Random Ring of Honor Matches #5

-Ring of Honor World Championship: Nigel McGuinness [c] VS Kevin Steen (Injustice, 4/12/08)

-Steen blows snot on Nigel's hand instead of shaking it, so Nigel slaps him in the face with the snot-covered hand. Steen blows snot on his own hand, and returns the favor. Forearm strike exchange is a stalemate, and Steen avoids a lariat before delivering one of his own. Nigel avoids a Sharpshooter. Nigel tries for the Jawbreaker lariat, but Steen just walks away when he sees Nigel rebounding off the ropes. Steen then mocks Nigel by hanging in the ropes before throwing him outside and following up with a dive.

They fight for a little bit on the outside, and Nigel very casually pokes Steen in the eye. Steen avoids a short-arm clothesline, and hits a running powerslam for two. Steen hits a DDT and a flipping legdrop for two. Nigel fights back and starts working on Steen's arm. Nigel locks in an armbar, and uses Steen's hand to flip off the crowd. Nigel continues to work on the arm, but Steen does fight back, and hits a cannonball on Nigel in the corner.

A second cannonball hits, but Nigel fights out of a Sharpshooter attempt before hitting a series of European uppercuts and a big lariat for two. Steen blocks the Tower of London and hits a flying crossbody for two. Nigel gets the London Dungeon, but Steen is out of it quickly. Steen locks in the Sharpshooter, but Nigel gets to the ropes. Nigel hits the Tower of London for two. Steen fights out of an arm submission, but cannot lock in the Sharpshooter. Nigel hits the Tower of London off the ring apron onto the floor.

That only gets two. Steen fights out of a third Tower of London, and counters a superplex by shifting his weight. Steen hits a Swanton Bomb for two. Steen blocks a Jawbreaker lariat attempt and locks in the Sharpshooter. McGuinness makes the ropes again. McGuiiness gets a folding press, and holds the bottom rope for the pin to retain. Match was decent. I'm not sure how credible a challenger Steen was at the time.

Steen flips out when he figures out how he lost, and has to be held back. Claudio Castagnoli challenges Nigel to a title match, but Nigel declines, saying Claudio hasn't proven anything to him.

-Motor City Machine Guns [Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley] VS Age of the Fall [Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black] (Tag Wars 2008 4/18/08)

-Pretty slow first few minutes (well, slow for the MCMG). Shelley wins an exchange with Jacobs by hitting a flying kick to the face. Jacobs tags back out, and pouts in the corner. Shelley blows a snot rocket onto Black, then hits a quebrada for two. Sabin ties up Black, and Shelley sneaks in to slap Black in the face. Shelley hits the Skullfucker on Jacobs, but Black pulls Shelley out of the ring, and set him up for a dive by Jacobs. Black whips Sabin into the barricade, then follows up with a moonsault off the barricade onto Sabin.

MCMG hit some double teams on Jacobs, culminating in a double superkick for two. MCMG set up for more, but Black breaks it up with superkicks on both Gun, then an inverted suplex on Shelley gets two for Jacobs. Shelley is face-in-peril for a bit, before catching the AOTF with a DDT/downard spiral combo, before getting the hot tag to Sabin. MCMG hit an enziguiri--->German suplex--->Dragon suplex chain on Black for two.

Shelley catches Black with a Crippler Crossface. Jacobs tries to break it up with a flying elbow, but misses Shelley, and nails Black. Shelley and Sabin trade Border City Stretch and End Times attempts. Sabin breaks up the End Times on Shelley with a kick to the face. MCMG hit a series of double teams on Jacobs, finishing with the Shell Shock, but Black breaks up the pin attempt at two.

Black drops both Guns with a springboard double clothesline. Doomsday hurricarana put Sabin out. Black hits a running Yakuza kick and a frog splash on Shelley, then Jacobs follows up with a back senton for two. Jacobs blocks a Shelley attempt at the Contra Code, yells "FUCK YOU!", and hits one of his own for two. MCMG fight back and try for a powerbomb/Contra Code combo, but Black breaks it up. Black drops Sabin with a Yakuza kick, Shelly hits a flying back elbow on Black, then Jacobs lays Shelley out with a spear.

Black lays out Shelley with a 2k1 bomb (modified fisherman's brainbuster). Sabin lays out Black with the Cradle Shock. After a few moments, Shelley tries for the Air Raid Crash on Jacobs, but Jacobs rolls out, and locks in the End Times for the submission.

Match got really good after a long feeling out process, and I'd say the last 10 minutes or so were the best, if you can stand people kicking out of big move after big move, which is the MCMG style. Ballsy move to job the MCMG in their RoH return, in Detroit. Crowd shows their displeasure by throwing garbage at Black and Jacobs.

