According to ROH’s Facebook page, you can check out the show for FREE tonight at gfl.tv. Apparently Go Fight Live has a new streaming system and are offering the show for free to demonstrate it. I heard about this just a few seconds ago and this sounds legit to me. Tonight has the final four in the tournament for the ROH World Title including the championship match and you can’t do better than that for free. Check it out if you have the time. The show starts at 8PM EST.
For reference sake, I’ve had Elgin winning the title since the brackets were announced.
On This Day: May 12, 2012 – ROH Border Wars 2012: I Remember Why I Don’t Watch ROH
Border Wars 2012 Date: May 12, 2012
Location: Ted Reeve Arena, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Nigel McGuinness
The things I do for this series. This is a show that was considered a big deal for ROH at the time and unfortunately for me, it has Davey Richards defending the world title. I don’t know much about ROH from this period due to being bored out of my mind by their product. The main event is the aforementioned title defense against Kevin Steen, who has been terrorizing ROH for months now. Let’s get to it.
We open with Nigel McGuinness and Kevin Kelly in the ring to introduce the show. Nigel, a former world champion, talks about what a big deal it is to win the title. Tonight is Kevin Steen’s only shot at immortality. Kelly talks about some of the other matches and throws us to a video on Rhyno, who apparently is a mercenary working for Truth Martini.
Eddie Edwards vs. Rhyno
Before the match, Truth Martini says that Rhyno is a hired mercenary and the newest member of the House of Truth. We got that from the video we just saw. He’s here to clear the path to the world title for Michael Elgin and Roderick Strong by Goring everyone in his way. The fans are of course split because what would an ROH crowd be without annoying chants from the start of the show?
Edwards starts with a wristlock followed by an armdrag into an armbar as we seem to be in for a long match here. Rhyno powers him into the corner and pounds away before running Edwards over with a shoulder block. Edwards fights out of the corner with some chops and a rana to put Rhyno down, followed by a baseball slide to send Rhyno into the barricade. The cameraman goes down somewhere in there and Eddie is a bit stunned. Rhyno hits a HARD shoulder to the ribs in the corner and Edwards is in big trouble.
McGuinness starts talking about fast moving sperm and thankfully Kevin ignores him. Eddie comes back with a quick enziguri, only to be picked up and throws over the top and out to the floor with a loud THUD. Back in and Rhyno stays on the ribs in a smart move. The audio keeps slipping in and out. Off to a bearhug by Rhyno as at least he’s using psychology here. Rhyno loads up another gorilla press but Edwards escapes out and hooks a quick German suplex to put both guys down.
Eddie fires off some chops and superkicks the leg, followed by something close to a Shining Wizard for a close two. The fans are split again because this is REAL WRESTLING, where you cheer for the heels. Edwards avoids a charge to send Rhyno to the floor before hitting an Asai Moonsault, hurting his ribs again in the process. Back in and Edwards hits a missile dropkick for two but walks into a belly to belly suplex. The Gore is blocked with a dropkick and Truth Martini gets up on the apron. He holds up the Book of Truth (foreign object) in the corner but Rhyno has to stop before hitting it, allowing Edwards to roll him up for the pin.
Rating: C+. Nice basic match here with Edwards selling the ribs…..sometimes. He more or less stopped doing anything with them after they got back inside the ring but at least before that things were going well. Rhyno was his usual self here with nothing out of character for him at all. Then again, that’s probably a good thing for a guy like him. Edwards is still rather uninteresting though.
Post match Rhyno grabs Martini but Truth holds up cash. Rhyno takes the money and teases turning on Martini anyway but walks out.
Another glitch: Kelly seems to throw it to a video on the next match but instead we see the end of the previous match.
Apparently the Young Bucks interfered in a TJ Perkins vs. Mike Mondo match and cost Perkins the win. The All Night Express ran in for the save and we’ve got a six man.
Young Bucks/Mike Mondo vs. All Night Express/TJ Perkins
The Bucks are Nick and Matt Jackson and the Express is Rhett Titus and Kenny King, who as of this writing is TNA X-Division Champion. It’s a melee to start of course until we get down to TJ vs. Mike. Mondo is sent to the floor so here’s I think Nick, only to be caught in a headscissors. These guys are moving around so fast that I can’t keep track of them. King hits a running dropkick on I think Matt for two. Back to Mondo who gets suplexed down by King for no count.
A spinebuster puts Mondo down and King pounds away for a two count. Off to Titus for a running boot to the ribs as Mondo is in trouble early on. Perkins and King get some quick tags for some shots on Mondo but Mike FINALLY pops King in the ribs. Matt comes in and is immediately caught in an armbar before it’s off to Titus again. A running Fameasser puts Matt down and the Express seems to botch a drop toehold into a dropkick double team.
Nick trips up Rhett from the floor and the Bucks double team Titus into a whip into the barricade by Mondo. The Bucks take over on Titus with various double teaming offense, including a top rope dive onto Titus’ back. The heels load up a triple dropkick to a seated Titus. Nick hits, Mondo mostly misses, and Matt never jumped. Mondo hooks a rolling backslide of all things for several near falls and makes a blind tag to Nick, allowing him to break up a backslide by Titus.
Back to Matt who gets caught in a tilt-a-whirl snake eyes from Titus but Mondo breaks up a hot tag attempt to King. Nick and Mike collide in the corner and Matt gets backdropped, allowing for the real hot tag to Kenny. I feel like I’m calling a Spirit Squad match with all these names. King does very little of note and it’s off to Perkins with a top rope cross body to take out both Bucks. A powerbomb gets two on Nick but Mondo drives Titus face first into the mat.
Perkins flips around a lot and kicks Matt in the head, but Matt basically no sells it so the Bucks can hit a double superkick on King. Everyone is down now until Mondo breaks up a springboard attempt by King. Matt powerbombs Rhett into a kick to the head from Nick, allowing Mondo to headscissor Rhett into a top rope splash by Matt for two.
Nick tries a suicide dive which the camera totally misses. Instead he hits a big spinning dive to the floor to take out people we couldn’t make out because of the bad lighting. Rhett clotheslines Matt down, allowing the Express to hit a powerbomb/Blockbuster combo, followed by a 450 from Perkins for the pin.
Rating: C. This was your standard six man spot fest which wasn’t all that great. At the end of the day, this same idea has been done WAY better over the years with way more interesting people. The Bucks just aren’t that interesting and never have shown me any reason to care about them at all. Nothing much to see here.
Jay Lethal talks about Tommaso Ciampa stalking him in Fort Lauderdale and costing him a match.
Ciampa says he’ll beat Lethal.
Jay Lethal vs. Tommaso Ciampa
Ciampa is part of the Embassy, a heel stable. He jumps Lethal to start but gets pulled out to the floor for a brawl before the bell. Lethal pounds away on Ciampa but Tommaso comes back with a hard chop to send him against the railing. Ciampa lowers his knee pad and charges at Jay, only to slam his own knee into the barricade. He shakes the pain off though and sends Lethal into the barricade a few times but the fans chant for Kevin Steen for no apparent reason. This is all still before the bell.
Lethal comes back with a catapult to launch Ciampa face first into the entrance to shift control again. Jay finally heads inside with Ciampa down on the floor but one of the Embassy guys breaks up a suicide dive bid. The distraction lets Ciampa get in a quick to Lethal’s head for a two, a few seconds after the bell finally rings. Tommaso chokes away on the apron before putting on a very modified dragon sleeper.
Ciampa pounds away in the corner including going after Lethal’s eye for a bit. This is slowing way down and it’s not exactly entertaining stuff at this point. Apparently Ciampa is undefeated for like two years coming into this. Jay gets in a shot to the head and they slug it out very slowly. You really shouldn’t be at a last man standing slugout just four minutes into a match.
Lethal takes over and Ciampa is in trouble. Again just four minutes into the match, which is too little for being so tired. Yeah they brawled, so maybe it was ten minutes in total to make them that exhausted. As usual, I don’t care for the psychology in Ring of Honor. Lethal has to beat up the other Embassy guys, allowing for Ciampa to hit a lariat for two. Jay counters a sunset flip into a rollup for two of his own before being caught by a HARD knee to the head for a near fall.
