ROH on Sinclair – Episode 151 – 9th August 2014
A week away from the big Field Of Honor live event in Brooklyn, and a week away from Kevin Steen’s last ROH appearance on next week’s episode, you could be forgiven for thinking this one might be a throwaway show. Thankfully that doesn’t look like being the case though as it’s headlined by a rare World Title defence on TV. Michael Elgin defends his belt against old rival Kyle O’Reilly in what should be a hell of a match. Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness are in Dearborn, MI.
Rocky Romero vs Adam Cole
Although he’s been at both live events in the aftermath Best In The World, this will be the first time the casual fans have seen Cole since losing the World Title. The pressure will be on him to rebound with a major singles victory, so it is unfortunate that he faces a tough, tricky and unpredictable veteran in Romero – who works these tapings solo due to an injury to regular partner Alex Koslov.
The ring has been squeaking loudly for both the last two episodes, and it’s REALLY loud during the start of this one therefore rather off-putting. A smiling Romero pokes Cole in the eyes then flies at him with amazing velocity on a tope suicida. Rocky himself actually winds up crashing into the guardrails such was the speed he got on that. Adam has gotten his lip busted at some point too, and he reacts angrily by violently and repeatedly throwing his opponent into the ringpost. Flying knee strike from the apron scores for the Forever Hooligan though as his odd style continues to unnerve Cole. Next Adam bumps on his neck after a stream of clotheslines in the corner – something Romero notices and immediately capitalises on with a springboard knee strike right to it. He dropkicks out the legs as Cole thinks about the Panama Sunrise – and hits him with a SPRINGBOARD SUPER RANA! Shiranui nailed for 2! Kevin and Nigel speculate that Cole’s poor performance here is due to a post-title loss funk. He sees all his trademark spots countered…but then COUNTERS Romero’s hang in the rope spot with a superkick. Cradlebreaker into the Figure 4! Rocky taps at 08:36
Rating - ** - I enjoyed this match more as a concept than I did in execution. I like the idea of Cole struggling to shake off the loss of the World Championship, but watching it play out by giving such a lifeless performance in front of a flat crowd when we’re used to seeing him so vibrant and entertaining as a heel wasn’t good. I also like the idea of really building up the Figure 4 as a dangerous finish again. But having seen it discredited for so many years, I didn’t buy it as a finish necessarily so felt it came off as extremely anticlimactic. These guys could have had a better match, but it felt like they were weighed down by the themes they had to get across for television.
Adam Page vs Tommaso Ciampa
At Summer Heat Tour Cincinnati Page really stepped into the limelight. Having seen TD Thomas berated for not seizing opportunities when they came along, he made sure he made the most of his by delivering a strong performance in a trios tag match and actually contributing to the eventual defeat of ACH in that one. I called on ROH to make sure they followed it up by keeping Page’s momentum going, so I’m hopeful this won’t be a squash and he delivers a semi-competent performance against the dangerous Sicilian Psychopath.
Tommaso is so preoccupied with Roderick Strong (at ringside) that he nearly succumbs to a shock defeat in the first five seconds. SHOOTING STAR HEADBUTT OFF THE APRON! Stalling pumphandle suplex scores next as Page’s impressive start continues. Project Ciampa countered too as he also showcases some real wrestling ability. Sicilian Stretch applied…but Page courageously doesn’t tap and makes a rope instead. Slingshot somersault clothesline scores, then a gutbuster for 2! Strong is livid on the floor though – berating Page for stealing his moves! He distracts Page, who had been dominant up to that point, and allows Tommaso to hit PROJECT CIAMPA for the win at 03:43
Rating - N/A - To give credit to the creative guys on this, I thought it was a GREAT way to follow up Page’s impressive performance in Cincinnati. He delivered another strong performance and was comprehensively out-wrestling Ciampa, one of the best workers on the roster, until Roderick Strong caused him to lose. Ciampa gets a brief win so doesn’t lose anything himself, but this one really enhances the reputation of Page. I can’t rate it as a match, but as a way to advance Adam’s storyline it was absolutely first rate.
Ciampa has words for Michael Elgin and complains about being overlooked in ROH. Silas Young interrupts him to say it won’t matter anyway – since he’ll be beating Elgin for the belt at Death Before Dishonor in Milwaukee. Those two get into a brief fight before Silas is sent packing with his tail between his legs.
Highlights of the explosive World Title situation at Aftershock are shown – with Elgin and War Machine brawling with The Kingdom, then Unbreakable emerging victorious against Matt Hardy.
