ROH Supercard Of Honor IX
Opening Video: cheap enough to make me think i'm watching ROHtv and not freaking Supercard of Honor 9!
Place is huge, but the seating makes it look emptier than it is and cheaper than the normal tv setting, if ROH is not going to work bigger places with stadium style seating, they should consider purchasing them and travel around with them. I know ROH is not about production, but they should really consider it now that they're slowly becoming the 2nd top company in the US. On this note, there us a huge light that really bothers me on some angles.
Also, I think Becky Bayless is sitting next to Silkin tonight. Adam Cole forced to do commentary tonight, which I swear both he and Kelly did voice-over in some spots during the night.
ACH vs Mark Briscoe - 6/10
Great opener, both Mark and ACH pulled off some pretty good looking moves that were getting the crowd hot. Kinda felt the finish was a bit lackluster. I don't particularly agree with Briscoe going over.
Kazarian vs Michael Elgin - 6.5/10
They told a good story of Elgin's strength vs Kaz's speed and technicality. Elgin was for the most part dominating the whole match, which made the near falls towards the end of the match really good. Finish was good too.
After the match Daniels comes to help Kaz because Elgin is still messing with him, and Elgin attacks Daniels on the back, which should come into play later on against the Messiah of the Back Breaker himself.
Tomasso Ciampa vs Caprice Coleman vs Moose w/The Embassy vs Andrew Everett vs Matt Sydal vs Cedric Alexander - 6.5/10
Moose and Sydal are easily the most over men in this match. Ciampa is starting things with both those guys. ROH Ciampa is becoming more like PWG Ciampa, which is pretty awesome, but probably not the best for ROH style seriousness. These matches always tend to be fun and a great showing for most men involved, this wasn't anything different, we got hints of Sydal and Everett working together, as well as Ciampa and Moose, which is also a good looking pairing. Sydal picks the win because Moose wasn't paying attention. Sydal puts Andrew over. Ciampa follows the COH. Cedric is pissed off and continues his heel turn. Moose wants to follow the COH, but Veda blocks him, which continues his face turn, I love the idea of Moose wanting to be one of the 'guys' with the COH, but Veda doesn't want that.
BJ Whitmer w/Colby Corino vs Jimmy Jacobs - 7.5/10, Aftermath - 10/10!
You can tell in Jacobs' and Whitmer's face that they're both emotional for Jimmy's farewell match. They hug before the match. Jacobs' spear got a 'Better than Reigns' chant, but it lasted no more than 5 seconds. Jacobs and Whitmer failed at one point to break a table, but they made up for it with an even better looking spot. As good as this match was, it doesn't live up to the battles of the past, nor some others matches in the night. But the aftermath was as great as it could get, a memorable moment in ROH history, a truly beautiful ending to the story of a guy who never made it. They even played The Ballad of Lacey.
While I love the ending to Jimmy's ROH run and I wouldn't change it, I truly believe he is one of the guys that SHOULD and deserves to get the whole 'roster comes out' to the ring ending while he says his goodbyes. Hell, this match should have closed out a lesser show and be named after Jimmy.
Side Note: during this match, because Kelly started to accuse Cole of being part of the KRD, Cole left commentary. After this, Kelly did a horrible job by himself IMO.
Christopher Daniels vs Roderick Strong - 7.5/10
Some people in the crowd asking for Curry Man, funny fans *sigh*. So my biggest problem with this match is that if this is a face vs face match, and Roddy being a face, he won't take advantage of Daniels' injury at the start of the show, his moveset was exactly the same, so why give him that extra advantage anyway? Add to this that Kelly made a terrible job at selling Daniels' injury, and to some point Daniels didn't sell it as he was hurting that much. It just kinda diminishes Roddy's win. Overall, the match was great wrestling wise, it was just that issue that bothered me. Also, this may be me not paying attention, but since when had they been playing a story about Daniels wondering about his age and future?
