ROH on HDNet: Volume 6 Review

The first Ring of Honor Television Champion is crowned!!

This is going to be a bit different compared to some of the other Ring of Honor Compilations that I have reviewed already. Since it's a one disk set, I'll actually go into my thoughts on each individual match like I would on a normal show review. More than likely, I probably will do this with any other HDNet Volumes I may get in the future. Also, I should note that the way I have the matches listed below is not the order they appear on the DVD. I did this so that I can talk about all the matches chronologically based on when they aired.

ROH on HDNet: Volume 6

Episode 43 – Tyler Black & Colt Cabana vs. ROH World Champion Austin Aries & Kenny King: ***1/4

This is sort of the outlier match compared to the rest of the matches on this set, in terms of which episode this is. Black & Cabana are an interesting pairing, but fitting as they're both from the Mid-West. I found this to be a pretty solid tag team match. The stable Austin Aries had going at the time with Kenny King & Rhett Titus was great, and it resulted in a variety of pairing and very different tag matches. Lots of good action with solid double team offense from both sides. Colt Cabana pins Kenny King to get the win for his team.

Episode 50 – ROH TV Title Tournament – First Round – Kevin Steen vs. Rhett Titus: **1/2

Here we have the first match of the ROH TV Title Tournament. Steve Corino accompanies Kevin Steen for this one. This takes place a few short months after the events of Final Battle 2009. A decent match here. I liked how Steen worked over the arm of Rhett Titus, which eventually led to a submission victory for Steen via The Crossface, but at the same time, the match felt very odd as both guys were technically heels. An ok match, but definitely the weakest of the first round.

Episode 50 - ROH TV Title Tournament – First Round – El Generico vs. Kenny King: ***1/2

This was one of the matches I was looking forward to seeing when I got this set. It didn't disappoint, as these two put out a pretty good. El Generico is someone who you'll almost never get a bad match from and King looked very impressive as well. The only thing that I would say against this match is that King spent time focusing on the arm of El Generico, when Kevin Steen had done the same thing in his match earlier in the episode. It ended up taking a Super Royal Flush for King to get the win and advance to the next round.

Episode 51 - ROH TV Title Tournament – First Round – Colt Cabana vs. Eddie Edwards: ***

Shane Hagadorn is in the corner of Eddie Edwards for this one. Here we are at that weird period in the first half of 2010 where Hagadorn was managing both The American Wolves and the newly reformed Kings of Wrestling. This was a fine match, though it never really stood out that much. The main story here was that Steve Corino came out to distract Colt Cabana and it ended up costing him the match as Eddie Edwards gets the win to advance to the next round. 

Episode 51 - ROH TV Title Tournament – First Round – Davey Richards vs. Delirous: ***1/2

Here we have another unique matchup. Shane Hagadorn is out with Richards while Daizee Haze is out with Delirious. This was a pretty good match. We were around the time when Richards was getting hot and being primed for his hunt for the World Title, so we got a lot of great action from him in the ring and the fans loved him. Delirious got in a lot of his stuff as well and it made for a very good back & forth matchup. It especially picked up towards the end. Richards is eventually able to tap out Delirious and advance to the next round.

Episode 52 – Pick 6 Series Match - Chris Hero vs. Jay Briscoe: ***1/4

This match is not only a continuation of the Kings of Wrestling/Briscoe Brothers feud, but is a part of the Pick 6 Series as well, meaning whoever wins could position himself for a future World Title Shot. Hero is accompanied by Claudio Castagnoli, Sara del Rey & Shane Hagadorn, while Jay Briscoe is accompanied by his brother Mark (The Briscoes were the current World Tag Team Champions at the time). Very solid match from these two. Chris Hero was awesome as always, and Jay Briscoe proves one again that he's a very capable singles wrester. Hero is able to score the win after a distraction from Claudio.

