ROH Arena Report
March 13, 2009
Collinsville, Ill. (outside St. Louis)
Report by Lee Hamilton

The place was packed. I'd estimate 600-625 since the listed attendance on the debut show in December was 550 and they crammed in more for this show. The Flair autograph line was insane pre-show. This led to a 20-minute delay to the start of the show.

(1) Roderick Strong beat Jay Briscoe with a leverage pin in 10 minutes. Really good opener. Strong chops like a mofo.

(2) MsCHif pinned Daizee Haze with the desecrator in 11 minutes. MsChif came down with Jimmy Jacobs and Delirious. Jacobs interfered throughout, leading to the finish.

(3) Austin Aries won a four-way over Silas Young, Claudio Castagnoli, and Kenny Omega in 14 minutes of really good action. So Silas Young is still using that damn Journey song, which I find hard to believe would be cheap compared to Final Countdown and others. Just a thought.

Dave Prazak introduced Ric Flair to the live audience at this time. Flair super popular, obviously, then Nigel McGuinness came down for a brief exchange. Flair will be at ringside for the main event tonight.

(4) Chris Hero & The American Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) beat ROH tag teag champions Kevin Steen & El Generico & Bobby Dempsey in 15 minutes after a Larry Sweeney chairshot led to Steen submitting to Richards with a sharpshooter.

(5) Kenny King & Rhett Titus, my new favorite tag team, defeated Irish Airborne in 8 minutes. They'll challenge for the titles Saturday in Indianapolis.

(6) Bryan Danielson beat Bison Smith via count-out in 12 minutes. Match was fine. This program continues to build.

(7) Tyler Black & Jerry Lynn beat Jimmy Jacobs & Delirious in 15 minutes after Lynn pinned Delirious. After the match, Jacobs was belittling Delirious and stabbing him with a spike when Daizee Haze came down to aide Delirious. Upon her entering the ring, Jacobs used his spike on Daizee, stabbing her in the forehead. Daizee's bleeding, the chivalrous Delirious is sent into a rage and destroys Jacobs, leaving him a bloody mess. Then Daizee and Delirious embrace in the ring. Great angle.

(8) Brent Albright beat ROH champion Nigel McGuinness via DQ in 18 minutes; Nigel retained the ROH Title. This match featured the rare ROH ref bump before the DQ. Nigel controlled the majority of the match but he couldn't put Albright away, Albright caught Nigel in a couple armbars, and finally Claudio ran in for the save and the DQ finish. Flair then entered the ring and cleaned house on Nigel and Claudio with punches and chops.

We suggest these recent related articles...

SHOW RESULTS - 10/9 AAW in Berwyn, Ill.: Gargano challenges for AAW Hvt. Title, more title matches, big women's tag match, more

SHOW RESULTS - 10/3 NWA Smoky Mountain in Kingsport, Tenn.: NWA Hvt. Title match, Rob Conway, Kid Kash, Ricky Morton, more

LIVE REPORT - 10/4 TNA BFG PPV in North Carolina: Live notes on technical glitches, pre-Angle match announcement, Captain America Fan, more