ROH on Sinclair – Episode 136 – 26th April 2014
After once again driving me crazy putting content from their major shows onto free television in Road Rage format for the past couple of weeks, tonight we begin with episodes taped the night after Supercard Of Honor. That means we’re live to tape during WrestleMania weekend, meaning the stakes are still high and the pressure on the company to produce a compelling live show for fans who have chosen to attend this event rather than the multitude of other options available to them. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino are in New Orleans, LA – with the building looking significantly emptier than it did for Supercard the previous day.
The show opens with Adam Cole and Matt Hardy coming through the curtain. Cole has a heavy limp but gloats that the Briscoes aren’t in the building and that they won’t ever be seen in ROH again. He then presents Matt with Jay’s ‘Real World Title’ belt as a thank you for all his hard work in Ring Of Honor. Hardy renames it the ‘Iconic Title’ before Kevin Steen interrupts them, putting Cole on warning because his next title defence is against him in Toronto at Global Wars. Bennett runs in and sucker punches Steen – leading to a 3-on-1 beatdown.
Cedric Alexander vs BJ Whitmer
At Supercard Cedric failed to defeat Roderick Strong, but only thanks to interference from the rest of The Decade. Tonight he looks for a measure of revenge by beating Strong’s stable-mate, BJ Whitmer. In turn BJ will want to be the next member of Decade to beat some respect into Ced.
Adam Page has his young boy act fine-tuned now, carrying a ‘Decade’ ice bucket and watering down BJ’s mouthguard before putting it into his mouth for him. Strong joins commentary and points out to Corino that he beat up all his young boys at It All Begins in 2005. Whitmer angrily no sells Alexander’s chops and lifts him into a gutbuster. Alexander keeps trying to trade strikes with the veteran, which is isn’t an area where he’s likely to find much success. Sensibly he quickens the pace, stepping into an enziguri strike for 2. He then botches his rebound enzi kick in heinous fashion – and it’s made worse by Whitmer bumping even though Cedric didn’t get anywhere near connecting. BJ delivers rolling fisherman neckbreakers as we cut to commercials. When we come back we see Ced countering the exploder suplex into a roll-up for 2. LUMBAR CHECK nailed! Jimmy Jacobs instantly hops onto the apron to distract Alexander…and Whitmer recovers to clobber him with a lariat. That scores another Decade member a victory over Cedric at 06:04 (shown).
Rating - * - Again, what is the point in cutting a six-minute match for commercials? Is there seriously no way they can edit these episodes to take a commercial break one minute later? This wasn’t clicking beforehand, but the positioning of the commercial break really annoyed me.
Adam Page holds Cedric down whilst Jacobs and Whitmer taunt him. UNPROTECTED SICK KICK BY STRONG! He then drills Ced with the End Of Heartache
Andrew Everett vs ACH
This should be exciting. ACH took Ring Of Honor by storm in 2013 with his spectacular performances. In 2014 Andrew Everett has the same potential. He impressed people in his run to the Top Prospect Tournament semi-final, and produced a stunning display against Cedric Alexander at Wrestling’s Finest. Does he have what it takes to defeat ROH’s highest profile high-flying sensation?
On commentary Jimmy Jacobs is complaining about ACH’s moves getting him over despite ‘making a spectacle of himself’ in the locker room. He drops backwards to kick Everett across the bridge of the nose. Texas Cloverleaf applied, but Andrew escapes and FLIPS over the ropes to hit a springboard dropkick. Back flip into a HEAD DROP hurricanrana gets 2, before Everett misses the springboard Shooting Star and gets double stomped in the head. ACH back lips off the apron SO EVERETT HITS HIM WITH A RUNNING MOONSAULT! DOUBLE MOONSAULT MISSES! ACH responds by climbing the ropes for a 450 SPLASH! ACH gets the win at 05:13
Rating - *** - It’s a real shame they couldn’t have found more time for this match. That said, in less than five minutes these two couldn’t really have packed in any more excitement and high-flying entertainment. ACH looks more polished and more crisp and precise in his delivery, but then again he’s been in ROH for over a year. Everett has remarkable athleticism and grace when he takes to the air, and would have been set for a bright year in the company – unfortunately he’d suffer a pretty serious injury soon after ROH’s NOLA shows and, last I heard, was expected to miss the remainder of the year. Having seen the likes of Amazing Red really struggle after injury problems in the last, you wonder whether he’ll be able to recapture the form he was showing through the year so far.
