ROH Rise and Prove
ROH Rise & Prove (2/17/2012)- Cincinnati, OH
VEDA SCOTT INTERVIEWS ADAM COLE- good
ADAM COLE vs. MICHAEL ELGIN (w/Truth Martini)- 6.75/10
Well… here are two guys whose star-power was about to increase dramatically. In this particular match they did a great job of telling the classic story of the big powerful heel vs. the smaller, faster babyface.
VEDA SCOTT INTERVIEWS CHRIS SILVIO & SEAN CASEY- these f*ckers are totally unlikeable… and this was an interview that was supposed to be comedy.
VEDA SCOTT INTERVIEWS SHILOH JONZE & RUDY SWITCHBLADE- their promo wasn’t good, but it was far less annoying than Casey and Silvio were, so I know who I’m rooting for.
RISE AND PROVE TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND MATCH: Shiloh Jonze & Rudy Switchblade vs. Chris Silvio & Sean Casey- 4.25/10
The graphic they put up for this match said it would be Jonze & Switchblade taking on Haste & Nichols. Whoops.
I’m not trying to take a shot at Cornette or the OVW guys, but the first few minutes of this match were filled with the bland but athletic tag team offense that is exactly what you would see in Smokey Mountain Wrestling in 1992.
VEDA SCOTT INTERVIEWS ALABAMA ATTITUDE- boy are these guys bland.
VEDA SCOTT INTERVIEWS SHANE HASTE & MIKEY NICHOLLS- very good
RISE AND PROVE TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND MATCH: Alabama Attitude vs. TMDK (Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls)- 6.5/10
TMDK cut a short pre-match promo to let us know that they are the heels. The match was pretty good and was elevated by a very good finish.
VEDA SCOTT INTERVIEWS EDDIE EDWARDS- good
NO HOLDS BARRED MATCH: Eddie Edwards vs. Roderick Strong (w/Truth Martini)- 8/10
Before the match started, Cornette came out and ordered that Truth be handcuffed to the ringpost (he had previously interfered in the Cole vs. Elgin match, as well as in Eddie and Roddy’s previous match at Death Before Dishonor IX). Of course, the problem with handcuffing him to the ringpost is that he is still RIGHT NEAR THE RING, where he can easily interfere if they come near him! And lo and behold: he did.
So they’re having thins No Holds Barred match someone goes to use a steel chair, which is completely legal in this disqualificationless match… and Kevin Kelly reminds us that while chairs are legal, anyone who hits the other guy in the head with a chair will be heavily fined and possibly suspended by management… and it just made the whole match feel lame. Look. I’m not certainly not advocating chairshots to the head. I’m just saying that it’s a bad idea to remind us that the office will fine and suspend you for using a weapon during what is essentially a No Disqualifications match.
They went out there and had a match that felt very tame for a No DQ’s match, but was also awesome. The interferences played off of Eddie’s promo and helped build Eddie and Cole up as a team for the anniversary show, and Truth’s escape was set up so perfectly I didn’t even see it coming.
VEDA SCOTT INTERVIEWS SAMSON WALKER- good promo by Walker.
HOUSE OF TRUTH PROMO- good
MIKE MONDO vs. SAMSON WALKER- 3/10
A dull match with a can-of-worms-opening restart (why doesn’t a second ref come out and tell another ref to reverse the call EVERY time someone cheats?).
MIKE MONDO PROMO- terrible. Like every Mondo promo. He just comes across as the world’s most fake â€"tough guy†and his obnoxious voice just makes it all ever worse.
RISE AND PROVE TOURNAMENT FINALS- 5.75/10
More bland offense. The heels cut the ring off and they built up to a hot tag which got NO reaction whatsoever.
VEDA SCOTT INTERVIEWS BJ WHITMER- okay.
PROMO BY THE WINNERS OF THE RISE & PROVE TOURNAMENT- The first guy to speak was bad, the second guy was good.
PROVING GROUND MATCH: ROH TV Champion Jay Lethal vs. BJ Whitmer- 6.75/10
BJ didn’t look particularly impressive in any way. He was competent, but not someone who really made you say â€"I’d like to see that guy wrestle again.â€
JAY LETHAL PROMO- terrible. Both the promo and the camerawork. Jay rambled on horribly and the cameraman needs to learn how to zoom out.
