GLORY BY HONOR VII

September 20, 2008

Adam Pearce . . . manages to work a better (and smarter) match than Kevin Steen.

Katsuhiko Nakajima . . . steps up when challenging for the GHC Jr. Title, because that’s what the best wrestler in the world forces you to do.

El Generico . . . for all of his quasi-comedy and his goofy luchador gimmick, looks to come within a heartbeat of winning the ROH World Title.

JERRY LYNN vs. KENNY KING

This isn’t a bad match, but it’s rather unremarkable. The first half of the match has just as much crowd playing and posing as it does actual wrestling. The only real story to the match is Lynn’s back, which Kenny targets after ramming Lynn into the apron after Lynn hits a dive and then takes his time getting Kenny back into the ring. Kenny has a few good spots to keep things moving, like the spine buster, and the chinlock with the knee in the back is a nice touch. But it doesn’t wind up being much more than filler, and it gets dropped after Kenny misses the legdrop and Lynn makes his comeback. Well, he isn’t able to get Kenny up for the cradle piledriver the first time around, but it appears to be just as much due to Kenny not really being worn down as Lynn’s back being hurt. Lynn comes right back and bridges out to escape Kenny’s air raid crash, and he has no issues with the top rope rana, which stuns Kenny enough for Lynn to hit the piledriver and win. Both men managed to create some appreciable moments, especially Lynn’s brief showing of aggression when he was trying to bounce Kenny’s head off the mat, but they were gone as soon as they were there.

BRENT ALBRIGHT © vs. ADAM PEARCE (NWA World Heavyweight Title)

Even though this isn’t anything amazing, it’s still a fun match, and it’s perfectly watchable. Pearce’s ‘old school’ (read: stereotypical 80’s southern heel) schtick is a nice contrast to pretty much everything else around him, and he plays it well. He begs off or offers a handshake when Albright is in control. When Albright is being worked over, he finds ways to work in cheap shots or ties up the ref so that Sweeney and Hagadorn can get in cheap shots of their own. And it costs him when Hagadorn takes too long to wedge a chair into the corner and Albright manages to reverse the corner whip and it’s Pearce who hits the chair. Their history as teammates is on display when they do some finisher stealing, and they have a couple of smooth sequences, like Albright’s small package counter to Pearce’s figure four. Albright’s injured arm doesn’t really play into the match at all until the finish, when Pearce uses it to stop the half nelson suplex and then Fujiwara armbars Albright and forces him to submit. Well, Albright does hit a big lariat early on that aggravates the injury and lets Pearce take over the match, but they leave it alone after that.

The only real issue that creeps up with this match is that the selling is all over the place. There are times when their selling plays well, like the suplex on the ramp, and the big bump they both take off the turnbuckle. But, right after Albright just barely beats the count into the ring, he’s on his feet and slugging away with Pearce a minute later. Considering the finish that they use, Albright also could have done to put the arm more in focus. The thought behind his lariat hurting him was nice, but then he’s trading punches with Pearce or even working the double lariat spot and seeming no worse for wear. There was also the chance to hint at the arm injury hampering Albright when he blocks the piledriver and hits an air raid crash. But, overall, Pearce and Albright work a straightforward and simple match with a somewhat satisfying payoff, even if it’s not exactly deep.

GO SHIOZAKI © vs. KEVIN STEEN (FIP World Heavyweight Title)

For a fifteen-plus-minute match involving someone as highly thought of at the time as Steen, this sure is boring. They each have things they do to try to create some interest, but nothing works all that well. Go works over Steen’s leg for a good bit of the match, but Steen doesn’t see fit to sell very much and Go’s leg work isn’t very interesting. The commentators try to give the idea that Steen’s knee is slowing him down, but he certainly doesn’t show that in his work as evidenced by his full speed cannonball while Shiozaki is in the corner. Steen interjects his personality a few times, but nothing much comes out of that either. Even the early stuff with the headlock and him pulling Shiozaki’s hair to keep the hold on doesn’t really draw much crowd reaction. Steen also tries working over Shiozaki's knee for the sharpshooter, but it doesn’t go anywhere either. It also doesn’t help that they do stupid things like dueling shoulder tackles that look just as goofy as a Kobashi/Sasaki chop exchange or the Frye/Takayama punching sequence. Even when there’s the chance to make something matter, it gets ignored. Steen’s inability to pick up Shiozaki for the package piledriver is credited to Shiozaki’s size rather than his knee being weak, and when Shiozaki gets up the knees to block the senton, it doesn’t hurt him at all.

