ROH on Sinclair – Episode 114 – 23rd November 2013

We’re on the final run-in to Final Battle now, and with no further TV tapings planned it’s clear it’s going to be Road Rage all the way, with content taped at the Pursuit weekend shows in Dearborn and Columbus used to form the basis of our build for the big year-ending event. That’s not necessarily a bad thing (there was some great stuff on those two shows), but unless there was a lot of heavy backstage content taped too, I’m not sure there was enough major hype build over those two nights to successfully promote a major show like Final Battle. The TV Title match between Ciampa and Taven got like one 30 second spot? Kevin Steen and Michael Bennett weren’t booked at all? At that point it wasn’t even announced that the American Wolves were leaving – how are we going to build to their ROH farewell (well, the one Wolf that made it to Manhattan anyway)? Let’s see how this plays out anyway. We go to Dearborn, MI to join Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino

SIDENOTE – ROH have edited these shows for television a little differently. They put a lot of footage to tape over the two nights of Pursuit weekend, and clearly had the two shows planned out thoroughly to be a solid, flowing live event for the attending fans and VOD/DVD audience – but also had specific segments which they could cut and paste together in a very different order to produce coherent television building to Final Battle. To that end we start with the Taven/Gowen TV Title Match, which was actually halfway through Pursuit Night 1.

Matt Taven vs Zach Gowen – ROH TV Title Match
Anyone remember how long it’s been since Gowen was last in ROH? Outside of a brief flirtation with Age Of The Fall a few years ago he’s never really been a long-term worker…but has cropped up on occasion to work his usual underdog routine (which admittedly is still pretty admirable even if his schtick hasn’t changed a whole lot in the last decade). Tonight he faces Matt Taven, and of course, as per Truth Martini’s mandate, Taven now defends the ROH Television Championship in every match. Can Gowen’s remarkable career produce another shock – by dethroning the longest reigning current Ring Of Honor title holder and earning a permanent spot on the roster?

The House Of Truth are looking past Gowen before the match even begins, as they launch into a promo aimed at Tommaso Ciampa and their Final Battle showdown. Corino points out that Gowen can’t be defeated with a Figure 4 Leglock. Even after a decade of one-legged jokes at Zach’s expense that one made me chuckle. Zach scores with a couple of dropkicks…so Matt clubs him from behind, driving him into the mat. He obliges Corino by attempting a Figure 4 on him. Martini tries to trip Zach on the apron…and when the Detroit-native ducks that Taven is right on cue to score with a springboard enzi. Corkscrew senton gets 2, and is followed by a roundhouse heel kick as Gowen really struggles to make any kind of impression. Hoopla Splash is blocked with a boot to Matt’s jaw…and Zach is up quickly to hit the springboard somersault plancha to the floor. He lines up his moonsault, only for Truth to knock him off the top rope as Scarlett distracts the referee. Climax countered with a schoolboy pin for 2! Gowen lands a flatliner…and nearly grabs victory again. Koji Clutch applied but Gowen can’t apply enough leverage to keep Taven from making the ropes. Moonsault press with Taven hanging in the ropes! This time Martini stops the ref from counting the pinfall! Climax wins it for Taven at 10:59

Rating - ** - I don’t really enjoy criticising Zach Gowen too much, because what he does is absolutely incredible. However, if you’ve seen one of his matches you’ve really seen them all. This was his usual act, combined with the usual House Of Truth act to make a perfectly adequate, completely predictable and quickly forgettable filler TV Title defence for Taven – who’s championship reign remains firmly entrenched in mediocrity unfortunately for him.

Tommaso Ciampa runs out and stops the House Of Truth from assaulting Gowen with one of his own crutches.

Veda Scott tells ROH to prepare for the wrath of RD Evans when he returns soon…but has her promo time hijacked by Eddie Kingston. He once again petitions Nigel for an Outlaw Inc. Tag Title shot.

Kevin Kelly recaps the volatile World Title situation, and how it played out at The Golden Dream in Cincinnati – when Kevin Steen and Jay Briscoe met in the main event, with the chance to be added to the Final Battle main event on the line. Jay Briscoe won that match, and is insisting that HE is the one going into Final Battle as the defending World Champion, not Adam Cole.

Michael Bennett promises to make the Stretcher Match with Steen at Final Battle Mr Wrestling’s last match ever. Apparently whomever loses that one will be banned from using their piledriver.

