ROH in Manassas, Va.
By Dot Net reader Greg Scurria (a/k/a GTS1303)

Dot Net Members Edgehead 27, Hank7216 and I all went to the ROH show in Manassas, Va. It was a good show (much better than the one here in December) and it was great to get to meet other Dot Net Members. I even spent some of my time here pimping Dot Net to other fans there! (You’re welcome, J-Pow).

1. The Necro Butcher, Colt Cabana, and Grizzly Redwood defeated Jimmy Rave, Claudio Castagnoli, and Ernie Osiris (w/ Prince Nana). Jimmy Rave looked a lot smaller in person than he did in TNA. Not a whole lot of real wrestling in this match, as it was pretty much a comedy opener. I had never seen Nana or Osiris before, and I wasn’t a big fan of either of their looks. At the very beginning of the match, Colt stopped to point out a wasp on the mat. Necro Butcher picked up the dead wasp and, after some encouragement from the crowd) ATE THE WASP! It was incredibly gross, and Colt even apologized to the crowd afterwards.

A little bit into the match, Colt realized that Grizzly and Necro were barefoot, and he took his boots and socks off too. This led to a spot in the corner where all three guys stuck their bare feet in the face of Osiris. Colt also took off one of the shoes of the referee and Necro carried it around in his mouth. When they finally got down to action, Grizzly tried to chop down Claudio and Rave spent most of his time trying to avoid being in the ring. Finally, the faces cleared the ring and Colt got the tapout victory with the Billy Goat’s Curse. While this was a fun match for guys familiar with the characters, Edgehead (who had never seen ROH before) was a little confused by all the silliness.

2. Shawn Spears defeatd Alex “Sugarfoot” Payne. Spears has a good look and did a good job as the cocky heel, but I just don’t get Sugarfoot. While the crowd was squarely behind him, he didn’t really do anything to inspire me. They did the usual “scrappy underdog” spots before Spears beat Payne pretty soundly. Spears carries himself well, but the match was pretty boring.

At this point, Ric Flair came out to greet the crowd (and shook my hand on the way down to the ring!!!). He talked about how he had gotten drunk in every city between Richmond and DC, including Manassas. He put over ROH but then started complaining about how there were not enough women in the audience. He said we needed to get more girls watching professional wrestling (though he did say there were more here than at a WWE show). He even singled out one young lady to tell her how pretty she was. He didn’t say a whole lot, but the crowd was really excited to see him and there was tons of “Woooo”-ing throughout this segment.

3. Bryan Danielson defeated Kenny King (w/Rhett Titus). I really like King and Titus together (though Hank and Edgehead thought they were a bit too silly). I think King has a great look and charisma. Titus is a fun comedy character, but I don’t know if he can go beyond that. For some reason, the crowd REALLY wanted to see Snap Mares (there was even a sign in the crowd), and we got lots of dueling ones in this match. Every time somebody hit a Snap Mare the crowd went crazy. Not sure what that was all about.

Good back and forth action, but once Danielson got the advantage, Titus interrupted the match and insisted that they play his music. He then proceeded to sing along and dance rather provocatively in the ring. Danielson stopped and just stared at him, and pretty soon King did the same. At this point, Edgehead turned to me and said this was the last thing he expected to see in the middle of a wrestling match!

Towards the end of the song, King blindsided Danielson with a clothesline. Lots of chants for the Dragon throughout, and he won with a small package. Good match, but I think that the American Dragon can do more than be in this kind of semi-comedy match. I can’t help but wonder if the fact that he is leaving for Japan is the reason we see him in these kinds of matches. After the match, Titus helped King back to the locker room with great care.

4. Kevin Steen and El Generico defeated The Young Bucks. The Young Bucks came out looking a LOT like the Hardy Boys did when they were first jobbers in the WWF. I have to say, I did not expect a lot from them judging by first appearances. Steen and Generico came out next and the guy in front of us explained that Generico is an “Irish Luchadoor.” We all got a big kick out of that. Hank and Edgehead were not expecting much from Steen because he is a little chubby.

At the beginning of the match, Generico had to force Steen to shake hands, and when he did he said “Hi Matt. Hi Jeff.” Really cracked me up. This match was faced paced from the beginning and the Young Bucks really impressed me. They can go in the ring and did a lot of exciting ariel stuff. Tons of tag team work with these two teams, including some really innovative stuff I had not seen before. There were also a lot of Snap Mares (and some loud “Snap Mare” chants throughout). Also, just a huge number of really believable near falls throughout the whole match that had the crowd on the edge of their seats.

One of the Young Bucks jumped from the apron into the ring to hit a leg drop on Generico and then immediately went back over the ropes to hit a moonsault on Steen standing outside the ring. It was just incredible. When Steen finally recovered, he came back with the a vengeance. After a few thwarted attempts, he finally hit the Cradle Piledriver and Generico hit the Brainbuster for the win. After the match, Steen shook hands with both guys and showed respect. This was an amazing match and the Young Bucks really looked like future stars. They got a big “Please Come Back” chant from the crowd.

At the intermission, the three of us were talking about the site and a guy in front of us turned around and started talking to us. He was saying that he couldn’t find a good wrestling message board, so I told him he should join Dot Net! We told him all the great things about the site and encouraged him to become a member! I almost felt like I work for the site. Also during intermission, the ring announcer came over and asked another guy right in front of us (who it turns out is training to wrestle) if he has a good sense of humor.