ROH Tag Team Title Match
The Kingdom vs reDragon (c) - 8/10
I love the Kingdom, they've become my favorite ROH team, i love Mike and Maria as a couple, and third-wheel Matt Taven is my favorite Matt Taven. "Filthy" Tom Lawlor is out with reDragon, I like this "friends of MMA" gimmick. The match was a whole lot of comedy, reDragon constantly harassing Maria, making Mike jealous, and Matt is a really supportive friend. Taven was kinda the babyheel in peril for a good part of the match, then they moved it to Kyle become the babyface in peril. The match was amazing, both teams really brought it...and then the KRD showed up and cost The Kingdom the match. O'Reilly seems to be injured.
ROH TV Title Match
Jushin Thunder Liger vs Jay Lethal (c) - 8/10
Liger with the greatest entrance video ever obviously, and he is super over with the crowd. Pretty much a split match between both, they both got an even amount of offense time. Definitely the most technical match of the match, Liger looking younger than he is, and Lethal looking as experienced as Liger is. It's impressive to think that at his age, Liger can go like this. Match had a bit overbooked finish, but it works to keep both Liger and Lethal strong. Lethal and Liger shake hands at the end and makes you realize that he really IS the ROH champion.
ROH World Title Match
Samoa Joe vs Jay Briscoe (c) - 8.5/10
Joe gets a great reception, but not liking his song. Joe is looking in great shape and announced as the longest reining champ in ROH history, nice touch. I don't know what it is, but at the beginning of the match, i just don't feel the epicness of what I should be feeling, almost as if Joe had been here all along, maybe it was because i knew there was no chance Joe was winning. An interesting difference between 'new guys' ACH and veteran Joe, when Joe botched falling to the outside, he faked an injure and rolled out, while ACH in the opening match simply accepted the fuck up and retried the spot. the match itself was fantastic, Joe got most of this old spots in, Briscoe was the normal hard hitting ass kicker. Finish was good, but i felt there weren't many good near falls towards the end.
Aftermath, Joe raises Briscoe's hand in victory, and you can almost tell that Joe is proud of how far Briscoe has gone.
OVERALL THOUGHTS:
A great show wrestling wise for ROH, with not a lot of storyline developments. It surely didn't feel as the big show that any nine anniversary of any show should feel, it had a stacked up card with Liger, Jacob's last match, and Joe challenging for the title, yet it still felt like any other house show.
Place is huge, but the seating makes it look emptier than it is and cheaper than the normal tv setting, if ROH is not going to work bigger places with stadium style seating, they should consider purchasing them and travel around with them. I know ROH is not about production, but they should really consider it now that they're slowly becoming the 2nd top company in the US. On this note, there us a huge light that really bothers me on some angles.
Also, I think Becky Bayless is sitting next to Silkin tonight. Adam Cole forced to do commentary tonight, which I swear both he and Kelly did voice-over in some spots during the night.
ACH vs Mark Briscoe - 6/10
Great opener, both Mark and ACH pulled off some pretty good looking moves that were getting the crowd hot. Kinda felt the finish was a bit lackluster. I don't particularly agree with Briscoe going over.
Kazarian vs Michael Elgin - 6.5/10
They told a good story of Elgin's strength vs Kaz's speed and technicality. Elgin was for the most part dominating the whole match, which made the near falls towards the end of the match really good. Finish was good too.
After the match Daniels comes to help Kaz because Elgin is still messing with him, and Elgin attacks Daniels on the back, which should come into play later on against the Messiah of the Back Breaker himself.
Tomasso Ciampa vs Caprice Coleman vs Moose w/The Embassy vs Andrew Everett vs Matt Sydal vs Cedric Alexander - 6.5/10
Moose and Sydal are easily the most over men in this match. Ciampa is starting things with both those guys. ROH Ciampa is becoming more like PWG Ciampa, which is pretty awesome, but probably not the best for ROH style seriousness. These matches always tend to be fun and a great showing for most men involved, this wasn't anything different, we got hints of Sydal and Everett working together, as well as Ciampa and Moose, which is also a good looking pairing. Sydal picks the win because Moose wasn't paying attention. Sydal puts Andrew over. Ciampa follows the COH. Cedric is pissed off and continues his heel turn. Moose wants to follow the COH, but Veda blocks him, which continues his face turn, I love the idea of Moose wanting to be one of the 'guys' with the COH, but Veda doesn't want that.
