ROH on Sinclair – Episode 143 – 14th June 2014
We are just one week away from ROH’s big return to pay-per-view, so you’d think they’d want to have taped enough fresh content to fill these last two broadcasts right? You’d be incorrect, we are going to Road Rage from Global Wars. I’ll say now that this episode will get a DUD from me. There is no excuse for putting re-runs on your TV show a week before your biggest show of the year. And when that footage is stuff you’ve previously asked fans to pay for on ippv it becomes pathetic. Sinclair and ROH should be hanging their heads in shame, and REALLY need to work on their taping/live event calendars for the remainder of 2014. They really can’t continue broadcasting ppv content for free, as it is a slap in the face to everyone who paid to watch those shows. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino are in Toronto, ONT
As a very small positive, we open with Kevin Kelly encouraging people to go to ROHWrestling.com to check out the full shows on VOD.
Roderick Strong vs Cedric Alexander
This is a Supercard Of Honor 8 rematch, demanded by Cedric. The ROH/NJPW shows look set to be huge for him as he looks to overcome his arch rival tonight, then go on to Manhattan where he is scheduled to face NJPW’s Kazuchika Okada. He has been bullied by The Decade, Strong in particular, since Wrestling’s Finest in January when he defeated Andrew Everett with his Lumbar Check backbreaker. They ejected him from the locker room in San Antonio, cheated to beat at Supercard, and at the New Orleans TV tapings publicly humiliated him. It was more than Alexander could stand, and he decided to cost Roderick a match with Tommaso Ciampa before laying down the challenge tonight. Match Maker Nigel McGuinness has helped him out too – by banning the rest Decade from ringside.
Roddy is so keen to get the fight started that he came out during the pre-match video package, with Cedric sharing his enthusiasm…and sprinting to the ring into a HEAT SEEKING MISSILE! Strong doesn’t take kindly to Alexander using moves of his old tag partner Austin Aries, and looks to batter him with strikes in the corner. A jumping enzi strike hangs him upside down in the ropes so Roderick can hit repeated, unprotected kicks to the face! Before Ced can even get back to his feet Strong is on him again, driving knees straight into the jaw. He starts dissecting the back to go alongside his continual violent strike assault – and converts an abdominal stretch into a pumphandle backbreaker for 2. Alexander counters the Olympic Slam though, and somehow lifts his hurting body into a corkscrew enzi kick. Showing his sheer frustration at months of Decade bullying he psychotically headbutts Roddy, knocking him loopy so he can hit the springboard lariat. MICHINOKU DRIVER for 2! Kick 2 Kill blocked into a cradle backbreaker…but in response Alexander counters the urinage backbreaker into a crucifix pin. They head upstairs for Strong to drop Cedric down onto his hurting back again with a superplex. STRONGHOLD! Followed by a knee to the gut when Alexander has the audacity to escape. The youngster is starting to fade now…but defiantly slaps Roderick then SPITS IN HIS FACE! IMPACT EXPLOSION DROPKICK! KICK 2 KILL! He hits his rebound enziguri strike…but the split second he loses dragging his injured body into the pinfall is enough to cost him victory. Double stomp misses, so Strong hits DEATH BY RODERICK! SICK KICK…COUNTERED TO THE LUMBAR CHECK! SMALL PACKAGE! CEDRIC WINS! He scores a huge victory at 14:20
Rating - **** - I still feel like they have a better match in them, but this was a hell of a fight. It certainly felt like they were determined to have the match they weren’t allowed to have at Supercard Of Honor 8 due to the sh*tty time allocation they got then. They were both very much on form tonight, playing their roles in the match to a tee. The aggression was kicked up from New Orleans on both sides, with Roderick amping up his bitter, angry veteran playbook – and Cedric bringing significantly more fire as the underdog babyface looking to defy the odds. The flash pin finish gives Strong an out, and the post-match angle they are about to run will absolutely lead to a rubber match which I keenly anticipate.
Cedric Alexander barely has time to celebrate before BJ Whitmer, Jimmy Jacobs and Tadarius Thomas are in the ring assaulting him. Whitmer orders TD to kick him in the face as the rest of the group open up some steel chairs in the middle of the ring. END OF HEARTACHE THROUGH THE CHAIRS!
Jay Lethal defending the TV Title against Matt Taven (with Truth Martini handcuffed at ringside) is formally confirmed for Best In The World 2014 via a video package.
