ROH On HDNet Recap 5/17/10
Roderick Strong looks to rebound from his loss to Tyler Black in New York City and finds himself involved with an old ally in the process. Meanwhile Kevin Steen, Claudio Castagnoli and the All Night Express are all in action.
– Pre-Show:
(Take it everyone else is marking the hell out over Danielson's promo on NXT too?)
– We start things off with hype for tonight's Strong vs Steen main event followed by exclusive footage from Supercard of Honor V, which I personally look forward to purchasing. They're continuing this Roddy conspiracy angle then I see. Well, fair enough.
– Cue opening titles!
– Match 1: The House of Truth vs. The All-Night Express (King & Titus)
Pre-Match Thoughts: House of Truth on television is all kinds of right in my mind. They've really improved since the first house show I saw them on, and this should serve as a nice showcase for both teams with the conclusion surely in no doubt… Oh! And did anyone else see that Rhett Titus bedroom talk video? Who the hell is that chick and how do I see more of her?
The Match: King and Titus jump H.O.T. early but it backfires and King is tossed from the ring. It seems the crowd are booing House of Truth and they're heeling it up… against the heels. Odd. Raymond chokes Titus on the top rope and then the pair hit dropicks on an upside down Titus. King is knocked off the apron, and Titus gets a small package while the referee is dealing with Kenny as he tries to get in the ring, which allows Able to come in and attack Titus. They hit their step-up powerbomb move (Raymond steps off the opponent and Able catches and powerbombs him down on the guy), which isn't killing Raymond these days thankfully. Raymond back in now, he whips Titus but Rhettski slides out and taunts Raymond who of course charges him but eats a Kenny King knee and now we have a tag and their double team distraction lariat. I forgot how much I like these guys. Snap suplex rolled through into mounted punches. Titus back in and a catapult from King but Titus catches him and hits a flip neckbreaker across King's knees. Nice. Blockbuster attempt fails, but Raymond is hit with Titus' beautiful dropkick. Titus then gets forcefed a big boot from Able, which King punishes him for with shotgun/John Woo knees. Raymond hits his ridiculous shooting star crossbody block move which gets a pop. Rolling forearm by King, but he is then caught by Able who holds him in place for a botched moonsault from Raymond. All-Night Express immediately retake the advantage and we get a side-slam backbreaker/diving knee drop combination. Able tagged in and he hits an Alabama Slam on Titus, Raymond then bulldogs him into the turnbuckles and hits a Sky Twister to the outside on King. Raymond's crazy, no? Able with a modified back suplex on Titus but can't get the pin. Crowd aren't sure who to cheer. House look for a double team but King stops it and we get the One-Night-Stand (powerbomb+blockbuster combo) and a victory.
Winners: All-Night Express via Pinfall (One Night Stand)
Post-Match Thoughts: This match was booked strangely. I don't mind heel vs heel or face vs face matches, but it seemed they weren't committed to which side either team was. Both had heel and face moments and it made for some confusion from the crowd. There were also some moments where the advantage shifted too quickly. That being said, it was a nice little match that didn't go too long. More House of Truth please.
– Highlights of last week's snooze-fest of a Battle Royal. Correction: too many highlights of last week's snooze-fest of a Battle Royal. Every elimination and some random moves thrown in for good (or bad) measure. Seriously, you don't even need to see the match, these highlights show everything that happened.
– “Austin Aries doesn't deserve to win anything right now in Ring of Honor” sayeth the Hog. Ah, we're transitioning to another showing of him injuring Delirious. Did you know Aries injured Delirious' throat? No? Well now you do.
– Match 2 – Claudio Castagnoli vs. Andy “Right Leg” Ridge
Pre-Match Thoughts: I wonder how long Claudio can UFO him for…
The Match: Ridge ducks the immediate knockout bicycle kick but then gets beheaded with a clothesline. Huge military press drop and a pose. Ridge tries to fight up from the ground but gets tossed like a rag doll with a dead-lift gutwrench suplex. Ridge is thrown by the neck to the corner but he avoids the charge and hits an enzuigiri. He begins to works Claudio with round kicks to the thigh and arm and then hits a running kick to the side of the head. He tries one kick too many however and ends up halfway across the ring after a European Uppercut. UFO. Pin. Next.
Winner: Claudio Castagnoli via Pin-Fall (U.F.O.)
Post-Match Thoughts: Turns out he can do it for about ten seconds. I've seen longer. Poor effort Double-C! I jest, Claudio is scary-strong, and perhaps one of the most powerful men in all of wrestling (yes, including the big two) I found Hog trying to sell Ridge's powerful right leg quite amusing too.
– Jim Cornette says that because of all the comments about Edwards vs. Richards in the TV Title Tournament finals, they're going to show the final eight minute again. It was a good match, so I'm not really complaining… but it was a good match that happened a month ago, and eight minutes just screams “we've got nothing else to fill the time with.”
