ROH on HDNet – Episode 089 – 3rd January 2011
Although we’re right near the end of Ring Of Honor’s HDNet run now, there’s still much to look forward to in the last eleven episodes – starting tonight as for the first time ROH took their TV show outside of The Arena in Philadelphia for tapings. Crucially, these shows were taped before Final Battle weekend so I’m curious to see how the promotion will keep the momentum going after the excellent iPPV at the end of December. My original intent was to take a brief ‘ROH break’ after 2010, but such was the ‘Final Battle high’ I had after watching that show, I’ve jumped straight into 2011. These tapings feature the return of Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team, Homicide’s build towards an ROH World Title shot and some remarkable twists in the ROH TV Title picture. Mike Hogewood and Dave Prazak are on commentary – and this was taped in Lousville, KY.
After giving Louisville, a ‘dry run’ at Bluegrass Brawl last summer, ROH returns to the Davis Arena for this weekend of tapings. The differences in production here are noticeable. ROH has brought their actual ring this time (so no yellow OVW ropes), the building looks much smaller than The Arena, largely due to how the crew have set up almost zero lights around the venue, meaning most of it looks pitch black. Sound quality isn’t great…
Eddie Edwards vs Mark Briscoe – ROH TV Title Match
Any ROH on HDNet viewers who purchased Final Battle will already know the result of this one. In New York we saw Chris Daniels with the TV Title belt and acknowledged as TV Champion, so I think it’s safe to say Eddie Edwards is pretty safe here. He’s been putting on some entertaining matches for the belt recently though, so this one with half of the Briscoe tag team that dethroned the American Wolves back at Final Battle 2009 should be interesting.
This is technically Eddie’s first ROH action since his injury at Survival Of The Fittest by the way. He wisely makes the opening moments slow, engaging Briscoe in a mat-wrestling exchange. He does well out of that, so Mark immediately quickens things to land a running heel kick. Eddie goes on the defensive and kicks Briscoe out of the ring – which turns out to be a mistake as Mark scores with a TOPE ATOMICO INTO THE GUARDRAILS! He goes up into the lights (literally, the ring lights obscure the camera’s view of him) as he sails through the air to nail a missile dropkick for 2. The challenger now starts working the neck – first with a running neckbreaker then by wrenching it in a high camel clutch. Into the lights again with Mark getting crotched for Edwards to hit the SUPER RANA which gets a nearfall. He dropkicks Briscoe’s knee out from under him before cutting him down completely with the sliding enzi kick. Backpack Stunner countered with REDNECK KUNG FU! Iconoclasm blocked…urinage suplex instead, dropping Edwards down on his neck again. Eddie lands the flying Codebreaker but just hasn’t done enough damage to lock in the Achilles Lock yet. DOUBLE STOMP ACROSS THE BACK! Now he might have…and to make sure he clamps on a different leg submission to induce a noticeable injury. Not enough to stop him flying out of the corner with the Frog Elbow for 2. Cut-Throat Driver COUNTERED TO THE ACHILLES LOCK! Briscoe taps at 12:18
Rating - *** - Very solid way to kick off ROH’s 2011 season. This wasn’t all perfect, with a few sloppy moments and some slightly screwy psychology – but much of the action was well-thought out and a whole lot of fun to watch. I’ve really enjoyed some of Mark’s recent singles matches, and I’m hoping will get to see a few more as 2011 progresses.
Kyle Durden in his Louisville hangout, asks Claudio Castagnoli about his match with Homicide tonight. Claudio says ‘Homicide’ is a stupid name, and that Switzerland doesn’t have ‘angry Puerto Ricans’…so he prefers it there.
Mike Mondo brings his stupid ‘giant killer’ gimmick to HDNet. HE’S THE SAME F*CKING SIZE AS THE REST OF THE ROSTER! With more muscles than half of them…it’s f*cking stupid.
Mike Mondo vs Grizzly Redwood
So Mike’s gimmick is that he can fight people twice his size…and the guy they choose to debut him on HDNet is a guy HALF his size? I’ve said it a few times that I actually think Mondo is a decent talent. But this booking is beyond terrible.
