Official ROH Discussion Thread

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

 

"I'll come through that god damn fuckin window and cuss you...."

[firstnameunknown]

Yeah the GFL replay comes to an end during Steen/Generico. Hopefully this will end up being fixed. Very good top to bottom card from what I've seen though, and a far better show than Final Battle 2011, which underwhelmed the shit out of me.

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

Showdown in the Sun Night 2 Results :

 

Jimmy Jacobs over El Generico (8.01)

Tomasso Ciampa over Cedric Alexander (5.25)

TJ Perkins over Fire Ant (8.45)

Kyle O'Reilly over Adam Cole - feed went during match

Young Bucks over King/ Titus - again, feed issues

Briscoes over WGTT (16.15)

Kevin Steen over Eddie Edwards (10.46)

Roderick Strong over Jay Lethal to become new TV champ - Ciampa interfered (13.22)

Davey Richards over Michael Elgin (26.16)

[shockindefendin]

Below is part of a post I did on the 'who's going to Wrestlemania 28' thread with a comparison of DGUSA after.

 

First half of the show was terrible, second half was fantastic. First half had hardly any wrestling, loads of stopping and awkward silences, some ROH fans are a nightmare too, they made the atmosphere at this point worst by being so difficult, but to be fair I was totally shattered (which didnt help) as didnt get back fom DGUSA till late last night then I was up at 6 to go to axxess this morning. 2nd half was brilliant, atmosphere changed with plenty of chants, Briscoes v Benjamin/Haas very good, Steen v Edwards very hard hitting, Lethal v Strong was good but the main event was outstanding : Richards v Elgin. Move after move, near falls, a real proper ROH main event where they go balls out and go the extra mile. Looks like some reviews are naming it as a match of the year contender. Only problem I have is the total lack of selling i.e. Elgin receives a German or dragon duplex and gets straight back up, Elgin has kick after kick to the head and then Hulks up, Richards is power bombed in to the corner buckles and walks away with no effect, I know it's typical for ROH but it border on ridiculous, still an amazing effort by both men that kept me buzzing in taxi drive back through the monsoon like conditions.

 

 

Overall DGUSA was a better show with consistently better matches but ROH had that main event. I must admit I'm well out of touch with ROH so unlike DGUSA I wasn't aware who some of the first half wrestlers were so i couldnt get as involved with the matches. It worries me who they have to replace the main event crew. When Aires went first time and Joe left you had the likes of Danielson and Nigel, when those two were on top it was clear that Strong and Richards were being groomed for the top years ago. Ok, Steen and Generico are there but then lower down I couldn't see anyone else. Maybe it's because I'm well out of touch with it which I fully admit. DGUSA seemed to flow better as a show, Gabe seemed to be every where that night getting things through, maybe that's still the difference. I'm not saying every match has to go all out from the start which DGUSA did which is very much an ROH trait from Gabe's days whereas ROH did have a build in match and length and quality to the main, just a shame the first half was so crap and disorganised.

Edited April 1, 2012 by shockindefendin

[Big Benny HG]

I've reached 2011 ROH, yay! Well, I suppose the seemingly-obligatory "yay" should wait until I see what it has to offer, since 2009 and 2010 were so wildly inconsistent.

 

As I said during some of my previous reviews, I won't be viewing every show from 2011, mainly because there is simply no reason to do so any more. The 'B' shows are now precisely that - 'house shows' for the live, local market.

 

To set the scene and remind you where I'm at, Roderick Strong is the World Champion, Kings of Wrestling are the tag champs and Christopher Daniels holds the TV belt. El Generico just sent Kevin Steen packing from ROH after their year-long feud. Tyler Black, Austin Aries, Necro Butcher, Erick Stevens, Rasche Brown, Prince Nana and others are gone, with Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, The Bravado Brothers, Caleb Konley, Mike Bennett, Michael Elgin and co moving in. This comes at a time when the promotion is in desperate need of creating legitimate and credible new headline stars.

 

Ok, here goes...

 

ROH Champions vs. All Stars (14 January 2011) + Best of the American Wolves

 

 

Now, you see this seems to immediately completely contradict my 2011 viewing stance for ROH, since this is most definitely a 'B' show. This event is, however, one that is also available to stream on demand if you register on the ROH website. I am currently still a member for the rest of the month, having recently taken advantage of one of their sales, so thought I might as well check it out.

