ROH Showdown in Motown Review

Here's my review of ROH's Detroit Debut from 2005.

ROH Showdown in Motown
Detroit, Michigan 11/4/05

1.) BJ Whitmer vs. Delirious: **1/2

A nice, fun little opener.

2.) ROH Pure Title - Nigel McGuinness vs. Claudio Castagnoli: **1/2

Although some of his Pure Title defenses weren't anything really memorable, I like'd how Nigel would bend, and use, the rules of the Pure Title to his advantage. As far as this goes, it was average.

3.) Roderick Strong & Jack Evans vs. Sal Rinauro & Chad Collyer: ***

Mamaluke was injured (I think) so Collyer filled in. Fun Match. The Strong/Evans pairing is AWESOME. They just mesh greatly together. It's really a surprise that they didn't win the belts as a pair. Generation Next could have used the free bird rule while they were champs. That would have given us more Strong/Evans pairings. Could you imagine Strong & Evans vs. The Briscoes???

4.) Homicide vs. Colt Cabana Brawl: Good

These two were supposed to be in the Four Corner Survival with Daniels & Joe but ending up brawling before Joe even came out. It wasn't really a match, just an entertaining brawl that went all over the place.

5.) Four Corner Survival - Christopher Daniels vs. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Adam Pearce vs. Samoa Joe: ***1/4

Jacobs & Pearce (making his ROH debut) were put in here to sub for Cabana & Homicide. This actually turned out to be pretty good. I find Four Corner Survival's very entertaining, and this is no exception.

6.) Allison Danger vs. Daizee Haze: **

Decent match between two great women's wrestlers. Nothing great, but solid.

7.) Grudge Match - Austin Aries (with Jade Chung) vs. Alex Shelley (with The Embassy): ***1/4

Good Match, but nothing really stand out. This & the next match obviously setting up the big 8 Man Match in Chicago the next night.

8.) AJ Styles & Matt Sydal vs. Jimmy Rave & Abyss: ***1/2

I gotta say that I love how Abyss was used in this feud. He was just a big monster who threw guys like Sydal around the ring. This was a very entertaining tag team match. I also really enjoy seeing AJ Styles in ROH. He had a lot of good matches during his time there.

9. ROH World Title - Bryan Danielson vs. Chris Sabin: ***3/4

This continued the trend of Danielson offering open contracts to anyone who wanted to face him for the title. It was a great title match (Match of the Night) and a good choice of main event for a first ROH show in the area.

Overall: 7.5/10

I'll always have a soft spot for this show because it was one of the first ROH DVD's I ever bought. I still enjoy watching it now. Nothing on here sucks, and the wrestling (while nothing was really fantastic) was fun to watch. If ROH goes to a new city, this is the kind of show they should have. Nothing blow away, but a solid, consistent show that will make the local fan base want more the next time they come.