After intermission, the ring announcer called this guy into the ring. He took a poll of the audience as to what this guy’s worst feature was: his hair, his “Michael Jackson pants,” or his TNA T-shirt. The crowd picked the shirt, and the guy got an ROH shirt. The shirt got thrown into the crowd, but the guy in front of us threw it back into the ring where the announcer stomped on it. It was pretty funny.

Nigel McGuiness then came out looking great in a suit and sunglasses with a shaved head. He said that his arm was as good as it was going to get, and he now had to either come back soon or never come back. He said he was sitting at home questioning himself, but after seeing that Jerry Lynn was still the champ, he knew that he would come back and take his rightful place in wrestling history. He was very good and funny.

At one point, he quoted a movie and some guy in our section yelled out “What movie?” Nigel turned around and said: “Gladiator. Thanks for asking.” When he talked about Brian Danielson, a “Best in the World” chant broke out, and Nigel quickly said, “Thank you, yes I am.” At this point, Austin Aries came out an gave Nigel some backhanded compliments. He also said he had some backup in the four-way match and introduced D-Lo Brown. I never thought of D-Lo as a big guy in WWE, but he looked HUGE in there with the ROH guys.

5. Roderick Strong defeated Austin Aries, D-Lo Brown, and Eddie Edwards (w/ Shane Hagadorn) in a four-way. The three heels worked together at first, but it didn’t take long for D-Lo and Aries to turn on Edwards and beat him up, too. D-Lo and Aries worked together until Aries pulled D-Lo off a pin. He quickly explained he just wanted D-Lo to hit the Low Down. Aries was hilarious here imitating D-Lo’s head bobble and the Low Down.

When D-Lo went up top, however, Aries hit the ropes to make him fall. Things fell apart pretty quickly after that, and Strong made Aries tap out with what looked like an old-school Lion Tamer with a knee in his back. Really cool looking submission more. This was Edgehead’s first time to see Aries, and he was really impressed with him and thought he had that “it” factor. Really fun match that played a lot on the tension between the different guys but also had pretty much non-stop action.

After the match, D-Lo chased Aries around the ring, but Austin escaped in the end. I was disappointed we didn’t get to see the Lo-Down as I think it is a great looking frog splash. D-Lo got a huge ovation and lots of “Thank You” chants. He climbed onto the middle rope, quieted us down, and then gave us the head bobble and his catchphrase.

6. Jimmy Jacobs defeated Sonjay Dutt. Jacobs wrestled in torn-up jeans that were a little TOO torn in the rear area. The match started off fast, but Jacobs really slowed it down with multiple leg scissors that really took the crowd out of it. There was some fun stuff, but the match never really clicked throughout and the crowd never really got into it. Jacobs locked in the End Times a few times before finally knocking Dutt out with it.

I really liked that the match ended with Dutt’s arm being dropped three times. When is the last time you saw a match end that way? I worry about Jacobs. Since The Age of the Fall ended, I wonder if he is just kind of drifting aimlessly. A year ago he got one of the biggest reactions of the night and tonight the crowd didn’t really seem to care about him. Edgehead was struck by how small Jacobs is. I don’t think there is any way he is the 175 lbs. they announce him as.

7. Jay Briscoe defeated Davey Richards (w/ Shane Hagadorn). Richards really seems like a future star to me. Lots of “Man Up” chants for Briscoe. This match was incredibly stiff and brutal. Richards just beat the shit out of Briscoe with kicks and hard chops. This was a really good back and forth match with a ton of great near falls. We were really impressed by how stiff the two guys worked.

In the end, Briscoe flipped Richards out of a rollup and into a pin. Eddie Edwards ran out immediately and attacked Briscoe. Steen and Generico ran out to make the save and locked in stereo Sharpshooters (which made me immediately mark out!) As the American Wolves backed up the ramp, Steen invited them back into the ring and said they were going to lose the titles tomorrow night. Edgehead (who had never seen any of these guys before) said he was more interested in the ROH Tag Title match than any WWE Tag Team match he can remember. It’s sad that WWE can’t watch this and see how easy it is to build a great tag division.

8. Tyler Black defeated ROH World Champion Jerry Lynn in a non-title match. This one started out with lots of teasing of Snap Mares with the guys barely escaping much to the dismay of the fans. I don’t get this whole Snap Mare thing, but it might have been the most over thing all night. We got lots of Snap Mares, and they even teased a SUPER Snap Mare from the top rope. They started slow but really picked things up towards the middle of the match.

Again, they did a great job with near falls (are you listening, Raw) and the crowd was buying into them every time. Tyler won with a NASTY looking powerbomb into the middle turnbuckle (it looked like he didn’t throw Lynn as far as he was supposed to and Lynn landed awkwardly) followed by a superkick. The crowd really liked Black winning. It took Lynn a long time to get up, and when he did Austin Aries came out to start a very sarcastic “Jerry Lynn” chant. He then motioned that he wanted the belt tomorrow night.

Notes: Really good show. The Tag Match was an excellent, PPV-worth match, and the four-way, non-title match, and Richards-Briscoe were all very, very good. The crowd was pretty full and really hot. The Snap Mare obsession ran through the whole show, but the crowd gave most guys a good reception and were really lively throughout the show. Davey Richards was the only guy of the night who seemed to draw real intense heel heat.

After my last ROH experience was ruined by idiots complaining the whole time, I had a great time with Edgehead and Hank. We talked a good deal to the guys in front of and behind us (even when not pimping Dot Net) and they also really enjoyed the show. I know Colt Cabanna just came back, but I really hope they plan on doing more with him than just a comedy opening match. He is so funny and talented, and he is being wasted in that slot. All in all, a definite thumbs up for a really good, enjoyable show that ran three and a half hours!

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