 

ROH's very first presentation of 2011 comes from Richmond, Virginia. The last show here was the woeful 'Champions' Challenge' card, which was main evented by both singles champions in the same bout. In a similar vein, the return also has a championship-themed headline attraction with the 'Champions vs. All Stars' match. This is a star-studded 8-man tag team encounter where World Champion Roderick Strong, Television Champion Christopher Daniels and Tag Team Champions the Kings of Wrestling are all put together on the same team against the ‘ROH All Star’ quartet of Davey Richards, El Generico and The Briscoes. There is supposedly a large cash prize on offer for the winning squad. It’s a lengthy one in execution, coming in at nearly 40 minutes, but is a really good headliner full of guys they have taught you to be interested in, trading slick, smooth and at times exciting action. I enjoyed it as a one-off spectacle during viewing, but doubt it will stick in my mind as I progress through the year. If you are into your star ratings, I'd throw this one ***1/2: a real good solid and worthy main event.

 

Unfortunately, with just about all of ROH’s top guys in the same one match, that obviously leaves little of much value for the rest of the card. Andy Ridge & Grizzly Redwood vs. The Bravado Brothers is the very definition of a nothing match and Homicide vs. Rhett Titus is slow, awkward, disjointed and pretty dull (though notable for Titus being bust wide open in closing moments, leading to a bloody post-match backstage promo). Mid-way through the show, a remorseful Steve Corino appears, renouncing all the wrongs he did in 2010 and talks about turning over a new leaf and moving away from his rule-breaking ways. Live audience is naturally sceptical, so he wants to prove himself to the fans again and earn the respect of both them and the rest of the roster. His subsequent match with Fake Spanky (the utterly worthless Caleb Konley, who is alarmingly getting booked in more and more places) isn’t up to much, but is at least interesting from the perspective of Corino almost having to fight himself and resist the urge to cheat when opportunity knocks.

 

Caprice Coleman vs. Colt Cabana doesn’t appear on this online version of the show, but Coleman’s pre-match promo hyping the bout does. Go figure.

 

Kyle O’Reilly vs. Kenny King starts with a ridiculously shitty over-choreographed kicks-and-standoff sequence. Thankfully, it does get better than that and ends up being a pretty decent attempt at trying to show these guys as the next generation stars in ROH. Not great, but not bad either. Mike Bennett vs. Adam Cole is better. Bennett looks like a star, carries himself like a star and has good, confident verbal delivery. He wrestles with a deliberate, basic, powerful style and immediately stands out from rest of ROH roster as a star. Match with Cole is decent, if overlong, but realistically is basic house show fare and not something that the home viewer or DVD buyer needs to concern themselves with seeing.

 

A pretty underwhelming start to the year, then. As is becoming customary, ROH has acknowledged the inadequacies of the event and so the DVD release comes packaged with a bonus disc of "The Best of the American Wolves", highlighting some of Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards best ROH tag team offerings from 2009. Again, as usual, the bonus disc (which is also viewable on this online version) smokes the main feature. Included are 3 cracking matches vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico (the tables match from HDNet, the bout from Manhattan Mayhem and the Ladder War from Glory By Honor), the 'Tag Title Classic' vs. Bryan Danielson & Tyler Black, a hot bout against the Briscoes from the Final Countdown: Chicago event, as well as plenty of other good stuff involving various combinations of Danielson, Steen, KENTA, Strong and others.

 

As a release, this therefore comes with a loose recommendation for the American Wolves disc, if you are interested in that, with the Champions vs. All Stars 8-man as supporting material. The rest of this one is a resounding thumbs down.

 

Full show results:

<-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler

Andy Ridge{W, superkick} & Grizzly Redwood beat The Bravado Brothers

 

Mike Bennett beat Adam Cole with a sit-down sidewalk slam

 

Homicide beat Rhett Titus with a brainbuster.

 

Steve Corino beat Caleb Konley with a cradle

 

Kenny King beat Kyle O’Reilly with the Royal Flush.

 

Davey Richards & El Generico & The Briscoes (Jay & Mark{W, frog-elbow}) beat Roderick Strong & Christopher Daniels{L} & the Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli)

 

[close spoiler]

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Up Next: Only The Strong Survive on DVD, courtesy of GadgetLad, which features one of those dreaded Jay Briscoe singles World Title matches....

