By Sean Radican, PWTorch Columnist

Radican's ROH on HDNet review series
Episode 3
Philadelphia, Pa.
Originally aired on April 4, 2009

Virtual time analysis

-Highlights from last week's episode aired. The main event of Bryan Danielson vs. Austin was then introduced. Mike Hogewood and Dave Prazak then began the show from the studio with some breaking news. Hogewood said Jerry Lynn was the new ROH World Champion. Prazak and Hogewood then talked about the main event of Aries-Danielson. Hogewood said Aries had a mouth on him.

-They showed the smacktalk boxes for Sterling James Keenan. Hogewood said Keenan is "generally disliked." Wow, that's compelling. Stevens then cut his promo from the smacktalk box and said he would make a great first impression, but his promo was terrible, so does that make him a liar?

(1) Sterling James Keenan vs. Erick Stevens. Stevens caught Keenan with a Samoan drop early and covered him for a 1 count. Keenan tried to call timeout and Hogewood screamed, "There's no timeouts in wrestling!" Ugh. Keenan fired back and raked Stevens's eyes. Keenan hit a belly to back suplex and covered Stevens for a 2 count. If Keenan has to win this match to earn further bookings, shouldn't he not even be on national television in the first place. ROH could do something where wrestlers have to "earn" their way to the HDNet shows by winning matches on their DVD series. Keenan grabbed the obligatory ROH on HDNet opening match choke hold from the heel. Stevens finally broke free from Keenan as Hogewood freaked out. Stevens hit an overhead belly to belly suplex and then hit the choo choo.

Keenan fired back and nailed Stevens with an implant DDT for a 2 count. Stevens caught Keenan with a powerslam as he came off the ropes after blocking a rollup attempt for a 2 count. Stevens then signaled for the finish, but Keenan poked him in the eyes. Stevens ducked a charge from Keenan an nailed him with a clothesline before finishing him off with the Dr. Bomb. (3/4*)

RADICAN'S ANALYSIS: This was a terrible opener. The action was boring, but Hogewood's commentary made the match unbearable. "Slap the tortoise." I don't even know what the heck that means, but maybe Torch Senior Columnist Bruce Mitchell can fill me in since he's familiar with Hogewood's work in the Greensboro area.

-Durden was shown backstage with Danielson. Burgan's right, he's got to cover up those tattoos. Danielson said he has main evented all over the world. He said he wasn't nervous, but Aries should be. Danielson said he had explosive elbows and killer kicks. Danielson said tonight in front of a worldwide audience, he would show everyone why people call him the best in the world. Danielson said he and Aries were longtime rivals, but tonight wasn't about respect, it was about proving who the best is. Good promo.

-Cheech & Cloudy cut a promo about catching a wave and sitting on top of the world. The Dark City Fight Club then cut their promo, which was much better.

(2) Up in Smoke (Cheech & Cloudy) vs. The Dark City Fight Club (Jon Davis & Kory Chavis). Davis and Chavis jumped Cheech and Cloudy at the bell and tossed Cheech to the outside. The Dark City Fight Club hit a double team backbreaker/leg drop on Cloudy early on. Chavis then slammed Cloudy to the mat before tagging in Davis and they nailed Cloudy with a double team spinebuster. Cheech ran in to break up the pin and Chavis tossed him right back to the outside. Cloudy fired back on Chavis and tagged in Cloudy, who ran wild on Davis and Chavis. Chavis charged at Cheech, but ended up knocking Davis off the apron when he got out of the way. Davis recovered and tossed Cloudy into the guardrail. Davis and Chavis then hit a double team powerbomb/neckbreaker on Cheech for the pin. (*1/4)

RADICAN'S ANALYSIS: This was a solid squash for The Dark City Fight Club. They need a better look to get over their gimmick as tough guys if they're going to pull the gimmick off. I liked that Cheech & Cloudy got a few nice spots in before taking the loss. Hogewood is killing this product with his unbearable "Slap the porpoise" catch phrase at the end of each match.

