THE TOKYO SUMMIT

September 14, 2008

Eddie Edwards . . . does jobs for guys who aren’t even a blip on the Japanese Indy radar, let alone being names in ROH.

Bryan Danielson . . . shows that being the best in the world only means so much when he’s saddled with an opponent that doesn’t seem to feel like going along with anything.

Jimmy Jacobs . . . throws everything he has at the ROH World Champion; unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to have too much to actually throw.

AUSTIN ARIES vs. TYLER BLACK

The cold crowd didn’t help, but, with only a couple of exceptions, this is a one man show from A-Double. His anger is perfectly believable, and he brings out a lot of good offense that flows nicely. Aside from the F-5 that sets up the buckle bomb and a couple of dickish flairs from him, Black is far from interesting. There isn’t much of a story to the match, outside of the longstanding feud between Aries and the Age of the Fall group, but it isn’t like the match is some sort of out of control brawl (although that may have been better, given how underwhelming Black’s performance was). Aries does a lot of spots, but they’re done in such a way that it makes sense when he does them. He sidesteps a charge and throws Black to the floor and then follows him right out with his dive. His initial comeback after Black’s control segment is countering a vertical suplex with an STO and then following up with his signature elbow drop, which Black was in perfect position for. The only real exposing moment was when Aries did the kneebuster/backdrop suplex combo to set up his running dropkick in the corner, and that was because Black got back to his feet and stumbled completely across the ring to the corner. Even Aries’ win was more or less predicated on his ability to outsmart Black. Black thinks he’s got him where he wants him after the buckle bomb and goes for the Phoenix splash, which Aries avoids. Aries does his brainbuster and calls for the 450, knowing that Black isn’t ready to be put away yet. Black takes the bait and foolishly tries to cut him off, which ends with Aries doing a sunset flip powerbomb, and that puts him in position for another brainbuster and Aries submits Black with the Last Chancery. He obviously got a whole lot better and became the superstar that he was predicted to become, but all of that talk about Tyler Black at this time sounds way out of proportion when he brought so little to the table working with someone as good as Aries.

KAZUSHI MIYAMOTO vs. EDDIE EDWARDS

I’m perplexed at why Miyamoto was even on this show, given that he was pretty much a vagabond at this point. His work isn’t awful, and Eddie was his usual solid self, so the match was fine. It’s not especially long and the finish is predicated on Sweeney’s interference backfiring and costing Eddie the match, to continue their dissension. So, it’s not like Miyamoto himself was crucial to the match. ROH could have slotted in virtually anyone else and gotten from points A to B. Other than a good lariat, and the bump that Eddie takes off it, there’s nothing notable as far as the work goes. It’s too short and they don’t do much more than fill time until the finish.

EL GENERICO vs. TAIJI ISHIMORI

Pretty much the only positive to take away from this match is that they managed to get some sort of crowd reaction, but that’s pretty much it. Aside from a short stretch of Generico working over Ishimori’s back, which really only lends itself to a single near fall, there’s nothing as far as any theme or story goes. Ishimori kicks out of the moonsault press, throws Generico to the floor and hits a huge dive off the top, and any sense of selling or story is gone. They just trade bombs without any of them meaning a thing. Generico’s surprise counter into his fisherman’s driver gets the biggest reaction of anything, and the moment is gone as soon as it’s there. Ishimori hits a Tornado DDT with both of them on the top rope, and Generico gets up and goes into the corner so that Ishimori can hit a running forearm and then Generico charges right back for his running boot for a near fall. OK, so was Ishimori’s running forearm supposed to be some sort of energizer? That’s how the match goes; the opportunity for something smart presents itself, like Ishimori working over Generico’s arm and it preventing him from doing his brainbuster, but they get passed up just so they can trot out more big moves. And just to cap off the absurdity, Ishimori wins with his Superstar Elbow instead of one of the other more impressive and dangerous looking spots he doled out. Hell, Ishimori gets a near fall just before that with a crucifix bomb when Generico tries for the brainbuster again, finishing with that would have suggested that Ishimori beat him by outwrestling him in some form. I don’t know why Steen wasn’t here, but I can’t imagine that Steen and Generico vs. KENTA and Ishimori wouldn’t have been a vast improvement.

