ROH on HDNet
Philadelphia, PA
April 18, 2009

Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Mike Hogewood.

Tonight in the main event, Brent Albright clashes with Claudio Castagnoli!

• Jimmy Jacobs vs. Necro Butcher
  

This match is pretty personal considering Necro used to be an AOTF member. Necro has a staple gun with him. Everyone approves except Jacobs and the referee. Jacobs attacks during the tug of war battle over the staple gun. Necro HULKS UP, so Jacobs begs off and wants a handshake. Nah, bro. Necro nails him in the face and unloads on him down in the corner. They go to the floor where Necro hits Jimmy in the gut with the ringbell. Necro finds a plastic Rubbermaid table and wants to powerbomb Jacobs on it, but Jacobs slips out and takes Necro over with a back suplex. Jacobs puts a plastic bag over Necro’s face, which is TOTALLY illegal according to Hogewood. Jacobs sits Necro down in a chair and delivers a plancha. Hogewood ~ “THAT HURT!” Back in, an elbow drop off the middle rope gets two. Necro blocks a spear with a STRAIGHT right hand. He follows up with a Chokeslam, but doesn’t want to pin Jacobs. Now the TIGER DRIVER, but he still wants to one-up himself and grabs his staple gun. Cue AOTF member Brodie Lee, who comes out and prevents any stapling on his leader for the DQ. (5:46) They try to staple Necro, but he kicks Jacobs away and scares the AOTF of the ring. Not bad, but they didn’t really get to *take it* to the next level. **

In the back, Kyle Durden talks with Brent Albright. Tonight, he and Claudio are going to show how much they HATE each other.

• Eddie Kingston vs. Sami Callahan
  

I’ve heard a lot about Eddie Kingston, but never seen him wrestle before. My first impression of him is that he’s like a fat Briscoe brother. Not sure why, but these two get pretty snippy with each other at the start. Callahan grabs the KOJI CLUTCH, but Kingston is too close to the ropes. Callahan wins a fisticuffs battle, but Kingston launches Callahan with a head and arm suplex. Kingston proceeds to chop the crap out of Callahan in three corners, but Callahan goes to the eyes to stop a fourth chop. Callahan grinds his knee in Kingston’s face and goes for a suplex. He can’t get Kingston up, so he reverts to choking him in the ropes. Callahan runs into a boot and eats a running forearm. He tries chopping Kingston some more, but that fires Kingston up for a headbutt to bust open Callahan. Standing powerslam gets two. Callahan comes back with a boot and a spinning back suplex for two. Then from out of nowhere, Kingston delivers the Backdrop Driver to ready Callahan for the BACKFIST TO THE FUTURE! It’s over. (6:02) Is Aja Kong also Eddie Kingston? Lots of back and forth blows, but not too much else. *½

Back over to Kyle Durden, he’s standing by with Claudio Castagnoli. Claudio makes fun of Durden’s tie and calls it American trash. Apparently, wearing a scarf is the pinnacle of European fashion.

Before we go to the next match, Hogewood and Prazak talk with the new ROH world champion Jerry Lynn. He will be a fighting champion like all the other ROH champions of the past.

• Bobby Dempsey vs. Orange Cassidy
  

Dempsey sends the Philly crowd into a frenzy! Cassidy is a long-haired skinny guy who’s about to get squashed. Death Valley Driver gets the three-count. (0:24) Being the new total heel commentator, Prazak wonders how good Dempsey would do against more experienced ROH talent. ¼*

Today’s Buzz Words segment showcases Erick Stevens.

• Rhett Titus & Kenny King vs. Cheech & Cloudy
  

Sweet! We get FIVE matches on the show today. I’m a fan of both King and Titus, so these two as a tag team should be quite entertaining. We some armbar games with King and Cheech to start. Cloudy tries to save his partner from a double-team, and does so as C&C transition to STEREO TEN-COUNT CORNER PUNCHES! That’s followed by STEREO RUNNING BULLDOGS! Cloudy tags in and backdrops Titus to the apron. He goes to shoulderblock Titus through the ropes, but Titus jumps down as King catches Cloudy with a running knee. Nice! Titus and King taunt the crowd while keeping Cloudy on their side of town. They hit a beautiful inverted atomic drop/running clothesline combo for two on Cloudy. King misses a springboard legdrop, allowing Cloudy to channel the spirit of Ricky Morton to tuck and roll for a tag to Cheech. He hits King with a Superman Spear in the corner. King tries to knock Cheech off the top rope, but Cheech CARTWHEELS on the top rope and catches Kenny with a superkick! Awesome. C&C deliver the LE BOMBE DE ROGUEAU to King for 1-2-NO! Titus breaks up the pin and drags King over to his corner so he can legally make the tag. Doesn’t matter much, because C&C deliver Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Cheech! C&C look to finish, but King shoves Cloudy off the top down to the guardrail to knock him silly. Meanwhile, King and Titus proceed to finish off Cheech with a POWERBOMB/SPRINGBOARD BLOCKBUSTER combo for the 1-2-3! (6:01) To show just how into his character he is, Titus gets Cheech with the extra penetration pin. Pretty gross, but funny at the same time. Good little tag match. **½

• Brent Albright vs. Claudio Castagnoli
  

Gosh I love the 1812 overture as Claudio’s theme song. On his into the ring, Claudio makes some guy at ringside into a footstool to get into the ring. Does that mean Prince Nana is going to be managing him soon? Anyways, Claudio meets Albright on the floor to fight to show this feud is SERIOUS~! Albright beats Claudio in the ring and gives him a Gunn Slinger into a backbreaker before he even takes off his trenchcoat. Claudio fights back with European uppercuts because he is very European. Hogewood goes nuts about Claudio biting Albright on the head. Albright shoots Claudio across the ring with a monkey flip and clotheslines Claudio to the floor. He tries a pescado, but Castagnoli catches him in mid-air and runs him into the guardrail! Awesome. Back in, Claudio nails Albright with a clothesline and whips him hard into the corner. Les Artess lift into the suplex gets two for Castagnoli. They fight to the floor again where Albright explodes with an overhead belly to belly suplex! When Albright tries to climb back in, Castagnoli yanks him off the apron so he’ll fall on his face. Back in, that gets two. Albright punches out of a chinlock and hits a Uranage. HERE COMES ALBRIGHT! Exploder suplex connects, followed by an overhead throw. Powerslam gets two for Albright. Claudio can’t get Albright up in a suplex, so Albright gives him a rolling neckbreaker. That gets two. However, Castagnoli does connect with a springboard European uppercut. That sets up the Big Swing. Albright counters a running European uppercut with a backslide for two. Oh, but a Bicycle Kick knocks Albright loopy for a pair of two-counts. While Claudio argues with the ref, Albright pulls him in for the Crossface, then into the CROWBAR. Claudio makes the ropes and stops Albright up top with a thumb in the eye. Albright shoves off a superplex and levels Castagnoli with a flying bodypress for 1-2-NO! Claudio blocks the HALF NELSON SUPLEX, but then Albright avoids the POP-UP EUROPEAN UPPERCUT. Albright goes for his finisher again, but Claudio counters into a victory roll and grabs the ropes for 1-2-3. (11:44) This was great with lots of good nearfalls. Plus, there’s not enough heels who use the ropes to win much anymore, so I enjoyed that. ***

Next week’s main event, Bryan Danielson takes on Tyler Black!

Final Thoughts: It looks like a rather weak show, but it’s really not. A solid show from underneath ending with an improved main event from last week’s show made for one enjoyable hour of wrestling.