EVOLVE 9: Gargano vs. Taylor, plus Finlay-Callihan

EVOLVE 9: Gargano vs. Taylor

Manhattan, NY

June 26, 2011

So this is EVOLVE, a retardedly capitalized name, but a pretty well thought-of company. They have an emphasis on win-loss records, trying to make wrestling seem more like MMA. I don’t like that, but I’ve never seen an EVOLVE show, so we’ll see how it works.

Immediately starting, I really like the atmosphere. It’s a tiny venue, I can’t imagine they can fit 500 people, but it’s a New York crowd, so they’re rabid. They’re at BB King’s, a venue in which I’ve never heard of.

EVOLVE 9 starts with Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano, the headliners talking. Nothing of worth here, basically just telling each other that they will bring it.

Eric Ryan vs. Bobby Beverly

I’ve never heard of these two. Will they surprise me?

We start with a tie up. Bobby Beverly takes control early with a flip armdrag, but Ryan comes back with stiff chops in the corner. Beverly makes his comeback with a dropkick for a two count. They’re working a good fast pace. Beverly nails a superkick, but Ryan turns things around and nails a coast to coast! Beverly bails and Ryan hits a great missile tope. Back in the ring, they trade forearms. They trade suplexes and knock each other down with simultaneous lariats. Kevin Steen comes in and causes the DQ at 4 minutes.

Post-match: Steen nails a package piledriver on both wrestlers. Announcers sell disgust. Steen grabs a mic, kicks Beverly out of the ring and shit talks ROH, or in his words Ring of Horseshit. He is absolutely hilarious in this promo, which lasts a pretty long time. Steen to the commentators: “Rob, I swear to God if you open your mouth one time while I have this microphone in my hands, I will rape your mouth.” Steen busts off so many awesome one-liners, verbally raping a heckler in the crowd. He even impersonates CM Punk by sitting in the middle of the ring.He shit talks a lot of people, particularly El Generico and Davey Richards. Jim Cornette gets a shit-talking to as well. Some guy named Bobby Fish comes out and steals Steen’s microphone, talks him down, and Steen exits, but I don’t think he’s done yet.

Analysis: ** Really fun match for the small time they were given. The post-match segment was fucking awesome. Beverly and Ryan worked one hell of a fast match. I’d love to see more of them.

Façade & Jason Gory vs. Super Smash Brothers (Player Uno & Player Dos)

I’ve heard of the Smash Brothers very vaguely, bit I’ve never seen them wrestle. I have no idea who Façade and Jason Gory are. Player Dos is a skinny guy, Player Uno is a big ol’ fat guy in a mask.

Player Dos takes control on Gory early. After foiling a comeback, he hits a spin kick. He tags Uno, who Gory takes control of. He tags Façade in, who Uno takes control. Double team reverse DDT by The Smash Brothers. Uno comes in, but Façade trips him up onto the second rope. Façade nearly botches a springboard bulldog. Gory and Façade make very frequent tags, but Uno comes back hitting a SICK DDT/reverse STO on them both. Player Dos tags in and hits a spinning plancha to the outside on Façade. Façade foils a double team by standing on his head in the corner. BUDDY MOONSAULT! Uno breaks the pin up. Uno sloppily powerbombs Gory into Façade. The Super Smash Brothers hit Fatality (gory special from Uno/ flip cutter from the top by Dos) at 6 minutes.

Post match: Lenny Leonard interviews the Brothers, but nothing really comes of it.

Analysis: ** It was a fun little sprint, but there were a lot of sloppy moves. Player Uno is very slow seemingly, but Player Dos has a lot of charisma and makes up for his partner’s shortcomings in the ring. Gory and Façade didn’t show me anything either.

Fit Finlay lectures some young wrestlers in the back. Nothing of note here either, but I’m pumped for his match later.

Sugar Dunkerton vs. Silas Young

I haven’t heard of either of these wrestlers. Silas Young comes down to the ring with a basketball, and shit talks Sugar, who waffles Silas with the ball.

Sugar starts with an armbar. Silas tells Sugar to make him laugh while he works over the arm, but Dunkerton gets the better of him. Dunkerton comes back by taking out Young’s knees for 2. Sugar lightens up Young’s chest with chops, but Young drops him on his face after an attempted headscissors. Young goes for some headstanding move off the top, but Dunkerton kicks him off and hits a tope. Young sends Dunkerton into the ringpost to buy himself some time. Young attacks Sugar in the ring and plays to the crowd. Young doesn’t shut the hell up in the ring, and it’s pissing me off. Young calls Dunkerton “boy” non-racist like, and a hilarious fan yells, “Who you callin’ boy?!” Young nails a Perfectplex for two and Silas puts in a resthold. Dunkerton comes back with a lariat for two, with a Northern Light’s Suplex also getting him 2. Young buys himself some time, but Dunkerton hits a nice diving reverse STO for two. Young gets to the ropes after a Koji clutch. Sugar comes back, but Silas hits the Pee Gee Waja Plunge (headstand/springboard moonsault) for three at 9 minutes.

Post-match: Johnny Gargano comes down and talks to Young about how he got him to drink, but he didn’t know of Silas’ past, whatever that is. Young refuses a handshake.

Analysis: **1/4 It wasn’t much of an action packed match, but they told a decent story with Sugar Dunkerton trying to prove he isn’t a joke anymore. Young showed promise, but he needs to shut up in the ring if he wants to be taken seriously. Inoffensive but unmemorable match.

Sami Callihan warms up for his match against Finlay later.

Pinkie Sanchez vs. Lince Dorado

I’ve not heard of either of these guys either, but Pinkie seems to have somewhat of a following evidenced by his crowd reaction early.

Lince Dorado takes control early. Dorado hits a BEAUTIFUL corkscrew armdrag, then fakes Sanchez out with a dive. Pinkie comes back around and Dorado hits a corkscrew plancha. Sanchez dropkicks Dorado in the middle of of a quebrada. Pinkie takes control from there. Dorado kicks Pinkie in his face for a two count shortly thereafter. Sanchez resumes control quickly though. Sanchez starts to work on the leg. Dorado bitch slaps him though. Kevin Steen joins the commentary booth! Sanchez continues to work on the leg. Dorado comes back with a crossbody, but Pinkie takes control again. Mutoh Moonsault misses for Sanchez, and Dorado nails a dropkick. Lince hits a sloppy frankensteiner and a shooting star press for a close two count. Pinkie builds momentum and hits a sweet springboard DDT. Pinkie puts on a figure four leglock and Dorado taps at 9 minutes.

Analysis: **1/4 Nothing of note here really. Pinkie impressed, Dorado impressed, and they had a nice little sprint. I’ve heard a lot about Pinkie Sanchez, but there wasn’t nearly enough here to form a decent opinion. He looked pretty crisp and he was pretty over, so I’ll assume he has a good reputation among the indies.

Post-match: Sanchez shows off his personality, which is that of a jackass, whether it’s intentional or not. It’s funny in a way, but it isn’t going to get him very far.

Jon Davis hypes himself up, taking in Finlay’s words to heart.

Lenny Leonard brings out Larry Dallas (who?) for an interview. Larry brings some big old motherfucker with him. Larry introduces Caleb Konley and Scott Reed, The Scene. Konley used to look a shit ton like Brian Kendrick, but now he looks like a douchebag with a bell cut.

Cheech and Cloudy vs. The Scene

I’ve heard of Cheech and Cloudy, who were in ROH for a cup of coffee.

Cheech and Reed start. Reed takes control and tags Konley early. Cheech buys some time with a jawbreaker. Cloudy (who’s very short) tags in, and gets a two count with a tope con hilo. Cheech tags back in, and they put in a great looking double boston crab. Up in Smoke hits a dropkick/tiger feint kick combo, but Konley takes control of Cheech with a sick slam on the top turnbuckle for two. Reed tags in and kicks Cheech in the face for 2. Konley tags in and puts on a rear chinlock. Cheech tries to take both members of The Scene by himself, and he ends up buying himself some time with a powerslam on Konley. They tag their respective partners. Cloudy takes Konley out of the ring, and hits an AWESOME spinning suicida onto him. Reed hits a crucifix bomb and Cheech breaks the pin. Konley hits a good flurry of strikes and a leg sweep for two. Reed tags in and gets a two count with a jumping elbow. He nails a delayed vertical suplex and Cheech cockily breaks up the pin. Cloudy puts Konley down with a missile dropkick, and tags Cheech, who cleans house. Cheech hits a nice pumphandle suplex on Konley, who lands on Reed. Up in Smoke hits a double enziguri, and Cloudy hits an AWESOME partner assisted DDT. Cloudy nails shotgun knees, but Konley breaks it up and nails a Gory Bomb. Cheech comes in and foils a submission, but Reed comes in and gets two on a Falcon Arrow to Cloudy. Cheech cleans house, sends Konley out, and Cloudy nails Reed with an elbow. Caleb Konley suplexes Cheech on the apron and The Scene hits a DDT/wheelbarrow suplex for a 3 count at 12 minutes.

Analysis: *** Damn, this was a fun match. The double team moves here were something you rarely see, and even though it ended up being a debut pad for The Scene as a team, Cheech and Cloudy took their time to impress. The Scene didn’t shine all that much to me, but they still did good, not botching anything and keeping the crowd into it. Up In Smoke did a fantastic job of putting the transitions in there, and Cloudy is small enough to play a wonderful face-in-peril, even if the heat segment ended early. The sprint to the finish was the icing on the cake. 

Post-match: Larry Dallas and his big ass bodyguard (who Steen and Rob Naylor kindly point out that he is in fact, a large black man) come in and celebrate. The Scene and the aforemention large black man exit the ring with Dallas. CHEECH TURNS ON CLOUDY! Want your statement? There’s your statement says Cheech. Not as good as the Osirian Portal break up at CHIKARA High Noon, but a great segment nonetheless.

Finlay laces up his boots backstage.

Bobby Fish vs. Jon Davis

Apparently, Jon Davis is EVOLVE’s new golden boy, along with Johnny Gargano. Bobby Fish came out earlier to talk Steen down, but he also faced Bryan Danielson in the Dragon’s first EVOLVE match.

We start with a technical wrestling exchange. Fish puts in a headlock, but Kevin Steen’s all FUCK YOU BITCHES and wrecks the match at 40 seconds.

Post match: Jon Davis proposes a three way, and the ref agrees. It’s unsactioned. Whoopee. Any Kevin Steen is good Kevin Steen as far as I am concerned.

Bobby Fish vs. Jon Davis vs. Kevin Steen

Davis punks out the referee to start. Fish and Steen go to the floor and brawl it out, soon joined by Davis. Davis and Fish trade kicks, and Steen eventually breaks stuff up with a double face-rake. Now I’m just waiting for Kevin to rape someone in the mouth. I know it’s a morbid thing to say, but independent wrestling does some screwed up stuff nowadays. Davis falls prey to a Steen Codebreaker back in the ring, and Steen follows with a cannonball. Steen heads to the outside with Fish, and Steen powerbombs Bobby on the apron. Davis intervenes and nails a reverse DDT on the apron. Bobby Fish dives out onto Davis. Fish works over Steen in the ring. Davis nails a powerbomb on Fish for a two count, and Steen breaks up their fight, hitting rope hung DDT on Davis for 2. Fish targets Steen’s legs and gives him a Saito Suplex for two. Davis eats a Steen suplex, and Steen eats a spin kick. Davis decides to join the fun and he clotheslines the dick out of Fish. Fish nails an Exploder Suplex, but Kevin breaks up the pin. Kevin puts Bobby in a sharpshooter, but he eats Davis’ boot. Davis puts him down with a Jackhammer, but Fish breaks the pin. Davis is sent to the floor, and Fish counters a package piledrive from Steen. Fish puts in a Fish Hook after a sunset flip. Davis breaks the hold, and Kevin Steen nails Fish right in the grapes. POUNCE BY DAVIS! Argentine Bomb from Davis gets 3 at the 7 minute mark.

Analysis: **3/4 They had a really fun three way, in which the rules didn’t make much impact on the match. They busted out some strong offense, in order to make all three men look good. Davis impressed the most of all with his powerful demeanor and his overall presence made the match a little better weirdly. Not much substance, but they traded high impact moves and had fun.

They promote WWNLive.com, the website EVOLVE, DGUSA, and FIP runs their iPPV’s on.

Tony Nese vs. John Silver

Nese was on Impact a few times last year, and Silver is an unknown commodity.

