ROH Survival of the Fittest 2014: Night 1
ROH Survival of the Fittest 2014: Night 1 (11/7/2014)- Columbus, OH
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Will Ferrara- 6.5/10
Gave the fans exactly what they wanted to see- Ciampa murderizing someone- with some high impact offense by Ferrara mixed in.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: Roderick Strong vs. Tadarius Thomas- 6.75/10
They were going along very well but I felt they relaly lost steam when they went to the outside towards the end.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: Cedric Alexander vs. Adam Page (w/BJ Whitmer)- 7.25/10
A great match with a GREAT finish.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: Delirious vs. Adam Cole- 7.75/10
They did a spot where Delirious suplexed the timekeeper onto Cole. There was no DQ for this, even though there should have been. I think?
The middle of this match went on for WAY too long, and we really didn’t need to see Delirious kicking out of that much sh*t (especially at one after eating a Shining Wizard). That being said, once that long middle part ended, we got some AWESOME stuff. The finish was a good idea, but it seems like a waste to do it with Delirious instead of someone who you would actually want to protect.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: Hanson vs. Jay Lethal (w/Truth Martini)- 7/10
Lethal and Truth came out with two women from tonight’s â€"sponsor†which is apparently a local strip club. The match was decent, but really picked up in the last few minutes, and the win felt like a huge moment for Hanson.
R.D. EVANS PROMO- AWESOME babyface stuff, building up his ROH TV Title shot later this month at Glory By Honor XIII. Jimmy Jacobs and BJ Whitmer came out to be dicks and order R.D. & friends to leave. They didn’t leave but they did let Jimmy Jacobs start to cut a promo inviting Roddy back into the Decade. Jacobs told Moose to lose his idiot friends and maybe he might make something of himself. Then he buried Moose as being â€"nothing more than a washed-up football player.†A brawl broke out and Page came out to help the Decade, making things uneven, but the Addiction showed up to make the save, leading to a promo by Kazarian and then…
THE ADDICTION vs. THE DECADE (w/the Decade)- 7/10
Whitmer and Corino had a post-match fracas that was broken up EXTREMELY quickly.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: Matt Sydal vs. ACH- 7.75/10
Sydal was being surprisingly heelish in this match. I do love the booking here to give these two guys the â€"main event†spot of the SOTF qualifiers. All of the matches are theoretically of equal stature, so why not give the one that goes on last (i.e. where they won’t be burning out the crowd by doing so much cool stuff) to a young guy who wants to prove he can put on an ROH-level match and a returning vet who wants to prove that his time in WWE (and his lack of use there) has not diminished his ability to put on the awesome matches of his youth?
NO DISQAULIFICATIONS MATCH: The Briscoes vs. The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Michael Bennett) (w/Maria Kanellis)- 8/10
Some idiot fan brought some sort of cardboard chair which he or she had made and decorated and gave it to Mark Briscoe to use as a weapon. He looked like crap. Other than that, this was an awesome weapons match with a crazy finish and good heat segment afterwards.
A great show from ROH, with great action all up and down the card. The only strike against this show is that because it is just the qualifiers, the show feels totally skippable (which is just one of the reasons that I don’t like Survival of the Fittest being spread across two nights). Definitely worth checking out for the wrestling, but entirely skippable if you’re only into shows that matter to the stories.
Also, what the f*ck is up with that backwards F in the middle of the date on the jewel case. That’s not what a 7 looks like. I shouldn’t have to use the internet to look up the date of the show! If you’re going to put it on the cover, make it readable!
