ROH on HDNet – Episode 069 – 9th August 2010
We’re in the midst of a 5 week spell without any ROH live events meaning we’re solely focused on the HDNet product, and there’s a lot going on right now. Tyler Black is World Champion with a bullseye on his chest and everyone wanting a piece of him. The Kings Of Wrestling at the Briscoes are feuding over the Tag Titles, whilst Austin Aries and Delirious have a growing dislike of each other too. Kevin Steen, Steve Corino, Colt Cabana and El Generico straight up hate each other…whilst all the lower card guys (and most fans by this point) hate The Embassy. All the major tag teams are caught up in Tag Wars 2010 which concludes at the end of the month in Charlotte, and all roads lead to Glory By Honor 9 on iPPV with two huge main events of Black/Strong for the World Title and Kings/WGTT already signed. That’s where ROH are at right now as we start to enter the climactic period in their summer season. Tonight sees a main event of Tyler Black facing the man who claims to be the best in the world in Christopher Daniels. Dave Prazak and Mike Hogewood are in Philadelphia, PA.
The show starts with Jim Cornette and Tyler Black in the ring together. He angrily berates all the fans who boo him…and that’s basically it. Strange way to start the show, although Tyler showed some flashes of a decent heel promo in there.
Necro Butcher vs Rasche Brown
No introductions for these two, after the shows opening credits finish we go straight back to The Arena with them going at it. Necro joined The Embassy in emphatic fashion when he knocked Brown out with a plank of wood. Of course, Skullkrusher isn’t pleased and wants payback
Brown pelts Necro with machine gun chops against the ropes then clobbers him all the way to the floor with a clothesline. Ernesto Osiris hands Butcher a chair, which he uses to level Rasche with as he prepares for a tope suicida. Nana tries to retrieve some more weapon for Necro, but takes way too long to do so. Brown recovers and press slams him from the apron to the outside. Both men are armed with chairs now…but before they can duel Erick Stevens and Shawn Daivari run in and jump Brown from behind. Despite the fact this is Butcher’s Rules…apparently that’s a DQ at 03:52
Rating - DUD - Horrible, ugly, nasty match – at times by design, but at others entirely unintentionally. That god-awful finish was the pits though. I really hate The Embassy now. And in 2005 when they had Jimmy Rave, Alex Shelley and Abyss running around, that’s something I never thought I’d say.
A load of jobbers (including future ROH star Mike Bennett), lead by the Dark City Fight Club come out to separate them. Scenes like this with bodies and jobbers flying everywhere would be a lot more effective if they weren’t used EVERY OTHER WEEK!
Christopher Daniels doesn’t seem to mind that the ROH Title isn’t on the line tonight. He is looking forward to battling for pride and respect, and feels disrespected that Tyler feels he can beat him in one night when it took him months to win the World Title.
NEXT WEEK – Roderick Strong puts the guaranteed title shot he won in the Toronto Gauntlet on the line against former tag team partner Davey Richards.
Speaking of Davey, he tells the HDNet cameras that Death Before Dishonor 8 wasn’t a ‘Match Of The Year’ for him because he didn’t win. And next week he wants the win over Roderick that he didn’t get at Bitter Friends Stiffer Enemies 2 when Roddy refused to give him 5 more minutes.
Colt Cabana vs Alex Anthony
What is with jobbers having two first names? Last week we had Jay Freddie, now Alex Anthony this week. His gear is f*cking stupid looking too. If you can't tell, HDNet squashes are starting to grate on me.
Anthony isn’t a big guy, and Colt clearly isn’t sweating him. His first act is to trick Todd Sinclair into locking up with the jobber, then lecturing Todd on why he should give a clean break. Flying Asshole into the Billy Goat’s Curse…and it’s over at 02:24
Rating - * - I’ve awarded a generous star because this one made me laugh a couple of times. I don’t think we’ve seen quite enough of funny Cabana on HDNet since he returned last year, so any time he does show up it’s welcome.
Kevin Steen shows up with a chair…distracting Colt whilst Steve Corino comes through the crowd to level him with a chain. El Generico comes out for a save but it’s too late. Steen grabs Alex Anthony and Bobby Shields to be a human shield to protect himself from any retribution from his ex-partner.
