I could do with more seriousness profiler dvd from Cabana at appropriate times

ROH’s 9/10/10 show, 24 dvd held the night before Glory By Honor IX, has the rather odd accomplishment of being a “must buy” DVD containing an only serviceable show that I would the l word dvd rate at 6.0. Packed alongside a best of Tyler Black collection, Fade to Black is the first in a string of added-value releases from ROH, turning a mainly “meh” show into a DVD that every ROH fan should have in their collection.
Concentrating on the 9/10 show to begin, the majority lost dvd of the undercard flip-flops between two to three star matches and some totally skippable, worthless bouts. The opening match featuring a TV title bout between Eddie Edwards and a shockingly lean Erick Stevens is one of the better matches, and they certainly got the Plymouth, mash dvd MA crowd on their feet with their home sprint. As good as this was in places, local boy Edwards defending TV title in an opening match didn’t serve much purpose other than getting the crowd riled up for the evening.
Sandwiched between a Grizzly Redwood match and a needless and pointless First Blood tag team match, Austin Aries gives Kyle O’Reilly his first main show match in ROH. O’Reilly looked good monk dvd here, and luckily the generic babyface enthusiasm he showed here has already faded away as he’s settled into his spot on the ROH card. O’Reilly managed to kick out of some strong Aries offence over the course of the bout, but the finish fell a bit limp as you feel Aries nip tuck dvd could have done a little more for O’Reilly on his way out from ROH.
Another new-comer, Mike Bennett of HD-Net fame gives a by-the-book performance in his bout with Roderick Strong. Bennett has a strong look, and seems sure footed in ncis dvd the ring, but doesn’t exactly set the world ablaze with his personality or offence. I feel and hope though that Bennett could well be a blue chipper for ROH if he builds upon his solid physical and technical foundation.
6 matches in, the $20 price tag for the DVD starts one tree hill dvd to feel a bit rich, but it’s in the two matches from home where Fade to Black starts to show a glimmer of life: The Kings of Wrestling vs. Cabana & El Generico is a fine match, full of what you’d expect from these four and better than everything prior to it on the card. I could do with more seriousness profiler dvd from Cabana at appropriate times (like here, where he’s trying to win a title) but Castagnoli, Hero and Generico did enough to give this match a feeling of importance before an Elbow/Uppercut put Cabana away.
The main event between Tyler Black and Christopher Daniels could well be better than everything else on the card combined. An inspired Fallen Angel and even more inspired Tyler Black (who is shockingly good at playing the full-blown heel) put together the only must-see 30 minutes of the main show. I have to think now, looking back at the tail end of Blacks run in ROH that there was an opportunity wasted, not only in terms of not giving him the title sooner, but in not letting him play up this character that he plays here with so much gusto.
If you’re in the habit of picking and choosing matches to watch on ROH DVDs, as you skip through the listings on Fade to Black there’s a fairly easy rule to follow: If the match has Tyler Black in it, it’s worth watching. The disc and a half of matches hand picked by Black himself are all worth watching. Perhaps a little more variation in choice (2 matches with Danielson and 2 with The Briscoes feature in the set), and a few videos to set the context of the bouts would have made this more than just a string of matches, but these are small gripes to have with a bonus release of this quality. There’s a list of bona fide match of the year contenders from 2008 including the blistering PPV main events with McGuinness and Steen and Gerenico. Those two bouts alone are worth your $20. Strongly recommended.