By Sean Radican, Torch columnist

RADICAN'S ROH DVD REVIEW SERIES
SOCAL SHOWDOWN
LOS ANGELES, CA
TAPED JAN. 29, 2010

STAR RATINGS AND ANALYSIS

(1) Colt Cabana & El Generico beat Scorpio Sky & Scott Lost. This was a fun opening match. Lost & Sky got the heat on Generico. The action broke down and both teams went back and forth. At one point Lost & Sky hit a neckbreaker/ace crusher combination on Generico for a nearfall, but Cabana broke it up. Cabana got the win in the end with the Colt .45 on Sky for the pin. (**)

(2) The Necro Butcher beat Erick Stevens in an Anything Goes match. This match fell below my expectations. Both men brawled all over the venue before Stevens took control of the match. Joey Ryan eventually came out to help Stevens, but he accidentally nailed him with a stop sign, which allowed Necro to win with a rollup. Ryan and Stevens beat Necro down after the match. Stevens ended up laying out Necro with the Dr. bomb. (*3/4)

(3) Roderick Strong (6) beat Delirious in a Pick 6 match. This was a fun match and the crowd helped make it even better. Strong worked over Delirious's back throughout the match, but Delirious would not stay down and mounted several comebacks. There was a great nearfall towards the end of the match where Strong gave Delirious a back breaker over the ring apron and tossed him back in the ring for the cover. Strong finally finished off Delirious with the Gibson driver for the pin. (***)

(4) Tyler Black (5) beat Joey Ryan in a Pick Six match. The crowd was really into Ryan in Los Angeles, which isn't that big of a surprise. Ryan dominated most of the match and stayed one step ahead of Black. Ryan picked apart Black's arm and came close to submitting him a couple of times down the stretch. The finish saw Black counter the mustache ride into a top rope God's last gift for the win. (***)

(5) Kenny King beat Jerry Lynn. This started off well with Lynn going right after King. They continued to brawl at ringside for awhile until King got the upper hand. At one point, King hit the cradle piledriver on Lynn for a nearfall. Lynn then countered a second cradle piledriver attempt into a small package for the win. King tried to attack Lynn after the match, but ended up eating a cradle piledriver onto a chair for his troubles, so the ref reversed the decision and awarded the match to King. This was a mess from a booking standpoint. (**)

(6) Kevin Steen (2) beat The Human Tornado in a Pick 6 match. ROH tried to build this match by claiming Tornado was standing up for his friend El Generico, but that was a little bit of a stretch since Tornado hadn't appeared in ROH in quite some time. Steen was great in this match showcasing his new persona and interacting with the fans. The match itself was solid, but unspectacular. Steen ended up taking the win after hitting Tornado with the package piledriver. Steen attacked Tornado after the match. Cabana came out to try to talk to Steen like he did at "Final Battle 2009," but Steen ended up leaving through the crowd. (**1/2)

(7) ROH World Hvt. Champion Austin Aries beat Jushin Liger in a Non-Title match. Prior to the match, Aries did some work on the mic and ran down Liger's ability to speak English. Liger responded by calling him an a------. They brawled on the floor during the early stages of the match. Aries ended up getting busted open when Liger nailed him a brainbuster on the outside. Aries dominated the bulk of the match, but Liger showed some good fire down the stretch catching Aries with a brainbuster and a Liger bomb a short time later for a nearfall. The finish of this match stunk, as Aries used the ref to block a charge from Liger. Aries then hit a low blow and a brainbuster for the pin. (***1/4)

(8) Kings of Wrestling & The American Wolves beat The Young Bucks & The Briscoes. The Young Bucks went for one of their signature double team moves on Edwards during the early stages of the match, but Hero and Claudio ran in and gave them both a big boot.

The heels isolated Nick and worked him over in their own corner. Nick finally hit a suplex on Hero, but all of his partners got knocked off the apron. Edwards accidentally superkicked Richards and Matt got the hot tag. Hero and Castagnoli distracted Matt giving his team the advantage. Hero went after Jackson and nailed him with several elbow strikes.

Mark got the hot tag and took out Hero and Castagnoli with a missile dropkick. Castagnoli got the blind tag and took out Mark. The action broke down with Richards hitting a dive to the outside on Matt. Edwards and Jay exchanged kicks at the same time moments later, but Jay took Edwards down with a clothesline leaving both men down.

