ROH Clash of the Contenders Review

Contenders......Clash!

ROH Clash of Contenders

Collinsville, Illinois 10/9/09

Bonus

1.) Grizzly Redwood vs. Tony Kozina: *1/2

Basic pre-show match. Fine for what it was.

Main Show

This is the first show after Bryan Danielson & Nigel McGuinness left.

Jim Cornette starts out the show. He basically cuts a promo putting over Ring of Honor and says the fans will get the quality wrestling that they paid for.

1.) Kevin Steen vs. Roderick Strong: ***1/4

This match had a lot of stiffness, as one would expect. Kevin Steen makes a good sympathetic babyface here since he is "out of it" because of losing Ladder War II.

2.) MsChif vs. Nicole Matthews: *3/4

A fair women's encounter here. Really more of a showcase for MsChif.

Austin Aries comes out for the Austin Aries Lucky Lottery. He pulls out the name of Daizee Haze. She comes out with Delirious, and Aries said he'd wrestle her now if Delirious wasn't there. Delirious cuts his usual incoherent promo and basically challenged Aries to a match. Cornette comes out and, in layman's terms, says Aries is full of s**t. He makes the match.

3.) Four Corner Survival - Claudio Castagnoli vs. Colt Cabana vs. Petey Williams vs. Ace Steel: ***

This was a fun little match. Usual comedy shtik from Colt. Nice to see Steel here. Claudio gets the win.

4.) Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. The House of Truth: ***1/4

A typical (entertaining) Brisoces match, though The House of Truth looked good in this one.

5.) Davey Richards vs. Kenny Omega: ****1/4

These two will both be getting future ROH World Title shots, hence the title of the show. This was a show-stealer. Really great work from both guys. Awesome match.

6.) Kenny King & Rhett Titus vs. The Young Bucks: **3/4

While not as good as the earlier tag team match, this was still a fairly decent match.

7.) Tyler Black vs. Chris Hero: ***1/2

The crowd didn't seem as into it as one would expect, but it was still a pretty good match. The heel vs. face dynamic was played out pretty well here.

8.) ROH World Title - Austin Aries Lucky Lottery - Austin Aries vs. Delirious (with Daizee Haze): ***3/4

This was another one of those matches where you knew the challenger wasn't going to win the belt, but that didn't stop them from putting on a good match. The first part was good, but after Daizee Haze was laid out by a Heat Seeking Missile from Aries, the match really got going.

Overall: 8.0/10

It was important for ROH to establish some good things and put on good shows following the departure of their two biggest stars. They certainly did a good job. Tyler Black returned to action, the World Title Match delivered, and two of the newest title contenders, Richards & Omega, put on the match of the night. The rest of the undercard was very solid as well. Good show from ROH.