ROH in Chicago Ridge, Ill.
The Homecoming II
By Dot Net reader Daniel Fargo

Pre-show

1. Bobby Dempsey beat a guy from Wisconsin. Dempsey got a great reaction and a bunch of streamers when he hit the ring. Total squash in under a minute and it got over very well. Finish was some sort of spiked samoan drop.

Main Show

1. Egotistico Fantastico beat "Skullkrusher" Rasche Brown. Fantastico won in about seven minutes after reversing a powerbomb attempt into a victory roll. The match was mostly Brown heeling it up for the crowd.

2. Austin Aries & "Addicted to Love" Rhett Titus vs. Alex "Sugarfoot" Payne & Silas Young. Aries came out in an amazing ruffled pink jacket and had the timekeeper usher him in through the ropes. Aries and Titus went over in about fifteen minutes of good work including a funny spot where the heels were working over the "sugarfoot" of Alex Payne. Finish came when Aries hit a brainbuster on Payne and put Titus on him for the pin - Aries still hooked the leg himself.

After the match, Young helped up Sugarfoot and then turned on him, laying him out with a clothesline.

3. Jimmy Jacobs defeated Claudio Castagnoli and Roderick Strong in a three-way. Jacobs won by submitting Strong in roughly seventeen minutes with the End Time. The crowd was very vocal with a "Hey" for everything Claudio did, a "woo" for all of Roderick's offense and an "Aaargh" for Jacobs and his eye patch as he is selling the spike from Delirious. Jacobs grew frustrated and decided to confuse the crowd by having he and Claudio work over Strong simultaneously. It was a good match although the finish seemed to come abruptly.

After the match Jacobs was going to cut a promo on the crowd when Tyler Black came out to for a verbal confrontation. Tyler called out Jacobs for being nothing behind his facade of power and blamed Jacobs' ego for the collapse of Age of the Fall. A decent reaction but the crowd seemed to be expecting a little more from the whole thing as Jacobs pretended his feelings were hurt but did little to respond to Tyler.

4. The Dark City Fight Club beat The Phoenix Twins. Fight Club won in six minutes with a spinning lariat after they decided to end the Phoenix Twins.

An announcement was made that they will be back at the end of June and Ric Flair will be a part of the show.

5. Bryan Danielson beat Jimmy Rave. Tons of toilet paper for Rave. Dragon has new music reminiscent of The Final Countdown only without the breakdown for the audience to sing along. Danielson won in twenty minutes by TKO when the referee stopped the match as Dragon had Rave in a triangle choke and began hitting him with a series of elbows. A pretty solid match with lots of submission-style offense from both men. Lots of chants for Danielson throughout the match.

6. Tyler Black beat Chris Hero (w/Shane Hagadorn). Tyler got the win with God's Last Gift after ducking a loaded elbow attempt. Hagadorn distracted the ref to allow Hero to put on the loaded pad and in my head I could totally hear Mike Hogewood going crazy about the blatant cheating. The crowd didn't get fully into the match until the last few minutes when Tyler hit a flipdive to the outside.

After the match, Jacobs got his revenge on Tyler, attacking him with the spike on his way to the back. A little tough to see as the crowd swarmed the fight but Tyler looked to have gotten opened up pretty well.

7. The American Wolves over Kevin Steen & Jay Briscoe in a two-of-three falls match to retain the ROH Tag Titles. Steen and Briscoe got the first fall about twelve minutes in with a Sharpshooter on Edwards after Steen countered a missile dropkick. About eight minutes later the Wolves scored the second pinfall when Richards submitted Steen with a Cloverleaf. The American Wolves won the match and retained the titles six minutes later when Edwards held up Briscoe and Richards hit a cutter from the top rope. By far the hottest match of the night with a lot of good, stiff action start to finish.

After the match there was dissension between Briscoe and Steen with some shoving and Briscoe getting slapped before heading to the back.

8. Jerry Lynn defeated Colt Cabana to retain the ROH Title. Lynn won in about twenty-two minutes with the package piledriver. Lots of crowd support for Cabana early and often throughout the match. Excellent comedy antics from Cabana and it turned out to be a solid match with some good nearfalls at the end. The crowd was a little deflated by the finish but some nice promos afterward by both men putting over each other, ROH and Chicago seemed to send people home happy.

Notes: Overall, a fine show. It was tough to gauge the attendance as they have changed the normal seating arrangement here but I'd have to estimate 750 or more. Definitely felt like a much better show than when "Caged Collision" was taped here. The match of the night was easily the contest for the tag titles.

RECOMMEND THIS ARTICLE: