ROH Tag Wars 2010 - Charlotte, NC 8/28/10

1. El Generico vs. Erick Stevens
***
Nice opening match that the crowd really got into. Stevens portion of the match was, of course, less interesting but when you have one of the best sellers in the world with you EVERYTHING you do looks good. Generico's firey comeback was everything opening matches are about.


2. Steve Corino vs. Bobby Dempsey
*
Apart from a tiny bit of good Corino shtick this match just did nothing for me. The best bit was where it ended...

Backstage Grizzly Redwood cuts a promo but the mic must be really far away because it seems very quiet despite him shouting.

3. The Necro Butcher vs. Grizzly Redwood
*1/2
Just who exactly decided that the wild uncontrollable monster that was the Nerco Butcher was going to stop doing all the things that made him 1) wild, 2) uncontrollable and 3) a monster? It seems being part of The Embassy in 2010 meant you were added to the black hole of ROH. To me it's just sad that somebody like Necro who a lot of fans got into has at this point been reduced to just another guy on the roster without anything special about him. Nobody really wants to see Necro in straight up matches all of the time, mainly because he's not the kind of worker that does very good straight up matches. It's watchable but damn those 7 minutes felt like a long time. I must say I still love Grizzly Redwoods performance in his gimmick. It's those subtle little things he does such as trying to whip Necro to the far turnbuckle by hopping off the bottom rope because he's a lot smaller than Nerco. Small things like that go a long way in my book. At least half a snowflake is for the Necro taking a sunset bomb to the floor, that my friends was sick.

4. Non-Title Match: ROH Television Champion Eddie Edwards vs. Colt Cabana
***1/2
Very good match between these two but then again would you really expect any less? Cabana and Edwards just bring the goods with some really fun technical wrestling back and forth action with a tiny bit of Cabana's staple comedy. Cabana out wrestle Edwards quite a lot at the start just to remind us that he really can go when necessary.


5. Caleb Konley, Jake Manning, & Mark Dillinger vs. Cedric Alexander & The Bravado Brothers
**
A lot of fresh new talent of display here. I have to say more multi man matches with names nobodys heard of were quite normal on older ROH shows and it felt good to see something akin to that back. The Bravado have been on ROH shows before but I didn't recognise any of the others. They all seemed solid but I feel Cedric Alexander stood out the most. His flippy crisp movements reminded me of that great ROH/Indy style of the early 00's. The Bravados continue to impress in the ring with what little they had to do in this match however I still feel they're fairly personalityless and when they find that they break into that next level.

*I keep saying this a lot of ROH 2010 shows but DAMN 5 matches gone in just over an hour!!!*

6. Kevin Steen vs. Roderick Strong
***1/4
Is Steen hurt? Who knows but there is something about this match that's keeping it from being as awesome in reality as it is on paper. Dare I say this but it seemed like a streamline almost ROH version of the WWE "main event style". I try to always be a fan and not get too picky with selling etc however Strong did nothing really to change up his offense after Steen worked his leg. My knee hurts so why don't I just drop the fat guy onto to my knees a lot. Yeah you get the picture. This match slightly dissapoints.


7. ROH World Tag Team Title Ultimate Endurance Match:  The Kings of Wrestling vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. The Dark City Fight Club vs. The All Night Express
***1/2
I'm not gunna lie, I thought the portion until the first elimination was REALLY pedestrian and kind of uninteresting. Then the rules change and the matches comes alive! The remaining three times kick it into another gear and the gimmick of this match actually works well. Plenty of cool action and a classic Jay Briscoe bloodbath all add up to a good watch.

8. Non-Title Match: ROH World Champion Tyler Black vs. Davey Richards
****1/2
Wow the crowd have REALLY turned on Tyler Black by this point. "YOU SOLD OUT" chants and total booing from all the crowd rather than the split reaction he recieved previously. The promo segment before the match involving Cornette is just fun to watch and felt pretty old school to me. It adds another layer of heat to an already very interesting match. Here's the thing about this match, people will probably always debate over which match is better - the first match from DBDVIII or this one. For me this match isn't quite as good as the one from DBDVIII. For a start the Toronto crowd was just rabid and it was live on IPPV. Add to that the fact that they had longer to play with in Toronto and although these may seem like small things, I feel they contribute to a certain fizz that this match misses. Don't get me wrong it's an absolute gem but it's kind of like Danielson vs McGuinness from 6 Year Anniversary. A classic match that's just a shade behind their other matches such as Driven & Unified.


*SUPER DUPER BONUS CONTENT!*

Delirious vs Sonjay Dutt from HDNET 23
Nigel McGuinness vs Eric Scott aka some job guy HDNET 24
American Wolves vs Up in Smoke HDNET 23

These matches were an ok addition but more of a teaser for what the HDNET show is actually like. A nice little gift from ROH I guess.

To sum up this show is difficult. Nothing blowaway or outstanding apart from the main event however for the most part it's solid and what's not good isn't too long either. The show itself flows really well and much like a lot of 2010 ROH shows the undercard that not many people are that invested in is short and the bigger attraction matches get more time. It's probably an essential purchase though just for the main event. 2009 ROH would have killed to have a match as good as that.
7/10