Mondo tries to go all Greco-Roman on Redwood, and when that doesn’t work he goes for simple punches to the chops instead. Grizzly for his part brings the speed game, landing a few athletic moves before eating a Buckle Bomb from a now-pissed ‘giant killer’. Chinlock applied (something I hate in short little TV filler matches like this) and when Redwood escapes that Mondo is waiting to deliver a series of big knee strikes for 2. Big lariat gets another nearfall but Mike is now starting to get frustrated at not being able to put Redwood away. The Lumberjack strings some offence together and nearly snatches victory…then loses to a superplex out of nowhere. Mondo wins in 05:48
Rating - DUD - Lousy match, lousy booking…a comprehensive failure of a segment in every conceivable way. I said after reviewing Mike Bennett’s match at Tag Title Classic 2 that I liked him on the roster because his ring-style (i.e. the prototypical ‘WWE’ guy) made him a natural jarring heel for the ROH fans – but if the promotion started booking loads of guys to work like that it would suck. And for me, ROH simply can’t push Bennett and Mondo on the same roster. They have the same style, and ROH fans HATE IT. You’re not going to win WWE fans over working like this (they have a roster full of guys spending half of a five minute match doing chinlocks and lazy punches already), and you’re going to turn existing ROH fans off too. Since he’s been an OVW regular for ages, bringing Mondo in is clearly a Jim Cornette brainchild. Tread carefully Jim…
The intermission interview footage with Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin from Final Battle is shown again – giving some background to those two guys ahead of their HDNet debut…
Charlie Haas/Shelton Benjamin vs Bravado Brothers
This is the first time WGTT have been back in ROH since their memorable (losing) debut at Glory By Honor 9. They have already announced they’ve signed with Ring Of Honor for the foreseeable future, and are now gunning for the Tag Titles. To get into contention for a shot at the Kings, they need to start at the bottom and rack up some wins – meaning the Bravados are the first in the firing line.
Haas and Benjamin, who have spent lots of time in WWE developmental in this very building, get an almost unanimous standing ovation as they come out. Harlem starts and is immediately suplexed on his ass by Shelton. Haas gives him similar treatment with a powerful overhead belly to belly suplex for 2. Lance tags and lands a few shots on Charlie…who angrily muscles him into a pop-up powerslam. Benjamin picks BOTH BRAVADOS UP FOR A DOUBLE SAMOAN DROP! Atomic drop/superkick combo knocks Lance out of the ring, before Harlem eats the Leapfrog Hilo. He taps to the Haas Of Pain at 02:56 – again getting a huge pop from the Louisville crowd.
Rating - *** - I’m giving this a generous rating because it was a SUPERB way to debut the WGTT on the show. This is how a squash match should be, with the intended recipients of the ‘rub’ looking great and establishing them as major threats to the rest of the roster after a resounding win. Of course the electric atmosphere helped, but again Charlie and Shelton looked great out there. At the time I know a lot of people were disappointed they paid to bring WGTT back and wasted a supposed ‘opportunity’ to put them in a money match by having them work the Bravados…but I think it was clear by this point that they wanted to stick around in ROH long term, meaning that in the bigger picture, having them mow through some cannon fodder opponents is a great idea.
Mike Bennett and Bob Evans join Kyle Durden for some interview time. Kyle wants to know if Bennett can live up to the hype…to which Mike responds by saying he’ll prove it next week.
Claudio Castagnoli vs Homicide
By this point we already know the Notorious 187 is the next contender for the World Title given that he won a #1 contendership match with Christopher Daniels at Final Battle. But, ignoring that, ROH are now starting to hype up his ‘undefeated’ streak, which I imagine will lead to him having such a pressing case to receive the next major title opportunity that even his nemesis Jim Cornette can’t refuse
Castagnoli isn’t remotely intimidated by Homicide and marches across the ring looking to use his size and power to his advantage. That works, but his attempts to work a grounded match don’t as the ‘strong style thug’ is definitely competent enough to hold his own on the canvas. Double C BATTERS Homicide with an uppercut flurry, repeatedly taking him off of his feet in the process…then throws him all the way across the ring with a fallaway slam. Having been beaten down, Homicide retreats to the ropes only to be kicked in the head by Chris Hero. We’re now six minutes into the match and it’s basically been an exhibition of Claudio’s offensive moves thus far. Even two of Homicide’s patented Lariats almost have no effect on him…before a third does eventually briefly take him down. Two Amigos scores but Claudio crotches him before he can successfully pull out the Frog Splash. NASTY fall to the floor for Double C, and in a daze he walks into the path of a cannonball senton off the apron soon afterwards. Cide gets 2 with a top rope splash at 9 minutes. Uppercuts block the Cop Killa, then Claudio uses the Pop Up European to escape the Ace Crusher and get a close 2-count. Tornado DDT from Homicide for 2. He lines up the Lariat again but this time Castagnoli is waiting to take his head off with a clothesline of his own. Gringo Cutter wins it for Homicide at 11:58
Rating - ** - This was one of those times when you got a real clash of styles which didn’t work at all. These guys had so little chemistry together that, at times this was brutally bad. There was enough in here to make it a passable main event, but given that Homicide is being given a big main event push right now, and considering the role Castagnoli has been on basically since late 2009, I think most people thought this would be way better than it was.
NEXT WEEK – Mike Bennett is in action for the ‘first time’ and Roderick Strong faces Colt Cabana
Tape Rating - ** - Bit of a mixed bag to start ROH’s 2011 season. Edwards/Briscoe was pretty good, and the WGTT arrived on HDNet in explosive faction…but the whole show was dragged down by that awful Mondo/Grizzly match and a mediocre main event. If these shows ever see the light of a DVD release I’d suggest they include Eddie/Mark…and not a lot else from this.