ROH On HDNet Recap 6/14/10

If you haven’t checked out the final show before Death Before Dishonor VIII click here to watch the full episode! thanks to ProWrestlingPonderings.com/Videos
All the big names involved in this Saturday’s iPPV are in action in one way or another, plus the return of ROH Founding Father Christopher Daniels, the appearance of Big Daddy Briscoe and a big contract signing this week on HDNet.
– A lot of Bryan Danielson buzz this week, and in case you haven’t already done so, check out my contributions to a podcast (along with Jerome) dedicated to the topic. You won’t be seeing the American Dragon back on this broadcast for at least 83 days or so, but never fear, there’s still plenty to be excited about on HDNet, and on that note, let’s take a look at it shall we?
– Oh, and I’ll be providing fast-results at the top of the reviews from now on for those that want to just get the quick and dirty facts. If you want the blow-by-blow account of the matches along with my analysis that is still included below.
Quick Results:
– Christopher Daniels def. Bobby Shields (B.M.E.)

– The Briscoes def. Sid Reeves & Bob Evans (J-Driller)

– Chris Hero knocked out the Briscoes’ father Mike.

– Steve Corino def. Colt Cabana by DQ. After the match Steen and Generico came out and all four brawled.

– Tyler Black & Davey Richards signed the contract for their upcoming title match and then Daniels challenged both men.
In-Depth Results:
– No pre-show video packages this week as we’re back into fully fledged tapings.
– Cue opening titles!
– Match 1: Christopher Daniels vs. Bobby Shields
Pre-Match Thoughts: Very excited to see what Daniels can bring to ROH in 2010 (I haven’t seen any of his house show matches yet either) and given his opponent, I think we’ll be seeing a great showcase of his arsenal.
The Match: Daniels is being billed from Sin City. I could be wrong, but that may be a first. Also, he’s using Disposable Teens, or at least a very close cover version. Shields is looking like a young Jerry Lynn. Big chants for Daniels right off the bat. They shake hands and then go right into trading headlocks. Daniels gets a couple of shoulder takedowns and then cartwheels over a drop-down and hits a hip-toss. Shields tries to return the favor but Daniels reverses and hits another of his own. Rinse and repeat. Shields backs him into the corner and takes the advantage with a few light strikes and then charges him in the opposite corner. Clothesline attempt is blocked and the Fallen Angel hits a nice STO. Spinning wheel kick and then some Samoa Joe style rapid palm strikes. Jawbreaker. Uranage. BEST. MOONSAULT. EVER. Next?
Winner: Christopher Daniels via Pin-Fall (Best Moonsault Ever)
Post-Match Thoughts: Squash. Total squash. This was just to emphasize how good he is in the ring and that he is a veteran. He doesn’t seem to have lost a step and I buy him as one of the best in the world. Still, very quick, quicker than most enhancement matches.
– After the match Daniels gets on the mic and takes exception to Davey claiming himself as the Best in the World. However it isn’t a beef with Richards, it’s a challenge to the entire roster. To be the best you have to step into an ROH ring. He’s not back to prove anything, but instead to teach every wrestler in the back that he is the Best in the World.
– Kyle Durden tries to interview Steve Corino about his match with Colt Cabana but he gets cut off and shown a list of people Corino doesn’t like. Awesome. CM Punk is on there (or rather, “Phillip Brooks”), a coat-check guy, waitresses, Keanu Reeves etc. Right at the bottom is Colt Cabana. Kevin Steen is then revealed sitting way behind them out of sight. Steen talks about El Generico and looks pretty messed up. Steen regrets nothing. Possible foreshadowing of things to come as he says no matter what happens to him, he stands by what he’s done so far. Generico is apparently going to need Canada’s free healthcare (don’t the States have that as well these days?)
– We now move to a slightly modified version of the latest Steen/Generico video.
– Hog and Prazak discuss the upcoming Steenerico match this Saturday, as well as Davey vs Tyler, and the Briscoes vs Kings of Wrestling.
– Kyle Durden is ringside with Mike Briscoe (father of Jay and Mark dontcha-know) who is of course very proud of his boys. Apparently his Fathers’ Day present is his sons winning the ROH World Team Titles for the 7^th time. If you can’t think of a gift for your dad this coming week, challenge a wrestler to a title match.
– Match 2: The Briscoes vs. Sid Reeves & Bob Evans
Pre-Match Thoughts: Stating the obvious here, but Briscoe squash coming up me-thinks. Title match on PPV less than a week away and they’re facing jobbers. I give them about 2 minutes.
