ROH on HDNet
Philadelphia, PA
September 21, 2009

Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Mike Hogewood.

The ROH World Champ Austin Aries comes to the ring with Rhett Titus and Kenny King for the first ever Austin Aries (A-Double) Lucky Lottery (L-Double). They’re wearing the two ridiculous hats we saw last week. Naturally the fans want him to use the Big Bird toboggan, so Aries uses the British cricket club hat. Twenty names go in the hat. Rhett tosses out a hotel room key and draws out the lucky name. And the winner is…KENNY OMEGA! Oh, but he’s in Japan. Too bad. They draw out another name and boy is Aries reluctant to announce this name. The lucky winner is…GRIZZLY REDWOOD! Seriously, who didn’t see this coming? Even so, it’s still entertaining.

• ROH World Champion Austin Aries vs. Grizzly Redwood
  

And suddenly HHH vs. TAKA from Raw 2000 comes to mind. Not the same scenario at all, but it’s the champ randomly facing a much smaller opponent. When Grizzly isn’t getting his face punched in, he delivers his usual body roll move. Grizzly actually delivers a press slam and a bulldog gets 1-2-NO! Prazak compares this title match to past classics like Steamboat-Flair just to be a douche. He makes the mistake of heading up top and gets slammed down by his beard. Running Dropkick in the corner and the BRAINBUSTER earns Aries the win. (3:57) So it’s not quite HHH vs. TAKA, but whatever. We get an unenthused ‘Slap the Porpoise’ from Hogewood. *½

After the match, Aries tells Kyle Durden to stop touching him and informs the crowd that what they just saw was a Match of the Year Candidate. The A-Double L-Double isn’t over. Next time, *you* could be the lucky winner at an ROH title shot.

Flashback to last week, Kevin Steen announces Ladder War II for Glory by Honor 8 in NYC with himself and El Generico taking on the American Wolves for this weekend.

We hear the American Wolves thoughts on Steenerico. Come NYC, the Wolves are bringing D-Day.

Recap of the Kingston-Hero feud. They will finally meet at Glory by Honor 8 this weekend! It’s nice that they’re somewhat hyping a big show, but it’s already sold out.

• Erick Stevens vs. Brandon Day
  

Day rolls to the apron after a back suplex and comes back in with a slingshot spear on Stevens. He starts concentrating on the ribs until Stevens counters the Snow Plow with a German suplex. Choo Choo Splash sets up the LARIAT and the DOCTORBOMB for the 1-2-3. (2:57) They need to find Stevens something to do on this show. He’s just messing around with jobbers every week. *½

Tyler Black has found a mentor in Jerry Lynn since their match a few weeks ago and now they’re working as a tag team. Next week, they will be in action against Kenny King & Rhett Titus.

In the back, Kyle Durden is standing alongside Bryan Danielson, Roderick Strong, and KENTA. They chop, kick, and can make you tap out better, faster, and harder than anybody in the WORLD.

• Necro Butcher vs. Jimmy Rave (w/Prince Nana & Ernie Osiris)
  

Necro brings a chair with him to the ring, which becomes important later. Most of the match takes place on the floor as Necro brutalizes Rave. He even breaks off part of the guardrail over by the entrance ramp and makes a scaffold out of it between the ring and the guardrail. Inside the ring, Necro goes for a powerbomb onto the guardrail scaffold, but Rave slips out and goes after the knee to lead into the Heel Hook. Necro punches him down and as Rave grabs hold of the ref, Ernie Osiris hops into the ring and CANNONBALLLLL SPLASHES onto Necro’s ankle while it’s placed on a chair. HEEL HOOK, but Necro finds the ropes. Necro kicks off a second attempt at the hold and then backdrops Rave onto the guardrail scaffold. While the ref checks on Jimmy, Nana tries to distract Necro while Osiris comes up behind him with a staple gun. Well, Necro sees it coming and grabs the staple gun and staples Ernie in the chest. Out goes Prince Nana and Ernie Osiris, in comes Bison Smith to attack Necro for the DQ. (5:50) Necro staples Bison while he’s stuck in a front headlock, but BISON WON’T LET GO. Security hits the ring and we’ve got a pull apart brawl on our hands. **

Video package is shown to summarize the Castagnoli/Albright feud. Next week, they face off in the first-ever STEEL CAGE MATCH on HDNet.

