Roderick Strong defends the TV Title against Adam Cole in the main event, the All-Night Express come face to face with Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin and the Embassy/House of Truth drama finally hits boiling point with violent results! Plus Rhino and Tommaso Ciampa in action and a special look at Eddie Kingston’s ROH career. All that and more this week on ROH TV!
I tried my best to fight the urge to add more detail again for this episode, but I couldn’t, there was a lot to say. Don’t like it? Go suck a lemon. Oh, and that title is not in English, try not to explode my American cousins.
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1) Rhino def. Rocco Abruzzi (Gore)
Short match as you’d expect. Abruzzi looks like the lovechild of Tank Abbott. The fans love to see Rhino, particularly the Gore, so it was a shame that something didn’t quite go according to plan here. Either Rhino stopped early or Abruzzi didn’t step into it enough, but either way it didn’t look as devastating as usual.
2) Ambasciata è Morto! (“The Embassy is Dead”)
Tommaso Ciampa drags Nana and R.D. Evans to the ring and throws them in while Rhino and Truth Martini stand by. Ciampa demands the truth – in reference to the collusion between the Embassy and the House of Truth that started with Rhino being sold from one group to the other and involved Ciampa being advised to not challenge for Roderick Strong’s TV title. Martini sells Nana out and leaves, and Evans claims the whole thing was Nana’s idea! Nana goes for Evans but Ciampa informs him in Italian that the Embassy is dead before delivering an Air Raid Crash! Great segment.
3) Tommaso Ciampa def. Mike Sydal (Project Ciampa)
Ciampa is awesome, definitely one of the best things going in ROH right now. Sydal was allowed a little bit of offence, hitting a moonsault from the top to the outside, but Ciampa knocked him out with a knee strike and then finished him. I like the idea that Sydal was using flexibility to his advantage and Ciampa was smart enough to turn it against him. R.D. Evans applauded but kept his distance, teasing he may manage Ciampa solo going forward, which would be nice as his facial expression are wonderful.
4) A.N.X: Awkward, Now (in) X-Divison
Rhett Titus and the now-otherwise-employed Kenny King cut a promo about how great they are, Haas and Benjamin ask for a title shot and of course a brawl ensues. The champs are laid out courtesy of a chair and strangely it’s Haas that has to calm Shelton down.
5) Inside ROH
A lovely recap of Eddie Kingston’s time in ROH and his beef with Kevin Steen to set up their match at Boiling Point, and Eddie Edwards and Sara Del Rey cut a promo on Mike Bennett and Maria.
6) ROH Television Title Match
Adam Cole def. Roderick Strong (Florida Key)
Do you like watching Roddy obliterate people? This is the match for you! If you answered no then what are you even doing here? Go away. I’m so glad they resisted the temptation to make it a cheap win with a roll-up or a distraction, though they sure did tease it enough times. Instead Cole went over big, taking a world of punishment, firing back with all of his key weapons and capturing his first ROH championship. It’s also worth noting nobody has kicked out of the Florida Key. I was going to say I don’t know where Strong goes next, but quite obviously it’s into a feud with Michael Elgin, who came out to watch and ignored Truth Martini’s demands that he help Strong-Rod and then looked non-plussed by his teammate losing the belt. Really good match, solidified Cole as a star and progressed the surely soon-to-explode rivalry between Strong and Elgin.
Episode Review
Another good week of television from ROH, and despite the big strides made by Impact in recent months, I still think Ring of Honor have the best TV product in North America. Their angles can sound dull or confusing when read in spoiler form, but once they’ve added all the bells and whistles in post production and their own time continuity has come into effect you end up with a very clear, very focused product. They’re getting over ideas as well as wrestlers, as demonstrated by the Embassy angle that was bookmarked by two fun squashes. Inside ROH was more interesting than usual due to the presence of Eddie Kingston, and the main event was a whole lot of fun. The weakest point was the ANX/WGTT confrontation due to Titus’ bad promo and body language and in all honesty the hollowness of knowing King is gone now. But that can’t detract from the overall quality. Thumbs firmly up.
