ROH 381 – Road To Best In The World 2015: Oklahoma City – 30th May 2015

I came away from the Amarillo DVD in an absolute rage. I struggle to remember too many times when an ROH show has left me that cheesed off. I can live with poor wrestling from time to time, but I find it hard to excuse exceptionally lazy writing and exceptionally cheap management from a massively wealthy overlord parent company. Ruining your two advertised main events with derisive run-ins and replacing them with a middle-of-the-road 6-man is the kind of thing WWE can get away with on Smackdown. ROH live events aren’t there yet – and if they want to keep selling at least a few DVD or VOD buys from the diehards (which they definitely should) they need to put a little more snap into each show. Here’s hoping tonight they deliver something more substantial – albeit with the same sparse roster they brought to Texas yesterday. Both championships will be defended tonight, with triple threat matches in the first half of the show to determine challengers to Jay Briscoe and Jay Lethal in the main events. ACH vs Adam Cole and Michael Elgin vs Dalton Castle round out the meaningful portion of the card. We are in Oklahoma City, OH tonight – so expect Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino to make millions of annoying Jim Ross references here, just as they did with the Funks in Amarillo.

Andy Dalton vs Caprice Coleman
Coleman put on the fight of his ROH career against Jay Briscoe last night, but ended the show no further up the card than he was when he started. Having failed to shock the champ, he is back at the bottom of the card – working enhancement matches with the likes of ‘Dirty’ Andy Dalton. The other half of the ‘Dirty Outlaws’ (Ken Phoenix) is at ringside too.

Sound on this DVD is appalling, and the building (with daylight coming through windows in every camera shot) looks dreadful too. Dalton starts impressively and takes great pleasure in smearing his veteran opponent into the turnbuckles. He stays on the neck, and is punished when he strays from it to attempt a senton. Mind Trip by Caprice gets 2 before he leaps into the standing super rana. Trinity nailed – and apparently that’s his finisher now. He wins at 05:53

Rating - * - Fundamentally sound, albeit utterly dull and completely pointless. It is however, always a problem when a wrestling match has no reason to exist or to want to watch it. I don’t get why Delirious always opens his shows with pointless crap like this rather than a match people want to see. If you want to book Dalton/Caprice then go ahead, but at least get the crowd fired up. Literally every match on this whole card would have been better choice to jerk the curtain than this.

Matt Taven vs Raymond Rowe vs Mark Briscoe
The Briscoes don’t like The Kingdom, and Kingdom managed to piss War Machine off last night too – so Taven is rather unfortunate given his opponents in this match to determine who meets Jay Lethal for the Television Championship later in the show. All three make interesting potential challengers; Rowe offers a fresh match, Taven and Lethal had a fun rivalry over the TV Title in 2014, and Lethal/Mark would make for an fun prelude to Lethal/Jay at Best In The World. Will Mark’s experience, Taven’s prior record as a singles champion or Rowe’s raw power be the difference-maker in this one?

Sure enough, the first minute is spent with Rowe and Briscoe joining forces in pursuit of Taven – finally grabbing him for an emphatic pancake into the ring apron. Of course, Mark and Rowe like a fight and are happy to start lugging each other once Taven has been removed from the ring. Ray Rowe has developed the annoying habit of doing Roman Reigns’ ‘Superman’ punch in all his matches which I don’t like. His Cement Mixer is a much better spot and almost leaves a Briscoe-shaped indentation on the canvas after executing it. Taven tries to give Mark a rope-run German suplex…but kind of gets stuck there. So Rowe hits a DOUBLE ROPE-RUN GERMAN SUPERPLEX! Briscoe got the worst of that, and collapses to the outside as Matt hits his suicide dive over the ropes at Rowe. Turnbuckle urinage by Mark! Shotgun Knees by Ray! Mark hits the fisherman buster on Taven for the win at 07:41

Rating - * - I didn’t like this. It was all over the place in terms of execution, timing and had so many of my classic bugbears of triple threat wrestling. Having said all that, the Oklahoma fans absolutely loved it so perhaps I’m in the minority.

Silas Young vs Romantic Touch
Something tells me that RT’s shenanigans might not be to Young’s liking. Despite their stylistic and personality differences, the careers of these two are in a remarkably similar place right now. Both have supposedly ‘memorable’ gimmicks which get reactions from live audiences, but neither are able to string together many victories or look capable of climbing the card. The sullen Silas will almost be viewing this as a ‘must win’ match, such is his desire to finally fulfil his potential in ROH (and most likely his disdain for wrestlers like Touch).

