ROH Honor in the Heart of Texas
ROH Honor in the Heart of Texas (6/1/2013)- San Antonio, TX
KYLE O’REILLY (w/Bobby Fish) vs. MIKE SYDAL- 5.5/10
Kyle was great, as always, but Sydal looked very impressive for the first time, getting to show off some athletic spots in the loss.
CORINO & THE NEWSCASTER SEGMENT-
A local newscaster comes out and talks about a worked incident from his news show (on a Sinclair-owned network) in which Corino called in and interrupted an interview with ACH and dissed San Antonio. Corino then comes out and disses San Antonio some more. Corino claims that no one famous has ever come from San Antonio. A fan brings up Shawn Michaels and Corino claims to have never heard of him. This prompts the crowd to chant HBK’s name… including this newscaster, who looks like a complete and total doofus trying to quietly chant â€"HBK†into his microphone. Corino threatens to beat up the newscaster which brings out Mark Briscoe to make the save.
Mark wants a match but Corino begs off, saying that he is not a wrestler anymore, but just a â€"broadcast journalist.†Mark suggests that Corino bring Matt Hardy out instead. He also calls Matt â€"Fatt Hardy†and says other mean things about him, which sends Corino into a rage, and we get a match between the two.
To be honest, ROH is EXTREMELY lucky the crowd didn’t sh*t all over the beginning of this. It got no reaction at all (until Corino’s comments about HBK), but that is good compared to how indy crowds have responded to heels bullying local nobodies in the past (I remember the crowd actually popping for Adam Pearce bullying some local media representative at the 7th Anniversary Show). I assume this was forced on them by Sinclair in exchange for Sinclair likely forcing the angle onto this guy’s local news show.
STEVE CORINO vs. MARK BRISCOE- 4/10
An eh brawl that ended in a DQ when Jimmy Jacobs & Rhett Titus interfered. BJ Whitmer & Michael Elgin quickly came out to make the save, but rather than keep the momentum going and go right into their match, they have Whitmer cut a lame promo saying that he and Elgin will beat SCUM up later tonight.
ATHENA vs. BARBI HAYDEN- 4.5/10
Barbi Hayden is basically Madison Rayne with better in-ring skills.
PROVING GROUND MATCH: ROH TV Champion Matt Taven vs. Eddie Edwards- 7/10
I’m not thrilled with Taven losing here. I think a time limit draw would have been better for everyone. Still a good showing for Taven, though.
JAY LETHAL vs. ACH- 7.5/10
ACH was definitely received like the â€"hometown hero†he was built up as in the hype for this match. Lethal pulled out a cool new move or two, and ACH continues to be on a roll. As you would expect, Lethal put ACH over on the mic after the match.
RAYMOND ROWE vs. BOBBY FISH (w/Kyle O’Reilly)- 5.5/10
Bobby Fish cut an OUTSTANDING pre-match promo. He is just such a dick! If love heel Austin Aries, you will love Bobby Fish! The match was a bit too short for Rowe to show his stuff, though.
ADAM COLE vs. RODERICK STRONG- 6.5/10
A good match, but it felt like it never really got out of second gear. In hindsight, knowing that they would be having a rematch three weeks later on iPPV, that makes sense. Cole snubs Roddy on the post-match handshake. Between this and looking like he wanted to Superkick Nigel and Jay after the main event at Border Wars 2013, I’m very interested to see where they take him.
NO DQ TORNADO TAG TEAM MATCH: Michael Elgin & BJ Whitmer vs. SCUM (Jimmy Jacobs & Rhett Titus)- 6.75/10
A great brawl which made great use of the stip all the way through.
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Jay Briscoe(c) vs. Davey Richards- 8/10
Some stiff strikes, some wrestling, some submissions, a dive or two, some near falls... even a test of strength (man, those San Antonio fans really love themselves some tests of strength). This match had something in it for everyone (aside from hardcore stuff, obviously). Jay's first awesome title defense, which he needed to have sooner or later.
Overall, a great show from ROH. All of the local talent did well, and I'd love to see them all back the next time ROH returns to Texas... and I sure hope they do because the crowd was great (which is even more amazing when you hear that according to the live reports, there was no air conditioning in the building... in June... in San Antonio!).
