Wrestlemania Countdown: Ring of Honor-All-Star Extravaganza III

In the 360 some odd days between Wrestlemania weekend 2006 and 2007, ROH defeated CZW in an epic Cage of Death. The Pure title and world title became one as Bryan Danielson took the ROH championship to new heights by taking on anyone and everyone. The month of August alone saw Danielson wrestle three 60 minute draws and cross the Atlantic to wrestle three title defenses in two shows. Danielson’s entire title reign was thrown for a loop when he separated his shoulder in the last of the three draws against Colt Cabana. Yet, Danielson lasted until Final Battle 2006 where he finally lost to Homicide. Homicide’s title reign would last just three defenses as Takeshi Morishima won the belt in just his second match. Because of Danielson’s injury and Morshima holding the title, neither would play a role on this Wrestlemania weekend.
The 5^th year festival had just concluded and Samoa Joe’s emotional farewell served as a the backdrop for another historical set of shows. Without two major stars and the world title, could Ring of Honor put on another unforgettable weekend? The Dragon Gate folks are back, and two of them are bringing Ring of Honor gold. Jimmy Jacobs and BJ Whitmer have a war to end, a war that started in Detroit almost one year to the day. And then there’s crazy Mark Briscoe…
-Taped on March 30, 2007 from Detroit, Michigan
-Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard
-Rebecca Bayless’ boobs introduce us to various fans from around the country and world. Much like Bayless herself, this segment was usless.
-Video package showing highlights of the Dragon Gate wrestling at various Ring of Honor shows. Tonight will introduce us to three newbies as well. Susumu Yokuska, Masaaki Mochizuki, and some guy named Yamato.
-Chris Hero (w/Larry Sweeney and Tank Toland) vs. Matt Sydal vs. Colt Cabana vs. Adam Pearce (w/Shane Hagadorn)
None of these guys had any major issues to deal with on this night, hence participating in an opening four corner survival. Sydal and Cabana start. Hero is quickly tagged in, and this was during his flippy period. You wanna talk about a guy who’s changed in three years? Wow. Cabana tries to work the arm, but Hero flip-flops himself out of a wristlock. Big pop and Cabana is appalled. Cabana offers his arm, and Hero obliges with a wristlock. Cabana sneezes his way out of it and does some flips. Crowd goes apeshit. Schoolyard trip almost gets three. Another roll-up almost gets three. Cabana screws around with Hero some more, before Hero flees to the outside. Sweeney and Toland implore Hero to go back into the ring. Sydal tags in once again and he gets an armdrag. Another. Now Cabana is disheveled. Pearce tags himself in and immediately eats a standing moonsault. Pearce hits a chokeslam with authority. Powerslam only gets two. Hero comes in and headbutts Sydal in the midsection. Atomic drop and Pearce returns to the ring. Pearce bites away and hits a Stinger splash. Hero pokes Sydal in the eye and hooks a cravat. Double team by Hero and Pearce is quashed. DDT off the back of Pearce on to Hero. Sydal dives for a tag on Cabana. Jabs and a big elbow for everyone, almost one for Todd Sinclair too. Pearce with rights. Flying apples. Cabana uses Sydal’s head and legs as a battering ram. Dropkick on Pearce but Sydal quickly rolls Cabana up for two. Boot from the top by Hero. Another for Sydal. Release suplex and here come the elbows. Sydal with an enziguri and a headscissors. Pearce to the top but Cabana gets a hurancanrana. Sydal misses a dropkick to the outside. Hero teases a dive but doesn’t deliver. Cabana just tosses him. Sydal gets his dive. Pearce has brass knuckles and he punches Cabana in the face. Fucking garbage ending to an okay match.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Adam Pearce/11:15/**
-Okay match but a screwjob in the opener is a dumb idea.
-Erick Stevens vs. Alex “Sugarfoot” Payne
This is Stevens debut in Ring of Honor, and it doesn’t last long. Doctor bomb  and we’re out.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Erick Stevens/:24/N/R
-Briscoes interview. I wish we could get subtitles for these two. They say something about bringing the belts back and challenge any team in the world. Better watch those challenges guys. You never know who’s in the building.
