ROH on Sinclair – Episode 181 – 7th March 2015
I really feel that a great deal of the momentum ROH had started building up was utterly derailed by the substandard 13th Anniversary ppv – but with Samoa Joe back in the fold, the Conquest Tour about to get underway and the New Japan tour on the horizon too, there’s no reason to get too downhearted. I think we have one episode from the Winter Warriors Philly tapings to air – featuring the finals of the 2015 Top Prospect Tournament. Steve Corino and Kevin Kelly will call it from Philadelphia, PA.
The Addiction vs Jay Lethal/J. Diesel
I don’t have much to say about this one. Lethal saw off the challenge of Alberto El Patron at the Anniversary Show to cement his place as the greatest ROH TV Champion ever so comes in with plenty of momentum…but his partner is one of the worst wrestlers on the current roster. Daniels and Kazarian are super-experienced and extremely talented, but right now feel some distance from contention for the ROH Tag Titles they so covet. They should be winning this if they are to enhance their contendership status.
Kelly and Corino have finally remembered that Daniels used to be in the House Of Truth, which is long overdue. Frankie starts with Diesel and is visibly walking the rookie through it…before Lethal tags and demands ‘the old guy’ (Daniels). The Fallen Angel increases the pace to make the point that his age hasn’t impacted his ability, but gets caught trying one crossbody block too many and eats a powerslam from Diesel. Lethal rams Daniels’ head into the guardrails before we take a knee (or back) brace break. House Of Truth isolate Daniels for a couple of minutes – and as you’d expect it’s Lethal who does most of the interesting bits. Eventually he misses a tope suicida and accidentally nails his own partner with it, allowing a hot tag to Kaz. He hits a POP-UP Alabamaslam on Lethal, only for Diesel to come to his aid. Fallaway slam/Hail To The King combo gets 2 on Daniels. JD does his best to botch the Jerry Lynn rope leg drop spot people have been doing for years…and as Daniels looks set to finish things off with a BME one of the KRD red mask guys blocks his path to the turnbuckles. As Daniels stands confused Lethal grabs a schoolboy and steals the win at 08:34 (shown).
Rating - ** - Initially I only went to 1* on my rating, but that felt harsh because there was nothing dramatically wrong with this. Sure it never got particularly exciting, but the work was largely functional and was never intended to steal a show or be particularly memorable. Diesel is a TERRIBLE worker, but thankfully he contained most of his outright botches and kept his ineptitude to inconveniencing the other wrestlers he was in the ring with (seriously, Kazarian was yelling, shouting, screaming and dragging him through even the most basic of spots). Knowing how the KRD storyline turned out – I’m not sure this finish makes any sense either.
Donovan Dijak vs Will Ferrara – 2015 Top Prospect Tournament Final
This is, without a doubt, the weakest TPT to date. Dalton Castle aside, nobody has really made a mark, none of the matches have been particularly good and some of the talents involved were truly terrible. In truth neither of these two scream ‘top prospect’ either. Ferrara is a small, hard-working and competent talent – but in the mould of Grizzly Redwood or a Pelle Primeau his upside seems extremely limited. Dijak, on the other hand, is a big athletic guy – but at this stage also looks green and devoid of charisma. Having said all that, nobody was too overwhelmed by the 2014 TPT either – which gave us Hanson and Rowe, both of whom haven’t turned out too badly.
Will is dwarfed by his opponent but doesn’t back up at all. Dijak finds his tenacity comical but starts getting frustrated as Ferrara persistently counters everything he tries. Finally a big boot to the face puts the smaller man on the ground. Brutal Bob Evans is at ringside since he trains at the ROH Dojo, and the Veda Scott/Stokely Hathaway managerial duo are also here scouting the talent. The Decade also appear to potentially recruit a young boy. The characters on the outside help mask the fact that the actual match is tedious as hell. Donovan’s heat segment lacks any kind of intensity, and Will’s vapid comeback sequences are uninspired too. Truth Martini strolls down the aisle as Ferrara blocks Feast Your Eyes and propels himself off the ropes into a tornado DDT. Ferrara tries the Sonic Boom (Code Red) off the apron…but gets kicked away for a MASSIVE ASAI MOONSAULT BY DIJAK! Feast Your Eyes countered to a schoolboy for 2. Sonic Boom nailed…still 2. Eyes Wide Shut by Will, blocked into FEAST YOUR EYES! Dijak becomes the fourth consecutive New England area Top Prospect Tournament winner at 08:52 (shown).
Rating - ** - Pretty boring for the most part, but the finish was undeniably hot. Both have potential, albeit they are both seriously rough diamonds at this stage. In the absence of Castle (the obvious star of the tournament) Dijak probably was the obvious choice to win. Being nearly seven feet tall and able to do cruiserweight moves is pretty rare which means he is worth persisting with. He will need to be cleverly managed though because he is very green right now.
