ROH On HDNET Recap – 9/27/10

This week's ROH On HDNet is one of the best episode's in recent memory, with the Kings facing off with the Super Smash Bros, Daizee Haze in action, the return of the Corino and Steen comedy double-act, and in the main event new ROH World Champion Roderick Strong and the House of Truth teaming against The Briscoes and ROH founding father Christopher Daniels. All this and much more this week on ROH On HDNet.

Quick Results

– The Kings of Wrestling pinned the Super Smash Bros. after a superplex and a moonsault.

– Daizee Haze pinned Rachel Summerlyn with a German Suplex.

– Steve Corino pinned Aiden Chambers with the Eternal Dream. Kevin Steen provided live commentary during the match. After the match the pair attempted to assault Chambers with a fork but were run off by Colt Cabana and El Generico.

– Roderick Strong & The House of Truth pinned Christopher Daniels & The Briscoes after Truth Martini tripped Daniels, allowing Roderick to hit the gutbuster for the win.

Full Results

– We begin the show with a recap of last week's main event cage match that left Delirious laying at the hands of Austin Aries and the All-Night Express. Their attack looked just as brutal the second time around in case you wondered.
– Cue opening titles!

Match 1 – Tag Team Match

The Super Smash Bros. vs. The Kings of Wrestling

Preview: The Smash Bros. had one hell of a match against the American Wolves two weeks ago – in fact I'd go as far as to say it's a contender for TV match of the year – so I see no reason why they can't do the same here against the best team in the world (yes, I said it).
Recap: The Kings decide to shake hands with each other rather than their opponents in a marvellous piece of heelishness. Dos and Hero start out and That Young Knockout kid emphasises his size advantage by just dumping Dos to the mat after he attempts to chain wrestle. Dos uses his speed to keep dodging Hero and delivers a pair of dropkicks to the knee but shrugs it off and goes on the attack. Blind tag to Uno leads to a double suplex. Dos tags right back in and they hit a clothesline and spear combo in the corner which Dos follows up on with a basement dropkick. Yet another tag and now a standing moonsault and falling fist drop combo. Claudio is the one to get a blind tag this time and he puts Uno down with a bicycle kick. The Swiss powerhouse shows off his incredible strength by dead-lifting Uno, walking around the ring with him, and then finally gutwrench suplexing him. I'm suitably impressed. Hero back in and he punches Uno's lights out. More quick tags as the Kings make a wish. Claudio just… military pressed Player Uno. No, seriously, look:

Hero takes over again and delivers knee cravate knee strikes and then a mafia kick. Tremendous. The Kings make the mistake of toying with Uno, and go for their double big boot but he tosses Hero's foot to Claudio and then hits a jumping neckbreaker on him. Claudio fails to stop Uno from scrambling to his corner and Dos gets the hot tag, nailing Claudio with a springboard tornado DDT and then making like a lunatic and hitting a corkscrew press on Hero to the outside! Flying double knees to the head of Claudio! Two count only. European Uppercut puts Dos down and Claudio attempts to follow up with a bicycle kick but Dos throws himself backwards, nips-up as Dos hits the big punch, and then the pair hit an assisted Asai DDT. Dos heads up top but is distracted by Hero knocking Uno out on the outside, allowing Claudio to hit a pair of uppercuts and then tag Hero. Claudio hits a big superplex, and Hero finishes Dos off with a freakin' moonsault! Done. Hell, Hero even nips-up after the pin. Epic.

Review: THIS is what the Kings needed after months of shady finishes and loaded elbows. It's fine for them to cheat to beat the top babyface team every now and then, but at the end of the day they are presented as one of the absolute finest tandems to ever step in a ring, and this match was a wonderful exhibition of their ability. No outside interference, no questionable elbow pads, no foreign objects, just a pair of stacked guys with incredible teamwork demonstrating their ability. This was just a brilliantly executed match by both teams and one of the best opening matches in the 17 month history of the show. You could accuse the Wolves/Smash Bros match of breaking down into a spot-fest, whereas this didn't overstay it's welcome. It was concise and did everything it needed to do. I can't say enough good things about it.
– We go to a highlight package of Glory by Honor 9, briefly showing Roderick with the belt, Homicide's return, Steen taking Generico's mask, and all the big moments from the dream tag team match. I will repeat my point from last week about this footage looking much better than the live feed and perhaps they should use these cameras to film the DVD to make it look better than the iPPV. I certainly don't want to pay to own a show I can stream any time, unless you offer me an incentive like improved presentation and bonus content.

– We immediately transition to a recorded interview with Haas & Benjamin talking about the appreciation the fans gave them and putting tag team wrestling back on the map. Haas claims no matter what happens they want to come back. Shelton says they had fun and confirms they WILL be back. Awesome.

