Ring of Honor show results
February 27, 2009
Danbury, Conn.
Report by Eric Gall, PWTorch.com correspondent

ROH came back to the Danbury PAL building and there were more fans than last time - around 700 or so. Four more rows of chairs and two sets of bleaches had to be set up in the early matches to accommodate the extra fans. A lot of them were little kids, so I think the new ROH advertising strategy is targeting local schools.

Pre-show

(a) Alex Payne & Bobby Ridge beat Antonio Thomas and Prince Jaleel. Arrived in the middle of this match. Payne has been a student forever and is popular with some fans, but he still is as skinny as Bobby Dempsey is fat. Thomas now has cornrows; I suppose he's looking for some look to set up apart. Not a bad match, but not much else.

(b) Grizzly Redwood vs. Ernie Osiris. BATHROOM BREAK. I don't know who won this match, nor do I care. One thing I've never cared about ROH is using students who aren't ready for matches or just don't look have the look to be credible. At least Shane Hagadorn looked like a wrestler. Actually, Grizzly Redwood matches are useful for one thing, though, and that is chatting with new wrestler Reyna Fire, who is the current ROH Program Girl. It's only a matter of time before she winds up valeting, and just may be the next person in the ROH locker room that winds up in WWE. As far as turning heads in airports, she's probably #1 in the company.

Show Proper

(1) Bobby Fish beat Papadon. Fish is a great wrestler and should be considered for a regular spot in the new ROH. Papadon has this "Greek God" gimmick, and as a result got a lot of diner jokes aimed at him. Decent match with Fish looking good.

(2) Kenny King & Rhett Titus beat Erick Stevens & Bobby Dempsey. Dempsey was over with some fans, but a lot of people who didn't know who he was shouted a lot of fat jokes at him. The match was decent when King and Stevens were in the ring, and Rhett and Titus have some decent tag team moves. I still don't buy Titus and Dempsey as being ready for regular roster duty, but the company did a good enough job convincing a lot of the fans otherwise.

(3) Brent Albright and Claudio Castagnoli went to a draw. Decent match but a little stale in the charisma aspect of it. Albright seems to need the other guy in his matches to get the crowd into it; he provides the in-ring goods. Claudio has been better than he was with the crowd interaction. These guys had a good match, but didn't tear it down.

(4) Jay Briscoe & Kevin Steen beat Chris Hero & Eddie Edwards (Sara Del Rey and Shane Hagadorn). This was the first match where the new generic/independent songs struck the harshest note. A Briscoe entrance without Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Gimme Back My Bullets" is a lot like Sandman no longer coming out to "Enter Sandman." Mark Briscoe came out at the end of the match for the apparent save, but spent a good deal of time bickering with Steen in what may or may not be a tease for future tension between Steen and the Briscoes. Decent match. I can't believe how underutilized Sara is; she is, in my eyes, the best female wrestler in the world. Also, she's got the best traps in the business; I'm not crazy about her heel persona, but the open back gear works for me.

(5) Bryan Danielson beat Delirious (w/Jimmy Jacobs). Age of the Fall gets to keep its ring music but not the Briscoes? What gives? Danielson always delivers, and Delirious kept pace. Delirious had a funny moment mocking Danielson's "I Have 'til Five" bit in his lizard speak. A funny/creepy moment at the end of the match occurred when a squabbling Delirious and Jacobs wound up hugging and left the ring holding hands. Delirious in his all black attire kinda looks like Jacob's gimp.

(6) Austin Aries beat Sami Callahan. Aries started with a good promo, including saying something along the lines of it taking Double A to make a D town like Danbury to just be a B show. I've got mixed feelings about Callahan. He's got the quick, snappy moves, but his overall performance seems a step behind someone like former ROH regular Ricky Reyes. Good match.

(7) Necro Butcher beat Brodie Lee. This was announced as a Street Fight, though just about every Necro match is a street fight. The hardcore aspect of the match seemed to be more toned down than you would expect. It seemed like Necro was saving himself for some big bumps in the TV tapings in Philly the rest of the weekend. A bloodless match, with only the match ending chairshot to Brodie being what would be called a stiff moment in the match. Bit of a disappointment.

(8) ROH champion Nigel McGuiness beat Jerry Lynn, Tyler Black, and Jimmy Jacobs in a four-way elimination match to retain the ROH World Title. Tyler Black is very over with the little girls in the crowd. The first five minutes had a lot of unnecessary stalling with the heels unwilling to fight and resorted to a lot of cheap tagging out. This was an elimination match for the ROH Title, but with the TV tapings coming up, nobody really thought there would be a title change. There wasn't. The match was good, but not great.

In all, this was a much better show than the January show I went to in Edison, New Jersey. The first half of the show was greatly improved. I noticed Adam Pearce talking with Cary Silkin and Austin Aries during intermission. Former ROH regulars Cheech and Cloudy also were in attendance. Someone dressed up in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Halloween costume was walking around all night, interacting with kids and shouting out at random; some fans believe he was CHIKARA wrestler Steve "Turtle" Weiner. ROH right now is still not at the caliber of vintage Gabe Sapolsky-booked ROH, but it looks as though it is now trying to appeal to both mainstream and die hard fans. ROH seems as though it's willing to alter its approach to become the most successful company it can be; I can't disagree with that and will continue to support the company.

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