Silas gets toilet papered by the fans and it immediately strikes me that he’d be perfect to takeover the TP reigns from Jimmy Rave. Touch’s antics throw Silas completely off of his game and he spends the opening minutes in an assortment of sexually suggestive positions. Young even gets a complete lip-on-lip smooch as he tries to stop Romantic leaving the ring. Corino marks out like crazy on commentary for a Thumb in the Bum – and the rapid belly-to-belly suplex that soon follows gets a close nearfall. The Killer Combo drags Young back into proceedings, and seconds later he drags Touch into the Misery TKO. Running lariat finishes Touch and gives Silas the win at 07:55

Rating - * - I’d complain about another match getting no time, but this was so boring I was almost falling asleep anyway. If somebody could provide a well-reasoned argument as to why this match was laid out with almost 90% Romantic Touch offence I’d love to hear from you. Watching Silas, a talent who’d actually be awesome if they put a coherent push behind him, lie around for Rhett Titus’ tired gimmick and stale sex jokes was just depressing. And on the subject of stale sex jokes, listening to Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino (both adults in their 40’s) snickering to themselves because ‘#askkingcorino’ sounds like ‘ass king Corino’ on EVERY F*CKING SHOW is unbelievably irksome.

BJ Whitmer vs Michael Bennett vs Hanson
The winner of this match advances to the main event where they’ll get a World Championship opportunity, as well as the chance to put a major dent in the company’s marketing budget since the main event of Best In The World would presumably need to change. Bennett pissed Hanson off last night and almost ended BJ’s career a couple of years ago, so it is safe to say that everyone hates him. Am I being wholly picky for being sort of annoyed that Bennett comes out to The Kingdom theme (i.e. the mash-up of ‘Something For You’ and ‘Suffer Unto Me’) rather than his own entrance music?

Hanson is so lukewarm as a babyface, where as Maria is so hot as a human being that she basically makes Bennett the most over guy in the match by association. Whitmer tries to let the others fight, but is dropped by Hanson’s cartwheel lariat. When ‘War Beard’ (urgh) tries the same spot on Mike moments later he finds it countered with a superkick. Bennett and BJ team up on Hanson and quite a few laughs in the process. A guy dressed as El Generico comes to Hanson’s rescue (I’m not making this up) – sticking his boot over the railings enabling Hanson to drive the heads of both of his opponents into it. Spear gets 2 and brings out the demise of the brief Kingdom/Decade alliance, with Hanson doling out more lariats to capitalise. Double Bronco Buster flattens both opponents, but BJ is up first to deliver a turnbuckle exploder for 2. Bennett goes for a piledriver on Whitmer, only to walk into the Spin Kick Of Doom. The same move on BJ gives Hanson the title shot at 10:28

Rating - ** - The best part of an hour through the show and we finally have a half decent wrestling match! This didn’t set the world on fire but I thought Bennett was outstanding, Maria was entertaining on the outside, Hanson did his thing without expending too much energy (I hope) and even Whitmer looked like he was enjoying himself. Everything after the BJ/Bennett team eroded was extremely flat though – which is a major worry. We need this audience to buy into Hanson as a World Title challenger later in the show.

Will Ferrara vs Roderick Strong
I wonder how Delirious is going to run with this match. On the one hand, we could see an elongated squash match presented. Roddy is being pushed hard in 2015, so can’t afford to be slumming it with the likes of Ferrara. But what if the Lizard Man gives them some rope (like he did with Jay/Caprice yesterday) and lets Roderick test Will’s capabilities? Can the ROH rookie with a big heart step up to one of the most consistent performers in the history of the promotion?

CODE RED in the first minute…gets 2! What a start for Ferrara! CRADLE BACKBREAKER INTO THE APRON by Strong! Up next he delivers a devastating body slam into the top turnbuckle for 2. A grounded bearhug is applied too, allowing Strong to catch his breath after Will’s hot start and really start to punish the back. TOPE TORNADO DDT ON THE CONCRETE FLOOR! Ferrara is leaving everything in the ring tonight! Back inside the ring he dodges another backbreaker and hits a second tornado DDT to force a surprisingly close nearfall. His back is bothering him now though, and as he clutches at it Roddy puts him hard into the deck with the Muso. Death By Roderick countered…and when he botches his attempt at a rana Will shows AWESOME improvisational skills to float into a small package instead. Eyes Wide Shut into another Code Red for 2! Ferrara goes for broke and tries to set up a top rope Code Red…only to be kneed in the face then superplexed. Strong wins at 08:53

