ROH on Sinclair – Episode 125 – 8th February 2014
After some strong television from Nashville, ROH moves to material taped at the 'Wrestling’s Finest' live event at the end of January. As with the Pursuit weekend shows, they did their best to structure it as a ‘traditional’ live show, and have now cut it apart into chunks for the SBG show, so things may not necessarily appear in the same order as they were taped on the night. Our scheduled main event for this episode is the TV Title triple threat between Tommaso Ciampa, Matt Taven and Jay Lethal. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino called the action from Pittsburgh, PA.
Adrenaline RUSH vs BJ Whitmer/Jimmy Jacobs
The reunited team of Whitmer and Jacobs are former Tag Team Champions, and will be a dangerous force in the tag division if they begin teaming with any kind of regularity. As members of The Decade, they certainly won’t take kindly to a newcomer like ACH stealing popularity and crowd support from more deserving workers such as themselves. Roderick Strong is in their corner, but isn’t competing tonight due an injury he sustained wrestling AJ Styles at the TV tapings earlier this month.
Jimmy Jacobs doesn’t think ACH and TD have earned the right to shake hands with them. Thomas tries to earn it by cartwheeling out of a headscissors attempt, then delivering a snapmare rolled into a kick to the face. ACH gets the tag, but is really roughed up by a particularly stiff Whitmer. His response is to slingshot to the floor into a beautiful pescado. Whitmer TOSSES Jimmy into a spear, putting him on the deck again. Another assist from the Buzzsaw, this time into a neckbreaker, gets a nearfall for The Decade. ACH puts Jacobs into the turnbuckles with a flatliner, opening up the window for a hot tag to Tadarius. He unleashes strange kicks from all angles to take it to both opponents – eventually clearing the ring entirely. TOPE CON HILO! Whitmer cuts ACH off as he lines up Air Jordan though. NECK DROP HALF NELSON BY TD! Springboard swinging flatliner from ACH, as the action reaches a frenetic pace. JACOBS SPEARS THOMAS THROUGH THE ROPES TO THE FLOOR! In the ring ACH looks for pins on BJ, but just can’t keep him down. Jimmy is back in, joining Whitmer for the All Seeing Eye. Decade get the win at 09:39
Rating - *** - A whirl of spots, flips and dives to get the show started in a hot manner. Whitmer and Jacobs were a lot of fun as a team back in the day, and they’re clearly enjoying the rejuvenation of it. They have clearly spent a little time thinking up double teams and tandem spots together, including their excellent new finishing move.
Raymond Rowe vs Hanson – Top Prospect Tournament Final
The 2014 TPT has been a punchy, action-packed affair and it has left us with two large heavy-hitting individuals in the final. Rowe went past Kongo and Corey Hollis with two impressive individual displays. Hanson is a huge, bearded, beast of a man – who destroyed Cheeseburger then fought past Andrew Everett to make it here. This may not be pretty, but it will certainly he a physical encounter. As is tradition, the winner will receive a shot at the TV Title.
Hanson isn’t in a mood to make friends, and tears into Rowe straight out of the Code Of Honor. Ray is fine with that, and responds with a Cactus clothesline taking them both to the floor. Even a big hitter like Rowe struggles with the sheer size of Hanson though. He gets mauled in the corner, absorbing countless knee strikes and getting his lower jaw almost ripped away from his face. Michael Elgin is watching at ringside, and will no doubt be impressed as Hanson continues to pick Rowe apart. Ray hits shotgun knees, and grabs the big man for a MASSIVE German suplex! It’s all for nothing though, as Hanson scoops him up for a powerslam. ONE ARM SPINEBUSTER by Rowe! Hanson lays into him with reverse elbow smashes…but misses a running knee and gets a BACK DROP DRIVER! NO SOLD! BACK DROP DRIVER BY HANSON! NO SOLD! Death Rowe blocked…into a LARIATOOOOOO! Hanson thinks he has it won…Spin Kick Of Doom COUNTERED into a powerbomb! Death Rowe…COUNTERED TO THE SPIN KICK OF DOOM! Hanson wins at 05:45
Rating - *** - I’d have preferred these guys to get a little more time (at less than six minutes, this is still the longest match in the 2014 TPT), but what an absolute war. I’ve said multiple times over the last few years that ROH doesn’t always have that many talented heavyweight wrestlers on it’s roster. Clearly ROH are pretty pleased to have uncovered a couple of encouraging possibilities in these guys. Personally I really rate Raymond Rowe. He has a great look, and an extremely rugged ring-style which has clearly been shaped by watching plenty of great puro heavyweight guys. Hanson, at this stage, seems a little more raw to me – but he really is so big and looks SO different to anything else ROH has it’s easy to see why they picked him to win this thing.