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Briscoes(c) vs. Team Ambition (Davey Richards & Kyle O’Reilly)- 8.25/10
The classic battle of brawlers vs. technicians.
Despite the awesome main event and the Eddie vs. Roddy match, I really can’t call this a good show. The other matches all felt like filler (aside from Whitmer vs. Lethal) and the OVW talent was all dull at best, but the bigger problem here was the production. The production was terrible, with bad glare on the camera, graphics that looked terribly cheap, and horrendously ugly art on the discs… and this is coming from someone who rarely cares about this sort of thing. Between that and the audio problems and small-time look on the bonus disc show, I’d have to say that these two shows are the worst I have seen an ROH show look since 2003.
Speaking of the bonus disc, here goes…
BONUS DISC:
ROH Underground (1/21/2012)- Norfolk, VA
OPENING OF THE SHOW- Jim Cornette announces that Eddie Edwards won’t be able to compete tonight because he has a staph infection. Eddie then cuts a promo putting ROH over.
VEDA SCOTT INTERVIEWS ANDY RIDGE- Andy points out that he had his â€"trial series†over a year ago and nothing ever came of it. He says he is starting to get frustrated.
KENNY KING vs. ANDY â€"RIGHT LEG†RIDGE- 4.75/10
After the match they showed a great backstage promo from Kenny King where he really put Right Leg over.
â€"THE PRODIGY†MIKE BENNETT vs. GRIZZLY REDWOOD- 2.25/10
Bennett cuts a pre-match promo claiming that Eddie Edwards is ducking him. He mentions Maria in his promo, so one fan shouts â€"YOUR GIRLFRIEND HAS HERPES!†and the whole crowd breaks out in uproarious laughter as if this was the funniest thing they had ever heard. Bennett and Grizz do some stuff to get some cheap pops and cheap heat, then they start their match.
ADAM COLE vs. KEVIN STEEN- 6.75/10
Steen worked over Cole’s midsection, and Cole did a good job playing the underdog babyface. Steen used the post-match handshake as a pretense to take a cheapshot at Cole, then tried to hit him with the banned Package Piledriver (all piledrivers were banned in ROH at this point), but Eddie Edwards came out to make the save.
COLEMAN & ALEXANDER PROMO- unintentionally hilarious. So first Cedric cuts a promo saying that they were going to beat the Briscoes and win the tag titles in the state where they first started teaming. Then Caprice cut the 1980’s version of that promo, talking about the â€"the place where the connection was forged†and rambling on about destiny. Thankfully, Caprice’s promos would go on to become a lot better.
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Briscoe Brothers(c) vs. Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander- 6.75/10
Good, but Caprice and Cedric were clearly just starting to find their rhythm and chemistry. The Briscoes snubbed C&C on the post-match handshake.
BRISCOES PROMO- Jay was okay. Mark was bad.
WGTT PROMO- not good. Mostly because the audio made them hard to hear, but of what I did hear, there was a lot of rambling and repeating the same point. In fact, I’m pretty sure that Charlie and Shelton cut pretty much the same promo, one after another.
WRESTLING’S GREATEST TAG TEAM vs. TEAM A-1 (Zachary Hilton & Jefferson Early)- 2/10
Wow. These local A-1 guys are surprisingly over. They have a decently short match until WGTT get DQed on purpose, then keep up the beatdown until the Briscoes come out to make the save. This was the first of WAY too many such segments that we would get over the next few months.
JAY LETHAL PROMO- good
PROVING GROUND MATCH: ROH TV Champion Jay Lethal vs. Tommaso Ciampa (w/the Embassy)- 7/10
Ciampa’s first big outing in ROH. He stole the belt afterwards, too.
TEAM AMBITION vs. THE HOUSE OF TRUTH (w/Truth Martini)- 7.75/10
Good wrestling in the beginning, then some standard tag team stuff with Kyle as the babyface in peril. Everyone looked good.
Because of the venue (which looked like it was taking place... well... "underground"), this show felt very small-time. It also had a bunch of audio problems and the show wasn't very good. It's not hard to see why it was a released as a bonus disc and not as it's own show.
