Zen Arcade Reviews: ROH Supercard of Honor VII

Wrestlemania weekend was hilariously filled with a boat load of technical snafus, including Gabe Sapolsky eating shit for people not being able to see a good bit of his subpar EVOLVE iPPV and WWE of all promotions not being able to keep their Wrestlemania stream up. It seemed as if ROH would ironically be the promotion with no problems, but it didn’t escape them one bit. In fact, the feed cut out DURING THE MAIN EVENT and the viewers at home missed the finish. I have no problem with it considering I don’t watch ROH iPPV’s live, but people were in an uproar about it. It’s a pretty shitty thing to happen, but fans at least got to see 9/10 of the show….just not the 1/10 that had major news written all over it.

We are LIVE from the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan, NY for the first iPPV after the impactful SCUM angle hit the 11th Anniversary, and boy is the place PACKED.

Your hosts are Kevin Kelly and Caleb Seltzer.

QT Marshall & RD Evans vs. Tadarius Thomas & ACH
Goddamn it, Swear it to the Sun is such a good song. Evans takes the mic and panders on about Marshall’s suprise partner. Evans namedrops Hiroshi Tanahashi to total apathy, hilariously teases Lacey Von Erich, brings up Emilio Estevez, but Evans just ends up being the partner, to the delight of some of the crowd and to the chagrin of Marshall. ACH and TD had an absolutely sensational match with The American Wolves on TV after the 11th Anniversary Show, so this should be a decent little opener.

ACH is over like rover here. Evans feigns a handshake into a headlock, but Thomas outspeeds him. Evans fakes a knee injury and tags Marshall in, and soon after ACH comes in. ACH uses his speed to overwhelm God’s Gift while the crowd comes alive for him. TD pulls off a phenomenal sequence with both Evans and Marshall and pins RD for a nearfall. Evans cheats to gain control of Thomas, who plays Ricky Morton for the time being. TD takes a swank looking rolling neckbreaker from Evans off of Marshall’s knees. ACH gets the hot tag and does it supremely well. He drops Evans with a big crossbody and transitions into a Cloverleaf Giant Swing into a regular Texas Cloverleaf, but Marshall breaks it up. ACH sends everyone out to the floor and DIVES ONTO MARSHALL WITH AIR JORDAN! This crowd comes UNGLUED until Evans stops TD from diving out. TD recovers and TAKES BOTH EVANS AND MARSHALL OUT WITH A SPACE FLYING TIGER DROP~! Evans hits the Wonder-Fall, but ACH kicks out! Evans goes up top while Marshall puts ACH in God’s Gift, but TD breaks it up. BIG BANG ATTACK FROM ACH! TD & ACH pick up the win in 10 minutes. *** Not much more you can ask from an opener, really. If there’s one thing I’ll commend ROH for, it’s how they’re pushing ACH. The guy is clearly going to be a top star and he gets to show his stuff with every match he’s in, and guess what? The crowd goes apeshit every single time. TD is progressing rapidly as a wrestler as well, and I hope this team goes a long way.

Kevin Kelly talks about Charlie Haas taking his ball and going home like a pussy, but in much better terms than that. Shelton Benjamin comes out and takes the mic and says that Charlie Haas isn’t at the show, and he doesn’t know why…KAYFABE!~! Benjamin gripes about not having a match, and he points out Cheeseburger at ringside and tells him to get in the ring. Shelton says he knows what has happened with Cheeseburger and says he earned Shelton’s respect for standing up to Charlie Haas. “I think Charlie Haas heard you were gonna be here, and that’s why he didn’t show up.” Mike Bennett, Maria, and Brutal Bob show up….and hello, Maria. Say it quietly, but I’ve kinda missed Bennett in ROH. New York in all their glory cheers him. “How typical of Ring of Honor fans; I take three months off and you love me. Please shut your mouth while the Prodigy is talking.” The fans chant ‘She Screwed Punk’, but it’s no-sold. Bennett says that he’s not on the card for the show because he’s the hottest prospect in all of entertainment. Bennett looks focuses on Cheeseburger, saying he looks like a Happy Meal. Cheeseburger takes the mic to a big pop from the crowd. This awesome little bastard calls Maria a CUM-BURPING GUTTER SLUT and gets knocked the fuck out for it. His dead-ass gets carried out and here we go!

