It’s more highlights from Showdown In The Sun. They showed off the Briscoes beating the World’s Greatest Tag Team, Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin. Benajmin & Haas attacked the Briscoes after the match so they had to be carried to the back. I’ve bitched about other companies giving away their pay per views. It’s even worse when you only show the pin fall.

Cedric Alexander & Caprice Coleman are in a Proving Ground match against the Briscoes. ROH has too many types of matches. Alexander get the upper hand on Mark early.  Coleman started to get worked over by both Briscoes. Alexander gets a luke warm tag. Alexander gets a two count from a face buster. Coleman got wheel barrowed into the barracade. Alexander kicked out after a combo ending with a Razor’s Edge. Haas & Benajmin low blowed Jay with no one seeing it. Mark takes the pin after a huracanrana & frog splash combo.

Veda Scott interviewed Prince Nana & Barrister Evans along with Truth Martini. Rhino had his contract purchased by Martini. Rhino is going to rip Eddie Edwards in half. Vinny Marseglia was the sacrificial lamb for a debuting Rhino. The best thing I can say about this match is that Rhino is in much better shape than just about any other ECW alumni. Everyone was cheering Rhino. Um, he’s never been a particularly good wrestler. Rhino wins with a Gore.

I think John Cena gets less mic time than Kevin Steen. I’d take his dick jokes over Steen droning on about a horrendous angle any day. Jimmy Jacobs is with him. Kevin Kelly & Jim Cornette were already in the ring. Steen makes a fat joke about Cornette. People in glass houses Mr. Steen, should not throw rocks. He did have a good crack about the flags and theme of Border Wars being so 1987. Davey Richards comes out drag down the quality of this segment even more. Steen claimed that Richards promised to help him but he didn’t. Steen steals the show every time. Richards says he’s holding himself down.  Steen says that Richards threatened to leave ROH multiple times. They were ready to fight but security separates them. Cornette wants them to sign a waiver since the pile driver will be legal for the match. Cornette slipped in a provision that this is Steen’s only shot at the title. The segment was OK when they were yelling at each other. Richards would only threaten to go to Japan because his mic skills aren’t even good enough for TNA.

Lance Storm is going to have a rematch with Mike Bennett at Border Wars. Storm is mad because Bennett attacked him after the match. Good stuff. Jay Lethal is taking on Tomasso Ciampa at BW. Ciampa cost Lethal the TV Title. Roderick Strong won it. Lethal said that he was going to be the new dominant male after BW. Ciampa is wondering what Lethal thought he’d do in Fort Lauderdale. I liked his delivery but saying Lethal will find out about Project Ciampa at BW was weird. I don’t remember him saying that in previous interviews for the past four months. Eddie Edwards made fun of Rhino for always screaming. One point for Diehard. He told Rhino to stop trying to be intimindating because he knows how bad ass he is. Edwards said he better kill him with the Gore or else he’ll know why he’s “Diehard”.

The group of ass hats that are ROH producers show highlight from the Lethal vs Strong match after the promos that just referred to it. I don’t care that Roderick Strong is wrestling Adam Cole in the main event. Good fast paced match in the first couple of minutes with the advantage see sawing. Strong takes over when Cole misses a splash. As Strong works over Cole they hype Michael Elgin vs Davey Richards. They go to commercial with Cole in a sleeper in a camel clutch position. Strong nails a back breaker but only gets a two count. Hey, ROH is finally coming to Columbus. Damn, I’ll have to go. ROH did something right. Elgin came down to ring side. Cole finally turned it around with a flying knee. He had some shots at taking over before it but Strong had stayed on top.  A double knee gut buster by Strong gets another two count. Cole gives Strong a brain buster into a knee but onyl got two. Awesome looking move. Cole tried a sling shot but got tossed into Elgin by Strong.  Cole suicide dove into Elgin. Cole got two after a cross body. Elgin distracted the referee. Truth Martini whacked Cole with the book. Strong won with the back breaker bomb (He tossed Cole in the air and he fell on Strong’s knees. That’s the best name I got. I ignore Kevin Kelly.)

Match 1: Jimmy Jacobs defeated El Generico

Match 2: Tommaso Ciampa defeated Cedric Alexander

Match 3: TJ Perkins defeated Fire Ant

Match 4: Kyle O’Reilly defeated Adam Cole

Match 5: Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson defeated Kenny King & Rhett Titus in a Street Fight

Match 6: Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe defeated Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin to retain the ROH World Tag Team Championship

Match 7: Kevin Steen defeated Eddie Edwards

Match 8: Roderick Strong defeated Jay Lethal to become the new ROH World Television Champion with the stipulation that if Lethal would have won Tommaso Ciampa would have returned the stolen championship belt and announced Lethal as both the winner and the new dominate male.

Match 9: Davey Richards defeated Michael Elgin to retain the ROH World Championship

They showed Adam Cole pinning Davey Richards. Richards shakes Cole & Eddie Edward’s hands. Kyle O’Reilly refuses to shake. Kevin Steen is going to be Davey Richards personal nightmare until he gets a match against him for the ROH Title. Adam Cole comes out for March Mayhem Eight Man Tournament. Cole had a backstage promo. He’s mad at O’Reilly for not respecting him. He’s going to make O’Reilly respect him. Chris Silvio is his opponent. I’m ready for a squash match. Oh my lord, Kevin Kelly compares Silvio to Jesse Ventura & “Superstar” Billy Graham. I just vomited on my lap top. Kyle O’Reilly does his best to make the announce booth sound even worse. Cole wins a Florida Key which is a criss cross dragon suplex. Not an impressive outing. O’Reilly stormed out of the booth for storyline reasons but it should have been because it was a poorly executed match. O’Reilly challenges Cole to a match at Showdown in the Sun. Cole accepts.

They recap Jimmy Jacobs vs Kevin Steen. Hilarious that Jacobs is rehabbing from being evil in ROH & being evil in PWO. Kelly gets to interview Kevin Steen. He is carrying a tennis racket that has Davey Richards on it. Steen talks about destiny. He’s just as boring as Alberto Del Rio. He will be ROH Champion despite Jim Cornette‘s attempts to kept him away from the title.  Cornette shows up. Cornette tells him that his opponent for Friday night for Showdown in the Sun. El Generico is his opponent. Steen said he won’t be dumb enough to get himself suspended by using the pile driver.

Lance Storm cuts a promo from his gym. He said he isn’t out of shape and will be ready for him. He said Mike Bennett doesn’t have the passion to be in wrestling. They try to make the promo more interesting by shooting him from multiple camera angles. It doesn’t work. Davey Richards knows how tough his three man match will be against Eddie Edwards & Roderick Strong. If he wins that, he takes on Michael Elgin. Richards said if he gets out of that weekend with the title, he’ll have earned it. DemBoys said everyone in this match hates each other. The chicken shit is going to hit the fan in Florida. Charlie Haas tells the Briscoes that they’re dumb. It’s a grudge match so when this match is over, their feud is.

Evidently everyone pays in and wins a pot of money for the March Mayhem. Four matches lead to a four way match. Winner of the four way wins the cash. They love having money on everyone’s mind. We get replay of Jay Lethal versus Tomasso Ciampa. The match went to the time limit. Ciampa attacked Lethal and stole the TV belt. Roderick Strong with Truth Martini takes on Jay Lethal in the first four way match. Counting in English reminded Kevin Kelly of El Generico’s return. I think he’s locked up worst announcer in wrestling with tonight’s showing. Congratulations on unseating Mike Tenay’s several year reign. They go to commercial before much has happened.

Truth Martini helped out so that Strong took over during the break. A drop toe hold is a wrestler’s wrestler type of move according to Nigel McGuinness. Hello Raven! Strong gets a near fall off of a Falcon Arrow. Been a good match up to this point. Strong starts pounding away. Lethal turns it around with a reverse hand spring elbow. Martini distraction, Strong’s legs on the ropes, Lethal still kicks out. Todd Richards had an easy view of it. Lethal Combination. Michael Elgin interferes while Martini distracts. Strong runs into Elgin after Lethal dodges. Lethal rolls him up for the win.

We had replay of the above match. Jim Cornette brings out Roderick Strong with Truth Martini & Michael Elgin. Eddie Edwards comes out second. The champ Davey Richards comes out last. They do a decent job of having circle of criticism. Roderick Strong asks Michael Elgin if he will give him his blind destiny match in case he losses the three way match. Jay Lethal  comes out to stake his claim on the ROH Title. Kevin Steen shows up. He continues to show more confidence in his mic skills than he should have. Steen says he wants Edwards to win so he can get a title shot. If Edwards doesn’t win, Steen will find a way to get a title shot. Oh, I’m supposed to drive to Dayton for ROH. I’ll remind you again, come to the big city, not the small one. You got smart enough to go to Cincy. Come to Cbus.

The World’s Greatest Tag Team wonders why Cornette is still mad at them. Charlie Haas talked about the Briscoes. Shelton Benjamin makes fun of Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander. Coleman & Alexander say they won’t be a warm up match. They’re going to the top. At least they admitted their athletes trying to entertain, not entertainers trying to be athletic. The promo quality in general makes that statement quite easily. Benjamin fought Coleman. Haas & Alexander come in fresh at the same time. Double suicide dive gives Alexander & Coleman the upper hand. Benjamin turns it around with a clothesline from the apron. They’re giving this match a commercial break.

Benjamin was in control. Haas hung Alexander out to dry on the guard rail. Haas with Eric’s favorite abdominal stretch. Alexander reversed t but Haas got a tag to Benjamin. Coleman gets the hot tag. He cleared out both of them. Coleman got a pair of two counts. A double super kick was still only worth a two count. Coleman with a head scissors take over of Haas who was perched on the top rope. Impressive. The Briscoes nail Haas with a chair to the face while the ref was distracted. Coleman pins Haas for the win.

Haas is still down in the ring. Benjamin yells about not bringing chairs into a match. Kevin Kelly goes to the ring to check on Haas. Is he a doctor too? I wonder if he’s as bad a doctor as he is an announcer? I’d say yes. We get replay of El Generico coming back to take on Kevin Steen. We get a replay of Lance Storm’s from last week. He looks to be in great shape for his age. Mike Bennett matches Maria Kanellis. Bennett says that Storm is just jealous. Bennett is going to lay him out. I hope so. No reason for a retied wrestler to win a match. We get replay of Kyle O’Reilly challenging Adam Cole.

They explain March Mayhem again. I’m typing less since I explained the replays and rules above. Michael Elgin comes out with Truth Martini. The announcers mention that Truth & Roderick Strong blame Elgin for Strong’s loss the week before. He is taking on Adam Cole. We get the pleasure of Kyle O’Reilly making the announce booth stink twice. Like it needs drug down with Kevin Kelly at the helm. Cole gets the early jump using his speed. Elgin German Suplexed Cole into the top turn buckle. Kevin Kelly asks O’Reilly a question then interrupts O’Reilly to send us to break. How have I not tossed my MAC thru my TV?

O’Reilly can’t articulate why he’s really mad at Eddie Edwards & Cole. Nigel tries to save him by saying sometimes you don’t want to talk about it because you use it as motivation. What an awful announce crew. Cole turns it back around with his speed. Cole slammed Elgin’s head off the ring apron as he leaped to the outside. Black Hole Slam by Elgin only gets a two count. Nigel explained how you can take a monster shot then return fire. Roderick Strong held Cole initially, he got away and Strong kicked Elgin. Cole pins Elgin.

Outside of the announcing, the worst thing about these shows is that the development of these feuds didn’t really happen. They had promos ripping on each other but that was it. They also only left themselves three weeks to hype the Showdown in the Sun which hindered the development too. Starting the March Madness matches only helped to confuse the situation. Why does everything have to be a tournament in this league? Elgin won a strongest man or survival of the strongest recently. Dear lord. This league is a mess. -Kevin

Who got made fun of for their body odor?

