ROH 13th Anniversary Show
There's a Spanish announce team and just by the intro they sound bad. And that makes what, 4 tables at ringside? Also, ROH is using traditional ropes tonight, not the usual wire, we'll see how that plays out.
Cedric Alexander vs Matt Sydal - 7.5/10
Cedric's game face feels heelish, but i think it's just that anyone would look heelish next to Sydal. Fans are definitely more over with Sydal than Cedric tonight. Sydal's work is just beautiful and spotless. Alexander worked Sydal's back and Sydal mostly worked Cedric's legs. Great Opener! At the end Cedric has a face where i think he'll be turning heel soon.
Mark Briscoe vs Moose w/The Embassy - 6/10
The way I see Moose, he has incredible agility, good strength, but he's just way to slow sometimes, like he's thinking about what he's executing and what's the next, so it doesn't look fluent. I think he just needs to gain more experience and confidence. Good match and display for Moose, Mark was just there doing his job as enhancement talent. At the end Briscoe and Moose were going to shake hands and Veda slapped Moose's hand away.
The Kingdom vs The Addiction vs Karl Anderson - 8/10
Anderson is alone tonight because Gallows couldn't make the show due to bad weather in Detroit, and instead of finding a replacement, Anderson is simply taking them on by themselves. Anderson addressed this on the mic. There is a point where Chris Daniels gave a hot tag to Anderson, I don't think in the history of wrestling, I've seen a wrestler give a hot tag to an opposing team. Match was really fast paced and full of action from all five guys. The Addiction was just awesome in this match, but I personally found The Kingdom as the MVPs of the match. Not taking anything away from Anderson who actually pulled it off by himself. Kingdom pinned Anderson, so I'm guessing they're going back to NJPW.
Roderick Strong vs BJ Whitmer w/The Decade - 7/10
It's weird, i feel like they're fighting with the hate of their feud, but wrestling way to cleanly, a part of me was just expecting an all out brawl like the backstage brawl they had in the build up to this match, but I also feel that as heated as they were, proving who was better was more important. BJ at one point kissed Roddy. JJ was great on the commentary table.
"Title of Love" Title Match
Maria Kanellis (C) vs ODB w/Mark Briscoe - 5/10
Awesome awesome promo of Maria on the build up video. Plain Awesome! Anyway, the announcers are playing this match as an actual title match, so I may as well. Maria announces that she is pregnant right before the match, and Corino is quite disturbed because he'll need to buy a gift. After that Mike takes out Mark Briscoe and Maria hits ODB with the belt. So there's pretty much two matches going on right now. ODB won and actually took the title, tore out the pink stuff and the Briscoe title is back, I seriously hope it's the last time I see that Briscoe title. This was probably the greatest called match ever, actual quote from Corino about Maria: "WOW! She looks hot for a pregnant chick! "
ACH vs AJ Styles - 9/10
Corino and Kevin are selling this as a big stakes match because a win for ACH could make him a top contender for the IWGP title. Corino was hinting that ACH was going to debut a new move tonight, when he hit it, AJ kicked out, making ACH look really green for coming up with such weak moves. Amazing match, some great near falls nearing the end of the match. ACH cockiness made him look like he was too young for AJ experience, but ACH was able to hang with him until the very last minute of the match.
ROH World Tag Team Title Match
reDragon (c) w/Shayna Baszler vs The Young Bucks - 8.5/10
Rocky Romero on commentary for the match, too bad his mic was turned down. Horsewoman Shayna Baszler walking out with reDragon tonight. The two best tag teams in the world today face off, IWGP Jr Heavyweight Tag Team champs vs the ROH World Tag Team champs. The match was as awesome as this guys usually do, lots of fast paced action and double team moves. Crowd was super hot for this match, particular the false finishes at the latter part of the match, yet the finish itself wasn't as hot.
Rocky Romero announces that he and his new partner, Trent Barreta's team name will be Roppongi Vice.
