The action shifted to Chicago for night two of Ring of Honor’s first ever tripleshot. Even though this ended up being five hours that lasted until 1:00 a.m. in the morning central time and featured nine matches (with some brawls interspersed for fun), one match stood above the rest. It was a six man tag that wowed everyone live and the DVD audience. The start of the Dragon Gate six man tag match tradition began on this night. And then there was the that world title match that’s running dangerously close to 60 minutes.
-Taped on March 30, 2006 from Chicago Ridge, Illinois
-Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard
-Jim Cornette announces that Low Ki is the one who hit him with a chair some months ago back in Dayton. Ki is suspended for life, a suspension that has lasted to this day.
-Clips of the past Bryan Danielson and Roderick Strong matches are shown. They meet in the main event later on tonight. Much much later. These two chop each other hard. That came across loud and clear.
-Chris Hero meets some of the crowd outside the building.
-CIMA says Dragon Gate is cutting edge pro wrestling. I need some sort of match to illustrate this point. Wonder if we’ll find that this evening.
-Bobby Cruise announces Colt Cabana isn’t competing because of a concussion. Good lord, the crowd is enormous. Jim Cornette comes out with a baseball bat to cut his rah rah promo and make fun of CZW. B.J. Whitmer is on crutches, likely due to the spill he took with Jacobs the previous night. People boo the mention of Wrestlemania. Considering it’s number 22, I can’t say I blame them. Considering it’s STILL WRESTLEMANIA, I can blame them. Cornette ends his spiel by inviting two “hardcore wrestlers” to the ring. Two masked guys come down as I realize we’re 15 minutes into the DVD, and the first match hasn’t started yet. Samoa Joe and Adam fucking Pearce come down to beat up the hardcore wrestlers. Yes, Adam Pearce is out to defend the honor of Ring of Honor. Lots of irony there. Least Joe gets a warm-up in advance of his three way later on. Big splash and Pearce gets the pin.
-Ricky Reyes (w/Julius Smokes) vs. Delirious vs. Flash Flanagan vs. Shane Hagadorn
From Adam Pearce to Shane Hagadorn. Fitting. Reyes is coming off a victory over Chad Collyer while Delirious suffered the fall against The Embassy. Flanagan is a local guy filling out this four corner survival. Delirious goes for a run. The other three men stare at him. Flanagan and Reyes face off, and you can just feel the charisma oozing out of these two. Delirous runs around the ring before that got annoying. Hagdorn goes to work on Reyes, but that doesn’t last. Big forearm and belly-to-belly. Tag in to lizardman. Shoulderblock. Chicago crowd is into him big time. Armdrag into a crucix on Hagadorn. Triple team as the other the other two join in. Reyes beats up Hagadorn. Flanagan hits a German suplex and goes to the top rope. Delirious knocks him off and tries Shadows over Hell. Reyes moves. Flanagan and Delirious end up in the ring. Shadows over Hell almost gets the elusive win. Hagadorn gets dropped on his neck, but Delirious takes care of him. Reyes applies a neckbreaker on him before going into the Dragon Sleeper. Delirious has no choice but to tap.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Ricky Reyes/6:43/*1/2
-An okay way to start the show. Nothing too exciting. After the match, Reyes actually gets on the stick and makes rips on Delirous while also slapping him. Smokes joins in on the fun.
-Chad Collyer talks about his first blood match with Ace Steel coming up later. They show the clip of Ace bleeding. That’s got to be one of the more disgusting sites I’ve ever seen in a wrestling ring. Ace Steel responds.
