If you haven’t watche the episode, watch it in full HERE thanks to ProWrestlingPonderings.com/Videos
Tyler Black takes on El Generico in a very competitive main event, a new Crown Jewel of the Embassy is revealed, Kevin Steen and Steve Corino make their commentary debuts, plus tag team action in this week’s ROH On HDNet.
Quick Results
– Kevin Steen def. Bobby Shields. Steen & Corino did live commentary during the match.
– Grizzly Redwood def. Erick Stevens after Necro Butcher claimed he could not compete due to the cost of his medical bills. After the match Rasche Brown saved Grizzly from an attack but Necro Butcher revealed himself as the new Crown Jewel of the Embassy and assaulted Brown.
– The House of Truth def. Up in Smoke
– El Generico def. Tyler Black via DQ in a non title match after Kevin Steen interfered. Afterwards Tyler gave Steen a Superkick.
Full Results
– The show begins with an ad telling us to order the replay of Death Before Dishonor VIII, ya know, that little show they had a couple of weeks back. Quite obviously from my recap of said show, I couldn’t recommend you listening to this ad enough. Watch the replay!
– Cue Opening Titles!
– We’re immediately told that your main event of the evening will be Tyler Black vs El Generico in a non-title match.
– Here come Kevin Steen and Steve Corino and Mr. Wrestling cuts Bobby Cruise’s ring introduction off and instructs him to leave the ring. Steen points out all the trash that Hog and Prazak have been talking about him and Corino over the last few months. I’m sure Mr. Prazak would take issue with that. Ah, he does. Bobby Shields is waiting in the ring to face Steen by the way. Steen and Corino are going to do commentary… Fantastic. Corino points out the beating he gave Shields a few weeks ago and while he does so Steen attacks from behind. Not only that though, the pair remark on their heel tactics in disbelief.
Match 1
Kevin Steen vs. Bobby Shields
Pre-Match Thoughts: Things to note: 1. Steen is an established top-tier wrestler. 2. Bobby Shields has not won a match on HDNet. 3. Corino and Steen both have microphones. 1+2+3=Steen’s going to win and entertain me whilst doing it. See below for confirmation.
The Match: Steen begins stomping the head and informs the children in the audience this is how to give a beating. Corino interjects that they are used to receiving such beatings as they are losers. Clothesline from Steen. Yes folks, he is wrestling with a microphone in one hand and giving his own running commentary as he does it. Steen hands the mic to Bryce Remsburg and hits his front flip leg drop, which he and Corino both put over. Steen actually counts whilst pinning Shields who kicks out at 2. Steen blames Bryce. Steen finally removes his shirt and then tells a child that he is his father. This is amazing heel work. Shields gets a school boy but only gets 2 as Steen drops the mic. Corino shouts advice as Shields works in some forearms and ducks a clothesline but then gets surgically grafted to the mat via a Steen powerbomb. “Slap the porcupine, he’s done!” Steen has the mic again and runs Shields down for hitting back. Steen calls for the end and goes for a move he claims to have invented in 1984, the Crossface. He actually locks Shields free hand into place and puts the microphone in it whilst applying the hold, giving commentary as Shields verbally submits to the referee, and this one is over.
Winner: Kevin Steen via Submission (Crossface)
Post-Match Thoughts: My equation turned out to be true. This was truly unique. I don’t recall ever seeing a wrestler stay on the mic for 90% of his own match. The whole segment held my attention and put Steen over as a monster heel. Not because he’s an unstoppable juggernaut, but because he’s an unstoppable force of pure heel tactics. Corino’s work as his advisor was put over in a very clear way as well, so this worked wonders in re-affirming that these two are bullies and proud of it.
– After the match Corino does Bobby Cruise’s job and announces Steen as the winner. Steen then announces we’re going to commercial. Any chance that these two could announce everything ever. Not just wrestling either.
– Apparently Prazak approves of Steerino’s announcing, and surprisingly, Hog is laughing. Not that it wasn’t funny, but when heels act mega-heel, face commentators traditionally call them deplorable, but whatever, it was funny.
– Kyle Durden gives us an update on Necro Butcher’s neck and back and puts over how bad it is as we get footage of Erick Stevens giving Necro a powerbomb on two chairs from Pick Your Poison. Durden states that Necro guaranteed that he will appear tonight no matter what.
Match 2 – Grudge Match
Erick Stevens vs. Necro Butcher
Pre-Match Thoughts: A nice fresh match here. I eagerly await seeing these two lock it up for the first time ever. I hope to see them clash right up until Final Battle.
The Match: Well, I’m already disappointed because after a short tease Necro does in fact appear. Oh but wait, he’s not dressed to go. That’s an odd statement considering Necro’s ring gear. He grabs the mic and rather eloquently explains he can’t afford to wrestle tonight due to the medical costs from his neck injury. He states he has a replacement lined up but he may not wrestle in ROH again. He then leaves the ring.
