Reported by Ben Hagen of WrestleView.com
On Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 4:03 PM EST

With a rather shoddy start to a series meant to be a “Milestone," we come upon a show with an impressive title: “Best in the World." While the second half of the “Fourth Anniversary Show" and Danielson / Shelley from “Arena Warfare" are quite good, I’m hoping that “Best in the World" will pump some much needed life into this series to make it feel must see. Otherwise, we’re three shows in without much of a reason to keep going. So, shall we?

Match #1: Jimmy Rave vs. Pelle Primeau

In short, Rave dominates, and, despite a springboard cross body, he nails “Greetings from Ghana" after a great looking spear for the win at 1:58. I absolutely loved this as Rave came out super aggressive with some nice punches and strikes, turning up the heat when the crowd berated him with their usual chants of Rave’s assumed homosexuality. As short as it is, it is better than a lot of under card matches on the last two shows. Would you like a list? It is better than:

Ø The Three Way Dance from “Fourth Anniversary Show" (1/2*)

Ø The Four Corner Survival from “Fourth Anniversary Show" (1/2*)

Ø Roderick Strong vs. Jimmy Yang from “Arena Warfare" (*)

Ø Tony Mamaluke / Sal Rinauro vs. Irish Airborne from “Arena Warfare" (1/2*)

Ø Samoa Joe vs. Colt Cabana from “Arena Warfare" (unrated)

So . . . *1/4? *1/2? Yeah, somewhere around there. Nana on the microphone afterwards is really fun.

Match #2: Jimmy Rave vs. Jimmy Yang

Yang’s entrance really works and pumps the crowd up. Rave attacks Yang early on, but Yang takes over with some nice looking offense. Nana interference less than two minutes in, however, which allows Rave to knock Yang off the apron and into the guardrail. Neither man really maintains a distinct advantage even after the second Jimmy’s required shoulder-to-the-ring-post bump (though he doesn’t spill to the outside like he usually does). The action picks up shortly thereafter (Nana even takes a spin kick from Yang) with some pretty decent looking stuff. Match comes to a close after Rave’s running knee fails to get the pin fall. While arguing with the referee, his opponent hooks him in a crucifix and takes him over with a flash pin earning the pin fall at 6:31.

Although Yang can be cool, he sucked at “Arena Warfare." Here, he brings his dancing shoes and looks inspired (because he’s booked to win? who knows?). Although the match certainly doesn’t blow me away, it is certainly more solid than the pathetic performance against Strong at the last show. However, with the short time limit they weren’t given a whole lot of time to do much of anything other than trade short control segments (really, for how short the match was, I’m surprised the momentum switched as many times as it did). Yang’s kicks early on were great looking and Rave’s aggressiveness stayed as interesting as it was in the previous match. Still, with its four extra minutes, this wasn’t much better than the squash that preceded it: *1/2

Match #3: Allison Danger vs. Lacey vs. Daizee Haze vs. Mercedes Martinez

Haze (playing her Embassy role) starts out against Lacy. The first couple minutes are pretty good as the two women trade some holds and whatnot, eventually exchanging roll-ups before coming to their knees and staring at each other (the required spot when trying to call for applause). Mercedes and Danger get tagged in. Moments later, as Allison ties up Mercedes, Daizee comes in with a great looking kick followed up by a lariat from Lacey. The lariateer taunts Mercedes toward her corner and makes the tag before going for a cover. As per usual, the match turns into tag team match with the “heel" combo of Lacy / Haze isolating Danger for several minutes. Between seven and eight minutes in, Danger manages to pull out her Curb Kick allowing the hot tag to Mercedes who absolutely kills Lacy with a snap suplex / brainbuster / German suplex combination that really pops the crowd. Moments later in a nifty spot, Haze teases a dive, flicks off the crowd, but then gets shoved by Martinez onto Danger and Lacey brawling on the floor. The end gets a little messy, but far from bad as Danger puts down Lacey with an Oklahoma roll (is that right?) after Mercedes drills her down with a nice fisherman’s buster at 10:31.