-The Embassy (Alex Shelley and Jimmy Rave)(w/Prince Nana and Daizee Haze) vs. Jimmy Yang and Claudio Castagnoli
Yang is coming off a loss to Ryo Saito. Claudio is coming off his win over Hagadorn. The Embassy are coming off a huge win against Delirious and Bryan Danielson. Shelley and Yang start. Basic start. Yang slaps Shelley in the back of the head. Shelley draws a line and seemingly wants Yang to CROSS THE LINE! As soon as he does that, Rave tags in. Kind of like whenever I see TNA on Spike, I immediately tag my remote and put something else on. Rave complains over a hair pull. Claudio comes in and continues working the arm. Rave leverages out, but Claudio flips Rave over for two armdrags. Chops by Rave but Claudio turns the tables and hits Shelley. Claudio outsmarts both members of the Embassy and has Yang join the party. We get a couple compromising situations involving The Embassy as they’re really not doing so well. Embassy finally get the advantage. Yang plays face in peril. Faces regain the advantage on Shelley. Some mocking of the Embassy by Claudio. Back elbow from the second rope. Yang with a chop, but Shelley gets a snapmare and kick to the back of the head. Yang in trouble once again. Yang posts his shoulder, and Rave sends him over the steel barricade. That wasn’t nice. Rave leaps from the top and gets kicked in the face. Yang desperately tries to make the tag, but Shelley stops that. Once Claudio gets in, it’s European uppercuts for everyone. Palm thrust on Shelley. Rolling European uppercut on Rave. Face and chest first but Shelley breaks the pin. Boot to the midsection on Claudio by Shelley. Shelley superkicks Yang. He and Rave attempt a double team suplex, but that doesn’t work. Rave rolls Claudio up with a handful of tights but only gets two. Claudio places Rave on the top rope. Series of roll-ups ends with Rave flash-pinning Claudio for three.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: The Embassy/16:04/***1/4
-Very good undercard tag team match from these four.
-Chris Hero somehow gets a microphone and verbally goes after Claudio once again. Geeks come out to stop Hero.
-First Blood: Chad Collyer vs. Ace Steel
God bless Ace Steel. He trained Colt Cabana and C.M. Punk, two of the best professional wrestlers to come out of Chicago in recent years. Unfortunately, I can count on one hand the number of good matches he’s had in Ring of Honor. This match is no exception. It’s a boring unexceptional brawl. At least Ace Steel gets creative by trying to use the Section B sign and threatening to kill his opponent. Crowd just wants Collyer to bleed. I can’t believe that of all the matches to use gimmicks, this is it. Collyer appears to set to win when he puts a chair around Ace’s neck. Ace tombstone piledrives Collyer on the guardrail that was brought to the ring. Chairshot to the top of the head. Collyer is bleeding, and this match is done.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Ace Steel/11:50/1/2*
-How did this get 12 minutes?
-Dave Prazak catches up with Homicide and Julius Smokes. Homicide cuts a promo and calls Cabana every name in the book and says he’s done with him.
-Video package illustrating how Matt Sydal and A.J. Styles became a team and Sydal sort of turning his back on his Generation Next teammates. Naturally, this leads to…
-A.J. Styles and Matt Sydal vs. Austin Aries (ROH tag team champion) and Jack Evans
Usually, it’s Evans teaming with Roderick, but Roddy is in the main event tonight. Evans and Aries are coming off a six man tag team loss courtesy of Blood Generation the previous night. Styles and Sydal won their Dragon Gate challenge match. Evans and Sydal start out… and do some mat wrestling. Didn’t see that coming. Doesn’t last long as they quicken the pace and Sydal dropkicks Evans. Styles quickly tags in, and he wants Aries. The crowd is LOUDLY cheering Aries. They don’t stay in the ring long because Sydal wants in against his stablemate. Back to basics with these two. They exchange armbars and Japanese armdrags. Sydal puts Aries in a headscissors. Don’t… Aries reverses it, but Sydal uses the dropkick escape. Headscissors by Sydal, but Aries just kicks him. He wants Styles. Fierce lock-up. Pace quickens and neither man gains control. They face off, and Styles lets loose with a forearm. Sydal tags in and uses a headscissors. Aries plays face in peril briefly. He gets the knees up on the attempted standing moonsault. Sydal plays face in peril now. Swinging fisherman’s buster only gets two. Evans in and hits a double