wrestling / Columns
Column of Honor: 12.04.10: HDNet Marathon: Hide the Women and Children
Welcome to the Column and Happy Hannukah to all out there. I have to tell you about the best parts about celebrating Hannukah: 1. Jelly Donuts. Not the Dunkin Donuts kind, but super-freshly made, super-powered fried doughy goodness. 2. Gifts. Lots of them. Eight days worth. Listen, I know the Christians have us by four days, but I’ll take eight and won’t make noise. 3. Latkes. My family makes some of the best out there. Also great when served with powdered sugar. MMMMM, powdered sugar. 4. Dreidels. You know you want to spin them. 5. Menorahs. Each one is unique and most have lots of distinctive characteristics. 6. Songs about Dreidels and Menorahs. Obviously lots of fun. I wonder why there is never a reality show “sing-off” competition between Hannukah Harmonizers and Christmas Carolers. 7. Hannukah candles lit at night. Very picturesque. 8. Hanging with my family friends in Long Island. An annual tradition. 9. Did I mention gifts? I could go on and on. Worst part about Hannukah: There is no worst part. No really, there isn’t. Well, maybe there was that thing about the Macabees and the destruction of their temple and this whole no oil and the miracle of lights deal, but that’s not all that important.
In lieu of a feature piece, the bulk of this week’s column will be focused on a recap and review of the last month’s worth of Ring of Honor on HDNet television shows. First, we’ll get to the latest ROH news and match announcements for the rest of ROH’s shows in December. So let’s get on the way!
-Roderick Strong defeated Christopher Daniels in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada on 11/13/10.
–Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli defeated Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin by DQ after The Briscoes interfered in New York, NY on 5/8/10
–Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli defeated Jay & Mark Briscoe in a No DQ Match in Toronto, Ontario on 6/19/10
— Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli defeated Jay & Mark Briscoe in Philadelphia, PA on 8/21/10
–Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli defeated Jay & Mark Briscoe, The All-Night Express and Dark City Fight Club in Ultimate Endurance in Charlotte, NC on 08/28/10
–Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli defeated El Generico & Colt Cabana in Plymouth, MA on 09/10/10
–Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli defeated Christopher Daniels & Davey Richards in Dayton, OH on 10/15/10
-Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli defeated Kevin Steen & Steven Corino in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada on 11/13/10.
–Eddie Edwards defeated Colt Cabana in Philadelphia, PA on 3/6/10
–Eddie Edwards defeated Petey Williams in Mississauga, Ontario on 3/20/10
–Eddie Edwards defeated Kenny King in Philadelphia, PA on 8/20/10
–Eddie Edwards defeated Rhett Titus in Philadelphia, PA on 8/21/10
–Eddie Edwards defeated Erick Stevens in Plymouth, MA on 9/10/10
–Eddie Edwards defeated Shawn Daivari in New York, NY on 9/11/10
–Eddie Edwards defeated The Necro Butcher in Philadelphia, PA on 10/1/10
–Eddie Edwards defeated Colt Cabana in Philadelphia, PA on 10/2/10
The updated card as it stands for December 17th in Plymouth, MA:
World Tag Team Title Match: The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli) with Shane Hagadorn defend vs. The American Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards)
Non Title Match: ROH World Champion Roderick Strong with Truth Martini vs. Kenny Omega
Special Challenge Match # 1: Kenny King vs. Adam Cole
Special Challenge Match # 2: TJ Perkins vs. Kyle O’Reilly
Trial Series- Match #5: Andy “Right Leg” Ridge vs. Christopher Daniels
Four Corner Survival: TBA vs. TBA vs. TBA vs. TBA
Obviously more matches are to be announced, but this show will clearly be about the top two matches, The Kings vs. The Wolves and Strong vs. Omega. Both have the potential to be great matches if the participants are motivated and ready to put out that kind of effort even one night before the last iPPV of the year. The tag title match is being billed as “The Wolves Last Hunt” and heavily hinted this will be their last tag match together. In old school pro wrestling that would be a give-away that they will win the titles (which seems unlikely given The Kings still have much life left in their title run for 2011) but I have doubts that will happen here. I’ve said my piece before though about how it would be better for Ring of Honor to have The Wolves to stay as an alliance but I won’t repeat it in-depth here. Strong versus Omega work well together but hopefully the crowd responds. TJ Perkins versus O’Reilly was well-received in EVOLVE and I believe that the more exposure O’Reilly gets around the ROH touring circuit the more people will be convinced of his immediate skills and potential to be something special for the promotion in the future. King versus Cole is a new addition this week and like the O’Reilly / TJP bout could steal the show. That O’Reilly and Cole are being positioned in more prominent singles matches this year is promising for their roles in 2011, but hopefully the ticket buying audience buys into their matches and gives them support, even if they may not necessarily view these two as major stars yet. Andy Ridge’s final Trial Series match is even more difficult than the others as Daniels is THE veteran in the promotion right now. It’s certainly probable that Ridge will lose this one as well. He has been receiving solid to good marks from the fans with most of these matches, but I have no idea what ROH can do with him after this series. Finally, the four corner survival match returns with four participants to be named in the coming weeks.
The updated card as it stands for Final Battle 2010 December 18th in New York City:
ROH World Title Match: Roderick Strong with Truth Martini defends vs. Davey Richards
The Final Battle At Final Battle- Fight Without Honor: Kevin Steen vs. El Generico
*If Generico loses he will unmask
**If Steen loses he will quit Ring of Honor
Six Man Tag Team Grudge Match: Jay, Mark, and Mike “Papa” Briscoe vs. The Kings of Wrestling and Shane Hagadorn
Non Title Match: ROH World TV Champion Eddie Edwards vs. Kenny Omega
Women of Honor- Tag Team Challenge Match: Daizee Haze and Awesome Kong vs. Sara Del Rey and ???
