THE TWO SHEDS REVIEW by Julian Radbourne
E-mail: juli316uk@yahoo.co.uk
Website: http://twoshedsreview.blogspot.com
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Ring of Honor is on the agenda again, and this time we’re going back to this past August in Charlotte, North Carolina as the Briscoes, the Dark City Fight Club and the All Night Express try to dethrone Tag Team Champions the Kings of Wrestling in the finals of Tag Wars 2010.
The show began with Prince Nana’s Erick Stevens facing El Generico.
Time to break out that old line again. It’s the usual ROH-style opener here, filled with plenty of fast-paced back and forth action, and two great performances from those concerned, with Generico getting the win after a brain buster.
Next up was Steve Corino, taking on a man he didn’t even know he was wrestling, Bobby Dempsey.
The premise for this one was simple and expertly played out. Corino underestimated Dempsey throughout, and the graduate of the ROH training school did a hell of a job frustrating the veteran. Simply put, Corino was just unable to put Dempsey away, and it took a shot with a chain and a low blow while the referee was down, followed by a lariat, to get the job done. A great piece of storytelling here.
Then it was on to the Embassy’s number one guy, Necro Butcher, sporting classy new threads, going up against Grizzly Redwood.
Sadly clothes do not make the man. While Redwood bumped like a bitch the Butcher’s game really hasn’t changed that much, and if it hadn’t been for the performance of the littlest lumberjack this would have been a very poor match indeed, with the Butcher taking the win after a tiger driver.
Thankfully normal service resumed as Colt Cabana faced TV Champion Eddie Edwards in a non-title match.
Free fro the heated feud with Kevin Steen and Steve Corino, and with commentators Kevin Kelly and Dave Prazak putting over the old school British World of Sport style Cabana went back to what he does best, good old fashioned wrestling, putting in a performance that Johnny Saint and Steve Grey would have been proud of.
Mix in Edwards’ hard hitting style and you’ve got yourself a hell of a match here, an enthralling encounter that you just couldn’t avert your gaze from, it was that good.
Edwards came out on top, pinning Cabana with a roll-up and bridge. Excellent stuff.
Six man tag team action followed as the Bravado Brothers and Cedric Alexander took on Marker Dillinger, Caleb Konley and Jake Manning.
A relatively short affair, this was one of those matches featuring local talent looking to secure regular slots on the roster.
Some of the action was quite good, although Manning’s man scout gimmick did leave me scratching my head a little. Tight khaki-green shorts didn’t do him any favours.
One of the Bravados took the pin here, taking Konley down with a bridging back suplex.
What was billed as a special challenge match followed as Kevin Steen, accompanied by Steve Corino, went up against Roderick Strong.
Once again Steen was at his maniacal best, ably supported by Corino, as he worked over Strong’s legs, trying to take away his main back breaker weapons.
It was a hell of a match, an excellent back and forth encounter with two great performances, as well as cameo appearances from Colt Cabana and El Generico, appearing on the scene as Steen tried to clobber Strong with a chain.
It was just what Strong needed as it gave him the opportunity to take Steen down with the gut buster/super kick combination to get the pin, leaving Steen and Corino in a rather irate mood.
The penultimate bout was the final of the Tag Wars 2010 tournament as the Kings of Wrestling defended their Tag Team titles against the Briscoe Brothers, the Dark City Fight Club and the All Night Express in an Ultimate Endurance match.
Great action throughout each segment of this match. The first fall, fought under four corner rules, was perhaps the best part of this match, and when Kory Chavis and Jon Davis were eliminated the action got a little wilder under tornado rules, with the Kings busting open Mark Briscoe while Rhett Titus and Kenny King took care of his brother in the ring.
The Express were next to go, falling to the Briscoe’s doomsday device. This led to the scramble match segment, which lasted only a few seconds as Hero took out Mark with his loaded elbow pad to get the title retaining pin for his team.
The main event saw World Champion Tyler Black taking on Davey Richards, accompanied by Eddie Edwards, in a non title match.
As soon as Black made his entrance the crowd began chanting “you sold out”. This brought executive produced Jim Cornette to the ring, contract in hand. Old Corny put forward the idea of turning this into a title match. Black, heeling it up as best as he could, refused the offer, also insisting that Edwards return to the back.
When the match finally began we were treated to an outstanding encounter. Once again Richards proved what a tremendous talent he is, while Black, for his part, showed why a certain company signed him up.
It was move for move and hold for hold, with both men going all out for victory, pulling out and kicking out of each other’s big moves before Black finally tapped out to Richards’ cloverleaf.
By the way, did I say how great this match was?
Bonus features come in the form of three matches from the archives, Delirious versus Sonjay Dutt, Nigel McGuinness versus Aaron Scott, and the American Wolves against Up In Smoke.
In conclusion – well, I’m going to have to say it again, but this is another outstanding release from Ring of Honor. The Necro Butcher match aside, the matches ranged from good to great, with Davey Richards once again stealing the show.
So in all Tag Wars 2010 gets the thumbs up as an ideal Christmas present for the wrestling fan in your family.
With thanks to the powers that be for supplying a copy of this release. ROH Tag Wars 2010 can be purchased online at www.rohwrestling.com.
