November 7th, 2009 in Edison
Opening Match: Kenny Omega vs. Sonjay Dutt
Dutt attacks before the bell. Omega comes back with forearms and connects with a dropkick. He follows with a neckbreaker but Dutt bites his hand in order to regain the advantage. Dutt lands a springboard moonsault and starts working over the right leg. Omega comes back with a leaping clothesline along with a moonsault of his own. Dutt armdrags out of a dragon suplex but falls victim to a leaping bulldog. He recovers with a seesaw kick and kind of hits a guillotine leg drop. Omega catches Dutt with Croyt’s Wrath for the win at 10:42. I think Dutt being a heel limits him in the ring as he just didn’t do much of interest to make this an engaging opener. At least the crowd is heavily into Omega, who picked up a token win here. **
Match #2: Necro Butcher and Mark Briscoe vs. Erick Stevens and Joey Ryan
Necro is back to feuding with The Embassy and I can’t say that I’m excited. This is also the start of Stevens’ run with the stable. The faces rush the ring and start brawling. Stevens catches Necro with a knee from the apron and Ryan connects with a dropkick. The Embassy isolate him until Mark blind tags in. Well that was the worst hot tag I’ve seen in awhile. Mark lands a missile dropkick on Stevens but gets caught with a samoan drop. The Embassy now work over Mark but he eventually makes the tag after hitting a back drop on Ryan. Necro sends The Embassy to the floor and lands a rolling dive off the apron. Mark randomly uses a chair, which for some reason doesn’t draw a disqualification. I really hate this. Everyone starts brawling on the floor, with Ernie Osiris blatantly getting involved. Back in, Necro blocks a superkick and punches Ryan. Stevens and Necro start trading punches. Claudio Castagnoli interferes, drawing the disqualification at 10:22. Nobody is ever going to care about this feud. Nobody. The match completely sucked and it didn’t get any better once it broke down. In fact, it got even worse. Then the finish happened and I gave up. Apparently, Ernie Osiris can interfere but Claudio Castagnoli isn’t allowed to. I hated every minute of this match. DUD
Jay Briscoe runs out to even the odds. Everyone starts brawling some more. It still sucks. Claudio and Jay are left in the ring, leading to…
Match #3: Jay Briscoe vs. Claudio Castagnoli
Jay hits a dropkick along with a gourdbuster. Prince Nana provides a distraction, allowing Claudio to gain control. He shows his power with a dead-lift gutwrench suplex but Jay comes back with a crossbody. Claudio connects with a dropkick but gets flatlined into the turnbuckles. He catches Jay with a backbreaker, who responds with a death valley driver. Claudio stuns Jay up top with a bicycle kick and hits the UFO for the victory at 6:46. Too short and uninspired. I could definitely see these two having a good match, especially with Claudio at the top of his game currently. This wasn’t it. *½
Kenny King comes to the ring accompanied by Austin Aries and Rhett Titus for his match with Tyler Black. Aries gets on the mic and informs Black that he may not make it through tonight without a series injury.
Match #4: Kenny King vs. Tyler Black
They have a back and forth exchange. Black tries for a springboard, but Aries and Titus interfere to stop him. That draws the disqualification at 1:17. The heels continue to attack Black after the closing bell. Colt Cabana and Grizzly Redwood run out to save Black from a spike piledriver. Jim Cornette enters the picture and makes a six-man tag team match, leading to…
Match #5: Tyler Black, Colt Cabana, and Grizzly Redwood vs. Austin Aries, Kenny King, and Rhett Titus
Black lands a dive to the floor onto all of his opponents. He handles Aries in the ring while everyone else brawls around ringside. The match settles down as the faces start working over Titus. Both teams trade control until Aries catches Grizzly with a clothesline and the heels isolate him. He flips out of a double team back drop and makes the tag. Cabana cleans house, landing a springboard moonsault onto Aries and Titus. Black follows suit with a springboard clothesline. Cabana hits the flying asshole on Aries and King. Black adds an F5 to lay out Aries. He tries for a bucklebomb but Aries hurricanranas out of it. King stops a Colt 45 and hits a spinebuster. Titus catches Cabana up top with the Sex Factor and then Aries locks in the Last Chancery. Black breaks up the hold. Everyone starts connecting with strikes on each other with Aries standing tall. Grizzly takes off his suspenders and wails Aries with a clothesline. Titus shoves Grizzly off the top and to the floor. Black hits the bucklebomb on Aries and follows with a superkick. Cabana locks in the Billy Goat’s Curse on Aries for the win at 15:19. Solid action without ever reaching a higher plateau. There’s a part of me that wishes they would have let King and Black try to improve upon their match at Survival of the Fittest by keeping the singles match booked. Ultimately, this achieved its goal of making Cabana into a contender for the ROH World Title, although I don’t think anyone will actually buy that he can win the belt. **¾
Match #6: Bobby Dempsey vs. Tony Kozina
Kozina goes after the left leg early. Dempsey hits some body slams but gets lured to the floor. Kozina follows out with a springboard moonsault. Back in, Kozina avoids a charge by taking out the bad left leg. He follows by springboarding into a bulldog but walks into a big lariat. Dempsey hits a death valley driver for the victory at 4:11. Ring of Honor genuinely cannot figure out what they want to do with Dempsey. He hasn’t had direction for awhile and most of the momentum he had after Caged Collision has disappeared. *