-I’d like to plug Ring of Honor’s Final Battle 2010 Facebook Page, which not only has a great design but also contains links to the entire assortment of promo videos thus far for the show. I will have a full preview of the iPPV show in two weeks in this column. Much of the same information is also available at the very sleek looking Final Battle 2010 Subsite.
-Directly from the ROH Newswire: The ROH office were notified last night by ROH Executive Producer Jim Cornette that on Friday night, December 10th in Lousiville, he will host a special interview segment for a member of the ROH roster. That individual: “The Notorious 187” Homicide! The former ROH World Champion has been very vocal with his thoughts on Cornette since his return to ROH at “Glory by Honor IX”, and given the sordid history between these two men over the years, who knows what fireworks could erupt in The Davis Arena!
ROH has been including an undercurrent of the past (antagonistic) relationship between Cornette and Homicide, but this will be the first overt “confrontation” between the two on any ROH show. I wonder if Cornette will go heel again.
-Directly from the ROH Newswire concerning Colt Cabana’s attempt to just wrestle and move away from hardcore warfare: Colt Cabana’s desire to wrestle people hold-for-hold in an honorable fashion has been made clear recently here on ROHwrestling.com (http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/colt-cabanas-frustrations/). Cabana has tried to distance himself from his recent blood feud and is attempting to put that chapter of his life in the past. However, he has been beaten recently by Rhett Titus and others in a dishonorable fashion. Cabana’s frustration has come to a climax and ROH officials have agreed to work with Cabana on his request to wrestle the best technical wrestlers from around the world. With that said on 12/18 at “Final Battle 2010” LIVE on iPPV it will be Colt Cabana vs. young scientific maestro TJ Perkins in a technical showcase of the art of professional wrestling.
-Ring of Honor has mentioned that its Pro Wrestling RESPECT student shows will return at some point in 2011.
-For my money, there is no better tag team out there right now in any promotion than the current Ring of Honor World Tag Team Champions The Kings of Wrestling, Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli. Of course, those who know the past history of this column realize my fandom for Hero runs deep and much the same for Castagnoli. However, it is with good reason. They have a championship presence and the in-ring game to back it up. The Kings have already held the titles for seven months now, but it’s certainly possible and believable for them to have a much longer reign, stretching for a year or beyond. They have been that dominant as champions, but they also still have a good number of possible challengers, including The All-Night Express, who have a title shot in their back pocket. Of course, Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team of Haas and Benjamin could work their way to a title shot if they stick around for more frequent bookings with the promotion. However, The Kings could make it past these challengers and I would still buy into their act.
-Kevin Steen is THE heel right now in Ring of Honor. In some ways he reminds me of “Rowdy” Roddy Piper in the mid-80’s. I was just a child back then, but I can remember feeling really intimidated by Piper’s words and actions. He made you believe that he was a dangerous person with whom one didn’t want to mess around. I can recall the build the Wrestlemania I and the infamous interview where Piper was sitting down on the ground and had his hoodie draped over him. Bob Orton Jr. and Paul Orndorf did most of the talking but when Mean Gene asked him a question; he threw the hoodie over his head, lifted up his face, gave the crazy eyes and snarled into the camera. It took Mean Gene aback and it scared the heck out of me. Steen leaves that kind of impression with you when you see him and listen to him on interviews.
Recently, Jeff Hardy began to call himself “The Anti-Christ of Wrestling” after turning heel in TNA, but it’s Steen who first dubbed himself by the moniker and it’s Steen who is proving it on every ROH show. Kudos to ROH for giving Steen the latitude to be that crazy, out of control villain who makes one believe that he could be that malicious. I know that Steen and Steve Corino had to fight with HDNet to have certain segments and matches air as is and that some promos were actually censored or edited. Still, those that have made the light of day have emphasized the depths of their villainy. They make you hate them. In Ring of Honor with its fickle fan base that could cheer boos just as much as they boo them, that is no easy feat. It is going to be difficult to replace the heel work that Steen has brought to ROH this year should he lose the “Mask versus Career” match against El Generico at Final Battle 2010. That’s why I’m crossing my fingers that whatever result happens that it will be a temporary measure—a stop-gap in the ROH career of either Generico or Steen and not the end point.
-If you have Facebook or Twitter connections to EVOLVE wrestling’s social network, then odds are you know about or have seen the promos leading up to last week’s EVOLVE 6 show. Austin Aries, Chuck Taylor, Jon Moxley, Homicide and others talked about their matches and built up programs. They were all very inspired and spoke to the talents of these wrestlers as not just worthy in the ring, but valuable promotional tools for independent wrestling companies looking for new ways out customer outreach. The social networks have made it easier than ever before to share the videos and spread the knowledge of these feuds and I commend Gabe Sapolsky at EVOLVE, Ring of Honor and other independent promotions for doing so.
However, I do have one suggestion to all wrestlers who plan to cut these guerilla style promos from their house. Please, wear a shirt! If all one can see of you is your face and upper body…and that remains exposed without showing that you are in fact dressed from bottom down, well then…one can only assume the worst about your present state of undress. It’s like that cover to ROH’s Showdown in Motown, where Bryan Danielson and Chris Sabin’s midsection were blocked by the giant logo for the show, thus obscuring their tights and leading one to believe that they were in fact naked while taking those photos. I don’t want to imagine these wrestlers naked. I like my wrestler’s only semi-naked, and that’s only when in the ring. Otherwise, a nice shirt will do just fine. If one wants to get extra fancy, a button-down or blazer, but something, anything other than your pecs and abs, a one-angle shot and a view of your kitchen table or bedroom window behind you.