Adam Cole vs Kevin Steen – ROH World Title Match
Since he lost the title at Supercard Of Honor 7, Kevin Steen has never had his rematch. At first he was forcibly sidelined from the title picture by Nigel McGuinness, who still resented him for his actions whilst a part of SCUM. Then he was preoccupied redeeming himself by feuding with (and eventually ending) the SCUM faction in Steel Cage Warfare. Since then he’s continually petitioned for a championship opportunity – but never quite managed to secure one. He was a losing semi-finalist in the World Title tournament at Death Before Dishonor 11, and he lost a #1 contendership bout to Jay Briscoe at The Golden Dream. Finally he earned this opportunity by winning a four-man Texas Tornado main event at State Of The Art – and has been hot pursuit of Cole ever since. With Chris Hero, Michael Elgin, Jay Briscoe and even AJ Styles looking to challenge for ROH’s top prize, Steen has never let himself fall out of the equation and persistently come out in front of live crowds making the point that he wants his shot. Having survived Jay Briscoe and Ladder War 5 at Supercard Of Honor, Cole now has no more excuses – and faces a huge task in thwarting Steen’s quest to become the second 2-time ROH Champion…in the same building where he won his first title.
This has a ‘big fight’ aura that ROH so rarely achieves these days. Even Cole/Briscoe at Supercard didn’t seem as intense during the intros. Since we’re in Canada the support for Steen is massive, and the crowd roar with approval as he piles into the champion in the early going. But before the first minute is out Cole tries to attack his problematic knees. Unfortunately he can’t do enough lasting damage, and finds his ‘ding ding’ getting smashed into the ringposts. Steen even finds time to give a tribute to El Generico with mounted Hispanic punches in the corner…but he gets carried away celebrating so Cole dropkicks his knees out from under him! Knee-DT follows next and has the challenge writhing across the mat in pain. Quickly Cole reduces Steen to a one-legged man in the fight – though Mr Wrestling proves he remains a dangerous proposal still by catching Adam for a hanging DDT as he attempts a slingshot. He’s too injured to capitalise though, and is punished with a Figure 4 around the ringpost. APRON BOMB out of nowhere! But Steen collapses alongside the fallen World Champion as his knee buckles. Cole tries to crawl away…THREE MORE APRON BOMBS! KNEE-SELLING STEEN-TON BOMB for 2! That offensive flurry nearly brought him victory but it has done yet more damage to his leg. He is unable to lift Cole for the F-5 – and Adam counters him to a DVD over the knee. Cole tries to superplex Steen, who counters him into an AVALANCHE FISHERMAN BUSTER! The knee is killing him though, and he loses time grabbing it before finally pinning the champ for a 2-count. He’s limping heavily and misses the Cannonball before the knee gives out entirely as he attempts a Package Piledriver. He slumps to the canvas, leaving a gleeful Cole to apply the Figure 4 Leglock! Even when Steen reverses the hold, he has to release it because it’s still hurting his own leg. Florida Key blocked with a powerbomb…INTO THE SHARPSHOOTER! Steen collapses! Adam gets to his feet smiling in delight thinking his adversary his finished. Complacency gets the better of him and he walks right into a SLEEPER SUPLEX! Michael Bennett runs in to help. PACKAGE PILEDRIVER ON BENNETT! SUPERKICK TO THE BACK OF STEEN’S HEAD! GERMAN SUPLEX! FLORIDA KEY…FOR 2! SUPERKICK TO THE KNEE! Panama Sunrise COUNTERED to the Sharpshooter, though unfortunately for the challenger Cole is right in the ropes. The champion climbs the ropes, but Steen grabs him. TURNBUCKLE BRAINBUSTAAAAAAAA! COLE KICKS OUT! Package Piledriver blocked – into a Superkick. Cole wins at 19:35!
Rating - **** - How deflating was that finish? The match before it was superb, but holy cow did that conclusion ever KILL the crowd! After all the wild stuff they’d done to each other throughout 20-minutes of a genuinely high-quality main event it just makes no sense that a single superkick would end Kevin Steen’s title challenge. Why not at least make it dramatic with a flurry of superkicks? Or a superkick to the knee, then an unprotected superkick to the face? Come on guys – do SOMETHING! Even Kevin Kelly was caught off guard by how sudden and random it was. Excluding the Bennett interference (which wasn’t needed at all), everything before the anticlimactic finish was excellent though. Steen’s selling of the leg was good enough to provide some really dramatic moments – like his collapse when applying the Sharpshooter. Cole continues to grow into his role as World Champion and delivered one of his most complete heel performances to date. His facials were utterly brilliant, he riled the crowd up with his body language and wrestling alone (without having to resort to taunting them or posturing for cheap heat), and delivered on his skills with such gusto that people had no problem believing he could drop bombs with Steen (a significantly bigger man) down the stretch. Get rid of Bennett and chalk a better finish on it and we could have been talking about this as an MOTYC.
Another video package announces reDRagon vs Daniels & Kazarian for Best In The World.
Tape Rating - DUD - A week out from your debut on live ppv and you barely mention it on TV outside of a couple of video packages? Disgraceful. Giving away the main event and one of the bigger grudge matches from a recent internet ppv for free? Shameful. After ending my Road To Best In The World Night 2 review feeling significantly more positive about ROH than I had in sometime, this episode of the TV show quickly reminded me why I’m finding it a bit of a slog covering ROH in 2014.