ROH Showdown in the Sun Review

I guess I'm going to try and review both days in this one post.  I should mention that I've had nothing but trouble in watching this iPPV.  First, my Day 1 Part 2 feed cut off before the main event and right in the middle of Steen/Generico.  Now, I got halfway through Day 2 and Steen/Edwards keeps screwing up and I've had a ton of connection issues.  At this point, I don't think I will be able to catch the rest of it.  I've heard good things about the Elgin/Richards match and was looking forward to seeing it.  Sorry for these problems to all my readers, as I had no problems with the DGUSA show last night.

DAY 1

Shane Haste/Mikey Nichols v. The Briscoes-Proving Ground Match-Pretty hot tag match to start this show off.  Haste and Nichols hit a nice moonsault elbow double team combo.  Mark Briscoe was in trouble but he flipped out of a backdrop and made the tag to Jay.  However, Haste and Nichols nailed a double team DDT that stunned the Briscoes.  The Briscoes were able to bounce back and hit the Doomsday Device for the win.  Pretty solid and fun match and they gave Haste and Nichols a lot of offense.  ** and a quarter

Jim Cornette is the in the ring to introduce the NWA Champ Adam Pierce.  Pierce talked about his recent match with Adam Cole.  Cornette said he won the match with a questionable low blow and a piledriver, which is illegal in ROH.  Pierce did put over Cole as the future of ROH and he said he was good but not great.  Cole came out and said he thinks he can beat Pierce and Pierce says he wants to fight now.  Cornette was hesitant to make the match but eventually did and it wasn't for the NWA Title.  Pierce carries himself well but he doesn't feel like he's ready to step into the next level in wrestling.  Well, at least he's not fighting Vance Nevada tonight!

Adam Pierce v. Adam Cole-Cole hit a suicide dive and he got a lot of offense in.  Pierce put him over well and this match was booked like Pierce is the veteran heel who is trying to teach the rookie Cole a lesson.  Pierce was begging off at one point but the crowd told Cole not to listen to him.  Pierce ended up hitting a chokeslam as Cole ran towards him.  In the end, Pierce went for the piledriver which the ref blocked, then Cole reversed it into a pin.  They both shook hands afterwards and Pierce raised Cole's hand.  **


Kenny King/Rhett Titus (All Night Express) v. The Young Bucks-Dual Duel Part 1-Tornado Rules-This ended up being a better match than I was expecting, especially from the Bucks.  They come across as major douche bags, comparable to Heath Slater, but better.  Titus and King hit double somersault planchas.  King was in trouble, got a hope spot, but got shutdown.  He eventually made the tag to Titus who cleaned house.  The finish was double 450 splashes for the All Nighters and Titus got the pin.  Titus got attacked with a chair by Nick Jackson but King made the save.  ** and a half

Tommaso Ciampa came out with Prince Nana and RD Evans.  Evans said that his law office received an injunction that stated if the TV Title was not returned within 24 hours, the entire Embassy would be suspended.  He said Ciampa was happy to return it but he did not bring it with him and that Ernesto Osiris was on his way to get the belt and bring it to Night 2.

Jay Lethal v. Kyle O'Reilly-TV Title-This was a really good match and both guys looked good.  Lethal carries himself well, especially in terms of workrate.  Ciampa came out to watch the match.  They went to technical wrestling to start but Lethal came alive.  He hit a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker into a Russian leg sweep into a ground submission.  O'Reilly bounced back and hit a guillitine choke that Lethal tried to fight off.  Lethal ended up hitting the Lethal Combination and both guys were down.  Lethal hit a handspring backelbow and O'Reilly hit a big back superplex.  The problem was that Kyle started wasting time and pandering to the crowd which led to Lethal hitting the Lethal Injection for the pin.  Ciampa and Lethal had a staredown and Lethal invited him in the ring but Ciampa left.  Pretty solid match and I figured it had to be given that it was a 15-minute time limit match with Jay Lethal!  *** and a half

