Honor vs. Evil in Cincinnati, Ohio on February 16th, 2013
Opening Match: Jay Briscoe vs. QT Marshall
Marshall cuts a promo backstage before the match and runs down the crowd after his entrance. How lucky are we? Jay wins an exchange on the mat and takes down Marshall with a shoulder tackle. Marshall skins the cat but gets caught by a yakuza kick. Jay catapults him into the ringpost. In the ring, Marshall yanks Jay off the middle rope and he hits hard on the canvas. Marshall takes control until Jay fights back with a series of punches and a clothesline. Jay hits a neckbreaker but misses a charge and collides with the ringpost. Marshall hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker followed by a powerslam. Jay fires back with the Jay Driller for the win at 6:52. We have a particularly energetic crowd on our hands and they had no problem getting behind Jay while hating Marshall. The match was fine for the time given, although I’m having trouble buying Marshall as a serious threat. **
Match #2: Jay Lethal vs. Tadarius Thomas
They trade control on the mat as the crowd chants “this is wrestling.” Cincinnati wants their professional wrestling tonight. They exchange armdrags and dodge each other’s kicks. Lethal blocks a hurricanrana and applies an STF. Thomas quickly grabs the bottom rope. Lethal hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and connects with a dropkick. Thomas fights back with a few of his innovative kicks. They trade strikes as the action starts to become more unfriendly. Lethal connects with a superkick and a backfist for a nearfall. They battle over a superplex and Thomas lays in a flying double stomp. Thomas adds a tiger suplex for a two count. Lethal escapes a back suplex and connects with another superkick. Lethal hits the Lethal Injection for the victory at 11:52. Lethal has been having some awesome performances recently and I still contend that him winning the ROH World Title wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Nigel McGuinness added a lot to this match on commentary by explaining the psychology behind their maneuvers. Not every spot went according to plan, but the crowd couldn’t have cared less. Just a good showing from both men. ***
Match #3: Mark Briscoe vs. Nate Webb
They bow to each other instead of shaking hands. Mark misses a few karate chops, allowing Webb to connect with a dropkick. Webb has some difficulty escaping an armbar, so he eventually uses the referee to help him. Mark sends him flying around the ring with more karate chops. Mark hits a flipping death valley driver and flies through the ropes with a dropkick. He suplexes Webb onto the apron and reenters the ring with a slingshot senton. Webb connects with the arachnid kick and lands a dive to the floor. In the ring, Mark hits a dragon suplex into the turnbuckles and hits the froggy elbow for the win at 7:19. Well, this certainly wasn’t your ordinary contest, as Mark finally found someone potentially as crazy as himself. Webb looked pretty lethargic, however, and the match itself didn’t have much going for it aside from their antics. *¾
Match #4: Roderick Strong vs. ACH
Strong shoves ACH after escaping a headscissors. They have an exchange on the mat until Strong just delivers some elbows to the head. ACH slaps him and they trade strikes. ACH traps Strong in the tree of woe and connects with a basement lariat. Strong retreats to the floor and manages to avoid a split-legged moonsault. He slams ACH into the barricade and takes over in the ring. Strong starts with his backbreakers and even drops ACH back-first across the apron. ACH blocks a charge and hits a flatliner. Both men are down. ACH connects with a gamengiri and hits a slingshot ace crusher. He lands a kick-flip dive to the floor. Back in, ACH lands a flying crossbody. Strong is finally able to create some space with a backbreaker. ACH counters the Gibson Driver into a sunset flip for a nearfall. Strong synchs in the Stronghold but ACH reverses that into a rollup as well. ACH counters a gutbuster into a reverse hurricanrana for a nearfall. He hits a stunner but misses a 450 splash off the middle rope. Strong hits the orange crush backbreaker for the victory at 14:58. I liked the dynamic of Strong trying to prove that he’s still relevant in Ring of Honor despite an exciting talent like ACH making waves. They had solid chemistry together and were given enough time to deliver a worthwhile match. Much like Tadarius Thomas, ACH has been finding ways to stand out with his unique offense. ***¼
Truth Martini comes out with two women for his segment entitled “The Hoopla.” After Martini tries to offend as many people as possible, Adam Cole comes out as his special guest. Cole looks very hesitant upon entering the ring. Martini asks him about his upcoming title defense. Cole starts talking about Matt Hardy, but Martini clarifies that he was talking about Cole’s title defense against Matt Taven at the 11th Anniversary Show. Martini announces that Taven is the newest member of the House of Truth. The situation eventually devolves and Cole superkicks Martini to end the segment.