Nick got the hot tag and hit a facebuster on Edwards for a nearfall. The action broke down again when the Bucks went for the more bang for your buck on Edwards. The babyfaces hit a series of dives to the outside and the crowd exploded. The Wolves countered more bang for your buck moments later. They isolated Nick and Edwards applied the half crab on him for the submission victory. (***3/4)

Bonus match: Larry Zbyszko beat Scott Taylor. Jonny Fairplay came out first with Alexis Arquette, which prompted a "Which one's Jonny?" chant from the crowd. The crowd didn't seem to think much of Taylor's act and he seemed perplexed by their reaction. The match saw Zbyszko do a lot of stalling at first. Taylor had him set up for the worm, but Fairplay stopped him. Zbyszko then rolled up Taylor from behind and Fairplay fast counted him for the pin. After the match, Taylor set up Fairplay for the worm. The crowd really didn't like Taylor's act. Cabana then ran out from the back and attacked Taylor to a huge pop. Cabana nailed a hilariously terrible version of the worm on Taylor. Cabana then gave Fairplay a stinkface in the corner for another pop before leaving. If you purchase this DVD, make sure you watch the end of this match. (NR)

Overall thoughts: (6.5) This show featured some good wrestling matches, but overall it wasn't a very exciting show because there was no context to back up the action in the ring. The main issue on this show was the lack of storyline development, as there were only 2 backstage promos and there were no highlight packages. A lot of new storylines were launched at "Final Battle 2009," but the only way to get a clue as to what has been happening in ROH was to listen to the incessant chatter of Dave Prazak and Joe Dombrowski.

The undercard started with two matches that were just there, as Colt Cabana & El Generico beat Scorpio Sky & Scott Lost and Necro beat Stevens with a rollup in an Anything Goes match, which just boggled my mind. The action picked up with the next two matches as the Strong-Delirious and Black-Ryan matches were both very good. The Ryan-Black contest actually could have gone on for another five minutes and not overstayed its welcome, as I enjoyed watching Ryan work over Black's arm for the bulk of the match.

There were simply too many matches that featured post-match angles. The King-Lynn match seemed like it was going to serve as a good first chapter to their feud, but then Lynn won the match with a rollup. Lynn was able to fend off King after the match and he ended up nailing King with a piledriver on a chair, which caused the referee to reverse the decision. Sometimes telling a simpler story is better, as the feud seemed to get derailed here.

The Steen-Tornado match asked a lot of the fans, as they were supposed to get behind Tornado standing up for his friend El Generico when Tornado hadn't been in ROH for a long time. Of course, Steen won the match and continued his attack on Tornado after the bell. Having a post-match beat down in back-to-back matches just doesn't make much sense from a creative standpoint.

The real strength of the show was in the last two matches, which were the best matches on the show. I didn't like the ref bump finish for the Liger-Aries match, but they put together a really good back-and-forth contest that captivated the fans in attendance. I really enjoy watching Aries in the ring and he seems to have found the right mix of being great in the ring and as a character.

The main event was the best match of the night, but I wasn't blown away by the first half of the match. The heels got the heat on both members of the Young Bucks, who logically took the fall in this match on their way out of ROH, but there was no mention made of this during the show. The second half of the match was fantastic, as there were some great moments from all four teams where they were allowed to shine. Castagnoli & Hero are simply awesome and I couldn't help but thinking that putting these four teams in an 8 Man Tag was a waste when you could have gotten two great matches out of this mix of tag teams. I liked how Edwards tapped out Nick with the half-crab in the end, as the crowd seemed really into during the course of the match.

This show is worth a look if you just want to see some good wrestling matches, but the show would have been so much better if it wasn't just a collection of matches edited together with no highlight packages and two throw-away promos from Steen and Tornado. The Zbyszko-Taylor bonus match is well-worth checking out for Cabana's post-match attack on Taylor and Fairplay, which was hilarious.

You can Purchase "SoCal Showdown" at ROH'S ONLINE STORE

Contact Sean at PWTorchSean@gmail.com

We suggest these recent related articles...

RADICAN'S Beyond Wrestling "Greatest Rivals Round Robin" review 9/26 - incredible show of the year contender, Busick-Edwards top-flight MOTYC, more!

RADICAN'S "The Pull List" (Vol. 5) "Young Bucks Too Sweet Journey" doc review, The Flash season 1 Blu-Ray, Top Ten MOTYC for 2015

RADICAN'S "THE PULL LIST" (Vol. 4) - step by step guide to social media and conduct, "Madden NFL 16" review, "Furious 7" Blu-ray w/The Rock & Ronda Rousey, more!