Ring of Honor – July 8, 2015: How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria’s Kingdom?
Ring of Honor Date: July 8, 2015
Location: Terminal 5, New York City, New York
Commentators: King Corino, Kevin Kelly
This should be an interesting show as it’s FINALLY just a new ROH show instead of a co-promoted show with New Japan. The main story is the fallout of Jay Lethal winning the World Title at Best in the World to go with his TV Title. Now it’s time to get ready for Death Before Dishonor in a few weeks so let’s get to it.
After a quick opening sequence, we get a stills package on Lethal vs. Briscoe at Best in the World with Jay walking out with the titles. That was a pretty safe bet all around.
Regular opening.
Dalton Castle vs. Watanabe
The fans are almost entirely behind Castle here. Castle dances around to start but gets dropped by a shoulder. I still don’t get Watanabe. He’s really just a guy in tights who does moves, which actually would get him way over in Ring of Honor so maybe I just don’t get the point. Castle gets knocked into the corner so his guys fan him off, only to have Watanabe get knocked into the corner where Dalton’s guys fan him off too. Ok point for a funny spot.
We take a break and come back with an exchange of small packages without many counts in between. A backsplash gets two for Watanabe but Dalton grabs a suplex to get a breather. Castle follows up with a German and we get a cool, Lucha Underground style overhead shot to show Watanabe sprawled on the mat. Watanabe pops up (a Japanese wrestler not selling that much?) and hooks a Cloverleaf….into a catapult? That’s a new one on me. Watanabe spends a bit too much time posing though and gets caught in a reverse sitout powerbomb for the pin at 10:10.
Rating: D+. Castle isn’t bad but again, I have no idea why I’m supposed to care about Watanabe. Something about Watanabe being on a training mission which I know is a real thing in Japan, but I see no reason to care about him training to go and become a bigger deal in Japan.
Castle says there are a lot of boys out here tonight, but after Best in the World (at this point he lays back on his guys’ bent over chests), he’s the only real man in Ring of Honor. Cue Silas Young as we go to a quick break.
Nigel McGuinness brings out Jay Lethal for his first chat as champion. The fans tell the heel champion that he deserves it because smark fans don’t understand the difference between faces and heels. Truth Martini says the fans aren’t Lethal’s people, because the House of Truth are his people. Jay is clearly the best in the world because he is the undisputed World Champion. Fans: “TIE YOUR SHOES!”
Lethal is about to leave but Nigel asks him which of those titles is he going to be vacating. That’s fine with Nigel, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. See, Lethal may see the titles as the same thing, but Ring of Honor sees them as two different things. Therefore, Lethal will be defending the World Title against Roderick Strong at Death Before Dishonor, but he’ll be defending the TV Title next week against Mark Briscoe. Jay rants about how he knows he’s the greatest and if he has to wrestle twice in a night, so be it.
This brings out Roderick Strong to a better reaction than Lethal. Strong tells Lethal to look him right in the face like a man. On July 24, Lethal is walking in as champion but Strong is walking out with the belt. That was one of the most generic, lame face promos I’ve heard in a very long time, but at least Strong can usually back it up in the ring.
Kingdom vs. Michael Elgin/Red Dragon
That would be Matt Taven/Adam Cole/Michael Bennett with Maria, who is as gorgeous as ever. Before the match, Maria tells Cole not to worry about what happened at Best in the World (not important enough to specify) because tonight they’ll prove that this Kingdom shall never fall. After a break and they shake hands for the Code of Honor and therefore we don’t miss any action. That’s a good ROH.
Bennett vs. Elgin to get things going with Mike’s (Bennett) shoulder having no effect. Elgin’s shoulder on the other hand works a bit better and he loads up a suplex. Taven and Cole come in to kick him in the ribs but he won’t go do, so Red Dragon slaps on a pair of submission holds as this is one sided so far. The rest of the Kingdom finally gets together to take Elgin to the floor so Bennett can hit a flip dive.
Back in and a high cross body gets two on Elgin as Taven takes over. We take a break and come back with Elgin diving over for a tag, only to have Cole and Taven pull his partners down to the floor. Elgin finally takes the Kingdom down and makes the hot tag as everything breaks down. Taven eats a DDT into a wheelbarrow suplex for two but pops up and dives onto O’Reilly and Fish.
Back in and a hot tag brings in Elgin to clean house with suplexes, followed by a fireman’s carry to Taven and Bennett at the same time. Cole’s kick to the ribs doesn’t break it up again so Elgin swings their legs around to hit Adam in the face. The Kingdom takes them down again and Bennett loads up a Backpack Stunner with Taven adding a running boot to the face for two.
Red Dragon dives on Cole and Bennett, leaving Elgin to powerbomb Taven onto all four of them. Back in and a superbomb gets two on Taven with Cole diving in for a save. Cole plants Elgin with the Canadian Destroyer and a big spike piledriver gets two so Kyle actually tags out to Kyle. Yeah tagging still exists in this thing. A guillotine choke has Cole in trouble but he has to settle for a Dean Ambrose rebound lariat, followed by Chasing the Dragon for the pin on Cole at 17:16.
Rating: C+. I had fun with this but I’m really not a fan of the big messy tag matches. These are basically ECW tag matches without the weapons, which isn’t something that’s really appealing for me. It’s certainly entertaining, but it’s nothing that I’m ever going to want to watch again. Well other than Maria of course.
Cole walks out on his partners to end the show.
Overall Rating: C+. I liked this show more than the previous few weeks because now I’m going to have a chance to get to know the Ring of Honor roster instead of some all star team they have. It’s good that there’s a continuing relationship with New Japan, but I’m glad that it’s limited instead of dominating the shows anymore. Fun episode this week and another shot that flew by.
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Ring of Honor – July 1, 2015: A Lesson To Wrestling Companies
Ring of Honor Date: July 1, 2015
Location: 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: King Corino, Kevin Kelly
We’re finally past the Global Wars stuff so it’s time for something actually Ring of Honor instead of a co-promoted show. Therefore tonight….it’s War of the Worlds, which is another Ring of Honor/New Japan co-promoted show from before Global Wars took place. They’re entertaining, but I’m more interested in their storylines instead of shows from two months ago. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Kelly promises fallout from Best in the World next week, meaning it’s FINALLY a new, all ROH show.
Addiction vs. Gedo/Kazuchika Okada
Addiction’s ROH World Tag Team Titles aren’t on the line, but they do insist on being called the World Tag Team Champions of the World. Gedo and Okada are part of the Chaos stable. Kaz and Gedo get things going with Gedo firing off some Flip Flop and Fly (with the punches missing) before it’s off to Okada vs. Daniels. The fans are split but Okada wins some points by teasing a big chop to the chest but stopping to gently pat him.
Gedo books his team into control with a poke to the eye but it’s quickly back to Kaz. The Addiction screws up to give Gedo a rollup (with tights) for two. At least Gedo is showing some personality here. He’s one of those guys where I just don’t get it so this is a mild improvement. Back from a break with Kaz putting Gedo in a freaky arm/leg hold but Daniels shoves the referee and almost gets in a fight with him, which might be an homage to Tommy Young boxing with Jim Cornette back in the day.
A top rope stomp to the chest gets two on Gedo but he grabs a quick Downward Spiral, finally allowing the hot tag to Okada. House is cleaned and the White Noise onto the knee gets two. Some double teaming slows Okada down until a double cross body gives us a breather. Back to Gedo for a jawbreaker and low superkick for two but Celebrity Addiction (belly to back into a gutbuster) is enough for the pin on Gedo at 14:41.
Rating: C+. This is where I get tired of Ring of Honor fans. The match was really nothing all that great, but Gedo and Okada are from Japan so the fans are going to act like this was one of the most amazing things they’ve ever seen. Yeah it was fine, but it was just a run of the mill tag match. Okada has his moments of awesome, but Gedo is just a guy for the most part.
Daniels takes the Rainmaker post match, and it’s still just a clothesline.
Adam Page vs. Watanabe
This is joined in progress. Watanabe takes him down with a neckbreaker and backdrops Page to the floor. Page backflips out of a German on the floor to prevent a broken….well probably multiple brokens, and a Colby Corino distraction lets Page mostly miss a shooting star off the apron. Back in and Page breaks up a half and half suplex but gets caught in a belly to back superplex. I’m still waiting on anything but a spot fest here. My suspicions are confirmed as Page hits his Right of Passage reverse piledriver for the pin at 4:54 shown.
Rating: D+. Well that happened. This is another good example of the problem with these shows: who are these people and why should I care? If you don’t follow New Japan, there’s very little reason to care about what these people are doing. I know both guys are young stars, but that’s about all I know of either guy. You could have any guy fill that role, and that’s not a good sign. The match certainly wasn’t bad, but I have no connection or reason to care about either guy and that hurts a lot.
AJ Styles vs. Adam Cole
Styles’ IWGP World Title isn’t on the line. They shove each other around and run their mouths a bit to start before Cole cranks on a weak armbar. Styles shrugs it off and comes back with an AA into a backbreaker to take over. A seated version of the Superman forearm (minus the springboard) gets two and the drop down into the dropkick sends Cole to the floor and us to a break. Back with Cole hitting a nice wheelbarrow suplex onto the apron for the first really cool spot of the match.
A knee to the face gets two for Cole and we hit the chinlock. Cole spits on the commentators and flips off the fans (censored) but AJ will have none of that and comes back with a torture rack powerbomb for two of his own. Corino thinks AJ is sexy. Ok then. Cole’s recently injured shoulder is sent into the corner but he superkicks AJ out of the air for two more. We hit the Figure Four and Corino is in full on fanboy mode. Fans: “THIS IS WRESTLING!” Oh shut up.
Styles makes the rope and kicks him to the floor as we take another break. Back with a VERY fast paced kick exchange, capped off by AJ missing the Pele and taking a low superkick for a near fall. A Canadian Destroyer doesn’t work very well so Cole busts out a Styles Clash for an even nearer fall. How exactly do you nearly fall anyway? Is it like slipping and catching your balance at the last minute? Now the Pele connects and AJ is mad enough to hit a kneeling piledriver and the Clash for the pin at 22:45.
Rating: B-. I liked the match and they picked it way up later in the show, but again this was more for people who are long time watchers of the show than a good initiation for new fans. I’ve seen enough of Cole to know he’s good (though not as good as he’s made up to be) but they didn’t do a great job of making me know that. Still though, good main event.
They shake hands to end the show.
Overall Rating: C+. The show was fun, but I’m REALLY not a fan of this style of show. Like I said, if you don’t know how things are going in Ring of Honor or New Japan, this was mainly just a collection of wrestlers having matches with no stories or anything to make me care about them. It was a fine show for an hour, but these guys really needed some video packages or promos to let us connect to them.
A lot of wrestling companies forget about how important it is to care about the wrestlers and think it’s all about the in ring action. You’re almost always going to be able to find better wrestling, but wrestlers you care about having good matches are far more interesting than wrestlers you don’t care about having a slightly better match. I’m really glad we’re finally moving forward next week, because this stuff is getting tiresome.
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Ring of Honor – June 24, 2015: Quality Meets Entertainment
Ring of Honor Date: June 24, 2015
Location: Ted Reeve Arena, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Attendance: 1,500
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, King Corino, Nigel McGuinness
It’s the final week of the Global Wars cycle, meaning next week it’s back to the full on Ring of Honor crew for the first time in this series. Tonight we’re getting appearances from some major New Japan stars, which should lead to some interesting pairings with the Ring of Honor guys. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Roderick Strong vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Strong is on a roll at the moment and is known as Mr. ROH. Nakamura is a huge star in New Japan and has amazing charisma. I’ve always been a Strong fan and Nakamura is one of the few New Japan guys who lives up to the hype he receives. Nakamura takes him down by the arm to start but Strong reverses into a key lock of his own. Back up and Strong nails some dropkicks but can’t put on a bow and arrow hold.
