In the final episode of ROH On HDNet before Final Battle the world champion Roderick Strong and his challenger Davey Richards finally face off. Strong was a busy man in this episode as he was also facing off against his former partner Austin Aries in the main event. Elsewhere Kevin Steen takes on Kory Chavis, Daizee Haze battles Taeler Hendrix and we hear from the Briscoe Family. All this and more this week on ROH On HDNet.
Opening Segment
Davey Richards/Roderick Strong Showdown
Recap: Jim Cornette brought Davey Richards to the ring to discuss his upcoming world title match. After confirming that this Friday will mark the end of the American Wolves, Davey asserted he would defeat Roderick Strong and capture the world title. This brought out the champion himself who stated if he ever caught Truth Martini interfering in one of his matches he’d hand the belt over to Davey. He then made a disparaging remark about Richards’ dead grandfather and sprinted away from the ring before Davey could get his hands on him.
Review: FINALLY! Where was this a few weeks ago? I understand that most real ROH fans are going to buy the iPPV regardless, and a decent portion will be excited to see this match purely because of who is in it, but that’s no excuse for ignoring basic wrestling tradition. By this I mean they needed to put Davey and Roddy in the same ring and have them trade insults to make casual fans care about the title match more than they would normally. I’m disappointed that this segment took so long to appear, but better late than never I guess, and it was very well executed. The remark about Davey’s grandfather had that “oh snap!” factor that reminded me of Randy Orton’s comments towards the recently deceased Eddie Guerrero during his feud with Rey Mysterio, only not quite as far over the line. On a completely unrelated note, I found it funny when Davey seemed perplexed by Cornette’s offer of a handshake at the beginning… just me?
Segment 1
Taeler Hendrix vs Daizee Haze
Recap: In a dominant display, Daizee put Hendrix away with a German Suplex. After the match Daizee demanded a real challenge.
Review: Meh. This wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good either. Hendrix got in a few nice little strikes near the end but this was a squash. The problem is that Daizee squashing someone is never as fun as it is when it’s Del Rey. Daizee far better suits the underdog roll, pulling out a victory late in the game, not destroying a no-name competitor. On a side-note, you can really tell how enthusiastic Dave Prazak is about the women of honor thanks to his investment with SHIMMER. Oh, and Daizee’s battle-cries get annoying. Fast.
Segment 2
Briscoe Family Promo
Recap: The Briscoe Family summed up their issue with the Kings of Wrestling, making the standard threats.
Review: I’m not sure if it’s good or bad that Mike Briscoe can cut a promo just as well as his sons. That about sums up this segment to be honest.
Segment 3
Kevin Steen vs Kory Chavis
Recap: A demented Kevin Steen unleashed his full fury on Kory Chavis, at one point attempting to put El Generico’s mask on him. Despite a valiant attempt at a comeback, Chavis could not overcome the onslaught of Steen, falling to a powerbomb, F5 and Package Piledriver in sequence.
Review: Steen looked very strong at the expense of Kory Chavis who is meant to be a big tough guy, yet Steen handled him as if he were a rookie cruiserweight. I won’t feel too bad for Kory as I’m not really a big fan of him, and if he’s not sticking around in ROH then making Steen look good will be a fine last act. ROH are doing a great job of portraying Steen as legitimately insane in comparison to his attitude in the months before. He always seemed a bit crazy, but he could always justify his actions with eloquent explanations, and you believed that he felt he was right. Now he’s just descended into a frothing-at-the-mouth monster, hell-bent on destroying everyone between him and El Generico, with even his mentor Steve Corino looking visibly uncomfortable to be around him. Case in point: Steen placed the mask on Corino’s hand and spat on it twice, making Corino cringe. Generico looked good destroying Bobby Shields, but if you ask me Steen looked better destroying Kory Chavis. Based on what we’ve seen in recent weeks I’m not sure if Generico can withstand the sheer offensive firepower Steen is capable of unleashing. One thing is for certain; Final Battle will be interesting.
Segment 4
Steen vs Generico Recap
Review: A really nice little video package to put across the animosity between both men, and particularly furthering the idea of Steen as psychotic. It was all in black and white, with lots of distortion and crackling as we saw and heard some of the highlights of the year-long war between the two men. Awesome and kind of creepy.
