ROH Reclamation Night 2 DVD Review

ROH Reclamation Night 2 is out now on DVD and available from www.rohwrestling.com, priced at $19.99 (just over £12 plus shipping) Taped at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center in Dearborn, Michigan, USA. Continuing on theme from Reclamation Night 1, this show puts the Tag Team Division as a focal point of the show, with a tag team main event pitting The American Wolves against Michael Elgin and Jay Lethal, alongside Tommaso Ciampa taking on Silas Young, Adam Cole battling BJ Whitmer and seven other matches. 

Content Listing

World Tag Team Champion Kyle O'Reilly vs. Tadarius Thomas (11:57)

Four Way Women's Match

Athena vs. Jenny Rose vs. Leah Von Dutch vs. MsChif (9:57)

Silas Young vs. Tommaso Ciampa (14:55)

Adam Cole vs. BJ Whitmer (12:53)

Andy Muscant vs. Michael Bennett with Maria Kanellis (2:59)

Michael Bennett with Maria Kanellis vs. Rhino (8:12)

ACH vs. World Tag Team Champion Bobby Fish (12:52)

Kevin Steen vs. World Television Champion Matt Taven with The House of Truth (10:12)

Kevin Steen vs. Truth Martini with The House of Truth (4:40)

Tag Team Match

Jay Lethal & Michael Elgin vs. The American Wolves (23:34)

Special Features

Q&A with Nigel McGuinness

Post Show Recap 

Review

The second night of Reclamation had a lot to live up to, after the first night had provided a number of top quality contests. In a number of ways, this show struggles to do so, with the bouts notably shorter than the night before, and only the main event really managing to stand out amongst the card.

The main event of Jay Lethal teaming with Michael Elgin is exactly what you would expect from these four top ROH talents. It's a typical ROH style tag team bout, with plenty of action throughout. There are some quality sequences in the middle of the bout, with all four men getting involved in a series of moves, which look equally beautiful as they do choreographed. The only downfall of this match for me, was a slight pacing problem in the final third of the match, but the closing sequence quickly makes up for that. This works perfectly as the main event of the show and is certainly the best match on the card, showing that tag team wrestling can easily be the focal point of the show, hopefully ROH continues it's push on tag teams going forward.

Tommaso Ciampa's meeting with Silas Young is a solid outing, with a lot of good back and forth action. There's also some well worked spots thrown in as well, with a German Suplex onto the concrete being the highlight of the bout for me. Unfortunately, this one is let down by the finish, which feels more like WWE than ROH, and sets a precedent that the company can't really keep up. It will be interesting to see if ROH hand Young a contract soon, he's been in a string of impressive matches and could be an interesting addition to the full time roster.

Adam Cole vs. BJ Whitmer is hurt by an early botch, that effects the rest of the match. The two don't seem to connect at all in the ring, with a lot of awkward moments throughout. After Whitmer seemingly suffers a head injury due to the botch, Cole noticeably works weak when using moves around Whitmer's head, which is understandable, but the basic ROH camera set up lets him down, as at times it's so clear that he isn't connecting that it pulls you straight out of the match. There are some positives to this bout however, a solid combination of suplexes from Whitmer works very well, whilst the finish continues the build toward Cole's heel turn, which is gathering momentum nicely by this point.

Kevin Steen and World Television Champion Matt Taven have an entertaining encounter, with Steen dominating amongst a number of comedy spots. The finish leads to Steen calling for an impromtu match with Truth Martini, which is another comedy bout, that serves it's purpose well. World Tag Team Champion Bobby Fish takes on ACH in a high octane encounter, that would have benefitted from a little extra time. Fish's partner in reDRagon, Kyle O'Reilly takes on ACH's Adrenaline Rush partner, Tadarius Thomas is similarly effective in the time slot given, with a series of different strike sequences being the highlight. Michael Bennett runs through Andy Muscant in what is essentially a squash match, before Rhino stops Bennett inflicting further punishment, effectively turned Rhino face, and the two put on a decent short contest. A Women's Four Way bout featuring MsChif, Athena, Leah Von Dutch and Jenny Rose, is a lot of fun, especially once all four women get involved, with Von Dutch and Rose more than holding their own with the ROH regulars. 

The special features included a Q&A session with Nigel McGuinness prior to the show, which sound quality much improved from the night before and including an entertaining appearance from Jimmy Jacobs. The Post Show Recap is short and ultimately a little pointless. It would have been nice to see the show dark match appear as an extra, as on the previous night's DVD, as well.

Overall, there is a lot of good action on this show, with the main event especially really standing out. However, it can't quite stand up to the night before, and never really feels like anything of importance is actually happening. 

Top Three Matches from Reclamation Night 2

1. Jay Lethal & Michael Elgin vs. The American Wolves 

2. ACH vs. World Tag Team Champion Bobby Fish

3. Silas Young vs. Tommaso Ciampa

ROH Reclamation Night 1 DVD Review

ROH Reclamation Night 1 is out now on DVD and available from www.rohwrestling.com, priced at $19.99 (just over £12 plus shipping) Taped at The Turner Hall Ballroom in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA on 12th July 2013, the show fits between Jay Briscoe being stripped of the ROH Championship, and the start of the tournament to find a new champion. The main event sees then World Tag Team Champion Bobby Fish take on Davey Richards, alongside a Four Corner's Survival Match with Adam Cole, Michael Elgin, Jay Lethal and World Television Champion Matt Taven, World Tag Team Champion Kyle O'Reilly's bout with Eddie Edwards and five other contests.

