ROH on Sinclair – Episode 116 – 7th December 2013
Final Battle is next weekend, and we move to Pursuit Night 2 for more Road Rage build-up to the big night. With Final Battle being taped on December 14th, I do think there’s an onus on Ring Of Honor to make this the big ‘go home’ show of sorts. Presumably they still have tickets to sell for the Hammerstein, and in this day and age it’s asking a lot for fans to stay spoiler-free on show results for 48-72 hours whilst they wait for a VOD. This is the last chance they’ll have to get some asses in the remaining seats, and to shill the show for those that will have no intention of remaining spoiler free, will know the results, and their desire to see the VOD or buy the DVD will be directly influenced by how strongly ROH can promote their storylines. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino are in Columbus, OH.
Outlaw Inc. vs American Wolves
If Homicide and Eddie Kingston want a Tag Title shot, winning this match would go a long way towards solidifying their claims. The Wolves are the most recent former Champions, they’re both former World Champions and are established as two of the best workers in the promotion. If the Outlaws can earn a victory here few will deny they are top contenders to reDRagon.
Kingston starts with Richards, but is soon scared off by his striking ability. Homicide, another former World Champion, makes the tag and has no hesitation in grappling with Davey. Edwards comes in and again they work the deck with great precision. The Wolves use their experience as a team, with fluent tags and rapid double teams, to get the better of Kingston. Cide rakes Davey’s eyes, handing the advantage to the Outlaws…until Edwards clobbers him so hard Homicide falls out of the ring. reDRagon are at ringside, dressing up in Outlaw Inc.’s clown masks. The Wolves continue to dominate Kingston, whilst Homicide throws a tantrum on the outside. Eventually King hits an exploder suplex on Davey, and makes the much-needed hot tag to the Notorious 187. Three Amigos on Richards! Edwards boots Cide in the face to block the Frog Splash though. He then saves Davey from the Doomsday Bulldog too. Richards lines up the handspring enzi…only for Homicide to COUNTER with a jumping neckbreaker. Cop Killa blocked…into the DOUBLE ALARM CLOCK! Kingston saves Homicide from the double stomp combo. BACK FIST ON DAVEY! DOOMSDAY BULLDOG! The Outlaws get the victory at 11:24!
Rating - *** - I’ve seen some really negative feedback on this, but personally I thought it was fine. It probably didn’t live up to my expectations and was certainly a very low key way for the Wolves to work their final ROH tag…but it wasn’t a bad match by any stretch of the imagination. The Wolves were in control when they used their tag team experience and ability, whilst the unpredictable, unhinged brawling style of the Outlaws wound up earning them a victory when the match lost all semblance of law and order down the stretch.
Matt Taven says he’s not sweating facing ‘a guy with a Mohawk and a bum wheel’ at Final Battle. He’ll be the longest reigning ROH TV Champion by the time he faces Tommaso Ciampa, and wants to turn their match into a ‘celebration of Hoopla’.
Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino announce that Outlaw Inc. will challenge reDRagon for the Tag Titles at Final Battle. Nigel didn’t do a great job with his live promo there, so I’m not surprised they used this footage instead.
A video package hypes the Steen/Bennett Stretcher Match – including Bennett telling Maria exactly how powerful you feel after crippling someone with a Piledriver. In return Steen threatens Maria with the Package Piledriver if she tries to interfere…
Matt Taven vs Roderick Strong vs Jay Lethal vs Michael Elgin
Despite not having any obvious feuds here, there are a lot of underlying issues that could flare up between these four. Taven is the current centrepiece of the House Of Truth – a faction which both Roderick and Elgin used to represent. He’s also the current TV Champion, a title both Lethal and Strong have held, and would like back. Elgin has also teamed with both Strong and Lethal in the past. We could see either of those two duos reunite, but equally, those three guys have also had some hard-hitting singles matches with each other so they could just as quickly explode once again. Presumably a victory over Taven would move the victor to the front of the queue for a post-Final Battle shot at the ROH Television Championship.
