ROH on HDNet – Episode 046 – 8th February 2010

This is the go home show before the 8th Anniversary DVD taping in New York so if ROH has any sense they’ll be putting a lot of hype into that tonight – particularly the big Aries/Black World Title Match. Alongside that, we have a scheduled main event of the American Wolves against the Young Bucks as Matt and Nick Jackson round out their ROH bookings before making their way to TNA. We’ll join Dave Prazak and Mike Hogewood in Philadelphia, PA

Jim Cornette is in the ring to introduce Tyler Black. Tyler claims it was an accident that he busted Roderick Strong open with the inadvertent assistance of Austin Aries in the conclusion of his match last week. Then he drops a promise that he WILL win the World Title in New York later this week. Roderick Strong comes out to b*tch about his defeat last week…and doesn’t believe Tyler’s line that what happened last week as an accident, and therefore can’t trust him to be a man of his word and give him a title shot if he wins the belt. This would have been better if Tyler and Roddy weren’t two of the WORST promo guys on the roster.

Steve Corino/Kevin Steen vs Alex Payne/Bobby Dempsey
This is a direct result of what we saw last week when Steen assaulted Alex Payne backstage. Dempsey is here to stand up for his fellow ROH Academy graduate. It’s the first time we’ll see Steen team with the man that got into his head and convinced him to ditch El Generico – Steve Corino.

Corino ignores Payne and starts hurling abuse at Dempsey…then they botch a basic leapfrog spot. Super ugly hurricanrana spot from Sugarfoot next as he and Corino continue to look f*cking atrocious together. Dempsey tagged to hit a Warrior Splash across the back for 2. Steen drags Payne out of the ring and kills him there to give his team the advantage. Then he pulls Sugarfoot up BY THE TONGUE! Flatliner by Corino into the somersault leg drop from Steen gets 2. Courageously Payne hits Diamond Dust on Steve then gets the hot tag to Dempsey who brings the fatty offence big time. Rocket Launcher gets 2 on Corino. Inverted Tombstone from Corino to Payne, then the Sliding Lariat. Mr Wrestling is in too, and he hits the Package Piledriver. He looks to have it won only for Corino to tap him on the shoulder and instruct Steen to put the Sharpshooter on too. Payne is out at 06:24

Rating - * - Too long, and that awful first minute between Payne and Corino was comparable to the sort of horsesh*t mishaps and botches the WWE Divas bust out when they’re allowed to ‘wrestle’. The dynamic between Steen and Corino is an interesting one – with Steve positioned as the mastermind and inspiration behind Mr Wrestling’s recent change in attitude. And the idea to book this was logical after the backstage skit of last week. It just needed to be a quick in and out destruction of Payne and Dempsey…no need for it to go nearly 7 minutes and to allow Sugarfoot so much offence.

In the dungeon of crap the American Wolves tell Kyle Durden that even though they don’t have the belts, they’re going to continue to dominate. Eddie Edwards questions how much the fans really like the Young Bucks considering they voted for this match…

Dark City Fight Club vs Bravado Brothers
I think this is a first TV/main show appearance for Lance and Harlem Bravado – more products of the increasingly fruitful ROH Wrestling Academy. One imagines they’re not going to last long with one of the most intimidating acts currently in ROH. Apparently DCFC are pissed off that they lost the vote and don’t get to beat up the Young Bucks tonight.

Hart Attack variant flattens one of the Bravados, then before the Dark City Street Cutter finishes things emphatically in 01:01

Rating – N/A – Not a match of any substance or significance so there’s no use in me rating it. I’m slightly concerned that DCFC have been in ROH for nearly a year now but still haven’t produced a defining in-ring performance, their best matches REMAIN their debut weekend bouts at Proving Ground 2009 weekend and in nearly a year on HDNet are still doing the same kill jobbers, suck against the major teams gimmick…

Kyle Durden asks for the Fight Club’s reaction to not getting picked to oppose the Young Bucks in the main event. They say they’re done treading water in ROH and going to start taking the respect they deserve.


Prince Nana talks about his history in Ghana, and apparently isn’t worried about the Necro/Embassy feud at all since he loves watching his troops injure Necro…

Back in the ring Kyle Durden has Austin Aries and Kenny King ahead of the World Title Match at the weekend. A-Double immediately sulks that Jim Cornette is playing favourites and isn’t interviewing him like he did with Tyler earlier. After getting his lip busted open and his favourite shirt ruined by Tyler Black last week, Aries isn’t happy…but calls both Tyler and Roderick desperate men. Desperate that they’re NOT franchise players and not World Title material. Tyler tries to run in and attack them but is held back by the Briscoes, the Young Bucks, Colt Cabana and Delirious. Shouldn’t the Young Bucks be in their gear???

