11th Anniversary Show in Chicago Ridge, Illinois on March 2nd, 2013
Opening Match: Silas Young vs. ACH vs. QT Marshall vs. Mike Sydal vs. Adam Page vs. Tadarius Thomas
ACH snaps off a nice headscissors on Page. Thomas drops Page across ACH’s knees in a moment of teamwork. Sydal connects with a knockout kick on Young but Marshall rocks him with a forearm. ACH and Thomas start using some more double teams. Page lands a shooting star press off the apron onto Marshall. RD Evans prevents ACH from diving. Thomas lands a space flying tiger drop to the floor. Sydal follows out with a moonsault from the top rope. ACH finishes with a kick-flip dive. Young superplexes Evans from the middle rope to the floor onto the entire group. In the ring, Marshall hits an alabama slam on Page. Sydal matrixes to avoid a clothesline from Thomas and lands a standing moonsault. Young rolls through a crossbody from Sydal but misses the Pee Gee Waja Plunge. ACH hits an implant DDT on Young for the win at 7:02. The dive sequence in the middle of the match had the crowd rocking, but the rest of the contest felt too rushed at a total duration of seven minutes. The seeds have been planted for ACH and Thomas to form a team and that’s an exciting prospect. **½
Match #2: Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander vs. Steve Corino and Jimmy Jacobs
Coleman and Alexander rush the ring. Coleman lands a springboard moonsault to the floor onto Corino. Jacobs misses a baseball slide and Alexander takes out SCUM with a dive of his own. Back in, Coleman and Alexander continue to control with their tandem offense. Alexander connects with a springboard elbow drop on Jacobs. Corino interferes from the apron and SCUM isolate Coleman. He hits a snapmare driver on Corino and makes the tag. Alexander catches Jacobs with a springboard clothesline and hits a backcracker. Corino sends him into the ringpost but falls victim to rolling northern lights suplexes from Coleman. Jacobs spears Coleman on the apron and hits a sliced bread on Alexander. Corino connects with the Eternal Dream on Alexander for a nearfall. Coleman hits a top-rope leg drop on Jacobs. Corino interrupts Overtime and brings out a chain. SCUM hit a spike piledriver on Alexander for the victory at 8:31. Funnily enough, Corino didn’t use the chain at all. I guess this finish is illustrative of something that ROH could improve upon. Even though there was some miscommunication with the chain usage, why did there need to be a chain in the first place? If SCUM is so dominant, a few clean wins every now and then by Corino and Jacobs wouldn’t hurt at all. Once again, solid enough action for the time given. **½
Match #3: No Holds Barred: Charlie Haas vs. BJ Whitmer
Commentary summarizes this rivalry as “pure hatred.” They start brawling before the opening bell out of pure hatred for each other. Whitmer sends Haas into the barricade multiple times. Whitmer slides a few chairs into the ring and throws in a garbage can. Haas takes a garbage can over the head. Whitmer now grabs a ladder and starts using it. He pulls the old “slide the ladder into the groin” trick as commentary makes bad jokes. A table is propped between the apron and the barricade. Haas hits a back suplex onto the edge of the barricade. Haas has a difficult time setting up a ladder in the ring so he flips it off. Classic Charlie Haas. He takes over and even sends Whitmer through a table a la Final Battle. Whitmer comes back with an exploder through a ladder. He connects with repeated knee strikes to the head. The referee stops the match, giving Whitmer the win at 12:02. Haas was in control for a majority of this match. When Whitmer made his eventual comeback, he finished Haas in relatively quick fashion. This brawl didn’t deviate from the norm in any aspect except them playing off of their Final Battle match. The finish felt decisive yet the overall package was unsatisfying considering this was a blowoff. **
Match #4: Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards vs. Rocky Romero and Alex Koslov
Richards and Romero have an issue stemming back to the No Remorse Corps days. They start the match and trade control. Richards mocks Romero’s dancing, which automatically gets any crowd behind you. Richards connects with a dropkick and Romero begs off. Romero attempts a cheap shot and that goes poorly. The American Wolves punt the Forever Hooligans off the apron and land stereo dives to the floor. In the ring, Edwards connects with a shining wizard on Koslov. Romero slows down Edwards with a springboard knee strike and the Forever Hooligans isolate him. Richards gets the hot tag and catches Koslov with a missile dropkick. He follows with his handspring enzuigiri. Richards hits a northern lights suplex on Koslov while pinning Romero for a two count. He connects with a knockout kick on Koslov and hits a german suplex for a nearfall. Koslov fires back with an enzuigiri and does his signature kicks to the back of the head. The Forever Hooligans continue with some double teaming on Richards. Edwards breaks it up with a series of kicks. All four men are down. Edwards comes off the middle