An Angle Slam gets two on Nakamura but he kicks Strong in the head and starts with his signature knee strikes. Another knee puts Strong over the barricade and we take a break. Back with Strong winning a slugout but falling to the mat. Strong is back up with a torture rack into a backbreaker though (he’s been called the Messiah of the Backbreaker), sending Nakamura to the ropes before the Strong Hold (Boston crab) can be locked in.
Instead it’s Nakamura slamming him down but missing the running knee (Bryan took it from him) and taking a jumping knee to the face. A backbreaker onto the top turnbuckle gets two as I’m digging the psychology in this one. His move is a back hold so work on the back. Why is that so complicated? A big forearm drops Strong and a jumping knee from the middle rope knocks him silly.
Strong is up first and grabs the Strong Hold, sending Nakamura into the ropes for a break. They slug it out again with Strong taking Nakamura’s head off with a running boot (Sick Kick) but a suplex backbreaker (I told you he knew a lot of them) only gets two. The running knee gets one on Strong and Nakamura can’t believe it. Granted he usually gyrates around like that so it’s hard to tell how mad he is. Strong hits another knee but Nakamura just blasts him with a knee/kick to the face for the pin at 17:05.
Rating: B+. This was a hard hitting wrestling match here and that’s the kind of stuff that Ring of Honor is shooting for. Strong is a big star in ROH but Nakamura comes off like a natural performer, which makes him stand out anywhere he performs. This was a fun match that again lived up to its hype, which is what Nakamura does best.
Michael Elgin vs. Gedo
Gedo is a smaller guy who also books New Japan. Elgin is a big power guy who can do other things to back it up. Gedo goes to the eyes to start but walks into a fall away slam for two. Things are going slowly due to Elgin’s eye but he’s still easily able to suplex him back in, complete with a count of thirty from the fans. They weren’t second of course but wrestling fans aren’t the most patient people in the world.
Elgin’s spinning Swanton misses and Gedo kicks him in the face for two. There’s always something to be said about keeping it simple. Elgin gets tired of this defense stuff though and buckle bombs Gedo, followed by a helicopter bomb (Elgin Bomb, one of my favorites) for the pin at 4:48.
Rating: D+. Yeah this wasn’t clicking. Elgin needs someone with more speed to get a decent match out of him and Gedo is more of a cheater than anything else. It doesn’t help that Gedo is pushing 50 and is really there more for his name than anything else. Not horrible, but it’s good that they kept this short.
Roppongi Vice/Kazuchika Okada vs. AJ Styles/Young Bucks
This is Chaos vs. Bullet Club with Vice being a tag team of (Trent) Baretta (with its 19,000 spellings) and Rocky Romero. The Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson) are the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions and Styles is IWGP Heavyweight Champion, making this champions vs. challengers. Styles and Okada get things going with AJ snapping off some armdrags before they trade victory rolls for two each. An early attempt at both finishers fails as well and it’s a standoff after a very fast start.
Off to Baretta vs. Nick for some missed superkicks before Matt and Rocky come in. The Bullet Club gets tired of waiting and cleans house with a single superkick. Yeah the Bucks REALLY like throwing superkicks. Baretta gets triple teamed but Romero comes in to break up a cover. The Bucks start their pretty slick double teaming before it’s off to Styles for a suplex into the corner. I like it when wrestlers do normal moves into different places. It’s simple yet still seems fresh, which is hard to do these days.
Back from a break with AJ taking Romero and Okada off the apron to prevent a tag, so Trent whips out a tornado DDT for the tag to Romero. Rocky cleans house by dropkicking AJ off the apron and hurricanranaing both Bucks at the same time. Matt nails a superkick to slow him down but Rocky pops off the ropes and hits a clothesline to put both guys down. Okada and Styles come in off another double tag with Okada taking over in a hurry. AJ comes back with his moonsault into a reverse DDT but Okada reverses into something like White Noise into a backbreaker.
Nick gets double teamed by Vice as everything breaks down. A Doomsday Device but with a running knee and on the floor, plants Nick but AJ plants Okada with Sunday Bloody Sunday (Prince Devitt’s old move, basically a one arm DDT brainbuster). Like so many Japanese stars, Okada isn’t interested in selling though and pops up with a tombstone. The Rainmaker (maybe the most overrated finisher I’ve ever seen. It’s a standing clothesline with theatrics) misses and Nick takes Okada to the floor with a tornado DDT which clearly didn’t connect.
Romero gets hung over the ropes for a swanton and More Bang For Your Buck (a quick series of dives) is broken up and Okada drops a top rope elbow on Nick. AJ’s springboard forearm (I love that move) takes Okada out again but Matt starts firing off even more superkicks, only to have Okada dropkick Styles down to break up the Clash on Romero.
All six slug it out and a triple superkick staggers Chaos. Okada again pops up and a double superkick/Pele combo and a spike piledriver into a flipping spike tombstone (the Meltzer Driver. Yes that Meltzer) puts him right back down, followed by a double superkick into a Styles Clash on Baretta for the pin at 17:25.
Rating: B. Here’s the thing: this match was not a very well done match. It was sloppy at times, the “fighting spirit” thing still comes off as a way to not have to sell, the flips are borderline meta, the move is actually called the Meltzer Driver, Kelly has to shout SUPERKICK every single time one connects, the tagging part was forgotten halfway through (and no that’s not an ROH thing. It annoys me when every company does it) and the fans cheering for the heels is always annoying because they’re cool heels instead of trying to do, like, heel stuff.
However, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t an incredibly entertaining match. This was fun throughout with everyone moving all over the place and having a great time out there. Yeah it’s a spot fest, but that normally means it’s entertaining. Styles continues to be on another planet since going to Japan and this was no exception. Really fun main event here, albeit with issues I’ll likely be insulted for pointing out.
Overall Rating: A-. This show was a really good example of balancing good wrestling and entertainment, but again, they have the problem of New Japan leaving next week. However, this was a good way to get the fans in the tent, which is going to keep them coming back later. In theory at least. This was definitely the best show they’ve put on so far, which is a very good sign after just a few weeks. Really fun hour here with all wrestling and no story, which can work every now and then.
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Ring of Honor – June 17, 2015: I’m Starting To Get It
Ring of Honor Date: June 17, 2015
Location: Ted Reeve Arena, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Attendance: 1,500
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, King Corino
It’s week three of Global Wars and this show will feature the debuts of some major New Japan stars. The big story continues to be the battle of the Jays as Lethal and Briscoe get ready for their showdown at Best in the World 2015. There’s only one more week after this before we get to something fresh so let’s get to it.
We open with……the opening sequence. Makes sense.
Decade vs. War Machine
War Machine is Hanson/Ray Rowe, a pair of monsters who look like vikings with foot long beards. Decade is BJ Whitmer/Adam Page here. The fans tell Whitmer to shut up but he reminds them that the microphone is a lot louder than they are. Whitmer doesn’t think King Corino learned his lesson a few weeks back, so Colby Corino, who remember is 18 years old and might weigh 180lbs, is his replacement.
Rowe starts with Page, who immediately tags in Colby. Corino gets right in Rowe’s face and slaps him, setting up a tag to Hanson. Rowe tags out and a big side slam plants Colby down. Back to Rowe for a nice backbreaker into a gutbuster into a powerbomb on Colby. Rowe throws Colby over to Page but Page won’t tag. A belly to back suplex/guillotine legdrop finally ends Corino at 2:12. This was an angle instead of a match and I’m starting to get into this, even though I’m not entirely familiar with Corino vs. the Decade’s backstory.
Here’s Cedric Alexander, who has been on a losing streak lately after being billed as a breakout star last year. He has to start getting some wins, and he wants to start with the undefeated Moose. Here’s his chance.
Moose vs. Cedric Alexander
Moose has Stokely Hathaway and the very lovely Veda Scott. Cedric’s dropkick has little effect as the huge Moose slams him down but misses a splash. They head outside with Cedric escaping a slam and sending Moose into the post. Back in and Moose hits a nice dropkick of his own to put Alexander on the floor and us on a break. We come back with Cedric hitting a big dive to the floor, followed by a nice springboard tornado DDT for two.
That’s not cool with Moose who takes his head off with a hard clothesline, followed by some hard chops. Cedric comes right back with a bunch of dropkicks in the corner but Moose spears him down. Both guys are in trouble and Veda slips Moose a wrench. He isn’t interested in using it, so Cedric takes it away and blasts Moose in the head for the pin, giving Moose his first loss at 9:05.
Rating: D+. The match was back and forth but what in the world are they thinking with the booking? Moose is less than a week away from a #1 contenders three way on pay per view and you give him his first loss on the go home show? This is a very bad choice in booking and they really need to think these things out. I do not get this, but I’m assuming it leads to Veda leaving Moose.
Matt Sydal/ACH vs. Tetsuya Naito/Hiroshi Tanahashi
Sydal is formerly known as Evan Bourne, ACH is a high flier and Tanahashi is basically the John Cena of Japan. The Japanese guys won’t shake hands to start, in theory making them heels here, even though an ROH crowd isn’t going to boo a star like Tanahashi. Sydal and Tanahashi trade go behinds to start until Matt takes him down for a standing moonsault. A double tag brings in Naito and ACH with the fans being split. They take their time to start until Naito slugs him down in the corner to take over.
ACH avoids a clothesline and does some unnecessary flips before dropkicking Naito in the face. Tanahashi knees ACH in the back and throws him into the barricade as we take a break. Back with Tanahashi missing a middle rope swanton but still preventing a hot tag. We hit the chinlock from Naito as I’m struggling to find things to say here. There’s no real story here other than company vs. company and the announcers aren’t giving me any information about any of the four guys.
Naito sends him into the corner for a basement dropkick. ACH finally counters a hurricanrana and makes the hot tag to Sydal, who comes in to clean house. In a nice counter, Sydal loads up the standing moonsault but Tanahashi is waiting on him with a German suplex. ACH fires off a bunch of kicks to Tanahashi and a clothesline for two. A German suplex from ACH gets the same and he mocks Tanahashi’s air guitar. Tanahashi puts on his Texas cloverleaf but Naito tagged himself in. Granted the referee didn’t seem to notice, leaving ACH to have to grab a rope.
The New Japan guys break up Sydal’s Asai moonsault but ACH hits a big dive to take both of them down. Back in and ACH hits a kind of springboard downward spiral to Tanahashi, followed by Sydal’s shooting star for two. Now it’s ACH going up top for a 450 but Tanahashi seemingly got the knees up. A sling blade sets up the High Fly Flow (frog splash) to give Hiroshi the pin at 11:12.
Rating: C+. Fun match but it got a bit messy near the end. I still don’t get why they’re trying to make all the Japanese guys heels when they’re naturally faces for the most part, especially with fans like the ROH crowd. Still though, good enough match here and it got the crowd going like it was supposed to.
It’s time for the contract signing, as run by ROH match maker Nigel McGuinness. TV Champion Jay Lethal is up first with World Champion Jay Briscoe following him up. Briscoe is flanked by his brother Mark and for a pair of rednecks, I’m really not feeling shirts with Twitter handles on the front. Both guys sign up and McGuinness talks about how this is the biggest match in ROH history.