Episode 81: November 8th, 2010
We start off with a recap of the previous week’s bloody cage war between Generico and Cabana against Steen and Corino. Generico was deadly angry about being bumped off the cage to the outside and therefore being unable to help out Cabana. That anger is continuing to fester within Generico’s soul.
We get new and up-to-date clips for the introduction! Alright! Dave Lagana if you’re out there, thank you for the effort! Among the clips featured are Richards, Edwards, Steen, Generico, Daniels, Strong and The Kings of Wrestling. Looks like a beaut.
ROH World Television Title defense starts this episode off with Eddie Edwards defending against The Necro Butcher. I’ve decided to call Butcher’s fashion sense as “Royal / hobo-chic”. The “time limit clock” returns, though not for the Ten-Minute Hunt but rather for an actual TV Title match. It is on the top right of the screen along with a picture of the TV Title belt with a fifteen-minute countdown. It looks cool and adds a subtle but powerful dimension to the title match, sort of like when TNA used to have the “Fox Box” up on the screen during their Fox Sports Net run of iMPACT! The graphic slides away and returns intermittently.
The match gets going with Edwards dominating the technical side in the first few minutes, until Necro loses his temper, grabs a chair and drags Edwards to the outside. Nana and Ernesto Osiris distracts referee Paul Turner, allowing Necro to use a running ram crotch first right into the turnbuckles on the outside (looked painful and garnered a nice crowd response, as no one wants to get hit in the nuts, obviously). He follows that up with the chair slam on the outside. Edwards comes back during a huge and wild donnybrook of punches, actually getting the best of Necro (and kudos to him for putting Eddie over in that way). Edwards follows it up with a huge suicide dive, running leg kick on the outside and a flying dropkick—Bryan Danielson would be proud.
Necro regains some control but Edwards is able to get a flying codebreaker (chin checker) and a roll up for two, transitioned right into the Achilles Lock. Nana distracts Turner again and while Edwards misses a swing at Nana but he rams Osiris off the ropes with the running kick. Necro gets the chokeslam and looks for the Tiger Driver but Edwards rolls into a tight small package for the pinfall and the retention. Both Edwards and Necro looked great in this one and Edwards was way over with the fans in attendance—that’s a great sign as far as I’m concerned. Edwards is also an Embassy Killer of sorts, having defeated Erick Stevens, Shawn Daivari and now Necro Butcher in TV Title defenses.
The Kings of Wrestling, Shane Hagadorn and Sara Del Rey on deck with Kyle Durden as Hagadorn runs down Papa Briscoe as a redneck chicken farmer. The Kings take umbrage to Durden suggesting they don’t defend the titles enough and Hero responds with The Kings’ C.V. “We are Kings and all I see across the aisle are court jesters and cross-dressers.” Really? I didn’t know Cassandro El Exotico had been booked tonight. It’s Kings of Wrestling vs. Dark City Fight Club in non-title action tonight.
Kyle O’Reilly and Adam Cole make their HDNet debut as a tag team unit, wrestling against The Bravado Brothers. There goes O’Reilly with the insane bug eyes again. This is a fast-paced and fun undercard bout and both teams are out there working hard (although the fans don’t make much noise, probably not being too exposed to one team and knowing the other had been in the preliminaries for most Philly tapings). I have now devised my own method of determining one Bravado brother from the other: Lance Bravado looks to me like a forgotten member of the SAT; Harlem Bravado reminds me of a taller Collin Delaney Olsen. Anyway, they have a cool new double team in this one, a combination powerbomb into frog splash. O’Reilly looks like a beast in there with some great early submission work, fast kick sequences, a double drag screw leg whip (!) and then he gets to carry the finish. Cole gets a tope suicida to clear Harlem, leaving Lance in the ring. O’ Reilly pushes him to the ropes where Cole gets the jumping enziguiri. O’Reilly is right on top of him for a beautiful springboard spinning DDT chained right into a front guillotine (End Times) for the submission win. I like O’Reilly and Cole’s chances to get over with the ROH fans in 2011.
The first of The Prodigy vignettes is shown with Mike Bennett and Brutal Bob Evans in silhouette.
Replay of the Daniels vs. Strong bouts on HDNet, leading to a Kyle Durden interview in the ring with Christopher Daniels about his (at that point) upcoming title shot against Roderick Strong in Toronto. Homicide makes his debut, interrupting the segment, calling out Jim Cornette for their past history. He says he doesn’t like Cornette and that he knows that Cornette is responsible for him not receiving a title shot while Daniels and Richards get their opportunities. He tells Daniels it’s not personal, just business. Crowd is a bit flat for all of this, which is disappointing considering Daniels vs. Homicide is not just a fresh combination of men for any kind of wrestling face-off, but given their history and importance to ROH right now the responses should have been much better to both of them. Both do a great job of playing to the cameras as well, so at the least hopefully they are getting over with the HDNet audience at home.
Kings vs. Haas & Benjamin recap follows and then it’s the main event: The Kings of Wrestling versus Dark City Fight Club. If DCFC can win tonight, they’ll receive a future title shot. If they lose they’ll be put on hiatus. Oh wait, that second part wasn’t officially stated by Hogewood or Prazak on commentary. Chris Hero tells Kory Chavis “that beard is weird” by grabbing onto it and using it for leverage on the opening headlock. Chavis powers his way loose and sends Hero to the outside. DCFC play keep away with Claudio and run through some of their tag team combinations until Hero goes back to the beard. Hero does an ode to Nigel McGuinness headstand until Chavis chokes him by the throat to bring him down.