rope with a codebreaker on Koslov. Richards adds a tombstone for a nearfall. The Wolves land flying double stomps on Koslov for another two count. Romero hurricanranas Richards off of Koslov’s shoulders. Edwards boots Romero off the apron while Richards connects with the Alarm Clock on Koslov. The Wolves hit a backcracker-powerbomb combination on Koslov for the victory at 15:40. The crowd seemed indifferent towards the action at times and only came alive for the big spots. I think they were ready to see something special from the Forever Hooligans who, while solid, never gave them the wow factor that they wanted. I don’t even think they played off of the Richards/Romero interaction as much as they could have. This was a well-executed exhibition with some intangibles missing. ***¼
Match #5: 2 out of 3 Falls: Roderick Strong vs. Michael Elgin
They trade control of a wristlock and Elgin gives his former partner a clean break. Strong shoves him and connects with a flying knee strike. Elgin answers with a backfist, a bucklebomb, and the spinning powerbomb to win the first fall at 2:00. They brawl around ringside after the twenty-second rest period. Elgin misses a seated senton on the apron. Strong back suplexes him onto the floor and takes over in the ring. Elgin fights back with a flying shoulder tackle and a swinging side slam. He transitions into a crossface. Once Strong escapes, he falls victim to shock treatment. Strong avoids a charge and connects with a gamengiri in the corner. He hits a pumphandle driver. Elgin elbows out of a gutbuster. Strong connects with a basement superkick. He escapes a super powerbomb and drops Elgin back-first across the top turnbuckle. Strong hits his orange crush backbreaker to win the second fall at 11:25. Elgin rolls through a crucifix pin attempt and hits a death valley driver into the corner. He lands a corkscrew senton from the top rope for a nearfall. Strong falls victim to rolling german suplexes and rolls to the apron. Elgin tries to suplex him back into the ring but Strong counters with a powerbomb. Elgin hits a powerbomb of his own and applies a crossface for the win at 15:34. I thought this match started out in the worst way possible, as the first fall made Strong look incredibly weak. 2/3 falls match or not, Elgin defeated Strong in two minutes. From there, the result was never in doubt as they proceeded to have a pretty good back and forth match. However, I prefer their Final Battle match as it didn’t have the constricting stipulation. **¾
Match #6: ROH World Television Title: Adam Cole © vs. Matt Taven
Matt Hardy cuts a promo before the match about his upcoming title match against Cole and then joins commentary. Taven isn’t interested in mat wrestling and elects to grab the ropes. Cole catches him with an atomic drop and hits a leaping neckbreaker. A distraction by Truth Martini allows Taven to dropkick Cole off the apron. Cole blocks a dive attempt with an enzuigiri. Martini interjects himself again and Cole gets clotheslined on the apron. Taven takes control until Cole fights back with a series of clotheslines. Cole hits a fireman’s carry neckbreaker and blocks a flying crossbody with a dropkick. Taven knees out of a brainbuster and hits a rolling neckbreaker. Cole answers with a nasty sunset bomb and hits a german suplex. He connects with a shining wizard for a nearfall. Taven ducks a second shining wizard and tries a quick rollup to no avail. He connects with a springboard enzuigiri. Cole hits a slingshot DDT onto the apron. In the ring, Cole follows with a brainbuster over his knee. He applies a figure four but Taven is able to reach the bottom rope. Martini hits Cole in the back with the Book of Truth. Taven hits a headlock driver to become the new ROH World Television Champion at 13:37. Hardy’s response on commentary is priceless. I’m not ready to write off Taven by any means, but this was a genuinely shocking title change. However, the Hardy story was played off well and hopefully this means that Cole is ready to enter the main event scene. The match didn’t necessarily have the in-ring quality of a big title change, but I think everything worked well in context. ***
Match #7: ROH World Tag Team Titles: Jay and Mark Briscoe © vs. Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly
Fish and O’Reilly are collectively known as reDRagon. Mark connects with a spin kick on O’Reilly. Jay peppers Fish with a flurry of punches and connects with a mafia kick. Fish takes some redneck karate from Mark but knocks him down with a kick. reDRagon hit a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker-flying knee strike combination on Mark. Fish kicks out Jay’s legs on the apron and sends Mark into the barricade. reDRagon isolate Jay, working over his left leg. He blocks O’Reilly’s missile dropkick from the apron and makes the tag. Mark cleans house with his karate offense. He hits a fisherman buster on Fish in a moment of irony. Mark continues with a rolling death valley driver on O’Reilly and a dragon suplex on Fish. Jay lands a frog splash onto Fish for a nearfall. reDRagon regain control with a series of kicks on