The Nightmare Begins on June 15th, 2012 in Charleston, West Virginia
Opening Match: Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander vs. Kenny King and Rhett Titus
Titus headscissors out of a wristlock from Coleman. Coleman snaps off a few armdrags and connects with a dropkick. Titus catches Alexander with a knee strike and King adds a lariat. Alexander snaps off a headscissors on King and connects with a basement enzuigiri. Coleman and Alexander hit a nice leg drop-standing moonsault combination on King. Alexander finds himself in the wrong corner and the All Night Express isolate him. He ducks a lariat from Titus and makes the tag. Coleman lands a flying crossbody onto King and catches Titus with a springboard leg lariat. He catapults King into a gamengiri from Alexander, who follows with a flying elbow drop. ANX come back with a barrage of kicks on Alexander. Coleman kicks Titus in the corner and then falls to the floor onto King. Alexander connects with a corner dropkick on Titus and hits a full nelson slam. Coleman reenters the ring with a top rope leg drop on Titus for a nearfall. Coleman falls victim to snake eyes and shotgun knees. Titus hits a top rope Sex Factor on Alexander. ANX follow with a springboard lariat-powerbomb combination on Alexander for the win at 11:55. Aside from a couple of rough spots, this was a fun opener that benefited both teams. It was doubtful that ANX were going to lose heading into their title match against Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team, but Coleman and Alexander were able to keep the contest pretty even. **¾
Match #2: Davey Richards vs. Mike Mondo
Mondo shoves Richards instead of shaking his hand. Mondo connects with a northern lariat but Richards quickly responds with a series of kicks. Richards synchs in a surfboard but Mondo reverses the hold. They dodge each other’s kicks and find themselves at a stalemate. Both men attempt some pinning combinations to no avail. Richards low bridges Mondo to the floor and punts him from the apron. Mondo does a backflip to show the effects of that kick. He finds an opening after spearing Richards off the apron and into the barricade. Mondo takes control, working over the midsection. Bobby Cruise announces that there are three minutes left in the time limit. Richards connects with a double stomp and both men are down. They exchange forearms and Richards lands a dive to the floor. In the ring, Richards connects with a missile dropkick and hits a german suplex. He applies an ankle lock. Mondo refuses to tap out and the time limit expires at 15:00 (close enough). This was the first two-thirds of a great match and my rating will reflect that. However, it’s a shame that they didn’t try to do anything creative with the looming time limit. When the three-minute announcement was made, the heat segment was still happening. Then, Richards suddenly made a comeback and maintained control until the time limit. In essence, there was no believable chance that we were going to see a winner when Bobby Cruise first announced that there were three minutes left. I think a rematch makes perfect sense, especially because they appeared to have solid chemistry together. ***
Match #3: Roderick Strong vs. BJ Whitmer vs. Kyle O’Reilly vs. Adam Cole
This is a proving ground match, so if someone else besides Strong picks up the victory, he will secure a shot at the ROH World Television Title. O’Reilly attacks Cole before the opening bell. Whitmer lands a dive to the floor onto Cole and O’Reilly. Strong dropkicks Whitmer through the ropes. In the ring, Whitmer hits a northern lights suplex on O’Reilly. Cole blind tags into the match to fight his former partner. They collide after both attempting a crossbody and tag out. Whitmer snaps off a hurricanrana on Strong and hits a twisting fisherman buster. O’Reilly out-strikes Whitmer and hits a shoulder-capture suplex. Cole lands a flying crossbody onto O’Reilly for a nearfall. He follows with a shining wizard. Strong throws O’Reilly to the floor and hits a backbreaker on Cole. Whitmer catches Strong with an exploder but Cole lays him out with a superkick. Everyone exchanges strikes. Whitmer suplexes himself and O’Reilly over the top rope and to the floor. Strong superkicks Cole for a two count. Cole sneaks in a crucifix and pins the champion at 9:59. I like all four competitors here but the action never reached the level that I was expecting, especially with Cole and O’Reilly being involved. While I appreciate their feud being referenced during the course of this match, there was no interesting thread that held the action together. At least the end result was productive, with Cole looking like a threat heading into his title match against Strong. **½
Match #4: Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Chris Silvio and Paredyse
Gilbert Corsey is your guest event host for this match. Totally Awesome are accompanied by the Planet’s Reevis while the Briscoes are accompanied by KRock’s BT. If any of those names mean anything to you, you’re way ahead of me. Paredyse is wrestling in a tutu. He spanks Mark, who responds with a mafia kick. Mark distracts the referee while Jay delivers a blatant low blow to Paredyse. Reevis trips Jay from ringside, so BT does the same to Silvio. Reevis and BT enter the ring but don’t come to blows. Mark throws Silvio into the barricade and suplexes him onto the apron. In the ring, the Briscoes make Totally Awesome end up in a sexual position while Kevin Kelly remarks “say hello to my little friend” on commentary. See everyone, this is funny. Silvio low blows Mark behind the referee’s back and Totally Awesome isolate him. Mark avoids a top rope leg drop from Silvio and makes the tag. Jay hits a falcon arrow on Paredyse, who responds with a botched DDT. Reevis and BT start fighting. Jay chokeslams Paredyse for the victory at 8:20. Jim Cornette spent the first forty-five minutes of this show on commentary talking about how Ring of Honor is a wrestling company, not an entertainment company. Then Radio Wars happened. Two radio hosts fought in the middle of the match, taking the focus away from the action that was already doomed because of Totally Awesome’s sloppiness. If this was some kind of experiment, it failed. ¼*
Match #5: Jay Lethal vs. Michael Elgin
Elgin showcases his power advantage early on. Lethal snaps off an armdrag and cartwheels into a dropkick. Truth Martini enters the ring and almost gets into a fight with Paul Turner. That was awkward. Elgin blocks the Lethal Injection with a northern lariat and takes control. Lethal finds an opening to sneak in a couple of pin attempts to no avail. He connects with a superkick but misses an enzuigiri. Elgin dead-lifts him into a german suplex. Lethal blocks a running knee strike, connects with an enzuigiri, and hits the Lethal Combination. Roderick Strong comes out to stop Lethal from hitting Hail to the King. Elgin begins yelling at Strong, allowing Lethal to hit the Lethal Injection for the win at 12:14. This was a fine preview of what these two could do together, although I think it was far from the best match that they could deliver. The constant interference from Martini didn’t help matters nor did the appearance of Strong near the finish. However, the slow burn of Elgin’s face turn was continued and sometimes match quality is sacrificed. **½
Elgin and Strong almost come to blows after the match. Elgin tells Strong that this is the last mistake he’ll ever make.
