ROH Wrestling at the Gateway Review

Ring of Honor makes its debut in the St. Louis Area!!

ROH Wrestling at the Gateway

Collinsville, Illinois 12/5/08

1.) Kenny King vs. Kenny Omega: **3/4

This goes back to The French Connection when King left Omega high & dry in a Tag Team Match against The Briscoes. A fine opener here.

2.) Rhett Titus & Sal Rinauro vs. Grizzly Redwood & Bushwhacker Luke: *1/2

The heels start off with an attack from behind. Nothing much to this one. Just a fun little match.

3.) Tag Team Gauntlet - Irish Airborne vs. Brent Albright & Erick Stevens vs. Davey Richards & Bobby Dempsey (with Larry Sweeney) vs. The Briscoes: ***

This was a Gauntlet Match, where the winning team would face Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima at Final Battle 2008. This had some fun stuff in it. Why Bobby Dempsey was teaming with Davey Richards I'm not sure, but the match as a whole wasn't bad.

4.) The Age of the Fall (Jimmy Jacobs & Delirious) vs. Necro Butcher & Ace Steel: **3/4

Here we got a fun match with some interesting characters, with Jacobs probably being the most sane of the four. It was a fun tag team match. A good brawl.

5.) Austin Aries vs. Tyler Black: ****

The was a really great match. With all the hatred between Aries & the Age of the Fall, these guys are able to go out there and just have a great wrestling. What happened post match foreshadow Austin's coming heel turn.

6.) Nigel McGuinness & Claudio Castagnoli vs. Bryan Danielson & Jerry Lynn: ***3/4

While not quite as good as the match before it, this was good nonetheless. Anytime you get these four in a match you know it's going to be good. Just a great wrestling match.

Bonus 

1.) Daizee Haze vs. Sarah Stock: **1/2

I believe this was from some SHIMMER Taping. Stock is better known as Sarita from TNA. This was a good match. Both these girls are great in-ring competitors and they showed that here.

Overall: 7.5/10

Whenever ROH debuts in a new city, it's always been my view that they don't necessarily need to have a great show, just a good one to generate buzz and will help built up future (potentially bigger) shows down the line. While most of the undercard was average, the two main events definitely delivered and the bonus match provides a good taste of women's action.