At it's second anniversary show ROH held the Pure Wrestling Championship Tournament. AJ Styles would win and become the first Pure champion and right away ROH started hinting at a big match between than world champion Samoa Joe and AJ. Styles title reign didn't last long he was pulled from ROH after the Rob Fienstine scandal. But Joe's issue with the Pure title remained until he dropped the world title to Aries. Fast foreword to 2006 and the world title now belongs to Bryan Danielson and the Pure Title belongs to Nigel McGuinness. At weekend of Champions Night 2 they wrestled in a title vs title match Nigel wins via count out but under the rules only the pure title can change hands that way. A few weeks later they meet in match with only the world title on the line and Danielson retains. With the score tied 1-1 and ROH heading over to the UK where Nigel was from the time had come to Unify the belts.
I will get this right out of the way this was a STUPID idea. It would have been thing if they were getting rid of the pure title to bring in another secondary title but they weren't. Now about a year later an article on the ROH website gave some insight to Gabe Sapolsky's mindset on secondary championships. "The problem with mid card championships is anyone that holds it or challenges for it is seen as a mid carder. In ROH you main event one night and jerk the curtain. Anyone can main event an ROH show." Now I am paraphrasing that bit but the point stands But Gabe is wrong. First why had had a wide variety of guys main event over the year for example Special K or the Carnage Crew, Davey Richards main evented a show fairly early in his ROH career but there had to the right circumstances. SK and CC did it in scramble cages that played to K's wrestling style and the crew was feuding with them. that match with Richards he teamed with KENTA a huge star from Japan who he was protege of. Also you need a mid card belt to help guys learn and get better. That why Randy Savage had a long IC title reign or Sting held the NWA TV belt. Plus not everyone should main event example Roderick Strong I don't see him as a world champion but I could buy him as a mid card champion. Plus it's like ROH didn't have great talent to be a pure champion just off the top of my head. Hero, Claudio, Richards, Strong, Rave, Whitmer, Jacobs, and Pearce.So yeah I think getting rid of the pure title was a mistake and I think not having a mid card belt at all was a bigger one.
But what about the show itself? They had been building to this big match for months starting with a few promos by Nigel pointing out he had been Pure champion longer than Danielson has been world champion. Also this show took place in the UK ROH had done a cross over show with FWA years before this was the first all ROH promoted card outside of North America. Now a review I read once said "It was a big fight atmosphere WWE or TNA could never match," Well we will see about that because I've seen both TNA an WWE have some pretty goo "Big Fight" moments.
Like the previous ROH DVD they include a ROH Video recap of recent shows and again I stress all indy companies to do something like this to help causal or first time viewers not be so lost. The recap opens with Jimmy Rave and Prince Nana talking about heading to England. Rave says he is the veteran he is the internal superstar and he will beat Davey Richards. ROH Lt. Commissioner over seas the official contract signing for the title for title match and make it clear the titles will be united into one. McGuinness wants to change the rules so the world title can change via count out since pure title can change. Pearce points out Nigel has won a number of matches recently via count out. Danielson asks for no time limit and in case of a Double count out or DQ they match will be restarted. Pearce makes it clear this will be the first title change in 2006. Danielson refuses to shake hands and says he will get revenge for McGuinness hitting him with the pure title. It's a good segment to recap the history and set up the huge stakes in this main event. Pearce than cuts a promo about Homicide and warns Homicide he has a target on his head. Its a decent promo but I really do think Pearce turing heel was a mis step. He's a great heel but he turned heel because Cornette did I wold have rather they set him turning heel at separate event. We get a nicely done highlight video recapping the Danielson vs McGuinness rivalry. Finally we get a promo by ROH world tag team champions Austin Aries and Roderick Strong. Aries says they will finally settle things with the Bricoes and Strong says World a lot.
