It’s a tag team extravaganza this week on ROH On HDNet as the Briscoes get their final shot at the world tag team champions, The Kings of Wrestling. Elsewhere the House of Truth do battle with the Super Smash Bros., The Embassy lock it up with Grizzly Redwood and Andy Ridge, and Jim Cornette makes a ruling on the future of Kevin Steen. Plus a special appearance from Homicide.
Not seen this week’s ROH On HDNet yet? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! Watch it here.
Opening Segment
A recap of last week’s episode with footage of Davey and Tyler’s verbal confrontation as well as highlights of their match.
Segment 1
Erick Stevens & Necro Butcher vs Grizzly Redwood & Andy Ridge
Recap: The Embassy dominated their smaller opponents, holding off minor flurries and ultimately triumphing when Stevens hit Grizzly with Ghanarhea.
Review: You know what? As atrocious as the Embassy are, I’m going to miss these two as a tag team. There. I said it. There’s too many heel teams already so there’s no room for them to work, but the sight of Stevens tossing a wrestler to Necro to destroy with a giant punch is just all kinds of fun. The stiff uppercut and wheelbarrow suplex combo they used in this match is giving the Embassy Mega-Punch (which returned) a run for its money as my favourite tag team move. Ridge looks like he belongs on the main roster and I hope the trial series works out for him, though he was limited to his standard short barrage of right-legged strikes in this one. Grizzly Redwood deserves more credit than he gets. When you look past the shenanigans he’s a surprisingly good cruiserweight, and he takes a hell of a beating (Necro did his best Low Ki impression with a straight kick to the head). This was inoffensive fun and ended the right way. I can’t help thinking the switch to Jimmy Rave’s music, Rave-themed tights for Necro, and the use of Ghanarhea was intended to lead somewhere, and I personally hope we find out in 2011. Wait… did I just express hope that the Embassy returns? Oh dear.
Segment 2
Kings of Wrestling Promo
Recap: Shane Hagadorn dismissed the American Wolves, stating he knew who his real friends are. The Kings then ran down their dominance over the Briscoes to date.
Review: The Kings look elite with their two managers, Hero always cuts a great promo, and Hagadorn’s words keep the Kings/Wolves feud alive, something desperately needed as we won’t be seeing all four in the same place at the same time for a month or so.
Segment 3
Super Smash Bros. vs. House of Truth
Recap: The House of Truth ultimately triumphed in a fairly even match when Player Dos missed a big dive to the outside leaving Uno to fall victim to the Tower of Truth for the loss.
Review: More Smash Bros please. If Delirious/Cornette/Cary were around I’d get on my knees and beg. What more do they need to do? They’ve had fantastic matches with the Kings, Wolves, Briscoes, and Steenrico back in the day. The tag team division needs a new face duo and Uno & Dos impress on each and every outing. Anyway, I’ll get down off my soap-box now. It’s kind of a shame that Josh Raymond is retiring, but ROH reported that Truth Martini has recruited a new member so hopefully he will team with Abel to keep the team alive. That being said, this was a minor step back for the HoT as they reverted to their slightly sloppy ways with some awkward moments early in the match. They got it together in the end however and the match turned out to be decent.
Segment 4
Homicide Promo
Recap: Homicide introduces himself to the HDNet audience, reminds us he’s beaten Samoa Joe and Bryan Danielson in the past and he’s here for the title.
Review: Though this was short I found it a good way to insert the Notorious 187 into the equation without him wrestling. There is a good chance that a reasonable portion of HDNet audience have either never seen Homicide, or weren’t aware he wrestled outside of TNA. If I were ROH I’d use old footage of him and start running vignettes hyping his debut.
Segment 5
Jim Cornette Promo
Recap: Cornette declares Kevin Steen & Steve Corino are contracted to perform and will face GeneriColt in a cage match next week or will never wrestle anywhere again.
Review: I’m not entirely sure what the point in Steen quitting was, other than to get him out of facing Corino in Pick Your Poison, which could have just been avoided by Generico choosing anyone else and Steen actually wrestling. Still, if it leads to a cage match then I’m very much down.
Segment 6
Kings of Wrestling vs. Briscoes
Review: In a lengthy bout, the Kings of Wrestling defeated their rivals the Briscoes thanks to a Shane Hagadorn low blow to Jay while the referee was distracted.
Review: Another member of the PWP staff doesn’t share my opinion here, but I think this was exactly what was needed for this feud, only about four months ago. We’ve seen them do battle with other men or women as their partners, we’ve seen them face each other in singles matches, we’ve seen a violent No DQ match, an elimination match, and even a ninjas incident, but we’ve only seen one straight-up tag team match between the two all year long. Steen and Generico have managed two. This match had no stipulations or gimmicks beyond the fact it was the Briscoes’ last shot, and it didn’t set the world on fire, but it was solid. You don’t have to try and put on a MOTY candidate every time you step in the ring after all.
When Del Rey attacked Mark right in front of the referee I was worried she’d made a mistake, but it led to her logical ejection, which I liked. When these two finally have a final blow-off match I think Hagadorn and Del Rey will need to be taken out of the equation mid-match, either via ejection like this, or a Briscoes attack. It’s logical storytelling and I support it. The beatings on the outside were a little much, but the UFO is still an amazing move and the Kings hit some nice double team moves without being overly flashy. The ending was a little weak however as we got a J-Driller out of almost nowhere and then a slightly awkward Shane Hagadorn attack that resulted in a low blow and a pin. I’ve never liked the low blow as a finisher. Sure, it hurts like hell, but it’s not concussive. I’d have preferred it if it left Jay vulnerable to the KRS-ONE as that’s a believable finisher, but whatever.
Segment 7
Mike Briscoe Attacks
Recap: After the match Mike Briscoe jumped the guard-rail and attacked Shane Hagadorn. The Kings of Wrestling tried to help Shane but the Briscoes fought them off leaving the three Briscoe men standing tall.
Review: Papa Briscoe talks just like his boys, meaning I barely understood his “promo”. I think he’s pissed off that Hagadorn got involved… or he wants to go to Burger King. Either way, this gives us a logical build to the upcoming six-man tag match at Final Battle. It’s all well and good him getting knocked out by Hero, but having him get physically involved with Hagadorn and having all six men in the ring at once sows the seeds of the match altogether better.
Closing Segment
We’re reminded that Steerino will take on GeneriColt next week in a cage match. Is it just me or does Generico look like Delirious when he was in the Age of the Fall in that mask?
Overall
I enjoyed this episode overall, with three decent tag team matches (more than the WWE can boast in a month HI-YO!) and some good subtle build-up of upcoming stories such as the Kings & Hagadorn vs the Briscoes & Papa Briscoe, the Kings vs the Wolves, Roderick Strong vs Christopher Daniels for the title next month, and the eventual debut of Homicide.
The wrestling never reached a fever pitch, but it was never bad either. Being consistently average is perfectly fine in my book. Last week was mostly fantastic with a slightly boring wait between the promo and the match, and two weeks ago the episode just plain frustrated me, so I’ll take this as a happy medium. The episode’s greatest strength was it kept me interested in what will happen next week and in the weeks after that, whereas Davey vs Tyler was incredible in that moment but did nothing to advance stories beyond that night, so it was important to follow that with this week’s episode.
More ROH next week everybody, and a highly anticipated steel cage match to advance the feud of the year, so until then, you stay classy San Diego.