ROH founding father Christopher Daniels and World Tag Team Champion Chris Hero collide in the main event with a shot at Eddie Edwards’ TV Title on the line in this week’s main event. The World’s Greatest Tag Team learn who their opponents at the 9th Anniversary Show will be, Daizee Haze takes on MsChif and The Briscoes are in action. All this and more on this week’s ROH On HDNet.
Opener
R&R: A recap of last week’s encounter between the All-Night Express and the Kings of Wrestling with some highlights of the accomplishments of King & Titus added to illustrate their point. I have no further opinions to add, just go back and read what I wrote about the segment last week.
The Elite vs The Briscoes 
Recap: The Elite didn’t offer too much of a challenge for ROH’s most decorated tag team as The Briscoes put quite a beating on the young tandem, finishing them off with the Doomsday Device.
Review: I love jobbers, they take such stiff beatings. That being said they did use a really nice tag team move that saw Adam Revolver hold Jay up for a body slam as Ted McNaler charged and hit a sliding neckbreaker. Not the best explanation, but it looked pretty cool. It was important that The Briscoes looked on top of their game here given what would go down later in the evening, and they really did, walking with a definite swagger and hitting their moves with some added aggression. Mark Briscoe’s Frog Elbow is being established as his new finishing move so it might have been good to see him get the win with it here after Jay hit the Death Valley Driver, but I suppose you can’t showcase the Briscoes without a Doomsday Device.
Homicide Vignette
R&R: To hype a face to face confrontation between Homicide and Jim Cornette on next week’s episode we were shown some highlights of their feud from several years ago to help newer fans understand why exactly ‘Cide holds such a grudge against a man that’s clearly all about helping out the babyfaces and condemning the evildoers. Nice work archive minions!
Daizee Haze vs. MsChif
Recap: Despite a valiant effort Daizee Haze came up short against the returning MsChif. Daizee almost pulled off the victory after a big missile dropkick and her signature German Suplex but MsChif kicked out and then countered the attempted follow-up Heart Punch and hit the Desecrator for the win. After the match Haze attempting to shake MsChif’s hand only to have green mist sprayed in her eyes.
Review: This was… strange. MsChif was formerly part of the big three in ROH’s women’s division along with Haze and Sara Del Rey and she had an insanely dominant run as Shimmer Champion so it’s only natural that she be established as a major threat, but there are no signs she will be sticking around with the company beyond occasional TV appearances. Haze is in charge of booking the women of honor and thus far has been working on putting herself and Del Rey across as equals with their time-limit draw and both mowing through opponents that aren’t each other. This changed a little when Del Rey pinned Haze during their tag team match at Final Battle, though you can argue only one on one matches count to proving who the better man – or in this case woman – is. Now Haze has lost to MsChif, who at times kind of embarrassed Daizee, and it makes Del Rey look superior. I mean Del Rey lost to Kong last year, but via a roll-up and after beating her in their first match. The most troubling thing was that MsChif came across as a big time heel, refusing to shake hands at the start and end of the match and using the green mist. I mean Hog berated MsChif for this action more than he did Chris Hero for attacking The Briscoes’ father! This pseudo-women’s division has the best female wrestler in the world as its top heel, they don’t need another dominant bad girl imposing on her territory. Tweening is perfectly fine, but if they’re booking Del Rey as the winner of their feud then they need credible challengers for her, not Haze, and that’s how this came off, as the start of a new feud between Haze & MsChif.
– Booking aside, this was a good match and I missed MsChif. Her combination of flexibility, speed and strength is a very enjoyable one and she has a mean finishing move. I laughed a little when she used the Panic Attack and Dave Prazak referenced Delirious. If you don’t know why, don’t worry about it.
Haas & Benjamin/Briscoes Confrontation
Recap: Jim Cornette brought Haas & Benjamin to the ring and they discussed their desire to prove themselves as the best tag team in the world which brought out The Briscoes who objected to the very name of their team. Jay claimed that wrestlers in ROH hit harder and faster and are more athletic than those that Haas & Benjamin are used to. After an exchange of words Jim Cornette set up a match between the two teams at the 9th Anniversary Show to determine the number one contenders for the ROH World Tag Team Titles.
