Ring Of Honor Show Dazzles Dearborn

March 19, found ROH putting on a show in the same building (Ford Community and Performing Arts Building), and at the same time as the Dearborn Symphony was holding it's Spring Concert. which is why my wife and I got a somewhat dazed look from a well coiffed woman when we asked "is this the line for Ring of Honor?" After recovering, she directed us to the right line just down the hall.

Once inside the proper venue, we saw the Bravado brothers celebrating a win in a dark match (definition:a match, or matches, held before the start of the 'official' card.) In the next dark match Bobbey Dempsey defeated Eddie Venom. Dempsey won with a fireman's carry turned into a variant of a piledriver.

A spokesman from Fight network came out and told us that were filming the show, and encouraged the crowd to "get rowdy!" That was a little like asking a roomful of nuns to pray--unneccessary. The crowd of about 1,000 was already redhot, and ready for some excitement, pounding on the barriers and chanting "R-O-H"

Rhett Titus squared off against "Skull Crusher" Rashe Brown, after an exchange of chest chops, Titus went into his bump-and-grind routine. The crowd began chanting "you're a virgin!" at him. This was followed by chants of "hep-a-ti-tis," which further enraged Rhett. But to no avail, as he was disposed of handily by the powerful Brown with an over the shoulders back breaker/face buster combination.

Next up: Tyson Dux vs Kenny King, although King was the heel, he had his fair share of the crowd's backing. They were delighted when he used a handful of tights to get the win. By this time the crowd was chanting and counter chanting at almost everything.

Kevin Steen & Steve Corino faced Player Dos and Pee Wee next. Dos was hurled from the ring who then subjected Pee Wee to an extended beatdown before Dos recovered enough to rescue him. The match was an extended series of high spots, and extended action, culminating in victory for Steen and Corino, when Steen used a cradle pile driver to finish off the unfortunate Pee Wee.

Last match of first half was former champ, Austin Aries against former TNA star Petey Williams. The crowd was evenly split between the two. Aries went for the cheap heat by calling us all a bunch of losers who had cashed in bottles and cans to get enough money to buy our tickets. The crowd answered back with a chant of "wheres your title?" at him.

Williams was greeted with "you got fired!" from the crowd alluding to his departure from TNA. The action itself was spirited, with lots of near falls, and high spots, and then seemed to fall apart somewhat. It felt like the combatants got confused momentarily about how it all was supposed to end. then they got it back together and Austin got the win.

After the break, Colt Cabana and El Generico took on "The House of Truth." For some reason, Cabana decided to heckle my wife, calling her grandma, and then called me grandpa (possibly because we were older than 90% of the crowd!)when the heels tried to join in Cabana and Generico blasted them. The match itself featured lots of low brow comedy, which helped lower the level of intensity in the house. Cabana's team picked up the win and he came over to us and hugged Sally.

next up was a classic "scientific" match up between Kenny Omega and Roderick Strong, that included some first rate (and increasingly rare) mat work. It was a lot of fun to watch, and was filled with believable near falls, and kept the issue of winner in doubt until the end, when Strong got the pin.

The main event which pitted The American Wolves, and Chris Hero, against the Tag Champions, the Briscoe brothers, and World champion Tyler Black, was simply the best tag match I have ever seen. It lasted over thirty minutes and drew repeated chants of "this is awesome!" from the crowd. The action was spectacular both in and out of the ring.

When tthe Briscoes and Black finally scored the win, the crowd was both hoarse, and emotionally spent!

Ring Of Honor returns to Dearborn in November.