Shelton Benjamin/Charlie Haas (Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team) v. Caprice Coleman/Cedric Alexander-Coleman and Alexander wanted to shake hands but Haas told them to fuck off and attacked them.  Alexander missed a dive and Coleman ended up working from the bottom.  Haas hit a sick back suplex on one of the ring barriers outside, I believe, on Coleman.  Please correct me if I'm wrong on that.  Coleman tried for a springboard crossbody but Haas caught him and threw him down.  Coleman hit a double dropkick and went to the wrong corner to make the tag but he got it soon after.  Alexander began cleaning house.  Coleman came back in and hit a leaping rana on Haas, who was on the top rope.  Shelton did his leaping top rope belly-to-belly superplex for the win on Alexander though.  Haas and Benjamin are great heels for ROH.  ***

Lance Storm v. Mike Bennett w/Maria-I expected a lot from this match, perhaps too much but it was still fun.  Storm was in great shape and Bennett has some charisma and a little size.  Lance hit a great dropkick but Bennett did a dropkick of his own a couple minutes later.  Storm hit a springboard clothesline but Bennett hit his Box Office Smash afterwards for a two-count.  Bennett went for a half-crab but Lance hit a superkick for a near fall and he started working on the leg.  Lance hit his half-crab but Mike got out of it with the ropes.  Storm had him on top for a suplex but Maria grabbed Bennett's leg to block it.  Mike hit the Box Office Smash from the top but only got a two and then hit a TKO for the win.  The TKO finish was a little anti-climactic coming so soon after the Box Office Smash and maybe they should've just finished with that.  They shook hands after the match.  ** and a quarter

Kevin Steen v. El Generico-Last Man Standing-I've been real impressed with El Generico for these shows.  I hadn't seen much of his work until now but he can play a great traditional babyface or an intense, serious babyface, like in this match.  You could tell this feud was personal.  In the beginning, Generico went under the ring and grabbed some extra ring ropes for weapons.  Steen hit a powerbomb onto the apron the outside floor that looked sick.  They started to battle on the stage in front of the fans and Generico hit a Michinoku Driver on the wood floor.  Steen tried to escape the stage but Generico ran at him and hit a huge somersault plancha.  Then, Generico hit a great tornado DDT while running across the steel ring barriers.  Generico set up a table but Steen went after him and hit his own somersault plancha through the table.  They battled back in the ring, planting each other onto folded out chairs.  Steen tried to go to the top rope but got sent down through the timekeeper's table at ringside and Generico exploded.  Eventually, they both went for dueling chairs and Steen got the advantage and went to hit Generico with his chair.  Jimmy Jacobs ran in and grabbed the chair from him and Generico hit a suplex on a chair to Steen.  Jacobs then handed Generico the chair to hit Steen but he double crossed him and nailed him with a spike.  Jacobs then handed Steen the chair and he hit Generico for the win.  This beat the hell out of any of those John Cena Last Man Standing matches.  This match really felt like they were trying to kill each other out there and Steen kept kicking out of everything.  I didn't like the finish though with Jacobs though.  *** and three quarters

Roderick Strong v. Eddie Edwards v. Davey Richards-ROH Title-I didn't really enjoy this match as it felt like three guys just doing moves, one after the other, with no absorption periods in between at all.  They all went back and forth for most of the match with a lot of striking and slugfests.  Davey hit both guys in two different submissions at the same time.  Edwards was the first guy to be eliminated by a small package from Strong.  The match got a little better when it was no longer a Triple Threat match but not by much.  Davey hit a double foot stomp on Strong and then nailed a headkick and a pin for the win.  Michael Elgin came in and powerbombed Davey afterwards and Truth Martini talked about how Elgin was going to win the ROH belt on Day 2.  * and three quarters

DAY 2

Jimmy Jacobs came out and said that he being good wasn't good and that he was now evil.  El Generico ran down after him with a ref and a match began.

