Caged Hostility on September 8th, 2012 in Charlotte, North Carolina
Opening Match: Jay Lethal vs. Adam Page
Before the match, Lethal says that Jim Cornette told him that he doesn’t have the “killer instinct” to defeat Kevin Steen. Lethal tells Page that he’s going to use him to send a message. They exchange chops. Lethal knocks Page off the apron with a handspring kick. Back in, Page connects with a spin kick. Lethal reverses a springboard moonsault into an inverted DDT and lands a dive to the floor. In the ring, Lethal hits a nasty back suplex and takes over. Page blocks a charge but falls victim to a flatliner into the middle turnbuckle. They battle on the apron, where Lethal connects with a superkick. Page lands a shooting star press off the apron and to the floor. That looked a lot better than Ruckus’ version. Now I know what shooting star presses off the apron can be! They crawl back into the ring and trade punches. Page hits a powerslam and a tornado DDT. Lethal catches him coming off the top rope with a superkick and hits a fisherman buster for a nearfall. Page flips out of a german suplex but Lethal hits the Lethal Combination for another two count! Lethal hits repeated backbreakers and follows with the Lethal Injection for the win at 11:16. This was a great opener that completely caught me off-guard. Lethal’s new direction freshens him up and he’s very believable in the ruthless veteran role. Part of me wonders if Page received too much offense here given everything happening with Lethal, but they delivered in spades. ***¼
Match #2: Mike Mondo vs. QT Marshall
Mondo maintains the advantage on the mat early on, working over the left arm. Marshall barely escapes a couple of quick pin attempts. He crotches Mondo on the top rope and clotheslines him off the apron. Marshall takes control until Mondo finds an opening to kind of apply an arm submission. Marshall hits a powerslam and fights out of another arm submission. Mondo misses a flying knee strike. He fakes a knee injury to catch Marshall with a snapmare driver. Mondo follows with an implant DDT for the victory at 11:15. I’ve been impressed with Mondo recently but these two didn’t click whatsoever. There was constant muttering in the crowd and they seemed completely uninterested in the action. They’ve been doing an angle where Mondo suffers an injury during his matches, and him faking an injury here was more confusing than interesting. *¾
Match #3: Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander vs. Harlem and Lance Bravado
Alexander catches Harlem with a hurricanrana and connects with a dropkick. The Bravados knock Coleman off the apron and start working over Alexander. Coleman intervenes with a flying crossbody onto both of his opponents. Coleman and Alexander hit a standing moonsault-leg drop combination on Lance. They follow with a pair of slingshot sentons. Harlem interferes from the apron and the Bravados isolate Coleman, working over his left shoulder. Lance even hits a dead-lift german suplex at one point. Coleman connects with a springboard lariat and makes the tag. Alexander lays in a flash kick on Harlem and hits a sit-out slam. He follows with a slingshot moonsault. Coleman slams Harlem across Alexander’s knees. Lance catches Alexander with a slingshot DDT and a belly to belly suplex. The Bravado’s follow with the Gentleman’s Approach for a nearfall. Coleman hits a leg-liner on Lance along with rolling northern lights suplexes. He connects with a spin kick on Lance and elevates himself to the floor onto Harlem. In the ring, Harlem levels Coleman with a bicycle kick. He hits a blockbuster for a nearfall and adds a crazy slingshot stunner. Harlem applies the London Dungeon on Coleman but he’s able to reach the ropes. Alexander rams Lance into the barricade and connects with a springboard dropkick on Harlem. Everyone connects with strikes and all four men are down. Alexander hits a michinoku driver on Lance but runs into a bicycle kick. Coleman plants Harlem with an STO and hurricanranas him off the middle rope. Alexander lands a frog splash onto Harlem for the win at 20:30. Good for Ring of Honor. They gave two teams twenty minutes in their home state to showcase what they can do in the ring and it paid off big time. There’s no reason why the tag team division shouldn’t center more around these two teams. The Bravados have become awesome since returning from Japan while Coleman and Alexander are always consistent. The shoulder work on Coleman was referenced throughout the entire match and held the action together. This was chaotic while still making sense – a great showing from both teams. ***½
Davey Richards makes his way to the ring. He compliments the previous match and says that he loves wrestling in Ring of Honor. He’s ashamed of the person he’s been outside of the ring in the last year. That ends right now. He’ll be out later tonight to watch a match that he’s invested in.
Match #4: Mike Posey vs. Jeff Neal
They begin with some counter wrestling and then start shoving each other. Posey tries a few rollups to no avail and connects with a dropkick. Neal elevates him into a slam and takes over. Posey hits a chinbreaker and a seated senton. He follows with a rope-assisted butterfly DDT. Neal responds with a butterfly suplex into the turnbuckles. They battle on the middle rope and Neal gets shoved to the canvas. Posey lands a top rope leg drop for the victory at 6:02. Both men seemed competent in the ring, but I never got the sense that the action was headed in a meaningful direction. In fact, the post-match attack makes sense in hindsight. **
Jimmy Jacobs spears Posey after the match. Corino connects with the Eternal Dream on Neal. Kevin Steen sits in the middle of the ring and cancels tonight’s steel cage match to prepare for Rhino at Death Before Dishonor X. Rhett Titus runs out but Steen hits him with the microphone. The Briscoes make the save and clear the ring. An announcement is made that SCUM will be fined $5,000 if they don’t wrestle in the main event tonight.