stomp on Sydal. Double knees. Aries flips Evans on to Sydal. Pendulum elbow. Running knee by Evans. Sydal German suplexes Evans on his head. Styles in and he goes apeshit. He even spinbusters Evans into the middle of next week. Very rare when Styles is actually the bigger man, so he can break out some power spots he wouldn’t ordinarily get to use. Heat segment on Evans now. Sydal springboars Evans with a kick. Jesus. Muta lock by Styles. Aries runs in and kicks him right in the stomach. Double team neckbreaker followed by a brief bow and arrow by Sydal. Aries tags in and forearms Styles and Sydal every which way. Elbow on Sydal in the corner. Dropkick on Styles in the corner. Finlay roll. Evans tags in and hits a big splash. Only two. All four men brawl in the ring. Evans tries a headscissors. Sydal kicks him. Styles tries a Styles clash, but Aries stops that and hits a crucifix bomb. Sydal hits a “Here it is” driver. Evans kicks Sydal and puts him on the top rope. They fight on the top rope. Evans dives on Styles, but he eats a STYLES CLASH ON THE FLOOR. Aries hits a heat-seeking missile on Styles. Sydal hits a shooting star press on a prone Evans back in the ring for three.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: A.J. Styles and Matt Sydal/17:47/***3/4
-Tremendous tag team match between these four. Lots of crazy action, and the interplay with Styles and Aries brought this match up a bit. Sydal trying to prove himself to Aries also made for an interesting dynamic. I almost feel sorry for the match that has to try and follow this contest. Sydal seemed to earn his stripes and the respect of the crowd in a major way.
-Christopher Daniels feels things are turning around. Aliison Danger talks about the women’s match coming up after intermission. Daniels brings the subject back to Joe and ponders when he’s going to shake the hand of one of his Ring of Honor opponents.
-Blood Generation (CIMA, Naruki Doi, and Masato Yoshino) vs. Do Fixer (Ryo Saito, Genki Horiguchi, and Dragon Kid)
Oh right. It’s this match. Some of you may have heard of this one. Blood Generation is coming off a victory in a six man tag team match the previous night. Saito is coming off his victory over Jimmy Yang, while the other two members of Do Fixer suffered a loss to Styles and Sydal.
While this type of match has probably been done a thousand times in Dragon Gate Japan and done a number of times in the states, this was the very first one in the states. These two factions feuded in Japan, and this was the rivalry being brought to ROH. To even try and keep up with these six athletes is impossible. The first two-thirds of the match is a run of the mill tag team match, just a lot faster and with precision execution. Not to say that this is formulaic and boring by any means, but this wasn’t anything we haven’t seen before. Then there’s the final third of this match. If this had been my first Ring of Honor show, I firmly believe my head would have exploded in excitement. Words like mind-blowing and awe-inspiring seem more than appropriate. Kid gets to execute his déjà vu correctly on this night. Fittingly against Yoshino. Crowd of course chants “This is awesome.” Then an incredible chant starts, one that I had never heard before. “Please don’t stop.” What this match did was take six men who may or may not have been known in the United States and turned all six of them into stars. I’m convinced DG USA’s presence in Chicago is related to the six man tradition starting right here. Even the announcers let the action speak for itself, and I can’t think of a better time. You really get to hear the crowd and see them lose their minds. Incredibly, someone actually had to win the match. Dragon Kid leaps off the top turnbuckle for a hurancanrana.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Do Fixer/20:33/*****
-Fans give all six a standing ovation and ask… maybe in this case it’s plead… for them to please to come back. Thankfully they would be back. CIMA immediately shakes Do Fixer’s hands, but Yoshino and Doi just walk away.
-How do you follow the six man tag? A promo for FIP DVDs. Hell of a transition there.
-Pure champion Nigel McGuinness is not in Chicago. Instead, he’s wrestling for Pro Wrestling NOAH defending the Pure title. McGuinness feels the Pure title is the real world title and says Danielson isn’t as good of a champion. This kind of resurrects the angle that was teased two years ago at the show At Our Best. These two eventually hooked up throughout the spring and summer of 2006.