The two trade basic holds until Nese takes control of Silver’s arm. Silver flips out of it and nails a European uppercut. They miss respective strikes, nail simultaneous dropkicks, and GENERIC INDY STANDOFF!~! That was a sick exchange though. Nese grabs Silver’s arm, but Silver reverses. Silver goes to work on Nese’s arm. Nese just picks Silver up with one arm and bombs Silver into the buckle. Nese nails a running boot for a two count. Nese bitch slaps Silver, who nearly yells “Aww SHIT.” Silver evades a moonsault, but kicks waffled in the face with a kick on a sunset flip attempt. Silver takes control again, knocking Nese down with an enziguri. Silver eats Nese’s boot in the corner, but drives his knees into Nese’s face on an attempted sunset flip. Nese lariats the hell out of Silver before John can dive to the outside. The two meet in the middle of the ring and trade strikes. Silver hits a springboard tornado DDT for a two count. Nese hits an awesome dead-weight German for a 2 count. This match is great. Silver kicks Nese in the head, but Nese foils a top rope moonsault. SPIDER SUPLEX! I love that move. Silver gets back up and hangs Nese in the tree of woe and he hits a SICK DOUBLE KNEE DROP! That gets a close 2 count. Nese puts Silver in the corner and hits a Ciampa-esque running knee for a 2 count. Silver looks for a reverse hurricanrana, but Nese SMASHES HIS FACE IN THE TURNBUCKLE. Jesus, that looked vicious. Nese hits a sit-out backdrop bomb for a two count. You’d know it if you saw it. Nese nails a couple enziguris that seem to knock Silver out for a second. Nese covers for a two count, but Silver was playing possum and he takes control. Both men ascend the ropes, where Silver crotches Nese. Nese does likewise. They bitch slap each other until Nese gives Silver a vicious kick to knock him down. Silver moves out of the way of a 450 splash, and he hits an inverted Backstabber for the win at 13 minutes.

Analysis: ***1/4 Man, what a great match. They literally went balls out for every single second they were given, and got this hesitant crowd into the match, moreso than any match on the card yet. They no-sold a bit, which detracted from the match a bit, but damned if they didn’t put effort into it. They brought this crowd alive with some awesome moves, and I think we’ve seen a new prospect in John Silver.

Video preview for EVOLVE 7. Jon Moxley had his farewell here, and is now Dean Ambrose, by vote for the future of WWE.

Fit Finlay vs. Sami Callihan

Finlay is probably one of the most underrated wrestlers of all time, but the fact is, is that he is an absolute machine and one of the most productive workers WWE had for the latter part of the decade. I know he fucked up, but WWE shouldn’t have released him for what he did. But oh well. I’ve heard of Sami Callihan, who apparently became EVOLVE’s top heel at EVOLVE 10, the last ever ECW Arena show. He was in ROH for a while too when Adam Pearce was booking.

Finlay knocks Sami on his ass to start. Callihan backs off after Finlay punks him out again. Finlay toys with Callihan in the corner and hits a sick short lariat. You can already tell this match is going to be great. Callihan counters into a headscissors. They stare each other down, and like a badass Finlay just headbutts Callihan. Callihan tries to do the same, but Finlay’s all FUCK YOU HO and puts on an armbar on the mat. Callihan backs off again after a rollup. Sami nails some VICIOUS chops. Jesus, those are sick. Finlay gets pissed and throws Callihan into the corner. Callihan nails some more vicious chops. Finlay tries to go after the legs, but Sami gets to the ropes. Finlay eats a bitch slap, and some more chops. Finlay slides under the ropes and just pulls Callihan out. I am loving this match so far. Finlay works the leg on the outside. Callihan is thrown into the ring, kicks Finlay off, but Finlay whacks him as soon as Callihan gets to the floor again. Callihan takes control and hits two MONSTROUS chops. Back in the ring, Finlay takes control again. Finlay hits a body slam, but makes sure Sami’s knee straddles the rope. Rinse and repeat that spot. Finlay goes to work on the knee masterfully. Finlay puts on a sick Indian deathlock and Callihan eventually gets to the ropes. Sami sells his knee wonderfully as well, and Finlay attacks the knee after distracting the referee. Callihan tries to go toe-to-toe, but Finlay attacks him again. I’m loving the story in this match too. Callihan breaks a Stretch Muffler. Callihan comes back with a pump kick and a DVD for two. Finlay catches a baseball slide, and for his troubles Sami eats the guardrail on the outside. Callihan knocks Finlay down with an enziguri and nails a couple more chops. Jesus, Sami’s chops are killer-esque. Finlay has had enough and he just shoves Callihan over the top rope. Finlay hits a bodyslam to Callihan on the outside. Callihan nails a Saito suplex for a 2 count. Finlay eats a Forearm to Remember, but Finlay grabs the ropes before the ref can count 3. Finlay heads to the outside and dodges a suicide dive as Callihan EATS the guardrail. Jeezus. Finlay foils a top rope move for a 2 count. CELTIC CROSS! One, two, thr—NO! Awesome nearfall there. Crowd and I thought that was the end. Callihan flips him off, so he eats ANOTHER CELTIC CROSS! One, two, th—NO! Callihan flips him off again, so Finlay nails a tombstone piledriver! One, two, three! Finlay picks up the win at 23 minutes.

Analysis: ****1/4 My God, what a match. These two provided something drastically different from any match you’ll ever see on the independent circuit, and it provided an amazing change of pace from the tedious fast paced spotfests you see. They wrestled an old-school match, which was fitting (no pun intended) because of Finlay’s involvement. He has such a grasp on how to work a match, how to play to a crowd, and how to build up sympathy for his opponent. He barely ever got to show these kinds of chops in WWE, and now that he’s on the indies, even at 50+, he shows why he’s one of the best around. Sami Callihan impressed the sam hell out of me here. I was initially confused as to what role he was playing, considering his persona was that of a heel, but as soon as Finlay started beating the holy crap out of him, it was obvious he would play the babyface for this match. He did a wonderful job garnering a little bit of sympathy, but still not looking like a bitch, matching Finlay’s stiff shots with some absolutely SWELTERING chops. Ths story they told here was simple, but highly effective as Finlay played the wily veteran, outsmarting Callihan at every turn, even when Callihan looked to be in control. Callihan was very game here, but Finlay proved that the veteran knows best when he finally finished what was a unique, exquisite old school match. I really want to see more of Finlay in the indies, so that maybe he can bring a change of pace from a lot of the no-selling you see and end up bringing hard-hitting, technical constests that tell a story. I can’t enough wonderful things about this match, so you just have to go see it for yourself.

Post-match: The crowd chants “Thank you Sami” in a nice showing of gratitude. Finlay thanks EVOLVE for the opportunity and Sami for kicking his ass. He puts Sami over as one of the toughest wrestlers he ever faced, which has to be a HUGE compliment, considering who Finlay has been in the ring with. The two embrace on the outside.

Bobby Fish gripes about his inability to win, as he is 1-5 in ROH.

Johnny Gargano vs. Chuck Taylor

I’ve seen Taylor wrestle in PWG, and he is great there, as he displays a lot of charisma. I’ve never heard of Johnny Gargano outside of a few mentions of his time in DGUSA. Larry Dallas comes out and tries to prevent this match from happening. It doesn’t work. No shit, right?

We start with a tie up. Gargano nails a rana, and they reach a stalemate. Not a GENERIC INDY STANDOFF!~! which makes me happy. Johnny puts in a headlock, but Larry Dallas tries to screw with Chuck Taylor and throw in the towel. Gargano pie faces Larry Dallas, and “fires” him. I don’t know what that means here, but okay. Chuck drops Johnny with a dropkick, and hits a missile dropkick moments later. Taylor stretches Gargano. Taylor misses a Stinger Splash and Gargano hits a double stomp, followed by a neckbreaker. Gargano hits a SICK tornado DDT from the apron, but the crowd doesn’t respond, burnt out from Finlay-Callihan. They dodge each other’s moves, and Gargano hits a slingshot spear. Gargano goes to work on Taylor’s shoulder. Taylor comes back with a stunner to stall things for Gargano momentum-wise. They head out to the apron and slug it out there, until Taylor hits a reverse DDT. Taylor leaps off the guardrail onto Gargano (sick spot), and they head back in the ring shortly after. Taylor nails a uranage back in the ring, and gets a two count with a superkick. Gargano nails Taylor with a superkick coming off the ropes, Benjamin-Michaels-esque for a nearfall of his own. Taylor catches Gargano on the top rope and they fight it out up top, and Taylor hits a fallaway slam. Gargano no-sells and puts in a crossface, which Taylor reverses into one of his own. Gargano hits Sliced Bread for 2. Gargano reverses a move into an enziguri, but Taylor pops right back up and misses an Awful Waffle, and Gargano reverses into Emerald Flowsion. Gargano dodges a suplex to the outside, but Taylor counters a slingshot DDT onto the stage! Gargano doesn’t move for a while, but heads back into the ring at 18.  Gargano pops right back up like an idiot for a small package, but to no avail. Taylor goes up top, but Johnny pushes him off and hits a cannonball to the outside. Hurts Donut gets a two count. I’m not digging this match all that much for some reason. Hurts Donut gets another two count, so Gargano puts in a crossface. Gargano hits a superkick, but Taylor nails an Awful Waffle for the abrupt 3 count at 20 minutes.

Analysis: *** I wasn’t as in love with this match as others were. They did a lot of things right and got the crowd into it at the end, but they didn’t build any drama, and when they tried to, they showed no fire or emotion. I was much more impressed with Taylor in PWG than I was here, and while both wrestlers hit their moves well, no emotion was put into what they had to offer. I hate matches that try to be dramatic, but the wrestlers’ faces are monotone throughout the whole match. It defeats the purpose. I thought they worked extremely hard and tried to get the crowd into it—eventually succeeding—but the problems that Richards-Edwards III had were ever so present here, i.e. popping up after high impact moves, needless striking exchanges, and no fire in their actions. However, with all that criticism piled on, I thought they worked their asses off for what it’s worth, and they earned my respect, selling or not. That’s what my rating is for because a lot of wrestlers don’t even give effort. And while flawed, they went 20 minutes, balls out, to try and prove their worth. I’d love to see them go at it again, but this match wasn’t as good as people tend to say it is, much less a MOTYC that I have seen people pimp it as. I do have different tastes and I am much more stingy in indy matches than most people, so take a gander at the match for yourself.

Larry Dallas is fired backstage by Chuck Taylor. Larry promises The Scene big things in their future. And SCENE.

Final Rating?

I give this show an 8 out of 10

Why?

The reason I give this show such a high score is because of it’s consistency. There wasn’t a bad match on the card, and even though there were some short, filler-esque matches, they were all fun in their own way. EVOLVE proves that Gabe Sapolsky can book a wrestling show, as he booked a LOT of variety here. The one reason to watch this show is Finlay-Callihan, which is an absolute spectacle. They had a hard-hitting match that got the crowd fully invested, and burnt them out for the main event, which turned out to be a mild disappointment. Tony Nese and John Silver pulled a spontaneous good match out of themselves, and we saw an interesting angle with Cheech turning on Cloudy, which will lead to an inevitable feud. This show is so fun to watch top-to-bottom, and even if my criticism on a lot of stuff is harsh, it’s all fun to watch as a whole. Big recommendation for EVOLVE 9, which you can pick up at Highspots, DGUSA store, or watch at WWNLive.com.

ROH Final Battle 2011: Richards-Edwards III, WGTT-Briscoes, Corino-Steen

Ring of Honor presents: Final Battle 2011

Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, NY

December 23^rd, 2011

After a bit of issues with the stream, we start the show off in the middle of the ring with CEO Joe Koff, Cary Silken, Kevin Kelly, Nigel McGuinness, and the greatest man ever (not really, but I love that big oaf) Jim Cornette. Cornette hypes up the crowd, saying preliminary reports show that this show will exceed any buyrate ROH has ever had. Well, no shit Jimmy. Koff thanks the crowd and Cary Silkin. We segue into the first match of the evening.

Michael Elgin (w/ Truth Martini) vs. TJ Perkins

Michael Elgin has emerged as the best big man in wrestling today, while TJ Perkins is slowly making a name for himself in Ring of Honor by way of the TV show (which I highly suggest you check out, because it is consistently entertaining) getting beat in 7 minute matches, but beating scrubs.

