Match #1: ROH World Tag Team Titles: Jay and Mark Briscoe © vs. Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli (The Big Bang! – 4/3/10)
Hero and Mark trade control on the mat until Hero lays in an elbow strike. The Briscoes flapjack Hero but Claudio saves him from a biel. Jay hurricanranas Claudio and the Briscoes catch Hero with stereo shoulder tackles. The champions follow with some of their signature double team maneuvers. Hero surprises Jay with a flash kick and but he recovers with a corner flatliner on Claudio. Mark connects with a spin kick on Claudio and an enzuigiri on Hero. Jay lands a dive to the floor onto Hero. Mark lands a flying crossbody onto Claudio. Hero blindsides Mark with an elbow strike and the Kings of Wrestling isolate him. Jay eventually tags into the match and cleans house with a series of clotheslines. He hits a blockbuster on Hero but Claudio lays him out with a bicycle kick. Jay fights out of the Ricola Bomb but gets caught by a pop-up european uppercut for a nearfall. Mark connects with a missile dropkick on Claudio and hits a northern lights suplex. Claudio responds with a springboard european uppercut. Hero connects with a roaring elbow on Mark for a two count. Mark hits an iconoclasm but gets caught by a flash kick. Hero follows with a liger bomb for a nearfall. Jay dropkicks Claudio during a giant swing attempt. The Briscoes hit a flying elbow drop-side slam combination on Hero. Mark elevates Hero into a neckbreaker from Jay. Claudio hits the UFO on Mark and giant swings him into a flash kick from Hero. Claudio gutwrench suplexes Jay off the top rope. Mark hits a springboard ace crusher on Hero and all four men are down. Claudio dead-lift german suplexes Mark. Jay hits a death valley driver on Claudio. Claudio reverses the doomsday device into a powerslam on Mark. Amazing. The Kings hit the KRS-1 on Mark for a nearfall. Jay makes the save with a series of strikes. He hits the Jay Driller on Claudio. Shane Hagadorn interrupts another doomsday device attempt. Hero puts on his loaded elbow and connects with a roaring elbow on Jay. The Kings become the new ROH World Tag Team Champions at 30:17. It should come as no surprise that these two teams had absolutely no problem whatsoever filling thirty minutes with cohesive wrestling. They moved the match in so many different directions that the action really separated itself from your standard tag team outing. The Kings had a lot of momentum at this point and I was extremely excited for their reformation and title reign. ****
Match #2: ROH World Tag Team Titles: Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli © vs. Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley (Supercard of Honor V – 5/8/10)
The Kings of Wrestling enter to “We Are The Champions” and I’m going crazy. If they start using that as their entrance theme again, keep the belts on them forever. Claudio obnoxiously shows off his power advantage against Sabin and I’m calmed down. Sabin snaps off a nice headscissors. Hero and Shelley trade control on the mat. Shelley starts frustrating him with various armdrags. The Motor City Machine Guns impress with some tandem offense and gain the advantage. Sabin catches Hero with a dive to the outside and Shelley adds a missile dropkick in the ring. Claudio connects with a bicycle kick on Shelley and the tide turns. The Kings isolate Shelley until he DDTs both of his them and makes the tag. Sabin comes off the middle rope with a hurricanrana on Hero and lands a plancha to the floor onto Claudio. He follows with a springboard tornado DDT on Hero. Shelley lands a crossbody on Hero and takes Claudio out on the floor with another crossbody. The MCMG hit a crossbody-neckbreaker combination on Hero. Everyone hits a move and all four men are down. Claudio absolutely launches Sabin into a european uppercut. Dear me. He follows with the UFO. Claudio giant swings Sabin into a flash dropkick from Hero. Shelley misses a double stomp and walks into a roaring elbow. Hero adds another roaring elbow but Shelley won’t stay down. Sabin connects with an enzuigiri on Claudio and Shelley follows with an assisted sliced bread. The MCMG lay out Hero with multiple kicks for a nearfall. Shane Hagadorn tosses Hero his loaded elbow pad while Sara Del Rey distracts the referee. The Briscoes run out, causing a disqualification at 22:07. This was a frustrating match. The Kings and MCMG went out there and provided the best tag team wrestling in recent memory for twenty-two minutes. This contest was possibly on its way to being one of the best matches of 2010. I understand the logic behind the Briscoes running in but it still leaves a sour taste. At least we received a chance to witness what these two teams could do together. The action was just so innovative and they made twenty-two minutes seem like ten. The finish was a shame but the action up to that point was tremendous. ***¾
