ROH on Sinclair – Episode 090 – 8th June 2013
There are just two shows left to promote Best In The World 2013 meaning the pressure is very much on. Tonight the Briscoes face the American Wolves in tag team action with the brothers teaming up a couple of weeks before their ippv showdown to face the two guys Jay would defeat throughout June at ROH live events. Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness are in Toronto, ONT.
The House Of Truth open the show, issuing a Proving Ground ‘open challenge’ and thus inviting anyone in the locker room to come out and step into the ring with TV Champion Matt Taven. In a turn of events sure to get the crowd pumped (sarcasm of course)– Pepper Parks is the man that answers the call
Matt Taven vs Pepper Parks
Ring Of Honor keep bringing this guy back so officials must see something in him. Hopefully this impromptu Proving Ground match delivers something decent because Parks really didn’t deserve the audible groan of disappointment he got when he stepped through the curtain.
The crowd wanted Eddie Edwards, and let Truth Martini know it. They soon get into things as Pepper punches Taven in the face and starts in dominant fashion. The champion is actually the one trying to slow it down, and he grounds Pepper to throttle him with a chinlock and claw at his face. Slingshot rolling neckbreaker scores for Taven, but he misses the Five Star Frog Splash soon afterwards. Parks goes to the top rope to hit a sunset bomb…but then he takes one risk too many off the top rope and misses his flying neckbreaker. Headlock Driver by Taven, and it’s over at 04:50
Rating - * - A clean win for Taven was appreciated, as was the fact that a lot of the aspects of the match – be it through the in-ring action, the commentary or the actions of Truth Martini – were about promoting Taven as a serious athlete to be respected rather than a fluke champion sidekick in the Hoopla circus. Aesthetically speaking Pepper looks good, and he’s been around the business long enough to be decent in this role – but he’s not someone ROH should be actively pursuing and giving opportunities like this to. It’s hard to see him ever becoming the kind of talent who breaks out and advances ROH’s product.
Tommaso Ciampa vs Rip Impact
Ciampa made his return to ROH at Border Wars, so this was technically his comeback match, although we’ve subsequently seen him wrestle at house shows before this episode made it to broadcast. He wants to hurt Evans and Marshall, he wants to fight Michael Elgin (he’s just that bad ass), and tonight he’ll want to return to in-ring competition on TV with an emphatic victory at the expense of the debuting Rip Impact – who is a local Canadian talent looking to earn a spot.
Impact isn’t wasting time, and actually attacks Ciampa during the Code Of Honor as he looks to make an impression. Tommaso isn’t impressed and promptly destroys him with the exposed knee strikes. Project Ciampa countered, so Ciampa drops Rip on his neck with a dragon suplex for 2. He seems to have the match won, but opts to get the attention of Michael Elgin by ripping off his signature stalling suplex. Enter Unbreakable, who storms onto the apron and is apparently furious at this gimmick infringement. That distraction enables Rip to connect with a flurry of boots and a neckbreaker. It’s all for nothing though, as Ciampa plants him with the avalanche Air Raid Crash to win in 03:01
Rating - * - Much like his match with Vinny Marseglia, this was far too long for it’s purpose and gave Tommaso’s opponent far too much offence. I love having Tommaso back though (he was on fire right before he left), and this random little rivalry with Elgin should deliver a tremendous match if Ciampa is healthy enough to hang with one of the top performers of 2013 thus far.
INSIDE ROH – Nigel McGuinness has officially signed Elgin/Ciampa for Best In The World. Elsewhere Adam Cole says losing the TV Title changed him and he is more focused than ever on wins over everything else – starting with Roderick Strong at the ppv. Kevin Steen vows to make Matt Hardy wish he was back in TLC matches rather than in a ring with him in Baltimore.
Steve Corino leads SCUM to the ring – the first time he’s appeared on the show after abandoning his commentary position at the end of last week’s main event. He is furious that Nigel is boxing SCUM out of the title shots at Best In The World and giving them to pro-ROH guys like C&C WrestleFactory or Jay Lethal. A tense stand-off ensues between Corino and Nigel…as Compton, Titus and Jacobs brawl with Alexander, Coleman and Lethal.
