ROH on Sinclair – Episode 148 – 19th July 2014
We now have the completely unacceptable prospect of Ring Of Honor airing parts of their first major ppv, Best In The World, on free television. It’s a dismally bush-league move from a company who want to act big time without putting any serious finance into the product. You don’t catch WWE ditching weeks of television and simply airing clips of pay-per-views. If ROH wants to be seen as a serious competitor and alternative then this is the kind of crap they need to ditch now. In fairness, they are throwing in a couple of dark matches to provide at least SOME fresh content for this show, but that’s just like WWE chucking in David Otunga vs Heath Slater whilst they show WrestleMania for free on TV a couple of weeks later. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino are in Nashville, TN. I have near zero motivation to review this episode…
Tate Twins vs War Machine
This was one of the Best In The World dark matches. As you could easily guess, the Tate Twins got this spot because they attended one of ROH’s training camps. Ray Rowe and Hanson are in ROH for the exact same reason.
Since the Tates are identical it is impossible to tell them apart. Rowe probably can’t either, so he makes sure to roundly splat both of them into the ground. Hanson is equally forthright, beating on one of the twins until his gear is falling off and he lies limp on the mat. The other one actually tries a couple of strikes on big Hanson…before getting NAILED with a cartwheel lariat. POWERBOMB SENTON by War Machine! TOP ROPE LEG DROP/BACK SUPLEX COMBO! War Machine win at 03:15
Rating - N/A - I enjoyed this. It was exactly how a squash match should be, and a genuine exhibition of the exciting skill and power that the War Machine duo possesses. I criticise the ROH training camps a lot, but to give Kevin Kelly, Delirious and whomever else is involved some credit, Hanson and Rowe both came from them, and are very different to anything else on the roster right now and plenty of fun to watch.
Adam Page vs Romantic Touch
This is a chance for Decade’s young boy Page to show what he has learned under their tutelage. He faces the enigmatic Romantic Touch – who doesn’t have a lot of wins either so could use one.
Whitmer is furious that Page shakes RT’s hand. He is equally perturbed as Touch starts strongly and begins grinding on Page as they work the mat. Snugglemonkey Flip gets an early nearfall…so Adam retaliates with a slingshot somersault clothesline. Inverted Tombstone countered into the RT dropkick, then a swinging arm capture back suplex (Corino calls it the Mile High Club) for 2. Page hits back with the inverted Tombstone for the win at 04:51
Rating - * - Pretty boring in truth. I like Page, but this was nothing more than a basic back and forth spot exchange. As a dark match this fulfilled its job just fine – but as I’m reviewing this for television I have to consider it a bit lame.
Roderick Strong vs Cedric Alexander – Submission Match
The pre-match video package for this feud was better at Global Wars. Having humiliated Cedric, kicked him out of the locker room, and beaten him at Supercard Of Honor, that night in Toronto was when this feud kicked into an even higher gear. Alexander scored the upset victory, but was punished by being dropped through a stack of chairs; injuring his shoulder and putting him out of his scheduled dream match with Kazuchika Okada at War Of The Worlds. If that wasn’t enough, Roddy also had his stable-mate BJ Whitmer and young boy TD Thomas cost Cedric a shot at the World Title at Road To Best In The World Night 1 too. Tied at one victory each, will Roderick finally be able to bead Cedric into his place, or will Alexander be able to win the trilogy and enhance his reputation at the hands of the Triple Crown Champion?
Cedric’s luminous orange ring gear isn’t particularly flattering. He starts in determined fashion though, pummelling his enemy with all manner of strikes as Strong struggles to get out of the blocks. Roderick is experienced enough to ride out the storm though, and soon enough he starts targeting the back as we’ve seen him to do so many opponents previously. HEAT SEEKING MISSILE by Cedric! Adam Page and TD Thomas try to tend to their mentor after that but are shoved aside by the tenacious Alexander who is desperate to continue the assault. STRONG BACK DROPS HIM INTO THE SIDE OF THE RING! That looked disgusting and will have inflicted considerable damage to Cedric’s spine. Strong is right in his comfort zone now, and slows the pace as he starts destroying the back. The commentators are forced to acknowledge that Roderick is getting the lion’s share of support from the crowd, as Alexander hits a desperation Kick 2 Kill. He manages to dropkick Roderick into the arms of his waiting young boys…then SOMERSAULT PLANCHAS through them! Page and Thomas absorbed the brunt of the impact on that, so Cedric ricochets straight of the guardrail into an enziguri on Mr ROH. Slingshot DDT rolled into END TIME! I could do with him even attempting to sell the back, but that is awesome! When Strong gets to the ropes Alexander is quick to jump all over him again – this time with the Impact Explosion Dropkick. SWINGING FLATLINER! DRAGON CLUTCH! Roderick knees his way free but he is really starting to feel the effects of Cedric’s super-aggressive approach. He manages to drop Alexander on his back with a superplex, but can barely drag himself off the canvas after executing it. With one last burst of energy he SPITS IN CEDRIC’S FACE! DEATH BY RODERICK COUNTERED TO END TIME! Roderick makes the ropes, tosses Alexander over them then dives off the apron with a running elbow. Stronghold blocked, so Roderick drags him up the turnbuckles looking for an avalanche Gibson Driver. TURNBUCKLE BACKBREAKER BY CEDRIC! LUMBAR CHECK! STRONGHOLD ON RODDY! HE TAPS! Cedric wins at 16:16
Rating - **** - I’ve read some rather indifferent reviews of this match, but I thought it was great. Cedric certainly could have sold better but everything else was absolutely spot on. Alexander was, quite rightly, the aggressor considering all The Decade had done before. Strong, positioned as the experienced veteran in both a kayfabe and real-life context, looked to wrestle Alexander like he’s wrestled so many other opponents in his decade-long ROH tenure – but this time simply couldn’t stop his highly motivated opponent. Alexander’s tributes to other wrestlers were awesome too. He went from using Austin Aries impact moves, to Low Ki’s submissions, ripping off Jimmy Jacobs finisher before finally tapping Strong out with his own move – a great way to make the point that he appreciates the superstars of Ring Of Honor that blazed the trail he now follows (and piss Decade off in the process). A better crowd and some better selling of the back and I think people would have been a lot fonder of this one.