Nothing seems to matter much as the match winds down. It looks like Shiozaki can win via KO or ref stop when he’s throwing mounted chops (which is a unique spot, if nothing else) at Steen, and then he calls for the Go Flasher. Steen escapes it and hits a big German suplex, which Shiozaki no sells (which is at least explained by showing that he cushioned his head and took the brunt of it on his knees) and charges into a powerbomb which allows Steen to get the sharpshooter. But Shiozaki powers out to escape the hold and then blocks a running lariat and hits two more Go Flashers to win the match. It really looks like Shiozaki was taking his cues from the “classics” from Misawa and Kobashi during their latter years of AJPW and into NOAH. Granted, Shiozaki had never been expected to do a lot of heavy lifting during his time in NOAH; but, after seven months in the states, and working with the likes of Nigel, Danielson, and Claudio, one would think that he’d have picked up some more sensible ways to work.

BRYAN DANIELSON © vs. KATSUHIKO NAKAJIMA (GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title)

Ho-hum, just Bryan Danielson being the best wrestler in the world. Danielson is a king in this match with nearly everything he does. The way that he sharks on Nakajima’s arm almost seems Fuchi-esque, especially when he gets a near fall from stretching him out so much that he gets him in a pinning position. He comes up with several creative spots and sequences, with the butterfly suplex into the juji-gatame being especially nice. When Nakajima is in control, Danielson finds little openings to turn the tide, and he finds ways to work in stuff just to please the crowd. And when he lets up for even a second when he’s in control, Nakajima lands a kick and makes him regret it. As great as Danielson was when he was working over his arm, he’s even better at selling when Nakajima is working over his leg. Even when something seems questionable, Danielson finds a way to salvage it. Nakajima hits a big German suplex that Danielson jumps up from in order to hit one of his own, which Nakajima no-sells in turn. But Danielson makes sure to stumble to his feet, to give the impression that the suplex still took something out of him. When Nakajima looks for another German and Danielson lands on his feet, he remembers to sell the leg from the landing. The same thing when he hangs Nakajima in the corner and connects a big kick and later on when he does his stomp flurry before the Triangle choke. If fact, the only times he really lapses in his selling are when he does a bridge, namely his German and Tiger suplex near falls and the finishing Cattle Mutilation. And that’s not even much of a transgression, because he’s not doing anything to suddenly ignore that the knee had been weakened.

That’s not to say that Nakajima is bad here. He’s actually pretty damn good himself; he’s eons better than Kanemaru was in Danielson’s title win the week before. But there isn’t a single thing that he does in this match that Danielson isn’t able to do far better. Of course, it’s nigh impossible to not be overshadowed when wrestling someone like Danielson, and Nakajima realistically does as well as humanly possible, given his age and experience. His selling when he gets worked over, and his work later on when he gets to tear apart Danielson’s leg are both very good, but what’s very good from Nakajima is great from Danielson. Nakajima is head and shoulders better than Shiozaki here, but their performances are kind of similar in the vein of both of them being in unfamiliar positions, but where Shiozaki crashed and burned, Nakajima rises to the occasion. It was obvious as soon as he won the title that Danielson wasn’t going to be holding it for long, given that NOAH never had much interest in pushing foreigners, so it’s a miracle that we even got this one successful title defense out of him. But, with how much Nakajima was able to step up, it’s a shame that Danielson didn’t get a longer run with the title to have matches against guys like Aoki and Suzuki, or even someone like Kikuchi, to see what he might have been able to bring out in them. ***1/2

ERICK STEVENS vs. RHETT TITUS

It looked like this was going to be at least fun, thanks to Rhett’s overdone stooging and bumping. But then Stevens breaks his nose, and it pretty much falls apart. If nothing else, Rhett doing the chinlock and gouging at the nose was a great heel touch. The match slows down quite a bit after Stevens gets hurt. They trade punches and kicks along with Rhett crowd playing while Stevens gets himself together. Once Stevens is good to go they end it pretty quickly, with Stevens doling out some big bumps and finishing off Rhett with a Doctor Bomb.

