ROH on Sinclair – Episode 209 – 23rd September 2015
After their spectacular disappointment of the 13th Anniversary Show, ROH had been doing a brilliant job of rebuilding momentum as they rolled through the spring and summer. That came to something of a screeching halt with the perplexing, enigmatic and ultimately underwhelming All Star Extravaganza pay-per-view…where it felt like Delirious had a meltdown and got himself into all manner of messes. How do they recover from that creative horror show and refocus the product moving into the final quarter of the year? We’ll begin with this, another episode taped at the Aftershock Tour event in Philadelphia, PA. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino provide commentary.
Silas Young vs Michael Elgin
These guys have a long history in the business together, and have actually contested a couple of decent matches (as well as a really awful World Title Match) in this company in the past. Can Silas overcome a former Ring Of Honor World Champion, who is making his return after finally cracking New Japan with an impressive showing in the G-1 Climax?
Elgin’s G-1 performances appear to have earned him a lot of respect with the Philly crowd. He certainly appears to be full of confidence and spends most of the first two minutes swatting Silas away like an insect. Silas needs a big strike, and kicks at the knee before dropping him on the apron with a DDT. Corino points out that a lot of Young’s moves are targeting the face and head of Big Mike since that sets him up for Misery. Elgin is so weighty he can’t actually hit the Killer Combo since his weight causes Silas’ knee buckle from under him. It means Unbreakable can capitalise by tossing him through the air with a German suplex! Pee Gee Waja Plunge nailed for 2, but nothing Silas does is inflicting enough damage. He gets socked in the jaw with a lariat and as he crawls to the apron for safety Michael simply plucks him from the apron into a DEAD-LIFT SUPERPLEX. Young retaliates with Misery and is desperately unlucky to see his opponent fall out of the ring as a result. A pissed off Last Real Man decides he wants to break Elgin’s neck on the exposed concrete floor…but Elgin counters into a GUARDRAIL BOMB! Elgin Bomb seals the win at 09:27
Rating - ** - Elgin looked impressive and both men brought some admirable physicality to the match. My view was that it possibly went a little longer than it needed to, lacked some of the punch and excitement that some of their previous matches have had…and also rather stunted some of the momentum Young has started to build during his feud with Castle. ROH doesn’t have many active storylines at any one time, I’m not sure why the centrepiece of one of them needed to be quite so comprehensively beaten – no matter how impressive Elgin was in the G-1.
NEXT WEEK – Adam Cole takes on Shinsuke Nakamura in a dream main event.
Caprice Coleman vs ACH
These guys could actually have an awesome match if they were allowed to cut loose…but since this is being packed into the middle of an SBG episode I don’t expect much to come of this at all. I’ll say again that ACH is having an amazingly consistent and seriously underrated 2015 so far. I think he is technically building towards his big feud blow-off with Adam Page at All Star Extravaganza (although this episode is being broadcast after the ppv so I’m not sure how much relevance it will have).
Caprice is a veteran and shows it by grounding ACH inside the opening sixty seconds. He’s also smart enough to avoid ACH’s strikes when the pace does quicken! Next he dodges the apron PK and swings around the ringpost into a dropkick. The fans literally don’t give a sh*t about him though, which is a shame because his work here is super. Perhaps trying to impress the silent fans Coleman tries an ambitious springboard move and vaults straight into a kick to the ribs from ACH. Caprice is still scouting ACH’s moves though, side-stepping the slingshot flatliner and countering into a mildly-botched Mind Trip for 2. Trinity suplexes get another nearfall…and FINALLY fans are starting to care about poor Caprice. Hero’s Grip countered to the One Inch Punch! SKY SPLITTER gets 2! Back to the ropes they go…with ACH SOMERSAULTING OUT OF A FRANKENSTEINER! BRAINBUSTER! MIDNIGHT STAR! ACH wins at 07:06
Rating - *** - I enjoyed the hell out of Caprice Coleman’s performance, even if nobody else did. He played the veteran card superbly – smartly wrestling everything from the opening bell, countering all of ACH’s usual sh*t and only failing when he tried to step into ‘ACH’s domain’ of attempting aerial moves. And that somersault flip out of the frankensteiner spot at the end was pure poetry in motion as well. The fans sat on their hands for most of this, which is a shame because the actual in-ring content deserved much better.
