Column of Honor: 02.12.11: The Prodigy Taught Justin Bieber How to Sing

Posted by Ari Berenstein on 02.12.2011

Opinions on Joe vs. Punk 2, the worst wrestler to appear in Ring of Honor, El Generico as ROH World Champion, Michael Elgin and other topics, plus reviews and thoughts on three episodes of HDNet. Also, Chris Hero moonsaults in slow-motion…BELIEVE IT!


Welcome to the Column. I had plans to run a countdown list this week, but, well, plans are made to be double stomped from off the top rope. Therefore, I must apologize that there is no feature story for the week. However, I reached down, waaaay down…into my pants (now wait a minute, don't go there), pulled out a quarter and flipped a coin as to what supplementary feature I would bring back: using ROH message board questions and providing my opinions, or pretending to be Chris Hero and mocking myself for paragraphs on end. Then I remembered what kind of trouble I got into when I was writing those "Hero Sandwich" satires…and put the quarter back in my pants. So yes, message board questions, plus a little ROH news (and I mean verrrrrry little, it was a slow week) and reviews / recaps of Ring of Honor on HDNet episodes are ahead just after the jump.

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As of 02/12/11


=ROH World Champion=
Roderick Strong

Champion since 09/11/2010 | 4 successful defenses
Glory By Honor IX defeated Tyler Black in New York, NY to win the championship.
Next Defense vs. Homicide in Chicago Ridge, IL on 02/26/11.


-Roderick Strong defeated Christopher Daniels in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada on 11/13/10.
-Roderick Strong defeated Davey Richards in New York, NY on 12/18/10.
- Roderick Strong defeated Jay Briscoe in Charlotte, NC on 01/15/11.
- Roderick Strong defeated El Generico in Los Angeles, CA on 01/28/11.


=ROH World Tag Team Champions=
The Kings of Wrestling: Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli
Champions since 04/03/2010 | 8 successful defenses
The Big Bang defeated Jay & Mark Briscoe in Charlotte, NC to win the championship.
Next Defense vs. The All-Night Express (Kenny King & Rhett Titus) in Chicago, IL on 02/26/11.


--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
--Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli defeated The American Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) in Plymouth, MA on 12/17/10



=ROH Television Champion=
Christopher Daniels

Champion since 12/10/2010 | 3 successful defenses
ROH on HDNet defeated Eddie Edwards in Louisville, KY to win the championship.
Next Defense Two-out-of-Three-Falls vs. Eddie Edwards in Chicago Ridge, IL on 02/26/11.

--Christopher Daniels defeated Claudio Castagnoli in Charlotte, NC on 01/15/11.
--Christopher Daniels defeated Devon Storm in Philadelphia, PA on 01/21/11.
--Christopher Daniels defeated Claudio Castagnoli in Los Angeles, CA on 01/28/11.




This is just a solid and inoffensive minute-long babyface promo to explain Cole's absence as he travels to England while also giving him goals to work on when he returns to ROH next month.

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-ROH Television Champion "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels versus Eddie Edwards for the title in a Two-out-of-Three-Falls match with a thirty-minute time limit has been made official for the 2/26 9th Anniversary Show internet Pay Per View, stemming from this past week's episode of ROH on HDNet.

- All current champions have been signed for the March 18th and 19th double shot in Plymouth, VA and New York, NY (which has been given the name Manhattan Mayhem IV). At this point, that means ROH World Champion Roderick Strong, ROH World TV Champion Christopher Daniels, and ROH World Tag Champions The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli) with Shane Hagadorn & Sara Del Rey. In addition, ROH has announced their will be World Title defenses on the 3/19 show and the 4/1 iPPV in Atlanta, Georgia during Wrestlemania 27 weekend, with challengers to be announced.