Another knee to the head in the corner puts Lethal down and there goes the knee pad for several more knees to the head. Lethal counters a powerbomb into an Alabama Slam into the corner but again has to deal with the Embassy leader. A small package gets two for Ciampa (I think) and now Lethal is getting fired up. He goes off on Ciampa and hits a handspring into the ropes into a cutter, apparently called Lethal Injection, for two.
Yet another Embassy guy (these are just guys in suits and not important enough to identify properly) interferes but Lethal slugs him down and gets two off a top rope elbow. Ciampa tells Lethal to come at him, so Jay hooks him in a Rock Bottom position and drives him down onto Lethal’s knee in ten straight backbreakers followed by a downward spiral for Ciampa’s first loss.
Rating: C-. Well that happened. Seriously that’s the entirety of my thoughts on the match. Lethal has never been a guy I’ve cared about at all and Ciampa didn’t show me anything of note here. The ending was just stupid with Ciampa telling him to come for him and Lethal just doing the same move over and over again before getting the win. Also the guys being spent just a few minutes into it still doesn’t work for me at all.
Post match Ciampa screams a lot and storms out.
We recap Mike Bennett vs. Lance Storm. A now bald Storm saw potential in Bennett but doesn’t like his lack of respect. The audio here is designed to make Storm sound like he’s repeating himself which is really annoying. Bennett beat him back in April so this is the rematch.
Mike Bennett vs. Lance Storm
Bennett has his old trainer named Brutal Bob Evans with him but no Maria, as in Maria from WWE who is absolutely gorgeous. The fans immediately chant for her and I can’t say I blame them at all. They shove each other around to start with Lance being pushed into the corner which goes nowhere. Both guys trade strikes with Storm hitting a European uppercut to send Bennett into the corner and down to the mat.
Storm fires off some shoulders into the corner and a running version to the ribs gets two. Off to an abdominal stretch which is the most logical move for him at this point. Bennett quickly reverses and sends Storm to the apron and then into the buckle, sending Storm to the floor. Mike throws Storm into the announce table and then the barricade and we head back inside. The fans chant obscenities at Bennett because they can’t handle their countryman getting beaten up. Sore losers.
After sending Storm into the corner it’s off to a bow and arrow hold by Bennett to give the guys a breather. Storm flips out of the hold into a kick to Bennett’s face but gets caught in a backdrop to put him right back down. Back to the reverse chinlock with a knee in Storm’s back as Bennett keeps things slow. Lance fights back and they slug it out with both guys seemingly spent again after only a few minutes. In a rather impressive display of athleticism, Storm jumps from the mat and up to the top for a back elbow to the face, getting two.
The superkick is blocked and Storm walks into a spinebuster for a close two. Bennett tries a fireman’s carry but Storm slips down to the apron. A springboard clothesline misses though and Mike spears him down for two. Storm tries something out of a fireman’s carry but Bennett comes back with a sit out Rock Bottom called the Box Office Smash for two.
A dragon screw leg whip puts Storm down and flips off the fans (Storm mentioned that metaphorically in his pre-match promo) before putting on Storm’s own Canadian Maple Leaf half crab. Storm reverses into one of his own but Evans pulls Bennett to the floor. Storm hits a big dive to take Mike out before going back inside. With Evans distracting the referee, Mike gets a chair, only to have Storm blast him in the back with it and superkick Bennett down for the pin.
Rating: C+. This is probably the match of the night so far, but that ending brings it down for me. Storm using the chair is completely against what he’s been talking about leading up to the match and it goes against his style in general. Now, superkick the chair into Bennett’s face would have been fine, but it doesn’t feel right for Storm to just use the chair on his own like that.
Storm says he doesn’t know how many more of these he has in him, but if he does it again he’s doing it here in Toronto. The fans tell him he’s still got it and he says he uses it because of fans like the ones here. Storm gives a shout out to his wife who is in the crowd in a nice moment.
Video on Davey Richards vs. Kevin Steen. The idea is that Richards is unbeatable while Steen is insane and wants to hold the company hostage by winning the world title. Steen went on a path of destruction, leading up to his title match here tonight. Kevin begged Davey for a match but Cornette, the ROH boss, said no. Davey eventually begged Cornette for the match until it was set, which is a great heel move.
Finlay says he’s coming for Roderick Strong and the TV Title.
Video on the tag title match. We must be in intermission. The Briscos and Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team have been feuding for awhile and tonight it’s a fight without honor, which I guess means a street fight. Jay Brisco got crotched against the post three times after the match ended.
Another video on Richards vs. Steen, from the night Davey won the title.
The announcers talk about the remaining four matches.
Adam Cole vs. Michael Elgin
No real story here. They’re just both young breakout stars and are having a match because of it. Elgin is part of the House of Truth and a big power guy. A quick hiptoss sends the smaller Cole flying as McGuinness talks about what it means to be in a big match like this. Cole fires off those ROH forearms that seemingly everyone in the company uses, only to be shoved out of the corner with ease. Instead he comes out of the corner with a middle rope dropkick to send Elgin down.
A quick rana puts Elgin down to the floor but Elgin catches Cole’s suicide dive and slams him onto the floor. Back in and Elgin fires off some hard chops followed by some slow stomps down in the corner. Cole comes back with a quick jawbreaker and sends Elgin chest first into the corner. Elgin blocks a German and blasts Cole in the head, followed by an Alabama Slam for two. Off to a bow and arrow hold by Elgin as Martini comes over and talks trash on commentary.
Back up and a quick rollup gets two for Adam but Michael blasts him right in the head to take him back down. They trade forearms as is the ROH custom until Elgin gets caught in a tornado DDT. A top rope splash gets two for Cole but Elgin breaks up another German suplex attempt. Instead it’s Elgin powering Cole up for a big rolling German (Rolling Chaos Theory) for two. A hard shot to Elgin’s head gets two for Adam and there are some quick kicks to the head. Elgin comes back with WICKED clothesline to put Cole on the floor.
Both guys are spent now so Elgin can’t follow up on the downed Cole. He finally goes after Adam but gets caught by a jumping enziguri to stagger the monster. As Adam gets on the apron, Elgin gets on the middle rope and lifts Cole off the apron and up into a falcon arrow (sitout suplex) down onto the mat. People RAVED when Antonio Cesaro did that in May of 2013.
Off to a crossface by Elgin but Adam rolls out, only to be forearmed into the head. Adam pops back up and hits a quick backbreaker for two before going up top. He dives off with a cross body and is caught into a buckle bomb, followed by a helicopter bomb (love that move) for the pin by Elgin.
Rating: B-. This worked pretty well, but again I cannot stand those forearms. They’ve been used in almost every match now and they don’t come off as unique or intense at all. Also, the same problem that plagued Eddie Edwards is true here for Cole: there’s nothing to him. He’s a guy in trunks that had a decent match and nothing more. Elgin at least has his power to make him stand out a bit.
Martini brags about Elgin winning post match. He tells Elgin that his night is over and to go to the back. Martini stays in the ring to brag about how great it is to be him, only to be superkicked by Cole.
Fit Finlay wants to know how deep Roderick Strong can dig inside himself, because he’s going to have to go real deep to keep his TV Title. Simple yet effective.
TV Title: Fit Finlay vs. Roderick Strong
Strong is defending if that wasn’t clear. There’s no time limit here for some reason. Finlay takes him into the corner to start but no one gets anywhere. More feeling out commences with no one doing much for the first minute or so. A headlock takes Roderick down as we’re firmly in first gear here. Finlay works over the leg as the crowd is rather quiet here. Strong bails to the floor as there isn’t much to talk about at the moment.
Back in and Strong takes him to the ropes by the arm, only to have Finlay smack him in the chest and put on another leg lock. Off to a chinlock by Finlay as the announcers talk about Finlay’s history in wrestling. They roll to the floor to exchange chops until Strong pokes him in the eye to take over. Finlay knocks him back to the floor for more chopping but Roderick takes over with chops of his own. The announcers will not stop bragging about how awesome Finlay was in his day.
They head back inside for a squeeze of Finlay’s ribs. A dropkick gets two for Strong and he fires off some shoulders into the ribs in the corner. Finlay is thrown back to the floor for more pounding on the ribs before we head inside again. Strong argues with a fan before stomping on the ribs even more. Finlay comes back with some chops out of the corner and pounds away with very basic stomps. Strong snaps off a belly to back suplex for two and is starting to get frustrated.
