BRM Reviews the 5/31/2014 ROH

[Big Red Machine]

ACH vs. RODERICK STRONG (w/the Decade)- 7/10
Great match!

ROH TV TITLE MATCH: Jay Lethal(c) (w/Truth Martini) vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Matt Taven- no contest
They brawled on the outside before ever getting in the ring, and during this time, Lethal hit Ciampa in his injured knee with a steel chair, so Ciampa had to be attended to. Ciampa's knee still being such a weak-point on him after they made a whole big deal out of him finally being ready to wrestle without his kneebrace at Supercard of Honor VIII is really annoying me. You can read my review of that show for the story why it annoyed me so much.

Taven is angry and wants Jay to get in the ring and fight him. He then swears to G-d that when he is done with Jay he will decapitate Truth Martini. Kevin Kelly says that this would "serve Truth Martini right" for what he did to Taven. I know Truth attacked Taven backstage and left him laying in a pool of blood, and don't get me wrong: that is a terrible thing to do... but I really don't think it is enough to warrant EXECUTION in retaliation.
Jay accepts Taven's challenge, and we wind up with...

ROH TV TITLE MATCH: Jay Lethal(c) (w/Truth Martini) vs. Matt Taven- no rating. Good segment.
Or maybe we don't get the match. Taven took it to Lethal, but Truth quickly jumped in the ring and hit Taven in the back of the head with the Book of Truth for the DQ.
EVEN MORE STUFF HAPPENS- While Jay is posing with the belt, Taven manages to grab Truth's leg and take him down. Lethal went to help Truth, but Ciampa hobbled into the ring and attacked Lethal. The heels escaped and went to the back. Ciampa tried to chase them, but could even come close to doing so because of his injured knee. There was a lot going on in this segment, but I thought it was very good.

JAY BRISCOE vs. MICHAEL BENNETT (w/Maria Kanellis)- 7/10
Jay is wearing something on his head I don't know what it is, but it looks extremely stupid. They brawled on the outside for almost ten straight minutes without a count-out, which really annoyed me. Aside from that, it was a great match. Bennett worked over Jay's back and Jay worked over Bennett's head. After the match Jay told the camera that he was coming for Matt Hardy and wanted to get his belt back.
I think the stable of Adam Cole, Matt Hardy, Michael Bennett and Maria is now being called "the Kingdom." They really need to stop it with the religious iconography. It didn't work last year, and its not working this year, either. The good news is that with Matt probably leaving to go back to TNA and Cole probably losing the belt to Elgin at Best in the World 2014, this stable is probably done for.

A great show from ROH. I hope they release this whole set of Baltimore tapings on DVD like they did for Survival of the Fittest 2012, because it has been great so far, and there is still one more show to go, and that includes a Defy of Deny match. Speaking of the Defy or Deny match, the only thing I think ROH did poorly on this show, was hype that match up. Kevin Kelly never explained what the match was, nor did he say who will be in it (aside from Adam Cole). I was wracking my brain trying to figure out who could possibly be in that match, and I couldn't think of anyone. Elgin and Elgin already has a title shots coming, AJ Styles, Jay Briscoe, Matt Taven, Roderick Strong and Tommaso Ciampa already worked these tapings. Chris Hero is in Japan. The only guys who I could see being in it are maybe Fish, O'Reilly, Whitmer, Jacobs, or Mark Briscoe, but none of those guys have been chasing the title, so it really doesn't seem to make much sense to put them in a Defy or Deny match.
Still... this was a great show from ROH. Make sure you check it out.