-Durden was now backstage with Austin Aries. Durden mentioned that Aries had turned heel as of late. Aries asked Durden who had dressed him that morning. Aries talked about being a main eventer in ROH for a long time. He said he had respect for Danielson. Aries said Danielson would find out tonight that he was the greatest man that ever lived. Aries said there is a sucker born every minute and right now, he was standing next to one. Aries then walked off. This was a solid promo from Aries, but it didn't make me want to see him wrestle in the main event.

-An ad aired for ROHWrestling.com.

-Chris Hero cut his smacktalk promo with Larry Sweeney. Hero said it takes a real man to knock another man unconscious. He rhymed about his signature moves and then he and Sweeney did the "Chris is awesome" chant. That was fantastic. The Necro Butcher said you might see him on the Oscars. He finished by saying if you let him out of his cage, he would pile the bodies to the sky. His 1...2…3 facts mentioned his role in "The Wrestler," which should have been mentioned more prominently in his promo and by the announcers.

(3) Chris Hero (w/Larry Sweeney & Sara Del Rey) vs. The Necro Butcher. Hero's now wearing short tights and a shirt. The tank top makes Hero look indy. The crowd was going nuts for Necro, so the place must have been really loud, as it's clearly evident three weeks in that they weren't mic'd well at all. Hero nailed Necro with a kick, but it didn't faze him. Necro continued to run wild on Hero much to the delight of the crowd and to the dismay of Sweeney and Del Rey, who continually tried to distract Necro. Hero finally managed to nail Necro with a blow to the back of the head from behind as he went after Del Rey on the apron and nearly got the pin. Necro spilled to the outside where Sweeney and Del Rey put the boots to him. Prazak mentioned that Misawa had passed down his elbow shot to Hero during his recent tour of the NOAH promotion in Japan.

Hero stalked Necro and continued to attack him inside the ring. Hero had a small, but vocal group of supporters in the crowd. Hero nailed Necro with a huge elbow shot, but Necro kicked out. Necro eventually fired back and nailed Hero with a series of chops and punches in the corner. Hero fired back and nailed Necro with another elbow to the head. Hero then got a running start and hit an elbow on Hero in the corner. Hero then went to the second rope and nailed Necro with a blockbuster, but Necro kicked out. Hero tried to fire back, but Hero caught him with a boot to the head that sent him to the floor. Necro got a chair from the crowd and tossed it into Hero's legs before tossing him into the guardrail. Necro followed up with the chair bodyslam on the floor and Del Rey looked very upset.

Sweeney ran into the ring and Del Rey threw the loaded elbow pad to Hero. The ref didn't see Hero get the pad. Necro went to pick up Hero, who immediately nailed Necro with the loaded pad and slipped the pad into his tights before getting the pin. (**1/4)

RADICAN'S ANALYSIS: This was a really good mid-card match for television with Sweeney and Del Rey reacting to everything going on during the match and the commentators were much better than they were to begin the show. At least Hogewood didn't yell his lame catchphrase for the finish!

(4) Austin Aries vs. Bryan Danielson. The fans actually sang Danielson's "Final Countdown" theme over his new music. The crowd was really hot for the start of the match. This was the hottest they've been at any point since ROH debuted on HDNet. Aries pushed Danielson into the ropes and gave him a clean break. Prazak mentioned they had had some lengthy battles in the past, but didn't plug any specific shows for fans to check out on DVD. They picked up the pace and Aries hit a series of quick arm drags on Danielson before grabbing an arm submission on the mat. Danielson fired back and hit a nice dropkick to break the hold. Aries is displaying some nice facial expressions as heel while reacting to the chants from the fans. After a nice exchange on the mat, Aries went for a kick to Danielson's head, but he rolled out of the way and the crowd clapped in respect for the action they were witnessing.

Danielson took Aries down to the mat and went for the surfboard, but Aries got the ropes. Aries side-stepped Danielson and played to the crowd, but Danielson managed to hold onto the apron. Danielson tried a springboard sunset flip, but Aries rolled through and nailed him with a dropkick. Hogewood said Aries had just stepped on Danielson's eyes. Oh boy, he's irritating the heck out of me on this show. Danielson fired back and went for the cross arm breaker. Prazak mentioned Danielson had been training at Randy Couture's MMA school. Aries got the ropes and Danielson told the ref he had until 5, which gave Aries a window to attack while he was distracted. Aries grabbed a nerve hold and the crowd attempted to rally behind Danielson.