-El Generico vs. Homicide has been made official for the 2/25 Dayton, Ohio show just one night before Homicide challenges Roderick Strong for the World Title in Chicago Ridge. I have to say that I am way more psyched for the former match than the latter—it's just in my head that Generico / ‘Cide may have some really great chemistry, more so than ‘Cide and Strong. Obviously there is a lot more to live up to with that match being a title bout and likely in the main event slot of that iPPV, while the Generico match doesn't have that kind of pressure.

-Check out this awesome music video from Born Ruffians, starring none other than Chris Hero. The song is "The Ballad of Moose Bruce". It's a concept video, consisting entirely of slow-motion of Chris Hero hitting the "Where's Waldo?" / "Whack-A-Mole" Boot-to-KO elbow and a moonsault. It's very beautiful in its simplicity…and a decent song to boot(-to-KO elbow)…




-Apparently, Brutal Bob Evans is black. Black what? Heart? Mind? Lung? (wouldn't surprise me given all the cigar smoking)—This is news to me and I am very confused about it.


=Just When You Have All The Answers…=

Something I'll do from time to time in the column (i.e. when I blank out on a feature story for the column that week)--take some of the questions up for discussion on the ROH forum and provide you with my own take on them. These questions were available on the first page of the ROH board on Friday, February 10th, 2011:


1. So, uh is Sugarfoot ever coming back?

I'd wager that Alex "Sugarfoot" Payne will eventually be back in ROH at some point. He has already been back in the USA after his learning trip to Japan. He appeared on the Pro Wrestling Respect show teaming with Shane Hagadorn as a team known as "The Hellions" (great name, by the way). Payne wasn't all that popular with the fans in ROH, even in his small role as undercard job guy / student squad. Nice guy though, and dedicated—he always worked hard in helping to set up the shows here in NYC. His in-ring skills were okay and supposedly the trip to Japan has helped him with that—but still, I'd be wary. It would be interesting to see what he could do with a heel role in ROH, but him as a white-meat babyface is not going to cut it.


2. Sell me on Michael Elgin.

Elgin has drawn comparisons to several wrestlers—he has a body frame like Rhyno, and a face like Hugh Morrus or Shane Douglas (depending on who you ask). Now, what does he bring to the table besides an uncanny likeness of being? Elgin has wrestled in the Mid-West for several years, but is still young and definitely has the potential to become a fine "heavy", i.e. a bruiser for a stable, or a bodyguard. Just by judging from his few appearances on recent ROH shows, his timing and natural presence in the ring is impressive and he has a great trademark move already with his combination Samoa Drop / Blockbuster Suplex. Elgin apparently had an impressive run during the 2011 Top Prospect Tournament that will air on HDNet in the next few months and so that speaks well of his place on the roster. So, sold already? I do believe he is one of the better roster additions of the past few months.


3. El Generico as World Champ, Yes or No?

Yes, one-hundred times yes. As I explained in my recent article for The Wrestling Press, El Generico has become so popular and so believable as a babyface presence on the Ring of Honor roster this past year that now an ROH World Title win is absolutely credible. Generico has shown babyface fire, has delivered huge passion and emotion out of the ROH fan base and has demonstrated toughness in the ring that gives huge precedence for fans to suspend their disbelief in him taking the blows and making the coming back from that kind of damage. As far as promos go, ROH has shown in the past (and in the present) that they will give the title to wrestlers who excel at wrestling but whose greatest strengths are not necessarily promos. Generico has gotten over so much on body language alone that he could still be champion and have villains like Chris Hero or Claudio Castagnoli or Kenny King do the heavy lifting of the talking up the matches for him. Generico is a one-of-a-kind character and I do believe it would be very easy for him to have a successful run as champion.


4. Rate it: Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk (Joe vs. Punk 2)

Five stars. Joe vs. Punk 2 is one of the greatest ROH matches of all-time and don't put up with anyone saying otherwise just because it might be the "contrarian" thing to do. Joe and Punk went out there and wrestled for an hour and put on a clinic, not just of grappling, but of conflict and tension. They rose to the occasion and the fans followed suit by being swallowed up in Punk's quest to win the title in his own hometown, coming so close and yet having the clock run out on him. It isn't the first match I'd show to someone to whom I would want to introduce ROH (just because an average fan probably doesn't have the time to watch an hour-long match and maybe not the patience either for a "first match"), but it's absolutely required-viewing for hardcore ROH fans. This was a seminal piece of ROH history to be sure, in part responsible for Joe and Punk going as far as they did in their careers.


