ROH on Sinclair – Episode 178 – 14th February 2015
I was impressed with the whole atmosphere and presentation of last week’s episode. The ECW Arena looked great on TV, the crowd were hot and everything came together to elevate a pretty run-of-the-mill episode into something thoroughly enjoyable. Now we’re back for a Valentine’s Day edition of the show…which means that Romantic Touch will almost certainly be wrestling tonight (and if he isn’t Delirious or whomever lays out these shows needs to be shot – it’s the one time RT is remotely relevant anymore). Thankfully AJ Styles is also in the building for his first ROH appearance of 2015. Kevin Kelly, Steve Corino and special guest Jay Briscoe are on commentary in Philadelphia, PA.
Jimmy Jacobs vs Tommaso Ciampa
Part of the reason Jay Briscoe is sitting ringside for the evening is that all three of his Las Vegas opponents are in action. First up is Tommaso Ciampa, who as we saw last week, can’t concentrate on anything else other than the 13th Anniversary. History is strangely repeating itself here. His last match before his previous title shot (against Michael Elgin at last year’s Death Before Dishonor weekend) saw him contest a hell of a war with the Zombie Princess. Once again he stands across the ring from Jacobs tonight – and this time it’s a Jimmy Jacobs struggling to retain control of his ‘Decade’ project which is coming apart at the seams.
Ciampa can’t take his eyes off the World Champion during his entrance. HE THEN THROWS A CHAIR INTO JIMMY’S FACE! END TIME ON THE FLOOR! Tommaso breaks it by ramming Jacobs into a pillar…and both men briefly enter the ring thus allowing the referee to officially start the match. Contra Code is countered with a violent backbreaker by Tommaso, who then mounts his opponent and blasts him with elbows. His downfall is trying to piss Jay Briscoe off by stealing his Rude Awakening spot, since it distracts him and allows Jacobs to hit the rebound Ace Crusher. Spear blocked with a Bare Knee strike! RUNNING KNEES AGAINST THE GUARDRAIL! Jacobs collapses in a heap, forcing Paul Turner to stop it. Ciampa is declared the victor at 02:44
Rating - *** - Much like last week, here we had a brief but explosive match to kick off the show. It didn’t get as much time as any of us would have liked but it was fun watching both men beat the hell out of each other – and the constant focus on Jay Briscoe and the World Title meant the violence was always relevant to the current storyline.
Running a show on Valentine’s Day is pretty much the only time booking Romantic Touch actually makes sense. He gets an extra special entrance, complete with champagne, chocolates, an overdubbed promo and two women accompanying him. That is probably as good as it will get for him though, as he is paired off with the massive Hanson. After Touch amusingly presents him with one of his chocolates, Hanson takes his head off with the Spin Kick Of Doom – and wins the match in ten seconds. Having made a hell of a statement, he gets in Briscoe’s face to make sure the World Champion took notice…
Moose vs Michael Elgin
Elgin is our third and final Vegas fourway participant competing tonight. One feels slightly sorry for him in that he has a significantly more sizeable challenge before him than Jimmy Jacobs or Romantic Touch. He faces Moose, who is growing in confidence and now considers himself primed and ready for a title shot of his own. Stokely, Veda and Moose will be well aware that defeating one of the top contenders for the World Championship here instantly puts him in the title picture.
Elgin breaks out a stalling vertical suplex right from the bell which makes quite an impression. Moose NO SELLS it though, and pops up to dish out a devastating dropkick. Moose ignoring all of Elgin’s normal spots makes him a hot babyface in Philadelphia, and he shakes off another Elgin strike to muscle him out of the corner into a Baldo Bomb. Rolling Spear dodged though and it allows Unbreakable to score with a neckbreaker over the top rope. Veda Scott grabs Michael’s leg, distracting him for long enough to ensure he misses the Tiger Body Press. SNAP GERMAN! NO SOLD! POP UP ROLLING POWERBOMBS! Crazy power from Elgin, but still he can’t end Moose’s undefeated streak. He decides to attack Jay Briscoe…who stomps into the ring trying to get back at him and inadvertently walks right into the Rolling Spear by Moose! The ref stops it for some reason at 06:28
Rating - *** - Another incredibly entertaining, pulsating, non-stop little sprint from this taping. This was easily Moose’s best match thus far. He still lacks any form of charisma, but his natural athleticism and surprising agility for his size made him an intriguing opponent. Elgin was the star here, very much looking back to his best in recent months after the late-2014 slump he experienced. I want to see a rematch between these two.
