ROH on Sinclair – Episode 021 – 11th February 2012
Last week’s ROH on SBG was slightly hit or miss, but I’m hoping for better things tonight. The double main event of Briscoes vs House Of Truth and Edwards vs O’Reilly make this a very promising episode as we continue ‘Fighting February’ and the clock ticks ever closer to the 10th Anniversary Show internet ppv. Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness are in Baltimore, MD.
Kyle O’Reilly vs Eddie Edwards
The heat between these two guys has been simmering for months. Kyle resents Eddie for his desire to fight Davey Richards whilst he was World Champion and for training with Dan Severn behind his back. But on the flipside, Eddie thinks O’Reilly is nothing more than Davey’s stooge who’s overpowering mancrush brought about the end of the American Wolves and the end of his friendship with Davey. Now things are really personal as Eddie is looking to get back into the World Title picture, whilst O’Reilly is now teaming with Richards and pushing to dub their team the ‘new American Wolves’. This is also a Glory By Honor 10 rematch – the initial encounter saw Edwards take the win.
Are ROH’s ‘Tale Of The Tape’ graphics bogus? This one lists Kyle as inches taller than Eddie, yet when they stand face to face it doesn’t look like there’s any height difference. The opening sequence is unique as Edwards looks to stamp his early dominance, but is frustrated by Kyle’s skill and the match remains very even. Even in a knucklelock, they are steadfast in their desire to strike each other as they take turns unloading headbutts, elbow and kicks. O’Reilly kicks the taste out of Eddie’s mouth…and is punished with a chop which echoes through the Du Burns Arena! The former World Champion punts Kyle off the apron and into the guardrails, and brings him back in to apply the ANKLELOCK! Davey Richards sprints to ringside as his former tag partner uses his own finisher on his current protégé! And that’s how we leave it as we go to commercials – what a cliff-hanger! When we come back Eddie is still picking Kyle apart, causing Davey’s student to limp around the ring in obvious pain. Credit to O’Reilly – he defies the pain to unleash a flurry of kicks into the Rolling Butterflies! Cross armbreaker applied, but the training with Dan Severn has given Eddie the skills to counter out of that and hit the flying Codebreaker. Brainbuster attempt…AND BOTH MEN FALL OVER THE ROPES! They crash out right in front of Davey, who has a front row seat as EDDIE ENZI’S THE RINGPOST! Richards tells Kyle to capitalise, and he pounces to deliver a dragon screw. He knees the hamstring, then rolls him into the ANKLELOCK! Now Adam Cole comes to ringside – and starts cheering Eddie on! That distracts O’Reilly, allowing Edwards to nail the ELBOW SUICIDA! Edwards lands a double stomp and comes up clutching his ankle in pain. As their former tag partners watch on, the two men drag themselves up and TEAR into each other with chops. SUPERKICK DUEL! KYLE SPITS IN EDDIE’S FACE! EDDIE CHOPS HIM IN THE MOUTH…FOR 2! Incredibly O’Reilly pops up and hits the Regalplex! GUILLOTINE CHOKE! But he has to release it when Edwards rolls it into a pin. Achilles Lock…blocked…so Eddie rolls him up! Edwards wins at 11:29 (shown).
Rating - **** - This was comfortably the best ROH on Sinclair match since before Final Battle. The wrestling was excellent, and credit to the booking team who actually resisted the temptation to have Cole and Davey get physically involved. The psychology around both guys using the Anklelock (a signature hold of the World Champion and man stuck in the centre of this dispute) was really clever and both wrestlers at least made an effort to sell it. Having former members of the American Wolves and Future Shock at ringside all mixed up was a great visual too, really getting the hype machine going for the forthcoming 10YA main event.
Eddie Edwards gets on the mic and formally asks Adam Cole if he wants to put a team together since Davey and Kyle have decided they don’t need them anymore. Cole agrees, and Eddie lays down the challenge to ‘Team Ambition’.
SIDENOTE – Shock of shocks, ROH is airing a new DVD commercial after running the advertisement for last June’s Best In The World 2011 for all the Sinclair TV run thus far! Granted it’s for Battle In The Carolinas, shows that took place over 2 months ago – but it’s an improvement.
Steve Corino is at ringside talking about his new job as Kevin Kelly’s co-commentator on live event DVD’s. He confirms he’s still on the shelf after the brutal match with Steen at Final Battle.
Mike Mondo vs Matt Taven
Is this Taven’s debut? He’s getting a lot of ‘will he or won’t he sign’ attention around a WWE NXT/developmental deal and has been getting some good write-ups based on his appearances around the indies of late. How will he get on against ROH’s resident suck artist Mike Mondo?
