Whenever Ring of Honor comes to town, you are guaranteed to see some wrestling that you’ve never seen before. Combine that with the Hammerstein Ballroom, one of the tentpoles of ECW during its existence. That union has lined the wall of the Ballroom (and the Manhattan Center above it) with an undeniable passion for wrestling and a bit of a devilish streak.

Before the show on August 17th, the crowd entertained itself by chanting “YES!” in honor of ROH Alum Bryan Danielson / WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan. There were the prerequisite “Cena Sucks!” There was even some Fandango-ing. The Hammerstein Ballroom was a mini-Brooklyn crowd for a little while, until Manhattan Mayhem started. Then, the Led Zepplin comes on and the Streamers Fly!

The crowd wasn’t the only group having fun with the streamers. Wrestlers like The Young Bucks appreciated the show of respect and basked in the papier mache shower. Other wrestlers like Silas Young attacked the streamers; this only resulted in more streamers being thrown directly at him (rather than in his general direction). Everyone was rowdy in anticipation of the action to follow.

Silas Young, initially an antagonist of the ROH crowd, defeated Adam Page and changed everyone’s opinion with a spectacular finishing sequence that included a rolling fireman’s carry, a top rope handstand and a springboard off the top rope. The opening match set the bar for the night. Between the Tag Matches of C&C Wrestle Factory and Adrenaline Rush, The Young Bucks and The Forever Hooligans, and the ROH Tag Title Match where The American Wolves lost to reDragon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reily), tag team wrestling of all sorts was on display.

But there were a lot of Singles matches as well. In addition to Matt Taven fending off Mike Mondo’s chances for a future ROH TV Title match (due to “assistance” from Truth Martini, Kasey Ray and Seleziya), there were 3 quarter final matches in the ROH World Title Tournament: Tommaso Ciampa advanced over Mike Bennett; Machine Gun Karl Anderson and Unbreakable Michael Elgin clubbed each other until Elgin emerged victorious; Kevin Steen was not only victorious over Roderick Strong, but after the match he paid tribute to a former ROH Wrestler. He pulled the mask of El Generico off the head of a fan and raised it up to the crowd. Then, in a show of respect, he kissed the mask prompting the crowd to chant “Ole!” in tribute.

The gesture was in line with the “Honor” portion of Ring of Honor. Each match ended in a handshake between the participants, respecting the code of honor that the company prides itself on. That is, with the exception of one: Marshall Law, R.D. Evans and Q.T. Marshall, faced a mystery tag team that revealed themselves to be returning wrestlers Eddie Kingston and Homicide. Dressed peculiarly in button down shirts and clown masks, the duo known for their chaotic behavior lived up to expectations. Post match, Homicide proceeded to break the fingers of R.D. Evans! Then, they returned at the end of the show to break the fingers of one half of the new Tag Team Champions, Kyle O’Reily. There’s never a dull moment when Ring of Honor and the Hammerstein Ballroom get together.

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