ROH- Allied Forces DVD Review

I guess you could say it’s honesty time. I’ve become bored with the way I review wrestling DVDs. When I first began this website and was deciding how I wanted to approach this website, I didn’t want to simply write the type of reviews I saw all over the internet. By no means am I saying there’s anything wrong with what anyone else is doing because it’s clearly working and I’ve never received a single e-mail from a reader bashing my or anyone else’s reviewing style. I just don’t simply want to be writing play-by-play and dishing out star ratings. What does this mean? With the dawning of a new year, I figured this was as good a time as any to experiment with a brand new format. I also think Ring of Honor is the perfect company to begin this experiment because they tend to have a lot of useless undercard matches that don’t deserve play-by-play. Forgive my bluntless, but it’s true.
I’ll be testing the waters (not the Matt Waters)  over the next four shows. This is the format:
Match Listing: Fairly self-explanatory and not much of a change from what I used to do.
Match in Five Words or Less: Something I’ll be trying out as I ever so briefly look at the match. Frequent phrases will include “Nothing to see here” or “Match of the year candidate.  I’ll try and come up with some witty ones as well.
Match Summary and Analysis: While I’m stepping away from play-by-play, I’m going to talk about the story or purpose of the match. I’ll talk about some highlight moves and give the finish. I’ll also give my opinion on the match because that’s how I roll. Snarkiness is sure to follow as well.
Winner/Time/Rating: Again, this isn’t a change from what I used to do, but for people who like to skim or find out immediately what I thought of a match, this is a convenient way to organize things.
I’ll also be picking out some of my favorite aspects of the show with various awards. Best line, best finish, and MVP. This is a way to cite the positives aspects of the show in a particular way.
Any compliments or insults about the format? Leave a comment or e-mail me. Otherwise, it’s been over 300 words. Let’s get to the reason you actually clicked the link.
-Taped from Dayton, Ohio
-Your hosts are Kevin Kelly and Dave Prazak
– MIKEY introduces himself. Mike Mondo says he’s a giant killer. This despite the fact that he’s a pretty big man himself. He says it’s gut check time. I thought that was in August of 2006. Corniest promo in Ring of Honor history.
-Mark Briscoe vs. Mike Mondo
Match in Five Words or Less: Basic Opener
Match Summary and Analysis: Kevin Kelly had the gaul to call Dayton a big stop on the ROH schedule. He must not have gotten the memo. Crowd shouted “MIKEY” throughout the match. This is why Dolph Ziggler made a wise decision. No one is going to sit there and shout “DOLPH.” Especially WWE Universe members. This turned into a fairly basis match that Mark Briscoe controlled for the most part. Mondo got a chance to showcase some of his skills, but he didn’t do anything particularly extraordinary. I honestly don’t see the man as anything except a jobber or lower level guy. His gimmick and promo work are way too corny to be taken seriously, particularly in Ring of Honor. Mark Briscoe won with a version of the iconoclasm. I don’t believe he’s ever used this as a finisher before. Sure made Mondo look like even more of a geek. A passable if forgettable way to start the show.
Winner/Time/Rating: Mark Briscoe/9:04/**
-Lady Jojo gets promo time. The only word she wants us to think of is vicious when we watch her. Unless Sid is involved, I don’t care.
-Lady Jojo vs. Daizee Haze
Match in Five Words or Less: Women’s Match, Don’t Care
Match Summary and Analysis: My decision not to do play-by-play is paying immediate dividends based on these first two matches. It’s women’s wrestling. Strike one. Daizee Haze. Strike two.  Someone named Lady Jojo. STRIKE THREE- YOU’RE OUT! In all honesty, the match wasn’t that bad. Haze is not one of my favorite workers, but Jojo made a decent accounting for herself with stiff looking offense. She showed some personality too, something refreshing in women’s wrestling. Her effort did not lead to a victory as Haze won with one of the ugliest German suplexes I’ve seen in recent memory. If ROH is serious about a women’s division, they need to start pushing other women besides Del Rey and Haze and create a title belt/go back to acknowledging the SHIMMER champion. One random note. People who have cut promos before their matches are now 0-2 on this show. I’ll be keeping track of this trend.