When I first watched this match I was very uninterested. Most female wrestling I watch from the states usually just looks like women trying (badly) to imitate poor indy wrestling with a ton of slow spots, weak strikes, and nonsensical offense. Here, in an environment that usually turns a match into a spot fest with all sorts of confusing legal man issues, these four ladies pulled out something quite solid that entertained the New York crowd and this Upper Michigan wrestling fan. While I still feel at times that these women are trying too hard to work with a style of wrestling that they see from the men rather than coming up with and perfecting their own, there are times when they truly feel inspired to kick each other’s ass. When Mercedes rolled through on the first snap suplex I was about to slap my forehead before she turned the second move into a brainbuster. While that certainly isn’t unheard of, it shows an aggressiveness that I feel is missing a lot of times. From what I saw, the best wrestler here is Haze. Mercedes and Danger were behind her by quite a bit in my opinion and Lacey still looks like she’s playing “make believe" out there on an elementary school playground. Regardless, they’ll only get better. Maybe it is time I checked out one of these SHIMMER DVDs: *3/4.

Oh, and I think Gabe would do well to book a nice long singles match between Haze and an opponent of her / his choosing on one of his shows rather than trying to pour all of them into one match. Let’s see what these ladies can do in that sort of environment where they are allowed some room to really perform.

Match #4: Chris Hero / Necro Butcher vs. Jason Blade / Kid Makaze

Makaze and Hero play in the sand while Butcher kicks around Blade on the mat. Hero eventually forces Kid to tap to some sort of front choke (name for that?). Team CZW bores its way to a 58 second victory.

Did you really think this is going to be much of anything? I thought not. No rating.

Match #5: Adam Pearce vs. Chris Hero / Necro Butcher

Pearce attacks Hero from behind and sends him sailing over the top with a lariat. He battles with Butcher into the crowd where they just rain chairs upon each other. They keep fighting until Pearce scoops up Necro and rams him into a ring post and into a guardrail. The crowd starts chanting, “Table! Table," and Adam gets a mischievous gleam in his eye before running over and just heaving Butcher through the table. It isn’t a great looking spot, but it is an aggressive one the crowd really connects with. Hero sneaks up from behind, however, and a kick to the balls makes Todd Sinclair ring for the bell at 3:11. Okay . . . chairs . . . a table . . . and a kick to the balls earns a DQ / No Contest? Bah, whatever.

Claudio comes to the rescue. Hooray! This was more fun than any of the show-closing brawling at the end of “Arena Warfare." For three minutes, I was more entertained than by a lot of stuff on the previous two shows. Still, I can’t give this a rating.

Match #6: Christopher Daniels vs. Alex Shelley

The DVD cuts straight from Daniels’ ring entrance to the opening bell. After a slap thirty seconds in or so, Shelley goes out to the floor to avoid retaliation. Two minutes in, Shelley is still on the floor after nailing the Fallen Angel with another slap. I love wrestling. Things pick up shortly thereafter, and Daniels manages to keep things controlled with an arm bar until the seven minute mark where Shelley manages to scrap his boots against Daniels’ face before delivering a nice dropkick. In the next several minutes he gets some nice near falls with a bulldog and moonsault, but can’t get the victory. He maintains his advantage just short of twelve minutes when Daniels sends him to the mat before following up with a step-up enziguiri. Daniels gets a near fall of his own from an STO but eats a super kick seconds later. The match is back-and-forth from here as they trade roll-ups and high impact maneuvers. The Fallen Angel misses the B.M.E., gets caught in the gut with Shelley’s knees when he attempts an Arabian Press, but rolls through a back slide attempt to hook and nail the Angel’s Wings for the victory at 14:35.