Match #5: Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin vs. Roderick Strong and Michael Elgin
Strong steals Haas’ shirt, which sends Haas into a blind rage. Strong cartwheels out of a wristlock and dropkicks Shelton. Haas lays in repeated kicks on Strong in the corner. The man is angry. Elgin takes out Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team with a double slingshot shoulder block. The House of Truth cannot get on the same page. Strong grabs a microphone to yell at Elgin but gets caught by a superkick from Shelton. Haas interrupts a delayed vertical suplex attempt from Elgin and WGTT isolate him. He hits a powerslam on Haas and goes for the tag, but Strong jumps off the apron. Elgin comes off the top rope with a shoulder tackle on Haas, who answers with a german suplex. Strong enters the ring and argues with Elgin once again. Strong hits a gutbuster on Haas. Shelton catches Strong with Pay Dirt and Haas applies the Haas of Pain. Elgin refuses to save his partner and Strong taps out, giving WGTT the win at 14:47. Unfortunately, the dissention between Strong and Elgin took away from what was on its way to being a solid match. Haas and Elgin had some great exchanges that were severely lacking from their previous two singles matches together. I think we’re all waiting for the House of Truth to implode and the sooner the better, as evidenced here. **½
Match #6: Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly
If O’Reilly defeats Cole or lasts the time limit, he’ll receive a shot at the World Television Title. Davey Richards comes down to ringside to watch this match. They charge at each other and trade strikes. O’Reilly blocks a charge with a forearm. Cole blocks a dive with a loud enzuigiri and is successful on his second dive attempt. They throw each other into the barricade at ringside. Cole catapults O’Reilly into the ringpost as Richards watches on. Cole starts working over the left leg and applies a figure four around the ringpost. In the ring, O’Reilly blocks a flying crossbody with a dropkick. He takes control until Cole wins a kick exchange. They charge at each other with boots. Cole hits a german suplex and connects with a shining wizard. O’Reilly responds with a running yakuza kick and a tornado DDT. Cole hits a brainbuster out of nowhere for a nearfall. Steve Corino calls Richards a “turd” on commentary for not cheering. Awesome. O’Reilly turns a figure four attempt into a small package for a two count. Cole hits a dragon screw leg whip. O’Reilly applies a guillotine choke but Cole shrugs it off. O’Reilly hits a reverse hurricanrana and a regalplex for a nearfall. He synchs in a triangle choke but Cole turns the hold into a pin attempt to no avail. Both men are down. They move to the apron, where Cole hits a michinoku driver. O’Reilly tries his missile dropkick from the apron but eats a superkick. Cole lands a flying crossbody and locks in a figure four but O’Reilly is able to reach the ropes. Cole dropkicks O’Reilly off the apron and onto Richards at ringside. Cole becomes distracted by Richards and O’Reilly sneaks in a rollup for the victory at 15:38. It’s clear that these two have great chemistry in the ring together but something was missing from this match. The crowd was fairly quiet until the action really picked up down the stretch and Richards getting involved with the finish was all too predictable. While the brunt of this contest was enjoyable, it felt like more of a setup for their upcoming match with the Television Title at stake, which should be very good. ***¼
Match #7: Cage Match: Kevin Steen, Jimmy Jacobs, and Steve Corino vs. Rhett Titus, Jay Briscoe, and Mark Briscoe
Everyone starts brawling outside of the cage. Security tries to get them into the cage with no success. Mark is busted open after being hit with a broken beer bottle. Jacobs throws a chair at Jay’s head. SCUM retreat into the cage after losing momentum during the brawl around ringside. Steen forces Todd Sinclair to lock the cage door and Mark is stranded on the outside. SCUM work over Titus and Jay in the ring. Mark tries to climb the cage, but Steen headbutts him through a table at ringside. Jay flatlines Jacobs into the middle turnbuckle. Mark revives himself at ringside with a can of beer. Titus and Jay throw Steen into the cage wall. They hit a flying leg drop-side slam combination on Corino. Jay follows with a falcon arrow on Jacobs. Corino hits the Colby Shock on Jay and a saito suplex on Titus. Steen adds a corner cannonball on Titus and Jacobs lands a senton off the top rope. Steen hits the F-Cinq on Jay for a nearfall. Mark climbs to the top of the cage and lands a moonsault onto SCUM. There’s a series of moves involving all six men. Jacobs attempts a sliced bread but finds himself in an electric chair position. The Briscoes hit the doomsday device for the win at 15:06. I can’t help walking away from this main event thinking it was completely inconsequential. Mark reentering the cage with his moonsault felt like a big moment, but the match didn’t last much longer after that point. I felt like something was going to happen after the match and sure enough, the focus was turned towards Lethal. This was a fine brawl that just never stood out. ***
SCUM attack Titus and the Briscoes after the match. Jay Lethal runs out and sends Steen into the barricade. Steen finds a way to escape Lethal momentarily and runs to the back. Titus and the Briscoes stand tall to end the show.
Overall: Caged Hostility got off to a great start with a surprisingly fun opener and an inspiring tag team match between two teams that don’t receive enough recognition in Ring of Honor. Unfortunately, the show couldn’t capitalize on that momentum, as Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly had a match significantly beneath their Best in the World encounter while the main event turned out to be a bit disappointing. Looking at the ratings alone, there’s probably enough quality to give Caged Hostility a slight recommendation. However, I won’t remember this show a few months from now outside of the start of Jay Lethal’s new attitude. My thumbs are in the middle here.
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