ROH Manhattan Mayhem V
ROH Manhattan Mayhem V (8/17/2013)- New York, NY
ADAM PAGE vs. SILAS YOUNG- 6.25/10
A good, action-packed opener. The crowd really hated Silas.
STEVE CORINO SHOWS UP- After the match Steve Corino came out from the back and tried to sit down and do commentary, but was told by Kevin Kelly, Todd Sinclair, and security that he doesn’t work in ROH anymore and was forced to leave the building. If he doesn’t work in ROH, why was he in the back? This would have been a great segment if Corino had come out from the crowd, but getting that one detail wrong killed it.
SCRAMBLE TAG MATCH: Adrenaline Rush vs. Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander)- 6.25/10
Lots of moves, good use of the scramble rules.
PROVING GROUND MATCH: ROH TV Champion Matt Taven (w/Truth Martini & the Hoopla Hotties) vs. Mike Mondo- 7/10
The Hoopla Hotties for tonight are Selezyia and a new Hoopla Hottie named Kasey Ray (who is apparently Taven’s legit significant other). I bring this up mostly to pick on Kevin Kelly. He went out of his way to point out that both women were allowed to be at ringside because they had the correct licensing. Selezyia has a bodyguard’s license and Casey Ray apparently has a wrestler’s license. Remember at the last show when Nigel wouldn’t let Scarlett run around ringside because she didn’t have the correct licensing? Well if a wrestler’s license is sufficient and we know Scarlett has wrestled in ROH before (at the TV tapings in Chicago earlier this year), so shouldn’t her wrestler’s license have been sufficient to allow her to run around at ringside? Or did ROH violate the law by letting her wrestle without a license? (the answer could be that different states and provinces has different laws, but that probably isn’t something that someone who doesn’t spend way too much time thinking about Federalism will think of) Why the hell couldn’t Kevin have just said she had a â€"manager’s license†like a normal announcer would have?
Even more disappointing to me, from a storyline point of view, is that Kelly went out of his way to point out why these two women were allowed to be at ringside, but didn’t try to explain away Scarlett’s absence by saying that she wasn’t allowed to show up because she didn’t have the proper licensing. It would have made perfect sense in the story (Scarlett had gotten in trouble on the last show for not having said paperwork) and given a reason for why a popular and important character (to every straight or bisexual man with a working dick, anyway) wasn’t on the show.
Barely any reaction for Mondo in what is, for wrestling purposes, his home town. He did have about four or five fans chanting for him during the match, one of who was sitting in the front row, and Selezyia got in his face. Although she was just doing it to be a good heel, I disapproved of this because, for the betterment of the entire human race, I think it is best if people who cheer for Mike Mondo are kept as far away from the opposite sex as possible. In order to like someone so lame, obnoxious, boring, you would have to be even more lame, obnoxious, and boring than Mondo himself, and those are traits we do not want passed down.
I have no idea why ROH continues to try to book Mike Mondo as a babyface. When Taven threw him to the outside and Casey Ray started to put the boots to him, THE CROWD POPPED. IN HIS OWN HOME TOWN! Mondo hit Taven with a diving stomp to the head onto the Book of Truth, and Taven kicked out… and the crowd popped. They also popped when Taven put Mondo down for the pin. Mike Mondo is the one last crappy vestige of the Cornette Era and he needs to go. The match was one of Mondo’s best in ROH. Yes, that’s right, a 7/10 is one of Mondo’s BEST matches in ROH (and it would have been a 6.75 if I didn’t enjoy all of the House of Truth’s heel interfering shenanigans so much).
Casey Ray did a nice Lita-carana. I’d like to see her get a shot in a Women of Honor match at some point.
THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. FOREVER HOOLIGANS- 8.5/10
Now THIS is the type of match I have been wanting to see from Forever Hooligans in ROH! An awesome, action-packed match!
Marshall Law came out and R.D. Evans cut a promo saying that it was unfair that they weren’t booked on this show. He says they aren’t leaving the ring until they get a match. Prince Nana, who has been doing commentary all night and is apparently a â€"corporate talent scout†for ROH says he will book a match between Marshall Law and two talents he just signed to ROH. Then we got some weird music two evil clowns came out and attacked Marshall Law before revealing themselves to be Eddie Kingston and Homicide. What the hell was the point the of the evil clown disguises? These guys would have gotten a massive pop anyway. The clown thing was just weird.
EDDIE KINGSTON & HOMICIDE vs. MARSHALL LAW (QT Marshall & R.D. Evans)- no rating good segment.
Eddie Kingston and Homicide wrestled wearing slacks, button-down shirts, and ties. Pretty much a squash. After the match, R.D. went to shake Homicide’s hand… so Cide broke his fingers. Kevin Kelly says that there was no way that Nigel would have let these guys into the new â€"pure†ROH, but Nana swears that he did.
ROH WORLD TITLE TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Michael Bennett vs. Tomasso Ciampa- 6.75/10
Apparently Maria has been barred from the arena because she interfered in Bennett’s match with BJ back in Toronto. Okay... but why did Nigel not bar the House of Truth from the building, too?
The band that wrote Ciampa’s entrance music was in the building to play it live.
Ciampa, who had been completely dominating the match, did an up-and-over out of the corner on Bennett, and rather than charge at his opponent, who had his back turned… Ciampa decided to play possum, faking as if he had re-injured his knee. WHY?! All this does for him is give up the advantage in the hopes that A HEEL WILL BE MERCIFUL! To be fair, Ciampa antics here were funny (making fun of Bennett when his back was turned, then going back to playing possum whenever Bennett turned to face him), but that doesn’t mean that the spot itself wasn’t stupid.