5. Worst Wrestler to Ever Appear in ROH?

Believe it or not there are a whole bunch of candidates…from obscurities like E-Lax, Iceberg, Insane Clown Posse, Biohazard (DING DING DING!), Rockin Rebel and Grim Reefer to more well known commodities like Konnan, Jeff Hardy (both of whom bombed their matches) and more recently Shawn Daivari (who was more boring than awful) and Zach Gowen (yes, his wrestling with one leg is somewhat miraculously impressive, but he's just not that good even with only one leg). You know, any one of them could be right answer to this somewhat subjective question. For me, the worst wrestler to work for ROH is none other than the infamous Dragon Soldier B, a.k.a. Kendo Kashin. New-Japan Pro Wrestling changed the entire booking of the Best of the AMERICAN Super Juniors Tournament (where the winner was to gain a spot on NJPW's Best of Super-Juniors tournament that took place in Japan) for the worse because of Kashin's involvement. His work was so lazy and apathetic during his matches that even recalling them now makes me want to fall asleep. He blew spots, he was awkward with American talent, and he no-sold big finish moves from his opponents on the way to winning the tournament. So yes, someone from Japan actually won a best of AMERICAN tournament. Then NJPW never actually used him for the main tournament. WORST. APPEARANCE. EVER.

That said, credit should also be given to those who started out on pretty awful notes and made something of themselves. Cloudy started out as a very green member of Special K, spot-fest central, even. He stayed with it and improved, teaming up with Cheech (who also came a long way) and forming the fun undercard team known as Up in Smoke. Nigel McGuinness improved over the years and so did the likes of Tank Tolland, Jack Evans and Bobby Dempsey.


6. Official Favorite ROH Quote?

Take your pick. You could go with CM Punk's "This is real, this is true, this is Straight Edge!" Or alternatively his Old Man and the Snake comment. Or his "Were you expecting somebody else?" when he dressed up as Christopher Daniels. Hell, you could do a whole countdown of Punk's best quotes in ROH. How about The Briscoes simple but effective "Man Up!" Kevin Steen's recent line about learning how to dance just to dance on Cabana's grave? Samoa Joe's MySpace comment to Claudio Castagnoli (horribly outdated, but just upgrade it to Facebook and you'll be fine) would fit the bill. Jay Lethal's "Tonight is the Night I've Been Waiting For!"? Well, maybe not that one. There are many gems of lines that helped to get over wrestlers and programs in ROH throughout the years, too many to list here.

Two of my personal favorites, but I reserve the right to change them as the wind blows: "I think I won the title and I'm left with my F**king D*ck in my hands!" -James Gibson at Stalemate; "John Walters looks like he has scurvy, someone feed him some fruit and vegetables"-CM Punk on commentary (I'm thinking this was at Testing the Limit though I could be wrong).


7. What does everybody think of Julius Smokes?

Well, I'm not sure what everybody thinks of Julius Smokes (a.k.a. J-Train) but I think he's a blast. He's hysterical in his role as hype man, always entertaining in his interactions with the crowds. Yes, sometimes all that running and talking backfires on a match, but generally it leads to some very awesome moments.



=ROH on HDNet Thoughts-


Episode 90: January 10th, 2011

The Prodigy promo to start the show reminds us that yes, The Prodigy is The Prodigy. O Verily, he is the messiah of this promotion. How great and wise is he. He can heal the blind and turn water into wine. He taught the birds and Justin Bieber how to sing with heavenly voice. On and on and on. He debuts on this episode of the show. I can hardly wait.

I hope my biting sarcasm isn't destroying your computer's RAMsockets.

