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ROH WRESTLING DVD REVIEWS

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*** Official OWW.com ROH DVD Reviews by Brad Dykens ***
March 30, 2006 - DRAGON GATE CHALLENGE - Detroit, Michigan

This was the first night of the first ever ROH triple-shot, which coincided with WWE's huge WrestleMania 22 weekend. Colt Cabana started the show by saying he could not wait another minute to settle his feud with Homicide and called 'Cide out for their "Falls Count Anywhere" match. It was an intense brawl that surprisingly lasted a brief 7-minutes before Homicide sandwiched Cabana between a ladder and pinned him to supposedly end their feud once and for all -- psych! They set up one final match, a Chicago Street Fight, scheduled for two nights later ( 7 / 10 ).

Ricky Reyes defeated Chad Collyer ( 6.5 / 10 ). Two things about Collyer; 1) Thank you for growing your hair back, and 2) Hey aren't you a heel? -- Collyer played a total babyface, even though he is slated to face Ace Steel the next night in a First Blood match. Anywhere else and this match would have been a top match, but this is ROH where the bar is constantly being raised.

The sleeper hit of the night featured former tag team partners BJ Whitmer and Jimmy Jacobs setting ROH on fire with an incredible match. The storyline going into this match continues to be Jimmy's growing infatuation with Lacey -- and in his defense, can you really blame him? Anyway this match was brutal and featured the scariest botched spot that I've ever seen in professional wrestling. Late in the match, Whitmer was going for a Power-bomb off the top rope and slipped, falling backwards. Jacobs was already up in the air at this point and he was sent sailing down the floor at ringside, bouncing the back of his head off the ring apron with a violent thud. Amazingly, Jacobs got to his feet and continued the match without serious injury but take it from me, it was heart-stopping to watch. Whitmer wanted to shake Jacobs hand after the match, but Jimmy refused and walked away ( 8.5 / 10 ).

The first match of the Dragon Gate Challenge was a singles match between Jimmy Yang (the future Jimmy Wang Yang in WWE) and Dragon Gate's Ryo Saito. It is always special seeing foreign talent come in and face wrestlers whom I am familiar with. Yang proudly represented ROH in this match and did a wonderful job but came out on the losing end against a formidable opponent ( 7 / 10 ).

Prince Nana has brought his troops together after failing to dethrone the American Dragon in recent months. The Embassy is now going for the ROH Tag Team titles and Nana set up a series of tag team matches for his men. Alex Shelley & Jimmy Rave agreed to face American Dragon in tag action if they were allowed to chose Dragon's partner -- they chose the unorthodox Delirious! Very good tag team match mixed with some of the usual comedy from Delirious ( 7 / 10 ).

Claudio Castagnoli steam-rolled through ROH Student Shane Hagadorn ( 3 / 10 ). Hagadorn is very rough around the edges but should do well in the future. After the match, Chris Hero & Necro Butcher gave Double C one last chance to side with CZW in the war against ROH. BJ Whitmer attacked Hero & Butcher, while Claudio watched for about 30 seconds before coming to his senses and knocking Hero & Butcher out of the ring, thus solidifying his allegiance with Ring of Honor!

The second match of the Dragon Gate Challenge was a tag team match between AJ Styles & Matt Sydal taking on Dragon Gate's Genki Horiguchi & Dragon Kid. This match started off decent but ended on an extreme high note after a steady increase of excitement and spectacular moves. This match will be mentioned at the end of the year as one of 2006's best matches of the year ( 9 / 10 ).

The third match of the Dragon Gate Challenge was a huge six man tag between Generation Next (Austin Aries & Roderick Strong & Jack Evans) facing Dragon Gate's Blood Generation (CIMA & Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino). I'm sorry for stealing TNA's home-grown philosophies but this match was literally TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION from bell to bell. There was no time to catch your breath as there was literally always something going on. It was one spectacular move after another -- the kind of match that would wear out a WWE crowd in 30 seconds, but God bless the ROH fans who stayed on their feet the entire match. Just like the previous match, this encounter will also be recognized at the year end Awards as a Match of the Year contender ( 9.5 / 10 ).

The main event was a super grudge match between Samoa Joe & Christopher Daniels to finally settle the long-standing feud between the two stemming from the time Daniels brought Joe into ROH 4 years ago. Daniels was trying to overcome his past and score his first pinfall victory over Joe in a 1-on-1 match in an ROH ring. They hit another home run for ROH with an incredible match, culminating in Daniels indeed picking up that elusive pinfall victory over Samoa Joe ( 8.5 / 10 ). After the match, Chris Hero & Necro Butcher showed up again, but Allison Danger physically forced Daniels out of the ring begging him not to fight the CZW invaders. Samoa Joe, however, got up and defended ROH against CZW only to get beat down until BJ Whitmer saved him. Samoa Joe then officially threw his name into the hat and declared war on Combat Zone wrestling!!!

Final Thoughts: The show started with a BANG and didn't give an inch until the final bell. I was extremely impressed by the level of consistent intensity presented at this show and can only imagine what the next two DVDs have in store. If you would like to purchase this or any other ROH DVD, please check out ROHwrestling.com ---- if you need some convincing, you can check out streaming video of various ROH matches for free at www.ROHVideos.com



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