ROH Glory by Honor VII Review

I should note how surprisingly professional the building looks. ROH actually has a ramp and video screens for the entrance structure. This is Bryan Danielson’s entrance at this show for an idea of how the stage is set up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNwfN_mL8gM&e


Lynn vs. King
I was really into this. This was Lynn’s first match as a member of the official roster, and for it to be in the ECW Arena was pretty cool. If I could use one word to describe this, it’s be “Refreshing.” They went in there with a clear objective of old vs. new and for Lynn to beat King while making King look good. Nothing super flashy that you haven’t seen before, but the way the match was laid out made this all the more investing. Lynn is twice as old as King btw, just thought I’d throw that out. I’m really digging what I’ve seen from Jerry so fan in his ROH run. I’ll admit that hasn’t been much, but it’s always serving a purpose. Nice promo from Lynn a few matches later in the back where he says he has one last run in him and just downs a Miller Lite.

***

Albright vs. Pearce (NWA Title)
Their DBD match from 2 months prior is one of the best matches I’ve ever seen, so my hopes were a little high for this. It doesn’t even touch that match, but for what this was it was really good. Pearce and Albright have such great chemistry and they match up so well. Pearce is a classic 80s NWA heel and Albright is a Magnum TA type of bad ass face. Albright was legit injured here and the flow and crispness of what they were going for suffered a little, but this was still another great effort from the two.

***1/2

Shiozaki vs. Steen (FIP Title)
Fun back and forth match that really fits the mold of what ROH does well.

***

Danielson vs. Nakajima (GHC JR Title)
Yeah, like this could suck. I marked for the NOAH title music before the match. Anyway, Danielson is all “Who is this douche?” and Naka’s like, “Let me show you.” And he throws a kick at Dragons’ head and Danielson’s like, “The fuck was that?!?!?” Naka targets the leg and Danielson sells like…..a salesman? I don’t know. Anyway, I can’t remember who said this but when I saw this spot I thought the same thing. They go into FIGHTING SPIRIT~ mode and start with some headdrops, but as Naka tries to German Danielson, Dragon lands on his feet and SELLS THE LEG. That’s why he’s the best in the Milky Way, folks. Amazing match and the reason to get this show.

****

Stevens vs. Titus
Right after intermission so this is squash city. It’s a great squash though as Rhett uses his cock as a weapon and Stevens gets his nose busted, so he goes STIFF on Titus. About as entertaining as a 3 minute squash can be.

*1/2

Hero/Hagadorn/Edwards vs. Strong/Ruckus/Jigsaw
Standard stuff here. Probably could have been a little shorter too.

**1/4

Claudio vs. Sasaki
Very underwhelming. Claudio works best with guys under 6 foot and Sasaki was pretty much here for the check and his student, Nakajima. Had no real personality to it and the less said the better.

**

Nigel vs. Generico (ROH Title)
This was pretty much a squash for the first part of the match. Then it kicked into high gear where you almost felt Generico could win the title before Nigel Lariats his head off. Not as solid as their first match in August (****) but still really good, which was like bare minimum for Nigel matches in 2008.

***1/2

Briscoes/Aries vs. AOTF vs. Necro (Steel Cage Warfare)
Necro is by himself here, btw. Not sure what to think about this. It never bored me, but a lot of it was meaningless weapon shots that really went no where. Crowd was dead for pretty much the whole thing, in fact they were for most of the entire night bar the opener. Still not really worthy of main eventing arguably the biggest show of the year

**1/2

Overall, this show was strange. On paper it looked like it could be in the class of SOH III, Northern Naviation or DBD VI, but it was really a dissapointment. I've heard McQueen refer to this as one of the worst ROH shows ever, and while I certainly wouldn't go that far, it did leave a bitter taste in my mouth. There's still a lot of quality here, along with important matches, which is something that I look for in my ROH purchases now. I wouldn't go out of my way to see this, though.