VEDA SCOTT INTERVIEWS ADAM COLE- good
ADAM COLE vs. MICHAEL ELGIN (w/Truth Martini)- 6.75/10
Well… here are two guys whose star-power was about to increase dramatically. In this particular match they did a great job of telling the classic story of the big powerful heel vs. the smaller, faster babyface.
VEDA SCOTT INTERVIEWS CHRIS SILVIO & SEAN CASEY- these f*ckers are totally unlikeable… and this was an interview that was supposed to be comedy.
VEDA SCOTT INTERVIEWS SHILOH JONZE & RUDY SWITCHBLADE- their promo wasn’t good, but it was far less annoying than Casey and Silvio were, so I know who I’m rooting for.
RISE AND PROVE TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND MATCH: Shiloh Jonze & Rudy Switchblade vs. Chris Silvio & Sean Casey- 4.25/10
The graphic they put up for this match said it would be Jonze & Switchblade taking on Haste & Nichols. Whoops.
I’m not trying to take a shot at Cornette or the OVW guys, but the first few minutes of this match were filled with the bland but athletic tag team offense that is exactly what you would see in Smokey Mountain Wrestling in 1992.
VEDA SCOTT INTERVIEWS ALABAMA ATTITUDE- boy are these guys bland.
VEDA SCOTT INTERVIEWS SHANE HASTE & MIKEY NICHOLLS- very good
RISE AND PROVE TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND MATCH: Alabama Attitude vs. TMDK (Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls)- 6.5/10
TMDK cut a short pre-match promo to let us know that they are the heels. The match was pretty good and was elevated by a very good finish.
VEDA SCOTT INTERVIEWS EDDIE EDWARDS- good
NO HOLDS BARRED MATCH: Eddie Edwards vs. Roderick Strong (w/Truth Martini)- 8/10
Before the match started, Cornette came out and ordered that Truth be handcuffed to the ringpost (he had previously interfered in the Cole vs. Elgin match, as well as in Eddie and Roddy’s previous match at Death Before Dishonor IX). Of course, the problem with handcuffing him to the ringpost is that he is still RIGHT NEAR THE RING, where he can easily interfere if they come near him! And lo and behold: he did.
So they’re having thins No Holds Barred match someone goes to use a steel chair, which is completely legal in this disqualificationless match… and Kevin Kelly reminds us that while chairs are legal, anyone who hits the other guy in the head with a chair will be heavily fined and possibly suspended by management… and it just made the whole match feel lame. Look. I’m not certainly not advocating chairshots to the head. I’m just saying that it’s a bad idea to remind us that the office will fine and suspend you for using a weapon during what is essentially a No Disqualifications match.
They went out there and had a match that felt very tame for a No DQ’s match, but was also awesome. The interferences played off of Eddie’s promo and helped build Eddie and Cole up as a team for the anniversary show, and Truth’s escape was set up so perfectly I didn’t even see it coming.
VEDA SCOTT INTERVIEWS SAMSON WALKER- good promo by Walker.
HOUSE OF TRUTH PROMO- good
MIKE MONDO vs. SAMSON WALKER- 3/10
A dull match with a can-of-worms-opening restart (why doesn’t a second ref come out and tell another ref to reverse the call EVERY time someone cheats?).
MIKE MONDO PROMO- terrible. Like every Mondo promo. He just comes across as the world’s most fake â€"tough guy†and his obnoxious voice just makes it all ever worse.
RISE AND PROVE TOURNAMENT FINALS- 5.75/10
More bland offense. The heels cut the ring off and they built up to a hot tag which got NO reaction whatsoever.
VEDA SCOTT INTERVIEWS BJ WHITMER- okay.
PROMO BY THE WINNERS OF THE RISE & PROVE TOURNAMENT- The first guy to speak was bad, the second guy was good.
PROVING GROUND MATCH: ROH TV Champion Jay Lethal vs. BJ Whitmer- 6.75/10
BJ didn’t look particularly impressive in any way. He was competent, but not someone who really made you say â€"I’d like to see that guy wrestle again.â€
JAY LETHAL PROMO- terrible. Both the promo and the camerawork. Jay rambled on horribly and the cameraman needs to learn how to zoom out.