Match #3: ROH World Tag Team Titles: No Disqualification: Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli © vs. Jay and Mark Briscoe (Death Before Dishonor VIII – 6/18/10)
Both teams start brawling before the opening bell. Jay lands a dive to the floor onto the Kings of Wrestling. The Briscoes take down Hero with stereo shoulder tackles. Claudio is bleeding after being thrown into the ringpost. Mark lands a flying crossbody onto Hero. The Briscoes connect with stereo superkicks on Claudio. Hero takes Mark to the floor and now he’s bleeding from the forehead. The Kings work over Mark as the match settles down. He lands a springboard crossbody onto both of his opponents and makes the tag. Jay hits a death valley driver on Claudio and boots Shane Hagadorn off the apron. Hero is bleeding from the forehead after being driven repeatedly into the turnbuckle. Hagadorn throws a chair at Jay’s head. Hero chokes Jay against the ringpost with a rope while Claudio keeps Mark at bay in the ring. The Kings hit a doomsday european uppercut on Mark for a nearfall. Hero applies a stretch plum on Mark while Claudio kicks him in the head. Jay makes the save with a fire extinguisher. He sets up a table in the corner. Mark elevates Hero into a neckbreaker from Jay. The Briscoes shoulder tackle Claudio through the table. They hit the doomsday device on Hagadorn for good measure. Hero puts on his loaded elbow pad and connects with a roaring elbow on Jay for a nearfall! Mark starts brawling with Hero. Jay counters the UFO into a rollup for a two count. Hero puts the loaded elbow pad onto his foot. Claudio giant swings Jay into a flash kick from Hero and the Kings retain their titles at 18:08. This was totally different from their Big Bang match but just as great. You just don’t see this amount of effort put into tag team feuds all of the time, but it legitimately felt like the Kings and Briscoes hated each other for the entire eighteen minutes. It’s also refreshing to see this type of match not have a huge reliance on weapons and big spots. Ultimately, they matched and played off of their previous encounter by delivering a memorable brawl. ****
Match #4: Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli, and Sara Del Rey vs. Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe, and Amazing Kong (Hate: Chapter II – 7/23/10)
Del Rey lays in a series of kicks on Kong, who fires back with chops. The action breaks down as everyone starts brawling around ringside. Back in, the Briscoes and Kong hit stereo shoulder tackles. Hero falls victim to some brutal offense from the faces. The Kings of Wrestling find an opening to work over Mark. He takes advantage of some miscommunication and makes the tag. Jay clotheslines Hero to the outside and flatlines Del Rey into Claudio’s groin. He hits a death valley driver on Claudio but gets caught by a springboard european uppercut. Del Rey takes down Jay with a kappou kick and Claudio giant swings him into a basement dropkick from Hero for a nearfall. Kong enters the ring and stares down Del Rey. She splashes Del Rey and hits the Implant Buster for a two count. Del Rey surprises Kong with a close rollup. Hero mafia kicks Kong but the Deathblow is countered into a backslide for a two count. Everyone trades offense. Hero levels Kong with a roaring elbow. The Briscoes intervene and hit a double team neckbreaker on Hero. Kong adds a middle-rope splash for a nearfall. The Kings retreat to the floor where Kong takes them out with a dive from the apron. In the ring, the Kings hit a doomsday european uppercut on Jay. Mark interrupts the KRS-1 and Jay sneaks in a victory roll for the win at 23:05. This was a solid intergender match that broke up what little monotony the Kings/Briscoes feud may have had. Del Rey and Kong played crucial roles in the match and it was a lot of fun to see Kong trade offense with Hero and Claudio. This contest didn’t have the flow that the previous three matches on the compilation had, but it definitely provided something different. ***½
Match #5: Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli vs. Matt and Nick Jackson (Salvation – 7/24/10)
