*Credit to ProWresBlog for the cover picture
I attended the final ROH television tapings of 2012 last night. They were held outside of Pittsburgh in a venue called the Rostraver Ice Gardens. I thought the title was just a cute name, but the “ice” part of the title was a huge clue. The ring was positioned inside of a hockey rink and I was freezing for most of the show. Due to me being unaware of the hot chocolate at the concession stand, I had to rely on the in-ring action to heat things up. Sorry for that one.
The first episode started with the Briscoes coming to the ring and calling out the rest of the roster to join them. Jay announced that there was a new “match- maker” in Ring of Honor – Nigel McGuinness. Before making the announcement, Jay talked about how SCUM have conditioned fans to believe that making fun of Ring of Honor is the cool thing to do. Nigel entered the ring and gave us examples of why Ring of Honor doesn’t feel like Ring of Honor anymore. He referenced Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team using ether to win matches and condemned similar finishes. He said that professional wrestling should be about two combatants entering the ring and determining a winner without any shenanigans. He claimed that it’s time for Ring of Honor to take back its honor. I think Nigel is the perfect authority figure. Not only is he someone that could still beat someone up if need be, but the fans respect him – it’s hard not to respect the guy. The only question was whether or not the rest of the tapings would carry the momentum created by Nigel’s speech.
I became a fan of Bobby Fish during the early days of EVOLVE. His losing streak during the early string of shows was engaging because he was coming so close to defeating top independent talent. I was looking forward to see what he would do at the tapings and I don’t think he could have been used in a better way. Fish carried himself with an air of cockiness and rightfully so – this is a guy who successfully made the transition to MMA by winning his first fight via knockout. Pairing him with Kyle O’Reilly is a great move and it looks like there will be some program involving Fish/O’Reilly and Richards/Edwards. While there will be some people that automatically rule out everything involving “Davey and friends,” Fish adds a fresh element to the mix and his alliance with O’Reilly should come across great on television.
I came away from these tapings pretty content with the in-ring quality. Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly had a great match during the first episode. While it would be almost impossible to match the atmosphere that they had at Best in the World, I enjoyed this outing more than their match at Caged Hostility. The ROH World Tag Team Title match between SCUM and Whitmer/Titus was about what I expected while Kevin Steen and Mike Bennett slightly topped my expectations. Steen had a very serious demeanor, making it clear that he was focused on El Generico and Final Battle. For me, the match of the night by far was Davey Richards vs. Michael Elgin. I thought very highly of their match during the first round of BOLA and they were able to match that effort here. A couple people around me who were solely interested in yelling “funny” comments throughout the entire show shut up during this match and that says a lot.
I should also note that the squash matches were more than acceptable. Firstly, they weren’t blatant squashes (Fish, Lethal, and Richards didn’t totally dominant their respective matches) and I think they helped whoever was doing the squashing. The only match that I had a problem with was the main event of the fifth episode. Jay Briscoe battled Steve Corino in a street fight. This felt like something straight out of Jim Cornette’s playbook. Although they will be involved in the same match at Final Battle, I thought their issue ended at Caged Hostility and I didn’t fully understand why a street fight was warranted. They brawled and various people interfered. In fact, Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team and Haas/Whitmer started a feud during these tapings by interfering in each other’s matches. I understand that some interference is okay, but it certainly went against Nigel’s speech. Then, Jay picks up the win by superplexing Corino onto a guardrail that was propped on top of four chairs. Corino immediately rolled over in pain and multiple referees came out to check on him. They brought out a stretcher, but Corino refused it. I think Corino adds something to every show that he’s a part of and it was a shame to see this happen during what seemed like a throwaway main event. Fortunately, Corino tweeted earlier this morning that he’s sore but won’t miss any time in the ring. Aside from Corino’s possible injury, this street fight left a bad taste to end the tapings. In fact, nothing interesting in the tag team division really happened at these tapings aside from the possible inclusion of Fish and O’Reilly.
Finally, let’s recap what’s set for Final Battle 2012:
-Kevin Steen vs. El Generico in a Ladder War for the ROH World Title
-Jimmy Jacobs and Steve Corino vs. Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander vs. Jay and Mark Briscoe for the ROH World Tag Team Titles
-Roderick Strong vs. Michael Elgin
-Jay Lethal vs. Rhino
-Prince Nana vs. RD Evans
-Jerry Lynn will be in action
If the randomness of Lethal/Rhino worries you, Lethal addressed the randomness in a promo by arguing that he continually gets cheated by management. Even the setup for Nana/Evans didn’t feel too forced. It’s also worth noting that Nigel announced Final Battle as Jerry Lynn’s last match in Ring of Honor – so this is a one-time deal. If nothing else, the inclusion of Coleman and Alexander will freshen up the tag title match. Strong vs. Elgin has been a long time coming and hopefully the fans still care about that match. While I might not be super interested in any of the previous matches, there is definitely potential for the wrestling quality to be there. That leaves us with Steen vs. Generico. While Generico wasn’t at the tapings due to him wrestling for DGUSA, Steen cut a promo after the street fight during the fifth episode that was absolutely incredible. He claimed that he would leave Final Battle as either champion or a corpse and detailed everything that’s happened since Final Battle 2010. While it may seem rushed, the end of these tapings made me feel okay about Steen/Generico being done one more time.
Glory By Honor felt like a definite step in the right direction with Delirious as booker and these tapings pushed that momentum forward. The wrestling quality was probably not too different from other tapings, but everything outside of the tag team division had clean finishes and agreeable outcomes. Take the following result:
Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander d. Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin
Granted, there was interference from Whitmer and Titus, but I have to believe this result would have never happened a month ago. Aside from feeling unbearably cold, I also walked out of the Ice Gardens feeling optimistic. Ring of Honor might be back.