ROH on Sinclair – Episode 132 – 29th March 2014
Ring Of Honor are being pretty intelligent with the way they use AJ Styles on their television show. They hyped his debut massively, promoting it for three weeks before finally unleashing him into a brilliant match against Roderick Strong. The 12th Anniversary Road Rage bout with Jay Lethal was given similar hype over an episode or two…and over the last couple of weeks we’ve seen multiple graphics promoting his huge main event tonight – against Michael Elgin. There’s also a scheduled bout between reDRagon and Brutal Burgers, but I presume you’re only here for AJ/Elgin. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino are ready for a hotly anticipated episode; taped in Philadelphia, PA.
reDRagon vs Brutal Burgers
Why on earth are ROH persisting on using the ludicrous ‘Brutal Burgers’ team? The joke with Cheeseburger is already wearing thin, and Bob Evans has to be one of the most pointless characters ever to have appeared in Ring Of Honor. This is something of a grudge match after reDRagon attacked Cheeseburger on the first ever episode of The Fish Tank.
Brutal Bob lets Cheeseburger start the match as he’s the one with burning with vengeful desire. O’Reilly can’t help but laugh as he easily picks the feeble little rookie apart. Burger raises his ire by slapping him in the face…before tags all round bringing in Fish and Evans. Bob is considerably more equipped to work the mat with a member of reDRagon than his tiny partner and he neutralises both of them significantly to assist Cheese in hitting a couple of offensive spots. War Machine (Hanson and Rowe) are on the stage watching, presumably because they view themselves as potential Tag Title challengers in the future. They see Fish eat a clubbing clothesline from Bob…then Cheeseburger lunge at the former Tag Champions in a crossbody, which lands after an assist from Brutal Bob! STUNNER on O’Reilly gets 2! Burger isn’t done, and gets some help from Brutal Bob to hit a double chokeslam. reDRagon are fed up of selling for him, and take Burger out with a backbreaker/knee drop combo. O’Reilly levels Evans with Axe & Smash, then lifts Cheeseburger into Chasing The Dragon. It’s a reDRagon victory at 08:03
Rating - * - Too long for a comedy or a squash match, and there’s no way I can take ‘Brutal Burgers’ seriously as a threat to O’Reilly and Fish. I also didn’t understand how this match went 8-minutes without commercials, but last week’s Decade trios tag had to be cut in half.
After a ‘Cliff Compton update’…which doesn’t actually update a single thing, Adam Cole joins the commentary team for the main event.
SIDENOTE – Jay Lethal’s commercial for some kind of finance company, whilst running through Hulk Hogan poses in front of a blue screen, is extremely uncomfortable to sit through.
Michael Elgin vs AJ Styles
When the Phenomenal One made his return to ROH, Elgin was one of the first to put his hat into the ring to challenge him. Determined to prove himself the best wrestler in the company before challenging Adam Cole for the World Title, he knows being the first man in ROH to beat AJ since his comeback would be a huge feather in his cap. He’s also a week away from facing Kevin Steen with a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Title at stake so will want to build momentum ahead of a potential opportunity at getting his dream of a New Japan roster spot.
