ROH in New York, N.Y. at the Hammerstein Ballroom
By Dot Net contributor Joe Mathieson

1. The Young Bucks defeated Kenny King and Rhett Titus. This was an awesome match. I'm a huge mark for both teams, and this lived up to my expectations. The Young Bucks got the pin after a More Bang for Your Buck, which is the "official" name of the "Finlay roll/450 splash/moonsault" that people have been calling it.

2. Necro Butcher defeated Jimmy Rave. I wasn't expecting big things from this match, and it didn't deliver big things. Necro pinned Rave after a rollup. Post match, the Embassy attacked Necro but Colt Cabana ran them off.

Ric Flair cut a promo, and he put over ROH as the next big thing, but I didn't really care, because I just want him out of ROH ASAP.

3. Roderick Strong defeated Sonjay Dutt. Great match, and probably right up there with the tag match as match of the night at this point. When I heard Sonjay was coming to ROH, I didn't really care, but with this match, he made me like him. Strong got the pin with a gutbuster followed by a backbreaker followed by a Gibson driver.

Bret Hart was announced for the NYC show in September, which is going to be in the Grand Ballroom because the main place is booked.

4. Jimmy Jacobs defeated Tyler Black in a First Blood match. They brawled before the match, and Jimmy opened up Tyler with a screwdriver. The bell rang, and the match was over in about a minute. Which was lame, and why I hate first blood matches, because this is what happens if they're realistic.

Post match Tyler beats up Jimmy and a couple refs, and announces that he's cashing in his title shot tonight.

5. Colt Cabana defeated D-Lo Brown, Claudio Castagnoli, and Bryan Danielson. Fun match, everybody did well. I'd have liked to see Danielson a bit higher on the card, but he did a great job in this match, and continued to prove that if he wasn't such a good wrestler he could have a spot on any roster just from his comedy skills. Cabana won by making D-Lo submit to the Billy Goat's Curse.

6. The American Wolves defeated Kevin Steen and El Generico. Simply an incredible match. These two teams, King and Titus, and now the Young Bucks, plus the Briscoes coming back, are why ROH does tag team wrestling better than anybody else. Spot of the night saw Davey Richards doing a Shooting Star Press to the outside onto Steen and Generico. Finish came when Davey used a single leg Boston crab on Generico's previously injured knee. Post match, Steen said that they won't stop climbing the ladder until they are once again ROH tag team champs. Which foreshadows Ladder War II, which will be incredible.

7. Jay Briscoe defeated Guido Maritato. Pretty good for a buffer match. It got the crowd recharged for the main event. Jay won with the Jaydriller.

8. Austin Aries defeated Jerry Lynn and Tyler Black to win the ROH World Championship. Oh man. This was an AWESOME match. Aries came out to Flair's music and wore a Flair robe, and told everybody that Flair couldn't be the outside enforcer. Lynn was eliminated first, after a God's Last Gift from Tyler, which was great booking because it guaranteed a new champ. Then some great nearfalls, including a figure four spot to play up the Flair thing. Aries finally won with a brainbuster and we have our new ROH Champion.

Notes: Overall this show was excellent. Match of the night was probably the main event, but the tag team submission match, Sonjay-Strong, and the opener were all great as well, and the four-way was solid too. Aside from Necro-Rave and Jimmy-Tyler, this show was great all around. Buying the DVD is highly recommended.

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