After a one year absence, Ring of Honor decided to run Wrestlemania weekend once again. This time, the company took a more ambitious route. Instead of running one show the night before Wrestlemania, the company would run their first tripleshot weekend. Chicago played host to the Friday and Saturday night of Mania weekend while Detroit, a relatively new market at that time, would get a special Thursday show. This would not be a B show by any stretch. Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe would have their final singles match in Ring of Honor while a very significant feud began and almost ended in the same night because of a near tragedy. This tripleshot also took place amidst the ROH/CZW war, but I’ll talk more about this next week when I review Supercard of Honor. This, along with six other shows, were combined to form the Milestone Series, one of the greatest collection of shows put together.  With all that in mind…

Oh wait. Then there were the honored guests. Two Dragon Gate wrestlers, CIMA and Shingo, had made an appearance months earlier at Dragon Gate Invasion during the summer of 2005. Now a full slate of Dragon Gate wrestlers would cross the Pacific to wow the fans and set new standards in tag team wrestling.

-Taped on March 30 from Detroit, Michigan

-Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard

- Prince Nana promo with Alex Shelley and Jimmy Rave. Nana wants them to shake hands and go for the tag team belts. Rave and Shelley had each failed to win the world title so there was tension.

-Lacey emphasizes revenge on B.J. Whitmer to Jimmy Jacobs. She wants injuries inflicted and promises a reward. The reward is a foot massage for Lacey. Such simpler times.

-Review of the top 5, another failed concept to determine title contenders. They sure have had a lot of those.

-Colt Cabana (w/beard) is in serious mode and wants to end his feud with Homicide right now.

-Falls Count Anywhere: Colt Cabana vs. Homicide (w/Julius Smokes)

These two had one of the best feuds in Ring of Honor history. It all started in the fall of 2005 with Cabana mocking ‘Cide. It would march on with a lot of violence and the use of such items as drano and a coat hanger. Cabana never could pin Homcide’s shoulders to the mat or make him submit. This is apparently Cabana’s last chance for peace. Homicide acted even more violently than usual throughout this feud and Cabana ditched the goofy crap and become more serious.

Cabana starts quickly with punches, a flying apple, and even a toss over the guardrail. Homicide suplexes Cabana on to the chair. Cabana wears Homicide out with a chair while their still outside the ring. Back over the guardrail and Cabana slams ‘Cide on the floor. It’s ladder time as both men head in the ring. Homicide throws chairs into the ring. Back and forth a bit before Cabana slingshots ‘ Cide into the ladder. Splash, also into the ladder. Homicide reverses a whip into the ladder and hits an acecrusher. Homicide places the ladder across the head of Cabana and nails both with a chair. Cabana is unconscious. The three count is academic.

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Homicide/5:23/**

-It didn’t last long, but I think the message got across beautifully. This was a way of making you think the  feud was over and showed the dominance of Homicide. Simple booking but effective. The question  is how can the feud be over with two shows remaining in Cabana’s hometown. Hmmm.

-Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, and Genki Horiguchi cut a brief promo to introduce themselves.

-Christopher Daniels gives a brief history lesson on his rivalry with Samoa Joe.

-Ricky Reyes (w/Julius Smokes) vs. Chad Collyer

Not everything in ROH was golden, and this match is certainly an example of that. Two guys that couldn’t draw a reaction from the crowd short of setting themselves on fire. Neither is inherently awful, but there’s a reason neither had much success with Ring of Honor. Collyer with a number of dropkicks to start followed by an armdrag. Flying kick and Reyes heads out. Baseball dropkick but Reyes hits a DDT. Reyes controls the next couple minutes, and this gives the crowd a chance to cool the crowd down. Back and forth as Collyer gets back into the match. German suplex almost gets three. Reyes with a neckbreaker, but that only gets two. Fisherman’s suplex attempt, but Collyer turns a camel clutch into a roll-up. Triangle choke by Reyes, but Collyer turns the move into a cloverleaf. Smokes is going nuts on the outside. Reyes crawls to the ropes. Collyer tries the cloverleaf again but on a roll-up attempt, Reyes reverses into a dragon sleeper for the win.

