Ring of Honor Wrestling on HDnet
Taped in Philadelphia, PA

The show opened with a new opening sequence and new theme music. We went right down to the ring with loud ROH chants for the new Executive Producer of ROH on HDnet: Jim Cornette. The entire talent roster was gathered around the ring as Cornette announced the beginning of the Pick Six series. The Pick Six is the list of the six wrestlers who can receive title shots, and the winner of each Pick Six qualifying match gets a $2500 match bonus.

Cornette announced five matches for each next week of TV: Delirious vs. Kenny King, Roderick Strong vs. Davey Richards, Sonjay Dutt vs. Tyler Black, Colt Cabana vs. Claudio Castagnoli, and Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe. The winners of the matches will be in the Pick Six, and will be eligible for title shots against Austin Aries, who was not at ringside. Just then, Aries' music hit and he came down to the ring.

He asked Cornette what the E in James E. Cornette stood for. He said it stood for ego. He said that he would keep the belt for three reasons: "1. I'm smarter than you, 2. I'm smarter than you, and 3. I'm smarter than you." Cornette told him that he started because of the "double A double L double W triple lottery", which was basically a "bum of the month club". He said that Aries would have to earn his title against the top competition. Aries didn't appreciate him calling Grizzly Redwood and Sugarfoot Alex Payne bums.

Cornette asked Aries if he'd like to put the title on the line tonight. Aries said that would be fine. Cornette announced Aries vs. Kenny Omega vs. Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong. NICE.

Joe's Judgment: Awesome segment. This feels like a HUGE show. Cornette was great on the mic, and Aries more than held his own. Having the entire roster around the ring was nice, and it was cool to see all of them celebrating as their names were called. The Pick Six is interesting. There's a completely different vibe in the ECW Arena tonight, by the way. It feels like a mix of the WSX Bunker and the Impact Zone.

2. The Briscoes defeated Kevin Steen and El Generico in 12:15. The winner will receive a tag team title shot at Final Battle 2009 in New York City (on live internet PPV as well). Generico is rocking some new tights tonight. He's also rocking some lucha armdrags on Jay in the early going. Jay tagged out to Mark and the Briscoes took over. They continued to work over Generico for a couple minutes.

Generico made the hot-ish tag to Steen after a suplex on Mark. Steen immediately went for a Swanton, but Mark got his knees up. Steen and Generico worked over Mark's left knee. Dueling "Olé!" and "Man up" chants. Mark suplexed Steen and tagged in Jay, who got a nearfall with a Samoan Drop. Mark tagged in, and promptly ate a cannonball from Steen. Generico dove onto Jay at ringside as Steen pump handle neckbreaker'd Mark over his knee.

Generico went for a Yakuza kick, but Mark blocked, so Generico pulled him out and hit a Michinoku Driver. Steen put Mark in the Sharpshooter, but Jay freed him with a superkick. Jay held Generico up for the Doomsday Dvice, as Mark went up top and then completed the move. Jay was promptly superkicked by Steen. Steen then applied the Sharpshooter on Mark again. Mark got to the ropes, and Steen walked into a Jaydriller from Jay for the pin.

Joe's Judgment: Not the best these two teams have done, but it was still pretty good. Mark's no-selling of the knee was annoying. Not the result I would have liked, but I'll gladly take Briscoes vs. Wolves at Final Battle.

Davey Richards was backstage with Kyle Durden. Davey said that while there's a lot of people out there pretending to be wrestlers, he was a wrestler. He said he's been winning championships in wrestling since he was twelve years old, and he intended to continue that, along with the Year of the Wolf, tonight.

Mike Hogewood and Dave Prazak mentioned that Cornette forgot a Pick Six match: Chris Hero vs. Kenny Omega.[C]

A commercial aired for Final Battle live on iPPV, via GoFightLive.tv.

Introductions for the main event took place...

2. Austin Aries defeated Kenny Omega, Davey Richards, and Roderick Strong to retain the ROH World Title in 20:30. The match quickly broke down into Davey and Omega brawling on one side of ringside and Strong and Aries brawling on the other side. Aries and Strong moved into the ring and Aries knocked Strong to ringside to brawl with Davey.

Omega hit a dropkick on Aries. He tried the stop sign enzuigiri, but Aries slapped him in the face when Omega told him to stop. Omega got the better of the exchange and sent Aries to the floor. Omega and Davey faced off briefly, just long enough for Prazak to plug Clash of the Contenders, now available at ROHwrestling.com, which featured a fantastic match between the two.

Omega got a nearfall on Davey, which was broken up by Strong. Strong went to work on Davey and got a nearfall of his own. Hogewood was convinced that there was no way Aries was retaining the title. The match completely broke down and I couldn't keep up. Most memorable spot was Strong blocking an Omega dropkick in the corner, only to be hit with one from Aries.

At the ten minute mark, Aries knocked Omega off the top rope, only to be hit with a release German superplex from Richards. Richards kicked Aries and kicked him again for a nearfall, broken up by Omega. Omega hit a reverse huracanrana on Davey, then Croyt's Wrath on Aries. Strong broke up the pin, and Hogewood wondered whether Strong should have just let Omega have it because the belt would be off of Aries.

Strong got a nearfall on Aries with a gutbuster. He and Davey exchanged strikes, then Omega hit a crossbody on both. Omega ducked a roundhouse kick from Davey, letting him hit Strong instead.

Lots of lightning fast action led to Strong and Davey in an INTENSE strike war. Strong hit the sick running boot, then, when Davey kicked out and applied the Texas Cloverleaf, reversed it into a pin combo. Davey kicked out, but Strong hooked him and hit a Gibson Driver. Just then Aries snuck in, kicked Strong in the head, and stole the pin for the three count.

As Aries posed in the ring with the belt, the lights went down, Tyler Black's music hit, and he came out on the ramp to close the show.

Joe's Judgment: Whoa. So much action. Hardest match to keep track of so far. Even knowing the result ahead of time, I still had the feeling that Aries was going to lose. All three of the challengers looked really strong here too, even Richards, who took the pin. This is what the show should have been all along: one solid non-wrestling segment, and two lengthy matches. One of the best shows in recent memory. Cornette's influence is already being felt.

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