ROH on Sinclair – Episode 161 – 18th October 2014
Last week the World Title picture got extremely interesting. Adam Cole rejoiced in Jay Briscoe’s title win at All Star Extravaganza because it meant he was no longer boxed out of championship contention. Unfortunately for him, his plans were immediately thrown into disarray when his Kingdom stable-mate Michael Bennett emerged victorious from the #1 contendership Honor Rumble. Tonight Cole looks to vent his frustrations and continue to build upwards momentum as he faces the talented Cedric Alexander in a high profile bout. Kevin Kelly and Caprice Coleman are in Wheeling, WV.
Adam Cole gets more interview time, swearing on everything going that he will regain the World Title. Cedric Alexander and his ‘potential’ won’t stand in his way tonight…
Romantic Touch vs Hanson
Hanson is upwardly mobile right now, and enjoying his time in singles action whilst Raymond Rowe continues to sit out injured. Touch, meanwhile, continues to be a rather stale and uninteresting undercard comedy performer. He’s pretty harmless, but offers absolutely nothing other than a cheap body on shows. Is tonight the night that he breaks out and delivers a star-making turn with an unlikely victory over the dominant bearded monster?
Kevin Kelly calling Hanson ‘War Beard’ is literally as uncomfortable to sit through as Michael Elgin’s commentary at Global Wars. In the ring Hanson completely ignores RT’s goofy gimmick games and beats him senseless. Touch needs to lay in his dropkick just to stay alive in the match. It’s actually pretty annoying watching Hanson having to sell for Titus, and a relief when he swats him aside with a sidewalk slam/Warrior Splash combo. Snugglemonkey Flip blocked into a lariat…before the Spin Kick Of Doom wins it at 03:06
Rating - DUD - Hanson is a talent, but watching him sell for a waste of a roster spot like Romantic Touch was particularly irritating. As a squash I didn’t find this particularly rewarding or effective
NEXT WEEK – It’s ‘championship week’, with every title defended. The Decade’s Jimmy Jacobs and Roderick Strong are the scheduled challengers to reDRagon’s Tag Titles, whilst Michael Bennett gets his World Title shot against Jay Briscoe. Jay says he’s coming to get his ‘Real World Title’ belt back…
Michael Bennett enters the arena in jovial mood after his Honor Rumble victory. Adam Cole is out as well, albeit considerably less happy to be there, and he sulks like a petulant teenager during Bennett’s promo. Cole calls himself the ‘king’ of The Kingdom…but then gets placated by some quiet words from Maria Kanellis.
The Decade make their way to the ring next. Jimmy Jacobs wants to give their young boys an opportunity – and orders them to wrestle each other in a No DQ Match.
Adam Page vs Tadarius Thomas – No DQ Match
The Decade have shown signs of cracking under pressure in recent weeks. Roderick Strong and BJ Whitmer have had to be separated, Roddy has issues with Page, Whitmer isn’t Thomas’ biggest fan and Jimmy is becoming increasingly busy keeping everyone on the same page. Adam has shown signs of wanting to grasp his opportunities recently with a number of impressive displays, but TD will know he can win the favour of his mentors back with a victory here.
Page declines Thomas’ offer of a handshake, as the senior members of Decade start tossing weapons in with big smiles on their faces. Thomas bridges under Page’s slingshot somersault lariat then punts him out of the ring into a TOPE CON HILO! Page tries to escape but eats a running boot against the guardrails. His response is to throw a chair into TD’s face – much to BJ Whitmer’s delight. Jimmy, who appears to favour Tadarius over Page, looks less happy now…but enthusiastically applauds moments later as TD kicks a chair into Adam’s face. STEEL CHAIR TO THE KNEE BY PAGE! He follows it with a shinbreaker against the ringpost leaving Thomas practically unable to stand. His leg is such a mess he can’t even execute a small package. It doesn’t stop him hitting a GERMAN SUPLEX THROUGH TWO OPEN CHAIRS though! Adam inevitably has back problems after that, which TD exacerbates with repeated chair shots to the spine. Jimmy Jacobs encourages him to finish Page off, but Thomas shows him some mercy. All three Decade seniors are on the apron telling him to use the chair…and even Page is telling him to do it. CHAIR SHOT TO JACOBS! The crowd erupts as Thomas finally grows sick of The Decade’s tutelage. He walks out (with Caprice Coleman), handing Adam Page a forfeit victory at 07:12
Rating - *** - A neat little match, another surprisingly solid Tadarius Thomas performance…and a really hot finish. Considering this was TV they packed in a couple of surprisingly violent moments too. Thomas has always been the least important member of the Decade gimmick, but his apparent departure from the group really intrigues me. Will he continue to show some personality and now feud with them (or Page)? Will it have ramifications on the relationship between Jacobs, Strong and Whitmer given how much Jacobs has championed TD?
