ROH on Sinclair – Episode 085 – 4th May 2013

I like this approach to the ppv/TV cross-over episode – as tonight has a double main event which rivals any they’ve promoted since going out on Sinclair. New Japan’s Karl Anderson faces Michael Elgin in what should be a war, and that’s just the opener. The main event is a Defy Or Deny 2 rematch as Davey Richards faces his former protégé Kyle O’Reilly in one of the most anticipated matches of the entire Wrestlemania weekend. Kevin Kelly and Prince Nana (yes, I’m serious) are on commentary in NYC.

Karl Anderson vs Michael Elgin
With so much to pack in there’s no time to waste. Anderson returned to ROH at Supercard Of Honor in a physical encounter against Roderick Strong, and he walked out victorious against the former World Champion. Now he meets an opponent who is every bit as powerful as he is. Michael Elgin is the current #1 contender for the World Championship, but has opted to put his title aspirations on the backburner in order to help ROH fight SCUM. He takes a break from that war this evening and looks to prove just how much of a championship-level competitor he is.

It’s a slow start with neither man looking to give an inch or make a costly early error it seems. For two minutes they go back and forth, barely able to lay a hand on each other in anger…until Elgin at last drops the Machine Gun with a back suplex for 2. STALLING VERTICAL SUPLEX! He keeps the sizeable Karl Anderson in the air for an incredible length of time there. Oklahoma Stampede blocked though, and Karl finally gets some offence in. He dropkicks Unbreakable’s knee, attacking the leg which has been surgically repaired in the past. The leg is drilled into the apron…but even then Michael has enough strength to punt Anderson into the guardrails! Machine Gun counters that by STOMPING the railing against his injured wheel! Back in the ring he hauls his pad down and drops an exposed knee right into Elgin’s leg. Back from commercials and still Anderson is dominant against the ROH star. Elgin is struggling to even get off the canvas now…but still has an appetite to try despite a barrage of head shots. He puts a Roaring Elbow into the back of Anderson’s neck…and it’s set up for a DEAD LIFT STALLING GERMAN INTO THE TURNBUCKLES! And despite that impact, Elgin’s injuries are such that it’s actually Machine Gun who is up first! They pelt each other with elbow strikes, with Unbreakable edging that contest to hit a belly to belly suplex. Black Hole Slam gets 2! DEAD LIFT BRIDGING GERMAN! His knee gives out before he can secure the three count. Elgin thinks about one more high impact more for victory…but the dead lift superplex is blocked! ROPE RUN MAFIA KICK by Anderson! He follows that with a flying neckbreaker…but again it’s 2. Elgin nails an air raid crash…and actually hits that corkscrew senton too! He seems so surprised he nearly forgets to cover. Buckle Bomb…NO SOLD! KNEE STRIKE! NO SOLD! ACE CRUSHER BLOCKED! SPINNING BACK FIST! ANDERSON HITS A SIT-OUT TOMBSTONE! FOR 2! Elgin peppers Karl with knees and looks to steal the contest with a cheeky small package. Anderson kicks out, spinning Elgin into the ACE CRUSHER! It’s all over, and Anderson goes 2-0 in ROH 2013 competition at 15:01 (shown).

Rating - **** - I loved this. Admittedly I enjoyed the Anderson/Strong match from Supercard far more than most seemed to as well, but this was terrific. I would have liked Elgin to have sold the knee better, but I was perfectly happy with fifteen minutes of these powerhouses beating the hell out of each other. In a perfect world I’d have liked to have seen Elgin get a few believable nearfalls on Anderson too. I understand the politics behind Karl going over, and I don’t think defeat to him actually hurts Michael all that much – but I do think this match really could have used a really defining ‘holy sh*t – Elgin is going to win’ moment for Unbreakable to really get the most out of it. Still a hell of a contest though.

It’s supposed to be MsChif taking on 18-year old debutant Daviene…but their match is interrupted in the early going by Veda Scott – who attacks MsChif! She wants revenge for getting misted a few weeks ago on TV!

INSIDE ROH - With Border Wars this weekend (meaning no ppv to shill), Kevin Kelly turns his attention to forthcoming live events in Pittsburgh and Richmond. BJ Whitmer challenges for the World Title at the Richmond show and gives a pretty emotional interview about his life, and what winning the belt would mean to him.

Prince Nana receives a phone call and sprints to the back dancing for joy, so it seems like he won’t be on commentary for the main event. Wonder who it was that called him?

Kyle O’Reilly vs Davey Richards
This isn’t the first time these two men have done battle, and it won’t be the last either. At Defy Or Deny 2 back in January they waged war and pushed each other to the limit. That night it was Richards who emerged victorious over his former student – but since then everything has gone O’Reilly’s way. reDRagon defeated the American Wolves to become #1 contenders to the Tag Titles. They won the belts from the Briscoes at the 11th Anniversary Show – and beat Davey and Eddie again at Supercard Of Honor in their first ppv defence of the belts. Will that success continue into singles matches here, or will Richards prove that he’s still the better wrestler between them?