Here we go, and they start off circling. Did I mention I love Michael Elgin? Well, I do. Michael just tosses TJP around like a rag doll, but TJ gets him in the corner and kicks. They trade slaps, but Perkins locks in a headlock. He dodges a couple clotheslines, and hits a nice dropkick. He knocks Elgin over the ropes and fakes a second rope dive. TJ finally does it and Elgin catches him and runs him gut first into the guardrail! Back in the ring, Elgin takes control of Perkins. He foils a comeback, but Perkins reverses a suplex but Elgin reverses a headscissors into a freefall drop for a two count. Sitting waistlock is locked in by Elgin as the crowd rallies TJ up, who escapes with back elbows. Martini interferes, but TJ reverses a Gorilla press into a headscissors that knocks Elgin to the outside. TOPE! Back in the ring, TJ hits a missile dropkick for two. Elgin is too big to be taken down for a sunset flip, but TJ dodges a butt drop and hits a SICK standing corkscrew senton for two. TJ goes up top but Elgin stops anything else from happening with some chops. Elgin looks for a superplex, but TJ knocks him off. TJ jumps off and Elgin catches him in midair in suplex position! Falcon Arrow for a great nearfall. Elgin hits a Shock Treatment backbreaker for another nearfall. This is a really good match. Perkins hits a jumping neckbreaker on Elgin, looks for double knees, but Elgin reverses into a Buckle Bomb! Elgin looks for the Spiral Bomb, but PERKINS REVERSES INTO AN AWESOME REVERSE HURRICANRANA! TJ looks for a Detonation kick, but he can’t get Elgin up. He tries to stun Elgin and does, but Elgin gets out of another Detonation Kick. Elgin hits the Buckle Bomb and this time he hits the Spiral Bomb for the 1, 2, 3 at an all too short 7 minutes.

Analysis: **3/4 This was an AWESOME match for 7 minutes long. They didn’t get sloppy at all and built up some good nearfalls for the lack of time they were given. Elgin is a special wrestler and TJ kicks all sorts of ass and plays a good sympathetic babyface. This match could have gone for another ten minutes and perhaps entered the four star range, but no such luck, I guess.

The stream/audio has a major fuck up, and I hope this doesn’t become a recurring theme over the show because it sucks.

Tommaso Ciampa (w/ The Embassy) vs. Jimmy Rave

I’ve lightened up a lot on Ciampa, who has really impressed me with his wrestling and calm demeanor. I haven’t seen too much of Jimmy Rave but I’ve heard he was a fantastic heel in ROH. He’s playing the face here, so obviously I won’t see firsthand.

Pre match, Nana rambles incoherent words, so RD Evans takes over. Crowd tells him to shut the fuck up, but he tells them to watch their language in front of royalty. He says Jimmy Rave is like the ex girlfriend who doesn’t get the hint. He says it’ll be a silent night for Jimmy Rave. Rave comes out looking different than he did when I saw his match against Bryan Danielson in 2006, with short hair, a beard, and not a big, douchebag look. I like the change, but he still looks a bit skinny. Oh well.

They have a staredown to start, and Ciampa doesn’t shake Rave’s hand. They tie up and Ciampa overpowers the former Crown Jewel of the Embassy. They tie up again and Ciampa transitions into an arm wringer, which Rave counters into one of his own. Ciampa counters into a headlock, takes him over and locks in a chinlock for a second, but Rave gets out. Rinse and repeat that spot. Ciampa gets Rave again with an arm wringer, locks in an armbar, and they break with Rave selling his arm. They lock up once more, and Jimmy comes out with an arm wringer. Ciampa powerfully breaks it, and they trade cheap shots with Rave coming out on top with a loogie to the face. However, Ciampa immediately turns it around with a lariat that sends Rave to the outside. Ciampa sends Rave into the barricade and hits some open handed chops. Rave fires back with a knife edged chop of his own and throws Tommaso back in. Ciampa hits a jawbreaker, sends Rave sitting into the corner and hits two nice looking knees to the face for a two count. Ciampa starts toying with Rave now, but Rave comes back. Rave builds up some offense, but eats Ciampa’s boot in the corner. Ciampa runs the ropes, but Rave trips him up. Ciampa gets to the ropes on a single leg crab. Ciampa rolls out to the apron, and Jimmy knees him out to the barricade. Rave looks for a baseball slide, but Ciampa grabs his legs and wheelbarrows Rave into the guardrail. Ciampa sells his leg well, I must say. Rave comes in with a sunset flip, but Ciampa rolls through. Rave quickly takes control back and hits a Shining Wizard, and a Rave Clash! He only gets a nearfall, though. “AJ Styles” chant from this “witty” NYC crowd. Rave looks for Greetings From Ghana (pedigree) but Prince Nana brings out Rave’s old Embassy robe. The whole Embassy interferes, but Rave outsmarts them. Ciampa regains his bearings and hits Project Ciampa for the academice three count at 9 minutes.

Analysis: ** Not a great match, I’m afraid. The work was technically sound, no botches that I noticed, but it wasn’t built on television and Ciampa does not have a solid character base to work with as Rave seemed to have when he was the Crown Jewel. Rave looked fine and I’d like to see some more of him in ROH, mainly on TV as a gatekeeper. I don’t want to see him pushed all that much, but he could put over guys like TJ Perkins in good matches or something. Ciampa is a cool guy, me having met him before. He is a good worker and a good talker, so I hope he gets a new character.

Man, ROH is doing a shitty job of streaming this iPPV. Take in mind, my download is the PPV stream. They couldn’t get the replay up. Best in the World was absolutely fine when it came to stuff like this. Final Battle doesn’t have the same fortune, I guess.

Post-Match, Rave gets a standing ovation. I really wish he could have gotten more time, but oh well!

ROH TV Title: Mike Bennett (w/ Maria Kanellis & Brutal Bob) vs. El Generico vs. Jay Lethal

I still don’t like Mike Bennett, even though he works his ass off to get better. That’s all you can ask for. He comes out with Maria, his real-life girlfriend, and MOTHERFUCKER SHE IS HOTTER THAN HELL TONIGHT. I love that woman, you know. Brutal Bob doesn’t exactly match her on the “easy-on-the-eyes” criteria. HAHAHAHA A BIG CM PUNK CHANT!~! Man, that made my day. Bennett plays to the crowd, saying “Who?” and he frenches Maria. You bitch. “Fuck you Bennett” says the crowd. I don’t like Bennett’s in ring work too much, but he has good charisma and don’t be surprised if you see him in the WWE in a couple years. I’m still angry ROH hotshotted the TV belt from Generico to Lethal, because Lethal didn’t really do anything to deserve it, and Generico worked his ass off for ROH. But I can’t control that, and at least it went to Lethal and not Bennett. I do like Lethal but I haven’t enjoyed him as much in ROH as I did in TNA.

Kevin Kelly gets on my bad side once more by comparing Bennett to Tebow using the analogy, “He’s so good, but so hated.” Damn it, Kevin, you haven’t gotten on my nerves tonight and do not start now, fella. Especially since I’ve dealt with Michael Cole for a while now. Please, Kevin? Good, bitch.

Bennett does not follow the Code of Honor. Another CM Punk chant! Man, that kills me. Bennett bails to the outside as the bell rings and tells the two to fight. Generico and Lethal circle, but Bennett comes in and cheapshots Lethal, who chases after him. Generico holds him back. Bennett comes back in and cheapshots Generico this time, and Lethal has to hold him back. Generico and Lethal tie up but Generico breaks and they both go to the outside and double team Bennett. Back in the ring, they trade turns with him. I want a turn with Maria. BOING. They send Bennett outside. Generico and Lethal argue over who will dive onto the Prodigy first and instead they compromise and do stereo suicidas through the second rope. Generico and Lethal tie up, and Lethal gets a headlock and a shoulder block. He rolls Generico up for two, and hits a headscissors for another two count. Lethal gets a hiptoss and a dropkick for another two count. Generico has his head bounced off the top turnbuckle. Lethal whips Generico back into the corner, but Lethal is sent to the outside. Bennett comes back and drops him face first into the ring frame. Back in the ring, Bennett starts working Generico over. He hits a scoop slam for a two count. WHAT A MANUEVER. Generico comes back with a forearm, but Bennett comes back with a right hand. Bennett runs the ropes, looking for a move, but Generico pulls the rope down to send him over. Generico looks for a tope, but Lethal catches him on the run with a springboard dropkick. Lethal locks in a submission, a Texas Cloverleaf/Surfboad is the best name I can give it. Lethal breaks it after the referee almost counts him down. Bennett comes back in and disposes of Generico and hits an avalanche in the corner to Lethal. Bennett heads to the apron and Lethal hits a springboard dropkick, but right after that, Generico comes back and hits a crossbody to the back of Lethal for a two count. Generico and Lethal go at it for a bit Bennett comes back in and Generico gets nine punches in the corner, but Bennett counters. Lethal comes back with a kick to Bennett. He mounts Generico on top of Lethal, who kicks. Bennett gets to his knees and eats a kick to the face. Generico comes back and hits an Exploder into the turnbuckle. Bennett distracts Generico, so Generico comes out and punches Brutal Bob out, dodges Maria, but Bennett punches Generico out. Back in the ring, Bennett hits a powerslam and a TKO on Generico. Bennett hits a Snake Eyes on Lethal, and goes to the opposite corner. He eats a Yakuza kick from Generico however and they are all three down. Generico and Lethal slug it out in the ring until Lethal hits the Lethal Combination for 2. Bennett comes in and gets a waistlock on Lethal. Lethal reverses, runs the ropes, but Bennett hits a spinebuster for a two count. Generico hits an unexpecting Bennett with a Michinoku Driver for two. Lethal comes back in and kicks Generico right in the mush. He goes up top looking for a Lethal Injection, but Generico knocks him off with a Yakuza kick. Generico goes rope to rope and hits a tope on Lethal! He dives onto Bennett too! Back in the ring, Generico runs amok over Bennett and hits a beautiful Half Nelson suplex! One, two, thr—NO! Awesome nearfall. Lethal comes in  and hits a neckbreaker and looks for a Lethal Injection. Lethal poses and hits it! One, two, thr—NO! Good nearfall there too! Generico dives up and looks for a turnbuckle brainbuster, but Bennett rolls Generico up for a three count! GENERICO IS ELIMINATED. Damn. Not even a few seconds later, Lethal hits a great looking handspring Cutter for the three count at 18 minutes!

Post match, Generico and Lethal have a classy embrace in the middle of the ring.

Analysis: ***1/4 Generico single handedly saved this match from sucking. Lethal did a good job, don’t get me wrong, but everything Bennett did was too simplistic for what his other two opponents were doing, so he looked like the weakest link. Bennett tried, and he had a hot, HOT chick on the outside to cheer him on, but tits and ass aren’t enough for Bennett to look good in a wrestling match. Generico was on FIRE here and should have won, but as long as Bennett didn’t win, I’ll be alright. I know it seems like blind hate, but I just think Generico (& Lethal for that matter) deserves it a hell of a lot more than Bennett right now. Bennett has a hell of a lot of potential, and with some more work he will be perfectly serviceable in the ring. Baby steps, Mike, baby steps.

No DQ Match: Steve Corino vs. Kevin Steen, w/ Special Referee Jimmy Jacobs

This is the blowoff of the storyline of the year. Steve Corino basically created the evil Steen that ran like hell over ROH in 2010, so he came into 2011 trying to redeem himself. He did so and gained the trust of everyone back eventually, but Kevin Steen came back and fucked his shit up. Steen came back at Best in the World supposedly looking to do what Corino had done, but instead package piledrove Corino and became the anti-hero we see before us today. After that, ROH kicked the story into overdrive, not mentioning Kevin Steen ANYWHERE. His name would be starred out on the defunct ROH message boards (and they were shut down after Steen “hacked” it) and the TV show had no mention of him until the back part of the storyline kicked in. At Death Before Dishonor IX, Steen came back again and cut a scathing promo on Corino until his mic was cut off. He tried to piledrive Cary Silken, but former rival/partner El Generico came out and stopped that. They had a pull apart brawl before that was stopped as well. Steen also made an appearance at Glory by Honor X, cutting a promo on a children’s swingset about how fucked up ROH is and whatnot for not letting him in. Then, on ROH TV, Steen was threatening to sue ROH if he was not let back into the company. So in came Corino and Cornette. Corino offered Steen a settlement: he would face Steen at Final Battle in a No DQ match, with Jimmy Jacobs as the ref. Steen would be reinstated if he won, and would be banished from ROH forever. Kevin Steen accepted and requested that Cornette and Silken be at ringside to witness Steen’s reinstatement firsthand. Corino proclaimed himself an evil person for one more night, and had a pull apart brawl. Keep in mind, if Kevin Steen wins, he’s back in ROH.