He loads up the Strong Hold (Boston Crab) and Finlay is in trouble in the middle of the ring. Finlay pretty easily powers out of it and they throw forearms at each other. These are totally different from the other matches because they’re on their knees here. Finlay takes over and hits his fireman’s carry roll followed by the Celtic Cross, which Sheamus uses as White Noise. Finlay goes up top, only to be knocked right back to the floor. Back in and a double knee gutbuster gets two on Finlay. Strong is like screw this and kicks Finlay in the face for the pin to retain.
Rating: C. Again, Strong is just a guy in trunks with a name I likely won’t remember, even though I’ve seen a good bit of his work before. None of these guys are anything memorable and from what I can tell, other than the two main matches there aren’t many stories going on either. Finlay put Strong over well here which is exactly why he was brought in. I’m not sure I get how you can claim that a win over a guy who was awesome twenty years ago, but it was fine for what it was.
Wrestling Greatest Tag Team (Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas) didn’t like being beaten up by the Briscos. Earlier tonight we saw these two beat up the Briscos so tonight it’s a wild brawl for the Briscos’ tag belts.
The Briscos, the biggest hicks you’ll ever see, say they’ll cross the border and cross the line against Haas and Benjamin tonight.
Tag Titles: Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team vs. Brisco Brothers
The Briscos are Mark and Jay and have no relation to Jack and Jerry Briscoe. This is fight without honor, meaning it’s a street fight. It’s also unsanctioned, although it can somehow be for the promotion’s tag titles. There’s no Mark Brisco to start so apparently Jay is going to try to do this on his own. Actually, cue Mark in hockey gear with some stick shots to the back of Haas’ head. The brawl is on as the referee has to get rid of those stupid streamers.
Mark hits Haas in the throat with the hockey stick and the Briscos clean house. With the challengers on the floor and the announcer doing the intros, Mark dives on both guys as the brawl really gets going. Back in and the Briscos double team Benjamin as this has been one sided so far. Charlie pulls Shelton to the floor, only to be caught by a double baseball slide from the champions.
Shelton has a chair thrown onto his back as it’s kind of hard to keep track of the insanity. Back in and Haas gets an exploder suplex for two on Jay before choking him with his shirt. Haas charges at him, only to be caught in a downward spiral right into a chair wedged between the ropes. Shelton comes back in (there aren’t any tags in this) and blasts Jay down, only to have Mark save him from a chair shot. We go back to the floor where Jay catapults Charlie face first into the post as the champions continue to dominate.
Haas is busted open as Mark hits a running swanton off the apron onto Benjamin. An attempt at a second one misses (kind of?) but Mark brings in a wheel from a wheelchair. Jay pounds on Charlie in the ring as Mark goes up, only to be flipped off the top and through a table at ringside. A jawbreaker hits Jay but he comes back with a Death Valley Driver on Shelton. Jay goes up but gets distracted by Haas, allowing Shelton to run up the corner and suplex him down.
Shelton hits a spinebuster off the top for two on Jay as the challengers take over for the first time. Mark tries to come back in with the hockey stick but gets knocked back into the barricade. Charlie and Shelton try to crotch Jay on the post again but Mark makes the save. Mark starts cleaning house and flips Charlie off the top followed by a top rope elbow for two. Jay sends Benjamin to the floor as the fans want tables. Naturally ask and you will receive, as Jay sets one up on the floor.
Jay and Shelton brawl on the apron with Jay loading up something on his hand, only to have Shelton load up a German off the apron. Jay holds on to avoid a nasty case of death, only to hook an electric chair drop to send Jay through the table. Back in the ring Charlie sprays something on a rag and chokes Mark out with it for the pin and titles. It appeared to be ether or something like that.
Rating: B-. This was a pretty solid brawl and pretty easily the match of the night to this point. It’s not a great match or anything like that and the ending came out of nowhere, but it goes along with the no honor thing. This doesn’t come off like a match ending a feud, but then again this isn’t the biggest show of the year or anything so it’s understandable. Good match but that’s about it.
The announcers rant about how the new champions showed no honor in a fight without honor.
We preview the main event which we’ve already covered in detail so far. The production values continue to suck here as the video is drowning out the commentary being done over it.
ROH World Title: Kevin Steen vs. Davey Richards
Steen is challenging and a Canadian, making him the massive favorite. Richards is a rather short guy while Steen is heavy but not exactly fat. Jimmy Jacobs is with Steen while Richards is alone due to a death in the family of Kyle O’Reilly. Steve Corino, who has been an opponent of Steen for months, is on commentary. Not that we can hear him but he’s there. Steen talks trash to start as the fans chant NEXT WORLD CHAMP. He immediately tries his package piledriver, which is kind of like a Pedigree but he hooks the legs and lifts Davey up into a piledriver instead of dropping Richards face first. It’s easily countered though as this isn’t WWE, meaning the finishers actually mean something.
They go to the forearms with Steen being the huge crowd favorite. Richards clotheslines him out to the floor and hits a nice suicide dive to take Steen down again. They head back inside but a distraction by Jacobs allows Steen to DDT Richards as he comes back inside. Steen takes it right back to the floor and sends Davey into the barricade a few times. Richards gets crotched against the post as the referee is considering throwing this out.
Steen takes him back to the apron but gets caught in a t-bone suplex onto the apron. Once that gets two inside, Richards starts firing off the kicks. You knew he couldn’t resist them much longer than that. Now it’s off to a modified version of Konnan’s Tequlia Sunrise, which is a kneeling half crab with Steen’s arm trapped at the same time. Now it’s off to a freaky Figure Four variation with Steen on his face and Richards on his back. More kicks by the champion cause the fans to chant that this is the same stuff he’s always used.
An enziguri knocks Steen out to the floor but he pulls Richards down with him so he can powerbomb Davey onto the apron. It works so well that Steen does it again before throwing Davey back inside. A cannonball roll into the corner gets two for Steen but he’s holding his leg. It slows Steen down as he goes up top, allowing Richards to crotch him. Steen bites Richards to the mat and tries a Swanton, only to land on knees. A hard lariat gets two for Richards and he’s getting frustrated. The fans telling Richards that he can’t beat Steen isn’t helping his self esteem either.
Steen comes back with a superkick (the most popular move in ROH) and a clothesline to put both guys down again. Back up and it’s time for more forearms with Richards taking over, only to be caught in a kind of a Death Valley Driver for two. The Package Piledriver is escaped again so Steen rakes the eyes. Richards goes back to the knee but gets caught in a powerbomb and the Sharpshooter. Davey gets to a rope pretty quickly and dropkicks the bad knee out from under Kevin.
There’s a dragon screw leg whip and Davey wraps the bad leg up in the ropes for a double stomp to the chest. Another double stomp gets two and it’s off to the ankle lock, which is the move that Richards uses to prove that he’s a WRESTLER and not a glorified kickboxer. Steen kicks him off but gets caught in a DR Driver (basically a Pedigree Driver) for two. Davey fires off some rapid fire kicks to the head, meaning like 20 of them. They trade HARD shots to the head before Steen snaps off an F5 for two.
A moonsault connects with Davey but it hurts Kevin’s knee and he can’t immediately cover. The delayed cover gets two but Richards is able to escape the package piledriver when the knee gives out again. A hard kick to Steen’s head gets two for the champion and there’s another big one. Steen sits up and catches another spin kick in an ankle lock on Richards. Davey immediately turns it over and puts on an ankle lock of his own with a grapevine.
Kevin twists and turns enough to be able to turn it into a Sharpshooter of all things but Richards counters into the ankle lock again. Steen crawls over to the corner and pulls the buckle off as Davey pulls him back. Richards screws himself over though as Steen rolls out of the hold, sending Richards face first into the buckle. The package piledriver hits and Steen is the champion.
Rating: B. This was pretty good although it was clear that Steen was going out with the belt from the minute the bell rang. It’s definitely the best match of the night, although I can’t stand all the kicks to the head. Richards throws them WAY too hard and in a post Benoit world, we just do not need that kind of thing in wrestling or anywhere. I still can’t stand Richards but this was pretty solid stuff.
Post match ROH owner Carey Silkin can’t bring himself to hand Steen the belt. Corino and Jacobs get in the ring and hug Steen in an alleged big shock. If we could have heard Corino talk earlier, it might have been shocking but since I have no idea what he said, this means very little.