Joe Dombrowski & Aaron Maguire introduce the show. Jason Bane vs Krimson is the main event in a No DQ contest. Jimmy Jacobs will be in action against Gregory Iron. Johnny Gargano will respond to Jacobs later. Jacobs is introduced first. Iron sneak attacks Jacobs to jump start the match. Iron clotheslines him twice. He back elbows Jacobs. Iron with a head scissors take over. He clotheslined Jacobs in the corner and brings him out with a bulldog. Jacobs turns it around with a jaw jacker. Iron low bridges Jacobs. Iron gets caught going for a suicide dive. Jacobs dropped a leg drop on Iron who was hanging on the apron. Jacobs tossed him into the guard rail. Jacobs set up Iron in a chair. Jacobs went into the ring and hit him with a 180 plancha. (Yes, he hit him with his back. It looked pretty awkward.) Jacobs tossed Iron back into the ring. Jacobs double stomped him from the mat then used the ropes to drop an elbow. Iron kicked out at two. Jacobs slammed and rubbed Iron’s face into the mat. Jacobs head butted him. (That doesn’t seem like the right arsenal for a small guy.) Jacobs dropkicked Iron who was seated in a corner. He only got a two count. Iron caught Jacobs charging in. A back elbow and clothes line mounted a comeback for Iron. Jacobs kicked out after a spring board elbow. Iron gave Jacobs a neck breaker. Jacobs slammed down Iron as he came charging into the corner. Jaw breaker to the knee by Iron. Jacobs speared Iron. Jacobs DDTed him for the victory.

Analysis: The crowd seems unsure of Jacobs. It’s the same one that basically shit on his reveal. It was a good match. Jacobs does a lot of nice little things right trying to rile up the crowd. These guys are about the same size so the match up is a credible and re-visitable one. Score: +1.

Jason Gorey told Michael Facade to stop chasing the TV Title. He said that Facade should channel his anger to accomplish more. Gorey said that the title is meaningless. They only need one more. Analysis: They were trying to give him a different vibe than Krimson by doing horizontal bars that were stretching the picture like an old 80′s TV. I wasn’t a big fan. I like the effort though. Gorey’s content needed something else. Maybe more of a reason to keep the belt away from Facade. More anger because Facade is being such a persistent do gooder. Score: 0.

Michael “The Bomber” Facade gave a shot out to the injured Flip Kendrick. Facade said that something always snatches victory from his grasp. He said that every loss makes him want it more. Facade said that he will not give up. He says Gorey forgot what that title stands for, respect, heart, honor and passion. Facade said that Gorey may be twisted, but he’s still the one creeping while he’s sleeping. Facade smiled and put up his bandit mask. Analysis: Solid promo. He had more reasons to go against Gorey and why he wanted to win. Score: +1.

Mr. RBI Isiah Bonds is taking on Daniel Arkham for their third match. RBI missed a charge. Arkham jumped on him with punches and a clothesline. He tried to slam RBI but he reversed it.RBI kicked Arkham in the back. RBI with a back suplex. He only got a two count. Arkham went for a sunset flip, but couldn’t get RBI over. RBI sat down but missed. Arkham drop kicked him while he was seated. Arkham got caught going for a cross body. RBI turned it into a swinging side slam. Arkham reversed the cover but only got two. RBI missed a splash. Maguire would not stop talking about how bad Arkham smelled. He even got Dombrowski to snicker at one point. Arkham got tossed into a corner then caught RBI charging in. Arkham skinned the cat to get up to the top rope. RBI crotched him. RBI was trying to javelin Arkham but got pushed into the corner. Arkham rolled him up and got the three count.

Analysis: Can RBI only take bumps in the corner? The match was better than their other ones so I’ll be generous. Score: 0.

Matt Cross admitted that Bobby Beverly took him to the limit last week. He told Beverly that he has a bright future. Cross put over both Jason Bane and Krimson as some of the toughest in wrestling. Cross would be honored to take on Bane because he was there when he started the business and helped Cross get started. Cross said that they have never wrestled. Cross said that dreams are not a waste of time. Cross said that he earned his dreams. Cross said that he didn’t waste the last ten years of his life. Cross said that he’s not going down without a fight no matter who wins their match up. Analysis: He stumbled a bit when he started talking about Krimson but closed the deal quite well. Score: +1.

Johnny Gargano knew that Jimmy Jacobs was not one of the names running in his mind about who the attacker was. He said that Jacobs was eloquent in telling his story. Gargano said that they’ve fought all over the country so he should have thought of him. He said that Jacobs is the ugly side of the wrestling business. He said that people like him take short cuts. Gargano said that he’s better in the ring than Jacobs and he knows it. Gargano said the crowd is not dumb and they know a snake like Jacobs. Gargano said that every time his injury flares up, he pictures Jacobs. Gargano said that he’s got nothing else left to lose. Analysis: Gargano continues to nail promos. Good on him. Score: +1.

Krimson came to ringside when they went to commercial. Jason Bane came out with Krimson standing in the ring with a chair. (I was never sure why the first guy out, especially a heel, rarely holds a weapon to start the match. At least keep on handy so when the baby face comes in the ring, you can whack him.) Jason Bane grabbed a chair of his own and slid into the ring. Bane tossed down his chair. He caught Krimson when he swung it then nailed him in the back.Krimson ducked a chair shot in the corner. Krimson tried to toss Bane into a corner but he reverse it. Bane knocked him down with a shoulder tackle. Bane slammed him then dropped an elbow. Krimson fired back with clubbing blows. Bane returned fire. Bane belly to belly suplexed Krimson. Bane missed a clothes line. Krimson took both of them over the top rope with one. Krimson whacked Bane. He used the chair on Bane’s neck. Krimson set Bane in a chair then back elbowed him. Krimson hit Bane in the back with a chair. They countered each other’s suplex attempts. Bane power slammed Krimson on the floor. Bane rolled Krimson back into the ring. Bane nailed Krimson on the back with a chair. Bane put Krimson in a chair. Bane missed a boot. Krimson drop toe holded Bane into the back of the seat. Krimson used the chair again. Krimson DDTed Bane into the chair. Bane was slumped on the bottom turn buckle. Krimson put a chair on his face and drop kicked it. Bane kicked out at two. Krimson wedged a chair into a corner. Bane tossed Krimson into the chair. Bane went for the F5 but Krimson slipped out. Krimson chop blocked Bane. Krimson clothes lined him in the back of the head. Bane grabbed the rope to get out of the pin. Krimson put the chair in a seated position again. Krimson pulled out a ladder. Krimson slammed Bane’s head into the chair seat. Krimson set up the five foot ladder (Couldn’t they at least get an eight footer? Holy Moses that looks small especially with two big guys in the ring.) Bane hit Krimson in the back with the chair as he ascended the ladder. Bane set the ladder against the ring post. He tried to toss Krimson into it face first but he reversed. Bane stop short. Krimson went for a roll up and Bane’s back of his head hit the middle turn buckle. Krimson broke the ladder on Bane. Krimson tried to Irish Whip Bane who turned it around. Krimson was thrown into the ladder. Bane missed a big boot snagging himself on what’s left of the ladder. Bane power slammed Krimson into the ladder. They both stayed down. Bane punched away and spine bustered Krimson. Bane connected with the Bane Line. Krimson kicked out. The announcers noted how rare that was to do. Bane was going to power bomb Krimson who tried to punch out of it but got dropped anyway. (I think the power bomb was supposed to be slipped out of.) Krimson low blowed Bane. Krimson clothes lined Bane into a chair. Bane kicked out. Krimson hit him on the back with a chair. Krimson grabbed a purple bag. Krimson knocked out the ref. Krimson pulled out the thumb tacks. Bane blocked a suplex. Bane punched out of it. They traded punches. Krimson came off the middle rope and Bane turned it into a spine buster into the tacks. Bane Bane Lined Krimson into the tacks but the ref was still knocked out. Jason Gorey chop blocked Bane and started punching away at him. Matthew Justice came out for the save. He tried to hit Gorey with the chair but missed and nailed Bane. Gorey pulled Krimson onto Bane and revived the ref. Justice didn’t help Bane or the Dead Wrestling Society. Krimson got the three count when the ref got back into the ring. The assault on Bane continued until a save by Matt Mason.

Analysis: The decision of Matthew Justice took priority in the end. I hope they turn him heel. I’m fine and enjoy the middle ground for now. Well wrestled brawl. The power bomb gaffe was corrected quickly with the low blow. The chair remained as the only other bad thing in the match. Another baby face versus baby face title match doesn’t sound appetizing to me so I’m glad of the outcome. Score: +1.

Final Score: 5/7. Final Analysis: They keep on rolling out good episodes. Gregory Iron doesn’t get hurt much losing to Jacobs. He was also involved in a good match. Gorey was trying something to be different so I’ll give him the A for effort but the execution was poor. Facade delivered and that wasn’t something I was expecting. Even if the match between Mr. RBI & Dan Arkham didn’t do much for me, Aaron Maguire kept it interesting. Cross & Gargano kept their story lines going. The main event was a nice pairing of angles. I’m glad that Mason got physically involved because it does expose even more the multitude of baby faces. Aaron Draven is still floating out there on the same rung. A fantastic reason to turn Matthew Justice heel. -Kevin

This aired just over a week ago.

Because of my preference for PWO, I give it first billing for reviews. They are not airing a new show this week so I hope to get to this week’s episode of ROH quicker. It’ll still be tough though because I’m headed to Smackdown on Tuesday. The plans are for me to do an exit interview audio. We shall see. Anyway, this episode is before last week’s pay per view so I’m pretty late on this episode. It’s kind of irrelevant. Whatever though, it’s content. Let’s roll.

It’s another episode from Baltimore. They really do tape more shows in one place than PWO. Holy cow. Mike Bennett is with Maria talks about Lance Storm. They’re going to fight March 30th. TJ Perkins forgets to name himself. He’s worth Bennett’s time. That was pretty cheesy in a bad way. Brutal Bob is such a bad idea. The act is bigger than the wrestler. I like Perkins in the ring. His character stinks. That can be said a lot in ROH. Poor Kevin Kelly has to talk about “the numbers game”. You could almost sense he didn’t want to use it. It was a gift to us fans to get their iPPV for $9.99. if it was a gift, it’d be a regular PPV for $9.99. Perkins lock in a submission. Maria distracted him. Bennett nails a cutter for the win.

Veda Scott gets to spend time with another faction that is too big. Tomasso Ciampa has nothing to lose at the PPV.  I like the guy’s promo delivery. He doesn’t need the clown suits. Guy Alexander is wrestling Ciampa. They let the other two clowns come to ringside. Kelly said his name but I don’t care. Ciampa is good in the ring too. Please get rid of the circus around him. The ref calls the match after Ciampa knees him in the face six times. I think he lost or they went time limit.

The Briscoes get to talk about the Young Bucks. They know the Bucks are serious but they mean business. Kevin Steen put on his party hat for Jimmy Jacobs. The blood will flow. The All Night Express wants to take out the Young Bucks because they took out Rhett Titus. The Young Bucks suggested a tornado match. All Night suggested a street fight. They will wrestle both over the March 30 & 31 in Florida. So they’re pimping two pay per views on one show. Mildly confusing. Maybe I should just say it lacks focus. Wait until after March 4th for people to talk about those matches.

Eddie Edwards is fighting Roderick Strong for the chance to fight Davey Richards in Miami. Good match so far They haven’t gone for the usual trade moves then look at each other with “respect”. Edwards gave Roderick a single leg drop kick from the floor while Roderick was in the Tree of Woe. Slick spot. Nigel trying to talk about Roderick and how physical he is. That is hilarious. You need more muscle tone to sell me on that. Great pace to the match as they hit the break.

Strong took over during the break with the help of a Truth Martini low bridge of Edwards. Strong kicked out after a middle rope Code Breaker. Strong hung out Edwards on the top rope. Back breaker and Gut Buster combo only got a to count for Strong. Edwards countered a super back breaker into a huracanrana. Edwards got in a back pack chin breaker. They traded kicks. Adam cole took out Truth Martini. Michael Elgin came out. Edwards nailed a suicide dive. Strong used a device on his boot to win. A second ref comes out and tells the ref he missed it. The second ref restarts the match and Edwards wins. The refs argue into commercial. Dumb. Killed a good match even if they restart it for a winner.

