ROH SoCal Showdown Review

From March 21, 2010.

Highlighted by Austin Aries vs. Jushin "Thunder" Liger," Ring of Honor Wrestling makes it's Los Angeles debut on January 29, 2010, as part of the WrestleReunion showcase!

Match 1: Colt Cabana & El Generico vs. Scott Lost & Scorpio Sky
To no one's surprise, this match opened up the show and to no one's surprise, it was a great match filled with comedy and nice in ring action. Generico is playing his role beautifully as Steen's turn on him has definitely affected the way Generico has been performing in the ring. With a lot of near falls and great in ring action, this match was the perfect choice to open the show and a great way to get the hot crowd going.
Winners: Colt Cabana & El Generico
Rating: **3/4

Match 2: Anything Goes - Necro Butcher vs. Erick Stevens
After a great opening tag match, we head into the slow and tedious Anything Goes match between these two rivals. Filled with stupid weapon shots and fighting in the crowd, both men completely killed the crowd from the show as they shouted chants that left a sour taste in the competitor's mouths. I'm just not very interested in Necro Butcher and seeing him get a spot on the card is downright irritating. After boring holds and stupid brawling, Necro gets the win on Stevens to finally end the match.
Winner: Necro Butcher
Rating: 1/2*

Match 3: Roderick Strong vs. Delirious
I'm a personal huge fan of Roderick Strong and this match reassured that. I enjoy his technical style and it really went well against someone like Delirious. This match really got the crowd back into the show after the last match totally killed it. There were lots of reversals, near falls, and technical wrestling in this one. However, the botches like the miscommunication here and there and the botched count by the referee held this one back. Still, a very enjoyable technical match and one you should definitely check out.
Winner: Roderick Strong
Rating: ***1/4

Match 4: Tyler Black vs. Joey Ryan
In his hometown, Joey Ryan looked to defeat the red hot Tyler Black in another Pick 6 Series match. Although the crowd was definitely behind Ryan, he and Tyler Black just couldn't click and get out of that first gear. I don't know what it was, but it just looked like both men were trying way too hard to put on a good match for the fans. The match was very similar to the last match but just very watered down. Black eventually got the win after hitting God's Last Gift on Joey Ryan to the crowd's displeasure.
Winner: Tyler Black
Rating: **1/2

Match 5: Kenny King vs. Jerry Lynn
As a huge Jerry Lynn fan, I was so satisfied to see Lynn finally return to the ring after being taken out of it by Kenny King a few months back. Like the Anything Goes match earlier, this one featured a lot of brawling and unlike that match, these two men did it right and told an amazing story as they did so. Lynn took us back to his ECW days by diving into the crowd onto Kenny King who got thrown over the barricades by a motivated Jerry Lynn. What really made this match stand out from the others was the intensity that both men displayed throughout the match. Lynn was so relentless and it looked as if he was out there to kill Kenny King. The only major complaint I have about this one was the time that it was given. This match was really the one match with the most emotion behind it yet it got less time than all of the Pick 6 Series matches. Lynn got the win on King but after beating down Kenny King after he got the victory, the referee decided to reverse the decision. Thus, Kenny King defeated Jerry Lynn in Lynn's emotional return to Ring of Honor.
Winner: Kenny King
Rating: ***

Match 6: Kevin Steen vs. Human Tornado
There is no better heel right now in Ring of Honor than Kevin Steen who recently turned on El Generico at Final Battle 2009. The match started out hot with Tornado jumping over the top rope to take down Steen who was slowly walking around the ring taunting the fans. Steen, however, got back on his feet and completely dismantled Tornado for most of the match. Steen's taunts and yells during the match really made him stand out from every other competitor on the show. His hard hitting moves and submissions make him look like an absolute beast. Steen get the win after landing a devastating Package Piledriver to Human Tornado.
Winner: Kevin Steen
Rating: ***1/4

Match 7: Austin Aries vs. Jushin "Thunder" Liger
After taking a huge hiatus from Ring of Honor Wrestling, Jushin Liger returns to the company by challenging the ROH World Champion, Austin Aries. Before the bell sounded, Aries cut a magnificent promo on Liger as he slammed the city of Los Angeles and foreigners. After Liger called Aries an asshole, Aries attacked Liger with his attire he uses to come down to the ring and from there, both men quickly took it outside. However, things went horribly wrong for Aries who got busted open outside the ring in the first few minutes of the match. The ROH World Champion would not give up and went right back into the ring where Liger dominated him for the most part. Liger looked to be in great shape as he landed high impact moves on Aries but the same can also be said for Aries who also hit some high impact moves on Liger as well as a variety of submission moves that nearly got Liger to tap out. After Aries pushed the referee into Liger, Aries landed a low blow on Liger to which he then hit the Brainbuster to pick up the huge win.
Winner: Austin Aries
Rating: ****1/4

Match 8: The American Wolves & The Kings of Wrestling vs. The Young Bucks & The Briscoes
The huge main event of the night was an eight man tag team war between the four biggest tag teams in Ring of Honor. It was exactly what you would expect, a non stop tag match with incredible amounts of intensity with a rowdy crowd to back things up. As an added bonus, this was The Young Bucks' final ROH appearance as they have signed contracts to join Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Because of this, they started the match and wrestled for a much longer time than The Briscoes. Unfortunately for The Young Bucks, the crowd was not to pleased to see them sign to TNA as they mostly cheered for every tag team except them. The crowd was mostly into seeing Davey Richards and The Kings of Wrestling who all played their roles amazingly as they had the crowd in the palm of their hands. This was a non stop teag team match full of amazing spots and so much intensity. This one definitely deserved to close out the show because they blew the roof off the place. After a good 25 minutes of non stop action, Eddie Edwards made one of The Young Bucks tap out to send them packing to TNA Wrestling with a loss.
Winners: The American Wolves & The Kings of Wrestling
Rating: ****1/2

Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
Ring of Honor's debut in Los Angeles was definitely one to remember. The final two matches on the card turned this show from a good show into an awesome show and one that needs to be seen.
Rating: 8.5/10