The Ring of Honor World Championship is on the line this week as Davey Richards defends against perennial rival Roderick Strong in a hard-hitting war. Meanwhile the Embassy's Tommaso Ciampa makes his first broadcast television appearance, Jim Cornette addresses the issue of who exactly the number one contenders to the ROH Tag Team Titles are and more this week on ROH TV.
Jim Cornette Talks to the Briscoes
Jim Cornette brings the Briscoes to the ring to address the ROH World Tag Team Title situation, reminding them they won't be rewarded for attacking the champions with chairs. However they will apparently be rewarded for losing a Ladder War to determine the number one contenders by getting to face the winners of said match, the All-Night Express, with a shot at Haas & Benjamin on the line. I know this was taped before Death Before Dishonor IX, but the continuity here hurts every bit as much as Jay Lethal (and Christopher Daniels before him) wearing a belt he'd yet to win to the ring on iPPV. Standard Briscoes promo aside from the time paradox.
Focus On: Tommaso Ciampa
Jim Cornette calls Ciampa the most unique wrestler on the ROH roster….k. Ciampa cuts a hoarse promo about never losing and winning championships for the Embassy while Nana and Cornette take turns to big him up. We also get a few clips of his work-out regimen which is pretty impressive. I approve of the company trying to push Ciampa, as it's no secret I'm a big fan of his, but this came off as pretty corny and his promo was pretty uninspired. They might have been better suited just running the footage of him flipping tires and lifting weights, because that was good stuff.
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Andy Ridge
Recap: 'The Dominant Male' Tommaso Ciampa's status as the only undefeated wrestler in Ring of Honor continues after he defeated Andy 'Right-Leg' Ridge with his devestating Project Ciampa finisher. Ridge kept it a close contest thanks to – you guessed it – plenty of kicks from his right leg, but Ciampa's cunning ring awareness was too much as he twice tripped Ridge while he was attempting high risk moves, leaving the youngster prone to four running knee strikes in the corner and then Project Ciampa.
Review: Definitely not a squash here as Ridge hit plenty of moves and shockingly one of them wasn't a kick, but rather a slingshot ace crusher. I'm as amazed as you are. Ciampa's ring style is intriguing to me because he's not a powerhouse or an MMA-wannabe or a high-flyer, but an intelligent hybrid wrestler. The way this came across was Ciampa just had better ring awareness than Ridge and exploited his opponent's mistakes in order to beat him. The four, yes four, running knees were pretty sick and it was probably the best version of Project Ciampa we've seen to date. He still has some work to do, but I'm quietly excited about what Ciampa can do here in ROH. Oh, and he has new music.
Inside ROH: Roddy & Davey Part 2
Roddy continues to come across as a complete creep, and not in a funny heel way, in a “what a sad, pathetic human being” way, talking about how he was captain of the football team and how women used to do him favors (he actually winked) and how making Davey's life hell is his favourite past-time, better than sex, even with him. No, I am not paraphrasing, that's pretty much word
for word what he said
and it was cringe-tastic. Richards on the other hand continues to play the dead grandparents card, talking in even more depth about their passing and how the ROH World Title is all he has left. I do feel for Richards and what he's been through in his life, but I'm not entirely sure this wasn't overkill.
ROH World Championship Match
Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong w/Truth Martini
Recap: Davey Richards made his first defense of his world title inside an ROH ring, defeating Roderick Strong in a 20 minute battle with the Ankle Lock. The two were evenly matched until Strong took control with a gargantuan jumping knee strike. Richards fired back minutes later with a big german suplex and a huge suicide dive. Things were evened up moments later however as they fought on the apron, where Strong delivered a chop to the face and a backbreaker on the edge of the ring. After trading near falls, Richards began to repeatedly go for the Ankle Lock, but Truth Martini would distract the referee, preventing the champion from retaining. Davey dealt with Martini but the distraction allowed Strong to hit the Sick Kick and go for the Strong Hold, but Richards countered into another Ankle Lock. Strong refused to go down, but a few stiff kicks to the head softened him up enough for Richards to get the tap-out victory.
Review: For the first fifteen minutes this was very basic, formulaic stuff, with the standard Richards and Strong exchanges of holds and strike attempts, then each man had a turn to control the match for a while, and then it finally got exciting in the final five minutes or so. They used some sequences we don't see very often and I liked the fact Richards kept going for the Ankle Lock and then actually won with it. Strong's ring-work is worlds apart from the awful character they're having him portray in those sit-down interviews, and I really would like to see him hold the belt again someday. If you're a new fan then this was all the Davey Richards you need to get what the man is all about. He kicks, he uses submissions, he takes big risks, he's resilient and he yells a lot. If you don't like his superman routine then this won't sit all that well, but it wasn't as offensive as some of his performances can be if you're in that camp. Personally I'm on the fence, but I was a little bored for most of the match because I've seen it all before. I genuinely enjoyed the closing stretch of the match though and it was a good match overall, but nothing PPV worthy.
Overall Thoughts
– I like the pacing they've found now, with two matches, a couple of video packages and an in-ring promo segment in each episode. It works very well and I'm never left wishing there was more wrestling content in each episode as one might think in a two-match show. The vignettes are well produced, but some of the wrestlers aren't really bringing it enough in their sit-down interviews. I'm looking at you Strong Rod.
– The matches were pretty good, as the Ciampa/Ridge encounter was a lot of fun for how short it was, and the main event exhibiting what the Ring of Honor main event style is all about. New fans will have had their socks rocked, but jaded old timers like myself may have only found it decent. This is TV after all folks, and they have to save the top of the line stuff for iPPVs and marquee live shows.
– Kevin Kelly's commentary is getting no better and Nigel didn't have the best of weeks, recycling the same cliches and sounding a little forced at times. I don't want to sound like a broken record, but someone with a knowledge and passion for the product like Dave Prazak is the catalyst that's missing on commentary.
Kevin Steen References
– Steve Corino was on commentary during the Ciampa/Ridge match and at one point made reference to the fact he used to have a friend and did everything for him, but that friend blames him for everything that happened. Kevin Kelly promptly asked him not to discuss it further and mentioned they were talking about a disgruntled former ROH employee.
– Nigel McGuinness was interviewing a fan about who would win the main event when they decided to yell “Bring back Kevin Steen!” a few times. Nigel called them a not very nice term that would never be allowed on British television but because most Americans don't understand it it's fine.
– There you have it folks, the man is slowly creeping into the televised product as well as the iPPVs.