BJ Whitmer w/Colby Corino vs Jimmy Jacobs - 7.5/10, Aftermath - 10/10!
You can tell in Jacobs' and Whitmer's face that they're both emotional for Jimmy's farewell match. They hug before the match. Jacobs' spear got a 'Better than Reigns' chant, but it lasted no more than 5 seconds. Jacobs and Whitmer failed at one point to break a table, but they made up for it with an even better looking spot. As good as this match was, it doesn't live up to the battles of the past, nor some others matches in the night. But the aftermath was as great as it could get, a memorable moment in ROH history, a truly beautiful ending to the story of a guy who never made it. They even played The Ballad of Lacey.
While I love the ending to Jimmy's ROH run and I wouldn't change it, I truly believe he is one of the guys that SHOULD and deserves to get the whole 'roster comes out' to the ring ending while he says his goodbyes. Hell, this match should have closed out a lesser show and be named after Jimmy.
Side Note: during this match, because Kelly started to accuse Cole of being part of the KRD, Cole left commentary. After this, Kelly did a horrible job by himself IMO.
Christopher Daniels vs Roderick Strong - 7.5/10
Some people in the crowd asking for Curry Man, funny fans *sigh*. So my biggest problem with this match is that if this is a face vs face match, and Roddy being a face, he won't take advantage of Daniels' injury at the start of the show, his moveset was exactly the same, so why give him that extra advantage anyway? Add to this that Kelly made a terrible job at selling Daniels' injury, and to some point Daniels didn't sell it as he was hurting that much. It just kinda diminishes Roddy's win. Overall, the match was great wrestling wise, it was just that issue that bothered me. Also, this may be me not paying attention, but since when had they been playing a story about Daniels wondering about his age and future?
ROH Tag Team Title Match
The Kingdom vs reDragon (c) - 8/10
I love the Kingdom, they've become my favorite ROH team, i love Mike and Maria as a couple, and third-wheel Matt Taven is my favorite Matt Taven. "Filthy" Tom Lawlor is out with reDragon, I like this "friends of MMA" gimmick. The match was a whole lot of comedy, reDragon constantly harassing Maria, making Mike jealous, and Matt is a really supportive friend. Taven was kinda the babyheel in peril for a good part of the match, then they moved it to Kyle become the babyface in peril. The match was amazing, both teams really brought it...and then the KRD showed up and cost The Kingdom the match. O'Reilly seems to be injured.
ROH TV Title Match
Jushin Thunder Liger vs Jay Lethal (c) - 8/10
Liger with the greatest entrance video ever obviously, and he is super over with the crowd. Pretty much a split match between both, they both got an even amount of offense time. Definitely the most technical match of the match, Liger looking younger than he is, and Lethal looking as experienced as Liger is. It's impressive to think that at his age, Liger can go like this. Match had a bit overbooked finish, but it works to keep both Liger and Lethal strong. Lethal and Liger shake hands at the end and makes you realize that he really IS the ROH champion.
ROH World Title Match
Samoa Joe vs Jay Briscoe (c) - 8.5/10
Joe gets a great reception, but not liking his song. Joe is looking in great shape and announced as the longest reining champ in ROH history, nice touch. I don't know what it is, but at the beginning of the match, i just don't feel the epicness of what I should be feeling, almost as if Joe had been here all along, maybe it was because i knew there was no chance Joe was winning. An interesting difference between 'new guys' ACH and veteran Joe, when Joe botched falling to the outside, he faked an injure and rolled out, while ACH in the opening match simply accepted the fuck up and retried the spot. the match itself was fantastic, Joe got most of this old spots in, Briscoe was the normal hard hitting ass kicker. Finish was good, but i felt there weren't many good near falls towards the end.
Aftermath, Joe raises Briscoe's hand in victory, and you can almost tell that Joe is proud of how far Briscoe has gone.
OVERALL THOUGHTS:
A great show wrestling wise for ROH, with not a lot of storyline developments. It surely didn't feel as the big show that any nine anniversary of any show should feel, it had a stacked up card with Liger, Jacob's last match, and Joe challenging for the title, yet it still felt like any other house show.