ROH on Sinclair – Episode 018 – 21st January 2012
This was a major weekend for Ring Of Honor. The return to Philadelphia, the (somewhat mediocre) debut in Norfolk, and now the first time the television show has had fresh content to broadcast since before Christmas. This is the first episode taped at ROH’s return to Baltimore, MD for the first time since 2003 and ‘The Last Stand’. Sinclair are based here so ROH were always going to return at some point, and here they are in the great looking Du Burns Arena, which is set to be their new TV taping home for the foreseeable future. Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness to commentate.
Straight into highlights of Richards/Edwards III – and the post-match segment featuring Kevin Steen.
The move from Louisville to Baltimore hasn’t got rid of Mike Mondo sadly. He says he’s going to make ‘Die Hard cry hard’ tonight. Yes, he really said that…
Mike Mondo vs Eddie Edwards
As much as I’d like to do an intro going over reasons why I don’t like Mondo, instead I’ll acknowledge that this match has been very intelligently promoted. Everyone is talking about the loss at Final Battle being the most devastating loss of Eddie’s career. One side you have Eddie himself promising to win here and bounce back, whilst on the other you have the brash, cocky (and annoying) pretender looking to make a name for himself at Edwards’ expense whilst Die Hard is at his lowest ebb.
Mondo seems over-confident, and keeps losing his cool then rushing straight into some hard-hitting offence from Eddie. The former World Champion breaks out the tree of woe dropkick from the floor inside two minutes and nearly wins it. The full extent of Mike’s desire to win this is revealed when he cheap shots Eddie, then starts working over his surgically repaired arm. He even delivers a jumping knee to that am as Edwards tries to fight him off with chops. Eddie lands a flying knee strike, but comes up still clasping his arm. Armbar DDT gets Mondo a close nearfall…but seems to push Eddie over the edge as he gets up to deliver a top rope double stomp then the Die Hard to win at 05:40
Rating - ** - Credit where it’s due, Mondo working the arm was great psychology…although somewhat ruined by the fact that Edwards had no interest in selling it. I might even go so far as to call this Mondo’s best match in ROH thus far.
Up next it’s time for highlights of the WGTT/Briscoes Tag Title clash from Final Battle – with Nigel McGuinness pointing out that they’ve had to edit and censor this hugely to enable them to broadcast this on television. More props to the ROH production team, who somehow managed to edit this together like that match wasn’t completely horrible.
In a taped interview, Haas and Benjamin admit that they got it wrong at Final Battle – in that they let the crowd and the actions of the Briscoes get into their heads and lure them into having a brawl rather than a wrestling match.
Jim Cornette then brings out the 7-time ROH Tag Champions for the live crowd. Jay wants Cornette to give them the $5000 WGTT were fined after Final Battle…
Roderick Strong vs Ricky Reyes
Man, Reyes just will NOT give up on getting back into ROH will he? It seems like once every couple of years he resurfaces, works the undercard, impresses no-one then vanishes again. He’s a former ROH Tag Champion, but that was a long time ago.
Reyes holds his own in the opening skirmishes, grabbing Roddy and getting 2 with a wrist clutch suplex. Strong throws some chops, but is surprisingly beaten back by the determined Havana Pitbull. Sadly it doesn’t last, and Roderick drags him out of the corner into a lungblower. Gutwrench suplex soon follows as Strong starts attacking the back and midsection in earnest. Ricky hits a desperate swinging neckbreaker for another nearfall…and nearly MURDERS Strong with a elbow smash! Roddy is on the ropes, and is driven into the canvas again with a sliding DDT. Reyes thinks he has it won, but takes too long…and is rolled up with the tights. Hugely cheap win for Strong at 04:14
Rating - ** - Surprisingly fun and hard hitting, although whoever booked Ricky f*cking Reyes to nearly beat one of ROH’s remaining credible main event talents is a total bonehead.
INSIDE ROH – Kevin Steen laughs about injuring so many people at Final Battle, and announces that he’ll be returning to ROH TV in two weeks to cause more chaos. Kevin Kelly also announces the new investment in The Embassy – demonstrated as Barrister RD Evans stops Prince Nana and tells him the focus is Tommaso Ciampa, not him.
Veda Scott makes her TV debut, interviewing Team Ambition. They have Caprice and Cedric next week, and Kyle is so excited about the team he dusts off Veda’s mention of Future Shock, and wants to dub this team the ‘new’ American Wolves.
Kenny King vs Matt Jackson
This is the main event, with Kenny looking for payback after the Young Bucks attacked his partner Rhett Titus’ injured knee AGAIN at Final Battle – putting him on the shelf for a while. Rhett is out here on crutches supporting his tag partner, and presumably to ensure Matt’s brother Nick doesn’t get involved either.
Matt starts by limping around the ring, mocking Rhett as he watches from the floor. King seems much more focused and quickly grounds him with the snap suplex into mounted strikes. Shotgun Knee lined up, only for Nick to drag Matt out of the ring to safety. Armdrags from King, into more mounted strikes as he completely dominates. He even finds time to take Nick out with a corkscrew pescado too! Matt uses that time to recover, then dive into a dropkick through the ropes which catapults King into the guardrails. After the break Jackson controls King with a camel clutch, then levels him with a superkick. He tries it again, only for Kenny to COUNTER with the cradle suplex to leave both men down! STO into a standing moonsault gets the ANX member a 2-count, as does a big spinebuster. Again the Shotgun Knee misses, and Matt hits back with the corkscrew Ace crusher! SPRINGBOARD DDT ON THE APRON NAILED! Incredibly, King kicks out at 2 there! Matt tries a 450 Splash, but dives into Kenny’s knees! Coronation gets 2…as Nick and Titus start fighting on the floor. Nick steals a crutch and levels King with it – handing Matt Jackson the win at 08:12
Rating - *** - I wasn’t expecting too much here, but credit to both guys as they worked a really fun little main event. With so little time to play with, they made the right call in working the contest at 100mph, throwing out spots and bumps all over the place to get themselves over. The Young Bucks have a Tag Title shot coming up so the right team won, and the cheap finish means ANX can keep some heat, so that made sense too.
NEXT WEEK – Team Ambition make their TV debut against Coleman and Alexander.
Tape Rating - ** - Not a must see episode by any means, but this certainly wasn’t bad. The main event was a blast, and both Edwards/Mondo and Strong/Reyes were miles better than I thought they were going to be too. Some decent in ring action, coupled with the (very late) reactions to Final Battle made this a decent episode of the ROH on SBG show. Final Battle traditionally ends a lot of feuds, so it was good to see this episode focus on lots of new storylines like The Embassy Ltd’s new investment, the Bucks as a top heel team, the Richards/O’Reilly team, Eddie Edwards starting at the bottom and of course, Kevin Steen’s return.