ROH on Sinclair – Episode 206 – 2nd September 2015
We should be counting down the weeks until All Star Extravaganza 7, but Undisputed Champion Jay Lethal has one last hurdle to negotiate first. He is scheduled to defend both of his belts in separate matches against reDRagon on pay-per-view, but that booking is based on the huge assumption that he finds a way past his challenger for the TV Title tonight – Hanson. They meet in a much anticipated main event taped in Baltimore, MD. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino are on commentary.
Adam Page vs Jay Briscoe
In an effort to increase his stock and get to main event status in ROH (and under provocation from the manipulative BJ Whitmer) Adam Page has been calling out former World Champion Jay Briscoe for a couple of weeks. Last week they teased coming to blows only for BJ to stall for time. Is tonight the night Page has to shut his mouth and let his fighting speak for him. Can he smash through the glass ceiling by defeating Jay tonight?
Page SLAPS THE SH*T out of Briscoe rather than shake his hand! Jay quickly evacuates him from the ring and wipes him out with a tope suicida…but lands in the laps of the rest of The Decade. Colby Corino hits him with one of BJ’s crutches, to absolutely no effect. It does at least distract him though, and Page takes advantage to toss a steel chair right into his face. That’s a DQ of course at 02:09
Rating - N/A - As I said during my intro, I like this little feud. Adam Page is someone I’ve wanted to see get an expanded role in ROH for an extremely long time so seeing him get even a scaled down, TV feud with someone of Jay’s calibre is intriguing. It’s also a rather fresh role for Briscoe, whom after fourteen years in the same company now gets to be a veteran giving the rub to rising stars. As a way to progress the angle and build to a better match down the road I have no issue with this.
The Decade fill the ring with chairs, clearly planning a repeat of what they did to Matt Sydal in New York. RITE OF PASSAGE IN THE CHAIR STACK!
Dalton Castle cuts a delightfully offbeat promo, during which he agrees to Silas’ challenge to a rematch with the fate of The Boys at stake.
Cedric Alexander vs Caprice Coleman
This has been on the cards since Alexander walked out on his old mentor and friend at Best In The World. C&C WrestleFactory had been disbanded for some time, but Coleman had wanted to ‘put the band back together’ as a means of getting Cedric back on an honourable path after he’d infamously cheated to end Moose’s undefeated streak. That plan spectacularly back-fired, and now he wants to use more physical means to beat some respect back into his wayward former protégé.
Cedric thinks wrestling Caprice is beneath him and ponders walking out, but is goaded into competing after a few choice words from Coleman. They rock through a storming near-miss/counter sequence, which is as seamless as you’d expect from two guys who know each other as well as they do. Veda Scott puts Alexander in control by tripping his opponent and leaving him in position for a running punt from her client. When we return from commercials we see Cedric targeting the midsection in order to set up for the Lumbar Check. From nowhere Caprice rolls through the ropes for a headscissors on the floor – a sweet spot which brings the crowd back into proceedings just as they threatened to start getting silly with New Day chants. Sky Splitter misses…but a SPRINGBOARD HURRICANRANA doesn’t! Alexander hits back by diving pretty much all the way across the ring to hit a springboard elbow smash for 2. Lumbar Check blocked…Mind Trip blocked…into the 540 Kick/Michinoku Driver combo. Veda hands Cedric the monkey wrench…only for Stokely Hathaway and Moose to invade the arena and prevent him from using it. Sky Splitter scores Caprice an upset win at 05:44 (shown).
Rating - ** - As I’ve alluded to recently, I’m having a hard time taking Caprice seriously as a credible threat to higher status competitors when he’s basically spent years being an enhancement guy. To that end I struggle to see the logic in him winning here. I like the Cedric/Moose feud and obviously we see some progress to that here, but in my opinion there were better ways to accomplish that. On the positive side, some of the actual wrestling between these two was outstanding. They’ve known each other a long time and that oozed out everything they did – which was seamlessly fluent.
Moose punches Cedric’s lights out with a monkey wrench punch, and receives warm applause from Prince Nana – who also hands Caprice Coleman a mysterious letter.
Bob Evans vs Cheeseburger
Please let this be the end of this feud. To recap as quickly as possible – Brutal Bob got pissed off with teaming with a sh*tty mascot/novelty act and turned on him. They’ve had a couple of violent exchanges since then and last time they competed in a televised match with each other it ended with a crazy bump through the timekeeping table. Will their score be settled here?
