ROH Stylin’ & Profilin’
Taped 3/13/09 in Collinsville, Il

Brent Albright cut a promo sitting on the stairs backstage about his match with Nigel McGuinness for the ROH World Title. He said tonight was his night...

1. Roderick Strong defeated Jay Briscoe in 10:41. Dave Prazak welcomed us to the show and he was joined on commentary by Larry Zbyszko. Briscoe and Strong hugged before the match. Roderick worked on the arm early on. Strong caught Briscoe with a reverse leg lariat and followed with a back breaker for two nearfalls.

Jay picked up the pace and hit a series of moves to score a nearfall himself. They exchanged chops and Strong did the Ric Flair strut. The pace slowed down and Briscoe regained control. Strong came back and hit a sweet dropkick for a two count. Strong then hit some very hard chops.

Both men exchanged a series of moves and really picked up the pace. Jay went for the Jay Driller and they exchanged several standing switches. Strong got the most out of the series of counters by rolling up Briscoe for the win. After the match, the fans cheered and the men hugged...

Twill’s Two Cents: Great opener. Briscoe works a style that is the perfect combination of power and speed while Strong is just a pleasure to watch in the ring. These two have great chemistry together as well and this was a great way to get the show started. By the way, Zbyszko added some nice insights on commentary while Prazak is serving as the play-by-play guy.

2. MisChif (with Jimmy Jacobs and Delirious) defeated Daizee Haze to retain the SHIMMER Championship in 11:25. Haze extended the handshake by applying a go behind. The women had a nice Irish whip exchange with MisChif ending up on the floor. Haze went to the top rope but Jacobs pushed her back into the ring.

MisChif, with Daizee in the ropes, applied a camel clutch. Nice move. Daizee applied an innovative hammerlock with her legs. MisChif came back and used her power to regain the advantage. The women traded the offensive advantage back and forth. Daizee hit a missile dropkick for a two count.

Daizee hit the heart punch, but when she hit the ropes, Jacobs grabbed her foot. Daizee rolled up MisChif and Jacobs pulled her out of the ring. Daizee then went to the top and took out everybody. Back in the ring, MisChif hit the Desecrator for the win...

Jacobs grabbed the microphone and told Delirious that he better deliver later in the show or bad things would happen. He then called out Daizee and said she was only trying to hurt Delirious. He took out a nail and threatened to do the same to Daizee what she did to him in Chicago...

Twill’s Two Cents: Slow and choppy in spots, but all in all, this was an entertaining women’s match. MisChif utilizes her power well and Daizee is great at pulling out the speed spots. I think Jacobs is money but they just don’t utilize him like they should.

Footage aired of various matches from pretty much every star in ROH promoting “Bound By Hate.” Remember, all of these great DVDs are available at ROHwrestling.com...

3. Austin Aries defeated Silas Young, Kenny Omega, and Claudio Castagnoli in a Four Corner Survival match in 14:03. A Double threatened to leave the ring if the fans did not stop chanting his name. Nice heel move. Austin and Claudio shook hands before locking up. They mocked the fans by pretending to care what they thought. Funny.

Young and Omega came in because they were getting impatient with the heels’ hesitating. The removed the ring of the heels and locked up inside of the ring. The referee lost control and all four men went wild for a few minutes. Young and Omega impressed with their high risk moves while Aries bounced around like a pinball and Castagnoli utilized his power and mat strength.

Claudio scored a nearfall with a reverse leg lariat. He then started to work together with Aries. Omega tagged in and hit a frogsplash high cross body to Claudio. Austin came in and Omega tried to score pinfalls on both men. He hit a dragon suplex (full nelson suplex with a bridge) on Aries for a nearfall.

All four men hit big moves and Omega ended up alone in the ring. Omega went to the top rope but was stopped by Aries, who hit a sunset flip powerbomb onto both Young and Castagnoli. Back in the ring, he hit the running dropkick on Omega in the corner. He followed up with the brainbuster for the win...

Twill’s Two Cents: An entertaining spotfest with some nice wrestling mixed in. Claudio didn’t really stand out here as I hoped he would, but Aries and Omega were money. The right guy won the match and all four men worked their asses off.

Austin was hilarious heading back to the locker room in the way he slapped fans’ hands away. Omega received a nice “Omega” chant as he recovered in the ring...

Dave Prazak stood in the ring and introduced Ric Flair, who came out to his usual theme music. The fans chanted “Nature Boy.” Flair put over the city of St. Louis. He put over the roster and said the next Shawn Michaels is in the ROH locker room. The ROH World Heavyweight Champion Nigel McGuinness’ music hit and he came out to the ring.

Nigel welcomed Flair to ROH and said ROH, with him as champion, was the hottest thing in wrestling. He said he would not say anything that wasn’t true. Nigel said he would not say Flair was not one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. He also said he would not say Flair was the greatest husband or father of all time either. Hilarious!

Flair said if Nigel wanted to bring up his family, he would bring in Reid Flair to stretch him from one rope to the other. He said was not married and told the women of St. Louis he would be out on the town tonight. Nigel angrily walked to the back after Flair left...

