ROH on Sinclair – Episode 129 – 8th March 2014
The headliner for tonight’s instalment of 12th Anniversary Show excerpts is the big World Title showdown between Adam Cole and Chris Hero. Kevin Kelly, Steve Corino and Nigel McGuinness are in the city of ROH’s birth: Philadelphia, PA.
Silas Young vs Matt Taven
Both of these guys have lost recent Television Title shots, so will know a win is essential if they want to get back into contention for that belt. Matt Taven is trying to forge a singles career for himself after quitting the House Of Truth whilst Young remains in search of a break-out moment which elevates him higher up the card.
Young clings to Taven’s hair, using it to drag him into a chinlock with knee strikes. Taven retaliates with a hurricanrana rolled into a kick to the chest, then a standing moonsault for 2. Truth Martini comes to the ring, creating an obvious distraction for the former TV Champion. Silas stomps on his chest – and knocks him to the floor with a McGuinness-esque REBOUND LARIAT! Matt lands a succession of heel kicks, a superkick and a Lionsault for another nearfall. We get an awesome sequence next as Taven ducks Young’s backbreaker/lariat combo, tries to counter it into Angel’s Wings, only to see that countered into a shortarm lariat by Silas! Headstand Arabian Press misses, allowing Taven to go up for the FIVE STAR FROG SPLASH! Taven wins at 06:47
Rating - ** - A perfectly adequate opening match, albeit too short to really mean anything. It speaks volumes for Silas’ ability to draw heat that Taven actually got over as a babyface for the first time. He is crying out for something to do in ROH now. He has the in-ring skills, the gimmick, and he certainly has the promo chops to carry a much bigger load than jobbing around on the undercard.
Silas jumps Taven after the match, to the delight of Truth Martini, who hops in the ring to offer his hand to Young. Silas isn’t interested, and walks out without accepting the handshake
Tommaso Ciampa vs Hanson – ROH TV Title Match
It is tradition that the winner of the Top Prospect Tournament goes on to receive an ROH Television Title shot. In 2011 Mike Bennett won the TPT, before losing his shot to Christopher Daniels at Defy Or Deny, however, the 2013 winner (Matt Taven) went on to win the belt from Adam Cole a year ago at the 11th Anniversary. Ciampa is a physically imposing specimen, but he has nothing on the massive 2014 Top Prospect Tournament winner. Hanson battered his way past Raymond Rowe to earn this shot and is more than a match for the Sicilian Psychopath here.
Each man takes a knee in opposite corners…then sprint across the ring as the bell rings to beat the hell out of each other. Ciampa beats Hanson back into his corner only to see him explode back out looking for the Spin Kick Of Doom. BACK SUPLEX TO THE FLOOR! Tommaso sprints after him with a SUICIDE DIVE! He got his knee brace caught on the top rope as he did so, and came close to landing on his face too. Knee strikes into the guardrail next, but amazingly Hanson simply absorbs all that punishment and simply hoists the champion up for an anti-clockwise powerslam. AIR RAID CRASH by Ciampa! They trade elbow smashes and simply refuse to back down! CARTWHEEL LARIAT gets a nearfall for Hanson. Project Ciampa blocked…and countered to a Bronco Buster? HANSON HITS A MOONSAULT! COUNTERED TO THE SICILIAN STRETCH! Hanson stands up and tosses him into the SPIN KICK OF DOOM! Luckily Ciampa lands under the bottom rope and clings to them to stop Hanson pinning him there. Tommaso CARRIES Hanson out of the corner…INTO PROJECT CIAMPA! It’s all over, and the champion retains at 06:40
Rating - *** - It turns out Hanson is actually really good at this brief, super-physical slugfests with other hard-hitting opponents. We saw it in the rugged Top Prospect Tournament final against Ray Rowe, and it was more of the same here. They packed so much brutality into less than seven minutes that it was impossible not to enjoy it. Hanson got to show off plenty of his offence which was so impressive that, in turn, Ciampa looked like a beast for surviving it all and coming out victorious.
Jay Briscoe chimes in with a promo – pointing out that he defeated Adam Cole at State Of The Art, legitimising his World Title as the prestigious championship in ROH.
Adam Cole vs Chris Hero – ROH World Title Match
That Young Knockout Kid made his return to Ring Of Honor at Final Battle, laying out the victorious World Champion and his new mentor Matt Hardy. He followed that up by pinning Cole as part of the triangle tag team main event at Wrestling’s Finest to earn this one. He’s a multiple time former Tag Champion and Survival Of The Fittest winner, and has made it clear he returned to ROH for the World Title. Without Hardy, Bennett or Maria is Cole able of beating him?
The match begins on the canvas, which does Cole no favours and he retreats to the outside after being easily out-wrestled. When he comes back inside the challenger demonstrates his striking power as well – sending him hurtling through the air after a big boot to the sternum. At five minutes Cole is still doing his best to evade Hero and is still waiting for his first offensive moves of the match…finally sprinting into a big boot on the floor! BIG BOOT OFF THE APRON! Major offensive strike for Hero, but Adam fires back with a jumping enzi to his seated opponent from the floor to the apron. Having struggled with the striking power and size of his opponent, Cole wisely tries to negate it with a rear chinlock. Hero is strong on the mat so can counter out…but it wears him out sufficiently for Cole to hit the Shining Wizard. He lines up the cradlebreaker, only for Hero to counter into the release vertical suplex. Flipping neckbreaker nailed next, then another big boot which again has the World Champion rolling out of the ring in pain. ROARING ELBOW for 2! He sets up the Electric Chair Death Blow and when Adam counters he is in the perfect position to boot him in the face again. NECK DROP Cravat suplex gets 2! Cravat superplex blocked…JUMPING PILEDRIVER IN THE ROPES! What the hell was that? He berates Hero as the Philly fans take great delight in making fun of him – finally distracting him for long enough to allow Hero to hit the ELECTRIC CHAIR DEATH BLOW! Once again it has Cole falling out of the ring. Hero tries to retrieve him…GERMAN SUPLEX ON THE FLOOR! In a flash the rejuvenated champ hauls Chris back into the ring and lands the cradlebreaker. Todd Sinclair is bumped as Hero blocks the Florida Key…into HERO’S WELCOME! STRETCH PLUM! Cole taps but there’s no referee! Jumping enzi counters another Death Blow! Then a superkick counters the rolling Bicycle Kick! FLORIDA KEY…FOR 2! ROLLING FLORIDA KEYS! Cole finally retains at 18:15
Rating - **** - This was a fantastic match, giving Cole a major victory in his World Championship reign, but you felt they kept plenty back for a potential rematch down the road (which would turn out to be at the next double shot weekend). Cole was a really fun pantomime villain, playing lots of fun games with the crowd and providing the sort of heel performance we haven’t really seen in a World Champion since Austin Aries. He was unable to live with Hero’s wrestling proficiency, striking ability and sheer size – but he showed a ruthless streak as he capitalised on being given a ‘lifeline’ whilst Sinclair was knocked out and destroyed Hero with Florida Keys to sneak the win. He’s been World Champion for a number of months now, but this was the first time I’ve really felt like he ‘got it’. His wrestling was fine, but it was the character-driven performance he produced which came to the fore.
Tape Rating - N/A - Cole/Hero was my favourite match from the 12th Anniversary Show, and it actually held up pretty well in the TV edit. Ciampa/Hanson is one of the best TV Title Matches we’ve seen in the past couple of years too. I’ll leave it at that rather than launch into another complaint about major shows as Road Rage tapings…