The Kings regain control by overpowering Chavis and getting him to their corner. After a few minutes of choking and stomping mudholes, Chavis catches the double boot and winds Hero around into a huge closeline. However Hero rolls to the outside, runs around the corner and dropkicks Davis off the apron just a second before Chavis is able to tag him. Big Swing to dropkick follows for two. Springboard European Hart Attack variation gets a two-count and Hero is livid. Hero stops a spinebuster from Chavis but his neckbreaker attempt is countered to a backslide. Hero is up and brings a huge axe kick down onto Chavis but NOW Chavis gets the sit-out spinebuster and it’s all-even.
Hero tags to Claudio and Davis gets the hot tag. He springboards in with a shoulder block, back body drop and a running knee strike for two. Powerslam attempt is slid off by Claudio but Davis gets a leg lariat (and a nice subtle touch is Hagadorn on the outside reaching for anything to try to stop it). Davis and Claudio exchange forearms and European uppercuts, then Davis executes the tilt-a-whirl powerslam for a close count but Hero hops over and down with a boot to the head. Hero’s moonsault gets nothing but air and DCFC score with TOTAL ELIMINATION-brutal! Claudio lays Davis out with the throw into a pop-up European! Claudio tags in Hero, a sloppy sit-out powerbomb is stopped by Chavis. Davis with the POUNCE on Hero and Claudio barely saves. Sinclair is distracted by having to pull Chavis to his corner and Hero and Claudio combine with the knock out elbow and European uppercut. Claudio kicks Chavis to the floor and that’s three.
Real solid show overall (nothing above three stars but most matches in that range) and if you haven’t watched it on HDNet and can find it online, it’s worth seeking out.
Episode 82: November 15th, 2010
We begin with a “Previously on ROH” about Papa Briscoe’s take-down of Shane Hagadorn after the last Kings vs. Briscoes bout. Apparently Papa Briscoe has been banned from every ROH building…missed that one from last week. Replay of last week’s Kings vs. DCFC match sends us into the intro package.
In the ring is Kevin Steen with his Mr. Hand, puppet erm, El Generico mask. Steen vs. Redwood. I’m going to stop here and I want you to imagine what happens next.
I’m back. Did you think that Steen would shake Grizzly’s hand? Well he does! Is it…a Christmas miracle of some kind? Has Steen changed his stripes? Will an angel get its wings? NOPE. He snaps Grizzly’s suspenders and we’re underway with Steen SQUASHING Grizzly. Gigantic Gourd level squashing. He HURLS Grizzly over to the outside, like he was a javelin or discus and he was training for the Olympics. Steen brushes off what little offense Grizzly gets in and then swipes the F-5 now that Tyler is no longer there to use it. Wrap around DVD gets two and Steen is ticked it didn’t finish. Steen’s swanton bomb misses and Grizzly gets the running tornado DDT for two. Then Steen rolls outside, drags Grizzly and POWERBOMBS HIM TO DEATH on the apron.
What did you think about that Ini Kamooze?
Ini Kamooze: “Here come de hotstepper, MURDERRRRAH!”
Steen rolls Grizzly into the ring and pulls the Generico mask over him, and while the crowd calls out “Ole”, Steen KILLS Grizzly with the Package Piledriver and that is it. Steen wins. Nah, na na na nah, na na na nah, na na nah, na na nah, na na na nah.
Corino gets the microphone for Steen, who issues the challenge for Final Battle 2010, mask (or rather the unmasking of Generico) versus his own career. Steen: “I would rather stick a butcher knife through my heart and choke on my own blood until I die than to still be in the same company as you.” FOR THE LOVE OF GOD KEEP ALL WOMEN, CHILDREN AND PETS AWAY FROM KEVIN STEEN. Corino didn’t look happy at that revelation. Generico is out on the stage with a towel over his head. He pulls it over to reveal a dark, blackened version of his mask. He points to Steen as he is prodded for a yes or no response. He nods his head yes, agreeing to the match and gives Steen the cut-throat sign.
Good lord that was awesome. Steen is playing it so close to the edge and the fans are dying to see Generico make him pay.
The second Prodigy promo airs, with Jim Cornette and Cary Silkin blowing wind up our butts about how Mike Bennett has so much raw skill and potential. We’ll see.
Prazak announces that Roderick Strong successfully defended the ROH World Title against Christopher Daniels in Toronto. That leads us to Jim Cornette in the ring introducing Strong (with dapper Truth Suit) and Truth Martini for a promo discussing Davey Richards and the Final Battle 2010 internet Pay Per View title match. Strong could care less about that or Richards. Jim asks about Truth’s involvement in his matches and Strong responds that no one is giving him the credit he deserves. If Truth Martini interferes, he would see it and he would know. Uh…Roddy, gotta tell ya something here buckaroo…
Cornette asks Strong if he has seen any of his previous matches, but Martini cuts him off and states that looking at the past is going backwards and no member of The House of Truth ever looks at a match that has already happened. Well, that’s a pretty piss-poor managing philosophy if you ask me, because if one doesn’t study tape on opponents then that’s a whole lot of missed opportunities to pick up on weaknesses and develop an in-ring game. Does Truth want Strong to go by ESP to prepare for his opponents? This guy is a life intervention specialist, but he sure ain’t no rocket surgeon. Or brain scientist. Cornette tries to stir some trouble by suggesting he look at an HDNet prepared tape, but Truth cuts him off and reinforces some of his brainwashing.
Hogewood cues to that video with all of the interference by Truth Martini from several previous HDNet matches.
