September 19th, 2009 in Chicago


Opening Match: Petey Williams vs. Rhett Titus
Titus looks good early, catching Petey with a dropkick. Petey answers with one of his own followed by a slingshot lungblower. Titus escapes a Canadian Destroyer attempt and catches Petey with a samoan drop. He controls until Petey reverses a powerbomb attempt into a tornado DDT. Titus is thrown to the outside and Petey follows out with a slingshot hurricanrana. Titus hits a top rope facebuster back in the ring. Petey answers with his russian legsweep along with an enzuigiri. Titus misses a frog splash. He counters the Canadian Destroyer by hitting a Jig n’Tonic. Petey connects with a superkick followed by a Canadian Destroyer for the win at 8:57. This was a decent opener. It was smartly centered around Petey’s ability to hit the Canadian Destroyer although at times it felt like they were just going through the motions. Titus is developing some impressive moves in the ring. **

Match #2: Silas Young vs. Alex Payne vs. Rasche Brown vs. Sal Rinauro vs. Grizzly Redwood vs. Kyle O’Reilly
Rinauro goes right after Payne but gets monkey flipped. Young connects with a cheap shot on Payne. O’Reilly hits a nice enzuigiri on Payne but Grizzly trips him up. Rinauro tosses Grizzly off the top rope. Young and Rinauro get into it until Brown breaks it up with some strikes. O’Reilly attacks Brown from behind. The look Brown gives him afterwards is priceless. Everyone works together to throw Brown over the top…but he skins the cat! He suplexes Young and O’Reilly to the floor. Rinauro dives out onto them. Brown just throws Grizzly onto everyone. Young catches Brown with a missile dropkick but ends up being military pressed to the outside. Brown finishes things with a dive of his own to the floor. Back in the ring, Grizzly hits a 619 on O’Reilly followed by a springboard tornado DDT. Young hits Grizzly with a backbreaker and locks in a full nelson. Payne snaps off a flying hurricanrana on Young along with a stunner out of the corner. Payne hits a bridging german suplex on Rinauro but Young slingshots in to break up the pin attempt. Brown finds an opening and hits Rinauro with a modified spicy drop for the victory at 8:03. Everyone worked hard and turned this into a fun contest. I’ve been a big fan of Brown since he first appeared in ROH and he needs to be in matches of some importance to really show his worth. O’Reilly could possibly be another standout if given the opportunity. **½

Nigel McGuinness makes his way to the ring. He says that he will always be proud to claim that he was apart of ROH. He talks about some memories that he’s had over the years…such as getting kicked out of Denny’s for giving Roderick Strong a headlock takeover. He thanks the concession stand girls and tells the fans that turned on him during his injuries to kiss his ass. He thanks the positive fans, Cary Silkin, and the boys in the back.

Match #3: Christin Able and Josh Raymond vs. Brent Albright and Bobby Dempsey
Albright gets the better of Able to start. Dempsey suplexes Raymond and catches Able in a bearhug. Raymond runs into a powerslam from Albright and the faces backdrop Able. Albright lands a flying crossbody on Able. He misses the 6-1-knee and the House of Truth start to work him over. Albright dodges some attacks and makes the tag. Dempsey connects with a series of clotheslines. Raymond tries a flying crossbody but just bounces off of Dempsey. Dempsey hits a death valley driver on Raymond but Able breaks up the pin attempt. Albright backdrops Able to the floor and suplexes Raymond onto him. Truth Martini trips Albright on a dive attempt. Dempsey lands a rolling dive from the apron onto the House of Truth. Albright locks in the Crowbar on Able but Raymond breaks it up. Raymond lands a sky twister press on Albright. Dempsey backdrops Able into a powerbomb from Albright. Truth Martini gets punched out. Albright hits a half nelson suplex on Raymond for the win at 12:22. Things picked up after the hot tag but most of the action beforehand was pretty dreadful. I’m not a big fan of the finish as the House of Truth needed the win more, especially considering they weren’t exactly made to look strong during the match. At least the crowd was into the Dempsey stuff. *½