The Kings of Wrestling control early on as the Young Bucks can’t seem to find an opening. Nick blocks a senton from Hero and connects with a basement dropkick. The Young Bucks follow with some tandem offense. They hit a neckbreaker-slingshot senton combination on Claudio. Hero blind tags into the match and hits a hangman’s suplex on Matt onto Claudio’s knees. The Kings isolate him until he leaps out of a victory roll and makes the tag. Nick connects with a flying double stomp on Claudio and snaps off a headscissors. He lands a moonsault off the apron onto Hero and comes off the top rope with a hurricanrana on Claudio. Nick adds a springboard wheelbarrow stunner on Claudio. Hero slows down Nick with an air raid crash. Max hits a sliced bread on Hero. Nick levels Claudio with a superkick and Matt plants him with a wheelbarrow facebuster. Nick lands a dive to the floor onto Claudio. Hero blocks a dive from Matt with a roaring elbow. Claudio giant swings Matt into a dropkick from Hero. Nick comes off the top rope with a hurricanrana on Claudio, who answers with the UFO. Nick escapes the KRS-1. There’s a series of strikes that I can’t do play by play for and everyone is down. Hero blocks More Bang for Your Buck with knees. Claudio dead-lifts Matt into a pop-up european uppercut and the Kings follow with the KRS-1 for the victory at 18:40. Both teams came out of this match looking amazing. The Kings are dominant heading into the Tag Wars finale but the Young Bucks put up quite the fight. I think the duration was perfect for what they were going for and the PWG crowd would have been going nuts for this action. It’s easy to see why the Young Bucks were booked in Ring of Honor after leaving TNA. ***¾
Match #6: ROH World Tag Team Titles: Ultimate Endurance: Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli © vs. Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Kenny King and Rhett Titus vs. Jon Davis and Kory Chavis
The first fall is a normal four-corner survival. Davis hits a back suplex on King. Titus runs into the ring but meets a similar fate. The Dark City Fight Club hit a backbreaker-leg drop combination on Titus. The All-Night Express and the DCFC trade control until Hero gets tagged in. Davis hits a back suplex on Hero and connects with a lariat. Jay enters the match and immediately attacks Hero. Both Briscoes get tagged in, so they fake a criss-cross sequence and tag in the Kings of Wrestling. The Kings try the same trick to no avail. Things eventually settle down after the champions throw a tantrum. Chavis is isolated until creates an opening from King and makes the tag. Davis hits a chinbreaker on Titus and adds a spinebuster. He catches King in mid-air with a powerslam. Davis pounces Titus but King catches him with a cartwheel kick. King hits a blockbuster on Davis to eliminate the DCFC at 18:28. The second fall is under texas tornado rules. Jay lands a dive to the floor onto the Kings. Mark connects with a spin kick on King and a running knee strike on Titus. Claudio busts open Jay on the floor. King catches Mark with double knees and Titus follows with a leaping facebuster. The Kings and ANX team up on Mark while Jay continues to bleed at ringside. Of course, the alliance eventually dissolves. The Briscoes back drop Claudio and hit stereo shoulder tackles on Hero. They biel Claudio across the ring and superkick King. Hero puts on his loaded elbow pad. The Briscoes hit the doomsday device to eliminate ANX at 28:06. Hero levels Jay with a roaring elbow and the Kings retain their titles at 28:18. There’s nothing I hate more than rapid-fire eliminations in these types of matches. I see no reason why two eliminations needed to happen in the course of thirty seconds when you have twenty-eight minutes to work with. I thought the match was progressing very nicely until the finish and Ring of Honor might have something with the Tag Wars concept. ***¼
Match #7: Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli vs. Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin (Glory By Honor IX – 9/11/10)