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Briscoes(c) vs. Team Ambition (Davey Richards & Kyle O’Reilly)- 8.25/10
The classic battle of brawlers vs. technicians.
Despite the awesome main event and the Eddie vs. Roddy match, I really can’t call this a good show. The other matches all felt like filler (aside from Whitmer vs. Lethal) and the OVW talent was all dull at best, but the bigger problem here was the production. The production was terrible, with bad glare on the camera, graphics that looked terribly cheap, and horrendously ugly art on the discs… and this is coming from someone who rarely cares about this sort of thing. Between that and the audio problems and small-time look on the bonus disc show, I’d have to say that these two shows are the worst I have seen an ROH show look since 2003.
Speaking of the bonus disc, here goes…
BONUS DISC:
ROH Underground (1/21/2012)- Norfolk, VA
OPENING OF THE SHOW- Jim Cornette announces that Eddie Edwards won’t be able to compete tonight because he has a staph infection. Eddie then cuts a promo putting ROH over.
VEDA SCOTT INTERVIEWS ANDY RIDGE- Andy points out that he had his â€"trial series†over a year ago and nothing ever came of it. He says he is starting to get frustrated.
KENNY KING vs. ANDY â€"RIGHT LEG†RIDGE- 4.75/10
After the match they showed a great backstage promo from Kenny King where he really put Right Leg over.
â€"THE PRODIGY†MIKE BENNETT vs. GRIZZLY REDWOOD- 2.25/10
Bennett cuts a pre-match promo claiming that Eddie Edwards is ducking him. He mentions Maria in his promo, so one fan shouts â€"YOUR GIRLFRIEND HAS HERPES!†and the whole crowd breaks out in uproarious laughter as if this was the funniest thing they had ever heard. Bennett and Grizz do some stuff to get some cheap pops and cheap heat, then they start their match.
ADAM COLE vs. KEVIN STEEN- 6.75/10
Steen worked over Cole’s midsection, and Cole did a good job playing the underdog babyface. Steen used the post-match handshake as a pretense to take a cheapshot at Cole, then tried to hit him with the banned Package Piledriver (all piledrivers were banned in ROH at this point), but Eddie Edwards came out to make the save.
COLEMAN & ALEXANDER PROMO- unintentionally hilarious. So first Cedric cuts a promo saying that they were going to beat the Briscoes and win the tag titles in the state where they first started teaming. Then Caprice cut the 1980’s version of that promo, talking about the â€"the place where the connection was forged†and rambling on about destiny. Thankfully, Caprice’s promos would go on to become a lot better.
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Briscoe Brothers(c) vs. Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander- 6.75/10
Good, but Caprice and Cedric were clearly just starting to find their rhythm and chemistry. The Briscoes snubbed C&C on the post-match handshake.
BRISCOES PROMO- Jay was okay. Mark was bad.
WGTT PROMO- not good. Mostly because the audio made them hard to hear, but of what I did hear, there was a lot of rambling and repeating the same point. In fact, I’m pretty sure that Charlie and Shelton cut pretty much the same promo, one after another.
WRESTLING’S GREATEST TAG TEAM vs. TEAM A-1 (Zachary Hilton & Jefferson Early)- 2/10
Wow. These local A-1 guys are surprisingly over. They have a decently short match until WGTT get DQed on purpose, then keep up the beatdown until the Briscoes come out to make the save. This was the first of WAY too many such segments that we would get over the next few months.
JAY LETHAL PROMO- good
PROVING GROUND MATCH: ROH TV Champion Jay Lethal vs. Tommaso Ciampa (w/the Embassy)- 7/10
Ciampa’s first big outing in ROH. He stole the belt afterwards, too.
TEAM AMBITION vs. THE HOUSE OF TRUTH (w/Truth Martini)- 7.75/10
Good wrestling in the beginning, then some standard tag team stuff with Kyle as the babyface in peril. Everyone looked good.
Because of the venue (which looked like it was taking place... well... "underground"), this show felt very small-time. It also had a bunch of audio problems and the show wasn't very good. It's not hard to see why it was a released as a bonus disc and not as it's own show.