December 5th, 2009 in Chicago
Colt Cabana cuts a pretty good promo to kick off the DVD. He appears more serious than usual and it greatly aids in building up the main event.
Jim Cornette makes his way to the ring. He talks about the war with CZW and how he hurt his knee in Chicago. He thanks the crowd and hypes the television show on HDNet. He promises that there will be a winner between Austin Aries and Colt Cabana tonight.
Opening Match: Rasche Brown vs. Joey Ryan vs. Sami Callihan vs. Shane Hollister
Callihan and Hollister trade strikes. Hollister connects with a stiff kick but gets booted to the floor. Brown just tosses Callihan out as well and Ryan runs away from him. Brown military presses Hollister but Ryan sends him to the outside. Callihan and Ryan work over Hollister until he hits a reverse hurricanrana on Callihan and tags out. Ryan stops a dive from Brown but gets flatlined by Hollister. Callihan catches Hollister with a fireman’s carry slam for a nearfall. Hollister almost pins Ryan with a small package. He lands a dive to the floor onto Ryan and Callihan follows suit. Brown completes the dive sequence with an incredibly agile dive. In the ring, Ryan hits the Mustache Ride on Hollister for the win at 10:05. It’s nice seeing a four corner survival without Claudio Castagnoli or Colt Cabana. Brown is different in a good way and Hollister was treated as a regular despite him making his debut here. Some fun sequences and fresh competitors made this a fine opener. **¼
Match #2: Kevin Steen (1) vs. Claudio Castagnoli
Claudio goes directly after Steen’s injured left knee before the bell. He locks in a figure four and drives the knee across the ring apron. Steen sends him into the ringpost and lands a dive off the top rope. Steen jumps off the barricade and catches Claudio with a tornado DDT. In the ring, Steen lands a swantan and connects with an enzuigiri. Claudio answers with a running bicycle kick and a one-arm powerbomb. Steen hits a lungblower along with his pumphandle neckbreaker. Claudio comes back with the Alpamare Waterslide and synchs in a half crab. He follows with a one-leg giant swing and locks in a sharpshooter for the victory at 6:23. Too short to mean much, but they worked hard to make this match worthwhile. Claudio was relentless in attacking the injured knee and Steen was great with his characterization as always. **
Steen grabs a microphone after the match. He talks about his memories of the first Ladder War. It’s his son’s second birthday. Normally, he would take the night off. However, he felt that he owed it to the fans to wrestle for them.
Match #3: Matt and Nick Jackson vs. Josh Raymond and Christian Able
The House of Truth attack before the bell. Matt catches Able with a missile dropkick and lands a dive to the floor onto Raymond. Back in, the Young Bucks hit a neckbreaker-senton combination on Raymond. Truth Martini interjects himself, allowing Able to powerbomb Raymond onto Matt. The House of Truth isolate him until he gets his knees up on another powerbomb attempt and makes the tag. Nick clotheslines Raymond to the outside and follows with a moonsault. He hits a slingshot facebuster on Able and dropkicks Raymond off the apron. Truth Martini breaks up More Bang for Your Buck. Raymond is able to roll up Nick with a handful of tights for the win at 8:47. I’ve been wanting the House of Truth to get a big win for awhile now and I’m glad they finally did. They are such a unique tag team that can impress with double teams and get the crowd to hate them by using their charisma. For example, during the heat segment, Raymond stood on the apron and yelled “we’re winning!”. It doesn’t sound like much, but simple touches like that are appreciated. While the match was on the shorter side, I’m more interested and happy with the result. **¾
Match #4: Roderick Strong (3) vs. Kenny Omega (5)
They start with some nice exchanges where neither man can get a definitive advantage. Strong connects with his first chop but Omega responds with a hurricanrana. Strong hits a leg lariat along with a suplex. Omega escapes a slingshot falcon arrow and connects with a sliding dropkick. He controls until Strong catches him coming off the top with a dropkick. Strong hits a powerslam along with a backbreaker. Omega answers with the Kotaro Krusher. He kicks Strong off the apron and follows out with a moonsault. Back in, Omega connects with a springboard dropkick and hits a dragon suplex. He adds Blue Destiny but falls victim to a backbreaker. Strong locks in the Stronghold but Omega makes the ropes. Omega counters another Stronghold into a small package for a nearfall. Strong hits another backbreaker but Omega responds with a reverse hurricanrana. They trade strikes and Strong connects with a yakuza kick for a nearfall. Strong hits a gutbuster followed by the Gibson Driver for the victory at 20:26. This match deserved to be allotted twenty minutes. However, for what they were going for, I think that a shorter duration would have helped. They kept the match pretty back and forth, to the point where they weren’t getting much response from the crowd. Even down the stretch, there wasn’t as much suspense as you’d expect. The good news is that these two are talented enough to trade moves for twenty minutes and it still be entertaining to watch. I just don’t think we’ve seen what they are fully capable of quite yet. ***
Match #5: Necro Butcher vs. Erick Stevens
Stevens attacks during Necro’s entrance. Necro sends him into the ringpost and tries to suffocate him with a plastic bag. Stevens recovers and sends Necro into the barricade. He powerslams Necro onto the entrance ramp and repeatedly slams his head into the barricade. Stevens maintains control until Necro connects with a series of headbutts. They battle on the apron and tease a table spot. Prince Nana interferes, stopping a tiger driver. Stevens hits Necro with a chair but that only fires him up. Necro responds with a series of punches and takes out the referee. That draws the disqualification at 10:19. I understand what they were going for…probably because I’ve seen this type of brawl in ROH way too much. The beginning portion was pretty energetic. The action became dull when they went inside of the ring. Additionally, the finish flat out sucked. Stevens essentially got intentionally disqualified and I guess Necro can punch referees whenever he wants as long as the crowd pops. This was a mess. *