Shelton takes the fight to Claudio and suplexes him. Haas and Hero exchange chops. Shelton slingshots off the top rope to escape a wristlock and lands on his feet after a failed monkey flip attempt by Claudio. This is serious. Hero interjects himself, allowing Claudio to catch Shelton with a bicycle kick. Haas saves his partner from the KRS-1 and Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team come close to hitting the Leap of Faith. The Kings of Wrestling settle down and isolate Haas. He catches Claudio with an exploder and makes the tag. Hero immediately low bridges Shelton to the floor and the Kings now work him over. Shelton hits a double neckbreaker and tags out. Haas headscissors Claudio and dropkicks Hero. He boots Claudio into a big overhead suplex. Haas follows with rolling german suplexes on Claudio. He catapults Claudio into a samoan drop from Shelton. Hero rocks Shelton with an elbow strike for a nearfall. WGTT respond with the Leap of Faith on Hero. Shelton leaps to the top rope and hits a superplex on Claudio. All four men are down. Haas applies the Haas of Pain on Claudio. Hero puts on his loaded elbow pad and elbows Haas with it. Claudio covers for the win at 20:17. This match made WGTT fall in love with Ring of Honor and I can see why. The crowd was electric for this contest, reacting in a big way to everything that WGTT did. They received a platform to showcase their abilities and there’s no better complement than the Kings for this type of situation. Unsurprisingly, these two teams would go on to have two more excellent rematches. It’s interesting to see how WGTT have progressed to the team that they are today. ***¾
Match #8: ROH World Tag Team Titles: Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli © vs. Christopher Daniels and Davey Richards (Allied Forces – 10/15/10)
Daniels gets the better of an exchange with Hero. Claudio elevates Richards into a suplex. He trades strikes with Hero and catches him with a spin kick. Richards and Daniels showcase some nice teamwork. Hero snaps off a powerslam on Richards and the Kings of Wrestling isolate him. He finds an opening after a dropkick and makes the tag. Daniels hurricanranas Hero and hits an STO on Claudio. He transitions into a koji clutch. Hero breaks up the hold and Claudio connects with a springboard european uppercut on Daniels. Hero follows with the Deathblow for a nearfall. Richards connects with a double missile dropkick and lands a dive to the floor onto both of his opponents. In the ring, Richards applies an ankle lock on Claudio, but he rolls through the hold. Claudio connects with a pop-up european uppercut. Richards counters the Ricola Bomb into a code red. Claudio reverses a handspring enzuigiri attempt into the UFO. Dave Prazak was able to identify Richards as the flying opponent. Daniels and Richards hit a superkick-german suplex combination on Claudio. Hero falls victim to a saito suplex. All four men are down after a series of offensive maneuvers. Hero hits a liger bomb on Daniels and levels Richards with a roaring elbow. Daniels avoids the Deathblow and hits Angel’s Wings for a nearfall. Richards synchs in an ankle lock on Claudio. Daniels and Richards run into each other. Hero elbows Richards to the floor and the Kings hit KRS-1 on Daniels to retain their titles at 26:33. Richards was picking up tons of momentum at this point and he made a cohesive team with Daniels. The booking of this match ruined it for me. No one bought a title change and Ring of Honor decided to go with the overplayed finish of chance miscommunication costing the challengers the match. By no means did the finish diminish twenty-six minutes of solid action, but it definitely left a bad taste. ***½
Match #9: ROH World Tag Team Titles: Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli © vs. Jay and Mark Briscoe (ROH on HDNet Episode 79)
Mark connects with a spin kick on Claudio. Hero provides a distraction, allowing Claudio to cheap shot Jay. The Briscoes hit a flying elbow drop-side slam combination on Claudio and follow with stereo shoulder tackles. They biel him across the ring. Jay lands a plancha onto Claudio and Mark adds a dive of his own onto Hero. Mark suplexes Hero onto the floor while Claudio gets sent into the barricade. Back in, Claudio catches Jay with a springboard european uppercut. He recovers by flatlining Hero into the middle turnbuckle. Hero hits a shoulder-capture suplex on Mark and the Kings of Wrestling isolate him. He rolls through a double clothesline and makes the tag. Jay cleans house with a series of clotheslines. He superkicks Claudio and dropkicks Hero. Jay hits the Jay Driller on Claudio for a nearfall. Hero interrupts the doomsday device. Claudio hits a german suplex on Jay. Shane Hagadorn tries to interfere to no avail at first. However, he does deliver a low blow to Jay. Claudio covers and the Kings retain their titles at 17:35. Speaking of deflating finishes. The end to this match did the action no favors. While the first seventeen minutes were filled with the usual solid action we’ve come to expect from these two teams, the contest as a whole can be seen as merely a way of setting up the Kings and Hagadorn against the Briscoes and Papa Briscoe at Final Battle. ***
