ROH on Sinclair – Episode 009 – 19 November 2011
I believe this is the first episode from the third set of Sinclair TV tapings. As a result I’ve not seen anything announced as to what we have on the show tonight. I’d expect plenty of Final Battle build as that’s a month away now. I believe the Kevin Steen situation will be addressed too – particularly important given that on the very evening this show was broadcast he was invading another ROH live event (Glory By Honor 10) and causing mayhem. Once again we’re in Louisville, KY with Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness.
The announce team open the show with the announcement that Davey Richards is stepping up his training for Final Battle and will even face his training partner Kyle O’Reilly in the main event.
Alex Silva vs Mike Mondo
Both of these are OVW guys. If I hadn’t told you that, you’d soon work that out for yourself given that they are covered in fake tan, are totally jacked but (on all we’ve seen of them in ROH so far), aren’t particularly great wrestlers. Silva is only 20 though, so clearly has a very bright future in front of him. Mondo is still getting promo time on TV because Cornette likes him…
The start seems to pit Silva’s height against Mondo’s strength and, to their credit, it’s entirely even. They wind up in duelling headstands, whilst slapping each other in the face. Mondo ups the ante and lands a corkscrew pescado. That puts him in the ascendancy, so in true OVW style he slows it down to a standstill with some restholds. Alex breaks free to hit a spinebuster for 2…and gets another nearfall moments later with a gutwrench powerbomb. He tries the spinebuster for a second time only for Mondo to counter to a facebuster. Mike wins at 04:54 with a double arm DDT
Rating - DUD - Giant waste of TV time in my opinion. This was as basic as it gets, and if people wanted to see two muscled up hacks running through basic spots at a ridiculously slow pace they’d watch Superstars/Heat/After Burn or whatever WWE are calling their TV shows now. Silva is young enough that he’ll improve…but Mondo is nearly 30 years old. Are ROH seriously telling me this is the best up and coming wrestling talent out there not signed by TNA, WWE or DGUSA? The independent scene is in dire trouble if that’s the case…
Jim Cornette makes a public statement on the Steen situation. ‘This is America, you can sue anybody for anything’. That made me chuckle! He says he’ll make a full response to the legal claims next week, along with a potential settlement offer.
Mike Bennett vs Jamin Olivencia
The new guy, surprise surprise, is also from OVW. He’s a former OVW Champion in fact. He faces The Prodigy with Bennett extremely pissed off at being overlooked for another TV Title shot in favour of El Generico…
Bennett calls himself the real TV Champion, and announces that he’s giving Olivencia a title shot this evening. Jamin slaps him in the face and follows with some of the WORST dropkicks him the history of wrestling. Prodigy puts him down with a spinebuster, then again with a neckbreaker for 2. Cue the restholds again, with Mike slapping on a basic chinlock. Olivencia evidently botches someone as the camera spends way too long zooming in on the crowd, but when we come back he’s getting a 2-count hitting a swinging clothesline. Box Office Smash wins it in 03:34
Rating - DUD - Former OVW Champion or not, be it through nerves or inexperience, Olivencia looked green as f*ck. He also got in way too much offence for a squash. This looks like the kind of sh*t that would be left on the Sunday Night Heat cutting room floor back when Kevin Kelly was on Vince's payroll.
INSIDE ROH – Kevin Kelly formally announces that Dan Severn is training Eddie Edwards for Final Battle…and Richards is pissed off about it since training with ‘The Beast’ was originally his idea and Edwards didn’t even have the courtesy to tell him. Elsewhere the Briscoes challenge Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander and promise to beat them in less time than it took WGTT to beat them…
Davey Richards vs Kyle O’Reilly
In response to the news that Eddie is training with Dan Severn, Richards has stepped up his own training and offered to make this workout very public. These two aren’t going easy on each other, and this isn’t going to be a PANCRASE exhibition like Richards/Kozina on HDNet. Richards wants a tough match to prepare him for the challenge at Final Battle, so turns to his own training partner and Survival Of The Fittest finalist Kyle O’Reilly to find one.
