ROH Glory by Honor IX, New York, NY
This was requested via Ko-fi, inspired by the FTR vs Briscoes trilogy post, thinkin’ on ROH tag teams as people do. This show actually opened with the Briscoes in back-to-back singles matches, Jay opening against Kenny King and Mark following against Rhett Titus, but this goes on second-to-last, right before the ROH world title no-DQ main event between Tyler Black and Roderick Strong, where Terry Funk was a special enforcer.
This is at the Manhattan Center. You know, weirdly enough, I’ve never watched as much Kings of Wrestling as I should have and certainly by now should have caught up on. I’ve seen enough to know that they did, in fact, rule, as I would expect of Hero and Claudio, but I’ve really not seen as much as I should have, including this match, I believe. I don’t think I ever did watch this one until now.
The Kings have Shane Hagadorn in their corner. I remember Hagadorn as a first-generation ROH Dojo grad, I got to see him in what was actually his fifth-ever pro wrestling match at IWA Mid-South in Highland, Ind., back in Oct. 2004. It was Hagadorn and Matt Turner against Anthony Franco and Evan Starsmore.
Haas and Benjamin, of course, had some really good success together in WWE in the early to mid 2000s, but wound up on the market in 2010, and they got back together and made their mark in ROH and on the indies, proving they were far more than just some WWE in-house creation. (Haas, of course, had wrestled some on the indies before joining the WWF system in 2000.)
This is the ROH debut of Haas and Benjamin, so the nerds of the world definitely had their eyebrows raised. Would these guys hang with the indie darlings? That term gets thrown around as a negative by a lot of people who don’t like pro wrestling very much but do like watching TV, but just like when Cody Rhodes went on the indies after his release from WWE, it’s a learning curve. Whether you want to insist one is better than the other or not, it’s a totally different style, with totally different expectations from fans.
Now, the thing is, anyone worth their salt can make it work if they give a shit. Even if it’s a little adjustment at first, talent is talent. It’s basically the same as going from American wrestling to Japan or Mexico or vice versa. There are clear and true differences, but anyone good will make it work. The reverse isn’t always true, going from indies to true TV wrestling, but that’s because the rigidity of WWE house style is very different, and because there is more focus there on intangibles and whatnot, as there should be, quite frankly, because the audiences generally expect those intangibles. It’s not just body or just mic skills or whatever, a big thing is just an “it” factor, which is not something that you can put into a box. Bryan Danielson has it, AJ Styles has it, CM Punk has it, Samoa Joe has it, and all of those guys in different ways. Low Ki didn’t have it. Low Ki was a great indie wrestler.
Anyway, the match.
Crowd is split at the top, people plenty excited to see the former “World’s Greatest Tag Team,” but also people plenty invested in rooting for the “home” team, even if they are assholes. The Kings are the reigning ROH tag champs, but the belts are not on the line. Code of Honor is observed, but it’s tense from the get-go and they start shoving and scrapping pretty quickly.
Benjamin and Castagnoli start, aggressive collar-and-elbow, Benjamin throws a disrespectful little slap and is rocked by a European uppercut in return. Benjamin hurls Claudio with a vertical suplay; this is a new level of power against the Kings, frankly. They’re not small guys by any means, and Claudio himself is, of course, freakishly powerful, but there’s a different physical density between the teams, too.
Now as far as endurance and clever wrestling, you figure the Kings have an advantage. Haas and Hero trade chops. Tag to Claudio, who tries to gutwrench Haas, but Haas just wrestles him down to the mat, plain and simple. More slapping, back-and-forth now, there’s a real animosity brewing here early. Haas and Benjamin are here to prove something, but so are the Kings.
Kevin Kelly points out that while Haas and Benjamin are more seasoned now than they were when they were first teaming together, and having great results, the Kings have been together more recently. Joe Dombrowski thinks we’re seeing “the best of the first half of this decade versus the best of the second half of this decade.”