BJ Whitmer berates Jacobs, then praises Adam Page for his performance. Roderick Strong, on the other hand, appears to commiserate Jacobs and continues to intimidate Adam. How long will this fragile alliance remain intact?
Nigel McGuinness replaces Coleman at the announce table and discusses Will Ferrara’s performance in the Honor Rumble. He eliminated both members of the House Of Truth…and has now been challenged to a match by Jay Lethal, with the TV Title on the line. That takes place next week
Cedric Alexander vs Adam Cole
Much has been made of Adam Cole’s agenda in this one. We know he wants the World Title back, and we know he’s looking for big wins to force his way into contention. What hasn’t been pointed out is what Cedric has to gain from this. The momentum he gained from defeating Roderick Strong at Best In The World 2014 may have dissipated but he’s delivered a couple of great matches recently – in particular the AJ Styles match at Death Before Dishonor and the Chris Daniels match at Champions vs All Stars. A win over a former World Champion increases his stock and moves him up the card.
Cole may be fearful of Alexander’s dynamic offensive style, so wisely tries to keep him trapped on the canvas in order to negate that. Cedric in turn clearly wants to increase the pace, and is able to drive Cole out of the ring after stringing together a couple of armdrags and a dropkick. The former World Champ definitely looks out of sorts and continues to stumble around the ring taking a barrage of abuse from his opponent. Alexander makes a mistake though – trying to hop up to the top rope only to be violently shoved off by Adam. He tries to recover with his signature tope atomico, but is now sluggish on his feet allowing Cole to catch him in a chinlock. Florida Key countered with a rebound enziguri leaving both men on the ground. Alexander goes for Three Amigos and even when it isn’t successful he stays on Cole by springboarding into a tornado DDT. Lumbar Check blocked, 540 Kick blocked as well…so Alexander counters a superkick into a swinging flatliner for 2. SUPERKICK TO THE KNEE! Cedric obviously collapses after that and unfortunately it leaves him completely exposed to a Shining Wizard. 540 Kick lands…but Alexander is too injured to capitalise and Cole falls out of the ring anyway. RUNNING TOPE ATOMICO NAILED! How injured is the leg though? He takes too long climbing the turnbuckles and it means that his attempt at Overtime gets blocked with knees. LIMPING KICK 2 KILL…COUNTERED TO THE FIGURE 4 LEGLOCK! Somehow Alexander chops Cole in the face then rolls himself to the ropes. ONE-LEGGED MICHINOKU DRIVER gets 2. Alexander tries a foolish springboard, propelling himself straight into a superkick. BLACK SUPERKICK! GETS 2! Cole can’t believe Alexander won’t quit, and takes too long cockily posing in front of him. LIMPING IMPACT EXPLOSION DROPKICK! SUPERKICK BY COLE! TWIST OF FATE! Cole finally puts Cedric away at 16:31 (shown).
Rating - **** - Cedric is in awesome form at the moment. He’s not got any kind of storyline going for him, but Delirious keeps putting him in the ring with top tier talents and he keeps delivering the goods. This was a killer TV main event. It had a few issues with selling, but that doesn’t detract from an exciting, athletic and physical battle which had the small crowd on the edge of their seats. I liked how Cedric attempted to sell the leg by modifying some of his offensive manoeuvres, although I do wish he’d learn to stop trying running planchas, springboards or frog splashes if leg injuries are supposed to be the focal point of his matches. Cole produced another excellent, villainous showing too and is probably the most entertaining and interesting character ROH has on their core roster now Steen is gone.
Tape Rating - *** - A slow start with a needless Kingdom promo and that lousy Hanson/Touch squash, but after that this was actually really good television. The Page/Thomas No DQ encounter delivered as both a wrestling match and as another interesting way to advance the ongoing Decade angle, and the main event was an excellent showcase of the Ring Of Honor ‘style’. Like last week, this is an episode worth using your Ringside Membership to check out.