July 8th, 2011 in Richmond, Virginia
Current Champions
ROH World Champion: Davey Richards (since 6/26/11)
ROH World Tag Team Champions: Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin) (since 4/1/11)
ROH World Television Champion: El Generico (since 6/26/11)
The show begins with Jim Cornette in the ring. He discusses the card and announces that Chris Hero will not be at the show. Davey Richards, the new ROH World Champion, comes out for an interview. He thanks the fans for their support and says that Eddie Edwards gave him a lot of motivation to continue wrestling when he wanted to quit. Truth Martini and Roderick Strong interrupt the interview. Strong sarcastically congratulates Richards for defeating his own best friend. He mocks Richards by fake crying. Strong makes it clear that he wants a title shot. Michael Elgin enters the ring but Eddie Edwards comes out to even the odds. Martini calls off his troops and the House of Truth head to the back. Richards promises that the American Wolves are ready for the main event.
Opening Match: Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly vs. Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander
The winners will advance to the Tag Team Lottery Tournament Finals later tonight. O’Reilly traps Alexander in a few submission predicaments but he’s able to escape. Coleman holds his own against Cole but eventually falls victim to some double teaming. He blocks rolling butterfly suplexes from O’Reilly and hits rolling northern lights suplexes. Coleman and Alexander isolate O’Reilly until he connects with a missile dropkick on Coleman and makes the tag. Cole catches Alexander with an enzuigiri and comes off the middle rope with a leg lariat. O’Reilly hits a tornado DDT on Alexander and Cole adds a flying crossbody. Coleman connects with a tiger feint kick around the ringpost on Cole and Alexander takes him out with a dive. In the ring, Coleman hurricanranas O’Reilly off the middle rope and Alexander lands a frog splash for a nearfall. They follow with some wacky double team maneuver for a two count. Cole and O’Reilly connect with stereo basement dropkicks on Alexander and stereo knockout kicks on Coleman. Cole superkicks Alexander and O’Reilly adds a discus lariat for the win at 12:00. While they had their moments, Coleman and Alexander didn’t gel as a team and I can’t help but think that they were brought in solely to fill a spot in this lottery. Cole and O’Reilly put forth a solid effort, despite the crowd having difficulties getting invested into the match at times. Nevertheless, this was still a decent opener and I’m curious to see how Cole and O’Reilly fare in the finals. **½
Match #2: Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Harlem and Lance
The winners will advance to the Tag Team Lottery Tournament Finals later tonight. The Briscoes attack before the opening bell. Mark just violently swings Harlem into the barricade. The Briscoes work him over until he hits an assisted sliced bread and makes the tag. Lance hits a belly to belly slam on Mark and connects with a running knee strike on Jay. Mark responds with a flipping samoan drop and the Briscoes follow with a splash mountain. The Briscoes hit the doomsday device on Lance but Jay isn’t satisfied. Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin run down to ringside. Shelton superkicks a chair into Jay’s face. Lance makes the cover for the victory at 6:26. I absolutely hated the finish and it made the Bravados look like total goofs. While that’s kind of their gimmick, how am I supposed to believe that they stand a chance at defeating Cole and O’Reilly later in the show? *¾
Match #3: Kenny King vs. Mike Bennett
They trade control early on and Bennett actually snaps off a japanese armdrag. You would think I’m kidding. King flips out of a back drop and lands a standing moonsault. Bennett dodges a spin kick and hits a spinebuster. He takes control until King connects with a spin kick and an enzuigiri. Bennett blocks a springboard maneuver with a dropkick and drops King back-first across the apron. He comes off the apron with a lariat and tries to pin King with his feet on the ropes. Todd Sinclair isn’t so easily fooled. King hits an overhead suplex. Bennett escapes the Royal Flush and sneaks in a rollup while holding King’s tights for the win at 9:15…WAIT! Rhett Titus tries to inform Todd Sinclair of Bennett’s cheating. Sinclair asks the crowd and REVERSES THE DECISION!! King is your winner at 9:15. Bennett looked better than usual and had a few innovative counters for King’s offense. However, the majority of this match consisted of these two just trading their signature moves. Although they mixed in some solid exchanges, the crowd didn’t seem to care and they didn’t really have a reason to care. **¼
Bennett attacks Titus after the match and runs to the back. Jim Cornette comes out and books Bennett in a match against Titus later tonight. Oh dear.