Episode 53 - ROH TV Title Tournament – Semi-Finals – Kevin Steen vs. Eddie Edwards: ***1/4

Here we have the first match of the second round. I actually found this to be a pretty enjoyable match. Both guys are very good wrestlers so it's not hard to think that this would be good. The big moment, however, came towards the end of the match when El Generico comes out to distract Kevin Steen, who subsequently gets rolled up into a small package and pinned by Edwards, who advances to the finals.

Episode 54 - ROH TV Title Tournament – Semi-Finals – Davey Richards vs. Kenny King: ***1/2

This was another match that I was looking forward to seeing on this set, and much like the earlier Kenny King match, it lived up to expectations. Really nice action between both guys. No surprise that Richards has had some of the best matches on this DVD. Richards gets the win and moves on to the finals, where he will face his American Wolves parter.

Episode 55 – ROH TV Title Tournament – Finals – Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards: ****1/4

It's a battle of the American Wolves with the winner being crowing the first ROH Television Champion. Shane Hagadorn is representing both guys at ringside. Obviously this was the main selling point of the DVD, as it is not only the match that decided the first Television Champion, but it is the first singles match between Richards & Edwards. I thought this was an awesome match. For it being on the TV Show, it actually got a good amount of time, and these two definitely made the most of it. Lots of great action between both guys. Amazing stuff throughout. After an exchange of submissions, Edwards is finally able to get Richards to tap out, and he becomes the first ever Television Champion!!

After the match, Davey snags the belt from Eddie, and tension is teased, but Richards ends up putting the belt on Edwards out of respect and celebrates with his American Wolves partner.

Episode 56 – Delirious vs. Austin Aries: **1/2

This match takes place after Aries lost the World Title to Tyler Black. Daizee Haze is out with Delirious while Kenny King is out with Aries. Nothing really of note to say about the actual match itself. What's important begins towards the end of the match. Aries goes to kick Delirious in the head, a move that Aries does regularly which usually leads to The Brainbuster, but it appeared that Aries kicked Delirious in the throat. Delirious looks to be hurt, and referees, officials, and Daizee Haze attend to Delirious as Aries backs off. All of a sudden, Austin Aries attacks Daizee Haze and goes after the injured Delirious!! King drags Delirious out of the ring and places him on top of the steel guardrail, allowing Aries to jump off the top rope onto Delirious, doing more damage to his throat!! As Aries and King go to leave, Jerry Lynn comes out with a chair and chases them off. Again, the match was fine, but it mainly served as the starting point for the Austin Aries/Delirious feud.

Episode 57 – The Briscoes vs. The Dark City Fight Club: ***1/4

The winners here will get a future shot at the ROH World Tag Team Titles, by order of Jim Cornette. The Kings of Wrestling had dethroned The Briscoes for the World Tag Team Titles by this point, and they're looking for another shot. It's so weird seeing Jon Davis before the.....interesting singles run he would go on to have in Dragon Gate USA/Evolve. This was a pretty good match. I've always liked the combination of Jon Davis & Kory Chavis. The Dark City Fight Club was a really solid tag team that added something different to ROH. I feel like they & The Briscoes were perfect opponents for each other, and their matches, like this one, were very solid for the most part. The Briscoes get the win and earn a future World Tag Team Title Shot.

Overall: 7.75/10

I thought that this was a very good DVD compilation. Obviously one of the key selling points of this particular HDNet Volume (and the reason I got this DVD) was the Television Title Tournament. For the most part, it was very enjoyable. You had only one match out of the bunch that was just ok, but the rest of the tournament matches were either good or very good. The finals between Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards was awesome and is well worth getting the DVD for. Nothing really stands out among the non-tournament matches, but at the same time they were all relatively solid. You also got some continuations of the Kevin Steen/El Generico feud, as well as the catalyst for the Austin Aries/Delirious feud. On the whole, I would say Volume 6 is a very solid DVD and, since the HDNet DVD's are selling cheaper on the ROH Website, it is also a very affordable one