Main Event
Austin Aries vs Roderick
Recap: In a very hard-fought main event Roderick Strong overcame a revitalized Austin Aries, finishing him off with the Sick Kick. Aries entered to what I believe was the Generation Next theme music and wrestled with more passion than he has in a long time, reverting to his wrestling machine persona. Despite his best efforts, including a crucifix driver, Brainbuster and 450 Splash, he could not keep Roderick down for three. As he attempted a second Brainbuster, Roddy managed to counter, lifting Aries up for a vertical suplex and dropping him down across his knees with a devestating backbreaker. One Sick Kick later and it was all over.
Review: This was a really good match. Both guys fought hard and it was the best Aries has looked in ROH in a very long time. Shame that it’ll be his penultimate match (I believe he’s part of the Holiday gauntlet next week). I’ve found all of A-Double’s appearances since the news broke that he was done with the company quite awkward. Maybe it’s just me, but there’s something about knowing a guy is no longer with a promotion that makes it strange to watch him compete, perhaps aware that his heart isn’t in it. Aries certainly couldn’t be accused of not trying, and has wrestled two very good matches in his last two appearances, so I commend him for that. I can kind of see where his reborn persona came from now as he was kicking it old school here, a no-hand Lionsault and everything. Roddy looked good too, and it’s no longer a stretch of the imagination to see him best his former partner. Even if he’s no longer with ROH, Aries is certainly a far more credible opponent than Shawn Daivari or Erick Stevens. Hell, he’s more credible than those two combined. If you ask me the champion looks Strong-er than the challenger heading into Final Battle.
Closing Segment
Final Hype of Honor Video
Recap: A really nice six or seven minute video package hyping the three main event matches for the show. It speaks for itself really, and it’s readily available on the ROH website, so I suggest you go watch if you haven’t already.
Overall Thoughts
The past few weeks have had me a bit worried about ROH heading into Final Battle. The card is good, there’s no question about that, but I felt the company weren’t doing quite enough to build it on-air. Davey Richards beating up on inferior competition who aren’t even close to being in title contention was a waste, and worse still, there was no interaction between champion and challenger. All of that changed in this episode. Roderick knocked off a legitimate threat in Austin Aries – and looked good doing it – and Davey and Roddy had a really nice little stand-off to begin the episode. I still think more could have been done in previous episodes, but this one certainly did a great deal to promote their upcoming bout.
Meanwhile plenty of focus was given to Kevin Steen and El Generico. It was fun to see Generico slaughter Bobby Shields last week, but I enjoyed Steen taking Kory Chavis apart even more. Mr. Wrestling seems genuinely demented, and the video package that aired added to this quite effectively. Cary Silkin’s ruling that the two couldn’t be within fifty feet of each other ruined a potential final stand-off between them, but perhaps that’s a good thing as their aggressions will be left to fester until Saturday night.
Daizee’s match with Taeler Hendrix did nothing to make me any more excited about the Women of Honor tag team challenge match, but I can’t begrudge them giving the ladies some TV time. At least it didn’t last too long. The hype video before the match was reasonable.
We seemed to reach the main event pretty early, but the seven minute hype video that closed the show justified that, and the lengthy main event was well worth viewing. It made me a little sad that A-Double won’t be appearing with ROH anymore, but Roderick looked really good and the match was the best one in recent weeks.
All-around, a nice Go Home show!
Plugs
– In case you missed it, Jerome and I took part in a preview podcast for Final Battle this past week. We also go into the results of the Louisville TV Tapings a little to boot.
– Furthermore I’ve written a long article previewing the event over at my blog. I’d greatly appreciate it if you’d read it, there’s lots to think about in my opinion, and I tried to address as much of that as possible.
– If you still can’t get enough Final Battle preview action then check out our webmaster Chris’ article doing just that too.
– My review of disc 1 of Wrestling’s Highest Flyers is up for your viewing pleasure. I hope to have discs 2 and 3 done within a week, but don’t hold me to it!
– An ROH year-in-review article and podcast hosted by yours truly will be coming your way soon.