Kevin Kelly is explaining what happened in the ring. He asks Jim Cornette for a decision. Cornette explains the situation. Cornette does the logical thing and makes it a three way elimination match. Should be good stuff. -Kevin

This makes your review pointless.

Joe Dombrowski and Aaron Maguire introduce the show. Matt Cross defends the PWO Title against Bobby Beverly. “The Megastar” Marion Fontaine takes on Corey Winters. Bobby Shields with Nicki Valentino kicks the show off against Bryan Castle who didn’t have Brian Bender. The ref did the old school pat down. Shields starts with punches. Castle hip tossed Shields three times. Castle slammed him. Castle waved at Valentino. Shields attacked him from behind on the floor. Shields missed a chop and hit the post. Castle started to attack the hand. Valentino held Castle’s leg so that Shields could attack again. Shields kneed Castle in the gut. Shields choked him. Shields missed a splash. Castle put on the head band and clotheslined Shields. Castle drop kicked him. Shields got splashed. Castle low clotheslined him. Valentino distracted the ref. Shields kicked Castle in the face. He only got a two count. Shields got tossed over the rope and noggin knocked with Valentino. Castle tried to suplex Shields back into the ring but Valentino grabbed his leg. Shields countered into a splash and Valentino held the legs for the three count.

Analysis: Really good match up. Well wrestled and well executed. It protects Castle but Shields gets the win. Well done sirs. Score: +1.

Krimson tells Jason Bane that Wrestlelution was not going to be their last meeting. He says he’s been in a no DQ match with Bane and he knows what’s coming. Krimson said he learned from his mistakes and will not repeat them. Krimson tells Matt Mason to walk away before he drowns in a sea of misery and despair. Analysis: I’m just digging this dude right now. Really thoughtful evil promos. Score: +1.

Jason Bane states the stipulations in the match. He says that if he needs to become a monster to beat Krimson and will do it. Bane promises to become the most brutal of them all. Analysis: It’s a tough spot. I thought it got the point across but he followed Krimson so it feels worse than it should. He’s just not that great at mic work but Bane has improved. Score: +1.

Matt Mason said that he can’t get a response from him. Mason said that he’s going to get a hold of Krimson. Mason is calling him out on his sickness. Mason said he’s tired of Krimson trying to crush other people’s dream. Mason said that if Krimson can’t stop his own sickness, he will. Analysis: He could have used a little more pep to really nail this thing but he needs to pivot to more than an observer at this point. This promo seemed pointed that way. Score: +1.

Marion Fontaine came out first. Corey Winters tried to hype up the crowd. (They need the last venue back.) Fontaine primps to the crowd. They tied up in the corner. Fontaine broke clean. Winters backed Fontaine into the corner. He broke clean too. Winters arm dragged Fontaine and held him down with an arm bar. Dombrowski zinged Maguire. Fontaine kneed Winters. Corey yanked on Fontaine’s arm. Fontaine flipped out of the arm bar but bragged so Winters yanked on his arm multiple times. Winters flipped him onto his back. Fontaine didn’t get enough air for a leap frog. Fontaine drop kicked Winters. They redid the spot. Fontaine went for a monkey flip but Winters pulled his legs backwards and Irish whipped him. Winters super arm dragged him out of the ring. Winters nailed a cross body to the floor. Fontaine rammed Winters into the guard rail. Fontaine tossed him back into the ring. Fontaine yapped to the crowd from the apron. Winters grabbed the injured left arm but Fontaine jumped backwards. Fontaine started to work over Winters left arm. Fontaine punched him. Fontaine chin locked Winters. Winters fought out. Fontaine basement drop kicked Winters. Fontaine kicked Winters to the mat. He over shot a moonsault as noted by Dombrowski.  Winters punched him. Winters nailed an enziguri. Winters hit a Cutter. He only got a two count. Fontaine kicked Winters in the face charging into a corner. He followed it up with a super kick. Fontaine missed a spring board. Winters hit a stomach buster. He went for Sliced Bread #2 but Fontaine ducked under and held the tights for the three count. Justin LaBar orders the match restarted because of said held tights. Winters rolls up Fontaine while holding the tights which he should have seen but Dombrowski said he had turned around. Fontaine assaulted Winters after the match. Fontaine yelled at LaBar. Fontaine says he wants the tapes.

Analysis: Fontaine did not wrestle very well during this match. Short on the leap frog and missing the moonsault, woof. Winters seemed to wrestle well. They’re progressing the story the way they should despite my continued reservations. Score: 0.

Matthew Justice barely talked when Krimson interfered with his own promo. He tells Justice that he failed in New York. (Also known as the WWE if you’re not familiar with the fact that Justice signed a developmental deal last year.) Krimson said that he needs to be awakened. He says Justice can be their version for Justice. Analysis: I like the idea. They have the void in those ranks for him and Aaron Draven. Justice hasn’t gotten traction one way or the other so he’d be going heel but he’s still fresh after a year away. Score: +1.

Jimmy Jacobs asks why someone like him would attack Johnny Gargano. Jacobs says been everywhere and done everything. He mentions that he beat CM Punk, Daniel Bryan and the late great Eddie Guerrero. He says that him and Johnny Gargano just don’t like each other. He hates everything about Gargano. Jacobs said Gargano has been disrespecting him. Jacobs says he’s done everything Gargano has but he did it better. Jacobs admits that he’s lost a lot of respect in the eyes of the fans. He said it was because he had to take some time off for drug problems. Jacobs said that Gargano was in his spot when he left. Jacobs said his return to PWO won’t return with fan fare. He said the fans will stop caring about Gargano and if that doesn’t  break his will, Jacobs will break the rest of it. Analysis: Very interesting promo. I liked it’s truthfulness. Jacobs is a very intriguing promo to me but his size has never won me over. Score: +1.

Bobby Beverly was introduced before a commercial break. He ordered Valentino & Shields to the back. Matt Cross milks the entrance but the crowd blows. I praised the last crowd. Pedro De Lucca did formal introductions. Beverly is wearing a “Trust In The Thrust” shirt. Dombrowski notes that this belt is the only belt Beverly hasn’t won in PWO. Maguire zings Dombrowski for saying “evil doer”. They had some little exchanges with lots of movement. Beverly ducked to the apron then Cross kicked him in the face to the floor. Cross nailed a suicide dive. Cross dropped the flag pole elbow. Cross tossed Beverly back into the ring. Cross atomic dropped him. Cross had a single leg crab. Beverly got the knees up during a hand spring elbow. Beverly drop kicked him low. Beverly butterfly suplexed Cross. Beverly chin locked him. Cross fought out but got met with a drop kick to the knee. Beverly locked in a single leg. Beverly low drop kicked Cross again. Beverly chopped him. Cross traded then. Beverly tossed Cross into a corner. Beverly pounded away on him. Beverly suplexed him but only got a two count. Beverly cinched in another rear chin lock. Cross flipped out of a belly to back suplex. He caught Beverly charging in with a boot.  Beverly missed a second charge. Cross nailed the hand spring elbow. Cross clotheslined then drop kicked Beverly. Cross kicked Beverly in the corner. Cross got two from a standing moonsault. Beverly gave Cross a back breaker. They missed their finishers. Beverly glanced Cross with a second super kick. Beverly Blue Thunder Bombed Cross who kicked out at two. Cross jumped out of the power slam position and pushed Beverly into a corner. Cross follow through clotheslined him. Cross got a two count from a double stomp. They both missed some moves. Cross pump kicked Beverly. Cross was a bit off with the Shooting Star Press but caught at least half of it. Cross got the three count.

Analysis: It sucks that the only bad thing that happened in the match happened at the end. The upside is that it was a really well wrestled match. Beverly gets in a good dose of offense and Cross still gets a clean win. Score: +1.

Final Score: 7/8. Final Analysis: PWO has fallen into a decent format of three matches with multiple promos. I liked the promos more than the matches this week. The matches were set up nicely but the finishes were predictable. The final match was predictable mainly because Beverly hasn’t been built up enough to take the title. Dombrowski did say that many people are predicting him as the next big thing in PWO at which I raised my hand. I think Beverly can climb from this loss though and it gives Cross a win over someone who is close to his level. The promos moved their respective feuds along. Jimmy Jacobs was promised to have an in ring debut which is a good thing for PWO even if he has lost some of his shine as he admitted. They need to cut back on the number feuds that Krimson is involved with. Gregory Iron, Jason Bane and Matt Mason is more than a crowd. It’ll be interesting to see the outcome of the match next week because that should determine where this story goes.

Tonight, Eddie Edwards competes in singles action against Roderick Strong with a ROH World Championship shot on the line. Also, Maria makes another appearance on ROH TV!

Ring of Honor TV
Date: 3/3/2012
From: Baltimore, MD

Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness open the program letting us know about the main event tonight between Roderick Strong and Eddie Edwards. The winner will get a ROH World Championship shot on March 30th at Showdown In The Sun. We go into pre-tape comments from TJ Perkins and Mike Bennett as they will be competing in singles action.

Mike Bennett is with his girlfriend Maria, which makes you hate him even more, when Jim Cornette comes into the picture to let him know that Lance Storm feels like Bennett doesn’t respect the business. Bennett cuts a promo on Storm instead of Perkins and says he is going to show why he is better than the best. TJ Perkins chimes in to say that Bennett may think that he isn’t worth his time, but tonight he is going to show that he is. “You don’t know if you are going to get hit by lighting until it’s too late.”

Opening Contest: TJ Perkins vs. Mike Bennett 
Late in the match, Maria tries to help Bennett reach the ropes while being locked in an STF by Perkins. Perkins lets go and pulls Maria into the ring. Naturally, Bennett is able to take advantage of this and hits the Box Office Smash to pick up the win.

Backstage, Veda Scott is talking to the Embassy. Ciampa doesn’t have anything to lose in New York City. However, Jay Lethal has everything to lose. Lethal can lose his confidence, television title, health and his career all thanks to Ciampa. Ciampa says he is going to be the first undefeated champion in ROH history.

Second Contest: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Guy Alexander 
Ciampa destroys poor Guy as he delivered nine straight running knees in the corner. The referee was forced to call the match and give Ciampa the KO victory.

Inside ROH is next. We hear from the ROH World Tag Team Champions, Briscoe Brothers. Mark says they are going to make the Young Bucks buy them drinks after their match on March 4th. Jay assures us they aren’t going to take the Young Bucks lightly. We also hear from Kevin Steen. Steen says he wouldn’t want to spend the 10th Anniversary of ROH with anyone other than Jimmy Jacobs. Steen says the blood will flow as will the champagne. We aren’t done as we hear from the All Night Express and the Young Bucks. Apparently, the All Night Express wanted a street fight but the Young Bucks refused to accept that. The Young Bucks suggest a tornado tag team to prove what true tag team wrestling is. They are going to use both stipulations, as announced by Kevin Kelly. On the first night it will be a street fight followed by a tornado tag match.

Main Event: Eddie Edwards vs. Roderick Strong 
Early on, Edwards is able to hit a dropkick while Strong is in the Tree of Woe in the corner. Strong fights back with some chops and kicks, but Edwards maintained control with a flying knee as we go to a commercial. Strong has the advantage back from the break and delivers a running boot in the corner. Edwards is able to absorb a few strikes from Strong before hitting a release German suplex! Edwards is able to hit the Die Hard but Strong kicks out before three. Edwards leaps off the middle rope to hit a Codebreaker but Strong kicks out again. Strong battles back with a back breaker and the Death By Roderick but Edwards finds a way to kick out. Edwards counters a Super Death off the top with a hurricanrana! Late in the match, Edwards goes to the top rope but Truth Martini grabs his leg. This causes Adam Cole to run out and he super kicks Martini! Edwards misses a double stomp but dives over the ropes and onto Cole and Elgin, who are brawling on the floor at this point. We see that Roderick Strong has put something in his boot. Edwards enters but is met with the Sick Kick, which gives Strong the victory!