Lethal would love to flip the table and beat Briscoe down right now, but he’d rather have Briscoe at his best. Notice that Lethal repeats the date of the show instead of just saying “at Best in the World”. Briscoe promises to beat Lethal so bad that Lethal has to become Black Machismo again and those are fighting words. The belts are held up for a big jawing session to end the show.
Overall Rating: C+. I’m looking forward to getting through this Global Wars stuff as it’s really taking away from the ongoing stories. Instead of a bunch of Ring of Honor stuff, we’re getting a meaningless series of matches which don’t make either promotion look better than the other. They did a good go home build to the title vs. title match though, which I liked a lot better than anything else on the series so far. Good episode, but I’m looking forward to the first regular ROH show.
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Ring of Honor – June 10, 2015: Thy Kingdom Come Home
Ring of Honor Date: June 10, 2015
Location: Ted Reeve Arena, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Attendance: 1,500
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, King Corino
It’s still Global Wars Night 2 here with more matches taped back in May. We’ve still got two weeks before we get to any shows that have been taped after the Destination America deal was announced. Also, Best in the World 2015 is coming soon, which means the Battle of the Belts with Jay Briscoe’s World Title vs. Jay Lethal’s TV Title. Let’s get to it.
We open with the Addiction saying Red Dragon is finally getting their shot after all their whining and complaining, but tonight they get what they ask for, even though they’re right where the champions want them. Red Dragon has seen what they’ll do to win these titles, so what would they do to keep them?
Opening sequence.
Bobby Fish of Red Dragon has been attacked outside the arena. Not that we get to see it or anything but at least it was mentioned.
Here’s Addiction to open things up in the arena, even though they’re scheduled in the main event. Since Fish is out, there’s no title shot because the contract says against Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish. Daniels offers a shot right now and here’s O’Reilly to fight on his own.
Tag Team Titles: Kyle O’Reilly vs. Addiction
Kyle slugs away on Daniels and Kazarian to start and chops Daniels in the corner before ducking a clothesline from Kazarian, sending him into his partner instead. The numbers finally catch up to him though and a High/Low gives the champions control. I’ve always liked that move. It’s Kazarian starting for the team but it’s quickly back to more double teaming as the champions cheat like heels should be doing.
Kyle sends Daniels to the apron for more miscommunication and everyone heads to the floor with Daniels being sat in a chair. Kazarian is sent head first between Daniels’ legs, setting up a running dropkick off the apron to knock both champions out of the chair. The fans are way into this as you would expect. Back in and Kyle rolls some butterfly suplexes into a cross armbreaker but Daniels comes in with the title belt for the DQ at 4:16.
Rating: C+. I was digging this way more than I was expecting as Kyle kept it going as fast as he could, which is why a four minute match was the best thing they could have done. This felt like an angle instead of a match and there’s nothing wrong with that. This was the kind of energetic opener than was a good option to kick the show off and much better than the Kushida match last week.
Addiction beats Kyle down post match but Matt Sydal and ACH come out for the save.
We recap the ending to last week’s show and see Donovan Dijak hitting the reverse AA into a GTS on Mark Briscoe. That’s a cool move, but it shouldn’t take three tries for us to see it connect.
Mark says he’s going to initiate Dijak into this company and give him a beating. There’s something about ostriches vs. chickens in there too.
Dalton Castle vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
I’ve seen Castle wrestle before and really didn’t think he was as great as people say he is. His entrance is good but there’s almost nothing in the ring to back it up. I’m going to assume you know who Liger is. Castle offers a handshake to start and Liger isn’t sure how to respond. I think we’re in for a comedy match here. Both guys give us clean breaks against the ropes and the ROH fans are already calling this awesome. No, not really no.
The surfboard has Castle in early trouble but since it can only last a few seconds, Castle is able to throw Liger to the floor. Liger ducks what was going to be a dive but Dalton struts around the ring instead. They head outside with Castle being whipped into the apron for a 619 under the bottom rope and back out for a hurricanrana (ok that was sweet) as we take a break. Back with Liger backdropping him to the floor and baseball sliding him into the barricade, setting up a flip dive off the apron.
Liger asks for Castle’s peacock men to come in the ring to steal Castle’s pose, which actually was awesome. An annoyed Dalton comes back in to suplex Liger down and strut into a falling splash. We hit a front facelock and chinlock on Liger for a bit as things slow down as they should. Back up and it’s a double clothesline to give us another tried and true spot. Liger’s top rope hurricanrana gets two but his top rope splash hits knees. The Liger Bomb gets two more and the brainbuster is enough to pin Castle.
Rating: B-. Now that was actually entertaining from Castle. To be fair the other match I saw had him in TNA so maybe I can just blame them for screwing up someone else as is their custom. Castle is a good comedy guy and could go somewhere in the midcard if they build him up in the right way. Liger is always worth a quick look.
They shake hands post match and it’s still cool to hear Liger’s music.
Liger wishes Cheeseburger luck in his match and gives him a quick palm strike (Liger’s signature) demonstration.
Bob Evans vs. Cheeseburger
This is a grudge match between former partners. Evans is an older guy who wears trunks way too small for him and laid out Cheeseburger after a loss. Cheeseburger is a tiny guy who is treated as a huge underdog. We start fast with Cheeseburger kicking him out to the floor but eating a right hand to put the small guy down in a hurry. Cheeseburger dives off the apron to take him down and avoids a charge into the barricade.
Something resembling a swanton off the barricade doesn’t quite crush Bob (Cheeseburger couldn’t crush a sandcastle. Or a Dalton Castle) and he runs Cheeseburger over back inside. A tornado DDT across the top rope gives Cheeseburger an opening and the Seth Rollins springboard knee to the head sends Bob to the apron. That’s fine with Evans as he picks Cheeseburger out of the air and side slams him through a table on the floor for a HUGE crash and a no contest at 2:55. Fans: “REST IN PEACE!” They packed a lot of stuff into a short amount of time here and that’s the right idea with something like this.
Jay Lethal is ready for his contract signing next week and wants Jay Briscoe to bring his pen.
Jay Briscoe tells Lethal to just sign his name next week.
Addiction vs. Red Dragon in a No DQ match at Best in the World.
Kingdom vs. Bullet Club
The Bullet Club is the top heel stable in New Japan but they’re insanely popular anywhere else. This is ROH vs. New Japan again with Matt Taven/Michael Bennett (with Maria Kanellis, who is absolutely gorgeous and looks even better in person) vs. Doc (Luke) Gallows/Karl Anderson. The Kingdom’s IWGP Tag Team Titles aren’t on the line because this isn’t a New Japan show and those belts should be meaningless but they’re from Japan so they’re cool right? Gallows’ face paint, which looks like a black and white stripe prison uniform, looks awesome.
Anderson, who has issues with Maria, goes after her to start but gets cut off by Maria’s husband Bennett. Taven is left alone in the ring and dives onto Bullet Club, who are referred to as the internet darlings. Bennett adds a flip dive off the apron as the ROH contingent is in full control early on. Taven tries to dive off the middle rope but gets caught in a cutter from Anderson, followed by Gallows dropping Bennett on the apron as we take a break.
Back with Bennett in trouble and taking a Brogue Kick from Anderson. A running boot to the face drops him again as this is one sided. Taven crawls back to the apron as a reverse 3D plants Bennett, only to have Taven come off the top with a splash on Anderson to get a breather. The Kingdom fights back with a double dropkick to Gallows and a superkick/spear combo to Gallows. Taven misses a high cross body though and everything breaks down with Anderson and Bennett shoving the referee for the double DQ at 9:38.
Rating: C. Fun match here to set up the six man between the teams and a partner each at Best in the World. There’s a story involved with Anderson having a thing for Maria but it never really went anywhere here. Anytime she’s out there it’s a good thing though as she looks great but is also awesome at being a heel valet.
Post match Bennett is about to be slammed onto chairs but Maria offers a distraction, only to have Bennett eat a cutter and Taven to take the slam through the chairs instead.
Overall Rating: C+. I had a good time with this show and found it much more entertaining than the previous week’s episode. It was more about the in ring action, which has always been one of ROH’s selling points. Instead of just having a bunch of Japanese guys, it focused more on the homegrown talent, which is a better way of getting fans used to the product rather than just talking about guys who aren’t going to be around in a few weeks.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of Complete Monday Nitro Reviews Volume III at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
Ring of Honor – June 3, 2015: Wake Me For The Real Debut
Ring of Honor Date: June 3, 2015
Location: Ted Reeve Arena, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Attendance: 1,500
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, King Corino
So this show just debuted on Destination America as a lead-in to Impact Wrestling. I’m not the biggest Ring of Honor fan in the world but I do have a passing knowledge of the promotion. I’m not sure how long I’m going to do this for but I’ll knock out the first few weeks of it at least. Let’s get to it.
Keep in mind that this isn’t supposed to be a special debut episode as it was taped before the Destination America deal was announced, meaning it’s hard to know what we’re getting here. However, apparently these matches are from the Global Wars two day event.
This show originally aired over the last weekend in May, depending on when your area gets the Sinclair syndicated feed.
The Briscoe Brothers (the best Mark and World Champion Jay) are ready for the House of Truth tonight and Mark Briscoe is about as psychotic as you can ask him to be, which gives you a good introduction to the promotion.
Opening sequence. Nothing out of the ordinary here.
The announcers talk about the Best In The World pay per view on June 19 with a main event of TV Champion Jay Lethal vs. World Champion Jay Briscoe in a title vs. title match.
Will Ferrara vs. Kushida
This is ROH vs. New Japan. One encouraging note here: we’re three minutes in and we know our main event tonight, the PPV main event and our opening match. That’s efficient stuff for an hour long show. Kushida kicks Ferrara down to start but Will comes back with a quick neckbreaker for two. Back up and Kushida fights out of a fireman’s carry before kicking Ferrara in the head.
Kushida bails to the floor and eats a suicide dive into a DDT for a nice crash. They head back in with Will nailing a running elbow in the corner but getting caught in a Fujiwara armbar. A big moonsault gets two on Ferrara and he slaps on a Kimura (apparently called the Hover Board Lock as Kushida is one half of the Time Splitters tag team. It’s a Back to the Future reference in case you have bad taste in movies) for the submission at 5:14.
Rating: C. Glorified squash here and a good way to get the fans used to the New Japan partnership, even though they won’t be around much longer after this show. The match was fine but it was clear that Ferrara was in way over his head. Not a bad match but there’s only so far you can go in a five minute match with one guy so far ahead of the other.
The Addiction (Kazarian and Christopher Daniels) say they’ll give Red Dragon a title shot next week and only next week.
Silas Young vs. Takaaki Watanabe
These two split after a tag match at Global Wars Night One. Young is billed as the Last Real Man in Professional Wrestling. They slug it out to start with Young elbowing out of a German suplex attempt. That’s fine with Watanabe as he plants Silas with a belly to back suplex. Now the German suplex connects and the fans are entirely behind Watanabe.
A superplex attempt doesn’t work so well though and Silas nails a middle rope clothesline for a delayed two. Back up and a running neckbreaker plants Young before a clothesline puts him on the floor. Another German on the floor knocks Silas silly but can only get two back inside. Young shrugs it off, grabs an airplane spin of all things and lays Watanabe out with a TKO for the pin at 6:20.