Jimmy Jacobs v. El Generico-Jacobs is pretty dull to watch but thankfully Generico came through and looked good.  At one point, Jacobs pulled out his spike but missed Generico and it nailed the turnbuckle pad instead.  Generico had the advantage but went to use the spike and Jacobs rolled him up for the win.  Pretty dull match here even with the fiery Generico.  * and a quarter

Cedric Alexander w/Caprice Coleman v. Tommaso Ciampa w/Osiris, Nana, and RD Evans-Evans was on commentary.  Alexander hit a full-nelson face first suplex on Ciampa and he hit a sick suplex into a barrier on the outside.  Ciampa got the advantage and positioned Alexander in the corner with his head outside the ropes on the ground.  He then went out onto the apron and delivered two running kicks and put Alexander back in and pinned him.  Ciampa has some intensity and a good look but he lacks charisma.  * and a half

TJ Perkins v. Fire Ant-ROH v. Chikara-This is my first time seeing someone from Chikara and I was impressed by what I saw.  This match was cut off by a power outage but it was mostly lucha, high flying stuff.  From what I saw, it looked good.  ** and a half

Mike Bennett and Maria are out and he's talking about how he beat Lance Storm on Day 1.  He said him and Maria were going to go down the South Beach and celebrate the idea that he is better than the best.  Then, they made out heavily.

The Briscoes v. Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team-ROH Tag Titles-This match failed to deliver for me and I thought it was going to be really good.  Benjamin and Haas were not nearly as good as Day 1 but they did get a lot of heat.  At one point, on the outside, Shelton rammed Mark's head into the ring barrier a couple times, which had to hurt a lot.  Mark was on the bottom but ended up making a hot tag to Jay who hit a plancha on Shelton and a crossbody on Haas.  Jay ended up hitting a headscissors into a pin on Benjamin for the win.

I could not get the rest of the show to connect.  If I can get it to work, I'll review the rest of the show.  Overall, comparing these shows to the DGUSA show from last night, these shows were way better, especially Day 1.  Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness were great on commentary.  One complaint I do have is that the show kept cutting away from the action at the wrong moments.  Also, I do think that the suicide dives and somersault planchas were overused.  The problem is that so many people do high flying spots that they all get lost in the shuffle.  It would be nice to slow things down a little so that way these spots would look more special.  I would like to buy more ROH shows in the future but I'm hoping I won't have as many problems as I did with these shows.  On the technical side of things, the DGUSA iPPV was loads better as I had know problems at all except for some minor sound issues.

I'll be back tomorrow night for WrestleMania!  Take care.
@stevesgraps
stevesgraps@yahoo.com

Dragon Gate USA-Open The Ultimate Gate PPV Review 3-30-2012

I just got done watching the $1.99 PPV from DGUSA and it was worth it for the price point.  Here's the review...

AR Fox v. Rich Swann-Decent opener with a lot of spots.  Swann hit a somersault dropkick that looked impressive.  Fox had a great spinning fisherman's buster and a flip headbutt in the corner that looked fantastic.  Lots of heat for this match and it was well deserved with all the moves they showcased.  I loved the springboard reverse somersault cannonball to the outside by Fox, and it was probably my favorite move of the night.  However, I'm not sure the name of the move is correct!  Fox won by running and grabbing Swann on the top rope and hitting an SAT moonsault splash off the top.  ** and a half

CIMA/Ricochet interview as CIMA was injured last night at the DGUSA show and they have to vacate their tag titles.  Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano come out and Taylor says that they should just give them the belts since they were supposed to fight CIMA and Ricochet.  Gargano stops him and says he doesn't want to win them that way.  Masato Yoshino comes out and wants to be Ricochet's partner for tonight and Ricochet accepts.

Caleb Konley/Scott Reed (The Scene) v. Bobby Fish/Tommy Dreamer-I absolutely hated the entrance of The Scene with Larry Dallas and three chicks (one of whom, I believe, was Shelly Martinez) doing all sorts of sexual movements and innuendos.  The line was crossed in terms of taste and this came across really bad.  This match was an average tag match with nothing spectacular.  Dreamer did his old Francine piledriver spot on Steffi (one of the chicks) and he also did his old ECW spanking spot on Shelly.  Fish's offense looked dull and lacked fire.  I was really wanting to like him as he carried himself like a young Dean Malenko but I couldn't get into him.  He won with his Fishhook leg submission.  * and a quarter