The actual show starts with Nigel McGuinness talking about how for the last year he's made the Pure title the most important in ROH. Nigel says he hasn't spent year of his life getting dropped on his head for nothing. Nigel says in Liverpool he will prove he is the best pure wrestler and he is Nigel McGuinness and I'm in it to win it. Good segment by Nigel short and sweat. Davey Richards cuts a promo reminding Jimmy Rave he has beat him already. He is interrupted by Aries and Strong wanting to know if anyone has been in the locker room. The camera follows them and we see the recently missing ROH world tag team title belts have been returned with a note saying these will be a re's. Aries says it's going to take more than mind games. Aries accuses the Bricoes of doing it and says they better bring there A-Game. Strong than starts to talk saying it won't matter if it's England or Team NOAH they will beat them tomorrow. Its a good open the belts had "actually" been stolen by The Kings of Wrestling and this was meant to set it up. Colt Cabana makes his way out to the ring and gets a microphone. Colt welcomes the fans to Ring of Honor. Colt fools one of the fans into thinking they are staying for two weeks and mocks the guy. Colt says the UK is going to ROH's second home. Its a nice little segment to hype up what a big even this is for ROH
Four Corner Survival Colt Cabana vs Spud vs Matt Sydal vs Johnny Storm- Sadly this was before Dixie Carter took Spud in and cleaned him up and I hate to mock the guy but he looks like he's 10 years old here at least in TNA he looks 12. Storm like Spud was a UK star but he been on a few ROH cards in the past. Cabana was in holding mode since he had a ROH title shot in Chicago coming up. Sydal was also in holding mode since his semi feud with Aries and Strong was also on hold. Storm and Cabana start us off. Single leg into spinning toe hold by Colt but Storm kicks free. Hammer lock into a wrist lock than a head lock takedown by Storm. Head scissors by Cabana. Storm escapes and gets a drop kick. Wrist lock by Storm but Cabana gets free.Top wrist lock by Cabana. Head stand into a revisal by Storm. Reversal by Cabana. Storm with a arm drag and he charges but Cabana yells stop at him and tags Spud. Spud goes for a lock up Storm yells stop and tags in Sydal. Lock up and Spud gets a head lock. Sydal no sells a shoulder block and dares spends to do it again so he can arm drag him. Arm drag by Spud. Spud goes for a sweep but can't get it on the bigger guy. Spud gets the trip the second time only for Sydal to kip up. Storm and Cabana jump in the ring to get in on the antics but this allows for a tripe team on Cabana. Spud and Sydal send Cabana into Storm and than try to shoulder block him down but Cabana uses size and they go down. Chest bumps and elbows by Cabana. Storm to the top and a rana takes down Cabana. Cabana to the floor. Sydal with a kick whips out Storm. Spud with a drop kick on Sydal. Summersault dive by Spud who bounces right off Cabana. Twisting plancha to the floor by Storm. Over the top rope dive by Sydal takes out everyone. Osi Moonsault by Cabana takes everyone down again. Sydal and Cabana back in the ring and Cabana works over and gets a body scissors takedown into a pin for two. Flying Ass Hole misses. Spanish fly off second rope by Spud with a spring board drop kick on Storm. Leg drive by Sydal gets two on Spud. Cabana tags in with is shocking because Tags have been forgotten about in this match. Flying head scissors off the top by Sydal on Cabana. Stacked up Flying Asshole by Cabana on Sydal and Spud. Superkick by Storm gets two. Storm tags in Spud who hits Cabana with a twisting DDT. Sydal in with a standing moonsault gets two. Storm in no tag and attacks Sydal.Storm with a Falcon Arrow on Spud. Sydal blocks the Storm superplex and sends him to the floor. Shooting Star Press by Sydal on Spud for the win. This match was a mess. First tags were completely forgotten and they jumped from hight spot to high spot so much I thought maybe the Briscoes had acted as agent for this match. Also shouldn't Cabana who has a title shot coming up get a win?
The wrestlers from the opener left the right and headed to the back to ROH ROH ROH chants. Chris Hero jumped the rail and sprinting into the ring. Funny thing is we can still see Cabana on the ramp making me wonder why he hasn't returned to run him off also shouldn't' Hero showing up cause the entire ROH locker room to empty. Hero gets a microphone. Hero says he's here to ruin ROH's big night in England. Cabana than returns and attacks Hero. Hero heads for the hills. Cabana with a quick "This is Ring of Honor and Your not welcome." Promo decent little segment used to set up a six man tag that would take place the next night and a match later on this show.
Prince Nana makes his way out to the ring and insults England. Nana says the England fans have no respect for Royalty. Nana says brings out Jimmy Rave who gets his usual Toilet Paper treatment from the fans. Sadly the TP entrances was getting to be more trouble than it was worth first at previous show some of it hit and damaged a chandler over the ring causing broken glass to fall into the ring and cut both Rave and Davey Richards in there match. At this event a very young girl got hit with the TP plus a few wrestler that weren't Rave started getting the treatment. On top of that with Nana on his way out of ROH they redid Rave's gimmicked so they banned the throwing of T I actually don't blame ROH for this because well you don't wrestlers hurt you don't' want fans hurt and I had seen poor Daziee Haze take a few off the head when she was with the Embassy.
