#1MansOpinion:Ring Of Honor ‘Caged Hostility’ 9/8/12 Charlotte, NC

Ring of Honor returned to Charlotte for the first time in a couple years on September 8 for Caged Hostility with a main event featuring Rhett Titus & The Briscoe Brothers facing ROH World Champion Kevin Steen, Steve Corino, & Jimmy Jacobs in a steel cage. The following is a full review of ROH’s return to the Queen CIty. Also in action was ROH TV Champ & BOLA 2012 winner Adam Cole versus former tag team partner Kyle O’ Reilly in a “Proving Ground” match as well as two big tag matches plus much more. Remember the following is……

Matches ranked 1-5 stars
Overall show 1-10

Adam Page vs Jay Lethal

Adam Page is a local independent star in the Mid-Atlantic who got a second look from ROH at Caged Hostility. On this night, Page faced a pissed off and motivated Jay Lethal. Lethal recently hit a low blow on Matt Taven after a recent match & explained to us before the match that he had to do it to show his “Killer Instinct” to Jim Cornette proving that he deserves an ROH title shot in his hometown of Rahway, NJ coming up in October. The two started with a chop fest, with the veteran Lethal getting a slight advantage. Page hits a dropkick to turn the tide in his favor and the two battle outside where Page hits a beautiful shooting star press from the apron to the floor driving the crowd into a frenzy! Back in the ring, Page nearly gets the big upset but Lethal takes control back and hits the “Lethal Combination” for a 2 9/10 count! Page is still fighting. Lethal goes once more for the “Lethal Combination” hitting the back breaker portion 5 times as the crowd counts along but Page counters out of it only to be hit with a cutter out of a backflip by Lethal to end the match.
#1MansOpinion: VERY good opener here. The local crowd was solidly behind Page, though Lethal had his fans as well. I don’t know if Page could’ve made any better case for himself to ROH officials than he did here. He showed great athletcism, and hung with Lethal every step of the way. Lethal continues to thrive in ROH where he can showcase his full array of talents proven by the tremendous promo he cut  prior to the match. This easily could’ve been an ROH TV match at the least and really started off Caged Hostility hot. *** 3/4

“No Fear” Mike Mondo vs “God’s Gift” QT Marshall
Another opportunity here for a young talent to showcase what he can do with QT Marshall facing off against Mondo, who is gaining popularity as of late. This was a slow match, Marshall worked the arm a good deal of the time and the two brawled to the outside as well. Not much more to report from this one as far as in ring action. The crowd pretty much died during this match after getting the “MIKEY!” chants out of their system. Mondo picked up the win with a double underhook DDT.

#1MansOpinion: Despite the hot opener(which was hard to follow) I don’t think this match would’ve done well anywhere on the card. I didn’t see anything from Marshall that makes me thing he’s ready for ROH. Mondo is physically impressive and maybe with a more experienced opponent would put on a better match, but I wasn’t blown away in my first live look at him either. Marshall has decent heel charisma and is passable in the ring but I was expecting much more from both men. * 1/2

The Bravado Brothers(Harlem & Lancelot) vs C&C Wrestling Factory(Cedric Alexander & Caprice Coleman)

These four really picked the show back up in an outstanding tag team match. Both teams are from North Carolina so the crowd was hot for this one from start to finish. C & C opened up the offense early with Alexander getting the best of both Bravados. Harlem & Lancelot then took over on Caprice Coleman isolating him in their corner and tagging in and out. The Bravados implied old school tag team wrestling perfectly with drop toe hold & elbow or knee drop spots, double hip tosses etc,. Coleman can REALLY FLY! as he started making a comeback and flawlessly made the leap to the top rope hitting an elevated crossbody. Alexander in for the hot tag and he’s kicking faces like only he can do. The Bravados briefly cut off the momentum of Alexander but Coleman is back in as all four men battle with C&C getting the best of it and winning the match after a standing hurracanrana & frogsplash combo as Alexander pinned Harlem for the win.

