ROH on HDNet – Episode 061 – 14th June 2010

This is the last show before the Death Before Dishonor 8 iPPV. Since DVD sales are slumping, live events have never been particularly lucrative and HDNet audiences are mostly comped fans anyway, the internet pay-per-views are an absolutely critical revenue stream for Ring Of Honor. As such, they need to do all they can to promote then to their wider audience on HDNet. ROH need to deliver a strong go-home show to suck as many buys out of their fanbase as possible. Mike Hogewood and Dave Prazak are in Philadelphia, PA.

Christopher Daniels vs Bobby Shields
No fanfare, no hype and no build – straight out of the gate on this episode the Fallen Angel makes his debut on Ring Of Honor television. Snatching him from TNA is one thing, but getting Daniels, a recognised and established televised performer, onto ROH on HDNet is a HUGE deal and he needs to be heavily promoted in this format of the Ring Of Honor product. I imagine this will be nothing more than a squash.

Daniels’ HDNet entrance music is his TNA-knockoff instrumental version of ‘Disposable Teens’. He oozes confidence in the first minute and easily out-wrestles Shields at every turn. Bobby lands an elbow smash then walks idiotically into the running STO from Fallen Angel. Best Moonsault Ever wins it for Daniels at 02:26

Rating - * - OK for what it was. Horribly underwhelming way to introduce Daniels to HDNet though. Surely there was a more creative way to get him onto the show. No matter, honestly I’m still glad to have him back. He’s been sorely missed…

In the back Steve Corino shows Kyle Durden his list of people he doesn’t like. After an amusing cheap shot at CM Punk he reveals Colt Cabana in huge black letters. Our main event tonight is Corino vs Cabana. Kevin Steen is here too with words for El Generico as we build to their big showdown this weekend in Toronto.

More Kyle Durden fun comes next, with him now positioned at ringside with Mike Briscoe – father of Jay and Mark. He seems surprisingly comfortable in front of the camera, and is looking forward to watching his sons become 7-time ROH Tag Champions at Death Before Dishonor.

Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Sid Reeves/Bob Evans
Reeves and Evans are completely non-descript jobbers and you imagine the Briscoes will make short work of them on their way to their big showdown with the Kings Of Wrestling this weekend. Indeed, the only interesting thing about them is that Evans would go onto achieve more ROH notoriety as ‘Brutal’ Bob Evans – coach of ‘The Prodigy’ Mike Bennett in 2011.

Bob looks like an 80-year old man wrestling, and promptly lumbers into a flurry of offence from Jay. He moves in slow motion towards a flying elbow strike from Mark too and is soon back on his back again after the double football tackle. Reeves in only to fare little better than his partner. Mark drops Bob with the Iconoclasm as his brother beats Sid with the Jay Driller at 02:32

Rating - DUD - Other than the Mike Briscoe interview, I’m really not sure what this segment contributed. Could we not have skipped the pointless squash and gone straight to some Briscoe/KOW interactions to hype the iPPV match.

Thankfully, after the Briscoes leave the Kings Of Wrestling interrupt Kyle Durden asking the fans who they think will win the World Title Match this weekend to verbally assault Mike Briscoe. ‘Papa’ Briscoe soon hops the rail…and is knocked on his ass by a patented Hero elbow strike. NOW things are personal! In the studio Prazak says that was only fair after what the Briscoes did to Sara Del Rey…

Back from commercials and Kyle Durden goes around the locker room looking for predictions on the Tyler/Davey match. The more amusing ones from Jim Cornette who just shouts at him, Kevin Steen who’s only prediction is that El Generico will die, and Austin Aries who predicts that whoever wins won’t be as great as he is.

Colt Cabana vs Steve Corino
I think these episodes were taped before Supercard Of Honor 5 – but in chronological terms, this match represents Colt looking for revenge. Steve Corino made an unscheduled appearance at Supercard Of Honor in New York, interfering in his Last Man Standing Death Match against Kevin Steen, eventually costing Colt the win. He’s also the reason Cabana isn’t TV Champion right now too.

Colt doesn’t wait for Corino to get to the ring, starting the fight in the aisle instead. Corino makes a grab for a table from under the ring, gets caught before he can use it then ends up clobbering the ringpost with a misplaced lariat for good measure. Knowing that Steve likes to finish matches with the Sliding Lariat, Cabana quickly goes after that arm…then throws him into the crowd when it looks like a wrestling match might break out. Finally they get back into the ring where Corino hits an STO for 2, soon afterwards proving his arm is now fully recovered as he nails the Sliding Lariat for another nearfall. Colt starts positioning the tables, then sits Corino at one end with a chair held against his face. The ref is shoved down at 06:41 causing a DQ, not that Colt cares as he slides another chair across the tables, smashing the other into Corino’s head.

Rating - ** - I liked the intensity of this and was glad to see they fought it like a grudge match rather than just another copy and paste wrestling match they’ve both worked a million times before. The fact is that after two bloody battles, and two separate occasions where Steve Corino has cost Colt Cabana a TV Title opportunity, there SHOULD be bad blood between the two. Even in less than 7 minutes, they effectively conveyed the aforementioned hatred so I can’t ask for much more.

Corino is bleeding but Cabana isn’t done. Colby Corino tries to help his father – but it’s only a distraction to allow Kevin Steen to run in and superkick Colt. El Generico storms the ring and goes straight after Mr Wrestling. Corino tosses Generico away…and Steen winds up GORE-GORE-GORING Colt through a table in the corner. Generico returns and the fight with Steen continues. Corino drags Mr Wrestling away before he can go through a table…

Roderick Strong bumbles through another paranoid promo, predicting a screw job and nothing else for the Death Before Dishonor 8 main event.

The episode closes with a contract signing for the Black/Richards match. They sign, with the only real revelation being that Davey orders both Shane Hagadorn and Eddie Edwards to stay in the locker room for the title match. Christopher Daniels interrupts the proceedings to challenge BOTH of them after Death Before Dishonor.

Tape Rating - ** - I’d say this show did a competent job of hyping Death Before Dishonor 8. I’m not going to say it did astoundingly well – and on it’s own merit it certainly wasn’t a great episode. However, going into the iPPV we have three major main events – Black/Richards for the World Title, Kings/Briscoes for the Tag Titles and the Steen/Generico grudge match. All those were given suitable hype…so all the boxes were ticked at least.
 

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