Jimmy Rave with Prince Nana vs Davey Richards- Richards was a perfect 3-0 vs Jimmy Rave in his ROH career upset the ROH vet. See another reason the killed the TP entrance was fans would drag it out to long even after the bell rings some fans are throwing it into the ring. Rave tells the fans to shut there moths. Waste lock takedown by Richards. Head lock takedown by Richards Rave pulls at the head to get Davey into the head scissors. Head stand escape by Richards. Firemen's carry into the head lock with a grape vine on the arm by Richards. Rave powers up but gets shoulder tackled down to the mat. Headlock by Rave but Richards counter onto a cross face than a roll up for two. Front face lock by Richards. Amateur style exchange with Richards keep control. Rave gets the ropes for a break and goes to the floor. Rave climbs back in and gets an arm wringer. Richards kicks free with one to the head. Wrist lock again by Rave and he takes Richards down. Kip up into a firemen's carry again by Richards. Greco Knuckle pin by Richards. Rave powers up and takes Davey into a bridge. Rave tries to break the bridge but can't. Richards up and gets to the wrist lock.Rave with a monkey flip but Richards land on feet. Arm drag into the arm bar by Richards. Stiff chops and a kick by Davey Richards gets two. Body slam and a knee drop and Richards. Head scissors by Richards. Rave gets the ropes. Richards with a great looking snap suplex than gunshot sounding kick to the back and one for the chest. High knee and a neck breaker by Rave. Rave uses the ropes to choke Richards. Nana with a cheap shot as Rave distracts the referee. Camel clutch and tearing at the face by Rave the referee for some reason doesn't count until Richards gets the ropes. Head butt by Rave than a nice looking belly to back suplex for two. Sleeper by Rave. Richards elbows free but Rave uses the hair to take him down. Elbow drop to the back than into a cross face by Rave. Richards gets the ropes. Rave goes Mike Tyson and bites the ear. Atomic drop and chops by Richards and than a knee to the stomach. Running power slam by Richards and that gets a nice pop from the English fans. Second rope leg drop by Richards gets two. Richards goes to suplex Rave to the floor but Rave blocks. Rave tries to suplex Richards to the floor but it's blocked Both men tumble over the top to the floor. Nana gets up Rave back into the ring. Richards crawls back in. Exchange of forearm on the knees than slaps. Springboard missile drop kick by Richards. Kick combo than the German with a bridge for two by Richards. Richards a Saito Suplex drops Rave on his neck. Forearm than a lariat by Richards gets two. We see Nana was about to jump in the ring but stopped when Rave kicked. Rave kicks free of boston crap. Rave goes for the spear but Richards leaps over and gets a sunset flip Rave rolls through and nails the running knee for two. Butterfly lock by Rave center of the ring. Gharian blocked. Kicks to the head by Richards. Spring board back kick by Richards than a gut buster. Running Liger bomb gets two for Richards. DR Driver blocked. Rave with a spear and and a northern lights bomb. Rave set for a super belly to back but Richards hits elbows Rave with Ghanra Ria off the second rope. Richards gets his foot on the ropes. Greeting from Ghana is blocked. DR Driver blocked again Backslide gets two. DR Driver finally connects for the win. Awesome match some great exchanges and some very stiff shots. They had one rough spot Where Davey couldn't get Jimmy up at first for a power bomb but better to be safe and reset that rush and break guy's necks. I really do wish TNA or ROH had done more with Rave the guy was such a great talent.
Backstage the Briscoe Brother says third time was the charm. They claim they were cheated and the champs have been lucky. Jay and Mark claim the UK sucks. Marks warns KENTA to man up. Awful promo as usual by the Briscoe brothers.