Rating - *** - The fact that Strong was able to lead Will Ferrara to something this good is indicative of just how outstanding his 2015 has been. Ferrara clearly had tactics and a strategy, exploding out of the blocks in a fast start which nearly stole the most unlikely of victories. They told a strong story, and it build to a fantastically low key finish. Roderick should be beating guys like Ferrara easily. He allowed Will to have a lot of offence during the match but then instantly regains his credibility by defeating him without needing any of his signature moves.

Michael Elgin vs Dalton Castle
I don’t think the Amarillo fans really ‘understood’ Dalton yesterday. Certainly once his match with Romantic Touch started getting weird they seemed disconnected. Perhaps Oklahoma will be a better audience. He will certainly be a firm favourite with this audience if he can score an upset win over a former World Champion and current sulky man-child in Michael Elgin this evening.

Elgin is so thoroughly unimpressed with Dalton’s entrance that he gives him a Black Hole Slam out of the Code Of Honor and almost ends it in three seconds dead. Castle surprises everyone with his resilience there, then busts out his awesome wrestling skill with a judo takedown into headbutts to the back of the skull. Elgin’s simplistic offence contrasts nicely with Castle’s theatrics – he watches his opponent’s latest bout of histrionics before simply punching him in the face. Everything he does is basic, rugged and extremely effective. Castle jumps off the apron at him, settling on the apron-619 into the headscissors on the floor…then taking flight with a Heat Seeking Missile! Bang-A-Rang gets 2! And just when he seemed on the cusp of victory the Party Peacock is then taken to the brink of defeat following the Ripcord Elbow. Flying Codebreaker scores…but Dalton no sells to hit the EVEREST GEERMAN! NO SOLD! GERMAN BY ELGIN! NO SOLD! Both guys are no selling! BRIDGING EVEREST GERMAN by Dalton gets 2! Elgin destroys him with the Buckle Bomb/Elgin Bomb combo afterwards and leaves the weekend with an impressive 2-0 record. 11:50 was your time.

Rating - *** - This wasn’t the most exciting of matches for the most part, but I really liked the natural chemistry they had as opponents. Elgin continues to improve with his new, no-nonsense style and it looked great juxtaposed against Dalton’s cawing, prancing and showmanship. If I were to be ultra-critical I’d say that I didn’t like how Elgin basically swatted off both of Dalton’s finishers like they were nothing but on a weekend where enjoyable wrestling has been hard to come by one shouldn’t be too ungrateful. I’d be fine with these two wrestling again down the road…

Adam Cole vs ACH
The outstanding match of the weekend thus far has been ACH’s super-solid encounter with Michael Elgin yesterday. He, like so often before, took a top class Ring Of Honor athlete to the absolute limit before failing to secure the big victory he so desperately needs. He gets the chance to try again tonight, albeit with another extremely challenging opponent. Cole has been in stellar form since returning from injury. He pushed AJ Styles to the limit at War Of The Worlds and has subsequently reunited with his friends in The Kingdom for a couple of extremely strong multi-man tag victories. Knowing that so many of his contemporaries in the upper echelons of the ROH roster hold victories over ACH, the pressure is really on Cole to repeat that feat if he is to instantly move back into title contention.

Cole is the latest Ring Of Honor competitor to find himself frustrated by both the wrestling skill and personality of ACH. After two minutes of such pestering he decides he has no choice but to leave the ring. Even out there he isn’t safe as ACH does a lap of the ring, slips on the apron, and still manages to flagpole into a satellite headscissors to the floor. The former World Champion sensibly slows the pace and almost grinds the match to a complete halt after shoving ACH off the top rope. Everything he does is geared towards keeping ACH on the ground and giving his neck and back a beating. As a result even when ACH does get to take flight – in the Freebird Crossbody – he connects with the move but then slumps to the ground in obvious pain. He does manage to follow up with the Fatality for 2, but is then incapable of executing the Hero’s Grip…which Cole swiftly counters to a DVD over the knee. Florida Key blocked into a ROPE STUNNER! ACH thinks about the 450 Splash (which has now been renamed the ‘Midnight Star’)…only to find that Adam has bailed and lined up a Shining Wizard to snap his neck once more. CRADLEBREAKER! Into another Shining Wizard for 2! Cole then rather randomly applies the Figure 4 – having worked on the neck and midsection all match – but the fans are into it as a potential finish anyway, which is cool. ACH can escape it because his legs haven’t been the focal point of the match…then takes flight for a RUNNING MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR! Midnight Star attempted only for ACH to sail right into Adam’s knees. Florida Key blocked! Fatality COUNTERED TO A SUPERKICK! FLORIDA KEY! Cole wins at 15:32