Overall Rating: C+. Well, that happened. Those are almost my entire thoughts on this show: it happened. Nothing on here made me want to watch any more ROH from this era or going forward and none of the wrestling blew me away. I still have the same issues I’ve always had with it: the same spots in all the matches (forearms etc), the VERY generic characters (someone explain to me what exactly is different between Strong, Cole and Edwards. They’re the same guys in different attire. Oh and Strong is taller.), and the lack of stories other than in the main event.
The show certainly isn’t bad, but it does absolutely nothing for me as a fan. The production looks like an OVW TV episode, which isn’t terrible but when this is supposed to be the third biggest company in the country, I expect to see more than I get from a minor league company that reaches maybe three million people. It’s ROH at the end of the day, which means some people are fanatical about it, but I really don’t get the mass appeal here.
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Ring of Honor – December 3, 2011 – My Last ROH Review
Ring of Honor
Date: December 3, 2011
Location: Davis Arena, Louisville, Kentucky
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Nigel McGuinness
A few weeks ago I saw a graphic on my screen that said that due to a local contract dispute, I might lose the channel that airs ROH. If that happens, I’m done. I know that’s not something I often say, but in this case it’s all I can say. There’s just nothing on ROH that makes me want to keep watching it. From the total lack of psychology to the lack of character development to Davey Richards reaching levels of uninterest I didn’t think existed, I’m probably done with this after Final Battle. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of the TV Title situation last week. I still don’t see why Generico is supposed to be part of the title picture but that’s wrestling for you.
The main event is a tag match of course. You do have to give them this: they’re pushing the tag teams like no one else.
Tommaso Ciampa says he’s dominant and awesome. He’s undefeated at this point.
Shiloh Jonze vs. Tommaso Ciampa
Yes it’s spelled that way. Even the announcers admit this is going to be domination. Jonze takes a beating to start but gets in a few punches. Jonze hits a top rope forearm and that’s about it for his comeback attempt. Ciampa hits five running knees in the corner to the head of Jonze so that Project Ciampa can end it at 4:02.
Rating: D. Total squash here and not even a decent one. Ciampa is dominant and a monster, but since we only see him once a month or so, that doesn’t really show us much of him. That’s another issue this show has: people only get to show up once a month other than a handful of guys and that makes it hard to remember who is who.
The Briscoes complain about what happened last week where they were chased into the streets.
The All Night Express says they’re still awesome and that they’ll prove it next week against the champions. It’ll be a proving ground match. Shouldn’t we hear from the champs here? No? Ok then.
Time for the big angle with Steen and Cornette. Cornette insults Steen’s lawyer and then tells Steen that he’s awesome. He says Steen is awesome and wins matches but there’s one problem: he’s crazy. He’s also too whiny (this is Jim Cornette saying this remember) because he always has all these issues. Steen takes all that as a compliment and calls Cornette a hypocrite. He says Cornette hates him because he became a star without Cornette. Steen also runs down Richards again which sounds like a big match they’re planning.
Corino is there too and he’ll make the official offer to Steen. Corino says he caused all this and that he created this monster inside Steen. After Final Battle last year, Corino decided he had to change. Steen’s future is him though, but Corino is cut off before he gets to explain that. Steen goes on a rant against Corino and Jimmy Jacobs (he helped Corino rehabilitate), talking about how they’re as weak as Cornette now.
Corino makes the offer that they have a match at Final Battle. If Steen wins, he’s back in ROH but if Corino wins, he’s gone forever. This will be the old and evil Corino though, for one last time. Jacobs will be the referee according to Cornette and Steen is happy with everything. Steen says it’ll be his Ring of Honor and spits at Corino, prompting a big brawl to end the segment.
Time for Inside ROH.
The TV Title match will now be a triple threat at Final Battle. Bennett almost has to win the title now.
And of course we have to talk about Dan Severn because this is an MMA show in disguise. Edwards says he’ll be ready to beat Richards again. He says he needs to step out of the shadow of Richards again. See right there, that’s ALL you need to say to build this up. Why in the world do we need Severn and the training videos and all that nonsense?
Richards says Severn is a great trainer so Edwards is going to be all awesome and stuff. Also, the whole Severn aspect is out of nowhere as Martini has been in this whole thing since the beginning, but we can’t have Edwards team up with him because that would make too much sense. We need Dan Severn, who is far more famous in MMA than wrestling right?
Strong continues to prove why he should never talk, ranting about how he should be in the main event.
The Blossom Twins, an ROH female tag team of British twins, shill merchandise.
The Young Bucks say they’re awesome already and don’t need to respect anyone. They want to know where their respect is. They make fun of old guys including Booker T because those guys can’t hang with them.
Young Bucks vs. Futureshock
Futureshock is Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly. Ok so their names are Matt and Nick. Got it. We’ll say that’s Nick vs. Cole to start us up. They fly around a lot and then O’Reilly has to get in his strikes because he’s part of Team Richards. We finally get down to O’Reilly vs. Matt but the Bucks cheat to take over. We take a break and come back with the Bucks beating down O’Reilly even more.
Nick goes up but a top rope splash hits knees. Hot tag brings in Cole who hits a double dropkick to take over. He easily fights off both Bucks, including a sweet wheelbarrow suplex to Nick to send him back first into the barricade. Top rope cross body gets two on Matt. O’Reilly hits his rolling butterfly suplexes and Futureshock takes over. The Bucks avoid the finishing sequence and hit a bunch of kicks, including a double superkick for two on Cole.
Futureshock avoids More Bang For Your Buck and hits an overly complicated finishing sequence into a guillotine choke by Kyle. Nick comes in and punches and kicks him in the head a bunch which doesn’t break it. Does he think he’s Meng or something? He puts it back on but Matt still won’t tap. Nick hits a slingshot Edge-O-Matic to break it up and now More Bang For Your Buck hits for pin at 13:18.
Rating: C. Pretty fun match here but the no selling at the end reminded me of what I can’t stand about ROH. The tag division here really is the best as far as getting focus. I don’t know if I’d say it’s the best, but at least here you constantly get to see it week in and week out, which for tag fans is a nice change of pace.
Overall Rating: C-. This was one of their better shows in awhile, but that’s probably because people like the world champion weren’t on it. This interminable build to Final Battle is killing me and it’s going to wind up being a show like I can’t stand which is what most ROH megashows are to me. Not a bad TV show, but pretty weak overall.
With this, I’m done. I’m sorry but I do not like ROH enough to keep watching it and reviewing it. I don’t like the style, the production bores me to death, the storylines do nothing for me at all, and in short I don’t like it. I’ve said for years that I’ll stop doing these when they stop being fun for me and I’ve reached that point. I might take another look at this in the future, but for now I’m done.
Results
Tommaso Ciampa b. Shiloh Jonze – Project Ciampa
Young Bucks b. Futureshock – More Bang For Your Buck to O’Reilly
Ring of Honor – November 26, 2011 – Dan Severn In 2011. I’m Overjoyed
Ring of Honor
Date: November 26, 2011
Location: Davis Arena, Louisville, Kentucky
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Nigel McGuinness
We close out November with this one and to be honest I can’t say I care in the slightest. Unless things pick WAY up next month, I think I’m dropping this at the end of the year. There’s no enjoyment for me about it at all and I don’t see this show getting any better anytime soon. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of last week’s strike fest which drove me crazy. Literally in the whole package there’s nothing in the form of a hold fro the champion other than the ankle lock which goes against the entire psychology he’s going with. I can’t stand Richards as champion. I really can’t.
The Briscoes talk about Haas/Benjamin and the All Night Express, who they say they’ll take out to get the titles back at Final Battle. They’re going to take out Coleman and Alexander tonight.
Coleman and Alexander say they’re not people just to be run over.
Caprice Coleman/Cedric Alexander vs. Briscoe Brothers
The idea is that Haas/Benjamin took 13 minutes to beat Coleman/Alexander and the Briscoes say they can do it faster. I still have no idea if the Briscoes are faces or heels, or how to spell their names for that matter. Jay Briscoe vs. Alexander starts us off. We’re told about ROH on Twitter and using the hashtag WatchROH. What a third rate promotion. Instead of saying random catchphrases, they’re telling people to watch their show. What lunkheads.
The not-famous team starts off hot, sending the Briscoes to the floor and hitting stereo dives. The Briscoes are in trouble here until they realize they’re the most famous tag team ever in the company….and there goes the referee. Here are Haas/Benjamin with chairs and the it’s thrown out at about 3:20. A lot of that was the chase out of the ring so I’m not going to bother rating it. This was just filler until we got to the run-in.