American Wolves vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe
This was the main event for the first ROH live event of 2013, and here we are six months later with these two elite teams meeting once again – although this time under very different circumstances. Last time it was the Wolves challenging the Briscoes for the Tag Titles. This time around we have Jay as World Champion, preparing to face his brother Mark (who thinks Jay has got too cocky for his own good). At the same time, when this was taped the Wolves also had their own title shots against Jay to prepare for in the month of June. Could the Briscoe brothers keep it together for the good of the team? Could the Wolves deliver a pre-emptive strike ahead of their big title matches? Let’s find out…
Edwards and Mark get us started, and you can’t separate them until they break away for a respectful stare-down rather than launch into a chops vs Redneck Kung Fu battle. Davey tags in with Jay and is roundly boo’d by a big portion of the Toronto fans who still don’t like him. The current World Champion acts quickly to stop him hitting an early tope suicida – smashing him in the face and handing the Briscoes the advantage. Edwards comes to Davey’s aid by body slamming Mark on the floor of the Du Burns Arena. Richards hits a running soccer kick from the apron on Jay then clears the apron for the ELBOW SUICIDA from Die Hard. It’s hard to pick a winner but the Wolves certainly have the upper hand as we cut to the final commercial break of the hour. When we come back they seem to have cemented their dominance with Jay needing the interventions of his brother to escape a Texas cloverleaf from Richards. Jay nearly drills Eddie through the ring with a spinebuster before getting the hot tag to Mark. Machine Gun Kicks from Davey…countered to Machine Gun Kung Fu strikes from Mark! Richards blocks the Iconoclasm…only to he catapulted into a superkick from Jay. The Briscoes get 2 with the Splash Mountain neckbreaker. Froggy Bow attempts are halted…but it takes a last gasp save from Edwards to prevent the 8-time former Tag Champions from connecting with the Doomsday Device. CROSS ARMBREAKER from Richards to Jay! MARK SAVES WITH THE FROGGY BOW! At last we get the chops/Kung Fu showdown between Eddie and Mark…ending with the Alarm Clock from the Wolves! DOUBLE DOUBLE STOMP! Jay saves his brother from the Powerbomb Lungblower…and Mark drops Richards on the top of his head with a dragon suplex. Cut-Throat Leg Drop attempted by the Briscoes (they haven’t used that in a while)…but Richards grabs Mark – after he inadvertently punched Jay in the face) for a KICK OF DEATH TOMBSTONE! The Wolves beat the Briscoes cleanly in ROH for the first time ever at 11:46 (shown)
Rating - *** - These two teams sort of have a reputation for having good-but-not-great matches against each other, and they kept that tradition alive here. For a free TV main event I enjoyed it (particularly some of the old school double team attempts from both teams down the stretch) but much of the early going was pretty aimless stalling for time material that we’ve all seen before.
NEXT WEEK – Road Rage from ‘Relentless’ in Richmond, VA
Tape Rating - ** - The strong main event salvaged the show somewhat, but before that it was pretty forgettable. And it also loses points for being the go-home show for Best In The World a WEEK too early. Next week, when they should be hyping Best In The World to the hilt, they’ll be doing Road Rage stuff. To me, that’s unbelievably poor planning. Wolves/Briscoes was good fun, but that’s all this show has going for it. The two squashes and another tedious ROH/SCUM segment did nothing for me.
ROH on SBG Episodes 87-90 – Top 5 Matches
5) C&C WrestleFactory vs Adrenaline RUSH vs QT Marshall/RD Evans (*** - Episode 089)
4) Jimmy Jacobs vs Jay Lethal (*** - Episode 087)
3) Adam Cole vs Kevin Steen (*** - Episode 087)
2) American Wolves vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe (*** - Episode 090)
1) Taiji Ishimori vs Roderick Strong (**** - Episode 088)