ROH on Sinclair – Episode 015 – 31st December 2011
Last week’s first Holiday Special had some positives and negatives. As ever with ROH, the biggest problem was the production, and the biggest strength was the great wrestling – and since, as a brand, ROH still promotes themselves as the premier wrestling alternative to the big two, then they are at least getting the most important part of the job right. Tonight we’ll see the same format as last week with Kevin Kelly guiding us through match highlights and video packages from the first 13 episodes of ROH on Sinclair. As before, I’m copy and pasting my reviews from the original episode and skipping through this for fresh content. I presume cuts are being made somewhere in these matches to fit them all into the hour timeslot. Let’s join Kevin in the studio…
Apparently this episode will focus on the Wolves/HOT/Team Richards issue, which is a great idea as all the best matches on the SBG show thus far have come from those guys. Sensibly, they start with the main event of Episode 3 which saw Davey Richards defend the World Title against Roderick Strong.
Davey Richards vs Roderick Strong – ROH World Title Match
The American Wolf has called Roderick his top rival in Ring Of Honor. They are former stable-mates, former tag partners and now heated rivals. Final Battle 2010 was hyped as the biggest match in Davey’s career but he failed in his attempt to dethrone Roderick Strong as World Champion on that evening. Even though he would go on to defeat Strong at Honor Takes Center Stage weekend, there is still a lingering doubt as to whether Roderick has the edge on him in a big title situation and now is his chance to end that speculation.
These two are familiar opponents, and the initial pace is very slow. Strong acts out first, opting to slap Richards in the face rather than give him a clean break. Davey keeps his temper in check and traps the challenger in a surfboard stretch…only for Strong to counter to a version of the hold himself. Davey tries the Anklelock but it’s far too early and Roddy kicks him out of the ring to block it. The two men trade blows on the floor and it’s Strong’s chops that actually win out over Davey’s kicks – giving Strong the advantage for the first time in the match. He jumps at Davey, knocking him off the turnbuckles with a knee strike for 2. Back from commercials and it’s still Roddy on top, getting another nearfall with a back suplex. Davey lands a German suplex out of nowhere but is so beaten up he can’t follow up! Once again they trade strikes and this time it’s Davey’s kicks taking the edge. He connects with the running punt from the apron…THEN THE ELBOW SUICIDA! Back in the ring Davey gets 2-count using an exploder suplex. Saito Suplex blocked though, enabling Strong to go after the back again with a powerslam. Half Nelson suplex blocked…BLACK SUPERKICK!
Again it’s Richards getting a shoulder up at 2! STRONG CHOPS HIM IN THE FACE! BACK SUPLEX ON THE APRON! Still the champion finds a way to get his shoulder up! ALARM CLOCK! DISCUS LARIAT! Both men lie on the canvas, drenched in sweat and looking like they’ve got nothing left to give. Somehow they drag themselves up and stomp across the ring to trade stiff shots once more. They exchange kicks and chops in the corner…DEATH BY RODERICK NAILED! Suplex Flip Backbreaker blocked though, and Davey takes the fight to the top rope for a superplex! ROLLED INTO A FALCON ARROW ANKLELOCK! Strong escapes and knees him in the face! DEATH BY RODERICK COUNTERED TO THE ANKLELOCK AGAIN! Truth Martini jumps onto the apron to save the match, but it doesn’t stop Richards levelling Strong with the Handspring Enzi. Davey throws Truth out of the ring! SICK KICK! STRONGHOLD! BACK TO THE ANKLELOCK! RUNNING KICK TO THE HEAD! STRONG NO SELLS! BUZZSAW KICK! FOR 2! ANKLELOCK FOR A FOURTH TIME! This time Roddy has nowhere left to go and Richards retains at 19:56 (shown).
Rating - **** - If any new viewers were in any doubt as to how hard hitting and dramatic the Ring Of Honor product can be, this should have cleared things up for them. These two are so natural in the ring together by this point that, even when modifying their sh*t for TV, they still produce something really special. Live reports indicated this was the stand-out match from the first night of tapings and it’s hard to disagree. Even though the initial pace was slow, everything they did conveyed a very natural hatred of each other. Everything they did was done with such force and impact that it exploded off the screen at you. And everything they did portrayed them as completely equally matched, which meant that the false finishes at the end were incredibly effective.
INSIDE ROH – Replay of video packages showing the differing approaches to the World Title demonstrated by Roderick Strong and Davey Richards.