Twill’s Two Cents: Would any hot chick sleep with someone Flair’s age if he was a Wal Mart greeter?

4. Chris Hero, Davey Richards, and Eddie Edwards (with Larry Sweeney and Shane Hagadorn) defeated Kevin Steen, El Generico, and Bobby Dempsey in 16:27. Steen and Generico worked over Richards early on. Davey spat in Generico’s face before tagging in Hero. Dempsey tagged in and went nose to nose with Hero.

Prazak and Zbyszko made fun of Dempsey before Steen tagged in. Hagadorn and Sweeney distracted the referee, allowing Richards and Edwards to take advantage of Steen. Edwards worked over Steen’s knee. Hero tagged in and continued on the knee. Richards applied a hold to the leg/knee and Hero continued to kick the knee.

Nigel McGuinness joined the announce booth. He said Flair was there to get an easy paycheck (correct) and Flair should have shown him some respect. Generico and Richards worked a very entertaining few moments together. Hero hit a blockbuster on Generico for a nearfall.

Dempsey tagged in and Hero kicked him in the face. He bled the hard way from the nose. Steen and Dempsey hit cannonballs. Dempsey hit a DVD on Hero for a two count. Steen missed a Swanton. The Wolves almost scored the pin but Dempsey broke it up. Steen locked in a sharpshooter but Hero broke it up.

Richards kicked Generico to the floor. He picked up Steen and tried the DR Driver but Steen fought out. Steen went to the top but Sweeney hit him in the knee with a chair. Richards locked in the Texas Cloverleaf and Steen tapped out...

Edwards, Hero, and Sweeney worked on Steen’s knee until Generico hit the ring with a chair...

Twill’s Two Cents: The last five minutes was awesome. Steen isn’t traditional, but he could be a main event guy. Richards is traditional and should be a main event guy. The last few minutes were very fun to watch. I’m still not sold on Hero, but I could watch Steen, Generico, and Richards all day.

A “Mr. Wrestling” chant broke out as referees and his partners were checking on Kevin Steen. They helped Steen to the back as he gave a clinic on how to sell something. Nicely done...

Backstage, Nigel McGuinness was still pissed at Ric Flair and cut a promo on him. He said Reid Flair would not get a title shot because in ROH, you earn your title shots. He said Flair did not need to come out and watch him, but he wanted him to because he wanted Flair to see him whip Brent Albright...

Sweet and Sour Inc. and the Wolves cut a victory promo backstage. Sweeney put over his own exhaustion as if he was in the match himself...

5. Kenny King and Rhett Titus defeated Irish Airborne in 8:36. King and Titus attacked their opponents from behind as the opening bell rang. With King and Titus on the floor, Airborne hit simultaneous suicide somersault planchas. They brought their opponents back in the ring and scored the first nearfall.

Nigel joined the announce booth one more time. He put over Brent Albright but wondered out loud why he deserved another shot at the title. King and Titus gained and held an extended advantage until a double team move went wrong, allowing Irish Airborne to get back on the offensive.

Titus blocked a monkey flip attempt and then kicked out of a high cross body. King went to the top rope to thwart a double team move attempt by Irish Airborne. Titus set up for the blockbuster, which King hit from the top, and Titus added the powerbomb portion of the tandem move for the win...

Twill’s Two Cents: Fast paced and entertaining match with these four. King is especially fun to watch and Titus is getting so much better. Irish Airborne is a very talented tag team as well.

6. Bryan Danielson defeated Bison Smith by countout in 12:45. Bryan mocked Bison as he avoided him with his speed. There was pretty much zero contact, minus a few Danielson kicks, in the first four minutes. He locked in a sleeper at about the 4:15 mark. Bison hit a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and took over from there.

Bison pressed slammed Bryan into the turnbuckles. Ouch. Bryan tried to fight back but was cut off at every pass until Bison missed an Irish whip into the corner. Dragon picked up the pace and hit several kicks before scoring just a one count. Bison hit an impressive half nelson belly to back released suplex.

Smith put Danielson on the top rope and tried a superplex, but Danielson fought him off and hit a missile dropkick. Bryan knocked Bison into the crowd and followed with a springboard dive onto him. Bison was able to position himself to try a powerbomb, but Bryan slithered out and hit a running boot. He got back into the ring but Bison could not beat the count...

Twill’s Two Cents: I always love watching Bryan and this was a perfect example why. Bryan can work with everybody and he looked great working against a bigger opponent. Bison was very impressive as well as a big man that can go in the ring. The finish left a lot to be desired but it was a good match nonetheless.

7. Tyler Black and Jerry Lynn defeated Jimmy Jacobs and Delirious in 16:08. Zbyszko mentioned wrestling in the 80s against Jerry Lynn. Delirious and Black started the match. Delirious had an early advantage and tagged in Jacobs, who immediately tagged out. Delirious missed the corner knee strike and Black hit a dropkick for a two count.

