April 1st, 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia
Current Champions
ROH World Champion: Eddie Edwards (since 3/19/11)
ROH World Tag Team Champions: The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli) (since 4/3/10)
ROH World Television Champion: Christopher Daniels (since 12/10/10)
Opening Match: El Generico vs. Michael Elgin
Elgin asserts his power advantage early on. Generico connects with corner punches and lands a flying crossbody. Elgin reverses a tornado DDT attempt into a backbreaker. He takes control until Generico comes off the top with a hurricanrana and hits a blue thunder bomb. Generico follows with an exploder into the turnbuckles. Elgin blocks a corner yakuza kick and connects with a lariat. He hits a swinging side slam but Generico lures him to the floor. Elgin catches Generico on a dive attempt and tries to powerslam him into the barricade, but Generico is able to escape. Generico shoves Elgin into the barricade and hits a tornado DDT after diving in between the turnbuckles. In the ring, Generico tries a corner yakuza kick but a masked man grabs his feet. Elgin hits a powerbomb for the win at 9:12. Generico is the perfect opponent for Elgin and they proved once again that they have great chemistry together. The finish was unfortunate, as the match was just reaching a higher gear and the crowd was getting into the action. However, sometimes match quality is sacrificed for storyline advancement and hopefully the rubber match will take place somewhere down the line. **½
Truth Martini is in the ring with Caleb Konley. Martini says that it’s Konley’s night to prove that he belongs in the House of Truth…
Match #2: Homicide vs. Colt Cabana vs. Caleb Konley vs. Tommaso Ciampa
The crowd chants “let’s go Spanky” at Konley. He snaps off a hurricanrana on Cabana but runs into a flying hip attack. Homicide hits an overhead suplex on Konley. Ciampa throws Homicide to the outside where Mia Yim attacks him with a spin kick. Back in, Ciampa and Konley work over Homicide until he dodges a kick from Konley and makes the tag. Cabana cleans house with a series of bionic elbows and kisses Yim. He lands a springboard moonsault onto Konley and follows with the flying asshole. Ciampa hits a neckbreaker on Cabana but gets caught by a running knee strike from Konley. Ciampa hits Project Ciampa on Konley. Homicide and Ciampa trade punches. Homicide lands a dive to the floor onto Cabana and then does the same to Ciampa. He throws Konley to the floor and lands yet another dive. In the ring, Homicide hits the Cop Killa on Konley for the victory at 9:23. This was the usual four corner survival with some decent action down the stretch that the crowd reacted to. My only complaint would be that Ciampa was treated as an afterthought, which is strange considering how strong he looked in his debut. **
After the match, Martini gives Konley a thumbs up and then mentions that today is April Fools’ Day. Michael Elgin takes out Konley with a lariat and hits a powerbomb.
Match #3: Sara Del Rey and Serena Deeb vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto and Ayumi Kurihara
Matsumoto wins an armdrag exchange with Deeb. Kurihara connects with double knees on Del Rey and hits a snap suplex. Kurihara lands a dive off the top rope onto her opponents. Back in, Del Rey dropkicks Kurihara from the apron and she gets isolated. The SHIMMER Tag Team Champions, Daizee Haze and Tomoka Nakagawa, are watching this match from the entranceway. Kurihara hits a lungblower on Del Rey and makes the tag. Matsumoto lands a double crossbody and hits a gutbuster on Del Rey. Del Rey connects with a kappou kick on Matsumoto but gets caught by a missile dropkick from Kurihara. Kurihara hits a uranagi on Deeb and Matsumoto follows with a saito suplex for the win at 9:02. Matsumoto and Kurihara definitely made a good first impression, successfully generating intrigue in their match on the next show. These SHIMMER showcase matches can actually be effective every once in while if they are treated with importance. **¾
After the match, Tomoka Nakagawa spits water into Kurihara’s face and the SHIMMER Tag Team Champions quickly run to the back.
