ROH on Sinclair – Episode 110 – 26th October 2013
After two solid weeks of television, and with such a stacked line-up here, you feel like this could really be the stand-out episode from the September Philadelphia tapings. Tonight we have the start of the Jimmy Jacobs Trial Series as he faces Silas Young. We have Eddie Edwards facing Kevin Steen in a battle of former World Champions, and we also have Davey Richards facing visiting lucha star Ricky Marvin. Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness are in Philadelphia, PA.
Jimmy Jacobs vs Silas Young – Trial Series Match #1
At Death Before Dishonor we saw BJ Whitmer retire and ask for one favour from Match Maker Nigel McGuinness before he left. He wanted Nigel to give Jimmy an opportunity to earn his spot in ROH back. Nigel agreed, and we now have Jimmy’s Trial Series. He has five matches, and if he fights with honour and integrity in them he’ll get his job back. In addition, if he can win at least three, he’ll earn a World Title shot at the next Dearborn show in November – significant since he’s from Michigan.
Jacobs crouches in the corner as Silas delivers a lengthy tirade. And as the bell rings, he explodes out of it (as he has done in all three Trial Series Matches so far) and hits the SPEAR! JIMMY WINS! It’s all over in 00:12!
Rating - N/A - I wasn’t the biggest fan of how this went down, but the Philly crowd popped like crazy, so I can’t criticise it too much. Silas’ promo did a great job of winding everyone up (albeit it probably ended up going too long) and the finish made complete sense. We know Jimmy needs to win three matches in the series to get his title shot. Against bigger athletes, he clearly wants to catch them off guard and grab a win before they have a chance to use his lack of size against him.
Davey Richards vs Ricky Marvin
This is an SBG TV debut for Ricky Marvin, and something of an international dream match. As Davey points out in a brief pre-match promo, both of these two have wrestled and won championships all over the world. Who will prove to be the better man tonight in an ROH ring?
The initial pace is slow, which probably favours Davey. He gets the better of the veteran in a ground wrestling exchange to prove that. Marvin tries to use his size (i.e. weight) advantage, but is outwitted by the American Wolf again resulting in his arm being wrapped in the rope and kicked. But the pace quickens and we move into Ricky’s wheelhouse. Davey tries to flee, and is immediately wiped out with a tope suicida! Richards doesn’t like that at all, and captures his opponent on the top rope to deliver a devastating running knee to the stomach. It’s clear Davey wants to work at a slow pace, and seems to have targeted Marvin’s ample midsection. He drills kicks to that area…but gets over-confident and starts taking too long about it. Ricky capitalises with a springboard enzi kick, but is slow to follow up. HANDSPRING SWINGING DDT gets 2 for Marvin! A fisherman neckbreaker comes next as we go to commercials. When we come back they are jostling for position on the apron. SATELLITE HEADSCISSORS FROM THE APRON TO THE FLOOR! Crazy spot from Ricky, and it appears to have done as much damage to him as it did to his adversary. Undeterred, he climbs to the top rope to fly again. MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR! Back in the ring he nails a shotgun dropkick for a close nearfall. Davey responds with a German suplex, but such is the damage done by Marvin’s aerial assault that he can’t hold the bridge and collapses holding his neck. ROPE RUN GERMAN SUPERPLEX BY DAVEY…BUT MARVIN BACK FLIPS OUT IN MID-AIR! SUPERKICK FLURRY! They tee off on each other in the middle of the ring with some violent strikes…until Marvin catches Richards with a vicious lariat. He climbs the ropes again, only for Davey to shove the referee into the ropes to crotch him. Running kick to the chest from Richards, into the DOUBLE STOMP! Marvin barely gets the shoulder up, and goes even closer on a nearfall himself seconds later with a roll-up. They counter back and forth in some unbelievably close nearfalls! ALARM CLOCK! LARIATOOOOO! BRAINBUSTER! Davey finally gets the win at 14:31 (shown)
Rating - **** - On the face of it this wasn’t miles better than Marvin/Strong at Death Before Dishonor. The difference-maker was the Philadelphia crowd. At Death Before Dishonor they were quiet, unresponsive and uninterested, which meant the second half of the Marvin/Roddy match really suffered. Here they were electric, kicking things into a different gear as the two veterans in the ring cranked up the pace in the second half of the match. Despite his age and size, Marvin still has some incredible spots to break out. Usually when visiting foreign stars come in they use the same spots to wow American crowds in every match, since they get good pops from fans unfamiliar with their work (e.g. Forever Hooligans doing the ‘fake fight’ sequence in every match). Not so with Ricky, who has so many spectacular tricks in his arsenal following a career spanning nearly 20 years that he didn’t repeat too many spots from his match the previous evening. For an ‘exhibition match’ so to speak, this was a lot of fun. Great intensity, terrific spot innovation and fought at a ferocious pace.
