More footage from Showdown on the Sun this week on ROH TV so I’m not going to cover it. Listen to my review of the event here instead.
Richmond, catch the Rematch Fever!
– The Briscoes will face Roderick Strong and Michael Elgin of the House of Truth in a rematch of their ‘$10,000 Challenge’ match from ROH TV back in January. Ironically enough these eight men were teammates at the end of last year in the infamous 70 minute match and it was their arguing over who would receive the lion’s share that led to the Briscoes leaving behind their heel ways and returning to the army of light. That exchange also kick-started the tension between Elgin and Strong so while this may seem like nothing special there’s a nice little backstory. Plus let’s face it these are four of the company’s franchise players so it should be a good match. Briscoes win, Strong and Elgin nearly come to blows, everybody leaves happy.
– After handing their asses to them on iPPV back at the opener of the 10th Anniversary Show, the All Night Express will attempt to beat Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin one more time in Richmond. Despite my many complaints about how the likes of the ANX have been pushed to the side to make room for WGTT in the last two years, King and Titus actually hold a winning record over Haas and Benjamin, also defeating them in a Proving Ground match on ROH TV (it is very important to note the ANX never received that title shot). They also faced off over a year ago on TV and WGTT required (unwanted) outside help to win. They have probably faced in another match I’m forgetting so this could all be lies but the point is I maintain the ANX are on the rise and beating Haas and Benjamin again will help their cause, particularly as the WGTT/Briscoes feud will be over by then.
– Finally Eddie Edwards and Mike Bennett will do battle for the fourth time. That’s right folks, they’ve managed to squeeze a trilogy of matches out of this Bawwwston duo. It started with Edwards winning a Survival of the Fittest qualifying match late last year, continued with Bennett winning via nefarious means during March Mayhem, and most recently Edwards beat Bennett on the latest set of ROH TV tapings. If they have any intentions whatsoever of putting Bennett in the main event he can’t suffer three losses to the same wrestler so look for the title of the Pride of Massachusetts to remain unsettled… until a fifth match is inevitably announced in a month or two.
April 24 & 26 Newswires
– The latest in a long line of excellent Briscoes promos was released, this time addressing how the ROH locker room need to get behind them in their tag team title match against Jigsaw and Hallowicked, complaining about how the Chikara wrestlers came out in full force to support their guys last time around and there wasn’t an ROH athlete to be seen.
– Finlay hasn’t even made his ROH debut yet – that will take place on May 12 at Border Wars against Roderick Strong – and he’s already decided he needs another taste, electing to sign on for Best in the World 2012 in the Big Apple.
– Michael Elgin’s opponent was revealed to be Samson Walker, a powerhouse who wrestled on last year’s Carolina cards. I never got around to watching either event but my sources tell me he wasn’t too impressive. Elgin squash ahoy!
– The ANX’s tag team opponents were announced as… Chris Silvio and Mohammed Ali Vaez. Swell.
– ROH have teased that the next release in their Tuesday Rollout will focus on CM Punk. They’ve already done four DVDs on Punk’s time in ROH, including the excellent Summer of Punk release from a few weeks ago, so one has to wonder what they’ll do this time around.
– Adam Cole wrote a nice little blog about his match against Davey Richards and his career in general. Check it out.
– Truth Martini wrote a blog essentially claiming everything was cool in the House of Truth, as well as taking Roddy to the title within 6 months after he couldn’t win it on his own in seven years, and claiming credit for putting Michael Elgin on the map.
April 25 Videowire
– With comments from the House of Truth, Steve Corino, Kyle O’Reilly, Haas & Benjamin, ANX, and ROH’s trio for Unity of Adam Cole, Jay Lethal and TJ Perkins. All the people you’d expect to be good and bad at talking were good and bad at talking, although TJP was funnier than usual and Lethal totally called out Mike Quackenbush. I’ll let those of you familiar with Lethal’s history in Chikara read into it what you will. Everyone else can just laugh at the gay joke.
Upcoming Events
– ROH are returning to Milwaukee for the first time in 8 years on July 14. I assume the Young Bucks will receive unquestioning cheers. That’s a sports joke Kevin Ford.
– Border Wars takes place May 12 in Toronto and will be on iPPV. Still no word on who the heck will be providing the broadcast or how to watch it. Tick tock tick tock.
– Another month of TV will tape on May 18 in Baltimore and yet we still haven’t reached the content from the previous taping yet.
– Rematch Fever hits Richmond the following day on May 19, and then it’s Charleston, West Virginia on June 15, and Best in the World 2012 June 24 in New York City.