Ring of Honor live event
Toronto, Ont.
Report by Dot Net reader Mike Beauvais

I'm not sure what the capacity is at Ted Reeve Arena, but the show seemed just as packed as it usually does at this place and the crowd was hot for a vast majority of the night.

1. "Very European" Claudio Castagnoli (with Shane Hagadorn, Sara Del Ray) defeated Kyle O'Reilly. The match didn't go all that long, but it was good while it lasted. Claudio got the win after powering out of a Sharpshooter from the Canadian boy and then hitting a Ricola Bomb. Good opening match and Claudio sold like a champ.

2. "The Prodigy" Mike Bennett (with "Brutal" Bob Evans) defeated Steve Corino. Corino came out in a Team Canada hockey jersey and cut a promo prior to the match. He apologized for falling off the wagon, so to speak, in recent months (which was met with vehement applause from the crowd that prompted Corino to chide us and ask us not to encourage) and vowed to continue trying to atone for his former evil ways.

Corino then said that he knew somebody else, a former ROH star, who was also on the path to atonement and was looking to return to ROH. The crowd responded with loud "Mr. Wrestling" chants with Corino alluding to the return of Kevin Steen for the second night in a row. Corino then addressed Bennett, telling him that he was wrong to have told him that Christopher Daniels was somebody that he could look up to and that Daniels showed his true colours when he joined the House of Truth.

The match saw Corino, once again, try to refrain himself from resorting to heel tactics, but the crowd's chants for the Thumb in the Bum finally got to him and the former ECW Champion performed the move on the interfering Brutal Bob. This distraction allowed Bennett a pair of sitout uranages (which I think he calls "Awesome Coolness") and then a piledriver for the win.

3. Michael Elgin (with Truth Martini) defeated Grizzly Redwood, Adam Cole, Andy "Right Leg" Ridge, "Addicted to Love" Rhett Titus, and Tommaso Ciampa (with Prince Nana, Mia Yim, Mr. Ernesto Osiris & Barrister RD Evans) in a Six-Man Double Danger Scramble Match. The rules here were a little bit convoluted, but luckily it didn't drag down the match too badly. Basically, two men were in the ring with the remaining four at each turnbuckle.

To win the match, two pinfalls were required. Upon a pinfall or getting thrown over the top rope, one of the other participants entered the ring. Ciampa got the first pinfall when he rolled up Cole. Later, Titus hit a neckbreaker on Ridge for a pin. But this match was a showcase for Elgin. Elgin, a Toronto boy, was over like crazy and hit a variety of power moves on his smaller opponents, culminating in a double Alabama Slam on Redwood and Cole for two quick pins in succession. Not an awesome match, but decent enough for something that is destined to be overbooked by design.

4. Davey Richards defeated "Pretty Boy Pitbull" Kenny King by submission. Big reaction for Davey. This was a very good match, as to be expected, but it did feature an obvious blown spot towards the finish that left Davey completely irate. It appeared that Richards was going for a top-rope German on King and then one (or both, it was hard to tell who was at fault here) slipped and both fell to the mat.

Davey then immediately hit King with a German and hooked in an ankle lock (Richards worked on King's leg/ankle for a majority of the match) until King tapped. Angry at himself (and maybe Kenny), Richards stormed to the back even before Bobby Cruise could announce his name in victory.

After an intermission, the Bravado Brothers came to the ring for a promo. Lance's hair is simply out of control. The crowd crapped all over these two, but the "Grandma's Boys" gimmick can be funny and their material wasn't bad. They invited Cole and O'Reilly to the ring after running down their credentials. Cole and O'Reilly did eventually come down and after a cheap shot from Harlem, Cole and O'Reilly beat down the Bravados and chased them from the ring.

5. Colt "Boom Boom" Cabana defeated Delirious in a Larry Sweeney tribute match. This was Delirious's first ROH match in 10 months and it didn't go very long. Both men came to the ring to Sweeney's entrance music and began fighting over who would get to throw a number of Sweeney t-shirts into the crowd (Colt was wearing about five of them).

After some quick comedy spots, Delirious grabbed the mic to suggest that the best way to settle the match would be with a dance contest. The pair danced to the Andrea True Connection's "More, More, More" (and engaged in a strut-off that Todd Sinclair got involved in and might have actually won) before renewing hostilities (well, if that's what you want to call it). Cabana eventually got the win with a top-rope elbow drop.

6. El Generico defeated ROH TV Champion "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels (with Truth Martini). The crowd was big into Generico. This was a good, fast-paced match that saw both guys hit most of their signature spots. Elgin came to the ring to attempt to run interference for his stablemate, but Corino came down to take care of him. The resulting confusion allowed Generico to hit a brainbuster for the win. Post-match, Corino entered the ring, but like Grizzly Redwood before him, Generico didn't know what to make of Corino's motivations and there was no handshake. As this was happening, Elgin reentered the picture and gave Corino a brutal beatdown.

7. ROH World Tag Team Champions Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team (Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas) defeated Jay & Mark Briscoe in a non-title match. This marked the first time that the Briscoes worked heel in Toronto and the crowd gave them their desired response after initially cheering for them. The pair did a good job of heeling on the crowd in a hurry. It didn't take long for Mark to open up hardway (I didn't catch what happened exactly to cause it), but both brothers were opened up by the end of the match. With the Briscoes setting up for the Doomsday Device, ANX came down the ramp to distract them and this let Benjamin hit an exploder for the win.

8. ROH World Champion Eddie Edwards defeated "That Young Knockout Kid" Chris Hero (with Shane Hagadorn, Sara Del Ray). An absolutely tremendous match that had the crowd eating out of the palms of both men's hands. Hero just gets better and better every time I see him. The match went for roughly about half an hour with Hero working on Eddie's arm, while Edwards went for Hero's lower body.

Sinclair sent both Hagadorn and Del Ray to the back after repeated attempts at interference. The match ended when Hero finally passed out in Eddie's Achilles Lock as Eddie applied it accompanied by a series of brutal-looking strikes to the back of the head. Hero had previously escaped the hold on a number of occasions. Great work from both guys and Edwards has really upped his game over the past few months.

Another quality ROH show in Toronto that will once again ensure repeat business the next time the company comes to town.

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