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The presentation was basic but totally professional. The crucial things. like lighting and sound were done right. I think it was a different hall than the one NWA Charlotte used at Metrolina last year. The show started right on time and ran just a little over 3 hours.

Jim Cornette was pumping his first as they played “Locomotive Breath” to start the show.

(1) El Generico beat Erick Stevens (with Prince Nana) in 8:22. Crowd was blazing hot. Generico was over like crazy. Stevens is in great shape, but there was something different about him with the extra weight. Now, he looks like a roided up Ben Stiller. Generico did all his signature spots and won it with the brainbuster.

(2) Steve Corino beat Bobby Dempsey. Match went around 10 minutes. Match got over on the strength of Corino’s comedy. He was hilarious, so the match was fine even though the crowd never gave Dempsey a ghost of a chance. After Dempsey bumped ref Paul Turner, Corino went for the chain. Dempsey blocked it, but Corino kicked him low and pinned him with a lariat.

(3) Necro Butcher (with Prince Nana) beat Grizzly Redwood in 7:24. Freak show match. The people were into seeing Butcher destroy Redwood and he did. When Redwood delivered on a slingshot sunset powerbomb to the floor, it looked like he might have a chance. Butcher, however, shut the door with an uppercut to the chops and the tiger driver.

(4) ROH TV Champion Eddie Edwards pinned Colt Cabana in a non-title match at 11:43. The crowd was split, but it was clear that they loved both of them. Very entertaining. Cabana did all his wacky stuff. Finish saw Cabana go for the Butt Butt, Edwards countered with a picture perfect O’Connor Roll. Postmatch, they shook hands, which got a great pop. Edwards pointed at the emblem on the mat and said “here” and got a strong “ROH” chant in response.

(5) Bravado Brothers & Cedric Alexander beat Caleb Konley & Man Scout & Marker Dillinger. Crowd was mellow coming off the intermission but really picked up toward the finish. One of the Bravado Brothers pinned Konley after a combo German suplex deal.

(6) (1) Roderick Strong beat (3) Kevin Steen (with Steve Corino) in a Pick Six Challenge in 15 minutes. Crowd sensed a juicy story unfolding and settled in for the ride. Steen was nothing but dirty, filthy pond scum. It was great. Corino distracted allowing Steen to go for the chain. Cabana stopped Steen from using it and brawled with Corino. Steen kicked Strong low and was again poised to use the chain, when Generico blew past him with a hilo dive onto Corino. Strong hit the double knee gutbuster on a flustered Steen and pinned him with a superkick.

(7) In the Tag Team Wars match, Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli with Shane Hagadorn) defeated Briscoe Brothers and All Night Express (Rhett Titus & Kenny King) and Dark City Fight Club (Kory Chavis & Jon Davis) in Tag Team Wars to retain the titles in a total time of 28:28. Crowd was hot to see Briscoes kick ass. Story was Kings’ craftiness in using the rules to their advantage. First fall was four corners survival. Kings tagged in both Briscoes to force them a face off. Kings strategy backfired when both of them were tagged in and the others teams ran away. It ended with Titus pinning Davis after an All-Night Express combo move to eliminate DCFC at 18:31. Second fall was Texas Tornado rules. Jay bled like crazy - a crimson mask worthy of a Hollywood horror flick. Meanwhile, the other teams took turns beating on Mark. Kings were killing Mark with double teams but he kicked out of everything they could throw at him. It was slightly miraculous. The cooperation between Kings and All Night Express disintegrated. Briscoes destroyed all four of them. Jay pinned Titus after the Doomsday Device. Hero immediately clocked Jay with the rolling elbow to win the match. Crowd felt robbed by the finish, just like it was supposed to happen. Fans chanted “that was awesome” (it was ) and “thank you Briscoes”.

Cornette did mic work designed to get more heat on Black for refusing to do a title match. It worked. He said the match was signed as non-title before Black’s extracurricular activities came to light and called Richards/Black from Toronto the best match he had seen since Flair/Steamboat in 89. Black said he was feeling frisky, but it was a swerve. Black said he was leaving this shithole and taking the belt with him. Black’s heel stuff was well played. .

(8) Davey Richards beat ROH Champion Tyler Black via submission in a non-title match in 26:39. A war of attrition. It was the match the ROH fans expect. Incredible effort and athleticism. They could have done half as much and sold it twice as long. .Any other crowd in this area of the country would have been thrilled with much less. Fans were virtually 100% behind Richards. All kinds of anti-WWE crap directed at Black. One sign read “Tyler the NXT jobber”. Richards was taking it to Black had the champion begging off. Black scraped his side and was bleeding a bit. Once that got cranking, both were going a mile a minute. Richards seems to only have the one gear. At one point, they got into a furious exchange of strikes, Black hit a reverse huracanrana and Richards came right back with a brainbuster, and the place exploded. Richards repeatedly popped up on Black’s big moves. Richards was using leg submissions but Black showed no effect from them. Black kicked out of the DR Driver and his own finisher before tapping out to the Cloverleaf.

Richards said Black could tell his new co-workers that if they wanted real competition they should come down when ROH was in Charlotte.

NOTES: ROH announced a return date at Metrolina Expo for January 15, 2011…Many people were commenting on their way out that they would be back in January…In attendance were NWA Executive Director Bob Trobich and Kirby Mack.

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