Claudio Castagnoli vs BJ Whitmer- This was a hold over from the CZW feud. With Claudio the only member of the CZW invaders that was actually on the ROH roster it made sense BJ would want one more taste of revenge. Claudio jumps Whitmer from behind and uses BJ's jacket to choke him. Claudio changes up to using the ropes for the choke. Chops by Whitmer but Claudio goes to the eyes. Flying big boot by Whitmer. Claudio bails to the floor. Suicide dive from BJ Whitmer. Pretty impressive for a guy that's got to be at least 6'4. Whitmer whips Claudio into the guardrail a couple of times. Whitmer sends Claudio into the crowd. Brawling in the front row and Claudio cents into the chairs. Claudio recovers and sends Whitmer into the guard rail than he sends BJ into the chairs before using one to choke him. Whitmer blocks the suplex over the guar rail and suplex Claudio onto the floor. Claudio recovers and goes to the eye and clubs at the back. Whitmer sent over the guardrail back to ringside. Claudio grabs an ROH banner and uses it to choke Whitmer. Back in the ring Claudio covers for two. Claudio charges right into the exploder suplex by Whitmer. Back elbow by BJ than a back body drop. Snap suplex a roll through into a Northern lights suplex for two by Whitmer. Claudio elbows free the wrist clutch exploder and hits a spinning face buster for two. Water Slide escaped. Dropkick to the knee by Whitmer than a knee strike to the head. Whitmer's running misses but Claudio's uppercut doesn't. Ricola Bomb only gets two. I wish the announcers (and I mean in all of wrestling) would say something like "he didn't get all of it" or didn't the usual hight or anything to help explain why a finisher was kicked out of especially given this match followed up one that had a lot of moves that should finish a match. Uppercut by Claudio. Boot to the midsection than a knee strike to the head by Whitmer. Sunset flip by BJ for the win. Decent match but i know these two could have better this wasn't supposed to be no DQ so the fact they used weapon makes me wonder where the referee was.
Post match Chris Hero return and jumps BJ. The Kings of Wrestling double team BJ until Colt Cabana makes the save. BJ and Claudio brawl to the back. Colt Cabana challenges Hero to a match. Hero refuses but Cabana goes and gets him and throw him into the ring.
Colt Cabana vs Chris Hero- Hero lands an Yakuza kick as Cabana tries to climb into the ring. On the outside Hero sends Cabana into the guard rail and than nails a leaping forearm. Back int the ring Hero goes after the face and than hits a few punches. Power slam by Hero than the senton gets two. Great looking drop kick by Hero to the head of Cabana. Big punch by Cabana but he runs into the snap power slam. Hero stomps at the head and than gets a chin lock. Cabana breaks the grip But gets tossed down. Summersault Senton by Hero for two. Than the cartwheel senton. Chops by Cabana but Hero with the Tracy Smother double thrusts. Cravat with knees than the cravat neck breaker by Hero. Dropkick to the head by Hero gets two. Back to the chin lock by Hero. Cabana gets free and claps the ears. Knee to the stomach by Hero. Cravat snap mare by Hero who than goes to the top. Moonsault by Hero but Cabana moves. Hero lands on his feet. Lariat by Cabana Punch exchange. Atomic elbow by Cabana than a back body drop. Flying asshole than an Kayrana for two. Roaring Forearm into a belly to back by Hero. Yakuza gets two for Hero. Cabana revers the whip but gets locked in the cravat. Cabana escapes and get the Colt 45 for the win. Good match between two of the best to never hold the ROH world title.
Bryan Danielson cuts a promo saying the time for talking is over. He talks about how historic the night is. The first show over seas the unification of the title. Danielson says tonight he shuts Nigel and once again proves he is the best wrestler in the world Good promo by the American Dragon.
The next match becomes one of those Jimmy Bower invades the booth segments. Where Gabe Sapolsky under his fake name comes in and talks for a while. It start off well enough with him talking about how great it is to be in the UK. Than explains night one if meant to more a regular ROH show with the feuds you usually see on it while night two is going to more a lets get as many "dream" matches as we can get on the card. But than it turns into him pushing his whole "Bower is a drunk. He's only an office lackey" story. I can not stress how annoying this always is. First it takes away from the match itself because you have several people talking about something besides the match. Second everyone knew it was Gabe it's be like Vince Russo doing commentary on TNA under the name Alan Wesley. You want to thank the fans and talk about how great it is for do a show like this over seas that is fine but do not turn it into a comedy segment that drags on and on and on.