The Match: Standard headlocks to start out and Jay quickly hits a hurricanrana on Bob Evans. He tags in Mark who flies off the top with a diving back elbow. Vertical suplex from Mark. Back in comes Jay now and they hit their three-point stance football tackle. Another tag. Mark misses a clothesline and gets nailed by Evans. Reeves tags in and tries a back suplex but Mark lands on his feet. Off the apron goes Evans, and Mark jumps over Reeves and rolls to the corner to tag Jay who goes to town. Kind of awkward “hot tag” section with Jay hitting a basement dropkick in the corner while Mark hits a clothesline and then an exploder. Mark vaults over the top onto Shields and Evans tastes the J-Driller in the ring and this one is over.
Winners: The Briscoes via Pinfall (J-Driller)
Post-Match Thoughts: Two matches. Two squashes. Evans and Reeves were very uncharismatic and the Briscoes got to hit all their signature moves. Didn’t go too long so can’t complain, but it never really got going.
– Now we get recorded interviews with members of the crowd about who will win the upcoming title match. Mostly Davey fans, with a couple of people rooting for Tyler.
– The video cuts to Chris Hero who is mid-sentence. He runs down Mike Briscoe, saying the Briscoes have made some mistakes. He then calls the two boys mistakes themselves and accuses Mike of making the biggest mistake of all, not using a condom. Mike jumps the rail, throws down a member of security, bitch-slaps Hero and then gets a huge elbow to the face. The Briscoes sprint back out and chase Hero and Castagnoli (who was there the whole time, but didn’t do anything). They basically caught them but the magical safe-zone of backstage saved the Kings. The Briscoes then swear a lot (all of it bleeped, but still, there’s kids everywhere guys) while tending to their father.
– Back from commercial and we see replays of the incident. Hog says it was unforgivable, Prazak thinks the Briscoes attacking Sara Del Rey was drawing first blood. I have to say, I agree, the Briscoes have been in the wrong a lot in this feud.
– More interviews about the Davey/Tyler match. Grizzly Redwood votes for Tyler. Erick Stevens, Eddie Edwards, Rasche Brown and Jay Briscoe pick Davey. Jim Cornette won’t pick a side. Steen simply says Generico will die (fire Kevin Steen, he referenced death on a televised wrestling show!) Corino refuses to comment. Rhett Titus doesn’t really care, but says Austin Aries will beat Delirious and he and Kenny King will make sure of it (even though he’s banned from ringside). A-Double himself says there will be a winner and that man will be the champion. He lights his pipe and says the match will be good. Awesome.
– Main Event – Colt Cabana vs. Steve Corino
Pre-Match Thoughts: Well, this has been a great feud, and these two have been pretty compelling as side-kicks to the main Steenerico rivalry, so I’d expect this to be a nice storyline advancement, with a little brutality thrown in for good measure.
The Match: Cabana jumps Corino during his entrance and they brawl around ringside straight away. Corino has ditched the tights and gone back to trunks already (although the tapings were several weeks apart). Punchy punch punch. Corino takes a table out but gets hit before he can set it up. Corino charges Cabana but Colt moves and he ends up clotheslining the steel post. Ouch. Back in the ring and Cabana works the arm, but Corino outsmarts him and trips him out of the ring. Brawl in the corner of the ringside area as they stand up on a table. Cabana tosses Corino off and into the crowd as they cheer. Corino is brought back in and thrown into the ring. Cabana up top and he goes for a diving elbow smash but gets blocked and STO’d down. Corino is determined to bring back “Who’s the Man?!” He hits a running chop but things break down as they trade big punches. Cabana gets the better of the exchange and hits a bionic elbow. He blocks a clothesline and spins around but gets a much harder one instead. Sliding-C Lariat only gets two. Corino has Colt up for the Beach Break but he wiggles free and hits a big powerbomb. Corino rolls to the outside but gets a baseball-slide. Cabana points to the table that never got set up and finishes the job before getting out a second table and setting it up alongside it. He sees a chair shot coming and blocks it before wailing on Corino some more. He puts Corino’s head in the chair and then walks to the other end of the two tables and gestures that he is going to use a second chair. The referee argues with him which results in Colt shoving him to the ground for the disqualification.
Winner: Steve Corino via Disqualification
Post-Match Thoughts: It’s tough to describe this match. It managed to be decent without really doing much. There weren’t really any big moves aside from the Lariat and powerbomb, but it wasn’t boring and the finish put over the hatred Colt has for Corino. Good use of time.
