Ring of Honor on HD Net 6/20/09 results

Ring of Honor came on the air this week dedicating the show to the late Mitsuharu Misawa. Then, Mike Hogewood and Dave Prazak made the announcement that Austin Aries had won the world championship in New York (6/13).

First match: Claudio Castagnoli vs The Necro Butcher
This one was another match with a disappointing ending. Jimmy Rave came out to distract Necro long enough for Claudio to give him a low blow and pin him. As Rave and Claudio began to bat on Necro after the match, Brent Albrght hit the ring with a chair in his hand to save Necro from any more harm. I understand this is leading to a bigger Feud between Necro/Albright and the Embassy/Claudio but I don't like watching these matches with tainted finishes. Something else could have been done with Rave distracting Necro. I don't care if this is an opening match on TV. I want to see someone get a decisive win.

Second match: Nevaeh vs Shimmer champion, MsChif (with Jimmy Jacobs)
Not a bad women's match for TV. Nevaeh has only made sporadic appearances in ROH and didnt look too bad here. Both competitors had the advantage at times but it was Jimmy Jacobs distracting Nevaeh that allowed MsChif to spit the green mist in her opponent's face and nail The Desecrator for the win. The main complaint about this match was the lack of variety in the moves used - too many arm drags and forearm strikes.

Next was a new segment, "The Art of Pro Wrestling", hosted by Colt Cabana. He had Brent Albright joining him this week to discuss the various tyoes of merchandise sold on rohwrestling.com. The segment was funny, as you can expect from Cabana, and focused mainly on the DVD's available for purchase. We'll see where this goes in the coming weeks.

After that, photos were shown of Austin Aries' world title win.

Next, Ric Flair said goodby to ROH as he had stepped down as ROH ambassador a week before (see Manhattan Mayhem III review). He basicall priased the company and thanked owner Cary Silkin and his staff for having him. What I hear is WWE wants him back on camera full time so this seems to be a business decision. I still love Flair and hope his return ges well.

Match 3: Kenny King (with Rhett Titus) vs Kenny Omega.
This match was a very good match for the TV show. It was a very well contested match with both men hitting many high impact moves and kicks on each other. The big spot in the match was Omega landing a huge suicide dive over the ropes onto King. Both men look to have big things in store for them dwn the road. In this match, though, it was Omega hitting the Electric Chair German Suplex to score the win.

Match 4: Eddie Kingston vs Alex "Right Leg" Ridge
Kingston won this one effortlessly. This was meant to begin building up his feud against Chris Hero who ,in their match a few weeks back, he got disqualified against for not adhering to the referee's five count in the corner. This can possibly be a big feud if it is booked properly. I think Eddie Kingston is very underrated and really gets his charachter across to the fans well.

Next, Jimmy Jacobs was interviewed about his upcoming cage match against Dilerious and the match the two would have next week on HD Net. Jacobs does a good job with his gimmick here.

Main Event: Roderick Strong vs KENTA.
This was KENTA's HD Net debut and he did not disappoint. This was a stiff, hard hitting match with each guy chopping and kicking the crap out of the other. A lot of hard hitting moves as well as some tchnical wrestling was seen in this one. Strong used his variuos backbreakers in this one as he is known to do. In the end, it was KENTA hitting the Go 2 Sleep for the victory. After the match both competitors shook hands as a sign of respect for each other. This was up there with the best matches on HD Net so far. I reccomend seeing it to anyone that has not.