-The Motor City Machine Guns VS Ring of Honor World Tag Team Champions The Briscoe Brothers [Non-Title] (Return Engagement 4/19/08)

-Not much to write about early. MCMG hit a series of moves that ends with Shelley holding Jay so Sabin can deliver a basement dropkick to the face. Cute spot as Sabin rolls up Jay, so Mark pushes it over to put Jay on top, then Shelley pushes it over again to put Shelley back on top, and they do this a couple times until the MCMG use sterio sunset flips. Sabin sweeps Mark's legs to send him crashing off the ring apron. The Briscoes come back with a double team shoulderblock, and the crowd goes into a really stupid and annoying "teamwork! teamwork!" chant.

MCMG clean house, then Sabin fakes diving outside onto Jay, and Jay walks right into Shelley as he hits a double knee strike off the apron. Mark goes after Shelley on the outside, and Sabin does the "ref stops a dive for no reason, so wrestler dives over the ref" spot, actually landing on his feet in the first row after hitting the Briscoes. Sabin ties Mark up, allowing Shelley to kick Mark, possibly in the nuts.

The Briscoes wear Sabin down, including a vicious Ron Simmons-style spinebuster from Jay. Sabin takes more punishment before getting the hot tag to Shelley, who hits a Code Breaker on Jay, and a Tornado DDT on Mark. Shelley misses a frog splash, but the MCMG get dual submissions on the Briscoes shortly afterward anyway. They can't get a submission. Mark saves Jay from an Air Raid Crash, and Sabin saves Shelley from the Jay Driller. Mark pitches Sabin to the outside, and Shelley charges into a Death Valley Driver for two. MCMG fight off the springboard Doomsday Device, and Shelley hits the Skullfucker on Jay.

MCMG hit a couple double teams on Jay. Sabin looks to have it won with a dragon suplex on Jay, but Mark hits Shelley win an exploder suplex to send him crashing into Sabin. Sabin survives a Jay Driller, and Shelley makes the save after a springboard Doomsday Device. Sabin tags Shelley, who hits a Sliced Bread #2 on Jay for two. Sabin tosses Jay with a super German suplex, and Shelley finishes Mark with a Sliced Bread #2.

Good match. Not the out-and-out spotfest I was expecting. They didn't forget about tagging, and only had one finisher kickout per team. Weird booking to have the Guns lose in Detroit, but beat the tag champs in Chicago the next night. It is a nice change from the obvious (reverse the two results, or have the MCMG win or lose both) though.

After the MCMG exit, the Age of the Fall (Jacobs, Black, Necro Butcher, Zack Gowen, and someone else I don't recognize) enter to brutalize the Briscoes. Jacobs goes to spike Mark, and somehow slices his wrist open.

-Ring of Honor World Tag Team Championship Tournament Finals: Age of the Fall [Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black] VS Kevin Steen & El Generico (Up For Grabs 6/6/08)

-Titles were vacated after one of the Briscoes hurt himself doing a dive during an altercation with AOTF. The other Briscoe & Austin Aries successfully defended the titles against AOTF, but it was then decided that the titles would be vacated.

AOTF are much more fresh than Steen & Generico, having had an easier road to the finals. Match immediately spills to the outside. Generico drives to give Black a brainbuster on a chair, but Black counters with a backdrop, sending Generico into the edge of the chair. Black powerbombs Generico into the barricade, so Steen powerbombs Black onto the edge of the ring apron. Back in the ring, Steen hits Jacobs with a pump handle neckbreaker for two, then Generico adds a big splash for two. Black tosses Generico off the ring apron and into the barricade, further injuring Generico's shoulder. Generico is helped to the back, turning this into a handicap match.

AOTF work over Steen's injured leg. Black utilizes a figure 4. Jacobs tells Steen that "Jimmy didn't screw Kevin, Kevin screwed Kevin" before locking in a Sharpshooter. Steen fights back with a powerbomb on Black, then he powerbombs Jacobs across the back of Black. Steen tries the Swanton, but Black gets his knees up. Steen fights off a double team, and gets a small package on Black for two. Black fights out of a package piledriver, and hits the small package driver, but Steen kicks out at two. AOTF try for a Doomsday Contra Code, but Generico returns, laying both AOTF members out with Yakuza Kicks, then a springboard moonsault onto Black.

Steen hits a package piledriver on Jacobs and Generico has him set up for a brainbuster, but Black schoolboys Generico from behind for the pin and the titles. Really good match with the classic tag psychology of the babyfaces having to constantly fight from underneath, but not quite having enough to pull it out.

The fans throw garbage at the new champions as Jacobs goes on a rant, then give Steen & Generico a standing ovation as they leave.

-The Motor City Machine Guns VS Kevin Steen & El Generico (Death Before Dishonor VI 8/2/08)

-Steen makes fun of the Guns, prompting a shoving match at the start. Shelley counters a Generico rear chinlock by biting his thumb. S & G hit a drop toe hold ---> front flip legdrop combo for two. Steen makes friends by spitting and blowing snot on Shelley. MCMG get a double team submission on Generico. Guns start playing the heel role in the tag formula with Generico as the face-in-peril, and the Guns get some boos for it.

