Boiling Point on August 11th, 2012 in Providence, Rhode Island
Pre-Show Match: Harlem and Lance Bravado vs. Mike Sydal and Jorge Santi
Santi double stomps the back of Lance’s head but gets sent into the middle turnbuckle. The Bravados isolate him until he rolls out of a dragon suplex attempt from Harlem and makes the tag. Sydal snaps off a headscissors on Harlem and connects with a knockout kick. Santi adds a russian leg sweep and Sydal follows with a standing moonsault. The Bravados hit the Gentleman’s Approach on Santi followed by a double team inverted DDT on Sydal for the win at 5:38. A fine pre-show match that showed the Bravados’ increased ring presence. Sydal has been hot and cold for me as of late, and he looked a bit off-kilter here. *¾
Opening Match: Roderick Strong vs. Mike Mondo
They begin with some chain wrestling and get into each other’s faces. Strong wins a chop battle, so Mondo headbutts him. They just start fighting each other until Mondo unsuccessfully tries to ground Strong. Mondo gets pushed to the outside, where they trade strikes once again. Strong is bleeding from the nose after a headbutt. In the ring, Mondo gets caught by a Sick Kick and Strong takes control. Strong takes the action back to the outside where he hurls Mondo into the ringpost and suplexes him onto the floor. Mondo traps Strong in the ring skirt and stomps the back of his head. Mondo lands a moonsault. Strong fires back with a gamengiri but Mondo headscissors him into the barricade. Mondo charges down the entrance ramp and pounces Strong into the barricade. Mondo is slow to recover but refuses to quit. Strong connects with a gamengiri and hits a backbreaker for a nearfall. Mondo responds with a spinebuster but falls victim to a gutbuster. He counters a falcon arrow attempt into a small package for a two count. Strong lays in a Sick Kick for the victory at 12:38. I don’t know what more you could ask for out of an opener. They established from the onset that this match wasn’t going to be pretty and the following ten minutes of action never let up. There seems to be a storyline starting with Mondo battling through an injury during his matches. While it came off as awkward at Brew City Beatdown, it didn’t detract from the action here. I’m starting to get behind Mondo’s push, as the quality of his performances have been tremendous. ***½
Match #2: Matt Taven vs. Antonio Thomas vs. Vinny Marseglia vs. QT Marshall
The winner will receive an ROH contract. Taven and Thomas have an exchange that ends sloppily. Taven shrugs off a monkey flip attempt from Marseglia and they stare each other down. Thomas and Marshall attack them from behind. Marshall blocks a dive from Marseglia, but Taven takes him out with a dive of his own. In the ring, Marseglia hits a russian leg sweep on Marshall, who blocks a springboard maneuver with a dropkick. Thomas hits a northern lights suplex on Marseglia and works with Marshall to isolate him. The match starts to break down after a four-way exchange. Taven snaps off a hurricanrana on Thomas and hits a rope-assisted neckbreaker. Marshall catches Taven with an impressive springboard leg lariat. Taven responds with a springboard moonsault and a tornado DDT for a two count. Marseglia lands a plancha onto Marshall and Thomas. In the ring, Marseglia sunset bombs Taven but Marshall crotches him on the ringpost. Marshall hits a running gourdbuster on Taven for the win at 10:55. This match excelled in spurts, but there were large portions of action that had no flow. I think Marshall was undoubtedly the right choice to obtain the contract and Ring of Honor will be able to get a lot of mileage from him. **½
Match #3: Adam Cole vs. Brutal Bob Evans
Cole places some well-timed strikes and starts targeting the left leg early on. Evans lures him to the outside and drops him across the barricade. Evans hits a side slam onto the apron and takes over. Cole fights back with an enzuigiri and a shining wizard. He connects with an enzuigiri but misses a flying crossbody. Evans charges with a shoulder block and elevates Cole into a side slam. Cole lays in a superkick out of nowhere for a nearfall. Cole superkicks the left leg and applies a figure four for the victory at 10:01. Nigel McGuinness did a fantastic job of putting Evans over as a believable yet unlikely threat. The action wasn’t electric by any means, but they stuck to the limb work and kept things simple. In a way, Evans putting in a legitimate performance here makes Mike Bennett look stronger in some odd way. **¼
Mike Bennett runs out to attack Cole, but Eddie Edwards and Sara Del Rey chases him away.