#1MansOpinion: EXCELLENT tag team match. Crowd was hot for it the entire time with support for both teams. The Bravados have really improved by leaps & bounds since returning from Japan and utilize  old school tag team wrestling to perfection. Even in  a time where Tag Team Wrestling is not on life support you’d be hard pressed to find a better, younger, more exciting tag team than Alexander & Coleman. ****

Davey Richards made his way out to the ring to a nice reaction, puts over the tag match that just happened and says he didnt’ know he’d have to follow that.   He continues that he was going to wait until Death Before Dishonor to do this but he had some things he wanted to get off his chest. Richards said first and foremost he loves wrestling & he loves wrestling in an ROH ring, he continues that he’ll be out later to watch a match he’s very interested in.  That being said he is not proud of the person he’s been OUTSIDE of the ring over the past year. Davey  said he’s put his faith in the wrong people but that’s all over now and The “American Wolf” is back.

1st Intermission

Mike Posey vs Jeff Lewis Neal

This was an added, unannounced match. Posey has been seen over the last while on ROH TV and Neal is a local Mid-Atlantic talent. Neal played the heel decently here though not many people seemed to know him and a lot of us missed his name during ring announcements. This was a fairly quick match with Posey picking up the win with the long distance top rope legdrop.

Post match: SCUM(Steen, Jacobs, & Corino) hit the ring and attacked both men before Steen grabbed the mic. The ROH Champ said Jim Cornette isn’t here and he has to defend his title against Rhino soon on Ippv so he’s canceling tonight’s main event. Steen then tells Jacobs & Corino since Cornette isn’t here the Piledriver is legal and to DO IT! They grab Posey and set up for the spike piledriver but Rhett Titus comes out for the save. TItus takes a little heat from SCUM until the Briscoes follow him and clear the ring. The Briscoes talk about all the blood they’ve spilled in Charlotte and promise tonight it will be SCUM bleeding cause they’re gonna whoop that ass. Ring Announcer Corky Franks announces before the next match that ROH Officials will fine Kevin Steen 5k if he doesn’t compete tonight so the main event is on.

#1MansOpinion: Not much to this match, no big botches from either guy but  it was mainly there to set up the beatdown from SCUM and pop the crowd for the main event. **

WGTT(Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas) vs House of Truth(Roderick Strong & Michael Elgin) w/ Truth Martini

WGTT came out first and Charlie Haas was immediately keyed up and going at it with ringside fans as Benjamin just stood in the ring. The story of this match was the contiuing dissention between The HOT. Strong only offered to tag in when Elgin was in a spot that he couldn’t make the tag. Early on Strong grabbed the mic and told Elgin “Suck My Balls you Bastard” and slapped him yet the match continued. WGTT worked over Elgin for the majority of the match and whenever he’d fight them off, Strong jumped off the apron leaving his “partner” stranded. Elgin battled back and was going for a powerbomb on Benjamin when Strong decided to tag himself in, and again the two partners came face to face. WGTT took advantage and Haas locked in the “Haas of Pain” on Strong. Elgin rammed Shelton into the guardrail, went in for the save but just left Roddy by himself as Haas & Benjamin got the win via submission.

#1MansOpinion: This is one of the stranger matches I’ve seen live. Charlie Haas’ jawing with the fans at ringside dominated the match along with the continuing dissention of the HOT. Haas is either playing a role to perfection or was genuinely crazy, coming face to face with a number of fans(even taking a swipe at one) as Shelton looked on from the ring. Haas at one point spat and it landed on the middle rope, as the fans groaned Haas went and “reclaimed” the spit before it hit the mat(SICK!) All of this in addition to the EXTREMELY slow burn of the breakup of the HOT took away from some good in ring work by Benjamin & Elgin here. It’s worth mentioning that Truth Martini is a very good old school style manager so despite the eventual breakup of The House of Truth I hope to see him continue to build his stable possibly with Elgin as the superstar of the group. ** 1/2

Proving Ground/Return Match from Best In The World Return Match
ROH TV Champ Adam Cole vs Kyle O’Reilly

Davey Richards made his way out to the ring after both men were announced and took a seat to watch this match as promised earlier. This was a typical back and forth “Houseshow” match, O’Reilly worked Cole over with an abdominal stretch holding the ropes leverage a couple times before being caught, and utilized his MMA strikes & kicks. The two brawled a bit on the outside and then on the apron where Cole got himself back into the match dropping O’Reilly on the side apron. The finish was predictable as Cole shoved O’Reilly into Richards at ringside and as Cole & Richards exchanged words O’Reilly took advantage with a victory roll out of a german suplex attempt to get the win and earn a future ROH TV Title Shot.

