ROH Wrestling 11th Apr 09 reviewed

Kenny Omega vs Austin Aries - This is a pretty fast fall from grace for Aries who went from being a main eventer to a curtain jerker in the space of 7 days & the crowd showed their feelings by chanting "Austin A***ole". This was all Aries from the bell, Omega sold 2 nice armdrags but there wasn't much going on or many moves actually leading to anything. Omega had 3 near falls (the leg lariat facebuster was nice!) and made a nice reverse moonsault out of the ring. Aries was selling like crazy to put Omega over but Aries took the win off a very well sold Brainbuster. I'd say this match was about 5 minutes too long but pretty ok otherwise.

"Dirty" Ernie Osiris vs Delirious - Does Homeless Jimmy know Osiris is trying to work his gimmick and if so what does he think about it? This was neither exciting or very entertaining, Delirious won off Shadows Over Hell (splash onto opponants back trying to sell a double axehandle that made no contact). This was a really weak match and neither guy looked much cop, Delirious was the better worker of the 2 but thats not saying much. Osiris looked way too green to be working on tv yet, Delirious might have been able to make more out of a more talented or experienced opponant.

Sara Del Rey & Sassy Stephie (with Larry Sweeney) vs Daizee Haze & Nevaeh - Haze & Del Rey kicked this off so it was almost a rubber match from 2 weeks ago only this time with the added extra of a partner to tag in. Haze was working the arm and when Del Rey went to slam her & Haze span out of it I almost thought that was a flub and that Del Rey had accidently dropped her.

This match was mainly Haze working Del Rey who did get a nice near fall off a bridging suplex, Stephie wasn't allowed time to do anything as Del Rey came right back in but Haze got a chance to work Stephie hitting a nice dropkick off the top turnbuckle and it appears the colour guys think a womans throat is in her breasts? Del Rey came in to make the save on her partner but for some reason the ref wasn't counting at all, Nevaeh (its Heaven spelt backwards as the helpful colour guys pointed out) took out Del Rey outside the ring with a nice cross body block off the apron and Haze took the win off Stephie with The Mind Trip. It was an ok match but I'd liked to have seen more from both Stephie & Neveah.

Brodie Lee (with Jimmy Jacobs) vs Jerry Lynn - I'm really not sure that this current format of ROH's main event really works by having it go for over 20 minutes, in pretty much every week so far the main event has been all filler with some action over the last 5 or so minutes. Jerry Lynn can work a longer match so hopefully the trend will end this week. Lee totally flubbed the sell on Lynns drop toehold takedown, Lynns ability to sell made Lee look a lot better than he probably is though. The stretch on Lynn midmatch slowed down the match at exactly the wrong time (even the fans could tell and started a "lets go Jerry" chant) but Lee tried several different weardown holds which weren't very sensible with only 8 minutes left on air.

Lee kicked out of a rollover and Lynn kicked out of a nice sit-out piledriver, Lynn made a nice backdrop outside of the ring and Lee caught him when Lynn tried a cross body block outside the ring earning himself a post in the back. Lee had a bearhug on Lynn (so yet ANOTHER weardown move and there was less than 5 minutes of airtime left?) then drove him into the turnbuckles, Lee missed a big boot and colour sold that he crotched himself (Under the knee? F**k off!) but it was glaringly obvious he hadn't. Lynn hit a series of clotheslines and Lee happily sold a nice headscissors. Lynn made nice flip dive out of the ring & Lee looked very winded as he came back into the ring, Lee kicked out of the TKO (selling it very well though) but Lee appeared to flub the Butterfly Superplex (which Lynn kicked out of). Lynn took the eventual win off an Inside Cradle but it was a scrappy finish to a match that wasn't really all that good.

Its pretty clear the 25 minute Main Event really isn't working as everyone to date has failed to fill that amount of time with wrestling. Perhaps ROH should have a rethink and shorten the last match to 15 minutes and add another 10 minute time limit match to each card. I'd sooner see shorter matches where they worked all the time than long matches with pretty much f**k all action apart from the dying minutes. The colour guys and their ability to sell is utter s**t and if their going to call moves can they at least not call moves when its obvious they either don't make contact or aren't hitting where they say they are. Ideally ROH need to be showing different workers each week and rotate everyone until the entire roster (or at least everyone who is fit to wrestle) has appeared on tv and only then start giving people a 2nd run on tv.