ROH on Sinclair – Episode 153 – 23rd August 2014
In the midst of Death Before Dishonor weekend on the live circuit, the TV show heads straight to the next batch of pre-taped episodes in the can. We now move to content taped on the final leg of the Summer Heat Tour in Philadelphia. Reportedly this was a pretty strong show in it’s own right, with several matches worth checking out – so I have high hopes for these episodes. The first match that had people raving is the main event for this hour, which sees ACH challenge Jay Lethal for the TV Title. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino are ringside in Philadelphia, PA.
Rocky Romero vs Tommaso Ciampa
At the Cincinnati leg of the Summer Heat Tour we saw these two men brought together in an unlikely tag team to challenge reDRagon for the Tag Titles due to a last minute injury to Rocky’s regular partner Alex Koslov. Although they fought gamely they never really got on the same page as a team and had a very public falling out at the conclusion of the contest. Now they face each other looking to settle the grudge that began that night.
There’s no holding back right from the bell as they march to the middle of the ring for a pretty serious strike exchange. Rocky’s signature bizarre mindgames start having an impact – first as he pokes the eyes, then as he hangs in the ropes giggling to trick Tommaso out of the ring. Jumping knee strike off the apron nailed, before Ciampa COUNTERS a Shiranui attempt into a big backbreaker for 2. After commercials Ciampa attempts a rather foolish trip to the top rope and gets punished with a superplex by the Forever Hooligan. He catapults the Sicilian to the outside with a running headscissors then drives him straight into the guardrails with a tope suicida. Project Ciampa blocked with a mule kick, so Tommaso SCHOOLBOYS Romero into the turnbuckles for the Bare Knees. Romero then powerbombs him out of the corner as he looks set for the Air Raid Crash. Frankensteiner scores for Rocky, who goes straight into the lunatic clothesline flurry in the corner. He tries to hang in the ropes again…but this time gets kneed in the face! Air Raid Crash! SICILIAN STRETCH! Ciampa refuses to break the hold even when Romero gets to the ropes – forcing Paul Turner to disqualify him at 07:16 (shown).
Rating - ** - I don’t know whether they edited a lot out for commercials here, or if the crowd are just really hot and into the show, but the ‘this is awesome’ chants this match got seemed a little overblown. Despite some positive moments, ultimately I didn’t have a lot of fun watching two talented performers cram a grudge match which had some potential into such a short time allowance. Nothing got sold at all, and it became a blur of spots getting tossed around for no real reason – leading to a non-finish. I was disappointed by this.
BJ Whitmer berates Tadarius Thomas for using his promo time to put over his recent match with ACH. He then storms off set, cancelling TD’s interview.
ACH and Jay Lethal take turns hyping up the main event. Jay is rather dismissive of his challenger…
Up next we’re supposed to have RD Evans against Moose in the sternest test of the New Streak to date. However, Veda and RD make a last ditch plea to the former NFL star to join them and form a tag team (‘I’ll be your quarterback – RD to Moose) – and it works. Evans and Moose are now a tag team…
Cedric Alexander is pumped for next week when he challenges Michael Elgin for the World Title.
Jay Lethal vs ACH – ROH TV Title Match
This title shot was earned via a Six Man Mayhem victory at Best In The World. Tonight ACH steps into the main event and looks to bring home his first ever Ring Of Honor gold. Lethal has been rather dismissive and unimpressed by his challenger thus far, but they’ve had tough matches before so inside he must know this won’t be an easy ride.
Lethal’s hair is simply appalling during his entrance. Thankfully he ties it back so it doesn’t become a distraction during the match. It doesn’t throw the challenger off at all though and ACH strikes at him with such force that he has to retreat to the floor. Striking isn’t necessarily ACH’s forte though, and eventually Jay slows the pace and starts methodically knocking him around the ring. The tables turn when Lethal tries to move into ACH’s arena – the flying game. He looks for a tope and gets kneed in the face…before ACH BACK FLIPS OFF THE APRON to evade the springboard dropkick! Seleziya brutally slams the challenger into the ringpost and gets ejected from ringside by Todd Sinclair. The damage is done though and Jay is quick to capitalise by smashing ACH’s head into the guardrails. Back from commercials, and it appears the challenger has started working over Lethal’s midsection. It has some success but he finds himself distracted by Truth Martini then clobbered into the ground outside the ring by the champ. This time ACH is beaten down enough for Lethal to hit his tope suicida. Martini then trips ACH as he lines up Air Jordan…prompting Sinclair to eject Truth as well. Lethal traps his fallen opponent in a grounded headscissors which pressurises the neck and prevents him from catching his breath. ACH escapes and drops Lethal on his stomach again with the slingshot flatliner! He then guillotines him into the ropes before cutting him in half with a flying elbow strike from the top. Hero’s Grip gets 2 before we cut to another commercial break. FLYING DOUBLE STOMP TO THE BACK! Still just 2 for ACH! 450 Splash misses though…and Jay drills him to the ground with the Lethal Combination. HAIL TO THE KING gets 2! SUPERKICK NAILED….AND ACH LANDS ON HIS THROAT! FOR 2! A fatigued TV Champion grabs his belt and tries to walk out, but is grabbed in the aisle by the game challenger. RUNNING MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR NAILED! 450 SPLASH ON THE BAD RIBS! LETHAL GETS A FOOT ON THE ROPES! Just like at Best In The World some fans were so convinced that it was over they’d started throwing streamers! ACH COMBINATION! KOJI CLUTCH! Now he’s trying to beat Lethal with his own moves! Jay barely escapes being choked out and they come up swinging punches (with repeated body shots from ACH). The bell rings for a 30:00 minute time limit draw (at 21:06 shown).
Rating - **** - Great match, but the editing of this episode is absolutely bullsh*t. If you’re going to put a thirty minute draw on television, you can’t then edit an entire THIRD of it out. And it sucks because having so much of the match cut out does impact what should have been a spectacular coming out party for ACH. He’s had super matches in the past, but this entire match was designed to make him seem like a threat. Not just an exciting athlete, but a legitimate threat to a respected, high ranking opponent like Lethal. Jay came in disrespecting and dismissing him – so for ACH to spend the majority of the match on offence, working injuries and coming perilously close to victory really gave him the rub. Credit to Lethal too, because he knew his role and played it perfectly. He was excellent as the arrogant champion in the early going, but as his challenger kept coming and his insurance policies in the House Of Truth were sent packing he became more and more desperate. From sprinting up the ropes for Hail To The King (where he normally takes an age), to trying to walk out – everything he did was focused on making ACH look great. Going 4* on something when you only see two thirds of the match should tell you how good it was
Lethal grabs his belt, sarcastically pats ACH on the shoulder and almost sprints out of the ring. He has no interest in giving the crowd five more minutes.
Tape Rating - *** - The main event was great, but whomever put this episode together needs to be fired. You simply cannot cut almost a third of your main event away like that. If time was so tight, why was that sh*tty Evans/Moose segment not saved for another week? Or why not move Ciampa/Romero to a different week and leave a sh*tty match from later in the tapings on the cutting room floor? I loved Lethal/ACH but I’m not going to pretend that the way this episode was put together hasn’t left me absolutely disgusted.