The Hunt for Gold in Dearborn, Michigan on January 18th, 2013
Opening Match: Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish vs. BJ Whitmer and Rhett Titus
Whitmer seems to be fully recovered from his scary bump through a table at Final Battle. He has a fast-paced exchange with O’Reilly and they find themselves at a stalemate. Fish cheap shots Titus and retreats into the corner. Fish blocks a mule kick but walks into a dropkick. Titus takes out both of his opponents with a short dive. I should mention that Nigel McGuinness is on commentary and is light years better than the other guy who commentates with Kevin Kelly. Back in, O’Reilly distracts Titus long enough for Fish to lay in a kick. They work over Titus, hitting a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker-flying knee drop combination. He lawn darts Fish into the top turnbuckle and makes the tag. Whitmer plants O’Reilly with a spinebuster and hits rolling suplexes. He follows with more fisherman suplexes. Fish charges at Whitmer but falls victim to an exploder. O’Reilly tries a rollup while holding the tights to no avail. Titus hits a leaping bulldog on O’Reilly. Fish saves his partner from more punishment. O’Reilly connects with a missile dropkick off the apron to the floor on Whitmer. In the ring, Titus catches Fish with a discus lariat. The numbers game catches up to him, as Fish and O’Reilly plaster Titus with kicks. Fish and O’Reilly hit a knockout kick-brainbuster combination on Titus for the win at 12:50. I cannot help but think of Titus and Whitmer as a thrown-together team. Despite a pretty slow start, the action picked up with some nice sequences from Fish and O’Reilly. Although they lost at Final Battle, ROH seems to be setting them up for a title shot in the near future. **¾
Match #2: Steve Corino vs. Jay Lethal
Corino tries to get Lethal to apologize to SCUM before the match. That goes about as well as you’d expect. Lethal connects with a flurry of punches and Corino retreats to the floor. Lethal follows out with a dive. He continues with punches around ringside and sends Corino into the barricade. In the ring, Corino crotches Lethal on the middle rope and takes control. Lethal fires up after Corino says something about his mother but gets slowed down with a sleeper hold. Lethal breaks out of the submission and connects with a leg lariat. He follows with a handspring back elbow. Corino counters the Lethal Injection into a saito suplex. He turns Lethal inside-out with a discus lariat and connects with the Eternal Dream for a nearfall. Lethal hits the Lethal Combination followed by the Lethal Injection and lands Hail to the King for the victory at 8:09. This was just a token win for Lethal, but Corino was entertaining as always and they had some fluid back and forth exchanges down the stretch. **¼
Match #3: Roderick Strong vs. Silas Young
Truth Martini is on commentary, potentially scouting Young as a future House of Truth member. I have no earthly idea if Strong is a face or heel anymore. They trade control on the mat with some nice counters showcased. Strong teases a chop in the corner. They shove each other and Young gets slapped in the face. Strong wins a chop exchange and connects with a leg lariat. Young avoids a gutbuster and sends Strong to the floor with a chinbreaker. He takes over until Strong connects with a charging forearm smash followed by a dropkick. Strong hits a backbreaker and lands a plancha to the outside. Young hot shots him across the top rope and tries a quick rollup to no avail. Strong lays in a high knee strike for a nearfall. Young fights off a superplex but finds himself in the Stronghold. He fights out and hits a backbreaker-lariat combination. Strong responds with a gutbuster and connects with the Sick Kick for the win at 12:15. They kept the action predominantly back and forth while still managing to capture the crowd’s interest. After his breakout match last year against Michael Elgin, Young seems ready for an increased role in the promotion. Strong did a fine job as the de facto face and this was a worthwhile exhibition. ***
Match #4: ROH World Title: Kevin Steen © vs. Tadarius Thomas
Steen seems pretty bored during his entrance and introduction. He teases a handshake and connects with a clothesline before the opening bell. They brawl around ringside and Thomas gets sent into the barricade. Thomas eventually returns the favor when Steen spends too much time bantering with the fans. Steen crotches Thomas on the ringpost and takes control in the ring. Steen starts mocking Thomas’ Capoeira offense, giving him time to mount a comeback. Steen quickly hits a DDT in the ropes and slows the action down with a chinlock. Thomas blocks a swantan with knees and lands a flying crossbody. He catches Steen with a sling blade. Thomas escapes an F-Cinq but falls victim to a powerbomb. Thomas lays in a series of innovative kicks and hits a tiger suplex for a nearfall. Steen recovers by successfully hitting the F-Cinq and follows with the package piledriver to retain his title at 10:35. I will say that Thomas came out of this contest looking great and the follow-up in the coming months will be key to his development in Ring of Honor. However, I was thrown off by Steen’s attitude during this match. Isn’t his problem with ROH that they value guys like Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin as opposed to unique, new talent such as Thomas? If anything, I thought Steen would embrace this title match as a good decision by management. I didn’t necessarily buy Steen not taking Thomas seriously, which hurt my enjoyment quite a bit, but Thomas still looked strong down the stretch. **½
We see footage of Charlie Haas interrupting a match between Trey Miguel and Brent Daniels. Daniels clocks in at a cool 140 pounds. Haas quickly takes them on in a handicapped match and wins via double Haas of Pain. Someday when Brent Daniels is the new independent wrestling darling, we’ll all look back upon this match fondly.
