ROH on Sinclair – Episode 138 – 10th May 2014
Last week was effectively the go-home show for Global Wars. Without anyone really noticing ROH has actually put together a decent job of shaping their portion of their co-promotional Canadian super-show. Kevin Steen gets his World Title shot, the TV Title scene is crowded with Lethal as champion, Silas Young demanding a shot and the likes of Ciampa and Taven very much in hot pursuit, and we also have the big Strong/Alexander rematch. Similarly, a week from this TV broadcast we have the second ROH/NJPW super-show – War Of The Worlds – in New York. Already we have Elgin pencilled in to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Title and reDRagon getting their Tag Title rematch against the Young Bucks. Hopefully more of the card will be set up here with this episode. I’d also like to see more made of the significance of New Japan bringing their biggest stars (Okada, Tanahashi, Nakamura, Liger etc) to Ring Of Honor. The fact that they have barely been mentioned implies that ROH are planning to give most of it away on free television DESPITE the show being an iPPV with uStream. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino are in New Orleans, LA.
RD Evans vs Mike Posey
A fan loudly shouts ‘NOOOOOO’ as Posey comes through the curtain. No ROH fan wants to see Posey get any more bookings with the company...despite the fact they keep finding a way to bring him back. Nauseatingly, Kevin Kelly is trying to position him as a ‘jerk’ heel for turning on Corey Hollis during the 2014 Top Prospect Tournament. Thankfully there’s no chance of him getting a win here tonight – as he faces RD Evans and his ‘New Streak’…now standing at 99-0.
The Streak is as popular as anything else in Ring Of Honor right now. Who ever thought RD Evans would become one of the most popular babyfaces in the company? Posey tries to kill the crowd by leaving the ring for some stretches…and returns to the ring to crunch RD’s shoulder into the ringpost. Veda Scott calls Posey ‘Mark’ on commentary, even as he piles the pressure onto Evans’ shoulder with an armbar DDT. Naturally he then switches to working the neck half a second later – using a cravat to follow up a swinging neckbreaker. Sadly he misses his third leg drop of the match and gets wiped out with a diving elbow off the apron. Evans starts mocking Goldberg and teases doing the Jackhammer, only to switch it to a small package instead for 2. Posey hits the Alabama Jam for his own nearfall but is put on the deck again with a hangman clothesline. Evans goes 100-0 with a leg drop at 05:10
Rating - * - The victory and the hundredth notch on the ‘New Streak’ bedpost was memorable, but whomever booked this to go over five minutes is an idiot. That is simply far too much television time to waste on Mike Posey and an on-going joke gimmick.
Ramone breaks out champagne, confetti and streamers to celebrate the landmark 100-0
THE FISH TANK (LIVE) – Dressed in two of the strangest outfits you’ll ever see, Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly make their way to the ring for the first live edition of their new talk show. They crack jokes, get the city they are in wrong repeatedly and provide genuine comedic moments a-plenty before bringing out Michael Elgin as their special guest. Kyle wants to know what kind of conditioner he uses on his mullet. They are actually so funny that when Elgin snatches a mic and makes jokes back at them he gets heat. Unbreakable says he has a fight lined up for them after the commercial break
TONIGHT – Adam Cole, Michael Bennett and Matt Hardy face the Briscoes and Kevin Steen.
Back from commercials – where reDRagon have modded their outfits to make some perplexing fighting gear. O’Reilly has bare feet with ankles taped to alongside his dress pants, white t-shirt and braces, whilst Fish wrestles in seriously skinny jeans and track shoes.
reDRagon vs War Machine
Elgin gave Hanson and Raymond Rowe his endorsement, so it’s no surprise that they’d be the team he has handpicked to get back at reDRagon for making fun of him on their talk show. Fish and O’Reilly overcame War Machine (plus the Forever Hooligans) at Supercard Of Honor 8 to earn a rematch with the Young Bucks. Hanson and Rowe will be aware that a victory over the #1 contenders would move them seriously up the queue for a title shot in the near future.
Rowe decks Fish as Hanson hits a SPINNING INVERTED POWERSLAM ON THE FLOOR on O’Reilly! The first nearfall goes to War Machine too, after a Superman Punch from Rowe to Bobby. Kyle clings onto a sleeper hold on Rowe – even whilst he is still dishing out clotheslines to his partner! He has seen enough, and lowers the braces to indicate he means business…before leaping into a front choke on Hanson. The bearded behemoth shakes that off, cartwheels past both opponents, and levels Bobby with a lariat. reDRagon try to leave but find their path blocked by Michael Elgin. In the end they hop the rails and leave through the crowd – giving War Machine a count-out win at 04:16
Rating - ** - Of course the finish was seriously lousy, but before that the mix of comedy from reDRagon and some seriously impressive power spots from War Machine was extremely entertaining. I’m definitely up for seeing a serious match between these two teams in the near future.
