Ring of Honor returns to television with a bang as an ROH legend returns to the company, the future of the tag team division locked horns once again, and a torch was passed as the Kings of Wrestling competed in perhaps their last ever ROH match against Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin.
Hey everybody, Matt Waters here, finally back with PWP on a regular basis reviewing ROH TV and I couldn't be happier. I'll take this opportunity to state that the Blog of Honor is on indefinite hiatus. With an influx of new staff writing opinion pieces and the like there isn't really room for it. I'll write the occasional piece on the original Blog of Honor from time to time and provide links, but for the time being I'm returning to my capacity as a TV reviewer, iPPV recapper and odcaster extraordinaire. On with the show!
The British Are Back!
Nigel McGuinness officially returned to Ring of Honor in the role of colour commentator, putting over the wrestlers in the back and saying how good it felt to be back with the company. It was short and sweet, and a nice surprise for the live audience and anyone who managed to avoid spoilers for the last month or so. It's a terrible shame that he's unable to compete as a full-time wrestler given how much talent he possesses, so I'm glad he can find a niche somewhere in the industry, and with the company that put him on the map.
Future Shock vs. The Bravados
Recap: Future Shock of Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly may have finally closed the book on their year-long rivalry with the Bravados, defeating them in the first match of ROH on SBG history with their new finisher: Ride the Lightning (discus lariat/spinning leg sweep combination). The Bravados made a valiant effort, but they just couldn't keep Future Shock down.
Review: A pretty straight forward encounter here as Future Shock were just the better team. No huge comeback, no big mistake capitalised on, no extended finishing sequence, they just stepped up and put them down. It wasn't the best match these two teams have had against each other – and there are plenty to choose from – but it was still the best choice to be the first match in the show's history as it was fast paced, exciting and most importantly, it did not resemble what the WWE and TNA do every week. Kyle O'Reilly is the future of this company, and the Bravados' improvement in the last year is staggering.
Best in the World Recap
A five minute video package featuring footage of the fans lining up in New York and giving their predictions before the event, as well as plenty of match footage to give new fans a catch-up on the last major event (no offense to Death Before Dishonor IX). Lots of focus was given to the tag title match (given this show's main event) and the world title match, with Davey and Eddie each weighing in on the bout. It was a really well polished video that quite honestly made me want to rewatch the show, or at least the main event. If they are in fact going for a rematch at Final Battle that will be built on television throughout the rest of the year, this was a good way to start.
ROH World Tag Team Title Match
Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin vs. The Kings of Wrestling
Recap: Haas and Benjamin successfully
defended the ROH World Tag Team Titles, defeating their long time rivals the Kings of Wrestling in what could be the latter's final match in Ring of Honor. Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team dominated the early goings, until clever teamwork from Hero and Claudio allowed them to isolate Shelton. But once Benjamin found an opening and tagged in Charlie Haas it was reasonably academic, with the Texas native cleaning house. The Kings made one last push to win the match, looking to hit the KRS-ONE for the first time in the two teams' rivalry, but it was once again unsuccessful, and Hero was soon pinned after 'Wrestling's Greatest Finisher' aka the Hart Attack.
Review: Until the last two minutes, this was the most generic tag team match in history, but the crowd were digging it, so perhaps I've just watched far too much wrestling. I'll never be happy with WGTT just steam-rolling the Kings, but given this is essentially the fourth time it's happened, I can't say I'm surprised, and to be fair, Haas and Benjamin are the champs and need to look strong in their first outing. Furthermore they seem to be here to stay whereas Claudio is already signed to the WWE and Hero surely can't be far behind. If you've liked all the other WGTT matches to date, you'll like this one. If like me you're a little tired of them this won't do anything to change that mindset. Still, if you were a new viewer, it's a decent showcase of the tag team wrestling ROH is known for.
Overall Show Thoughts
– All in all this was a successful television re-debut with an exciting opener and standard main event that really got the Ring of Honor style across, although it might have been wise to feature a singles match as well. The ideal place to put it would have been after the Best in the World vignette; a two minute squash by someone like Michael Elgin would have been preferable to the multiple video packages that aired back to back between the two matches on the card.
– Indeed it was a very video-heavy episode, but I can't fault them for it, as each video was well made and a good move to show, particularly the Best in the World video and the explanation of the Code of Honor, but perhaps doing so many in one go was overkill. That being said they did a fantastic job of shilling the product, with several prompts to visit the new website (which looks incredible by the way) and promotion of upcoming events and merchandise, something ROH On HDNet never did enough of.
– Given this is the inaugural broadcast for the second run of ROH on television, I'd be amiss to not address the general look of it all, and that starts with the shiny new opening titles. The way they've intermingled footage of the crowd, championships and ring with wrestlers getting prepared backstage is pretty cool and it has a definite old-school feel, but I wonder if they're permanent. I say this because the only two wrestlers seen preparing backstage are Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin. Now if the titles change each week depending on who is in the main event that's awesome, but if those two are the permanent cover boys of the show then I'm pulling the Cornette Favoritism card.
– The new ring set up looks really good, with the new logo plastered everywhere, and the colour scheme focusing primarily on black rather than red to freshen things up. The cameras aren't quite to the HDNet standard, but what did you expect? They're still a great improvement on the live events, and the show definitely looks television-worthy.
– Nigel did a decent job on commentary, not lighting the world on fire to the degree of a CM Punk, but also not being completely obnoxious or annoying like… Booker T. I have faith that he'll be an asset to the commentary team, but Kevin Kelly is still rough around the edges when it comes to familiarity with the product, and that's where Dave Prazak would come in handy in a three-man booth format. Kelly's a great hype man and a step-up on Mike Hogwood, but he gets caught out from time to time and I'm sure it grates longtime fans. The biggest thing to say about the commentary is that it was recorded live, something people have been asking for when it comes to ROH live events. I can't deny the energy was better because of it, but there were definitely advantages to post-production commentary on HDNet. We'll have to wait and see how this all develops.
Plugs
That'll do it for this week, just one thing to check out really, the third Podcast of Honor. I wasn't available to be on it this time around, but Jerome, Ari and Chris did a great job without me so give it a listen.
Live commentary is good