Roderick Strong takes on Adam Cole for the TV Title, Rhino makes his television debut, Kevin Steen and Davey Richards come face to face again and much more on ROH TV, the iPPV issue has finally been resolved, new matches have been announced for Border Wars and much more this week on the Ring of Honor Round-Up.
ROH TV 4/28/12 – The Man-Beast Cometh
– Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander beat the Briscoes: C&C won the Proving Ground match via the Leaping Hurricanrana/Frog Splash combo to Mark after Haas and Benjamin took out Jay with a low blow on the outside. The Briscoes are incredible, fetch them more tag teams please. Plus Jay did a chokeslam and if you know anything about how I review matches, you know that earns him huge bonus points. Mark did a rope-walk elbow drop, but it’s important to remember Jay did a chokeslam.
– Rhino murdered Vinny Marseglia to death: Clothesline, suplex, Gore, done. They hit a real home run here, Rhino was over as all hell and if there’s anybody out there who doesn’t know what he’s all about then they do now. More Rhino please. Also, despite doing nothing Marseglia looked capable.
– Kevin Steen and Davey Richards had another promo war: Jim Cornette made them both sign an injury waiver… except it turned out to have a clause stating Steen would never get another title shot after this. Davey was really off, not carrying himself like a champion as he usually does, looking like just another guy, leaning on fat jokes waaaay too much and doing some hyper-patriotism that must have sickened all but the whitest of white-trash. Steen on the other hand was golden, pointing out the flaws in Davey’s character (threatening to quit and go to Japan etc), and really dominated Richards in every way, with the champ looking unsure how to respond to a shove and a slap.
– Inside ROH: There was a fantastic run-down every major match at Border Wars with words from Lance Storm, Jay Lethal, Tommaso Ciampa and Eddie Edwards discussing their matches, and Kevin Kelly breaking down the rest.
– Roderick Strong retained the TV Title against Adam Cole with the Orange Crush Backbreaker. Michael Elgin came to watch and Cole twice inadvertently flew into him, causing a distraction that let Martini hit Cole with the Book of Truth and then Roddy finished him off. Fun little match, not as good as the one from Homecoming though. Cole hit a bananas move at one point, delivering a brainbuster down into his own knee.
Episode Review: It’s nice to finally get back to original programming and a lot of good build to Border Wars was achieved here, with the issues between the Briscoes and WGTT, and Davey and Steen being advanced, Rhino getting smashed over big time, and a lot of hype for every match on the iPPV. Fun matches and segments too, though Davey Richards significantly underperformed.
Synergy Weekend Results
You can find the full results here, but here are some highlights:
– ROH and Chikara split the two inter-promotional bouts, with The Briscoes retaining against Jigsaw and Hallowicked and The Colony beating Lethal, Cole and TJP.
– The Bravados returned to ROH with a big win over the Young Bucks
– The Briscoes retained against WGTT after a brawl erupted between both teams and the ANX at ringside, with the chaos allowing Dem Boys to pin Shelton Benjamin.
– O’Reilly vs Generico went to a no-contest when Jacobs and Steen attacked both men. Davey tried to help but got his leg worked over with a chair
– Davey retained against Adam Cole. Mixed reviews for this match.
From the Newswires
– Not sure if the ANX are turning heel or are just showing passion, but ROH posted footage of their post-match promo in Dayton from last weekend in which they vent their frustration at not yet receiving the tag team title shot they earned months ago. Add to this the fact they contributed to WGTT losing their match with the Briscoes and they could be attempting to reverse the double-turn from last year which would be horrible. I’m hoping we still get the face vs face match with the story of the youngsters finally coming good, whether it be at Best in the World or Final Battle.
– The iPPV situation has finally been resolved as ROH will host Border Wars and all future events on their own website. It appears fans will receive unlimited replays for one year as part of this new service, and Ringside Members may get a discount. You can order the event here.
– ROH teased further interaction with Kevin Steen and Eddie Kingston after Kingston won their Chikara Grand Championship match via DQ when Steen low blowed him. I’d expect them to fight at Best in the World in New York.
– Davey Richards was in a legitimate car accident which caused him to miss a flight to Japan, resulting in he and Rocky Romero being stripped of the NJPW Jr Heavyweight tag team titles. This is being incorporated into his feud with Steen as he will enter Border Wars hurt after this in addition to Steen’s attack in Dayton. If Davey was injured in said accident then we all of course wish him a speedy recovery.
– BJ Whitmer will be booked for future ROH events.
– Chicago will host Death Before Dishonor X on September 15. DBDX will of course be an iPPV.
– The Tuesday Rollout turned out to be a KENTA in ROH DVD rather than the CM Punk product I thought it would be. My bad. Still, a nice set, pick it up.
5/4/12 Videowire
With words from Adam Cole, Truth Martini, Fit Finlay and Davey Richards, as well as a hype package for the Border Wars main event. The videowires have gotten better recently with footage of recent events being included, ya know, like people have been clamouring after for months. I still think it would be a better strategy to release one segment per day like Chikara rather than release a 12 minute video once a week.
New Border Wars Matches
Michael Elgin vs Adam Cole: Billed as a clash of 2012’s Breakout Stars, Cole and Elgin will lock up in Toronto. Both men have had breakout performances against Davey Richards, with Elgin producing a Match of the Year contender, and Cole shocking the world by pinning the champion in a tag team match before coming up short in a title match. Now that Cole’s title shot is behind him he has less momentum to protect so I would imagine the victory has to go to Elgin, and with almost no pressure on the match I’d expect them to steal the show.
Jay Lethal vs Tommaso Ciampa: After feuding over the TV Title for months things have become personal between these two, with Lethal trying to get over the idea that he is in fact the one worthy of the title of the Dominant Male. Ciampa cost Lethal the title at Showdown in the Sun after previously claiming he would shake his hand and call him the better man if he managed to retain it, leading to this grudge match. Hopefully Ciampa gets the win and it settles the feud, but the question is what’s next for both men?