Match #4: Dog Collar Match: Jimmy Rave vs. Necro Butcher
Prince Nana claims that Jimmy Rave isn’t in the building and wants to fight Necro himself. This allows Rave to blindside Necro before the match. He attacks and busts Necro open with the chain. Nana tries to get involved but Grizzly Redwood chases him away. Necro crotches Rave with the chain and pulls him into the ringpost. He goes into the crowd and now pulls Rave into the barricade. Necro utilizes some chairs in the crowd and continues the attack on the bleachers. Nana sneaks in a chair shot on Necro and Grizzly chases him to the back. They brawl to a different part of the building. Rave escapes to ringside but gets taken down with a garbage can shot. Necro and Grizzly prop a section of the barricade between the ring apron and the barricade. Rave hits Necro with a chair back in the ring. Rave puts Necro’s foot onto a chair and hits a senton. He locks in the Heel Hook. Necro backdrops Rave onto the propped up barricade but it doesn’t come off as brutal as they probably wanted. Rave hits Necro with an uranagi onto two propped up chairs in the ring. He goes back to the Heel Hook but Necro uses the chain to fight out. Necro hits a tiger driver for a two count. Necro just wraps the chain around Rave’s face twice and chokes him. Nana tries to break it up but Grizzly takes care of him. Rave taps to give Necro the victory at 18:10. I’m usually not a fan of these matches involving Necro, but Rave did more than enough to make the match work. Some little touches put this match over such as Nana setting up the sneak attack before the match and Rave smartly going after Necro’s leg. They held off on the first pin attempt for a decent amount of time as well, making me believe there was some hatred here. The finish might not sound very intricate but it looked brutal. These two did enough things right to put a somewhat positive end to a lackluster feud. ***

Bret Hart comes down to the ring. He talks about his history in Chicago, including his match with Steve Austin. He puts over the wrestlers in the back and ROH in general. He thanks the fans and we move on.

Match #5: Jon Davis and Kory Chavis vs. Matt and Nick Jackson
The Dark City Fight Club attack before the bell but get caught with a dropkick from Nick. They retreat to the outside but the Young Bucks follow out with dives. Nick hits a springboard dropkick on Davis back in the ring. The Young Bucks take over with some more double teaming. Davis catches Nick with a clothesline from the apron, allowing the DCFC to isolate him. Davis just hurls Nick to the floor and Chavis throws Matt into the barricade. Nick connects with a spin kick on Chavis and makes the tag. Matt lands a missile dropkick on Chavis followed by a bulldog. Nick dropkicks Davis off the apron and the Young Bucks hit a moonsault-frog splash combo on Chavis. Davis pounces Nick and hits a torture rack slam on Matt for a two count. The DCFC lay out Matt with a double team ace crusher but fall victim to superkicks. Davis fights out of More Bang for Your Buck but gets caught with a flying crossbody from Nick. The DCFC try Project Mayhem but Matt counters with a rollup on Davis for the win at 11:58. That finish was extremely creative and smart. Both teams worked well together and I think that the DCFC are continuing to make themselves look more legitimate. The crowd wasn’t very involved in the match, hurting the excitement of the finishing stretch a little. Still, this was an effective showcase for these two teams. I wouldn’t be against another rematch. **¾

Match #6: Colt Cabana vs. Claudio Castagnoli
This is one of my most anticipated “grudge” matches of 2009, let me tell you. For a grudge match, Cabana is in a really good mood, settling for his usual antics before the opening bell. Cabana frustrates Claudio with some mat work early on. Claudio catches him with a clothesline and hits a dead-lift slam. Cabana lands a springboard moonsault. They trade strikes and Cabana hits the flying asshole. Claudio answers with a powerbomb along with his no-hands airplane spin. Cabana is sent to the outside after falling victim to a bicycle kick. Back in, Claudio hits the Ricola Bomb for a nearfall. He brings a chair into the ring but Todd Sinclair takes it away. The distraction allows Claudio to low blow Cabana for…a one count? Cabana is wearing a cup! He kicks Claudio low while Sinclair isn’t looking to win this epic feud at 9:11. I’m annoyed. I understand that the basis for this feud is kind of ridiculous. Claudio bumped into Cabana’s father at the last Chicago show, knocking him over. However, ROH presented this contest as a grudge match. Cabana should want to avenge his father, yet he’s content to stick to his wacky mat work. The finish was just the icing on the cake. This was really cool! *

