ROH on Sinclair – Episode 025 – 10th March 2012
The 10th Anniversary Show is now in the books and it was a really good night for the promotion. But there’s no let up in the schedule – ROH now has three weeks of television to promote it’s huge Wrestlemania weekend double shot in Florida. We know bits and pieces – such as Richards/Edwards/Strong, Bennett/Storm, Briscoes/WGTT, Bucks/ANX etc – but it’s now time to start amping up the storylines and closing out the card. ROH has arguably the worst roster of the major promotions running Mania weekend, so it’s up to the booking team to make up for that lack of talent by giving us matches we want to see and will care about. It starts tonight in Baltimore, MD. Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness will commentate as always.
Jim Cornette announces the Blind Destiny Challenge as a way to determine who challenges for the World Title on Night 2 of Showdown In The Sun weekend. Tonight there are three qualifying matches, all advancing to face one of Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards or Roderick Strong. Whoever wins the title match on Night 1 in Florida then goes to Night 2 and defends against their designated opponent. Tonight it will be Steen vs Cole, Elgin vs O’Reilly and Lethal vs King (which Kenny obviously isn’t winning as he already has matches booked for the weekend).
Kenny King vs Jay Lethal – Blind Destiny Challenge
Like I just said, since King is already booked in the ‘Dual Duel’ versus the Young Bucks at Showdown In The Sun, his chances of winning this must be really slim. Lethal lost a shot at the World Title just a couple of weeks ago on TV, but still believes he is destined to become World Champion, and needs the victory tonight to ensure that he gets back into contention for the biggest prize in ROH.
Lethal charges across the ring but misses with a kick, and the two engage in an extremely cagey knucklelock. It’s King that snatches the initiative with a flurry of armdrags as Roderick Strong and Truth Martini strolls onto the ramp to do some scouting. Jay hits his standard hiptoss dropkick combo which he goes for in every match – and despite this scouting mission you can be guaranteed Roderick still takes that sequence in Florida. Lethal appears to be working over King’s neck and emphasises that point with a grounded headscissors. Kelly is busy shilling how easy and convenient watching ROH ippvs are, which is beyond hilarious. Even after absorbing a big superkick, Kenny still finds a way to retaliate and stops Lethal going for the Macho Elbow with a JUMPING ENZI! Lethal Injection blocked with a dropkick to the chest before he drills the TV Champion with a spinebuster for 2. He hits the rope jump guillotine…but Jay no sells and scores with a springboard dropkick. Lethal Injection blocked…so he hits the LETHAL COMBINATION INSTEAD! Nice sequence, but it’s only good enough for 2. King goes for a roll-up…only for Lethal to counter – and that’s 3! Lethal advances in 07:01
Rating - *** - Generous 3* for this as, for a 7 minute opening bout on free television, this was pretty good. I liked how King countered so many of the spots Lethal does in every match, and it was equally great when Jay countered that by teasing the Lethal Injection then turning it to the Combination instead. This wasn’t ground breaking, nor did it need to be…but I just found it to be a surprisingly intelligent match when they could have phoned it in, ran through their spots and not given a sh*t.
Adam Cole vs Kevin Steen – Blind Destiny Challenge
Last night was a huge moment for Adam Cole, as he defeated the World Champion in the epic tag team main event of Young Wolves Rising. His reward is a spot in the Blind Destiny Challenge, and the chance to go to Florida for a potential title shot against his own partner Eddie Edwards. Unfortunately for him, standing in his way is Kevin Steen, who has returned to Ring Of Honor in 2012 hell bent on winning the belt and holding the company hostage. He already squashed Cole like a pancake in Norfolk at Underground – and a repeat of that would see Mr Wrestling move a step closer to the championship.
Adam Cole refuses to follow the Code Of Honor as he knows Steen will use it to assault him…and he launches into a volley of violent elbows to the face. TOPE SUICIDA NAILED! Hot start from the man that was pinning Davey Richards yesterday, but it doesn’t last as Steen hoists him onto his shoulders and flings him into the ringpost. That hurts the ribs, and Steen exacerbates the injury by hitting his impressive moonsault for 2. Out of nowhere Cole nails a flying DDT to leave both men on the mat. Enziguri and a running knee strike put Mr Wrestling down for a nearfall…but Kevin absorbs that to nail the HANGING DDT IN THE ROPES! Cannonball senton scores, only for Cole to kick out at 2. Superkick to the back of the head, then a lungblower! Steen barely kicks out! Superkick again…Steen doesn’t go down. SUPERKICK AGAIN! STEEN NO SELLS! POWERBOMB! He kills Cole with the lariat, then hoists him up for the F-5! Steen wins at 05:07
Rating - *** - That was an awesome little match, and absolutely smoked their house show match from earlier this year. I know he lost in five minutes, but Adam Cole wasn’t squashed quite as much as he was in the Underground match either. Don’t get me wrong, one night after pinning the World Champion I really don’t think he should be on TV getting beaten so quickly…but at least he got lots of offence in and produced a hell of a match. For a five minute television match this was really fun.