BONUS FOOTAGE:
TRUTH MARTINI PROMO- build for Jay Lethal’s upcoming TV Title defenses, and also some build for…
JAKE DIRDEN & J. DIESEL (w/Truth Martini)- vs. R.D. EVANS & MOOSE (w/Veda Scott)- 1/10
The match was short and mostly dull. The fans didn’t care about either of the heels. R.D. did some eh comedy. At least Moose came out of this looking good.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Will Ferrara- 6.5/10
Gave the fans exactly what they wanted to see- Ciampa murderizing someone- with some high impact offense by Ferrara mixed in.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: Roderick Strong vs. Tadarius Thomas- 6.75/10
They were going along very well but I felt they relaly lost steam when they went to the outside towards the end.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: Cedric Alexander vs. Adam Page (w/BJ Whitmer)- 7.25/10
A great match with a GREAT finish.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: Delirious vs. Adam Cole- 7.75/10
They did a spot where Delirious suplexed the timekeeper onto Cole. There was no DQ for this, even though there should have been. I think?
The middle of this match went on for WAY too long, and we really didn’t need to see Delirious kicking out of that much sh*t (especially at one after eating a Shining Wizard). That being said, once that long middle part ended, we got some AWESOME stuff. The finish was a good idea, but it seems like a waste to do it with Delirious instead of someone who you would actually want to protect.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: Hanson vs. Jay Lethal (w/Truth Martini)- 7/10
Lethal and Truth came out with two women from tonight’s â€"sponsor†which is apparently a local strip club. The match was decent, but really picked up in the last few minutes, and the win felt like a huge moment for Hanson.
R.D. EVANS PROMO- AWESOME babyface stuff, building up his ROH TV Title shot later this month at Glory By Honor XIII. Jimmy Jacobs and BJ Whitmer came out to be dicks and order R.D. & friends to leave. They didn’t leave but they did let Jimmy Jacobs start to cut a promo inviting Roddy back into the Decade. Jacobs told Moose to lose his idiot friends and maybe he might make something of himself. Then he buried Moose as being â€"nothing more than a washed-up football player.†A brawl broke out and Page came out to help the Decade, making things uneven, but the Addiction showed up to make the save, leading to a promo by Kazarian and then…
THE ADDICTION vs. THE DECADE (w/the Decade)- 7/10
Whitmer and Corino had a post-match fracas that was broken up EXTREMELY quickly.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST QUALIFYING MATCH: Matt Sydal vs. ACH- 7.75/10
Sydal was being surprisingly heelish in this match. I do love the booking here to give these two guys the â€"main event†spot of the SOTF qualifiers. All of the matches are theoretically of equal stature, so why not give the one that goes on last (i.e. where they won’t be burning out the crowd by doing so much cool stuff) to a young guy who wants to prove he can put on an ROH-level match and a returning vet who wants to prove that his time in WWE (and his lack of use there) has not diminished his ability to put on the awesome matches of his youth?
NO DISQAULIFICATIONS MATCH: The Briscoes vs. The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Michael Bennett) (w/Maria Kanellis)- 8/10
Some idiot fan brought some sort of cardboard chair which he or she had made and decorated and gave it to Mark Briscoe to use as a weapon. He looked like crap. Other than that, this was an awesome weapons match with a crazy finish and good heat segment afterwards.
A great show from ROH, with great action all up and down the card. The only strike against this show is that because it is just the qualifiers, the show feels totally skippable (which is just one of the reasons that I don’t like Survival of the Fittest being spread across two nights). Definitely worth checking out for the wrestling, but entirely skippable if you’re only into shows that matter to the stories.
Also, what the f*ck is up with that backwards F in the middle of the date on the jewel case. That’s not what a 7 looks like. I shouldn’t have to use the internet to look up the date of the show! If you’re going to put it on the cover, make it readable!
BONUS FOOTAGE:
TRUTH MARTINI PROMO- build for Jay Lethal’s upcoming TV Title defenses, and also some build for…
JAKE DIRDEN & J. DIESEL (w/Truth Martini)- vs. R.D. EVANS & MOOSE (w/Veda Scott)- 1/10
The match was short and mostly dull. The fans didn’t care about either of the heels. R.D. did some eh comedy. At least Moose came out of this looking good.