Jay Briscoe crashes the show (this segment opened Pursuit Night One) – stalking to the ring, carrying the ‘Real World Title’ belt and apparently dressed to fight. He doesn’t think it’s right that Dearborn doesn’t have a title match tonight (Cole’s belt ‘don’t mean sh*t’), so issues an open challenge for his championship right now. Silas Young, who has issues with Mark Briscoe, answers the challenge…

Jay Briscoe vs Silas Young
We know Young has had issues with Jay’s brother, Mark. He’s had pull apart brawls with him on multiple shows, and last time they came into contact (at Glory By Honor) ended with Silas flogging Mark with a belt. So as much as he’ll be looking to take out yet more rage upon the Briscoe family, Silas is presumably also an ambitious man and must realise that defeating Jay tonight (regardless of whether he wins the ‘Real World Championship’ or not) would greatly increase his stock in ROH.

It’s a rough start for Silas, who is beaten and stomped into the corner before he can get any kind of momentum going. Young resorts to running away, and even that doesn’t work for long as he is taken down again with a neckbreaker. Jay Driller blocked…so it’s a mafia kick across Silas’ jaw instead. Young creates a scene by stealing Kevin Kelly’s chair…then he looks to nail Jay with the bell hammer. Mark Briscoe comes out and grabs the hammer off him at the last moment, causing Young to tumble backwards into the Jay Driller. Briscoe wins at 02:41

Rating - DUD - It’s getting some rather mixed reviews, but I quite like this new deranged ‘Real World Champion’ persona they’ve given Jay. The problem is, apart from a few notable exceptions, his singles matches in 2013 really haven’t been up to much. At some point he’ll need to produce a really killer performance if he is to maintain this push. Although I actually gave this the ‘DUD’ treatment because I really didn’t enjoy how they through Silas under the proverbial bus in favour of him. I’m not sure giving Jay this exposure was worth completely burying Silas for.

Eddie Edwards vs Jay Lethal
We go to a battle of two former ROH Television Champions. Both are boxed out of the championship scene in the promotion right now, so need to string some high profile wins to get back into the metaphorical hunt.

We begin with a high octane near-miss sequence, with both men showing real class as they wrestle to a stalemate. They go to a prolonged knucklelock sequence next, which ends with Jay hitting the hiptoss dropkick combo. He delivers another dropkick through the ropes from the floor for 2. Eddie scoops him into a tree of woe though and scores right back with a couple of dropkicks as he hangs there. Lethal trips Edwards to the floor…and hits rolling tope suicidas as Corino BEGS Kelly to do his stupid ‘soaring aaaaaaaaand scoring’ line. Kevin refuses as it’s Eddie’s thing…but gets to seconds later as Eddie hits back with ROLLING ELBOW SUICIDAS! TOPE AGAIN BY JAY! Both guys desperately crawl back towards the ring and narrowly avoid a double count-out. They trade shots in the ring…until Jay hits the Lethal Combo! MACHO ELBOW! FOR 2! Lethal Injection COUNTERED into the back suplex facebuster! Eddie scales the ropes but is caught before he can attempt the double stomp. Superplex blocked by Edwards…double stomp misses! BACKPACK STUNNER! ACHILLES LOCK! And Lethal counters that with a pinning combination for 2! They go CRAZY with pin attempts, and Todd Sinclair is soon gassed trying to keep up with them! BACKFLIP LETHAL INJECTION! Finally Jay puts Edwards away, in a time of 13:40

Rating - **** - This is a pretty generous 4*, but the rest of the show has been rather sub-par to this point, so this probably felt far better in comparison. I enjoy matches like this, where high quality workers such as Eddie and Jay simply showcase their skills. They appeared to be evenly matched, no matter what they were doing – be it mat wrestling, dives to the floor, high impact spots down the stretch. The drama was perhaps lacking (by this point most people had a pretty good idea Eddie’s career was about to progress beyond ROH), but the sheer excellence in the execution of their skills here was a joy to behold

Tape Rating - N/A - I will give credit to the production team for this. The backstage interview segments helped set the scene for Final Battle, and the way they edited the Pursuit Night 1 footage into a slightly different order definitely made for a smooth flowing hour of television (in exactly the same way that it would have felt like a rather uncoordinated live event if they’d have just done a straight 2-episode television taping). Lethal/Eddie was a lot of fun for a free TV match too…
 

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