Jay. They hit total elimination for a two count. The Briscoes catch O’Reilly with a doomsday device on the floor. The crowd comes alive. In the ring, Jay hits a falcon arrow on Fish and Mark adds a froggy elbow for a nearfall. O’Reilly saves his partner from the doomsday device. Mark and O’Reilly trade headbutts on the apron. Fish overhead suplexes Mark to the floor. reDRagon hit a doomsday device of their own on Jay for a two count. reDRagon follow with Chasing the Dragon to become the new ROH World Tag Team Champions at 15:12. The Briscoes winning the titles at Final Battle seems a bit odd in hindsight. Nevertheless, Fish and O’Reilly are champions and I couldn’t be happier. Better yet, there were no shenanigans involved and reDRagon picked up a clean victory. As expected, they worked well with the Briscoes and both teams were very good at keeping you guessing about where the match was headed. The crowd bit on quite a few nearfalls and the title change felt like a big deal. They could assuredly have a better match given more time, but the fifteen-minute duration was a fine way to ensure the crowd stuck with them. ***½
Match #8: ROH World Title: Kevin Steen © vs. Jay Lethal
Lethal shoos away the Code of Honor and throws a punch before the opening bell. They exchange punches and brawl around ringside. They throw each other into the barricade. Lethal connects with a dropkick upon reentering the ring. Steen tries to fight him off with forearms, but Lethal lays in an audible punch. Steen gets dropkicked off the apron and Lethal lands a dive to the floor. Steen prevents another dive with a powerbomb onto the apron. He crotches Lethal on the ringpost for good measure and takes control. Lethal fights back with a backcracker but falls victim to a pumphandle neckbreaker. Steen misses a corner cannonball. Lethal elevates him into a neckbreaker. Steen accidentally bumps Todd Sinclair. Lethal hits the Lethal Injection but there’s no referee. Jimmy Jacobs and Steve Corino rush the ring and attack Lethal. They plant him with a tandem spike piledriver. Steen covers for a nearfall. Jacobs elbows Sinclair but Nigel McGuinness stops SCUM from interfering further. Lethal hits a dragon suplex but Steen pops up! Lethal hits a second dragon suplex for a nearfall. Steen elevates Lethal into a sit-out powerbomb. Lethal fires back with five consecutive superkicks and the Lethal Combination. He follows with Hail to the King for a two count. Lethal transitions into a koji clutch. Steen rolls to the bottom rope. They battle on the apron and Steen hits the F-Cinq through a ringside table. In the ring, Jacobs wants to help again but Steen tells him to leave. The distraction allows Lethal to sneak in a rollup for a nearfall. Steen crotches Lethal on the top rope and hits a top-rope brainbuster to retain his title at 20:45. The beginning portion of this match did an excellent job of showcasing Lethal’s new attitude and that theme persisted throughout the rest of the contest. Though the SCUM interference felt a bit forced, the action picked up considerably afterwards. I’m not quite sure what Steen winning with a top-rope brainbuster signifies (perhaps Steen returning to his roots?) but it felt like a sufficiently impactful finish after what came before it. I don’t think they ever fully captured the crowd’s attention, but this match did enough to earn match of the night honors and closed the show on a high note. ***¾
After the match, Rhino appears out of nowhere and Gores Lethal. Jacobs continues the attack until the Briscoes make the save. Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander run out as well. Jimmy Rave makes his return to ROH in a SCUM shirt! BJ Whitmer and Rhett Titus come out but Titus turns on Whitmer and reveals a SCUM shirt as well. The crowd starts noticing what’s going on. Michael Elgin comes out to make the save but Cliff Compton fights him off for SCUM! Steen stands in the middle of the ring, looking around at the destruction. The American Wolves come out for Ring of Honor but fall victim to the numbers game. Adam Cole runs out to help, but Matt Hardy fights him off and joins SCUM as well. Referees rush the ring but can’t do anything. Steve Corino finally appears and cuts a promo while SCUM stands tall in the ring. Steen ends the show looking confused on the apron.
Overall: The matches that you expected to deliver on the 11th Anniversary Show came through, while the matches that you probably weren’t interested in didn’t surprise quality-wise. Clearly, this show has some historical value in regards to Ring of Honor’s current storylines, which might add value. There were two title changes and regardless of how you feel about the show-ending angle, it will shape the promotion’s direction for at least the next year. While this event might not be comparable to anniversary shows of the past, the strength of the title matches as well as the dream tag team match make this a slightly recommendable purchase. Of course, with something like the SCUM invasion, the angle will live or die by the follow-up in the coming months.
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