Danielson tried to hit a series of kicks, but Aries tossed him over the top to the outside. He followed up with the heat seeking missile and arrogantly posed for the crowd as they booed. Aries grabbed a fish hook submission on Danielson, who screamed in pain. The ref admonished Aries after he finally broke the hold, but Danielson was too worn out to capitalize. Danielson eventually ducked a dropkick in the corner and nailed Aries with a big European uppercut and several forearms. Danielson hit a big running lariat off the ropes and hit a butterfly suplex that transitioned right into a cross arm breaker. Aries struggled, but eventually got the ropes. Danielson placed Aries on the top rope, but Aries nailed him with an elbow and he crashed to the mat. Aries raked Danielson's eyes over the ropes and posed for the crowd, but Danielson recovered as he played to the crowd and manage to knock Aries off the apron and into the barricade at ringside. Danielson went for a dive through the ropes, but pulled up as Aries had gotten out of the way. Danielson then nailed him with a running elbow off the apron.

Danielson hit a running knee and went for the cattle mutilation, but Aries rolled through for a 2 count. Both men exchanged blows from their knees before standing up and exchanging blows. Danielson hit a flying knee and went for a suplex, but Aries landed on his feet and nailed Danielson with a kick to the head. Aries couldn't capitalize, as he stumbled to the corner and tried to regain his bearings. Aries hit a missile dropkick on Danielson in the corner, but he kicked out. Danielson blocked the brainbuster twice, but Aries managed to lock in the last chancery. Danielson managed to escape and placed Aries in the triangle choke. Aries tried to escape, but Danielson held on and he tapped out. (***1/2)

-An ad plugging Brodie Lynn vs. Jerry Lynn next week aired to close the show.

RADICAN'S ANALYSIS: That was a heck of a main event that showcased what ROH is all about. This was a notch below the match these two usually deliver on DVD, but it wasn't far off. The crowd was red hot for this encounter and that came across well on television. Danielson is just super over and Prazak did a good job of highlighting his MMA training during certain parts of the match. ROH is offering at least one really good match each week so far, but this was a really good near-DVD quality offering.

Quick thoughts: (5.5) The first half of the show really irritated me. My entire score is for the Hero-Necro and Danielson-Aries contests. The first half of the show was really irritating to watch with Hogewood yelling out his annoying catch-phrase at the end of each match. He was also irritating at certain points when he would just yell out at a random move. He wasn't as bad during the second half of the show, but I really was annoyed by him to the point where I wanted to turn the volume off on my television.

The Stevens-Keenan and Dark City Fight Club-Up in Smoke matches just don't belong on national television. The fans were asleep, Prazak was asleep, and I think Hogewood is just always wired for sound, but these two matches didn't do anything to grab your attention. Every segment on these shows should be treated as if they have to mean something. I don't think any of the wrestlers in these matches did a single thing to get over. The terrible promos from three of the four participants didn't help either. Only the Dark City Fight Club managed to pull off something that could be deemed passable in their smacktalk segment.

These shows are formatted as if someone came in and gave ROH one format for every show on HDNet. The formula has been exactly the same every week and that's getting old and predictable by this point. Hopefully they shake it up with the next set up tapings.

The second half of the show was ROH's best half of television so far on HDNet and I recommend watching the Danielson-Aries match if you haven't already.

Sean Radican and co-host Derek Burgan record ROH themed audios on the Radican Audio Showcase on most weekends that are made available exclusively to Torch VIP members. Sean also reviews nearly every ROH release for Torch VIP members. You can contact Sean at PWTorchSean@Gmail.com.

We suggest these recent related articles...

PARKS'S WWE SMACKDOWN REPORT 10/8: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Thursday show, including Roman Reigns & Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt & Braun Strowman

METZGER'S ROH TV REPORT 10/4 & 10/7: IWGP World champ Okada vs. Roderick Strong main event, plus Briscoes vs. Time Splitters, more from "Field of Honor," Overall Reax

MCMAHON'S TNA IMPACT REPORT 10/7: TNA Title Series kicks off, Bound for Glory fall-out, more; Overall Reax