They weren’t going for Match of the Night obviously, but this was still really solid and definitely better than the Cabana / Daniels match that closed “Arena Warfare." However, it doesn’t even come close to touching Shelley / Danielson (which obviously was meant to be Match of the Night). Still, this match is very character driven as Shelley’s cocky heel schtick fuels the encounter from his cowardly antics early on, to his hilarious insistence that he was, indeed, not bitch slapped, to his distraction that led to Daniels’ comebacks, to just really smooth wrestling (which might be the match’s only downfall). With some nifty counters and what not, Daniels and Shelley pull out a performance that keeps the crowd happy without exhausting them with an amazing encounter. In other words, this is a perfect match to put in the middle of the card. I’ve read complaints that the ending felt “out of no where." My response: well, shouldn’t it? Get over it. Decent match that leaves room for more if Gabe ever feels like booking these two again: **3/4.

Match #7 – Pure Title Match: Nigel McGuinness vs. Claudio Castagnoli

Claudio interrupts the usual Nigel speech with an onslaught of Euro uppercuts. When the champion tries coming off the ropes in his usual “bend-backward-and-pop-up-with-a-lariat" maneuver, the challenger catches him with a dropkick (not a good one, but enough to send him to the floor). Though Nigel gets some offense on the floor, Claudio takes over back inside nearly getting Nigel to use a rope break before his seated European uppercut earns a near fall. Shortly thereafter, however, the champion regains control and begins an assault on the arm of the challenger. Nearly seven minutes in, Claudio fights back and sails over the top with a really beautiful dive taking out the champion. Nigel maintains offense, however, with a series of great uppercuts before nailing the Tower of London nine minutes in for a near fall. The champion tries again, but Claudio fights it off, flips forward, and . . . um . . . just kind of picks Nigel up with the Alpamare Waterslide for a near fall of his own! He manages a second Alpamare Waterslide mid-ring after they trade several uppercuts, but McGuinness manages to kick out again! The challenger climbs to the top, but Nigel cuts him off and nails a second Tower of London for a another near fall when Claudio uses his first rope break. After another bag of uppercuts, the champion goes once for the “bend-backward-and-pop-up-with-a-lariat" and takes it at 13:57.

You know what’s strange? I could have sworn this match was over twenty-five minutes the first time I watched it. They rush through so much stuff that all of it feels pointlessly long even at only fourteen minutes. Body part work doesn’t always have to lead somewhere, but Nigel obviously was trying to set up Claudio for some sort of arm submission which he never attempted. Not a bad thing I guess, but perhaps an unnecessary way to fill up time? Bah, who cares? With all of that in mind, this doesn’t feel like a Pure Title match. Both guys only use one rope break, they never use closed fists, they are rarely out on the floor or in danger of getting counted out, most of the near falls (even near the ropes) are kicked out of, etc. Bad thing? Not at all. I could tell they were going for a kind of more aggressive title match between two adversaries rather than the typical Pure encounter where they exchange rope breaks for fifteen minutes. Still, although it seemed they were going for more, the crowd still didn’t feel that into it. They were heavily in favor of Nigel (who didn’t wrestle like a heel), and Claudio’s schtick was toned down in favor of just going balls-to-the-wall with uppercuts and heavy offense. The good news? No ballerina “technical" work from either man. Yay! I do like that Nigel won the match with the same move he attempted thirty seconds in. That’s neat. Sort of nifty, but not a good match: **.

Match #8: Austin Aries vs. Ricky Reyes

The first few minutes of the match contains some really nice, aggressive, yet patient technical work. About five and a half minutes in, Aries misses his headstand dropkick counter to a Reyes headscissors, but manages to nail one (not a great one, but one nonetheless) when Reyes attempts a frontface lock. Aries dominates for the next few minutes before Reyes slides between Aries’ legs eventually nailing a great looking neckbreaker about seven minutes in. After a striking battle moments later, however, Aries pulls out his incredible tope before getting a few more nearfalls with a spinning splash and a quick moonsault. The match is back-and-forth from here with Reyes earning some near falls and the tag champ doing the same. Near the end of the match, Aries counters Reyes’ Dragon Sleeper into a Finlay roll before attempting the 450. He misses, gets Japanese arm dragged (drug?) into the corner allowing Ricky to slap on his submission. Though Austin is practically in the ropes from the get go, Reyes doesn’t release the hold and gets disqualified at 11:27.