Kyle Durden interviews Roderick Strong and Truth Martini about the big match next week. They are both as bad as each other on the mic – I don’t get why people seem to think Truth is good at all.
Tyler Black vs Christopher Daniels
This episode is only 25 minutes old – including commercials. Either this match is going long or the episode is short. Hopefully it’s the former as this one should be fantastic. It’s a first time ever meeting pitting the current ROH World Champion against an ROH founding father, and a man who competed in the first ever ROH Title MATCH in July 2002. If Daniels wants to be considered the best in the world, beating the World Champion is the best way to do it.
Crowd is split about 60:40 in favour of Chris Daniels it seems. Tyler strikes first by snapmaring Daniels to the canvas for a big kick to the spine. He stays a step ahead of the veteran, laying him out with a dropkick then backing off to let Fallen Angel think his poor start. Daniels goes back to basics, using armdrags and armbars to gain a foothold in the contest. As if to make the point that Daniels has weakened Tyler now, he springs to his feet and reacts QUICKER than the younger champion, beating him to the punch in a running STO spot. He continues to zone in on the arm, prompting Black to go high risk – kicking Daniels out of the ring for the RUNNING SOMERSAULT PLANCHA! He is ruthless, exposing Daniels’ head on the apron for a running boot, then bringing it back inside for a brutal Stomp right on the face. Neck twist applied, and Tyler continues to show a more vicious, heelish edge as he rakes at the face and nose whilst maintaining that hold. In that vein, he starts choking his opponent in the ropes, then drops him right on that neck again with a back suplex. Desperation Blue Thunder driver from Daniels, but such is the damage Black has inflicted that he can’t even stand up after hitting the move. Somehow he finds the strength to hit an Arabian press, then a running DVD for 2. Angel’s Wings blocked and Black kicks at Daniels’ head and neck again. Buckle Bomb countered with a SNAPMARE to the turnbuckles by Daniels, into the Fall From Grace getting another 2. Tyler grabs his leg as he thinks about the BME though, so he doesn’t get to the turnbuckles for it. Springboard Lariat from the champion and this time it’s Daniels’ turn to frustrate his opponent with a last gasp kickout. Daniels evades the Phoenix Splash…SUPERKICK INSTEAD! Peroxism gets 2! He pounds on the back and neck again, but as he goes for the Pele Kick DANIELS COUNTERS TO THE KOJI CLUTCH! Do you think years of having AJ Styles do that exact same move taught Daniels that counter? BLACK STANDS UP AND BREAKS IT WITH A MODIFIED BUCKLE BOMB! Superkick blocked and they go to a wild pinfall flurry. The 20 minute time limit expires so it’s a draw
Rating - **** - Great match, albeit with an anticlimactic finish. I understand the time limit draw being booked. Daniels just put Strong over like 2 weeks ago so couldn’t really lose twice in a row, and if the mentality is that Pearce doesn’t want anyone beating Tyler right now then there weren’t many other options. Before that we had great 20 minutes of great back and forth wrestling though. Tyler was absolutely awesome, working a much more sadistic and aggressive style here. I also liked how he worked the neck and head with purpose – but not with such remorseless and relentless focus that it made it unbelievable and annoying when Daniels made his comeback hitting DVD’s and moonsaults and so on. It definitely deserves a rematch – which I believe gets booked for one of the DVD tapings before Tyler leaves for WWE developmental.
Roderick Strong comes out and demands that Tyler give him the title shot he earned in Toronto, bringing Davey Richards out to remind him that he’s putting that shot on the line against him next week. Daniels takes his own microphone to remind everyone that the only one of them that Tyler hasn’t beaten is him…end show
Rating - *** - Lousy and pointless first half, but the second half was all about Tyler/Daniels, and that match was great so this episode is easy to recommend. I also loved the post-match segment to end the show since it really makes ROH seem like it’s got a strong World Title division. Considering it’s less than a year since they lost both Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness (and have also lost Kenny Omega to Japan and Austin Aries to semi-retirement since then) that is a terrific achievement.