ROH TV Title Match
Jay Lethal (C) w/ Truth Martini vs Alberto El Patron - 8/10
Hadn't noticed that in the Jay Lethal Promo about taking hand-downs from Joe, Dragon, and Punk, he took a big shot to Punk. It's his 4th match, and I still can't get over the idea of Alberto wrestling in ROH, I still mark out. Match was great as you would expect from both guys, the escalation of the match got really good, and while the finish was great, the idea that the ref did not hear nor see the Book of Truth shot is hard to believe, but it worked.
Samoa Joe RETURNS!! The camera turned to a sign that said "Joe's Gonna Eat You", probably not the best thing to show for your hero's homecoming. Also, not as many streamers as you would expect. Joe's promo was your typical comeback promo putting the world title match over and telling us that he's coming for the title.
ROH World Title Match
Jay Briscoe (C) vs 'Unbreakable' Michael Elgin vs 'War Beard' Hanson vs 'the Sicilian Psychopath Tommaso Ciampa - 7.5/10
Nigel McGuiness is out for commentary. Ciampa is cosplaying as The Menagerie's Freak, meanwhile Corino told us to look at Ciampa's eyes, while I realize that he has developed X-Ray powers. Todd Sinclair took a really unique ref bump in this match, during his down time both Hanson and Elgin had clear pins over the champion, and Ciampa over Elgin. Also quite interesting, Ciampa saved Nigel from being powerbombed by Elgin. The match itself was good, but still the clusterfuck that I was honestly expecting, all four men had a good chance to shine and the finish leaves everything open since they wanted to play the Vega's theme. I can see Elgin getting a world title shot once Jay is done with Joe by the end of the Conquest Tour.
At one point in the match the Knights attacked the match executing The Kingdom's moves and War Machine Ray Rowe returned to chase them off. If the Knight's are unmasked to actually be The Kingdom, i'll be really let down.
Joe and Jay had a face off at the end of the show.
ROH Best in the World Announced as the next PPV.
OVERALL THOUGHTS - By this time, i'm sick and tired of the Ocean's Eleven like theme song for the PPV. Great show for ROH with a really strong under card, to a point where I didn't feel the main event lived up to some of the other matches, but not taking anything away from the 4-way that closed out the show.
Cedric Alexander vs Matt Sydal - 7.5/10
Cedric's game face feels heelish, but i think it's just that anyone would look heelish next to Sydal. Fans are definitely more over with Sydal than Cedric tonight. Sydal's work is just beautiful and spotless. Alexander worked Sydal's back and Sydal mostly worked Cedric's legs. Great Opener! At the end Cedric has a face where i think he'll be turning heel soon.
Mark Briscoe vs Moose w/The Embassy - 6/10
The way I see Moose, he has incredible agility, good strength, but he's just way to slow sometimes, like he's thinking about what he's executing and what's the next, so it doesn't look fluent. I think he just needs to gain more experience and confidence. Good match and display for Moose, Mark was just there doing his job as enhancement talent. At the end Briscoe and Moose were going to shake hands and Veda slapped Moose's hand away.
The Kingdom vs The Addiction vs Karl Anderson - 8/10
Anderson is alone tonight because Gallows couldn't make the show due to bad weather in Detroit, and instead of finding a replacement, Anderson is simply taking them on by themselves. Anderson addressed this on the mic. There is a point where Chris Daniels gave a hot tag to Anderson, I don't think in the history of wrestling, I've seen a wrestler give a hot tag to an opposing team. Match was really fast paced and full of action from all five guys. The Addiction was just awesome in this match, but I personally found The Kingdom as the MVPs of the match. Not taking anything away from Anderson who actually pulled it off by himself. Kingdom pinned Anderson, so I'm guessing they're going back to NJPW.
Roderick Strong vs BJ Whitmer w/The Decade - 7/10
It's weird, i feel like they're fighting with the hate of their feud, but wrestling way to cleanly, a part of me was just expecting an all out brawl like the backstage brawl they had in the build up to this match, but I also feel that as heated as they were, proving who was better was more important. BJ at one point kissed Roddy. JJ was great on the commentary table.
