ROH Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies 2 Review

Ring of Honor returns to Chicago with bitter rivals finally coming to a head in a violent way.

ROH Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies 2

Chicago Ridge, Illinois 4/24/10

1.) Rasche Brown vs. Sami Callihan: **

This was a decent opener. Rasche Brown looks good in the victory.

2.) Dark City Fight Club (Jon Davis & Kory Chavis) vs. The Bravado Brothers: **1/4

Much like the match before it, this was a vehicle to put over someone, or in this case, a team. The Bravados get destroyed both during and after the match.

3.) ROH World TV Champion Eddie Edwards vs. Metal Master: ***

Here we got a match that actually turned out to be pretty technically sound. Both guys hit their stuff and looked good.

4.) The House of Truth (Josh Raymond & Christian Able with Truth Martini) vs. Erick Stevens & Shawn Daivari (with Prince Nana): **

I knew going into it that this would be an awkward match, and it was. Sometimes the heel/heel dynamic just doesn't work sometimes and this is one of those cases. Martini & Nana were their usual selves though, which was good. Martini even busted out a headscissors!

5.) Pick 6 Series - Davey Richards (4) vs. Roderick Strong (1): ****

Both guys, oddly enough, are in the middle of their own face/heel turns. This match was actually pretty awesome. Non-stop action that basically defines what ROH is all about. The match ends in a time limit draw, but Roderick declines going 5 More Minutes to preserve himself for his upcoming World Title Match.

6.) Rhett Titus vs. Petey Williams: **3/4

These two have a little bit of history as they met in a few tag team matches and I believe they had a match in Chicago the previous year that saw Titus get busted open. This was good for what it was, though at times it seemed sloppy.

7.) Austin Aries & Kenny King vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe: ***1/4

This was a fun wrestling match with some good heel comedy from Aries & King. Very entertaining.

King & Aries nearly come to blows after the match but Titus comes out and things cool down.

8.) ROH World Title - Tyler Black vs. Chris Hero (with Shane Hagadorn): ****1/4

These two put on a VERY good World Title Match. Lots of hard-hitting action throughout. Great stuff.

9.) "Come-As-You-Are" Chicago Street Fight - Colt Cabana & El Generico vs. Kevin Steen & Steve Corino: ****3/4

Remember when Mick Foley talked about the "Ring of Hardcore" oh so many years ago....this is the kind of match he probably had in mind. It's one thing to have a Street Fight, but when you add in the story and the pure hatred that had been building between these four, it just pushed the level of this thing WAY up. Very good match that perfectly fits in with the storyline. Cabana & Generico pick up the win, but their war with Steen & Corino is far from over.

Overall: 9.0/10

I ticked my final overall rating down slightly, only due to the fact that outside of the three ****+ matches, the rest of the card was rather average. But don't let that discourage you, this is still an awesome show. Richards/Strong, The ROH World Title Match & The Main Event are all worth going out of your way to see. While the undercard is rather average, there is still good stuff on it like the Edwards Match and the Briscoes Tag Match.