Adam Cole and Michael Bennett make fun of how ugly their opponents in the main event are. Matt Hardy isn’t in the promo because he’s busy shining his ‘Iconic Championship’ but Maria speaks for him – pointing out the improvements in both Cole and Bennett since Matt has been mentoring them.
DURING THE BREAK – reDRagon sprint out of the arena and flee in Kyle O’Reilly’s ‘mom’s van’.
Adam Cole/Michael Bennett/Matt Hardy vs Kevin Steen/Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe
There is plenty of heat between these six men. The match was taped just 24 hours after Cole and Jay Briscoe went through a brutal Ladder War at Supercard Of Honor 8 – with Adam emerging as World Champion before handing Jay’s ‘Real World Title’ belt to Matt Hardy. Matt, in turn, rechristened it the ‘Iconic Championship’ – causing Jay to accuse him of stealing his property. Jay is still mad at Matt for being part of the SCUM assault which prematurely ended his reign as World Champion too. Bennett and Mark too have heat stemming from Supercard where it took the interventions of Maria Kanellis to help Bennett to victory in their No DQ Match. Steen is the x-factor in the match. He doesn’t get on overly well with the Briscoes, has an extensive history with both Bennett and Hardy…and faces Adam Cole at Global Wars in his long-awaited rematch for the World Championship. Who will leave New Orleans with the bragging rights in this battle for pride?
Matt Hardy’s 800,000 Twitter followers sure helped draw plenty of fans to the building for this taping. After a tense staredown the babyface team sprint across the ring to get the fight started – and it soon spills out of the ring. Mark hits an inflatable kangaroo-assisted elbow drop on Bennett (first time I’ve typed that in 12 years reviewing ROH) whilst Jay Briscoe keenly pursues Hardy despite his best efforts to escape. Steen has the World Champion inside the ring looking to soften him up before they head to Toronto – and it takes assistance from Bennett and Hardy for Adam to finally get away from Mr Wrestling. Side Effect gets Matt the first significant nearfall of the match. His beer gut ripples with each Redneck Kung Fu strike Mark Briscoe delivers to him, so Bennett shoves ‘Chicken’ off the top rope as he lines up the Froggy Bow. That’s the cue for ‘The Kingdom’ to start isolating Mark (and the first time we’ve seen Cole venture into the ring since Steen kicked his ass earlier). Kelly and Corino are discussing how much of a draw Matt Hardy is…with a straight face…in a building which is at best a third full. Unless they are being ironic in the most secretive manner possible it’s a fine example of why Kevin sucks so much. In the ring Mark gets a hot tag to Jay, who is apparently carrying a catalogue of injuries following Ladder War 5 – with Steen sneaking in behind him to Cannonball Bennett. DOUBLE DOOMSDAY DEVICE ON COLE & BENNETT! Hardy dives in to save his partners and drop Steen with the Twist Of Fate. Now he’s hit the only two spots he can be bothered to do Hardy is done for the night…and brawls through the crowd to the locker rooms with Jay. Cole hits Mark with the Florida Key to get the win at 09:56
Rating - *** - A seriously LOW end 3* match for this, the main event of one of ROH’s WrestleMania weekend shows. There was just about enough comedy and decent action to see this through, but it was seriously underwhelming nonetheless. In fairness to the competitors, all of them (except Hardy obviously) had extremely physical matches the previous evening at Supercard Of Honor so were probably pretty banged up.
Cole and Bennett try to beat Mark Briscoe up…and give Steen a superkick to the back of the head when he tries to help. Matt Hardy returns and inadvertently takes out Michael Bennett with the Iconic Title belt. With everyone else out of the equation Mr Wrestling looks to send a message to the World Champ by powerbombing him into the timekeeping table.
Tape Rating - ** - The reDRagon stuff in the middle of the show was hilarious, but between the sucky Mike Posey match at the start and a disappointing main event (featuring way too much Matt Hardy) at the end it’s hard to recommend this show outright. It’s the final episode taped during WrestleMania weekend, and I’d have to call these New Orleans taping a massive disappointment. I understand it’s TV, and I understand a lot of the talent had hard-hitting matches the previous day – but Ring Of Honor really needs do produce far better than this if they want to run Mania weekend. The attendance gave the company a clear indication – if you’re not going to put effort into your TV tapings during a weekend when we have SO much choice, the fans simply won’t turn up. Modern wrestling fans were smart enough to realise that ‘corporate’ Ring Of Honor were going to play it extremely safe for night two of their NOLA shows and rewarded them with a piss-poor turn-out. If the stars of Evolve/DGUSA can manage two nights of wrestling. If ROH, on Cary Silkin’s budget, can afford to run commercially and critically successful double and even triple shots over Mania weekend – then SBG’s ROH sure as hell can. That means they were CHOOSING to produce such a mediocre TV taping. I find that hard to stomach. You can comfortably skip this episode, as you could the first episode they taped as well. In fact, outside of Elgin/Romero last week and reDRagon’s comedy, there hasn’t been anything even remotely memorable. Lets see if they can do better in Baltimore next week…