Steen wants to give Cole the Package Piledriver but Eddie Edwards comes to his tag partner’s rescue. It will be Edwards vs Steen at Showdown In The Sun Day 2…
INSIDE ROH – Kevin Kelly continues to promote Showdown In The Sun. Roderick Strong, Eddie Edwards, Mike Bennett, the Young Bucks and the Briscoes all comment on their respective matches.
Back in the arena Davey Richards joins Kelly and McGuinness for commentary in the final Blind Destiny bout. Like Roderick he’s scouting his potential opponent for Florida
Kyle O’Reilly vs Michael Elgin – Blind Destiny Challenge
The final of the Blind Destiny qualifiers, with this one to determine who faces Davey Richards. Will it be Kyle O’Reilly, who is Davey’s training partner in Team Ambition – or will be it be Elgin, a representative of the House Of Truth faction that Richards has been at odds with since 2010. Elgin already has a guaranteed title shot in his pocket after winning Survival Of The Fittest 2011, and this match is a rematch of the spectacular clash between the final two participants in that tournament.
O’Reilly tries to keep his distance, laying strikes in on Elgin whilst trying to stay out of his powerful clutches. That tactic would probably work better if Unbreakable wasn’t equally happy throwing strikes with Kyle. He runs through a few kicks and absolutely clobbers him with some elbows and forearms. O’Reilly decides it’s probably safer grounding Elgin and looks for a triangle choke…but Michael easily powers out! Finally he realises speed is the way to go, and lands some tough blows on Elgin whilst sticking and moving. Unfortunately Roderick Strong comes out to distract him, leading to Elgin landing a brutal German suplex as we go to commercials. When we return Michael is easily hoisting his opponent in the air and dropping him again with a backbreaker for 2. The Team Ambition member still gamely throws strikes in Elgin’s direction whilst Nigel and Davey bicker on commentary over whether his strategy is correct. Regardless of what they think, Kyle pursues Unbreakable up the ropes and nails a BACK SUPERPLEX! Finally he has Elgin in trouble, and he starts hammering him with kicks. Michael tries to shake them off and gets crotched for his trouble. BACK SUPLEX OFF THE APRON INTO THE F*CKING GUARDRAIL! He’s not finished…APRON MISSILE DROPKICK NAILED! Still it’s only good enough for a 2-count though. Elgin actually stands up out of a pin attempt…tilta-whirl DDT into the Guillotine Choke! Michael stands up again! SUPLEX FRONT SLAM! O’Reilly kicks out! Regalplex for 2! CROSSFACE! INTO THE CHOKE! Again Strong climbs onto the apron to distract him, and is time Elgin swoops to counter with the Buckle Bomb. As Davey fights Roderick, the Spiral Bomb finishes O’Reilly at 10:27 (shown)
Rating - *** - Really good main event. I thought the opening few minutes, although psychologically quite clever, were a little tedious (not helped by a crowd who were near silent)…but as we saw at Survival Of The Fittest, these two are absolutely great when it comes to dropping bombs and big spots on each other. It’s very evident these two are a huge part of Ring Of Honor’s future if Sinclair can keep them happy and under contract. Richards vs Elgin is probably more of a draw to headline an ippv at this stage than Richards/O’Reilly…and that’s why Unbreakable was the right choice to get the win and advance to Florida.
Tape Rating - **** - No match actually reached the 4* standard, but I thought this was really good episode of the TV show. All three of the Blind Destiny bouts were of a good standard, and surprisingly intelligent considering none of them got a huge time allocation. The ‘Showdown Countdown’ is on, and this was a hell of a way to start. More episodes like this please…
ROH on SBG Episodes 21-25 – Top 5 Matches
5) Kevin Steen vs Adam Cole (*** - Episode 025)
4) Michael Elgin vs Kyle O’Reilly (*** - Episode 025)
3) Roderick Strong vs Eddie Edwards (**** - Episode 024)
2) Eddie Edwards vs Kyle O’Reilly (**** - Episode 021)
1) Davey Richards vs Jay Lethal (**** - Episode 023)