Rating: D+. Well that exists. There’s nothing else for me to say here as I have no idea why I’m supposed to care about either guy and the match was nothing interesting. Young has a decent enough character but, as is the case with almost every guy from New Japan, I have almost no reason to care about them. If the wrestling isn’t great, there isn’t much to see otherwise.
BJ Whitmer vs. Moose
Whitmer is part of the Decade, a stable of veterans, and has a young boy (basically a servant) named Colby Corino (son of commentator King (Steve) Corino). The undefeated Moose is a monster in the vein of Ahmed Johnson. Whitmer grabs the mic and says he knows he can destroy Moose, but he’ll let Colby do it instead. This is Colby’s in ring debut.
Colby Corino vs. Moose
Whitmer tells Colby, who looks like he’s about 14, to prove that he’s more of a man than his father ever was. Colby slaps the monster in the face to start and Moose takes him to the floor for a big swing, sending Colby back and forth into the barricade. A wicked powerbomb onto the apron sets up a powerbomb on the floor and Colby is somehow still alive. Back in and one foot on the chest gives Moose the pin at 2:44.
Jay Lethal freaks out over having to fight the Briscoes tonight but manager Truth Martini says don’t worry about it.
Donovan Dijak/J. Diesel vs. Briscoe Brothers
There are far too many people in this company named Jay. Dijak and Diesel are part of the House of Truth heel stable. Lethal sits in on commentary as Dijak drives Mark into the corner, only to eat a forearm to the face. Back up and Mark does the Karate Kit crane pose but both guys have kicks blocked, only to backflip out for a cool visual.
Off to Diesel who starts throwing punches (Golden Gloves background apparently) and Mark quickly tags out. Diesel beats up the World Champion as well, only to have Jay take J into the corner for a boot choke. Back to Mark for two off a Russian legsweep as Lethal mocks Jay’s custom World Title. The House of Truth takes Jay into the corner for a quickly broken up double team before it’s off to Mark for redneck kung fu (seriously).
Martini offers a distraction so Dijak can kick Mark off the top rope for two and we take a break. Back with Dijak catching Mark in midair and driving knees into the ribs for two. Off to Diesel for a fall away slam but Mark fights out of the corner and flips over for a tag to his brother. Jay cleans house and everything breaks down, setting up a Doomsday Device on Diesel for the pin at 11:18.
Rating: C+. Best match of the night by far, but at the end of the day you can only have so much interest in a prospect like Dijak and a glorified puncher in Diesel against the best tag team in company history. It was a fairly obvious ending but the Briscoes are good enough to make it work.
Post match Dijak hits something like a GTS (camera missed most of it) on Mark. Lethal comes in to go after Jay but eats the Jay Driller (double underhook piledriver) to end the show.
Overall Rating: D+. Wellllllll……..this is a hard one to grade. To begin with, this wasn’t supposed to be a debut episode as the Destination America deal came up out of nowhere. The Global Wars shows are going to take a few weeks to get through before we get down to what should be considered the real debut. That being said, this isn’t the worst show ever but it’s really just kind of there. The wrestling was forgettable, the stories aren’t the most interesting (I’ve never cared about Jay Lethal. I just don’t get it) and this didn’t feel like anything interesting. I’ll keep watching for a few weeks but they’ll need to pick it up a bit.
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ROH Best in the World 2014: I Can’t Think Of A Title But It’s A Good Show
Best in the World 2014
Date: June 22, 2014
Location: Tennessee State Fairground Sports Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
Attendance: 1000
Commentators: Steve Corino, Kevin Kelly
This company’s fans are loyal if nothing else. I get a lot of requests for ROH shows and this is the latest one that people have been asking for. This was their debut on regular PPV and the show has gotten some rave reviews. I do tend to like ROH when I sit down and watch it and I had a great time at Supercard of Honor. Hopefully this is just as good, though I’m worried it’s going to have issues living up to its praise. Let’s get to it.
We open with a video of various ROH stars and a voiceover talking about how great you have to be in Ring of Honor. Everyone says it’s about being the best and World Champion Adam Cole says “in the world”. Not bad.
Kelly and Corino welcome us to the show.
ACH vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Caprice Coleman vs. BJ Whitmer vs. TaDarius Thomas vs. Watanabe
This is a Six Man Mayhem match, meaning two men in the ring and one at every corner with lucha rules, where someone going to the floor allows someone else to replace him just like a tag. The winner gets a future TV Title shot. Whitmer and Thomas are both part of the Decade stable and have ring boy Adam Page in their corner. Ciampa and ACH get things going with Ciampa getting annoyed at ACH’s nipups. ACH misses a kick to the head but has to avoid a big knee to the head, drawing some applause.
Watanabe comes in without a tag but shoves Ciampa to the floor to make it legal. ACH sends Watanabe outside so Coleman comes in, only to have Thomas tag himself in. Both guys miss kicks until Thomas kicks ACH in the head, earning himself a dropkick to the floor. Whitmer comes in to jump ACH and chop away but ACH heads outside to give us Ciampa vs. Thomas. Tommaso suplexes him to the floor but follows him out, leaving us with Watanabe vs. ACH. This is moving too fast and nothing is having time to build.
Everyone heads outside and ACH loads up a dive but Whitmer breaks it up. The fans are ALL OVER him for stopping their fun. The Decade takes over as things finally slow down a bit. Watanabe pushes the referee for trying to stop him in the corner before going to a claw on ACH. Back to Whitmer who runs into a kick to the face, allowing ACH to tag in Coleman. Thomas comes in with a hurricanrana to Ciampa as everything breaks down.
Coleman hooks a double northern lights suplex on Watanabe and Thomas but Ciampa breaks up the pin. Watanabe and Ciampa do the forearm slugout before Ciampa hits something like White Noise for two. Whitmer breaks it up but ACH nails a double stomp to his back. ACH kicks some people to the floor but Whitmer powerslams him to break up another big dive. Watanabe suplexes Whitmer for two with Coleman making a save. Project Ciampa (powerbomb into a backstabber) plants Coleman and gets two on ACH as the Decade makes another save.
Whitmer and Thomas are legal and BJ is fine with suplexing his stablemate. Coleman comes in off the top with a top rope Rough Ryder, only to have Watanabe nail him with a running clothesline. Ciampa hits a running knee to Watanabe in the corner before diving on everyone not named ACH and Coleman. Now Coleman dives on all of them, leaving ACH to hit a HUGE springboard swanton onto the pile. He pops up and throws former partner Thomas back in for a 450 and the pin.
Rating: C. It’s fun and the big spots at the end were good but there was WAY too much stuff going on here and it was just a huge mess for the sake of having a spotfest. That being said it was entertaining and the kind of fun match it was supposed to be. ACH seems to be a solid in ring guy and more than just flips so there may be some potential there.
We recap Jay Lethal vs. Matt Taven. This is mainly about Lethal’s manager Truth Martini, who took Taven to the TV Title before they split. Martini sided with Lethal and tried to ruin Taven’s career, so Taven did the old “put on a mask and beat the other guy to prove your worth” deal, though the mask came off during the match. Martini will be handcuffed to the post tonight.
TV Title: Matt Taven vs. Jay Lethal
Lethal is defending of course and has some chick named Seleziya Sparx in his corner. It takes forever to get Truth handcuffed. We finally get going with Taven nailing some chops to put the champion down. Taven tries to go after Martini but Lethal makes a quick save. Back in and Lethal totally misses an enziguri but Matt goes outside anyway. They chop it out on the floor before heading back inside for something resembling a Blue Thunder Bomb from Taven.
Matt goes after Martini again, allowing Lethal to nail him with a baseball slide for two. The champion puts on the chinlock until Taven comes back with an enziguri (actually connecting) of his own. A backbreaker gets two more for Matt but his bulldog driver is countered into the Lethal Combination.
Lethal follows up with a Macho Elbow for two but Taven escapes the Lethal Injection and nails another enziguri. A brainbuster gets two and Lethal hits the floor for three straight suicide dives. Taven picks up a chair and goes after Martini but Truth hands the head of security a wad of cash. That earns the security guy a superkick but Sparx breaks Martini’s handcuffs, allowing him to escape. Back in and the Lethal Injection retains Jay’s title.
Rating: C-. This was more about the manager than anything else but we didn’t get the payoff just yet. I still don’t care for Lethal all that much and the Injection is one of the dumbest looking moves I’ve seen in years. Taven isn’t much either but the match was exciting enough, mainly due to keeping things moving like they did.
We recap Cedric Alexander vs. Roderick Strong. This is a feud over respect with the Decade not caring for Alexander standing up to them. They’ve beaten him down time after time but Alexander won’t quit. Therefore, tonight we have a submission match. Cedric is very weak on the mic and made me feel like he was scared of Strong.
Cedric Alexander vs. Roderick Strong
Submission match. Strong, with Page and Thomas from earlier, is aggressive to start but Cedric is able to keep up with him on the mat, sending us to a standoff. Alexander nails a hard dropkick, only to have Strong put a knee in his ribs. A clothesline puts Strong on the floor and Cedric mostly misses a suicide dive. Cedric hammers away but gets backdropped onto the apron in a sick looking landing.
Back in and Strong puts on a reverse chinlock to stay on the spine. That goes nowhere because it’s a reverse chinlock so Strong plants him with a suplex. Alexander gets all fired up and puts Strong in a fireman’s carry before throwing him into the air for a kick to the head. A series of headbutts and a dropkick send Strong outside and Cedric follows with a dive but only hits the ring boys.
Back in and a springboard DDT sets up a guillotine choke on Roderick but he makes a rope. They trade enziguris with Alexander getting the better of it. He hits a few running dropkicks in the corner to set up a dragon sleeper and Strong is in trouble. Page has the towel ready but Strong saves himself with knees to the head. A superplex plants Alexander again and Strong goes nuts with forearms to the head. He loads up his fireman’s carry backbreaker but Alexander counters into a double underhook neck crank.
Cedric has him in big trouble….so he lets go of the hold for some reason. Both guys go up and fall out to the floor and it’s Strong up first. Alexander kicks away from the Strong Hold (Boston crab) so Strong tries a top rope Pedigree. Cedric counters that into a backbreaker onto the top turnbuckle and a quick Strong Hold makes Roderick tap.
Rating: C+. This was a hard hitting brawl with both guys playing their rolls well enough. The story works with Strong being cocky by going with the same stuff he’s always used and Alexander never giving up and using Strong’s own move against him. Solid stuff here and probably the best match of the night so far.
Strong still won’t shake Alexander’s hand.
We recap Matt Hardy/Mike Bennett vs. the Briscoe Brothers. Hardy and Bennett cost Jay Briscoe the World Title at Supercard of Honor, so Cole gave Hardy Briscoe’s custom title. Matt put his picture on the belt and named it the Iconic Title. Tonight is the showdown with Jay’s brother Mark helping his family.
Briscoes vs. Mike Bennett/Matt Hardy
Maria, basically wearing a swimsuit, is with Bennett and Hardy. For some reason, actor Nick Searcy comes out with Hardy as well. Corino is a HUGE Hardy fan, almost to the point of being an MF’er. Mark and Mike get things going and the brothers quickly stomp Bennett down in the corner. Mike finally comes back with a dropkick and tags in Matt. The heels start working on Mark’s arm and a double suplex gets two. Mark dives over to make the tag off to Jay. He finally gets his hands on Hardy and everything breaks down.
Jay hammers on Matt outside but Searcy gets in a cheap shot on Briscoe from behind. Unfortunately Searcy isn’t the biggest guy in the world but it’s enough to get Matt a breather. Back in and Jay pounds in right hands to Hardy’s head before nailing a few neckbreakers. With Matt in trouble, Bennett comes in with the Iconic Title to Jay’s head for the lame DQ.