Young Bucks vs American Wolves
Since these were the Jacksons’ last HDNet appearances, ROH asked the fans to vote for who they wanted to see them face. They voted for a rematch of the awesome ROH Tag Title Match we saw in November between these two teams. Of course, the Wolves have since lost the belts, but the Bucks would still love a return win on their way to TNA. Given that Eddie made Nick tap to the Achilles Lock in Los Angeles last week at SoCal Showdown, the Wolves are coming into this with all the momentum and confidence on their side.

The Briscoes come out and offer the winners of this match a Tag Title shot. Straight up, no gimmicks. This is now for #1 Contendership to the Briscoes’ championship belts. Richards starts with Matt, wrestling him to the ground and hammering him with forearm smashes. It’s obvious his strategy is to ground the high-flying, rapid tagging antics of his opponent. But he makes the mistake of letting Matt up, and in a flash he’s hit a satellite headscissors and made a tag to Nick. He delivers a flurry of dropkicks to Edwards, luring him into the Bucks corner for a slingshot leg drop from his waiting brother Matt. The fluent teamwork of the Jacksons sees them earn the advantage at the five minute mark. But Matt foolishly starts trying work armbars and headlocks with the superior mat wrestlers, and is promptly BLASTED off the apron by Davey…which hands the initiative right back to the Wolves. Richards then sprints into a BRUTAL kick to Nick’s chest. He then tosses him to the floor to Eddie who delivers a big body slam on the floor…and my DVD cuts out again. For f*cks sake. In think the dude I got these from has tried to shoehorn 3 episodes onto each disc and they’re not quite long enough, so I’m going to have this problem every third episode. Luckily this match is on the Best Of HDNet Volume 5 compilation which I own so I’ll continue my review from there. Back to the match with Nick courageously countering the Handspring Enzi from Davey with a MID-AIR DROPKICK TO THE BACK! JUMPING CODEBREAKER by Edwards, into the Tombstone Piledriver from Richards for 2. Nick saves his brother from the DR Driver only to take a hard spill to the floor himself as punishment.

Once again the brutality of the Wolves has trumped the dynamism of the Bucks, and as Davey puts the boots to Nick on the floor, Eddie is really working Matt over in the middle of the ring. ALARM CLOCK out of the corner gets 2. On the floor Nick snaps and hits Davey with a suplex, but before he can make a tag Edwards dives across to sweep him off the apron again. Finally he does get into the ring with the slingshot facebuster…then hits the ROLLING MOONSAULT OFF THE APRON fractions of a second later. Nick is legally tagged now and he takes it to both Wolves. The former champions line up the double Alarm Clock but MATT SAVES WITH A SPEAR ON DAVEY! SPRINGBOARD SPLASH/STANDING MOONSAULT COMBO FOR 2! Eddie is back, kicking Nick in the face then dragon screwing Matt’s leg against the ropes…only for Matt to fire back with the Tumbleweed Cutter. Davey pelts him with a missile dropkick as the match goes back and forth at an electrifying pace now. Matt hits a neckbreaker on Edwards then a reverse rana on an unsuspecting Richards. More Bang For Your Buck misses…ROPE RUN GERMAN SUPERPLEX BY DAVEY! POWERBOMB LUNGBLOWER GETS 2! ACHILLES LOCK ON MATT! TEXAS CLOVERLEAF ON NICK! This is how they lost last time…BUT THE BUCKS FIGHT FREE WITH STEREO SMALL PACKAGES FOR 2! DOUBLE ALARM CLOCK! SUPERKICK GERMAN MISSES! SUPERKICK COMBO ON RICHARDS…BUT HE KICKS OUT! MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK! EDWARDS BREAKS THE PIN! SOMERSAULT PLANCHA ON HIM! Matt eats a kick in the head…BUT COUNTERS THE DR DRIVER TO A ROLL-UP! IT’S OVER! BUCKS WIN AT 20:59

Rating - **** - Not quite the MOTYC I’d seen some build it up as. For my personal taste I’d rather have seen the MBFYB win, and found the roll-up finish highly anticlimactic after what was another superb encounter between these two teams. That said, I thought all four did a great job of playing up the hard hitting technicians vs high-flying acrobats dynamic of the two teams, and the super-generous time allowance really let them explore that theme in depth…meaning the last five minutes of utter carnage, when they came, were absolutely spectacular. Best ROH match of 2009 thus far…

Tape Rating - *** - Amazing main event and lots of build towards the 8th Anniversary Show…this was ROH’s best go-home show before a big event thus far. It’s worth getting the Best Of HDNet Vol. 5 DVD for this one I assure you.
 

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