ROH on Sinclair – Episode 141 – 31st May 2014
We are, almost literally, on the road to Best In The World 2014 now. In fact, next weekend sees the ‘Road To Best In The World’ live event double shot meaning both television and live shows are now very much geared towards promoting Ring Of Honor’s return to national pay-per-view. It’s now less than a month away, with only Cole/Elgin for the World Title scheduled thus far, so plenty of work is still left to do. Tonight our scheduled main event will see Jay Lethal defend the TV Title against top rivals Tommaso Ciampa and Matt Taven. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino are in Baltimore, MD.
ACH vs Roderick Strong
These two had one of the most entertaining matches of 2013 when they met at Honor vs Evil. One suspects this one won’t be anywhere near as good. ACH is another guy The Decade don’t like, and now he doesn’t like them either after they nabbed his tag partner (Tadarius Thomas) to be their young boy. Will Strong teach the mouthy youngster a lesson, or will ACH score the popular win?
ACH winds Strong up by getting handshakes from front row fans after Roderick refuses. He further aggravates the former triple crown champion by chopping him in the corner, then uses his obvious speed advantage to outwit Roddy at every turn. Strong has to leave the ring looking for respite, but can’t escape as ACH sprints across the apron to soccer kick him in the chest. SPLIT-LEGGED MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR MISSES! As he recovers from that Roderick scoops ACH up and tosses him ribs-first into the ringpost! We cut to commercial breaks, and when we come back we see Roddy splatting ACH into the rails (via an amusing altercation with a kid in the front row). Back in the ring he scores with a tilta-whirl backbreaker, hitting it high on the body to ensure maximum damage is done to the ribs too. ACH has been drastically slowed, but does his best to build up some momentum with a flurry of clotheslines in the corner. SPINNING BRAINBUSTER gets 2! Back to the floor, where ACH taunts Strong with a Scorpion ‘get over here’ before hooking him up for a flatliner into the side of the ring. A pescado finds the mark as well, right in front of the Decade young boys. Slingshot swinging flatliner back in for another nearfall. Olympic Slam punishes ACH after he misses a running dropkick…but the Gibson Driver is COUNTERED into a double stomp to the back! Strong leaves the ring to recover, with the assistance of TD and Page…so ACH AIR JORDAN’S THEM ALL! 450 Splash misses though, and Strong hits the Sick Kick/End Of Heartache combo to win at 13:10 (shown).
Rating - *** - Had ACH made any effort to sell the ribs or back I’d have gone higher on my rating. This didn’t quite reach the heights of their match last year, but this was actually one of the better opening matches the Sinclair TV show has ever seen. Non-stop action, some brilliant sequences from ACH, and what I particularly loved was how he continually did Austin Aries moves. I know he does most of them anyway, but given his opponent was Aries’ former partner and friend, it added a neat little additional psychological touch to what was, by and large, a bit of a no-sell heavy spot-fest (albeit a fun one).
Jay Lethal vs Matt Taven vs Tommaso Ciampa – ROH TV Title Match
These three have been pushing each other in the race for the Television Championship all year. We ended 2013 with Ciampa beating Taven for the belt, and began 2014 with him demanding to defend it against Lethal. They already tangled in a triple threat at Wrestling’s Finest (Tommaso won, albeit thanks to Taven and Lethal getting caught up in House Of Truth shenanigans) so they are no strangers to this environment. Both challengers have serious chips on their shoulder when it comes to Truth Martini as well. Taven fired him back in January, but has been unable to shake him off and got a fireball thrown in his face in New Orleans – the same night that Martini joined with Jay and helped him defeat the Sicilian Psychopath to take his title.
Lethal tries to jump Ciampa during his entrance, leading to a repeat of last week as all three men brawl in the aisle. Since the bell hasn’t rung it’s completely legal when Lethal attacks Tommaso’s knee with a chair…meaning when the match finally starts it’s Taven and Lethal going one-on-one. It doesn’t last long though, with Martini running in and levelling Matt with the Book Of Truth to cause an immediate disqualification. Taven goes after Truth as Ciampa hobbles back in to mob Jay. Just as last week the three have to be separated.
Rating - N/A - Although it’s slightly disappointing we didn’t get the advertised match, this was actually a really effective segment and, for the first time since 2011 (when we had Lethal, Bennett and Generico feuding over it) the TV Title scene is interesting. Delirious doesn’t do undercard feuds that well so it’s important to support it when he actually tries…
Michael Bennett vs Jay Briscoe
He may have failed in his attempt to be crowned undisputed ROH World Champion at Supercard Of Honor, but Jay Briscoe’s issues with Adam Cole and his group (now known as The Kingdom) are far from over. He is furious that Matt Hardy now has his title belt and is calling it the ICONIC Title, angry that he, Bennett and Maria all interfered during Ladder War 5…and realises if he wants his property back he’ll need to go through all of the Kingdom. Tonight it’s Michael Bennett blocking his path to first Matt Hardy, then Adam Cole. Bennett already defeated his younger brother at Supercard, so now looks to complete a clean sweep of Briscoes in 2014.
The match is less than twenty seconds old and Maria is already on the apron to distract Briscoe. It works, allowing Bennett to hit repeated spears. A superkick knocks him off the apron into the rails, as Maria now joins commentary to claim credit for putting The Kingdom together. The brawl goes all around ringside as Briscoe absorbs countless trips into the guardrails. They fight onto the stage, where Jay manages a suplex onto the wooden floor! Jay is in charge when we go to commercials, but when we return he misses a flying crossbody and walks into Bennett’s spinebuster. He follows that with a Hardy-esque pointing and screaming leg drop for 2. Superplex blocked by Bennett, only for Briscoe to counter an avalanche Box Office Smash into the turnbuckle flatliner. Rude Awakening follows for 2, only for Bennett to knock him back with a superkick, followed by the Box Office Smash. Twist Of Fate attempted by Bennett, but Jay counters into a sleeper hold. Jay Driller COUNTERED with the Pepsi Twist…into Go Back To Japan! JAY DRILLER! He wins at 14:06 (shown)
Rating - ** - They got plenty of time for a TV match, but most of this was very generic and forgettable, which is a real shame. For my money there was far too much aimless punch/kick stuff. That isn’t ‘brawling’, it’s just lazy, easy and relatively safe. Both Briscoes are basically just characters now, and haven’t been regularly producing great wrestling matches for a long time.
NEXT WEEK – Defy Or Deny III
Tape Rating - ** - A better show than last week, but the long and flat main event put a real dampener on things. Strong/ACH really is worth checking out though, and I really appreciate the effort to build a legitimate feud around the TV Title.