No rating yet as the Briscoes listen to the fans and want to restart the match. Matchmaker Nigel McGuinness comes out and says let’s keep this going with No DQ. The Briscoes couldn’t be happier and the chairs start coming into the ring. McGuinness comes in on commentary as the brothers are cleaning house. Mark drop toeholds Bennett face first into a chair but Maria trips Mark up, allowing Mike to hit him in the head with a chair.
Bennett pelts the chair at Mark’s head and collapses from exhaustion. Matt brings out a ladder and the fans think this is awesome. Bennett hits a Side Effect on Mark on the floor as Jay hits an AA on Matt, driving him through two chairs in the ring. A suplex sends Matt into the ladder against the ropes to put him on the floor. Mark drops the Cactus Jack elbow and everyone is down. The Briscoes are up first and hit a Doomsday Device to Bennett on the floor. Nice twist on the move there.
Back in and Matt hits Jay with Searcy’s Peabody Award for two. Mark goes after Searcy and ends him with a Froggy Bow (frog splash elbow). The Briscoes aren’t done yet and load up the Doomsday Device, only to have Maria make a save. Matt hits the Twist of Fate for two on Jay before setting up a table and ladder in the ring. Mark takes Bennett to the floor and drives him through a table with another Froggy Bow. Back in the ring Matt is climbing the ladder but Mark sprays him with a fire extinguisher, allowing Jay to superplex him through a table. The Jay Driller is enough to pin the unconscious Hardy.
Rating: B-. This was basically a TLC match minus the title to pull down. They did the big spots well enough and the crowd was WAY into it. The superplex was a good spot, but there wasn’t anything in there that hasn’t been topped before. It was entertaining, but not a masterpiece of any sort.
Maria takes the Iconic Title when Jay isn’t looking.
We look at Adam Cole and the Kingdom (Cole, Maria, Hardy and Bennett) cutting Elgin’s hair at a recent show. Elgin’s wife, wrestler Mschif, came out to beg for her husband, earning her a figure four from Cole.
I’m assuming we’re at intermission now as an interviewer talks to an NFL player that has signed to ROH. The player, now known as Moose, willing to work hard but Veda Scott interrupts and says she’ll handle the interviewer. See, they should have been talking about RD Evans’ New Streak, now at 122-0. Evans is in Osaka, Japan to collect more wins tonight but Scott is here to recruit Moose. He says they can talk about this later.
We recap Silas Young vs. Kevin Steen. Silas isn’t happy with Steen for “stepping away” (read as going to WWE) because Silas is a REAL MAN and he doesn’t like Steen leaving like a coward.
Kevin Steen vs. Silas Young
Steen hits him at the bell but Young bails outside before Steen can try his Cannonball in the corner. He sends Young hard into the barricade a few times but Silas comes back with forearms to the jaw. Back in and a big chop sends Young to the floor again but he counters an apron powerbomb. Steen gets kicked into the barricade and Young takes over with a clothesline to the back of his head.
We hit the chinlock on Steen for a bit before a neckbreaker gets two for Silas. Kevin fights up and hits a powerbomb out of nowhere to put both guys down. Silas comes back with a hard clothesline but ducks his head. Steen’s package piledriver attempt is countered with a good crotching for two. Something out of a fireman’s carry (WAY too popular of a move) is countered and Steen sends him into the buckle for the Cannonball. Even with a bad neck, Steen connects with a Swanton Bomb for two.
Young kicks him in the head and hits a rolling fireman’s carry but Steen avoids a springboard elbow drop. Another shot to the head has Steen in the corner for some quality trash talking, followed by another knee shot. Steen is in big trouble in the corner but he counters a superplex into something like a spinning superplex of his own. Silas is done but Steen Package Piledrives him anyway for the pin.
Rating: D+. This didn’t do it for me actually as we’ve done the physical stuff already. I get that it’s Steen’s style, but it’s coming right after the No DQ tag match and this was nowhere near as violent. The head injury stuff was fine but it only became a big issue for a few moments at the end. Not bad but it wasn’t the best.
Post match Steen praises Young and says he doesn’t have many matches left in this company. He’s looking forward to every minute he gets to spend here in the next month and a half, but he’s very happy that he got to wrestle Young on this stage. Young shakes his hand and leaves peacefully. Fans: “Please don’t go!” Steen: “He has to go. I’m not done yet!” Steen thanks the fans but Young comes in and decks him like a true villain should.
We go to the Fish Tank where Tag Team Champions Red Dragon talk about how much they love Appletinis and don’t like ROH bringing in old people to take their titles from them. Fish talks about his great great granddaddy fighting a war with a musket because he’s kind of out there.
Tag Team Titles: Christopher Daniels/Frankie Kazarian vs. Red Dragon
The champions are Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly. Kyle and Daniels get things going with the fans behind the Fallen Angel. They start on the mat with neither guy able to sustain an advantage. Kyle nails him in the back of the head but Daniels smacks him in the face to come back. A leg lariat puts O’Reilly down and brings in Kazarian for a double stomp and a near fall. Frankie armdrags Fish a few times and puts on an armbar to slow things back down.
Kaz drops a legdrop to the back of the head and brings Daniels back in for a gorgeous Lionsault. Fish finally gets in a right hand for a breather but Kyle walks right into a front facelock from Kaz. The champions finally get a breather though as Kazarian misses a charge into the post. Kyle immediately puts on an armbar before it’s back to Fish for the forearm exchange.
Back to the armbar for a bit before Kyle misses a knee drop. Fish’s distraction lets Kyle hook a standing guillotine, only to have Kazarian drop him down into a spinebuster. Bobby sprints around the ring to pull Daniels down to the floor to keep the champions in control. Fish stays on the arm but doesn’t stay on it well enough to prevent a tag to Daniels. Christopher cleans part of the house and everything breaks down.
A middle rope stomp to the chest puts Kyle down on the floor, setting up a big suicide dive. Daniels hits a slingshot Diamond Cutter on Fish but Bobby avoids the BME. There’s a Samoan drop to Daniels but he avoids a BME from Fish. Kaz comes back in with the slingshot DDT on Bobby but Kyle sweeps his legs out. Daniels hits a quick Blue Thunder Bomb on Kyle and Angel’s Wings on Fish but O’Reilly makes a last second save.
The champions send Daniels to the floor and into a chair next to the barricade, setting up back to back dropkicks from the apron in a brutal looking spot. Back in and Kazarian kicks Kyle in the head and nails the Flux Capacitor (top rope C4) but he lands on the arm. Fish pulls the referee out at the delayed two and the fans aren’t pleased. Chasing the Dragon (brainbuster with a kick to the head) gets two on Kazarian but a cross armbreaker makes Kaz tap.
Rating: B. This was a good but not great match. I still don’t get the massive appeal of Red Dragon though I do like their promos. Bad Influence wasn’t Bad Influence here and it brought things down a little bit. They went with a different style here and it worked, though not at the level people were hoping they would hit.
We recap Cole vs. Elgin. They met in the finals of the World Title tournament last September where Elgin had him pinned but the referee was down. Cole then turned heel and feuded with Jay Brisco for awhile before we could get back to this big showdown. Elgin wants to be remembered as one of the greatest ever and he has to win the title to do that.
ROH World Title: Michael Elgin vs. Adam Cole
Cole hasn’t done much for me yet but he’s growing on me. He charges at Elgin to start but gets taken down and hammered on the mat. The champ bails to the floor to make Michael chase him, allowing Cole to send him back to the floor. Adam loads up a dive but Elgin does the Samoa Joe step to the side. I love that. Michael blocks a chair shot and pops Cole with a right hand. He follows up with a running release powerslam on the ramp before taking the champion back inside.
Cole comes back with a jumping reverse neckbreaker (think an RKO with Elgin’s back to Cole) but takes too time going up. Elgin is slammed off the middle rope for two and we hit the chinlock. It doesn’t last long so Cole goes to the middle rope for a headscissors, only to get caught in a gutbuster for a nice counter. Elgin tries a string of power moves but can only hit a tiger suplex for two. A few kicks to the head get two for Adam but Elgin is able to lift him up from the mat into a suplex. Cole knees out of that in a great counter and suplexes Elgin onto his knee for two.
Elgin comes right back with a Crossface but Cole rolls him over for a cover to escape. The Cesaro dead lift superplex into a falcon’s arrow gets two on the champion. Cole counters the Elgin Bomb and tries a hurricanrana but has to counter a super Elgin Bomb to get it. The Florida Keys (arm tap German suplex) get a very close two for Cole. Michael is in trouble so he just kicks Cole in the face. Adam comes back with a superkick but it nails the referee instead.
A buckle bomb followed by the Elgin Bomb should have Cole beaten but there’s no referee. The Kingdom hits the ring for a beatdown but Michael picks them up for a Samoan drop/fall away slam at the same time. The smile on Elgin’s face made that even better. Elgin powerbombs Cole onto the Kingdom in a cool visual, sending Maria’s eyes bugging out of her head.
Maria slaps Elgin in the face, allowing Cole to try a Canadian Destroyer from the apron. Elgin counters that but Bennett hits him with the belt, allowing Cole to hit a German suplex on the floor. The tag team War Machine comes out to fight the Kingdom to the back and Michael barely beats the count back in. Maria throws the belt in, earning her some green mist from Elgin’s wife MsChif. The buckle and Elgin Bombs give us a near fall so close that the streamers come flying into the ring. Fans: “WE F’D UP!”
Cole comes back with a missile dropkick to the knee and wraps it around the post. There’s a Hart Breaker on the leg and Elgin is in trouble. Back in and Elgin rolls through a rollup into the Crossface but Cole hits him in the leg. Elgin’s leg is so banged up that he can’t charge for a clothesline. The middle rope Canadian Destroyer only gets two and the look on Cole’s face is great. He loads up another Destroyer but tries a sunset flip for a surprise. Elgin is ready for it though and counters into a triple powerbomb for the pin and the title.
Rating: B+. This was the kind of match they needed to make the show feel like a big deal, even though the ending was pretty clear about halfway through. They were following a classic formula here of throwing EVERYTHING at Elgin but having him hang through it all. I wasn’t wild about his knee being strong enough for three powerbombs at the end but I can live with it. Cole looked good too as he’s got a higher flying Bobby Roode style working for him right now. Really good match here.
Elgin celebrates to take us out.
Overall Rating: B-. I liked the show but it wasn’t the best I’ve ever seen from ROH. The main event is worth checking out but nothing else was really a blowaway match. There was good stuff on the show though, if nothing else due to the absence of a lot of ROH’s bad habits. The no selling and forearms were almost nowhere to be seen on this show and it made the show far less annoying. It’s a good show and a good first effort on PPV.
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ROH Supercard of Honor VIII: Man Up And Go Away
Supercard of Honor VIII Date: April 4, 2014
Location: Alario Center, Westwego, Louisiana
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Nigel McGuinness, Steve Corino
I’m not the biggest ROH fan in the world but I was in New Orleans for Wrestlemania weekend and saw ROH was having a pay per view the night I got into town. The general admission ticket was cheap so I grabbed a seat and took in my first Ring of Honor show ever. I didn’t know a lot of the people on the card so it’s going to be interesting to hear the commentary to fill in some details. The main event is Adam Cole defending the World Title against Jay Briscoe in Ladder War V, which is their version of a TLC match. Let’s get to it.