Also, I just looked to spell check "Bieber" by using the Google toolbar search engine and began with "Beib…" and EVERY suggestion that came up was an auto-correct to something Bieber related. That means Biebs is so all-powerful he can defy the laws of SPELLING! That is some scary stuff. No one man should have all that POW-UHHH.

We're still in Louisville, Kentucky by the way.

Oh wait, looks like I won't have to hardly wait any longer. It's ALL HAIL The Prodigy versus Nick Dinsmore to start the show. Nick is no longer Eugene, but rather looks like an old, thick bodied AWA jobber from the half-empty Showboat Casino days. Where's Greg Gagne? At least he gets a nice reception from the local fans.

Of course, Bennett wins in his debut match, but Dinsmore has a lot more offense than one might have thought at the beginning of this one. Prazak lies through his teeth by claiming Bennett controlled most of the contest. Bennett was good on the fundamentals and having a veteran hand like Dinsmore helped the overall flow of the match. I also liked the snap of his spinebuster that finisher the match. However, here's the problem with this gimmick: both him and Bob Evans are too over-the-top with their characterizations and body language. They're chewing up the scenery. Though one would think that it is usually a positive to be so hyperbole in the world of professional wrestling, in a more serious promotion like ROH that sort of overacting comes across as cartoony and unrealistic—which has always been the anathema of Ring of Honor's fan base. Yes, Delirious and Generico have succeeded by playing against the ROH standard, but "The Prodigy" is supposed to be treated seriously. I'd like to see them both tone down the act a bit and go with a more natural heel characterization. Think more like a BJ Penn or Anderson Silva and his coaching staff in terms of the composure, self-confidence that borders on arrogance and verbiage that would be effective for someone who is a Prodigy.

Hogewood and Prazak throw to a recap of Generico vs. Steen from Final Battle 2010 and Steen's loss. The highlights are as vicious and deadly as they were when I saw them live and in-person. That's followed up by a recap of The Briscoe Family vs. Kings of Wrestling & Shane Hagadorn match from the iPPV.

That gets us to Jim Cornette in the ring, who introduces The Kings of Wrestling. Cornette announces their next challengers as The All-Night Express, who come on down and a fun and effective verbal tiff between the two teams ensues, but no physicality. The Kings believe the All-Nights aren't ready and try to dissuade them from taking the shot, but ANX say they're coming for the belts and they won't be able to duck them for much longer. It's Serious Titus tonight and again, Serious Titus is the Better Titus, which makes his back-and-forth between this version and the full-out Addicted to Love persona all the more frustrating. Hero says the ANX may be "All-Night" but the KOW is "All Night, All Day, All Week, All Month, All Year." Cornette improperly hypes up this match by saying The Kings have never fought the ANX for the titles before, but they were involved in Tag Wars 2010 and that finale was in essence a title match, even though ANX never made it to the final fall.

Cole & O'Reilly personality promo leading to a tag match (still with the generic music) vs. Mike Posey and Corey Hollis. A great example of a squash match here, with O'Reilly and Cole looking sharp throughout. Highlight is the double dive sequence that precedes the finish. The O RLY, YES RLY consecutive lungblowers lead to the win.

Recap of Homicide vs. Claudio Castagnoli from the last episode, then words from Christopher Daniels for his match against Chris Hero on the next episode, winner to receive a TV Title shot. I think I know how that one goes. Daniels is psyched up for the New Year and becoming the TV champion. Daniels brings up that he defeated Eddie Edwards before (back at Supercard of Honor V in May 2010) and says it will be the same with the title on the line.

Main event of the episode is a non-title match between ROH World Champion Roderick Strong against Colt Cabana. Cabana steals the card Truth Martini gives to Bobby Cruise for his self-aggrandizing introductions and instead comes up with many alliterative derogatory adjectives in place of them all, winding it all up by calling him "'Disco' Truth Martini." That explains the glasses, finally.