KYLE O’REILLY (w/Bobby Fish) vs. MIKE SYDAL- 5.5/10
Kyle was great, as always, but Sydal looked very impressive for the first time, getting to show off some athletic spots in the loss.
CORINO & THE NEWSCASTER SEGMENT-
A local newscaster comes out and talks about a worked incident from his news show (on a Sinclair-owned network) in which Corino called in and interrupted an interview with ACH and dissed San Antonio. Corino then comes out and disses San Antonio some more. Corino claims that no one famous has ever come from San Antonio. A fan brings up Shawn Michaels and Corino claims to have never heard of him. This prompts the crowd to chant HBK’s name… including this newscaster, who looks like a complete and total doofus trying to quietly chant â€"HBK†into his microphone. Corino threatens to beat up the newscaster which brings out Mark Briscoe to make the save.
Mark wants a match but Corino begs off, saying that he is not a wrestler anymore, but just a â€"broadcast journalist.†Mark suggests that Corino bring Matt Hardy out instead. He also calls Matt â€"Fatt Hardy†and says other mean things about him, which sends Corino into a rage, and we get a match between the two.
To be honest, ROH is EXTREMELY lucky the crowd didn’t sh*t all over the beginning of this. It got no reaction at all (until Corino’s comments about HBK), but that is good compared to how indy crowds have responded to heels bullying local nobodies in the past (I remember the crowd actually popping for Adam Pearce bullying some local media representative at the 7th Anniversary Show). I assume this was forced on them by Sinclair in exchange for Sinclair likely forcing the angle onto this guy’s local news show.
STEVE CORINO vs. MARK BRISCOE- 4/10
An eh brawl that ended in a DQ when Jimmy Jacobs & Rhett Titus interfered. BJ Whitmer & Michael Elgin quickly came out to make the save, but rather than keep the momentum going and go right into their match, they have Whitmer cut a lame promo saying that he and Elgin will beat SCUM up later tonight.
ATHENA vs. BARBI HAYDEN- 4.5/10
Barbi Hayden is basically Madison Rayne with better in-ring skills.
PROVING GROUND MATCH: ROH TV Champion Matt Taven vs. Eddie Edwards- 7/10
I’m not thrilled with Taven losing here. I think a time limit draw would have been better for everyone. Still a good showing for Taven, though.
JAY LETHAL vs. ACH- 7.5/10
ACH was definitely received like the â€"hometown hero†he was built up as in the hype for this match. Lethal pulled out a cool new move or two, and ACH continues to be on a roll. As you would expect, Lethal put ACH over on the mic after the match.
RAYMOND ROWE vs. BOBBY FISH (w/Kyle O’Reilly)- 5.5/10
Bobby Fish cut an OUTSTANDING pre-match promo. He is just such a dick! If love heel Austin Aries, you will love Bobby Fish! The match was a bit too short for Rowe to show his stuff, though.
ADAM COLE vs. RODERICK STRONG- 6.5/10
A good match, but it felt like it never really got out of second gear. In hindsight, knowing that they would be having a rematch three weeks later on iPPV, that makes sense. Cole snubs Roddy on the post-match handshake. Between this and looking like he wanted to Superkick Nigel and Jay after the main event at Border Wars 2013, I’m very interested to see where they take him.
NO DQ TORNADO TAG TEAM MATCH: Michael Elgin & BJ Whitmer vs. SCUM (Jimmy Jacobs & Rhett Titus)- 6.75/10
A great brawl which made great use of the stip all the way through.
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Jay Briscoe(c) vs. Davey Richards- 8/10
Some stiff strikes, some wrestling, some submissions, a dive or two, some near falls... even a test of strength (man, those San Antonio fans really love themselves some tests of strength). This match had something in it for everyone (aside from hardcore stuff, obviously). Jay's first awesome title defense, which he needed to have sooner or later.
Overall, a great show from ROH. All of the local talent did well, and I'd love to see them all back the next time ROH returns to Texas... and I sure hope they do because the crowd was great (which is even more amazing when you hear that according to the live reports, there was no air conditioning in the building... in June... in San Antonio!).