ROH on Sinclair – Episode 019 – 28th January 2012
These first weeks of episodes taped at the Du Burns Arena homebase will all be looking to shift and refocus the ROH landscape, moving away from the Final Battle stuff and starting to set the scene for the three big upcoming ippvs (the 10th Anni show and Mania weekend). Tonight Davey Richards teams with Kyle O’Reilly as Team Ambition make their televised debut against Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander. We’re in Baltimore, MD with Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness.
RD Evans interrupts Prince Nana trying to talk about himself by saying The Embassy Ltd isn’t about him – the investors want profits and want to focus on more competition for Tommaso Ciampa. They've done this promo about 4 times over recent shows...
TJ Perkins vs Tommaso Ciampa
ROH are trying to hype this as a clash of undefeated wrestlers – since TJP is apparently unbeaten on TV. Ciampa, meanwhile, is undefeated in singles competition for his entire tenure in ROH thus far – now approaching a full year. The new investors in The Embassy have demanded less of Nana’s antics, less shrimp cocktail parties and tougher matches for Tommaso Ciampa so he starts earning bigger bucks in this promotion.
RD Evans sends Nana’s posse Ernesto Osiris and Princess Mia to the back, again demonstrating that the Barrister’s influence at the top of Embassy Ltd is starting to grow. Ciampa actually shakes hands too, although he then gets met with a barrage of strikes from Perkins when he tries to turn it into a cheap shot. Tommaso actually has to flee the onslaught…and even then TJ is up to the task as he gives chase to land a SPRINGBOARD DROPKICK ON THE APRON! It takes the intervention of Nana to distract Perkins and hand Ciampa the initiative. TJ tries to hang in the ropes…but he does that spot in every match so Tommaso knows what to expect and simply knees him square in the face! He’s not finished, and he scoops Perkins up for a wheelbarrow swing into the guardrails for good measure. TJP absorbs more brutal knees to the face, and shows real resilience to eventually counter one of those strikes into a dragon screw. Ligerbomb nailed, giving Embassy Ltd some concerns as their man is on the back foot. REPEATED UNPROTECTED KNEES TO THE FACE! PROJECT CIAMPA! In a flash it’s all over – Tommaso wins at 05:56
Rating - *** - For less than six minutes, I thought this was really good stuff. Perkins played the plucky underdog well, whilst Ciampa got to look like a total bad ass at points too. That finishing sequence, with the brutal knee strikes into Project Ciampa is really starting to get over now. I’m not TJP’s biggest fan but he was a great foil for putting Tommaso over, and this was a fun way to start the episode.
A Grizzly Redwood vignette is shown, and it’s emotive stuff. It’s supposed to lead to a match between Grizzly and Devon Storm (yes, Crowbar, who sucked in WCW, sucked when ROH gave him a shot on HDNet, and probably still sucks now)…but they are interrupted by the House Of Truth. Martini pays Storm $500 to leave and let Elgin replace him…
Michael Elgin vs Grizzly Redwood
I’m sure these two have met before, and I’m equally sure it resulted in Redwood getting squashed like a pancake. Elgin is the reigning Survival Of The Fittest winner, so still has a World Title shot in his back pocket when needed – essentially meaning he needs to be winning matches like this constantly to ensure he’s at the top of his game for when he eventually cashes in the opportunity.
Of course, Elgin immediately lays Redwood out with an emphatic shoulder block. ‘You really are a Helen Hunt’ – Nigel to Truth. Grizzly tricks Elgin out of the ring…but is caught going for a tope suicida and TOSSED INTO THE GUARDRAILS! ‘What a merchant banker’ – Nigel, who is getting better and better as ROH’s colour commentator. Unbreakable goes for an ill-advised twisting senton and connects with nothing but canvas. Cannonball attempt from Redwood…and when Elgin catches him he COUNTERS the Spiral Bomb into a facebuster for 2. Buckle Bomb from Michael, into the Spiral Bomb…and now it is over at 03:31
Rating - ** - Between the heart-wrenching Grizzly Redwood package, the comedy quips of Nigel and Truth Martini and some entertaining big man/little man spots – this was actually much more worthwhile than you might expect. Effective squash which gets Elgin and the House over without absolutely flattening Grizzly in so doing.