Michael Elgin vs Kyle O’Reilly – ROH World Title Match
You definitely can’t accuse Elgin of lacking ambition as World Champion. As soon as he won it from Cole he set his sights on becoming the longest reigning champ ever, and also eyed up the record for most successful defences. To that end he issued an open challenge to…basically everyone. Former champions could have a shot. Top contenders could have a shot. ROH could even put guys who weren’t really contenders into positions where they could earn shots (as we saw with Cedric Alexander last week). Tonight he defends against Kyle O’Reilly, who has been impressing people with his in-ring work for a long time but has really come into his own in 2014. His trainer Davey Richards once unsuccessfully challenged for the World Title whilst being half of the Tag Champions – can he succeed where Davey failed? Elgin and Kyle have plenty of history – actually coming into the company together as part of the same class in late 2010. O’Reilly eliminated Elgin from the 2011 Top Prospect Tournament, but Elgin got revenge in a major way when he defeated Kyle in the finals of the 2011 Survival Of The Fittest. Now this rivalry is renewed with the top prize in the company at stake.
Tyson Dux is in Elgin’s corner to make sure Bobby Fish doesn’t interfere. O’Reilly starts trying to use his outstanding mat-wrestling skills as usual, but simply isn’t able to be as proficient as he usually is thanks to Elgin’s sheer size. Michael hits a powerslam and effortlessly drives his opponent chest-first into the turnbuckles. Fish tries to come to his partner’s aid – and manages to distract Elgin for just long enough, even with Dux at ringside. As we go to commercials it means that O’Reilly has an opening in the match for the first time. He immediately begin working on the shoulder – hammerlocking the arm then diving at it with a second rope knee drop. The champ does his best to dismiss him with a Bossman Slam, but even that hurts his now-injured shoulder. It hangs limp by his size…but doesn’t stop him taking a quick detour to PUNT Fish into the guardrails. A dead-lift German suplex scores as well, without a lot of selling in truth. We’ll generously say that he sold it by not being able to hold the pin. He then USES the bad arm to hit a swinging front slam for 2. I can’t defend that one, it’s just sh*tty wrestling. Buckle Bomb countered to a front choke by Kyle, who makes sure to capture the bad arm too. He spikes Elgin with a satellite DDT then pounces on the arm looking for Arm-ageddon. Elgin POWERS out of it…so eats Axe & Smash instead! ARM-AGEDDON! And this time he applies it to the right arm since that’s what Michael keeps using to block it! No submission there so O’Reilly peppers the chest and shoulders with kicks. BACK FIST by Elgin! Then a SIT-OUT BOMB to counter another front choke! He slaps his injured shoulder trying to get some blood flowing to it again…only for O’Reilly to snap it over the top rope! HANGING TRIANGLE CHOKE ON THE TOP ROPE! AWESOME BOMB TO COUNTER! ELGIN BOMB! Elgin retains at 12:48 (shown).
Rating - *** - An absolutely outstanding performance from O’Reilly, who showed that he could sit comfortably in ROH’s main event picture now. Unfortunately it was contrasted by a pretty unremarkable performance from the champion. Whilst I didn’t agree with putting the belt on him, I don’t want to be one of those critics or fans who is simply out for Elgin’s blood and will criticise him at any opportunity. He’s been involved in two of my favourite matches all year (the first match with AJ Styles, and his recent title defence against Roderick Strong) and when he delivers the goods I will absolutely praise him. But he sucked here. When your opponent is getting a rare shot at a singles main event, and is doing a KILLER job working your arm with skill and precision…it is a real dick move on Elgin’s part to basically no sell it. I understand that occasionally he let it hang by his side, or he gave it a tap to ‘get the blood flowing’. But that means nothing when you ignore it and hit all your usual powerbombs, slams and big spots anyway. I try to overlook no selling where possible (and, lets be fair, it’s not like this was a BAD match even with it) – but Elgin’s total inability to sell the shoulder or arm properly definitely damaged my enjoyment of this one.
Silas Young sprints back to the ring looking to fight with Elgin ahead of their match in Milwaukee. He finds himself jumped from behind by Tommaso Ciampa looking to continue their brawl from earlier. Adam Cole, Cedric Alexander, the Briscoes and War Machine soon pile in as well with scores to settle and #1 contendership claims to stake. The Tag Title and World Title pictures suddenly look crowded!
Tape Rating - *** - Another pretty solid episode from these tapings. I didn’t like the Golden Gauntlet last week, though I imagine the format may have appealed to casual fans more. This week was much better with some excellent advancement in the Decade/Adam Page storyline, a spotlight on the volatile World Title picture now Elgin has issued an open challenge to the entire roster, and a super-competitive main event. Cole/Romero was a shade disappointing, but everything else delivered.