Match #10: ROH World Tag Team Titles: Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli © vs. Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards (Tag Title Classic II – 12/17/10)
The Kings of Wrestling try to capitalize on their size advantage on Richards early on. Edwards snaps off a few armdrags on Claudio and he retreats to the floor. Both teams trade control in the ring. Edwards gets worked over for awhile. He fights back with a superkick on Claudio and an enzuigiri on Hero. Richards flips out of a german suplex attempt and rocks Claudio with a running knee strike followed by a missile dropkick. Hero intervenes with a flash kick on Edwards. Claudio giant swings Richards into a basement dropkick from Hero. The Kings isolate Richards until he avoids a roaring elbow and makes the tag. Edwards lands a flying crossbody onto Hero and comes off the middle rope with a codebreaker. The American Wolves land stereo dives to the outside. In the ring, Edwards connects with a flying double stomp on Hero. The Wolves follow with stereo knockout kicks for a nearfall. Claudio bicycle kicks Edwards, who responds with a hurricanrana from the middle rope. Richards and Claudio do their famous code red out of the Ricola Bomb spot. Hero saves his partner from an ankle lock. Claudio hits a superplex on Richards and Hero adds a moonsault for a two count. Hero absolutely levels Richards with a superkick and a roaring elbow. He hits a shoulder-capture suplex for a nearfall. Edwards takes over Hero with a tiger suplex. He follows with a saito suplex but Hero won’t stay down. Hero fires back with a series of strikes on the Wolves. The Wolves slow him down with a superkick-german suplex combination. The Wolves follow with a backcracker-powerbomb combination. Edwards applies the achilles lock but Hero reaches the bottom rope. Hero and Edwards trade rollups. Hero connects with three roaring elbows and the Kings retain their titles at 34:41. I’m partial to the argument that you probably could have shortened this match by ten minutes and still achieved the same result. However, the thirty-five minute duration didn’t wear on me too much. These four worked incredibly hard to make the action interesting for that amount of time and the crowd hung with them. Sure, they might have been trying to force an epic and I wouldn’t consider this a “classic,” but it was still a highly worthwhile main event. ***¾
Match #11: Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli, and Shane Hagadorn vs. Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe, and Papa Briscoe (Final Battle 2010 – 12/18/10)
Jay hurricanranas Hero and connects with a leg lariat. Papa gets a chop in before the Briscoes hit stereo shoulder tackles. Mark attempts a rollup a minute into the match. Good. The Briscoes biel Claudio across the ring. Claudio hits a gutwrench suplex on Jay and the Kings of Wrestling continue the attack until Hagadorn screws things up. Papa tags in and stares down Claudio and snaps off a headscissors. This happened. He makes out with Sara Del Rey at ringside and Paul Turner ejects her. The Kings isolate Mark until avoids a boot from Hero and makes the tag. Jay flatlines Hero into the middle turnbuckle and connects with a mafia kick. Hero responds with a roaring mafia kick. Claudio and Mark collide after both attempting clotheslines. Everyone connects with strikes. Hagadorn low blows Jay. Papa takes Hagadorn down to the canvas and reigns down punches. The Briscoes land stereo dives to the floor. In the ring, Hero catches Papa with a vicious roaring elbow. Mark saves him from the KRS-1 and Papa hits a stunner on Claudio. The Briscoes (Jay and Papa) hit the doomsday device on Hagadorn for the victory at 15:36. This was a lot more fun than it had any right to be. Even though the crowd still refused to fully cheer the Briscoes (perhaps due to their interference at Supercard of Honor V), they ate up everything Papa did and popped huge for the finish. Overall, I’d consider this a resounding success, despite having some qualms about the hatred between the Briscoes and Kings not being showcased enough. ***¼