SIDENOTE – Still no footage or results from Final Battle on the show this week. Last week wasn’t an issue as that went out December 24th and the ppv only took place on the 23rd. I know it’s Christmas week – but surely someone at ROH/Sinclair could have put a day’s work in and just done a quick video package/recap of results from the biggest show of the year? WWE wouldn’t have Wrestlemania then not talk about it for the next month…
More on the House Of Truth/Wolves/Team Richards stuff as we see highlights of Strong/O’Reilly (really fun match by the way) from Episode 6 and the aftermath which saw Eddie Edwards and Team Richards briefly on the same page to combat the HOT. That leads us to the main event of Episode 8 as the American Wolves battled Strong and Elgin – we join in progress what I believe, to this date, is the last Wolves match in ROH.
Roderick Strong/Michael Elgin vs American Wolves
On Episode 6 we saw Roderick Strong beat Kyle O’Reilly (a protégé of Davey and member of Team Richards), then assault him after the match with the help of Elgin and Truth Martini. Davey Richards and Tony Kozina tried and failed to save their friend, and it was only the arrival of Eddie Edwards that saved the Richards crew from a beatdown. Now the Wolves come hunting for revenge, and another win over the Strong/Elgin combo following their victory in the Tag Team Turmoil main event back in July.
No handshake from the House Of Truth ensuring a Code Of Honor free episode tonight. They jump the Wolves and ensure they start the match hot. Eddie flips Richards into a running punt off the apron, then puts Elgin down with a facebuster – in position for Davey to land a missile dropkick for 2. The momentum swings back and forth with neither team able to sustain an advantage for an extended period of time and all four dishing out copious amount of fierce strikes. Richards unloads Machine Gun kicks on Elgin but just when he looks to have the edge Unbreakable simply hoists him up into a devastating torture rack backbreaker. That’s the move that finally cements their advantage and it leads to an elongated period of time with HOT wearing the World Champion down. Wolves fight back with STEREO TOPE SUICIDAS! Back in the ring Edwards chases Strong all over the ring with chops and enzi kicks…then slaps in the Achilles Lock. Kevin Kelly mentions the Ringmaster’s Challenge Match between them at this point! Roderick escapes and hits a BACK SUPLEX ON THE APRON! That’s a game changer as we go to commercials, and when we return it’s clear that the House Of Truth are still in charge and fully focused on working Die Hard’s back. Edwards retaliates with a flying DOUBLE Codebreaker and lunges into the hot tag as we go past the 10 minute mark. He actually suplexes Roderick to gain additional leverage to pin Elgin…and still only scores a 2! Anklelock on Elgin, who is so strong he kicks his way free! Double stomp misses, as Roderick shoves Edwards off the top turnbuckles into the guardrails. DEAD-LIFT SIDEWALK SLAM BY ELGIN! That guy is so powerful it’s crazy. All four take turns rushing around the ring…then Elgin draws a line under those shenanigans by picking up both the Wolves for a DOUBLE FALLAWAY SLAM! Everyone trade slaps and kicks mid-ring…BACK FIST BY ELGIN! He waffles Eddie in the face and still falls victim to the double Alarm Clock then the Quadruple Stomp for 2. BUZZSAW KICK! SUPERKICK! ELGIN KICKS OUT! He f*cking KILLS Richards with a knee strike…then hauls him off the mat into a powerbomb for 2. Truth Martini and Todd Sinclair almost start fighting too, and that means Todd misses Elgin pinning Richards. Eddie saves his partner with a Dragon Sleeper…and Richards rolls on top to win the match for the American Wolves at 15:57 (shown)
Rating - **** - Their house show match in Richmond was obviously a lot longer and grander in scale, but I think the lessened time limit actually made for a more consistently entertaining match from these four. This was all action from the opening bell and never let up until the final move. As you’d expect the striking was brutal, there were apron bumps, big spots…and an interesting finish which rather cleverly continues the build to Final Battle as Eddie debuts a new hold, but unseen to Davey meaning Richards still can’t prepare for Edwards and the World Title showdown.
NEXT WEEK – The first ever ‘Road Rage’ episode.
Tape Rating - N/A - The Wolves, Team Richards and the House Of Truth have had the best matches of the ROH on SBG run so far, so obviously this was a pretty fun episode to sit through. Richards vs Strong and Wolves vs Strong/Elgin were both 4* level in my book and worth checking out. I’m a bit disappointed we didn’t get any Final Battle coverage (even still images with a voiceover) but ROH was put in a tough spot with these two weeks of TV falling on major holidays and limited hours of TV time to choose from when making two episodes of ‘Best Of’ content. You could argue they could have put more effort in and made comprehensive ‘Best Of 2011’ episodes using DVD footage from throughout the year, but what they did was adequate…