While this certainly isn’t a great match, I’m surprised how much I actually cared about it while watching it. Aries is so freaking great to watch these days as his tag title match at “Fourth Anniversary Show" and his Sydal match at “Arena Warfare" were both highlights of what could be called underwhelming shows. Here, in an underwhelming match on paper, he delivers a really strong performance and Reyes looks better than I’ve ever seen him. I love the DQ ending as it puts over Reyes’ aggressiveness while maintaining Aries’ integrity as a former World Champion (and current tag champion). Despite an icky dropkick early on, the match is really fun with Aries drawing from his never ending supply of offense and Reyes looking like a bad ass at several points. Other than Shelley / Daniels, I’d say this is the best match on the show up to this point: **1/2.

Match #9: Roderick Strong / Jack Evans vs. The Briscoes

Before the bell even rings we get some good action. When it finally does, Jack Evans and Jay Briscoe start off as the legal men. From the get go, the Briscoes isolate Flippenstien (beginning with a great looking springboard dropkick from Mark) before he’s able to make the tag to Strong three minutes in. A goofy dive from Jack takes out everyone before he rolls Mark inside for a near fall (an illegal pin since Jack isn’t the legal man here). Moments later, the Briscoes isolate Roderick Strong with some nice looking double team moves before a great belly-to-back / springboard neckbreaker combination from Generation Next six and a half minutes in gets a huge pop. Detailing all the great looking offense in this match is pretty pointless at this juncture. Take a look at it yourself if you’re so inclined. Suffice it to say that these teams trade control of the match until the eleven minute mark where Mark applies a submission hold to Jack’s left leg. The Briscoes isolate him as they had early on in the match, keeping him grounded by continuing to focus on his leg. After a moonsault nearly sixteen minutes in, Strong gets the hot tag and cleans house. After a huge boot moments later, Evans makes a ridiculously sloppy tag (if there even was one) and earns a near fall off an assisted standing Phoenix splash. After an awkward near fall (awkward only because the referee hesitated to count the fall), the Briscoes manage a near fall of their own with a springboard Doomsday Device. Strong breaks up the pin, nails his gutbuster on Jay, a half-nelson backbreaker on Mark, and pulls the necessary strings allowing Jack to nail Ode to the Bulldogs (sort of) for the victory at 19:30.

This absolutely smokes the Briscoes’ performances on the last two shows. Truly. With that in mind, I think this match is a tad overrated by some. There is a bit of sloppy and awkward work here that, despite really state-of-the-art double teaming and new-and-improved Briscoe tag work, brings it down a few notches from being as good as the “Fourth Anniversary Show" main event (though it is just as exciting). And a big sorry to those that love the ending, but I didn’t like the botch. I’m not questioning the validity of the pin attempt, just the fact that if the move has the possibility to be botched so badly it might not be worth trying again. Upon reviewing the match, Jack’s knee does not catch Mark in the face as some have said. Instead, Jack’s left arm grazes his face (although I’m sure it could have still hurt quite a bit with all the velocity). The botch deflates the match in a way, but doesn’t take away from the really incredibly exciting stuff that comes before it. A few legal man issues with the Generation Next team raises my eyebrows a bit (the Briscoes were perfect) and knock this down a tad, but I guess it would be silly to let that sort of thing bother me too much. Good, good match. One of the best of the series thus far. Little touches (like Strong pulling Evans to the ropes on the first leg submission, but failing to on the figure four) really make this thing pretty damn nifty: ***1/4.

