ROH on Sinclair – Episode 001 – 24th September 2011
This is the start of the next chapter in Ring Of Honor’s near-ten year evolution. They’ve grown from a tiny little independent in a little sh*tbox venue in Philadelphia to being a major, corporate-owned wrestling entity. Sinclair Broadcast Group now own ROH, and are now putting them back on TV across the SBG stations meaning that ROH is effectively available to dramatically more fans across America than have ever been open to them before. Unlike HDNet, they are not on an obscure cable station, this is network broadcasting and a genuine big deal. If ROH can get people watching this then there’s no way the company won’t grow – simply due to the sheer volume of people who can access them. It also marks the start of a major shift in how the company operates. Unlike with HDNet where, in truth, the TV show always felt very separate, it seems like the TV show is going to be the top priority. They’ll do monthly tapings to ensure storylines remain relevant, they’re looking for the TV show to build and sell the big iPPV presentations…and whilst they’ll still be keeping house shows and DVD tapings for now it is very much expected that the focus won’t be on those live events anywhere near as much now. So this is Episode 1, and to kick-off the new show Cornette and Delirious have selected a huge main event. We have Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team, instantly recognisable to most mainstream wrestling fans, defending their Tag Titles against the Kings Of Wrestling – in their last ROH match (although that’s not been announced). Of course there will be some teething problems with production, some format tweaks needed here and there as well. But lets see how Ring Of Honor does in this new and exciting venture. The first four episodes of the show were taped in Chicago Ridge, IL – one of ROH’s top markets and sure to provide a lively crowd (unlike the endless Philadelphia tapings for HDNet). Kevin Kelly is the lead play-by-play announcer with Dave Prazak ditched despite his history with ROH and his experience on HDNet.
SIDENOTE - I like the dramatic new opening credit music, although why are the opening titles basically just WGTT getting ready to wrestle and nothing else?
Kevin Kelly is in the middle of the ring to introduce his new colour commentator. Crowd pops huge for the return of former ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness.
The competitors in the first SBG match get some promo time. The Bravados make me laugh by accusing Cole and O’Reilly of unsportsmanlike conduct, whilst Adam and Kyle somehow manage to pull off the gayest line in wrestling history (‘we are the future…and we’re going to SHOCK the Bravados’) whilst keeping a straight face
Future Shock vs Bravado Brothers
We know these two teams have had beef for sometime so this is a wise choice to start the show. We were denied a Shock/Bravados grudge match at Best In The World 2011 when ROH opted to book the Young Bucks at the last second instead – meaning Lance and Harlem still want revenge for the concussion Lancelot received at Supercard Of Honor 6. The most recent match between these two was at Tag Team Turmoil, in the finals of the Contenders Tag Lottery tournament…where again it was Cole and O’Reilly who emerged victorious.
Harlem teases offering Cole a clean break…but doesn’t and walks into a double strike combo from Adam and Kyle. Double facecrusher takes Lance down too…then we get DUELLING Fujiwara armbars! The Bravados comeback and showcase some of their double team skills, hitting Cole with an elevated Ace Crusher combo. Did Kevin and Nigel just compare the Bravados to the Steiners? They get 2 with a chop/neckbreaker combo. Urgh…it seems ROH is obsessed with Twitter as well. Bravados get another nearfall with the Gentleman’s Approach (love that move name!). Finally Adam gets the hot tag, and in comes Kyle with the double dragon screw on both Bravados…soon followed by a double missile dropkick for 2. The Bravados drop him with a back suplex neckbreaker combo…but take too long celebrating and get kicked in the face by Cole. Rolling Butterflies by O’Reilly…into the DOUBLE ARM DDT/OCEAN CYCLONE COMBO! Tope suicida by Cole…MISSILE DROPKICK OFF THE APRON BY O’REILLY! TOTAL ELIMINATION on Harlem wins it at 07:24
Rating - *** - Basically the same match they always have. As a long term ROH viewer that’s slightly frustrating, but as a choice to open the new TV show this was pretty perfect. It’s also a huge vote of confidence in the two young teams. In 2009 when ROH launched with HDNet they went with two veterans in Jerry Lynn and Delirious – so it’s a massive act of faith that the new ROH is ready to let two young teams work the very first match.
COMMERCIALS – I like that ROH gets commercial time too, meaning they can have guys like Kevin Kelly and Davey Richards come in to plug live shows, DVD’s, the website etc. Already this set-up seems a lot more geared around PROMOTING Ring Of Honor than the HDNet show did.