Taven is accompanied by FIVE Hoopla Hotties (with Scarlett rocking one of the controversial ‘WeAre18’ sponsored shirts)…although one botches getting into the ring. Strong starts with Lethal, although they wind up joining forces to assault Taven (who invades the ring for no apparent reason). I’m so fed up of Corino rambling on about Roddy ‘changing gears’ for the record. Lethal and Elgin briefly lock horns (so no union there then), but Taven blind tags himself in for a STALLING SUPLEX on Elgin! That was impressive, but as he celebrates Michael gets back to his feet and returns the favour with an effortless 60-second suplex, even with Strong kicking him in the stomach! Matt dropkicks Lethal into Elgin…and in turn Jay hits a springboard dropkick to knock Strong to the floor! Lethal tries to give tope suicidas to all three opponents…only for Matt to hide behind Scarlett! She distracts him, and Taven capitalises by ramming Jay into the guardrails. Rolling neckbreaker, and the springboard corkscrew senton score for 2. Sadly, like everyone else, Taven isn’t smart enough to avoid the hiptoss/dropkick combo. JUST DON’T SIT UP! Unbreakable saves Lethal with an exploder suplex, followed by the ST-Joe for 2. He then floors the on-rushing Lethal with a jumping hip attack. To one-up that Strong storms the ring dishing out jumping knee strikes to everyone. He nearly kills Taven with a cradle backbreaker…as Elgin blocks the Lethal Injection with a knee strike. Samoan drop/fallaway slam combo from Elgin to both the Floridians! Lethal Combination on Strong! Jay has Roddy in position for the Macho Elbow…BUT OPTS TO PUT TAVEN THROUGH THE TIMEKEEPING TABLE WITH A MACHO ELBOW TO THE FLOOR! That leaves us with old rivals Strong and Elgin teeing off on each other again. DEAD-LIFT suplex front slam gets 2 for Unbreakable! Spiral Bomb blocked with elbows, and Strong picks him up for Death By Roderick. Sick Kick scores for a close 2! SPIRAL BOMB! Elgin finally leaves with the win at 13:56
Rating - *** - Some of that action was absolutely crazy. Great spot warfare from four solid hands, with the obvious highlight being the Lethal/Taven table spot. It’s interesting that ROH are keeping Jay in the title picture even though they’ve gone with Taven/Ciampa at Final Battle. Where do they go with that in 2014 – i.e. is Lethal feuding with Taven, or is he chasing the belt? It’s a shame Roderick had to eat the fall here, as in many ways he’s the best worker of the four – but as his ROH career starts to drift (presumably he’s no longer contracted and is now freelancing as he’s started taking bookings for promotions like Evolve and FIP under the WWNLive umbrella), it’s not surprising that he’s the one staring at the lights and putting Elgin over once again.
Adam Cole is resentful that both his Final Battle opponents think they have stronger claims to being World Champion than he does. He looks forward to proving beyond any doubt that he is the real World Champion…and promises that his mentor will be in attendance to watch it.
Steve Corino calls Jay Briscoe to the ring for an interview segment. The King Of Old School tries to reason with him and points out that he isn’t really World Champion. That irritates Jay, but before he can do anything about it Silas Young attacks him from behind. Cue Mark Briscoe, who fastens a leather strap around Young’s neck and drags him out – a precursor to their scheduled Strap Match at Final Battle. As security struggles to contain that skirmish, Adam Cole appears and a brawl ensues between the two World Champions. Michael Elgin runs in…only to be superkicked in the back of the head by Cole as he tries to Elgin Bomb Jay. Cole lays Briscoe out with a belt shot and poses with both title belts to resounding boos from the Columbus crowd.
Tape Rating - N/A - The interview was a good way to close this episode. As I said during my introduction, even though they do technically have another week to shill Final Battle, it’s massively important that they treated this episode as the go home show. Two good matches, a decent segment to give the World Title main event one final push, a nice video package for Steen/Bennett (neither of whom was at Pursuit weekend), and the Tag Title match formally booked for Final Battle. This was a crisp hour of television, all be it, once again a wasted hour for anyone who has seen the VOD.