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Rickey Reyes/7:06/*1/2

­-Not a whole lot to say about this match. No one, not even Austin Aries, had been able to escape the dragon suplex for months, so Reyes was on quite the hot streak leading into the weekend.

-CIMA, Naruki Doi, and Masato Yoshino introduce themselves and talk trash about Generation Next.

-Samoa Joe promo about Christopher Daniels. He says the result in the main event will be the same as every time they’ve ever met one-on-one.

-B.J. Whitmer vs. Jimmy Jacobs

This is the debut of “Ballad of Lacey” as Jacobs’ theme. As opposed to the heavy metal everyone else in company tends to use, this was a nice change of pace. These two spent much of 2005 as the tag team titles until Lacey became their manager. The team was not to last since Jacobs’ obsession with Lacey overwhelmed everything that made this team great. This is the first of many many battles between these two. Whitmer was also heavily involved with CZW, so this was almost a secondary feud for him at this point.

Jacobs gets a headscissors early in the match.  Whitmer attempts to go after Lacey, but Jacobs stops that in short order. Jacobs is tossed across the outside of the ring multiple times.  Whitmer only gets two but continues working over Jacobs. No offense for Jacobs in the first five minutes. Finally, Jacobs gets a headscissors and double stomp on Whitmer’s back. Jacobs’ works over the neck before just ripping at his face. My God, Jimmy Jacobs sucked in 2006. He’s gotten soooooo much better in the ensuing four years. Jacobs’ time to be on offense ends with his back hitting Whitmer’s knees on a senton. Exploder suplex and both men are down. Jacobs boots the midsection, but the contra code is blocked multiple times. Whitmer drops Jacobs face first into the turnbuckle. Two vicious suplexes on Jacobs head. Powerbomb attempt turned into a couple of roll-ups by Jacobs. Vertical suplex leads to both tumbling on to the floor. Whitmer catches Jacobs on another headscissors attempt and tosses him backfirst on the guardrail. Brainbuster but Jacobs won’t die. Running boot but Jacobs gets to the ropes. Whitmer sets Jacobs up and goes to the top rope. Jacobs krotches his opponent. Then in a moment where I think people legit thought they had seen two men die, Whitmer powerbombs Jacobs off the top turnbuckle and Jacobs’ head hits the side of the ring. I have no idea what happened, whether Whitmer slipped or whether this was planned, but this was ridiculously dangerous. Whitmer is up but limping. He tosses Jacobs in the ring but only gets two. Wow. Exploders turned into a contra code. Lacey shouts at Jacobs that she wants him dead and sets up a table to insure death. Whitmer is prone on the table. Jacobs takes forever and Whitmer recovers enough to hit a belly-to-belly suplex from the top. LARIAT! 1-2-3.

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: B.J. Whitmer/15:05/***1/4

-What started out as slow and awkward became an exciting bout. The powerbomb spot added a lot of drama, and the ending sequence had the crowd rocking. Even more amazing than this match was the fact that these two weren’t even close to being done with each other.

-Jacobs won’t shake Whitmer’s hand after the match. Whitmer calls out two of the CZW team members out that are allegedly in the building. No one comes out, but Whitmer will be watching.

-Dragon Gate Challenge Match #1: Ryo Saito (Open the Dream Gate Champion) vs. Jimmy Yang

Before he was Wang, he was only Yang. Of all the Dragon Gate athletes, Saito is the one who’s impressed me the least. Not sure what it is. Basic to start as Yang works a headlock. Saito works the arm and slaps Yang in the back. Rana by Saito followed by a running dropkick. Yang takes a powder. Test of strength teased but neither is willing to commit. Yang with a series of kicks. He runs up the chest but Saito counters with an over-the-shoulder belly-to-belly. Saito grounds Yang for a bit. Chops exchange that Saito wins.  In the corner for more chops. Yang crotches Saito on the top and dropkicks him to the outside. Yang sends his opponent into multiple guardrails. Back inside for a dropkick and figure fours a leg. Yang continues working the leg. Forearms and knee strikes by Yang. Saito fires back, but a series of more kicks stops that rally. Hammerlock. Man the psychology of this match is all over place. Yang comes off the ropes, and Saito dropkicks him. Saito with another belly-to-belly and additional chops. Running forearm and a Fisherman’s Buster. Another. And one more. Saito comes off the top and gets kicked. Vertica suplex leads to Yang coming off for Yang time, a modified spiral tap. Saito kicks out at two. DDT by Saito. Big splash. Yang counters and tries a moonsault. Saito applies a Dragon suplex and gets three.

