ROH on Sinclair – Episode 028 – 31st March 2012
With Showdown In The Sun in the books – largely a success inside the ring and an unmitigated disaster outside of it – we now have a couple of weeks of Sinclair TV content still to broadcast before we take a hiatus and run Road Rage content from the Florida shows. Tonight we have the other qualifying matches for the March Mayhem final next week. They both look pretty good, with Ciampa vs O’Reilly to get us underway and a scheduled main event of Edwards vs Bennett. We’re in Baltimore, MD again. Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness commentate
Veda Scott wants to know why Tommaso Ciampa hasn’t returned the TV Title belt yet…which is sort of unfortunate since this very afternoon, live on ppv in Florida, he did return it…
Kyle O’Reilly vs Tommaso Ciampa
The winner of this advances to join Adam Cole and Jay Lethal in the finals of the March Mayhem tournament and stays in the hunt for the $24,000 prize fund. That’s a sum of money which is of great interest to The Embassy Ltd’s investors…who are not happy about Ciampa’s failure to deliver the Television Championship victory in New York.
Great opening sequence where the two men are even in grappling skills…so Kyle demonstrates his speed to land a dropkick, then Ciampa displays some raw power by shoulder tackling him with ease. Knucklelock next…throughout which they trade strikes, both refusing to give an inch. Tommaso shakes off some kicks and hits the dropkick from a kneeling position. Overhead belly to belly scores as well and the Dominant Male is in control for the first time. He grounds Kyle, pummelling him with forearms with very little resistance from the Team Richards member. BARE BONE KNEE IN A TREE OF WOE! Somehow O’Reilly absorbs that, escapes a surfboard stretch and gets some distance after nailing a back suplex. BACK SUPERPLEX! Ciampa somehow gets back to his feet…so Kyle hits a tilta-whirl DDT for 2! He kicks and slaps at Tommaso...who takes everything he has then NAILS him with a lariat! Project Ciampa COUNTERED to the Guillotine Choke! COUNTERED to a brainbuster attempt…and when O’Reilly escapes that Ciampa KNEES HIM IN THE FACE! Hard to tell if it’s legit or not, but Kyle seems totally out of it prompting the referee to award it to Ciampa at 07:48
Rating - *** - One of the strongest opening matches on the Sinclair show thus far, and one which made me want to see these two work together again. I’ve been saying it a lot this year, but Ciampa has become one of my favourites on the roster and I’m desperate to see him get the chance to work more ‘proper’ matches instead of just mowing through enhancement guys. This was really good, as was his match with Jay Lethal in Norfolk. Hopefully his underwhelming showing at the 10th Anniversary was a blip. He advances to the finals and has to be one of the favourites…
It’s a sign of how good that match was that the Baltimore fans actually applaud and pop for that finish, rather than boo it. Great stuff from these two
In a pre-taped interview Davey Richards talks about his disapproval of O’Reilly’s refusal to follow the Code Of Honor after the 10th Anniversary Show…
Davey Richards vs Ryan McBride
This is a Proving Ground Match, which is a huge accolade for McBride considering this is his Ring Of Honor debut. Apparently he’s a stand-out talent in the local area and Davey wanted to take a closer look at him. If he lasts 15 minutes with the champion it will be a huge story…
Huge hometown pop for McBride, but it doesn’t stop Richards charging at him and KILLING him with elbows and kicks in the first few seconds. Anklelock applied…and Ryan taps in 00:25
Rating - N/A - I know it seems weird, but this is how I like my squash matches. I’ve got no interest in jobber talent getting in a few spots on the World Champion. This was the match I wanted to see – Davey destroying someone not on his level with ease…and therefore looking stronger as a result.
SIDENOTE – Why is it that, at the end of March, the only DVD commercials ROH are running are for Battle In The Carolinas and Final Battle 2011? What about Homecoming 2012 which was a good show with a great main event in ROH’s city of birth? What about Rise & Prove where you got two events for the price of one? If they are watched by over a million people each week on the SBG stations, you’d think they’d try harder to sell their DVD’s to them wouldn’t you??