Edited April 3, 2012 by Big Benny HG

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

Strong vs Jay was ok if memory serves - Jay gets a massive amount of colour, which takes the match up a notch or two....

 

Bennett looks like a star, carries himself like a star and has good, confident verbal delivery. He wrestles with a deliberate, basic, powerful style and immediately stands out from rest of ROH roster as a star.

 

You're kidding me right? You must be seeing something in him that I've been missing....

 

 

 

Glory by Honor 10

Edited April 3, 2012 by Dearly Devoted Dexter

[The Cum Doctor]

Lance Storm can take a lot of credit for the match with Mike Bennett as he REALLY seems to carry things, and it's a very good match. Certainly the best match Bennett has ever had.

 

Kevin Steen and El Generico tore the fucking place down. Absolutely brutal stuff. How Jacobs' Spike ended it when other moves didn't just grates me though. More shit booking. The main event was decent, and Richards, for once, was the best thing in it. He acted like keeping the belt was a matter of life and death and it's arguably his best singles performance ever, but apparently he matched it the night after. Got that to watch today, so we'll see.

[Big Benny HG]

Bennett looks like a star, carries himself like a star and has good, confident verbal delivery. He wrestles with a deliberate, basic, powerful style and immediately stands out from rest of ROH roster as a star.

 

You're kidding me right? You must be seeing something in him that I've been missing....

 

Bearing in mind I've only seen him 2, possibly 3 times at this point, I think he looks good. Whether my opinion will change over the course of 2011 is another matter entirely....

[Philjax]

What's the deal with Homicide these days? Bear in mind I haven't seen him wrestle since his forgettable last months with TNA but it doesn't seem like they want him back for the X-Division or to re-unite LAX. Is he no longer good enough to carry the ROH belt? Not many people have held it more than once. I presume the ring name isn't very TV friendly for Sinclair and he's just not what they're looking for.

[neil's bitch]

What's the deal with Homicide these days? Bear in mind I haven't seen him wrestle since his forgettable last months with TNA but it doesn't seem like they want him back for the X-Division or to re-unite LAX. Is he no longer good enough to carry the ROH belt? Not many people have held it more than once. I presume the ring name isn't very TV friendly for Sinclair and he's just not what they're looking for.

For what its worth, i believe he might be injured? (*Calling Dr Dexter to the thread*)

 

And i believe its only Austin Aries who held the ROH title more than once.

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

They must see something in Bennett to keep pushing him in the face of universal opposition, but I'm damned if I can see what it is. Ok in terms of look/presence - but his punch and kick matches are really not the sort of thing to get him over. I actually think he'd do quite well in WWE, as he wrestles what is basically the WWE style.

 

Homicide; he's not injured as far as I'm aware, just shite these days. His return run in ROH in late 2010/early 2011 was awful - he was shadow of the worker he used to be. He was quiet dropped as a full-time roster member in mid 2011, though he has wrestled on the odd show since. Basically I think it's a case that injuries/ age have caught up with him, and the companies' just not interested in using him anymore.

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

Finlay announced for 12/5 show in Canada

[Big Benny HG]

Just been browsing a few merchandise sites and ebay, and seen that older out-of-print official ROH DVDs are asking for sky-high prices (

[ItsClobberingTime]

Honestly? No, certainly not now. They used to, but not anymore. Those sellers are insane.

 

Most I've recently got for some shows is

[Philjax]

All the ridiculously high priced ones on ebay are from a-merchandise. I cant imagine people paying that but i bet every now and again someone IS willing to pay 50 quid for one of them so it's probably worthwhile to keep relisting them. I've recently started selling mine off. Was searching randomly and noticed ROH Gold from '04 (the 50th show) went for 25 quid so i quickly put mine on and got 20 for it. I then realised i don't really need any of my dvds so am rewatching them and getting rid of them as i go. It's kind of pot luck though.

 

Link to my current auctions: ROH GLORY BY HONOR '03(II) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200740011331?ssP...984.m1555.l2649 ROH Straight Shooting With Raven & Sandman Vol 1 & 2 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200739179667?ssP...984.m1555.l2649 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200739181346?ssP...984.m1555.l2649