-Lacey vs. Rain vs. MsChif vs. Daizee Haze vs. Cheerleader Melissa vs. Allison Danger
This is the first ever six woman mayhem. They exchange a number of pinfalls to start as Ring of Honor begins the process of trying to integrate women’s wrestling on to the shows. It failed miserably despite four years of effort. It doesn’t help that a number of women ended up in TNA and others like Lacey left the business. SHIMMER had just started six months earlier, and there wasn’t even a champion at this point. You could also argue the best of the female wrestlers, Sara Del Rey, was not involved in the match. All six women get tangled up… with sexy results. Or not. Lacey just slaps them. MsChif and Haze each do separate dives on to various women on the outside. Exchange of high-impact moves back inside the ring. Series of finishers now. Melissa gets misted and MsChif hits a desecrater on Melissa for three.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: MsChif/8:43/*1/2
–Just an opportunity to get the women a chance to showcase themselves. Literally no other reason that I can think of other than that. Couple cool spots but a lot of sloppiness too.
-Homicide (w/Julius Smokes) vs. Mitch Franklin
This is a little jobberish, but Homicide doesn’t have much else to do with Colt Cabana nowhere to be found. You might know Mitch Franklin better as Grizzly Redwood. Homicide should know him better as the guy he dismantles in about two minutes. Cop killer ends it.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Homicide/2:35/N/R
-Colt Cabana comes out , and he’s not going to let a concussion keep him down. They begin brawling in the ring. The referee just kind of stands there. Cabana backdrops ‘Cide through a table outside the ring. Back insider and the crowd is behind the hometown boy. Cabana goes for the Colt 45, but Smokes provides a distraction. Homicide lays Cabana out with a chair. Homicide brings in a ladder, just as he did the night before. Cabana is bleeding. Homicide DDTs Cabana on the side of the ladder. Chairshot to the ladder just like the previous night. More shots. Homicide gets on the mic and makes fun of the Cubs. He also threatens to end Cabana’s career the next night if he even sees him.
-Just when you thought the brawling was done… WRONG! Necro Butcher and Hero are out now to interrupt the show. Hero makes fun of the previous brawl and says CZW is ultraviolent. There’s something to be proud of. Claudio comes out to chase Hero away while Pearce and Necro brawl. Adam Pearce represents ROH so well the crowd is chanting Necro. Yet, somehow Pearce maintains employment with ROH to this day. It ends up with Necro and Pearce both going through a ringside table. Cornette comes in the ring and nails Necro with a baseball bat. Hero applies an armbar, which leads to Joe coming in and kicking Hero’s ass. Hero is trapped as Whitmer brings a chair. Joe has a bat. Pearce has a chair. Pearce hits him twice with the chair. Whitmer hits Hero with a chair as well. ROH stands tall. Oh my God. The crowd actually chants for Pearce. And since Joe is in the ring…
-Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Jimmy Jacobs (w/Lacey)
Daniels finally got his one-on-one victory against Joe the previous night, and here they are wrestling once again. This time, Jimmy Jacobs is added as a third wheel. Wonder who’s jobbing here? Jacobs says he and Lacey are the match of the year. Joe and Daniels start beating each other up for the hell of it. Jacobs is like the younger brother trying to play with the big kids. Daniels and Joe show complete disregard for him. Jacobs comes back with a couple of dropkicks on both men. Leg lariat on Daniels. Clothesline from Daniels on both men. He tosses Jacobs into Joe, who shoulderbreaks him. Inverted DDT on Joe while throwing Jacobs on top of him. That was different. STJoe, and Jacobs fired away on the big man in the corner. That doesn’t last as Jacobs tries a springboard crossbody, but Joe moves out of the way. Leaping kick by Joe on to Jacobs. Daniels and Jacobs fight on the floor. Joe missiles into both men. Toss Jacobs into the guardrail. Ole ole kick time on Daniels. He tosses Jacobs into the ring and punches him in the corner. Jacobs moves out of the way of the running knee and does some kicks in the corner. Daniels tries a fireman’s carry on Jacobs, but Joe kicks him and back sentons him. Lacey comes on the apron. Joe grabs her, but Jacobs slaps Joe. Big mistake. Daniels knocks Joe into Lacey, who falls down. Roll-up gets two. Enziguri by Daniels. Joe uses crossfaces, but Daniels gets a Blue thunder. Powerslam by Joe into the cross armbreaker. Lacey and Jacobs argue on the outside. STO by Daniels but he misses a BME. Spear by Jacobs. Double stomp on Joe and a back senton. Jacobs goes after Daniels and he hits an implant DDT, Lacey’s finisher. This only gets two. Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker by Daniels. Angel’s wings reversed into a headscissors. Contra code attempt, but Joe gets the choke. Joe breaks it so he can superkick Daniels. Another contra code attempt, but Joe turns it into the rear-naked choke for the win.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Samoa Joe/9:12/**1/2
-Joe and Daniels were content to go through the motions here. Nothing special here at all as Jacobs added little to the match except his tremendous interplay with Lacey.