Michael Elgin vs. Raphael Constantine/Sean Casey
The jobbers are from ROH. Truth Martini is on commentary. And now he’s off after saying he’s going after Eddie Edwards instead of Richards. I have no idea what you’re expecting to see here. It’s an exhibition by Elgin to dominate people who have nothing to do with the product and company for the most part. He no sells everything and gets Casey on his own. Ok now this is going too long as they’re kicking out of stuff. Elgin tries a backdrop on Constantine but drops him on his head. Then he picks them both up at the same time for a double Alabama Slam, pinning both at 5:03. Ok the finisher was cool.
Rating: D. Whatever here man. See, there’s a way to do a squash and this wasn’t it. Elgin looked like he wasn’t sharp and want’s ready to do what he was doing in there, which is the last thing you want out of a squash. Ok the last thing you probably want is death but whatever. Not much to see here, but that double Slam was cool.
Cornette thinks he’s ready to offer Kevin Steen a settlement. Next week he wants Steen, Jimmy Jacobs, the attorney and Steve Corino in the ring where he’ll make the offer.
Inside ROH is a video on Dan Severn, who is an MMA master and a UFC Hall of Famer, because wrestling fans want to see MMA right? Edwards says this was a secret but it wasn’t stolen from Davey. Davey went to Japan and that’s not Edwards’ fault. Severn talks forever and we talk about Best in the World for the 19th time this week.
Now Roderick Strong runs his mouth a bit because that’s what Roderick Strong does anymore.
TV Title: El Generico vs. Jay Lethal
This is a rematch from when Lethal won the title on I think the first episode. Bennett and Evans come out to watch the match. They exchange feeling out process stuff to start and fly around the ring a little bit. Generico is faster here but not by much. Generico takes over and hits what we would call Starship Pain for two. He gets sent to the floor and misses a moonsault off the barricade, allowing Lethal to pop him with a superkick as we take a break.
Back with lethal hooking a hold which is similar to a surfboard. The camera was on Bennett and Evans so it’s not like we got to see it or anything. There’s nothing to talk about here. Lethal does some stuff, Generico does some stuff. Generico hits a Mafia kick in the corner and we have about three minutes to go, which is accurate for once.
Lethal hits a handspring ala Tajiri into a cutter. Bennett picks up the TV Title belt and puts it on which doesn’t seem to mean much. They speed things way up and Lethal is knocked to the floor. Bennett taunts him and we finally get a brawl between them. Lethal drills him and takes Generico down back in the ring. He loads up the top rope elbow but Bennett gets the referee and it’s a time limit draw at 15:00.
Rating: C+. Yeah it’s fun but most importantly, THERE’S A FREAKING STORY TO THE MATCH!!! My goodness that’s nice to see. Bennett stealing the belt is an old idea but it’s still something that can work. Also they actually sold some shots in this, which is more than I can say for guys like Richards. Decent match, but I’d like to see some actual pins with this title on the line. It makes Lethal look weak that he can’t beat anyone clean.
Generico hits a big dive to all three of them and we’re told the title picture is now a three way race. You mean we’re including a guy that got beat and then was beaten again here but didn’t get pinned because the referee was distracted? Why is he involved in it?
Overall Rating: D+. It wasn’t the worst show they’ve ever had, but this isn’t going to be on my watch list for much longer. There’s nothing here and I don’t see why anyone would want to watch it. Richards vs. Edwards is boring me to tears as it’s all about who can strike the most and stealing a trainer. Instead of having Edwards turn heel and get a heel trainer, which would be interesting, they bring out Dan Severn because he’s an MMA guy and this is an MMA company, at least in the main event. Nothing to see here.
Results
Briscoe Brothers vs. Caprice Coleman/Cedric Alexander went to a no contest
Michael Elgin b. Raphael Constantine/Sean Casey – Double Alabama Slam
El Generico vs. Jay Lethal went to a time limit draw
Ring Of Honor – November 19, 2011 – Dan Severn Is Back? Seriously?
Ring of Honor
Date: November 19, 2011
Location: Davis Arena, Louisville, Kentucky
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Kevin Kelly
We’re at the first show of the third taping set with the road to Final Battle being pretty clear now. Last week saw Edwards busting out some new tricks to use on Richards which Richards hasn’t seen before. That should make for a pretty interesting big show match but as for TV, Richards is killing me. Let’s get to it.
On the opening recap video, there was a message from the station saying that on 1/1/12, this channel may no longer be available. It’s not for sure but it’s possible I guess.
The main event is Richards vs. O’Reilly in a Team Richards showdown. Oh freaking great.
Mike Mondo says he doesn’t know his own strength.
Mike Mondo vs. Alex Silva
Silva recently won his second OVW TV Title. To be fair he lost it like 9 days later but he did win it so points for that. We’re told that we’re going to find out who Edwards’ trainer is going to be later tonight. They chop it out and do a ridiculous leg lock thing where their legs are tied together and stand on their heads to chop each other. They head to the floor where Mondo hits a big dive.
Edwards’ trainer is Dan Severn. For you people that are saying “who is Dan Severn?” that would be because he never meant anything in mainstream wrestling but was a big deal in the very early days of UFC. Why he was picked is beyond me, but I’m sure it’ll be declared AWESOME. They slug it out and Silva grabs a spinebuster for two. Mondo grabs an armlock but Silva grabs a rope. A second spinebuster is countered into a facejam. A double arm DDT gets the pin for Mondo at 5:00.
Rating: C-. It was better than Mondo’s first match. Silva is only 20 so it’s not like this is going to be his last match. Mondo….I’m just not a fan of the whole Crash Holly “I’m big” thing he’s got going on. He isn’t that good and it shows really badly for him at times. Not a horrible match, but it would have been better served as a dark match.
Cornette says he doesn’t have an official response for Steen yet but on a personal level he says that he’s innocent and will officially respond next week.
Lethal vs. Generico next week for the TV Title.
Lethal says whatever Mike Bennett is up to, it’s not going to work. Bennett had his shot at more time but ran, so Generico gets the next shot.
Jamin Olivencia vs. Mike Bennett
Bennett says this is a TV Title match despite a lack of a title for Bennett. A spinebuster puts Jamin down and Bennett is barely breaking a sweat here. Off to a chinlock as Olivencia is the hometown boy. He’s an upper midcard face in OVW if I didn’t mention that. A running knee by Jamin sets up his comeback and a clothesline gets two. Jamin jumps into a boot but grabs a rollup for two. A sitout Rock Bottom (Box Office Smash) ends Olivencia at 3:34.
Rating: C. Just a squash here which is fine for something like this. Three matches per show is far better than the usual two that they have so I’ll give them points for that. Not a great match at all or even a good one, but it’s hard to grade squashes as there’s just nothing to talk about for the most part.
The reveal of Edwards’ trainer was on Edwards’ Twitter. Richards is mad about it being Severn because Edwards stole it from Richards or something.
We talk about the All Night Express for no apparent reason.
The Briscoes want Coleman and Alexander to show that they’re better than the tag champions and that challenge is accepted.
Kyle O’Reilly vs. Davey Richards
This is getting like 20 minutes isn’t it? Davey says the fans are here for American Strong Style, which is ROH style. Great. Truth Martini is on commentary for no explained reason. They trade kicks and strikes as the kickboxing and martial arts begin. Richards takes him down but there’s no malice here. They both hit dropkicks to give us a stalemate. They hit the mat for leg locks which goes nowhere.
Richards kicks him in the face so they slug it out a bit more aggressively here. Now we talk about Edwards stealing Severn as a training partner. Martini talks about how Edwards is lost and he could give Edwards the guidance he needs. O’Reilly throws on rolling butterfly supelexes and off to a cross armbreaker. They slug it out and Richards kicks him down. A running kick to the face of O’Reilly gets two as we take a break.
Back with O’Reilly getting two and we slug it out even more. The champ takes him down with a clothesline but here are more strikes and kicks. Richards says bring it on so they slap each other a lot. A running knee to the chest gets two for Kyle. A leg trap suplex gets the same and Kyle goes up, only to get knocked to the floor. Richards misses a kick and hits the post by mistake, letting O’Reilly hit a running dropkick off the apron. Missile dropkick gets two and it’s off to a guillotine choke.