Match #6: Tyler Black (4) vs. Kenny King
Black blocks a cheap shot but walks into an elbow. King takes control until Black comes back with a springboard moonsault and a dropkick. King catches Black coming off the top with a spinebuster. He lands his springboard leg drop and follows with a senton from the apron. Black is thrown into the barricade but finds an opening to hit a suplex on the floor. They take turns sending each other into the barricade. King misses a kick and collides with the ringpost. Black plants him with a tornado DDT. In the ring, King knocks Black off the top rope with a kick. Black returns the favor and connects with a hesitation dropkick. He adds a springboard lariat and a neckbreaker. Black sends King to the outside and follows out with a dive. Back in, King hits a northern lights suplex into the turnbuckles but falls victim to a kick to the head. King catches Black with the Royal Flush for a nearfall. Black counters shotgun knees into the bucklebomb and hits a superkick for a two count. King finds success with shotgun knees on his second attempt. He counters God’s Last Gift into a small package. Black powers him up and hits God’s Last Gift for the win at 20:17. Much better than their previous match. It started a little plodding but the action soon picked up in a big way. They received twenty minutes to work with and they used their time wisely to improve upon their previous encounter. The reversals towards the end were unique and really added to the match. Black looked strong in winning and this is a case where King benefited, even if he lost. ***¼
Match #7: Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Jon Davis and Kory Chavis
It’s a brawl to start. Mark throws Chavis into the barricade while Jay flatlines Davis into the turnbuckles. The Briscoes lay out Davis with a shoulder block. Davis comes back with a leg drop on Jay. Mark catches Chavis with a flying elbow and adds a senton from the middle rope. The DCFC find an opening to hit Total Elimination on Mark and take over. They isolate him until lands a crossbody on Davis and makes the tag. Jay connects with a superkick on Chavis and hits an ace crusher on Davis. Davis answers with an exploder and Chavis adds a leg drop. Jay hits a death valley driver on Chavis and Mark lands a top rope senton. Jay walks into a big lariat from Davis. The DCFC hit Project Mayhem on Mark for a nearfall. Jay clotheslines Davis to the floor. A doomsday device attempt is interrupted by Davis. He pounces Jay but gets caught with a flying kick. Mark sunset flips Chavis for the victory at 12:11. The finish and post-match happenings indicate that there will be a rematch. However, I don’t know how well these two teams mesh. They are extremely similar and the crowd was pretty quiet for this contest. I can see them doing better in a brawling environment. As it is, this was a fine match that was used primarily to setup a rematch. **½
The DCFC attack the Briscoes after the match. Chavis takes care of the referee. Jay chases them off with a chair.
Match #8: ROH World Title: Cage Match: Austin Aries © vs. Colt Cabana
If Cabana loses, he will no longer be able to challenge for the ROH World Title in Chicago. Aries begins with a slap but Cabana returns the favor. Aries tries many times to escape the cage to no avail. Cabana works in some goofy offense, which seems totally out of place here. Aries crotches him and starts working over the left leg. Cabana yanks him off the top rope and lands a lionsault. He blocks a corner dropkick and lays out Aries with a leg lariat. Aries comes back with a missile dropkick but falls victim to a gutbuster. Cabana misses an enzuigiri and Aries goes back to the injured leg. Aries dropkicks Cabana into the cage and busts him open. Aries tries to escape but Cabana catches him with a spinning slam. They battle on the top rope and Aries hits a sunset bomb. Cabana ducks a kick and locks in the Billy Goat’s Curse. Aries rolls through and slams the cage door into Cabana. Aries connects with punches but Cabana hulks up. Cabana drapes Aries across the top rope and throws him into the cage. Now Aries is busted open as well. Cabana sets Aries up between the ropes and the cage. He hits the flying asshole…ARIES GOES THROUGH THE CAGE AND TO THE FLOOR! Aries retains his title at 26:13. This was a fine cage match but I have to say that I expected more. They were good at teasing escape attempts. But for every previous instance, there was a time where Cabana or Aries would stand around instead of trying to escape. To be honest, the finish was a little off-the-wall. However, it would have been effective if Cabana didn’t bust out his comedy offense in the early portions of the match. To truly feel like Cabana was cheated, I need to believe that he was desperately trying to win the belt. I didn’t get that vibe here. I have mentioned some aspects working against this match. I’ll give them credit for trying some different things and there were some nice moves utilizing the cage. I just think that they could have done a lot more, especially given twenty-six minutes. ***
Jim Cornette comes down to ringside after the match looking angry. Cabana asks for another ROH World Title match soon and Cornette says that he will get him a Pick 6 match as soon as possible.
Overall: Reverse The Curse is a decent show, but ultimately underwhelming. Strong/Omega was too back and forth to grab my full attention and the main event was below my expectations. The true bright spot on the show is Black/King as they improve upon their previous match and both men come out for the better. The rest of the card is pretty average but I’m glad that the House of Truth finally got a win. Although there’s some fine wrestling here, there’s nothing that needs to be seen immediately. You could probably skip this show with the notion that Strong and Omega will likely have a rematch and the main event is only significant for its finish.
