ROH Survival of the Fittest 2006 Review

Ring of Honor's Annual Tradition Returns...

ROH Survival of the Fittest 2006

Cleveland, Ohio 10/6/06

1.) Survival of the Fittest Qualifying Match: Davey Richards vs. Matt Sydal: ***

The was an enjoyable opener between two young ROH Stars and a good way to kick of the Qualifiers.

2.) Survival of the Fittest Qualifying Match: Delirious vs. Jimmy Rave: **

I'd say this would be the the worst of the Qualifiers on this year's Survival of the Fittest. I just could not get into the match. I'm not sure what it was, but this match is definitely disappointing.

3.) Survival of the Fittest Qualifying Match: Austin Aries vs. Christopher Daniels: ***1/4

Apparently Aries lost his luggage & had to borrow Pelle Primeau's tights. I think that this is the first time ever these two have met one-on-one in ROH. It turned out to be a pretty good match. Nothing outstanding, but enjoyable.

4.) Survival of the Fittest Qualifying Match: Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Homicide & Roderick Strong: ***

Jim Cornette cuts a promo before the match, basically similar to (but I think a little shorter than) the one he cut at Gut Check. This is a Tag Team Match with both men from the winning team going to the finals. Why Homicide is teaming with Roderick Strong here, I'm not sure. Anyway the match was enjoyable, nothing special.

5.) Survival of the Fittest Qualifying Match: Bryan Danielson vs. Samoa Joe: ***

Danielson is in the same boat as Aries, but the tight's Dragon is wearing are a little....odd...any goofy. These two go to a draw in a match that was ok but nothing like their previous encounters. After the match they tease five more minutes but Danielson attacks Joe.

6.) ROH World Tag Team Titles: Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli vs. Colt Cabana & Jimmy Jacobs: **3/4

So the story behind this is (if I got it right...) is that Lacey is trying to get Cabana to join Lacey's Angels, and at the same time Cabana has been getting "close" to Lacey, all of this of course bothering Jimmy Jacobs. Before the match Lacey comes out & demands that Cabana's music be played for their entrance. This is also the first defense for the Kings of Wrestling. This was a decent title defense, nothing really spectacular, but solid.

7.) Survival of the Fittest Elimination Match: Matt Sydal vs. Delirious vs. Austin Aries vs. Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe: ****

So here we have a 5 Man Finals instead of the traditional six man because of the Time Limit Draw with Danielson & Joe. This was actually a really exciting match. The Briscoes showed their dominance early  by sending Aries out of the match first. This gets Sydal & Delirious to team up and eventually eliminate both Briscoes, leading to another classic Sydal/Delirious encounter. I feel like this is one of the better Survival of the Fittest finals. It was a great match from start to finish.

Overall: 7.25/10

So essentially you had a bunch of decent/good matches on here and one great match. You can say this is a one match show, but for Survival of the Fittest, that's not entirely a bad thing. Overall I thought the card was pretty enjoyable, and I recommend it, especially for the main event.