ROH on Sinclair – Episode 111 – 2nd November 2013

ROH is rapidly hurtling towards it’s year-ending blow-out of Final Battle. The World Title scene suddenly has genuine competition, with Michael Elgin and Jay Briscoe both aggressively in pursuit of Adam Cole. And out of nowhere the undercard has come alive too, with multiple feuds and on-going angles to keep fans interested from show to show. Which is why it’s frustrating that we are going back to Road Rage tonight (please don’t email me, I do understand that ROH’s priority is TV now). They used last week’s Glory By Honor show as an elaborately disguised TV taping, so we’ll be spending the next few weeks of TV digesting choice cuts from that show as we move towards Final Battle in the Hammerstein in December. Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness are in Chicago Ridge, IL

Silas Young vs Mark Briscoe
This is a grudge match, stemming from a number of altercations between these two men at A New Dawn. Mark defeated Silas, only to be attacked after the bell by the ‘Pro-Wrestling’s Last Real Man’. And it didn’t stop there, as Briscoe would later eliminate Young from the Honor Rumble then fall victim to another assault from him seconds later.

No Code Of Honor obviously, and the two men spill straight to the floor throwing punches at each other. Young hits a back body drop on the outside, only for Mark to retaliate with a suplex FROM THE FLOOR TO THE APRON! BERMUDA TRIANGLE MOONSAULT! Those two high impact moves put Briscoe in charge…until he listens to the crowd and tries to break out some Redneck Kung Fu too early. Silas back drops him OVER THE TURNBUCKLES to the floor! Full nelson atomic drop, then a sliding lariat get a nearfall for him. Briscoe returns to his feet to hit the urinage, visibly injuring Young and softening him up for some Redneck Kung Fu. Iconoclasm blocked, with Silas flipping out of the corner to hit the backbreaker/clothesline combo. Mark dropkicks him to the floor…CACTUS ELBOW OFF THE APRON! Karate thrusts to the neck have Silas reeling, and the rolling DVD gives Briscoe enough time to head upstairs. Young evades the Froggy Bow and uses the ropes to pin Mark at 09:01

Rating - *** - I hated the lousy, cheap, unoriginal finish…but I really liked the match, I really want Silas to get over and I really appreciate Delirious trying to make an effort to book undercard feuds so I went generous on the rating. Certainly before the crap finish these two were producing the goods. An intense, physical, fast-paced match which truly felt like two professional wrestlers who hated each other. Both of them took some wicked bumps and they really got the crowd going. Ultimately Young needs the win and rub far more than Mark, so it’s appropriate that he wins, even in this fashion.

Mark is far from happy about the way this one concluded, and tries to attack Silas only to get punched in the balls. Young takes referee Todd Sinclair’s belt and starts flogging Briscoe with it

Maria cuts an ROH TV exclusive promo for the ‘Battle Of The Piledrivers’ between Kevin Steen and Michael Bennett which will headline the show tonight. But I can hear nothing of it – not sure whether it’s an ROH screw up or a issue with my set-up. She looks stunning though, so it’s certainly not a waste of time. From lip-reading it’s clear she’s saying that Bennett’s piledriver is better.

Jimmy Jacobs vs Adam Page – Trial Series Match #4
Jacobs is in last chance saloon as part of the Trial Series now. Having fought valiantly so far he may well get his ROH job back, but if he is to win three matches and secure a World Title shot in Dearborn he needs to win both of the final two, as he currently stands 1-2. The victory came over Silas Young on television, but was followed by defeats to Kevin Steen and Michael Bennett. On paper this is certainly an easier match, but with Page hungry to prove himself, being the guy that took away Jimmy Jacobs’ chance of a World Title shot in his hometown would certainly gain the youngster some notoriety.

Jimmy tries to work a methodical pace, presumably as he feels he can control it with his veteran skills. He clotheslines Page out of the ring…only for Adam to knee him right in the face when he lines up a tope suicida. SHOOTING STAR PRESS TO THE FLOOR! Page re-enters the ring with a flying crossbody for 2. Rings Of Saturn applied; Page seemingly targeting the shoulder of his experienced foe. Grounded abdominal stretch next, and Jimmy’s championship opportunity is hanging by a thread here. Somehow he delivers a neckbreaker and follows it with the tornado snap suplex to get a 2-count. Page blocks the spear with a knee strike, and scores another nearfall with a powerslam. The Chicago crowd are really starting to get on Page now. Which isn’t surprising considering that Jimmy is an ROH veteran, whilst Page is some kid who has been around for over a year without ever having anything interesting to do. Jacobs drops him with the rebound Ace Crusher but is back on the deck moments later with a falcon arrow. Inverted Piledriver blocked, and Jacobs puts knees right into Page’s FACE! Contra Code gets 2! He tries another rebound Ace Crusher, only for Adam to block and convert it to the Red Star Press. They fight up the ropes…AVALANCHE CONTRA CODE! Jacobs wins at 11:00

Rating - ** - Here we had the opposite problem to the Briscoe/Young opening contest. The match that came before it was underwhelming, but the finish was absolutely spectacular. I like both wrestlers here, but they never clicked at any point. I hate to keep bringing it up, but a big part of the issue is how Delirious has booked Adam Page. Chicago has been an ROH market for a LONG time. The fans here are, for the most part, the hardcore fans. They’ve watched Jimmy Jacobs in this company for a long time, and respect the things he’s done here. For a house show in a fresh TV market town you can get away with Page’s lack of character or credibility. But it was ruthlessly found out by the Chi-town fans here. They had no interest in him, and were either booing or dead silent for everything he did. That’s not the kid’s fault. He has a lot of talent. But he has no character, has had no interview time, his music sucks, the wrestling he’s allowed to display is no more than generic American junior heavyweight stuff and he looks about as average as a pro-wrestler gets too. Jacobs rightly gets the win, but in this market this match should have been a squash. Trying to play Page off as a credible opponent for Jimmy was a total flop.

