, then both babyface teams got their licks into the champs. Steen and Generico and the Briscoes had a staredown in the ring while holding the title belts.

9. Eddie Kingston defeated Sal Rinauro. Kingston expected a match with Hero, but instead Hagadorn came out to Hero’s music. He said Kingston wasn’t worthy of a match with Hero, then dragged out a reluctant Rinauro, saying he can get payback for getting punched out at the last set of tapings. This match ended in seconds following a backfist.

10. Erick Stevens defeated Silas Young. Stevens won a pretty competitive match with the Doctor Bomb. I should note now that Stevens’ entrance music now begins with a train whistle.

11. Jerry Lynn defeated Tyler Black. Black had the match won following the Buckle Bomb and superkick, but Nigel, who had come out to ringside midway through, put Lynn’s foot on the bottom rope to break the pin. Black was pissed at Nigel and attempted to get the win with God’s Last Gift, but Lynn countered it into a small package for the win. I guess Nigel has some unfinished business with Black for later on. Pretty good match.

So ends this weekend’s tapings. Next ones are July 17th and 18th.

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