Your Winner: Roderick Strong via pin fall

Another referee comes out and tells the original referee what happened. Edwards hits Strong with a superkick and hits the Die Hard to get a three count of his own.

Jim Cornette comes out and announces that it will be a triple threat match at Showdown In The Sun between ROH World Champion Davey Richards, Roderick Strong and Eddie Edwards! Davey Richards comes out to have a stare down with his two opponents.

Final Thoughts: 
It was a solid episode for ROH this week. They are doing a good job at promoting the big events and there weren’t a lot of dead spots on the show. The Inside ROH segments is an effective segment to get angles over and the promos delivered in them are usually pretty good, especially when Steen is involved. Ciampa continues to be built up very well and I hope he gets a ROH Television Championship run sooner rather than later. The main event this week was good, but I don’t like the three way. I’ve never understood how they can say the officials ruling stands and then they overturn it. I’m sure they won’t do that every time and that sort of thing bugs me. Anyway, I’ll give the show a thumbs up.

Thanks for reading.

I watched An Idiot Abroad earlier.

For some reason, honor makes me think of Japan. Since Karl Pilkington just went to Mount Fuji on An Idiot Abroad, I figured it’d be a good picture to use. ROH has an internet pay per view going on right now but I’m not going to pay for it. We get recap of Charlie Haas taking on Mark Briscoe from the week. The Young Bucks are going to teach someone else to show the Briscoes what they’ll do to them later. Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander are the example. They worked their way up the food chain. The one guy ended by singing. I don’t know the difference between them. Caprice was the singer. Both teams are pulling out some fun aerial moves. Their characters stink. Pretty easy win for the Young Bucks. Their finisher is a bit much for me. It’s a Rolling Hill, 450 then a moonsault. Tomasso Ciampa is going to take whatever gold Jay Lethal has come March 4th.

DemBoys comes out to talk about the Lady Boys. They going to make the Young Bucks their bitches. Big man is going to beat $5000 out of Truth Martini if they come back to Baltimore. They’re going to put Charlie Haas or Shelton Benjamin in a body bag. I always think that’s stupid. No one is going to die.

We get more Kevin Steen review. Jimmy Jacobs learned one life lesson, evil wins. Jacobs is going to become more evil than Steen. Kevin Steen thinks Jacobs hope is amusing. He said Jacobs corporate man is going to kill him. He wants Jacobs to be evil. Rhett Titus is recovered from knee surgery. They want to prove they’re better than ever by beating Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas. I forget who Titus’s partner is. Truth Martini talks. Roderick Strong wants Jay Lethal to win because he can beat him easier. Strong has a match against Eddie Edwards to determine the number one contender. They are doing a great job of pimping tonight’s event, internet Pay per view that is.

Veda Scott interviews Eddie Edwards & Adam Cole. Eddie talks. Adam talks. They have each other’s back. That was useless. Jay Lethal comes out first. He’s fighting Davey Richards for the ROH Title. They’re starting this match with 28 minutes left in the broadcast.  Of course they go to commercial. Make that 25 minutes. They’re playing up Richards’s mind set about Eddie Edwards and Lethal being picked by his peers to win this match. They both did some sort of sit down surf board move. They exchanged more chain moves. Solid warm up to the match. They just started going to second gear as they cut to commercial. Tomasso Ciampa sat on a folding chair at ring side. I’ve been more impressed by Richards than the highlights I saw from his match with Edwards. Kyle O’Reilly told Richards to focus on the match after he started jawing with Ciampa. Lethal took over after that. Lethal Combination only got two. The House of Truth showed up. Superplex into a falcon arrow into an arm bar. Nice. Edwards & Cole came to ring side. Lethal worked out of second arm bar into a weird scare crow submission. O’Reilly gets jumped by the House of Truth. Richards kicks out after a top rope elbow. Lethal runs into Cole who got tossed into the ropes. Richards knocks his block off with a head kick and wins. They kneel shake after the match.

You'll have to click the read more button to figure out why I used this picture.

Joe Dombrowski and Aaron Maguire introduce the show. The attacker of Johnny Gargano will be revealed (which I happened to see as I was on Twitter). Benjamin Boone came to the ring with “Amazing” N8 Mattson. Matthew Justice was his opponent. (I was starting to wonder where he was after his big return speech.) Justice got Boone in the Anaconda Vice. Justice worked over Boone’s left arm.  Boone knocked Justice down. Justice drop kicked Boone twice. Boone recovered and tried to work over Justice’s arm. Boone kneed Justice coming in for a tie up. Boone choked Justice on the middle rope, distracted the ref and allowed Mattson to continue choking Justice. Boone side slammed Justice. Justice fired back with punches and kicks. Boone strangled Justice. Sunset flip by Justice got two. Boone gave Justice a spine buster. Boone stretched out Justice with a knee in the back. Justice gave Boone a neck breaker. Boone powered Justice into a corner. Justice dodged Boone who tumbled to ring side. Suicide dive by Justice nailed Boone. Justice shoulder blocked Boone. Justice clothes lined Boone twice and gave him a Fame Asser. Justice power slammed Boone for a near fall. Boone belly to belly suplexed Justice. Boone missed a splash. Spring board clothesline by Justice got him the victory.

Analysis: The announcers did a good job of covering the history of Krimson and Justice. He can’t really go after him though with Krimson in a number one contender’s match and going against Matt Mason. Justice is in a spot where they don’t have enough heels at his level of baby face. Aaron Draven has the same problem. We know how to solve it right? Turn one of them heel! Solid match. Justice looked a little rusty to me. Score: +1.

Bobby Beverly said that he finally has his chance for the PWO Title he’s been waiting for, for two years. He boasts of his win over Johnny Gargano. Beverly does a good job of being convincing about how Sex Appeal has gotten meaner and better since getting advice from the ski mask man. Beverly said he’s going to be champ next week. Analysis: And that promo is the reason I picked Beverly as one of the next guys to get a bigger contract. Great work. Score: +1.

Vic Travagliante interviewed Bryan Castle, the World’s Most Huggable Wrestler. Brian Bender is not going to be at his match Bobby Shields. Castle got lots of pointers from Bender. He made Castle eat healthier. Castle also demonstrated doing one hundred jump jacks but got winded after three. Castle said he does one hundred squats a day. Castle called one a hundred. Castle whacked himself in the head with a rubber warm up band. Analysis: Not the strongest of Castle’s showing on the mic but it was entertaining. I may also just not like it as much because I want them to move on from this year long gimmick. Sometimes I’m a complete dope. Jeremy pointed out to me that Castle’s shirt is a take on the Ghostbusters 2 symbol. Not sure why I didn’t recognize that before. Score: +1.

Nicki Valentino came out for a match. Ben Fruith came to the ring with the WrestleRama trophy. Valentino charged at Fruith and kicked him in the gut. Fruith nailed a cross body. Fruith kept him down after an arm drag. The announcers noted Valentino’s serious turn. Valentino missed a charge into a corner. Fruith arm drug Valentino three times. Valentino powered out and stomped away at Fruith. Valentino chopped him and followed up with a drop kick. Valentino had a key lock. He got two out of a fist drop. Fruith caught Valentino with a boot coming in. Fruith clotheslined him twice. Fruith nailed a double sledge. Valentino kicked Fruith. Valentino hoisted him up for a power slam. Fruith dropped out. Valentino kicked out of two from a Fruith Roll Up. Valentino kneed Fruith in the temple. Valentino locked in a cross face chicken wing.

Analysis: Now that’s how you rebrand someone. The announcers were in on the act selling the new Valentino. They gave Fruith enough offense to not make him look too weak. Score: +1.

Vic Travagliante was in Justin LaBar‘s office. He asked about the closed door meeting. LaBar is going to keep the meeting results quiet. Marion Fontaine said that LaBar didn’t need to answer any questions because he’s there. Fontaine is going to keep on appealing even if it fails. Fontaine won’t stop until he gets Brodie Lee back. His second wish is to get LaBar out of PWO. LaBar tells him he is sorry and he made an honest mistake. He then informed Fontaine he’d be wrestling next week against Corey Winters. Fontaine wondered what would happen in that match to him. LaBar tells him he’ll be at ring side because he still doesn’t trust Fontaine. The Megastar tells him he’ll wipe the mat with Winters. Fontaine tells him if he gets involved again, he’ll have more evidence to put him away. Analysis: PWO management would be dolts for thinking there’s a screw job going on. The segment played out well and both guys defended themselves well. I still don’t like the angle. Score: +1.

Joe Dombrowski told us this will be the in ring main event. Jason Gorey, the TV Champ, came out first. Michael “The Bomber” Facade came out second. Pedro De Lucca did the formal introductions. They exchanged chops. Facade knocked him down with kicks. Facade arm dragged him. Gorey draped Facade over the middle rope. He then missed a thru the ropes splash.  (I hope that makes sense. It’s the one where you hit the guys back and slide to ring side on your feet.) Facade nailed a spring board. plancha to the outside. Gorey tossed Facade into the guard rail. Facade tossed him into the stage entrance. Facade moonsaulted off the stage onto Gorey. The ref talked them back to ring side. Gorey refused at the last second and dragged Facade back outside. He then tossed Facade into the ring post. Gorey pounded away on him. He tossed Facade back into the ring. Gorey dropped a sling shot elbow. Gorey punched and bit Facade. Gorey pounded away Facade with some quick moves. Gorey jaw jacked Facade. Gorey launched himself into Facade’s stomach. Gorey kicked him on the side of the head. Gorey gave Facade the thru the ropes clothesline. Gorey slapped on a sleeper. Facade tried to elbow out a couple of times. He finally got out of it by shoving Gorey into the corner. Facade gave him a back suplex. Facade kicked him in the gut. He gave Gorey an atomic drop. Facade came up with a reverse heel kick. Facade pulled off the gui. Facade shoulder blocked Gorey in the gut. Facade walked the ropes and drop kick him. He only got a two count. Gorey slammed Facade after an attempted spring board move. Gorey argued with the ref. Facade spring board enziguri. Facade gave Gorey a running kick to the chest. It knocked Gorey outside the ring. Krimson distracted the ref. Gorey locked in his submission move called Pestilence which is similar to a Cobra Clutch. Matt Mason made the save as Gorey kept the submission on. Krimson pulled Gorey out of the ring and dragged him to the back.

Analysis: Both of these guys take risks in the ring. The problem with that is there’s bound to be some mistakes. There were fewer than before from Facade. Gorey seems to have taken some of it out in an effort to look more vicious and it’s working. Good logical ending too. No reason this couldn’t be a Wrestlelution match where the baby face finally gets what he’s been shooting for. Score: +1.

Matt Cross said that he’s been wrestling for ten years.  Cross said that you only thing you have in this business is your reputation. He said that was taken from him on national television. Cross said that Bobby Beverly won underhanded but he still knows how tough it is to beat someone like Johnny Gargano. Beverly earned his respect and a shot at his PWO Championship. He tells Beverly that as long as he is more worried about thrusting and hanging out with his goofball friends, he’s not going to win a championship. Cross said that he is eating and sleeping wrestling to rebuild his reputation and he’s going to beat Beverly next week. Analysis: The beginning was good but the ending was great. Saved the fastball for the end. I’m glad they didn’t play up the Tough Enough gig and concentrated on him proving himself again. I don’t want to hear him bitch and moan especially since he’s a baby face. Score: +1.

