ROH: The Omega Effect Review

November 14th, 2009 in Mississauga


Opening Match: Matt and Nick Jackson vs. Asylum and Matt Burns
This is the Flatliners’ debut in ROH. Burns attacks Nick before the bell but gets caught with a headscissors. The Young Bucks connect with stereo dropkicks on Asylum and take over. Nick lands a dive to the floor onto the Flatliners and hits a slingshot facebuster on Asylum. The Flatliners gain control after a lungblower-german suplex combination on Nick. They isolate him until the Flatliners collide with each other, allowing Nick to make the tag. Matt bulldogs Asylum and hits a springboard ace crusher. Burns comes off the top and catches Matt with a DDT. Nick connects with a slingshot dropkick on Asylum and follows with a superkick. He lands a dive to the floor onto Burns. The Young Bucks hit More Bang for Your Buck on Asylum for the win at 9:42. I actually quite liked the Flatliners. They worked well together and showed some different double team moves. Unfortunately, they may be too similar to the Dark City Fight Club in stature to stand out. The Young Bucks were solid as usual and this was a fine opener. **½

Match #2: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Colt Cabana vs. Delirious vs. Grizzly Redwood
These four corner survivals are becoming a little tiring. Cabana and Grizzly stop Claudio from leaving the match. Claudio fights off his opponents in the ring until they start hitting him with his own glove. Claudio military presses Grizzly to the outside onto Delirious. Cabana snaps off a headscissors on Claudio and Grizzly adds a hurricanrana. Cabana hits the flying asshole on Claudio and Delirious follows with the Panic Attack. Delirious connects with a leaping clothesline on Cabana but walks into a boot from Claudio. Grizzly catches Claudio with a tornado DDT but Cabana drapes him over the top turnbuckle. Claudio hits a popup european uppercut on Delirious along with the UFO. Cabana throws Grizzly at Claudio and covers Delirious for the victory at 6:22. It helped that this match was only six minutes. I feel that these four corner survivals are a waste, as Cabana would be more built up if he beat Claudio in a twelve minute quality match (not that I want to see that pairing again). Fun in parts but I just don’t see the point. *¾

Match #3: Rhett Titus and Kenny King vs. Player Uno and Player Dos
The heels attack before the bell. Dos connects with a double dropkick and the Super Smash Brothers gain control. King takes out Uno’s left leg and turns the tide in his favor. Dos tags in with a double springboard crossbody and the SSB land stereo dives onto their opponents. Titus uses the referee to stop a top rope move from Dos. The heels work him over until lands a springboard moonsault. Titus stops his momentum with a dropkick. Dos connects with a double pele kick and makes the hot tag. Uno cleans house with clotheslines and hits a neckbreaker on King. The SSB hit a spear-uranagi combination on King for a two count. King catches Dos with a spinning backbreaker and Titus adds a flying knee. Dos hurricanranas Titus off the top and the SSB hit their alabama slam-backcracker combination on King. Dos is sent to the floor by King. Titus and King lay out Uno with a powerbomb-blockbuster combination for the win at 9:32. This was a fine showcase match for both teams. However, it was nearly an EXACT COPY of their match at Never Say Die. I’m all for rematches, but dear me, mix things up a little bit. **

Match #4: El Generico vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
Nakajima refuses a handshake before the bell. He connects with a kick but Generico responds with a few armdrags. Nakajima blocks a dive with a springboard dropkick. He kicks Generico into the front row and catches Generico coming off the barricade with another kick. Nakajima takes over in the ring until Generico sends him to the floor and follows out with a dive. Back in, Generico lands a flying crossbody and absolutely plants Nakajima with a michinoku driver. Generico misses a yakuza kick and Nakajima connects with an enzuigiri. Nakajima follows with a missile dropkick. Generico comes back with a DDT through the middle and bottom rope. Haven’t seen that in awhile. Generico hits an overhead suplex into the turnbuckles along with a yakuza kick and a half nelson suplex. Nakajima answers with a brainbuster. They trade yakuza kicks and Generico hits a brainbuster of his own for a nearfall. Nakajima hits a saito suplex and a diving knee drop. He adds more kicks but can’t get the win. Nakajima hits a german suplex for the victory at 14:14. They may have ended the match early due to Nakajima getting injured during his diving knee drop. Regardless, they put on a very good match that woke the crowd up in a big way. I preferred Nakajima’s match against Kenny Omega from the previous show a bit more. However, these two still had great chemistry and delivered a fine finish when considering that Nakajima could have been hurt. ***½

