ROH in Liverpool Night 2

To sum up Samoa Joe's importance to ROH is nigh on impossible. For 3 years he has been the heart and soul of Ring of Honor, a true ROH icon and the man who has carried the company on his shoulders and made it into the force that it is become today. However all great journeys must come to an end and the fans of Liverpool were fortunate enough to witness the final steps of Joe's ROH journey this past weekend and it more than lived up to expectations and will hopefully leave a lasting memory for all fans of ROH as the original ROH icon moves on to pastures new.

It is certainly testament to ROH's perceived importance of the UK market that they not only gave us the final night of their 5 Year Anniversary Celebrations, but also the final appearance from one of their company's biggest stars. As a result, the usually fanatical UK crowds managed to step it up another gear not wanting to ruin the occasion by showing any British reserve. Despite a phenomenal show on Saturday this one topped the previous night if only for sheer emotion and ROH put on one of the best cards in company history and you could not ask for a better epitaph for Joe's ROH career.

The evening began on a lighter note with Colt Cabana taking on Delirious in what was always guaranteed to be a comedy classic. Cabana, playing up to his UK fan base, came to the ring dressed as UK wrestling legend 'Big Daddy' complete with his 'We shall not be moved' entrance theme. Big Daddy Colt even emulated Big Daddy's trademark of carrying a young fan to the ring by bringing out a plastic baby before attempting to pick up various members of the front row crowd and attempt to carry them into the ring. Delirious was his usual crazy self, but Cabana had something up his sleeve for every one of the masked man's mad-capped moments. Whether it was freaking out at the sound of the bell, turning Delirious' mask around so he could not see or just the usual Colt Cabana European style shenanigans. This was simply a fantastic opening match which will fast become a firm fan favourite when it comes out on DVD I am sure and really set the tone for the evening and got the crowd into the ROH spirit from the offset.

Next up it was SHIMMER Women's Athletes action as the Dangerous Angels of Sara Del Ray and Allison Danger took on the British pairing of Jetta and Jezebel who had challenged them to a match the night before. After the previous night's awkward crowd reactions to Del Ray and Danger, tonight there was much more defined heel/face dynamic and the crowd could boo and cheer accordingly. The two Brits looked very ordinary and 'girl next door' when in the ring (especially next to the Amazon that is Sara Del Ray) but they worked a decent match and took some stiff hits from Del Ray who picked up the win with the same reverse sleeper suplex that she beat Danger with the night before.

Not wanting the crowd to catch their breath, the show hurtled along with BJ Whitmer and Jimmy Jacobs beginning their Falls Count Anywhere match in the balcony. The two had brawled out into the arena before the show had even started, so it wasn't a huge surprise to see them decide to not bother with a ring entrance. As they brawled up and down the stairs the spotlight tried it's hardest to follow the action, but from the other side of the building it was hard to know what the hell was going on. At one point Jacobs appeared to dive on Whitmer from the balcony and earlier he appeared to hit him with a hurricanrana from the stairs, however the ringside crowd were left guessing for much of the early part of the match which lead to the infamous 'we can't see s**t" chant which was followed by a 'BJ's winning' reply from those fans in the know. (Any reports of the ringside fans replying with a thank you chant may well be an urban myth as I can't recall hearing anything like that!).

As the match reached the ring, Jimmy would produce his trademark metal spike and bust Whitmer wide open before smearing his blood all over his body. The two would continue laying into each other before brawling up the entrance ramp and BJ teased throwing Jimmy into the crowd as he had in New York at a previous show. Instead, Whitmer relied on a sick brainbuster to the ramp to get the pin and the bloody BJ was victorious, leaving the battered Jacobs in a heap on the ramp way to be carried out by referees.

After this blood letting, it was time for a change of pace as Matt Sydal took on UK high-flyer PAC. After wowing the crowd the night before against Roderick Strong, PAC had another superb performance against Sydal and certainly earned the admiration of his home crowd. Once again busting out all kinds of crazy highflying moves like corkscrew moonsaults and even a spiral tap to the floor, PAC balanced this out with some stiff kicks and forearms which elevated him above being just another flippy guy. Sydal was heeling it up again superbly and although things did not gel quite as well with PAC as he had against Roderick Strong the night before it was still a really enjoyable match and this guy looks like he could be a really interesting addition to the ROH roster in the coming months

Already this show was better than the previous nights, as was evident by the lack of high pitched chants from the now infamous 'Liverpool balcony kids' however it was set to step up yet another notch as Jay and Mark Briscoe took each other on in a one night only challenge match. After stealing the show with the tag match the night before, these two crazy redneck brothers set out to take the spotlight once again with an absolutely brutal, stiff, crazy match that is without a shadow of a doubt an early match of the year candidate. It has been 4 years since the Briscoe’s last faced each other in an ROH ring (and it was pretty darn good back then). But they have improved so much in that time period. Their arsenal of moves is so diverse that it feels like they never hit the same move twice in a weekend. They built the match slowly but surely, putting in just enough crazy high spots to keep the crowd simmering, but not so many that they would boil over and so by then end when they resorted to simply punching each other in the face the crowd was at fever pitch chanting for both men. Although some may criticize the double knockout ending, it made perfect sense. The way these two unloaded all their offensive moves on each other it felt like neither man was going to give an inch and so by having a draw (but not a time limit draw) it meant both men could leave with their heads held high having given their all. They would also be safe in the knowledge that neither man was better or worse off than they were before the match (in fact they managed to raise their stock which was already sky-high) and teased the fans with just how exciting a Briscoe vs. Briscoe feud could end up being.

By this point intermission could not come soon enough as this show was hurtling along at 1000 miles an hour and we needed a breather. We had had everything from comedy to blood to high flying to hard hitting wrestling of the highest calibre and there was still a little matter of a Fight Without Honor and Farewell to Joe to get to before this show was over.

