ROH Border Wars 2013 – Results and Analysis

ROH Border Wars
May 4th, 2013
Toronto, Ontario, CAN
Estimated Attendance: 1100

After a fun video package recapping Jay’s historic title win and Cole’s subsequent challenge, the show is underway. Stream is flawless as  the opening credits roll. Nigel McGuinness and Kevin Kelly are on commentary.

Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander vs. ACH and Tadarius Thomas

This was an awesome opener. Early on, C&C worked over ACH and Thomas – every time ACH would fire back with a comeback the crowd was on their feet. He and Thomas were certainly positioned as the babyfaces, and had the crowd eating out of their hands. Eventually it broke down, there was a lot of crazy spots, too many to call and some I couldn’t name if I tried. Eventually C&C scored the pin on ACH with the no-hands Frankensteiner followed by the frogsplash. Perfect way to get the crowd going. Hopefully these guys can advance past the opening spot-fest, because the crowd is way into them, especially ACH.

Winners: Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander

The commentators explained that Mike Mondo had suffered an injury in training.

Bennett came out for a match, and words cannot describe the outfit Maria was almost wearing. $15 worth, right there.

Roderick Strong vs. Mike Bennett

Commentators made no secret of  Bennett and Maria’s futures being in question. Nigel made reference to Bennett’s physical condition and new buzzcut, so they were almost making an angle out of the rumours surrounding his potential departure. They had a stiff brawl early on, with Bennett getting the advantage on the floor. Strong fired back and Bennett was never really getting the heat – it was fairly back and forth. Bennett tapped to the Strong Hold but the ref was distracted with Maria. Soon after, CHEESEBURGER RAN OUT AND PUT HIS TONGUE IN MARIA’S MOUTH! The crowd were respectful to the match, but this got the bigger pop than anything either guy in the match actually did. Bennett chased him but was cut off by a sick kick by Roddy, which got the pin. A solid second match on the card.

Winner: Roderick Strong

Next; Rhett Titus vs. BJ Whitmer – ‘I Quit’ rules. Corino cut his usual SCUM promo before the match. He addressed the match later in the show with Lethal and Elgin versus the mystery SCUM members. Crowd were getting a boring chant going just as Corino wrapped up.

Rhett Titus vs. BJ Whitmer – ‘I Quit’ Match

Nigel immediately left ringside, got two referees, and had Corino ejected. Toronto cheered and told him to get the F out.  Something of a pet peeve of mine; the referee was asking if BJ quit after every highspot. ‘I Quit’ and ‘Last Man Standing’ matches where the referee does the count or asks the question after every move gets grating super quick. There was a small ‘shut the f’ up’ chant at the referee in the first five minutes, as well as some Fandangoing. Yeah, Fandangoing. They reacted to a lot of Whitmer’s stuff, but people just weren’t into Titus on offence. After a few minutes of generic brawling, Titus introduced some zip-ties, which Whitmer got control of. Rhett, of course, found himself bound to the ropes and vulnerable. Whitmer pummeled Titus who said ‘hell no’ and spit in Whitmer’s face when asked to quit. He’s supposed to be the heel. Whitmer got a chair and threatened to bludgeon Titus in the head. Corino, no longer banned from ringside, came out and offered himself as a sacrifice. Whitmer lifted the chair, as though he was going to kill Corino, and Titus quit to save his leader. A totally unspectacular match, with zero plunder which lead to a restless crowd. These kind of finishes offer zero resolution or satisfaction.

Winner: BJ Whitmer

SCUM ran out to beat down Whitmer, Elgin and Lethal made the save, and the tag team match begin immediately.

Michael Elgin and Jay Lethal vs. Jimmy Jacobs and Cliff Compton – SCUM VS. ROH

If SCUM win this, Corino gets a commentary position and Matt Hardy gets a title shot. If ROH win, SCUM are done. Just like that. A big brawl early, but it eventually settled into a tag match. Lethal and Elgin looked great shinning early, with good heat from the crowd. They reacted huge to Elgin’s minute-long stalling suplexes. After a big dive, Lethal stayed down on the floor with a supposed knee injury. The match ground to a halt, before eventually it was decided he couldn’t continue and that left Elgin alone. Elgin was TREMENDOUS as a one man army, taking on both members of SCUM on his own. Crowd was going nuts for him deadlifting Compton and Jacobs at the same time, which he did twice. This felt like the first time I was really into the SCUM stuff; Elgin was just so damn awesome as the valiant babyface. When things looked their bleakest; OUT RUNS KEVIN STEEN! The crowd went absolutely bananas for this, throwing streamers and jumping up and down. Nigel OK’d the substitution of sorts for Lethal and Steen, and Kevin ran wild. Of course, SCUM ain’t leaving any time soon, so Steen was eventually rolled up and pinned by Jacobs which was a flat ending. Still, a tremendous match from a story telling point of view, and another shinning moment for Elgin.