Shelton shows off his athleticism, then hits a big ass monkey flip on Castagnoli, who tags to Hero while Castagnoli gets some encouragement from Hagadorn. Kings come back with some tremendous combination offense, but Haas breaks things up before they can really get going, and the WGTT also have their finish broken up just before it’s gonna hit.
After a strat sesh, Haas and Claudio trade European uppercuts, Claudio sends Haas hard into the corner, and the Kings get to cutting off the ring, communicating, making quick tags, controlling the match, grounding Haas and doing consistent punishment.
God, Hero was great. Castagnoli was and still is, too, but he’s gotten that wider acclaim that will just always escape Chris Hero, who absolutely has to have one of the greatest wrestling minds of this century.
Haas eventually gets the hot tag, but Benjamin is immediately taken out with a low-bridge by Hero on the apron, sent tumbling hard to the floor. Claudio distracts and Hero tries to capitalize outside, and he manages to ram Shelton into the guardrail.
On the Claudio side, his physique at this point is insane for the indies. Just outrageous. Lean but built to fuck. Hero’s in his trimmer period, lean and fast, and I always saw him in those years as having that, like, boxer thing where a tall guy with a lean build can just whip power shots. When he bulked back up, I think his striking and whatnot went that way, too, as it had been before — harder, heavier shots, more thudding, not as sudden.
Benjamin now victim to the Kings’ outstanding tag tactics; again, cutting off the ring, grounding Shelton, quick tags, consistent punishment, just totally controlling where and how the battle is waged. Hero with a cravate and some knees to the prone skull of Benjamin, who just starts to fade here. Crowd firing up, still split, but Shelton supporters loud enough to inspire him.
Shelton with those big, slappy, Scott Hall-style right hands. Kurt Angle threw those, too, which I’d guess may have been more Benjamin’s immediate inspiration, or else that’s a coincidence. Benjamin getting close, but Claudio tagged and he’s holding Shelton by the leg. Benjamin does make it, and a refreshed Haas is going wild!
Haas just throwing big shots, release belly-to-belly on Claudio gets two. He’s got Hero laid out on the floor. German suplay, and Haas holds on. Claudio tries to fight him off, but Haas just powers him over for a second. Benjamin gets a blind tag, and hits a Samoan Drop off of a slingshot from Haas, which gets a big response. Even bigger response comes when Claudio pops Shelton up into a devastating elbow strike from Hero, but Shelton kicks at two there.
Hero with another elbow shot to the back of the head, that also gets two. Benjamin hits that whipping heel kick deal, he and Haas follow up with that big double-team Mike Enos. Charlie goes for the Haas of Pain on Hero, but Claudio prevents that, and Hero smacks Haas with another of his elbows. He sort of kept those in reserve for late in this match, but he’s letting them fly now.
Benjamin hurls Claudio with the leap-up belly-to-belly from the top. Everyone but Haas down, and he gets over to Castagnoli and goes for the Haas of Pain, getting it in this time. It’s just such a great looking submission move. Claudio tapping, but Hero has the golden elbow pad, and he drives it down between Haas’ eyes while the referee is distracted. The Kings steal another “dream match” with Hero’s cool elbow pad.
There is fighting after the match, and Haas and Shelton are left in the ring to get a deservedly great reception from the ROH fans in New York. Hagadorn is also left alone and it doesn’t go well for him. He gets his balls caved in with a flying Haas elbow.
Listen, great match, great teams, great fans, great venue, great atmosphere. You can’t ask a lot more of a debut match in ROH in 2010 than Haas and Benjamin got and then played their part in delivering. It’s a dual “proving it” match; the Kings are plenty capable of hanging with these lads from the TV, and vice versa. Haas and Benjamin were no TV creation, they could flat go, and they got an opening to prove that, and they went out and aggressively did just that, starting from this match.
I loved it. Just classic tag team wrestling, a couple of dickheads against a couple of fired-up athletes with chips on their shoulders. Everyone’s on-point, working hard and working together, bringing the best out of each other. It’s a terrific match.
Tape Machines Are Rolling 