Winner: No Contest.
Post-Match Thoughts: Jumping for joy.
– The replacement is not Rasche Brown but in fact Grizzly Redwood.
Match 3
Erick Stevens vs. Grizzly Redwood
Pre-Match Thoughts: Grizzly’s gon’ die. Nah, he got quite a competitive match in New York City, so I don’t see why this couldn’t go a few minutes.
The Match: Grizzly sprints to the ring and clubs away at Stevens in the corner. Nana gets on the microphone on the outside and says… something pretty inaudible. Is everyone going to do their own commentary tonight? Grizzly transitions from a spinning headscissors to a sleeper hold but gets shrugged off. Stevens charges but Grizzly ducks and then dropkicks Stevens out of the ring. Grizzly attempts a suicida but Stevens catches him and then launches him right into the ring post. Sucks to be Mr. Redwood. Back in the ring Stevens begins choking Grizzly with his own suspenders (eerie foresight there by ROH) and then stands on his back doing the good old Embassy pose. Stevens demolishes Grizzly via knee strikes to the gut and then hits a massive back suplex. Grizzly gets tossed out of the ring where Nana and Ernesto Osiris put some boots to him. Ya know, just to even the odds. Grizzly tries and fails to chop Stevens down to size. Bearhug. Grizzly’s attempt at escape is thwarted and he is rammed into the corner. Choo-Choo? No. Grizzly actually needs to step up onto the bottom rope to try and Irish whip Stevens. Grizzly springboards from the middle rope and hits an impressive rebound hurricanrana. Dropkick to the knee. Bulldog. Rebound tornado DDT from the corner (his finisher) only gets 2. Grizzly jumps off the top rope but Stevens was playing the proverbial marsupial and catches him and launches him way up into the air with a German suplex. The bad guy was pretending to be more hurt than he actually was. I’m appalled. Choo-Choo! Lariat! Stevens stops his own pin attempt and hits a second lariat. He does it again. Stevens goes to consult with Nana which is all the opening Grizzly needs as he grabs a wasitlock, rams Stevens into Nana, and the O’Connor roll takes him to the promised land.
Winner: Grizzly Redwood via Pin-Fall (O’Connor Roll)
Post-Match Thoughts: This wasn’t the worst squash match you’ll ever see, but it probably went too long. I feel bad for Stevens, the guy is really quite good and I figured his addition to the Embassy would elevate the group and get them away from Necro, Grizz etc. I could see him challenging Tyler Black for the title, and here he is taking a clean loss to the smallest man on the roster. That being said, the live crowd adored it.
– Nana, Osiris and Stevens beat Grizzly down after the bell and then lay out the referee. Rasche Brown leaps into action (literally, he jumped from the floor, between the bottom and middle ropes) and destroys Osiris and Chokeslams Stevens. Nana attacks and Rasche makes him regret it, grabbing him by the throat and lifting him up for some sort of chokebomb. Stevens punts him between the uprights however and down goes the Skull Krusher. 3 on 1 beat-down in the corner now. Nana claims there is a new member of the Embassy here tonight. He even calls him the new Crown Jewel. Ouch to Stevens. Jimmy Rave’s old music plays and here comes….
THE NECRO BUTCHER!!!
Yes, Necro is the new crown jewel. I’m sure most of you heard this weeks ago, but hey, it was still a pretty big surprise. He’s wearing a suit with Rave’s old ring-jacket over the top. Ouch to Jimmy Rave. Necro has a piece of wood with Rasche’s name on it and promptly smashes it over his head. He then tries to give Grizzly a backbreaker across two chairs but referees intervene. The Embassy pose and we have finally solved the Necro vs Embassy problem as he has joined them.
– We get highlights of Necro’s surprise turn as Hog continues to ask why. He asked about 4 times. Prazak explains that Nana’s money is all the incentive Necro needs.
– Now we get highlights of DBDH8, the ones that freeze just before a big moment while the audio keeps running so we hear the crowd cheer. Steen and Generico, the Kings and the Briscoes, and Davey and Tyler. All fantastic stuff. Not seen it? Order the replay. Trust me.
Match 4 – Tag Team Match
The House of Truth vs. Up In Smoke
Pre-Match Thoughts: When two teams that almost always job to regulars face off it suggests one of them has to win and thus look good and build momentum. I do not mind which, but I’m glad one of them will get to.
