Official ROH Discussion Thread

[The Cum Doctor]

I'll give Meltzer some credit, because the match is close. Davey Richards' best singles match ever by some distance, and my love for Elgin has only increased because of it.

Edited April 9, 2012 by The Cum Doctor

[Tuna Taco]

Wasn't a massive fan of their TV outing so will check this out, thanks.

 

Wish they would do more with TJ Perkins, he seems to job on every show.

[Big Benny HG]

ROH - Only The Strong Survive (15 January 2011)

 

 

Coming the night after they began their 2011 output with 'Champions vs. All Stars', ROH returns to Charlotte, NC for a show headlined by what seems like the 43rd Jay Briscoe singles World Title shot. Indeed, I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that every single ROH champion usually notches up a pointless 'B' show title defence against the older Briscoe at least once during their reign. I mean, is there actually a single person watching these events that legitimately believes Jay Briscoe will win the World Title here? Realistically, however, much of the same could equally have been said previously about current World Champion Roderick Strong, who also spent a great deal of his ROH career as a guaranteed generic secondary show title defence for a reigning ROH champ. In all fairness, it is actually a genuinely excellent match. A compelling and exciting cracker, Jay manages to bust himself open on the guardrail in the early going, covering most of his face and body in blood from that point on. This cranks up the drama several notches and captures the imagination of the live fans, who are well up for it. A great main event.

 

Impressively, the undercard also features two super supporting singles showdowns. Chris Hero and Davey Richards had a belter for PWG in 2010 and again assemble a magnificent bout. Clocking in at nearly 30-minutes, these two go to war in a gripping and breath-taking thriller which wouldn't have been out of place headlining an iPPV. It's fair to say that both Richards and Hero have rarely looked better than this in any singles performances. Elsewhere, partners from the previous evening Christopher Daniels and Claudio Castagnoli fight over the former's ROH Television Title (here on this non-televised show) in another fantastic encounter. This match came at a time when Claudio legitimately looked like the very best on the US indies, and Daniels was enjoying a run of surprisingly really good ROH matches between TNA stints. It builds well, peaking for some brilliant convincing near-falls towards the end and goes down a storm with the Charlotte audience.

 

Unfortunately, the first 4 matches on the DVD (Adam Cole & Kyle O'Reilly vs. The Bravado Brothers, Rhett Titus vs. Caprice Coleman, Colt Cabana vs. Grizzly Redwood and Mike Bennett vs. Cedric Alexander) aren't much cop and won't be of particular interest to the home viewer. The Steve Corino redemption angle continues as he takes scheduled opponent Andy Ridge as his partner against The Alabama Attitude (Mike Posey & Cory Holllis), but Corino himself is the only thing you could possibly care about here and the bout provides little. Finally, there's a random 4-way pitting Homicide, El Generico, Kenny King and Mark Briscoe against each other, which is decent, enjoyable throwaway fun, but don't expect anything of substance.

 

So overall, aside from the big three singles showcases, it's fair to say there isn't too much to get excited about here. Thankfully, though, those three contests are marvellous offerings and make 'Only The Strong Survive' well worth checking out.

 

Full show results:

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

The Bravado Brothers beat Adam Cole & Kyle O'Reilly{L, roll-up}

 

Rhett Titus beat Caprice Coleman

 

Colt Cabana beat Grizzly Redwood with the Billy Goat's Curse

 

Mike Bennett beat Cedric Alexander with an armbar

 

Christopher Daniels beat Claudio Castagnoli with the BME to retain the ROH Television Title

 

Steve Corino & Andy Ridge{W, superkick} beat Alabama Attitude (Mike Posey & Cory Hollis)

 

Davey Richards beat Chris Hero with a cross-armbreaker

 

4-way match: El Generico beat Homicide, Kenny King{L, Brainbusta} & Mark Briscoe

 

Roderick Strong beat Jay Briscoe with a Gibson Driver to retain the ROH World Championship

 

[close spoiler]

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Up next: SoCal Showdown II, from the 2011 Los Angeles WrestleReunion weekend

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

Wish they would do more with TJ Perkins, he seems to job on every show.

 

I like Perkins; but he basically has the same ten minute match on every show. An entertaining ten minutes mind, but still.

[Up Chuck]

I haven't seen Richards/Elgin, but I'm pissed off, because one 5-star rating is all Richards will need as proof he's as good as he thinks he is. Which he isn't.

[Big Benny HG]

If you are a member on the ROH website, both the 'Showdown in the Sun' iPPV events are going to be available to watch in full on there for this weekend only.

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

I haven't seen Richards/Elgin, but I'm pissed off, because one 5-star rating is all Richards will need as proof he's as good as he thinks he is. Which he isn't.

 

So, just to clarify - you're upset because of what one guy said about another guy that will affect that guy's opinion of himself?