Before we got to those though it was time for tag team action. The shock win by Doi and Shingo the night before had sent the crowd into frenzy and coming after the amazing Briscoe vs. Briscoe match it was always going to be a tough act to follow. The challengers, Strong and Richards seem to be relishing their new heel personas and the crowd turned a complete 180 from the previous night and were firmly behind the new tag champs going against the No Remorse Corps. Unfortunately the match did not quite have the same fast paced dynamic as the previous match and, although Strong and Richards are gelling well as a team (and both suit tag work better than singles work in my opinion), it lacked the thrill ride of the night before. I don't think it's any disrespect to say Davey and Roddy aren't as good as the Briscoes, (because very few are) and as such this match lacked the polish of the previous night's match, but n DVD this will probably be a much better match. That being said, the fact that they didn't move the tag straps straight to Richards and Strong was a pleasant surprise and meant that Doi and Shingo left the UK as ROH Tag Champs which makes life very interesting now that both major ROH titles are held by Japanese talent.

Next up was the weekend's superstar performer Nigel McGuinness in a Fight Without Honor against Jimmy Rave. After last year's Unified show Nigel had been made a star with his match with Bryan Danielson, however this weekend was all bout making him a superstar in front of his home crowd. In the same way that ROH always booked CM Punk and Colt Cabana strong in their home town of Chicago, Nigel has been give the task of headlining the UK shows and now was his time to deliver. Coming off an amazing match with Samoa Joe the night before, his feud with Jimmy Rave felt like it could have been a let down compared to other Fight Without Honor s- especially with it being so high on an already stacked card. Many of the UK fans had also not seen the matches leading up to this feud closing match due to the [relatively] slow turn around of shows to DVD and so some of the heat for the match seemed like it was missing. This match though will be seen as a career high for both men involved as they put it all on the line here and put on a fantastic match. Instead of relying on the usual collection of weapons, they simply used a chair and a guardrail and did more with them than they ever could have with a bucket full of plunder both men worked a painfully stiff style which was even more amazing considering the heavy strapping on Nigel's hamstring and the shoulder injury he was carrying before last night's match. Brawling all over the ringside area, Nigel hit Rave with stiff clotheslines and forearms while Rave hit back with stiff chop after chop as well as working over the injured leg of McGuinness. The finish came after Nigel had kicked out of the Greetings From Ghana and Jimmy from the Tower of London DDT when Nigel arranged the already bent guardrail at ringside (bent as a result of both men having gone through it previously in the evening) and hit Rave with a deadly looking Tower of London through the guardrail which looked dangerously close to doing both men permanent injury. One more viciously stiff lariat for good measure and the match was over and Nigel's position as a bonafide ROH main eventer was secure (as was Rave's!). Forget the result though; both came out of this like superstars and a rightfully earned a standing ovation from the fans (including a 'thank you Jimmy' chant for the fallen Rave). Rave has come a long way from his Embassy days and his new serious persona has done more for his career than any amount of toilet paper could have and he is set to be an important part of the ROH roster (alongside McGuinness) over the next year and beyond.

After this amazing evening of wrestling drama it was time for the part of the evening we had all been waiting for. When it came to the decision of who Joe would face in his final ROH match it was no surprise when it was announced as Homicide. These two had a storied rivalry in 2003/4 and have been linked together in ROH legend perhaps even more than even Joe and Punk (they certainly had more matches). It is always a bit unfair to critique matches when the occasion over shadows them - certainly Punk vs. Cabana at Punk: The Final Chapter was not a patch on some of their previous encounters but the overall atmosphere of the match makes it a must-see. The same is true of this match as it is far from their best match (mostly because of the lack of heat involved) but it was a really good main event and a more than worthy bout to bring Joe's ROH career to a close.

As soon as the opening chords of Joe's music hit, the Liverpool crowd were on their feet and chanting Joe's name, which was soon eclipsed by the bellowing of 'the champ is here'. Instead of the tearful CM Punk style entrance, which was milked forever, Joe, was his usual fired up self, saluting the crowd before being barraged with streamers once he hit the ring. It was then that the emotion seemed to hit him as the crowd chanted his name and he was once again greeted with yet more streamers for his ring announcement. The match that followed featured some early fooling around (Joe bailing from the ring to go to the bar at the back, much to the chagrin of Homicide) but soon settled into your 'average' Joe/Homicide match (which is still a pretty good match in anyone's book!) Julius Smokes interfered (as you'd expect) and Joe hit the ole ole kicks on him on the outside. Spot of the match came as Joe lined Smokes up for second ole ole kick only to be countered mid-run by Homicide's top con helo (which he hit as much by luck as he did by judgment!). Joe would eventually get the win (something of a shock, but he had lost to Homicide in January) and the ROH career of Samoa Joe was over. As Joe made his speech in the ring, the locker-room gathered on the entrance ramp. Thanking the fans and putting the company and the roster over, Joe was treated to more adoring chants from the Liverpool fans than I can even remember. He was then greeted on the entrance ramp by the Briscoes, BJ Whitmer, Allison Danger and even booker Gabe Sapolsky (who's head had been poking out of the curtain all night long!), he saluted the crowd along with the roster and then he was gone. An emotional, but fitting end to the career of an ROH legend and icon. We will miss you Joe.

Overall verdict: A+
"One of the best shows ROH has ever put on. The emotional farewell of Joe was backed up with some fantastic wrestling and some star making performances (particularly from Nigel and Rave). This show will be remembered forever as Joe's last night, but it so much more than that. A must-see for the main event, but the rest of the show will make it worth getting on DVD to be watched from start to finish, not just the final match."