Elgin does the wrestling equivalent of pissing up AJ’s leg from the outset by continually backing him into corners and making a point of offering him clean breaks. He then shoulder blocks him with such force that Styles falls backwards and trips out of the ring. AJ looks to negate the power advantage; taking the match to the ground where he can use his speed and experience to control mat wrestling exchanges. That was working well for him, meaning it’s Unbreakable who now needs a change in strategy…and he tries to engage him in a strike exchange. Styles starts getting clobbered there, so he instantly takes it back to the ground as we go to commercials. When we come back we see Michael trying to fight his way back from the mat…only to be tossed out of the ring into the path of a dropkick through the ropes. It’s the match AJ wants to wrestle now – evidenced by Elgin trying to run the ropes with him…and walking right into a dropkick. Corino has left commentary to get Adam Cole a cup of coffee by the way. The next mistake comes from Styles though, allowing himself to get too close to his opponent from a vertical position – with Elgin instantly pouncing to drive a knee into his stomach. It’s all the window he needs to scoop AJ up for the stalling vertical suplex. More displays of power from Unbreakable…whipping Styles so hard that he flips in the air before colliding with the turnbuckles. He elevates the Phenomenal One over the ropes the puts him against the rails for a running boot. If you needed an example of how much damage Michael has now inflicted: AJ is now so beaten up that Elgin has time to climb to the top rope and hit a flying shoulder tackle. The canvas now becomes a dangerous place for Styles as he finds his huge opponent piling down on his neck with a deep chinlock. Almost out of desperation AJ lands the PELE KICK…which knocks Elgin down but leaves AJ noticeably slow to capitalise. When he does he runs into the ST-JOE! Phenomenal DDT countered with a dropkick which knocks him to the apron! PHENOMENAL DDT TO THE FLOOR INSTEAD! AJ needs the rest, so waits in the ring for his opponent to slowly crawl back in…before levelling him again with a springboard elbow. BLACK HOLE SLAM out of nowhere by Michael – taking on extra significance given AJ’s past with Abyss in TNA. He tries to climb the ropes…only to be dragged off into the RACK BOMB by AJ. Styles Clash blocked into a DEAD-LIFT VERTICAL SUPLEX…only for AJ to knee his way out! Phenomenal DDT COUNTERED TO THE TOMBSTONE! FOR 2! The 2011 Survival Of The Fittest winner looks drained now, limping noticeably and unable to lift his opponent for the Buckle Bomb. Styles is right on the leg with a shinbreaker – knowing full well it will soften him up for the CALF KILLER! Elgin makes the ropes and crawls up the turnbuckles…STYLES GIVES HIM A FRANKENSTEINER! SPRINGBOARD SOMERSAULT LEG DROP…GETS 2! The bell rings for a 30:00 time-limit draw (at 23:07 shown).
Rating - ****1/2 - This joins Richards/O’Reilly from Episode 85 as one of only two legitimate MOTYC’s aired on the SBG show. I wish there was a finish, and would have preferred them to have ditched the sh*tty Brutal Burgers tag match to show this in its entirety – but this was still superb. Styles has been in incredible form since returning to ROH, and just like the Hero match in Dayton, his desire to produce a great match was such that he worked SO much harder than he really needed to. Selling limbs has never been his forte, but he always used to base matches around it – then no sell the sh*t out of the leg, or arm, or neck to simply hit all his big spots anyway. There was no risk of that here – this one wasn’t about working a leg or an arm…it was about strategy. Elgin tried to embarrass Styles, showing off his power and looking imposing in the opening minutes. Styles responded: using years of experience to devise a plan to overcome his stronger opponent – by working the mat where he was a better wrestler, then quickening the pace where Elgin simply couldn’t compete. That forced Unbreakable to change HIS gameplan again – this time looking to beat the sh*t out of Styles with his explosive offence and powerful strikes. In the end that looked to be his downfall, as AJ had enough ammunition to trade bombs and seemed to have the match won as the time limit expired. Awesome match, great performance from both guys. One of the undoubted highlights of ROH’s 132-episode run on Sinclair Broadcasting so far.
The crowd want five more minutes of course, and the wrestlers do as well. The one person that doesn’t is Adam Cole…and he stops the timekeeper ringing the bell before sliding into the ring and taking them both out with World Title shots to the face. Jay Briscoe runs in to chase him off, sending one final message before Supercard Of Honor…and Kevin Steen blocks Cole’s path as he tries to flee up the aisle. In the end Cole has to leave through the crowd
SIDENOTE – I’m off to pull out the bonus disc from the ‘collector’s edition’ of the 12th Anniversary Show DVD. Apparently one of the bonus features is the unedited, full 30-minute version of this.
Tape Rating - **** - The Brutal Burgers tag sucked ass, and the bombardment laughable advertisements for some financial company were an undoubted annoyance…but two thirds of this episode was taken up with Styles/Elgin; which rocked. It’s one of the best matches from the ROH on SBG show so it’s an easy recommend for this episode. Although personally I’d say you should get yourself a copy of the 12th Anniversary collector’s edition where you can apparently watch the main event from this episode in full.