ROH on Sinclair – Episode 079 – 23rd March 2013
Hopefully last week’s much-improved episode, the first taken from the post-11YA Chicago tapings, is a sign that the quality of the TV show is finally going to start picking up. Nigel throwing down the gauntlet to SCUM, the American Wolves giving a debuting team a fantastic little match, then Lethal and Strong wrestling against the clock in the last ten minutes all made for a fun episode. Following on from McGuinness’ rallying cry last week, the doors to the building will be unlocked and SCUM will be invited to try to invade Ring Of Honor again – this time with the entire ROH-loyal roster waiting for them. That stands alongside the scheduled main event of Adam Cole vs Matt Hardy, and we’re only two weeks from Supercard Of Honor 7 as well, so there’s much to do to promote that event as well. Kevin Kelly and Caleb Seltzer are on commentary, as we go back to Chicago Ridge, IL.
Michael Elgin vs Silas Young
This is a rematch from Brew City Beatdown, when these two men had an absolute classic which really put Silas back on the ROH map. Elgin picked up the win that evening in Milwaukee, tonight they meet again with Unbreakable in final preparations for Supercard Of Honor when he meets Jay Lethal in a #1 Contendership Match for the World Championship. These two men have been great rivals in other promotions, so it would be a real feather in the cap for Young if he could cement his ROH spot at the expense of his great nemesis.
Jay Lethal joins commentary, still horse and apparently out of his breath from his match from ‘last week’. He is impressed by the wrestling skills of Young, who counters out of a big headscissors to lock in an early Boston crab. Elgin’s response is to tackle his opponent clean out of the ring. Silas knows instantly he needs to negate that power, kicking and chopping the legs out from under Elgin. The leg work only gets him so far – eventually Unbreakable has had enough and dishes out a mean elbow to the face. GERMAN SUPLEX INTO THE TURNBUCKLES! Never Ending Story lariats drop Silas to his knees…and the Oklahoma Slam puts him all the way down to the deck for 2. Dead-lift German is countered though, proving Young still has gas in the tank. CHAOS THEORY INSTEAD! Silas kicks out of that and fights back to land a Pedigree. Arabian Press misses…BACK FIST SCORES! BUCKLE BOMB! SPIRAL BOMB! It’s an impressive win for Elgin at 07:36
Rating - *** - Another hard-fought and at times intensely stiff match between these two. Obviously the Milwaukee match was better, but for a condensed TV version this was pretty good. I could have done with Silas getting a little more offence in, but as this is television and Elgin needs positive exposure I do understand why he was made to look so dominant.
Adam Cole says the one thing consoling him after losing the TV Title is the thought that he gets to fight Matt Hardy tonight – with the added incentive of victory getting him another shot at Taven.
Charlie Haas comes to the ring to explain himself after he severed ties with Shelton Benjamin a couple of weeks ago on TV. He is bitter at having ‘carried’ Shelton, and resentful at all the opportunities he got in wrestling which Charlie never had. He is looking for a fight tonight…and his request is answered by Grizzly Redwood. Charlie makes him tap to the Haas Of Pain inside 90 seconds. Mike Mondo runs in to save Grizzly, but the damage is already done.
SIDENOTE - This match ended up being pretty notorious – as Redwood felt Haas disrespected him by not bumping, not selling his shots and not allowing him more offence. They ended up in a backstage fight at WAR in North Carolina later in March, and both were apparently cut from the roster within a week. Austin Aries, in particular, wasn’t pleased at Grizzly’s treatment by Sinclair in the wake of this.
Back from commercials, and Mondo is still in the ring sweating, breathing and wheezing like he’s wrestled a summer Iron Man Match in the Murphy Rec. He tells Veda Scott he is officially off the injured list and ready to fight all comers.