 

 

Northern Aggression

Edited April 13, 2012 by Dearly Devoted Dexter

[Big Benny HG]

ROH: SoCal Showdown II (28 January 2011)

 

 

For the second consecutive year, ROH promotes its event in Los Angeles as part of the WrestleReunion weekend. 'SoCal Showdown II' was one of the events I'd decided to skip as part of my "watch less ROH in 2011" mantra, but I come across this DVD courtesy of "The Man With The Stopwatch", GadgetBoi.

 

This is also the same weekend and venue that PWG run each year, which is notable since ROH's curtain raiser of The Bravado Brothers vs. Cedric Alexander & Caleb Konley here is very reminiscent of a typical PWG opener. You know, one of those bouts where they throw a load of recent-ish additions you wouldn't normally give a crap about into a mutli-man tag match with the sole purpose of them putting on a quick, fast-paced, action-packed and really fun affair to get the crowd up for the show. Like in PWG, it works. Not that it was amazing or anything, but this was easily the most I've ever enjoyed any of these four guys, even Fake Spanky. The theme continues later on as PWG regulars The Cutler Brothers take on the All Night Express in an interesting-looking bout between two teams on rise on complete opposite sides of the country. While it falls short of the crazy sprints the Cutlers have been involved with in PWG, this one turns out to be a thoroughly decent and entertaining tag scrap.

 

Elsewhere, there are a couple of singles bouts between long-time ROH stalwarts. First, Colt Cabana and Jay Briscoe meet in their first ever singles encounter anywhere. This bout is a quick-and-easy one that doesn't contain much of note, but is inoffensive and perfectly adequate. Then, the Television Champion Christopher Daniels defends (here, on this non-televised show...again) against Mark Briscoe ("THAT'S HIS BROTHAA!! [/Lambert]) in a solid contest that, much like the Cabana/Jay bout, you'll forget as soon as you've seen it.

 

So, while the undercard is decent but unremarkable, the real highlights on this release come in the form of three brilliantly belting efforts. Two cracking singles contests match-up more SoCal/PWG regulars, as Davey Richards takes on TJ Perkins, then Roderick Strong defends the ROH World Title against El Generico in the show's main event. The former is a thrilling strikes n' submissions wrestlefest with both guys going for it top pelt, which I enjoyed a heck of a lot more than I thought I would. The latter is an impressive and worthy World Title tilt which plays to both men's strengths of Strong being a nasty, vicious bastard and Generico being a courageous, fiery and explosive never-say-die underdog.

 

The best of all, though, is the rematch from 'Glory By Honor IX' which pits World Tag Team Champions the Kings of Wrestling against the returning Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin, back in ROH as a somewhat regular feature for 2011. Just like the iPPV effort, this is a sterling example of world class tag team wrestling between two teams that have wonderful chemistry together. It builds brilliantly, taking you on a journey starting at a deliberate pace, before reaching top gear and having all four men go all-out in a spectacular sprint to the finish. Easily the best ROH match of 2011 so far.

 

This is ROH's third show of 2011. While 'Champions vs. All Stars' was crap, both 'Only the Strong Survive' and 'SoCal Showdown II' have been very enjoyable, each offering several top class bouts. There's a long way to go, but they seem to indicate there is plenty to still be excited about in terms of one-off events in ROH for 2011.

 

Full show results:

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

The Bravado Brother beat Caleb Konley & Cedric Alexander

 

Jay Briscoe beat Colt Cabana with a Jaydriller

 

The All Night Express (Rhett Titus & Kenny King) beat The Cutler Brothers (Brandon & Dustin)

 

Davey Richards beat TJ Perkins by submission to a cross-armbreaker

 

Christopher Daniels beat Mark Briscoe with the Best Moonsault Ever to retain the Television Title

 

World's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas{W, Haas of Pain} & Shelton Benjamin) beat Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli{L}) in a non-title match

 

Roderick Strong beat El Generico to retain the ROH World Championship after using the title belt

 

[close spoiler]

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Edited April 14, 2012 by Big Benny HG

[Big Benny HG]

ROH: 9th Anniversary Show (26 February 2011)

 

 

I skip the previous evening's 'World's Greatest' show from Dayton (Richards & Haas & Benjamin vs. Strong & Hero & Castagnoli) to reach ROH's first 'big' card of 2011, the '9th Anniversary' iPPV event from Chicago.

 

Things start with a nifty little video package previewing each of the main bouts on offer, before the show gets right underway with an utterly bizarre-on-paper match-up of Davey Richards vs. Colt Cabana, Richards starting from scratch again after losing his World Title challenge at the last PPV. Cabana usually pulls out his very best performances on his home-town Chicago shows and this was no exception. The two work well together to create an exciting and logical match, and this is a terrific PPV opener. After a reasonable 4-way of Steve Corino vs. Mike Bennett vs. Kyle O'Reilly vs. Grizzly Redwood, House of Truth's Michael Elgin vs. El Generico is perfectly decent. The main gist is that big, bad Elgin controls things with his impressive power, Generico keeps trying to make these big high-flying comebacks, but is repeatedly cut off by manager Truth Martini. Things build and build like this until the exciting closing stages.