Match #4: ROH World Tag Team Titles: Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin © vs. El Generico and Colt Cabana
The Briscoes run out during the introductions but security escorts them out of the building. Cabana tries to joke around but Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team aren’t playing along. The champions ground Generico before he finds an opening to snap off a few armdrags on Shelton. Cabana mockingly challenges Shelton to an amateur wrestling showdown but gets kicked in the midsection. Haas catches Cabana with a corner spear and hits a northern lights suplex. Generico finds knees on a standing moonsault attempt and WGTT isolate him. He escapes a double team back suplex and makes the tag. Cabana cleans house with a series of strikes. Generico tries a dive to the outside but Shelton was nowhere to be found. It seemed like some miscommunication. Cabana hits a flying hip attack on Haas and follows with the flying asshole. He misses a springboard moonsault. Generico lands a flying crossbody onto Shelton and connects with a corner yakuza kick. He hits a tornado DDT for a nearfall. Haas punts Cabana in the head and Shelton boots Generico to the floor. Shelton hits a flatliner on Cabana and WGTT retain their titles at 14:56. WGTT were on pace to have their best showing in awhile before the finishing stretch. Once the action started to break down, things became a bit sloppy and apparently the DVD needed to be edited to hide some blunders from Shelton. Add in the fact that no one believed Generico and Cabana could win and this wasn’t exactly an ideal situation. I hate to say it, but this was WGTT’s worst title defense yet. Hopefully they’ll raise their game once television comes into play. **½
Match #5: Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly vs. Harlem and Lance Bravado
The winners will earn $5,000 and a shot at the ROH World Tag Team Titles. The Bravado Brothers attack during Cole and O’Reilly’s entrance. They fight back with a flapjack and stereo basement dropkicks on Harlem. Cole lands a dive to the floor onto the Bravados. O’Reilly comes off the apron with a missile dropkick on Harlem. In the ring, the Bravados start working over Cole. He rolls through a clothesline and makes the tag. O’Reilly connects with a series of kicks followed by a double missile dropkick. He hits rolling butterfly suplexes on Harlem and Cole adds a german suplex. Harlem recovers with a plancha to the outside onto Cole and lands a frog splash onto O’Reilly. Lance hits chaos theory on O’Reilly for a nearfall. Cole lands a flying crossbody onto Harlem. Cole and O’Reilly hit a superkick-brainbuster combination on Harlem. O’Reilly applies a guillotine choke on Harlem, giving Cole and O’Reilly the win at 9:04. This was probably the most high profile match that these two teams have had and unfortunately it was far from their best. I don’t think that anyone gave the Bravados a chance here as the crowd seemed uninterested in the action. However, I can’t complain with the result and maybe ROH will take a chance on Cole and O’Reilly. **½
Match #6: Mike Bennett vs. Rhett Titus
Titus charges the ring and lays in some punches. He connects with a knee strike and a baseball slide. Bennett gets taken out by a dive to the floor and Titus throws him into the barricade. Bennett recovers with a gourdbuster onto the apron and takes control in the ring. Titus counters a superplex with snake eyes. They exchange punches and Titus hits a leaping bulldog. He follows with a dropkick and a sloppy series of kicks. Bennett dodges a frog splash and slowly takes off his boot. He grabs a chain but Kenny King stops him from using it. Titus hits the Retribution (implant DDT) for the victory at 10:42. These two had very little chemistry together and the match just plodded along until the finish. Speaking of the finish, Bennett took forever to set things up and it looked extremely contrived. I’m not sure if the decision to allow Bennett to wrestle twice in one night was the right one. **
Match #7: Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards vs. Roderick Strong and Michael Elgin
Edwards and Elgin exchange forearms before Edwards runs into a hard shoulder tackle. Richards and Strong wrestle to a stalemate before Strong tags out. Elgin knocks Richards down with a forearm smash. Richards fights back with a dropkick but gets tripped up on the apron. Strong throws him into the barricade and the House of Truth isolate him. He back drops Strong and makes the tag. Edwards wins a chop battle against Strong but gets caught by a facewash kick from Elgin. Richards enters the match but runs into a powerslam from Elgin. The House of Truth once again work over Richards until he connects with a spin kick on Elgin and tags out. Edwards boots Elgin multiple times and lands a lionsault. Strong catches Edwards with a gamenguiri and the House of Truth turn their attention towards him. He hits a nasty sit-out gourdbuster on Strong and makes the tag. Richards connects with a double missile dropkick and catches Elgin with a handspring enzuigiri. He lays in a series of forearms and hits an exploder. Richards hits a northern lights suplex on Strong and applies an ankle lock on Elgin. Elgin rolls through and hits a swinging side slam. Strong superkicks Richards and follows with a backbreaker and an olympic slam. The House of Truth lay out Richards with a gutbuster-lariat combination. Richards fights back with a lariat of his own and finally tags out. Edwards connects with a missile dropkick on Strong and comes off the top rope with a lungblower. He lands a dive to the floor onto Elgin and hits a backpack chinbreaker on Strong. The American Wolves hit their superkick-german suplex combination on Strong. Elgin and Richards slap each other while Strong and Edwards trade chops. Everyone starts connecting with strikes and hitting moves. All four men are down. Elgin hits a pumphandle suplex on Richards along with a sit-out powerbomb. He samoan drops Edwards while hitting a fallaway slam on Richards. The Wolves apply stereo submissions and Truth Martini enters the ring to save his team. He gets sent to the floor with stereo knockout kicks. The Wolves double stomp Elgin and Richards connects with a knockout kick for the win at 31:28. When it comes to ROH in 2011, this is a familiar situation. A show with a completely underwhelming undercard relies on the main event to make the save. To be honest, I think these two teams could have an excellent twenty-minute match with focused action and awesome exchanges. However, there was just no story in this match to hold it together and I can’t help but think that the decision was made to give this contest thirty minutes in order to salvage the show. While there were moments of terrific action here and there, those moments were too sporadic for a thirty-minute main event. ***¼
After the match, Richards talks on the microphone while Edwards holds the ROH World Title. Edwards keeps looking at the belt as Richards thanks the crowd.
Overall: Kevin Kelly might make the claim that “there are no B shows in Ring of Honor!” I would make him try to explain this show. The tag team matches throughout the undercard were disappointing for the most part and I’m not sure who is going to buy a DVD to see Mike Bennett wrestle twice. I understand that Chris Hero couldn’t make the show, but that doesn’t lower the price of the DVD. While the main event tries its hardest to save the show, it ends up being overly long and a bit disappointing as well. ROH is entering a new era with Sinclair Broadcasting. As a result, this show was completely forgotten about. Recommendation to avoid.
I agree with your thoughts on the main event, but I do like Strong and Elgin as a team. Hope they stick to it.