Kelly introduces Kevin Steen for another interview segment. He seems to be on the show every week at the moment, not that I’m complaining. Steen is though: he complains about how he never gets to wrestle on TV – just talk. He thinks Davey is ducking him and kissing Jim Cornette’s ass…bringing Richards to the ring, predictably with Cornette trying to restrain him. Steen BEGS Jim to book the match, but the Executive Producer refuses and tells him he needs to earn one. I might go so far as to say that’s the best in-ring promo segment thus far on SBG. Electric stuff, largely from Steen, that made you desperate to see the inevitable Richards/Steen showdown.
INSIDE ROH – Segments on the Briscoes/WGTT and Lethal/Ciampa feuds…both of which are made slightly irrelevant by the events of Showdown In The Sun.
Mike Bennett vs Eddie Edwards
This is the final March Mayhem qualification bout. These two were originally scheduled to lock horns at Underground in January, but a staph infection to Eddie put pay to that. Eddie’s ROH career is starting to drift, and a win in this tournament would put him right back into title contention again. Bennett, on the other hand, is yet to reach his full potential. After a huge break-out win over Lance Storm this weekend in Florida, following that with the $24,000 March Mayhem victory would make it a great few weeks for the self-proclaimed biggest star in ROH.
‘She needs two haircuts to wear that outfit’ – Nigel on Maria. In the ring Edwards is obviously the better technician and gives Bennett real problems working wristlocks and armbars from all over the shop. Prodigy only gets himself a foothold into the match when he declines to give Eddie a clean break, but even then Edwards responds by tying him in the corner for the tree of woe dropkick. He wants to hit the baseball slide dropkick from the floor…only for Maria to block his path, and as the referee remonstrates with her Brutal Bob strikes to give Eddie a backbreaker on the guardrail. That was a cheap way to get Mike into the contest and during the commercial break he continues to work the back and neck of the former World Champion. Eddie has some horrible cuts on his back as a result of that guardrail bump by the way. Somehow he hoists Bennett into a vertical suplex…although it’s The Prodigy who gets to his feet first such is the damage Edwards has sustained. Die Hard lays into Bennett with big chops then heads upstairs to hit a missile dropkick for 2. MAFIA KICK knocks Bennett out of the ring into the path of the ELBOW SUICIDA ON BENNETT! ELBOW SUICIDA ON BOB TOO! ROPE RUN BELLY TO BELLY SUPLEX…gets 2! Box Office Smash countered, and Edwards takes it to the top rope again. Backpack Stunner countered to a SPEAR ON THE APRON from Bennett! That turns the match in The Prodigy’s favour and he takes advantage by repeatedly punching his opponent in the face. Superplex attempt…COUNTERED TO AN AVALANCHE DOI 555! ACHILLES LOCK! Bennett kicks his way free…as Maria hops onto the apron and fakes injury to distract the referee. Bennett rolls Eddie up with the tights and wins at 12:08 (shown)
Rating - *** - This was a HOT main event. The crowd were so into this. which really helps put over what a strong product ROH has on television. Sure some of it was cheap (the finish and Bob’s guardrail spot) but you can’t deny these two had great chemistry together and were really clicking. Edwards in particular was on here - clearly busting his ass to put Bennett over. A terrific follow up to the great Bennett/Storm match in Florida as The Prodigy finally starts adding good matches to his entertaining gimmick and celebrity girlfriend. Much as with Ciampa/O’Reilly earlier, I’m really keen to see these two lock up again – maybe on a house show so they can have some time to do something really special.
‘I’ve seen better acting on RedTube’ – Nigel producing another classic one-liner.
NEXT WEEK – Lethal vs Cole vs Ciampa vs Bennett in the March Mayhem finals
Tape Rating - *** - Another strong episode of ROH on Sinclair. The two March Mayhem matches were well worth checking out, and the Richards/Steen segment in the middle absolutely sizzled. This had the potential to be a real lame duck of a show considering it was broadcast on the same night as Showdown In The Sun Day 2, making it very difficult to really progress storylines. But I found myself really enjoying this and, it has to be said, ROH are hitting more than they miss when it comes to their TV show right now. Not something the critics want to hear I’m sure…