ROH on Sinclair – Episode 134 – 12th April 2014

One week removed from one of ROH’s biggest shows of 2014 so far, they waste no time in chopping it up and getting it out onto TV for free. That’s right, less than a week after putting the VOD onto their website they were already putting bits of Supercard Of Honor 8 onto television. I really can’t explain that, even with the ‘TV is priority’ business model. Going from the ROHWrestling.com graphic it appears our headline bout will be Tommaso Ciampa’s TV Title defence against Jay Lethal. Kevin Kelly is in New Orleans, LA – and depending at what point in the show this is ripped from it will either be Steve Corino or Nigel McGuinness alongside him.

Silas Young vs RD Evans
At Flyin’ High we saw Evans significantly increase his ‘New Streak’ with two major victories in one evening. The first of which was a four corner survival, also featuring Silas. The Last Real Man voiced displeasure at the Barrister’s unique ring gear and ‘Streak’ shenanigans, and now looks to be the one to end it in arguably the biggest match of the ‘New Streak’  (82-0) thus far.

There are plenty of newbs in the crowd it seems, as most of them are chanting ‘Yes’ rather than ‘Streak’ – but the support for RD’s current gimmick is undeniable. Young tries to silence the crowd with a strong start – but finds himself getting tripped up by Veda Scott on the outside. Ramone the sign guy also tries to take a pop at the Last Real Man…and looks set to get an ass kicking until Evans dives at him from the apron with an elbow smash. Silas has a size advantage, and starts to use it after growing frustrated at being the butt of RD’s jokes. Apparently Evans got on the wrong flight on his way to New Orleans – but used it as an opportunity to win the 82nd match in the Streak whilst he was waiting for his flight back for the show tonight. Perhaps that tired him out because Young is giving him a real beating now, putting the Streak in jeopardy. He hits a shoulder tackle from the top rope and elbow drops Silas’ face into the turnbuckles before landing the northern lights bomb for 2. Young lands the backbreaker/lariat (Killer Combo), only to be heckled with ‘you can’t beat him’ chants by NOLA. ELECTRIC CHAIR DROP ON THE APRON! RD falls to the floor facing the very real possibility of the Streak ending by count-out…until a last gasp dive brings him back into the ring. Silas wants the Pee Gee Waja Plunge, only to be distracted by Veda Scott. Ramone tosses his belt into the ring…and when Silas grabs it Evans falls to the ground pretending to be hit and trying to con the ref into giving him a DQ. No dice there, but the Barrister nearly wins anyway with a SUPER HOT roll-up. SILAS INADVERTENTLY NAILS THE REF WITH THE BELT! Evans hits a sleeper slam, and has him down for a count of 5+…but with no ref he’s vulnerable and he gets the Pee Gee Waja Plunge. Young wins at 10:56 – the Streak is over! But Paul Turner has revived himself, and reverses the decision to award RD the match by DQ thanks to that belt shot. 83-0! The crowd goes wild!

Rating - *** - This was too long for a comedy ‘Streak’ match, but, that said, it was also the best ‘Streak’ match since RD/Elgin on television. The gimmick is perhaps the most over thing in ROH, and has the kind of organic natural fan support that you just can’t predict or plan for (like Austin’s ‘What’, Bryan’s ‘Yes’, the Jimmy Rave toilet paper gimmick etc). In terms of in-ring wrestling this may well end up being the worst match of the night – but I doubt any match tonight will get more of a response from the crowd. Normally overbooked finishes are a little silly, but this one was a brilliant tease. The anger coming from the stands for the brief time they thought the Streak had been ended was palpable.

Truth Martini makes his way into the arena, because it’s time for him to reveal his ‘surprise opponent’ for Taven. He allows Matt to take the Book Of Truth. It glows like ET’s finger…then Truth gives him a kick in the balls and leaves. Cue a collective ‘what the f’ reaction from pretty much everyone. That’s the whole segment…

Matt Taven stomps around backstage trying to find Truth Martini…eventually storming into the men’s room with the door closing behind him. We hear anguished screams from Taven, and Truth comes out chuckling and gloating. The implication is that he threw some kind of fireball into Matt’s face.

Highlights of Tommaso Ciampa defending the ROH TV Title in Europe are shown as a lead-in to the main event of this episode.