Richards rolls into an ankle lock which is reversed into a tornado DDT and back into the choke. Off to a standing version of said choke and Richards grabs the ankle. Kyle rolls through into one of his own but Richards rolls through into one of his own and the other member of Team Richards throws in the towel at 16:30.
Rating: C. The kicks are still annoying. Richards shrugged off the kick to the post and the ankle lock came out of nowhere, which isn’t a good thing because it all the kicks go completely against the style the match had so far. But hey, they kicked and struck a lot so the match had to be good right? Not a fan of Richards and this style at all.
Richards beats up Martini post match.
Overall Rating: C. The three matches helped a lot but at the same time….I just don’t care about most of these feuds. Honestly if I lose ROH TV soon after this I’m not going to care in the slightest. These stories aren’t interesting me at all and the matches are nothing special to see either. I don’t get all the hype this company gets, because this show has been weak since day one.
Results
Mike Mondo b. Alex Silva – Double Arm DDT
Mike Bennett b. Jamin Olivencia – Box Office Smash
Davey Richards b. Kyle O’Reilly via corner stoppage
Ring Of Honor – November 12, 2011 – Just Call It Martial Arts Already
Ring of Honor
Date: November 12, 2011
Location: Davis Arena, Louisville, Kentucky
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Nigel McGuiness
It’s the final final week of the tapings from the first batch of Louisville shows. They’ve taped five more weeks so they have a lot more material ready. The main event tonight is the House of Truth vs. the American Wolves so we have some stories going on here. There isn’t much else to say here so let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of last week’s tag team stuff where it’s really hard to tell if the Briscos are faces or heels. I know they’re supposed to be heels but it’s really not clear.
Bravado Brothers vs. Young Bucks
The Bravado Brothers are controversial don’t you know. If you don’t know, Kelly will tell you. Their names are Lancelot and Harlem. Ok then. The Bucks are Generation Me and we get a reference to them being “disrespected” by Booker T at the WWF taping. The Bravados look a bit flamboyant which you should get the meaning of in wrestling speak. Harlem vs. Nick to start us off with Harlem hammering away.
The Bucks take over with their arm work but the problem comes down to the same thing I believe Lance Storm says: they look like they’d be better suited to date a 15 year old than to beat up grown men. The Bucks clear the ring and at least have better looking attire than what they had in TNA. Lancelot takes over with an axe kick and a blue thunder bomb for two on Matt.
There’s a bicycle kick as I’m pretty much just guessing which of these guys is which. Harlem (thank you Kevin) hits a big flip die to take out both of the Bucks, getting two on Jeremy (I can’t remember their ROH names or their TNA names. Does it really matter?). A double team move gets two on let’s say Nick. The Bravados are Native Americans so we hear about great Native American wrestlers like Jack Brisco and Wahoo McDaniel and Tatanka. Kelly: “Don’t laugh!”
Nick does his speed dives and the Bucks take over. They hit More Bang For Your Buck (rolling fireman’s carry slam followed by a 450 followed by a moonsault) for the pin on Harlem at 6:10. The finishing sequence is cool but I still have no idea what their names are, which probably isn’t a good thing.
Rating: C. Fun match but ROH has no right to EVER complain about WWE guys having cookie cutter personalities. These guys all look alike and I have no idea what their names are, nor do I have and desire to learn. This being pretty short with the right idea as it kept the high spots in the right span of time and the match was fine for what it was.
The tag champs say they’ll beat the Briscos. Here’s the All Night Express who says they’ve been forgotten about. I think that’s because the Briscos beat them in back to back matches. Kenny calls the WGTT a couple of ducks. Never let him near a mic again. Please. Titus says nothing of note. What in the world was the point of this segment?
Time for Inside ROH to waste more time. This time it’s about Kevin Steen, whom we’ve needed an explanation about for awhile now. We see him turning on his partner El Generico and how Steve Corino was the one pulling his strings. They feuded a bunch of times and had a career vs. mask match where Generico beat him.
Since a contract means nothing in wrestling, Steen wants to come back now. Corino realized the error of his ways and tried to mentor people. Steen came to a show (Best in the World, which I think we’ve seen in its entirety given how much they’ve shown from it) to apologize. And of course he beat up everyone in the ring at the time, namely Corino. Steen tried to beat up the owner at some show but is now threatening to sue Cornette. The whole contract thing really does mean nothing in wrestling does it?
More talking as Lethal says Mike Bennett needs to stop saying he beat Lethal.
Steve Corino says there’s a monster in the form of Kevin Steen and Corino just needs five minutes of Cornette’s time.
Video on Roderick Strong vs. Kyle O’Reilly from a few weeks ago as this feud takes forever to get anywhere.
Michael Elgin/Roderick Strong vs. American Wolves
Here’s ANOTHER break before the match. It’s a brawl to start as we have a ton of time on this show. That’s just what I want: a long Davey Richards match. Richards is sent to the floor and I think we’re starting with elgin vs. Edwards. Richards goes up and hits a missile dropkick for two. Off to the champ and it’s time for strikes! Off to Elgin as McGuiness admits that Richards isn’t much of a draw.
Edwards gets beaten down for awhile but it’s off to Richards who kicks more. Would a headlock be too much to ask for? A Tajiri Elbow is countered into Abyss’ Shock Treatment backbreaker for two. Off to Elgin and Richards shrugs off a bunch of chops and punches. Strong hits a dropkick to take over and it’s back to Elgin. Richards sends both guys to the floor and it’s a blind tag to Edwards. Here are stereo dives to take the heels out as we run down house shows.
Back in and Eddie hits a bad enziguri to Strong for two. An over the shoulder Stunner hits and it’s off to a half crab which Edwards calls an Achilles hold for some reason. They fight to the apron and Strong drops him down onto the apron with a belly to back suplex. After a break Elgin is suplexing Edwards. Powerslam gets two. Edwards gets a double knee smash to both guys and it’s off to Richards.
RICHARDS USES SOMETHING OTHER THAN A STRIKE!!! I need my medicine! Kelly puts over ROH as the real wrestling company as Richards rolls through to an ankle lock because that’s his finishing move even if it makes no sense from a psychology perspective. A German gets two on Elgin. The Wolves go up but both miss and a sidewalk slam gets two for Elgin.
Edwards is down from being shoved off the top and the idiot fans say this is awesome. Elgin picks up both Wolves at once and slams them down to put all four guys down. They slug it out (of course) and the ROH fans all drool over how stupid these strikes are. The Wolves hit a pair of double stomps off the top for two on Elgin. An ankle lock doesn’t beat Elgin again and we miss whatever big move Elgin hits as the camera was on Edwards and Strong. Martini tries to cheat as Elgin has Richards pinned. The same thing happens while Edwards chokes Elgin out. Richards gets the pin at 18:08.
Rating: C-. I know I’ve said this a million times, but I can’t stand Richards and this striking style that is all he knows how to do. This was nearly a 20 minute match and the world champion used a total of 3 moves that weren’t strikes of some kind. Are you kidding me? This guy is supposed to be the best in the world? If I wanted to watch striking, I’d watch a karate fight. There’s a lot more to wrestling than striking, but ROH and Edwards in particular can’t comprehend that.
Overall Rating: D. This was one of the worst put together TV shows I’ve seen in a very long time. I mean, what were they thinking when they put this together? ROH needs to get it through their heads that they have an hour a week and that you can’t have these twenty minute matches and 15 minute talking segments every show. It’s a bad used of your TV time as you could easily fit another match in there instead. But hey, we got STRIKES right?
Results
Young Bucks b. Bravado Brothers – More Bang For Your Buck to Harlem
American Wolves b. Michael Elgin/Roderick Strong – Richards pinned Elgin after a dragon sleeper
Ring of Honor
Date: November 5, 2011
Location: Davis Arena, Louisville, Kentucky
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Kevin Kelly
This is week what, 8? I’m not sure what to expect from this one but it’s probably going to be more of the build to Final Battle. If nothing else that show is going to be very well established when we get there. Expect more of Richards vs. House of Truth which would be great to have in a Survivor Series/Team match. Anyway let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of last week’s main event where Strong beat O’Reilly.
The main event tonight Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team vs. a new team.
Here’s Cornette to make an important announcement. Final Battle is the show of the year so the world title match is going to be Richards defending against………..Eddie Edwards. Yeah no one else is surprised about this as Edwards is Richards’ partner and the guy he beat for the title in the first place. Edwards says it’ll be Edwards vs. Richards III (Edwards beat Richards in the final of a tournament for the first ROH TV Title.