The Code Of Honor is followed, then all the parties trying to recruit Donovan make their way into the ring to make their sales pitches. Truth Martini is conspicuous by his absence – he walks away rather than make a play for Dijak’s services.
reDRagon vs BJ Whitmer/Adam Page – ROH Tag Title Match
The Decade haven’t done a great deal to earn this opportunity, but since this is a filler episode taped weeks ago and almost irrelevant to current storylines this could make for a fun throwaway main event. Page has been Whitmer’s protégé for some time now, having been accepted as a full member of The Decade and now apparently replacing Jimmy Jacobs as BJ’s partner of choice too. There are a lot of great teams in Ring Of Honor’s tag division right now – can this unlikely duo sneak under the radar to end the reDRagon reign of terror?
Whitmer and Page attack the champions during the intros, which is a shame because it cuts off an absolute monster pop for Fish and O’Reilly. Kyle quickly mows Adam down with a running knee smash against the railings, and this is all before the match has even started. reDRagon try isolating Page which exposes the relative lack of experience the challengers have as a team. Corino does a terrific piece of exposition on how RD always look to control the arm of an opponent and it is instantly backed up as O’Reilly applies a hanging version of his Arm-ageddon submission in the ropes. Whitmer cleverly uses the apron to tie up O’Reilly giving his team a way into the match for the first time. Page gets 2 with a stalling wrist clutch slam, which looks impressive but entirely frustrates me considering he has just spent several minutes getting his arm worked over. Whitmer is far less intricate, and in turn far more watchable. Everything he does involves being an ass in some way – be it through blatant cheating, hurling abuse at the referee or cockily taunting Fish in the corner. He also stomps on Kyle’s FACE as he desperately tries to put his young partner in Arm-ageddon again. Hot tag to Bobby, who gives BJ a brutal Saito suplex (whether he wants to go or not). Chasing The Dragon countered with BJ THROWING Fish into the railing! Page hits the slingshot somersault lariat for 2! Elbow suicida by Whitmer! Page tries a Red Star Press…COUNTERED TO A TRIANGLE CHOKE by O’Reilly! ARM-AGEDDON! Page taps, meaning reDRagon retain at 11:07 (shown).
Rating - *** - Considering this whole episode is something of a lame duck, you could have excused these guys for coasting along with absolutely no effort at all. In truth, although it was some distance from reDRagon’s best matches, this was actually fun from start to finish. Whitmer is really growing into his heel antagonist role and I’ve been a fan of Page for a long time. His current gimmick is not an easy one to pull off (acting like a veteran, but still more of a young boy than other guys…whilst also being more of a heel than the opposition), but he does it extremely well and is such an under-appreciated rising star in this promotion. reDRagon, however, are on another level at this point. They didn’t get out of second gear here but looked so slick and polished. They deserved all of the standing ovation they got for their entrance, and also deserve all the accolades that are coming their way as one of the best tag teams in the world right now. I don’t think they’ve reached Briscoe levels of legend, but I definitely think they’ve surpassed all the other contenders (the likes of the Kings Of Wrestling, the American Wolves, Steen and Generico etc) to become the undoubted second best team in Ring Of Honor history.
BJ vents his frustration at losing by emptying an entire bottle of water into Steve Corino’s face. Steve storms the ring and starts shoving security personnel to the ground in an effort to get to BJ…and in doing so he accidentally floors his own son (Colby). He walks out looking ashamed as Whitmer barks in Colby Corino’s ear…
Tape Rating - ** - An uneventful hour of TV. It’s hard to call it a complete waste since we did see a new Top Prospect Tournament winner crowd, we saw the KRD storyline progress and ended the show with the injection of Colby Corino into The Decade angle. The main event, for such a filler episode, was actually pretty good too. There’s no reason to go out of your way to watch this show, and I shudder to think of Ring Of Honor putting this kind of mediocrity on Destination America when the show hits that network later in the year, but to be perfectly honest with you – they’ve put on FAR worse episodes.
Top 5 Winter Warriors Tour: Philadelphia Taping Matches
5) Tommaso Ciampa vs Jimmy Jacobs (*** - Episode 178)
4) Michael Elgin vs Moose (*** - Episode 178)
3) Michael Bennett/Matt Taven/Maria Kanellis vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe/ODB (*** - Episode 177)
2) reDRagon vs BJ Whitmer/Adam Page (*** - Episode 181)
1) AJ Styles/Young Bucks vs Matt Sydal/ACH/Cedric Alexander (**** - Episode 178)