Justin LaBar was in the ring with the mic. He welcomed Johnny Gargano. Dombrowski tells us that Gargano is injured but he wanted to find out the mystery behind the ski mask anyway. LaBar asked him about his injury directly. Gargano said that he has a lower back injury. He said he couldn’t feel his legs any more. Gargano is thankful to God that he is standing in the ring. Gargano said that his injury started when he was attacked a year ago in Streetsboro (where they were for this taping). Gargano wants revenge and to feel more pain than he felt that night. Gargano calls out the masked man. Bobby Beverly saunters to the ring. He grabs a chair and gets into the ring. Beverly sits down in it in the middle of the ring. Beverly says the ski mask man is not Bobby Shields, Nicki Valentino or himself. They aren’t allowed to touch each other because this guy isn’t under contract. Gregory Iron made the save. The ski mask man clotheslined. He then pulled off the mask revealing Jimmy Jacobs. He grabs the chair then the mic. Jacobs said to enjoy the time off because when Gargano comes back he’s going to break the other half of him.

Analysis: It would really if I hadn’t seen the reveal on Twitter. The crowd didn’t have much of a reaction. I think these two can put on a good verbal and physical war provided Gargano regains his health. Glad PWO actually paid off an angle. I’m blaming the crowd on this one. Score: +1.

Final Score: 8/8. Final Analysis: A perfect score without any segments that were a +2. I’d love to say it was a perfect show but it wasn’t. My primitive rating systems lends itself to some gaffes. I wasn’t a big fan of the opening match because Benjamin Boone has now lost two consecutive matches to only one win since his move to the single’s division. Boone won that first match with the help of Jason Gorey so it wasn’t even clean. Boone has lost to the two guys (Aaron Draven and Matthew Justice) that he could have longer feuds with and they need that someone like him. Unfortunately, two clean pins never helps the heel’s case. Bryan Castle’s interview was entertaining but i I went half points, it might have fallen into that category. The same could be said for the main event match. I think I’ve done enough bitching about the whole GM over the barrel during all of my reviews including this one. I’ve just got to divorce myself from that problem and just concentrate on the persons involved and how they’re playing their parts. -Kevin

This is what I thought Jimmy Jacobs looked like attacking Kevin Steen.

We start off with review of Kyle O’Reilly against Eddie Edwards. I think this Baltimore crowd has seen more tapings than a PWO crowd. Kevin Kelly tells us we’re out of a main event because Shelton Benjamin hasn’t paid his fine yet. Charlie Haas comes out. Haas says Briscoe ran into the chair. Charlie said that he’ll wrestle. The Briscoes hit the ring. The crowd isn’t tired of chanting “Man up!” Jim Cornette comes out. Mark Briscoe is going to take him. Jay agrees to be handcuffed to the ring post. Their commercials promoting their next live event are hysterically bad.

Cheese and rice. They show footage from Kevin Steen interrupting Mike Mondo and someone. Andy Ridge is Kevin Steen‘s opponent tonight. Steen suckers in Ridge with a hand shake. According to Steve Corino (I think) wrestling has never seen anything like Steen before. Corino defends Steen’s fatness by saying he has good cardio. Steen power bombed Ridge on the ring apron. Steen wins with an F5. It was hilarious with Corino trying to make Steen sound evil with the crowd chanting. Steve Corino got into the ring. Jimmy Jacobs made the save. Hilarious watching someone so small attack him. Jacobs wants a piece of Steen.

Veda Scott is interviewing Davey Richards and Kyle O’Reilly. They sucked. They’re over stuff and wrong wolves got picked. Mike Mondo & Matt Taven were set to take on Eddie Edwards & Adam Cole. Taven was the someone from above that got attacked by Steen. Cole and Taven start the match. Cole looks pretty sharp. I don’t think I’ve seen him so far this year.Mondo got Edwards riled up and paid for it. Mondo took over after Taven had turned things around on Edwards. Eddie got the hot tag to Cole. The crowd isn’t into him much. Cole needs to get rid of the tropical island on the trunks. Mondo & Taven collide. Kevin Kelly yells “What is that?” as Nigel matter of factly says “A German Suplex”. Kelly is an idiot as he says he needs to find out the name of the move after. Mondo attacks Taven after the match.

Holy balls a third review. Truth Martini makes the obvious statement that he stopped the payment on the check. Nice when they use logic. Roderick Strong said something dumb while Michael Elgin tried to look tough. The Young Bucks lamely make fun of the Briscoes. Jay Lethal talks about taking on Davey Richards. He wants to be the first man to win the ROH World Title on TV. Jay moves on to talking about taking on Tomasso Ciampa. Lethal says that he’s not going to remain unbeaten. Tomasso is going to take Lethal’s TV Title in NYC. I hate that he has two awful managers. Can at least one of them be good? Or just get rid of one so there’s only half the suck?

Charlie Haas comes out first. Mark Briscoe comes to the ring. Jay gets handcuffed to the ring post as they go to commercial. Mark started out on fire. Haas pushed him to the floor off the top rope. Charlie tossed him around with some nice looking suplexes. Cool spot with Mark sling shooting in and Haas putting out his knee to make it a back breaker. Kevin Kelly tries to say there’s more competition in ROH than elsewhere. I might hate him the most of any announcer. Tenay still holds the crowd. He worse than Mitchell Cool though. Mark nails a froggy top rope elbow. Anorth good suplex from Haas. Mark rolled him up out of no where for the three count. Haas attacked Mark from behind and stole the key from the ref. Haas grabbed a chair. He whacked Mark in the head. Haas heads up to the announce booth. He drops $10,000 and says that the Briscoes are dead. Great wrestling. Terrible acting. Terrible angle. -Kevin

Some technical glitches right from the start as the ROH logo keeps floating over the screen while they introduce the announcers. We finally get a picture of the ring with Kevin Kelly & Nigel McGuinness, after the ROH opener, and now no sound. This is not a good start to the PPV, as Nigel is screaming in the ring but no idea what he’s saying. The audio kicks in just as Jim Cornette welcomes the owner and the COO, not Triple H. We’re wished a happy holidays, and it’s time for the opening match, live from the Hammerstein Ballroom, the original home of RAW.

1. Michael Elgin v. T.J. Perkins

Michael Elgin comes to the ring with manager Truth Martini, will do battle with the youngster T.J. Perkins. Michael is still undefeated in ROH, and I don’t expect that to change in this match. Perkins uses his speed to stagger the big man and sends him outside, and dives onto him only to be caught and driven hard into the barricade. Here’s the first “holy shit” chant of the evening, as Elgin scores his first near fall. Elgin continues the offensive flurry hammering the smaller man down and Perkins tries to come back with speed but the power of Elgin is too much. Perkins finally able to take down the big man and connects with a flip dive to the floor. Been a pretty good big man versus little man opener, as Perkins keeps coming back with his speed but the power of Elgin keeps kicking out. Perkins making a big gamble climbing to the top rope, and Elgin catches him up but Perkins pushes him down. Elgin catches Perkins in mid air with a musclebuster but Perkins kicks out and counters the powerbomb into a leg sweep. Perkins gets caught coming off the ropes again and nailed with a big backbreaker but avoids the corner charge, connecting with the spinning neckbreaker. Perkins goes for the codebreaker, but Elgin catches him and tosses him into the buckles. Elgin goes for the powerbomb again but countered again with a beautiful reverse hurricanrana for a near fall, that was amazing. Perkins makes a mistake going for the power move, but blocks the lariat however he couldn’t block the spinning fist. A second buckle bomb followed by the spinning powerbomb finishes off Perkins. A great back and forth battle, as Perkins held his own through the whole match, great opener. Elgin walks around the ring with Martini on his shoulders and the audio goes really weird now, as we get our replay.

1. Michael Elgin pinned TJ Perkins with the spinning powerbomb 8/10

Kevin and Nigel talk about the next match with Tomasso Ciampa facing Jimmy Rave, as this is Jimmy’s first match back in a while. ROH wastes no time as we start the next match.

2. Tomasso Ciampa v. Jimmy Rave

Prince Nana with the beautiful Mia Yim escort Tomasso to the ring, and Nana wastes no time screaming at the crowd, garnering a “shut the **** up” chant from the New York crowd. Jimmy Rave makes his way down the aisle, last time I saw him was in TNA with Christy Hemme and Vance Archer, he’s got shorter hair and beard now. This will be another battle of power versus speed, Kevin says this is a battle between Embassy past and present members, a nice way to bring newcomers up to speed. Nigel asks if Ciampa has a weakness, and Kevin says he has not been truly tested yet as we get a nice sequence of scientific moves to start out. Ciampa finally catches Rave with a huge clothesline, sending Rave to the floor and Ciampa quickly follows. They battle outside the ring and Rave gets the advantage before rolling Ciampa in. Rave walks in the jaw breaker and then driven to the turnbuckle, this allows Ciampa to hit the running corner knee twice getting the first near fall of the battle. Ciampa gets caught charging into Rave with a double leg sweep into the ankle lock but Ciampa makes the ropes and crawls to the apron. Rave drives a knee into Ciampa sending him to the floor, and Rave follows with the baseball slide, but Ciampa catches him and swings Rave into the barricade. Rave comes back in with the sunset flip and a kick to the face of Ciampa, then hits the Rave Clash, a ripoff of the Styles Clash for a near fall. This starts an AJ Styles chant from the crowd, as Rave goes for something and Nana gets on the apron, offering him a spot back in the Embassy, and while the ref is distracted all hell breaks loose, but Rave fights them all off. The distraction costs Rave as he gets caught in the Project Ciampa for the win. A pretty good match, but lots of interference at the end hurts the match, Ciampa should not have needed any help for the win. More technical problems as the replay doesn’t start, as Nana puts the robe on Ciampa who stands victorious.

2. Tomasso Ciampa pinned Jimmy Rave with the Project Ciampa 6/10

Kevin and Nigel go over tonight’s TV title match as Jay Lethal defends the title against Mike Bennett and former champion El Generico, and it’s elimination rules.

3. Mike Bennett v. El Generico v. Jay Lethal for the TV Title

Mike Bennett comes out first with Brutal Bob and the always gorgeous Maria Kanellis, making her ROH debut! Kevin and Nigel talk about Maria being in Playboy and the crowd starts chanting CM Punk at her, which Kevin says who. After a lengthy amount of time we finally get all the introductions and the match starts, and Mike bails out of the ring leaving Jay and El alone in the ring, angering the crowd. Generico and Jay quickly go after him and double team Bennett, much to the chagrin of Brutal Bob and Maria. Mike bails out and both guys argue over who will dive onto him, so they both dive and nail Bennett hard. Generico and Jay in the ring and put on a clinic while Bennett is still on the floor, and Nigel says it’s stupid as they should go after the guy who’s injured, which is true. This is the problem with triple threat matches, it’s always one on one with the other guy on the floor, and that’s what it’s been so far. Bennett back in and Lethal out, now Bennett back out and Lethal in again, as Maria checks on Mike. Meanwhile in the ring Jay has a submission on Generico, who refuses to tap out so Jay releases the hold but runs into the backbreaker from Generico. Bennett now makes his way in and tosses Generico to the floor then crushes Jay in the corner and follows with a legdrop but forgets to cover the champ. Bennett gets dropkicked out of the ring, which allows Generico to hit a cross body on the champion for a near fall, as we’re back to Jay and Generico while Bennett is on the floor with Maria. Generico takes down Lethal and Bennett sneaks back in but gets caught. Lethal takes out both Generico and Bennett with the kicks, but misses the corner charge on Generico. Generico hits the suplex into the buckles on Lethal, and now Bob pulls Generico out. Bennett hides behind Bob, and Generico tosses Bob aside, so Bennett hides behind Maria. The distraction costs Generico, as Bennett nails him and goes after Lethal. Bennett takes out Lethal and hits a TKO on Generico but eats a kick from Lethal and all three are down. Bob and Maria check on Bennett as Lethal takes out Generico with the Lethal Combination for a near fall. Bennett sneaks up on Lethal and hits the spinebuster, almost pinning the champion. Lethal rolls out and Generico catches Bennett with the Yakuza kick into the Michinoku Driver for a near fall of his own. Lethal hits a kick on Generico and climbs the ropes, but Generico catches him with the Yakuza sending Jay to the floor. Generico hits the most amazing move I’ve ever seen as he springs from one rope to the other to dive onto Lethal, earning the “holy shit” chant. Generico tosses Bennett in and almost pins him, Lethal catches Generico from behind with the neckbreaker. Lethal quickly goes for the Hail to the King, Macho Man elbow, and connects but Generico kicks out again! Lethal slams Generico and climbs up again, but Generico catches him, but Bennett nails Generico from behind and rolls him up with the tights for the pin. Lethal quickly hits the Lethal Injection on Bennett to score the win. A pretty good three way match, but what was with the ending? It came out of nowhere, as both pins were within seconds of each other. The finish felt rushed, but the match was still fun, and always happy to see Maria! After the match Jay offers the hand to Generico and Generico shakes his hand, classy ending, rare to see that anymore.