TAKESHI MORISHIMA/DAVEY RICHARDS vs. JAY BRISCOE/MARK BRISCOE

This isn’t marginally different from what the Briscoes had been doing in NOAH during this time frame. They seem to be too concerned with keeping the match moving, rather than slowing down and letting things play out. A good example of this is after Davey got a couple of minutes to work over Mark and then tagged in Morishima. It was the perfect chance for Morishima to keep the control segment going and get at least a couple of near falls to drum up some heat for a hot tag. Instead, Mark escapes a backdrop and tags out almost right away. The same thing happens after Davey wears down Jay for a bit and Sweeney pulls Mark off the apron to cut off the tag. Mark just chases him off and gets back on the apron so Jay can tag, instead of having the heels use the opening to try to finish him off. The work isn’t as insane with the bombs as the previous match, but the mentality is pretty much the same. There’s no sense that they’re trying to build anything or develop any sort of theme. Davey hits his finisher to pin Mark, but he doesn’t get some big run of offense to show that he’s on the verge of ending the match and he doesn’t pull off some sort of clever counter like Ishimori’s crucifix. Davey and Mark just trade strikes and counters with Davey winning out.

Aside from a few amusing moments of Morishima using his size to his advantage, like blocking the double suplex and suplexing both of the Briscoes simultaneously, Morishima doesn’t add very much to the match. It seems like his main reason for being there is to give Davey a chance to catch his breath. After the match breaks down, Morishima and Mark go to the floor and while the camera is on Davey and Jay, the sound of someone going into the guardrail is audible. One would think it was Mark, and that Morishima and Davey could proceed to finishing off Jay. Instead, it’s Morishima taking the bump to give them the chance to hit their Doomsday, which Davey escapes on his own and goes on to win the match without any sort of assist from his partner. For as little as he seems to matter in the match, one wonders why ROH even bothered booking Morishima. Davey could have just as easily tagged up with any other member of Sweeney’s crew or another Miyamoto level Indy guy instead of making a former GHC and ROH Champion look all but useless.

YOSHINOBU KANEMARU © vs. BRYAN DANIELSON (GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title)

Bryan Danielson may be one of the most talented and well-traveled wrestlers of his time, but he’s only human and even he has his limits. And working with someone like Kanemaru pushes those limits. They each have a body park to work over; Danielson goes after the arm while Kanemaru works the head and neck. The difference is that Danielson works with Kanemaru and shows that the neck work is going somewhere, which is a courtesy that Kanemaru doesn’t seem to be willing to return. Danielson’s arm work only leads to one real tease of him winning the match, when he traps Kanemaru in a sitting armbar and keeps it on for a bit until Kanemaru gets a rope break. Danielson sharking on the arm doesn’t lead him anywhere else, and Kanemaru forgets all about it when he wants to start spiking Danielson with DDTs and brainbusters. Danielson puts over the neck bumps as much as he possibly can, considering he’s winning the match. If anything, Kanemaru is the one who is screwing over his own finisher by trotting it out so many times and still failing to win. It seems like he’d have had the match won after the DDT off the top if only Danielson hadn’t been close enough to the ropes, but he follows it up by spiking him with a brainbuster in the middle of the ring and forcing Danielson to kick out. All that is in addition to Kanemaru’s usual goofiness, such as Danielson getting an extended segment to work over the arm, with some creative offense, and hooking Kanemaru up for a vertical suplex and Kanemaru deciding to beat him to the punch with a brainbuster to take over the match.