-Ring of Honor World Championship: Bryan Danielson (champion) vs. Roderick Strong (ROH Tag Team Champion)
Danielson and Strong had quite the issue going leading into this epic title match. Danielson and Strong had a controversial match at This Means War. Danielson appeared to snap, and the finish came so quickly that people thought it may have been a shoot. The next week, these two has a return match at Vendetta that went about 50 minutes and is considered one of the greatest matches in ROH history. Danielson appeared to be done with Strong, until he tapped out to the Stronghold when he was competing for Strong’s tag team title at Tag Wars 2006. Strong defeated B.J. Whitmer to become the number one contender at Unscripted II. Since their second match was so amazing and took place in Chicago, why not have the third and final match there as well? So here we are.
Prazak actually mentions the time as the bell rings. It’s ten minutes to midnight local time. This show began at 8:00 p.m. Meaning we’re four hours in and the main event hasn’t even begun. Oh, those were the days. You know we’re in for a long match because they do an extended series of basic moves. This is broken up intermittingly with chops by Strong. Danielson’s chest is already red after one chop. He quickly flees the ring since he don’t wanna get chopped no more. And who could blame him? More basic wrestling. Strong hits a second chop. Danielson heads outside again and teases leaving the building altogether. Strong gets on the stick and uses a naughty word. Danielson waltzes back inside. Danielson gets the advantage in a slap exchange. Strong comes back and tries to use Danielson’s surfboard. No dice. More slaps from Danielson. Uh oh. Surfboard reversed by Strong now. Strong works the arm before Danielson uses a chop. Strong responds with one of his own. Back to the arm and Danielson hits a dropkick. Knucklelock by Danielson. Strong fights out, but Danielson elbows him. Drives the knee. Kick to the back and another kneedrop. Stranglehold as Danielson uses Strong’s own arms against him. Strong tosses him and takes control with chops.
We’re about 15 minutes in, and neither guy has broken a sweat. Danielson hooks the leg and gets a bow and arrow. Strong gets to the ropes. Danielson in control of the match as his chest starts bleeding. Chops delivered by the champion. After a European uppercut, Strong gets some chops in. Leg lariat. Backbreaker. LARIAT! This only gets two, but Strong does finally get the surfboard. Double pin but both men get their shoulders up. Another chop. Kick to the chest and a sunset flip. Exchange of nearfalls. Another chop by Strong. Danielson placed on the top rope, and Strong tries for a superplex. Danielson gets out of it and hits a flying European uppercut. Surfboard by Danielson, but he can’t go all the way through. Just a chinlock. Danielson brushes off the chops and gets an atomic drop… Bob Backlund style. Bodyslam and a flying headbutt. Abdominal stretch and use of the ropes as leverage. Todd Sinclair breaks the hold, but Danielson immediately applies the hold again. Roll-up only gets two. Series of attempts at a pin. Butterfly hold. Face-off off a clean break. Forearm. Danielson drives the knees into the mat. Cattle mutilation but Strong quickly gets to the ropes. Arm and wrist holds. Danielson’s facials throughout this match are fantastic. Danielson flips the fans off as he takes too much time to hit another headbutt from the top.
