ROH on Sinclair – Episode 013 – 17th December 2011
It’s the go-home episode of ROH’s TV show going into what they themselves have called their ‘biggest show of the year’ – Final Battle 2011. The pressure is mounting after a couple of underwhelming weeks of TV, so everyone will be looking to deliver a top notch broadcast this evening. There is a stacked iPPV card to promote, alongside a hot main event which sees Michael Elgin enter the Proving Ground with Davey Richards. This is also the last week of fresh content in 2011, and the last episode of ROH TV taped in the Davis Arena before OVW signed a deal linking them to TNA and effectively ending their relationship with ROH. Ring Of Honor would move the TV tapings to Sinclair’s home base of Baltimore from the start of 2012. That means, for the time being, this is our last trip to Louisville, KY. We join Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness.
The Final Battle hype begins right out of the gate with Eddie Edwards giving his thoughts on the Final Battle main event. Dan Severn has taught him how to escape the Anklelock, how to perfect the Dragon Sleeper and given him all the tools he needs to go 2-1 against his American Wolves partner.
Eddie Edwards vs Andy Ridge
How much more different could the go-home matches for Davey and Eddie be? We have Davey in the main event in what promises to be a gruelling, physical encounter against a motivated and imposing Michael Elgin…whilst Eddie is opening the show against Andy Ridge (who has one of the worst won/loss records in the promotion). This is the first time Eddie has been on TV since he came back from his training camp with Dan Severn.
Truth Martini is on commentary talking about how much of an Eddie Edwards fan he is. The opening couple of minutes here are surprisingly competitive albeit with Ridge is clearly on the defensive. Andy tries to throw some kicks and chops…which is a huge mistake against one of the hardest hitters in ROH. Eddie quickly grounds him Dan Severn-style and slaps on an Anaconda Vice. Right Leg blocks the Backpack Stunner and desperately throws kicks in the direction of the former World Champion. Edwards absorbs those and seamlessly flows into an STF submission much to the admiration of Martini and Nigel. Slingshot cutter gets 2 for Ridge…which only serves to infuriate Eddie. Dragon Sleeper locked in, and it has Andy tapping out in seconds. It’s over at 05:53
Rating - ** - I wasn’t expecting to like this, but it was better than expected. Eddie looked very dominant and showcased some subtle changes to his work which put over the Dan Severn stuff they’ve been working whilst he’s been off TV. Ridge did get some offence in which made him look good, but what I liked is that anything offensive Andy did then directly linked to Eddie being able to showcase something – be it a neat submission sequence or a brutal mean streak as we saw at the conclusion.
A video package detailing the history of the WGTT/Briscoes feud is aired. As an update to the attack on Shelton last week – Jay and Mark have been fined another $5000, but cracked Benjamin’s rib meaning he’ll be competing at a severe disadvantage this weekend.
INSIDE ROH – More Final Battle video hype, mostly focused on the World Title Match and the Roderick Strong Invitational.
Davey Richards vs Michael Elgin
Given I’m writing this in summer 2012 and considering all they hype Richards/Elgin from Showdown In The Sun weekend received, I’m intrigued to see how they get on here as a prelude to that. It’s Proving Ground rules so Unbreakable (already assured of a future title shot after winning Survival Of The Fittest) can bag himself multiple chances to win the gold if he can escape with a win or draw. Many are calling the timing of this suspicious. The House Of Truth don’t like Davey or Team Richards. We saw Truth Martini applauding and trying to recruit Eddie earlier, and on the eve of the biggest ppv of the year, they send their enforcer into battle looking to hamper his preparations. Truth has also negotiated a special 20-minute time limit for this instead of the usual 15…
It’s an early score for Elgin as he floors Davey right a forearm – which rattles him to such an extent that the champion leaves the ring to recover. Richards tries a kick…but is hoisted effortlessly onto Elgin’s shoulders by way of a block, and it’s almost 3-minutes into the match before Davey is able to take Michael off his feet. Even then Michael gets back to his feet and DESTROYS Richards with a Bossman Slam for 2. That injures the back and he’s on it in a flash by driving the champion’s spine into the side of the ring. Truth Martini, of course, is on hand to lay in a couple of cheap shots behind the referee’s back too. Richards kicks Elgin off the apron and takes him out with a tope suicida – having to risk further damage to his own body just to get Unbreakable off his feet here! It’s all even as we go to commercials, and when we come back these two are still standing in the middle of the ring lugging the sh*t out of each other…except Davey’s midsection has been further damaged by a torture rack backbreaker during the break. RUNNING FISHERMAN BUSTER ON THE FLOOR! Davey lies motionless and, even if he can get back into the ring, this whole match is just draining gas from the tank mere days from Final Battle. He crawls back in only to be dropped again with a cradle powerbomb from the HOT enforcer. He’s so injured he can’t even muster up the strength to lift Elgin at this point. The champ resorts to headbutts to hold Elgin at bay…then a big superplex which clearly hurts him as much as his opponent! Elgin is back on his feet first! He shakes off a succession of kicks to the face and delivers a BACK FIST! JUMPING ENZI BY ELGIN! Finally he collapses, but you have to wonder how much more of this Richards can take. Machine Gun kicks by Davey…but again Michael no sells! Somehow Davey hits a German suplex for 2…followed by the Alarm Clock with less than 3 minutes left in the time limit. Double stomp nailed but it’s still just 2! KNOCK-OUT KICK! Incredibly it doesn’t knock Elgin out though, and he is still aware enough to block the cross armbreaker! Triangle Choke instead…into a sunset flip! Richards somehow escapes with a win at 16:44 (shown).
Rating - **** - Low key finish, but these two showed some great chemistry and this is up their with the best matches on the SBG show thus far. In fact, outside of Generico/Lethal from Episode 2, pretty much all the best Sinclair TV matches have come from this HOT/Wolves/Team Richards feud. For free television, this was a tremendous match, and well worth checking out for those that loved their critically acclaimed match from Florida the following March.
Martini and Elgin try to assault Davey…which brings Eddie Edwards from the locker room to help him. Unfortunately all he does is NAIL Richards with his own ROH World Title belt! Davey is PISSED! He tries to attack Eddie…WHO MAKES HIM TAP OUT WITH THE DRAGON SLEEPER! What a statement that is before the ppv! Team Richards and a hoard of referees end up separating the American Wolves as the show goes off the air.
Tape Rating - *** - After a few weeks this was a welcome return to form for the ROH on SBG show. The build to Final Battle was decent – although I thought they could have done a LOT more to focus on the matches outside of Richards/Edwards and Briscoes/WGTT. I understand not talking about Steen/Corino to play up not wanting to give Kevin Steen the publicity, but the TV Title Match was barely mentioned and, to casual fans, Jay Lethal is one of the most recognisable names on the roster. ROH veteran Jimmy Rave is returning to ROH at the ppv – that wasn’t even mentioned at all. The participants in the big Tag Gauntlet Match were hardly profiled other than with a small graphic. The stuff they did with the Tag and World Titles was great, but I think they could have done more to promote a really solid top to bottom card. But at least the match content on this episode was a vast improvement. Edwards/Ridge was a genuinely decent squash which served an obvious purpose, whilst Richards/Elgin in the main event was as good as anything on the show’s entire run.