Corino has dyed his hair his old blonde from ECW for this match. The crowd is hotter for this match than  any other match, and rightfully so. Loud “Kill, Steen, Kill” chant from the crowd. Jacobs refuses a hug from Steen and the bell rings. They start slugging it out and Steen starts to take control. Corino whips Steen into the ropes and hits a dropkick. Steen bails out, and Corino follows. Steen runs Corino into the barricade and the ring post. He sets him on the apron and hits a sick looking Cannonball!  Corino jumps Steen from behind with a dive from the apron. Corino picks one up and hits Steen with the chair in the corner. Corino looks to do it again, but Steen superkicks the chair into Steve’s face. Steen hits a nice powerbomb on the apron outside, and follows up with a nice frog splash. Steen goes by the stage and gets a guardrail and drills Corino in the head with it. Corino slides in the ring, grabs a chair and walks away. Steen goes after Corino but Corino stops him. Corino mounts the chair on the guardrail sideways and looks for a powerbomb, but Steen reverses and powerbombs him on the chair! Sick. Steen says hello to Nigel McGuinness and goes for a table. Kevin Kelly makes a wonderful comparison to Brian Pillman from Kevin Steen. Spot on, Hermie, spot on. Steen sets the table up on the outside, mount it on the apron and guardrail. Cornette flips Steen looks for a powerbomb through the table on the outside, but Corino knocks Steen down with a lariat. Corino goes to the outside to get the trashcan they put the streamers in. He throws it, along with some more chairs into the ring. Corino looks to hit Steen with the garbage can lid, but Steen takes it away and nails Corino in the head with it. Steen fucks with Cornette a bit and licks Corino’s blood off his head! It looks like Corino is bleeding hardway, above the ear. Steen looks to hit Corino in the head with the garbage can, but Corino hits a low blow and does it himself a couple times. Corino suplexes Steen onto the garbage can, henceforth crushing it. Corino puts the chairs into a pile and slams Steen on them. Corino comes off the top rope for an Awesome Splash for a two count. He sits the chairs upright. This doesn’t look good. And just as I type that, Nigel says it. You fucking Brit. Just kidding. Corino sets up the guardrail on the steel chairs. Steen takes control but Corino counters and goes up top, and HITS A FUCKING SUPERPLEX ON THE GUARDRAIL! My God, that was so brutal. One, two, thr—NO!!! Wow. Steen rolls out on the table to rest, but Corino is looking for some more weapons. Corino gives up and looks to splash Steen through the table, but Kevin comes up and knocks him down. Steen enters the ring and picks up a chair. He goes to the outside and waffles Corino on the back with it. Steen goes all insane and sets up chairs on the table on the outside. This looks a bit dangerous Kevin. He looks to superplex Corino onto in, but Corino foils that, whacks Steen in the head with the garbage lid. Steen falls off through the chairs and tables!! “We want fire” chants...what a retarded chant. After Corino gets some more chairs, he rolls Steen back in to get a nice nearfall. Jimmy Jacobs gets the guardrail out of the ring. Corino picks up a chair and sets it on Steen. Steen sits up, but Corino comes back at him with a chair to the chair that Steen is holding for a two count. Corino looks for a suplex on an upright chair, but Steen reverses into an exploder. Steen picks Corino up and hits a BRUTAL exploder on the chair! One, two, thr—NO!!  Steen picks up a chair and looks to hit Corino. Corino sacrifices himself by spitting in Steen’s face. BAM. It didn’t really hit Corino’s head, so it wasn’t a terrible unprotected shot. Jimmy Jacobs takes the chair away as Corino regroups and hits Steen with a roll of quarters for two. Corino sets up the chairs 2x2, upright. Corino looks for a piledriver, but Steen reverses and HITS A PACKAGE PILEDRIVER ON THE CHAIRS!!! ONE…TWO…Jacobs hesitates…THREE! Wow.

Post match, Steen gets on the mic. Merry Christmas, the devil is back. Jimmy boy, I came here tonight for number one, to destroy Steve Corino check. And number two…[package piledrives Jimmy Jacobs]

Cornette looks to be number three, but EL GENERICO COMES OUT!! THEY BRAWL IN THE STREAMERS! GENERICO HITS A YAKUZA KICK! He looks for a Yakuza kick in the corner, but Steen avoids it, hits a low blow, and HITS A PACKAGE PILEDRIVER ON GENERICO THROUGH THE TIMEKEEPER’S TABLE! Wow. What an awesome, awesome segment. Kevin Kelly does a good job of selling the devastation of the announcers, calling Steen a son of a bitch. Win me over, Hermie. You can do it. Nigel McGuinness checks on Generico as we segue into intermission.

Analysis: ***3/4 It was a great brawl. Those idiots who refuse to rate this match need to realize the unprotected shots in this match were not hard shots, and the one huge chairshot that Steen threw did not make full contact with Corino’s head. Soft shots that are unprotected do not hurt the competitors and do not cause long term damage. Sorry, but it’s true. Corino and Steen protected each other enough to where there were no serious injuries and the spots (maybe except for the guardrail spot) weren’t over the top. So people need to stop throwing hissy fits about this match. It conveyed the importance that Steen CANNOT stay in ROH well, especially with the commentary of McGuinness and Kelly selling worry. They went all out in an attempt to destroy each other, and that was what this match needed to be. This match could not be tame because the story had been built up so much that no one could tolerate this being a tame match. They did exactly what they needed to do and no one got hurt. It was a safe, but emotional and wild brawl that lived up to the hype. Corino brought the bump taking, Steen brought the insanity, and the crowd behaved exactly like they were forecasted to. You can’t ask for a better spectacle for this, capping off the best storyline of the year and starting the Kevin Steen era in ROH. And Generico coming out was the icing on the cake. Track this down, fella!

Intermission is basically a video package fest. Also, I must say that this was a great place for intermission because nothing could follow that match.

Tag Team Gauntlet Match…Match One: The Bravados vs. C&C Wrestle Factory

I will not rate these matches individually, but will treat each match as one of their own. I will rate the gauntlet as a whole after it is finished. Not familiar with the Bravados all that much, but I’ve seen Caprice Coleman’s promo work, and he’s fucking talented on the stick.

The Bravados pearl harbor C&C before the bell rings. They throw Cedric Alexander in the ring, but he comes right back out with a nice senton plancha. Cedric throws Lancelot Bravado in the ring and they double team him. Coleman hits a suplex and Alexander hits a tope atomico for two. Alexander is tagged in and Lance reverses and whips Coleman to the outside. Harlem on the outside hits a bicycle kick to Coleman. Double team to Alexander on the inside for a two count. Lancelot runs Alexander into the corner and plays to the crowd and hits a corner clothesline, then a side slam for two. Lancelot tags in Harlem and they hit a double elbow for a two count. Coleman comes back in but gets tossed out quickly. Alexander hits an enziguiri on Lancelot and Coleman takes him out and then hits a flying clothesline, then a SICK Asai moonsault to Lancelot on the outside. Alexander hits a forearm but Harlem locks in a headlock. Alexander drops him with a boot. Harlem counters a suplex with a small package, but Alexander falls on top for a rollup three count at 5 minutes. BRAVADOS ARE ELIMINATED. Really disjointed segment there, but it was short and inoffensive.

Match Two: Future Shock vs. C&C Wrestle Factory

I haven’t seen an extended Future Shock match except for their match with the Young Bucks at PWG Steen Wolf, which would have been Match of the Night if not for the five star Steenerico ladder match.

Alexander and Kyle O Reilly trade forearms, but Kyle takes him down with a running kick for two. He tags in Adam Cole and they hit a swift double kick. Cover gets two. Tag into Kyle, but Alexander chops off. Double bulldog for a close nearfall. Blind tag from Caprice Coleman. Nice double team Hart Attack with a leg lariat. Coleman hits a dropkick on O Reilly for two. Blind tag from Adam Cole who gets a two count on a Northern Lights Suplex. Cole hits a slick running dropkick to the back for another two count. Tag into O Reilly, who hits a side backbreaker and a knee drop to the back for two. Tag into Adam Cole who hits a scoop slam for two. Tag into O Reilly, but Coleman hits a double dropkick on both. Tag to Alexander who hits clotheslines to both. O Reilly hits a boot to the gut, but Alexander hits a kick to the face. Double stomp/backbreaker by C&C and Coleman hits a nice Frankensteiner. Alexander hits a frog splash for two. Kyle hangs Alexander from the tree of woe and Future Shock hits a double dropkick to the face. Ride the Lightning (superkick then Total Elimination) gets a three count at six minutes. C&C WRESTLE FACTORY ARE ELIMINATED.

Match Three: Young Bucks vs. Future Shock

The Young Bucks kick ass. That is all.

The Bucks pose on the floor, but O Reilly kicks them to the ground on the outside. Vaulting body splash on both Matt and Nick Jackson, but they catch him. Cole saves his partner’s ass with a tope. Nick hits a superkick that knocks Kyle off the apron and they hit an assisted Sliced Bread #2 on the apron knocks Cole stupid. Nick hits a springboard frog splash in the ring for two on Cole. Tag in to Matt, and the Bucks nail a double team cutter for two. Matt tries to steal Chris Jericho’s cocky pin, and in the process looks like a dumbass. Matt tags Nick back in. Really slow start to this portion, as the usually rowdy NYC crowd is dead as a doornail except for a year idiotic hecklers. Matt Jackson even puts on a chinlock. What the shit? These two wrestled at Steen Wolf in a balls-to-the-wall match that nearly stole the show. Nick Jackson flies out through the second rope onto O’Reilly after hitting a double stomp on Cole. That gets a two count, and the Young Bucks trade tags. Cole flips out of some moves and tags Kyle in, who nails a double dragon screw, and a belly-to-belly suplex. O’Reilly then nails NINE butterfly suplexes, tags in Cole, who hits a wheelbarrow suplex on Matt for two. Nick hits a fucking beautiful slingshot X Factor, as Cole nails Matt with a german suplex on the ring frame. O’Reilly looks for a running dropkick to a seated Nick, but Nick moves. Back in the ring, The Bucks hit More Bang For Your Buck to advance at 8 minutes.

Match Four: Young Bucks vs. All Night Express

Kenny King should have won WWE Tough Enough II. Fuck WWE and fuck Al Snow. Just kidding. Maybe.

The teams start brawling on the outside. There are a lot of hecklers in the crowd that are fucking stupid. You never see that in New York, and I hope those obvious lifeless virgins fuck themselves. Harsh, yes. Warranted, yes. Rhett Titus is favoring his knee on the outside. Nick toys with King in the ring. Man, this is boring. Rinse and repeat with Matt now, but King tries a comeback. Neckbreaker by Nick gets two. Nick toys with King again. God damn it, do something. You’re dragging this whole thing down, guys. King comes back with a capture suplex. Titus is in his corner now! Tag in to Rhett, who cleans house on his very injured knee. Matt Jackson falls prey to a Low Down bomb, but they quickly turn the tide. Kenny King comes back and hits Coronation, but Matt nails him with a DDT on the apron. Titus hits Nick with a sick lariat in the ring, but Nick comes in with a chop block before he can follow through. They go to work on the knee. Nick nails a 450 splash and the referee stops the match at 6 minutes.

Post match: The Bucks don’t stop attacking ANX

OVERALL MATCH TIME: 29:36

Analysis: ** Damn, this sucked. Well, it didn’t suck, per se, but it was supremely boring. Nothing was very exciting, and the portions that had the potential to be exciting turned out to be a damp squib. I mean, Future Shock and the Bucks could have woken the crowd up from their sleep, but they just went through the motions and made nothing of what could have been a sick, action packed segment. The first few segments showed some promise, mainly because of Coleman and Alexander, who are very, very good. And even though I like Future Shock, I just can’t understand why they seemed so damn unmotivated tonight. At Final Battle 2010, they nearly stole the entire show against ANX (in the opener, no less) and here just did their job lethargically and went home. The Young Bucks didn’t look to give much of a crap either, but you can’t exactly be motivated for awesomeness with the crowd is sitting on their hands so much that they’re getting rashes. ANX had a reason to be a little lacking, and Kenny King tried with his comebacks, but this audience just wasn’t buying it. The hecklers in the crowd really ruined a lot of this match too. As a whole package, nothing you really need to spend thirty minutes of your life on. It’s not offensively bad, but I can’t find one real reason to recommend it. Also, if you want to see Future Shock and Young Bucks kick ass, watch their ****+ match at PWG Steen Wolf. It was a tag team clinic, probably one of the best tag matches of the year.

