ROH on Sinclair – Episode 038 – 9th June 2012
Although we only really started officially counting down to Best In The World 2012 last week, the three weeks of television we have left between us and the next big ppv event will go quickly. ROH has acted fast and got lots of the card signed already – so these episodes of the SBG show should write themselves: flesh out those feuds and produce some strong in-ring content. It sounds straight-forward, but given how shaky ROH’s day-to-day booking has been recently I won’t believe it until I see it. Tonight we have Richards/Edwards 4 to main event. It should be a great match, although given how much hype they put into the third match which main evented Final Battle 2011, it seems odd to throw it onto TV for free six months later with basically zero build. Nigel and Kevin welcome us to Baltimore, MD.
Michael Elgin vs Matt Taven
With Fit Finlay waiting for him on ppv in a few weeks time, Elgin will be looking to rack up the wins as he prepares to face the veteran. Unbreakable is also starting to feel increasingly marginalised within the HOT with Rhino coming in seemingly to usurp him as the group’s enforcer and Strong continuing to expect and receive preferential treatment over him. A dominant win here will make his point that he wants more of the spotlight within the group. Taven has produced some good matches on ROH TV but needs a definitive victory if he is to secure a roster spot.
Elgin smile as he shakes hands with Taven…but soon has the smile wiped from his face as Matt lays into him with a series of chops and a dropkick. Elgin runs clean through him with a shoulder block, but even then can’t cement his dominance as Taven delivers a slingshot dropkick through the ropes. DEADLIFT F*CKING SUPERPLEX BY ELGIN! Are you kidding me? He follows it up with a running boot in the mouth for 2. On commentary Truth Martini announces he has a new team under his command, and challenges the Briscoes on their behalf for the ppv. Taven goes for a rana, sees it blocked, desperately tries to back flip out of Elgin’s clutches and STILL gets dropped with a back suplex. Great little sequence there. Taven is resilient and blasts Michael with a succession of boots to the mouth. Springboard enzi landed too…then a rolling boot and it’s still barely enough for a nearfall. Springboard sunset flip COUNTERED TO THE BUCKLE BOMB! SPIRAL BOMB NAILED! Elgin puts Taven away emphatically at 05:45
Rating - *** - An exciting way to start the show as Taven continues his streak of having really good TV-length matches. If WWE aren’t going to offer him a deal ROH need to start booking this guy as much as possible. He is obviously a talent, demonstrating that here as he made Elgin look like a million bucks and still got himself over in the process.
Eddie Edwards tells Veda Scott that he needs to beat Davey Richards tonight. He’s lost the last two times they’ve fought, and a victory basically guarantees him the first title shot coming out of Best In The World no matter who wins.
Kevin Kelly brings out Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team for an interview. Haas says he had to use a towel covered in substance in Toronto because Mark was ‘covered in chicken grease’. Shelton runs down ANX…bring the All Nights themselves to the ring. King lays into them for being old, and Rhett promises to take the belts from them in New York. A fight breaks out which ANX get the best of.
INSIDE ROH – Surprisingly ROH dedicates some TV time to hyping a DVD taping as Kelly promotes the Briscoe/Haas Texas Death Match in West Virginia this weekend. He also adds a TV Title three-way between Strong, Lethal and Ciampa to the Best In The World card.
Eddie Edwards vs Davey Richards
This is part of the ‘Die Hard Challenge’ series. Eddie devised a plan to get himself back into World Title contention – and his plan was to beat as many former World Champions as he could find. Former ECW World Champion Rhino went down at Border Wars…and then he issued challenges to former ROH World Champions Homicide (for Best In The World) and his former tag partner and great rival of 2011 Davey Richards. These two contested last year’s MOTY at Best In The World 2011 and endured a gruelling, physical slugfest at Final Battle…both of which Davey won. That means he’s up 2-1 on Eddie, and leaves Die Hard without a win over Richards since the HDNet era. The way he sees it, a win tonight not only evens the score again – but it means that whomever leaves Manhattan victorious, it will establish him as top contender.