Michael Bennett vs Kevin Steen
This is billed as the ‘Battle Of The Piledrivers’, with both men claiming to have the most devastating piledriver in wrestling as of late. Bennett used his piledriver to end BJ Whitmer’s career back at All Star Extravaganza, whilst Steen’s Package Piledriver is so lethal that Jim Cornette actually banned it during his time as ROH’s Executive Producer. They got into a war of words at the television tapings in Philadelphia, which wound up being bad for Steen as Bennett came out to give him the aforementioned Piledriver right before his scheduled match with Eddie Edwards. Steen would fall victim to the same move again in Hopkins, MN courtesy of some distraction from Maria Kanellis…and at the last live event (Charm City Challenge) we saw the show end with Bennett launching another run-in assault on Mr Wrestling.

We don’t get any cursory collar-and-elbows here. They start swinging punches and throwing chops from the get-go. Bennett is the first to blink, as he retreats to the floor into the arms of Maria. Back in the ring Steen hammers him with a somersault leg drop...then chases him out of the ring to deliver a vicious guardrail whip when he tries to flee again. He is crotched against the ringpost too, much to the disgust of his devastated fiancé just feet away. He just keeps doing that, until Bennett decides he doesn’t like that spot anymore – and Russian legsweeps him into the guardrails! But he then takes way too long antagonising the Chicago fans in the aftermath of that, and is eventually crotched into the fourth ringpost. Steen-ton Bomb gets knees though, leading to the Box Office Smash for 2. Spinebuster next, as Bennett runs through his full arsenal of moves he’s used as finishers in his ROH career. To that end, he lines up the TKO as well, but soon has to abort that as Steen tries to drag him into a sleeper suplex. Tornado DDT from Mr Wrestling instead. He wants the F-5, but has to settle for a lungblower when Bennett blocks it. Cannonball senton blocked…Piledriver countered! Bennett rattles Steen’s jaw with a superkick for 2. Steen is too heavy for the TKO and he finally counters it with a devastating powerbomb. GO 2 SLEEP! That was for Maria’s benefit, and she is so angry she breaks the pinfall by throwing her shoe at the referee. TKO! PILEDRIVER! FOR 2! Kevin starts biting Bennett’s face, but as he lines up the Package Piledriver Maria climbs onto the apron. LOW BLOW! PILEDRIVER! This time it is all over, and Bennett scores a huge win over Steen at 12:25

Rating - *** - For a free TV main event this was decent. Bennett is a great worker in this sort of format – just check out his encounter with Jimmy Jacobs in Baltimore. But with a tight time allowance, a necessity to work a match where they could slot commercial breaks in and so forth, they were really handicapped.

Bennett wants to put Steen out of wrestling for good with a Piledriver on the apron…but it’s his turn to get distracted as Lisa Marie Varon (Victoria from WWE/Tara in TNA) runs out to attack Maria. Apparently they had an altercation at her wrestling-themed restaurant previously, and Lisa has come for revenge. Security storms the ring as Bennett and Steen continue to fight, and Varon has to be physically restrained from further assaulting Maria. STEEN HITS A SOMERSAULT PLANCHA FROM THE TOP ROPE UP THE AISLE!

SIDENOTE – They edited out Lisa hitting the Widow’s Peak on Maria which is odd. It was only  an extra 30 seconds or so of footage, so it’s a little odd if they removed it for time constraints. Surely Lisa hitting her enduringly popular finishing move on Maria was the whole pay-off for bringing her in? 

Tape Rating - N/A - As I said in my intro, I am very aware that without iPPV Ring Of Honor has to make the television show it’s priority, and simply can’t rely on the hardcore fans buying VOD’s of major live events to be a sustainable business interest. And, to that end, it’s impossible not to argue that this was an EXCELLENT episode of their show. Three very decent matches (even if there were some booking issues at times) and absolutely no wasted TV time. If you hadn’t seen Glory By Honor on VOD (or DVD in my case) you’d have no doubt really enjoyed this episode. Indeed, if you’ve not seen Glory By Honor (which you should, the main event is a classic), this is well worth checking out if you’re a Ringside Member. HOWEVER, I can’t help but feel a little disappointed that we’re back to recycling content from live events already, rather than broadcasting fresh content from specific TV tapings. For 2014 I really hope ROH finds a way to make their TV tapings a profitable, enjoyable experience for a live audience which will draw fans, meaning they can book them and reduce the amount of times they have to do this.
 

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