Winner to get a title shot the next night Team NOAH SUWA and Go Shiozaki vs Doug Williams and Jody Fleisch- Shiozaki would have an extended run in the US in 07 and even win the FIP title. Back in Japan he would win the GHC Heavyweight title. Both Williams and Fleisch had been in ROH in the past Williams was even a former Pure Champion. Williams also would have a good run in TNA holding the X-Division, TV, and Tag Titles. Before the match we get footage of Williams and Fleisch's past highlights in ROH. Go and Williams start us off. Roll up by Go gets two. Roll up by Williams gets two. Wrist lock by Williams . Go kicks free and gets a headlock down to the ground. Williams headstand escapes and gets the hammock. Tag to Fleisch . Head scissors by Go into a pin but the shoulders aren't down. Fleisch gets free to a head lock. Tag to SUWA. SUWA takes for ever to hit a slap. Headlock with riding times by Fleisch. Arm ringer by SUWA. Fleisch flips free and gets the arm wringer. Knee bar by SUWA than a head lock followed by a shoulder tackle. Kick by Fleisch sends SUWA to the floor. Spring board shooting start to the floor by Fleisch. Go tries to attack but is sent to the floor. Tag to Williams who comes out and hits SUWA with some uppercuts. Back in the ring Williams with a knee drop than a snap suplex. Tag to Fleisch who comes in with a jumping double ax handle. Drop kick by Fleisch. Tag by Go chops by team NOAH. Drop kick by Shiozaki. Go run into a boot but scores with a back body drop. Drop kick by Fleisch. Tag to Williams who comes in with an upper cut and than pitches Shiozaki to the floor. Williams with the flying knee off the apron. Head butt by Williams. Go sent back into the ring. Body slam than some knee drops by William stets two. Tag to Fleisch who hits a basement dropkick. Go block a suplex . Super kick by Fleisch followed by a backdrop suplex. Tag to Williams. Williams with abdominal stretch. SUWA just comes in and breaks it up with a punch..Tag to Fleisch. Shiozaki blocks the suplex and gets one of his own. Tag to SUWA. SUWA knock Williams off the apron before going after Fleisch with a back breaker. Fleisch crotched and SUWA kicks the ropes to make it even worse. Tag to Go who attacks the back with a forearm. Sloppy looking jump ion knee by Go. Fall aways slam with a beige gets two. Tag to SUWA who hits a body slam. Go hold Fleisch so SUWA and hit an elbow drop off the second rope below the belt. Spin buster into the Boston crab by SUWA. GO blocks Williams from getting in. Fleisch gets the ropes SUWA takes to long on the top. FLEISCH with an awful looking flying head scissors. Tag to Williams who comes off the top with a flying uppercut. Gut wretch suplex by Williams than a falling head but for two. Leaping lariat by SUWA. Tag to Shiozka who hits a miss drop kick for two. Williams blocks the Fishermen's buster but take a flying forearm and than the fishermen's buster. Beautiful German suplex by Williams gets two. Double teams the English stars. Moonsault by Fleisch followed by the second top knee drop.
SUWA makes the save. Belly to back suplex by Williams. Shiozaki and Williams fight on the second rope. Super Fishermen's buster by Shiozaki. Go takes to long allowing William sot recover. Series of various suplex by Williams. SUWA in an atomic drop and a running dropkick. Fleisch was a poor looking spring board cross body takes out SUWA Dragon suplex by Go. Lariat by Williams and everyone is down. Shiozaki with a clothesline gets two on Williams. Slam by Go and than a top rope moonsault but Fleisch makes the save. SUWA takes out Fleisch. Team NOAH with a double team but William ducks and SUWA punches GO. Victory Roll by Williams on Shiozaki get two. Chaos theory for the win by Williams. Match went way to long for four non roster members. Plus why Go Shiozaki would become a great talent he wasn't there yet, Fleisch was botchy and SUWA well SUWA sucks I am not a fan never will be.
Post match SUWA attacks everyone even GO with a Kendo Stick. The Other three fight back and drive him out of the ring. What was the point of that? Since these guys weren't regulars its not like this could be an angle. I should also note Austin Aries was injured and couldn't work night two so there was no tag title match. Backstage BJ Whitmer declares the CZW war is over. Whitmer brags about running Necro Butcher out of ROH and gave Claudio a receipt. Whitmer says it's time for new goals and get a title. Sadly Whitmer would the next year battling injures a feud with Jacobs that went to long and just poor booking before leaving ROH.