Homicide makes his debut on HDNet and his first official match back. He’s up against Tony Kozina. A funny note is that Homicide’s intro music is the LAX theme song rapped by Konnan. Prazak plugs Final Battle 2006 available on demand from rohwrestling.com HALELUJAH! Keep those kind of drop-ins coming, because that’s what should have been done all along-sell that back catalogue! It just so happens that the show is completely worth the money as well.
Kozina gets in a cheap shot which referee Bryce Remsburg doesn’t see, and when Homicide returns in kind Bryce does catch it. That leads to a war of words between the two. Poor Bryce, he needs to avoid getting heat with the 1-8-7! Homicide gets to show some new offense including a Michinoku Driver and a nice lawn dart from off the top rope. I liked that. Kozina gets way too much offense though and even gets to flip out of the Cop Killer finisher. Best not to even attempt it if it’s not going to land in match like this. Homicide brings it home with the Ace Crusher for the win. This needed to be more of a brutal squash like the earlier Steen vs. Grizzly match and because it wasn’t, it felt a bit of a flat return. Still, I have faith in Homicide and that he’ll find his rhythm in the company soon enough.
Davey Richards video package with some straight talk about Final Battle 2010, his re-signing with ROH and his title shot. I wrote this several weeks ago, but I love these Richards promos because they are from an earnest place and he is just telling his story directly to the audience. It is so easy to believe in Richards and support him when he speaks like this in these packages. Keep them coming.
The Briscoes versus Austin Aries & Rhett Titus is the main event match of the evening. This was taped before Titus got SUPER SERIOUS, so he’s out with bowtie and fur vest. It’s a solid enough match that happens to become real good at the finishing stretch, but if you have seen one “Briscoes vs. Aries & Titus / King” match this year (and there have been several), well, then you’ve seen this one too. The fans are alive for this one though—the little kiddies love dem some Briscoes. Prazak does get a funny comment about how Hogewood should go over to The Briscoes’ place to drink and shoot some guns: “Yeah, that’s safe.”
At one point Aries and Titus lift the WGTT tag team combo with the press on the ropes. They also ape a Power & Glory Powerplex, with Titus contributing the superplex and Aries tweaking it with a frog splash. There is some “now the referee didn’t see it, now he did” on both sides when it comes to the legal tag. Mark Briscoe gets his redneck kung fu comeback that entertains the fans and adds in a double DDT (Aries with the exclamation point bump). A dose-e-doe sequence and Aries eventually lands the low-pe suicida. Aries with the IED on Mark and attempts the brainbuster but its reversed into a small package for two. The Briscoes win when they shove Aries off the apron to the floor and block a Super Sex Factor attempt by Titus. They grab Titus from up the top rope, put him on Jay’s shoulder’s and Mark completes the Doomsday Device for the three count.
Episode 83: November 22nd, 2010
Previously on ROH: Kevin Steen calls out El Generico and challenges him to the match at Final Battle 2010.
The show starts out with Erick Stevens (w/ Prince Nana and Ernesto Osiris) versus Colt Cabana with the winner receiving a future title shot. I made the joke about the loser going on hiatus above, so to do so again would be redundant and self-evident. Colt Cabana is “Shining Happy People Colt Cabana” this week, as this now falls after the I-Quit match against Corino and so he’s back to focusing on just wrestling. Cute moment as Stevens throws a tantrum as the fans throw streamers for Cabana’s entrance. It should also be noted that Stevens looks super-thin here, not quite skin and bones, but more like skin and abs. Still, the guy has completely reshaped his body since 2007 and that is quite impressive.
This is a below average match that picks up in the final three minutes—plenty of restholds like bearhugs and chinlocks and waistlock grips from Stevens before then. Now that Stevens has lost so much weight all of that power / wear down strategy seems offbase, because Colt Cabana is thicker and stockier than him at this point. Should Stevens return to ROH he might want to consider altering his style to fit his new body. Cabana does get that nice kneebuster / Stroke-style rabbit closeline combination at the tail end of the bout. Glad to see he is continuing to incorporate that into the action. Stevens gets his best chance by pulling Cabana off the rope and hitting a running lariat. Release German sends Cabana spiraling to the corner. Choo Choo is met with the Butt Butt and the Billy Goat’s Curse is applied. Osiris jumps on the apron for the distraction and Nana pulls Stevens out of the move. Stevens sets up for the Doctor Bomb but Cabana with an unbreakable counter roll up for three. Colt Cabana gets the title match against Eddie Edwards and Erick Stevens is off to promote his newest major motion picture, “Little Fockers”.
Kings of Wrestling with Shane Hagadorn are in the ring with Jim Cornette, who sets up their Final Battle 2010 match—it will be a six-man tag with Kings and Shane against Briscoes and their father, Mike. Hero and Claudio are showing off their fine fashion sense by wearing purple shirts, evocative of royalty. Cornette tricks Hagadorn into saying that the Kings will give anyone a non-title match in order to prove that they deserve a title match. Cornette introduces The Briscoes and out they come, also in street clothes. I like that little nice touch—neither team is wrestling right now, so neither team is dressed in their gear. As opposed to WWE, when wrestlers such as Randy Orton usually are geared up for interview segments when it’s not made clear they are or aren’t wrestling at that point or later in the night. Papa Briscoe is there too, wearing funky sun glasses and a cowboy hat. Awesome. Mark has a Jack Daniels logo motorcycle jacket. Even more awesome.