The camera shots are way too close here at times. Edwards talks about all the training that Richards does. Edwards says he has a new trainer but won’t say who it is right now. Could this be a heel turn? Cue Richards who is really short. He says they’re going to do this one more time for this belt right here which means something, unlike most others. It’s wolf vs. wolf and it’s on in New York.
One more thing before Richards leaves though. Regarding the House of Truth, next week how about we have the American Wolves vs. the House of Truth? Edwards says it’s on, but remember that when the fans are chanting next world champ at them, they mean Edwards, because he’s going to win at Final Battle.
Here’s a video on Edwards and his road to Final Battle which included beating Michael Elgin a few weeks ago.
Truth Martini and Elgin say that only what Martini says matters. Elgin apparently caused his brother to be badly injured by not taking keys from him. And he hurt his father before he died. I guess this is more of Martini’s brainwashing.
Elgin’s dinner for tonight says nothing of note.
Shiloh Jonze vs. Michael Elgin
Jonze (yes that’s how it’s spelled) is an OVW guy. Elgin won’t shake hands. He’s a big power guy who hammers Jonze down in the corner with ease. Jonze gets a boot up in the corner but a tornado DDT is easily countered into a powerslam. Jonze tries some clotheslines and a sunset flip but the latter is countered. The counter however is avoided and Jonze goes up for a top rope punch, getting two. There’s a buckle bomb and a helicopter bomb ends the torture at 3:45.
Rating: C-. I don’t know what to say about squashes and this was a very squashy one. I guess this was to let Elgin get back in the good graces after the loss to the bigger star in Edwards. Nothing boring here and it did the right job as a squash. Still though, not much to see and when you have two matches on the show, one being under four minutes isn’t a good idea.
We talk about ROH banning Kevin Steen. There’s a video from attorney Christopher Mascagni (midcard heel manager in OVW) who is representing Kevin Steen. There’s a lawsuit against Steen which says Cornette cost him his career or something. Cornette has four weeks to fix this. Steen says that he should beat up Cornette and he won’t go away. He has things to do when he comes back and will do whatever it takes, including beating Davey Richards if need be, which only he can do. Then Cornette will admit Steen belongs in ROH.
Mike Bennett says he won the TV Title match so he didn’t bother going into overtime. The referee says he had no intention in ending the match. Lethal says he injured himself instead of Bennett doing the damage. I’d like to point out that we’re almost 35 minutes into a 60 minute show and we’ve had less than four minutes of in ring time.
Video on the tag match last week where the Briscoes beat the All Night Express.
We discuss the Proving Ground. The idea is any credible opponent can apply for a match with a champion. Once approved, they get a match with a set time limit which is non-title. If they win or go to a time limit draw, they get a title shot in 60 days.
Caprice Coleman/Cedric Alexander vs. Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team
This is one of those Proving Ground matches. There’s a 15 minute time limit here. Alexander has the blonde mowhawk. Got it. Coleman vs. Benjamin starts us off. Benjamin works on the arm to start and Coleman can’t get anything going. He’s trying though so give him some points for that. Coleman manages to send him to the corner and gets a surprised look from Shelton.
Off to Haas vs. Alexander who is a bit more physical than his partner. Benjamin gets a blind tag in and kicks Alexander down for two. The champs have never really been in trouble at all. Haas works over the knee as we take a break. Back with Alexander fighting out of something by Benjamin but Shelton kicks him down with ease. Haas works on a leg lock but eventually walks into a bad tornado DDT.
We’re over ten minutes in now if this is in real time. Double tag brings in Coleman and Benjamin who is taken down by a leg lariat for two. We have less than four minutes according to Kelly. The non-champions speed things up and hit a double dropkick to send Haas into the barricade. Three minutes left. Their clock is about 10 seconds off but it’s close enough. There’s a double powerbomb to Coleman and we’re done at 12:55.
Rating: C. Uh…so? The champions beat the newcomers with their finishing move. Is this supposed to be surprising in a way or something? If Coleman and Alexander were worth something they would be on the roster already. Not a bad match or anything but it’s not like anything changes now or in the future. I don’t mean it hurt anything but it didn’t change things at all.
Post match here are the Briscoes. They say they’re awesome and will take the titles in New York.
Overall Rating: D+. This was one of the least interesting shows on the entire series so far. Everything was designed to set up future shows and we only had two squashes (for the most part) in the whole show. Not much to see here and they really need to work on their pacing some more. I wasn’t liking this show and after two months, that’s not good.
Results
Michael Elgin b. Shiloh Jonze – Helicopter Powerbomb
Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team b. Caprice Coleman/Cedric Alexander – Wrestling’s Greatest Finisher to Coleman
Ring of Honor – October 29, 2011 – Every Bowler’s Favorite Wrestling Show
Ring of Honor
Date: October 29, 2011
Location: Davis Arena, Louisville, Kentucky
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Kevin Kelly
After last week we can actually see some angles starting to come together. This is I think the sixth episode for this show and it’s about time that it turned into a regular show. Their pacing is still pretty bad but from what I can find that is going to start changing on this show in that there are actually three matches for this episode. Let’s get to it.
Ok so it’s Saturday afternoon and I turn on Ring of Honor…..and it’s the same episode from last week. I mean Mondo vs. Perkins and the TV Title match tonight. The show re-airs on Sunday night so I’ll see if that’s the new one. Until then I’ll try to find a copy of it.
Ok so now it’s Sunday night and we have the actual show. Good to see.
We open with a recap of last week’s TV Title match which ended in a draw.
Kyle O’Reilly says he’s good. Roderick Strong says he isn’t worried about O’Reilly because he’s a punk kid.
Kyle O’Reilly vs. Roderick Strong
Truth Martini sits in on commentary. They start with technical stuff as Martini talks about Strong’s open challenge for Final Battle. They hit the mat and neither guy can take over that well. Both guys avoid strikes and the fans applaud the stalemate. These guys look a lot alike. Time for strikes because this is a Ring of Honor match. Northern lights suplex gets two for Kyle.
Strong goes to his bread and butter in the form of a backbreaker (half nelson variety here) for two. We take a break and come back with Kyle chopping Roderick but getting caught in a waistlock. Martini is off commentary now. More strikes from O’Reilly including a missile dropkick for two. Butterfly suplex is countered as is a backbreaker. O’Reilly hits rolling butterfly suplexes for two.
Roderick takes him off the top and pounds him down with ease. A modified sitout powerbomb gets two. Strong tries a few moves but Kyle counters off of there. Here are some more strikes for his troubles and a fireman’s carry into a spinebuster gets two. Strong Hold (Boston Crab) doesn’t work because Strong is a heel. A half nelson is countered into a crucifix for two. O’Reilly hooks on a guillotine choke but Rodderick rolls forward for two. A running kick (gee, another strike!) ends this for Strong at 12:28.
Rating: C. I get the appeal of it, but man those strikes get annoying fast. I mean, DO SOMETHING ELSE!!! Why is that such a difficult request to fulfill? I don’t like Richards’ style at all and Kyle is part of Team Richards or whatever it is. They try to do almost MMA matches out there and it doesn’t make for entertaining wrestling other than in the eyes of people that think doing a lot of strikes and such make for good matches.
Post match more House of Truth people and Richards come out with Richards being beaten down. Eddie Edwards comes out for the final save. I think I smell a tag match.
After the break, Cornette says that every member of the House of Truth is being fined $2500. Some fans want Kevin Steen back and let’s put the cameras on them. Cornette says Steen has too many mental problems so there won’t be any Steen back. If Steen doesn’t like that, sue him.
Either Lethal or Edwards will get the world title match at Final Battle. Gee, I wonder if it’ll be a guy that has nothing to do with Richards or his former partner that he beat for the belt in the first place. Both guys say they should get the shot.
We also hear about Proving Ground matches. The idea is that they’re non-title, but if you can beat them or get to a time limit draw, you get a title match within 90 days. Logical. A new tag team has such a match next week and they say nothing of note.
Alex Silva vs. Tomasso Ciampa
Steve Corino sits in on commentary. His first line: “My name is Steve Corino and I’m an evil http://onhealthy.net/product-category/cholesterol/ person.” He’s trying to reform his evil ways which could set up a sweet heel turn later on if need be. Silva is an OVW guy who likes to kick a lot. Oh ok so that makes sense now. Ciampa spits at a handshake attempt and hits a jumping kick to take over early on. They go to the floor and let the pain begin.