Shelton Benjamin vs. Mike Bennett
Now that Charlie’s gone, I think I’d like to see what Benjamin could do in the ring without Haas dragging him down in tags. It was a no-contest character-wise, but I don’t think anyone would doubt that Shelton is infinitely better in the ring.

Shelton takes control outside of the ring and continues his onslaught in it with a double stomp for 2. Is it me or is Shelton…motivated? Bennett drops him with a big spinebuster and Maria feels him up, because Mike Bennett I guess. Shelton nails a flying forearm and a powerslam for a 2 count. Bennett counters Paydirt with the Box Office Smash for 2. Bennett hilariously mocks CM Punk with a knee and a GTS, but Benjamin counters it into a single leg crab! Maria distracts the ref enough for Brutal Bob to come in and drop Shelton with a shoulder block. Bennett capitalizes with a top rope leg drop and is MOLESTED BY BENNETT, but Shelton takes him down. Shelton backs up to Maria, who feels HIM up thinking its Bennett. Shelton–figuring it couldn’t hurt–obliges and feels Maria up. Caleb Seltzer makes me legit laugh out loud by YELLING THAT MARIA HAS JUNGLE FEVER. Okay, that was hilarious. Bennett sees all this commotion and looks to superkick Benjamin, but NAILS MARIA! That was tremendous. GERMAN SUPLEX BY SHELTON! Bennett comes back with a roll-up, holding the ropes for the three count in a tremendously fun 10 minutes. *** This was extremely entertaining because of the outside entities, so the wrestling wasn’t the best ever but man, what they did to make up for it salvaged it in spades. I hope this isn’t Shelton’s last ROH match, because if he can garner up the energy for matches like he did here, he’s certainly a welcome roster member in my book. Bennett gets better every time he steps into the ring, and his interactions with Maria make whatever he does a little more entertaining. Good stuff all around.

Number One Contender Match: Jay Lethal vs. Michael Elgin
Oh yeah, this is the good shit. Lethal had a MOTYC last month against Kevin Steen and is on a roll with his performances recently. Elgin is Elgin, pretty much.

Neither Elgin or Lethal budge in the opening shoulderblock festivities, and they trade pin attempts and holds for a pretty good opening exchange without the GENERIC INDY STANDOFF!~! Unfortunately, the idiotic “This is Wrestling” chant starts up. Lethal gets out of a pin and nails a dropkick for 2. Lethal catches himself going out of the ring and slingshots in, but Elgin catches him with a powerslam for a 1 count. Elgin gets Lethal up for 31 seconds and drops him down with the suplex for 2. Elgin puts in a Crossface, and of course a “Chris Benoit” chant starts because New York. Elgin no-sells two tope suicidas and gets on the apron, but Lethal dropkicks him down and hits a third one! Lethal hits a springboard dropkick and a Death Valley Driver. Lethal goes all Black Machismo to the delight of the crowd, but Elgin cuts him off which serves to piss them off. Lethal throws Elgin off, but Elgin fires right back by dropkicking him to the apron. DEADLIFT SUPERPLEX~! What a phenomenal camera angle for that, by the way. They meet in the middle to trade punches and Elgin nails a nice Black Hole Slam for a 2 count. Elgin goes up top but meets knees on a corkscrew senton in another great camera view. Back Suplex into a neckbreaker scores for 2! Elgin misses a Bicycle Kick and eats a Reverse STO! KOJI CLUTCH! Elgin catches the Lethal Injection and LETHAL COUNTERS THE CHAOS THEORY TWICE INTO A ROLL UP! SICK BACKFIST FROM ELGIN! BUCKLE BOMB…INTO A SUPERKICK FROM LETHAL! LARIAT TURNS LETHAL INSIDE OUT! Only a nearfall after that awesome sequence. BUCKLE BOMB INTO AN ELGIN BOMB…COUNTERED INTO A REVERSE RANA~! LETHAL INJECTION! ELGIN DOESN’T GIVE A FUCK!~! HAIL TO THE KING~! ELGIN GETS A SHOULDER UP! Holy God, that was breathtaking. Elgin COUNTERS A SUPERPLEX INTO A SUPER ELGIN BOMB! BACKFIST FROM HELL! BUCKLE BOMB INTO AN ELGIN BOMB! Michael Elgin earns another shot at the ROH Title in a killer 20 minutes. ****1/4 What an awesome, awesome match. Elgin keeps on proving how special of an in-ring talent he really is and this is his best match since the classic with Steen back in October. Lethal continued his streak of fantastic efforts by stealing the show with a man who should win the ROH World Title some time this year. This is one of the best matches of the entire Wrestlemania weekend, but I can’t say it’s all that surprising. I’d love to see another contest between these two. What a match.