After highlights of Steen/Corino at Final Battle, we go to more words from Kevin Steen. He’ll be ‘unleashed’ onto ROH TV next week. He’s coming back to ROH for the World Title and to take the company hostage.
Jim Cornette says he’ll also be in the arena next week, with a message for Mr Wrestling…
INSIDE ROH – The spotlight is shone on the growing heat between Eddie Edwards and Kyle O’Reilly. Eddie seems to think Kyle is a spiteful stooge in Team Richards, whilst Kyle depicts Edwards as a disloyal and ungrateful friend to Davey. The World Champ pitches in to say that he trusts Kyle more than Eddie at this point in time.
Mike Bennett finally gets his TV Title rematch with Jay Lethal next week. And it has no time limit to hold him back.
Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team are furious that ROH officials won’t give them an immediate rematch with the Briscoes. Apparently they plan to address the situation on television next week.
Caprice Coleman/Cedric Alexander vs Davey Richards/Kyle O’Reilly
We now know that Davey is teaming with Kyle rather than Eddie in the American Wolves because he simply trusts his Team Richards ally more at this point. Kyle and Eddie don’t like each other at all, to the extent that O’Reilly seems determined to make a success of ‘Team Ambition’, wanting people to call them the ‘new American Wolves’. For Caprice and Cedric, they’ve bounced around the tag team scene for a while without having a breakthrough match. If they could pin the World Champion (or even his protégé) it would be a major boost to their careers.
Cedric starts with Davey, and they run through a really nice little exchange which nearly ends with Alexander scoring with a standing moonsault. Kyle gets in with Caprice, and despite being vastly less experienced, he shows a wise head by punting Coleman in the ribs as he tries a leapfrog. Caprice retaliates by dropkicking both members of Team Ambition, then catapulting himself off Davey into a plancha to O’Reilly on the floor! SOMERSAULT PLANCHA BY ALEXANDER! C&C are dominating! They hit repeated snap suplex/slingshot senton combos on Kyle as he struggles to get back to his corner. Caprice is absolutely HAMMERING him with stiff elbow smashes…and when we return from commercials we see him tie Richards and O’Reilly together for a DROPKICK/DDT COMBO! Springboard double dropkick from Alexander, then he totally no sells a kick from O’Reilly to nail him with a jumping enzi. FULL NELSON FACEBUSTER FOR 2! Cedric thinks about a super rana – REVERSE RANA ON DAVEY! SUPER RANA ON O’REILLY! FROG SPLASH GETS 2! IRISH AIR RAID…O’REILLY KICKS OUT AGAIN! Davey storms back to save his partner with the Alarm Clock! Kyle and Cedric absolutely PASTE each other…and O’Reilly gets 2 with the Regalplex. TOTAL ELIMINATION nailed, but Cedric kicks out! Kyle locks in the front choke…DOUBLE STOMP FROM RICHARDS! Alexander is done, and Team Ambition get the win at 08:39 shown.
Rating - *** - Wow, what a rush that was. I wish I did half stars because this one deserved ***1/2 easily. A breathtaking display of non-stop, offensive tag team wrestling that had the live crowd on their feet. Cedric and Caprice looked at home in the ring with two of ROH’s top guys, and delivered their best performance in ROH thus far. Alexander in particular looked superb, and I maintain that kid has a bright future if Ring Of Honor are patient with him.
The show ends with Eddie Edwards coming to ringside and sarcastically applauding…
Tape Rating - *** - Really strong episode this week. All three matches delivered the goods, and there was lots of backstage interviews and segments to keep the show flowing and to start pushing forward future storylines. It was episodic television production at its best, as this show itself was very good, whilst being completely focused on giving viewers reasons to tune in again next week. Already, we know that next week has the Bennett/Lethal TV Title Match, Kevin Steen’s return to TV plus announcements from Jim Cornette and WGTT. Count them – FOUR REASONS to come back next week, all delivered without damaging this episode. And if that doesn’t float your boat, them the Team Ambition vs C&C main event was well worth checking out.