THE TWO SHEDS REVIEW by Julian Radbourne – now in it’s 10th year!
E-mail: juli316uk@yahoo.co.uk
Website: www.twoshedsreview.com
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It was Ring of Honor but with a hint of TNA as the crew travelled to New York last May for Supercard of Honor V, headlined by Roderick Strong challenging Tyler Black for the ROH World title.
The show began with tag-team action as Kenny King and Rhett Titus faced the Briscoe Brothers.
No quick appetiser here, this was a great encounter between two of the top teams in the company.
Once again King and Titus impressed the hell out of me, but as good as they were the Briscoes were just that much better. They’re teamwork was awesome at times.
Once again a miscue from the heels led to their downfall as King accidentally took Titus out with an enziguri. Seconds later King was taken out with a doomsday device, leading to the pin, and this led to another argument between King and Titus which was patched up as they left the arena.
Perennial underdog Grizzly Redwood then faced Prince Nana’s boy Erick Stevens.
Grizzly was apparently looking for revenge for his buddy Necro Butcher, and although he had a few fleeting moments of offence he couldn’t get the job done, with Stevens getting the pin after a power bomb.
Then came the surprise. As Nana grabbed the microphone and ordered Stevens to continue his attack none other than Balls Mahoney appeared on the scene to save the little guy from further punishment.
The women from Shimmer were up next as Sara Del Ray, accompanied by Shane Hagadorn and the Kings of Wrestling, went up against former TNA Knockouts Champion Amazing Kong.
This was one of the best women’s matches I’ve seen this year. No Diva attitude here as these two tore strips off each other.
Kong was at her awesome best, with Del Ray matching her all the way, even taking Kong down with a back suplex at one point.
Underhanded tactics led to Kong’s downfall. As Claudio Castagnoli distracted the referee Chris Hero tossed his loaded elbow pad to Del Ray, which she used to knock Kong out. A three count later and Del Ray had the winning pin.
Then it was on to World TV Champion Eddie Edwards as went up against the returning Christopher Daniels in a non-title match.
With Davey Richards away in New Japan he left his partner back home to deal with his new rival, and these two put on a hell of a back and forth encounter.
Edwards and Daniels were tailor-made for each other in this hard hitting affair, and it was great to see the Fallen Angel back to his best, having fallen foul of the Hogan/Bischoff regime in TNA.
After almost twenty minutes of fast-paced action Daniels got the pin after finishing Edwards with the BME. Awesome stuff.
It was grudge match time next as Austin Aries faced Delirious, accompanied by Daizee Haze.
Aries came to the ring done up like a dog’s dinner, and after announcing that he’d received a manager’s licence he called Haze and Delirious to the ring, apologising for his past actions and giving Daizee a rose.
Delirious was having none of it, and attacked Aries with the microphone to start the match, treating A double like a punching bag before he was disqualified for refusing to release a choke.
The attack continued until Rhett Titus and Kenny King made their second appearance of the evening. All three men were set to take Haze out until Delirious recovered and clobbered Aries with the ring bell.
AN okay encounter, but I would have preferred a regular match from these two.
The grudges continued as Kevin Steen faced Colt Cabana in a 34th Street Last Man Standing match. Basically it was a Last Man Standing match with an extended name.
This was a hell of a match, a nice continuation of the Chicago Street Fight these two were involved in. We saw tables, ladders, chairs, drawing pins, blood, and unscheduled appearances from Steve Corino and his son Colby, and after all of that the match still didn’t have a winner.
It was only when Steen applied a cross face with added pressure from a barbed wire baseball bat did he get the job done. Steen released the hold when blood began to flow down Cabana’s face, with the Second City Saint unable to answer the ten count, giving Steen the win.
The penultimate match saw the Motor City Machine Guns, Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley, challenging the Kings of Wrestling, Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli, for the ROH World Tag-Team titles.
This was the match I was looking forward to the most. While the Guns may have thrilled us with their double team work in TNA they proved that they’re for a more than that against the Kings in what was a superb match.
All four men excelled in this tremendous back and forth encounter, with over twenty minutes of great action, although this came at the expense of a somewhat screwy ending.
Just as Hero was about to unload with the loaded elbow pad the Briscoes ran down to the ring for the attack. The referee immediately called for the bell, giving Hero and Castagnoli the title retaining win as the brothers took Sara Del Ray out with a jay driller.
This could have been even better than tremendous, if not for the ending, especially as Sabin and Shelley simply walked away from the ring as if nothing had happened. Imagine the set up for a Guns/Briscoes match.
The main event saw Roderick Strong challenging Tyler Black for the ROH World title.
They certainly saved the most dramatic match for last here. This was the one-on-one shot that Black promised Strong when he first became champion, and the challenger certainly pulled out all the stops to get the job done.
But the champion was up to the task, and it was this combination that made this match such a special encounter.
No matter what Strong did he couldn’t put Black away, and it was the same for the champion, until he finally managed to take Strong down after God’s last gift from the top rope.
That wasn’t the end of the situation. Strong refused Black’s handshake, slapping him in the face before security rushed to the ring to stop the brawling, with Strong complaining that he’d been screwed over once again.
As usual, the ROH Video Wire is the bonus feature on this release.
In conclusion – apart from the somewhat screwy ending to the tag title match Supercard of Honor V delivered big time, with eight matches that ranged from great to tremendous, topped off nicely by the main event and Strong’s slow burning heel turn.
So if you haven’t got this DVD already then do so, even if it’s just to see Sabin and Shelley against new opposition.
With thanks to the powers that be for supplying a copy of this release. Supercard of Honor V is available to buy online at www.rohwrestling.com.
