ROH Stylin' & Profilin' Review

Ring of Honor returns to the St. Louis Area as Ric Flair makes his first appearance for the company!!

ROH Stylin' & Profilin'

Collinsville, Illinois 3/13/09

1.) Roderick Strong vs. Jay Briscoe: ****

This has got to be one of the best, if not the best, ROH opening match ever. They packed a half hour's worth of wrestling into ten minutes, making for an awesome match. Roderick Strong & Jay Briscoe have great chemistry.

2.) SHIMMER Title - Mschif (with Delirious & Jimmy Jacobs) vs. Daizee Haze: **1/2

Jimmy Jacobs & Delirious accompany their fellow Age of the Fall member to the ring. This was fairly good for a women's match. Then again these two are some of the best out there so they usually put on good stuff.

Afterwords Jacobs warns Haze to stay away from Delirious or get stabbed by the spike.

3.) Four Corner Survival - Claudio Castagnoli vs. Austin Aries vs. Kenny Omega vs. Silas Young: ***

The antics of Aries & Castagnoli are pretty funny at the start. The match itself was pretty decent. Everyone got to hit their stuff and look good.

Out next is RIC FLAIR, who comes out to promote Ring of Honor, saying that the next Shawn Michaels could be in the ROH locker room. This brings out ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness. Nigel makes fun of Flair but Flair strikes back with some classic Ric Flair comebacks.

4.) Six Man Tag - Chris Hero & The American Wolves (with Larry Sweeney & Shane Hagadorn) vs. Bobby Dempsey, Kevin Steen & El Generico: ****

Would you ever believe that Bobby Dempsey would be in a **** match??? Well, he was. This turned out to be a pretty awesome match. Obviously the caliber of the other five guys involved made this match great, but Dempsey had some good stuff in here as well.

5.) Kenny King & Rhett Titus vs. Irish Airborne: **1/4

Nothing much to this one really. Just a match to build up King & Titus.

6.) Bryan Danielson vs. Bison Smith: **1/2

This was a decent match, though it felt weird ending by Count-Out especially since was building off the attack by Bison on Danielson at the last PPV. Though since it was a set up for bigger things in regards to the feud, I'm willing to let it slide.

7.) Tyler Black & Jerry Lynn vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Delirious: ***

The match itself was decent. Nothing out of the ordinary, pretty much what you would expect. But the events after the match are what's important here.

Jacobs once again blames Delirious for another loss (this time being this one). He pulls out his spike with the intention of showing Delirious tough love, but Daizee Haze comes out. Jacobs spikes Haze!! This causes Delirious to snap and lay out Jacobs with several Panic Attacks in the Corner!! After all this, Haze & Delirious embrace in a heartwarming moment. 

8.) ROH World Title - Nigel McGuinness vs. Brent Albright: ***

Ric Flair is at ringside to observe the title match. Claudio would eventually run down to cause a DQ, but Flair saves Albright from a Nigel/Claudio beat down. The finish (to the match) was stupid. They could have just had Claudio cost Albright the match, then do the beat down. The match itself was decent, but a little long. They could have taken some lessons from the opener and done a shorter match with more action involved.

Overall: 7.75/10

The first half of this show is really good, with two **** matches. The second have left a little to be desired as the World Title match was a disappointment. However, the appearance by Ric Flair and a major turning point in the Delirious/Daizee Haze/Age of the Fall storyline more than make up for it, leading to a pretty solid show.