Strong with a flash cradle and Oklahoma roll about 30 minutes in. Backbreaker and chops as the pace picks up. Superplex by Strong only gets two. Stronghold but Danielson reaches the ropes. On the outside, Strong hits a forearm off the apron. Back in the ring and Danielson regains control. Series of German Suplexes ala a certain dead Canadian wrestler. Chickenwing applied, the same move that won him the world title months ago. Strong reaches the ropes. Strong reverses a belly-to-belly back but ends up getting crotched on the second rope. Strong rakes forearms across Strong’s face. Bridge on the knee followed by a seated Indian deathlock. Danielson poses. Slaps across the face. Danielson ties Strong up. Spinning toeholds. Man, Danielson is breaking out all the classics. Strong with a gutwrench powerbomb on his knee. Both men are down. Danielson applies a figure four leglock as our tour of former champion’s finishers continues. Roll-up by Strong, but Danielson puts him on the top rope. The two battle but Danielson dropkicks Strong coming off the top rope. Boston crab. Strong powers out and gets a Cattle Mutilation of his own. Crowd wakes up. Battle on the apron as Danielson tries to suplex Strong back into the ring. Strong is the one who gets the suplex. Outside the ring and Strong gets more chops. He also gets a shot to the mouth. Danielson begins bleeding. Strong’s hand HITS THE POST ON A MISSED CHOP! Yikes. Back inside as Danielson works on the injured wrist and hand of Strong. Danielson screams at Strong as he applies a wristlock. Stomp on the wrist. Chops by Danielson in the corner. Kick as well.
Strong with a left-handed chop. Another. We’re 45 minutes in and neither man is showing signs of slowing down. To the outside for more left-handed chops. Forearm strikes but Strong is tossed into the crowd. Danielson leaps on to Strong in the crowd. Missile dropkick by Danielson back inside the ring. Strong gets out of a suplex. Danielson gets elbows to the side of the head, but Strong gets a gutbuster. His knee is still hurt so he can’t cover Danielson. Flying kick. Gibson driver. 1-2-NO! Half nelson backbreakers. Another. Torture rack into another backbreaker but that only gets two. Another stronghold attempt. Danielson reaches the ropes. Strong climbs to the top, but Danielson gets him with a kick. Belly-to-back from the top rope. It only gets two though. Cattle mutilation, but Strong gets out and leans on the ropes. Danielson tries again but he drives some knees. Exchange of forearms. Roaring elbow and a Dragon suplex by Danielson. Another chickenwing. Strong incredibly reaches the ropes. Super Dragon suplex attempted by Danielson. Strong hits a super gutbuster too. Not very well. Bobby Cruise announces there’s five minutes left, and I think everyone saw a draw forthcoming. Strong hesitates but goes for a cover. Stronghold cinched in. Danielson rolls into a pinfall for a 1-2-3!!!! Incredible.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: STILL ROH World Champion- Bryan Danielson/56:02/****1/2
-As much as love Roderick Strong, I feel like Danielson carried this match in every conceivable match. He dictated the pace and controlled the psychology of the contest. Don’t make any mistake about it though folks. This was a fantastic match and one of the best matches in 2006. On most other shows, this would easily be the match of the night. Yet on this night, it’s a very distant second. Still a long epic title match. The crowd stayed with this match for most of it despite the late hour, and they were rewarded with a classic.
-Lance Storm is ready for his world title match with Bryan Danielson
-We end with Colt Cabana not wanting his feud to end like this.
-Final Thoughts: The fact that there are two matches this good makes this an easy recommendation. This show has a strong legacy for a reason. Two tag team matches in the first half round out this show to make it a classic night of Ring of Honor action. There’s no way the third night of the tripleheader can possibly top this though… right?