3. Jay Lethal defeated Mike Bennett and El Generico to retain the TV Title 7.5/10

Nigel and Kevin talk about the next match of Kevin Steen versus Steve Corino, as Jim Cornette and special ref Jimmy Jacobs head to the ring.

4. Kevin Steen v. Steve Corino with Jimmy Jacobs as ref

This should be a bloody match, and it’s been built for over a year, hope it can live up to the hype. Steen comes out through the crowd, stealing Sandman’s gimmick, as the announcers say he is not a part of ROH. We start, as expected, with a slugfest and a nice dropkick sends Steen to the floor. Steen gets the advantage on the floor sending Corino to the post and connects with a cannonball from the apron, impressive for a big guy. Steen misses a second running move and hits the post, allowing Corino to hammer the big man. Corino throws some chairs in the ring and then drives the chair into Steen’s head, a second attempt fails as Steen superkicks the chair into Corino. Back on the floor and Steen powerbombs Corino into the ring apron, then climbs on the apron delivering a frog splash to the floor. Steen throws the table into the ring but continues the offense on the floor. A chair gets set up across the corner of the barricade, and Corino gets powerbombed through the chair, that was brutal. Steen gets in Nigel’s face, as he plays his loose cannon character very well, as Nigel calls him the loose cannon just as I typed that! Corino rolls into the ring, as Steen sets a table between the apron and barricade before getting in the ring. Steen goes for another powerbomb, but Corino fights back and a lariat takes the big man down. Corino grabs a trash can and tosses it in the ring, hitting Steen, then a few chairs too, that hit Steen as well. Steen cracks the skull of Corino with the trash can lid, then puts the lid on Corino’s head and hits a cannonball. Steen gets in the face of Jim Cornette before going back after a now bloodied Corino. Corino gets a low blow on Steen then hammers him with the trash can and then a suplex on the trash can. Corino piles the chairs in the center of the ring and slams Steen on top of them before he climbs up top and hits the Superfly Splash for a near fall. The crowd starts the dueling chants as Corino sets up four chairs in the ring and then the barricade on top of that, before going back after Steen, who slides to the apron. Steen climbs the ropes and Corino catches him and superplexes Steen through the barricade, but Steen kicks out of the cover! Steen crawls out of the ring, onto the table he set up between the rail and apron, and Corino looking under the ring for something. Corino changes his mind and climbs the ropes, but Steen catches him this time and shoves Corino to the floor. Steen grabs some chairs and sets one on the table and hits Corino with the other one. Steen goes back to piling chairs on the table as Corino battles to his feet, only to be slammed into the post. Steen pulls Corino up top with him and goes for a superplex but Corino fights free and nails Steen with the trash can lid, sending Steen crashing through the table and chairs. The crowd starts a we want fire chant, as Corino throws the limp carcass of Steen in the ring and covers, but Steen kicks out again. Corino sets up a table across the face of Steen and drives a second one into it, then sets another chair up. Steen blocks the suplex and counters with one of his own then the Exploder Suplex on the chair, but now Corino kicks out, this is brutally amazing. Steen grabs a chair as Corino is on his knees and slams the chair over Corino’s head for another two count. Steen points at Cornette and throws Jimmy out of the way, but Jimmy grabs the chair away from Steen. Corino cracks Steen with something and gets another near fall, as Cornette is beside himself at ringside. Corino again sets up three chairs as Jimmy tosses some more in for him to set up, Corino finally has four chairs set up. Corino climbs on top and Steen hits the low blow, the quickly connects with the package piledriver through the chairs and Jimmy reluctantly counts three. Steen is now reinstated with ROH after an amazing brawl. One of the best garbage style matches in years, some brutal moves and just amazing. Steen calls for the microphone and says “Merry Christmas, the devil is back”, then says he had three goals. Destroy Steve Corino and win his job back, check, and number two, he drops the microphone and nails Jimmy Jacobs with a package piledriver. Nigel asks what is number three, as Cornette checks on Jimmy and Steen looks at Cornette. Steen goes after Cornette and goes for the package piledriver but El Generico makes the save, and we have a slugfest. Generico hits the Yakuza kick on Steen followed by the top rope brainbuster attempt but Steen pushes him to the apron. Steen quickly grabs Generico and hits a package piledriver from the apron through the table to the floor, holy shit chant number three of the match. Kevin Kelly screaming for help as Steen stands proud in the middle of the ring. It sucks to be whoever has to follow this match, as this was insane. Nigel goes to check on Generico as Steen heads backstage, we got bodies all around the ring area as medical personally called to ringside.

4. Kevin Steen pinned Steve Corino with the package piledriver 9/10

As the ring is cleared of all the bodies Kevin Kelly sends us to intermission. We come back for the announcement of the teams in the tag team gauntlet tonight, Future Shock, Bravado Brothers, All Night Express, Caprice & Cedric, and The Young Bucks who I predict to win.

5. Contenders Cup Gauntlet Match

The first team in the match are Lancelot and Harlem Bravado, as Kelly recaps the situation with Generico who’s been taken out in an ambulance. Team number two, Caprice & Cedric, make their way to the ring as the crowd seems not to excited. I think they’re burned out from the previous match, sucks for these guys. Bravado Brothers attack Caprice and Cedric before the bell but they make a quick comeback and Cedric dives onto both Bravadoes on the floor. In the ring and Cedric and Caprice double team Lance, while Harlem is still down on the floor, but is able to pull the ropes down sending Cedric to the floor. Now the Bravadoes double team Caprice in the ring and a nice belly to belly almost eliminates C&C. Caprice pulls Lance out and then takes out Harlem, Caprice with a sit out powerbomb for a near fall. A series of pin attempts finally costs Harlem as Cedric makes the cover and eliminates the Bravadoes, bringing out team number three, Future Shock, Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly. Kyle and Adam quickly work over the tired Cedric with a series of double team moves and almost eliminate the young team. Caprice makes the blind tag, and they hit a nice double team move almost pinning Kyle, the match has picked up now, as now Adam makes a blind tag and hits the Northern Lights Suplex for a near fall. Future Shock continue to work over Caprice who finally makes the hot tag and Cedric takes over for his team. A nice double team on Adam, then on Kyle who almost gets pinned. Caprice runs into a big kick from Adam, and now a double team on Cedric. Future Shock hit the Inside Out on Cedric for the elimination. Team number four comes out, it’s The Young Bucks, who get caught before they even get in the ring. We have chaos on the floor and apron, as Nick hits a stunner on the apron on Adam, followed by the frog splash from Matt gets a near fall. The Young Bucks continue to work over Adam with a series of double team moves, but Adam starts to fight his way free but a cheap shot takes him down again. Adam catches both Bucks charging in with a boot and makes the hot tag to Kyle, who takes out Nick then sends both Bucks into each other. A series of strikes takes down Matt, and a belly to belly for Nick, as he takes out both Bucks. The rolling Butterfly Suplexes, a series of nine, takes out Nick, then a nice double team German Suplex almost gets Matt pinned. Adam sent out of the ring but he pulls out Nick and suplexes Nick on the apron. Kyle misses a dive into Nick and Matt gets hammered by Adam, but he runs into the stereo superkicks. More Bang For Your Buck finishes off Adam Cole, and the final team makes their way out, The All Night Express. Nick misses the dive and they destroy him, then unload on Matt. In the ring and Kenny hits the corner splash, but Nick pulls Titus out of the ring and drives his injured knee into the post. Kenny all alone with both Bucks now and they quickly take advantage of him, taking the occasional shot at Titus on the floor. Stomach Breaker followed by a neck breaker almost gets the win for the Bucks, as Titus is still down on the floor. Kenny blocks the superkick and suplexes Nick down hard, as Titus crawls into the corner finally. Titus tagged in and takes out both Bucks, but he’s having a hard time standing but hits the sit out powerbomb on Nick. However they double team Titus again, but Kenny makes the save and takes out Nick with the Coronation. Matt and Kenny go tumbling to the cement, Nick kicks Titus in the leg but he comes back with the clothesline. Matt from behind takes out the knee off Titus, and locks on the spinning toe hold. Nick hits the 450 splash while Matt still has the submission on Titus and the ref stops the match. Nick hits a second 450 splash, and Kenny makes the save with a chair. Not a bad match, picked up after the Bravadoes elimination, a good way to showcase all the teams of ROH. The ref and Kenny help Rhett to the backstage area.

5. Matt and Nick Jackson won the Tag Team Gauntlet 7/10

Kevin and Nigel talk about tonight’s Roderick Strong Invitational Challenge, Nigel says Roderick did not want to wrestle him.

6. Roderick Strong Invitational Challenge

Depending on who the surprise opponent is this could be either a great moment or a waste of time. Roderick says it’s a shame that on the biggest show of the year he has no opponent, and after eight years the talent list they sent him was pathetic. Roderick tells the ref to count to ten and ring the bell, as Truth starts to count, while insulting the crowd. When he gets to nine the building goes dark, and out comes Chris Hero, and the place explodes. I thought he was supposed to be coming to the WWE, but this should be a great match. Roderick tries for the shoulderblock twice and no one moves, Hero flips over the ropes and catches Roderick with a big boot. Kelly mocks Truth asking how he let this happen, as Hero chops Roderick in the corner. Hero slows it down with a cravat but Roderick fights back and runs into Hero’s boot. Hero follows him outside, but gets nailed by Truth with his big book, and this gives Roderick the chance to work over Hero. Roderick tosses Hero in the ring and stomps a mudhole in him, but misses the corner however Roderick drives Hero back in the corner. Roderick sends Hero out of the ring and Truth gets involved again, as Roderick sends Hero into the barricade before throwing him back in the ring. Roderick relentless as he stomps on Hero each time he starts to get up, but Hero finally makes it to his feet and dropkicks Roderick down. Roderick bails out and Hero goes to dive after him, but Roderick moves, however Roderick holds the ropes and pulls himself back in then baseball slides into the face of Roderick before tossing him back in. Hero sets Roderick up top and hits the top rope stunner and Roderick kicks out. Hero gets caught on the top rope and Roderick drops him over the top rope with a backbreaker, that was brutal looking, and quickly locks on the Stronghold. Hero kicks free and hits a cravat suplex then follows with a corner forearm and a spinning elbow for a near fall. Hero goes for the moonsault and lands on him feet but runs into a boot and Roderick with the German Suplex into the buckle followed by the Gibson Driver for a near fall, an amazing sequence of moves just then. Roderick hits the knee but Hero comes back with a pair of roaring elbows and a spinning boot but Roderick again kicks out. Hero hits the Death Blow, roaring elbow to the back of the head, and covers, but Truth breaks up the pin. Hero makes the mistake by going after Truth, which allows Roderick to roll him up, but Hero kicks him off almost into Truth. Hero goes for the boot and Roderick moves, Hero nails Truth but turns around into the Sick Kick which gets Roderick the win. Amazing match with some brutal shots, one of the best matches of 2011. Going to be hard to top this, but we still have the World’s Greatest Tag Team facing Briscoes and the battle of the American Wolves.

6. Roderick Strong pinned Chris Hero with the Sick Kick 9.75/10

Kevin and Nigel recap the feud between the Briscoes and WGTT.