Bob chases Burger around ringside with a chair…but Cheesey counters by diving off the guardrails into a twisting chair splash! The match starts legally as they enter the ring, with Evans getting a nearfall with a cool scoop slam neckbreaker spot. A football tackle finds the mark too, but Burger refuses to be counted down. Bob is pissed and sets a table up at ringside looking to recreate their previous encounter. SHOTEI THROUGH THE TABLE BY CHEESEBURGER! He wins by count-out at 05:01
Rating - ** - This was a completely inoffensive match, and once again they both took some pretty major bumps trying to entertain the fans. Have I enjoyed the feud – absolutely not. Do I think Cheesburger should be in ROH at all – again absolutely not. But there wasn’t anything wrong with this, and if it ends the feud it certainly provided a feel-good moment for anyone that isn’t like me and doesn’t find Cheeseburger intolerable.
Jay Lethal calls Hanson a ‘fat kid sitting on a couch’ and doesn’t think he has a chance of taking the TV Championship from him in the main event.
INSIDE ROH – Mandy Leon announces a special ‘Championship Edition’ of the TV show next week, featuring The Addiction vs Young Bucks for the Tag Titles and the Lethal/Strong rematch for the World Title.
Jay Lethal vs Hanson – ROH TV Title Match
Hanson has earned this title shot because he is one of very few people to possess a pinfall victory over Lethal in recent months (at Survival Of The Fittest 2014). His goal here is to become the new champion, and throw a massive spanner in the works for those fans who wanted to see Jay Lethal have to wrestle both members of reDRagon at the same pay-per-view. Has the Undisputed Champion prepared sufficiently for this one with the spectre of Fish and O’Reilly looming on the horizon? Does he have the necessary strategy and cunning to overcome such a massive challenger?
Bobby Fish is on commentary and pisses Lethal off again by stating that he thinks he’ll be facing Hanson at All Star Extravaganza. Wisely the big challenger begins by using his powerful strikes to beat Jay all over the ring. Truth Martini desperately clings to his boots in a bid to stop him – giving Lethal enough leeway to execute the tope trilogy…which sends Hanson into the front row! He actually tries to work Hanson’s beard like a body part; twisting it in knots, guillotining it over the top rope and even firing chops off at it. It’s more insulting than damaging to the challenger of course, and means Hanson can easily retaliate with the cartwheel lariat. Bronco Buster blocked with a low blow, which isn’t a DQ as Lethal successfully argues that it was inadvertent. He profits on it with Hail To The King…which barely gets a 1-count. The champ thinks about the Lethal Injection, but finds it countered with a rather sloppy handspring elbow Hanson. Tajiri he ain’t. HANSON-SAULT GETS KNEES! That was impressive! Lethal Injection ducked…SO LETHAL BACK FLIPS OVER HIM AND LANDS ON HIS FEET! NO WAY! SUPERKICK! LETHAL INJECTION…BUT HANSON NO SELLS! LETHAL INJECTION AGAIN! Lethal retains at 08:59 (shown)
Rating - *** - I wasn’t particularly invested in this. I didn’t think putting Fish at ringside helped either as it was a constant vocal reminder of how much of a lame duck challenger spot Hanson had been put into. BUT the match itself was smartly wrestled – Hanson dominating unless Lethal thought up some kind of scheme or trick to stunt his momentum – and built to a PHENOMENAL finishing sequence. The last minute or so, from Hanson’s moonsault onwards were jaw-dropping. It really was a shame that the match that came before it wasn’t quite as remarkable.
Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong join Bobby Fish at ringside, effectively leaving Lethal surrounded by all of his top contenders to end the episode.
Tape Rating - ** - Four matches (plus Inside ROH) is too much to fit into ROH’s TV format. The main event didn’t get anywhere near enough time, and if we’re taking Caprice seriously now then his match with Cedric could’ve done with going longer too. It meant that none of the in-ring content was particularly special this evening. On the positive side, it moved along at a brisk pace, advanced multiple angles to build to the next pay-per-view and ended on a real high with the Lethal/Hanson finishing sequence. Not every show can be a total knockout, and besides, having already seen the Aftershock Tour Philadelphia DVD we know that next week’s ‘Championship Edition’ will be superb.
Top 5 Aftershock Tour Baltimore TV Taping Matches
5) ACH vs Takaaki Watanabe (*** - Episode 203)
4) Jay Lethal vs Hanson (*** - Episode 206)
3) Roderick Strong vs Donovan Dijak (*** - Episode 205)
2) The Addiction vs Future Shock (**** - Episode 205)
1) Young Bucks vs RPG Vice (**** - Episode 204)