Jacobs is still making fun of ACH being a selfish prick – loud enough so Tadarius Thomas (at ringside) can hear him.
SIDENOTE – Truth Martini needs a new Book Of Truth. His copy is so dog-eared that it looks like he picked it up in a yard sale.
Jay Lethal vs Alex Koslov – ROH TV Title Match
At Supercard Of Honor we saw Lethal accept Truth Martini’s help, joining the House Of Truth and becoming the first ever 2-time ROH Television Champion. To his credit, he’s not wasted any time in defending the belt – facing one half of the Forever Hooligans in our main event. Koslov has wrestled singles matches in Ring Of Honor before, and as reDRagon will testify, voluntarily defending your championship against the Hooligans on television isn’t always the best decision.
Lethal begins noticeably more slowly that he used to, and goes to his corner for a huddle with Truth before finally locking up with the Russian. Koslov, meanwhile, looks happy to wrestle at a quicker pace as he dropkicks the champion out of the ring…then tears through him with a SOMERSAULT PLANCHA! Clearly taking it to the floor wasn’t in his best interests though, as when we come back from commercials we see Lethal hammering him into the guardrails. Hiptoss dropkick COUNTERED to a pinning combination for 2…so Jay gets back to his feet and does his best to cave in Alex’s face with the dropkick second time of asking. The Hooligan hits another of his own dropkicks to block the champ as he springboards off the top rope…and takes to the air himself with a springboard crossbody block. Cossack Kicks hit the mark for a 2-count the challenger knocks Lethal out of the ring by blocking the rolling tope’s with a spinning heel kick. SPRINGBOARD…FLYING…SUICIDE DIVE TO THE FLOOR! Koslov stalling and regaining his balance on the top rope was amazing! His reward is the Lethal Combo to Koji Clutch sadly. COUNTERED to the Cobra Stretch! Jay makes the ropes – then climbs them to hit ‘Hail To The Champ’. Koslov blocks it, and counters the Lethal Injection into a BURNING HAMMER…FOR 2! Martini tries to interfere, but is assaulted by a heavily-bandaged Matt Taven. Taven attacks Lethal when he tries to separate them – causing a bullsh*t DQ at 08:47 (shown).
Rating - *** - That finish was completely appalling, but thankfully the match that came before it was really good. I’d go so far as to say that was Koslov’s best ROH singles match (which is no mean feat considering he’s faced the likes of Bryan Danielson and Roderick Strong in the past). He hit some awesome spots and made a thoroughly believable babyface challenger (despite proclaiming his love of Russia as often as he does). Lethal gets a strong title defence to kick-start his second reign, albeit the finish was dreadful. I really think people would rather have seen Jay go over clean, then have some Taven/Truth/Lethal shenanigans during the post-match…but perhaps the shady DQ was a compromise to the New Japan office with Global Wars and War Of The Worlds on the horizon.
Taven’s bandaging comes off as he brawls with security after the match. He is really not getting over as a babyface at all, and the crowd boos loudly as the show ends.
Tape Rating - ** - Not my favourite episode of the show by any means, but I find it hard to turn my nose up too far at fresh content for the TV show. ACH/Everett and Lethal/Koslov were very decent matches let down by crappy booking, and the opening segment immediately closed the book on the Cole/Briscoe feud – moving the World Title picture forward to Global Wars and Kevin Steen’s challenge. Those were the positives. The negatives were the lousy Whitmer/Cedric match (including dreadful commercial break positioning again) and the crap Taven/Truth/Lethal interactions which ruined what was an exciting main event.