July 9th, 2011 in Charlotte, North Carolina
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)
Opening Match: Mike Bennett vs. Andy Ridge
Before the match, Bennett promises to turn his losing streak around. I’d say that he has a pretty good chance here. Ridge tries a quick rollup to no avail and snaps off a few armdrags. He misses a dive from the apron and Bennett drops him back-first across the apron. Bennett hits a backbreaker and takes control. Ridge fights back with a series of kicks and hits a slingshot ace crusher. Bennett responds with a spinebuster and adds a piledriver for the win at 5:22. While this match was on the shorter side, I think the duration played to their strengths. Bennett didn’t have to drag out his offense and actually looked motivated. Ridge kept the action exciting and had the crowd believing that he could beat Bennett. I have to admit that I was really impressed by this opener. **½
Match #2: Mark Briscoe vs. Kenny King
Jay Briscoe and Rhett Titus are handcuffed to different ringposts. King connects with a spin kick and reigns down punches. Jay gets involved from ringside, allowing Mark to take control. Rhett Titus also interjects himself, causing Mark to get caught by a gamenguiri. King uses the barricade to hit a leg drop. Mark throws him into the barricade and connects with a shotgun dropkick in the ring. The action goes back to the outside where Titus back drops Mark onto the floor. In the ring, King connects with shotgun knees followed by a springboard clothesline. He hits a spinebuster but misses a springboard senton. Mark connects with a corner yakuza kick and hits an iconoclasm. After trading reversals, King hits the Coronation for the victory at 8:36. The back and forth action in the ring was well done, making me wish that the nonsensical stipulation wasn’t in play. The purpose of the handcuffs was to make sure that Jay and Titus didn’t get involved in the match. Unfortunately, a quarter of the match was them doing just that. Take away the stipulation and this contest would have been much more enjoyable. **¼
Match #3: Jay Briscoe vs. Rhett Titus
Now Mark Briscoe and Kenny King are handcuffed to different ringposts. They trade punches and Titus connects with a dropkick. He clotheslines Jay to the floor and lawn darts him into Mark. See, that’s how you work the stipulation. In the ring, Titus lays in multiple kicks but runs into a clothesline. Jay takes over and hits a flatliner into the middle turnbuckle. Titus gets fired up and comes back with a leaping bulldog. He connects with a baseball slide and lands a dive to the floor. Back in, Titus misses a frog splash and Jay grabs bolt cutters. Jay punches out the referee and cuts Mark loose. The Briscoes attack Titus as King watches on from ringside. Jay plants Titus with the Jay Driller and the match is finally thrown out at 10:02. Once again, the stipulations became bothersome and prevented them from having the match that they are capable of having. I understand that these were just supposed to be shorter undercard matches to continue the feud between the Briscoes and the All Night Express. However, I think they could have accomplished a lot more if they tried a more simplistic approach. **
The Briscoes prevent Todd Sinclair from freeing King. They hit the doomsday device on Titus. Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin run out to make the save.
Match #4: Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards vs. Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly
Richards acknowledges his friendship with O’Reilly but says that he’s not going to hold anything back. Edwards and Cole exchange armdrags and wrestle to a stalemate. Richards and O’Reilly avoid each other’s submissions and strikes. They trade kicks and O’Reilly takes Richards off of his feet. Cole and O’Reilly follow with some double teaming. O’Reilly connects with a knockout kick on Richards but gets caught by a gamenguiri from Edwards. The American Wolves connect with stereo basement dropkicks and isolate O’Reilly. He fights back with a double dragon screw leg whip and makes the tag. Cole connects with a missile dropkick on Richards and an enzuigiri on Edwards. He comes off the middle rope with a leg lariat on Edwards and hits a fireman’s carry neckbreaker. Edwards answers with a backpack chinbreaker. O’Reilly hits a tornado DDT on Edwards and Cole adds a flying crossbody. Edwards applies an achilles lock on Cole. O’Reilly locks in a guillotine choke on Richards but it gets reversed into an ankle lock. Cole connects with a superkick on Richards and hits a reverse hurricanrana. Richards pops up and answers with a lariat. All four men are down. Richards wins a strike exchange against O’Reilly and synchs in an ankle lock. Cole plants Edwards with a tornado DDT on the apron. O’Reilly hits rolling butterfly suplexes on Richards. Cole and O’Reilly hit a DDT-german suplex combination on Richards and connect with stereo knockout kicks for a nearfall. Edwards avoids a plancha from Cole. He catches O’Reilly with a dragon screw leg whip in the ropes and connects with a flying double stomp for a two count. The Wolves hit their superkick-german suplex combination on O’Reilly for a nearfall. They follow with a double team backcracker. Edwards applies an achilles lock on O’Reilly but Cole breaks the hold. Cole lands a dive to the floor onto Richards. Edwards reapplies the achilles lock on O’Reilly for the win at 21:23. This was an excellent tag team encounter that did wonders for Cole and O’Reilly as this was unquestionably their best performance in ROH so far. Unlike the Wolves’ match with Roderick Strong and Michael Elgin at the last show, this contest featured focused action that had the crowd in a frenzy. At twenty-one minutes, the match didn’t feel overly long and while some might feel differently, I don’t think all of the nearfalls down the stretch were overkill. Cole and O’Reilly could have believably won on multiple occasions and everything came together to make this match special. This is the kind of encounter that I’ve been waiting to see from ROH for quite some time. ****
Edwards doesn’t hear the bell and refuses to let go of the achilles lock. Richards becomes angry and checks on O’Reilly. Edwards yells at the timekeeper but Richards still seems upset with him.