– I won't do commentary on the match as it already happened. Instead, I'll say I look forward to Davey challenging Tyler at the next iPPV and think it will be Tyler's best match to date. Davey demands the best of his opponents and say what you will about Black, he can turn it on when he needs to.
– Eight minutes later and we're back to original programming. Colt Cabana talks about how he will be facing Edwards next week for the TV Title. He blames his loss in the tournament on Steen's distraction, says he loves the American Wolves, and calls himself Made-for-TV. I guess he has a point there.
– They run the same highlight package from before the opening titles again just in case anyone tuned in late. I'm not sure what they do next with Roddy, short of a steel cage match against Tyler.
– Roddy tells Cornette he's sick of people lying to him, screwing him over, and he refuses to calm down. “Why me?” He's looking for just one person who will tell him the truth. I'm sure that was a throw-away comment, but it seems like some kind of alliance may be on the horizon. Right as I say that, in walks Austin Aries to tell him to put his trust in him instead of Cornette. He points out when Roddy leaned on A-Double he was more successful, and claims he can get him back up to mediocrity. Roddy bitch-slaps him for his troubles and we have us a good old fashioned pull-apart brawl. Shame, Aries giving him the leg-up might have been entertaining and in 2010 they'd have more of a two-man power trip thing going on.
– The Art of Wrestling with Colt Cabana… wait… it's one from months ago with him chugging beer with the Briscoes. Might have evoked a smile at one point, but not laughter, though maybe I found it funnier the first time around, I don't really remember.
– Highlights of the Roddy incident from a moment ago and a third showing of the Supercard footage.
– Main Event – Pick 6 Match – Kevin Steen vs Roderick Strong
Pre-Match Thoughts: Should be a decent match as both men can hit very hard. Roddy is in strange territory as he needs to remain looking… Strong… after his repeated failures against Tyler. Meanwhile Steen needs to look dangerous ahead of his match with El Generico.
The Match: Austin Aries attacks Roddy on his way to the ring and hits him with his shoe. Grizzly Redwood, Jim Cornette and others restrain A-Double but it doesn't work as he throws Roddy into the guard rail before leaving. Oh no wait, he's back and hitting a russian leg sweep into the ring-post and a slap to the face for good measure. Steen stands by watching all of this completely non-plussed until the crowd chant Ole! at him, which of course riles him up. Why hasn't this match been thrown out? I mean, I'd rather see it than not, but there are limits to how much of a pre-match assault can be tolerated. Steen offers Roderick the chance to forfeit the match but he'd “rather die”, and thus Steen attempts to grant his wish as the bell finally rings. Punches, kicks and stomps a-plenty as Steen takes Roddy on a tour of the ring. Russian leg sweep from Steen. Roddy starts to fight back and gets Steen up in a fireman's carry but ends up receiving a jumping neckbreaker. Steen gets the microphone and asks once again if Roddy would like to give up. Strong spits in his face and gets pummelled for it. To the outside we go and Strong meets the guard rails up close and personal once again. Back inside now and Strong's chops are cut off by a poorly executed dropkick and then a codebreaker… which he may have been going for instead of the dropkick now I think about it. Roderick moves out of the way of Steen's running cannonball but then eats a Randy Orton style hangman's DDT. Kevin goes up top for the Swanton Bomb and nails it but only gets two. Steen gets the microphone AGAIN and mentions his therapist. Roddy chants Ole! at Kevin who begins to clutch his head before unleashing the fury. He attempts a powerbomb but Strong trips him and gets the pin with a jackknife cradle.
Winner: Roderick Strong via Pinfall (Jackknife Pin)
Post-Match Thoughts: Not really a match, more of an extended beat-down segment but with two or three pin attempts. Steen looked quite vicious and unhinged, while it got Strong over as a “never say die” face. I have a complaint about the logic however, as Aries is busy ducking Delirious, there doesn't seem room for him to feud with Roderick. Perhaps we'll see Roddy, Delirious and Jerry Lynn against Aries, King & Titus at the iPPV?
– Steen is obviously displeased with his loss and locks in the Crossface as Roddy taps away like a mad man. Mr. Wrestling finally lets goes and leaves with Steve Corino as Tyler Black storms the ring to make sure Roddy is alright… but Strong gives him some harsh words and the champ leaves him alone in the ring. End of show.
– Overall: A better show than last week, though that isn't saying an awful lot. Gosh, all this criticism makes me sound like an ROH hater, but I say these things with love, I know they can do better. Once again the middle of the show was a throw away, dedicated to highlights of previous episodes and repeated vignettes. I get that they want to re-enforce what's happening, but this can be achieved with shorter videos spread out here and there, rather than essentially tossing away the middle twenty minutes of your program. The matches were entertaining though, I will say that, and I'm sure when Delirious finally returns to television he'll seem like a huge deal, which is a good thing in my eyes as he's criminally underrated. The main event wasn't really a match, just a way to hammer home the fact that Strong is very resilient, Aries isn't a very nice man, and Steen is crazy.