The Match: Christian Able shoves Cloudy down to start the match and immediately brings Josh Raymond in who takes Cloudy down to the mat and ground-wrestles him into oblivion. Cloudy makes it to his feet and we have a stand-off. Able distracts Cloudy and Raymond decks him right a hard right hand. Spinning headscissors from Cloudy, followed by a leg lariat. Raymond whips him to the corner but he vaults up and uses his feet to drive Raymond’s head down into the turnbuckle. Cloudy runs from the opposite corner and obliterates the seated Raymond’s face with a flying double knee strike. Tag to Cheech. Basement dropkick, flipping ace crusher, leg lariat. Nice combination. Cloudy tags back in and they drop toehold Raymond. Able tries to attack and they do the same on top of Raymond. They then lock both men into a double submission that sees Raymond’s legs wrenched back by Up In Smoke, simultaneously pulling up on Able creating somewhat of a camel clutch effect. That took far too long to explain. Cheech leaves and Raymond hits a jawbreaker on Cloudy and tags Able in. Arm drag from Cloudy however as he saw him coming. Raymond attacks from the apron but gets knocked off. Able slides out of the ring, taking hold of Cloudy’s foot as he goes and the House of Truth pull Cloudy’s throat into the bottom rope before pulling him clean out of the ring and he hits the floor with a thud. Fist drop back in the ring by Able. Tag to Raymond and he drapes himself over Cloudy and the ropes, choking him with his leg. The referee pulls him off, allowing Able to turn Cloudy upside down in the ropes and they hit their trademark double basement dropkick. Able is back in now but he gets dropkicked and Cloudy nearly gets a tag but is dragged back. Tag to Raymond and they set up a Dudley Boyz style corner powerbomb but Cloudy hits a hurricanrana instead. Ace crusher to Able and Cheech is in and proceeds to burn down the house. Suicide dive onto Able on the outside but then a missed tope atomico back in the ring. The House of Truth try to regroup on the outside and Cheech takes advantage, running to the corner and vaulting onto them. He takes Raymond to the top rope but Able gets under him and carries him out of the corner with a bearhug. Raymond then walks the middle rope and hits a moonsault onto the outstretched Cheech. Awesome spot as Raymond didn’t have much spring to work with. Cloudy breaks up the pin. He throws Raymond into Able and Up In Smoke then hit Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Cheech! Cloudy stands on Cheech’s shoulders and then hits an assisted swanton! Able breaks up the pin. Cloudy tries a headscissors on Able but he is launched like a lawn dart face first into the turnbuckle. He may be dead. Cheech has Raymond pinned in a small package but the referee is distracted. Able gets Cheech in a wheelbarrow and Raymond flies off the top rope and plants his knees into the back of Cheech’s head, driving him down. Count to 100 if you want, this one is over.
Winners: The House of Truth via Pin-Fall (Wheelbarrow/Diving Double Knee Drop Combo)
Post-Match Thoughts: Up In Smoke generate impressive sympathy and the crowd can really buy them as underdogs. The House of Truth seem like they’re in the middle of a push so it was good to see them pick up the win here. They have some really nice moves in their arsenal but they’re still guilty of occasional awkward spots such as the finish wherein they fumbled to make sure they had legally tagged before hitting their devastating move. Still, they have a unique look, great moves, and they could really make a go of it in the ROH tag team division. Up In Smoke are no slouches themselves mind you.
– We go to an interview with the Dark City Fight Club, with footage of them murdering jobbers from the past year. Jon Davis calls himself the brawn to Kory Chavis’ brain. In fairness, Davis brings the pain a lot more, but Chavis is physically larger, so that seems an odd comment. He then puts Chris Hero over as one of the smartest wrestlers in the world, while Claudio is one of the strongest, creating a nice parallel between the two teams, who will be facing off next week.
– Now a recap of Christopher Daniels’ interjection in the world title contract signing from two weeks ago, reminding us that the Fallen Angel vowed to teach us all that he is the best in the world. Next week’s main event will feature Daniels and Roderick Strong vs the American Wolves. Tag teams running wild in ROH.
Main Event – Non-Title Match
El Generico vs. Tyler Black
Pre-Match Thoughts: El Generico’s feeling good after beating the hell out of Steen at the iPPV, and Tyler is very happy with his victory at the same show, so both of these guys should have a spring in their step. They know each other well from the old Steenerico vs Age of the Fall days, so I expect them to have all guns blazing here.