Match #7: Delirious vs. Roderick Strong
These two had a lackluster feud in 2007. Fortunately, they haven’t met since then so this match feels somewhat fresh. Strong tries to pin Delirious while he’s frozen in the corner. They both miss baseball slides and Strong connects with some chops. Delirious drapes him across the ring apron and follows with a dive from the top rope. Back in, Strong avoids the Panic Attack and hits a leg lariat. He takes over until Delirious comes back with suplexes and a neckbreaker. Delirious gains control until he tries to chop Strong…bad idea. Strong returns the favor and hits a backbreaker. Delirious lands a missile dropkick along with the Panic Attack. Strong connects with an enzuigiri and hits a power slam. Delirious counters a slingshot falcon arrow into a swinging neckbreaker. Strong just throws Delirious into the turnbuckles and locks in a boston crab. Delirious reverses into a rollup for a two count and synchs in the cobra stretch. He turns it into a cobra suplex and hits Shadows Over Hell for a nearfall. Delirious Panic Attacks Strong to the floor but gets caught in mid-dive with a kick. In the ring, Strong hits a backbreaker and transitions into the Stronghold. Delirious makes the ropes. Strong adds another backbreaker and they trade forearms. Strong hits a gutbuster along with a yakuza kick. Delirious answers with the Chemical Imbalance II for a nearfall. Strong hits a flurry of offense but falls victim to a cobra suplex. Delirious follows with three Panic Attacks for a two count. Strong catches him off guard with a small package for the win at 18:33. Both men were working hard and they managed to have a spirited match, something I couldn’t say of their previous work. I’m not in love with the finish, but ROH is really focusing on keeping Delirious looking good. He’s had a lot of focus put on him lately and is coming off as more legitimate. This was a good match and both competitors came out of it for the better. ***¼
Match #8: Chris Hero and Davey Richards vs. Kevin Steen and El Generico
Generico snaps off a few armdrags on Richards. Hero tries to lay out Steen with roaring elbows to no avail. Instead, he starts to work over Steen’s previously injured left leg. The faces get some shots in on Richards, with Generico targeting his ear. Of course, Steen takes this to the next level by biting Richards’ ear. Hero tags in and the momentum swings. The heels isolate Steen until he lands a missile dropkick on Richards and makes the hot tag. Generico takes out Hero with a flying hurricanrana followed by a blue thunder bomb. Hero blocks a corner yakuza kick with a roaring elbow. The heels now work over Generico until he avoids a diving headbutt from Richards and makes the tag. Steen hits a lungblower on Richards along with a cannonball in the corner. He follows with a superkick on Hero and a powerbomb on Richards. Generico clotheslines Hero to the floor and follows out with a dive. Steen hits a crucifix slam on Richards but finds knees on a swantan attempt. Richards accidentally enzuigiris Hero and gets laid out with a stunner from Steen. Generico lands a flying crossbody on his opponents and hits a michinoku driver on Richards. He gets caught with the Alarm Clock and a tombstone for a two count. Hero connects with rolling elbows. Generico hits a half nelson suplex on Hero and a yakuza kick on Richards. Steen follows with a pumphandle neckbreaker on Richards. Generico trips up on a dive attempt and Steen lands a frog splash on Richards. Hero connects with a rolling elbow on Steen and follows with the Deathblow for a two count. Generico hits a top rope brainbuster on Richards while Hero puts on his golden elbow pad. He lays out Generico and goes to cover but Generico isn’t the legal man. Steen locks in a sharpshooter on Hero for the victory at 27:50. This was an extremely good tag team match, but a little too long for what they were trying to accomplish. To be quite honest, this show had been pretty mediocre up to the main event. It seems like these two teams were told to go out and have an epic match to make up for the rest of the card. They tried but the epic feeling came off as forced. The beginning parts were fun and the finishing stretch was as fluid as expected. It’s just that the middle portion felt overly dragged out. Still, this was a fine way to end the show. Unfortunately, it couldn’t save the show. ***½
*This DVD comes with three matches edited out from the Double Feature II release. They include:
-Kenny King and Rhett Titus vs. Necro Butcher and Delirious
-Brent Albright vs. Jimmy Rave
-Chris Hero vs. Necro Butcher
No offense to any of the matches, but I really can’t bring myself to review them. They aren’t going to feature any action that will make this DVD worth purchasing, as there was a reason that they were cut from Double Feature II. However, I just thought it was worth a mention in case anyone needs to see more Necro Butcher in ROH.
Overall: Boiling Point is one of the weakest efforts of the year for Ring of Honor. The show took place after television tapings and it was treated as an afterthought. At least it came off that way. The final two matches are worth watching but in no way save the show. ROH tried to add some extra value to the DVD by adding in some previously unreleased matches. However, if you take a look at the matches, there’s nothing to become excited about. I can safely recommend skipping this show.
This was my last ROH show and I have seriously not looked back.