SCUM wastes no time in coming in to attack Lethal and Elgin. Corino takes the mic and calls out everyone for their support of ROH. He tells Team ROH to come out.

Team ROH (BJ Whitmer, Mike Mondo, Mark Briscoe, Caprice Coleman, & Cedric Alexander) vs. SCUM (Jimmy Rave, Rhino, Cliff Compton, Rhett Titus, & Jimmy Jacobs)
Well I’m of the opinion that this feud has been handled very well and has avoided cliches so far, generally being electrified since it started. I’d imagine I’m in the minority though.

It is an absolute Pier Six brawl to begin. Caleb Seltzer takes Steve Corino to task on commentary in a pretty spectacular way, and Steve Corino calls him a retard. Everything is awesome when it involves Steve Corino. Rhino isolates Mike Mondo in the ring after order has been somewhat restored. Corino calls C&C the “black version of the Midnight Rockers”…that’s hilarious. Corino is absolutely thrashing Seltzer (who is actually 21 years old, believe it or not) on commentary. Cliff Compton drops Mondo with a lariat for 2. Mondo gets a tag to Whitmer, who attempts to clean house. C&C DIVE OUT WITH STEREO SOMERSAULT PLANCHAS! Mark Briscoe takes both Jimmy Jacobs and Rhino down with a missile dropkick and DIVES OUT WITH AN AWESOME SPRINGBOARD SOMERSAULT PLANCHA! Compton comes in and nails Caprice with a Michinoku Driver, but Cedric gets him out of the ring. Jimmy Jacobs disposes of Cedric, but here comes Rhino. Rhino takes out Mike Mondo, and we end up with Whitmer chopping Jimmy Rave like crazy in the corner. Rave dips but WHITMER FOLLOWS HIM OUT WITH A BIG TOPE SUICIDA! Steve Corino calmly gets off the commentary headset and tosses Caleb Seltzer into the barricade. He’s actually been pretty damn decent on commentary tonight, honestly. Corino hbeads in the ring and helps the rest of SCUM handcuff BJ Whitmer to the bottom rope. Mike Mondo tries to come in and clean out, but Compton throws powder in his eyes. Cedric disposes of Comtpon, but Jacobs punches him with a chain. Caprice meets Jimmy Rave in the ring and DROPS HIM ON HIS HEAD WITH A DOMINATOR INTO A PILEDRIVER! Rhino GORES Caprice for the pinfall in a wild 12 minutes. ***1/2 This was a very chaotic, yet always entertaining chapter in the SCUM vs. ROH storyline. They didn’t drag it on forever, but spaced out the more exciting spots in a very good way. It takes some talent to put together a sufficiently entertaining match with so many wrestlers, so kudos to all ten guys for this. This was a great match to send us into intermission, and I’m very curious as to where this angle goes. Things are looking up for a company that was in the doldrums for a good amount of last year.

Into intermission, we see a pretty cool video package chronicling all of Jay Briscoe’s ROH World Title matches, including a four-star cage match with Samoa Joe where he clots he bleeds so much. It’s a pretty iconic match in ROH history, but it doesn’t hold up well over time. Other matches include Nigel McGuinness, Takeshi Morishima, Jerry Lynn, and Roderick Strong.