The opening video shows last year’s Supercard of Honor where Jay Briscoe won the title in the first place. He was injured last summer and had to vacate the title, but held onto the belt and said he was never defeated for the title. Therefore, there are two titles but only Adam Cole is champion, setting up the main event tonight. The idea here is Briscoe is nuts but Cole is classy. Adam gives off a Bobby Roode vibe in his promos.
We start with a YES chant as the announcers run down the card.
Cedric Alexander vs. Roderick Strong
Strong is part of the Decade (Strong, Jimmy Jacobs and BJ Whitmer with their assistant Adam Page), which represents the old days of ROH and doesn’t like a lot of the disrespectful young punks around anymore. They threw Cedric’s bag out of the locker room to show their displeasure after Cedric used Strong’s backbreaker. The Decade also has their Young Boy Adam Page here to towel them off and hand them water, which isn’t the worst gimmick in the world.
They trade wristlocks to start with Strong getting the better of it until Cedric quickly flips out of it and sends Roderick into the corner. The Decade is quickly on the apron to check on Strong as the match slows down already. A dropkick puts Strong down though and he’s bleeding from the hand. Alexander goes to the corner but gets tripped up, sending the back of his head into the top turnbuckle to give Strong control.
Adam Page runs back down to the ring with a bandage for Strong as he hits a backbreaker for two on Cedric. We stop to get the thumb taped up which I thought was putting on a foreign object live. Some knees to the back are good for two and we hit a rear waistlock. Back up and Roderick misses a dropkick as the announcers talk about RD Evans’ streak. Strong loses the tape off his hand and gets caught with a slingshot DDT for two.
A half nelson facebuster gets the same but he gets caught by a running knee to the ribs and an Angle Slam for two. Some running knees in the corner look to set up a Rock Bottom but Cedric crucifixes him down for two. Strong comes right back with a backbreaker for two more and they chop it out. A running knee to Cedric’s face sets up a fireman’s carry into a double knee gutbuster for a VERY close two and the fans think this is awesome. That’s a stretch at this point.
Alexander comes back with a spinning kick to the face out of the corner (remember that for later) but has to go after Adam Page. A fireman’s carry into another kick to the head drops Strong and another kick knocks Jimmy Jacobs to the floor as well. Cedric dives onto the Decade but springboards into a dropkick which mostly misses. Strong lifts him into the air for a suplex but drops him onto his knees (ankles but whatever) for the pin.
Rating: C+. The match was going well but the camera showing the misses at the end really brought it down for me. You could see that the dropkick missed live but the cameras made the finish look a lot worse. Still though, I liked the idea they were going for here and it was a fast paced opener which got the crowd going.
Post match Jimmy Jacobs agrees that that was wrestling (another stretch) and says you can learn exactly what NOT to do by watching Cedric Alexander. You can learn how to get started in this company by watching Adam Page however. Alexander almost comes back into the ring but Jacobs orders him out of their building. Jacobs advises Adrenaline Rush and Andrew Everett to take a lesson from Alexander in what NOT to do.
Decade vs. Adrenaline Rush/Andrew Everett
This is a scramble match, which I believe means lucha rules, meaning that if you leave the ring, it’s as good as a tag. Adrenaline Rush is ACH and Tadarius Thomas. Steve Corino says ROH popularized this kind of match, which is just flat out wrong as WCW was having these almost weekly back in their heyday. ACH makes sure to get as many handshakes as he can get when the Decade won’t give him one. Jacobs pulls out his spike to go after ACH but the referee won’t let it happen.
ACH wants to start with Jacobs but Jimmy tags in Page after swearing a bit. They start fast with ACH nailing some fast armdrags into a nipup for a standoff. Off to the powerful BJ Whitmer who knocks ACH into the corner. Some dropkicks have little effect on BJ so ACH actually points into the air to distract him before dropkicking the knee out. Whitmer bails to the floor, allowing Jacobs to come in and knocks ACH to the floor.
Thomas comes in for a rollup to Jimmy followed by Richie Steamboat’s Sling Blade. The high flier Everett comes in and speeds things up with a moonsault over Jacobs followed by a big dropkick. Two backflips set up a hurricanrana to Whitmer but BJ pulls Andrew to the floor. Thomas hammers on Jacobs but charges into the corner and moonsaults down onto Whitmer and Page. Jacobs sends ACH to the apron where BJ pulls him onto his shoulders, setting up a Jimmy spear through the ropes to crush ACH. Cool spot. I’m sorry for all the play by play here but we’re in total spot fest mode.
Back in and ACH gets beaten up as Corino says one of the photographers looks like he’s from Jamaican. Kelly: “HE’S FROM ARKANSAS!” The guy they’re talking about was all over ringside and did more than any crew member I’ve ever seen. The Decade triple teams ACH to give Page a two count followed by a chinlock. A nice spinwheel kick gets the same on ACH and it’s back to BJ for some kicks in the face. ACH comes back with a running clothesline to send BJ onto the floor, setting up a HUGE flip dive to take him down again.
That allows Thomas to come in legally and kick Jacobs in the face (that’s at least two tonight) for two before throwing him down with a suplex. Page comes in for a fireman’s carry backbreaker but Everett comes in as Thomas rolls to the floor. Everett charges too fast into the corner and slips onto the ropes, and we get something I really liked: Page is right on him. Instead of waiting around like an idiot for Everett to get back into position, Page goes over and starts pounding on a fallen opponent, like a wrestler should be doing. It MAKES SENSE for him to be doing that but you hardly ever see that in WWE.
Anyway Andrew comes out of the corner with a nice moonsault press and Page rolls to the floor. BJ comes in but gets caught by a springboard kick to the face (you may be noticing a pattern here). Everett hits a gorgeous springboard shooting star to take out Jacobs and Page followed by a springboard shooting star press for two on Whitmer. A big backdrop sends Everett over the top and to the floor, followed by a wicked clothesline to Thomas. The All Seeing Eye (gutwrench mat slam from Whitmer with a sliding neckbreaker from Jacobs. I’ve seen that somewhere before and I think it was in TNA) is good for the pin on Tadarius.
Rating: C. Total spot fest here and there’s nothing wrong with that. ACH looked polished out there and I can see why he was given a WWE tryout a few months back. That being said, the opening two matches should have been combined into one or had the opener cut. The show starts to drag at the end and neither of these matches really did much differently from the other.
Jacobs gets his spike post match and goes after Thomas until an injured ACH makes the save.
We recap Truth Martini vs. Matt Taven. Martini is a heel manager who led Taven to the TV Title, but after losing the belt they parted ways with Taven firing Truth. Tonight Martini is back with a mystery wrestler to take care of Taven.
Martini says he’s alone tonight but that doesn’t bother him. He won’t be alone for long and promises a big surprise.
Matt Taven vs. ???
Martini comes out alone and says Taven is nothing without him. He calls Kevin Kelly into the ring (Corino: “YOU’RE THE MYSTERY GUY???”) as he reads the end of the Book of Truth. Matt says no one wants to see this and opens the book, only to get kicked low by Martini. Truth says surprise and walks out. No match.
Silas Young vs. RD Evans
Time for a comedy match! Evans is back and on a made up win streak but it’s played totally for laughs. He called himself a real man and that’s not cool with Wrestling’s Last Real Man in Silas Young. However, the interesting part here is Evans’ manager Veda Scott, who is absolutely GORGEOUS. I had heard her name before but I had never seen her in person. She’s a redhead with a kind of sexy nerd thing going on here in a short green skirt. Evans’ other dude Ramon comes out with an 82-0 sign which will come into play later.
Evans kicks Young in the face to start but gets driven hard into the corner to give Silas control. We get a Flair Flip in the corner but Scott trips Silas up for two. Young chases her around the ring but she SPRINTS away and loses her shoes in the process. Ramon offers a distraction and Evans takes over. Scott jumps in on commentary as Evans is slammed off the top. Apparently she’s an attorney along with Evans who is a wrestler on the side. I’ve heard worse gimmicks.
Young puts on a bodyscissors as the announcers talk about Evans winning a match in what sounded like Romania. Back up and a dropkick nails Evans but Young runs into a boot in the corner. A top rope shoulder block puts Young down again and a powerslam gets two. Evans misses a top rope splash though and a backbreaker into a lariat is good for a near fall on RD. Fans: “YOU CAN’T BEAT HIM!”
They head to the apron where Young can’t hit a German suplex to the floor but does hit an electric chair drop onto the apron. Evans DIVES back in at 19 (ROH goes to 20, which I forgot until the referee got to 11) and gets a near fall off a small package. Scott gets on the apron for a distraction as Ramon gets on the apron.
Silas takes the belt and claps his hands before grabbing his back. It’s not enough for the DQ so Evans gets a VERY close near fall off a rollup. The referee takes a belt shot to the head and goes down as Evans hits a running neckbreaker. Young gets up and hits a rolling fireman’s carry into a slingshot moonsault for the pin by another referee to break the streak.
BUT WAIT! The original referee says Young hit him in the head so THAT’S A DQ AND THE STREAK LIVES! Ramon sprints to the back and comes back with an 83-0 sign as Scott goes nuts.
Rating: C. This was so over the top and completely goofy but I totally loved it. There’s something awesome about a character that is played totally for laughs like this and Veda Scott made it all the better. The fact that the skirt was barely there helped a lot but she’s also hilarious on commentary. I dug this one a lot and the fans did too.
Mike Bennett and Maria promise to make Mark Briscoe feel pain tonight. He promises a new submission to put Chicken Briscoe down.
Mark Briscoe is all fired up and sounds completely insane, talking about a shark and a female dog being in a jungle before tearing Bennett’s face off like a gorilla.
Mike Bennett vs. Mark Briscoe
No DQ. Maria is with Mike here and somehow blows Veda Scott away by wearing basically a bikini. Briscoe takes him down with a flip dive off the apron to get things going. Maria rants at the commentary table about how she didn’t want Mike to do this in the first place. Back in and a hard clothesline drops Bennett again but he comes back by whipping Mark into the barricade.
They head into the crowd with Briscoe backdropping him onto the stands and landing a big dive off a railing. Back to ringside where Bennett is able to pelt a chair at Mark’s head a few times to take over. Inside again with a low blow with a chair before Bennett wedges the chair in the corner. In a funny bit he sings Edge’s theme song but misses a charge into the chair, knocking him back to the floor. Mark hits a running elbow off the apron for two and they fight up to the entrance.
The fans and announcers say they can’t see anything as Briscoe is knocked off the stags and through a table as the cameraman goes down. They head back to the ring with Maria acting as a shield for Bennett. To his credit he shoves her out of the way to take the kendo stick shots for her. Maria gets in a cheap shot from the floor and a Side Effect onto a chair sets up a series of chair shots to the back. Bennett Pillmanizes the neck (it’s not a Conchairto if it’s wrapped around a body part people) and puts on an Anaconda Vice for the easy win.
Rating: C. This was a wild brawl which made sense given the story they were telling here. That was quite the ending spot with the Pillmanizing and it was nice to see the match again as I spent most of the first viewing staring at Maria. Seriously, she’s just hard to take your eyes off at any time but barely dressed makes it even better. She’s also great at messing with the crowd as she stands there in terror when Bennett is in trouble but then poses and shakes her hips when Mike wins.
Matt Taven is looking for Truth Martini and gets beaten down in the bathroom by Truth’s new guy who we don’t see. This didn’t air for the live crowd.
Intermission, during which Nigel McGuinness was working the merchandise stand. This ran about twenty minutes but they cut it out here for obvious reasons.