 

The appearance of Elgin's stablemate Roderick Strong leads to his announced main event ROH World Championship defence against Homicide taking place in the middle of the show. This is a no-disqualifications 'Barrio Streetfight', which at first glance seems a little unfair on the champion. This is nowhere near the level of Strong's defences against Daniels, Richards, Jay Briscoe or Generico, but is still a strong effort and clearly Homicide's best performance since his return. Involvement of Martini adds to proceedings rather than harms them, and this ends up pretty good.

 

After a naff MsChif vs. Sara Del Rey bout, the show gets back on track with the World Tag Team Championship bout between the Kings of Wrestling and the All Night Express, which is pretty damn great. You never get a sense that Rhett and Kenny are going to take the belts, but the real story here is how much they push the champs in trying, and in doing so have their best showing to date. Hero and Castagnoli look absolutely superb here, genuinely world class. What is interesting is that Titus and King are almost presented (and accepted) in a babyface role by the very nature of the contest, and they actually suit it a lot better than I ever thought possible.

 

In a battle of men with two first names, Christopher Daniels and Eddie Edwards have a two-out-of-three falls fight for the Television Title. The first ten minutes contain absolutely nothing noteworthy, but the bout comes alive after Eddie hits a bit dive from the ring post to the floor. From there, it gets pretty good, as they trade big moves, reversals and near-falls, but it drops off again towards the end and loses your attention. It's one of those instances where the 2/3 falls gimmick actually hurts them, since the match ends up having to go much longer than it probably needs or should.

 

The final bout sees new ROH regulars Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin take on ROH constants The Briscoes, with the winning team gaining a shot at the tag straps at the next iPPV in Atlanta in April. It's a fresh first-time match-up, which is something rare for ROH these days, so immediately has an added sense of interest. While it can't be said that this is better than the former Team Angle's two amazing contests with the Kings of Wrestling (or, surprisingly, even the Kings' bout against the ANX earlier on), this is still a really good, fine tag team offering which rounds off the show in a great way.

 

'9th Anniversary Show' lacks that one or two real blow-away spectacular matches that other ROH iPPVs have given, but the overall standard is very good. The vast majority on offer here being completely rock-solid and so this release gets a thumbs-up recommendation from me.

 

As for the promotion as a whole at this point, the tag division looks fresher than it has in about a year. The addition of Haas and Benjamin and the arrival of the All Night Express to the top level have mixed things up and offer interesting possibilities. On the singles side, however, there is the likes of Strong and Richards, but then a whole slew of other guys who are all around about the same level and don't seem credible any further than that. They need stars, and need them fast.

 

Full show results:

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

Davey Richards beat Colt Cabana by submission to the cross-armbreaker

 

Mike Bennett beat Steve Corino{L, side-slam}, Grizzly Redwood & Kyle O'Reilly in a 4-way

 

El Generico beat Michael Elgin with an inside cradle

 

Barrio Streetfight: Roderick Strong beat Homicide with a backbreaker following interference from Truth Martini to retain the ROH World Title

 

Sara Del Rey beat MsChif with the Death Reyzor

 

Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli) beat All Night Express (Rhett Titus & Kenny King)

 

2-out-of-3 falls:

Christopher Daniels beat Eddie Edwards with a cradle

Edwards beat Daniels by submission to an Achilles lock

Daniels and Edwards then fought to a 30-minute time-limit draw

 

Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin beat The Briscoes (Jay & Mark) with a double-team blockbuster

 

[close spoiler]

");document.close();

[patiirc]

Meltzer has given Richards/Elgin 5 Star, not seen it yet -is it as good as he suggests ?

 

One of me mates was banging on about this, lent me their password and stuff to watch it. Amazing match. Im not too keen on the rapid strikes because they look pants imo, but the rest of it was pretty amazing. Elgin looked like absolute gold during this

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

Updated card for Border Wars :

 

 

Davey Richards vs. Fatty Steen

Fit Finlay vs. Roderick Strong

Rhyno vs. Eddie Edwards

WGTT vs. The Briscoes - Fight Without Honor

[The Cum Doctor]

The Briscoes in a FWH is fairly reliable, so that should be a good match with WGTT. Might well end up their best match since their ROH debut.

 

The rest of the card actually looks really good so far. I'll certainly look to be checking this bad boy out.

[neil's bitch]

Whats going on with WGTT these days? I've heard the contracts for both end fairly soon, so they might be off soon after?

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

Not sure, but I wouldn't be in tears if they left. Their tag title run was a complete washout, although I havn't seen any of their stuff with the Briscoes yet.

[spotlightmagnet1]

There complete lack of personality is one of the main reasons I've gone off ROH. They were pushed to the moon by Jim Cornette (I love Corny but this choice I strongly disagree with) cause of vague name value. It wasn't so bad when they had a good match with Kings of Wrestling but as time went on WGTT just sucked the life out of the tag team scene.