Karl Anderson vs. Roderick Strong
Boy, was I excited when this match was announced. This is the good shit, ladies and gents.

Nigel is back on commentary, where he BELONGS. He can be matchmaker too, y’know. Anderson sort of takes control early and overwhelms Roddy. Roddy whiffs a leapfrog and nails a nice dropkick, but Anderson responds with a basement dropkick and goes to work on the knee. Action spills to the outside, where Roddy DROPS ANDERSON ON THE GUARDRAIL WITH A SUPLEX. Jesus. Predictably, Roddy goes after the Machine Gun’s midsection. Anderson gets out of a prone predicament in the corner, but eats an elbow after missing a big boot in the corner. It breaks down with some sweltering chops in the center of the ring, and Anderson buys himself some time with a nice spinebuster. Roddy DROPS Anderson with a stiff superkick, but Anderson stops him from capitalizing anymore. Action heads out to the apron, where Anderson DECKS RODDY WITH A BICYCLE KICK! Anderson hits a great diving neckbreaker and a sitout powerbomb for a 2 count. This is a damn good match so far. Roddy nails a Sick Kick out of nowhere, but Anderson kicks out. Double Knee Gutbuster leads into a second Sick Kick, but Anderson kicks out again! Anderson comes back with a Bicycle Kick and HITS AN ISLAND DRIVER! Roddy barely gets a shoulder up. Roddy hits a couple of elbows, but Anderson nails the Gun Stun for the victory in 13 minutes. ***1/2 It’s not as long or as good as I predicted it would be, but this is about as good as a 13 minute exhibition can be. They relied on stiff strikes and moves mostly and disregarded a story, but I didn’t expect psychological warfare. What we got was perfectly serviceable and I can’t wait to see Anderson face Elgin on ROH TV. ROH even announced that we can expect the Machine Gun back, so I’m pretty excited for whatever he does next.

ROH World TV Title: Matt Taven (c) vs. Adam Cole vs. Matt Hardy
Am I the only ROH fan that doesn’t have a problem with Matt Hardy being in the company? I mean, it’s not the best thing ever but it’s not like he’s the World Champion and killing off every young wrestler they have.

The crowd shows complete apathy for Matt Taven and Hoopla Hottie Scarlett Bordeaux, who I must say has a smoking ass on her. Sleazy Taven screams entertainment to me, but I’m easily pleased in wrestling I guess since NO ONE CARES. Steve Corino takes the mic and does an absolutely EPIC introduction of Matt Hardy. I love the way Steve Corino marks out over Matt Hardy…even on Twitter and interviews, he does it so obnoxiously that you can’t help but love it. He calls Hardy the Jesus Christ of Professional Wrestling.

Taven picks his spots in between the inevitable fighting between Cole and Hardy. Taven chuck kicks Cole off of the apron and DIVES OUT WITH AN UNDERTAKER PLANCHA! Outside the ring, Scarlett decides to straddle Nigel McGuinness in the announcer’s booth and strips down a bit. Oh Nigel, you son of a bitch. Obviously less important, Cole and Hardy fight it out in the ring. Scarlett gets off of Nigel, who fires off with “I’m glad I’m sitting down.” He better be back at the booth permanently. Cole puts in a Figure Four on Cole, but Taven breaks it up with a Frog Splash. Hardy looks a little slimmer than he has been. Maybe I’m just in a good mood. I don’t know. Steve Corino tries to provoke Nigel, but Nigel calms down before it gets ugly. We see a unique take on the Tower of Doom spot, with a Tree-of-Woe prone Cole GERMAN SUPLEXES TAVEN OFF THE TOP ROPE WHILE HARDY TAKES A SUPERPLEX! Matt Hardy is eliminated when Cole nails the low blow and small package! The crowd pops huge for it.

Cole wastes no time trying to go after Taven, but Corino tries to reason with the Panama City Playboy. That doesn’t work and next thing we know, Taven hits the Headlock Driver for the 3 count in 12 minutes. ** This outside interference isn’t going to help Taven’s cause in terms of getting over. Sorry, but he’s your TV Champ; he should be put over without any kind of stupid outside forces helping him out. I want the guy to succeed because I think he’s a really good wrestler, but this stuff isn’t going to work for him. Despite a couple of entertaining spots, this match was largely a non-entity in the grand scheme of things. Taven really needs a breakout match, though, because as I said this isn’t going to help him one bit.