Cornette says that if Hagadorn continues to want to bar Mike Briscoe from ROH events then Mike will sue Hero for the attack from this past summer. It’s funny how threatening to file a lawsuit somehow results in a face pop, but I guess it’s not about the litigation but rather at whom it’s directed. Cornette brings out a contract to sign for a non-title match…and The Kings and Shane didn’t read the fine print, because the contract was for the six-man match. The Kings and Shane take a bump backwards for their outrage at this announcement. GREAT! Jay says Mike Briscoe has whupped their butts since they were kids and that Shane will be lucky to make it out alive of New York City. Now that’s how you sell a match.
Sara Del Rey versus Daizee Haze is up next. Both have been built up throughout the past year or so by defeating others, but they have not wrestled against each other in a while, at least on HDNet. Their last ROH match was back in July during Bluegrass Brawl in Louisville, Kentucky. The segment starts with both women already in the ring. Interestingly Hogewood mentions the ten-minute time limit and then we get the ten-minute timer onscreen. Hey, you don’t suppose they’re going ten-minutes now do you?
Del Rey immediately goes for a Koppou kick and Haze gets out of the way. She gets back in the ring and is able to tilt-a-whirl into several bodypresses for negligible counts. Daze stomps Del Rey to the outside and goes to the top rope. However she telegraphs the flying body press and Del Rey moves out of the way. Back in the ring, Del Rey goes for a powerbomb but Haze counters out of it to a standing position and slaps on a headlock. That was a pretty wise counter. Haze uses a spinning tornado headlock takeover (good stuff) and works the headlock some more, essentially giving us the theme of the match-Haze is going to look to use her technical wrestling and aerial ability while trying to minimize the damage Del Rey does with her use of hard strikes and a vicious demeanor.
Del Rey throws Haze off a tornado DDT attempt and boots her down. Repeated pinfall attempts and Haze kicks out. Del Rey viciously hairmares her and pummels her, keeping her downed on the canvas. Haze is trapped in the ropes and takes some vicious repeated kicks to the jaw and chest. Yikes. Haze takes another kick and uses it to dragon screw Del Rey’s leg into the ropes and down off the apron. A second attempt at the flying body press works this time for Haze. Back in the ring she gets a flying hurricanrana. X-Factor variation gets a two-count. Del Rey with a high kick right to the face! A series of arm wringer neckbreaker takedowns score. Heart punch! Yakuza kick is ducked into a Del Rey electric chair countered into a victory roll for two.
Del Rey with a pumphandle into an ANGLE SLAM (!) and Haze rolls out to the apron. Haze up top but Del Rey peels her off and into the Gory Special. Del Rey essentially carries Haze like a backpack, flexing and walking around for a good minute with Haze being unable to break the hold. Then Del Rey pulls her down into a sickening looking combination torture hold and choke, bending her body all the way. Haze is able to flip out and into the octopus hold. Then to a sunset flip with full bridge for two. German Suplex attempt by Haze is blocked and this time Del Rey fully connects on a Koppou kick, POWERBOMB and close two. The time limit clock comes onscreen again at ten seconds and Haze kicks to the head to escape another powerbomb attempt, jawbreaker and the bell rings. Haze goes for the yakuza but Bryce steps in-between the two women to end the match as a draw.
These two went out there to make a statement and I think it was helped by going right to the action and the constant effort both showed throughout the bout. However, the draw came without too much drama or conflict-the match was going apace and not Haze or Del Rey looked especially hurried or motivated to finish before the draw. In fact it seemed as if Haze was surprised by the time expiring.
TO THE BACK with Kyle Durden and Steve Corino, who has some words about the Steen challenge. Corino has a worried look on his face and says he is concerned about what has happened with Steen. Corino says Steen is out of control and even he cannot control him. He looks at Generico like a co-worker or a distant friend-HAH! Next week on HDNet he wants to talk to Generico and save him from this bout, “because Kevin Steen is crazy.” UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE YEAR.
Final Battle 2010 Generico vs. Steen promo, followed by another Prodigy promo, with Cornette discussing Bob Evans as an “outlaw trainer” and a disreputable man. Bennett took to Evans and Cornette says that means “we could have a serious combination here”. Evans looks like one of those dirty and sleazy boxing coaches like out of a Rocky movie.
Hogewood says Haze and Del Rey had a confrontation backstage after their match (which you can see for yourself in the videos section above).
Davey Richards versus Shawn Daivari is the main event of the show. This is going to be another in a long line of losses for The Embassy. Can you say slump? It’s also an interesting test case of if Richards can bring up Daivari (who hasn’t been lighting the world on fire with this ROH run) or if Daivari brings him down. Luckily, it’s mostly the former, although Daivari does bobble on the pickup for the Victory Roll near the finish. Highlights include Richards kicking Daivari into the crowd, a nice reversal roll up sequence that ends with Richards getting the heel hook and transitioning into the anklelock and Richards also getting a flying dropkick. Osiris gets involved in hooking Richards’ leg but Richards gets him back with a running soccer kick to the chest. Daivari’s offense is mostly limited to countering holds but he does execute a German Suplex and a Lungblower very well. Finish is Richards hopping on top of Daivari’s body into the Victory Roll, transitioning into another ankle lock and then to the cloverleaf for the tap-out submission. Solid three-star television match but nothing to go out of your way for.
Next week is the debut of The Prodigy and Homicide versus Necro Butcher in a Butcher’s Rules match.
Episode 84: November 29th , 2010
This week’s episode brings us the debut of The Prodigy and Homicide versus Necro Butcher in a Butcher’s Rules match. How about that?
The show begins in the back with Kyle Durden interviewing Homicide about the main event. Homicide does what Homicide does best on the stick and that is describe the kind of pain and misery he is going to inflict on his opponent while mangling a few colloquial phrases. He tells Necro he should pray to the lord (Durden looks up to the ceiling in a nice touch) and that he’s a dead man. Yeah that’s a scary dude right there.