Danielson’s win may have come from submitting Kanemaru to the Cattle Mutilation, but they could have worked the exact same finish if Danielson hadn’t touched the arm. Danielson tries for it twice and Kanemaru rolls through both times, leaving Danielson to hit his elbow flurry in order to get the hold locked in. But there’s nothing from Kanemaru to suggest that Danielson working the arm is paying off in any way. Meanwhile, Danielson adds smart touches like doing a German suplex and having to forgo the bridge because of his neck being worn down. When it comes down to brass tacks the only things to really take away from this are the title change, and the fact that Danielson gets to add another name to the growing list of NOAH guys that he’s turned back in ROH rings. It wouldn’t be fair to label this as a carry job by Danielson, it’s not like he had to do Kanemaru’s spots for him, but pretty much everything that makes the match work on any level is provided by him

NAOMICHI MARUFUJI/KATSUHIKO NAKAJIMA vs. KENTA/KOTA IBUSHI

Other than KENTA and Nakajima showing near-epic levels of disdain for each other, there isn’t a whole lot to this match. However, the hate between them is more than enough to make the match a fun ride. They’re both more than willing to take (and give) absurdly stiff shots to each other, and neither of them misses the opportunity for a cheap shot while the other isn’t expecting it. One of their best moments was when KENTA hit a running boot to knock Nakajima off the apron, and a minute later KENTA escapes a vertical suplex from Marufuji and lands on the apron, and Nakajima returns the favor with his own running kick. Marufuji and Ibushi try to replicate it for a bit, but they both come off as pretenders. But there isn’t a whole lot more to the match than that, and for a match that gets thirty five minutes (the original draw and then a five minute OT period) this is a pretty big failing. After some initial feeling-out stuff, where Ibushi and Marufuji show off their speed and KENTA and Nakajima show their dislike for each other, it seems like they’re going to settle down and start taking the match somewhere, but it just never happens. Marufuji and Nakajima will work over Ibushi, but when he wants to come back, all he needs to do is connect a few kicks and he’s able to take over. The same thing happens when KENTA and Ibushi get Nakajima in the corner, it feels like a good time for them to get a real control segment and start building something, but it doesn’t take Nakajima anything more than a couple of well-placed kicks in order to get him out of trouble.

After a quick scrum on the floor, with Marufuji hitting a quasi-brainbuster on the apron, Marufuji and Nakajima start working over Ibushi, and the match feels like it’s going someplace. Nakajima brings the stiffness and contempt, and Marufuji ditches the attempt at being KENTA-lite and brings his own heelish flairs, like the twisting head scissors and standing on Ibushi’s face while he’s in the corner. Ibushi’s comeback is also put together very well, Marufuji errantly kicks at Ibushi which both gets him angry and also gives him time to recover. Marufuji tries his signature running lariat and Ibushi uses his agility to dodge it and connect with his moonsault kick, and that gives him the opening to reel off a couple of spots and make the tag. KENTA’s fired up run is also very well done, with him and Marufuji showing their familiarity with each other and countering both the Shiranui and G2S, and KENTA outsmarting Marufuji by avoiding the sliding dropkick and locking in an STF. Nakajima makes the save and he and KENTA’s showdown is nice as well, especially Nakajima catching the kick and doing a dragon screw and then following up with his heel hook.

But as far as any real storytelling goes, that’s pretty much the end of the good work. There are a few moments where it seems like they could go somewhere nice, but they ruin the moment. The most egregious is when Nakajima plays possum and catches Ibushi with a spin kick while he’s on the top. It’s late enough in the match that it seems like a good time to try wrapping things up. KENTA immediately comes in to save, but Marufuji hits his running lariat to send him back to the floor. Nakajima hits a backdrop and Ibushi just pops up and hits a Dragon suplex, which Nakajima blows off and hits a German, and then they work a double KO spot. There are also silly sequences like Ibushi and Nakajima trading sitting dropkicks and just rolling back and jumping to their feet. And they make it blatantly obvious they’re going for the full thirty minutes because not once does anyone do anything to try to seem like they’re trying to genuinely finish the match. Even after it’s announced that there’s only a minute left, they’re still throwing the same strikes that they’d been using since the match started and hadn’t shown to be effective at all as potential match breakers. Nakajima does get the heel hook on Ibushi in the last twenty or so seconds, but it’s far too close to the time limit for it to be an effective tease. The OT portion isn’t really special either, aside from a few nice spots, like Marufuji’s lariat to evade the Busaiku and KENTA’s top rope falcon arrow after Ibushi stuns Marufuji with a handspring into his moonsault kick. Marufuji takes a hellacious bump from the Busaiku in the waning seconds, but once again they ruin the drama by trying to time KENTA’s pin to coincide with time running out when it’d have made more sense to either have them both stay down or for Marufuji to roll to the floor.