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Ryo Saito/11:54/**3/4

-Not a bad match by any means, but I had a hard time getting into it. No real psychology and this felt like a match with two guys doing moves for no reason. The execution was good enough, so that it wasn’t boring, but it felt very inconsequential. Yang’s stay in Ring of Honor never struck me as anything special.

-The Embassy (Alex Shelley and Jimmy Rave)(w/Prince Nana and Daizee Haze) vs. Bryan Danielson (ROH World Champion) and Delirious

Bryan Danielson had a mini-feud with the Embassy that led to two classic world title defenses against both Shelley and Rave. Now he needed a tag team partner, and the Embassy chose Delirious, a man who’d never won a singles match up to this point. Shelley and Rave were attempting to refocus after their failed attempts to beat Danielson. Toilet paper shower is awesome as usual. Shelley, inparticular, seemed to enjoy himself.

Delirious goes crazy at the bell. Good to see he hasn’t changed in four years. Funny to see Haze at ringside but not Delirious’ corner. Shelley doesn’t want to wrestle Delirious and stalls. Test of strength that Shelley wins. Delirious rolls Shelley up for a surprising two count. Headlock exchange. Delirious with an armdrag, and he hops. Shelley kicks him and Rave tags in. Delirious goes after Rave and puts the flag of Ghana in his mouth. Chase in and out of the ring. Delirious clotheslines Shelley and the world champion finally tags in. Danielson works over Shelley’s arm. Uh oh. Surfboard time. Shelley goes to the eyes and Rave is back in. Danielson grabs the arm and Delirious… runs around the ring before kicking Rave. Airplane spin. Danielson comes in and does his version of the airplane spin. Delirious runs around the spinning Danielson. Wow, this is pretty epic. Slingshot suplex only gets two. Danielson applies a chinlock. Shelley pokes the champion in the eye. Back in comes Delirious. Chinbreaker by Rave. Shelley comes in and continues to have no success. Danielson returns the eye-poking favor. Shelley kicks Danielson in the leg. Jimmy Bower comes in the booth for some announcements. Wonder whatever happened to that guy.  Danielson and Shelley exchange slaps to the face.  Double team on Shelley. Rave tries to make the save, but he faces the same fate. Danielson goes after Nana and Haze. Embassy finally gets an offensive advantage. Heat segment on Danielson. Nana interjects to establish who the heels are as the double team continues.  Finally, Delirious comes in and Embassy members go flying. Rave goes for the pedigree but gets a cobra clutch backbreaker instead. Shelley tossed outside. Dropkick to Rave’s back. Sweep of Shelley’s leg that leads to him dropkicking Rave in the face. Delirous hits a panic attack but misses Shadows Over Hell. Superkick by Shelley, but Delirious reverses Sliced Bread #2. Dropkick by Danielson and Cattle Mutilation hooked in. Delirious hooks one of his own, but neither man gives. Danielson dives on to Rave on the outside.  Kick to the midsection and dropkick by Shelley on to Delirious. Kick to the face by Delirious. Embassy on the apron. Shelley with a low blow and sliced beard #2 for the deuce.

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: The Embassy/20:54/***1/2

-Really good formula tag team match. It got the Embassy back on the winning track, and the champion didn’t have to carry the match. Considering his work the next two nights, he needed to rest up on this night.

-Colt Cabana interview. He’s calm and he says he’s still here and fighting. Cabana wants Homicide one more time in Chicago.

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Shane Hagadorn

I’ve gone over the issues involved with each match up to this point. As far as this contest, there is no issue. Claudio needed a win, and no one says jobber quite like Shane Hagadorn, Exhibit A of why the Ring of Honor training academy sucks.

Crowd chants “Who are you?” at Hagadorn. I wish I didn’t know who he was at this point.  Thankfully, they sent this to die after intermission instead of something important. Water slide ends this sucker quickly.