Steve Corino interviews Caprice Coleman, discussing some kind of letter he’s been given by Prince Nana. It isn’t revealed what the contents were but they’ve clearly had some impact on Caprice…
INSIDE ROH – Featuring Mandy Leon in an NJPW logo boob tube. She has footage of Joe Koff and NJPW officials announcing a two-show ROH tour in Japan for February, with reciprocal talent coming to the States for the 14th Anniversary. There will also be additional dates/towns announced for the 2016 New Japan US Tour events. Other than Koff making a buffoon of himself (like proclaiming it to be the first time the ROH World Title will be defended in Japan…it isn’t, since that happened back in 2008 you big goof) that’s some pretty significant information. And also made ROH not seem like a drastically inferior partner to New Japan on their own TV show for once.
Kazuchika Okada/RPG Vice vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe/Hirooki Goto
Obviously the New Japan native talent are the main draw here, but it is only right that I point out that Roppongi Vice will technically be targeting some payback after the Briscoes beat them at Death Before Dishonor. They come packing their stable-mate and reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion, ‘Rainmaker’ Kazuchika Okada, so Jay and Mark have recruited their own Japanese heavyweight to combat that. Goto is the reigning IWGP Intercontinental Champion and was making his Ring Of Honor debut at this taping.
Okada refuses to shake hands with Goto, much to the amusement of Romero and Beretta who hop around like puppies behind him. Mark steals Trent’s headband and effectively blindfolds himself with it whilst still beating poor Beretta all over the ring. Romero and Okada come to his aid, dragging Mark to the Chaos corner and starting to isolate him. The Rainmaker doing Trent’s over-acted bootscrape spot, then RPG Vice doing Okada’s ‘Rainmaker’ pose both make me audibly laugh out loud during his segment. Goto gets a tag and tucks into the IWGP Champion with relish; getting a two-count with a Saito suplex. Running uppercut by Okada, followed by the flying elbow! Rainmaker countered to a DVD over the knee by Hirooki! Gobstopper Knee on Jay! Forever Clotheslines on Mark! Splash Mountain Neckbreaker gets 2 on Rocky! Reverse Neckbreaker from Okada to Goto…then Mark counters the Rainmaker into the urinage! All six men are down! RPG Vice try to ambush Mark on the outside but Goto rescues him from the Doomsday Device. DOOMSDAY DEVICE ON THE FLOOR by the Briscoes instead. Froggy Bow on Beretta for 2. Rocky saves his partner from the Jay Driller, leaving Mark exposes to the TOMBSTONE by Okada. Goto headbutts his way out of the Rainmaker! JAY DRILLER ON BERETTA! The Briscoes and Goto get a big win at 13:11
Rating - *** - During some of his appearances on the New Japan tour earlier in the year I was rather critical of Okada…and in turn some of my readers were EXTREMELY critical of me! I’ll say again, it’s not that I don’t understand that Okada is a big star and doesn’t need to work super-hard in front of a few hundred ROH fans. I was merely pointing out that it isn’t necessarily overly interesting to watch the guy half-ass his matches and make ROH talents look inferior in the process. To give him due credit I thought he was working much harder here. He didn’t necessarily appear in the match too much more often, but he gave his opponents far more offence than I’d imagined. Both Mark and Jay got decent ring-time and got to hit a few moves on him which was much appreciated. The match as a whole will make for a perfectly serviceable SBG main event. It wasn’t amazing or too memorable…but it was competently worked, packed in plenty of action and chucking out New Japan’s top singles champions into their television broadcasts certainly helps.
Tape Rating - *** - This episode packs in a lot of wrestling, which I always appreciate. Silas/Elgin wasn’t an awful start, and the two subsequent matches were really decent. It’s always a real coup for ROH when they can roll out a big New Japan name like Okada onto their weekly television show too. Obviously ROH is now in a holding pattern until they can get post-All Star Extravaganza content on the air, but for as far as filler episodes go it doesn’t get much better.