Jay Lethal vs Matt Taven – ROH TV Title Match
It was with the assistance of Truth Martini that Matt Taven was able to win the 2013 Top Prospect Tournament, defeat Adam Cole for the TV Title, and become the longest reigning Television Champion of all time. It all came to an end at Final Battle 2013, and in the fall-out of his spectacular loss to Ciampa on that night, Taven fired Martini and decided to step out on his own. The scorned Truth continued to be a thorn in Matt’s side, but he acted fast to replace him in the House Of Truth with Jay Lethal – immediately leading Jay back to the TV Title at Supercard Of Honor 8. That was the same night that Martini threw a fireball in Taven’s face by the way. Taven gained a measure of revenge at Road To Best In The World when he beat Lethal disguised as Romantic Touch but tonight he wants to complete the revenge mission by taking back the title he covets so much. Martini will be handcuffed at ringside to prevent him from interfering.
Truth Martini takes his time conceding to being cuffed, but eventually agrees. Taven decides he’d rather fight his defenceless former manager rather than wrestle Lethal which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense in my opinion. He tries to go after Martini twice, and each time winds up getting sucker punched. Seleziya then distracts him again to allow Lethal to knock him off the apron with an ugly jumping enzi kick. Taven misses a moonsault press into the ring, but reacts quickly and hits a blue thunder driver instead. For the millionth time he leaves the ring though, making a beeline for Truth then getting confronted by Seleziya. Lethal dropkicks him in the side of his unsuspecting face as punishment. He recovers with a couple of kicks then a slingshot swinging neckbreaker for 2, before Jay retaliates with the Lethal Combination. Macho Elbow nailed for 2! Lethal Injection COUNTERED with a handspring enzi, but Jay rolls out of the ring before Taven can capitalise. TOPE SUICIDA COUNTERED WITH A MID-AIR SUPERKICK! He then starts ripping off Lethal’s moves to piss him off – hitting rolling topes into the RUNNING SUICIDE DIVE! Seleziya got taken out in the midst of that too leaving Taven free to make a beeline for the seemingly hapless Truth Martini. Truth slips some cash to J. Diesel (who has been at ringside for a few months as ‘Head Of Security’) to protect him. Diesel and Taven have a seriously intense exchange, which distracts the challenger as Lethal recovers and Seleziya BREAKS the handcuffs to free Truth. Five Star Frog Splash gets knees, and Jay retains with the Lethal Injection at 10:13
Rating - ** - The TV Title division has been hot in 2014, and there have actually been some strong championship matches (Ciampa/Silas, Ciampa/Hanson, Ciampa/Taven, Ciampa/Lethal, Lethal/Koslov and Lethal/Kushida all come to mind) so it’s a real shame that we get one of the weaker and worst-booked TV Title matches for the pay-per-view. The stipulation with Martini completely derailed the match, with Taven being booked to look like an idiot more obsessed with punching a handcuffed manager than winning the belt. Lethal and Taven are capable of much better than this, and it’s a real shame that after Truth pretty much ruined the TV Title division for all of 2013 he drags down the first live ppv being booked exactly the same way.
Tape Rating - DUD - Putting your ppv on your television show is pretty unforgivable for me. How a company can be okay with asking their fans to pay money for a show, then put chunks of it out for free a few weeks later is beyond me. The fresh content was pretty crap too for the record. Thankfully next week we get new episodes taped at the Summer Heat Tour’s stop in Dearborn.