Rating - **** - If ever a weekend were to typify ACH’s ROH career it would be this one. He’s contested two great little matches against two top tier performers…and lost them both to remain very firmly the wrong side of the glass ceiling. Despite the fact that both of these two are exciting wrestlers I really liked how grounded and technically solid they kept this match, with ACH looking to use his speed and agility before Cole grounded him and assassinated his core to soften him up for the Florida Key. It wasn’t all perfect – ACH’s selling was suspect as usual, and I didn’t particularly like the Figure 4 being thrown in, but barring something really special in the two main events this will go down as the best match in a rather dour weekend for Ring Of Honor. Having Adam Cole back is awesome though. He can talk, he can wrestle, he looks like a star, carries himself like a superstar and is arguably the biggest asset ROH have under contract right now.

Jay Lethal vs Mark Briscoe – ROH TV Title Match
As well as the hardware, there is a lot of pride at stake in this one. Mark will very much see this as his opportunity to win his first singles championship in ROH, rather than looking to simply act as a hatchet-man to do some damage for his big brother ahead of Best In The World. Lethal, meanwhile, would love nothing more than to have more bragging rights over the Briscoe family as he prepares for the big pay-per-view showdown. What could send a stronger message to Jay than to beat up his little brother just weeks away from the big event?

Lethal doesn’t appear to be in a fine mood and spends the first couple of minutes with a surly look on his face outside the ring refusing to compete. It gives Kevin Kelly plenty of time to make ridiculous statements – like stating that Mark Briscoe has ‘always dreamt’ of being ROH TV Champion. Briscoe has to go to the floor to finally get the fight started, and gets rapturous applause as he starts braining the champion against the guardrails. Cactus Elbow lands as the clock ticks past five minutes, and after that for the first time Jay actually spends a significant period of time inside the ring. He tries a desperate Lethal Injection and succeeds only in rocketing himself straight into a brainbuster. The distractions of Truth Martini give Lethal his first offensive advantage, which he capitalises on by smashing Mark’s spine into the apron. He also gets MASSIVE heat (like the biggest boos of the entire weekend) by ripping the Macho Man hat from the head of a huge Jay Lethal fan and stomping on it. Urinage by Briscoe, followed by the Uncle Mule Kick then the fisherman buster for 2! Lethal Combination gets a nearfall in return for the champion. He lines up the Lethal Injection, only to again find it block – this time by Mark almost leaping into his version of the Taz-mission. Froggy Bow misses, creating enough distance for Jay to nail one of his signature tope suicidas. He sneakily levels Mark with the Book Of Truth then caps off a successful title defence with the Lethal Injection at 13:39

Rating - ** - Jay Lethal’s second TV Title reign, illustrious though it may be, is peppered with underwhelming defences like this. This wasn’t an actively bad match, but it had no hook or snap to it at all. I didn't feel like either man was doing anything more than going through the motions, or that I had a reason to care about the match. The finish infuriated me too, as I really don’t understand why Lethal couldn’t have had a clean victory over Mark here. I think it would have done far more to build up to Best In The World than a clichéd, Taven-esque bit of House Of Truth cheating. I love the Briscoe Brothers, I truly do…but I have so little interest in watching Mark Briscoe singles matches these days. They are the very definition of mediocre.

Jay Briscoe vs Hanson – ROH World Title Match
So Lethal is through his scheduled title defence this evening…can Jay Briscoe now follow suit? His opponent has a size and strength advantage over him, as well as familiarity considering War Machine and the Briscoes have contested a number of violent tag team matches over the last year. But, Hanson is still finding his feet as a top level singles competitor – and Jay will be confident that his years of Ring Of Honor experience will give him an advantage. Briscoe is already undefeated for a prolonged period of time, so should be well aware of how much momentum he would gain over an opponent of Hanson’s stature.