Tommaso Ciampa vs Jay Lethal – ROH TV Title 2/3 Falls Match
The last time these two individuals met in a 2/3 Falls Match, Ciampa suffered a career-threatening knee injury in the first few seconds…and still fought bravely through the entire match before eventually succumbing to defeat. It capped a miserable few months for Tommaso when facing Lethal – having failed to take the TV Title from him on multiple occasions, and eventually lost his undefeated streak to him as well. This year though, the tables have turned somewhat. Ciampa won the TV Title from Matt Taven at Final Battle – and despite honourably wanting to defend the belt against Jay, it is the presence of Taven and Truth Martini that has wound up costing Lethal the belt. He has had Ciampa pinned on two occasions (both in a triple threat and a one-on-one title shot) with the referee missing the fall on both occasions thanks to skirmishes involving the aforementioned former House Of Truth members. Pushed to breaking point, Jay has promised we’ll see the extent of his desire to regain his Television Championship here tonight.

Ciampa has his full ‘heart monitor’ entrance, and has bleached his beard again so he looks eerily similar to Boiling Point 2012. He also makes a point of ceremonially removing his knee brace and handing it to Jay. The pace is slow to start as both men are so keenly aware of the threat their opponent poses. Early points go to Ciampa, who rolls aside to avoid the hiptoss/dropkick combo. Lethal doesn’t like that at all and slaps him in the face. Springboard dropkick to the apron misses though…but in turn Jay blocks Tommaso’s guardrail wheelbarrow spot and launches into the ROLLING TOPES! The third one knocks the Sicilian into the front row such was the force of impact. He’s in the crowd again moments later, this time after delivering a crazy RUNNING KNEE STRIKE TO THE RAILS! It softens Lethal up enough for Ciampa to land a succession of strikes…without ever doing enough damage to keep the challenger down. Jay inevitably explodes back into the match – by hitting the cartwheel dropkick combo. A lungblower (of sorts) blocks a Lethal Injection…and despite hitting the move Tommaso stays down clutching his knee in the aftermath. He tries a suplex but the knees give way…and they both fall out of the ring to the floor. They lay into each other with strikes on the outside, hitting with such gusto that they are almost simultaneously counted out. Lethal Injection attempted again…countered by Tommaso…but this time Jay rolls through into a bridging pin, taking the first fall at 10:19. Ciampa doesn’t like that and kicks Lethal IN THE FACE! Project Ciampa blocked – KNEE STRIKE gets 2! Lethal Combination leads to the Koji Clutch, but much as with their TV match Tommaso turns it into the Sicilian Stretch! Jay goes for the Lethal Injection but it’s COUNTERED TO AN ACE CRUSHER! Wicked counter from Tommaso but it’s still only good enough for a 2-count. He takes Lethal to the top for the avalanche Air Raid Crash – but Jay walks out of the corner into PROJECT LETHAL! Having stolen Ciampa’s own finisher Jay is clearly too confident and takes an age climbing the ropes for Hail To The King. Handspring elbow inadvertently wipes out Todd Sinclair as in the ring Ciampa hits ROLLING GERMANS! DISCUS LARIAT! Truth Martini runs in and tosses Tommaso’s knee brace to Lethal…who NAILS Ciampa with it! Ciampa kicks out! MACHO ELBOW! 1 COUNT OF DISRESPECT! SUPERKICK…NO SOLD! KICK TO THE KNEE! LETHAL INJECTION! Lethal wins the fall, and the match 2-0 at 17:12

Rating - **** - I’ll concede that this is very much a low-end 4* rating, but I’d heard some really bad things about this match. I’d heard people call it too short, people complain about the finish and assorted general moaning about the general quality of the match. On the whole I feel a lot of the criticism is exceptionally harsh. The first fall was incredibly tense, hard-fought and evenly matched with plenty of neat references to the Boiling Point 2012 match they were playing off. Even the (presumably) botched lungblower counter to the Lethal Injection integrated seamlessly into that story as Ciampa sold it as knee problems – again harping back to his catastrophic knee problems two years ago. I really dug the finish as well, particularly Ciampa’s psychotic no-selling…until Lethal kicked his knee. Jay has been crying out for some direction and purpose in ROH for over a year. He was a bit-part player in the ROH/SCUM feud and really hasn’t done anything of relevance since his feud with Kevin Steen finished at the 11th Anniversary Show. He’s also a pretty poor promo guy and a largely mediocre heel, so teaming him up with Truth (who also needs something to do) covers those flaws nicely. Of course I’d have liked them to have gotten more time to work another fall. The Lethal turn would have been considerably more effective if the fans had been invested in the match fully with the score tied at 1-1 – but in modern day ROH you can’t have everything you want. Overall this was a decent match and of considerably more quality and depth than anything else on the show so far.

Lethal and Martini celebrate together, cementing the fact that the first-ever 2-time ROH TV Champion is the newest member of the House Of Truth.

Tape Rating - DUD - Even though they kept plenty back for the VOD, I still can’t justify putting content from one of your biggest shows of the year on free television less than a week after you were asking people to pay for it. The excuse that ‘TV is the priority’ doesn’t fly with me. 
 

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