His glorious comeback is short-lived though, as SCUM invade the arena. Corino and Rhino are in the crowd with a microphone whilst Jacobs, Titus, Rave and Compton jump the barriers to assault Mondo and Redwood. They take Veda hostage to prevent the ROH troops from throwing them out of the arena. Corino demands that next week is a ‘SCUM show’, with a whole episode dedicated to ROH vs SCUM matches. That was surprisingly great, especially coming from the goofiness of Mondo’s promo
Steve Corino returns after the break to serve as Matt Hardy’s special guest ring announcer
Matt Hardy vs Adam Cole
This was originally scheduled to be a TV Title Match, but Matt Taven and the House Of Truth spectacularly scuppered those plans at the Anniversary Show when he shockingly took the belt from Cole. Nigel hastily rebooked this as a #1 contendership bout instead – with the winner going to Supercard Of Honor 7 in New York for the TV Title shot. We know the history between these two, with Hardy comparing Adam an inferior younger version of himself and Cole feeling disrespected at the former WWE Tag Champion’s arrogance. And all of those were factors even before Hardy revealed himself as a member of SCUM.
Cole is unrelenting from the start, battering Hardy into the deck with punches then knocking him out of the ring with a superkick. TOPE SUICIDA NAILED! He hit that with limbs flailing and a scary lack of control which smashes Matt into the guardrails. A suplex on the floor follows next with the crowd on their feet in support of the former TV Champion. Thesz Press off the apron scores too, as Corino amuses me on commentary by stealing Caleb’s headset to tell Kevin Kelly that he has Hardy to thank for having a job during the Attitude Era. GERMAN SUPLEX INTO THE RAILS BY MATT! Hardy’s back is bleeding and he crawls into the ring after that, apparently happy to accept a count-out victory. To Adam’s credit, he crawls back into the ring…only to be drilled from the second rope with a super Side Effect. Hardy stays on the back and neck which clearly sustained significant damage with that last spot. Sit-out Razor’s Edge gets 2, as does a second Side Effect (this time in the middle of the ring). Still Cole refuses to quit, eventually shaking off a flurry of Hardy shots to nail the Shining Wizard. He stomps Matt into the canvas, to the extent that the referee tries to restrain him, then drags him back up for a DVD over the knee. Flying Crossbody is DUCKED though…and Matt rubs salt in the wounds by applying the Figure 4 on Cole. The ROH star escapes and COUNTERS to his version of the Figure 4! Matt crawls to the apron, and shows he’s watched his Adam Cole tapes by avoiding his attempt at a slingshot apron DDT. He exposes the bare floor…but sees his Twist Of Fate attempt countered to a FLORIDA KEY ON THE FLOOR! SCUM have seen enough…RHINO JUMPS THE RAILS AND GORES COLE! Caprice and Cedric sprint up the aisle to fight the Man Beast, and with chaos threatening to break out again Todd Sinclair has no choice but to throw the match out at 13:24 (shown).
Rating - *** - This was Hardy’s best match since his return to ROH. I’m not sure how much of the credit for this should go to Cole who was absolutely stunning in the babyface role, but I can’t express how much better this was than Final Battle. The only reason I didn’t go higher on my rating is because they didn’t throw a finish on this. It was just a classical face vs heel encounter, with both athletes working their respective roles so well. Matches like this really justify why ROH have resisted the calls from fans asking to turn Cole heel for the past eight months. Just because he's been a great heel for PWG and CZW doesn't mean ROH should instantly follow suit. They have a good thing going with him in the babyface role for now. The time will come for his heel turn of course, but there's more for him to do in his current capacity in my opinion.
Jimmy Jacobs, Jimmy Rave, Cliff Compton and Rhett Titus jump the rails…and of course the ROH guys are soon in the ring too. It’s a massive brawl as the show ends, and we prepare for the ROH vs SCUM special next week.
Tape Rating - *** - Another strong episode from these Chicago tapings. We got some great wrestling (including a main event which probably exceeded a lot of people’s expectations), and a really hot ROH/SCUM segment. The angle with Veda is about as edgy as the ROH on Sinclair show has ever gotten, which to me is a good thing too as Delirious starts pushing the boundaries and making the show more unpredictable. But for the Haas/Grizzly/Mondo segment dragging things down this episode would have been pretty much non-stop enjoyment. Definitely one to seek out if you have a spare hour.