These two lock up with all three commentators more interested in talking about Kevin Steen. Taven’s pace and explosiveness causes Mondo some problems until he turns round and delivers a cheap elbow right to the mouth. 90 seconds into the match Mondo goes to a resthold, leaning on Matt with a front facelock. Taven escapes and lands a moonsault press for 2, then floors his opponent again with a running heel kick. Duelling crossbody blocks…then duelling dropkicks. Just as it gets interesting Kevin Steen comes out and b*tches about not having a match tonight. He thinks it’s because both guys are in great shape and Cornette likes that. He lays Taven out with the F-5, which technically hands him the victory via disqualification at 04:15
Rating - N/A - I’m a documented Mondo-hater, but in fairness this was getting better when Steen interrupted. Taven does have a great look and, from the brief glimpse we got of him here, looked competent in the ring too. Definitely worth another booking to see what he's got, and it’s to the credit of both guys that I’m giving this an N/A rating as I feel like awarding stars would be harsh and degrading to their work.
Mondo laughs…so Steen gives him the F-5 too. McGuinness and Kelly call security to the ring to stop Steve Corino getting into the ring and starting an ill-advised fight.
INSIDE ROH – Kelly addresses the situation with WGTT and their actions last week. Shelton flatly refuses to pay his $5000 fine for using a steel chair…so Jim Cornette announces that he is suspended until he coughs up the cash.
In a promo spot for the 10th Anniversary iPPV, RD Evans and Tommaso Ciampa continue to take the Embassy limelight away from Prince Nana, as they basically block him out the shot and inform him that the 10YA event isn’t about him at all – it’s about the investors.
Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Roderick Strong/Michael Elgin
This one came about as a result of the failure of these four men to win the historic 8-man tag at Northern Aggression and therefore miss out on the $10,000 winner’s prize. Both team blamed the other, so have now agreed to put up $5000 of their cash with the winning team tonight walking out with the lot. Is it me or is there way too much monopoly money being thrown around in ROH at the moment? This isn’t 1976, nobody really believes these guys are paying fines, betting wads of cash or taking home ten grand winners checks.
Elgin and Strong try to double team Mark from the outset, so Jay storms the ring and punts Elgin in the face! That allows the Tag Champions to isolate Roderick and snatch the early advantage. That goes on for several minutes with the Briscoes dishing out a real beating to the Floridian ROH veteran. But Strong shows his experience, blocking the flatliner into the turnbuckles Jay likes to pull out and tumbling to his corner to make a vital tag to Elgin. He takes Jay out with a running powerslam and the Briscoes quickly look to work the 2-on-1 numbers game on him too. Iconoclasm/frog splash combo gets a close 2-count as we cross five minutes and go to commercials. When we come back the Briscoes are still on top but really struggling to put the powerful SOTF 2011 winner down. He levels Mark with a Bossman Slam and marches unstoppably towards the hot tag to Roderick. Chop/front slam combo gets the HOT their first close nearfall. DEATH BY RODERICK/LARIAT COMBO NAILED! Jay comes to his brother’s aid and absolutely pastes both opponents with kicks and clotheslines. Falcon arrow/Froggy Bow sequence…but Elgin breaks the fall. All four guys are in the ring lugging the sh*t out of each other, until Truth Martini throws powder into Jay’s eyes...and he walks out – then returns with a bat! He smacks Elgin in the ribs handing House Of Truth the win at 10:44 (shown)
Rating - *** - The finish really annoyed me. I don’t buy into the stupid monopoly money gimmick anyway, and when they render it meaningless by having Jay willingly lose by DQ anyway it’s even more frustrating. That said, the match was actually pretty good. It made sense that the Briscoes would try to use their prowess as a team to overcome two extremely talented singles wrestlers with limited experience as a duo…and likewise it made sense that HOT would use their strength (and cheating manager) to their advantage in response. It didn’t reach the highs of Edwards/O’Reilly earlier, but it was a solid main event.
Roderick Strong takes a baseball bat to the ribs too, as Mark grabs the $10,000 and dares Truth Martini to come and take it from him…
NEXT WEEK – Kevin Steen wrestles on Sinclair for the first time.
Tape Rating - *** - I almost went 4* on this episode; it was certainly one of the best ROH on SBG’s we’ve seen thus far. Eddie vs Kyle was outstanding, and also promoted the next iPPV’s main event to boot. Kevin Steen built his reputation and Mike Mondo managed to not suck, we got developments in the WGTT/Briscoes ongoing storyline…and all that before the solid main event. This episode was good from a creative AND in-ring standpoint. Not sure what more you can expect in just fifty minutes of airtime. Hopefully next week lives up to this…