Match #5: Adam Cole vs. Jimmy Jacobs
This match is not for the World Television Title, but if Jacobs picks up a victory or lasts the time limit, he’ll earn a title shot. Jacobs’ last singles match in ROH was apparently last March. That’s incredible. There’s a funny moment where Jacobs applies an abdominal stretch and Steve Corino yells “stick your thumb in there” from commentary. They wrestle to a stalemate as the crowd applauds. Cole hits an atomic drop and a neckbreaker. He tries to skin the cat but Jacobs connects with a dropkick. Jacobs gains control until Cole fires back with a mafia kick. Cole lands a plancha to the floor and connects with a flurry of punches. He follows with an enzuigiri and a shining wizard in the ring. Cole adds a missile dropkick off the middle rope. Jacobs responds by coming off the middle rope with an ace crusher. Cole blocks a top-rope hurricanrana and blocks another ace crusher attempt with a backcracker. He hits a fireman’s carry neckbreaker for a nearfall. Cole shrugs off the End Time and connects with a superkick. Jacobs reverses a brainbuster into the End Time. Cole breaks free and hits a brainbuster over his knee. Both men are down. They battle on the apron and Jacobs hits the Contra Code! He lands a top-rope senton for a two count. Corino starts yelling at Todd Sinclair in a blind rage. Cole escapes a second Contra Code. Jacobs reverses the Florida Key into a rollup for a nearfall. Jacobs shrugs off a superkick and hits a spear. Both men are down. They trade forearms and Cole lays in a few kicks. Jacobs tries another spear but eats a superkick. Cole hits the Florida Key for the win at 18:18. This match came out of nowhere and was unexpectedly great. It’s not that these two aren’t capable of having a terrific match, I just didn’t think that they would receive eighteen minutes. Jacobs tried to wear Cole down with the End Times down the stretch and Cole had to become much more resourceful to find openings down the stretch. The awesome superkick in midair gave Cole the chance to hit the Florida Key for the victory. If ROH decided to make Jacobs primarily a singles wrestler, he would have a plethora of fresh matchups. ***¾
Match #6: Rhino vs. Michael Elgin
This is a rematch from Survival of the Fittest. Neither man budges during a shoulder block battle. Rhino is eventually able to suplex Elgin. An early Gore attempt fails and Elgin connects with a dropkick through the ropes. They brawl into the crowd and the cameras have some difficulty keeping up. Rhino throws a trash can at Elgin’s head. They reenter the ring and Elgin connects with a slingshot back elbow. He slows down Rhino with his power offense before deviating from the plan and missing a top-rope corkscrew senton. Rhino hits a spear in the corner but finds himself in a crossface. Rhino reaches the bottom rope and retreats to the apron. Elgin tries to suplex him back into the ring but gets pushed away. Rhino hits a superplex and both men are down. They trade forearms and Elgin connects with an enzuigiri. He follows with a dead-lift german suplex for a nearfall. Rhino connects with a huge lariat and hits the Gore for a two count. Elgin counters a second Gore into a crossface for the victory at 14:54. I think this match would have functioned better as a nine-minute sprint with both men throwing bombs at each other. The crowd brawling in particular just seemed like a way to kill time. Still, it was nice to see Rhino motivated and he was working hard in front of his hometown crowd. **¾
Match #7: ROH World Tag Team Titles: Jay and Mark Briscoe © vs. Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards
Dueling chants from the crowd to start. Richards and Mark trade armdrags and find themselves at a stalemate. Jay snaps off a hurricanrana on Edwards but they remain pretty even as well. The American Wolves use some double teaming to gain the advantage on Jay. Mark enters the match with a springboard dropkick on Edwards and hits a brainbuster. The Briscoes work him over until he overhead suplexes Jay onto Mark and makes the tag. Richards connects with a flurry of kicks in the corner on Jay and follows with a hesitation dropkick on Mark. He adds a handspring enzuigiri on Jay. Richards traps Jay in a trailer hitch while also applying an ankle lock on Mark. The American Wolves go to work on Jay until he dodges some strikes and tags out. Mark showcases his redneck karate. He hits an exploder on Richards and a rolling death valley driver on Edwards. Edwards hits a sit-out gourdbuster on Mark and Richards follows with a missile dropkick. The Wolves isolate Mark while keeping Jay at bay. Mark blocks a flying double stomp from Richards, hits an exploder, and makes the tag. Jay hits a full nelson slam on Edwards followed by a falcon arrow. He superkicks Richards off the apron while Mark lands the froggy elbow on Edwards. Richards interrupts the doomsday device by superplexing Mark. Jay and Edwards exchange boots and Jay connects with a lariat. Richards double stomps Jay but gets caught by a shotgun dropkick from Mark. All four men are down. Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish are watching from the entrance aisle. The Wolves punt the Briscoes off the apron and land stereo dives to the floor. In the ring, the Wolves connect with flying double stomps on Jay. They apply stereo submissions on the Briscoes. The Wolves try a doomsday device of their own, but Mark knocks Richards off the top rope and through the ringside table. The Briscoes hit the doomsday device on Edwards for a nearfall. The bell was accidentally rung. Jay hits the Jay Driller on Edwards and the Briscoes retain their titles at 24:15. This was a fitting main event but may have fell a bit short of expectations considering some of the matches they had together during the Wolves’ first run as a team. Granted, they had to wrestle the whole match with a huge tear in the canvas. Unsurprisingly, the Final Battle match against Fish and O’Reilly as well as this contest have both been solid and I think reuniting the Wolves was unarguably a good idea. This isn’t anything must-see, but it’s the worthwhile match that you’d expect from these two teams. ***½
Overall: At the end of the day, the Hunt for Gold was a decent enough show that didn’t carry much meaning storyline-wise. The results of both title matches were never in doubt and the most interesting part of the show was Jimmy Jacobs receiving his first chance in quite awhile to deliver a show-stealing performance (which he did against Adam Cole). The aforementioned Jacobs/Cole match, the main event, and the solid showcase between Silas Young and Roderick Strong provide some incentive for a purchase, but this isn’t a show that you need to see immediately. My thumbs are in the middle, leaning down but things could easily have been different if some of the undercard matches turned out better.
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