Match #5: Michael Elgin and Chase Owens vs. Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander
Coleman catches Elgin with a knockout kick and connects with a leg lariat on Owens. Alexander hits a slingshot senton on Owens. Elgin enters the match and just hits a double powerslam. Not a big deal. Coleman is isolated until he avoids a top rope senton from Elgin and makes the tag. Alexander connects with a springboard lariat on Owens and hits a DDT. He springboards off the middle rope and catches Elgin with an ace crusher. Coleman drops Owens onto Alexander’s knees. Alexander lands a dive to the floor onto Elgin. Coleman hurricanranas Owens off the top rope and Alexander lands a frog splash for the victory at 9:14. While Coleman and Alexander aren’t the most fluid team, they did enough here to successfully get the crowd excited coming back from intermission. Although he didn’t take the pin, I’m not quite sure why Elgin would lose after having been in the main event of the previous show. Nevertheless, this was an energetic match that served its purpose. **½
Truth Martini gives Owens a thumbs down and Elgin lays him out with a spinning powerbomb.
Match #6: Chris Hero vs. Colt Cabana
Cabana maintains control of a wristlock and outsmarts Hero early on. Hero eventually retreats to the floor to regain his composure. They exchange chops on the floor and a distraction by Shane Hagadorn allows Hero to connect with a flash kick. He takes control until Cabana beats a countout and connects with a springboard forearm smash. Cabana follows with more strikes and lands a springboard moonsault. Hero escapes the Colt 45 and lays in an elbow. Cabana locks in the Billy Goat’s Curse but Hero reaches the bottom rope. Hero connects with his stomp-roaring elbow combination and hits a cravate neckbreaker. Cabana withstands a series of boots and hits a flying hip attack for a nearfall. Hero blocks the flying asshole with a roaring mafia kick for the win at 15:56. I was pleasantly surprised by this match. It began like most of Cabana’s matches in ROH but eventually transitioned into an enjoyable back and forth contest with some nice sequences. These two obviously know each other very well and they were easily able to fill sixteen minutes with a lot of worthwhile action. ***
Match #7: Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin vs. Harlem and Lance Bravado
Shelton shrugs off a dropkick from Harlem and connects with a boot. He out-wrestles Lance on the mat and hits a spinebuster. Haas follows with an overhead suplex on Lance but finds himself in the wrong corner. The Bravado Brothers work him over until he catches Lance with an innovative lungblower and makes the tag. Shelton connects with a spin kick on Harlem and hits a neckbreaker on Lance. Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team find success with the Broken Arrow (leapfrog body guillotine) on Lance for the victory at 6:21. The Bravado Brothers are officially a joke and can apparently only have a competitive match with Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly. After their fluke win over the Briscoes and a weak performance here, I’m not sure why ROH invested so much time into them. I’m equally frustrated with WGTT and this match accomplished nothing. **
The Briscoes come out after the match and want a fight with WGTT. Both teams start brawling and the Briscoes gain the advantage after a low blow from Mark. They bring a table into the ring. Haas whips Jay and Mark into the table. Shelton gets back dropped to the floor and the Briscoes send Haas through the table. Kenny King runs out to make the save but is way too late. This was the classic case of using a post-match segment to compensate for underwhelming wrestling.
Match #8: Cage Match: El Generico vs. Roderick Strong
They begin brawling outside of the cage before the opening bell. Strong gets sent into the barricade and Generico uses it to land a dive. Truth Martini provides a distraction, allowing Strong to swing the cage door into Generico. Strong hits him with the Book of Truth and takes over inside of the cage. Generico comes back by sending Strong into the cage repeatedly. He hits a tornado DDT and connects with a yakuza kick. Strong falls victim to a blue thunder bomb and a michinoku driver. Generico gets caught by a superkick and both men are down. Strong connects with an enzuigiri followed by a high knee strike. Generico answers with an overhead suplex into the turnbuckles and connects with a corner yakuza kick. Strong escapes a brainbuster and finds success with the Sick Kick. Generico can’t hit the brainbuster and gets caught by a flurry of strikes. He recovers with a yakuza kick and hits a brainbuster for a nearfall. Strong lays in another Sick Kick, hits a gutbuster, and follows with the Gibson Driver for a nearfall. They battle up top and Strong gets knocked down to the canvas. Generico climbs to the top of the cage but Martini interferes. Generico yakuza kicks Martini off of the cage and hits a top rope brainbuster on Strong for the win at 17:55. These two have great chemistry together and they proved that once again in this main event. The only thing holding this match back in my mind was that it didn’t really feel like a cage match. The cage itself was rarely used and never played an integral part in the direction of the action. Still, these two kept the crowd’s interest and had more than a few standout exchanges. While their match at SoCal Showdown II was probably their best outing together, this was a fine main event to close the show. ***½
Overall: While No Escape feels like a show that was lost in the shuffle because of the upcoming television tapings, it still manages to deliver quality matches. The American Wolves had an amazing match with Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly, cementing the latter as a team to look out for in ROH. Chris Hero and Colt Cabana surprised with a fun midcard contest and the main event, while not as epic as some might expect, ended the show on a high note. There are definitely some frustrations that arise while watching this DVD such as the perplexing six-minute encounter between the Bravado Brothers and Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team. However, based on match quality, I can give this show a recommendation.