-ROH vs. Dragon Gate: Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Davey Richards
I feel like I’ve seen these two wrestle elsewhere. Must have been a dream or something. Don’t want to open the gate on that one.  The story here is that both men like to kick, so ROH thought these two wrestling was a good idea. Davey refers to Mochizuki as a Jap, thus taking  us all back to a time when being racist was okay and accepted in the U.S.A. Davey tries to pearl harb… shit. He attacks him from behind, but Mochizuki kicks him… a lot. Half crab. Mochizuki bounces Richards around a number of turnbuckles. A big kick off the second rope sends Richards to the apron. One more complete sends him out. To the outside and it’s more kicking. Mochizuki tries a kick with Davey leaning on the ringpost. He misses and makes a nasty sound. Davey takes control and he kicks a lot too. Such aw wide variety of offense these two are featuring in this match. Inside the ring and Davey applies an Indian deathlock. More work on the leg. Snap suplex before applying another leg hold. Half crab but Mochizuki reaches the ropes. Knee by Mochizuki. High stiff kick. Big running kick. Struggle over a suplex, and Richards uses various kicks to parts of the body. Alarm clock and a German suplex only gets two. Bodyslam and Richards calls for the shooting star express. He flips the crowd off and eats knees. Two more kicks. Spinning brainbuster. 1-2-NO! Full nelson that Davey fights out of and hits a boot. Back and forth. Davey with another leg submission. He goes up for a moonsault, but Mochizuki eventually rolls into a sunset flip for two. Double lariats. Mochizuki with two final kicks to the side of Davey’s head. 1-2-3.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Masaaki Mochizuki/10:41/***
-Pretty good match involving these two, but you got the sense that these two could do a lot better once Davey got some experience under his belt. Lots of kicking and not much else. Still, the shots were good enough and I was reasonably entertained.
-Bruno Sammartino talks to the fans. Larry Sweeney ,Tank Toland, and Chris Hero come out. Sweeney says Hero is a better athlete, and he challenges Sammartino to an arm wrestling contest on behalf of Hero. Nigel McGuinness comes out to save the day. He beats up all three members of Sweet ‘n’ Sour. Sammartino even gets a forearm in for old time’s sake. Crowd eats it up.
-Christopher Daniels promo. He says that he and Homicide, his opponent tonight, are two of the most successful wrestlers in Ring of Honor. Daniels says he’ll beat Homicide just as he did Samoa Joe one year ago in the same building.
-Anything Goes: Jimmy Jacobs and Lacey vs. B.J. Whitmer and Daizee Haze
Little did we all know what that match last year would turn into. Jacobs and Whitmer engaged in numerous battles throughout the year. Jacobs took Whitmer out in Chicago during the summer, and Colt Cabana became involved when it was discovered he was having a tryst with Lacey. Cabana won his feud with Jacobs back at Fifth Year Festival: Chicago, but these two pressed. The next night, the feud would be settled in a cage. Tonight, it’s just some final interaction before the big battle. Haze and Lacey had their own issue too. This is literally just a brawl that goes on inside and outside of the ring. Haze and Lacey are the ones who primarily stay in the ring. Ring of Honor seemed even more intent on getting the women at this point then even the year before. Still didn’t work. Whitmer and Jacobs fight in the crowd. Haze and Lacey are sort of having a wrestling match. Whoever thought the majority of the screen should be on the ring while a little part in the corner shows the crowd brawl is an idiot. Haze and Lacey have periods of doing nothing, but the men are doing all kinds of wacky stuff outside the ring. The men come inside the ring and resume brawling. This is the cue for the women to go outside.Whitmer threatens to powerbomb Jacobs just as he did in New York back in June. All four competitors ends up in the ring. Jacobs nails Haze and hits a spear. Haze’s shoes come flying off and off into the crowd they go. Lacey hits an implant DDT for the victory.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Jimmy Jacobs and Lacey/9:50/*1/2
-The only purpose of this match was to preview the following night’s mayhem.