Winners: SCUM

INTERMISSION

QT Marshall came out with Evans, just as they were plugging the Edwards match. The crowd started Fandangoing and he asked if it was the Canadian national anthem. That was quality. The lights began flickering and a heart-monitor beep began ringing out around the arena. A video on the screen teased the return of Tomasso Ciampa, which fired the crowd up. Ciampa came out on the ramp and everyone went nuts. He laid out QT, who was pulled to safety by RD Evans. This was a great return. The lights and the video all worked really well and the crowd were super-receptive. Here’s hoping things only get better for Tomasso.

Taiji Ishimori vs. Eddie Edwards

Excellent match. Should be mentioned alongside the best of Wrestlecon weekend as a match of the year contender. Ishimori, who I admittedly was totally ignorant of prior to this, tore it down. He was lightning quick, super crisp, and wow’d the crowd several times with his fluidity and crazy highspots. Edwards, to say the absolute least, is a solid hand when it comes to showcasing a guy like this – akin to Roderick Strong. Match was a constant flurry, lightning quick pace, with huge near falls in the last few minutes. Ishimori eventually fell to Edwards’ ‘Die Hard bomb’ after each guy kicked out of a lot of stuff. Crowd LOVED this, I loved this, they chanted ‘please come back’ and I agree. Order the replay, kids.

Winner: Eddie Edwards

Boston-native Edwards sporting a special B-Strong shirt before the match in respect of the recent tragedy in his home town.

WE WILL HAVE LIVE ROH TV TAPINGS RESULTS FROM SUNDAY ONSITE

Matt Taven with Truth Martini, Scarlett Bordeaux and Seleziya Sparx vs. Mark Briscoe – TV Title Match

Truth brought quite the pair of ladies with him. Considering their position on the card and what they had to follow, these guys did a good job and had a solid match. There was one slip up late in the match when Taven tried to do a springboard and lost his footing. It was so minor but of course the crowd let him hear about it. Mark ran wild, was cut off by Hoopla antics, and Taven worked him over for the duration. The finish saw Mark come close to victory but Seleziya and Scarlett INDULGED IN SOME MAKING OUT to distract the referee, allowing Taven to get the roll up with the tights. Five stars, pay twice the price for a replay. In all honesty though, this was a fine TV title match.

Paul London vs. Davey Richards

A minor hiccup saw the stream freeze during London’s entrance, but it was brief.

London was not his crispiest, but he worked so damn hard, and they had a really great semi-main. Richards relished playing an A-hole for the Canadian crowd who were mixed on him, and London played the plucky babyface and bumped like a lunatic. The finishing sequence was positively brutal. London was on the apron, recovering from a tombstone on the floor, and Richards hit him with a BRUTAL double stomp. The two were slipping and sliding all match due to perspiration and when Davey hit this stomp to the chest… well, he just kept on going and crushed London’s face. London looked dead. He was just about able to finish the match and attempt the SHOOTING STAR PRESS which Davey got his knees up for. These knees killed poor Paul again, and that lead to the pin. It was a hell of a match, and the brutality at the end really made it, despite it being genuinely concerning.

Winner: Davey Richards

Post match, both guys put each other over, to a positive reception.

Jay Briscoe vs. Adam Cole – ROH World Title Match

A solid conclusion to the event, but somewhat unremarkable for my money, especially following the Richards and Edwards matches. There were some little touches of a heel Cole throughout, as he targeted Jay’s leg and wrapped it around the ring post with a Bret Hart style figure four leglock. For the finish, Steve Corino came out trying to recruit Cole for SCUM, was run off by Nigel, and Cole was pinned clean with the Jay Driller. As I said, solid but wont be remembered as a classic ROH world title bout.

Winner: Jay Briscoe

Post match, Cole teased like he was going to lay out Jay post-match, but instead he just scowled and left. So I guess that’s the direction they’re going next, which is certainly interesting.

All in all, this was a very enjoyable show with a lot of great wrestling. I would definitely recommend ordering a replay.

Thanks for reading folks, I hope you enjoyed the show and/or our coverage. Stay tuned for more news, results and more on PWPonderings.com.