Match 2 – Women of Honor Match

Rachel Summerlyn vs. Daizee Haze

Preview: I've really enjoyed the recent run of women's matches on the show. Del Rey and Haze know what they're doing so we don't get the botched moves of divas matches, and they're short and inoffensive while still giving you pretty good action. They seem to be building an ROH women's division around these two, so I look for Haze to show off the fact she's really on point this year.
Recap: Dave Prazak immediately somewhat quashes my idea of an ROH women's division by calling SHIMMER the women's wrestling branch of ROH. Ah well. Summerlyn uses her power to escape a Haze headlock, and then hits a drop toehold and grabs a front headlock of her own. She transitions to the arm but Daizee rolls through, nips up and grabs Summerlyn's arm instead. Nice takedown by Haze as she keeps control of the arm. Summerlyn eventually counters out and looks for a fisherman suplex but Daizee blocks it, so she hits a swinging fisherman neckbreaker instead. Summerlyn misses a charge in the corner and Daizee rolls her up but can't get the pin. Jackknife pin from Haze but Summerlyn bridges up… sort of, and the two battle for a backslide but Summerlyn lifts Daizee up into the Gory special and then hits a Gory bomb for two. Daizee fires back with a running yakuza to the side of the head and attempts a German suplex but Summerlyn rolls her up for another close fall. Heart Punch! German Suplex! It's over.
Review: This was a little less polished than the other women's matches I referred to, but it was still pretty good. Summerlyn being so much bigger than Daizee meant she had to control the match, and that's where it fell a little. Still, while she was shakey, she was decent, and I wouldn't mind seeing her again. She gave Haze a run for her money, but ultimately we continue to move towards a Daizee/Del Rey encounter, surely at Final Battle.
– Kyle Durden is backstage with Christopher Daniels who expresses dissatisfaction with the changes in Roderick Strong. The Briscoes arrive to butcher the English language some more but Daniels steps in to save the promo.

– More GBH9 highlights, this time from the double chain match, which again looks better from these camera shots than it did live. Another recorded interview as Steen holds Generico's mask and talks to it like it's Generico. He claims he has killed Generico and saved the world.

Over the next two weeks Steen & Generico will take part in another Pick Your Poison series. Next week: Davey Richards vs. El Generico. In 2 weeks: Kevin Steen vs. ?

Match 3: Singles Match

Steve Corino vs. Aiden Chambers

Preview: If I previewed this match for you, I'd be deceiving you, because I had to read Chambers' boots mid-match to figure out who he was. You'll see why.
Recap: Steen did Corino's intro and says he will commentate the whole match to boot. Best episode ever. He immediately criticises the timekeeper for doing a poor job ringing the bell. Corino goes to the eyes and Steen claims it was legal because he was helping him see. Abdominal stretch and… sigh. At Steen's request Corino shoves his thumb up Chambers' ass twice. Corino sucks his own thumb and does it again. I hate wrestling. Steen addresses Chambers as purple. Running chop in the corner by Corino. Three your mom jokes and counting by Steen so far. He asks the crowd to clap, they do so, he calls them cheap. Gold. Corino misses a second running chop and Chambers gets in some punches. He completely misses a missile dropkick as Steen laughs his ass off. Corino's lariat is blocked, but he just spins and destroys Chambers with a discus lariat instead. Eternal Dream! “Punch the Panda! He's done!”
Review: Wow.
– After the match Corino pulls out the ghetto fork (ghetto unconfirmed) and goes to attack Chambers with it but Colt Cabana and El Generico make the save and chase Steerino off. Cabana gets on the mic and calls Corino a coward.
– A recap now of the build of Roddy vs. Tyler and highlights of their match at GBH9.
– One more interview now, taped earlier with a very well dressed House of Truth and Roderick Strong. Martini talks up how he helped take Roddy to the promised land. Strong says he was always the best friend, never the lover, which I guess is slightly less emasculating than the always the bridesmaid never the bride metaphor they normally attribute to him… still, kinda weird. Anyway, Roddy's the champ, that's the Truth, blah blah blah.