-Lacey gets on the stick after the match… the microphone you pervs. She offers a reward and the crowd chants “Show your tits.” They hug, and Jacobs moves his eyebrows at the camera in a great character moment. She finishes by saying more will come (HA!) if Jacobs beats Whitmer the next night.
-Jack Evans says he’s the future and talks about being attacked by Roderick Strong back at Fifth Year Festival: New York City. Solid calm promo from an underrated promo guy.
-Ring of Honor Tag Team Title/ROH vs. Dragon Gate: Shingo and Naruki Doi (champion)Jay and Mark Briscoe
Quite the story to this match. Jay and Mark won the tag team belts at Fifth Year Festival: Chicago and appeared ready to engage in another long title reign. That is until the following week when they turned around and lost the belts to the Dragon Gate duo at Fifth Year Festival: Liverpool. The Briscoes dismantled each other the night after losing to “toughen themselves up.” This is the rematch for the title. Everyone expected a classic match with loads of insanity before the Briscoes became the four-time champions.
There’s always a “but…” thrown in there. In this case, Mark Briscoe tried performing a shooting star press from the top turnbuckle  on to the floor. What happened is only known by Mark, but he landed on his head, and chaos ensued. Somehow, the match continued while folks were attending to Mark on the floor. Even Gabe Sapolsky made an on-camera appearance. At first, it seemed Mark was seriously injury, but thankfully (and as is usually the case) the situation looked far worse than it actually turned out to be. Mark would come back to connection within a month to resume his wrestling career. Some great storytelling would come out of this injury two weeks later when Mark came back to help his partner against Kevin Steen and El Generico.
It’s amazing that I’ve watched this match multiple times, but the only two things I remember about this match are Mark’s shooting star press and Jay Briscoe’s Jaydriller to win the titles. The crowd seemed to be in a haze as Mark laid on the floor and the match went on. I can’t believe this continued, and I’m not saying Ring of Honor was wrong for continuing, but it was strange to see worked pro wrestling going on with such a dramtically real-life situation going on outside the ring.  Jay wins the belts by himself in front of a stunned crowd. You’ve never heard a Ring of Honor crowd so eerily silent for so long.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: NEW ROH Tag Team Champions-The Briscoe Brothers/16:03/ N/R
-Under the circumstances, I’m not comfortable rating this match. This was about as good as you could expect considering everything that happened in this chaotic situation.  Props to Shingo, Doi, and Jay for improvising and coming up with  a finish that made sense.
-If you thought that was the end of the chaos, W-R-O-N-G! Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin, better known as the Motor City Machine Guns, come out to challenge for the Ring of Honor tag team titles. Then, on one of the all-time dick moves, they attack Jay. Great way to garner heel heat if nothing else.
-Intermission time. Good news. Mark Briscoe isn’t dead. Larry Sweeney doesn’t care about Mark Briscoe, but he does care about Nigel McGuinness humiliating him.
-ROH vs. Dragon Gate: Pelle Primeau vs. Yamato
Want to see understand the difference between wrestling schools? I present Exhibit A. Yamato and Pelle Primeau were very early in their wrestling careers. This was a very basic wrestling match between two guys early in their career. Three years later…
Yamato is one of the best wrestlers in the world. He could easily be the Open the Dream Gate champion soon enough and is a prominent member of the DG USA roster. I could probably make an argument that he’s one of the best wrestlers in the world. Pelle Primeau is… still on the undercard and on the preshow. He’s on the Pro Wrestling RESPECT roster, a roster made up of all the students of Ring of Honor. As great as Ring of Honor has been, their inability to grow their own talent has hurt them and contributed to depth problems. Guys like Rhett Titus and Mitch Franklin aren’t good enough to qualify for main events, so Ring of Honor has to constantly be on the look-out for outside talent across the country. I sure have talked a lot about a match that ended up going two minutes. Yamato picks up the win in two minutes with a German suplex. Better days would be ahead for him.
-Winner/Time/Rating: Yamato/2:23/1/2*
-Larry Sweeney doesn’t appreciate what happened earlier tonight, so he’s hired Brent Albright to take one Nigel McGuinness out.