Richards isn’t interested in pre-match formalities – he sprints across the apron and boots Kyle in the mouth without him even looking! O’Reilly flees, putting tables and anything else he can find between himself and the American Wolf…but to no avail. Davey targets O’Reilly’s arm, methodically picking it apart in the opening minutes. Kyle gets desperate, and absolutely BLASTS Richards with a short range knee strike to the jaw. Back Drop Driver follows it...and all of a sudden Davey looks completely out of it. Kyle has clearly done some real damage and easily out-guns his former mentor in a strike exchange. Richards hits a shoulder breaker, but tries a high risk move and sees his diving headbutt COUNTERED TO A TRIANGLE CHOKE! Kyle is tripped out of the ring, positioned against the guardrail for a big tope suicida! Richards seems to have hurt his leg there, but shakes it offer to hammer his opponent with machine gun kicks in the corner. ALARM CLOCK COUNTERED WITH A REGALPLEX! Outstanding sequence, and it leaves both competitors on the deck as we cut to the final commercial break. When we return O’Reilly has seemingly honed in on that leg Davey injured diving to the outside earlier in the contest. He has the Wolf hobbled, and utilises that weakness to easily counter a cross armbreaker attempt into an anklelock. Alarm Clock…no sold! O’Reilly lands a tornado DDT…NO SOLD! FALCON ARROW ARMBREAKER! Davey goes for the big strike and ascends the ropes, only to be caught for a dragon screw INTO the top rope! He sunset flip bombs Kyle away and nails the flying double stomp! ANKLELOCK FROM O’REILLY! Davey blocks…SHARPSHOOTER INSTEAD! Richards makes the ropes then crawls to the apron as he looks to buy some time. They trade strikes on the apron, with Davey kicking Kyle’s bad arm…then Kyle retaliating with a kick to the injured leg. ARM WRENCH TAKEDOWN ON THE APRON! Kyle blocks another tope attempt and COUNTERS WITH A BRAINBUSTER FROM THE RING TO THE FLOOR! Literally, he misses the apron and drops Davey on his f*cking head on the floor! Bobby Fish tells O’Reilly that this is his window of opportunity, but he sees his attempt at an avalanche Regalplex blocked as Richards again throws elbows at his shoulder. HANGING ARMBREAKER! O’Reilly falls backwards onto the timekeeping table. DAVEY DOUBLE STOMPS HIM THROUGH IT! Fish legitimately asks on commentary why that isn’t a disqualification, as Richards crawls on one leg back into the ring demanding a count-out victory. Somehow Kyle makes it back in, and every member of the crowd is on their feet now. REPEATED HEAD KICKS! KYLE KICKS OUT! CROSS ARMBREAKER! O’REILLY TAPS! It’s finally over at 16:24 (shown)

Rating - ****1/2 - That’s the best match we’ve had on the SBG show thus far. I believe it’s also the first time ROH on Sinclair has produced a Ring Of Honor MOTYC. This was a stunning match up, packed full of action, fantastic wrestling, great counter sequences and (hard as it might be for the Davey critics to hear), they even managed to tell a story and sell it surprisingly well too. What I particularly liked about this one was that, for the first time, Davey treated Kyle as an equal. He wasn’t a cocky, ungrateful student. He wasn’t even a hated rival per se. He was a worthy and dangerous competitor – meaning Richards had to pull out all the stops to beat him. He attacked Kyle before the bell. He targeted that arm from the first minute of the match. And when the opportunity presented itself, he didn’t even hesitate about putting him through a table to try and win. Although he lost again, I firmly believe the way Davey worked this match is the ultimate sign of respect to the progression and growth of O’Reilly as a performer through 2013 so far.

Tape Rating - **** - Certainly one of the better SBG episodes, although obviously I’m going to think that since they ditched a lot of the story-line stuff and just gave us two top quality main event level matches instead. Anderson/Elgin was another great showing for Machine Gun, and he deservedly got the ‘Please Come Back’ treatment…but their strong outing was eclipsed by the MOTYC main event which is worth going out of your way to see. People came away from Supercard Of Honor raving about Elgin/Lethal, but Richards/O’Reilly is certainly a sleeper candidate for best match of Wrestlemania weekend from any promotion too.

ROH on SBG Episodes 81-85 – Top 5 Matches
5) Matt Taven vs ACH (*** - Episode 083)
4) Bobby Fish vs Eddie Edwards (*** - Episode 082)
3) Karl Anderson vs Michael Elgin (**** - Episode 085)
2) reDRagon vs Forever Hooligans (**** - Episode 081)
1) Davey Richards vs Kyle O’Reilly (****1/2 - Episode 085)

 

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