You can hear crickets during Hanson’s introduction, which is a serious problem for a filler title defence to overcome. The two combatants basically pick up where they left off in their tag team encounters – with fists flying all over the ring and neither man backing up an inch. The ring can’t contain the fight either and soon the brawl starts to rumble all over ringside. Briscoe is the one pushing a quicker pace which makes perfect sense given that Hanson has already competed once this evening. He is a skilled striker, so even though he is the smaller man he is able to really take the fight to his adversary using those strikes. Jay Driller blocked with a FLURRY of big boots by Hanson! Instantly the challenger slows the pace; utilising a similar strike-based offence but with a forceful, methodical aggression rather than the frantic intensity of the World Champion. Jay lands a flying headscissors to prove how different his approach to this match is for such a sizeable opponent. The Bronco Buster flattens Briscoe once more though and again gives Hanson plenty of chance to catch his wind and work slower. TOPE SUICIDA MISSED BY HANSON! SOMERSAULT PLANCHA BY BRISCOE! Jay Lethal arrives at ringside to scout the action as both men recover from that, and is quickly joined by Mark Briscoe to make sure he doesn’t interfere with Jay…and Ray Rowe to prevent him getting in Hanson’s business too! Rude Awakening gets 2 for the champion, who’s big match experience is starting to show now. SPIN KICK OF DOOM! FOR 2! It’s a shame this crowd isn’t more into Hanson because I thought that was a hot nearfall! Hanson misses a second Bronco Buster though, and a faster pace really starts to count against him as he eats a back drop driver and a DVD in quick succession. Cartwheel lariat lands for Hanson…HANSON-SAULT MISSES! JAY DRILLER! GETS 2! Hanson bundles out of another Jay Driller attempt…AND HITS A STEINER F*CKING SCREWDRIVER! FOR 2! Wearily both men battle up again, where Jay ducks the Spin Kick into ROLLING JAY DRILLERS! He retains at 19:17

Rating - **** - Recently Briscoe has pulled out a couple of really enjoyable little World Title defences from nowhere. His match with Bobby Fish was very decent, and this might have been even better. They managed to pack in a lot of the fun parts of the Briscoes/War Machine tag matches – i.e. lots of big, muscled-up bearded dudes dropping huge offensive bombs – but also managed to work in some really engaging psychological aspects too. Jay tweaking his offence and moving faster, whilst still staying true to his brawling style, worked really well. Likewise Hanson, in perhaps his biggest ROH singles match (and against a backdrop of a crowd who really didn’t give a stuff about him) was supremely effective as a limited heavyweight slugger who basically wanted to batter and bludgeon his more dynamic and experienced opponent into the dirt. These guys really over-delivered and produced an under-rated cracker, and it is a real shame that both events this weekend have been so bad that I can’t imagine too many ROH fans will actually fork over the money to see this…

The show ends with Jay Briscoe and Jay Lethal standing nose-to-nose, knowing that neither man has any more title defences scheduled meaning their match at Best In The World is now formally confirmed as the ‘Battle Of The Belts’.

Tape Rating - ** - I will state immediately that this was an obvious improvement on the Amarillo show. That doesn’t make it a great DVD, a classic ROH show or anything like that – but I haven’t come away from this show utterly enraged by the product. There were still some cripplingly obvious weaknesses – but at least tonight Delirious didn’t screw us out of the two top main events and replace them with a middling 6-man tag. At least four men were allowed to go out and produce some half-decent wrestling. And at least we can come away praising a super weekend, performance-wise, for ACH. He was put in marquee matches both nights and delivered show-stealing performances on both occasions. I’m not going to say he ‘saved the weekend’ – because that implies that the other wrestlers were at fault for poor in-ring action. BUT, ACH was one of the few who was booked into a position whereby he got to deliver top level matches on both evenings this weekend – and the fact that he delivered is worthy of praise. If you are truly desperate to check out at least one of the Amarillo/Oklahoma debut weekend double shot – this show is the obvious choice.

Top 3 Matches
3) Roderick Strong vs Will Ferrara (***)
2) Jay Briscoe vs Hanson (****)
1) Adam Cole vs ACH (****)

Top 5 Road To Best In The World 2015 Amarillo/Oklahoma Weekend Matches
5) Jay Briscoe vs Caprice Coleman (*** - Amarillo)
4) Roderick Strong vs Will Ferrara (*** - Oklahoma City)
3) Michael Elgin vs ACH (**** - Amarillo)
2) Jay Briscoe vs Hanson (**** - Oklahoma City)
1) Adam Cole vs ACH (**** - Oklahoma City)

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