Match #4: Michael Elgin vs. Charlie Haas
Truth Martini announces that Elgin will receive an ROH World Title shot at Glory By Honor XI. This angers Roderick Strong, so he goes on strike from the House of Truth. The crowd chants “we want Shelton” at Haas. Elgin comes off the middle rope with a shoulder tackle and hits a delayed vertical suplex. He follows with an overhead suplex. A distraction by Roderick Strong allows Haas to connect with a superkick. Haas repeatedly slams Elgin’s left leg into the barricade and takes control. Elgin comes back with a german suplex an enzuigiris Haas to the floor. Strong tries to motivate Haas with beer. Elgin gets tripped on the apron due to Strong getting involved. Haas throws beer into Martini’s face. Elgin drives Haas into the barricade and pours beer on Strong. In the ring, Elgin attempts a powerbomb but Strong spits beer into his face. Haas sneaks in a rollup for the win at 14:42. They had a disappointing match at Death Before Dishonor IX and I would argue that the rematch was a step below their original encounter. The action never became interesting and the shenanigans involving the beer down the stretch were overplayed. Elgin needs to break away from the House of Truth sooner rather than later, as his slow burn might be taking too long. **
Match #5: Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Steve Corino and Jimmy Jacobs
Jay connects with a leg lariat on Corino and the Briscoes catch him with stereo shoulder tackles. Mark takes out Corino with a dropkick through the ropes and throws Jacobs into the barricade. Corino saito suplexes Jay over the top rope. Mark connects with a spin kick on Corino and lands a moonsault to the floor onto SCUM. Both teams brawl around ringside. Back in, Mark hits a DDT on Corino and lands a senton from the middle rope. Jacobs interjects himself from the apron, allowing SCUM to isolate Jay. Mark tags into the match and showcases his karate offense. He shotgun dropkicks Jacobs but falls victim to a swinging suplex. Corino adds a facewash knee strike and the Colby Shock for a nearfall. Corino hits a saito suplex on Mark along with a back suplex. Jay interjects with a death valley driver on Corino, who responds with another saito suplex. Jacobs finds knees on a top-rope senton attempt. He recovers with a spear on Jay. Mark pulls Corino to the floor and russian leg sweeps him into the barricade. He connects with a frog splash elbow drop on Jacobs. Jacobs answers with a springboard ace crusher on Jay. Mark pulls Corino to the outside again. The Briscoes hit the doomsday device on Jacobs for the victory at 12:45. The Briscoes have always liked to put their spin on the usual tag team formula. That was the case here and SCUM worked really well with them. Jacobs and Corino are a welcome addition to the tag team division and contests like this are clear evidence of that. After a drop-off in quality since the opener, these two teams delivered. ***¼
Match #6: 2 out of 3 Falls: Jay Lethal vs. Tommaso Ciampa
Lethal connects with a superkick and hits the Lethal Injection for a nearfall. He follows with the Lethal Combination to pick up the first fall at 1:38. It appears that Ciampa is having problems with his left knee. Lethal connects with corner punches and a basement dropkick. They both fall to the floor after a suplex attempt over the top rope. Lethal springboard dropkicks Ciampa off the apron. Lethal hits a suplex onto the un-padded floor. RD Evans tries to suplex Lethal but it gets reversed. In the ring, Ciampa connects with a nasty knee strike and hits Project Ciampa onto his good knee to win the second fall at 8:00. They exchange chops and Lethal hits the Lethal Combination into the middle turnbuckle. He elevates Ciampa into a neckbreaker and lands a dive to the floor onto Evans. Lethal connects with Hail to the King back in the ring for a nearfall. They battle on the apron and Ciampa hits an air raid crash. They trade punches and boots. Ciampa levels Lethal with a knee strike to the face but gets caught by a bicycle kick. Lethal follows with a superkick for a nearfall. Ciampa low blows him behind the referee’s back. Prince Nana runs out and throws Evans into the barricade. Ciampa clotheslines Nana into the front row. Lethal returns the favor with a low blow and hits the Lethal Injection for the win at 16:00. Granted they’ve probably been given too many opportunities to prove it, but these two have excellent chemistry together. Ciampa’s injured knee wove an engaging story throughout the course of this match and he’s a trooper for wrestling for sixteen minutes. Even the overbooking at the end was acceptable, as the crowd popped huge for Nana’s appearance and the low blows played into their hatred for each other. If this was the end of the issue between Lethal and Ciampa, they ended things in a memorable way. ***½