Corino joins commentary to bury both competitors and hype Steen. As you’d expect, this one goes straight to the mat where it’s all even…then the come up, throw strikes and still you can’t separate them. Richards strikes first as he delivers a spinning heel kick but Eddie retaliates with a running boot that knocks Davey out of the ring. He chases Richards around ringside with chops and scores the first nearfall with a sliding enziguri. Backpack Stunner COUNTERED TO THE CROSS ARMBREAKER! That’s how well he knows Die Hard, and it forces Eddie to frantically roll to the ropes. Chops vs kicks duel on the apron! ARM WRENCH TAKEDOWN BY DAVEY! Having just trapped him in the armbreaker, that’s a devastating move to open up the injury on his former partner. Edwards is left rolling on the ground clutching his shoulder and barely makes it back inside before being counted out. Davey zones in on the arm almost exclusively with Nigel McGuinness submissions – first using the bridging chickenwing then the devastating THAT ARM SUBMISSION! I miss Gabe. Edwards tries a suplex but collapses in pain. Handspring Enzi COUNTERED into the back suplex gourdbuster, and even then his arm is causing him so much discomfort that Eddie can’t capitalise. He swats Richards out of the ring for the ELBOW SUICIDA! More damage done to his own arm, but it rammed Davey into the barriers and has left the American Wolf motionless. Missile dropkick nailed, still with the arm hanging limply by his side. Davey throws kicks wildly at Edwards, only to see them ducked into a TIGER SUPLEX FOR 2! Richards locks in the Kimura on the top rope which temporarily disables Die Hard, allowing him to deliver a brutal headbutt flurry. SUPERPLEX…INTO THE FALCON ARROW ARMBREAKER! COUNTERED TO THE ACHILLES LOCK! WITH ONE F*CKING ARM! COUNTERED TO THE ANKLELOCK! Eddie kicks free…and they come up beating each other senseless! CROSS ARMBREAKER AGAIN! PINFALL FLURRY…NON-STOP TWO COUNTS! ALARM CLOCK! NO SOLD! SUPERKICK! FACE CHOP BY EDDIE! DAVEY LARIATS HIM IN THE FACE RIGHT BACK! BOTH MEN DOWN! They wearily climb up the ropes again, and it’s Eddie who emerges in control with the AVALANCHE DOI 555! FACE CHOP FOR 2! Double stomp misses…and Davey rolls him into the Anklelock again. Edwards tries to counter to the Achilles Lock and gets kicked the face! Jimmy Jacobs runs in to piss Davey off…and Edwards swoops to capitalise. He wins with a flash pin at 16:38 (shown)
Rating - **** - Crappy finish (with Eddie continuing his streak of winning matches with roll-ups rather than his finisher), but we’ve seen these guys wage epic wars on ppv and go to clean finishes before. This was a hell of a fight, and quite possibly the best Sinclair TV match thus far. Only a handful are up there with it. I definitely thought this was an improvement on Final Battle, with these two great workers and rivals shaving off all the bloated strike exchanges and no selling which weighed down their third encounter and going back to a hard-fought, back and forth WRESTLING match. The last five minutes were easily the most exciting minutes of in-ring action that ROH on Sinclair has produced. The live crowd were red-hot and buying into every nearfall. Like I said, I hated the finish – but ROH has a ppv to sell, a Richards/Steen feud to promote so I can begrudgingly admit it made sense
Davey is obviously pissed off, but that bout appears to have eased tensions between the American Wolves as they shake hands, hug and show mutual respect as the show goes off the air.
NEXT WEEK – Roderick Strong vs Tommaso Ciampa is the main event.
Tape Rating - *** - Most of the show was decent, albeit forgettable, but Richards/Edwards 4 was a remarkable match…and definitely one that Ringside Members need to dig through the TV archives to find. I’d heard nothing about it, no hype…nothing. And given the rough ride critics gave the Final Battle match – I feared the worst. Thankfully Davey and Eddie delivered…making this a show you definitely need to check out.