ROH Nothern Navigation Review

Chris Hero vs. Ruckus
Fun enough opener. Hero is still a great wrestler, as his PWG work shows. He’s just never gotten in the hang of having great matches in ROH. Not that he has a great worker in the ring with him in this match. Ruckus flips around and Hero gets his knock out gimmick a little more credible.

**

Kenny Omega vs. Delirious
Omega’s ROH debut. He definitely has potential to be a main stay in the company. I really like Omega’s selling here. Probably the most I’ve been entertained by a Delirious match since March 2007.

**3/4

Sara Del Rey vs. Jennifer Blake
Squash match. Blake does manage to get in some botched offense before Del Rey proceeds to cave her head in soon after.

½*

Erick Stevens vs. Go Shiozaki
Neither of these guys is great at being a ring general, so they make up for it by beating the shit out of each other. Works for me. Go isn’t a very good heel here. I mean, refusing to shake hands and then hi-fiveing a fan on the outside doesn’t really work. Canada is not a fan of Stevens, but they still go out there and put on a fun match.

***1/2

Bryan Danielson vs. Claudio Castagnoli
Incredible match. The more and more I see of Danielson, the more I convinced that he is an all time talent. Literally everything he does is gold. Only Michaels is even close to where he is now. His selling here is especially top notch. They play off their Chicago match nicely as well, mixing in some fun “top this if you can” stuff, before it becomes all about who is a better wrestler. Claudio is more than game to hang with Dragon here. The finish plays off the first match perfectly. A top 10 match of 2008.

****1/2

Roderick Strong vs. Naomichi Marufuji
Starts off a little slow with no real identity but then kicks into high gear towards the end. Really great stuff, but the slow build keeps it out of **** range.

***3/4

Nigel McGuinness vs. Kevin Steen (ROH World Title)
Another fantastic match. Steen takes a sick bump into the side of the ring and that becomes the story of the match for Nigel. He proceeds to work a great methodical WWE style and works over the back of Steen for the majority of the match. Steen puts in a great performance throughout. Easily his best singles match that I’ve come across. Great nearfalls from Steen as he clearly has Nigel scouted and the crowd in his pocket. In the end, Nigel is just better and Steen leaves his country a broken man. Should have main evented, but I guess I understand why with the whole “Fans go home happy” feel that ROH likes to have.

****1/4

Jacobs/Black w/Necro vs. Jay Briscoe/Aries w/Mark Briscoe (No DQ)
Typical Briscoes brawl for the most part. Mark and Necro come out to interfere, leaving the match to be 3 on 3, but then they both end up going to the back and the match finishes the way in began. Some storyline advancing helps make this stand out. Still fun, but if you’ve seen a brawl in ROH then you’ve seen this.

***1/4

Definitely top show of the year along side 6th Anniversary Show, Supercard of Honor III, Death Before Dishonor V and (apparently, even though I’ve yet to see it) Final Battle.