ROH Salvation - Chicago Ridge, IL 7/24/10

1. Tag Wars 2010 Opening Round: Erick Stevens & Necro Butcher vs. Rasche Brown & Grizzly Redwood
**1/2
I must say that I've not been thrilled with any of the Rasche Brown vs Embassy stuff so far. However here I think the right team went over in a very appropriate manor. This match also served its purpose as the crowd was very into it at times.


2. Sara Del Rey vs. Amazing Kong
**3/4
I was hoping they'd finally get the time to tell the story I wished they could have had a Supercard of Honor V. Sadly they get less time here although it must be said they tell a completely different story here. Match was just lower than my expectations and was not as good as their SCOH V match at all.

3. Tag Wars 2010 Opening Round: Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. The House of Truth
***3/4
Well I'll be damned! I believe these two teams have met several times before in matches I've just not been able to get into. Not this time though. HOT have really found a bit of groove at this point and needless to say The Briscoes just add their bit of shine to the proceedings. HOT this time looks every bit as equal as The Briscoes which just goes to show you that perceverance to a gimmick can pay off. I will say that Josh Raymonds shooting star spear is rediculous and should never be used anything other than a finishing move. Seriously it was INSANE!!


4. Pick 6 Contender's Series: (1) Roderick Strong vs. Austin Aries
****
There's certainly been a lot of heel vs heel matches regading Austin Aries final run in ROH. This is no exception here as Roderick Strong is very miffed at being screwed by ROH and it's fans and well Austin Aries is a winky...plain and simple! Call me old fashioned but the fact that Truth Martini gets ejected from ringside baring in mind Roddy has relied on Truth to help him out in his previous matches, was just trememendous and MADE TOTAL SENSE! Crowd really popped for it too. Now then, baring in mind these two have had many matches in the past I feel this was refreshing as their dynamics had changed and in Aries case so had his character and moveset. A lot of this felt quite old school in a good way and they played off the fact they had met before. Some great exchanges in this one and quite simply put two of ROHs greatest workers together in the ring with a hot crowd and guess what? They had a very good match.

Aries cuts a great promo about Strong not needing Truth Martini or the HOT but him needing The Greatest MANager That Ever Lived. He then introduces the team he's about to manage which leads us to...

5. Tag Wars 2010 Opening Round: Jerry Lynn & Delirious vs. The All Night Express
***
I believe in giving credit where credit is due and at the start of this match I could really see only one team winning. This was until the end stretch where the match picked up and my opinion was in doubt. That right there is the product of good booking and some good work by those involved in the match. ANE look awesome as a team here with Lynn & Delirious making them look like a million bucks. The face team are no slouches either though showing those veteran instincts that help take this match out of mediocrity.

6. Tag Wars 2010 Opening Round: The American Wolves vs. Colt Cabana & El Generico
****
Did you expect anything less? Very good match between 4 pro's who know what they're doing. Anybody could have won at any time and that feeling was put across well. Cabana & Generico again come across as a good team and not two guys just put together. The American Wolves...well they're on their game right here playing subtle heel to the face team of Cabanerico. This match got just the right amount of time and kept the pace pretty quick throughout.


After the match Hagadorn comes out and feels the wrath of Davey Richards boot!


7. Non Title Match: World Tag Team Champions The Kings of Wrestling vs. GenerationMe
***3/4
I'll be honest here, I don't feel this is the match I expected. Maybe my expectations were too high but I just don't feel the two teams clicked that well at times on this night. Crowd was into it there's no doubting that however the back and forth action after a while was just mind numbing. I personally have always been fairly skeptical of GenMe because they seem to just be complete spot monkeys earlier in their careers. The match against The American Wolves from the previous night was a refreshing look at GenMe. Here I think the Kings want to work a smart match but we kind of just get the usual GenMe action for actions sake style match. It's not bad and whilst we see the obvious size differences played up to periodically there's nothing that really screams story telling. I don't mind that for certain matches but I think this could have benefitted from a more focused story.


8. ROH World Title Match: Tyler Black vs. Kevin Steen
****1/2
If there are ever two characters most suited to each other in ROH in 2010 it was these two. Tyler Black the plucky face who fights off all adversity against the mentall unstable meniacle Kevin Steen. In a world without Richards vs Black from Death Before Dishonor VIII this would probably have been the match of the year! Steen's just on another level in this match. Smearing his face in Blacks blood and proclaiming himself the anti-christ of ROH. He honestly at times makes Black totally vanilla and characterless but to be fair Black has a knack of knowing what to do when. Steen screams at Black "YOUR NOT BETTER THAN ME" and Black slaps him right around the face. It's those little things that add to the story. Steen takes Black to another level here in a match ROH & wrestling fans in general HAVE TO SEE!

In summary Salvation is top to bottom a very good show. 3 matches **** and above and two others very close to that. The other matches are not offensive in anyway. The shows pace is tremendous and it's very consistent. I'd say this is way up there on the list of top ROH shows from 2010. Is it better than SCOH V? Ooh that's a toughie. Right now I can't decide so I'm sticking dead evens on that. Is it better than DBDVIII? No, but it's only hare behind!

9/10