Roderick Strong comes out to call out anyone who wants to face him in his Invitational Challenge. This guy gets such a bad rap, but he really is an awesome wrestler who can work a variety of styles. His promo here was really good, and if I’m being honest he showed a shit ton more charisma and promo skills than either Davey Richards or Eddie Edwards have shown during the Sinclair TV era, barring the Best in the World ending. Truth Martini counts to ten, and has some funny-as-hell ad libs in between numbers. Music plays, AND HERE’S CHRIS HERO!! Damn, I love that man. This would prove to be his second-to-last ROH appearance, as he just signed with WWE after some medical issues.

Roderick Strong vs. Chris Hero

Roderick bails to the outside to start. Back in, Hero knocks Strong down with a shoulderblock. Hero goes to work with chops in the corner. I’m still elated after all these years that Hero doesn’t have that atrocious gut he had all those years ago. Hero boots Strong to the outside, but Martini nails Hero with his book on the outside. Strong works Hero over in the ring with stomps. Roderick foils a Roaring Elbow by shoving Hero in the corner. Also, on an unrelated side note, Nigel McGuinness kicks so much ass at commentary. His insight and wit makes any shitty match (see tag gauntlet) a little better. And Hermie hasn’t been a pain in the ass tonight. If only Lenny Leonard were around. Hell, I could still deal with Jimmy Bower. Hero dropkicks Strong to the outside. Roddy runs Hero into the barricade on the outside however, and hauls him back in the ring to get a two count. Hero is up and they trade forearms, and Hero meets Strong halfway off the ropes with a dropkick. Hero walks right through a chop and just elbows the piss out of Roderick, who then falls prey to a powerslam. Roddy moves out of the way of a running dive. Hero hits a Snapmare suplex off the top for a two count. Roderick comes back with a jumping knee for a nearfall. Roderick hits a very nice backbreaker onto the top turnbuckle for a nearfall. Hero kicks Roderick off of a Stronghold and hits a Cravat (?) suplex. It’s that Snapmare suplex I mentioned above. Hero nails an elbow for a two count. Roderick hits a fireman’s carry lungblower then nails a Gibson Driver! One, two, thr—no! Good nearfall. The two trade chops on the middle of the ring. I wouldn’t wanna take those; I’d probably be crying like a little bitch. Chris Hero rolls out of an Irish whip attempt and NAILS A ROARING ELBOW! ANOTHER ONE! SPIN KICK! ONE, TWO, THR—NO! Damn, I thought that was it. Truth Martini distracts Hero on another pin attempt, and Hero’s all like YOU FUCKING HOMO and chases him down. Back in the ring, Roderick rolls him up for two. Hero kicks Strong into Martini and comes off the ropes. Roderick moves and Hero ends up kicking Martini. Strong takes the distraction to heart and nails the Sick Kick for the three count at 17 minutes.

This crowd pisses me off by giving a very shitty standing ovation to a very game Hero.

Analysis: ***1/2 Fun match here. They didn’t try to do anything very fancy, and that worked. They told a good story in the match as well. Hero hadn’t wrestled since August or so (in the ROH world anyway) and was rusty. Roderick had been wrestling an 80 minute match not even a month beforehand, and had been wrestling all over the world, so he had the psychological advantage. It’s a simple yet effective story, and it sufficed in this case. Hero looked great, he didn’t botch, and brought this poor excuse of a crowd alive. With the proper reaction, you have to imagine that this match could have encroached upon four star territory. But it’s a really good match as is, and if you want to see Chris Hero’s last PPV appearance for ROH, this was a suitable send off to one of the best wrestlers to ever step foot into the ring. Strong showed his doubters here that he has charisma and shows a little bit more passion in his promos (more than likely from working with Martini) than the two top ROH wrestlers do, which alarms me and makes me happy at the same time.

ROH Tag Title Match: Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team © vs. The Briscoe Brothers

Dem Boys (or your Gods) get the biggest pop of the night so far, barring Kevin Steen. WGTT? Ha, not so much. They’ve been dogging it on TV pretty blatantly, and I don’t like that. I get it, both guys are approaching 40, blah-blah, but if you can be such a great addition to the roster just months earlier, why the dick can’t you buck up when ROH needs it? Their match with Coleman & Alexander on TV was atrocious and showed the lethargy (is that a word?) within the usually really good team. Dem Boys are so fucking awesome; my two favorite wrestlers at the moment. They have more personality than anyone on the roster not named Kevin Steen or Jim Cornette. Also, they’re absolute masters at tag team wrestling, probably the best tag team in terms of pure match quality (get their DVD on rohwrestling.com) since the Midnight Express.

The two teams start brawling right away, with no bell to officially start the match. The boos were louder for the champs during their ring intros. The champs start whipping the Briscoes with their belts. They all brawl on the outside. Man, Mark takes some vicious bumps. And to think the guy is only 26. And they bring out the chairs. A very hard unprotected shot hits Jay. Jesus fucking Christ. And they nail Mark with a hard one too. Really? You’re pushing it a bit here. Benjamin “hits” Jay on the back with a chair, but it just hits the mat. So you’re telling me you can feign that just fine, but you really have toi whack the guys on their head, knowing all of the repercussions. Listen, I know it’s continuity, but damn guys, do it safely. This is wrestling, not a street fight. There is no reason to hit a guy with a non-gimmicked chair, over his head with no protection. There weren’t any shots in Corino-Steen that were too hard to the head, and there were several sickening shots here. And there’s another fucking chairshot. C’mon. This is unsanitary. Look, I appreciate the risk these guys take for entertainment, but there’s a fine line between a wrestling move and a chairshot. No one cares to see a guy get whacked with a blunt, metal object unless they’re an ignorant ultraviolent fan. I know I’m ranting here, but considering what has happened to some wrestlers over the years with head injuries, you just can’t do that in 2012. Nigel McGuinness is blatantly disgusted on commentary, audibly saying “god damn it” after a chair shot. This guy has had so many concussions, he can’t count them. He’s gone on record saying he’s suffered memory loss, spontaneous headaches, etc, and if anyone around this environment knows about it, it’s Nigel. I’m okay with a chair shot to the head if it’s either a) protected or b) soft. But the way Haas and Benjamin were swinging these chairs, carelessly at two young, shining wrestlers’ heads (and it is partially their fault for not covering up), is just inexcusable, especially considering Mark has an extensive history with concussions. I could stand to never see something like this in wrestling (at least from here on) ever again. This was disgusting. Okay, pissy rant over. Onto what’s left of this match. Benjamin fucks up his signature move, the Broken Arrow. Hammerstein Ballroom lets him hear about that one.

Charlie plays to the crowd well, as they have turned on him. Mark starts to fight back, but Shelton nails a DDT. They look for a Broken Arrow again, but Jay Briscoe slides in and nails a superkick! Damn, Jay looks like a man possessed with the blade job he has. They exchange blows like a house on fire, but Benjamin starts to take control. He hits a splash, but he injures his ribs some more. Remember, his ribs were injured on a chairshot. Kayfabe of course. The Briscoes go to work on his ribs in a methodical pace. They don’t do very much, selling that this isn’t a time to be all flashy and whatnot. They make frequent tags, but don’t make very impactful moves. Benjamin finally tags in Haas, who plays to the crowd while he mounts offense on the Briscoes. He hits an Exploder for two. He nails the three German suplex combo after fucking with the crowd a bit. You told them, Charlie. Charlie seems pretty comfortable working as a heel. After more WGTT offense, Mark Briscoe inadvertently takes out Shelton by splashing on him. He was trying to break up a Haas of Pain locked in by Haas, but Shelton’s like no way bitch and comes in. So Mark comes in and tries to break it, but Shelton tries to intercept him and instead ends up with more injured ribs. You silly man. Paul Turner calls out some paramedics to help with Shelton and his rib problems as the Briscoes beat some Charlie ass in the ring. Shelton heads to the back. Oh, what a peril for you, Mr. Haas. The crowd has died now. The Briscoes pretty much have their way with Charlie, until he foils a double team and nails an Angle Slam on Jay. During that move, they wipe out Paul Turner. Here comes Shelton crawling back! He picks up an obviously gimmicked 2x4 and nails Mark with it. They start working Jay over with the pieces left of the 2x4. WGTT looks for a Doomsday Device, but Mark nails a top rope bound Benjamin with a broken piece of table. The Briscoes then hit the Doomsday Device for the win at 13 minutes. In doing so, they also win their 7^th tag titles.

The crowd throws streamers at the Briscoes, happy that they took the titles off of Haas and Benjamin. I can’t say I’m not happy, but we’ll see where this heads.

Analysis: ** Well, they tried I guess. It wasn’t a good match though. First off, throughout the whole match you still had the stench of the chairshots, which probably shouldn’t affect the match. But the match had it’s faults as well. WGTT didn’t look crisp whatsoever here, including botching their signature move badly, and looking pretty lethargic, outside of a couple good spots with Haas being a heel. The Briscoes looked good, as usual, but they didn’t click with WGTT in this match, at least not like they did at the 9^th Anniversary Show last year. Lacklustre match, lacklustre segment, marred heavily by the stupid chairshots.

As we stall in the graphics department, the crowd almost makes me forgive them with a totally-out-of-the-blue FRUITY PEBBLES chant. That one had me rolling.

ROH World Title Match: Davey Richards (w/ Team Richards) vs. Eddie Edwards (w/ Dan Severn)

Okay, let me tell you why I haven’t enjoyed this feud. First off, while they are exquisite wrestlers, neither Eddie nor Davey have the charisma to handle what should be an emotional angle. They’re faces spoke for them, and they were motionless a lot of the time. You can’t sell an angle like this by running through your lines. I love Eddie, I love Davey, but they lack a lot of character in their promos, and their angles usually suffer due to it. However, what I can’t understand about all of this is why the beginning of their feud (around Manhattan Mayhem) contained a lot of good stuff, but on TV, where they need to shine the most, the fall flat and the angle goes by in slow motion. The wrestling is fine, of course, but that’s not all you do in this business. You have to show a passion in your storylines, which they didn’t do after their classic at Best in the World. Hell, Kyle O’Reilly showed more passion in his quotes/promos for the feud than either Davey or Eddie. And second off, this whole MMA/American strong style + fighting spirit thing just needs to go. Davey likes to just get up right in the middle of a heated segment, and it’s terrible. He ruins the momentum of a match, and that happens a lot in ROH nowadays. This whole MMA tie-in with “training teams” and whatnot, it sounds good on paper, but the way ROH tries to sell it is very campy and very hokey. Jim Cornette looked like he didn’t give a dick during his segments in the feud, and it was probably because feuds should not base around this stuff. MMA has it’s place, and that’s in MMA promotions. I’m okay with taking stuff from MMA like EVOLVE does, but ROH does it in a criminally campy way and it makes some of the Davey Richards stuff hard to watch. I hope I see good selling in this match, a good story being told, and heated action because that’s what Best in the World gave us and look how heralded that match has been. So onto our main event!