CHRIS HERO/EDDIE EDWARDS/SHANE HAGADORN vs. RODERICK STRONG/RUCKUS/JIGSAW

There’s enough good talent involved to make something halfway decent out of this, but it never gets that far. Each team gets some time to work over the opposing team’s lowest ranked member (Hagadorn and Jigsaw), but neither control segment really goes anywhere interesting, and they both make their own comeback with something relatively simple and tag out. Eddie traps Jigsaw in his single leg crab hold, and keeps it on for a bit, but it doesn’t mean anything long term. Jigsaw doesn’t sell it to any great degree, and the heels don’t continue to work it over. It’s fun to watch Roddy light up Hagadorn a few times with his chops, but that’s pretty much all that it is. Once Roddy gets the hot tag of the match, any sense of structure is out the window. Jigsaw and Ruckus don’t have anything to do other than ridiculously flashy spots, and Hero is pretty much preoccupied with his elbow pad gimmick, which is what the finish is based on. The intensity was nice, but that’s pretty much the only thing this had going for it.

KENSUKE SASAKI vs. CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI

Much like Danielson/Kanemaru, this just goes to show that even the best workers have their limits on what they can drag out of a poor opponent. Sasaki doesn’t feel like doing much of anything to work with Claudio, he no-sells Claudio’s stuff and throws a ton of lariats and chops. Of course, it doesn’t help that Claudio’s control segment wasn’t exactly interesting either. The idea is sound enough; wear down Sasaki’s neck and make him more susceptible to Claudio’s uppercuts. But Claudio does this with a couple of headlocks and a lot of elbow drops, which may be technically sound, but it’s not considered high end offense. They come together well enough to create a few good moments, like Claudio’s near fall after the charging uppercut when Sasaki grabbed the ropes, and a bit later Claudio uses the same style of rope break when Sasaki dodges the bicycle kick and plants him.

At the end of the day, even without the GHC around his waist, nobody thinks that Claudio poses any sort of threat to Sasaki. And the way the match unfolds doesn’t do anything to change that perception. Claudio’s neck work seems like a wasted effort after the running uppercut doesn’t win him the match. Sasaki doesn’t treat the neck like it’s any sort of weak spot, and even the Ricola Bomb doesn’t get much of a reaction. Once Sasaki has taken Claudio’s best shots, he commences to finishing him off. In a way, Claudio getting drilled with all those chops and lariats, as well as signature Sasaki spots like the top rope rana, Stranglehold Gamma, and finally the NLB, could be seen as a comeuppance after his recent heel turn, but that’s definitely not the way that this comes off.

Although it starts off a bit slow, this winds up being a nice little match. Nigel may not be in the same league as Danielson, but he’s got his role as top guy heel champion down perfectly. He stays quite busy for nearly the entire match, whether he’s working over Generico’s shoulder, giving Generico the openings to hit his big stuff (and get the crowd behind him), or showing that he doesn’t take him seriously as a challenger. And honestly, Nigel probably shouldn’t at this stage. For pretty much the first half of the match, it never feels like Nigel is anything but completely in control. Even when it seems like Generico is about to start turning the tides, Nigel doesn’t let it happen. The first time is their first trip to the floor, Generico reverses a whip into the barricade and charges in for his boot, but Nigel manages to get his hands up and block it. Later on, they trade strikes in the ring and Generico starts connecting with chops and it feels like the momentum is getting ready to shift, but Nigel isn’t all that phased from them. It’s not until Generico surprises him with a dropkick that sends him to the floor and then hits a big dive that he really hurts Nigel, and even then, Generico slumps down across the guardrail to show that it took just as much out of him as it did Nigel.

The only thing that comes off feeling odd about the match is the way that they treat Nigel’s London Dungeon submission. He’d already worn out the shoulder quite a bit, and the shoulder would go on to factor into the finish (both in Nigel’s pin as well as Generico’s inability to hit his brainbuster), but it still seems weird for Generico to already have a weak spot, take a decent sized bump in the form of the Tower of London on the apron, and still linger in the hold and tease that he’s about to tap, and then make the ropes. It’d have made more sense for them to either be a lot closer to the ropes or have Generico use the same surprise counter that he did when Nigel tried going back to it toward the end of the match. But regardless of that one misstep, Generico’s performance is pretty much a clinic on being an underdog in a big match. He’s great at dodging and avoiding Nigel’s big lariat whenever possible, he pounces when Nigel gives him an opening to hit something big (like the running boot when Nigel climbed the turnbuckle), and once his shoulder is established as being the weak spot on him, he never lets it leave his (or the viewer’s) mind. Even if it’s something relatively minor, like shaking it out before he does his springboard dropkick, it’s enough to make everyone remember that it’s there.