Lynn tagged in and the two babyfaces double teamed Delirious. Black hit a standing shooting star press for a two count. Jacobs finally tagged in but Lynn got the best of him. Black came in and hit uncontrolled shot after shot on Jacobs. The Age of the Fall finally started to work together and Jerry Lynn took the majority of the damage.

Lynn was able to come back and hit at TKO on Jacobs. Jacobs tagged out before Lynn could, but Black finally was able to tag in. He hit a springboard lariat. With all four men on the floor, Tyler hit multiple clubbing blows on Jacobs. Delirious threw Lynn into the ring post. Delirious was able to get back into the ring and Tyler made it at 19.

Delirious and Black traded nearfalls in the ring. Jacobs threw Delirious a chair and when the referee removed it, Jacobs came at Black with another chair, but hit Delirious on accident. Lynn took out Jacobs with a spear and Black pinned Delirious...

Twill’s Two Cents: Excellent match. All four men sold their pain and anguish after the match and that was legit. This was a very intense, very physical, and very high risk match. Given the four men in the bout, it should come as no surprise at the workrate and physicality of the match. This was definitely worthy of the semi main event slot. Nice job guys.

After the match, Jacobs was about to hit Delirious with the railroad spike. Daizee Haze came out to stop him and Jacobs hit her as a blunt reaction to her presence. He looked moderately upset but then yelled at her that he warned her what would happen.

He went after Delirious again but Delirious blocked the spike and hit a modified t-bone suplex on Jacobs. Delirious snapped and hit multiple running knee strikes to Jacobs, who was slumped over in the corner. Delirious and Daizee embraced in the middle of the ring...

Twill’s Two Cents: Great angle with a very nice post match beatdown and face turn by Delirious.

8. Brent Albright defeated Nigel McGuinness by disqualification in 22:11, but Nigel retained the ROH World Heavyweight Championship. Ric Flair came out to watch the match from ringside next to Cary Silkin. Albright made his entrance and played to the crowd before entering the ring. Nigel took his time and even ignored Flair.

Nigel told Albright he better bring his A game since he was in the ring with the champion. Albright worked over the injured arm of McGuinness early in the bout. Nigel retreated to the floor and Brent tried a lariat with Nigel up against the post, but he missed. However, he put on the brakes in time to not hit the post, but it didn’t matter because Nigel was able to ram the arm and start working on it anyway.

After working over the shoulder, he threw Brent into the ring and continued the onslaught. Albright rolled through and locked in an armbar but Nigel regained the advantage relatively quickly. He hit a very impressive high cross body but Albright used Nigel’s momentum to roll through and score a two count.

McGuinness locked in another submission and continued to jaw with Flair. He tried a short arm closeline but Brent ducked and hit a Rock Bottom. He scored a very nearfall with a snap powerslam. He then pulled Nigel to the floor and hit a series of moves. Back in the ring, he hit a neckbreaker for a long two count.

Nigel tried the Tower of London but Brent countered and almost hit the half nelson suplex. Nigel then hit the Tower of London the floor. Back in the ring, Albright kicked out of a pin attempt. He tried the Tower of London again but Brent pushed him off, hit a high cross body and scored a two count.

After another Tower of London, Albright still kicked out. Following a very impressive short arm lariat, Albright still would not be denied. Nigel tried the rebound lariat but Brent locked in the crowbar. The referee went down after some inadvertent contact from both men. Nigel hit a DDT but nobody was there to count.

Nigel smiled and hit the Tower of London through the table and to the floor. He picked up Albright’s dead weight, rolled him into the ring, and only scored a two count. Nigel locked in the London Dungeon but Brent rolled him over for a two count and then locked in the crowbar. He hit the air raid crash and locked in another crowbar. Claudio Castagnoli hit the ring and referee called for the bell...

After the European heel duo continued to beat on Albright, Flair hit the ring and hit a couple of chops, running off Nigel and Claudio. Flair and Albright walked back up the ramp together and acknowledged the crowd...

Twill’s Two Cents: I loved the match. Albright works an amazingly physical, yet fast paced style for a man his size. I could watch Nigel work for an hour, but he seemed a half step off during the match. The finish sucked. I love how ROH puts over the importance of their championships, but a cheap finish like that was a bad way to end the DVD, Flair or not. If the plan was to put Albright in a long term title program, I’d be okay with it, but that did not turn out to be the plan.

Backstage, Generico and Steen cut a promo on Sweet and Sour Inc. and Steen wanted to make sure everyone knew his knee injury was eight years old; not because the American Wolves successfully injured him. Steen promised that the belts were never leaving their waists...

Rich’s Final Reaction: Just like any ROH DVD, this one was solid. The finish of the main event did not take away from the fact that the match was very good, but it did leave a damper on the show. The opener between Strong and Briscoe was probably the best match on the card. The tag match before the main event was very good as well. With so many solid to great matches on a show, it is difficult to decipher and remember specifics. Nonetheless, this was a good show and a recommended purchase.

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