NEXT WEEK – Road Rage from Glory By Honor.
Veda Scott interrupts Kevin and Nigel, apparently serving McGuinness with a citation on behalf of Steve Corino. Clearly he has taken legal counsel in an attempt to get his commentary job back
Before the main event can even begin Michael Bennett runs in and jumps Kevin Steen from behind. He lays Steen out with the Piledriver
Kevin Steen vs Eddie Edwards
As former World Champions, you’d imagine both of these gentlemen would like an opportunity to challenge new ROH Champion Adam Cole. Steen fell at the semi-final stage of the tournament, whilst Edwards didn’t even enter as he and Davey were focused on winning the Tag Titles (which they subsequently did, albeit only for a week). A big win here will be essential if either man is to push to the front of the queue for a title shot, especially considering the legitimate claims held by Jay Briscoe (the ‘real World Champion’) and Michael Elgin (the ‘uncrowned World Champion’).
Despite suffering an apparent neck injury at the hands of Mike Bennett, Steen demands that Todd Sinclair start the match. And when Eddie tries to reason with him Steen slaps him in the face too! Eddie counters an early Apron Bomb and wipes him out with a MOONSAULT off the apron! Sliding enzi nailed next, and Steen rolls into the foetal position under the ropes clutching his neck again. Eddie isn’t thrilled about it, but as Steen keeps trying to get up he has to keep fighting back. He batters Mr Wrestling into the corner with a flurry of elbow strikes. A running punt to the spine follows next, and even when we come back from the final commercial break of the night Steen is still on the deck suffering from the neck injury. APRON BOMB out of nowhere! And despite being in so much pain that he can barely lift Eddie, he delivers a second moments later! STEEN-TON BOMB! But such is the damage that inflicts on him that he can’t actually follow up. Eddie retaliates with the Boston Knee Party for 2. Double stomp misses though, with Steen countering Eddie into a sit-out powerbomb. Achilles Lock blocked, but so is Steen’s sleeper suplex. Eddie counters a powerbomb into a rana, and rolls through into the ACHILLES LOCK! Steen escapes, only to eat a volley of enzi strikes in the corner. Backpack Stunner COUNTERED TO THE SLEEPER SUPLEX! But that looks like all the energy Steen had left. He attempts the Package Piledriver but goes down holding his neck again. Eddie rolls him up for victory at 09:50 (shown)
Rating - *** - I’d rather have seen these two work an actual match together, but as this is free television I do understand the need to keep something back and focus on angle development. Steen sold the neck excellently, and as a result really makes Bennett look great.
Tape Rating - *** - The Richards/Marvin match took the majority of the episode, and that was great so this one is pretty easy to recommend even before you consider the decent Edwards/Steen main event too. A strong conclusion to the Philadelphia tapings before we go to more Road Rage next week.
ROH on SBG Episodes 100-110 – Top 5 Matches
5) Karl Anderson vs ACH (*** - Episode 102)
4) Jay Lethal vs Sonjay Dutt (*** - Episode 101)
3) Matt Taven vs Jay Lethal (*** - Episode 108)
2) Adam Cole vs Mark Briscoe (**** - Episode 102)
1) Davey Richards vs Ricky Marvin (**** - Episode 110)
SIDENOTE – Episodes 103-107 were not included in the above as they were technically ‘Road Rage’ episodes showcasing World Title tournament matches from All Star Extravaganza, Manhattan Mayhem and Death Before Dishonor