Winner/Time/Rating: Daizee Haze/7:58/*1/2
-Colt Cabana puts Mondo and Jojo to shame with his promo work. He’s so much better than them. He talks about Andy Ridge’s trial series and compares that to the way he began in this business. He makes an awful leg pun and talks about him paying dues.
-Daizee Haze promo. Oh Christ. She wants a battle, a war, someone to push her. Remember when she was doing the exact same thing in Chikara. Like last year. Somehow I doubt we get something nearly as interesting as the BDK this time.
-Trial Series Match #1: Colt Cabana vs. Andy “Right Leg” Ridge
Match in Five Words or Less: Colt Cabana Is Not Nice
Match Summary and Analysis: This is the first match of Andy Ridge’s trial series, a concept Delirious borrowed from Pro Wrestling NOAH. I actually think this is a concept that could work if the right guys participate. Plus, I think it gives the students something to do on the main show as opposed to them rolling around the mat on the pre-show. Ridge is also a guy who I think has a lot of potential in this business. Maybe he’s not going to be a star right away, but he’s looked better in limited action than a lot of other ROH students. Sadly, the trial series doesn’t get off to a sterling start as Cabana screws around and doesn’t take Ridge seriously. He acts like a complete dick before Ridge slaps him in the face. I liked the fire shown, but Cabana completely ruined the effectiveness of the slap by pretending to cry. I think this turned the crowd against Ridge in a negative way. Cabana makes short work of Ridge with a Billy Goat’s curse. Ridge got so little offense here. I hope he starts getting more as the series wears on.
Winner/Time/Rating: Colt Cabana/8:31/*
-Cabana says Ridge is close (to what is never made clear, but I assume it’s something about being a roster member or better wrestler) and shakes his hand. I must have been watching the wrong match.
-Kyle O’Reilly and Adam Cole are a bit nervous about wrestling Kevin Steen and Steve Corino, but they’re also ready. O’Reilly sounds like a manlier Roderick Strong. Good work for two newbies.
-Kevin Steen and Steve Corino vs. Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly
Match in Five Words or Less: Steen And Corino Are Awesome
Match Summary and Analysis: Steen comes out with the Generico mask on and a political sign. Was someone named Kevin Steen actually running for office in Ohio. Cause that’s pretty awesome.  Steen cuts a political promo and makes fun of the fans of Dayton. He talks about being El Generico for Halloween. OLE! Thankfully, the highlight of this segment ISN’T the promo but a really good tag team match. Since Steen and Corino are top level heels, it would make sense for them to basically control a good portion of this match against the relative newcomers. That’s exactly they do, but Cole and O’Reilly get enough offense to look credible. They even come close to winning the match when they have Steen all alone in the ring. Perhaps the most incredible thing about this match is the amount of time it got. Nearly 20 minutes. Very good work from all four men. I hope Cole and O’Reilly learned a great deal about pacing and storytelling from this match because the pace was somewhat deliberate and not something you see from a lot of indy tag matches. Corino and Steen’s personalities oozed throughout to make this an awesome tag match and the best thing on the first half of the show.    Steen pins after delivering what I can refer to as an overhead rubix cube exploder. I’m totally taking credit for naming that move.
Winner/Time/Rating: Kevin Steen and Steve Corino/18:32/***1/2
-Ricky Reyes vs. Metal Master
Match in Five Words or Less: Skip
Match Summary and Analysis: Really? I have to watch this match. I’m not for breaking kayfabe or revealing people under hoods, but Chad Collyer under a mask (or without for that matter) has no business in Ring of Honor. Both he and Reyes washed out and failed in ROH once. Twice. Many times as a matter of fact. If they had shown something in under companies or even a thread of personality, I’d say give them the same chances they gave Generico and Steen. You’ve heard of the match after the match after intermission referred to as a “popcorn match.” For me, this might as well be a “shot of Jack Daniels” match. Even the announcers are talking about other things besides what’s going on in the ring.  Reyes also got into it with a plant fan at ringside. The “fan” actually jumped over barricade. I’ll save my rant for tomorrow because this “fan” will be in Chicago. This is seriously one of the most boring matches I’ve seen in years. Crowd is comatose throughout. Reyes has the temerity to use a chinlock. Reyes reverses a roll-up into a dragon sleeper. METAL MASTER DOESN’T TAP! Christ.  After some more back and forth, Reyes gets a thumb to the eye and a swinging neckbreaker for the win. Swear to God that was the finish. Brutal.
