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ROH YEAR TWO ARCHIVE: AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT RING OF HONOR'S SOPHOMORE EFFORT

ROH NIGHT OF THE GRUDGES

RING OF HONOR IN CAMBRIDGE, MA LIVE REPORT
by Mike Johnson

Ring of Honor returned to the National Guard Armory in Cambridge, MA on 6/14, drawing an crowd of 600-650 fans. Full results of the show saw:

In a spotlight match, Special K's Slugga, Angeldust, and Lit defeated Slyk Wagner Brown and Dunn & Marcos. The six man was great. Angeldust won a spot in a Four Way later on the show due to his pinfall on Brown. Brown got a big reaction from the crowd as he's a local up in MA There were two additional bouts with workers I was not familiar with as well, but nothing that stood out.

The Carnage Crew defeated The Christopher Street Connection in the opener. Good comedy match to open the show. CSC had Ariel in their corner. She previously worked a bout against Alexis Laree in Philly a few months back. She's cute and she took a top rope spike piledriver from Crew after the bout. Crowd loved that.

Matt Stryker defeated Chance Beckett via submission in Beckett's ROH debut. Beckett had quite a buzz around him from his Super 8 performance in March, but it didn't come through here. This was solid but nothing noteworthy and it didn't seem to click with the crowd either. Stryker had some fans heckling him that he wasn't the real Stryker (as opposed to the NYC version who later took the same name but dropped the Matt) but took it in stride.

Next was a Four Corner Match featuring Homicide, John Walters, Chris Sabin and Angeldust of Special K. Angeldust came out and his music stopped. Justin Credible's ECW music played and he came out and hit Angeldust with a superkick. The building went insane and gave him a standing ovation, chanting "ECW." Gary Michael Cappetta came out and asked Credible what he was doing here and Credible said he would explain later, but right now he was going to make the Four Way "Not Just the Coolest, Not Just the Best, but...." and the crowd screamed "Just Incredible" and gave him another ovation. Credible bowed before the crowd and thanked them before jumping back into character. You could see he was blown away and touched from the reaction. This was a really good match, with lots back and forth. Credible pulled out the first plancha I can remember him doing since ECW closed. Homicide forced Walters to submit with a STF variation. I'll keep saying it again, but Homicide is intensely underrated. Sabin was making his ROH debut here and looked good as well. His work really reminds me of Jerry Lynn's. Walters looked good and got a big reaction after the match as he's been working this area for awhile.

CM Punk and Colt Cabana defeated BJ Whitmer and Raven in a "Code of Honor Waived" match, which is a fancy way to say No DQ. Punk cut yet another great promo putting over his straight edge revolution vs. the revolution Raven began "ten years ago." Raven came out and said that last time they were here (Punk beat Raven via submission) Raven's problem was that he was in a good mood, and cut an angry promo. They started out with a regular tag match but it soon broke down into a brawl into the crowd. Whitmer and Punk both bled, Punk really heavily. Raven and Punk brawled to one of the walls by the bleachers with Whitmer and Cabana soon following. They brawled back into the crowd. Raven gave the fans a trash can to hold while he ran Punk's head into it in a cool interactive spot. Punk legdropped Raven off the top rope through a table. Whitmer was pinned here. Really good brawl! Cabana suffered a gash on the inside of his arm right which required him to go to the local hospital to get stitches. You could see the fatty tissue hanging out a bit from it before he had it patched up, but he was OK.

Prince Nana defeated one of the Outkast Killahs and then laid out the other.

The SATs defeated Mikey Whipwreck and Dixie of Special K. Becky Bayless is now in Special K, which suits her look perfectly. She had a stuffed monkey with her and taunted the crowd with it. The 10,000 other members of Special K were there as well. Lots of back and forth aerial stuff. The SATs hit a spinning DDT on Dixie off the top while he was on Jose's shoulders for the pin. They brawled with Special K. Carnage Crew attacked Mikey and laid him out. Justin Credible hit the ring and joined in. HC Loc announced that the newest member of the Carnage Crew was Credible because no one had been "pissed on" more than him the last few years. All I have to say to that is Tommy Dreamer, but at least he got the horrible "eat crap" push. The SATs hit the ring and Crew ran off. They hugged Mikey (their trainer) but he double clotheslined them and left laughing.