Match #6: ROH World Title: Kevin Steen © vs. Eddie Edwards
Steen gets into an argument with Jim Cornette before the match about a sponsorship deal that was ruined because of Steen’s antics. Cornette informs Steen that every one of his singles matches in Ring of Honor will be for the title. Edwards immediately takes out Jimmy Jacobs at ringside with a plancha. Steen powers out of an early half crab but gets low bridged to the floor. He trips Edwards on the apron. They brawl at ringside. Edwards kicks Steen’s head into the barricade. Steen attempts to powerbomb Edwards onto the apron, but Edwards hurricanranas out of the move. Steen hits a fallaway slam into the barricade and bites Edwards in front of Cornette. In the ring, Steen takes over until Edwards hits an overhead suplex into the turnbuckles. Edwards connects with a missile dropkick. Steen responds with his pumphandle neckbreaker. Edwards finds an opening to land a dive to the outside. He takes out Jacobs with a second dive. Steen recovers in time to connect with a lariat. Edwards comes off the middle rope with a lungblower and hits a sit-out gourdbuster. Steen dodges a flying double stomp and hits a powerbomb. He transitions into a sharpshooter but Edwards is able to reach the bottom rope. Steen plants Edwards with a DDT. Steen yells “you will never beat me” at Cornette and then misses a corner cannonball. Edwards connects with a flying double stomp for a nearfall. Steen retreats to the floor. Edwards charges at him but Steen elevates him through the table at ringside. Back in, Steen finds knees on a swantan attempt. They trade superkicks and Edwards hits a german suplex. Steen slips out of a backpack chinbreaker and hits a sleeper suplex. Steen follows with the F-Cinq to retain his title at 15:13. I don’t think anyone is going to buy Steen losing the title anytime soon, but Edwards gave him a very good match that generated some believable nearfalls down the stretch. While I found the three-man commentary team of Corino, Cornette, and Kelly to be distracting, Steen’s antics during the contest were entertaining. This was on par with their previous singles matches and Edwards proved to be a smart first challenger for Steen. ***½
Match #7: Texas Death Match: Charlie Haas vs. Jay Briscoe
They begin brawling during the introductions. Jay sneaks in a quick rollup to score a pinfall but Haas easily answers the ten count. Jay throws Haas into the barricade and utilizes the ring bell. Haas hits a back suplex onto the edge of the barricade. That gets Haas a pinfall but he attacks Jay during the rest period. Haas hits an exploder for another pinfall. He takes control until Jay yakuza kicks a chair into his face. They trade punches until Haas hits an olympic slam, taking out Paul Turner in the process. Jay hits Haas with a chair and goes to the back to get a cooler full of weapons. Jay connects with a superkick. He shrugs off a parking cone shot and double stomps Haas through a table. Jay props a piece of caging between two chairs. He hits a death valley driver on Haas, sending him through the caging. A recovering Paul Turner checks on Haas, but he just kicks him in the face. Haas low blows Jay and hits him with a kendo stick. Haas sprays ether into a rag. Jay hits him with the kendo stick and instead of using the rag, he just hits Haas with the can of ether. That gets Jay a pinfall. Haas is unable to answer the ten count, giving Jay the victory at 19:22. Maybe I don’t have a rudimentary understanding of Texas Death Matches, but some of the early pinfalls felt out of place. If the amount of pinfalls is irrelevant, why did Jay attempt a rollup in the opening minute of the match when he knew that Haas would be able to answer the ten count? Aside from some confusion with the rules, this was a decent brawl that at least tried to reference some of the events that occurred during the feud. However, I have to wonder why a Texas Death Match was the chosen stipulation. **½
Overall: Aside from buying the DVD, The Nightmare Begins was a show that you could have watched on Ring of Honor’s television show. As a result, the show itself needed to be pretty spectacular to earn a recommendation in regards to a DVD purchase. Unfortunately, while Mike Mondo and Davey Richards had a solid undercard showcase and Kevin Steen had a very good first title defense against Eddie Edwards, some of the other matches that could’ve been worthwhile were held back by either a short duration or booking constraints. Another talking point on this show was Radio Wars, but the less said about it, the better. The Nightmare Begins was already facing an uphill battle after being featured on Road Rage, but I cannot give a recommendation due to match quality alone.
You can purchase this DVD at Ring of Honor’s store right here.