DETROIT – Usually when a wrestling card goes over, they talk about “tearing the house down.” When talking about Ring of Honor’s pay-per-view taping in Detroit last night, you can call it “tearing the ring down.”
In a wild spot during the Bryan Danielson and Tyler Black match, one of the top turnbuckles broke when Black powerbombed Danielson into one of the corners.
This was not a planned spot, and the crowd belted out a large gasp before cheering loudly. Luckily, it was the second to last match on the card, and the ongoing match was nearing an end. When the match ended, during an Austin Aries and Jimmy Jacobs brawl that ended up in the crowd, the ring crew placed the bottom rope in the top rope’s position, as ROH did not have an extra ring rope with them.
The switch was needed because the remaining match was an Honor Rumble where wrestlers were to be eliminated over the top rope.
The Danielson and Black match received “Match of the Year” chants from the crowd with many thinking that it was the best match ROH has put on in Detroit. Danielson worked Black into various submission holds during the match. Black was only able to put on spurts of offense before powerbombing Danielson into the corner. Both men laid on the ground for a few minutes following the unplanned spot, looking to regroup.
Danielson didn’t let the broken turnbuckle distract him as he would climb on the opposite corner’s top rope only minutes later, flipping onto Black.
Jacobs and Aries then scuffled into the crowd as the ring crew worked quickly to change out the ropes. Although the brawl was hard to follow for most fans, it ended up near the entrance of the Michigan Mart at the Michigan State Fairgrounds where the two climbed onto a ladder. Jacobs’ Age of the Fall partner Necro Butcher then pushed the ladder, crashing both men into tables below.
Although Ring of Honor will not return to Detroit until 2009, they ended the year with a bang. ROH taped their pay-per-view set to air in September. The night saw two matches stealing the show with the Danielson and Black match being the first and the Claudio Castagnoli challenging for the ROH World title against Nigel McGuinness being the other. The match was brutal at times with the crowd strongly behind Castagnoli, hoping for a title change.
In another strong pay-per-view match saw Chris Hero and Go Shiozaki taking on Roderick Strong and Naomichi Marufuji. Marufuji was offered a spot in Larry Sweeney’s Sweet N’ Sour Inc., but Marufuji turned him down. When Sweeney was offended, he asked his team to leave. He was stopped on the way back from Lance Storm, who then seconded Strong and Marufuji during the match.
Former WWE developmental wrestler and Winnipeg native Kenny Omega made his Detroit debut in a losing effort. Following his loss, a smile came to his face as the fans gave him a “Please Come Back” chant.
In a surprise early in the night, former TNA wrestler D-Ray 3000 won a pre-show match over Shane Holister. D-Ray received an amazing pop when he came to the ring. This was a mix of being a Detroit native, having an unusual look (a giant afro) and being known from TNA.
The show capped off one of the most successful weekends for ROH, following a Friday show in Toronto drawing 1500 fans and a Detroit show drawing an estimated 800 fans to a pay-per-view taping. They announced a January 30, 2009 return to the Motor City.
Full results from the show, including spoilers from the pay-per-view:
- Ernie Osiris, Kyle Durden and Alex Payne defeated Rocky Fontaine, Ninja White and Ninja Yellow.
- D-Ray 3000 defeated Shane Holister.
- Jay and Mark Briscoe defeated Mitch Franklin and Silas Young.
- Erick Stevens defeated Ruckus, Delirious and Shane Hagadorn in a four-way match.
- Kevin Steen defeated Necro Butcher.
- Nigel McGuinness defeated Claudio Castagnoli to retain the ROH World title.
- Silas Young defeated Kenny Omega.
- Roderick Strong and Naomichi Marufuji defeated Chris Hero and Go Shiozaki.
- Bryan Danielson defeats Tyler Black.
- Ruckus won an Honor Rumble to win a future ROH World title shot.