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Claudio Castagnoli/4:02/1/2*

-Chris Hero and Necro Butcher are out after the match.  Hero calls out Claudio as a traitor since he discovered and took care of him. He offers Claudio a chance to join himself and CZW. Whitmer runs out and beats up the CZW guys. Claudio stands by and does nothing for a moment before hitting a European uppercut on Necro. Notice he hit Necro… and not Chris Hero.

-Dragon Gate Challenge Match #2: A.J. Styles and Matt Sydal vs. Dragon Kid and Genki Horiguchi (w/Ryo Saito)

Styles and Sydal started teaming regularly at the beginning of 2006. Styles left ROH later in 2006, and his appearance would be sporadic after the Milestone Series. It’s also weird to see Horiguchi as a babyface after pretty much seeing him as a heel the last three years. Exchange of various holds and armdrags by Horiguchi and Sydal. Neither gains any sort of advantage.  Styles comes in to a big pop.They also exchange armdrags, but Styles wants Dragon Kid. Styles outpowers him. Kid then headscissors him and teasea a dive. Sydal runs in and Kid locks an octopus. Styles tries to save his partner but Horiguchi locks him up too. Kid in control of Styles as the match settles down. Half crab by Horiguchi. Styles grabs hair and breaks the hold. Double team by Styles and Sydal. Cannonball leg drop by Sydal gets two. Sydal grabs the leg near the ropes. Styles tags back in, and they hit a double elbow. Kid breaks up the pin, but Styles tosses him indiscriminately. Chop exchang, but Horiguchi can’t make it to his corner. Suplex turns the tide. Both Kid and Styles tag in. Kid dropkicks Styles and hits a kick on Sydal. Kid and Styles have an awkward sequence where Styles didn’t want to take the déjà vu  headscissors. To compensate for this, both Dragon Gate guys dive on top of their Ring of Honor opponents. Styles hits a hard belly-to-back suplex. Horiguchi hits a swinging DDT on Styles and kicks Sydal. Action gets hot and heavy i.e. too hard to call. Great sequence even with Styles and Kid not exactly jiving. Kid with a Dragonrana almost ends it. Sydal hits both Kid and Saito on the outside. Styles finally gets a Styles clash on Horiguchi for three.

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: A.J. Styles and Matt Sydal/13:31/***1/2

-What separated this from being a four star match was A.J.’s awkwardness. Not sure what the deal was, but this was still a very good match. It really felt like the appetizer to the main course though.

-Blood Generation (CIMA, Naruki Doi, and Masato Yoshino) vs. Generation Next (Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, and Jack Evans)

This would be the main course. The Dragon Gate six man tag from the next night gets all the praise, but this is another hell of a six man tag team match. Generation Next had been together almost two full years at this point with Strong and Aries holding the tag team titles since Final Battle 2005. Evans was about ready to travel to Japan and compete for Dragon Gate a second time. By the end of the year, all four members of Generation Next (Matt Sydal included) would get an opportunity in Dragon Gate. It was in fact a trip to Japan that made the ROH tag team titles world titles.

Evans dances before the bell rings, and Generation Next refuses to shake hands back when that actually meant something.  Strong and CIMA start and spend a lot of time reversing moves and various pinfalls. Evans and Doi’s turn. They wrestle like I pressed fast-forward on my DVD player. Evans hits a dive on Doi. Aries and Yoshino, COME ON DOWN! We immediately get to see Yoshino run the ropes. They’re not even waiting to turn up the volume. They’re starting at about a 90 from the get go. Aries throws a pussy chop before letting the master come in. Strong chops the bajesus out of poor Yoshino. Evans and Strong double team. Strong even drops a standing moonsault. Aries hits two knees, one of which was in slow motion. This match is fucking awesome. Quickness gets Yoshino back into the match. CIMA gets an acecrusher after catching him coming into the ring. Evans is isolated, and Doi hits a cannonball that sounded awful. Yoshino hits a dropkick with Evans in the tree of Joey Lawrence, and you can really see how red his chest has become due to the chops. Work on the midsection including a triple team double stomp. Evans springboards out into Speed Muscle and Aries comes in. Two hard clotheslines on CIMA.  Things break down in Detroit. I don’t even remember who’s legal. Guys are just flying everywhere. Evans eats moves from all three BG members. Another double stomp leads to a lungblower in the corner on Aries. CIMA then dives to the outside. JESUS CHRIST! Strong with a Gibson drive on Doi, but that only gets two. Rydian bomb but Aries kicks him. Aries ends up outside and Doi hits a Doi 5 on Evans. Yoshino and CIMA comes off from different corners with dropkicks. Gutbuster by Roderick. This is ridiculous. CIMA hits a disgusting air raid crash on Evans for three. Oh. My. God.