What follows is a very fun and well-wrestled bout. It starts out with some fluid chain wrestling to start and then heads into a more strike-based match where the psychology is that Strong's repeated shots to head (jumping enziguiris and repeated forearm volleys) leave Colt woozy and prey to some of Strong's higher-end offense. The echo and volume of the crisp kicks and knee strikes (due to the smaller building) help to add to the overall impression of the attack, and Colt's selling of being wobbly and woozy is on-point here. He has a very nice comeback with the boom-boom jabs, some pinfall combinations, but the Billy Goat's Curse is kicked off before it can be locked in and when Colt tries the Flying A**hole he is met with a short forearm smash to the head.

Colt gets one last gasp with the second rope stomach breaker across the turnbuckle, but that only gets two. Strong keeps up the pressure with the enziguiri attacks, finishing with a superkick to the head that Colt tries to brush away, but is met headlong with the Sick Kick for the three. Good stuff. One last item of note is the fans chanting "C-O-L-T Colt! Colt! Colt!" That's an innovative chant and I'd love to see all the other cities pick that up and add that as an active cheer for Cabana. Just not "We Want Boom-Boom!" That's just too much of a double-entendre!


Episode 91: January 17th, 2011

Episode begins with the recap of the KOW-ANX Title match announcement.

The Briscoes versus The Elite of Ted McNaylor and Adam Revolver is the first match of the episode…and I expect some ass-whuppings to be dealt during this one. Actually, no, I'd be wrong, as with last week's Dinsmore-Bennett match the OVW wrestlers actually do get in offense on the ROH roster members before ultimately coming up on the losing end. The Elite even work in some double team moves and the like. The Briscoes are on-point with their trademark combinations though, popping the crowd with the velocity and impact on their opponents. There's a tease of some knee issues from Jay but it's never really capitalized on by McNaylor or Revolver. Then Jay gets the leaping tag to Mark, who is in with Redneck Fu and its all downhill from there for The Elite. DVD / Frog Elbow on Revolver manages for a two-count before McNaylor breaks it up. He gets chucked out by Mark and then it's the Doomsday Device for three.

A nicely crafted recap package of some of the Jim Cornette vs. Homicide feud from 2006 is shown with Cornette is full-blown heel mode and directing both Steve Corino and The Briscoes to take-out Homicide. Good use of past footage to get the point across and that leads to the tease of a confrontation (of words at least) between ‘Cide and Cornette for next week's show to hash out all the bad-blood from years gone by.

Daizee Haze versus MsChif in a Women of Honor match: This probably will wind up being the best women's match to air on HDNet. Both had their working shoes on and came up with some fantastic switches, reversals and dodges. MsChif puts Daizee's back through a world of hurt by stomping on it repeatedly, including the corner jumping stomp sequence. Hogewood with an AWESOME line here about how Daizee Haze is going to have some Hazy Days after being in the ring with MsChif. SLAP THE CATCHPRHASE! Indeed. Haze comes back with some fantastic athleticism; roll up combinations for some close calls. Just lots of great chain wrestling and reversals towards the end, including body spacing transitions out of the Inverted DDT position, Haze stopping MsChif's top rope Angle Slam move and also evading the Desecrator. Unfortunately, MsChif elbows out of proximity of the Hart Punch and just spikes Daizee with the Desecrator (Haze doing the RVD head-first sell) for the three-count.

Haze is disappointed in the loss but wants to shake MsChif's hand at the end of the match. MsChif just walks away (she also didn't shake hands at the beginning of the match). Haze rolls out of the ring to confront her, but as she turns MsChif around she's blasted by GREEN MIST TO THE FACE! Haze is rolling on the floor in pain and MsChif lets out her bellow scream as referees rush to Haze's aid. Hell of a nifty little angle there that puts heat on MsChif (even though she had her share of fans during the match). It even gets a replay coming back from break. Hogewood is FILLED WITH RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION. Prazak looks concerned, agitated, aghast and maybe even suffering from indigestion.