Match #12: ROH World Tag Team Titles: Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli © vs. Kenny King and Rhett Titus (9th Anniversary Show – 2/26/11)
Hero and Titus have a back and forth exchange that ends with Titus connecting with a flying knee strike. King snaps off a few armdrags on Claudio and Titus adds a slingshot shoulder tackle. King hits a springboard leg drop on Hero. Claudio misses a bicycle kick and gets caught by a flurry of kicks from the All Night Express. King hip tosses Titus to the floor onto Hero and Claudio. He follows with a senton from the apron onto Hero. Claudio connects with a popup european uppercut on Titus and the champions isolate him. Titus gets rocked by multiple elbows and uppercuts. He snake eyes Claudio and is able to make the tag. King connects with a spin kick on Hero and hits an overhead suplex. Hero answers with a roaring mafia kick and Claudio follows with a running knee strike. Claudio goes up top but Titus leaps to the top rope and hits a facebuster. King hits the Royal Flush on Claudio and Titus adds a brainbuster. King follows with an impressive shooting star press for a nearfall. Hero connects with a roaring elbow on Titus but falls victim to an enzuigiri from King. All four men are down. Shane Hagadorn tries to throw in the loaded elbow pad but King intercepts it. The distraction allows Claudio to sort of hit the UFO. Hero grabs the loaded elbow pad and connects with a roaring elbow on King. Claudio covers and the champions retain their titles at 15:56. The All Night Express were in a position where they had to prove themselves and they delivered in spades. Titus has improved remarkably and King is becoming a fine-tuned wrestler. Their spurt of offense early on was crisp and they were able to hang with the champions down the stretch. The match was moving along nicely and the crowd was with them the whole way. My only minor complaint would be the finish, as I feel that this was a situation where the loaded elbow pad was completely unnecessary. Still, the All Night Express unquestionably stepped up here. ***½
Match #13: Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli vs. Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly (Honor Takes Center Stage Chapter 2 – 4/2/11)
The Kings of Wrestling attack before the opening bell. Cole plants Claudio with a bulldog. O’Reilly adds a dropkick but walks into an uppercut. Hero hits a senton on O’Reilly and the Kings isolate him. He is able to roll through a double clothesline attempt and make the tag. Cole connects with a double missile dropkick and snaps off a headscissors on Claudio. He blocks a charge from Hero and comes off the middle rope with a leg lariat. Cole slingshots to the floor and hurricanranas Claudio. O’Reilly follows with a missile dropkick from the apron. In the ring, Cole lands a flying crossbody onto Hero and connects with a superkick. Hero comes back with a series of roaring elbows. O’Reilly hits a tornado DDT on Claudio and applies a guillotine choke. Hero tries to break the hold but Cole superkicks him. Cole takes out Hero with a dive to the outside. Claudio powers O’Reilly into a popup european uppercut. The Kings connect with their roaring mafia kick-bicycle kick combination on O’Reilly for the win at 9:18. The Kings were upset about losing the ROH World Tag Team Titles and took out their frustrations on Cole and O’Reilly, who delivered another great performance. This match provided everything that you could ask for out of an opener and accomplished what it needed to in only nine minutes. ***¼
Match #14: Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli vs. Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards (Revolution USA – 5/7/11)
The Kings of Wrestling attack before the opening bell. Hero connects with a stomp-roaring elbow combination on Edwards. Claudio giant swings him into a basement dropkick from Hero. Richards lands a dive to the floor onto Claudio and boots him into the front row. Richards follows with a dive over the barricade onto Claudio. Edwards superkicks Hero but runs into a saito suplex. Hero plants Edwards with a liger bomb. Claudio wheelbarrow slams Richards into the barricade. The Kings work over Edwards until fights them off with an impressive series of moves and makes the tag. Richards connects with multiple kicks, punting Hero from the apron. He jumps off the apron and DDTs Claudio onto a chair at ringside. Back in, Richards connects with a missile dropkick on Claudio. Sara Del Rey holds Richards’ feet. Claudio tries the UFO but Richards rolls through into an ankle lock. Hero catches Richards with an elbow and Claudio hits the UFO. Richards impressively responds with a unique northern lights suplex on Hero. He hurricanranas Claudio and follows with an exploder. Hero and Edwards trade mafia kicks. Edwards superkicks Hero to the floor and hip tosses Claudio over the top rope. He follows out with an asai moonsault. In the ring, Edwards connects with a missile dropkick on Hero and hits a fisherman buster. Hero answers with a roaring elbow but gets caught by a lungblower. Edwards hits a tiger suplex and trades pin attempts with Hero to no avail. Richards connects with an Alarm Clock on Hero and the American Wolves follow with their superkick-german suplex combination. Hero fights off the Wolves with elbows and murders Edwards with a roaring mafia kick. He nails Edwards with the Deathblow for a nearfall. Edwards synchs in the achilles lock on Hero but Claudio breaks it up with a DDT. The Wolves hit stereo saito suplexes and german suplexes. Edwards applies the achilles lock on Hero while Richards locks in a cross armbreaker on Claudio. Richards DDTs Claudio on the outside and german suplexes Hero from the middle rope. Edwards connects with a flying double stomp on Hero and Richards follows with one of his own. Edwards goes back to the achilles lock on Hero. Claudio tries to break the hold with repeated boots to no avail. Richards misses a charge and accidentally runs into Edwards. Hero connects with the Deathblow on Edwards for the victory at 23:22. Both teams were working extremely hard and this was just twenty-three minutes of excellent tag team wrestling. The match got off to an interesting start with the Kings trying to get the win early by attempting finishers in the opening minutes. In fact, there were numerous moments throughout this contest where Hero would try to send a message to Edwards, adding some intensity to their upcoming title match. The finishing stretch featured a lot of fast-paced action but everything was fluid and the crowd contributed by staying vocal. This was simply a fantastic main event between two of the best teams in the world. ****
Match #15: ROH World Tag Team Titles: Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin © vs. Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli (Ring of Honor Wrestling Episode 1)
Haas gets the better of Claudio to start. Shelton comes off the top rope with a lariat on Claudio. Hero shoves Shelton, who fires back with a right hand. Hero ducks a spin kick from Shelton and connects with a roaring mafia kick. The Kings of Wrestling isolate him until he hits a double neckbreaker and makes the tag. Haas snaps off a headscissors on Claudio and hits a german suplex on Hero. He overhead suplexes Claudio and comes off the middle rope with a hurricanrana. Hero slows him down with the KTFO. Claudio giant swings Haas into a basement dropkick from Hero. Shelton saves his partner from the KRS-1. Shelton superkicks Hero and Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team hit the Leap of Faith on Claudio. WGTT follow with a heart attack on Hero to retain their titles at 14:15. This was a condensed version of their previous matches together, which have all been strong outings. Especially with WGTT being blatant heels right now, it’s interesting to look back and see them at a point in time when they were still fresh as faces. This didn’t match their previous encounters, but it made sense to showcase tag team wrestling on the debut episode and these two teams did put in strong performances here. ***¼
Overall: This is essentially a compilation covering the Kings of Wrestling’s second reign with the ROH World Tag Team Titles. The compilation covers roughly about a year’s worth of matches. You’d think that they might have trouble making a two-disc set out of only a year, but the Kings of Wrestling just happen to be that good in the ring. None of the fifteen matches drop below three stars and three of the matches hit the four-star mark. The only complaint that I can think of is that there might have been too much included of the Briscoes’ feud, but the Big Bang and Death Before Dishonor VIII matches are definitely worth owning. I don’t know many people who dislike Hero and Claudio, so if you don’t own a majority of these matches, I would recommend picking up this compilation.
You can purchase this DVD at Ring of Honor’s store right here.
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