• Bryan Danielson, KENTA & Roderick Strong vs. Chris Hero & The American Wolves (w/Shane Hagadorn)
  

Prazak promises this will be the most exciting wrestling match on TV tonight. Can’t dispute him there. Then again, I was watching the Colts/Dolphins game, so what do I know. Never fear – according to the taping reports, this will NOT be the final match that we will see of Bryan Danielson on HDNet before he goes off to the WWE. There should at least be two more to go. Onto the match, Danielson and Hero start us off with a nice struggle on the mat. Edwards tags in and gets caught in a game of three-way ping pong between his opponents. Once Edwards backs Danielson into the Wolves corner, Richards tags and snapmares Danielson for a kick to the back for two. They trade submission finishers and both go for dropkicks leading to a stalemate. Blind tag to Edwards and his quebrada hits knees. TRIANGLE CHOKE! Edwards dead lifts him up as Richards makes the save with a lung blower. SWEET. Danielson plays face in peril as the Wolves & Hero keep him grounded. Edwards takes Danielson to the floor for a couple whips into the guardrail. Over comes Hero with a NASTY elbow smash. Back in, Danielson blocks the Alarm Clock. When Richards goes to counter with an enziguri, Danielson ducks and Edwards gets nailed. Jumping Knee Strike on Richards sets up the HOT TAG TO KENTA! Flying Clotheslines and Springboard Dropkicks! Yakuza Kick in the corner on Richards leads into the hesitation corner dropkick! I love it. Sitout powerbomb on Richards gets 1-2-NO! They trade finishers and kicks, but it’s Richards getting the better of KENTA with a Handspring Enziguri. Tag to Hero, these two have had their problems. HUGE Rolling Elbow gets two. Another one gets 1-2-NO! Hero goes for the kill with a third, but KENTA hits him a little faster with a clothesline. Strong tags in and nails Hero with a running elbow smash in the corner. Hero avoids DEATH BY RODERICK, but eats a dropkick instead for two. Falcon Arrow gets two. Chops and elbow smashes are traded, but Hero nails Strong with the Flash Kick. The Wolves double-team Strong with forearms in the corner, then puts him down with a back suplex into a facebuster as Richards comes off the top with a missile dropkick. Quite the series of moves there. That gets two. Jumping Knee Kick from Edwards on Strong gets two. Strong comes back with a Uranage Backbreaker for 1-2-NO! STRONG HOLD on Edwards. Hero tries to save with a Rolling Elbow, but KENTA cuts him off and applies the Octopus Stretch. Edwards escapes into DEATH BY RODERICK, but Edwards counters *that* with a rana. In comes Richards, Alarm Clock to Roderick! Hero joins in on a Rolling Elbow-Superkick-German Suplex combo on Strong for 1-2-NO! Danielson and KENTA make the save! They get dumped out as Strong is left all alone with the Wolves and Hero. Looks like they were going for some sort of double Doomsday Device move, but Danielson and KENTA cut them off. Strong breaks free and brings Hero off the top with a superplex. Meanwhile, Danielson grabs Edwards for a Back Superplex. With Richards still crotched up top, KENTA gives him the Pop-Up Superplex! Danielson and KENTA deliver pescados to Richards and Hero on the floor while Strong and Edwards chop it out in the ring. Edwards lands on his feet off another missed quebrada and takes a big enziguri in the corner. Sick Kick connects for 1-2-NO! Here we go, GIBSON DRIVER gets the 1-2-3. (16:44) Very physical and fast-paced NOAH-style six man tag. You people *have* to check this one out. ****

Just to reiterate, next week we will see Claudio Castagnoli in the main event taking on Brent Albright in a STEEL CAGE MATCH to finally settle their feud. Also, as Jerry Lynn takes Tyler Black under his wing, they do battle against Rhett Titus & Kenny King.

And with that, I am done.