After the introductions it’s right to the ring where Steve Corino (wearing the headless Generico shirt) is on the microphone, re-emphasizing his talking points from last week’s promo and calling Generico out to the ring. Generico comes out dressed in all black and with a towel over his head. Corino gets Todd Sinclair to stand in-between him and Generico, imploring him to listen to what he has to say. Corino blames Generico for making Steen go crazy.
Corino says Generico doesn’t have to do this and that it’s not worth risking his career for his mask. Corino essentially is trying to talk him out of the match and giving up the mask, while at the same time being a true heel and saying Generico is to blame and the fans don’t mean anything worth sacrificing his career. “Ring of Honor needs Kevin Steen. Steve Corino needs Kevin Steen. We don’t need you El Generico.” Generico throws his shirt at Corino as a sign of refusal of the offer.
Corino asks Generico one more time to give up the mask, but Generico just slaps him in the face! Corino bashes him over the head with the mic as a response. He throws Generico all around ringside and onto the metal barricades and then rolls him into the ring. Generico is not fighting back at all, not even throwing a punch. The bell rings to signal a match, but Generico rolls up Corino for a small package and gets the three count! WOAH . That might be the shortest match in Ring of Honor history right there. Corino attacks from behind after the match. Corino beats down on Generico some more, then walks away to the other side of the ring. Generico runs right at him with the Yakuza kick! Half Nelson Suplex! Another Ole Yakuza kick! Brainbuster! Generico is right up and circles around inside the ring and stands over the unconscious body of Steve Corino. That was some segment. Dark Generico may be just as scary as Kevin Steen…or Homicide!
Vignette to hype up Kings & Hagadorn vs. Briscoes & Papa Briscoe.
Jim Cornette is in the ring to introduce “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett and his manager “Brutal” Bob Evans. Cue generic metal music. Bennett is out with a suit and sunglasses. Too bad he looks just like Roderick Strong with that get up, which either doesn’t speak too well of Strong or means that perhaps ROH is going too far overboard with having many of its wrestlers wear designer clothing. Evans has the ski cap, track jacket look and has a cigarette in his mouth and a huge smile on his face.
Cornette claims that Bennett was approached by another wrestling organization and ROH and he chose to sign off on ROH. Ha, nice play off on the Tyler Black decision from several months ago, but I ain’t buying it. Bennett calls signing with ROH as a “favor” and that Bob convinced him to do so because ROH was full of “tomato cans”. Oh, that’s nice. Bennett says he’ll run down the tomato cans and run his record up. In twelve months he will be ROH World Champion. Well, wait a minute, if he runs through tomato cans to “run up his record”, how on earth will he even deserve one title shot? Sounds like faulty logic to me. He has a good adlib when the crowd tells him he sucks about how if he sucked so much he wouldn’t have survived Bob’s training camps. By the end of them he grew to like its cruelty. He claims to have more natural talent than The Rock did as a rookie. Well, The Rock wasn’t The Rock then, he was Flex Kavana and he was using a standing shoulderbreaker as a finisher, so actually that statement might be closer to accurate than one might think. He says 2011 will be The Year of The Prodigy. BJ Penn will be happy to hear that.
First impression coming off that promo is that Bennett definitely has chops on the stick. His vocal pattern even reminds me a bit of Alex Shelley back in ’05-’06. He certainly plays the cocky heel well and brings a dislikable personality with him…and Bob Evans. This could be a good act, but as mentioned above it also cuts close to what Roderick Strong is doing with his look and his mic work (although Bennett certainly right off the bat has more comfort and smoothness in his speech compared to Strong). Really, though, the test will be to see if he can get heat with the fans at house shows and if he can stand out in the ring. His match against Strong at Fade to Black was average and generic. Let’s see if that can change when he debuts in the ring with this new gimmick.
It should be noted through the first twenty-two minutes there has been literally three seconds of bell-to-bell time. That is very TNA-like.
We get highlights from last week’s Del Rey vs. Haze match and then the exclusive video with the backstage confrontation between the two, setting up the tag team match at Final Battle 2010.
Make that twenty-three minutes.
First real match of the evening is Dark City Fight Club’s Jon Davis versus Rhett Titus in a singles match. Titus takes it in a seven minute bout with a weird new move that sort of works as a spinning knee to the head. He should probably stick to the Muff Driver. Wait, that didn’t sound right. Titus was more focused on the in-ring action, but he did take some time to do a few hip thrusts when he had the advantage and he blows kisses to the camera after the match. I believe this match was taped before his serious promo for Survival of the Fittest 2010, so I’ll give the benefit of the doubt for now.
Replay of the Strong versus Richards vignette, focusing on Strong and Truth Martini.
ROH also gets in a plug for the December 17th show in Plymouth, MA with American Wolves versus Kings of Wrestling for the ROH World Tag Team Titles. Durden is in the back for words with Eddie Edwards. Durden terms it “one more time, one last time”. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Again, why on earth ROH would even tease breaking the Wolves up is just so stupid. Edwards blames himself for Shane’s betrayal and the attack by The Kings a few weeks back on HDNet. “We are and always will be brothers.” Good promo from Edwards. Next week is the TV Title bout between him and Colt Cabana.