Match #4: Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly
Kenny King and Rhett Titus were ejected from the building earlier for getting into an altercation with the Briscoes. Mark and Cole have a fast exchange and wrestle to a stalemate. O’Reilly tries an early cross armbreaker but Jay escapes and connects with a boot. Cole catches Jay with a basement dropkick. Mark lights up Cole with chops but falls victim to a double team flapjack. Jay levels O’Reilly with a clothesline and the Briscoes isolate him. He fights them off with a series of kicks and makes the tag. Cole enzuigiris Jay off the apron and takes him out with dive to the floor. Back in, Jay hits a spinebuster on Cole and the Briscoes work him over. Cole comes off the middle rope with leg lariat on Mark and makes the tag. O’Reilly connects with a series of strikes on Mark and hits a double dragon screw leg whip. He follows with a double missile dropkick and hits rolling butterfly suplexes on Mark. Cole hits a wheelbarrow german suplex on Mark for a nearfall. O’Reilly comes off the apron with a missile dropkick on Jay at ringside. Cole lands a flying crossbody onto Mark followed by a neckbreaker. Cole and O’Reilly add stereo kicks for a two count. Mark connects with an enzuigiri on Cole and Jay follows with a falcon arrow. Jay superkicks O’Reilly and Mark adds a nasty exploder. The Briscoes hit the doomsday device on Cole for the victory at 13:24. There is no doubt in my mind that the Briscoes are better suited as heels. It’s safe to say that a majority of the people in the crowd didn’t see the Briscoes’ heel turn at Manhattan Mayhem IV at this point, yet the Briscoes were being solidly booed by the end of this contest. Some of that credit goes to Cole and O’Reilly, as they are quickly becoming fan favorites in ROH. Everything clicked here and this ended up being a great showcase for both teams. ***¼
After the match, Kenny King and Rhett Titus appear in the crowd. They charge the ring and start brawling with the Briscoes. Staff tries to break them up as the crowd chants “let them fight.” At ringside, King attempts a piledriver on Mark. Jay military presses a staff member onto King to save his partner. Staff eventually separates both teams and the All Night Express stand tall in the ring.
Match #5: Roderick Strong vs. Davey Richards
Both men are relatively cautious early on. Richards avoids a chop and connects with a kick. Strong slaps him and Richards responds with more kicks. Richards controls with various submissions and even hits a backbreaker. Truth Martini interjects himself, allowing Strong to enzuigiri Richards to the floor. Richards has a bloody mouth as Strong takes over, dropping him back-first across the apron. Richards punts Strong from the apron and lands a dive to the floor. In the ring, Richards connects with a missile dropkick and follows with his handspring enzuigiri. He hits a german suplex and applies an ankle lock but Strong counters into a lebell lock. Strong hits a gourdbuster and a side slam. He drops Richards back-first across the top turnbuckle. Strong locks in the Stronghold but Richards quickly reaches the bottom rope. They exchange strikes in the corner and Richards comes out on top. Strong blocks a charge but gets caught by an Alarm Clock. Richards connects with a knockout kick but eats a flying knee. Both men are down. They battle on the apron where Strong drops Richards back-first across the apron yet again. Richards tries to reenter the ring but Strong superkicks him to the floor. Back in, Strong connects with the Sick Kick for a nearfall. He follows with a backbreaker and a gutbuster for a two count. Richards answers with a saito suplex and connects with a discus lariat. He adds a knockout kick but Strong spits at him. Richards connects with another knockout kick and applies an ankle lock. Martini gets involved, allowing Strong to hit his orange crush backbreaker. Strong follows with the Gibson Driver and synchs in the Stronghold. Richards counters into an ankle lock but Martini actually enters the ring this time. Richards boots him to the floor and reapplies the ankle lock. Strong gets to the ropes and they battle up top. Richards hits a superplex and transitions into a falcon arrow. Richards goes back to the ankle lock for the win at 27:06. Anytime that these two step into the ring together, you’re going to get an extremely worthwhile match. However, there were a few elements that stop this contest from matching their outing at Final Battle. The predictability of Richards winning didn’t have me biting on any of Strong’s nearfalls (especially because Richards kicked out of everything at Final Battle) and made Martini’s interference down the stretch kind of moot. Additionally, Strong didn’t come out of this match looking the greatest, as I felt he relied almost too much on Martini throughout the contest. Still, this match was filled with fantastic action and exchanges. It was smart for ROH to book this style of match on WrestleMania weekend, as I could see this kind of action appealing to those new to the promotion. ***¾
Match #6: ROH World Tag Team Titles: Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli © vs. Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin
Shelton utilizes his agility against Claudio and tries a few quick pin attempts to no avail. Haas hits an overhead suplex on Hero and snaps off a few armdrags. Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team start working over Claudio’s left leg. They lay out the champions with stereo german suplexes. Claudio catches Shelton with an uppercut and the Kings of Wrestling isolate him, targeting his left arm. He catches Hero with a spin kick and makes the tag. Haas snaps off a headscissors on Claudio and hits an overhead suplex on Hero. He follows with a powerslam on Hero and comes off the middle rope with a hurricanrana on Claudio. Shelton superkicks Hero and WGTT do their leapfrog splash onto both of their opponents. Hero connects with a roaring elbow on Haas and the champions follow with a mafia kick-bicycle kick combination. Claudio giant swings Haas into a basement dropkick from Hero. Shelton hits a leaping flatliner on Hero and plants Claudio with a tornado DDT. Haas and Claudio trade strikes and Claudio eventually connects with a popup european uppercut. Haas hits an olympic slam on Claudio and applies the Haas of Pain. Sara Del Rey distracts the referee while Hero goes up top with his loaded elbow pad. Shelton jumps to the top rope and superplexes Hero. Claudio taps out and Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team become the new ROH World Tag Team Champions at 22:57. These two teams worked well together once again. However, I must admit that this is my least favorite match out of the three that they’ve had together. The contest started out much slower than I expected and I didn’t sense that they were playing off of any of their previous matches. The action definitely picked up down the stretch but I was surprised at the lack of nearfalls considering that the longest tag team title reign in company history was about to come to an end. Thankfully, the finish itself was satisfying and the crowd popped huge for the title change. When looking at the two teams involved, you know that you’re going to receive a quality match. However, this wasn’t necessarily the epic rubber match that I was expecting. ***½
Match #7: ROH World Title: Eddie Edwards © vs. Christopher Daniels
Daniels grabs hold of a wristlock and tries a few rollups. Things get heated after a strike exchange but they shake hands. Edwards snaps off a hurricanrana. Daniels blocks a second one and applies a half crab. The action goes to the floor where Edwards hip tosses Daniels into the barricade. In the ring, Edwards hits a back suplex and connects with a sliding dropkick. He adds an overhead suplex but Daniels responds with a blue thunder bomb. Edwards comes off the middle rope with a lungblower and hits a TKO. Daniels connects with an enzuigiri. Edwards armdrags out of a uranagi and tries a backpack chinbreaker on the apron to no avail. Daniels uranagis him off the apron and through a table at ringside. Daniels sets up two chairs on the floor and slams Edwards onto them. Todd Sinclair gives him a warning. Back in, Daniels lays in a slingshot elbow drop and hits repeated scoop slams, working over Edwards’ back. Daniels maintains control until Edwards connects with a missile dropkick. They trade pin attempts to no avail. Edwards sends Daniels to the floor and follows out with a dive. In the ring, Edwards lands a flying crossbody and adds repeated chops in the corner. He hits a tiger suplex along with a sit-out gourdbuster. Daniels avoids a flying double stomp and applies the koji clutch. Edwards is able to desperately put his foot on the bottom rope. They battle up top and Daniels hits a side slam from the middle rope. Edwards blocks an enzuigiri and synchs in the achilles lock. Daniels reverses into a koji clutch but Edwards quickly turns it into a pin attempt for a two count. They exchange forearms and Daniels hits a saito suplex. Edwards responds with a lariat and a 2k1 bomb. Both men are down. They battle up top once again and Edwards back drops out of a super Angel’s Wings. He connects with a flying double stomp but Daniels answers with Angel’s Wings for a nearfall. Daniels hits a uranagi and lands the BME for a two count. He starts pounding away with closed fists. Edwards gets his knees up on a second BME attempt and applies the achilles lock. Daniels fights out but falls victim to a 2k1 bomb from the middle rope. Edwards hits another 2k1 bomb to retain his title at 30:07. This was an excellent first title defense for Edwards that immediately gives his reign legitimacy. However, I feel as though Daniels was the star of this match. From resorting to using a table and chairs to all of the small things he did such as using closed fists down the stretch, he did a tremendous job of foreshadowing his upcoming heel turn. After their time limit draw at the 9th Anniversary Show, I appreciated how this match also went half an hour. It shows consistency and firmly establishes these two as rivals. They had absolutely no problem filling that half an hour with quality action and this was a great main event. ****
After debating for quite some time, Daniels refuses a handshake after the match. He slowly walks to the back. Edwards thanks the crowd to end the show.
Overall: Honor Takes Center Stage: Chapter 1 was an effective showcase for ROH on WrestleMania weekend. The card is pretty consistent, with quality action throughout. I was becoming a little nervous towards the end, as while Richards/Strong and KOW/WGTT were worthwhile contests, I’ve seen better outings from both matchups. Then, Eddie Edwards and Christopher Daniels had a terrific main event that topped their encounter at the 9th Anniversary Show. Throw in a fun SHIMMER showcase and an entertaining tag team match involving the transformed Briscoes, and this show earns a solid recommendation.