Content Listing 

Tag Team Match

Adrenaline Rush vs. #PartyBoys (9:09)

Women's Match

Athena vs. MsChif (10:20)

BJ Whitmer vs. Michael Bennett with Maria Kanellis (9:50)

Eddie Edwards vs. World Tag Team Champion Kyle O'Reilly (20:30)

Rhino vs. Tommaso Ciampa (9:33)

Kevin Steen vs. Silas Young (7:59)

Four Corners Survival Match

Jay Lethal vs. Michael Elgin vs. World Television Champion Matt Taven with The House of Truth vs. Adam Cole (22:04)

Davey Richards vs. World Tag Team Champion Bobby Fish (22:46)

Special Features

Bobby Fish on Davey Richards

Q&A with Nigel McGuinness

Tag Team Match

Beer City Bruisers vs. Benjamin Boone & Cheeseburger

Review

ROH Reclamation Night 1 had a fairly tricky job to do, with no ROH World Champion at the time, and the tournament to crown a new champion still waiting to start, it could certainly have come across as the company treading water until All Star Extravaganza. Luckily, the empathasis on ROH's tag team division gave the show an identity of it's own. With members of the American Wolves facing World Tag Team Champion reDRagon in singles matches, and four of the competitors in the World Championship Tournament entering Four Corner's Survival there was a lot to enjoy on this show.

The main event between the American Wolves' Davey Richards and reDRagon's Bobby Fish was an extremely strong bout, with Bobby Fish really stepping it up to take on the former World Champion. If you're familiar with either Ricards or Fish, you'll know what to expect from this one. Both men drawing on their stays in Japan throughout, to create hard hitting, technical bout. There's ridiculous spot on the apron, in the closing stages of the bout that send the crowd crazy, and looks extremely painful, and along with a crazy dive to the outside from Richards, really raise this bout into something quite special. With both wrestlers partners heading out to the ringside by the end of the match, the finishing sequence builds up nicely and satisfactorily continues the feud between the two teams.

The Four Corners Survival match between Jay Lethal, Michael Elgin, Matt Taven and Adam Cole, begin as a series of different singles combination, with the competitors having to tag in and out of the ring. I'm not usually a fan of these kind of matches, the tag in/tag out system seems an illogical one, luckily the action here is good enough for me to look past it. There's a lot going on in this with, with all four men in the World Championship tournament, it's was a good indication of where ROH were going to go with the tournament. A lot of the bout is fought between eventually tournament finalist Elgin and Cole, giving the two to practice what they could do in that bout. Taven feels a little bit out of place with the bigger names, but is essentially there to take the brunt of the punishment from the faces, and will have come out of this a lot better than when he went in, even getting a nice false finish at The House of Truth got involved. With all four men involved in a crazy finishing sequence, this is a nice preview of what was to come with World title Tournament.

Without sounding like a broke record, Kyle O'Reilly and Eddie Edwards bout is another strong contest. With a much different feel to the main event between their tag team partners, building up slowly with a lot of reversals and a lot of good amatuer style wrestling. There's a strong sequence involving monkey flips and pinning variations that is really well put together and the match really picks up from there. Whilst the main event had a typical Japanese Strong style feel, this feels like typical ROH with a much more sports based style, with the two looking evenly matched throughout. The finishing sequence see's a nice exchange of submission holds, that keep the loser looking competitive, which is always good going forward.

The other bouts are a lot shorter than these three, but there's still a lot to enjoy. A women's bout between MsChif and Athena is a solid encounter between the two continuing their impressive run of matches for the company, with a shocking post match encounter. Michael Bennett and BJ Whitmer warm up for there World Championship tournament bout, it's just a shame that this is one of Whitmer's last ever matches. Tommaso Ciampa takes on Rhino in a bout that can't live it to the rest of the card, but is still entertaining in it's own right. The opening tag team bout between Adrenaline Rush and #PartyBoys has some nice spots but #PartyBoys still look out of their depth for ROH. Silas Young continues to impress, with a fun bout with former World Champion Kevin Steen. 

There's a couple of special features on this disc, with the highlight being a top quality promo from Bobby Fish on Davey Richards. Unfortunately, a Q&A session with Nigel McGuinness is harmed by poor sound quality and the lack of subtitles on the disc. A bonus match between Beer City Brawlers and ROH fan favourite Cheeseburger and Benjamin Boone is another nice addition to the set.

Overall, this is a very strong event from ROH, with a lot of strong action throughout, that does a good job of hiding the fact that there are no championship matches on the card. There's a lot to enjoy here, but when looked at it in the grand scheme of things, it's pretty inconsequential card, especially when put up against later events All Star Extravaganza and Manhatten Mayhem. It will still however be a nice addition to anyone's ROH collection. 

Top Three Matches from ROH Reclamation Night 1

1. Davey Richards vs. World Tag Team Champion Bobby Fish (22:46)

2. Eddie Edwards vs. World Tag Team Champion Kyle O'Reilly (20:30)

3. Four Corners Survival Match:

Jay Lethal vs. Michael Elgin vs. World Television Champion Matt Taven with The House of Truth vs. Adam Cole (22:04)