Cornette introduces Haas and Benjamin to the ring. Haas shows some good enthusiasm as he is back in Louisville. They talk up Ring of Honor and their commitment to the promotion and then winning the ROH World Tag Team Titles. Haas knows having the "Wrestling's Greatest" label makes them a target but they'll prove their worthy of the moniker. This leads to a face-off in the ring with The Briscoes, who uphold their standing in ROH, proving that they're best in the promotion. That sets up the dream match between the two teams at 9th Anniversary Show.

Davey Richards package recapping his road to Final Battle 2010 and the match / post-match concussion situation.

Main-event of the episode is "The Battle of The Chrises" with Christopher Daniels vs. Chris Hero, winner fighting Edward Edwards for the TV Title. Loser changes their name to Garrison, or failing that, Gregory. Like in Highlander, there can be only one. Interestingly, Code of Honor is followed by both men to start the match.

Daniels starts out with some speedy arm drags, then begins to use some smart psychology in working the arm, including planting a perfect springboard leg drop onto the arm. Hagadorn and Del Rey provide for the distraction though, allowing Hero to hit a running dropkick to the outside and flattening Daniels. Advantage goes to Hero for the next few minutes as he aggressively focuses on the head and neck. Sinclair tries to lay down the law to Hagadorn and Del Rey. Daniels maneuvers into a fast snap German Suplex with bridge for a close two-count. That looked great.

The back-stretch of the match is all about the strike battle, both head-to-head but also when one or the other is at a disadvantage. Case in point, Hero and Daniels fight on the outside and Hero leaps on the guardrail and come down with forearm smash. The count-out tease works well and Hero times a flash kick juuuuust as Daniels breaks the count and rolls back in the ring. He IMMEDIATELY goes for the pinfall but Daniels kicks out. Hero's frustrated yell is very entertaining. Hero charges but misses Daniels, who heads to the top, clasps Hero's hands and comes down with a DOUBLE STOMP. NICE.

Daniels makes a full-bore comeback with a rallying sequence of moves, getting close near-falls on an STO and later the Arabian moonsault. Hero roars back with a cyclone Bicycle Kick with looked DEVASTATING. Hit it flush to the jaw and everything. Running Liger Bomb but Daniels pops out at two-point-nine. Hero gets Daniels up in the fireman's carry, but Daniels elbows and maneuvers into a STANDING KOJI CLUTCH. WOW. You gotta be kidding me! There has been some awesome innovation from both men. It's enough to bring Hero down to one knee, then down to the mat. It looks like it could have been a pinning situation for Hero with Daniels on his back, but his shoulder's weren't flat to the surface. Hero is finally able to roll over and touch the ropes with his feet to break.

Angel's Wings attempt is blocked, pushed down and rolled through; Hero runs the ropes and gets a KO elbow to the BACK OF THE HEAD for a verrry close near-fall. Daniels gets the Blue Thunder Bomb but Hagadorn jumps on the ropes to distract Sinclair before he can even try to count Hero's shoulders down. Daniels pulls Sinclair slowly away from Hagadorn, then just turns and SMACKS HAGADORN UPSIDE HIS HEAD! Very well timed there. Palm strike volley, but Hagadorn trips Daniels and Hero with a roaring elbow! 2.9999! Daniels and Hero go at it again, then Hero with the "Where's Waldo?" WHACK-A-MOLE boot-to-elbow smash for two! Now Del Rey is up to distract and Hagadorn slides the elbow pad to Hero but before he can use it, Daniels gets the backslide to throw Hero off. He ducks the roaring elbow and gets the Uranage and a beautiful BME for the three-count! Love Daniels' enthusiastic celebration of the win.

What a very cool match. They kept it exciting with lots of new stuff used by both men. They were toeing the line of going overboard on near-falls, but ended it well. The result is one of the first must-watch matches of ROH on HDNet for 2011. Hopefully they'll package this one on a future Best Of release.