FWA British Heavyweight Championship Robbie Brookside © vs Chad Collyer- FWA was a top indy company in the UK and had promoted with ROH in the past. Brookeside is a legend of the UK who helped a lot of American talent over the years.This is the second match where Gabe jumps on commentary to "explain" more like burry Chad Collyer saying he's not on the ROH roster anymore but he already had this match for the FWA title signed so he was getting it. Now this was done to set up Collyer teaming with the Kings of Wrestling the next night but my issue is how Gabe went about tit by saying "Collyer never got over." First off dumb ass compared to guys like Strong and Briscoe Collyer is the greatest talent in ROH history. Second your still burying the guy Third way to make FWA look second rate saying one of there title contenders isn't on the level of your guys. Finally a part of the reason he didn't get over he was booked poorly by YOU Gabe. Head lock with a go behind by Collyer than a firemen's carry. Fight over a hip toss neither man gets it. Wrist lock by Collyer into a hammer lock. Brookeside with an escape in a head lock. Top wrist lock by Brookside but Collyer pulls the hair to get a break. Arm wringer into a wrist lock by Collyer counted by Brookside into a knuckle lock. Collyer back to the hair to get the break. Back to working over the arm by Collyer but Brookeside to a standing chin lock.. Collyer counters a wrist lock but this time Brookeside goes to the hair to get a break. Shoulder tackle by Brookside than a back body drop. Upper cuts on the floor by Brookside. Collyer's head rammed into ring. Collyer catches Brookside with a knee when he tries to get back into the ring. Suplex into the ring by Collyer gets two. Shin breaker by Collyer and he goes for the clover leave. Brookside fights free. Power slam by Collyer but misses the elbow drops as Brookside keeps rolling out of the way. Vertical suplex by Brookside. Front kick by Brookside a school boy for two. O' Conner roll holding the tights by Collyer gets two. Backslide by Brookside gets two. Basement dropkick to the leg by Collyer and he locks in the cloverleaf. Brookside gets the ropes. Collyer thinks he's won at first and charge. Brookside side steps and gets an Iconcloaism for the win. Decent match hell I would take a Collyer match over a Strong match any day of the week. To bad ROH didn't more to hype the title maybe even include a video package highlighting Brookside's career.
ROH World Tag Team Championship Austin Aries and Roderick Strong © vs The Briscoe Brothers Jay and Mark- The Briscoes' had attacked Aries and Strong way back at the fourth anniversary show but had one up short in there two previous shots at the title. According to the commentary this would be the final shot the Briscoes would get during the reign of Aries and Strong. ROH was now billing the tag titles as world title because Aries and Strong had defended them in Japan. Strong and Jay start us off. Fight over a lock up and Jay gives a clean break. Wrist lock by Strong. Sloppy drop toe hold by Jay. Strong into a Hammer lock and he drives the spot monkey to the ground. Jay counters and gets an arm ringer and the hammer lock than into a head scissors. Strong gets the ropes. Headlock by Strong than a shoulder tackle.s Awful looking head scissors by Jay. Tag to Mark. and tag to Aries. Aries with a elbow to the arm of Mark Briscoes. Head lock by Aries. Aries with a shoulder tackle but Mark won't go down. Aries dares Mark to try a shoulder but use it to knee him in the gut. Tag to Strong. Body slam by Strong tag back to Aires. Headlock take over by Aires. Mark with a head scissors. Headstand escape into the dropkick by Aries. Tag to Strong who hits the first big chop. Tag back to Aries who does an over hand. Tag Strong who hits another chop. Mark with kicks and punches than a suplex. Tag to Jay who hits an elbow and than puts Strong in a chin lock. Chops by Jay Briscoes the leaping back elbow. Snap suplex by Jay Briscoe gets two. Tag to Mark and double team chops followed by those running face wash kicks. Strong. Figure four to the head by Mark. Strong gets free lands some chops and tag Aries. Suplex into a cover by Aries gets two. Elbow drop by Aries into a front chancery tag to Strong. Butterfly suplex by Strong gets two. Mark tosses Strong to the floor and than he knock Aries to the floor. Aries right back in with a cloth lines to stop a suicide dive. Strong tags in even though he's legs. Double team atomic drop than a double team belly to back suplex by Aries and Strong. Tag to Aries. Elbow back breaker combo by the champions. Tag back to Strong. Back breaker by Strong. Full nelson with the leg by Strong. Than a camel clutch by Strong. Tag back to Aries. Up and over and back Elbow by Aries. Spin kick by Mark tag to Jay. Drop kick the clearly misses by a mile from Jay than a brain buster that gets two. Tag to Mark. Spring board dooms day leg lariat by the Briscoes. Strong makes the save. Double team back breaker by Aries and Strong followed by the big chop Brain Buster combo. Jay makes the save on the pin. Tag to Strong. Mark with a forearm and than a tag to Jay.