They air a video vignette with Kevin Kelly conducting a report on the Best In The World iPPV. Again, acknowledging stuff that didn’t happen on the TV show was something the HDNet show was really bad at. This was an effective recap/catch-up segment and I hope ROH continue to do these to make sure iPPV’s seem special and non-televised live events retain some importance.
INSIDE ROH – Apparently this will be a weekly feature on the goings on within the promotion. Jim Cornette discusses the importance of the Code Of Honor, whilst Kevin Kelly talks with Jay Lethal about his TV Title Match which will headline next week’s show.
Charlie Haas/Shelton Benjamin vs Kings Of Wrestling – ROH Tag Title Match
These two teams have been rivals since WGTT first arrived in this company. That night the Kings beat them in a memorable non-title bout using Hero’s notorious ‘lucky’ elbow pad…and it started a rivalry which took us all the way to Honor Takes Center Stage in Atlanta when Haas and Benjamin finally defeated the Kings to end their year-long reign as champions. Will the Kings be able to kick off the SBG era by winning the belts for a third time or will Haas and Benjamin defeat their rivals for a fourth time in 2011?
According to the Tale Of The Tape Charlie Haas is 39? That seems seriously old for an ROH talent. It doesn’t stop him taking Claudio to the mat and comfortably out-grappling him. Castagnoli tries to use his strength but again gets dragged to the mat where Charlie has the obvious advantage. Benjamin tags and displays his incredible athleticism and speed as he tosses both Claudio and Hero around in quick succession. He actually out-strikes Hero too as the champions continue to dominate the first 5 minutes. Finally Hero ducks the Dragon Whip and levels Shelton with the Rolling Flash Kick. Claudio holds him on the floor and allows Hero to hit a sliding dropkick to the floor as well. The fight continues on the floor as we go to commercials…and when we return the Kings still have Shelton isolated from his partner. Highlights show Shelton going for a Stinger Splash on the floor and crashing himself into the ringpost in so doing. But at last he hits the Dragon Whip on Claudio…only for Hero to pull Haas off the apron as he lunges for a tag! Suplex Elbow combo gets 2! Just when Benjamin looks to be out of it, he manages to drop both Kings with a double neckbreaker…and finally gets the tag to Charlie. He dishes out the suplexes on the challengers, before he climbs the ropes and hits a FLYING HEADSCISSORS on Claudio! His momentum ends when Hero floors him with an elbow smash for 2. Rolling Elbow knocks him down again, before he is picked up by Claudio into the Big Swing Flash Kick. Benjamin has to dive in at the last to save Haas from the KRS-1…then he levels Hero with a Superkick. Leap Of Faith (Leapfrog Hilo) on Claudio, before WGTT drop Hero with the Hart Attack. That’s enough for them to retain the belts at 14:28 (shown).
Rating - *** - I’d heard that this was a disappointing match so I wasn’t expecting much…and in truth this actually surprised me with how entertaining it was. Considering the last time we saw WGTT team was at Tag Team Turmoil/No Escape weekend when they had a real nightmare showing, this was really competitive. They clearly weren’t going in top gear but I imagine, if you’d not seen ROH or these two teams wrestle each other before, you’d have found this especially compelling. Of course it’s a low key and disappointing way for the Kings to leave ROH (you could write a whole column on whether it’s right that the new ROH allowed the Kings, one of the greatest teams in their history, to just slide away without even announcing it to the fans so they could say their goodbyes) but as an introduction to the tag team division here in ROH I thought this was good.
NEXT WEEK – El Generico makes his first defence of the TV Title against Jay Lethal.
Tape Rating - *** - Credit where it’s due, I thought this was an excellent introductory episode. It’s always hard starting a new show because you have to walk the line between starting from scratch to hook in new viewers without completely pissing off the existing fanbase that got you to this point. There were issues with sound quality, the Kelly/Nigel announce team will need a couple of months to find their groove as a duo, and dear lord how Americans put up with five or six commercials breaks in less than an hour of TV is beyond me…but there was a lot to praise as well. Visually I thought all the new graphics and logos were excellent. The featurettes were a nice way of putting over the existing storylines ROH has been running this year and the actual match content was very commendable too. I really think that, if you were a newcomer to the product, you’d have really been impressed with Ring Of Honor’s presentation of a pro-wrestling product…and ultimately that was the goal of the show.