Match #5: Roderick Strong (2) vs. Tyler Black (3)
They do some chain wrestling and give each other clean breaks. Strong connects with a leg lariat but Black answers with a spin kick. Strong wins a chop battle and applies a wacky submission hold. Black escapes and stomps him in the face. Strong fights off a tornado DDT and takes over. They exchange strikes and Black is able to hit a tornado DDT. He follows with a hesitation dropkick and a springboard lariat. Strong comes back with a powerslam, backbreaker, and falcon arrow. Black reverses a gutbuster into a hurricanrana and hits Paroxysm. He adds a lionsault but gets caught with a dropkick off a springboard attempt. Strong hits a backbreaker and locks in a boston crab. Black catches him with a TKO. Strong dazes him on the apron with a kick and hits a back suplex. They trade forearms and kicks. Strong reverses a superkick into a rollup for a two count. Black hits God’s Last Gift for a nearfall. Strong answers with another backbreaker, gutbuster, and yakuza kick. They exchange kicks and both men are down. The time limit expires at 20:00 and the match is ruled a draw. Dear me do these two have chemistry. I actually think that the booking here will work in the long run. Multiple rematches will ensue from this match, which was a nice preview of what is to come. The reversals throughout were just flawless and they really built up some of the nearfalls down the stretch. I’m giving this match a fairly high rating. The scary thing is, I feel that these two are capable of much better when they actually have a storyline and a finish to work with. ***¾

Match #6: Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Erick Stevens and Joey Ryan
Jay clotheslines Ryan to the floor as Mark hits an exploder on Stevens. Everyone brawls around ringside and the Briscoes take control back in the ring. Stevens sneaks in a knee from the apron and Ryan catches Jay with a dropkick. The Embassy work him over until he flatlines Stevens into the turnbuckles and makes the tag. Mark connects with a spin kick on Stevens and sends Ryan to the outside. Mark lands a dive to the floor. Back in, Prince Nana gets involved and Stevens hits a suplex on Mark. The Embassy isolate him until he lands a flying crossbody on Stevens and tags out. Jay cleans house, hitting a spinebuster on Ryan. Mark catches Stevens coming off the top with an ace crusher. Jay lays out Ryan with a death valley driver and Mark follows with a senton. Stevens elevates Jay into a lariat and Ryan adds a superkick. Jay blocks a superkick and the Briscoes go for the doomsday device. Ernie Osiris interferes and stops it. Ryan rolls up Jay while holding his tights for the win at 12:31. Stevens and Ryan make a surprisingly good team and it has freshened up both of their acts in ROH. This was a fine contest to put over the Embassy while keeping the Briscoes looking strong for their upcoming title match. **½