It might seem like a negative that Generico hits so many of his big moves in a short time, and still fails to win, but the finish is so well done (both the booking and the execution of it) that it doesn’t matter in the least. It looked for all the world like Generico would have gotten the pin after Steen thwarted Nigel’s attempt to use the belt. And after Generico hits the running boot in the corner, they practically have the crowd eating out of their hands. But Nigel is still alert enough (and Generico’s shoulder is still weak enough) for Nigel to fight off the brainbuster, and once he’s able to get off the top rope, he surprises Generico with a jackknife cradle for a perfectly clean pinfall. Nigel’s one attempt to cheat wound up backfiring on him huge, but in spite of that, he went on to win by simply outwrestling his opponent. Despite how much of a jerk Nigel might be, it’s impossible to deny that he’s a great wrestler that’s worthy of the title, and despite his loss, Generico doesn’t lose an ounce of credibility coming out of the match. This may not be in the same league as matches with a similar story, like Funk/Tsuruta or even Lesnar/Guerrero, but these two take it as far as they possibly can. ***1/2

Steel Cage Warfare: AUSTIN ARIES/JAY BRISCOE/MARK BRISCOE vs. JIMMY JACOBS/TYLER BLACK/DELIRIOUS vs. NECRO BUTCHER

Although ROH had done their fair share of cage matches over the years, a match like this is relatively unique. Even more so in the years before NXT (and later WWE) resurrected the War Games name and AEW brought back the original concept. This has its fair share of blood and hate, but its layout isn’t all that different from any number of these sorts of matches. As the pre-match (as in before every participant has entered) wears on, the match somewhat resembles a battle royal where the guys find themselves staying out of the way either by pedestrianly brawling in the corner or selling something, so that whoever has just entered the match can show off. The addition of Necro to throw the odds out of whack also makes this a bit interesting. He’s just as likely to be aiding Aries in going after Jacobs as he is aiding Jacobs in dealing with Aries. In that sense, it’s a bit disappointing that he’s the first one to be eliminated, although the reactions of both Aries and Jacobs when they realize that they were working together in order to take him out is a great touch.

Once Necro is out and Mark enters to “officially” start the match and make it an even three-on-three affair, it falls into the formula, with everyone paired off and brawling. Brawling makes sense, this is supposed to be something full of hate, but it’s not especially interesting. Then again, this isn’t the sort of match that anyone seeks out for deep psychology or amazing work. Mark and Jay both set up tables only for their use to backfire and render them incapacitated so they can’t assist Aries at all. All three heels hit big spots leading to Jacobs eliminating Aries with his End Time choke to continue their feud. Daizee Haze's intervention to plead with Delirious is a good distraction for the Briscoes to recover, and Mark’s dive off the top of the cage takes out all three heels and easily explains why the Briscoes can double team and eliminate Delirious, despite Age of the Fall having a one-person advantage.

The only big negative to the match is the finish. Jay and Mark take chair shots from Black and Jacobs and blow them off like a Samoan getting head butted by a job guy. And then they go on to hit both the Jay Driller and Cutthroat Driver in stereo to win the match. Jay and Mark standing tall at the end is fine. Age of the Fall was formed on the heels of them attacking the Briscoes a year previous, so it’s nice for them to come full circle. But there had to be more creative ways to do it than no selling chair shots, especially when Aries and Jacobs took turns teeing off on Necro to set up his elimination. Some sort of miscue between Black and Jacobs was right there to turn the match over to the Briscoes and lead to their win, and it would also work on the level of sowing the dissension that led to their eventual split a few months later. Despite the wonky finish, this is still a fun spectacle and a nice way to cap off an overall fun card.

Conclusion: The GHC Jr. and ROH World Title matches alone make this something worth checking out, and the other fun stuff like the main event and NWA Title matches are pretty much a bonus.