Match #7: ROH World Tag Team Titles: Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards © vs. Jay and Mark Briscoe
They waste no time getting intense. Mark hits Edwards and Richards with an overhead suplex. The Briscoes hit a double team splash mountain on Edwards. They follow with a double team shoulder tackle. Mark lands a middle rope senton onto Richards. Mark wanders into the wrong corner, allowing the American Wolves to gain the advantage. Jay tags in after Mark dodges some of the Wolves’ offense. He connects with some forearms and clotheslines followed by a death valley driver on Richards. Jay falls victim to a missile dropkick from Richards and the Wolves work him over. Jay flatlines Edwards into the turnbuckles and hits a spinebuster on Richards, allowing him to make the hot tag. Mark lands a flying crossbody on Edwards along with a fisherman buster. He hits a middle rope ace crusher on Edwards but falls victim to a handspring kick from Richards. Edwards finds an opening to hit a dragon screw leg whip on Mark’s bad left leg. Edwards snaps off a top rope hurricanrana on Mark and Richards follows by locking in a texas cloverleaf. Jay breaks it up and lays out Richards with a yakuza kick. Edwards catches him with a flying knee but falls victim to an ace crusher from Mark. All four men are down. Jay wins an exchange against Edwards. He goes for the Jay Driller but the Wolves hit him with an assisted Alarm Clock. They follow with a powerbomb-lungblower combo. Edwards inadvertently connects with a superkick on Richards. Mark lands a missile dropkick on Edwards followed by the Jay Driller from Jay for a nearfall. The Briscoes hit the doomsday device on Edwards. During the pin attempt, Richards absolutely lays out the referee with a missile dropkick to cause a disqualification at 18:11. As expected, this was a very good match between these two teams. They kept things interesting early on and the last five minutes featured some great action. The finish is obviously going to put a damper on things here as I never like disqualification endings in title matches. However, this DQ ending happened to be pretty awesome-looking, with Richards plastering the referee with a dropkick right after the two count. There was a lot to like about this match and a rematch is definitely in the cards. ***½

Match #8: ROH World Title: Austin Aries © vs. Bryan Danielson
They battle over a knucklelock and Aries snaps off a few armdrags. Danielson catches him with a dropkick. Aries escapes an airplane spin. He tries a surfboard but Danielson powers out of it and applies one of his own. Danielson takes control on the mat, working over Aries’ shoulder. Aries fights out of a superplex and throws Danielson to the floor. He follows out with a double axe handle. Back in, Aries continues the attack until Danielson connects with some strikes. Aries catches him coming off the top with a dropkick. Danielson responds with a flying knee but can’t synch in Cattle Mutilation. Aries tries a dive to the floor but gets caught with a knee. They battle on the apron and Aries connects with a dropkick. Danielson tries a series of rollups back in the ring. He sends Aries to the floor and baseball slides him into the crowd. He follows out with a springboard dive. Back in, Danielson lands a missile dropkick along with a running knee. He locks in Cattle Mutilation but Aries bridges out of it. Aries applies the Last Chancery but Danielson counters with MMA elbows. Aries connects with knee strikes while Danielson matches it with MMA elbows. Finally, Danielson tries Cattle Mutilation again but Aries reverses into a pin attempt for a two count. They exchange strikes and collide on crossbody attempts. Danielson blocks a corner dropkick with a boot. He hits a superplex, stomps Aries’ head it, and locks in a triangle choke. Aries makes the ropes. He recovers and connects with his corner dropkick followed by a brainbuster for a nearfall. Aries attempts a 450…BUT DANIELSON COUNTERS IT WITH A TRIANGLE CHOKE! That wakes the crowd up. Aries reverses it into a pin attempt for a two count. He kicks Danielson in the head but can’t hit another brainbuster. Danielson gets a small package for a nearfall. Aries flips out of a tiger suplex and kicks Danielson in the head again. He hits another corner dropkick followed by a brainbuster from the top. Aries locks in the Last Chancery to retain his title at 24:46. These two always generate magic and this was no different. There were numerous original spots during the match such as the MMA elbow/knee strike exchange and the triangle choke counter to the 450 splash. I was kind of down on the crowd for not being into the match for most of it but they came to life by the end. Just know that this was their usual terrific encounter and a fitting final title match for Danielson. ****

Aries gets on the microphone and wishes Danielson the best of luck…before laying him out. Danielson recovers and pretends like he’s not going to give a speech. He talks about some of his favorite matches in Chicago such as his hour draw with Colt Cabana and his matches with KENTA and Morishima. He thanks the crowd and asks that they continue to support ROH.

BONUS Match: The Bravado Brothers vs. Andy Ridge and Tony Kozina
Upon further research, I still don’t know the individual names of the Bravado Brothers. Brother A catches Ridge with some armdrags and Kozina with a dropkick. Kozina attacks Brother B from the apron and he gets worked over. Ridge accidentally hits Kozina with an enzuigiri and Brother B makes the tag. Brother A cleans house until Kozina catches him with a springboard bulldog for the win at 4:26. None of these guys really stand out to me but this was your basic pre-show match. ¾*

Overall: Final Countdown Tour: Chicago is similar to Dayton in that it is a solid show, but for a set of events this important I expected more. The three worthwhile matches here include a fun brawl from Rave and Necro, a very good tag team title match with a screwy finish to hold it back, and a great main event featuring the usual awesomeness from Aries and Danielson. Normally I would give this show a decent recommendation, but this is the Final Countdown Tour. This is Ring of Honor’s chance to create a special set of shows that people want to buy immediately. So far they haven’t done that. You won’t be upset if you decide to check out this show. You might even be happy that you did. But you won’t be blown away, and that’s what I’m looking for out of these shows.