Match #7: Chris Hero (1) vs. Kevin Steen
Hero goes for a roaring elbow and Steen goes for a sharpshooter, both to no avail. Steen frustrates Hero with his adept mat work and they trade shots. Hero is sent to the floor with a spin kick and Steen follows out with a dive. Steen follows with a swantan off the ring apron. Back in, Shane Hagadorn prevents a top rope move from Steen and Hero sneaks in an elbow. Hero takes over until he accidentally connects with the ringpost off a roaring elbow attempt. Steen hits an overhead suplex along with a stunner. He plants Hero with a DDT and finds success with his corner cannonball. Hero answers with a kick and a roaring elbow. Steen catches him off a baseball slide and swings him into the barricade. Steen locks in a sharpshooter on the floor but can’t reapply it back in the ring. Instead, he connects with a superkick but Hero responds with two stiff kicks. Hero hits a roaring elbow but Steen catches him with a powerbomb. Steen synchs in a sharpshooter and transitions into a crossface. Hagadorn puts Hero’s foot on the ropes. Hero connects with the Deathblow for a two count. Steen counters another Deathblow attempt with a Package Piledriver for the victory at 19:15. For the first time, it actually feels like Steen won something by earning the #1 spot in the Pick 6. I’m not sure how legitimate the Pick 6 actually is but that’s another story for a different time. They worked a longer match and the crowd deserves credit for cheering on Steen throughout most of the duration. It made a lot of the exchanges towards the end more effective. These two didn’t have great chemistry but they are talented enough individually and received enough time to make this match worth watching. ***

Match #8: ROH World Title: Austin Aries © vs. Kenny Omega
Aries runs down the crowd on the microphone before the match. Omega wants to respond but Aries tells him “if you want the mic, get the belt”. Aries shows off his mat skills, fish hooking Omega at one point. Omega returns the favor. Aries counters a hurricanrana into a powerbomb and connects with a back elbow. He proceeds to celebrate around the ring. They trade side headlocks, both grabbing each other’s hair to hold on. Aries tries to escape a headscissors but Omega has him scouted. Omega snaps off a hurricanrana and sends Aries into the barricade. Omega holds Aries in position for a small boy to punch Aries in the chest. Aries gets caught with a baseball slide and Omega back drops him into the crowd. Aries drapes Omega across the top rope and lands a double axe handle to the floor. Back in, Aries hits a slingshot senton and takes over. Omega comes back with his stop enzuigiri and some polish hammers. He follows with some spin kicks and a moonsault from the middle rope. Aries hits a neckbreaker in the ropes and connects with his heat seeking missile to the floor. A chair is propped up and Omega hits his leaping bulldog onto it. Omega sits Aries on the chair and connects with double knees. In the ring, Aries starts working over the left leg. He utilizes his shinbreaker-suplex combination and works in a figure four. Omega blocks a corner dropkick with the Hadouken. He sends Aries to the outside with a springboard dropkick and follows out with a dive. Omega enters the ring with a flying crossbody. They trade reversals and Aries hits his corner dropkick. He locks in the Last Chancery but Omega makes the ropes. They battle up top and Omega hits Blue Destiny for a nearfall. He follows with a dragon suplex and Croyt’s Wrath but Aries puts his foot on the ropes during the pin attempt. Aries suplexes Omega to the floor and Omega’s head bounces off a table. Aries sends Omega into the crowd and tries for a countout victory. Omega beats the count. They trade forearms and Omega connects with a superkick. Omega pulls off a couple of quick pin attempts to no avail. Aries connects with his corner dropkick and hits two brainbusters. Aries adds a few knee strikes and applies the Last Chancery to retain his title at 34:57. Omega definitely impressed in his first ROH World Title match. One thing I like about Aries is that his style mixes well with almost any opponent he’s put up against. He proved that on the last show by getting a different match out of Richards and showed it again by giving Omega his best match in ROH thus far. The crowd was solidly behind Omega and he cut out a majority of his wacky offense to show the seriousness of this match. I recommend seeking this contest out as it’s matches like these that make Aries’ second title run worthwhile. ****

Overall: The Omega Effect is a high quality show, just under Aries vs. Richards. Aries shows why he is valued so highly by providing a great title defense in the main event. Omega also took the necessary measures to make the main event special. Elsewhere, Strong and Black deliver a solid preview of what’s to come in a twenty-minute draw while Nakajima has another good showing in a match against Generico. This is the kind of show that I want to start seeing on a consistent basis from ROH. Easy recommendation.