#1MansOpinion: Possibly the start of a heel turn or  a TV title feud with Davey & either Cole or O’Reilly. The match itself was decent, Cole has potential to be a star, O’Reilly gets too caught up in the MMA aspect which works to a certain degree but should be mixed with some more “traditional” wrestling as well. ***

We get a 2nd intermission while the cage goes up. Scheduled to be a 15 minute break, it took at least 30 minutes to secure the cage which I won’t complain too much about because it’s an issue of wrestler safety and that’s important.

6 Man Steel Cage Main Event
The Briscoe Brothers(Mark & Jay) & Rhett Titus vs ROH Champ Kevin Steen, Steve Corino, & Jimmy Jacobs

This one was crazy from start to finish. SCUM attacked Titus & The Briscoes as they made their entrance and less than two minutes into the match Jay Briscoe was bleeding profusely. The team lead by the ROH champ continued their assault on the outside before making their way into the cage and enjoying a 3 on 2 advantage as Mark Briscoe was left laying on the floor(bloody like his brother) locked out of the cage. Rhett & Jay tried to fight back but couldn’t ever get the advantage and just when Mark was about to make it back in by scaling the side of the cage Steen sent him tumbling off the top of the cage and exploding through the ringside table!! SCUM continued their attack but Titus and Briscoe gained some momentum running all three members into the cage as Mark finally began stirring on the floor. As his brother & Rhett Titus finally evened things up Mark again climbed to the top of the cage and moonsaulted into the ring taking out all 5 men! Finally with a 3 on 3 matchup The Briscoes & Titus dominated and got the win as Jimmy Jacobs went for “Sliced Bread” Titus blocked it and passed Jacobs onto the waiting shoulders of Jay Briscoe allowing DEM BOYS to hit the “Doomsday Device” and pick up the win.

#1MansOpinion: Very enjoyable main event. Jay Briscoe was as bloody as I’ve seen anyone at a wrestling show in a long while and bled for a while! The psychology of SCUM having the 3 on 2 advantage worked well for this match and both Mark’s fall to the outside through a table and moonsault from the top of the cage elicited the biggest pops of the night. Blood & Brutality is what you want out of a cage match and all six men and ROH delivered that at Caged Hostility. *** 1/2

PostMatch: Jay Lethal ran out from the back attacking Kevin Steen and the two brawled to the back. It has since been announced that Lethal will get his ROH title shot in his hometown of Rahway, NJ on October 6th.

#1MansFINALOpinion: Overall this was a very enjoyable show with admittedly some strange and underwhelming moments. ROH should really look into getting on TV in this market and hopefully that will perpetuate more live shows in the area as fans packed out Metrolina Trade Expo for this one. The Opener was hot and started the show the way any opener should, not fully expending the crowd but getting the show off to a great start. Again, major props to Adam Page on a great showing and Jay Lethal deserves a lot of credit as he’s doing a great job elevating himself towards the title shot against Steen. Marshall vs Mondo and Posey vs Lewis Neal underwhelmed, the matches just didn’t work on an otherwise hot show. C & C and The Bravados was great tag team wrestling mixed with a crowd that was hot for both teams and ultimately is my MOTN. The other tag match was not bad as far as in ring action but the weird behavior of Charlie Haas really took away from what could’ve been another really good tag match. The Main Event, much like the opener sent the crowd home happy as I said Cage matches generally provide blood & brutality and this one delivered in spades. All six guys worked their asses off in this match and Kevin Steen, Rhett Titus, The Briscoes, and Steve Corino are always going to give you your moneys worth. This was my first time seeing Jimmy Jacobs live after enjoying his matches online and on DVD and he was very good as well.
Overall: 7.5/10

Follow Ring of Honor @RingOfHonor on Twitter and visit www.ROHwrestling.com for more live events and information on the Death Before Dishonor Ippv coming up September 15 from Chicago Ridge, IL.

Also check out ROH Champion Kevin Steen taking on Matt Hardy at PWX Wrestling on Oct 5th at Neighborhood Theatre in Charlotte, NC Tickets are available at highspots.com and more info on the event is available at www.pwxperience.com or by following them on Twitter @PWXWrestling1 Steen & Hardy had words after the ROH show Saturday night which you can see below

If you enjoyed or even disagreed with #1MansOpinion Follow me on Twitter @The1andonlyJer and let’s discuss it or please let me hear YOUR Opinion on ROH’s return to Charlotte or the upcoming Death Before Dishonor Ippv by leaving comments below!