Paul London fought AJ Styles (with Alexis Laree) to a draw when Styles hit a belly to back suplex and both men's shoulders were counted down. Really good back and forth wrestling here. They were scheduled to go a little longer than the 25 minutes they did but one of Styles' teeth was loosened after a stiff shot, so they went home to protect it. The crowd chanted for five more minutes afterwards, but London and Styles hugged and raised each other's hand. Very good match. London suffered a cut on his elbow as well, but it was just a scratch. Styles was wearing the NWA championship as well as one half of the new ROH Tag Team championship belts, which look awesome. This is worth finding a tape of.

The Prophecy of Christopher Daniels, Danny Maff, and Donovan Morgan defeated The Group of ROH champion Samoa Joe, CW Anderson, and Michael Shane. There was no reference made to Steve Corino whatsoever. Joe spoke on the mic about how everyone in the Group was a big star in Japan for Zero-One, but they were missing one member of their crew from Japan and called out Low Ki. Ki came out and Joe invited him to join the Group. Before Ki could answer, Daniels' music played and out came the Prophecy. Daniels told Low Ki that if he even considered joining the Group, he would be taking himself out of contention for the ROH title held by Joe. He then told Low Ki he may as well join the Prophecy and laid out an invitation. The groups began arguing amongst themselves until Low Ki cut them all off. He said that ROH was built on honor and athletics, not pettiness involving groups. He got Daniels and Joe to both agree with him and then laid out the challenge that if they felt so strongly that way, that the losing faction would disband. The six man went back and forth until Maff got a surprise pin on Joe to kill The Group and possibly put him in line for an ROH title shot. Solid six man.

Notes: The promotion learned Steve Corino wasn't going to appear late Friday through a third party and scrambled to book Michael Shane onto the show to replace him. Simply Luscious also missed the show, which caused the scheduled Alexis Laree vs. Luscious bout on the Showcase card to be thrown out the window....The promotion brought their upgraded lighting and sound system to the show, which really makes the venues look much more professional and adds a "special" feel to the atmosphere.....Credible's addition to the roster was a closely guarded secret in order to make it a surprise to those live. He was brought into the building after the show started....The promotion received a lot of local press in the weeks leading up to the show with several articles in local newspapers and an appearance by Christopher Daniels the night before on Lou Tilley's Comcast Network cable talk show, which is cleared for 7 million homes in the New England area. Daniels is the best choice to send to things of that nature because he comes off so well spoken and educated....Carnage Crew's Tony DeVito has opened a wrestling school in Newburgh, New York. They will be training workers, refs, and managers as well as allowing a place for current workers to go. DeVito trained Xavier and is a really underrated performer. I'd recommend him to anyone who wants to break into the business the right way and learn the respect for the business. Anyone interested can contact Tony at tjdadevito@earthlink.net.

Mike Johnson's Thoughts: A good show, with Styles vs. London and the Four Way both vying for best match....Everything on the show clicked with the crowd except Beckett vs. Stryker. Beckett did not get over at all...I love the addition of Credible to the roster as a member of Carnage Crew. He fits right into their angry gimmick. Credible has shown in the past that if he's shown he's wanted and he's part of something, he'll go above and beyond the call of duty. In recent years, he hasn't been given a reason to want to excel at the level he can reach, and ROH is the perfect place for him to find his stride again. The crowd reaction alone last night blew him away and made him want to work really hard....It doesn't appear that Steve Corino will be back anytime soon, but I have nothing to set forth as proof of that except the way "The Group" was blown off last night...Slyk Wagner Brown looked the best I've ever seen him in his Showcase match. Actually, that six man bout was excellent as well. Marcos and Dunn have really, really improved as of late....I'd love to see what would happen if Raven decided to start going back to the earlier, angry Raven promos and gimmick of ECW as opposed to the WWE version featuring one liners. His work is good but it still feels like he's not even scratching the surface of what the character can accomplish. No one can deny he worked hard here though....How silly did the SATs look for saving Whipwreck, who had turned on them a few shows back, only to get laid out again?

ROH Night of Grudges can be ordered at ROHWrestling.com.