Speaking of Nigel, he replaced Corino on commentary for the second half of the show.
A small guy named Cheeseburger is in the ring and asks who wants free t-shirts. He’s interrupted by Matt Hardy who tells Cheeseburger to get out of the ring before something bad happens to him. Matt says he’s back in Ring of Honor and it’s on to its biggest year ever. ROH’s ratings, attendance and merchandising are setting records and it’s all because Matt Hardy is here again. He’s giving ROH the rub and has picked Adam Cole as the Holy Spirit of Wrestling.
Matt says the internet smark fans just don’t get it. Cole and himself are like the Holy Trinity you hear about in church because they’re one in the same. Hardy: “Go ahead and boo. It’s just part of my $15,000 payday.” Matt says he and Cole run this company along with Michael Bennett and Maria Kanellis instead of the fans or announcers. Tonight Cole will cement himself as the greatest ROH World Champion in history, including CM Punk. Cheeseburger gets in the ring like an idiot and takes a Twist of Fate. “You’re not on my menu anymore.” The heat was great, but this didn’t need nine minutes.
Forever Hooligans vs. ReDragon vs. Hanson/Raymond Rowe
The Hooligans are Alex Kozlov (fake Russian but a small guy) and Rocky Romero. ReDragon is Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly. Fish is very energetic and tries to fire Kyle up before we get things going. Hanson and Rowe are two big power guys that you don’t often see in ROH. The winner of this gets a Tag Team Title match against the Young Bucks at some point in the future.
Rowe and O’Reilly get things going by circling each other for a bit. Kyle knocks Hanson to the floor but makes the mistake of heading outside for a breather. Hanson plants him with a slam so it’s off to Fish who walks into an overhead belly to belly. Hanson gets the tag and nails a clothesline to the back of the head for two. Bobby heads outside again and we get a chase, resulting in Fish sliding back in and tagging out to Romero.
Two fingers to the eyes slow Hanson down and a hurricanrana puts him on the mat. Off to Kozlov for some double teaming, including a springboard cross body for two. O’Reilly tags Hanson after the big man drops Alex with a clothesline but Romero gets in a cheap shot from the apron to give the Hooligans control. Now we get to the stupid comedy portion of the match with Kozlov putting on one of those Russian hats and hitting some dancing kicks to the head. Thankfully it doesn’t last long.
Romero starts firing off running clotheslines to Kyle in the corner and won’t let Alex hit one of his own. They nearly come to blows but hug it out to a big reaction. Rowe comes in to blame Romero with something resembling a release Rock Bottom but Fish tags himself in to work over Rocky. ReDragon hits a backbreaker/middle rope knee combo for two on Romero before things settle back down.
Kyle works over Rocky’s arm before it’s back to Fish for some shots of his own. Kyle comes in again for a hammerlock slam and a chinlock but Rocky fights back with a spinning kick to the face. Alex gets the tag and hits a springboard cross body on Kyle, despite Rowe clearly touching O’Reilly’s back in plain view of the referee. Kozlov nails a bunch of kicks to the head and takes out most of the people in the match with a big flip dive.
A springboard missile dropkick gets two on Kyle but Hanson comes in and cleans house. Everything breaks down even more and everyone is knocked to the mat or floor. Kozlov and O’Reilly are the only ones left in the ring and they slug it out until Rowe trips Kyle to the floor. Rowe is driven into the barricade by Kyle and hit with a running dropkick off the apron from Fish. Hanson catches a diving Fish in a powerslam but Kozlov sends him to the floor. Alex hits a shooting star for two but Fish makes the save. Forever Hooligans loads up some kind of a double team move on Fish but he slips off Alex’s back and gets a rollup for the pin.
Rating: B-. This was an insane tag match but it went on a bit too long. It was entertaining enough but I would have gone with the title match here instead of the #1 contenders match. Still though, this was another fun spot fest with some power added in to balance things out in a nice addition.
Replays show that Fish had a handful of trunks.
We recap Tommaso Ciampa vs. Jay Lethal which started about two years ago when Ciampa injured his knee in a match against Lethal and was put out for a year. Lethal has had Ciampa beaten twice but various issues has cost him the TV Title. Tonight it’s 2/3 falls again.
TV Title: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Jay Lethal
Ciampa is defending and this is 2/3 falls. This is where the fans were getting restless as you could see a lot of them looking at their phones and the chants started to die a bit. Ciampa takes off his knee brace for the first time since his injury in a symbolic move. Feeling out process to start as they trade headlocks and rollups for two each. A hiptoss puts the champion down and Lethal cartwheels over to a standoff.
They chop it out in the corner but Lethal misses a springboard dropkick. Jay kicks him into the barricade and nails a suicide dive followed by a second one for good measure. A third puts Ciampa into the crowd and the fans chant for ROH. Why they don’t chant for Lethal is beyond me, but it’s happened since the ECW days. Lethal is whipped into the barricade and Ciampa hits a running knee so fast that he falls right back into the crowd. The referee restarts the count for no apparent reason before Ciampa throws Jay back inside.
Jay comes back with some kicks to the head and a dropkick in the corner for two until Ciampa bites Jay’s hand to escape. Lethal tries a Tajiri handspring elbow but gets caught in what was supposed to be a Backstabber. They fight over a suplex until they both go over the top in a big crash. Neither guy gets the better of a slugout and they both slide back inside at the 19 count, which didn’t please the fans in my section. Another Tajiri handspring is countered but Lethal grabs a German suplex for the pin and the first fall.
There’s no rest period so gets in a quick shot to the head and they trade near falls. Lethal Combination (backbreaker into a Downward Spiral) sets up a Koji Clutch on the champion but he counters into a Rings of Saturn Crossface. Jay gets his feet into the ropes though and it’s time for another slugout. Again neither guy can get the better of it so Jay tries another Tajiri handspring but gets caught in a Diamond Cutter, which apparently is the finish to the handspring.
Lethal busts out Ciampa’s finisher (powerbomb into double knees to the back) for two but ANOTHER Tajiri handspring hits the referee. Ciampa rolls some Germans and hits a discus lariat to put both guys down. This brings out Truth Martini who throws Jay the knee brace. He nails Ciampa in the face for two before nailing the top rope elbow, only to have Ciampa Hulk Up. Some superkicks have no effect but Lethal FINALLY hits the handspring into the cutter for the pin and the title.
Rating: C-. This was longer than it needed to be as the second fall could have been cut out to the same result. The ending really didn’t work for me either as Lethal knocked Ciampa out but they did another minute or so, making the entire knee brace thing seem completely worthless. Just too long here, but I’ve never been a Jay Lethal fan in the first place.
Post match Lethal says there’s a new house in New Orleans and it’s the House of Truth.
Michael Elgin vs. Kevin Steen
Winner gets an IWGP Title shot at Global Wars in May. Elgin is one of the few ROH guys I really like but Steen is pretty much the top star in ROH. Steen immediately tries the Package Piledriver but Elgin fights out, only to get caught by a Cannonball in the corner for two. You can tell this is going to be a power brawl. They head to the floor with Elgin being thrown into the barricade which is knocked into the crowd.
Michael is sent into the barricade again around the ring as the fans chant OVER HERE. Elgin reverses and “hits” a running big boot to the….chest I think? Steen teases getting back in but would rather load up a piledriver on the floor. Thankfully Elgin backdrops him down to prevent the whole broken neck thing and lands a delayed vertical suplex on the floor. They head back inside but Elgin’s sunset flip attempt is countered by some running knees to the head for two.
A senton backsplash gets two on Michael but he muscles Steen up into a German suplex to put both guys down. The Sharpshooter from Steen is quickly countered into a suplex for two but Steen misses a moonsault into a flip to give Steen a breather. A knee to the back of Elgin’s head gets two but a second Cannonball is countered into a powerbomb. Steen comes right back with the F-Cinc (French for 5) for another two count.
Elgin wins a slugout and Steen almost falls out to the floor. Michael tries the Cesaro superplex but Kevin headbutts him down, only to get enziguried (again with the head kicks!) to the floor. Kevin powerbombs him onto the apron but Elgin gets up and powerbombs him against the post. That’s only good for two as well so Michael tombstones him down for another near fall. They slug it out until Steen throws him into the air for a powerbomb and gets two off the Package Piledriver.
Steen is STUNNED and takes too long going up top, allowing Elgin to block a Cannonball with knees. A sitout powerbomb gets Elgin another near fall so he loads up a superplex. Steen fights back AGAIN and hits a top rope brainbuster. The kickout shocks everyone again but Elgin is able to counter a Package Piledriver into a triple bomb. Another powerbomb and a lariat set up a buckle bomb on Steen, followed by a Package Piledriver to FINALLY pin Steen.
Rating: B+. This is the kind of match the show was needing for awhile now. It’s totally different from the rest of the show and that was the big problem. The show had become repetitive so mixing things up like this made a good match feel like a very good match. Elgin gets a big win as well which can only help him.
Steen takes awhile to get up and receives a THANK YOU BOTH chant.
The main event took awhile to set up so a bit was cut out here.
ROH World Title: Jay Briscoe vs. Adam Cole
Cole is defending. There are two belts above the ring and three ladders at ringside, first person to pull down the belts wins. Corino is on commentary as well. Jay wins a fight to start and nails a quick backdrop to stagger the champion. He heads outside but comes up with a chair to the head to stop a suicide dive. Back inside and the chair bounces off Briscoe’s head before Adam slams him down onto the steel.
An AA breaks the chair and it’s time for the smallest ladder, only to have Jay baseball slide it into Cole’s face. Some more chair shots put Cole down before Jay pelts the chair at his head to even the score. Adam comes back with a suplex onto the ladder and Briscoe’s head is busted open BAD. The first attempt at the belts is easily cut off as the referee brings in a towel to wipe Jay’s face. He refuses the help of course and brings in the medium sized ladder.
Cole is sent up the ramp but Jay goes after him instead of climbing for the titles. There’s another LOUD chair shot to Cole’s head and Jay bridges the small ladder between two chairs. A big splash knocks Cole off the ladder and now it’s time to climb. Scratch that actually as Jay shoves the medium ladder over and gets a table. Cole is able to get off before Jay can dive off the big ladder though and Adam gets in another cheap shot to take over.
The big ladder is laid against the ropes but both guys head back inside. Briscoe is knocked down by a hard clothesline and the small ladder is thrown into the ring again. Jay pops right back up though and powerbombs Adam onto the small ladder in the corner. Adam fights off a superplex through the ladder (fans: “PLEASE DON’T DIE!”) and superkicks Jay onto it instead for a HUGE crash.
Adam climbs the medium ladder but Jay is right back up and throwing Cole through the small ladder in the corner, badly bending it in the process. Briscoe is now bleeding from the back as well but is still able to put the champion down with a neckbreaker. Jay sets up another ladder bridge but the ladder is badly broken so it collapses as soon as Adam lays down on it. That’s fine with Jay as he tries a splash onto the mostly broken ladder but Cole moves, sending Jay crashing down.
The medium ladder is set up in the middle of the ring but Jay pelts another chair off the champion’s head to put him back down. They both climb up to fight on top but Jay knocks him off for a big crash. Cole is able to talk enough trash from the mat though that Jay drops down and hits the Jay Driller piledriver. He still won’t climb though and loads up a Conchairto onto the ladder, only to have Matt Hardy run in and hit a Twist of Fate to Jay on the floor.