ROH World Tag Team Titles: reDRagon (c) vs. The American Wolves
These four had a cracking match at Final Battle, and reDRagon has proven to be a really good tag team. The division needs to be built around them in every facet, and it looks like it’s going to happen that way from what I’ve observed so far.

I’ve kind of turned around on Kyle O’Reilly, because he’s really started developing some real heel charisma; he plays a really good douchebag. I’m still glad Fish is the mouthpiece though. Davey and O’Reilly start and guess what happens? GENERIC INDY STANDOFF!~! The Wolves gain control early and take turns with both Fish & O’Reilly. Eddie catches a couple of kicks from Kyle and simply bitch slaps him. Kyle gets an opportunity to get control himself, and takes it full boar. reDRagon isolates Davey for a few moments. Eddie finally gets the tag and attempts to clean house, and succeeds for the time being. Eddie hits Die Hard for a 2 count, but both Kelly & Nigel have forgotten that that’s his finisher…probably because he hasn’t used it to win a match since like 2011. Davey recovers enough and and the Wolves hit their stereo tope suicidas! Davey nails a diving headbutt for a good 2 count. Davey flies to the floor and FISH DROPS HIM WITH A SOMERSAULT PLANCHA! O’REILLY DROPKICKS EDDIE FROM THE APRON! Eddie takes a barrage of kicks in the ring for a close 2 count. Eddie tags in Davey, who hits a double missile dropkick and follows through by feeding both Kyle and Bobby kicks to the chest. Kyle comes back with a kick, but DAVEY COUNTERS WITH A ROUNDHOUSE INTO A GERMAN! Davey cradles Kyle tight, but O’Reilly kicks out and hits a double Dragon Screw. Davey reverses a Murderdeathkill Kick into an Ankle Lock! TRAILER HITCH! Fish tries to break it BUT DAVEY RICHARDS GIVES NO SHITS! HE TRIPS FISH INTO AN ANKLE LOCK~! Davey focuses on Kyle, who tries to counter a kick into a Regal Plex, but runs into an Alarm Clock! EDDIE ACCIDENTALLY SUPERKICKS DAVEY! Kyle fires off a big kick to the chest! KICKS FROM BOTH KYLE AND DAVEY! BIG DOUBLE STOMP FROM RICHARDS! Paul Turner provides a distraction by ejecting Eddie Edwards from the ring, and now Davey is at the mercy of reDRagon! Davey starts coming back! ALARM CLOCK FOR DAVEY! REGAL PLEX GETS 2! Fish tries to hoist Davey’s dead ass up, but Davey played possum as he throws Bobby out of the ring. He heads up to the top with O’Reilly, but Fish meets him up there too. EDDIE DROPS FISH WITH A HUGE SUPER RANA OFF THE SECOND ROPE! SUPERPLEX FROM DAVEY! CHASING THE DRAGON FROM THE WOLVES! NEARFALL! Holy shit, what a match. DOUBLE STOMP FROM DAVEY! KYLE KICKS OUT! REVERSE RANA ON EDDIE! Kyle O’Reilly rolls Davey up for the three count in 21 minutes. **** This match started off rather slowly, but man that finishing stretch was an absolute delight to watch unfold. All four played off of their initial encounter from December and it worked tremendously well, all the while keeping the usual batshit insanity you expect from two teams that have physical freaks of nature in them. I dug this match more than a lot of people did, but they kept it exciting throughout without killing the crowd with nearfalls like you usually see. That earned my high rating, although I think Elgin/Lethal edges it out just a touch. Regardless, this is another tremendous tag match from reDRagon & The Wolves.

ROH World Title: Kevin Steen (c) vs. Jay Briscoe
I don’t know why this match seems so big, but it does. Jay Briscoe has been an awesome spokesman for Ring of Honor and I’m so glad that he’s actually doing something this year instead of floundering with his brother like he was during the Cornette era.

