ROH 6/8 thoughts.

So Plague and I did end up going to the ROH show last night, and it was well worth it. I don't want to hear any more nonsense about how ROH fans are in "denial" over the "depleted" roster, because everyone on the card brought their A game and delivered. It's one of those things that you cannot understand if you don't actually watch the shows, and don't pass this off as me being some sort of mindless ROHbot, because I went through a lot of driving (in fucking Roxbury at that) to get to this show and I wouldn't have had a problem tearing this show a new asshole if it didn't deliver.

Anyhow, on to the show.

-Plague and I actually arrived before the doors open.

-Student tag team match took place, I only caught Ernie Osiris and Bobby Dempsey as participants. Pretty vanilla stuff, as you'd probably guess.

-Rhett Titus and Mitch Franklin defeated two unnamed local guys. This started out on the generic side, but they picked the pace up and were able to win the crowd over.

-Main show begins.

-BJ Whitmer went no contest with Brent Albright after Whitmer headbutted the referee. Whitmer then threw a temper tantrum and destroyed everything in the ringside area. Crowd was really into this match in general, though this match was clearly set up to progress to a bigger match down the line between these two.

-Daizee Haze called out Lacey, but got Jimmy Jacobs instead. Haze attacked Jimmy, but Lacey made the save and they beat down Daizee. This is the third straight time Daizee has been laid out in Boston, I can only hope that this is leading to her getting some measure of revenge at the next show.

-Bryan Danielson defeated Jimmy Rave in a solid, ***-ish match. Lots of creative chain wrestling, as you'd expect, earned Danielson a mid-match standing ovation. Danielson won with the elbows to the face. A lot of fans were confused as to why this was so low on the card, but were into it regardless.

-Kevin Steen defeated Mark Briscoe in a rather awesome brawl. Lots of high spots and in crowd brawling. This match did a lot to put Steen over too, as he played his heel character really well and was dominant. Steen tried to take Mark out with a chair afterwards, but Jay and El Generico ran in and they were seperated.

-It was announced that ROH is coming back to Boston on August 10th for DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR Night 1!! Plague and I marked out like a couple of kids. It was announced that Aug. 10 will have the Briscoes defending the ROH Tag belts against Steen and Generico in a Boston Street Fight. Also, the upcoming four-way is for a shot at the World title on Aug. 10.

-Claudio Castagnoli defeated Chris Hero, Nigel McGuinness, and Mike Quackenbush for the title shot. Great match, with a lot of emphasis on getting Quackenbush over, and the building tension between Castagnoli and Hero. Hero had Larry Sweeney, Tank Toland, and Bobby Dempsey in his corner, and they were amusing and butting in throughout the bout. Quackenbush had a couple of redicuously close near falls, and Nigel wasn't as involved as I would have expected (he's probably got something big going on in Philly tonight). So now we have Claudio vs. Morishima for the ROH belt to look forward to.

-Intermission! I should note that before the four-way I snuck out to use the water fountain and bumped into Jimmy Jacobs. Good times.

-Eddie Edwards defeated Pelle Primeau. Match was sloppy at points, but they were able to win (most) of the crowd over by the end. Edwards is the hometown boy, so the crowd was very receptive to him.

-Matt Sydal beat El Generico in a show stealer. Crowd was very vocal throughout, with "Ole" chants for Generico and "Sydal" chants in the ole tune for good old Sydal. Only downer is that the fans really wanted Generico to go over.

-Delirious, Erick Stevens, and Matt Cross defeated Roderick Strong, Rocky Romero, and Davey Richards in an awesome six man tag. Lots of action all over the ring and ringside, and several false finishes. Delirious looked hurt afterwards and was overheard requesting a doctor in the hallway afterwards.

-Takeshi Morishima beat Jay Briscoe to retain the ROH World title. This match surprised the HELL out of me. They booked it so that Jay got in a couple very convincing false finishes on Mori, so logic be damned, they made it seem like Jay could have actually won, which is what this match badly needed. The crowd was very solidly behind Jay the entire match, and were disappointed when Morishima "hulked up" and ate Jay for dinner. The crowd was much more into this than I was expecting.

-After the main event, Generico and Steen jumped Jay, prompting Mark to run in for the save. They brawled in the crowd again and into the hallway. Fun way to finish the show, the DVD will probably have footage of me acting like a mark during this point.
So yes, this was an awesome show to attend live. Great crowd, great card, and a lot of hard work by the roster.