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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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
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 15, 2011
Location: Frontier Fieldhouse, Chicago Ridge, Illinois
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Nigel McGuinness

It’s week four of this show and I believe the final episode in this batch of TV tapings. After this the show will be out of the Davis Arena in Louisville for a few weeks which is the home arena of OVW. I’m curious to see how they change things at the next batch of tapings but we have to go through with the original here still. Let’s get to it.

We open with a highlight package of last week’s world title match.

Here’s another video because this is a highlight show right? It’s about the Briscoes and how awesome they are and how much better they are than the All Night Express.

The All Night Express talk about how they’ve fought the Briscoes time after time and get closer to beating them every time.

Briscoe Brothers vs. All Night Express

This is for the #1 contendership. I have no idea which Briscoe is which but it’s Jay according to the announcers. Kenny King and Rhett Titus are the Express. King is the guy from Tough Enough 2. Kenny is sent to the floor quickly and it’s double beatdown time until Titus runs over for the save. This is a big feud with a bunch of hard hitting matches in it. Off to Titus who is getting double teamed now.

We’re into the heat segment here I guess as Titus gets beaten down for awhile. The Tweet of the Week talks about how this is wrestling, not sports entertainment. They head up to the corner where Titus is set for a superplex. He manages to counter into a Snake Eyes onto the buckle and it’s double hot tag. King cleans house with some decent flipping style moves. The Express hits a double team plancha, sending Titus over the top to take out the Briscoes.

A spinebuster by King sets up a double kneedrop off the top for two. A Briscoe hits a falcon arrow on King and the other hits a frog elbow for two. Titus and Mark fight over the announce table as Kenny gets kicked low and a small package by Jay is enough for the pin at 8:07.

Rating: C+. Decent match here but with the weeks of buildup I was expecting a little more than an eight minute match. The match was decent and the Briscoes are flashy enough to have something good going on, but their promos and gimmick gets annoying fast. Not bad here and a pretty entertaining match, but it needed more drama.

Post match the referee asks if Jay kicked him low and he says no. Titus gets up and is beaten down again as we go to a break.

After a break we establish that yes indeed, the clear low blow earlier was in fact a low blow.

Here’s a package on Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team because why have them wrestle a match when you can talk about how great they are? Both of them list off their amateur accomplishments and it takes up WAY too much time.

After a break, Jim Cornette says neither team is the #1 contenders, making that match totally pointless.

Time for Inside ROH which is about the House of Truth and the possibility of Edwards vs. Richards II. The idea here is that Martini is a manipulator and everyone other than his boys think that. Michael Elgin, the power guy of Martini’s House of Truth Martini says Martini is awesome.

Richards and Edwards say they’re hunters and beating the other will be that next achievement.

Michael Elgin vs. Eddie Edwards

They grapple for a bit and then it’s time to strike each other a lot and no sell all of it! Elgin gets knocked down and then gets a delayed vertical suplex for two. Kelly said it felt like an eternity. It was really more like about 9 seconds but that’s an eternity of selling in this company so I guess that’s acceptable. Edwards snaps off a rana and goes to a half crab which is an Achilles hold according to him.

Lionsault gets two. And there goes the selling as Elgin grabs a spinebuster out of the corner for two as we take a break. Back with, and brace yourself for this, Edwards hammering away with forearms which don’t work as Elgin gets a side slam for two. Edwards fires off two superkicks and a suplex kind of move to put both guys down. Missile dropkick gets two.

Edwards hits a dive on the floor into the barricade and Kelly is overselling this way too strong. They start slugging it out and Kelly starts talking about the website. They actually CUT AWAY TO A GRAPHIC OF A WEB BROWSER TYPING THE WEBSITE’S NAME. I mean, we missed part of the match so we could see how to spell ROHwrestling. WOW. Elgin takes over and they go to the apron. Edwards hits his fourth superkick out there and a double stomp to take over.

Edwards tries his leg trap suplex but gets caught in a buckle bomb. That doesn’t work so well though. Not because it’s not a devastating move, which it was. However, Edwards was up and fine a few seconds later and hitting superkick #5. That lets him hit the Diehard (leg trap suplex which would be a lot more effective if it made sense as Elgin had to work with him to make it work) for the pin at 14:04.

Rating: C-. Not the worst match they’ve ever had but Edwards is more or less a Davey Richards clone with all of the strikes and the no selling and stuff like that. I don’t want to imagine a match betwee them but I think it’s been booked for the main event of the Final Battle show. Not much to see here.

Post match Roderick Strong comes out and gets in Edwards’ face. McGuinness gets in to make the save from the non-attack.

Overall Rating: C. Well it was a little better but at the same time there was nothing interesting here for the most part. It’s nice to see them actually having some stories, but we don’t need to have the 15 minutes of videos to establish these feuds through talking. A third match per show would do wonders for these guys to put it mildly. Not a horrible show but it’s the same uninspired stuff they’ve done for a month now.

Results
Briscoe Brothers b. All Night Express – Small Package
Eddie Edwards b. Michael Elgin – Diehard

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Ring of Honor
Date: October 8, 2011
Location: Frontier Field House, Chicago Ridge, Illinois
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Nigel McGuinness

Hopefully the third week gets a bit better than the previous two. I’d imagine we’ll see more of a focus on the tag team scene which has been the theme of the show so far. It’ll also be interesting to see if the shows are the same for everyone so far. The final thing they need to do is have a third match. That would fix a lot of problems as it would fill in some of the holes. Let’s get to it.

The Briscoes open the shows in an interview with Cornette. I’m starting to see the issues with the production values as you can’t really hear what Cornette is saying. In short, the Briscoes want the title shot at Haas/Benjamin and they have to beat the All Night Express next week for the title shot. The Briscoes are rednecks from Delaware and are the most successful tag team in ROH history.

