ROH on Sinclair – Episode 154 – 30th August 2014
After the spectacular two thirds of a main event we saw last week when ACH came desperately close to unseating Jay Lethal as TV Champion, we journey back to Philly tonight with what promises to be an extremely physical and rugged night of wrestling. After they went to a no contest in Cincinnati, the Briscoes and War Machine head back into battle looking to prove who the tougher team is. Then our main event will see Cedric Alexander challenge Michael Elgin for the World Championship in a rematch of their stunning bout earlier in the year at Flyin’ High. Kevin Kelly, Steve Corino and Prince Nana are at the commentary table in Philadelphia, PA.
War Machine vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe
As discussed during the intro, these two hard-hitting and heavily-bearded tag teams fought to a no contest at Summer Heat Tour Cincinnati when their battle was interrupted by Adam Cole. Neither duo was happy with the outcome and quickly demanded a rematch. Tonight both want to show who the tougher tag team is.
Rowe starts with Mark and muscles him around the ring with ease. Jay and Hanson are in soon afterwards with neither man giving an inch as they beat lumps out of each other. A battery of knee strikes from Rowe rattle Mark’s brains and War Machine have seized the early advantage. SHOTGUN KNEE STRIKE/BRONCO BUSTER COMBO! Somehow Mark survives that, only to see Rowe NAIL Jay with a German suplex. TOPE SUICIDA BY HANSON! Mark knocks the big man back with a jumping enzi…and Jay DOUBLE STOMPS HIM THROUGH THE TIMEKEEPING TABLE! With the Top Prospect winner out of action temporarily the Briscoes set about double-teaming his partner. Ray bumps on his neck from a Mark Briscoe lariat…only to come up seconds later and destroy him with a back drop driver! Hiptoss to the floor from Hanson to Jay…and he then lays Mark out with a lariat. Jay is throwing chairs! All four brawl wildly on the floor, and as weapons start flying around the ref has no option but to call for another no contest at 08:11 (shown).
Rating - *** - Much better than the Cincinnati match. The red hot crowd helped, but both teams were on their game tonight. The Briscoes deserve a lot of credit, because they allowed War Machine to have plenty of offence to really get themselves over. It’s a shame Rowe’s accident means we’ll be waiting quite a while for another match between these guys.
The end of the match doesn’t stop the fight…and as security floods ringside trying to separate them Rowe scoops Mark up for the CEMENT MIXER – OFF THE APRON THROUGH A TABLE!
NEXT WEEK – Caprice Coleman takes Takaaki Watanabe under his ring to face The Decade.
PUBLIC SILAS ANNOUNCEMENT – Silas Young bemoans anti-bullying campaigns, since bullying people and stealing their money is how he put himself through college.
Tadarius Thomas/Adam Page vs RD Evans/Moose
Last week we saw the singles match between RD and Moose cancelled when they decided to form a tag team instead. Tonight they debut as a unit against The Decade’s young boys, with the New Streak at 139-0. Page and TD will be extremely motivated, knowing that ending the Streak tonight will surely win favour with their mentors in Decade (including BJ Whitmer who accompanies them to ringside).
Thomas starts with Moose…who shakes off his flashy strikes and nearly takes his head off with a jumping heel kick of his own. Page comes to his partner’s rescue with a slingshot somersault lariat on Evans. He then hits his stalling wrist clutch suplex for 2. RD quickly brings Moose back in to flatten both young boys with his rock hard head. Moose levels Tadarius with his flipping spear, unaware that RD had blind-tagged himself back in. The Barrister steals Moose’s victory at 04:08
Rating - ** - It wasn’t particularly memorable, but most of this was entertaining enough and advanced the respective angles each team are working at the moment. I’d like to see more of Page and Thomas as a team whilst this Decade young boy angle runs its course.
Whitmer slaps Page and Thomas around for losing…and once again they look tempted to stand up for themselves before eventually bowing down to their superior…
Kevin Kelly runs through the card for next week’s All Star Extravaganza 6 ippv. It seems like a very rushed decision to put this on ppv, because almost no effort has gone into promoting it.
