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Ring of Honor 5/22 Philadelphia "Generation Next" results Posted by Bob Magee Ring of Honor returned to Philadelphia last night in what could safely be said to be its most unique enviornment ever...a large tent outside the Philadelphia National Guard Armory.
The building was being used by the National Guard for the storage of live ammunition, a fact which was rumored as far back as Monday/Tuesday of last week, depending on which version of the story one hears. At one point, attempts were made (and failed) to book the ECW Arena, the arrangements were made for the tent...then at least one online reporter was told the show was back inside the Armory as late as Friday....then this writer was told late yesterday afternoon to "dress comfortably", because the show was outside.
Truth be known, other than a few mosquitoes, it wasn't bad outside (although the great bleacher sightlines inside the Armory were certainly missed). The evening had a decent breeze.
As for the show
The crowd was more in line with earlier Philadelphia shows at the Murphy Recreation Center, somewhere around 450-500, and was certainly affected by the seventh game of the Eastern Conference/Stanley Cup finals, and to a lesser degree by the WWE show in South Philadelphia.
What started out as a scramble match between the Ring Crew Express and the Christopher Street Connection was ended in short order as this evening became the Alex Shelley show, and the first half of the show was used to get over the new heel faction "Generation Next" of Alex Shelley, Roderick Strong, Austin Aries, and Jack Evans, with Shelley doing heavy mike work all night.
As the real first match got started... Generation Next (Roderick Strong, Austin Aries, and Jack Evans) defeated Special K (Izzy, Dixie, and Angel Dust) when Strong hit his power bomb into a backbreaker, Aries hit his 450, and Evans hit his 720 for simultaneous pins in a spectacular looking finish.
Next, Shelley ragged on Special K, saying "no one in Special K could wrestle", which segued into...
Alex Shelley defeated Hydro (aka Jay Lethal) by crossface submission.
The Carnage Crew hit the ring for their "match with the people who #$$@# in their bags at the 3/13 Elizabeth show". While the music of Trent Acid and Danny Daniels (who some of the crowd didn't seem to know, even though he's worked for ROH previously) played, Masada jumped Loc from behind, leading to...
Masada, Trent Acid, and Danny Daniels defeated Loc, Devito, and Justin Credible after Masada pinned Loc.
John Walters and Jimmy Rave became another no-contest when Generation Next did another beatdown on the two of them, saying they "were going to take their spots".
Nigel McGuinness defeated Jimmy Jacobs using an arm submission. Nigel looked impressive with his cool mat work.
The Second City Saints (Colt Cabana and CM Punk) defeated The Prophecy (Danny Maff and BJ Whitmer with Alison Danger) to retain the ROH tag titles after Punk pinned Whitmer after a Pepsi Plunge. This began as a tag match and wound up turning into an all-arena (er...tent) brawl.
The Briscoes defeated the Outcast Killaz (with Prince Nana and Josh Daniels). This was basically a squash, but led right into the next match which was worth the price of admission by itself.
After their match, Generation Next came down to the ring again and told the Briscoes that they were going to take their spots. Jay Briscoe did some mic work saying they weren't going to back down, and then John Walters and Jimmy Rave came out to back up the Briscoes, leading to an eight man tag (thus explaining the reason for the two non-finishes in earlier matches, which had the crowd scratching their collective heads )...
In the match of the night...and one of the best matches I've seen this year.... in 40 plus minutes of action Generation Next Alex Shelley, Roderick Strong, Austin Aries, and Jack Evans defeated the team of Jay and Mark Briscoe, John Walters, and Jimmy Rave; with Alex Shelley made John Walters submit to his crossface. Roderick Strong was viciously stiff in this match.
The next Ricky Steamboat-CM Punk segment, presumably designed to set up an eventual match between the two, saw the two argue back and forth, with Steamboat challenged Punk. Punk backed down and offered his hand for a handshake. After Steamboat shook his hand, Punk attacked him and they did a reprise of the November 1986 Randy Savage-Ricky Steamboat angle with the ring bell being used on Steamboat's throat. The angle got over and the live crowd knew what they were watching...and hoping to see it lead to in the future.
Samoa Joe defeated Homicide to retain the ROH World title after a brainbuster. An excellent match with the storyline was that Homicide would do anything to win the title. The crowd seemed a little let down by the lack of a title change. Homicide had most of the offense, and went back to the old and wild Homicide, with his old fork brought out again. Click
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