Maria! Eddie Kingston! Sara Del Rey! Mike Mondo! That’s right everybody, all your favourite wrestling superstars are here this week on ROH TV, with Kevin Steen defending the World Title against Mondo, Eddie Edwards and Adam Cole colliding with Mike Bennett and Brutal Bob Evans, and Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team in action. Plus the surprise returns of Eddie Kingston and Sara Del Rey and plenty of footage from Best in the World. All this and more this week on ROH TV.
Hey look, I’m all caught up! But what about last week’s episode I hear you ask? Well the previous edition of ROH TV was Road Rage from Best in the World, and given this site has both a written and audio review of that event, I saw no reason to cover it for a third time. Don’t like it? Do sumfin!
Eddie Edwards & Adam Cole def. Mike Bennett & Bob Evans w/Maria (Flying Crossbody)
A pretty standard tag affair with Bennett and Evans only managing to control the match briefly with rest holds, but once Adam Cole and Brutal Bob were left alone in the ring it was academic. Still, Maria had a lollipop and I want Mike Bennett’s life… so… that’s something.
Sara Del Rey Returns to ROH
After the match Maria nailed Adam Cole in the head with one of her boots, prompting Sara Del Rey to hit the ring. Evans and Bennett managed to drag Maria out to safety before any damage could be done and the babyfaces celebrated. There was a lot of hesitation so I guess Death Rey was supposed to make the save before Cole got hit. Also it was pretty hilarious hearing Kevin Kelly react to Del Rey as if she’d never been in ROH before when she in fact appeared on the first episode of this very television show if I’m not mistaken.
Inside Ring of Honor
Highlights of the absolutely brutal Hybrid Fight match between Cole and O’Reilly from Best in the World (mostly in black and white and with Cole’s face partially blurred), including some nasty post-match pictures showing his missing teeth, as well as footage of Bruno Sammartino’s little ceremony in Pittsburgh and news that Lance Storm will face Mike Bennett one last time in two weeks on TV.
Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team def. Fusion DS (Olympic Slam)
Highlights of the ANX beating WGTT for the titles at Best in the World were shown first. Haas and Benjamin killed the fools (whose names are Matt Saigon and Damian Dragon by-the-by) dead. WGTT demanded the ANX face them next week or else. Awkward.
Jim Cornette Names Some Opponents
Corny states he’s had to go outside of ROH to find some opponents for Steen, giving Homicide a title shot soon, and teasing someone else (wink wink) to be revealed soon. Mike Mondo then interrupted and demanded a shot. Cornette said this hunger is why even Davey couldn’t beat him. Wow. The match is made for… right now! But not before a Mondo vignette. Oy vey.
ROH World Title Match
Kevin Steen def. Mike Mondo (F-5)
This Mike Mondo experiment has officially gone too far. I could handle him as the delusional heel who thinks he’s a giant coming out and talking big only to lose in 30 seconds; that would be funny. But for Mondo to arguably come closer to beating Steen than anyone not named El Generico this year is ridiculous. I get that he’s Cornette’s boy, and to his credit he actually gets crowd reactions in Baltimore so this project is likely far from over, but I am not happy about it. But then again, who the heck am I? They did a near count-out to get Mondo sympathy… straight out of the Davey Richards playbook. Come to think of it, Mondo’s been receiving the Davey push generally lately. Oh, and he has the worst entrance music in the entire world. Just sayin’.
Eddie Kingston Attacks
After the match Steen and Jacobs began beating on Mondo only for Chikara’s Grand Champion Eddie Kingston – not forgetting their bad blood from the 10th Anniversary Show and Hot Off the Griddle – to make the save. He was outnumbered until security separated the two parties, but this is far from over, as the two will face off for the title at Boiling Point live on iPPV.
Episode Review
This was an all over the place kind of episode, with two big surprise appearances from Eddie Kingston and Sara Del Rey, a LOT of footage from Best in the World (filling in the blanks left after last week’s Road Rage episode), a squash from Haas and Benjamin, Eddie Edwards and Adam Cole getting over, and Mike Mondo’s heroic effort against the unstoppable Kevin Steen. If you dislike Mondo then this episode is probably going to annoy you, but it would appear he is getting over so who even knows anymore. The variety kept things interesting as no particular segment lasted long enough to outstay its welcome. I maintain this show is a great vehicle for the product and they build towards future events and advance angles extremely well.