Michael Elgin vs Cedric Alexander – ROH World Title Match
Before he makes it to Toronto for All Star Extravaganza, Unbreakable faces the challenge of the Golden Gauntlet winner – Cedric Alexander. At Flyin’ High Cedric pushed Elgin to the limit, so Michael will know he’s not in for an easy night despite his opponent’s lack of previous ROH championship experience. The winner goes on to defend against Jay Briscoe in Toronto.
Alexander isn’t wasting time and sprints straight into an Impact Explosion Dropkick to get us started. He repeatedly goes for pinning combinations on the champion still looking to catch him off guard. Elgin hits back with a volley of strikes, then uses his power to muscle the challenger up then drive him sternum-first into the turnbuckles. An elbow smash knocks Cedric loopy as he tries a springboard move but he recovers quickly to knock the champ off the apron. Elgin SWINGS him into the guardrails as he lines up a tope atomico though! Everything Michael does is punishing Alexander’s back at this point. He also nearly caves in his face with a sliding knee strike. ST-Joe countered…but so is Kick 2 Kill, so Cedric takes flight into a slingshot lungblower. Elgin keeps knocking him off his feet…but Cedric simply refuses to stay down and give up the fight. He lands the springboard clothesline, even though hitting that move hurts his own back. Michinoku Driver out of nowhere for 2! Lumbar Check blocked into a roaring elbow TO THE NECK! Cedric misjudges how much time he has after landing a the rebound 540 kick and nearly gets caught on the top rope going for Overtime. Elgin cranks on a Horse Collar to further stretch out the back, only for Alexander to escape and whack him with a corkscrew enziguri. SOMERSAULT PLANCHA! ROLLING OVERTIME SPLASHES! Not a whole lot of selling from Cedric there, it has to be said. Kick 2 Kill blocked with elbows to the neck then countered again back to the Horse Collar! Elgin Bomb countered to the Stronghold! But Alexander’s bad knee and back gives out on him as he applies it. Elgin slaps on the Horse Collar again, violently stomps on the head…and eventually wins via ref stoppage at 16:11 (shown).
Rating - *** - To put this 3* rating into some perspective, obviously it wasn’t as good as the Flyin’ High match, but as a televised World Title contest I liked this slightly more than Elgin/O’Reilly. Alexander’s selling left a lot to be desired here, but the way he approached this one was thoroughly entertaining. Realising he wasn’t the strongest guy, he repeatedly looked to blitz the heavy champion with continuous fast-paced offensive flurries. In the end he just couldn’t overcome the destructive force Elgin brings to the table though. However, it will be a concern for ROH how flat the atmosphere was for yet another Elgin title defence. Cedric was getting considerably more fan support than Elgin, who despite a number of pretty strong title defences simply isn’t generating any big fight atmosphere as champion. There is a definite disconnect between him and the fans at the moment, and ROH need to embrace that with a heel turn or gimmick change (as they did with Bryan Danielson to inject some purpose into his early title reign) – or accept defeat and put the belt on someone else. Inside the ring he’s still delivering enjoyable matches, but he’s not doing enough to prove those of us who wanted the belt kept on Adam Cole wrong as of yet.
NEXT WEEK – Young Bucks vs The Addiction main events.
Tape Rating - *** - Another solid episode from the Philly tapings. Nothing was as good as Lethal/ACH from last week, but then again nothing agitated me as much as the editing on that match either! Briscoes/War Machine was a solid opener which definitely left you wanting more from that rivalry, the RD/Moose and Decade young boy angles progressed again in the midcard, and the main event was a hard-hitting and solid World Title Match. I levelled some criticisms against both champion and challenger in the final match, but ROH still needs to be commended for putting a 15+ minute World Title battle onto free television. Despite some shortcomings I bet it was still one of the best matches on television from any of the major companies that week.