Sami Callihan v. BxB Hulk-Calihan played the disrespectful heel all night long, starting with this match.  He dumped Hulk on his head in the beginning that looked crazy.  Hulk had some big kicks and Christina Von Eerie came out to watch the match.  Sami hit a suicide dive on Hulk and then sent him flying into the first row.  Hulk messed up a springboard but it was covered up nicely by the announcing.  Von Eerie got up on the apron with Hulk's wine, drank some, and spit it into Hulk's face.  Sami hit a flip suplex and won and he celebrated with Von Eerie.  ** and a quarter

Sami cut a promo on Sabu, his opponent for tomorrow's show.  This led to Sabu coming out and a big brawl ensued that resulted in a match.
Jon Davis/Sabu v. Arik Cannon/Pinkie Sanchez-This was a terribly average brawl with tables that you'd expect from Sabu.  I couldn't stand Sanchez as he kept gyrating during the match and his nickname was The Sexual Spidermonkey.  He doesn't look all that hot with his frame and his hair but oh well.  Davis hit a spinning powerbomb on Cannon from his back for the win.  Calihan then came back and attacked Sabu.  *

Masaaki Mochisuki v. Akira Tozawa-This was a pretty decent match and they worked hard out there.  Tozawa hit a suicide dive and immediately tried for a second but was cut off.  Right after that, he tried for a third and nailed it.  Tozawa hit some Kobashi chops in the corner on Mochisuki.  Tozawa later hit a big German Suplex off the top followed by another German on the mat.  They battled back and forth towards the end but Mochisuki hit a springboard kick off the top similar to Cody Rhodes but better, for the win.  Von Eerie, who was in Tozawa's corner attacked Mochisuki after the match.  This match felt like a battle and I enjoyed and it probably my match of the night.  ***

Johnny Vandal v. Samurai Del Sol-I think it was at this point that they stopped showing intro graphics for each wrestler.  This was short but fun as Samurai was hitting some flying moves.  The finish was Samurai springboarding onto Vandal's shoulders and hitting a reverse rana.  **

Low-Ki v. PAC-I really expected this match to be totally amazing but I felt it lacked something.  They battled back and forth for the entire match.  They mat wrestled a lot in the beginning.  PAC hit a moonsault too the outside off the top-rope and Ki barely made it back inside afterwards.  Ki went for the Warrior's Way but PAC stopped it and hit a top-rope rana.  However, he missed a twisting splash and Ki then hit the Warrior's Way for the win.  Ki looked very solid and PAC was good, as far as workrate.  He lacks charisma, or at least, in this match he did.  Ki called out the rosters of DGUSA and Evolve afterwards.  ***


Johnny Gargano/Chuck Taylor v. Ricochet/Masato Yoshino-Gargano didn't look too bad and he carries himself well for an indy wrestler.  Yoshino was amazing every time he got in there and very fast.  I really want to see more of him.  A couple of moonsault hits and misses and we saw a big flipping somersault senton by Ricochet on Gargano.  Lots of moves in this match.  Ricochet hit a 630 splash off the top on Gargano, which was very impressive.  There were some problems between Taylor and Gargano as Taylor broke up a pin by Gargano.  Yoshino hit a weird submission, that honestly I'm not sure what to call it, for the win.  New tag champs are Ricochet and Yoshino.  CIMA got on the mic after the match and wanted to shake hands with Gargano.  Gargano shook his hand but Taylor ended up attacking both guys from behind and leaving.  Taylor comes across like a big indy guy and I'm not into him much.  ** and three quarters

Overall, for the price, I don't regret buying this event although I don't think I'd buy another one at full price.  Most might disagree with me but that's my feelings.  The announcing wasn't too bad until Arik Cannon joined in the last couple matches.  He made some bad references and sounded horrible and even swore a little which comes across bad for a high profile indy company to do.  Gargano has potential and I'd look forward to seeing more of his matches.  Low-Ki looked very solid, as noted, and a lot of the Japanese guys carried themselves well.  I'd would've liked to have seen CIMA as I've never seen any of his stuff yet.  The production values were solid for an indy PPV and there were no issues with sound or from the feed and everything ran smoothly.  Also, there was way too much of Sami Callihan.  To me, he's not very good and his promos are horrible sounding.  I don't know why they were giving him such a big push on this show.