Veda Scott tries to hype RD Evans ‘New Streak’, but is interrupted by Romantic Touch…then run off by Michael Elgin in a pretty entertaining TV-exclusive segment.
Truth Martini and the Hoopla Hotties gatecrash Matt Taven’s entrance – despite the former TV Champion wanting to come to the ring alone. Truth calls them ‘floozies’ and ejects them from the building, proving that the party is definitely over. Martini declares Hoopla ‘dead’…and his declaration is followed by Taven firing him and quitting the House Of Truth.
Tommaso Ciampa vs Matt Taven vs Jay Lethal – ROH TV Title Match
When Tommaso won the belt, one of the first things he wanted to do was challenge Jay Lethal – since Lethal was the man he couldn’t beat for the belt in 2012, and the guy against whom he sustained his career-threatening knee injury. But there is very much a third party in the Television Title picture right now: that being former champion Matt Taven. He was at the Nashville tapings without Truth Martini and the Hoopla Hotties. He offered Ciampa a congratulatory handshake, and appeared more focused than ever on using his in-ring abilities to get the belt back. Will Taven or Lethal leave as a 2-time TV Champion tonight?
We have a three-way slugfest to start with. The wrestlers don’t even wait for the ring crew to clear the streamers from the ring…and punch each other off their feet and into a stalemate. Ciampa evades a springboard dropkick from Lethal, only to eat a springboard enzi from Taven instead! Rolling tope suicidas from Jay! I mean like…a LOT of them. Ciampa exposes the concrete floor, but when Lethal stops him suplexing Taven onto it he picks him up…RUNNING POWERSLAM INTO THE RAILS! And Taven still gets a concrete snap suplex anyway! Lethal Injection countered with a sliding dropkick from the champion, and Jay is further punished with a flurry of bare knee strikes. Matt tries a Lionsault on Tommaso, and when that doesn’t work he COUNTERS Project Ciampa into the Angel’s Wings for 2. Spinning bicycle kick stops Ciampa dropping Jay with the Air Raid Crash – leaving all three men on the ground. Ciampa is up to flip Lethal inside out with a clothesline, and gets another 2-count on Taven with a sit-out rack bomb. Lethal Combo…into the Koji Clutch! LETHAL INJECTION! FIVE STAR FROG SPLASH BY TAVEN! Truth Martini (on commentary) tries to give Taven the Book Of Truth…but unlike the 2013 Top Prospect Tournament he declines Martini’s help! Matt is taken out of the match with a superkick…and the ensuing fracas with Martini mean that Todd Sinclair doesn’t see Jay pin Tommaso Ciampa! Eventually Ciampa gets back to his feet and KO’s Lethal with a knee strike. Project Ciampa blocked…and Lethal falls out of the ring. Martini trips up Taven…INTO PROJECT CIAMPA! Tommaso retains in a chaotic 10:36
Rating - *** - There have actually been a number of decent triple threats for the TV Title over the past couple of years, and this was another to add into that category. It was apparent that the three of them had put some forethought into the contest, and put together enough strong material to carry ten minutes of ring-time. The Martini stuff was the necessary conclusion to Matt Taven’s association with the House Of Truth, so it actually became my favourite part. We had Taven decline the very same help that saw him join the HOT last year, and we then had him fall to defeat thanks to Martini’s intervention – in the same way that he enjoyed so many victories whilst holding the TV Title.
Tape Rating - N/A - For those that hadn’t seen Wrestling’s Finest this was a decent episode. No match was blow-away incredible like Strong/Styles the previous week, but each of the matches was solid. In particular the TPT finals between Hanson and Rowe impressed people and is worth checking out if you’re a Ringside Member.
ROH on SBG Episodes 120-125 – Top 5 Matches
5) RD Evans vs Michael Elgin (*** - Episode 123)
4) Michael Bennett vs Cedric Alexander (*** - Episode 124)
3) Kevin Steen vs Chris Hero (*** - Episode 121)
2) Jay Briscoe vs Bobby Fish (*** - Episode 123)
1) AJ Styles vs Roderick Strong (**** - Episode 124)