With the red masks of the KRD watching from the crowd, Michael Elgin stands over the fallen World Champion posing with his own title belt. Hanson, Ciampa and Mark Briscoe all pile in for a brawl and pretty soon there are bodies spread all over the 2300 Arena. Moose is the one standing tall at the end of it all!
Matt Sydal/ACH/Cedric Alexander vs AJ Styles/Young Bucks
How is this for a star-studded main event? The Bullet Club’s AJ Styles and the Young Bucks work their first Ring Of Honor matches of 2015 in what promises to be a high octane trios tag. They will be extremely familiar with everyone on the opposition team too. AJ has teamed with Matt Sydal in the past, whilst the Bucks teamed up with ACH (against Cedric Alexander) at Final Battle 2014. Styles picked up singles victories over Sydal and Cedric in 2014 too. The one man he hasn’t beaten is ACH, and ACH is actively campaigning for a match against him at the Anniversary Show. He’ll know a strong performance here will mean AJ won’t have a choice but to accept his challenge.
Sydal starts with Matt Jackson and rolls back the years by keeping up a frenetic pace with him before hitting the standing moonsault. Nick tags in and runs through an awesome, fast paced exchange with Alexander before ACH gets his opportunity to share the ring with AJ. Styles tries to ground him, only for ACH to hit the signature AJ dropkick…and he does the AJ POSE as well! Back from commercials we come and it’s Styles making a point by nailing his dropkick on the cocky young pretender. 2 SWEET EYE POKE FLURRY by the Bullet Club! Sydal lands the Slice/flatliner combo on the Bucks followed by a rope run super rana on his old partner AJ too! He can’t fight all three opponents on his own though and soon finds himself overwhelmed by signature Jackson double teams. After a couple of minutes on the defensive, Sydal forces Nick to accidentally knee Styles in the face…and then gives both Bucks a double hurricanrana! ACH blocks the Phenom DDT and viciously Penalty Kicks AJ! ROLLING BRAINBUSTERS by Cedric! SUPERKICK BY NICK! TORNADO DDT INTO THE GUARDRAIL ON ACH! Alexander blocks a Swanton Bomb by Nick, and scoops him into the air for a DOOMSDAY METEORA BOMB with Sydal! PELE KICK BY AJ! SUPERKICKS BY THE BUCKS! ACH AND NICK SUPERKICK DUEL! 540 KICK BY CEDRIC! ANOTHER PELE BY AJ! All six men are down in a heap! ACH is up first…AND HE JUMPS OVER THE TOP ROPE TO RANA AJ FROM THE APRON TO THE FLOOR! SOMERSAULT PLANCHA BY CEDRIC! OVERTIME NAILED! NICK KICKS OUT! SUPERKICK! IED BY CEDRIC! 450 SPLASH BY ACH! SYDAL PRESS…COUNTERED WITH EARLY ONSET ALZHEIMER’S! PHENOM LEAPFROG SPIKE TOMBSTONE COMBO! SUPERKICK STYLES CLASH COMBO! CRAZIEST FINISHING SEQUENCE EVER! The Bullet Club win at 13:54 (shown).
Rating - **** - This rocked. After the final commercial break everything went totally bananas, and all six of these guys are so good at throwing spots around it was just a thrill to watch. Credit should also go to the Philadelphia crowd who really treated this like something special. That finishing sequence was the most insane thing I’ve ever seen too. Although the spots are what everyone will take away from this, I also liked the exchanges between ACH and AJ Styles. In a really neat and understated way, Delirious has done a great job hyping up their match at the 13th Anniversary Show – which could otherwise have felt like something of an exhibition. Come the end of 2015 this will be right up there as one of the best TV matches of the year.
Tape Rating - **** - I thought this was a great episode. Of course the main event takes all the plaudits – it was a quite stunning spot-filled sprint between six world class performers. However, the undercard was far from filler or wasted time. The World Title was promoted heavily, the Jacobs/Ciampa and Elgin/Moose matches were a lot of fun and Hanson murdering Romantic Touch was supremely entertaining for those of us that can’t stand RT. An outstanding headliner and Delirious continuing to make the 13th Anniversary Show the most consistently booked pay-per-view event in a long time mean this episode gets a strong endorsement.