Main Event – 6-Man Tag Team Match

Christopher Daniels & The Briscoes vs. The House of Truth & Roderick Strong

Preview: The H.o.T. in the main event? Wow. I look forward to this match as we have previews of two potential feuds in the same match. Plus, I love me some trios action.
Recap: Cleverly, they showed Roddy posing without the belt, and then cut to the title on the timekeeper's table to make it look like he had the belt when this was taped. Josh Raymond and Christopher Daniels start things off amateur style and then have a posing contest. Big shoulder block by Daniels and then he stands on Raymond's head when he waits for Daniels to leap over him. Leg lariat from Daniels and now a tag to Jay Briscoe who roughs Raymond up. Abel tags in now and he and Jay battle for position. Jay eventually gets the better of it with a hurricanrana and then a sweet dropkick. Tag to Mark and a huge double hip toss out of the corner. Abel creates an opening and tags in Roddy who walks right into some Red-Neck Kung-Fu! Roddy doesn't approve and hits a rope-assisted enzuigiri but Mark comes right back with his single leg dropkick. Daniels tags in and continually outsmarts Roddy, firing away in the corner but Abel attacks from behind. The House work Daniels over in their corner, hitting a rope-hung neckbreaker and slingshot senton combo. Raymond misses a Low Ki style springboard roundhouse and gets planted with an STO from Daniels. Tag to Mark Briscoe and a big vertical suplex. Jay in now and they hit their double football tackle. Body slam and a running leg drop from Jay. Daniels in again and he hits a snap suplex and an Arabian press. Mark in now and he hits a back suplex. Raymond finally fires back and hits a missile dropkick before tagging Roddy in to pummel Mark. He tags Abel pretty aggressively, but Abel takes it out on Mark instead. The advantage doesn't last long as Mark hits a running neckbreaker. Roddy and Raymond prevent a tag and drag Briscoe back to their corner where the attack continues. Step-up powerbomb/senton by the House of Truth. Swinging Fisherman neckbreaker by Abel. Roddy tries a superplex but Mark shoves him down and goes for a diving crossbody but misses. He doesn't miss a rebound forearm smash though and makes the tag to Daniels. Clotheslines for everybody! Blue Thunder Bomb on Abel. Fall From Grace on Roddy, but the House stop the pin. Jay flatliners Abel into Raymond in the corner and then goes for a Death Valley Driver but Abel shoves Jay into Mark as he was climbing the top rope. You're Dead (Gargano's lawn dart toss into the corner) by Abel on Mark! Death Valley Driver to Abel! Shooting Star Spear to Jay! It really looked like Jay countered that. Spinning wheel kick by Mark. Everybody is on the outside and Mark hits a moonsault from the top! Daniels sets up Angel's Wings in the ring but lets go to avoid a Truth Martini attack. Roddy goes for a uranage backbreaker but Daniels rolls him up in a crucifix for two. Jackknife pin gets another two. Truth Martini grabs Daniels' foot as he runs the ropes and Roddy nails him with his huge gutbuster for a surprising three.
Review: Kind of weird seeing the gutbuster as a finisher as it normally leads to the Sick Kick, but the finish added fuel to the simmering fire of Daniels vs. Strong. This was decent enough, but I don't think it sufficiently closed out what was an amazing episode. The high spots segment didn't last long enough for a main event match, but this was still fairly good. The House didn't look out of place in the main event, and Daniels continues to expertly show that he is a veteran by outsmarting everyone else on the roster in his matches. Roddy saved himself, only stepping in for short spells, and I find that a little disappointing since he's the new champion, but I guess it puts over the idea of the House as a unit, and Roddy using them to take his beatings.

Overall: This was the best episode of ROH On HDNet in a very long time. The opener was amazing, we got some really good promos and highlights from Glory by Honor, a nice little women's match, priceless comedy from Steen, the furthering of the eternal feud between Steen and Generico, and then a solid main event. I really love where ROH is going right now because a lot of things are wide open.
In the tag team division, The Kings continue to look phenomenal, Haas & Benjamin have committed to a rematch, and the Smash Bros, Wolves, All-Night Express, Dark City Fight Club and Briscoes all look strong.
What I believe to be an ROH women's division is growing nicely, with Daizee Haze and Sara Del Rey being built up as the top face and heel respectively, perhaps an attempt to recreate the genuine buzz around the Del Rey/MsChif feud from a couple of years ago. Amazing Kong has been on the scene a few times this year and she and Del Rey have gone 1 and 1, so you have to believe she'll be back at least once more. Meanwhile we have fresh faces cropping up in Jamilla Craft, Reggie, Rachel Summerlyn and the chick from last week with the terrible first name.
The feud of the year seemed like it was losing a lot of steam, but then you have Steen taking Generico's mask and another impending pick your poison series. Generico and Davey have incredible chemistry so I look forward to that match, and I have no doubt Steen will be paired with someone equally intriguing.
Then in the main event you have a new champion in Roderick Strong looking very well fortified with the House of Truth and Truth Martini at his side ready to fend off anyone who wants to challenge Roddy. Daniels has been built up all year long as a potential champion, Homicide is back, Davey has titanic heat right now, and Austin Aries seems set to make another run at the main event.
So to sum up, all is well in the land of Honor. See you next week folks, take it easy.