"Title of Love" Title Match
Maria Kanellis (C) vs ODB w/Mark Briscoe - 5/10
Awesome awesome promo of Maria on the build up video. Plain Awesome! Anyway, the announcers are playing this match as an actual title match, so I may as well. Maria announces that she is pregnant right before the match, and Corino is quite disturbed because he'll need to buy a gift. After that Mike takes out Mark Briscoe and Maria hits ODB with the belt. So there's pretty much two matches going on right now. ODB won and actually took the title, tore out the pink stuff and the Briscoe title is back, I seriously hope it's the last time I see that Briscoe title. This was probably the greatest called match ever, actual quote from Corino about Maria: "WOW! She looks hot for a pregnant chick! "
ACH vs AJ Styles - 9/10
Corino and Kevin are selling this as a big stakes match because a win for ACH could make him a top contender for the IWGP title. Corino was hinting that ACH was going to debut a new move tonight, when he hit it, AJ kicked out, making ACH look really green for coming up with such weak moves. Amazing match, some great near falls nearing the end of the match. ACH cockiness made him look like he was too young for AJ experience, but ACH was able to hang with him until the very last minute of the match.
ROH World Tag Team Title Match
reDragon (c) w/Shayna Baszler vs The Young Bucks - 8.5/10
Rocky Romero on commentary for the match, too bad his mic was turned down. Horsewoman Shayna Baszler walking out with reDragon tonight. The two best tag teams in the world today face off, IWGP Jr Heavyweight Tag Team champs vs the ROH World Tag Team champs. The match was as awesome as this guys usually do, lots of fast paced action and double team moves. Crowd was super hot for this match, particular the false finishes at the latter part of the match, yet the finish itself wasn't as hot.
Rocky Romero announces that he and his new partner, Trent Barreta's team name will be Roppongi Vice.
ROH TV Title Match
Jay Lethal (C) w/ Truth Martini vs Alberto El Patron - 8/10
Hadn't noticed that in the Jay Lethal Promo about taking hand-downs from Joe, Dragon, and Punk, he took a big shot to Punk. It's his 4th match, and I still can't get over the idea of Alberto wrestling in ROH, I still mark out. Match was great as you would expect from both guys, the escalation of the match got really good, and while the finish was great, the idea that the ref did not hear nor see the Book of Truth shot is hard to believe, but it worked.
Samoa Joe RETURNS!! The camera turned to a sign that said "Joe's Gonna Eat You", probably not the best thing to show for your hero's homecoming. Also, not as many streamers as you would expect. Joe's promo was your typical comeback promo putting the world title match over and telling us that he's coming for the title.
ROH World Title Match
Jay Briscoe (C) vs 'Unbreakable' Michael Elgin vs 'War Beard' Hanson vs 'the Sicilian Psychopath Tommaso Ciampa - 7.5/10
Nigel McGuiness is out for commentary. Ciampa is cosplaying as The Menagerie's Freak, meanwhile Corino told us to look at Ciampa's eyes, while I realize that he has developed X-Ray powers. Todd Sinclair took a really unique ref bump in this match, during his down time both Hanson and Elgin had clear pins over the champion, and Ciampa over Elgin. Also quite interesting, Ciampa saved Nigel from being powerbombed by Elgin. The match itself was good, but still the clusterfuck that I was honestly expecting, all four men had a good chance to shine and the finish leaves everything open since they wanted to play the Vega's theme. I can see Elgin getting a world title shot once Jay is done with Joe by the end of the Conquest Tour.
At one point in the match the Knights attacked the match executing The Kingdom's moves and War Machine Ray Rowe returned to chase them off. If the Knight's are unmasked to actually be The Kingdom, i'll be really let down.
Joe and Jay had a face off at the end of the show.
ROH Best in the World Announced as the next PPV.
OVERALL THOUGHTS - By this time, i'm sick and tired of the Ocean's Eleven like theme song for the PPV. Great show for ROH with a really strong under card, to a point where I didn't feel the main event lived up to some of the other matches, but not taking anything away from the 4-way that closed out the show.