Silva takes a suplex on the floor and it’s off to a chinlock in the ring. They kick it out a bit as Corino offers to be a mentor to Ciampa. A neckbreaker puts Silva down and there’s a running knee to the face. Make that two knees. Ok three. I think you get the idea here. Silva’s face would seem to say…”THAT REALLY FREAKING HURT!” A powerbomb onto double knees (Project Ciampa) ends this at 4:00.
Rating: C. Total squash here but Ciampa is a pretty decent power guy. He needs to have an actual feud though which is one of the problems with the way they air ROH. With only an hour a week, having the multiple ten minute matches is becoming a big problem. I do however really like them fitting in a quick match like this to showcase someone else other than just two teams/acts a show.
All Night Express vs. Briscoe Brothers
Main event here and the winners get Haas/Benjamin at Final Battle. It’s a brawl on the floor to start as they don’t wait for the intros. I think that’s Jay vs. Kenny to start but it’s off to Titus quickly. The Express takes over to start with the quick tags. A big clothesline gets two for King. The Briscoes take over and pound away as we go to a break. Back with King in trouble but hitting an enziguri to put Mark down.
The fans are totally behind the Briscoes here which isn’t the idea but who cares about that? They know what wrestling is right? Anyway Jay runs in as we hear about how good Titus is in bed. Why does McGuinness know that? Next week we find out who gets the shot at Richards. Backslide gets two for King. There’s the hot tag to Titus and they beat on Jay for a bit, including a dropkick for two.
The fans still chant for the Briscoes as we’re really running out of time here. Jay counters King but can’t hit his finisher (Jay Driller). Mark takes out Rhett and a spinebuster puts down King with a spinebuster. Rhett and Jay go up but Jay is dropped into a snake eyes. Mark goes off on Titus and botches a springboard cutter to put Titus down.
King hits a springboard Blockbuster but walks into a DDT from Jay as all four are down. In a pretty innovative ending, the Express sets for their finisher (Blockbuster/powerbomb combo) but Jay knocks King down and clotheslines his own brother into a rana on Titus for the pin at 12:42. Think about that and it’ll make sense.
Rating: C+. The opening stuff of this (as in before the commercial) was really pedestrian but after that the match got a lot better. They threw out the tagging aspect and the hot tag didn’t have a lot of heat on it, mainly due to the Briscoes being one of those teams that is so over they can’t really be turned heel. Also the fact that they’re athletic and do impressive looking stuff makes it hard to boo them.
Overall Rating: C. Well, they’re getting there. I guess that’s the best way to put it. The show having a third match is a huge step in the right direction and they cut down the lengths of the two featured matches to make them fit into the time frame much better this week. Not a bad show but it’s nothing good either. At least we’re building to something for a change, which is a nice thing to see.
Results
Roderick Strong b. Kyle O’Reilly – Sick Kick
Tomasso Ciampa b. Alex Silva – Project Ciampa
Briscoe Brothers b. All Night Express – Hurricanrana to Titus
I turned on the show and it was last week’s episode. I’ll track down this week’s episode but for now, there won’t be one because there’s no new episode airing here.
Ring Of Honor – October 22, 2011 – Best Show So Far
Ring of Honor
Date: October 21, 2011
Location: Davis Arena, Louisville, Kentucky
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Nigel McGuinness
We’re into the second batch of tapings here so hopefully they can change up a few things this time. This is OVW’s home base and I believe the third set of tapings will be held here as well. I’m really not wild on this show so far and I haven’t seen many great reviews on it. I think the main event this week is the TV Title being defended. Let’s get to it.
We open with a brief intro from the announcers.
TJ Perkins and Mike Mondo (Mikey from the Spirit Squad) talk about how they’re excited to debut in Ring of Honor, even though Perkins has been around for years.
Mike Mondo vs. TJ Perkins
Mondo is doing the Crash Holly “I’m a giant even though I’m small” thing. They shake hands pre-match and we’re ready to go. Mondo is a roided up mess. They go fast to start until Perkins grabs a Boston Crab but picks Mondo up by the arms to crank on him. We go into the Tree of Woe and Perkins hits a hesitation dropkick to send Mondo to the floor. Mondo takes over again and we enter into the always annoying forearm smash-a-thon.
Out to the floor again and Perkins hits his second suicide dive of the match. Springboard dropkick gets two for TJ. Perkins hooks half of a Figure Four but turns it over into a Scorpion Position. It looked more like a Cloverleaf/Sharpshooter hybrid than the Figure Four Deathlock name they gave it. After a few seconds Mondao remembers to sell the leg but then snaps off a Codebreaker because he was playing possum. Superkick is blocked but the second one hits and Perkins fires off some kicks. They hit the mat for some rollups and La Majistral pins Mondo at 7:15.
Rating: C+. Pretty entertaining cruiserweight style match but Mondo was far less entertaining. Perkins would be fine as a cruiserweight style guy in TNA or WWE with a few more years of practice. Mondo, who has been in WWE and was a tag champion there, was horrible as a lot of the stuff he did made no sense and his offense was boring on top of that.
We get clips of last week with the All Night Express vs. the Briscoes and the announcement that neither is the #1 contender.
Here are the Briscoes to talk to Cornette. Next week there’s another match between the two teams and the winners get the match at Final Battle which is the last show of the year. The Briscoes go insane and rant and rave as they’re known to do. They shout Man Up and beat on each other a bit before hugging.
We hear from Haas and Benjamin about how they want the Briscoes. So why is the Express even an issue in this?
Truth Martini talks about the Roderick Strong/Eddie Edwards staredown last week. Strong makes an open challenge for Final Battle. Also he’s going to beat up Richards’ friend Kyle O’Reilly next week.
Richards talks about how he knows he can beat Strong and how he’s worked so hard and is so tough and all that jazz.
We get a clip from Lethal winning the title from Generico like a month ago.
TV Title: Jay Lethal vs. Mike Bennett
They fight over a lockup to start and Lethal controls with some dropkicks. Lethal misses a baseball slide and they slug it out on the floor. There are I presume plants in the crowd yelling about Kevin Steen. Bennett takes over as they’re back in the ring at about 12. Oh I forgot to mention that in ROH there’s a 20 count on the floor instead of 10. Lethal puts on a freaky submission hold as he has the legs locked like a Cloverleaf but is behind Bennett instead of sitting on top of him. The freaky part is he leans back like a surfboard. That looked sick although the surfboard part would seem to make the hold weaker.
Bennett’s manager distracts Lethal and Bennett can hit a hot shot and clothesline to take over. Back with lethal running the ropes but getting caught by a corner clothesline and a neckbreaker for two. Powerslam gets two as it’s all Bennett at this point. There’s a 15 minute time limit here and they’re over ten so far. Bennett hooks a front facelock for a bit to kill some time.
Lethal starts his comeback and we have three minutes left. That’s about right actually so I can’t complain there. It’s better than the NWA show I’ve been watching which has times all over the place. Lethal looks to set for the elbow but Bennett gets up so they slug it out a bit. He tries a springboard something but jumps into a spinebuster for two by Bennett with 1:45 to go.
DDT by Lethal hits with a minute to go. He tries a leg lock but gets rolled up for two. Superkick hits and Lethal goes up. The elbow misses at 40 seconds and Bennett pounds away at 30 seconds. This is pretty stupid as he’s wasted 15 seconds with just punches on his arms. Lethal rolls him over and punches away as well until the time runs out at 15:03 (close enough).
Rating: B-. Pretty decent match here but the ending hurt it a lot. Why in the world would Bennett just go insane and start punching until the match was over? He had been fine until then and had Lethal beaten given the missed elbow. I don’t get this but the other 14:30 was solid enough that I can’t complain much.
Lethal wants 5 more minutes but Bennett declines. Ok then.
Overall Rating: C+. Probably their best show so far as we have some actual stories coming up. It would be nice to see these guys wrestling even in squashes rather than just talking about these matches but that’s ROH for you. The main event was pretty good and the rest of it worked pretty well also. Mondo is bad but everyone else was ok. Best show so far I think.
Results
TJ Perkins b. Mike Mondo – Majistral Cradle
Jay Lethal vs. Mike Bennett went to a time limit draw