Match #5: Charlie Haas vs. Pepper Parks
Parks interrupts Haas’ pre-match spiel with a dive to the floor. He sends Haas into the barricade and connects with a dropkick back in the ring. Haas blocks a baseball slide by trapping Parks in the apron. He olympic slams Parks into the ringpost and takes control. Haas misses a charge and crotches himself on the middle rope. Both men are down. Parks hits a powerslam and a fisherman neckbreaker. Haas answers with a spinebuster. Parks fights off a superplex and comes off the top with a neckbreaker for a nearfall. The action goes to the floor and Haas hits a back suplex onto the edge of the barricade. In the ring, Haas tries to use a case of beer. The referee takes it away but Haas shoves him. Haas throws beer into Parks’ eyes and rolls him up for the win at 11:23. That finish, along with Haas’ tired offense, took the wind out of everyone’s sails. The cheap finish was especially awkward with Nigel McGuinness (the boss) at ringside witnessing it. I’d really like Parks making more frequent appearances for ROH as I think he has a ton of potential. **
After the match, Haas attacks a ringside attendant and repeatedly swings him into the barricade. Kevin Kelly is appalled.
Match #6: Kyle O’Reilly vs. BJ Whitmer
They give each other a clean break despite O’Reilly’s cocky attitude. As a general rule, I think it’s always preferable to give Whitmer a clean break. O’Reilly lays in kicks while Whitmer throws chops. Whitmer hits a backbreaker. O’Reilly elevates him onto the apron and kicks him into the barricade. O’Reilly connects with his missile dropkick from the apron. He takes control in the ring with his various kicks and tries to ground Whitmer. Whitmer comes back with an exploder and a spinebuster. He follows with rolling suplexes but falls victim to a nasty saito suplex. O’Reilly hits a tornado DDT out of the corner and adds a brainbuster. Whitmer kicks out at one! They trade slaps and punches. Both men fall to the floor after a suplex attempt. O’Reilly tries his missile dropkick from the apron again, but Whitmer blocks it and hits an exploder into the barricade. Back in, Whitmer hits a fisherman suplex for a nearfall. O’Reilly crotches him on the top rope and hits a back superplex. He lifts Whitmer into a regalplex and locks in a triangle choke. Whitmer powers out of the hold and hits a powerbomb. Whitmer punts O’Reilly in the head and lays in repeated knee strikes. Whitmer synchs in the Peruvian Neck Tie for the victory at 16:47. This was a well-executed match that featured action unlike anything else on the card thus far. The crowd’s interest wavered at times, making some of the fighting spirit spots less effective, but both men ultimately came out of this encounter for the better. I think Ring of Honor could get a lot of mileage out of Whitmer in a singles role. ***¼
Match #7: Elimination: Davey Richards, Michael Elgin, and Adam Cole vs. Kevin Steen, Jimmy Jacobs, and Steve Corino
Richards and Corino have a nice exchange to start the match in an interesting matchup. Jacobs and Cole renew their rivalry after having a tremendous match at The Hunt for Gold. Finally, Steen and Elgin square off. Neither man budges on a shoulder block battle and they exchange forearms. Elgin hits a powerslam and the ROH All Stars take turns getting some offense in on Steen. Elgin powerslams Steen into a diving headbutt from Richards. Jacobs spears Richards on the apron and SCUM isolate him. Richards takes advantage of some miscommunication between Jacobs and Corino, allowing him to make the tag. Cole connects with an enzuigiri on Corino along with a shining wizard. The match starts to break down as everyone enters the ring. The ROH All Stars connect with stereo strikes in the corners of the ring. Cole superkicks Corino into a blue thunder bomb from Elgin. Richards follows with a flying double stomp. Elgin press slams Jacobs to the floor onto the rest of SCUM. Richards takes them all out with a dive. Everyone brawls around ringside as Steen gets into an argument with a small child in the front row. Paul Turner calls for some extra referees to get the match under control. Steen powerbombs Cole onto the apron and shoves referees out of the way. SCUM work over Cole in the ring until he blocks a charge from Jacobs and tags out. Elgin hits an STO on Jacobs and follows with his impressive samoan drop-fallaway slam combination. Richards hits a saito suplex on Corino but gets caught by a DDT from Steen. Everyone starts hitting moves. Jacobs and Corino hit a spike piledriver on Cole onto the floor. Referees come out to check on Cole and carry him to the back. Apparently, this eliminates Cole from the match. Steen opens the curtain for the referees carrying Cole to the back.