Davey comes out like a house on fire. They do the GENERIC INDY STANDOFF!~! thirty seconds in. They wrestle for a bit and another GENERIC INDY STANDOFF!~! Two within a minute and a half. Oh, fuck you two. Davey dominates early, showing why he’s champ. His striking and wrestling overpower Eddie early. Eddie eventually comes back with various submissions, including a chinlock early. You may notice I’m sparing some play-by-play, but please know I am not doing this out of laziness. I’m looking to analyze this match more than any of the others on this show. Davey puts in a Liontamer/Texas cloverleaf, but Eddie gets to the ropes. They head to the outside, where they exchange chops. Back in the ring, Eddie goes to work with more submissions, working on the champ’s leg. Davey gets out and nails a Murderdeathkill kick from the apron, then hitting a tope. Back in the ring, Davey takes control. Davey isn’t selling his leg one bit. Davey rolls through an Edwards reversal and puts in an Ankle Lock. Edwards rolls out and puts in an Achilles lock. Eddie takes control now. Eddie fires Davey up with rapid chops, and they trade strikes in the middle of the ring. Eddie hits an Asai moonsault to the outside, but whacks his leg on the guardrail, kind of like he did in June. But of course, he doesn’t sell it like he sold his leg at Best in the World. Eddie puts in an STF, then an Ankle Lock. Eddie just gets pissed and stomps the piss out of Davey’s face. Davey just pops up and they exchange more strikes. Davey no sells a superkick and hits a lariat for two. Eddie no sells that and pops up, eating another lariat. Davey nails a double stomp, a running kick, and another double stomp for a two count. This lack of selling is ruining the match for me, honestly. They fight it out, and they eventually head to the top, where they exchange headbutts. Nothing was really gained from this until Davey hits an enzugiri. Davey nails a superplex, rolls through, but Eddie fucking no-sells again and they both tumble over the ropes from a suplex. Goddamn, sell at least a little bit. They stalled for a litte while, milking the count, but they re-enter at 19.. Back in the ring, they exchange strikes some more, but Eddie stands out by taunting Davey with a bitch slap. Davey responds by kicking the piss out of Eddie. We’re back in the center of the ring, where Davey is bitch slapped once more. Eddie shows no emotion in this match, while Davey’s facial expressions help him. Hmmm. I don’t quite know about this one. Davey fucking no-sells two backdrop drivers and pops up, hits one of his own. Davey then no-sells a Tiger Suplex, hitting a Dragon Suplex. They trade slaps. The House of Truth heads down to the ring as Eddie knocks Davey retarded with a knee. Roderick Strong bitches out Team Richards, but Dan Severn intervenes and takes Truth Martini to the back after attacking Strong and Elgin with some crappy uppercuts. Everyone disappears from ringside. Davey and Eddie are up once more, and they stare each other down before trading strikes. Eddie nearly kills Davey by Tiger Suplexing him into the turnbuckles. Davey looks like Eddie knocked him on Queer Street. Eddie is looking for a super Tiger Suplex, but Davey breaks. Eddie comes back with a sick Frankensteiner, which of course DAVEY DOESN’T FUCKING SELL. Eddie hits a powerbomb for two. Eddie puts in a Dragon Sleeper, but Davey rolls over for a cradle! One, two, no. Eddie hits a tombstone piledriver, then hits Die Hard! One, two, no! “This is awesome” chant, which is pretty beyond the truth right now. Eddie puts Davey up top, but Davey tries to hit a sunset powerbomb. Eddie sandbags, so Davey goes after the leg that Eddie injured, but didn’t sell. I’m sick of the no-selling in this match, which isn’t bad other than that. Davey nails a super dragon suplex! One, two, no. I should be super-excited, but they’ve totally gotten me out of this match. Of course I’m bitching and moaning about it. That’s who I am, people. Davey tosses Eddie out to the floor with a seemingly botched Exploder. Looks like Eddie hurt his chest somehow. Eddie gets in at nineteen, but Davey hits a dragon suplex on the ring frame! This is finally starting to get pretty decent. Eddie gets into the ring at nineteen once more. “This ends now” says Richards, stiff kick combo, one, two, NO! Wow, I thought that was it. Eddie cradles out of an ankle lock! One, two, no! Davey nails a a Murderdeathkill kick! One, two, no! STIFF KICK COMBO! Davey picks up the win at 41 minutes, retaining his title.

Analysis: **1/2 I can’t go to three stars in this one. They worked hard here, but having watched this match two times since initially doing the play-by-play, I still find a whole hell of a lot more flaws than their masterpiece at Best in the World. They didn’t come close to the emotion in that one, Eddie Edwards didn’t sell well with his facial expressions, and THE FUCKING SELLING. I’ve never seen a match with so much disregard for the moves. They dropped each other on their heads, but they both just popped right up. I know this is independent wrestling, and I’m cool with one or two instances of that stuff, but I counted about 7-8 throughout the match. That is just stupid, and it doesn’t make the match look more competitive. No one just gets dropped on their head and pops up. Do you think Bret Hart would take a dragon suplex on his neck and just pop right up to hit his five moves of doom? Fuck no he wouldn’t, because he had a grip on in-ring psychology. It’s obvious these two threw Wrestling 101 out the window and just traded moves. Eddie didn’t sell his leg one bit during this match, even though it had blatantly waffled with barricade. He did the exact same thing in June, and sold the leg wonderfully. Here? An afterthought. I know these two are better than what they turned out here. I’ve seen people rate this as high as four stars, but you have to suspend your belief a whole hell of a lot to think this was a great match. They popped up after moves that would finish most wrestlers. That’s not good wrestling. It’s lazy. Yeah, they worked hard and tried, which is what the rating is for. Plus, they got pretty exciting at the end, but couldn’t drag me back in all the way. Not a good main event, not one bit. Davey and Eddie have had two better matches than this, one on free TV and the match of the year at Best in the World. Watch those two, because this one sucked for all the build it was given.

Post match, Kevin Steen comes out and taunts Davey. “Merry Christmas, bitch.” Merry Christmas, Kevin, you fucking awesome person.

Rating:

I give Final Battle 2011 a 6 out of 10

Why?

Hmmm…I don’t know how to conclude this show. Nothing on it was horrendous, but there were a lot of matches that did not deliver that should have. On paper, the double main event should have made this one of the best shows of the year, but they both ended up being massively disappointing, with the former being marred by a retarded pre-match brawl and the latter being basically everything that’s wrong with indy wrestling. They worked hard, but their lack of selling and coherence throughout the match just ruined it for me. But, the best part of this iPPV involved Kevin Steen and Steve Corino, brawling up and down the ring with some sick spots and a wonderful story. They beat the FUCK out of each other and ushered in Steen in the best way possible. Generico pulled out nearly a one-man show, making the three-way-dance very exciting, although not winning the title he truly deserves. I’m still a little disappointed Steen put him out after the latter’s match, but their small brawl before the package piledriver—in the streamers—was epic. I’m also pissed that TJP-Elgin ended up being only 7 minutes because it was so great, that just an extra 7 minutes could have propelled it to four star status. Elgin is going to be a star. The tag gauntlet was very, very boring. There were no exciting factors there, and the knee injury angle with Titus doesn’t interest me at all. The best three matches save this show, but the two main events bring the whole show down. I recommend the three best matches (Elgin-TJP, TV Title 3-Way, and Corino-Steen) but nothing else. Thumbs in the middle, I guess you could say.

Like it? Hate it? Tell me. No, I’m kidding, you can’t hate me. Tell me what you like, or what you dislike. My rants here were solely my own opinion, which doesn’t matter so don’t get worked up, the 2 people who read my reviews. Thank you a lot for reading!

Ring of Honor: Survival of the Fittest 2011: SOTF Match, Corino-Generico

ROH Survival of the Fittest 2011 Review

Dayton, Ohio

November 18^th, 2011

So here’s my first review of a non-iPPV Ring of Honor show. Pretty much nothing to do here except go into the first match, because there isn’t anything else before it. As per some constructive criticism on my last writing, I have decided to ease up on the play by play and instead add more match analysis. I may mess up a time or two, but I’m so used to doing all play by play that paraphrasing a lot of it may be a challenge. We’ll see.

Also, my Final Battle review has hit a snag. My download shit on me halfway through, so I will get the rest to you once I get the DVD like a good person. And the audio will actually be competent at all times, or at least I presume it will be. So you’ll get a few more reviews from me until then that do not include Final Battle.

SOTF Qualifier: The Briscoe Brothers vs. The Bravados

From what I’ve seen of the Bravados, they are pretty smooth in the ring. Of course, I’ve only seen a couple matches so that’s hardly enough to form a decent opinion. The Briscoes are the Briscoes. They’re funny ass rednecks, let me tell ya.

Harlem Bravado looks like if he stepped foot in Sandy Fork, DE he would be lynched in a second. Safe to say the Briscoes won’t be soft on them tonight. Nice touch here, as the entrance themes are displayed with the artist and their MySpace page, like anyone uses MySpace anymore anyway. Dave Prazak and Hermie are on commentary tonight, as they introduce themselves from the desk before the match starts.

The always fun “Justin Beiber” chant is directed towards Harlem as he starts with Mark. They tie up and Harlem goes to work on the arm. Mark comes back with a clothesline and works Harlem over in the corner. The Briscoes assist each other in boots to the face, toss Harlem out and work him over on the floor. Well, they work over both of the Bravados on the floor, being extra-stiff. How sweet of those Briscoes huh? I always knew Mark was a teddy bear. Back in the ring, Jay tags Mark back in, but the Bravados take the cheap way out. Harlem works over Mark’s leg as he tags in Lancelot. The Bravados make quick tags as they work over his leg. Harlem puts in an Indian deathlock while trying to get a Man Up chant started, but Mark starts punching him. Lancelot breaks it up and Harlem tags him in. More leg work from the Bravados. Jay tries to break things up, but Harlem gives him a cheapshot out to the apron. Mark hits an enziguri and tags to Jay in a histrionic fashion. Here comes Jay cleaning house on both Bravados. He hits a Falcon Arrow for two. He attempts a Jay Driller on Lancelot, but Harlem comes in and they hit a double enziguri on Jay, who eventually comes back. The Briscoes hit the Doomsday Device for three at about 7 minutes.

Post match, Jay cuts a promo saying he and Mark were gonna be the last two in the Survival of the Fittest match. They man each other up with headbutts. Jesus Christ, I never wanna go to Delaware if this shit happens.

Anaylsis: ** This one served it’s purpose well. The Briscoes, as always, were super over and while the Bravados put up a fight, no one in the building thought for a second that they would win. Mark Briscoe did a good job of selling his knee in the miniscule time it was worked on, which is something either of the Briscoes are pros at doing. But then again, then was a seven minute match and not one of their awesome 30 minute go’s. It was a good match, no noticeable botches that were noticeable, but if you remember this match a couple days after, you have a good memory.

SOTF Qualifier: Andy Ridge vs. Kyle O’Reilly

I’m not familiar at all with Andy Ridge. I’ve seen him once on ROH TV and I didn’t see enough to make a formidable opinion. Kyle O’Reilly is a really good prospect, a carbon copy of Davey Richards in wrestling style. Yes, I know Davey trained him. I just hope this one doesn’t overkill the kicks considering who’s wrestling.

The first two moves/strikes are leg kicks in this match. They mat wrestle as O’Reilly gets out. Kyle gets a cross armbreaker, Ridge breaks, and they trade dropkicks. GENERIC INDY STANDOFF!~! Ridge hits a couple forearms, misses a high kick, but he hits Kyle with a chest kick on the run for a two count. Backslide from Ridge gets two as he hits a couple kicks. Those get a two count. Ridge whips Kyle into the corner, but Kyle comes back with a contrived kick flurry for two. Kyle goes to work on Ridge’s arm and hits a back suplex for two. Ridge comes back with forearms into the corner, but O’Reilly hits three butterfly suplexes and a cross armbreaker as Ridge gets to the ropes. Kyle goes to work on the arm, but Ridge counters a back suplex and they trade kicks. Okay, guys, FUCKING WRESTLE. They run out of breath. Kyle eats a couple kicks to the back and a kick to the head. Nice looking slingshot cutter for two. More kicks. And more kicks. Kyle reverse one into a cradle suplex for two. Kyle hits a kick to the chest and locks in a guillotine choke. Ridge taps at 8 minutes.

Analysis: *1/2 I didn’t enjoy this match at all. I do really like Kyle O’Reilly when he wrestles, but ¾ of the stuff they did here was kicking. I don’t like a match like that and it doesn’t qualify as wrestling to me. Between all the kicks they did, there were some good moves, but as I said, this match had no substance and a lot of contrived kicks. If kicking is your taste, then you’ll love this one, but I sure didn’t.

SOTF Qualifier: Mike Bennett vs. Eddie Edwards

Mike Bennett doesn’t get his usual amount of heat coming out unless you count a REALLY fat guy calling him a loser big amounts of heat. Eddie comes out to streamers.

Mike Bennett plays to the crowd after the bell rings. Bennett gets control early with an arm wringer. Eddie reverses and brings him to the ground and works on the arm some more. Bennett comes back, but Eddie ends up with an arm wringer on Bennett anyway. Bennett works Edwards over with some slow offense. Eddie comes back with some chops. Bennett just punches Edwards in the face, and plays to the crowd some more. He works over Eddie in the corner. Edwards ties Bennett up int eh tree of woe and heads to the floor and hits a dropkick to the hung Bennett for two. Bennett comes back with a scoop slam for two, and just punches Eddie in the face again. Bennett hits a trio of clotheslines and an Eye of the Hurricane for two. Bennett locks in a rear chinlock to heckles of the crowd. Bennett hits a dropkick for two. And he locks in a MUTHAFUCKIN’ CHINLOCK!~! WOO! How innovative. I kid, I kid. This match is getting a little tedious I must say. Crowd’s up for it though. Another punch to the face from Bennett, but Edwards boots him off the apron and hits a second rope suicida. Eddie hits some chops on the outside. Back in the ring, Eddie hits a Fisherman’s buster for two. Elbow from Eddie, who hits a diving Codebreaker from the second rope and locks in an STF. Bennett gets to the ropes and gets a nearfall with his feet on the ropes. Bennett hits a spinebuster for two. Edwards blocks a Box Office Smash and hits a kick to the head in the corner. Bennett reverses a backpack, but Eddie looked to elevate over Bennett for something but they botched it horribly. That got a nearfall. Eddie blocks a superplex and sends Bennett down and hits a double stomp. Powerbomb gets two, and hits transitions into the Achilles lock. Bobby Cruise announces three minutes remain in the time limit. Bennett goes up top, but Eddie kicks him. Eddie reverses a Box Office Smash from the top rope and locks in the Dragon Sleeper. Bennett taps at 12 minutes.