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Blood Generation/15:59/****1/4

-It’s been a long time since I’ve watched this match, and it has aged really well. All six guys came out looking like a million bucks. Aries was at his absolute best as he hit everything so fluently. Evans takes a beating better than just about anyone in Ring of Honor. Great stuff all around. Amidst all the great matches that have taken place across five different Mania weekends, I think this is kind of a forgotten classic. And that’s a shame because this is a great match that you should go out of your way to see.

-Video package illustrates the history of Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels.

-Christopher Daniels vs. Samoa Joe

These two have had countless great matches across TNA and Ring of Honor. It’s a feud that goes back to 2002 when Daniels brought Joe into ROH. This is their last one-on-one match , although they’ll be involved in two matches together in Chicago. Daniels comes out with the X Division championship to piss off Joe. Well, it does. They fight on the outside. Then they fight on the inside as the bell finally rings. Hard forearms and a flying knee strike from Joe. Rake of the face and more rights. Musclebuster attempt, but Daniels takes Joe over with a bodyscissors. Arabian press to the floor. Flying shoulderblock only gets one. Back heel kick and a headscissors by Daniels. These two are definitely wrestling a quick pace and I’m sure the previous two matches had a lot to do with it. With these two, the crowd was also going to continue to be in it and the burn-out risk was low. Facefirst goes Daniels, as Joe powers him down. Combination by Joe. Series of kicks that you couldn’t pay me to take. Hard back elbow. Sheesh. Good thing these guys actually like each other. Boston crab but Daniels reaches the ropes. Joe hits an STJoe and Daniels goes to the outside. Ole ole time. Crowd asks for another and Joe obliges. Running knee in the corner, and Daniels doesn’t look too well. Daniels gets out of it and misses a palm thrust. Choke in the corner by Joe so he has to let go. Palm thrust and iconoclasm by Daniels. Both men down. Forearms but Joe won’t go down. Daniels tries a belly-to-back but Joe fights out of it. Daniels does a Blue Thunder. STO. No dice. Atomic drop and a big boot by Joe. Back senton.  Daniels gets the knees up. Snap powerslam. Joe with a powerbomb/STF combo. Crossface. Daniels reaches the ropes. Danger grabs the leg of Joe. Enziguri into an attempted Last Rights. Joe with a choke, but Daniels with a chinbreaker. Kick. Angel’s Wings. 1-2-NO! Crowd bought that hook, line, and sinker. Three BMEs. 1-2-3! DANIELS WINS!

-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Samoa Joe/16:36/****

-Announcers wonder if Daniels will shake Joe’s hand, but Hero and Necro come back into the ring. Danger begs Daniels to leave, and he does. Hero gets on the microphone and says stuff that I can’t understand. Joe comes back into the ring and gets double-teamed by the CZW guys. B.J. Whitmer lays them out with chairs. Joe’s turn to talk and he declares WAR on CZW. Man, he cuts an awesome promo. Only shows just how dumb TNA is for not letting Joe be Joe.

-Lance Storm wants to be a part of Bryan Danielson’s title reign. Jim Cornette wants to know who hit him in the face with a chair.

TO BE CONTINUED

Final Thoughts: What’s amazing about the Milestone Series is every show is so awesome that even the very good ones can be missed. A wonderful show with a match of the year candidate, a really good mid-card match that spawned a feud, and an excellent main event. Everything on this show felt important and like it mattered. Even Claudio and Hagadorn served a purpose with Hero and Necro coming out afterwards. If you’re missing this show from your collection, buy it. ASAP.

Next week, we’ll look at Ring of Honor putting on a SUPERCARD… of Honor. The First time.