Great show, ROH was. Tremendous stuff even with some filler throughout the card.
First off, crowd seemed like a legit sellout (no reason to believe otherwise) and they were hot for most of the show.
Larry was right on, ACH was the star of the opener and my first time seeing him (for shame), has that IT factor, even for a shorter guy.
Elgin STOLE THE SHOW. This guy better be the top guy in the company sooner than later, is the ultimate bad ass to the NTH degree, awesome facial expressions and the action is incredible. At one point late in the match, Lethal hits him with something and Elgin no sells it, has this *YOU MOTHERFUCKER, ARE ABOUT TO DIE* look on his face, I love this guy. Best match on the show, hands down.
What pisses me off about this SCUM deal is it's stupid. Why does every promotion need an angle featuring some outside group looking to KILL the promotion? Surprised ROH is playing this retread deal. Whatever. Seeing Rhino was sorta fun, looks EXACTLY the same as he did over a decade ago. Steve Corino is outstanding on the mic and playing up a sort of preacher role I guess. Cliff Compton's beard is the best thing about him. I liked Jimmy Rave around 06-07, he's had his personal issues and is back, a little chubby but glad he's on the up and up. Didn't recognize Mike Mondo at first, solid dude. BJ Whitmer in another invasion angle. Yay…not. Jimmy Jacobs cross dressing, whatever. There were 2 black dudes on the ROH team, NO IDEA who they were.
At first, surprised Karl Anderson won…then figured he'd win tonight and lose tomorrow at the TV taping. Solid match with Strong, hard hitting stuff you'd expect.
The 3 way match was weird in that it seemed a sizable part of the crowd didn't give a fuck about anything other than chanting shit at Matt Hardy (perhaps deservedly so). Corino was awesome here, again. Adam Cole didn't stand out. Neither did Taven either, really. However, what did stand out was the awesomely fat ass on the red headed chick. Dayum!
O'Reily has such a baby face, looks like he's a teenager. Bobby Fish is awesome. Wolves did what they do, tons of hard hitting stuff, moves you don't see anywhere else, etc. Back and forth, plenty of near falls you'd expect to be the end with AW winning, but the old ROH kick out bonanza stuff. Tons of stuff happening, great match, but definitely a back seat to Elgin/Lethal.
The main event…for fuck sake. I don't think people were into it for the first half because figured absolutely no one imagined Briscoe could win. Lots of Steen fans, too. SCUM began attempting to interfere but Mark Briscoe and a group of ROH babyfaces would come down to stop them from interfering. One big fat dude with a cowboy hat and a beard, didn't realize he was part of their family till after the match.
All of a sudden, Steen hits the package piledriver for a 2 count. Briscoe ends up hitting the driver for a near fall and you figure okay, now it's time for Steen to finish this. BUT NO…they do a bit more (think it was Hardy about to help him out but Steen knocked him out of the ring or something similar) and Jay hits the driver again and GETS THE 3. Shocked the fuck out of me.
Awesome scene afterwards, seemed like the entire Briscoe family got in the ring and celebrated (Papa Briscoe, perhaps Mama Briscoe, at least one of the guy's wives were there, two children, the cowboy hat & beard guy and then another giant fat dude). Jay asked for Gimme Back My Bullets, Mark "danced", Papa sang along and that was that.
2 great matches and a finish to the evening like that, sweet.