Match #7: Eddie Edwards and Sara Del Rey vs. Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis
Nigel McGuinness’ crush on Maria is hilarious. Edwards hurricanranas Bennett and hits a senton. Del Rey and Edwards catch Bennett with a series of strikes. Maria interjects herself from the apron and pulls Del Rey’s hair. Edwards connects with a missile dropkick on Bennett followed by a hesitation dropkick. He comes off the apron but Bennett spears him onto the floor. In the ring, Edwards comes off the middle rope with a lungblower on Bennett and connects with a superkick. Bennett responds with a lariat and both men are down. Maria tags in but gets met with a boot from Del Rey. Bennett saves Maria from a kappou kick. Edwards lands a dive to the floor onto Bennett. Back in, Edwards hits a backpack chinbreaker. Bennett tries for a top-rope Box Office Smash but Edwards flips out of it and transitions into the achilles lock. Maria slaps Edwards to break up the hold, but Del Rey traps her in an ankle lock. Maria crawls under the ring. Bennett synchs in a half crab on Edwards. Del Rey appears on the apron with Maria’s bra. That causes Bennett to break his hold. Edwards goes back to the achilles lock for the victory at 13:06. Considering that Maria was essentially a non-factor, the wrestling quality was surprisingly high. As much as we can get on Ring of Honor’s case for the involvement of Maria and Brutal Bob on this show, I think everything worked well for its spot on the card. **¾
Match #8: ROH World Title: Anything Goes: Kevin Steen © vs. Eddie Kingston
Kingston immediately attacks Steve Corino on commentary at the opening bell. He lands a dive to the floor onto all of SCUM. Kingston drags Corino and Jacobs to the back. Steen blocks a chair shot and hits a chair-assisted flipping leg drop. He throws Kingston into the barricade and hits a suplex onto the floor. Steen props a table against the barricade but Kingston suplexes him through it. Steen powerbombs Kingston through a table setup between the barricade and the apron. Many referees come out to check on Kingston. There’s a long pause as Steen berates him on the microphone. Referees carry Kingston out on a table. Steen mentions Larry Sweeney, causing Kingston to reenter the ring. They exchange shots and Kingston connects with a lariat. Steen blocks a backfist but falls victim to a half nelson suplex. He recovers with a DDT onto a chair. Steen hits a chair-assisted corner cannonball. Another table enters the ring and Kingston hits a saito suplex onto it. He follows with another saito suplex through a propped chair. Corino comes back to ringside but Rhett Titus fights him off. Jacobs appears with his spike but he gets caught by a backfist. Steen low blows Kingston and hits the F-Cinq for a nearfall. Kingston spits at the champion. Steen hits another F-Cinq through a bundle of chairs to retain his title at 18:43. Considering that the CHIKARA involvement has all but disappeared from storylines, this was a fine way to end the angle with the Grand Champion of CHIKARA receiving an ROH World Title shot. They had a very solid weapons-based brawl that spaced out the big spots well. The down time from the referees checking on Kingston felt awkward, but everything else clicked. I would love to see Kingston as a regular member of the ROH roster, but it doesn’t look like that’s the case moving forward. ***½
Overall: I think a lot of people were confused when Ring of Honor made Boiling Point 2012 an iPPV. However, the show as a whole turned out to be highly enjoyable. While the card became a bit dull following the tremendous opener, the second half of the show picked things up in a big way. Another aspect of the card that I liked was that the final four matches all brought something very different to the table. Boiling Point 2012 might be forgotten about by this time next year, but the show was consistently solid enough to earn a recommendation.
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