Over head belly to belly by Strong and a tag to Aries. Power slam by Strong and a summersault senton by Aries gets two. Drop goes hold sends Aries into the ropes. Mark hits a knee and tags in. Springboard double stomp by Mark than a awful looking gut wrench suplex. Tag to Jay and a double team shoulder block. Jay tries t lock in some kind of submission but it looks more like he is trying to hug Aries. Tag to Mark who drops knees to the back. Tag to Jay Double team hip toss on Aries. Chin breaker by Aries. Mark cuts off the tag though. Shin breaker by Aries and he toss Mark into Jay. Tag by Aries to Strong. House of fire time by Strong. Back body drop from one spot monkey and a dropkick for the other one. Jay is on the floor and Strong with a fall a slam sends Mark over the ropes onto him. Suicide dive by Aries takes out the Briscoes again. Mark sent back to ring. Gibson driver by Strong only gets two. Double team back breaker. Jay pulls strong out of the ring. And Mark hits a german suplex. Razor edge neck breaker combo by the Briscoes. Jay tags in. Double teams broken back and forth. Dropkick by ay gets Strong down for a two count. Strong sends Mark flipping over the top rope. It looks like the idiot landed in a way his face smacked the guard rail I assume there was a safer way to do it but the idiot wanted to look cool so IWC would keep kissing his ass. Corner drop kick by Aries followed by the Strong sick kick on Jay only gets two. Missile drop power bomb combo by Aries and Strong. Mark makes the save. The Champions sent to the floor. Mark with a dive over the top rope looks like he catches he feet but Aries and Strong still managed to catch him. Spring board spiked Jay driller on Strong by Aries makes the save. Mark sent to the floor. Aires follows him up. DDT on the ramp by Mark. Spring board dooms day deice by the Briscoes only get two. The Briscoes set up to do it on Aries. who ducks. Strong takes out one Briscoe with a sick kick. Inverted Rana by Aries. Back breaker and than power bomb by Strong 450 by Aries for the win. Another match that goes way to long and given its a Briscoes brother match its one big high spot fest. Even Aries and Strong fell into it. Post match we see Aries is hurt not that I'm shocked you try carrying the other 3 for 25 mins. Meanwhile Dave Prazak calls it tag wrestling at its finest witch I call bullshit. There was much tag wrestling else where in 2006.
Before the main event we get a video recapping the timeline of both men's title wins. Highlights of there title defenses. We also get audio clips by both that really adds to the package. We than get highlights of there previous matches against each other and Nigel's attack on Danielson backstage. I especially love the way it ends we hear Nigel says "I'm the best pure wrestler" followed by Danielson "I'm the best wrester in the world" on a shot of the two championships with picture of both men in the corner.
Title Unification Match ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson vs ROH Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness- This match is held under pure rules meaning no closed punches to a head a 20 count on the floor each man only gets three rope breaks and the titles can changes hands on a DQ or Count-out. Danielson insists on being introduced as Even Better than The Beatles. Bobby Cruise does the rule explanation since ROH didn't bring it's usual referees to the UK. I actually think Nigel had to explain to the referee they used both titles were on the line because we hear him telling the referee to hold up both belts. Fight over a lock up Nigel gives a clean break when Danielson is in the corner. Back to the lock up Daniels slaps Nigel in the face on a break. Arm wringer by Danielson. Nigel worker free and gets an arm drag and returns the slap to the face. Greco knuckle lock Nigel gets the top wrist lock. Danielson drives back and again chops on the break. Wrist lock drives Nigel to the mat. Nigel frees himself and revers into his own wrist lock. Danielson frees himself and gets a dropkick. Arm breaker by Danielson. Snapmare than kick to the back by McGuinness. Arm drag by Nigel but Danielson lands on his feet. Front face lock by Nigel. Danielson tries to escape but McGuinness mangoes to keep it on. Danielson goes to the corner witch I guess doesn't count as a rope break. On the break Danielson drives Nigel down arm first. Danielson stomps at the arm of McGuinness. Arm breaker again by Danielson than a shoulder to shoulder than repeated by Danielson. Wrist lock on the mat by Danielson. Danielson lets him up so he can hit another dropkick that gets two. Nigel blocks the butter fly suplex. Uppercut by Danielson in the corner. Thrust by Nigel. Butterfly super by Danielson into the arm bar. Nigel use his first rope break. Danielson runs into the back elbow. Kick to the back falling lariat to the chest by McGuinness. Top wrist lock takedown by Nigel. Running uppercut in the corner by McGuinness. Another uppercut knocks Danielson down. Nigel with a cobra clutch on the ground. Danielson gets back to his feet and ducks the short arm lariat. Enziquri by Danielson. Surfboard by Danielson but instead drives the legs into the mat when the fans calls for it. Superplex by Danielson than the diving head butt gets two. Cattle Mutilation locked in forcing Nigel to use his second rope break.Danielson goes to the top rope but McGuinness cuts him off and hits the tower of london. Danielson uses his first rope break to stop the pin. Nigel uses Cattle Mutilation on Danielson. Danielson gives u his second rope break to get free Danielson rolls to the floor and Nigel follows him out. Danielson rams Nigel head first into the time keepers table. Danielson stands on Nigel's face. Danielson uses the table to choke Nigel. Danielson back into the ring but Nigel is back before 20. Forearms by both men. McGuinness ducks a roaring forearm and nails a powerful lariat for two. It appears Nigel is bleeding out of the mouth. Nigel goes for that mule kick from the corner but gets dropped kicked right in the face.
