ROH on Sinclair – Episode 139 – 17th May 2014
Amazingly, without a single ‘Road Rage’ break, we move seamlessly from the New Orleans TV tapings to the April 19th ‘Second To None’ event. Originally it seemed this was conceived as a show like the Pursuit weekend, or Wrestling’s Finest – a live event specifically formatted in a way that it could be chopped up for television rather than a ‘TV taping’ in the traditional sense. However, as of this writing, it’s never made it to DVD. As an ROH completist obviously I like to get my hands on as much content as possible – but I can’t help but support this move. I’m a documented fan of ROH running specific events to be taped for television, and not just cutting portions out of live shows – since all that does is mean they fill live events with short, forgettable, filler matches to populate the undercards of the televised broadcasts. This taping also marks ROH’s big return to Sinclair’s base of Baltimore, MD. We haven’t been here since Charm City Challenge, and haven’t been here for TV since the ROH/SCUM Steel Cage Warfare tapings in June 2013. Strangely, we’re not at the Du Burns Arena in the city though. That building always looked really good for both TV and live events, combining a solid visual appearance with the fact they could get fans in and fill the building out to look like they had a really strong attendance. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino are in the William J Myers Pavillion for commentary. Your scheduled headline bout tonight is Styles/Elgin II – which should rock.
reDRagon vs Cedric Alexander/Andrew Everett
Last time we saw reDRagon they were driving away from War Machine as fast as they possibly could in Kyle’s mom’s van. Now they are preparing for the ROH/NJPW crossover shows, with the focus being to regain their Tag Titles at War Of The Worlds. A victory here over a first-time team will be an essential part of those preparations.
Fish is initially set to start with Alexander, but when Cedric starts the match before he has completed pulling up his knee pads he formally protests – and leaves the ring to be replaced by O’Reilly. Fish is left tagging out again in the third minute of the match as Everett is so quick he works circles around the veteran. Knee drop/standing moonsault combo from Cedric and Andrew gets a nearfall – but as Kyle grabs the attention of referee Paul Turner, Fish grabs Everett and wrenches his arm straight south into the ring apron. reDRagon start targeting Andrew’s arm, and the youngster is barely able to escape Arm-ageddon and certain defeat soon after. Hammerlock back suplex gets a nearfall for Bobby as the match cuts out for an ad break…and when we return the kid is still stuck in the ring, now absorbing a hammerlock northern lights suplex variant. Finally Everett manages to roll himself onto the apron then take to the air with a springboard dropkick…but he lands flush on the bad shoulder again before making the much needed tag to Alexander. O’Reilly tosses his limp body into the guardrails before joining Fish inside the ring to start double teaming Ced (with a horribly botched knee drop/backbreaker combo). SOMERSAULT PLANCHA brings Alexander back into proceedings – with Andrew then giving him an assist with a BACK FLIP RANA INTO A JUMPING ENZI! SPRINGBOARD SSP TO THE FLOOR BY EVERETT! OVERTIME BY ALEXANDER…for 2! Everett misses another shooting star press attempt and again crumples on the canvas holding his shoulder. MISSILE DROPKICK OFF THE APRON from Kyle to Cedric! Fish catches Everett on the top rope for an AVALANCHE FALCON ARROW! EVERETT KICKS OUT! HAMMERLOCK CHASING THE DRAGON! reDRagon finally put their opponents down and beat Everett at 11:57 (shown).
Rating - **** - Had this been a live event I’m not sure my rating would have stretched to 4*, but for free television this was a killer tag bout. The work on Everett’s arm by the former Tag Champions was outstanding and, to give the youngster credit, he really did try hard to sell it as far as possible. It’s such a shame that a serious injury derailed Everett’s career from mid-2014, as he was really starting to take off in both Ring Of Honor and PWG. Hopefully he takes his time recovering, and doesn’t rush a comeback to the detriment of his future career.
NEXT WEEK – Steen & Compton vs Outlaw Inc. in a Street Fight.
Michael Elgin vs AJ Styles
The first encounter between these two men wound up being one of the best matches in the history of ROH on Sinclair. But it didn’t provide a clear top contender to Adam Cole – largely thanks to the World Champion himself, who assaulted both of them to ensure it ended as a 30-minute draw rather than see an overtime period to crown a victor. Since then both of these men have enjoyed great success. Elgin defeated Steen to become #1 contender to the IWGP Heavyweight Title at Supercard Of Honor 8, whilst two weeks before this episode was broadcast AJ would go to New Japan himself – and actually win the belt from Kazuchika Okada. So whilst NJPW and their top prize very much looms over both competitors, it’s fair to say that whoever emerges victorious here will also see themselves move to the very front of the queue for an ROH World Title opportunity.
Remembering his success from the first match, Styles immediately looks to take Elgin to the canvas with some amateur-influenced stuff…but Michael shows he is wise to this strategy and kicks the Phenomenal One away. Instead AJ kicks at his massive legs, and when Elgin looks to use his power Styles’ speed comes to the fore as he breezes past his larger opponent to batter him in the corner. But a single spinning elbow strike from Unbreakable scores with such force that the Bullet Club member collapses through the ropes to the outside. Elgin succeeds in slowing the pace and methodically dominating his opponent with his brute force and strength. When we return from the first break of the contest we see the devastating effects of that assault – as a visibly slowed AJ misses a running elbow strike and crumples in pain as he crashes into the turnbuckles. The tactic is the right one though, looking to quicken the pace where he knows Elgin can’t compete with him…and he manages it by running the ropes and nailing his dropkick. Again we see the effects of the minutes of Elgin dominance though, as AJ struggles to exit the ring as fluidly as he would have liked…and gets shunted into the guardrails as punishment. REBOUND SATELLITE HEADSCISSORS TO THE FLOOR from Styles to Elgin! This is the speed he needs the match to be fought at and he looks much more comfortable sprinting around on the floor into elbow strikes across Elgin’s jaw. Calf Killer applied, once again looking to destabilise Michael’s sizeable legs. He then cranks on a MutaLock – despite absorbing some KILLER close-range elbow strikes from his opponent. Figure 4 Leglock comes next, sending a clear message to current World Champion Adam Cole!
