ROH on Sinclair – Episode 106 – 28th September 2013
As the dust settles on Adam Cole becoming World Champion (on the same night that this episode was broadcast his reign was beginning in earnest at a live event in Minnesota), the tournament is reaching a fever pitch during it’s television broadcast. We’ve reached the semi-final stage now, which means tonight has some huge, main event quality matches. It’s Ciampa/Cole in the first semi-final, then the colossal Steen/Elgin rematch in the other. Two powerful heavyweights, and established main event workers in one, and in the other arguably the hottest rising stars on the undercard in 2013. Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness welcome us to Philadelphia, PA – birthplace of Ring Of Honor.
In exclusive content for the TV show, Adam Cole commends Tommaso for his dedication in rehabbing and recovering from a potentially career-ending knee injury. However, he promises no mercy tonight as he wants to advance to the finals and become new World Champion.
Adam Cole vs Tommaso Ciampa
This is the first of the two ROH World Title tournament semi-finals. This is the battle of the two men you could consider ‘outside bets’ to win the whole thing. Whilst former World Champion Kevin Steen and #1 contender Michael Elgin are in the other semi, these two have quietly gone about their business – eventually reaching this stage in dominant fashion. Tommaso Ciampa has scored hard-hitting victories over Silas Young and Michael Bennett, whilst Adam Cole has controversially defeated Mark Briscoe and Jay Lethal. Which rising star makes the finals?
Amazingly, this is 24 hours before Tommaso’s wedding day. He clearly wants to make quick work of this – storming out of the gate and stomping the SH*T out of Cole in the corner. Adam hits back with a SUPERKICK! A jumping enzi sends Ciampa outside and Cole is on him again with a tope suicida! Not to be outdone Tommaso spears him INTO THE RAILS! Ole Ole Knee smashes! This is a wild opening couple of minutes. POWERBOMB THROUGH AN OPEN CHAIR INTO THE GUARDRAIL! Ciampa is on fire – and starts tearing up the protective mats to expose the concrete floor. SPINNING SUPLEX ON THE FLOOR! Cole is on the defensive and makes the sensible decision to dropkick the heavily bandaged and braced, surgically repaired knee of his opponent. He dropkicks it from under him, and that one move softens Tommaso up enough for him to hit the Shining Wizard and the DVD over the knee in quick succession. SLINGSHOT DDT ON THE APRON! Too early for the Florida Key though, and Tommaso catches him flush across the jaw with a knee strike. He hits a rack bomb for 2. Repeated knee smashes knock Cole loopy, and Ciampa scales the ropes looking for the AVALANCHE AIR RAID CRASH! He is unleashing everything he has but Cole just won’t go down! Project Ciampa from the top rope? Adam escapes that and SUPERKICKS THE KNEE! And seconds later he is slashing Ciampa’s knee across the ringpost, then applying the Figure 4 Leglock around it. Like a shark sensing blood he superkicks the knee again – and locks in the Figure 4! Another stomp on the bad knee into another Shining Wizard…and Tommaso is on the brink of defeat now. He slumps on his knees…but somehow MUSCLES Cole up as he looks for another Shining Wizard. DISCUS LARIAT! PROJECT CIAMPA! But he pauses momentarily to clutch at the knee…and that’s all it takes to give Cole enough time to kick out at 2! His knee gives way on him again, causing him to collapse headfirst into Cole’s Cradlebreaker! Figure 4 again, except this time Ciampa just sits there and slaps him in the face! COLE KNOCKS HIM OUT WITH BOOTS! Ciampa collapses and since both shoulders are down the ref has to count three! Cole advances at 13:51
Rating - **** - This was superb. Both men threw hell at each other in an absolute war, fought at astonishing speed. I loved the simple but engaging story-telling, with Ciampa looking to totally murder Cole as quickly as possible – only for Adam to survive that onslaught then start ruthlessly picking apart the bad knee. Ciampa’s selling was first rate, Cole again carefully trod the ‘tweener’ tightrope and ultimately advances to the final with an extremely convincing performance under his belt. Steen and Elgin have a tough act to follow.