7 World’s Greatest Tag Team v. The Briscoe Brothers for the World Tag Team Titles

This has been built up for the last six months and should be a hell of a battle. Haas and Benjamin attack the Briscoes before the bell using the belts and we have a massive brawl to start the match. Haas and Benjamin refuse to get in the ring as they hammer the Briscoes into the barricades and all around the ringside area, as the bell has yet to ring. Haas slams a chair across the back of Jay while Shelton cracks Mark with a chair, Haas throws Jay in and follows. Haas unloads with the chair on Jay, as Shelton tosses Mark into the chair Charlie is holding. The Briscoes have no idea what is going on at this point, now Charlie tosses Mark into the chair that Shelton swings. Haas and Mark continue to battle on the floor, Shelton unloads with the chair on Jay, Haas backdrops Mark into the barricade. Haas and Benjamin switch places and continue the destruction, Shelton comes back in and Haas holds Jay while Shelton drives the chair into his ribs. Shelton how holds Jay and Charlie cracks Jay as Mark tries to get in the ring and eats the chair. Jay tries to fight back and takes a chairshot to the head, busting him open and Charlie smashes the chair over his head again. The ref still trying to get the match started, but Haas and Benjamin are relentless as the Briscoes are being torn apart. The crowd is furious with Haas and Benjamin, as they continue to destroy the Briscoes and connect with the leap of faith on Jay. Mark comes back in as the bell rings and he tries to fight both guys, but Shelton hits the DDT on Mark. Jay finally back in takes out Shelton and gets in the face of Haas, as they slug it out, but Jay runs into the big boot from Haas sending him to the floor. Shelton hits a Stinger splash on Mark, but injures the ribs and Mark spears him down then tags in Jay. Jay clobbers Haas and then they double team Shelton across the ring. Now the Briscoes work over the injured ribs of Shelton but Shelton able to make the tag and Charlie takes out both Briscoes. Shelton with a nice Exploder Suplex on Jay getting a near fall, Haas follows up with the powerslam and Mark breaks up the pin. Shelton takes out Mark and another double team on Jay gets another near fall. Mark pulls Shelton out and tosses him into the barricade, as Charlie gets double teamed now by the Briscoes. The Briscoes ready Charlie for something but Shelton pulls out Mark and Charlie backdrops Jay then hits a series of German Suplexes. Charlie locks in the Haas of Pain on Jay Briscoe, but Mark dives off the top rope, however Shelton blocks the shot injuring himself. Shelton rolls to the floor, and the ref goes to check on him, as the Briscoes alone with Haas now. Shelton is helped to the back, leaving Haas all alone now and the Briscoes are relentless. Haas catches the Briscoes with their heads down and boots Jay then drops Mark, right on top of the ref as Shelton makes his way back to ringside. Shelton grabs a board from under the ring and smashes it over the head of Mark, splitting it in half. Haas and Benjamin each have a piece of wood and unload on Jay Briscoe. The WGTT go for the Doomsday Device, but Mark smashes the wood into Shelton and Jay superkicks Charlie. The Briscoes hit the Doomsday Device on Haas and score the win and the titles! An brutal brawl from start to finish, one of the best tag matches of 2011. The Briscoes win their seventh tag team title, what a contest.

7. The Briscoe Brothers defeated World’s Greatest Tag Team for the Tag Titles 10/10

Nigel and Kevin go over the story leading to our main event, as it’s time for the main event of the night.

8. Eddie Edwards v. Davey Richards for the ROH World Titles

This should be a true mat classic, however following that amazing tag match is going to be a chore for these two, however they did give them almost forty five minutes. Eddie comes out with his trainer Dan Severn and a nice ovation from the crowd, while Davey comes out with Team Richards. They start out face to face in the center of the ring and shake hands and the bell rings, Eddie quickly charges with a boot and Davey fires back, but Eddie goes for the Dragon Sleeper. Neither guy connects with their feet and we have a stalemate. Both men jockey for position with submission holds and Davey gets the early advantage with a reverse figure four but Eddie makes the ropes. Kevin asks Nigel about coming into the show as champion, and Nigel says it’s difficult with the pressure being on the champion. Davey again goes for the ankle lock and Eddie quickly to the ropes, as Davey snapmares Eddie down and into the armbar. Davey comes off the ropes and Eddie catches him with belly to belly, sending Davey to the floor. Eddie goes after him and they exchange chops, but Eddie tossed into the barricade and Davey connects with the boot to Eddie’s face. Back in the ring and Eddie takes control again hammering Davey in the corner with chops and headbutts, but Davey fires back with forearms. Eddie charges Davey who backdrops him to the floor and goes for the running knee, but Eddie ducks and Davey hits a back kick knocking down Eddie. Davey spring back in the ring and dives through the ropes, driving Eddie into the barricade then tosses him back in the ring. Davey hits a belly to belly and covers for a near fall, Eddie pulls himself up in the corner and Davey charges with a big knee but Eddie blocks the German Suplex. Davey blocks the kick and rolls into the ankle lock but Eddie kicks him off and catches Davey in the Single Leg crab countered to a small package. That was an amazing sequence of counters, this has been an amazing match so far. Both men exchange forearms in the middle of the ring, with neither guy backing down and Eddie able to send Davey out and follows with a moonsault but Eddie smashes him knee on the barricade. Eddie luckily is not hurt as he throws Davey in and goes for the double stomp but Davey moves. Eddie comes back with a backpack jawbreaker for a near fall on the champion, both men exchange pin attempts as Eddie rolls into the STF. Eddie releases the hold and goes for the ankle lock instead, but Davey kicks his way free however Eddie holds the arm and stomps the crap out of the champion. Eddie pulls off the elbow pad, and both men are face to face again and exchanging slaps now, Eddie chops Davey but Davey catches the arm and unloads on the champion. Davey off the ropes into the superkick, but Davey counters with the lariat and covers. A second lariat only gets a two count, as Davey climbs up top and hits the double stomp across the back followed by the big boot and a second stomp to the gut gets a near fall. Davey pulls Eddie up and sets him on the top rope and Eddie headbutts Davey repeatedly, they exchange shots again but Davey pops off the enziguiri staggering the challenger. Davey hits the superplex and rolls through and suplexes Eddie over the top, and both men tumble hard to the cement. Both men are slow to get up and struggle to get in the ring at nineteen, and again they exchange chops and boots as both men are completely drained. Davey unloads with a series of kicks in the corner but Eddie comes back with a series of chops, back to Davey with the kicks and Eddie slumps down in the corner. Davey unable to follow up as he struggles to catch his breath, and Eddie gets back up and face to face again in the center of the ring. Another series of kicks and knees to the head from Davey, followed by a backdrop driver but Eddie comes back with one of his own, each man retaliates with another one. Eddie catches Davey with the dragon suplex, and both men are slow to rise. Eddie off the ropes into the inverted drop but Eddie hits the knee to the face and both men are down. Suddenly Roderick Strong makes his way to ringside and Team Richards confronts him and Roderick destroys them, but here comes Severn who clobbers Roderick. This brings out Elgin and Severn hammers him, as the House of Truth come out and we have chaos on the floor. Severn grabs Truth and drags him backstage, while team Richards brawl with the House of Truth to the backstage area. Back in the ring and both men are face to face again and exchange forearms and boots, both men are staggered as Eddie goes for the dragon suplex and sends Davey right into the buckle. The ref starts to count as both men are down and out, Eddie first man up pulls Davey up and sets him on the top rope. Eddie follows and goes for a dragon suplex from the top rope, but Davey fights him off but Eddie charges back up with a big knee. Eddie snaps off the top rope hurricanrana followed by a powerbomb and sit-out powerbomb but Davey still kicks out! Eddie kicks him in the side of the head and Davey crumples to the mat, quickly locking on the Dragon Sleeper, but Davey fights free and rolls Eddie up but Eddie kicks out. Eddie back to the Dragon Sleeper and into the tombstone piledriver followed by the Die Hard, a muscle buster, but Davey kicks out again! Eddie pulls Davey off the mat and again sets him on the top rope but Davey blocks the superplex and goes for the sunset powerbomb but Eddie blocks. Davey hammers the back of Eddie while seated on the top rope and hits a top rope dragon suplex, but Eddie kicks out this time. Eddie crawls to the apron and Davey goes after him and goes for another dragon suplex, but Eddie fights free but runs into an Exploder Suplex on the apron, drawing a well earned holy shit chant. Eddie makes it back in at nineteen but gets a big knee to the head sending Eddie back to the apron. Davey quickly hits the dragon suplex on the apron and waits patiently in the corner as the ref counts, but Eddie again back in at nineteen. Davey looks frustrated, as Eddie crawls across the ring, Davey waits for Eddie to get to his knees and hits a series of kicks and covers for the near fall again. Davey applies the ankle lock but Eddie counters to a roll up, however Davey counters back to the ankle lock and quickly hits the running knee for another near fall. Davey unloads with more stiff kicks to the head of Eddie and covers and this time Eddie cannot kick out. Match of the year, no contest, probably the best match I’ve seen since Steamboat versus Flair, one of the greatest matches ever. Davey grabs the microphone and says everyone knows how tough Eddie is and whatever happens he’ll always be his friend. This brings out Kevin Steen to mock Davey who says he will take Davey apart, as team Richards holds Davey back. Steen says in 2012 he will win the title and hold ROH hostage because he is the anti-Christ of wrestling.

8. Davey Richards pinned Eddie Edwards to retain the World Title 10/10

MATCH RECAP

1. Michael Elgin pinned TJ Perkins with the spinning powerbomb 8/10

2. Tomasso Ciampa pinned Jimmy Rave with the Project Ciampa 6/10

3. Jay Lethal defeated Mike Bennett and El Generico to retain the TV Title 7.5/10

4. Kevin Steen pinned Steve Corino with the package piledriver 9/10

5. Matt and Nick Jackson won the Tag Team Gauntlet 7/10

6. Roderick Strong pinned Chris Hero with the Sick Kick 9.75/10

7. The Briscoe Brothers defeated World’s Greatest Tag Team for the Tag Titles 10/10

8. Davey Richards pinned Eddie Edwards to retain the World Title 10/10

Looking past the technical glitches of the show, this was hands down the best PPV. Not just of the year but pretty much of all time. The final three matches were amazing and blew away anything from WWE from the last ten years and ever in TNA. The Steen/Corino match was a sick brawl, something we haven’t seen since the days of Foley and Undertaker, but done even better here. The Roderick/Hero match was damn close to perfect if it wasn’t for the interference. The Tag and World Title matches were sheer excellence as you had no idea who would win till the end. I would have given the triple threat match a higher rating if the ending didn’t seem so odd, it just seemed rushed. As for the tag team gauntlet, would’ve rather just had a regular tag match with Young Bucks and All Night Express. Overall I’d call this a successful night for ROH and I can’t wait to watch the next episode of the show. There hasn’t been a PPV this exciting since Wrestlemania 17, this is a blueprint that all companies should follow for PPV, no interviews or comedy segments, just quality matches. I only wish we could have had a women’s match, since they usually use talent from SHIMMER. Still nothing to complain about here, the show ran close to five hours and was excellent. Highly recommend to any wrestling to see this show, or at least the Steen/Corino and final three matches.

I want to take a look at the latest episode of Ring of Honor wrestling which was just spot on a great hour long wrestling show. It featured three matches, and several great interview segments that presented pretty much all the stars of Ring of Honor in some form or fashion. The show opened with the best announce team in professional sports today(that’s right, not just wrestling, all sports) of Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness. Kevin has been around for years, perhaps best known as the guy that Rock would humiliate in backstage interviews in the late nineties, has developed into perhaps my second favorite call guy behind Jim Ross. Nigel has always been entertaining on the mic, back when he was a wrestler and ROH World Champion, I would love it when he would come onto commentary and interject some thoughts. Also, he used to call Bryan Danielson a clam digger which was hilarious. Nigel, who has never been a color announcer for more than a few shows in the past, has awesome timing and just a great character that adds to the broadcast instead of taking away from it like the current WWE announcers. If nothing else, this broadcast team calling the action makes me enjoy the product more than any other weekly wrestling show that is on television today.