Analysis: **3/4 Bennett looked pretty good in this one. Eddie did carry the match, don’t get me wrong, but Bennett showed a lot more physical confidence in the ring and aside from the one botch (which looked to be a joint effort) Bennett showed more than enough potential. He is young, but doesn’t quite cut it for ROH’s physical style yet. He’d do really well in WWE considering he has more charisma in his pinky than a few ROH wrestlers do in their whole body. This match got Eddie’s dragon sleeper over well, as Bennett—who’d been built up rather strongly—tapped immediately. This match was about to get pretty boring, but they torqued it up at the exact right time and turned in a near three star effort. No psychology to speak of here unfortunately, but they didn’t do anything illogical or contrived. Techincally proficient for the most part, and Bennett looks to be improving. And if Bennett’s gonna be shown on TV every week, I want him to be a good wrestler.

A few backstage interviews involving the Embassy, where Tommaso Ciampa shows pretty good chops on the mic. Kyle O’Reilly talks to Davey Richards, and Kenny King talks about the upcoming four corner survival. He’s like Shelton Benjamin with good promo skills. That’s always good.

SOTF Qualifier, Four Corner Survival: Michael Elgin vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Adam Cole vs. Kenny King

Kenny King’s a lot bigger than I thought. 226 pounds, the graphic says. I think he’d do well in WWE with a couple more years of experience under his belt. He has a good look and he is a really fun worker. I’ve never seen Adam Cole wrestler other than his match with O’Reilly against the Young Bucks at PWG Steen Wolf, which kicked ass.

Ciampa and King start. Ciampa overpowers him early. Funny that their about the same weight. King comes back using his speed, and goes into an armbar. Ciampa overpowers him again and hits a dropkick from his knees. Ciampa almost gets caught with a sunset flip, but he rolls out. Ciampa tags in Adam Cole. Cole works on King’s arm early, and they trade holds. King gets out and hits a shoulderblock. Michael Elgin blind tags him. Cole almost cradles Elgin, but Elgin kicks out. Elgin overpowers Cole tremendously to start, but Cole comes back with a hurricanrana. Ciampa gets a blind tag to Elgin, and they end up fighting in the middle of the ring after Cole is taken out. King comes back in and hits a spinebuster on Ciampa. He slips hard on the ropes, but recovers quickly. Elgin puts King on his shoulders and Cole in a fallaway positions! He tosses them back with ease, and he and Ciampa fight in the ring. Ciampa hits a belly-to-belly on Elgin, but Cole hits him with a superkick and hits a suicida. King looks to dive outside too, but Cole hits an enziguri. Back in the ring, Ciampa reverses a kick and looks for Project Ciampa, but King comes in and hits a springboard overcastle while Cole is perched up. King and Ciampa are alone in the ring as King hits a shotgun knee in the corner. Elgin tags in and hits an avalanche in the corner. Elgin hits a SICK spinning side slam for two. Man, I can’t express how awesome Michael Elgin is. Elgin perches King up on the top rope. King backdrops him onto the floor, but Ciampa comes back in and crotches him. King reverses a supposed super backplex and hangs Ciampa in the tree of woe, but CIAMPA HITS A SICK SPIDER GERMAN SUPLEX OFF THE TOP ROPE! Cole starts messing with Elgin, so Elgin hits a Buckle Bomb and the Spiral Bomb for the three count @ 10 minutes.

Analysis: *** Very fun four way here. They kept the action going non stop and had the crowd on it’s feet the whole time. Ciampa impressed me more here, and it’s a shame they don’t use Prince Nana more for Ciampa because Ciampa can’t garner heat on his own to save his life, sadly. He is a good talker and does some impressive stuff, as seen in this match. He needs to be used to his full potential, and with managers like RD Evans and Prince Nana, there’s no excuse. Elgin advances in a really, really fun match. Kenny King continues to impress also.

Eddie Edwards cuts a promo backstage. Forgettable.

Steve Corino (w/ Jimmy Jacobs) vs. El Generico

Pre match, Jimmy Jacobs acknowledges that Kevin Steen thinks Corino’s a pussy for trying to redeem himself. He tells everyone that tonight, Corino will prove that is not the case when he faces El Generico. Jimmy Jacobs cuts a passionate promo.

They goe to a stalemate in a tie up. They feign a test of strength afterwards. Corino gets an arm wringer, but Generico gets out with an armdrag. Headlock by Corino. Corino hits a shoulderblock on the rebound. Legsweep by Generico gets two. Corino gets one of his own. Dueling dropkicks and INDY STANDOFF!~! Pretty intense staredown after though. Corino wants a handshake but Generico ain’t buying it. Generico slaps Corino and taunts him. Corino is trying to hold back per Jacobs’ request. Dropkick by Corino knocks the Generic Luchador down. Corino feigns a handshake into an standing keylock. Corino works on the arm more after as the crowd tries to rally Generico up. Generico comes back with forearms, but Corino isn’t fazed at first. Corino catches Generico in an abdominal stretch. Generico counters THUMB IN THE BUM!~!~! with a Michinoku Driver. Generico just beats on Corino as Corino brings it on. “COME ON MOTHERFUCKER!” That earns Corino a body slam for two. Generico just beats on Corino some more. Corino is just letting Generico beat his ass, but Jimmy Jacobs dislikes that. Corino starts coming back with a dropkick and the crowd’s help. Running STO gets a decent sized pop. He hits a Complete shot for two. Generico hits a swinging DDT on Corino for two. Generico hits a Blue Thunder bomb for two, a slap to the face, and he asks Corino to hit him. Corino can’t do it, but Corino hits a lariat moments later. Roaring lariat. Generico gets a crucifix for two though. Generico hits an Ole Kick on Corino to the outside. Bobby Cruise announces there are 3 minutes left in the time limit. Corino is selling a shoulder injury on the outside after the kick. Corino starts walking away with Jimmy Jacobs. Corino still comes back in to the chagrin of Jacobs. Generico hits a half nelson suplex for two. BRAINBUSTAAA for a good nearfall! One more BRAINBUSTAAA! One, two, thr—NO! Good nearfall there too. Yakuza kick by Generico, but Jimmy Jacobs threatens to throw in the towel. Corino squashes that though. The 15 minute time limit expires.

Corino wants more time, but he’s hurt pretty bad. Jim Cornette, the God of time, comes out. Cornette doesn’t want Steve to continue either. Generico seems to try and attack, but instead kneels down beside Corino. Jimmy Jacobs tells Corino that he proved he was a man. Jim Cornette says the same as Generico offers his hand, and they shake on it. Awww, how sweet. The crowd still doesn’t all like that because I think they half expect Kevin Steen to fuck shit up. Too bad he won’t. Jimmy Jacobs offers his hand and they shake. Steve Corino tells the crowd that when he faces Kevin Steen at Final Battle, he will be evil for one more night.

Analysis: **3/4 You can’t really call this an action packed match. Don’t get me wrong, everything was technically proficient and no one botched, but the action wasn’t the story of the match. The story was Steve Corino trying to get on Generico’s good side, and after kicking out of two brainbusters, he pretty much got there. I love this storyline of redemption for Steve Corino, even if he did call me stupid on MySpace.

Backstage, Jimmy Jacobs tells Corino he is proud of him. Steve vows to be evil one more night. “Kill Steve Kill” he says.

SOTF Qualifier: Roderick Strong (w/ Truth Martini) vs. Rhett Titus

Roderick Strong is an awesome wrestler and he does not bore me in the least bit from what I’ve seen of him. He seems to bother others but not me. Rhett Titus kicks ass and cracks me up. Enough said.

Tie up into the corner, Titus gives a clean break. Strong goes out to deal with a heckler, but Martini directs him back in. Tie up into the corner again, and Strong gives a clean break. Strong heads out to deal with some pesky little bastard kids, but they run away and he heads back in. Arm wringer by Strong. Titus rolls into one of his own and locks in an armbar. Strong gets to the ropes. Headlock takeover by Strong into a side headlock. Titus rolls him over for 1. Keylock by Titus now. Drop toehold by Strong and a modified surfboard. He starts working over the leg. The two trade chops. Scoop slam by Titus for two, and he locks in a bodyscissors. He rolls over for a two count then locks in a Steiner Recliner. He cradles him for two. Strong hits some forearms, but Titus takes him down with a bad looking shoulder block. Strong sweeps Titus off the apron and throws something at him. They brawl on the outside. Back in the ring, Strong gets a one count. They fight it out with strikes in the corner and Strong goes up and hits the 10 punches and feigns making Titus blow him. HA! Titus gets pissed and comes back, but Strong fouls that with a dropkick for 2. Strong puts in a rear naked choke. Titus misses a crossbody block and Roddy stomps him. Titus comes back and they trade shots, but Strong kicks him down for 2. Strong hits a suplex for two. Titus comes back with forearms and elbows, and they trade some more. Strong hits a running knee to the midsection, but Titus knocks him down with a nice dropkick. Titus hits a back chop, a running boot, and a bulldog. Titus hits a Flashback for 2. Titus reverses a rollup for 2, but eats an enziguri. Three minutes remaining in the time limit. Gutbuster and a superkick by Strong gets two. Strong sets Titus up in the corner, but Titus avoids a superplex. Enziguri by Strong however, but Titus reverses with a snake eyes for two. Titus hits a rolling lariat for nice nearfall. He goes up top and hits a Frog Splash, but Truth Martini intervenes and dodges a punch from Titus. Sick kick from Strong gets the three count at 14 and a half minutes.

Analysis: *** This was a fairly slow match to start and it got sloppy in some places, but the action was kept interesting by a couple funny people in the crowd as well as Strong being badgered by those children. They turned it on in the last few minutes and gave a little sense of urgency all while keeping the moves crisp and smooth. Again, not a great match but there was nothing really wrong with it and it was fun in some places. Nothing all that memorable, I guess if you want a thesis for it.

Champion’s Challenge: Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team vs. Jay Lethal & Davey Richards

I’ve soured a bit on WGTT. They’re not bad or anything, but as I’ve noticed them over the months on television, the teams they face frequently outshine them, and Shelton Benjamin has a penchant to botch a lot. Charlie Haas shows the personality for the team, but most of it seems woefully forced. I think they’re overrated a little bit. Davey and Jay are their regular great selves. Weird that both of the WGTT are pushing 40. That’s crazy.