Roaring forearm by Danielson gets two. Danielson goes for the cross face chickening dead in the center of the ring. Nigel uses his final rope break to get free. German suplex by Danielson drops Nigel on his head. Diving head butt by Danielson but Nigel gets the boot up and Danielson hits it face first. Slaps to the face by both men. Danielson gets the advantage and gets Nigel dazed. Dragon suplex countered and McGuinness crotches Danielson on the ropes. Leaping lariat from the ropes by Nigel. Danielson uses his final rope break to stop the pin. Nigel climbs the ropes but Danielson cuts him off. Head butt by Nigel drops Danielson. McGuinness can't follow up allowing Danielson to recover and hit a dropkick. Crossface chickening on the rope by Danielson. Nigel gets free and hits tower of london but only gets two. Back to the floor. Nigel pulls Danielson shoulder first into the ring post but Danielson blocks the second one. Danielson pulls Nigel into the ring post head first and and let me make his clear Danielson is doing this by pulling the arms. Meaning Nigel can't uses his arms to block and protect himself like you should. Nigel has been busted open the hard way. Baseball slide dropkick by Danielson and Nigel spill over the guard rail into the crowd. Spring board summer fault splash into the crowd by Danielson. Both men are down as the referee counts. Danielson kicks McGuinness back into the crowd. Nigel collapses at ringside but beats the count. Nigel gets fired up Danielson pleads for mercy. Head butt exchange and again no use of the hand to protect. Please any wrestler out there reading this DON'T DO THIS! USE YOUR HANDS TO PROTECT YOURSELF! I'm not saying this as some kind of "expert" I'm say this as a fan that knows enough about head injures to not want to see guys doing this just to entertain me. Nigel snaps the rope into Danielson. More head butts. Jaw breaker lariat attempt but Danielson cuts it off with a forearm. Nigel goes for the jaw breaker again but has trouble on the rebound. Finally Nigel hits the jaw breaker lariat. The fans are convinced Nigel is about to win. Danielson reveres the pin into cattle mutilation. Nigel fights toward but is reminded he doesn't have a roper break. Nigel counters out and rolls for a pin and gets two. Repeated elbows by Danielson. The referee stops the match awarding the match to Danielson. The fans chant Bullshit at the finish. I think they were upset the home town boy lost. The match is pretty damn good and one of the better matches these two had during there careers. It decently has that big fight moment. My only issues is Nigel and Danielson not using there hands and I say that in wake of the recent studies on concussions Still a great match.
Post match Danielson is handed both championship belts. Some fans start throwing trash into the ring. I get a number of fans thought Nigel would win it being the first show in the UK and Nigel being the home country hero. But ROH made the right move. With the title shot vs Homicide coming up at the end of the year it was better to keep the belt on Danielson. Plus Danielson also still had to blow off his feud with Joe and with KENTA coming in the next month he was a better pick to face him since they had some history. We see Nigel pulling himself back to his feet. Danielson gets a microphone. Danielson says the fans think Nigel a tough guy. Danielson admits that was the hardest match of his title reign. Danielson says Nigel should get more more shot at the title. Nigel gets the microphone and agrees to one more time. I think the UK fans thought they were agreeing to have one more match the next night. Danielson takes a second to pose with both championship belts. We get a still photo where Gabe admits Aries is hurt and plugs Anarchy in he UK. Backstage Nigel sys that was the toughest match of his life. Nigel says he didn't take the belt but he still has his pride and warns Danielson to be ready for there "final" match.
This show is a mixed bag we have several very good matches and a great main event with what does comes off as huge moment as Danielson unifies the two singles championships. But it also flawed We have three matches alone that go a half hour each. Now why I do enjoy longer matches the problem is two of them are from four guys not on the roster and both tag matches only had one guy (at the time) I would want to see go 30 mins. Production is spotty backstage all the promo took place under a light that kept blinking it was better than the dark room the usually do but still it was a distraction. Commentary is also a miss there are times where it's tough to hear it and at times when I can Dave Prazak who i normally like came off as way to much of a homer and warped into a bad Joey Styles at times. Jarred David was also on this set and he really was unimpressive like he still wasn't easy in the role. I can recommend seeing it if you can find it but it's not a must see.
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