Truth Martini is on commentary, apparently trying to recruit either of the American Wolves to the House Of Truth. In the ring the two men start with duelling strikes and submissions, coming up even on several occasions. They work duelling knee bars on the canvas, then get back to their feet and respectfully shake hands. Richards gets aggressive, smacking Kyle around with a few kicks…and is visibly surprised when O’Reilly gets up and boots him right back! But trading strikes with the World Champion isn’t a smart strategy and Kyle soon finds himself beaten down and trapped in a Cloverleaf. But he finds a way back again, grabbing Richards for the Rolling Butterflies, into a cross armbreaker! Davey didn’t like that at all and viciously knees his protégé in the ribs. Proving he’s all business here, he lines Kyle up and stays on the ribs, delivering a big heel kick straight to the stomach. O’Reilly retaliates…and gets FLOORED! Just as he gets up to avoid a TKO, Kyle lifts his lead and is rattled by another kick to the face. Back from commercials with Richards trapping O’Reilly in a surfboard on the canvas. But he can’t put Kyle away, and once again the youngster fights out and starts throwing shots at the champ. Richards has to drop him on his NECK with a discus lariat, but O’Reilly has actually done so much damage that Davey struggles to recover too. SLAP DUEL! Kyle wins that and hits a running kick to the face for 2. Regalplex blocked…Alarm Clock COUNTERED TO THE REGALPLEX FOR 2! O’Reilly was fractions of a second away from a huge upset! Davey jerks Kyle out of the corner into a modified Alarm Clock and BOOTS HIM OFF THE APRON! But he lines up another kick, and when Kyle ducks he connects with nothing but ringpost! O’Reilly is fired up –RUNNING MISSILE DROPKICK TO THE FLOOR! Missile dropkick back into the ring for 2 as well! GUILLOTINE CHOKE! Davey COUNTERS to the Anklelock! Only for Kyle to escape to nail the tornado DDT back into the Choke! RICHARDS APPLIES THE ANKLELOCK WHILST IN THE CHOKE! Then O’Reilly turns it into his own version of the Anklelock! Davey counters back…but O’Reilly refuses to quit. Tony Kozina throws in the towel to stop it for him at 14:23 (shown)
Rating - **** - Low end of the 4* scale, but compared to the in-ring trash of Mondo/Silva and Bennett/Olivencia this was awesome. It’s been a great weekend for O’Reilly what with the SOTF finals, a showstealing match with Eddie at Glory By Honor 10 and this fight with his mentor. This was billed as a training bout for Davey but I thought it did much more to promote Kyle O’Reilly as a strong singles wrestler. Both Wolves have struggled to beat O’Reilly in the build to Final Battle now…
Truth Martini enters the ring to recruit Davey by pointing out all the mistakes he made in the last match. Team Richards don’t like that and beat him up…
NEXT WEEK – Jay Lethal defends the TV Title in a rematch against El Generico. There’s also the Briscoes vs C&C, Cornette’s statement to Kevin Steen and footage from the Edwards/Severn camp
Tape Rating - ** - The main event and some of the promo segments were good…but there was way too much OVW mediocrity on this show. Like I said in my recap of Mondo/Silva – am I honestly expected to believe that those are the best of the ‘unsigned’ wrestlers out there? How is it when DGUSA run training seminars they get Uhaa Nation, Rich Swann and so on? The reality is, these guys are in ROH because of Jim Cornette and his affiliation with Ohio Valley Wrestling and, if I’m the Sinclair guys, I’d be concerned about letting Jim lead us down this path. ROH absolutely needs to market itself as an alternative to the big leagues. Guys like Mondo, Olivencia and Silva aren’t that alternative (although I’d argue Silva’s age may make him worth persevering with). Davey/Kyle was great, but the other matches really dragged this episode down.