Match #10: KENTA / Naomichi Marufuji vs. Bryan Danielson / Samoa Joe

Very nifty ring entrance for Dragon / Joe with the foreboding Godzilla music followed by “The Final Countdown." Marufuji and Danielson begin the match with some decent work that earns courtesy applause from the crowd. KENTA tags in and points toward Joe, but Danielson fakes out everyone screaming, “Best wrestling in the world!" in response to the boos. KENTA accepts for a while, but immediately knocks Joe off the apron with a yakuza boot. This time Joe isn’t kidding around. After a great looking exchange five minutes in, Joe gets shoved back into KENTA’s corner where Marufuji gets tagged in. It doesn’t take long for the ROH vets to isolate Naomichi, however, and they take turns pounding away and stretching him. Several minutes later (at about the thirteen minute mark), KENTA gets the tag from his partner and knocks down Danielson with a boot before attacking Joe. Team NOAH isolates the ROH Champion for several minutes (with Marufuji getting a bit of revenge here and there with cheap-ish tactics resembling those Danielson used earlier in the match). Eighteen minutes in, KENTA applies a camel clutch allowing Marufuji to nail a high-speed dropkick to the champion’s face while Joe distracts the referee trying to get into the ring. Shortly thereafter, however, (at around the twenty minute mark) Danielson flips out of a corner on an Irish whip attempt and floors the GHC Jr. Champion with a roaring forearm. Joe tags in seconds later and cleans house nailing his atomic drop / yakuza boot / senton combination for a near fall on KENTA. Twenty-three minutes in, Joe nails Marufuji with a powerbomb and applies his series of submissions, but the Japanese star reaches the ropes. Danielson and Naomichi trade flash pins moments later before the Champ nails a German suplex for a near fall. Near the end of the match (after some more back-and-forth action), Danielson tags in just after the thirty minute mark. After Joe sails out of the ring after Naomichi, KENTA nails a top rope falcon arrow for a very close near fall! He attempts Go 2 Sleep, but Dragon counters with a crucifix pin. He attempts his USB elbows after the kick out hoping for referee stoppage, but the KENTA rolls back, and hoists Danielson for his finisher. The Champ Goes 2 Sleep at 33:34.

I really appreciate the storyline element they add here. This isn’t just a normal “dream match" a la Joe vs. Kobashi. KENTA and Joe really demonstrate a natural hatred that breathes a lot of life into this match (though the moments of it are few and far between . . . which is a good thing in a “big picture" sort of way). Disappointing is still a key word here. Marufuji looks out of place, whiffs a strange maneuver that Joe shouldn’t have sold, and completely ignores a throat strike from Joe meant to break up a camel clutch on Bryan. All in all his goofy selling and lackluster offense didn’t really bring a whole lot (though it isn’t like he didn’t add anything). Danielson did his best to draw interest to himself and Marufuji, but the crowd wanted Joe / KENTA and no amount of “doing it our way" changed their minds. Danielson / Shelley were able to take a pretty hostile crowd and draw them into a match that the wrestlers dictated. Here, the wrestlers failed to elicit interest in the way they wanted to do things, and a lot of that probably extends from the fact that there was no “cooling off" match between this and the GN / Briscoe tag. Of course, I’m assuming that the quiet atmosphere means “little interest," and that is probably wrong. After the final pinfall, the crowd seemed more than happy with the contest, and I have to say that I am too (despite ridiculous disappointment). For the most part, the work here is quite good, but the match felt too long and the in-peril control segments just didn’t feel interesting a lot of the time. Danielson and KENTA did a great job bringing it home. Joe and KENTA did a great job hating and hitting each other. Marufuji . . . was just there to do some pretty dances with Danielson on the mat. Good match, but not a must see: ***.

Closing Comments

This is the best show thus far in the Milestone Series with an entertaining under card. With all that said, however, there still wasn’t a must-see match on this show. The GN / Briscoes tag is good for a few viewings, but I’m hoping that subsequent tags will make this one forgettable as there was plenty of room for improvement. The main event is fun, but Danielson has had far better work, and the resulting singles matches between Danielson and Joe / KENTA will probably be much better than it. Still, a much better show than “Arena Warfare" (though Shelley / Danielson is better than everything here). I think I enjoyed the second half of “Fourth Anniversary Show" more than any stretch of matches on this card though. So take that for what it’s worth. The much talked-about triple shot is coming up folks. Let’s see how that turns out. I must say that for a series of shows that ROH is calling heavy attention to, these three shows disappoint pretty highly. This card is very solid, but not spectacular. The main event has gotten much better reviews elsewhere (as has the GN / Briscoes tag), but I think I’ll stick with being sober.