While this clearly isn’t a bad match, it’s easy to see any number of ways that it could be exponentially better. And the fact that this is still the best match of the night is more of an indictment of the overall mediocrity of the rest of the card than it is anything else. Between the KENTA/Nakajima exchanges and the smart touches and good moments that they bring, there’s more than enough here to make this worth checking out. It’s just too bad that they (well, mostly Ibushi, but the others weren’t afraid to follow him off the deep end) couldn’t get out of their own way and ended up tearing down a good portion of what they’d built up. ***

KENSUKE SASAKI vs. RODERICK STRONG

This feels like little more than an extended squash for Sasaki. With Sasaki being GHC Champ, it makes sense that he doesn’t treat Roddy like he’s worth his time, but that doesn’t make for an interesting match. It also doesn’t help that Roddy doesn’t put in much of a performance either. His quick run of offense was mostly low end spots, aside from the uranage into the backbreaker, which has never been seen as one of his finishers. Also, his stuff doesn’t always look that good, the ‘leg lariat’ that kicks off his run is more like a one footed dropkick, and the running boot is only a glancing blow. Just about the only notable thing is that Sasaki is one of the few guys who can go toe-to-toe with Roddy as far as the chops go, and at least they don’t go overboard with the chop exchanges. But, for the most part, Sasaki works and acts like he’s the top guy and that he’s in there with someone who’s nowhere near his level. When Sasaki’s lariats and the time spent in the Stranglehold Gamma don’t keep Roddy down, he doesn’t show surprise or frustration, he just moves on to the next thing, and eventually the NLB keeps him down for good.

If this match was happening in a regular ROH market, like Philly or Jersey, then the crowd probably would have been into it. But Differ wasn’t the place for this sort of match. The way that Nigel tries to work with Jimmy is much the same way that Tamura would work with his undercard scrubs in U-STYLE. The style may be different, but it’s the same premise. Nigel can work circles around Jimmy and even when it seems like Jimmy is making some sort of headway, he’s actually playing right into Nigel’s hands and setting himself up for Nigel to regain control. It also doesn’t help that Jimmy has next to no real offense, aside from his few trademark spots (senton, spear, Contra Code, and End Time), and he uses brawling and cheating like the chain, a foul, and biting in order to get to them. Nigel sells big when he can; he’s great at showing how much the Contra Code took out of him, and it’s nice that he lingers for a bit in the End Time and rolls into the ropes, rather than counter or escape the hold. But, once Jimmy gets the near fall from the chain shot, he’s out of things to do. Nigel generally has no problem getting Jimmy where he wants him in order to do his usual spots, and aside from the ugly Tower of London on the floor, and the goofy rebound stuff that he’s so in love with (a back elbow when Jimmy tries to throw him into the ring and later on his lariat), it looks good. Nigel hitting the lariat before Jimmy can use the chain again makes for a decent enough finish, but it plays to crickets. This isn’t bad as an exhibition of what Nigel has to offer, it’s more competitive that Sasaki/Strong and Jimmy was a more game opponent for Nigel than Kanemaru was for Danielson, but this would have been a better place for Nigel to defend against someone like Shiozaki or to give Morishima a rematch.

Conclusion: I guess ROH deserves an A for effort and ambition for running a show like this, but its execution doesn’t come off well at all. The crowd was mostly dead, and the sort of matches they were seeing wasn’t exactly conducive to getting them invested in much of anything.