Michael Elgin vs Kevin Steen
This is the second semi-final, pitting arguably the two favourites for the tournament against each other. Elgin was #1 contender when Jay Briscoe vacated the belt, whilst Steen was one of the most dominant World Champions in Ring Of Honor history during his reign. But neither of them have had easy paths to this stage. Elgin came through an amazing battle with Paul London, and then avenged his loss to Karl Anderson earlier in the year. Steen, meanwhile, had to come through London’s long-time partner, friend and fellow 2002-era ROH-alum Brian Kendrick…then Roderick Strong. Last time these two met, it was in the incredible main event to last year’s Glory By Honor. Steen came out on top in that one. Elgin will be desperate to return the favour tonight, and advanced to the finals where Adam Cole is waiting.
Immediately we have a very different pace to the Cole/Ciampa match. This one starts slow, with Elgin giving Steen some gentle reminders of his immense power…followed by Kevin easily grounding Unbreakable and proving just how good a wrestler he can be too. But just like that the pace quickens. Package Piledriver blocked…Crippler Crossface blocked…and Steen slides out of the ring as Michael hooks him up for the Buckle Bomb. Elgin wants a test of strength, but once again it becomes Steen out-wrestling him and putting him on his ass. They get into a strike exchange, and this time it’s Mr Wrestling who ends up on his backside after a flurry of elbows. Black Hole Slam from Elgin – the first real heavy duty offence of the match coming at nearly 7 minutes. Steen instantly retaliates with the hanging DDT for 2. Flying crossbody from Steen! It’s too early for the F-5 it seems, and the two men end up colliding in the middle of the ring and going down heavily. Elgin is up first with a jumping enzi and a lariat. Dead-lift German blocked so he hits Never Ending Story lariats against the ropes. We get a succession of counters which ends with Michael driving Steen’s shoulder into the ringpost then going for the Crossface. Steen escapes to the apron then climbs up the ropes for the STEEN-TON BOMB! Package Piledriver blocked…sleeper suplex blocked too! ST-JOE! Corkscrew senton gets knees, and Steen hits the F-5! Cannonball misses…DEAD-LIFT GERMAN! ROLLED into the Crossface! Steen makes the bottom rope, and as we tick past 15-minutes the two heavyweights get back to their feet and start smashing each other with some brutal elbow smashes. They trade powerbombs. BUCKLE BOMB! Spiral Bomb COUNTERED TO THE SHARPSHOOTER! But his shoulder is still bothering him and he can’t maintain the hold. He can’t hit the sleeper suplex either and nearly succumbs to the Crossface again from there. DEATH BLOW! NO SOLD! LARIAT FROM STEEN! SLEEPER SUPLEX! Can the shoulder stand up to a Package Piledriver? Apparently not…SO IT’S ROLLING SLEEPER SUPLEXES INSTEAD! BACK FIST BY ELGIN! PACKAGE PILEDRIVER COUNTERED TO THE CRIPPLER CROSSFACE! STEEN TAPS! Elgin advances at 19:25
Rating - **** - In my opinion this one has been really undervalued by some critics. Coming after the Cole/Ciampa mayhem the crowd were obviously a little slow to get into this (a more cerebral battle) so perhaps that explains it. But personally I found this every bit as enjoyable as Tommaso and Adam. Sure the start was a little slow, but surely you can cut them a little slack considering the match that went before, the fact they were going 20 minutes and the fact that Elgin still has to wrestle again tonight. I thought what they did was extremely clever. You had Elgin easily over-powering Steen just as he did in Toronto. And you had Steen out-witting and seemingly out-wrestling Elgin, just like at Glory By Honor. But to show Unbreakable’s growth since 2012, here he was able to find a way to beat Kevin Steen. He rose above the mind games, the supposed superior wrestling skill and greater experience. He bullied, overpowered and finally attacked the shoulder until Steen just couldn’t take anymore. It wasn’t as exciting as Ciampa/Cole, and it wasn’t as good as their Glory By Honor 11 match. But this was still high quality stuff. I look forward to the finals.
Tape Rating - N/A - As with every other episode from the previous month of Ring Of Honor programming, if you don’t watch the DVD’s or VOD’s then this was a hell of a night. Cole and Ciampa produced one of the best Ring Of Honor undercard matches of the entire year, then Kevin Steen and Michael Elgin produced a hard-hitting, intelligent and tremendously executed main event. However if, like me, you’re counting the weeks until we get to fresh TV content (the Philly TV tapings) – you have one week to go. Next week it’s Cole vs Elgin in the finals.