Matt helps Cole climb but Mark Briscoe runs out, completely crippling a lot of the momentum this show had going for it. His neck was Pillmanized but here he is an hour and a half later? I don’t care how tough he is. Mark Briscoe shouldn’t be seen for AT LEAST two months after a spot like that. He puts Matt on the table but Mike Bennett comes out to shove the ladder over, sending Mark through the table.
Jay and Cole are alone in the ring and the Jay Driller puts Cole down again. A Jay Driller puts Bennett down as well and there’s a third to take out Matt Hardy. Cole and Jay climb at the same time but the champion wins a slugout and shoves him down. Jay tries one last climb but Cole pulls down the belts to retain.
Rating: B. This was a solid fight but the Mark Briscoe stuff really took me out of things. To be fair though I got to look at Maria a bit more when she came down with Bennett so I can’t complain too much. Jay looked like a soldier out there which is the right idea and Cole holding onto the title is the right choice at the end of the day. Good stuff here.
The heels pose to end the show.
Overall Rating: B-. This is a show where the parts don’t add up to the final total. As mentioned, the show just went on forever and it really started to drag around the TV Title match. It’s certainly entertaining and the last two matches brought things back up, but it didn’t really fire me up and make me want to see more ROH.
At the end of the day, it’s about the same take on ROH that I’ve always had: there’s good stuff here, but it’s not enough to make me want to keep coming back. Thankfully they cut WAY down on the no selling stuff (Mark Briscoe aside) but unfortunately they cranked up on the repetitive moves. From Jay Lethal trying Lethal Injection four times to seemingly EVERYONE using a spin kick to the head, I felt like I saw the same match several times tonight. If ROH was near me again and relatively cheap I’d go, but it’s not something I’m going out of my way to see.
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Ring of Honor: Supercard of Honor Pictures
Most of these should be self explanatory but I’ll caption anything that isn’t clear. Also note that my camera is well over ten years old so the quality isn’t great.These are from the pre-show autograph signing. I got handshakes with most of them and everyone was nice.
Dark match.
Steve Corino coming out for commentary.
Bad picture of the titles hanging above the ring.
Opening match.
Maria. I think that’s all you need said.
At intermission I walked out to get a drink and saw Nigel McGuinness just standing there talking to fans.
Nigel replaces Corino on commentary for the second half.
Matt Hardy promo.
What is with the streamers? Seriously I don’t get it. I know Japan but it’s annoying.
The main event setup.
Main event showdown.
Still trying to find a copy of the show to review. Hint hint to you internet savvy people.
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Ring of Honor TV – January 12, 2014: Well, It Is Better
Ring of Honor TV Date: January 11, 2014
Location: Tennessee State Fairgrounds, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Prince Nana, Kevin Kelly, Steve Corino
Some of you might remember me trying ROH TV when it first debuted and giving up after about two months. Since then, a lot of their very annoying fans have told me that I just don’t get it and I MUST give it another chance. Well here you are. I taped an episode of the show to give it one last chance. I’m not going to review this regularly but I’ll take a chance on an hour. I keep up with the basic stories in ROH so I’m not totally blind coming in. Let’s get to it.
We open with clips from Final Battle where Matt Hardy interfered to help Adam Cole keep the world title, apparently joining forces. This was followed by the return of Chris Hero who cleaned house and said he was back in ROH.
Opening sequence.
AJ Styles returns in three weeks.
Top Prospects Tournament First Round: Ray Rowe vs. Kongo
This is a tournament of young guys with the winner getting a TV Title shot. Rowe is your typical tough guy with tattoos and a beard while Kongo is a fat guy in war paint from South America. No handshake to start until they slug it out with no one getting an advantage. Kongo runs over Rowe with a shoulder but misses a splash in the corner. Rowe comes back with some forearms (in ROH? I’m STUNNED) as the announcers talk about a three way elimination tag on January 25.
The guys fight to the floor with Kongo being sent into the post to knock him silly as Corino talks about being runner up in the Top Prospect Tournament in 1995. Kongo hits something like a MuscleBuster but Rowe comes back with more forearms. Rowe ducks a right hand and hits a very impressive German suplex for one as the fat guy kicks out.
Two knees to the chest put Kongo down for a close two before hitting some YES Kicks. Kongo pops up and hits something like Money Brown’s Pounce and an Umaga hip attack in the corner. The fat guy misses a Vader Bomb, allowing Rowe to pick him up in a full nelson slam down onto Rowe’s raised knee for the pin.
Rating: C-. Rowe has a good look but I’m not wild on his in ring work. Kongo is just too fat to do much though he wasn’t immobile. This wasn’t too bad but there was almost no way Kongo was going to win given how he looks. Not a terrible match and the right guy won so I can’t complain that much.
Post match Kongo staggers to his feet but a ticked off Michael Elgin comes to the ring for a staredown. A spinning backfist knocks Kongo silly and an awesome looking release powerbomb puts him down. I’ve always liked Elgin.
House show ads.
Post break Elgin says this is his ring. Final Battle was supposed to be the night he finally won the world title. Adam Cole left New York with the title but it’s far from over. The way Cole was talking makes Elgin think the champion has forgotten just how good Elgin was in 2013. If Cole thinks Elgin is behind him, he needs eyes in the back of his head. Cole needs to stop worrying about Chris Hero, AJ Styles and Jay Briscoe because Michael Elgin is right in front of him.
This brings out Chris Hero who says he’s glad to be back, but doesn’t like what he’s hearing. It’s been a long time since he’s been in ROH but Elgin has become the man. Both of them want the title but they have to work together in Pittsburgh at the aforementioned three way tag, which will be the two of them, the Briscoes and Cole/Hardy. After that though, anything goes.
This brings out Kevin Steen who says (I think at least, as the audio is pretty horrible) that he still hasn’t gotten his rematch for the title (audio is better now). Elgin can’t get a rematch until after Steen does and Hero hasn’t been here for two years. If Hero thinks he’s getting a title shot, Steen has some bad news for him. They’re fighting tonight and after Steen gets done with him, all Hero will be able to say is OH NO. Eh point for a funny line.
Final Battle video.
AJ Styles is coming back.
Top Prospect Tournament First Round: Corey Hollis vs. Bill Daly
Daly has some goon with him who talks about how Daly has turned his life around. The goon holds up a sign with a bunch of sponsorship logos on it, but Daly says he’s unable to compete tonight due to an ankle injury. He demands a title shot anyway, despite not being able to compete. Hollis wins by forfeit, but a guy named Mike Posey offers to fight him instead.
Top Prospect Tournament First Round: Corey Hollis vs. Mike Posey
Apparently Posey is Hollis’ trainer. Both guys take the other to the mat for some head slapping as the announcers try to figure out if this is a tournament match or not. Posey heads to the floor but Hollis hits a nice plancha to take him down. Mike gets all aggressive and rams him into the barricade and post before throwing him back in. A slingshot legdrop gets two and Posey goes after the arm.
Posey drops five straight legdrops for two and it’s back to the arm. Hollis fights up with an atomic drop and some clotheslines before kicking Posey’s knee out. A running neckbreaker gets two for Corey but the arm gives out, allowing Posey to hit a double underhook spinning slam for two.
They trade forearms with no selling anywhere to be seen. Hollis shrugs off an enziguri and clotheslines Posey in the back of the head for two. That’s the kind of stuff that drives me crazy about ROH and it’s getting on my nerves again here. Posey ducks a roaring elbow and puts Hollis down with a neckbreaker before a guillotine legdrop gets two more. Hollis’ roaring elbow connects for the pin, sending him on to face Ray Rowe.
Rating: D. Erg that no selling drives me crazy and it’s still around in this company. If you get kicked in the back of the head, YOU SHOULD GO DOWN. Spare me the whole adrenaline nonsense too. I might buy that if you get kicked, hit one more move and THEN stay down but Hollis just kept on going with his offense. That drives me nuts.
Video from Pursuit Night Two with Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander amicably splitting up. I never cared for that team.
Caprice Coleman vs. Jay Lethal
The announcers talk about the new TV Champion Tomasso Ciampa challenging Jay Lethal for a title defense. Coleman is sent to the floor for a nice dive by Lethal for two back inside. Jay drops a few elbows for two as the announcers talk about Adam Cole and Matt Hardy hooking up at Final Battle. Steve Corino was involved with it somehow and was still thrilled to see it happen. Back to the floor with Lethal missing a kick and having his leg kicked into the post.
An Asai Moonsault with Coleman jumping from inside the ring puts Lethal down again for two as Coleman takes over. Caprice gets two off a top rope leg lariat but a Lionsault hits knees. He comes right back with rolling northern lights suplexes for two, only to walk into the Lethal Combination (backbreaker/downward spiral). Coleman counters a top rope elbow with a hurricanrana and gets two off an STO (leg sweep clothesline). Lethal comes right back with a superkick and a Tajiri handspring into a Diamond Cutter for the pin.
Rating: C. That finisher was ridiculous. I can understand someone getting in position for a move, but Coleman had to take a step back and lower his head so Lethal could grab him. If you want to use a Diamond Cutter then use a Diamond Cutter, but don’t make it look completely scripted. I still don’t get the appeal of Lethal.
Post match Lethal offers a handshake for having such a bright future. Coleman leaves and Lethal accepts the challenge from Ciampa. He’ll even do commentary for Ciampa’s match next week.
Jay Briscoe wants Adam Cole next week for the real world title. Briscoe has his own title belt which I guess he claims he never lost.
Chris Hero vs. Kevin Steen
They shake hands to start and we’re ready to go. The fans think Chris is Awesome, which is also the name of his theme song. Steen stalls to start until Hero grabs a cravate. That goes nowhere so it’s off to a top wristlock, sending Steen into the ropes. Kevin takes him down to the mat for some short lived technical stuff before shrugging off Chris’ shoulder blocks. Steen offers to try some shoulders but instead dropkicks Chris down in a surprising athletic display.
We take a break and come back with Steen knocking Hero off the apron and into the barricade. Back in and Steen hits (kind of) a slingshot hilo for two. The fans are split on who they like best as the guys slug it out in the middle of the ring. Hero flips over the ropes and comes back with some kicks to the face followed by a running forearm in the corner.
A big boot to the jaw gets two for Hero before the Package Piledriver and Roaring Elbow both miss. Steen comes back with an F5 (F-Cinq in a clever name) and a swanton for two. A BIG powerbomb puts Hero down as the fans start a LOUD ROH chant. Steen charges into a roaring elbow and a spinning kick to the face gets two for Chris. Cue the Decade (BJ Whitmer, Jimmy Jacobs and Roderick Strong, because one heel alliance on top isn’t enough) to distract Hero, allowing Steen to hit a sleeper suplex for the pin.
Rating: C+. Bring Hero back, have him lose in his first match on TV. Sure why not. This was a nice back and forth match but it would have been improved with an extra five minutes to shore things up. It’s not a great match or anything but it was a good change to have the main event run twelve minutes unlike the early days when it would get twenty.
Steen goes to leave but Cliff Compton jumps him from behind and chokes Steen down to end the show after 58 minutes.
Overall Rating: C-. It’s not as bad as it used to be but there are still a lot of problems here. As I mentioned, having Cole/Hardy and the Decade at the same time is overkill and I give them until March to merge into the latest mega heel stable that ROH and TNA are obsessed with. I’ll give them this though: the pacing is WAY better than it was when I stopped watching. Now there are multiple stories in an episode and you get a nice variety, meaning it might draw in more fans. I’m still not a fan of most of the guys featured here though and like I said I won’t be watching again. It’s better than it used to be though.
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