Clip TO THE FRONT for Kyle O’Reilly & Adam Cole versus Grizzly Redwood and Mike Sydal. When the results for these tapings were released a few months ago it was unclear whether or not these lower card matches were being taped for the show, but it seems they were. Cole gets some chants of support, good for him! Cole and Redwood get in a quick wrestling sequence, then each tag out to O’Reilly and Sydal. Sydal goes for the “We Will Rock You” stomp for audience participation; meanwhile O’Reilly busts out…THE RUNNING MAN? Well, that was unexpected. O’Reilly quickly stops himself (cute) and gets right to the ass kicking with a wicked looking cross-armbreaker.
Sydal impresses with a nice moonsault to the outside onto O’Reilly. A little later O’Reilly just destroys his leg with kicks, puts him in the tree of woe and then in an incredibly sick move pulls that leg all the way down and ties it into Sydal’s arm crevasse. Cole tags in and together they do a double drop kick on the pretzeled arm, leg and head. As I wrote, SICK. Redwood gets the hot tag sequence culminating in a swinging tornado DDT for two. Grizzly tags back Sydal for a double team but O’Reilly stops it with an impressive front kick to Sydal and immediately swings to a back kick on Grizzly. Took all of half a second but looked really cool. Cole and O’Reilly win with a combination front and back lungblower sequence on Sydal for three. More good stuff that shows the promise of these younger and new (to ROH) wrestlers.
Main event is here and Homicide fights Necro Butcher in Butcher’s rules. Prazak explains that this match was set up by Jim Cornette, playing up again that there is past history between he and Homicide and that they don’t get along. This is a slow play as it relates to that relationship and its possible future developments. Cornette hasn’t had anything outright to do with Homicide yet and he hasn’t even mentioned him in any promos. I’m actually hoping there isn’t going to be a reprise of the Homicide vs. Cornette feud. Instead, I think that when there is the inevitable face-to-face that Homicide needs to begrudgingly save Cornette from an interrupting third party, and that could spark a new feud for Homicide that doesn’t need to be about political power games and “anti-authority figure” versus GM.
Anyway, this is a short match but packed with hellacious violence. In a way it’s like being back in 2006 again with the several Homicide versus Butcher hardcore matches from that era. They work very well against each other in that weapon-filled style of match. Before the bout gets underway Nana, Osiris and Butcher create a playground of violence that includes plenty of chairs, tables and even a ladder. It seems to be that time of year in all three wrestling promotions (WWE running their own TLC Pay Per View and TNA booking Machine Guns versus Generation Me in a “Full Metal Mayhem” a.k.a. TLC match). Needless to say, by the end of the bout both men have thrown chairs at each other (several thrown to the head but never with high velocity or full “home-run swings”), Homicide has dropped the ladder onto Butcher, suplexes Butcher through the table propped on the turnbuckle and has bloodied him up badly. There’s also several metal barricade signs thrown at Butcher…hmmm, what else…oh yeah Homicide DROPS THE COP KILLAH ON ERNESTO OSIRIS! It was pretty bad ass and the fans went crazy for it. A great touch is that Osiris NEVER gets up again for the rest of the match—in fact, he’s still unconscious at the closing bell.
Necro Butcher uses the distraction to throw a chair into his ribs and getting the sideslam on the propped up chairs. He powerbombs Homicide NECK FIRST directly onto a pile of chairs in an “OH GEEZ” moment for a verrrrry close two. Nana and Necro are not happy about that one. Necro sets up more chairs and goes to the far corner, but Homicide kicks him in the head like crazy to get free, then lands an Ace Crusher with Necro hitting those chairs throat first. A second Ace Crusher gets the win and sends Necro back to his wife and kids.
That was a great hardcore style match—and very much Homicide’s kind of bout. This man can work magic with weapons and such. Just…get him a different theme song. The LAX music references the year 2005 for goodness sake.
Next week its Cabana versus Edwards for the TV Title and Erick Stevens is back from filming “Dodgeball 2: More Dodgeball” for one more match.
Head on over to TwitterNation and follow me at: http://twitter.com/AriBerenstein. I provide up-to-date links to my columns, major and breaking ROH news, random comments about WWE Raw and Smackdown and whatever else strikes my fancy.
Everyone NEEDS to check out RBR: Weekly Wrestling Talk at fanoff.com. The fine folks at RBRBR often source us here at 411Mania, so do be sure to listen to their often wickedly funny, no-holds-or-language barred weekly wrestling radio show and podcast at the above link. True story: when I guest hosted their show, I often had to mute my own mic to contain my laughter. Of course, “under seventeen not admitted without parent”.
Brad Garoon is trying to galvanize support for Dragon Gate in Japan to bring their Infinity television show to America, whether it be through online pay stream / download or compilation DVDs or whatever. If you wish to sign his petition, go here and bask in tha POWAH!
Elsewhere:
Michael Ornelas reviews the newest episode of ROH on HDNet, with Homicide versus Necro Butcher and his dragon rating system, of which I approve.
“Mr. Controversy” Aaron Hubbard covers the right, wrongs and ridiculous of last week’s episode of ROH on HDNet in this week’s Wrestling 4R’s. Hubbard also brought to bear a FINE, FINE list, the Top Ten Daniel Bryan Moments in WWE in his newest episode of The Contentious Ten.
A belated Thanksgiving Triple Threat between Ornelas, Ryan Byers and Sam Berman headlined last week’s 411 Buy or Sell. Then you also have this week’s 411 Buy or Sell, with more Final Battle discussion.
Daniel Wilcox writes about Christmas presents he doesn’t want from WWE in his latest Thoughts From the Top Rope.
I’ll be back in TWO weeks with results of ROH’s show in Plymouth, a full preview of the Final Battle 2010 iPPV and more. Oh and less than four weeks until the Final Column 2010 year-end series! Till then, thanks for reading.
BROOKLYN!
–Ari–