This has big fight atmosphere written all over it, and it’s barely had a month’s build. It’s a slow start early, not breaking out in a Pier Six brawl like a lot of Steen matches do. Steen goes straight for Jay’s bad shoulder, but Jay doesn’t let him take over easily. They head out to the floor, where Briscoe backdrops Steen on the safety mats. Jay fights out of Steen’s attempts to go at the shoulder, so Steen spikes him with a DDT. Jay doesn’t get destroyed quite yet, however. Steen keeps going after that shoulder and finally succeeds in a sustained attack on it in the corner. Steen Russian legsweeps Jay on his own arm for a 2 count. Steen hits a sweet pumphandle shoulderbreaker on his knee and transitions right into a cross armbreaker. Jay comes back, and right on cue here comes Jimmy Jacobs! MARK BRISCOE SAVES! Jay drops Steen with a Death Valley Driver, but only gets two. Jay tries to get on the top rope, but Steen MANGLES his arm over the ropes and pops his neck back with a cannonball for a close 2 count. Action spills to the outside, where Jay takes a powerbomb on the apron! STEENTON BOMB EATS KNEES! NECKBREAKER FROM JAY! HERE COMES SCUM! VEDA TRIES TO STOP CLIFF COMPTON! HERE COME C&C! They get rid of Titus and Compton, and now Jay and Steen trade punches in the middle of the ring. Jay get out of the F-Cinq and a double lariat sends them both down! The ROH locker room is down at ringside, fucking CHIKARA STYLE! F-CINQ! The wrestling hasn’t been great, but they’re doing great with making this seem big. SUPERKICK FROM JAY~! SLEEPER SUPLEX FROM STEEN! PACKAGE PILEDRIVER! JAY KICKS OUT!~! FUCK YEAH! ROH FIGHTS SCUM OFF! MATT HARDY TRIES TO GET JAY BUT STEEN THROWS HIM OUT! JAY DRILLER!~! STEEN KICKS OUT!~! Nigel is flipping OUT! CROSSFACE FROM STEEN! GERMAN FROM JAY! LARIAT! JAY DRILLER!~! JAY WINS! JAY WINS THE ROH WORLD TITLE! HE DID IT! Jay dethrones Mr. Wrestling in 20 minutes, and here come the rest of the Briscoes to celebrate. What a moment. Jay takes the mic, but Steen interrupts him to shake his hand. Jay tells the sound guy to play Gimme Back My Bullets, and we fade out on that note. **** Not every main event match has be to be a five star classic. Not every title change has to be built for a year. This match is my prime example for that. So what if the wrestling wasn’t up to much until the last four minutes? Who’s going to remember the body of this match? What I’m going to remember is Nigel McGuiness’ emotion and how loud the crowd popped when Jay won the match. I’m going to remember the Briscoe family storming the ring because they’re proud Jay–ROH’s most loyal servant–finally won the big one. I am personally supremely proud of Jay and how much he’s done for ROH and the wrestling business as a whole. Thank you Jay for this moment, and thank you and Kevin Steen both for providing one of the best title changes I’ve witnessed in some time. The last four minutes of this match were probably the best I’ve seen all year for sheer drama and entertainment sake, but I’m rating this four stars because of how enthralled I was with the atmosphere, with the possibility of Jay winning the title, and how perfectly everything came off as a piece of wrestling art. And who would have thought the switch would actually happen? What a moment.

The 411: For consistency, Supercard of Honor beats the 11th Anniversary pretty cleanly to me. Everything had a defined purpose and besides that stinker of a TV Title triple threat, nothing here dipped below the three star line. Jay Lethal once again wrestled the MOTN, this time against Michael Elgin in a showstealer, while Jay Briscoe provided the best feel-good moment for ROH since perhaps the Davey Richards title win. Transition or not, I can't wait to see where it heads. ROH has been making strides (besides the technical snafu in the main event, mind you) since the end of 2012, and I am extremely excited to see where it goes next. I'm more excited about this company than I've been in three years. Get this show as soon as possible.

Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]