Winner/Time/Rating: Rickey Reyes/12:05/*
–Rhett Titus gives Kenny King a pep talk about facing Homicide before talking about his own match with Jay Briscoe. The new serious All Night Express is the best booking decision ROH has made in the last six months. Kenny King compares Homicide to Jerry Lynn and killing ROH legends. Excellent promo.
-Jay Briscoe vs. Rhett Titus
Match in Five Words or Less: Solid Singles Battle
Match Summary and Analysis: Titus ditched the bow tie. Now all he needs is slower theme music. Then he’ll be ready for the next level. This continues the mini-feud going on between ANE and the Briscoes since Titus faced Mark and Jay faced King at Glory by Honor. I’m going to go out on a limb and say this is the best singles match of Titus’ career. A bit on the sloppy but the improvement from even six months ago evident. It helps Jay Briscoe is an underrated singles wrestler too. Very good back and forth throughout this match. I’d probably say they moved a bit too fast times, it at least looked well executed. Titus dropkicks Jay off the top rope and through a table. After a two count, Titus applies Ring of Saturn but doesn’t get the submission. Not a huge fan of that. Jay finally gets the Jaydriller for the win in what was a good comeback win. Would have liked to have seen Titus get a win over at least one of the brothers. Can’t knock the match quality though.
Winner/Time/Rating: Jay Briscoe/18:10/***1/2
-Homicide vs. Kenny King
Match in Five Words or Less: Passable
Match Summary and Analysis: This is a semi main event? Ironically, this is the same city King got an ROH world title match in. I know a lot of people have been highly critical of Homicide since returning to the indies. I maintain the position that it’s far easier to get back to being motivated after having been a part of a national wrestling company. Plus, the guy is nursing some injuries. I’m not defending the quality of his matches, but before burying the man, I think we should all at least try to put things into context. Homicide is never going to be the best technical wrestler, but the fans still seem to be into his act for the most part. Homicide controls the early part of the match some borderline illegal moves as he beats King up inside and outside. A fairly long portion of the match is spent outside as Homicide rotates between beating King up and having to go back to break the count. He even pokes King in the eye on a handshake. A fine babyface. King looked more confident in his control segment than I’ve seen in the past. He’s also moving away from flashy moves, which has positives and negatives at this point. You can see how dinged up Homicide is because the snap in his moves isn’t there. I noticed this in particular when Homicide tries the three amigos suplexes. Rhett Titus comes out to distract Homicide, but that fails. Really wasn’t that much of a distraction. Homicide goes for a cop killer, but King applies… a sleeper? Has he been watching Dolph Ziggler matches or something? Homicide out of the hold. He hits an acecrusher and gets the win. Fairly decent contest  where King didn’t look like a complete geek but Homicide looked dominant on his road to an ROH title match. After the match, Titus and King beat down Homicide and go for the spike piledriver. The same piledriver that put Jerry Lynn and Delirious on the shel. Jay Briscoe comes out with a chair to make the save. Homicide doesn’t want Jay Briscoe’s help and makes that very clear. This goes back to their rivalry six years ago, but neither announcer fails to mention that. Homicide and Jay go back and forth on the mic using some rather foul language. Jay even makes mention of the three letters that strike fear into any wrestling fan’s heart.
Winner/Time/Rating: Homicide/16:38/***
-I want to point out before the main event starts that anyone who cut a prematch promo went 1-5.