Generico finally gets the hot tag. Steen gets Sabin on his back and hits a senton on Shelley. Steen locks the sharpshooter on Sabin while Generico hits a dive onto Shelley. Eveyone gets caught up on one corner. Shelley hits a super chinbreaker on Generico, then Sabin tosses Generico into Steen. Kick combination on Generico gets two for Sabin. Shelley gets the Air Raid Crash on Steen for two. Sabin hits a top rope hurricarana on Generico, which sends him crashing onto Steen. Shelley follows up with a frog splash for two. MCMG go for the assisted Sliced Bread #2, but Generico fights out. Steen hits a canonball on Sabin. Generico hits a turnbuckle brainbuster on Shelley, while Steen locks Sabin into the sharpshooter for the submission.

Good tag formula match until they decided that wasn't good enough and started hitting double teams. I really don't like it when tag matches stop involving tags for the last few minutes.

-Ring of Honor World Championship: 4 Way Elimination Match: Nigel McGuinness [c] VS Bryan Danielson VS Ring of Honor World Tag Team Champion Tyler Black VS Claudio Castagnoli (Death Before Dishonor VI 8/2/08)

-The challengers corner Nigel, so he bails and refuses to start the match. CC and Danielson start. Nigel blind-tags Danielson and clotheslines him out. Black blind-tags Claudio and dropkicks Nigel out. Black takes out Danielson with a dive, and Claudio takes out Nigel with a suicide dive. Nigel tags Danielson back in. Once Danielson has Black down in the corner, Nigel tags back in. Once Black hits Nigel with a hard chop, Nigel tags Claudio. Nigel tags in to take advantage of Claudio, but again, once Claudio hits a springboard European uppercut, Nigel tags out to Danielson.

Nigel tags in again with Claudio down, and feels proud of himself when he knocks Danielson and Black off the apron when Claudio tries to tag. Of course, when Claudio gets the advantage, Nigel looks to tag, and Danielson refuses to do so. Soon after, a series of moves leaves all four men down. Claudio hits Danielson with a torture rack backbreaker, Black hits Claudio with a superkick, Nigel spikes Black with a DDT, then Danielson hits Nigel with a release German suplex. Black lays out Claudio and tries for the Phoenix splash, but Nigel cuts him off. Nigel tries for the Tower of London on Black, but gets shoved off into a running leg lariat from Danielson. Danielson locks in Cattle Mutilation on Nigel while Black hits a crossbody on Claudio for two. Danielson starts to hit a series of elbows on Nigel, but Claudio pulls him off Nigel with a German suplex for two, then Black hits a quebrada on the prone Claudio for two.

Claudio hits Black with a step-up enziguiri, but gets caught in a triangle choke as Nigel waves goodbye to him. Claudio makes it to the ropes as Nigel sets Black on the top rope, then comes off the top turnbuckle with a lariat on Black. Everyone but Danielson ends up on the outside, so Danielson hits a basement dropkick on Nigel to send him into the crowd, then follows up with a springboard splash onto Nigel. Claudio gets a giant swing on Danielson, but gets rolled up for a very close two count. Danielson wins a European uppercut exchange. Claudio tosses Danielson into the air, hitting a European uppercut on the way down. Claudio covers Danielson for two, but then gets rolled up by Danielson for the pin, so Claudio is the first man out.

Claudio shakes Danielson's hand as the crowd gets on his case. Claudio then lays out Danielson with a bicycle kick and Riccola bomb (sit-out straight jacket powerbomb) as Nigel happily looks on. Claudio gets a chair, sets it on Danielson's head, then stomps on it before tossing several people aside. Claudio is finally pulled away. Nigel pulls up the KO'd Danielson and delivers a lariat for the pin, so now only Nigel & Tyler remain.

Black gets a springboard clothesline for two. Black gets a hangman's neckbreaker for two. Black misses a frog splash, and Nigel covers Black for two. Black fights out of the Tower of London, and hits a frog splash for two. Nigel comes back with a short-arm lariat for two. Nigel finally hits the Tower of London, but that only gets two. Black dodges the Jawbreaker lariat and hits a powerbomb into the turnbuckles, followed by a death-valley-driver into a faceplant for two.

Black hits a superplex, then holds onto Nigel to deliver an inverted suplex for two. Nigel hits a big lariat for two. Black counters the Jawbreaker again, and this time hits God's Last Gift (small package driver) for two, which the crowd was standing up for, expecting a title change. Tyler misses the Phoenix splash, and huge lariat knocks Black upside down, but that only gets two. Nigel hits the Tower of London, running European uppercut, and another big lariat...for two. Nigel sets Black up for another top rope lariat, but Black fights out. Black springboards into yet another huge lariat, and THAT only gets two. Black counters the London Dungeon with a small package for two. Nigel has had enough of this shit, and TWO huge lariats are finally enough to put Black down for three to allow Nigel to retain.

Really good match that picked up considerably when it came down to Tyler VS Nigel. The goal seemed to be to put Tyler over as a possible future world champion, without giving him the title yet. It definitely worked, as he survived almost everything Nigel threw at him, and almost had the champion pinned several times.