Episode 92: January 24th, 2011

Replay of the Cornette vs. Homicide 2006 feud video package. Mike Hogewood is positively giddy at the prospects of Cornette and Homicide in the same ring…Prazak calls ‘Cide one of the more dangerous men on the roster and Hog had a smile a mile wide. Really didn't know he felt that way about Cornette.

More from Cole & O'Reilly, discussing their prowess as a tag team and their thoughts on the other tag teams in the division, specifically respect for Haas & Benjamin and The Kings of Wrestling. Then it's a look at The Bravado Bandwagon, with the infamous promo of their being Grandma's Boys and delusional about their chances of success.

That leads us into Cole & O'Reilly vs. The Bravados in the ring. Cole & O'Reilly no longer have the generic jobber music—YAY! Of course, wouldn't you know it, this is the first match they lose on HDNet, as Bravado Uno (a.k.a. Harlem) trips up Cole from underneath the ropes while Bravado Dos (a.k.a. Lance) uses a roll-up for what was termed as an "upset win" by Prazak. Although, really this was a match of two teams basically on the same level on the ROH roster (although O'Reilly and Cole have become more over and appreciated by the fans in a faster span of time than the Bravados). Each of them is hoping to make the right moves to elevate themselves on the roster and they are helping each other to do. This is a case of a series of matches between undercard teams actually getting both teams over in the process.

Cole and O'Reilly's double teams are sizzling by this point-the fans love the rapid fire combinations, not to mention how devastating the moves look, like when they pick up Harlem by his legs and kick him in the head while upside down, then drop him down so that he is right side up and again blast him with synchronized kicks to the head. O'Reilly also gets major crowd reaction with his flying dropkick (with each leg landing on one of The Bravados), his rolling Butterfly Suplex series, and the Cole superkick to O'Reilly roaring closeline. There was also a moment earlier on that I personally enjoyed, as one of the Bravados tried to do the Marufuji rope run only to turn right into a vicious O'Reilly kick to the face. Love it.

Meanwhile, The Bravados succeeded here in doing the little things in the ring that give their character a heel leaning as well as their rooting each other on and trying to get the fans to cheer for them (which only results in them being booed). They were solid in the ring and are slowly but surely building up a repertoire of tag moves that will help them to get over and be remembered after the match. They may be too lanky and skinny to be taken seriously as ass-kickers, but the more they get comfortable in this Southern Gentlemen persona the better their chances will be to have some serious heat with the fans. It is easy to perceive the fans want to hate these guys badly and it's because of what they're doing right with the gimmick.

Replay of the Haze-MsChif angle, and we get a new promo from ‘Chif, filmed in a nifty green tint (good cinema-graphic choice). She's not here to shake hands or be nice. She promises she's here to dominate. She took out Haze and Del Rey is next. She lets out her trademark primal scream. Welp, I'm convinced.

Cornette is in the ring and is ready to have it out with Homicide about their beef. Cornette says he wants to put their past history aside. He wants to put business before personal issues, but Homicide isn't really receptive to that. He says he has one goal and that is to win the ROH World Title. Cornette starts walking gently here. He says Homicide has been undefeated in the three months since returning to the promotion and that he deserves and will get a shot at the title, at 9th Anniversary Show. Homicide nods his head repeatedly at the announcement and likes the decision. However, it's not enough and Homicide tries to stir Cornette's feelings again, saying he wants to act like the good guy but he's the bad guy in the situation. Well, that's a bit of an ungrateful response to being given a title shot. It's not like Cornette handcuffed him to a cage and whipped him this time around. Homicide goes all Jimmy Snuka in that he says…well; I really can't tell what he's saying. Something about being dressed to wrestle and wanting to make an example of someone in the locker room and he wants a Diet Snapple. Maybe not that last one.