Lethal and Benjamin start. Lethal tags in Davey before anything is started. Davey goes to work on the arm quickly, even though Shelton’s ribs are taped up. They end up standing after a scramble. Arm wringer by Shelton. He foils a roll through by Davey, who does all sorts of contrived flips to get out. That was pretty unnecessary. Headlock by Davey, who foils a Benjamin comeback early. Benjamin overpowers the world champ with shoulderblocks. Rollup by Davey, who then locks in a sitting surfboard. Shelton kicks out of a rollup and locks in the same hold. Trade of armdrags and they catch one another’s kicks. Davey tags Lethal and Shelton tags Charlie Haas. Lethal heads to the floor to “strategize” I guess. Back in, Haas gets a waistlock, which Lethal elbows out of. Haas schools him in an amateur wrestling spot, though. Haas goes to work on Jay’s arm with a keylock. Lethal flips out and hits a running headscissors for two. Tag in to Benjamin, who hits a clothesline for a 2 count. Body slams by Benjamin, who tags in Haas, bodyslams Lethal on his knee and Haas covers for two. Tazmission variation is put in by Haas. Haas counters a comeback by hurling Lethal facefirst into the turnbuckle. Haas nails a spear in the corner, then tags Shelton back in. They look for the Broken Arrow, but Richards stops it. Benjamin throws Richards in, and Haas sets him up too. Double Broken Arrow for a two count on Lethal. Rear naked chinlock now by Benjamin. Benjamin eats Jay’s boot in the corner and falls victim to a dropkick. Lethal tags in Richards, who hits a missile dropkick. Lethal knocks Haas off his corner and hits a running knee to a cornered Benjamin. Superplex by Richards for two into an ankle lock, but Benjamin knocks Richards face first into the second turnbuckle. RUNNING MURDERDEATHKILL KICK ON THE APRON. Benjamin knocks Richard back into the ring, so Lethal hits a somersault con hilo to WGTT. Back in the ring, Richards goes up top, but Benjamin foils. Richards knocks Benjamin into a Jay Lethal dropkick. Double stomp by Richards for two, right into the ankle lock. Haas comes in and Lethal puts on a crossface. Richards locks in a cloverleaf now. Lethal tosses Haas as Benjamin gets to the ropes. Tag in to Lethal, who works on Benjamin in the corner. Lethal nails a gutbuster for two. From what I’ve seen so far, Lethal has the better grip of limb psychology in this match. Lethal works on the injured (by the Briscoes) ribs of Benjamin some more. Benjamin gets up but Lethal puts in an abdominal stretch. Lethal rolls over for 2, and they both run into each other, which looked like a botched spot to me. Tag in to Richards, who trades strikes with Shelton. Shelton wins with a dragon whip. They both tag in their partners, and Haas goes to work on Lethal with clotheslines. Belly-to-belly hits on Lethal. Richards eats a German suplex, and Lethal eats a powerslam for a good nearfall. Tornado DDT by Lethal on Benjamin, and he hits a handspring Ace Crusher for two. Richards eats a superkick, and Haas hits an Angle Slam (fuck the Olympic slam name…even Nigel McGuinness called it an Angle Slam on TV). Davey hits a German Suplex on Haas. This match is action-packed as hell. I’ve written more than I had planned to for this one. Shelton hits Davey with a forearm as they all brawl inside the ring. Double kick to Haas as they goe up top for a Swandive headbutt/Lethal Injection combo. One, two, thr—NO! Benjamin breaks the pin up. Richards works him over on the outside. Haas eats a sloppy missile dropkick from Lethal (mostly due to exhaustion more than anything though) and Haas adverts another one. Haas counters a hurricanrana into a HAAS OF PAIN! Richards tries to stop it, but Benjamin does his always awesome leap up to the top rope/belly to belly suplex. Lethal finally taps at 21 minutes.

Analysis: ***3/4 Match of the night so far. Everything these guys did seemed to click, and even though it started slow, they picked it up the last 6-7 minutes and made one hell of a match out of what they had. WGTT showed they aren’t as overrated as I thought, at least in this one. They seem to dog it on TV though, and that’s not good. Lethal impressed the Jebus out of me here, proving he’s more than welcome in ROH. Davey Richards was Davey Richards. Which means he was awesome, like he usually is. So overall, one hell of an effort, and probably the best WGTT tag match since Honor Takes Center Stage Night 1.

Survival of The Fittest Match: Kyle O’Reilly vs. Michael Elgin vs. Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Roderick Strong vs. Eddie Edwards

Survival of the Fittest is just a fancy gimmick name for a six way elimination match. And, man, Mark Briscoe is one ugly motherfucker. It’s sad but cool at the same time. It fits his character, but their screamo entrance music does not fit the “Sandy Fork, Delware” mentality. Gimme Back My Bullets was the absolute PERFECT music for them.

Eddie Edwards is being hyped up big for this match as he won last year’s match. Funny moment here as Strong looks for handshake from everyone, but no one does. Jay Briscoe and Eddie Edwards start off. Jay gets out of an arm wringer early and they grapple on the ropes. They scramble on the ground some more as Jay tags in to Mark. Edwards gets out of a headscissors and tags Michael Elgin in. Elgin overpowers Jay to start. Mark goes toe-to-toe with Elgin, but Michael puts him down with a bodyslam. Roderick Strong tags in and takes control of Mark in the middle of the ring. Into Kyle O’Reilly’s corner, Kyle tags in. Kyle puts on arm wringer and goes after the leg, but Strong shakes him off. Strong comes back with a side headlock and tags Elgin in. Elgin works over Kyle with some chops. Really, really impressive delayed vertical suplex that holds Kyle up for about 30 seconds gets two. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Elgin fell asleep” says Dave Prazak. Chinlock is countered by O’Reilly, and Elgin tags Eddie in. Kyle and Eddie shake hands and Edwards goes to work on the arm. O’Reilly gets out, but Eddie crawls to the ropes. Eddie locks in a chinlock on the ground, but O’Reilly quickly gets out. Good strike battle into the INDY MUTHAPHUCKIN’ STANDOFF!~! The Briscoes both tag in, but they fight everyone else instead, and a brawl breaks out on the floor. Man, I don’t know what happened, but Dave Prazak has fucking ruled on commentary the whole show. The Briscoes double team Kyle O Reilly for a two count. Mark works him over. Tag into Jay, and they hit a double shoulderblock. Jay hits an elbow drop for two. Another tag to Mark, another double team maneuver. Mark hits a suplex on Kyle for two. Another tag in to Jay, but no double team as Jay works O’Reilly in the corner. Tag in to Mark and they take turns hitting chops on Kyle. Kyle hits a double dragon screw on both brothers and tags in Edwards, who goes to work on Jay. Strong and Elgin come in to clean house. Elgin hits a smooth spinning side slam on Edwards, who Strong covers for 2. Double team neckbreaker from the Briscoes on O’Reilly. House of Truth and The Briscoes fight in the middle of the ring now. That’d be one hell of a match. Double missile dropkicks by Eddie and Kyle on the everyone else. Kyle and Eddie trade strikes in the ring. House of Truth and the Briscoes are brawling on the outside. Kyle nails a running knee, but eats a boot from Edwards. Kyle heads out to the floor, and Edwards hits a slingshot plancha. Mark Briscoe flies, and Kyle O’Reilly does too. Strong slams O’Reilly on the ring frame. More brawling on the floor, as the Briscoes just blister everything in their paths. Michael Elgin goes up top and NAILS A SWEET MOONSAULT ONTO EVERYONE ON THE OUTSIDE! Wow, that was great. Michael Elgin will make a killer world champion once he’s ready. He’s the best big man in wrestling, currently. Back in the ring, Elgin does a sweet counter to a swinging DDT. Mark Briscoe hits Elgin with a dropkick, Strong hits Mark with a dropkick. Kyle and Eddie hits stereo superkicks on Jay Briscoe, and Eddie hits Die Hard on Jay for the three count at 20 minutes. Eddie locks in the dragon sleeper on Mark and Mark taps at 20 minutes. Eddie Edwards pushes Truth Martini into Kyle O’Reilly who is perched up top, and Kyle goes through the table. Eddie outsmarts House of Truth in the ring, and rolls up Strong for the three count at 21 minutes. Elgin dodges some strikes from Edwards, and Elgin NAILS a lariat on Eddie for the three count at 21 minutes. Now only Elgin and O’Reilly are left. Elgin baits Kyle back in the ring. The crowd is mad behind Kyle right now. Elgin pie faces Kyle a little bit, but Kyle fires back and gets knocked on his ass. Kyle bitch slaps Elgin and Elgin’s like NO YOU DIDN’T YOU FUCKHEAD. Elgin rolls through a crucifix and nails a boot to the face and a backfist. Elgin looks for the spiral bomb, BUT KYLE LOCKS IN THE GUILLOTINE! Elgin suplexes out, but Kyle comes back with a running DDT and another GUILLOTINE! Davey Richards is now at ringside. Elgin tries to power out, but Kyle keeps it in. Elgin just keeps ramming O’Reilly into the corner, and finally hits a SICK SIDE SLAM! ONE, TWO, THR—NO! Wow, I was sold on it. The crowd is more into this match than probably any of the other matches combined. Elgin baits O’Reilly up, but just boots him in the face. Elgin hits a Buckle Bomb, looks for the Spiral Bomb, but O’REILLY COUNTERS INTO A REVERSE HURRICANRANA! One, two, thr—no! Elgin tries to power out of a cross armbreaker and alleviates the pressure by lifting O’Reilly up. SUNSET FLIP BY O’REILLY! One, two, thr—NO! Kyle starts kicking away at Elgin’s chest, but Elgin is just taking them like the big ol’ fuck he is. Man, this last segment has ruled so damn much. They’re face to face and trading forearms! They trade bitch slaps! Kyle dodges a boot and Elgin dodges a kick, and NAILS A LARIAT! One, two, thr—NO. Tombstone piledriver by Elgin and KYLE GETS HIS FOOT ON THE ROPE! Jesus Balls, this is exciting. Out on the apron, Kyle slips back in the ring and looks for a sunset bomb to the floor. He can’t hit it, but he dodges a butt splash by Elgin! BACK SUPLEX ON THE FLOOR! Elgin scurries into a chair to catch his bearings, BUT O’REILLY HITS A SICK RUNNING DROPKICK FROM THE APRON!!! WOW. If this was a singles match, it would already be match of the night, guaranteed. O’Reilly looks for a missile dropkick, but ELGIN COUNTERS TO A BUCKLE BOMB! SPIRAL BOMB! One, two, three! Elgin wins Survival of the Fittest at 32 minutes.

Analysis: ****1/2 Man, what a final 12 minutes. They were so good it almost makes you forget the rest of the match. But as it was, the beginning 22 minutes or so of this match were good. The highlight though was The Briscoes using some good character psychology in faking out the people by thinking they were going to fight, and instead breaking hell all loose ‘n shit by starting a brawl on the outside. It’s good to see nice touches like that in a seemingly cluttered match like this one. Michael Elgin was MADE in this one though. Everything he did, from the spinning side slams to the sick moonsault on the outside, made his stock grow even higher in my eyes. If Ring of Honor what’s good for them, they’re gonna give him the strap when the time is right (i.e. after Kevin Steen’s inevitable reign comes to a close, which I kinda don’t want to happen) and he’ll be a star. He has such a knack for playing the bully in the ring, but he also has a good knack at selling for the people smaller than him (which is everyone in ROH it seems). Kyle O’Reilly made up for his shitty match with Andy Ridge earlier by playing the ballsy babyface who didn’t want to back down, even after going through a table. The final 12 minutes or so almost warrant this rating by itself, but we can’t forget the first 20 minutes. The last segment was just non-stop action though, which I didn’t expect at all. I just expected to see O’Reilly hit a couple kicks and Elgin just smash him from there on. But, I’m so damn glad I was wrong. I was sold on a few nearfalls early there, but O’Reilly just kept coming back, making the crowd chant “This is wrestling” for the first time tonight, I believe. O’Reilly is gonna be huge, but Elgin is gonna be a superstar if he plays his cards right. This match was a middle-of-the-road MOTY contender—and the second best ROH match of the year too—containing loads of excitement, mainly coming from Michael Elgin in this one. O’Reilly’s stock rose considerably too, and the fans who saw this match should be looking at these two in a better light. Michael Elgin is gonna be a superstar if he plays his cards right. TRACK THIS BITCH DOWN.

Final Analysis:

Though the star ratings don’t say the show was all that consistent, it really was. And besides, I just do star ratings because that’s what I’ve dealt with for years anyway. The show was paced incredibly well, with the right matches going on at the right times. However, one main gripe I had with this one was the 15 minute times limits are too short. None of the matches went to a draw—even though ROH loves them too much—and there were no bad matches, save for the idiotic kickfest between Ridge and O’Reilly, which is just me being a negative dick more than anything. They saved the best two matches for last, and boy did they deliver. The Champion’s Challenge tag match was really good, and WGTT showed that they do indeed have ability to entertain, which some ROH fans didn’t see in them this fall. I like Shelton, and I think he was severely underused in WWE when he was going hot, but I still am not sold on Charlie Haas’ phony looking TOUGHGUY!~! persona. Davey did really good, but nothing he did really stood out. Lethal impressed the hell out of me, probably for the first time in a while. He’s a really good worker, and it makes me a little less mad that ROH hotshotted the TV belt to him. Steve Corino’s angle was furthered, and it had really great character psychology in his match with Generico. Too bad it wasn’t a bit more action-packed though. The four corner survival was really fun, what with Ciampa proving to me once more that he deserves a chance and Elgin beginning to become a star. But the Survival of the Fittest match blew me away. I won’t harp on it a lot since I said a shit ton of stuff in the analysis, but rest assured, if you see any part of the match, make sure it’s the final twelve minutes or so with O’Reilly and Elgin. Buy the DVD, because this is a well paced show with a killer double main event, and some fun undercard matches. And there were 3 GENERIC INDY STANDOFFS!~! on this show, which is something I plan to feature in my independent show reviews since it’s been overdone ever since Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko introduced it in ECW all those years ago. Pick this show up.

Final Show Rating (the only one that counts…just kidding…maybe)

7.5 out of 10