WrestleMania 28 Predictions

I figure now that the go-home RAW is done and the SD show on Friday is mostly recap stuff, now is the time to do predictions for Sunday.

Cody Rhodes v. The Big Show for the IC Title-Cody really desperately needs this win as they've really only jobbed him out in the past.  The WWE has a big problem with their mid-card heels being taken seriously.  Dolph Ziggler and Cody Rhodes seem to be always thrown to the wolves by jobbing to main event guys in tag matches and singles matches.  Because of that, no one gives a damn about guys like Rhodes, etc.  For example, look at the Royal Rumble where guys like Cody and The Miz got no reaction despite being pushed hard in that match.  This is a big spotlight match for Cody and it would be great to see him get some credibility by beating Show.  Sadly, going by what I just said about the WWE's booking mistakes recently with their heels, I'm predicting Show to win this one.  One other side note that sways me in that direction is the fact that they've been playing up the idea that Show has never really had a defining Wrestlemania moment and he's almost the anti-Undertaker.  This makes me think he will finally get his moment and win the belt.

Team Teddy v. Team Johnny 12-man Tag-I'm already sick of this program and I just want this match to be over.  John Lauranaitis is certainly the stronger of the two characters and he has the most heat.  I'm predicting Ace to win and become GM for both shows.  I hope they keep Teddy around for something at least.

Kelly Kelly/Maria Menounos v. Beth Phoenix/Eve-Maria is injured so don't expect any bumps from her.  She's also the face celebrity here so I expect her team to win in a short match.

Kane v. Randy Orton-The simple fact that Kane has already put over Cena in a one-off feud leads me to believe the same thing will happen with Orton.

Daniel Bryan v. Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Title-Bryan has had a great run as champ and has went from getting no reaction to getting good heat and that's saying something for his talents.  Sheamus is pretty over too and the WWE always books towards face champions.  This has been the case since the WWWF and I don't see it changing now.  Sheamus will win it but I hope they don't forget about Bryan and he can keep his heat.  I would not be surprised to see Bryan win a major title again in the future as the WWE knows he has the talent since he stepped up during this run and got over.

CM Punk v. Chris Jericho for the WWE Title-I don't see the WWE stopping this feud after Mania and for that reason I think Jericho will win.  Should be a pretty decent match and we'll see how it plays out.

Undertaker v. Triple H-I'm going with Taker to win and keep the streak alive.  If Taker plans on coming back again for next year's Mania, it makes complete sense to keep the streak alive.  His streak has gotten bigger and bigger every year and financially, it would be stupid to end it now unless this were Taker's guaranteed last match.  Should be another good match and I wouldn't be surprised to see blood too.  This match has had the best build-up going in to Mania and has a great story connected to it especially with HBK as the ref.  There are so many different stories that can be told in this match and it should be great.

The Rock v. John Cena-There is no question that Cena will get booed out of the building no matter what he does.  Every time I think about this match and the outcome, I think of Lance Storm's theory on sending the fans home happy.  Sure, putting Cena over might seem like good business but it won't send the fans home happy.  The Rock getting the win would be a great story to tell and the majority of people watching would like it and be satisfied with the outcome.  Thus, they might be more willing to give the WWE more business in the future in case another big match rolls along.  With that being said, I do think Cena will win it but they will need to try and get him some approval.  Cena will win clean and maybe a heel will come out and attack The Rock (or vice-versa) and Cena will save him and they'll shake afterwards.  Doing this might turn him in Miami enough so that the people are satisfied with the outcome.  Of course, who would be the heel and why would he be running in to attack someone?  Basically, if Cena does go over, he will get booed completely unless The Rock gives his approval of Cena towards the fans, in some way.  If he wins and this doesn't happen, the viewers might not go home happy, so to speak.  If the WWE is booking towards a rematch, it makes a lot of sense for The Rock to go over though.  We just don't know right now when or if The Rock will be back anytime soon.

The card is stacked and hopefully it will be a good show.  Last year, it seemed like the only good match was Taker/HHH!  I expect to do a small write-up for the show and for some of the other shows over the weekend.  I'm not sure if I'm going to order the Dragon Gate $1.99 show or the ROH shows though.  Either way I'll have write-ups and reviews for whatever I watch.