-ROH World Tag Team Championship: Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli w/Shane Hagadorn)(champions) vs. Davey Richards and Christopher Daniels
Match in Five Words or Less: Great Main Event
Match Summary and Analysis: MAIN EVENT TIME! I hate when Ring of Honor does this. And this isn’t just a Delirious or Adam Pearce issue but something Gabe Sapolsky did as well. Have two guys who are wrestling on a Saturday show wrestle together on the Friday show. It’s so annoying and the best example of lazy booking you’ll ever see. Feeling out process among the four men leads to the babyface challengers working Chris Hero. Some nice double team work from two guys who at least have a lot of experience in tag team wrestling.  Claudio and Hero show their own experience working together and get a control segment on Richards. Claudio and Richards have an unbelievable sequence out of a vertical suplex position. Tremendous athleticism as they battle. Daniels hot tag and he’s a house of fire. The man is clearly on tonight with some of the wacky moves he’s pulling out in this main event. One thing you can never accuse Daniels of is not knowing when to turn it on. KOW double team Daniels and hit a series of death strikes. You could hear those clearly off the DVD. Things break down in Dayton as all four men go in and out of the ring. Richards and Claudio show they they’re two of the best in the world with a tremendous series of counters. These two guys are just ridiculous right now. Daniels and Richards break out a couple of the American Wolves double team moves for fun.  After more insanity, Richards is kicked into Daniels. Hero elbows Daniels which leads to Richards being taken out of the ring. KRS-1 gets the Kings a clean win. A fine way to end a mediocre show. Daniels and Richards had great chemistry for a team despite never being one before. Richards and Claudio had a number of fun mini-matchups. They really need to have more singles matches against each other. Daniels and Richards argue after the match. Hero gets on the microphone and says they’re the best team in the world. Hard to argue at this point. Richards responds by pointing out he has another tag team partner in Eddie Edwards. Richards talks about wondering what he could do to become like Daniels, AJ Styles, and Samoa Joe. Now he says it’s his time to become the top dog and the next world champion. Daniels responds but doesn’t say anything of note.
Winner/Time/Rating: STILL ROH World Tag Team Champions- Kings of Wrestling/25:38/****
-Christopher Daniels promo. He gives KOW credit for taking advantage and talks about having a clear focus going into Chicago. Not sure what the point of the backstage promo is immediately after the live promo. This might have fit in before the Chicago show better.
Line of the Night: Dave Prazak when Corino sticks his thumb in Adam Cole’s ass: He declares a thumb war!
Best Finish: Kevin Steen killing Adam Cole dead in the match before intermission with the overhead rubix cube exploder. Killer.
MVP:  Kevin Steen and Steve Corino. Maybe this wasn’t the best match on the card, but Steen and Corino’s personalities make any show they’re on better. They did a great job making Cole and O’Reilly look competent and worthy of being in Ring of Honor. An 18 minute match is not easy, especially considering one team has little experience together. They pulled it together brilliantly. That Kevin Steen sure has been pretty good this year.
Disk 2 Bonus Features
I’m not going to dedicate three hours of my life to rewatching the Samoa Joe/CM Punk trilogy despite how awesome all the matches are. If you already own the matches, don’t let this disk affect your judgment one way or the other. If you don’t own the matches? Then now is the time to pluck down 20 dollars and see two future world champions have one of the best trilogies I’ve seen in the last 20 years. It’s like Lord of the Ring, minus the WALKING.
The Verdict: Dayton shows for Ring of Honor tend to be a chore to watch. Thankfully there were a couple pleasant surprises. I’ve already talked one of the tag team matches at length, but the Jay Briscoe/Rhett Titus was very good and showed how both guys could be potential singles champions by the end of 2011. The main event was about what I expected from four of the best on the independent scene. I can’t offer a definitive thumbs up for this show, but I wouldn’t discourage readers from purchasing the show either. If you don’t own the CM Punk/Samoa Joe trilogy, then this is an automatic thumbs up regardless of what I think of Allied Forces.
For more information on ROH and their upcoming shows , check out ROH’s Website. To buy this and many other ROH DVDs, check out their store. To watch all of the videowires that are included as bonus features and check out the tremendous video packages which hype various matches and iPPVs, check out ROH’s Youtube page.. Below is a list of contact information for both the website and me.
Contact Pro Wrestling Ponderings!
E-mail: mailbag@prowrestlingponderings.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pwponderings
Twitter: www.twitter.com/pwponderings
Youtube: www.youtube.com/pwponderings
Read my blogs!
Pro Wrestling Guerilla: www.guerillaeffect.wordpress.com
AAW: www.aawdefined.wordpress.com
Contact ME!
E-mail: jcusson07@gmail.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/jeromesellsout