Oh, I see. This leads to Homicide vs. Oryan Bishop in a squash match. Gotcha. Bishop makes Husky Harris look like Skinny Jeans Harris. The far smaller Homicide dominates him though in the brawling, though Bishop does use his size here and there to get some offense. He misses a corner Vader Bomb and then after a position exchange or two ‘Cide blasts him with the Ace Crusher for three. Uh-oh, Bishop pushed off juuuust after three and is back standing up within seconds of the end of the match—throw the flag down for POOR JOBBING FORM.

Recap package for Haas & Benjamin and the one for King & Titus leading to the main event of this episode of Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team versus The All-Night Express. Well, I'll say this much, ROH is trying to make ANX into a big deal. We'll see if it takes with the fans in 2011.

Promo for Daniels to hype up next week's main event title match between him and Eddie Edwards. Then some final words from Edwards (included in last week's column), who is interrupted by Mike Bennett for lame jive talk. He must never use the word "Wabbits" again.

Okay, now to the main event. It takes a looong time for them to get out of first gear, with the only real highlight of the first half of the match being the ability to see Kenny King and Shelton Benjamin wrestling against each other in the same ring and the universe not imploding. Both King and Titus work Benjamin's arm an awful lot, but it's sold well enough. Benjamin gets the tailwhip spinning leg kick and the hot tag to Haas, who goes crazy with running elbows, a big boot and several overhead belly-to-belly suplexes. According to Mike Hogewood, Haas looks to apply "The House of Pain" (sigh…) but Haas does not jump around, jump around, jump up, jump and get down because the attempt is blocked. WGTT unscramble an ANX tag move and slip into simultaneous release German Suplexes for a nearfall. From out of nowhere The Kings of Wrestling are out and they ambush Kenny King and throw him into a cameraman. WGTT use the two-on-one advantage on Titus to quickly do their patented double team and into a Haas German Suplex with bridge for three. A decent match though ultimately disappointing for an HDNet main event. Also kind of weird to see the top contenders do the job, even with the interference by KOW to mitigate the situation.

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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.

411 Alumnus, former Cool Kids Table creator and perpetual Jewish badass Brad Garoon has begun a new project entitled The Grapefruit Chronicles. It's a series of animated YouTube videos with grapefruit protagonist-sounds sweet and sour and awesome. Go check it out and leave some comments while you're at it.

Dave Lagana has started a free audio podcast where he and former WWE Creative Team members chit-chat, discussing both their time working for The E and thoughts about the current state of the industry. Two episodes are up now at IWantWrestling.com.

Frequent Tweeter T.J. Hawke has a "Road to Wrestlemania" Blog covering the news in WWE, ROH and other independents all the way through, you guess it, Wrestlemania 27. It's at http://maniaweekend.blogspot.com/.

Pro Wrestling Ponderings has an AWESOME serious discussion about piracy and illegal downloading of wrestling shows. It's a must-listen at pwponderings.com.

If you haven't yet, be sure to visit The Wrestling Press online e-magazine and download issue number twelve FOR FREE I have written an article entitled "The World Chants ‘Ole!' for El Generico", describing the rise in popularity of none other than EL GENERICO (obviously).


If you are a fan of Prog Rock then you cannot live one minute of your life further without checking out my friends at Jolly and join their Facebook page here. Hell, even if you're not a fan of Prog Rock (like me), this is great music. Their second album "The Audio Guide to Happiness (Part 1)" is available for Pre-Order NOW through their store and will drop on March 8th. You can also get their first album, "46:12" through the website. This is the video for "The Pattern", their first single from the album. This is also a concept video like the one featuring Hero above, in this case there is one scene and one single camera-shot while the music plays:




This week's 411 Buy or Sell features Michael Ornelas and Steve Cook discussing serious issues of social concern in professional wrestling. Or something.

Michael Ornelas provides your weekly reviews of ROH on HDNet, with an eight-man tag main event.

Meanwhile Aaron Hubbard writes about the previous week's episode in the Wrestling 4R's.


Next week, a very cool ROH-related countdown list that I don't believe has been done anywhere else, reviews of more HDNet episodes and more! Thanks for reading.

BROOKLYN!
--Ari—