-Brent Albright (w/Larry Sweeney) vs. Nigel McGuinness.
Match starts out hot and heavy. Nigel controls much of the early portion. Flurry ends with a knee to the back/forearm to the chest combo and a short clothesline. Albright begs off but quickly fires back with punches. Lots of punches. Forearm exchange but Albright remains in control. Chinlock. Albright hits a German suplex and blows snot on Nigel. Feel like I’ve seen that before. Albright figure fours the head shoulder and almost gets three. Another exchange of strikes. Lariat by Nigel. Forearm and a shot to the throat. Palm strikes. He tries a Tower of London but tries a charge. Albright tries to counter but gets hit with a lariat. Tower of London attempt once again, but Albright gouges the eyes. Cross body from Albright! Nigel reverses into a two. Albright hits a European uppercut and a belly-to-belly suplex. To the top again goes Albright. Another Tower of London attempt gets countered into a crowbar by Albright. Forearm exchange and Nigel is selling the arm. Jawbreaker lariat misses, and it’s time for another crowbar. Albright brings him back into the middle of the ring. Nigel barely reaches the ropes. Albright misses a blind charge. Tower of London, but Sweeney distracts the referee. Nigel turns his attention to Sweeney, and Albright hits a 6-1-knee and neckbreaker. Superkick by Nigel. Hero comes out to distract Nigel now. Albright takes advantage with a modified Dragon suplex. 1-2-3. I was digging this match until the distractions lead to the finish.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Brent Albright/10:59/***
-Homicide vs. Christopher Daniels
Battle of two men who each appeared on the very first ROH show all those years ago. I’ve enjoyed these two when they’ve been involved in tag team matches in TNA, but I can’t say I’ve ever completely been into their singles matches. Daniels attacks ‘Cide from behind in an odd bit of business. ‘Cide quickly comes back, and they brawl on the outside. Daniels backdrops legs of Homicide into the edge of the table. Homicide responds by sending Daniels into a pair of the guardrails. In the ring, Homicide hits an over the shoulder belly-to-belly suplex. Daniels deposits Homicide to the outside once again. Bodyslam and Daniels hits Homicide with a chair. Thumb to the eye and they head inside. Back suplex and Daniels twists the neck. Crossbody and right hands from Homicide. Daniels quickly takes Homicide back down to the mat. Slingshot into the bottom rope. Uranagi sets up for the Best Moonsault Ever. Daniels doesn’t deliver the BME though.  Homicide kicks out and they battle in the corner. Palm thrust and iconoclasm by Daniels. Chokes and Daniels looks like a disgruntled individual. Homicide fights back with a flying acecrusher. Series of punches before a T-Bone suplex, Daniels flees toward the entranceway, but ‘Cide hits a tope con helo. Attempted lariat, but ‘Cide ends up applying a DDT. Three vertical suplexes in a row in tribute to Eddie Guerrero. To the top, and Daniels goes for a superplex. Homicide sends him down and hits an elbow. Clothesline in the corner, but Daniels responds with a leg lariat. Blue thunder powerbomb follow-up. Roll-up battle leads to the Koji clutch by Daniels. ‘Cide gets his foot on the ropes. Uranagi countered into an armdrag. Daniels gets an STO, but the referee stops at two when he sees feet on the ropes. Another battle on the top rope, and Homicide hits an acecrusher off the second rope. LARIAT! 1-2-NO! Cop Killa countered into Angel’s Wings. 1-2-NO! Last rites, but Homicide gets a jacknife cradle for three.
–Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Homicide/15:01/***
-Adam Pearce and Shane Hagadorn come out to seemingly attack Homicide for no reason until Jim Cornette of all people comes out to join in on the fun. ‘Cide and Cornette had feuded immediately after the CZW/ROH feud ended. Cornette disappeared into the night after “The Bitter End” as commissioner, and I guess this was a one night return. Albright applies the crowbar to Homicide as well before a gaggle of babyfaces  come out to help Homicide. Very noticeable that Colt Cabana was one of the people out there helping. Just one year ago, they were enemies. Now what?
