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Hey everyone, we are live from The Galen Center in Los Angeles for Ring of Honor's Supercard of Honor!
Anthony Pires will be providing play by play coverage, but I'm live in the venue so stay tuned for live notes and thoughts all night!
Our blog tonight is brought to you by our awesome friends at RingsideCollectibles.com, who carry all the AEW action figures you'd ever want and more.
Very enthiastic crowd here.
Pre-Show notes:
Bobby Cruise is the ring announcer.
Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman are the announcers.
The legendary George Napolitano is here shooting photos.
Dave Marquez is in the house.
Vladimir The Superfan (who is celebrating his birthday today!) and Ringside Charlie are front row like its Madison Square Garden.
There was a long line down the street to get into the venue.
Bummer to hear Cary Silkin, who was originally going to be out in Cali, could not make the trek. Cary is the best, period.
ZERO HOUR:
The opening match as part of the Zero Hour broadcast is Jeff Cobb vs. Tracy Williams. BIG pop for Cobb. Cobb looked strong, showing off his beast-like strength including a long delayed vertical suplex. Williams fought back but was eventually caught with the Tour of the Islands for the pin. Solid stuff.
They introduced the returning Nigel McGuinness. You could tell this was a newer ROH crowd as they played his old theme music and no one reacted. Like no one. Then the screen showed his name and Los Angeles went nuts. Welcome home Nigel.
Willie Mack vs. Konosuke Takeshita is next. Very good from the start with Mack wowing the audience by hitting a rana at his size and Konosuke responding with one of his own and a big tope con hilo that brought the house down. Mack responded with one of his own, which brought out a "Holy sh**" chant in The Galen Center. The crowd is really into this one live. Mack nailed a nice pounce that sent Konosuke crashing into the buckles. They began firing back and forth with big moves that saw the crowd give them big applause, some smattered ROH chants and then louder "This is awesome" chants. Takeshita came back with a V-Trigger like kneestrike and scored the pin. Los Angeles gave them a huge response when they showed each other respect after. Good bout.
The third bout was Miranda Alize vs. Willow Nightingale. BIG pop for Willow. She's come a long way from the old NYWC days in Long Island. Alize played a strong heel, taking the fight to Willow. Very good back and forth competitive bout. Alize missed a running kick and Willow made a comeback, firing up the crowd. She drilled Alize with a Doctor Bomb for the pin.
Tony Khan came out and thanked everyone for coming tonight and promised everyone a great show.
The final Zero Hour bout features Slim J with Ari Daivari and Smart Mark Sterling vs. Stu Grayson with Evil Uno. Solid bout with Grayson winning.
SUPERCARD OF HONOR
The official opening match on the PPV is El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Komander. The place went NUTS when the bell rang and changed "Lucha Libre!" Just pure, sheer ENERGY. Lots of fun matwork and reversals early. The first dive was from Komander. He then pulled out a table, which the crowd chanted for. He dove off the stage with a 450 splash to the floor and then ascended to the top but Vikingo cut him off. From there, it was the Vikingo show with all of his insane stuff. Having seen him live for the first time last night at the Wrestlecon Supershow, his stuff is Sabu-level WHOA in terms of a cool factor. Vikingo went for a double springboard move but was caught in mid-air in a sitout powerbomb. That was pretty damn impressive. They kept going back and forth with insane stuff. The crowd chanted it was awesome, and it was. Literally, every time you'd think they'd done the most insane spot ever, they'd top it. These guys are working like two talents who want to be pursued and signed by the world. The crowd chanted, "This is Lucha." Time for ROH to sell that t-shirt.
They were both on the top rope and Vikingo dove and caught Komander and hit a Canadian Destroyer. How the hell they can pull this off I will never know. Komander ended up on the table outside and Vikingo ran and hit the double 450 splash and the TABLE DIDN'T BREAK. Must be one of those old Sabu in FMW era tables. The crowd chanted, "Otra!" Vikingo missed the same move inside the ring. These guys are insane. Komander hit a Phoenix Splash for a close near count. Vikingo finally scored the pin and holy hell, the rest of this roster should be pissed they have to try and follow this. It was incredible.
This match was very much in the spirit of what ROH was meant to be when it was created all those years ago in 2002 - a place with no restrictions when you go to tear the house down and make your name. If Joe Koff or Gabe Sapolsky were watching, I think they'd be proud.
More thoughts on Page 2!
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