ROH on Sinclair – Episode 216 – 11th November 2015
On the whole I thought the most recent set of San Antonio TV tapings were rather enjoyable. They certainly didn’t make me feel any better about the All Star Extravaganza pay-per-view itself, but each episode had plenty to like. We roll straight into the next set of tapings now, which took place during Glory By Honor 14 weekend. We are building up to Final Battle, with Jay Lethal fighting wars on two fronts as Roderick Strong and AJ Styles are positioned for his two belts. Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness wait for us in Kalamazoo, MI.
Cedric Alexander vs ACH
Two weeks ago on television Cedric was resoundingly squashed by Dalton Castle. It was indicative of his plummeting stock in Ring Of Honor, despite producing what I’ve thought to be largely decent in-ring performances since turning heel. These two haven’t worked together as much as they should, but did have a great match at the Michael Bennett Bachelor Party event last year. ACH is preparing for Survival Of The Fittest this weekend, where he and Matt Sydal do battle in the deciding match of their Best Of 5 Series. Veda accompanies Cedric as always, and she is in the midst of ‘legal action’ against ROH.
Cedric appears to have minimal interest in actually wrestling today and spends the vast majority of the first two minutes (which is a LOT of time on TV) stalling and avoiding physical contact. Thankfully when they do kick it up a gear the action is fast, furious and flawless. ACH is the quicker of the two so Alexander wisely puts him on the mat and looks to punch his lights out. Veda attracts ACH’s attention at the perfect time to allow Cedric to land a RUNNING STO ON THE APRON. Back from the ad break with the Two And A Half Amigos by Ced. ACH steps away from the attempted IED though, and he thunders into his opponent with a stern lariat. Alexander nearly wipes out Veda with a somersault plancha…but catches himself in the nick of time and eats AIR JORDAN BY ACH! Hero’s Grip gets 2. Get Over Here COUNTERED TO THE MICHINOKU DRIVER by Cedric! Lumbar Check blocked, then the 540 Kick is countered with an ACH superkick to leave them both on the mat. When they get back to their feet they throw strikes with Kung Fu movie precision, ending when Alexander nails the IED in the corner. He wants to hit his springboard lariat…but HORRIBLY slips and falls! ACH capitalises with the Brainbuster/Midnight Star combo to win at 10:12 (shown).
Rating - *** - Too much Veda and a horrible screw-up at the end mean I can’t go higher on my rating, but both of these guys are so athletic that watching them vibe off each other for ten minutes was always going to be entertaining. Some of their fast-paced counter exchanges were amazing to watch and ensured that this taping kicked off with a real bang. Cedric slipping and falling flat on his face from the top rope pretty much sums up the career nosedive he’s taken in recent months…but putting ACH over here was absolutely the right call. He has been superb in 2015 and now has huge momentum as we head in to Survival Of The Fittest weekend.
ACH tells Kevin Kelly that unlike when he faced the likes of AJ Styles or Samoa Joe, when he faces Matt Sydal next he’ll finally walk away from a big-time match with his hand raised. Veda Scott, meanwhile, uses Alexander’s top rope slip to further he legal protestations and berates Nigel on her way to the locker room…
Will Ferrara vs Caprice Coleman
At recent live events Coleman has been an interesting character to watch. Apparently fired up by the mysterious contents of a letter received from Prince Nana...and frustrated at being the nice, veteran stepping stone for other guys to leapfrog him, he has started letting more of his personality shine through. It has antagonised most of his opponents…but he’s also on a bit of a winning streak. Ferrara is another young kid wanting to climb above him in the roster standings, so another guy that Caprice will be intent on shutting down tonight.
Coleman vents that he has mentored Will…yet the kid is the guy who gets to wrestle guys like Kushida on television. Ferrara makes light of his comments and admirably controls the first ninety seconds. He goes after the veteran’s arm, hitting an Eyes Wide Shut on that body part…only for Caprice to Bless-TO him into the bottom turnbuckle. Will hits his usual rebound tornado DDT spot as Prince Nana appears at ringside. Ferrara appears to injure his shoulder against the ringpost, and rather than show any sympathy Caprice smashes the shoulder against the steel for a second time. Chickenwing camel clutch (which Caprice has apparently named the ‘Judgement Seat’) earns him a tap-out win at 06:00
Rating - * - It’s a shame that the first time Caprice got to bring his new persona to SBG TV that the match was so poor. As I said during my Glory By Honor DVD review, it works best when an audience really invests in his opponents – which is why his Lockport bout with Pepper Parks went down so well. Here nobody really cared about Ferrara, never bought him as a credible threat, and most have seen all the spots he hits in every match so didn’t even pop for those.
Prince Nana hands one of his mysterious envelopes to Will Ferrara and refuses to tell Kevin Kelly what it contains. All he will say is that is the ‘age of enlightenment’…
STORYTIME WITH ADAM COLE – Cole has taken over Mandy Leon’s ‘Inside ROH’ studio – and decorated the locker room set with pictures of himself (and graffiti’d pictures of reDRagon). He smirks about pinning Kyle O’Reilly last week and has footage of that to air. If that wasn’t enough, he even has footage of their star-making Hybrid Rules Match at Best In The World 2012…which he also won!
All Night Express vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe
This is a rematch from All Star Extravaganza, when Kenny King and Rhett Titus returned to ROH as mystery opponents for the Briscoes and snatched a surprise victory. Since then ANX have dropped a Proving Ground match to Tag Champions The Kingdom so know they need big wins to get into title contention again.
King looks too quick for Mark Briscoe…whom in turn is similarly too quick for Titus to deal with. Rhett does succeed in holding Jay in place for a Kenny King lariat which puts their team in command. OVER THE TURNBUCKLES somersault plancha by Mark! It was a high stakes move, but it’s one that puts the 8-time former Tag Champions on top and dominating Rhettski. They isolate him for several mostly uneventful minutes before he slips through their grasp to make the hot tag. Kenny out-strikes Mark…leaving him in position for the Super Sex Factor from Titus. Turnbuckle urinage by Mark in response! As Jay hops in and obliterates King with a roaring elbow! Doomsday Device blocked…but so is the One Night Stand as Mark hits a MID-AIR SPRINGBOARD TACKLE! Tope suicida from Jay to Rhett! BLOCKBUSTER OFF THE APRON by Mark! The Jay Driller and the Froggy Bow put Titus away at 10:45 shown.
Rating - ** - A hot finishing sequence salvaged what was, for the majority of it’s runtime, an incredibly tedious, formulaic and forgettable main event. The match wasn’t good at all, and I question why the Briscoes needed to crush ANX’s credibility by ‘getting their win back’ from the last pay-per-view quite so quickly. As decent as Kenny King is, nobody was clamouring for an All Night Express comeback…and they are even less over having jobbed in multiple high profile matches.
Nigel continues the burial of ANX by implying that they only won last time because they had an element of surprise…
NEXT WEEK – The Kingdom defend the Tag Titles in a rematch against The Addiction.
Tape Rating - ** - ACH/Cedric was an enjoyable start to the hour, and Adam Cole getting some promo time to hype his feud with O’Reilly was welcome (particularly since reDRagon missed these tapings)…but a forgettable main event, rubbish undercard Ferrara/Coleman match and a general lack of the purpose and creative direction that made the San Antonio episodes so enjoyable mean this isn’t a particularly strong episode.