The Match: Seems like a long time since we got a legitimate handshake in ROH. There’s been a lot of reluctant ones, and a lot of the disgusting Rhett Titus/Kevin Steen/Joey Ryan ones, but not so much with the mutual respect lately. Tyler goes right to the arm and Generico tries to use his speed to escape but to no avail. They fiercely battle for position but neither can even get a one count and Tyler nips up with ease as we have the standard face vs face stand-off. More hold trading leads to some vaulting and then a snapmare and a kick to the back from Tyler. He sort of lacks conviction when he does that. Signature Tyler stomp to the jaw and Generico goes to the ropes to recuperate. Generico quickens the pace with three quick arm drags, the final of which being the wrap-around variety, and then finishes it off with a leg lariat. Ole! Body Slam! Generico indeed. They exchange punches as the match gets less friendly. Tyler makes sure it stays that way with an uncharacteristic headbutt and then demonstrates his surprising power, tossing Generico out of the corner and way up into the air. Forearm, elbow and jumping clothesline combo from Tyler gets 2. They trade some chops and then Tyler whips Generico and does a backflip. I’ve never known what he’s allegedly going for with that, presumably a dropsault. Generico hangs back of course and then walks into a standard dropkick and barely kicks out. More punches now and Generico low-bridges Tyler, sending him to the outside. Generico flip dive! Back in the ring now and Generico flies from the top rope with a crossbody block but only gets two. Nobody makes that move look better than Generico. Tyler flips out of a back suplex and rolls Generico up but he of course kicks out, leaving himself prone for a kick to the side of the head. Tyler amps himself up in the corner and then hits a running elbow strike and then tries to follow up but Generico plants him with a Michinoku Driver! Tyler blocks a half and half suplex but walks right into a big boot. He shrugs it off and they’re forehead to forehead. Generico runs the ropes and creams Tyler in the face with another boot but he quickly fights back with his Pele enzugiri, destroying Generico’s face in the process. F-8 fails, Paroxysm does not. Tyler puts Generico up top facing out of the ring but can’t get a back superplex. No matter though, he hits a rope assisted enzuigiri, which knocks Generico backwards into the tree of woe. Tyler climbs up top… WARRIOR’S WAY! Generico gets a foot on the bottom rope. Tyler drags him to the middle of the ring and tries the Phoenix Splash but misses. He rolls through and charges Generico in the corner who meets him with a belly to belly suplex into the turnbuckles! Tyler is down in the corner, which can only mean… COAST 2 COAST! Tyler kicks out! Generico calls for the Yakuza but Kevin Steen trips him and pulls him groin first into the ring post.
Winner: El Generico via Disqualification
Post-Match Thoughts: Given how long they had, this was pretty special. Generico came across as a potential threat to Tyler’s title and with all the stalemate moments this surely must set up a rematch at a live event with the title on the line, pending Generico getting into the Pick 6. These two have wonderful chemistry and I’d love to see what they could do with twenty minutes or so. The finish also makes sense as Tyler was in trouble, which puts Generico over and furthers his feud with Steen, but it doesn’t bury Tyler because this was non-title and we can’t be certain he was done for. Smart booking, great wrestling, I applaud everyone involved in this short main event.
– After the match Steen puts some boots to the fallen Generico but Tyler isn’t happy with Mr. Wrestling’s interjection so nails him with a Superkick, sending him out of the ring. Tyler nad Steen exchange words and that’ll do it for this week.
Overall: A solid hour of wrestling here that ticked all the right boxes. Kevin Steen, fresh off defeating El Generico but then getting choked out by him is put over huge as a heel with his massacre of Bobby Shields. He and Corino doing commentary was a stroke of genius. Meanwhile Generico, reinvigorated by his attack on Steen, reestablishes his credibility by going toe to toe with the world champion. Steen then of course intervenes in the contest, continuing the feud of the year, whilst also setting up an off-shoot rivalry with Tyler Black. So we get one story that weaves its way through the entire episode. Marvellous booking.
Tyler is seemingly a lone face amidst a pack of heels and his goal as champion this year should be to knock off as many of them as he can to prove himself to the doubters, and Steen is a prime candidate as the King of Heeldom. He’s already fought Corino, and there surely must be a rematch with Generico, so it’s very possible Tyler may become involved in this feud for a while.
Elsewhere we get the heel turn of the year as Necro Butcher joins the Embassy after battling them for over a year. I think we’d all gotten sick of it as it was just a series of Nana-endorsed wrestlers trying and failing to take Necro out, getting us stuck in a never-ending cycle. Turns out it ends by Necro switching sides. I hope we don’t get the same feud repackaged however, with Rasche Brown playing Necro’s role. Stevens could be a legit challenger for Tyler, and hell, so could Necro. Let us not forget Bison Smith has yet to set his sights on the champion either. I have hopes that the Embassy can bust out of their rut and do something meaningful now.
Finally, tag teams reign supreme as both the House of Truth and Up in Smoke put on a strong showing and the Dark City Fight Club are given some more personality as they prepare to take on the Kings next week.
I really enjoyed this show from start to finish and it gave us a little bit of everything that ROH is about. Strong heel work, an underdog victory, a shocking swerve, some violence, new stars being established, and a very competitive main event and intriguing ending. Other companies should take notes from ROH on how to fit a lot of quality content into only an hour.
See you next week everybody.
This was the first ROH I've ever seen and it was amazing. I loved it. I've spent the last 20 years watching WWE and it would seem that I've been wasting my time.
Steen is awesome!!