-Roderick Strong vs. Jack Evans
I’m going to go out on a limb and say this is the best tag team to never win the Ring of Honor world tag team titles. I guess you could make an argument for The Young Bucks, but they weren’t around for nearly two years in the company like these two were. Strong broke These two, in addition to being a great team, had an one of the best matches in the history of Full Impact Pro. Basically, they set a standard there that they never were able to match or top. This match is a perfect example.
Don’t get me wrong. This was still perfectly acceptable wrestling, but I feel like these two could have gone even farther. I very much feel like that was this show in general. There were a number of good matches on paper, but in a lot of cases, they didn’t meet expectations. Obviously, Mark Briscoe’s unfortunate injuries played a big role in that. These two start out brawling since they now hate each other, and they don’t need a feeling out process. Things settle down a bit before Evans hits some of his high-flying stuff. Strong slows the pace down tremendously but still finds a way to deliver some vicious chops. I don’t know what it is, but Roddy just didn’t have as good a matches as a heel. His work as a babyface was so much stronger. Disgusting spot as Strong simply drops Evans on to the floor from the apron.  Strong spends much of the match working over Evans’ back while using various disgusting stretching spots that probably don’t hurt but look visually disgusting. Double stomp to the back of Strong also looked brutal too. Number of really good spots, but the match as a whole never gelled to the point where I thought this was even a borderline four star match. Gibson driver leads right into the Stronghold and a tapout victory for Roddy.
–Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Roderick Strong/22:43/***1/2
-I think I enjoyed this match a little bit more than on past viewings, maybe a ¼* difference in the rating from what I thought in the past. This also went way longer than I remembered too.
-Rebecca Bayless’ boobs inform us that Mark Briscoe’s condition has been upgraded to alive, or something like that.
-Dragon Gate vs. Ring of Honor:  Team Dragon Gate (CIMA, Ryo Saito, Susumu Yokusuka, and Dragon Kid) vs. Team Ring of Honor Austin Aries, Claudio Castagnoli, Delirious, and Rocky Romero
One of the negatives about Ring of Honor during this Wrestlemania weekend was that not a lot of issues were out there to be resolved.  That’s why there were was a four corner survival and a couple of other matches thrown together just for the sake of having them. This match is also a clear illustration of that. You had a mixture of guys coming together from Ring of Honor take on a mixture of guys from Dragon Gate guys. Romero had just returned to the company on a full-time basis while Claudio was being given a second chance to prove himself to Ring of Honor. Just three weeks after Mania weekend 2006, Claudio turned his back to join Chris Hero and Team CZW. This was his chance at a mea culpa.
While the rest of the card had its’ ups and downs, this show certainly had a spectacular main event with tons of back and forth action that you would expect from this contest. You had a number of interactions that happened on just this one night. An example would be Claudio against Dragon Kid. Too bad those guys never had a one-on-one match because Claudio’s best opponents tend to be the ones that are smaller than himself. What other big men would eat the entire déjà vu? Although this wasn’t necessarily a match-up that happened only once, Delirious’ interaction with CIMA is always fun. Of course, the final third contains the kind of insanity and innovation that was such a major part of the 2006 Wrestlemania weekend. CIMA finally wins with a crossfire powerbomb on Delirious.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Team Dragon Gate/27:54/****
-Jimmy Jacobs promo. This promo and the one shown on the next night’s DVD might be two of the greatest promos in Ring of Honor history. In fact, these might be two of my favorite promos of all time. This night’s promo was about the history of their feud and the violence that has come from it. “I love you big brother” is a great creepy way to end things.
Final Thoughts: After re-watching the 2006 Mania shows immediately before this one, the thing that struck me of the most about All-Star Extravaganza was just how inferior it came off. That’s not to say the show was bad at all because there a number of good matches. But when you combine Mark Briscoe’s injury with a lack feuds in the company overall, you don’t get the nearly the same level was was achieved the year before. I’d give this a minor thumbs up for what is here, and the fact that it does set up Supercard of Honor II nicely.
Tomorrow, we examine the end of another epic feud, the sequel to the Dragon Gate six man tag, and THE FIP TITLE IS ON THE LINE!