Review: A big knock against Shelton when he was in the WWE was that he wasn’t very good on the microphone. His promo in this segment was one of the worst I’ve ever seen him attempt. I don’t recall Haas ever attempting to talk while he was signed but he wasn’t all that much better, mispronouncing the word ‘war’, something I’ve never heard in my life. Both men stumbled on their lines, something I find strange considering they’re in theory used to cutting promos in front of big crowds, especially in comparison to indie wrestlers who mostly cut their promos straight to camera. It really didn’t help that Jay Briscoe cut an amazing promo about the differences between the WWE and ROH either. I knock the Briscoes for being poor on the mic quite a lot, but he ran rings around Haas & Benjamin here. I would say it’s a shame that Mark didn’t chime in but maybe that’s for the best. Going back to my point earlier about The Briscoes having to look sharp, it really helped give credence to the idea of these two teams being on equal footing. Many will turn their noses up at the notion of any “minor-league” team being able to hang with Charlie & Shelton, so The Briscoes need to perform at a high level every single time out of the gate between now and the iPPV, and tonight was a really good start. On a side note I hate Charlie Haas for bringing the idea of WGTT vs The American Wolves back from the repressed part of my brain.
Davey Richards Vignette
R&R: This was a really strangely put together vignette. We got footage of Davey all concussed and down-trodden, then some of his sit-down interview from the build-up to his world title match, then him beating Tyler, then his face-off with Roderick Strong and then more highlights from the Final Battle match. Just strange to show the concussion footage at the start if you ask me, but then I’m only an amateur video producer, so what do I know?
Fun fact: I believe the effect they used in this video package (darkened edges) is called vignetting… and this is a vignette… see?
Christopher Daniels vs. Chris Hero
Recap: Christopher Daniels overcame a torrential onslaught from Chris Hero in the main event and pinned one half of the ROH World Tag Team Champions to earn himself a shot at Eddie Edwards’ World Television Title. Hero was the very definition of a road block however, reigning down elbows and high impact moves left, right and centre. Daniels looked to have the match won after a big comeback with a Blue Thunder Bomb but Shane Hagadorn distracted the referee which earned him a right hand to the face courtesy of the Fallen Angel. Hagadorn didn’t take it lying down however, tripping Daniels as he ran the ropes and leaving him wide open for a Rolling Elbow. Daniels wouldn’t stay down however, kicking out of the traditional Rolling Elbow as well as the KTFO. Hero decided to load up his lucky elbow pad but Daniels saw it coming, ducking the elbow attempt and hitting a uranage. From there it was academic with the Best Moonsault Ever putting Hero away.
Review: If you don’t think Chris Hero could carry this company as a heel champion then you are insane. He was so on-point in this match it was ridiculous. His unique take on a baseball slide, the rebound elbow off the guard rail, the basement dropkick the very second Daniels beat the count-out, the rolling bicycle kick, the three massive elbow strikes at the end of the match… he’s the best wrestler in the world. Bring on the debates because I’m deadly serious. The only minor knock I have against him is that the rolling elbow loses credibility when he uses it more than a couple of times in a match (see his title match against Jerry Lynn for evidence) but he’s been mixing some of his old offence back in and has added things like the stretch plum and a huge moonsault to allow for a more balanced attack. Daniels performed pretty well himself, busting out a nice double stomp variant, an awesome counter from a fireman’s carry to the Koji Clutch, and a really unique O’Connor Roll spot that culminated in a german suplex. Still, he sort of played the role of a damage-sponge, soaking up a barrage of Chris Hero’s finest moves and then hitting one big move at the end of the match for the win, and I’m not a fan of booking babyfaces like that. I accept it has to be done to make the heel look strong and the face look resilient, but I found myself actively angered by the result given all the work Hero put into the match. Oh, and Shane Hagadorn totally slapped Daniels on the ass. Yes.
Overall Thoughts
– Another solid effort from ROH this week with a strong main event, a quick, fun tag team match, a nice in-ring face-off, some good vignette work and a quality women of honor match. What more can you ask of the company? You know what? It was such a good episode that I’m actually going to leave it there because there’s really not much more to say. All the segments were good, the pacing was nice, they continued stories from previous weeks and set up some more for future episodes. Top notch stuff.
– At one point Dave Prazak stated that the TV Title was “exclusive to HDNet” This could mean one of two things: 1) The belt won’t be coming with them if they do secure a new TV deal, 2) Prazak is a moron because the title has been defended on iPPV and at live events. Take your pick.
– Mike Hogwood meanwhile, is a damn genius. Sayeth the almighty Hog: “Daizee Haze may have some Hazy Days.” Outstanding.
– So that will do it for this week everybody. Make sure to listen to all the latest podcasts and read all the columns here at PWP, and a good place to start would be Matt Galyon’s Hit or Miss featuring yours truly.