– Colt slides the chair across the tables and it crashes into the one around Corino’s neck. This apparently busted him open. Colt goes to hit a move through a table back in the ring but Colby Corino runs in to cause a distraction. While Colt’s not looking Kevin Steen runs in and hits a superkick. Colby apparently turned invisible. Two on one beatdown…..
OLE! OLE! OLE!
Slightly different music for Generico as he hits the ring hard and unleashes “Mexican” Fury. Half and half suplex to Corino! He puts Steen up top and signals the Brainbustahhhh!!!!! Obviously he doesn’t get it as Corino tosses him out of the ring. Colt has recovered though and he sets Corino up for another move through a table. Steen rushes him but fails to spear him through the table, so he runs to the opposite corner and tries again. It breaks a little this time, but it’s more cracked than shattered. He talks some smack as Corino attacks another ref. Generico is in the ring and he and Steen are face to face! They’re brawling! Kevin Steen and El Generico are trading punches!!! Generico clotheslines him out of the ring and then hits a huge running flip dive over the top rope! Nicely done Mr. Generico! He’s not done though. He puts Steen on a table outside and goes up top but Corino drags Steen away to the back. Generico kicks the cracked table a few times in frustration. Amusingly, it still doesn’t break.
– Show’s not over folks! Durden is with Roderick Strong and makes the mistake of asking him who he thinks will win the title match. Roddy says one of them will stab the other in the back or the officials will screw them both over, and then storms off.
– Jim Cornette is in the ring to introduce Davey Richards and Tyler Black for a contract signing. Davey’s out first with Edwards and Hagadorn. Tyler out next. No chairs for Hagadorn and Edwards, poor them. Davey signs first with a smile on his face. He then says that every time he comes to the ring the crowd chant “Best in the World” (I hate when wrestlers say stuff like that. It was the same when Tyler hyped the fans saying “Next World Champ” Don’t ask the fans to chant, let them do it themselves.) Tyler signs next and then says he doesn’t care what the fans chant at Davey, nor does he care what Davey thinks. He calls himself the best because he has the belt and that Davey will choke in crunch time (he should know, right?) Davey says he will win because he’s the best. He promises that Eddie and Hagadorn will stay away from ringside during the match. Eddie’s fine with it. Shane is not, but Davey tells him to do as he says. Teasing a split?
HERE COMES DANIELS!
The Fallen Angel apologizes for the intrusion and says ordinarily he would challenge the winner of the match, but because it’s ROH he’s challenging both of them to face him in singles contests. Daniels says the people think Davey is the best, but the title may prove that it’s Tyler. He wishes them both luck but they should keep in mind that he’s coming for both of them. Daniels’ music plays as he leaves the pair looking a little perplexed. They shake hands but talk smack as we go off air.
– Well, we actually go to a final video package promoting Death Before Dishonor VII starting with the Briscoes vs Kings, then Steenerico, and finally Davey vs Tyler. Nice idea to run this as the final thing before the PPV.
Overall Thoughts: This was a nice episode of ROH, and they were really pushing the PPV as hard as they could. I was dubious of how they’d fit in all the stuff they taped, but they shuffled things around in a clever fashion and managed to get some solid content relating to all three of their big matches. Even with the additional task of introducing Christopher Daniels to the TV audience in time for the PPV, things flowed well as his match lasted all of two minutes but kept him looking strong.
The Briscoes got to look strong by squashing some jobbers, while the Kings were put over as well with their attack on Mike Briscoe. The slap was a little… girly if you want me to be honest, I think Hero would have been willing to take a punch, but the elbow looked stiff enough.
The Corino/Cabana match made clever use of time. It wasn’t brutal, but it was aggressive and everything Generico did was golden. They’ll have the match of the night this Saturday, I’m sure of it.
Finally, as contract signings go, this one was pretty good. Normally they seem like the bookers taking a week off, but this didn’t take too long and brought a definite big-match feel to the title bout. Daniels’ involvement smacks a little of the three-way feud that occupied the first half of the year, but the dynamics are different so I don’t think it’ll be a re-hash.
All in all I think a lot of good things happened in a short space of time, so I commend ROH for that. Involvement of family members and contract signings aren’t really the norm in ROH but they pulled off both story devices very competently. This was a solid episode and exactly what should have happened in a go-home show.