SCUM work over Elgin, as they now have the numbers advantage. Elgin dead-lift german suplexes Corino while Jacobs is on his back. That is super-human. Richards enters the match with a missile dropkick on Steen. He follows with a knockout kick and a lariat. Richards applies an indian deathlock on Steen while trapping Jacobs in an ankle lock. Corino hits Richards with a roll of quarters behind the referee’s back. Steen covers for a nearfall. Steen hits a package piledriver on Richards to eliminate him at 27:16. Elgin now has to face all three members of SCUM. Corino relaxes by taking over on commentary with Kevin Kelly. Adam Cole eventually comes back to ringside and reenters the match! Elgin suplexes Jacobs from the apron into the ring. Cole gets the tag and unleashes a flurry of offense. Cole superkicks Steen twice and hits the Florida Key. Corino pulls the referee out of the ring during the pin attempt. Jacobs spikes Cole in the crotch (Good Lord) and Steen hits the F-Cinq to officially eliminate Cole at 33:46. Elgin hits a bucklebomb on Corino followed by a spinning powerbomb to eliminate Corino at 34:53. Elgin catches Jacobs with the same combination to eliminate Jacobs at 35:05. It’s now down to Steen and Elgin. They stare each other down and trade forearms. Steen elevates Elgin into a powerbomb and hits a sleeper suplex for a nearfall. Steen finds knees on a swantan attempt. Elgin hits two consecutive dead-lift german suplexes. Corino tries to interfere but Jay Lethal fights him off. The distraction allows Steen to sneak in a small package for the win at 38:53.
I’ll start off by saying that this main event featured great performances from everyone involved and the criticisms have nothing to do with the efforts given. My two main problems with this match were Elgin’s rapid-fire eliminations and the finish. After thirty-five minutes of SCUM working as a well-oiled machine, Elgin undoes all of that work in thirteen seconds by eliminating Jacobs and Corino. They had forty minutes to work with and I hate rapid eliminations with that much of a time frame. The length of this match also made the finish seem extremely lame. I know that we have this story of Steen not suffering a pinfall defeat since returning, but capping off his exchange against Elgin with a fluke rollup did not seem like the best route and I think ROH knows this given the post-match angle to end the show. This was the case of a lot of solid work being plagued a bit by the booking surrounding it. ***½
SCUM attacks Elgin and Lethal after the match. The Briscoes run out to make the save. They thank the crowd to end the show.
Bonus Match: ROH World Tag Team Titles: Jay and Mark Briscoe © vs. Jimmy Jacobs and Steve Corino (National Pro Wrestling Day – 3/2/13)
Cary Silkin accompanies the Briscoes to the ring. Corino backs Jay into the corner and connects with a few cheap shots. Mark catches Corino with a springboard dropkick and Jay unloads a series of punches on Jacobs. The Briscoes take down Jacobs with stereo shoulder tackles. Mark wipes out SCUM with a dive to the floor. Both teams brawl around ringside. Corino blindsides Jay with a lariat from the apron and SCUM isolate him. Jay flatlines Corino into the middle turnbuckle and makes the tag. Mark unleashes his karate offense and cleans house. He shotgun dropkicks Jacobs into the turnbuckles and elevates him into a neckbreaker from Jay. Jacobs hits a spear on Mark while Corino lariats Jay. SCUM hit an assisted Contra Code on Mark for a nearfall. Jay superkicks Corino and the Briscoes hit the doomsday device on Jacobs to retain their titles at 6:13. SCUM attack the Briscoes after the match. After they recover, Jay challenges Kevin Steen for the ROH World Title. This made for a nice extra on a DVD release, as the contest is relevant considering it was for the titles. The short duration was constricting, but they filled their six minutes with fast-paced action and the crowd seemed to enjoy themselves. **¼
Overall: Over half of the matches on Honor vs. Evil hit the three-star mark. While the rest of the bouts fell pretty flat, there’s a lot of quality to be found on this show with new talent having standout matches and the usual cast delivering when they needed to. Although I have my qualms with the main event, I think it’s generally a good thing when ROH has the faith to give such a match forty minutes on a card with quality outings elsewhere. As a result, I can give Honor vs. Evil a recommendation for being an enjoyable show for most of its duration.
You can purchase this DVD at Ring of Honor’s store right here.
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