Even when Elgin counters that his leg is now so sore that he can’t maintain the hold. Such is the damage that Michael can’t even lift him for the stalling vertical suplex which has become his calling card. Elgin (after some horrible no-selling of the knee) piles into Styles with a clobbering lariat flurry…and manages to lift him into the DEAD-LIFT GERMAN for 2. He does at least make an effort to sell by ‘hitting the knee’ afterwards. Elgin goes for the Black Hole Slam – but AJ has wrestled Abyss multiple times and counters. Phenom DDT countered to the Crossface…only for Styles to fight out of that and hit the Phenom DDT second time around! SNAP SUPLEX INTO THE BUCKLES! Despite being rattled by that Elgin still manages to lift his adversary onto the top rope and PALM STRIKE HIS FACE! FLYING TORNADO DDT…CAUGHT INTO A LIFTING FRONT SLAM BY ELGIN! Both men stay down after that as injury and fatigue start catching up with them. Styles blocks the dead-lift superplex with knee strikes – and he goes after the knee again to sweep Elgin off the ropes. JUMPING CODEBREAKER by Unbreakable. SELL THE F*CKING LEG! REVERSE RANA BY STYLES! He MISSES the springboard 450 Splash though, crashing down on his ribs and sternum. The former-TNA Champion foolishly engages Elgin in an elbow strike exchange, and is punished with a LARIATOOO! BUCKLE BOMB! Elgin Bomb blocked. Styles Clash blocked. PELE KICK SCORES! ST-JOE blocks another running elbow from AJ. BUCKLE BOMB…NO SOLD…DISCUS LARIAT! Amazingly Elgin survives that and tosses AJ into the lights to block the Styles Clash again. BUCKLE BOMB! ELGIN BOMB! ELGIN WINS! It’s over at 21:39 (shown).
Rating - **** - An outstanding sequel, packed with references to their first match and wonderfully playing off it to provide new material in the rematch. The opening seconds, with AJ trying to work the mat with Elgin (as he had in Philadelphia), getting kicked away, so instantly breaking out a new tactic to counteract his opponent’s raw power (working the leg) were sheer brilliance. But Elgin had also learned from the first encounter. He had reversals for plenty of AJ’s signature spots, and even when his leg was bothering him, he found a way to continually bombard his opponent with his signature offensive bombs. Ultimately he succeeded in engaging Styles in a test of strength and striking power (as emphasised during their length elbow smash duel) – proving that he had managed to get Styles working ‘his’ kind of match, which was why Elgin wound up victorious. I’d have given this the same rating as the first match, but Elgin’s selling of the leg REALLY annoyed me. I’m not normally a guy who allows himself to be too hung up about stuff like that, and I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy the match (I think a 4* rating shows I still very much liked it). But ROH, Delirious and SBG have given he and AJ almost 50-minutes of in-ring time across the two matches (basically as long as an entire episode of the TV show), allowing them to tell stories and work a really cerebral, intelligent and memorable couple of bouts. The whole point of them is to get Elgin over as an a main eventer to mainstream and casual fans (i.e. the fans AJ Styles brings to the party). Why actively damage the potency of the stories you are telling by lazily not bothering to sell a simple leg injury? If you hit a dead-lift German suplex, at least ACT like it hurts your leg? If you’re going to bridge the suplex, why not at least lift or wobble your leg to show that it is injured? If your opponent back drops you over the ropes and you land on your feet on the apron – why not just grab the knee to show that landing with such velocity was hard? And why on earth would you do a jumping Codebreaker (a move which you USE THE LEG to inflict damage) without remotely selling it? I try to turn a blind eye to mediocre selling on most occasions. Hell, Davey Richards is one of my favourite ROH wrestlers ever and he was never great at that aspect of his game. But when the company has gone to great lengths to get you over, and when both he and AJ had worked SO HARD over the two matches – the fact that such a basic error let him down really annoyed me. Many people are saying Elgin has actually regressed as a worker over the last year or so. I wouldn’t go that far, but his promo skills, coupled with such a basic mistake in this match probably indicate why I’d really rather the belt stayed on Adam Cole (who appears much more polished) at this point in time.
That is AJ Styles’ first loss since returning to Ring Of Honor, and as a reward Michael Elgin will receive a World Title shot in the future. It’s also significant because AJ has failed to beat Elgin in two matches now – and Elgin is also #1 contender to the IWGP Heavyweight Title he currently holds.
Unbreakable grabs the microphone and says he wants his World Title shot at ROH’s first live pay-per-view: Best In The World 2014.
Tape Rating - **** - A quite outstanding episode of ROH on SBG. There were almost no corny video packages, cheesy interview segments, lousy squash matches, bad finishes, matches which didn’t get enough time, Cheeseburger, Mike Posey or any of the other crap that normally drags down Ring Of Honor television. Instead we got two great matches, given plenty of time, with strong finishes and were an absolute blast to sit through. Despite my reservations towards Elgin’s personal performance, it didn’t stop Elgin/Styles II from being a hell of a match. And it was a joyous surprise that the reDRagon vs Alexander/Everett tag match got serious time and the creative license to produce something really exciting too. A strong and hard-hitting hour of television – the kind ROH should produce more of if they want to provide a serious alternative to their bigger televised rivals. After some lousy television in New Orleans this was like a breath of fresh air.