We get a focus on the Dominant Male, Tomossa Ciampa. He’s undefeated and part of the Embassy which is a long running heel stable that has only been kind of successful. It’s leader is Prince Nana who claims to be a prince from Ghana who finances the team with his tax collections. He lost his money and got rich again through Obama’s stimulus package. I can’t say they’re not getting creative. Basically Ciampa trains a lot and is tough. There you go.

Andy Ridge vs. Tomossa Ciampa

Steve Corino is on commentary for this match. Ridge likes to kick a lot. The first bell rings at about 17 minutes into the match. Ridge fires off some kicks but Ciampa suplexes his way out of it. They go to the apron and it’s chops vs. kicks. Ciampa gets sent to the floor but he pulls Ridge off and sends him into the barricade in a hard shot.

Off to a head scissors which is a lot harder than it sounds. Ridge fires off a kick (shame we were looking at Nana at the time. It might have been a chacha contest for all I know) and hits a slingshot cutter. And never mind as he takes a bunch of knees to the head in the corner. A powerbomb into a backbreaker ends this at 4:45.

Rating: C-. Just a squash here and I don’t think anyone expected anything else. It was nothing great but Ciampa looked good and that’s what it was supposed to do. Ciampa is a guy that in a company like WWE would be built up and fed to Cena or Hogan back in the 80s but for this, I’m not sure I can see him going anywhere. For one thing, there’s no real storyline on this show. It’s random matches with a title match at the end. Oh and the finisher is called Project Ciampa.

A fan is asked about the main event and says bring back Kevin Steen, who is a wrestler that lost a mask vs. career match like 10 months ago. They’ve been building to his return for awhile.

Roderick Strong says winning the title is like being the captain of the football team. Richards talks about his grandfather having cancer while he was winning his first title and then trying to get to the hospital when he passed away. I know they’re trying to make Richards this feel good story but I’m just not buying it. Granted I’m not a fan of his at all.

ROH World Title: Roderick Strong vs. Davey Richards

Strong is part of the House of Truth which is Truth Martini’s heel stable. There’s a lot of time for this, provided they don’t end three minutes before the hour again this week. Feeling out process to start and Richards hooks on a modified surfboard which I remember Pillman using a few times. Strong counters it and we get this idiocy: Kelly: “Look at this!” That sounds fine, but they cut to a shot of Martini as he said it. Brilliant guys. Brilliant. They speed things up and Richards is sent to the floor as he tries an ankle lock.

They head to the floor with Richards missing a baseball slide so that Strong can take over. They chop it out because you have to have at least three strike exchange sequences in an ROH match. Martini distracts Richards and Strong gets in a shot for two as we take a break. Back with a video of more striking during the break. Richards gets a belly to back suplex and both guys are down.

More strikes and Strong goes down this time. Out to the floor and there’s a big suicide dive by Richards and then a missile dropkick gets two. More striking and we get it: they can throw forearms at each other. Crucifix gets two for Richards and then Strong fires off a kick for two. We head to the apron where Richards takes a belly to back suplex on the apron for two. They strike some more which Richards no sells and then a clothesline takes Strong down.

I know I say this a lot, but here are more strikes which take up a lot more time than it should. Richards fires off kicks in the corner but Strong shrugs them all off and hits a gutbuster for two. The fans say it’s awesome and I’m going to think I disagree. A superplex into a falcon arrow gets two for Richards and it’s into an ankle lock which is one of Richard’s finishers I guess.

Martini gets on the apron and Strong taps but Richards, ever the face idiot, lets it go to chase Martini. Strong gets a big boot and puts on the Strong Hold (Boston Crab) but Richards rolls through to the ankle lock. That is escaped also so Strong spits on him, gets kicked a lot and the ankle lock ends it at 22:14.

Rating: C-. This match sums up everything I don’t like about Davey Richards and ROH. There was no flow, there was no story, there was ZERO psychology, the selling was all over the place and as someone else I read talking about this match, you could watch the last thirty seconds and get most of the match. The striking is so repetitive it’s unreal and when they just stop selling them and hit something else it makes my eyes roll.

Then we get to the finishers. Here’s the thing: a hold like the ankle lock is stupid to use as a finisher (and yes Kurt, I’m talking to you too) if you don’t try to use it from the very beginning of the match or work on the ankle throughout the match. In short, if you can get the submission that fast on an ankle lock, why would you get your brains kicked in for twenty minutes beforehand? Look at someone like Ric Flair: he uses a leg lock but before he goes for it, he at least uses a knee crusher and a chop block to soften it up. It’s about building to a finisher rather than just hooking one all at once which is what makes a match work.

This was all about striking each other in the head and trying to make a match flashy without putting any real thought into it. “But KB! That makes it more realistic!” Good for it. Here’s the thing though: PRO WRESTLING IS NOT REAL! Also, look to something like UFC: when people get hit in the face over and over again, THEY GO DOWN. It doesn’t make it look realistic. It makes it look stupid and goes against the point of pro wrestling in general. I could go on for days about how stupid these matches are but I’ll cut myself off here.

Overall Rating: D+. I know some people will say how great the main event was and while it had some cool spots, it really wasn’t great or even that good. The rest of the show was the usual ROH formula: talk a lot, short match, talk some more, talk about the main event, commercial before main event, main event, go off the air with 5% of your show left. I know they taped these all at once, but this is a good example of why that’s a bad idea. They need to make a lot of changes at the Louisville tapings but I’m not sure if they knew the issues before they taped there. I hope so.

Results
Tomossa Ciampa b. Andy Ridge – Project Ciampa
Davey Richards b. Roderick Strong – Ankle lock