Before the first match we’re treated to a short interview with Tommaso Ciampa and the new Embassy LTD of Prince Nana and Barrister RD Evans. For those of you who don’t know, Evans is one of the greatest characters in wrestling in Chikara as Archibald Peck a marching band leader. Here in Ring of Honor he is playing a lawyer who is working for some mysterious corporation that is financing Prince Nana’s(a longtime Ring of Honor manager) stable the Embassy. I am not a big fan of either Ciampa or Nana, but this new presentation of the Embassy LTD is changing my mind quick. It’s fun, it’s entertaining, it’s awesome. Ciampa is undefeated and now is demanding better competition(as Nigel put on commentary he has been facing a lot of “tomato cans”) and is getting it in the form of TJ Perkins, a longtime PWG wrestler who is an excellent technician and high flyer. Before the match we are showed the tale of the tape, which is a great feature that I’ve always been a fan of. The match itself was one of the better Ciampa matches I’ve seen, a good little competitive match, that saw Tommaso get the victory over TJ.

The next segment featured a story piece about Grizzly Redwood, a smaller wrestler that survived a premature birth and has defied the odds his entire life. It’s a great inspirational story(that just happens to be true) and one that I first learned of from Colt Cabana’s Art of Wrestling podcast. This piece makes you feel a lot of sympathy for Redwood, who is really a comedic character, and makes me think that he has a lot of potential as an underdog baby face that you just can’t help but route for. Grizzly was scheduled to wrestle WCW burnout Devon Storm(what rock did this guy crawl out of) but before the match can take place the House of Truth enters the ringside area. Truth Martini is a manager that I haven’t always thought was very effective, but recently I am starting to see why this guy is in Ring of Honor. The outfit that he is wearing as he comes to the ring just has to be seen to be believed. The crowd starts chanting Willy Wonka at him to give you an idea, and honestly, Truth does kind of resemble Gene Wilder. The House of Truth is another heel group in ROH, featuring former World champion and longtime ROH roster member Roderick Strong, and the up and coming unbreakable Michael Elgin. Truth basically pays off Storm so that Elgin gets the match, and the stout and incredibly powerful Elgin takes on the world’s littlest lumberjack Redwood. This gets some great heat with Kevin Kelly going nuts on commentary bad mouthing Truth Martini and Elgin starts having his way with Redwood. Grizzly manages to sneak in some offense before Elgin overpowers him and destroys him with some power-bombs. Another fun match that makes me want to see more of all the guys involved(well not including Devon Storm).

Next we are shown some footage from Kevin Steen’s match at Final Battle with Steve Corino. This was my favorite match from that night(the biggest show in Ring of Honor’s year is always Final Battle) which saw Steen come back after a year long absence from the promotion. Steen had lost a match to former tag partner now arch rival El Generico and was forced to leave the company. In order to get his job back, Kevin had to battle another former friend Steve Corino in fight without honor(no rules) where the cards were stacked against Steen with a special guest referee(Jimmy Jacobs, another rival of Steen) and Jim Cornette at ringside. This match was a great brawl that saw Steen defy the odds and win, only to go on to cause even more chaos by injuring(in storyline) Corino, Jacobs, and El Generico who came to Cornette’s rescue. Steen then cuts a promo hyping up his debut match that will air on next week’s show and vows to win the world title this year. Cornette responds that he knew Steen was too dangerous to let back in the company, but now that he’s here he will have to find a way to deal with him. Kevin Steen is without question exactly what Ring of Honor needs. He’s a must see star, that plays a great unpredictable psychopath. I am a huge Kevin Steen fan and I can’t wait to see where they go with him.

After this we are treated to some more interview segments highlighting the storyline of the difference that have arisen within world champion Davey Richards’ camp. Basically, former tag partner Eddie Edwards and current protegee Kyle O’Reilly hate each other and have different reasons why they do, and Richards is in the middle of the whole thing. When I heard that they were going to continue that Richards Edwards feud from last year I wasn’t very excited about it, but this segment changed my mind. Both of these guys present some interesting takes on the situation, and I find that I feel more sympathy for Edwards, but this made me want to see the two fight, and I think that’s what you are aiming for on any show about combat sports, is to make the viewer want to actually see the fight(this is what I’m talking about with UFC and trash talking fighters like Chael Sonnen). Before coming back from break we also get an interview with the Briscoe Brothers, Jay and Mark, who are just plain awesome. If you haven’t seen the Briscoe’s self filmed promos from their chicken farm in Sandy Fork Delaware, you need to see them. These guys are the best tag team going today, and some of the greatest characters on the face of the planet. If you like the Diaz brothers, you will love the Briscoes. Another short interview featured the self proclaimed World’s Greatest Tag Team of Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas, who are picking up some more steam after their heel turn.

The final match of the night featured some great action with Richards and O’Reilly taking on Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander. Tag team wrestling is some of the most entertaining match types, and you would never really know it if all you ever do is watch WWE. In ROH, tag teams are treated with respect and are a huge part of the show. This match was enhanced with Jim Cornette joining the broadcast team, and was highlighted by some great action from all four men. Just an excellent match to end what was a highly entertaining show that left me wanting more. The only real negatives about the show are the lower production values(they just don’t have the money of the bigger promotions) and the lack of star power. I’m not saying that the guys in Ring of Honor aren’t’ stars, because a lot of them either are, or have the potential to be in the very near future. What I’m saying is, that for someone who doesn’t follow independent wrestling, there isn’t a single guy on this show that they are going to recognize. To combat that, Ring of Honor does a superb job at introducing their characters and making it easy for new viewers to understand who they are and what their motivation is.

If you’re a wrestling fan, then you owe it to yourself to watch Ring of Honor Wrestling. If you were a wrestling fan, but gave up on it, you need to start watching ROH, because I think you’re going to like it. If you’re not a wrestling fan, I implore you to give Ring of Honor a chance. All it will take is a simple free sign up and about fifty minutes of your time to watch one episode. If you don’t like it you’re not losing anything, but if you do, you might just get your eyes opened to a product that will not disappoint.

M&T Indie Spotlight: Introducing Reed Bentley (DOWNLOAD)

On this special, bite-sized podcast, I (Tom) was joined by cohort Nick Maniwa, as we sat down with rising Midwestern independent star (and member of our “10 for ’11″ independent breakout class) Reed Bentley (Insanity Pro Wrestling, Heartland Wrestling Association, Destination 1 Wrestling) to discuss his time so far in wrestling. During the half-hour, Reed spoke on the importance of travelling and wrestling often to meet new people and learn under everyone you can as a young wrestler, wrestling at IWA Mid-South’s King of the Deathmatches in his first deathmatch ever, learning under wrestlers like Drake Younger and Chris Hero, his upcoming match at IWA-MS against Jimmy Jacobs, the other young wrestlers coming up through the Midwest indie scene with him, wrestlers he’d like to work with in the future and STRICTLY HARDCORE WRESTLING (including a story involving a gun being pulled on him)! Reed is a really talented young wrestler with one heck of an upside, so I hope those of you who’ve never heard of him give this a chance and become interested in his work.

We open with a recap of last weeks main event, as the World’s Greatest Tag Team defeated the Kings of Wrestling to retain the tag titles. From there we go to the opening video and our main event is Jay Lethal challenging El Generico for the TV title. Jim Cornette is in the ring and introduces Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas. I don’t like opening with an interview, with the show only an hour long. Shelton says they’ve beaten everyone, but the Briscoe Brothers have a problem with them, as we show highlights from the beat down in NYC. Cornette says they were fined 5000 dollars for the beating, and says the Briscoe Brothers will only face them if the titles are on the line. Charlie says they’re ready right here, right now and Cornette responds that he will not reward the Briscoes. The World’s Greatest Tag Team demands the match, as Cornette backs off. It’s time for the first promo for the website, including a promo from the Briscoe Brothers. From there we get a hype video for Mike Bennett, which is a pretty good way to introduce the stars to new fans. Bennett has a trainer named Bob Evans, who is basically his manager. The kid cuts a pretty good promo, but we really should have a match, as we’re 10 minutes in and no action. This is like watching RAW, with all this non wrestling stuff. Another promo for the ROH website, someone needs to let them know they only have an hour. We get another website promo right after the last one? Hey, I think we’re finally getting a match!

1. Jimmy Jacobs w/ Steve Corino v. Mike Bennett w/ Bob Evans

Bob Evans reminds me of Luscious Johnny V, former manager of the Dream Team, as he comes out with the big cigar. Bob Evans actually had two matches in WWE, on Jakked, against Saturn and Dean Malenko in a tag match and Gangrel in a singles match, both losses of course. Steve Corino also did a few job matches in the WWE in 97/98, mostly tag team matches. Well, while we’re at it, let’s see what we can find about the two guys actually wrestling. Bennett did two jobs in WWE in 2007, both two Cryme Tyme. Jacobs also did two job matches in WWE in 2005, against Nunzio and Eddie Guerrero. Interesting to see all four guys have job experience in WWE. Jacobs blocks a piledriver and hits a nice springboard RKO, that was impressive looking. Jacobs follows up with the Senton, but Bennett gets the knees up and quickly nails the Box Office Smash, aka the Rock Bottom, for the victory. A pretty good match actually, as both guys worked hard and hits some good moves. After the match Mike and Jimmy shake hands, and Mike pats Corino on the head and Jimmy has to hold him back.

Mike Bennett pinned Jimmy Jacobs with the Box Office Smash 6.5/10

Time for more website promos, and then Nigel goes to talk to fans about who will win the main event. We go to Inside ROH and we get an interview with Eddie Edwards who goes over his injury from two years ago when he broke his elbow. Roderick Strong faces Davey Richards next week, for the World Title, and we get comments from both men.

2. Jay Lethal v. El Generico for the TV Title

I always liked Jay Lethal, and it’s nice to see him as himself and not doing the Macho Man gimmick. Not a clue who El Generico is though, but the crowd sure likes him. Very innovative submission hold from Jay Lethal, as this has been a great match so far. Amazing flip dive over the top rope to the floor by Generico, that was Jeff Hardy worthy. During the break we see Generico hitting a moonsault off the guardrail. This guy is amazingly agile, I’m impressed. Always hate when they start to announce the time remaining, and now they added a clock at the bottom of the screen too, so I assume it’s a time limit draw coming. Generico with a nice tornado DDT almost scores the win, as just over a minute remains. Generico goes for the big boot, but Lethal catches the foot and shoves him back, Lethal with a roll up for the near fall. The time runs out, and the crowd boos, figured as thats usually what happens when they show the clock. Both guys look pretty pissed off about this, as the crowd chants “Five more minutes” and both guys talking to the ref, as Jim Cornette comes out and says they can go for the rest of the show if they want, and they agree. They’re slugging it out and Generico runs into the forearm, but Lethal takes too long and eats the big boot into the flipping German Suplex for a near fall. The crowd is insane, they’re ten times louder than the crowd at the last WWE PPV, but then this has been impressive so far. Generico gets suplexed down and Lethal goes for an elbow, but Generico blocks and sets up the top rope brainbuster. Lethal shoves him off, hits the big elbow drop and covers, but Generico kicks out again. Generico goes for the big boot, but Lethal catches him with the big kick and Lethal Injection to score the win and the title!!! What an amazing back and forth match, Lethal was amazing and Generico impressed the hell out of me. Great match, and we have a new TV champion!

Jay Lethal pinned El Generico with the Lethal Injection to win the TV Title 9/10

A good second episode from ROH as I’m getting more into this show every week. The main event was spectacular, and worlds better than the main event of the WWE PPV. Two guys who went out there and put on a great match. Looking forward to next week and seeing Davey Richards for the very first time. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to recap Lucha Libre USA tomorrow, and maybe CMLL as well?