Other than that, the match was good. Ciampa dominated the match until Bennett went after the injured knee to get the heat. He even busted out a Lion Tamer version of Texas Cloverleaf, which was cool.
ROH WORLD TITLE TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Roderick Strong vs. Kevin Steen- 7/10
A pretty short match for two such big names, but it was all action.
ROH WORLD TITLE TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Michael Elgin vs. Karl â€"Machine Gun†Anderson- 8.5/10
What’s the most basic way to put a guy down? Just hit him in the head. Hard. A lot. And that’s what these two did, plus some other big power moves targeting the head and neck. Awesome match.
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The American Wolves(c) vs. reDRagon- 8.75/10
FANTASTIC MATCH! Great mat wrestling, great submissions, and tons of hard strikes.
POST-MATCH ANGLE- GREAT!
Kingston & Homicide jump the winners and Cide breaks some fingers!
A completely AWESOME show from ROH. Great quality all up and down the card! GO BUY IT!
STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Nana says â€"you’ve got to love these New York people,†to which Kevin Kelly responds â€"well, they’re your people, too.†This is clearly untrue. Nana’s people are the people of Ghana, West Africa.
2. Kevin Kelly described the TV match between Matt Taven and Mike Mondo last year, which I’m sure that 99% of the people who have seen it forgot about within a week, as â€"one of the best matches of 2012.â€
It’s statements like this that just completely destroy an announcer’s credibility. I would be surprised if the match in question even made anyone’s list of the top 75 matches of the year in ROH alone, never mind the rest of the wrestling business.
3. Kevin Kelly â€"Little did we know that the most prestigious tag team titles in the world had become a literal hot potato.â€
NO! Unless I somehow missed the belts being transfigured, they became a METAPHORICAL hot potato.
ADAM PAGE vs. SILAS YOUNG- 6.25/10
A good, action-packed opener. The crowd really hated Silas.
STEVE CORINO SHOWS UP- After the match Steve Corino came out from the back and tried to sit down and do commentary, but was told by Kevin Kelly, Todd Sinclair, and security that he doesn’t work in ROH anymore and was forced to leave the building. If he doesn’t work in ROH, why was he in the back? This would have been a great segment if Corino had come out from the crowd, but getting that one detail wrong killed it.
SCRAMBLE TAG MATCH: Adrenaline Rush vs. Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander)- 6.25/10
Lots of moves, good use of the scramble rules.
PROVING GROUND MATCH: ROH TV Champion Matt Taven (w/Truth Martini & the Hoopla Hotties) vs. Mike Mondo- 7/10
The Hoopla Hotties for tonight are Selezyia and a new Hoopla Hottie named Kasey Ray (who is apparently Taven’s legit significant other). I bring this up mostly to pick on Kevin Kelly. He went out of his way to point out that both women were allowed to be at ringside because they had the correct licensing. Selezyia has a bodyguard’s license and Casey Ray apparently has a wrestler’s license. Remember at the last show when Nigel wouldn’t let Scarlett run around ringside because she didn’t have the correct licensing? Well if a wrestler’s license is sufficient and we know Scarlett has wrestled in ROH before (at the TV tapings in Chicago earlier this year), so shouldn’t her wrestler’s license have been sufficient to allow her to run around at ringside? Or did ROH violate the law by letting her wrestle without a license? (the answer could be that different states and provinces has different laws, but that probably isn’t something that someone who doesn’t spend way too much time thinking about Federalism will think of) Why the hell couldn’t Kevin have just said she had a â€"manager’s license†like a normal announcer would have?
Even more disappointing to me, from a storyline point of view, is that Kelly went out of his way to point out why these two women were allowed to be at ringside, but didn’t try to explain away Scarlett’s absence by saying that she wasn’t allowed to show up because she didn’t have the proper licensing. It would have made perfect sense in the story (Scarlett had gotten in trouble on the last show for not having said paperwork) and given a reason for why a popular and important character (to every straight or bisexual man with a working dick, anyway) wasn’t on the show.
Barely any reaction for Mondo in what is, for wrestling purposes, his home town. He did have about four or five fans chanting for him during the match, one of who was sitting in the front row, and Selezyia got in his face. Although she was just doing it to be a good heel, I disapproved of this because, for the betterment of the entire human race, I think it is best if people who cheer for Mike Mondo are kept as far away from the opposite sex as possible. In order to like someone so lame, obnoxious, boring, you would have to be even more lame, obnoxious, and boring than Mondo himself, and those are traits we do not want passed down.
I have no idea why ROH continues to try to book Mike Mondo as a babyface. When Taven threw him to the outside and Casey Ray started to put the boots to him, THE CROWD POPPED. IN HIS OWN HOME TOWN! Mondo hit Taven with a diving stomp to the head onto the Book of Truth, and Taven kicked out… and the crowd popped. They also popped when Taven put Mondo down for the pin. Mike Mondo is the one last crappy vestige of the Cornette Era and he needs to go. The match was one of Mondo’s best in ROH. Yes, that’s right, a 7/10 is one of Mondo’s BEST matches in ROH (and it would have been a 6.75 if I didn’t enjoy all of the House of Truth’s heel interfering shenanigans so much).
Casey Ray did a nice Lita-carana. I’d like to see her get a shot in a Women of Honor match at some point.
THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. FOREVER HOOLIGANS- 8.5/10
Now THIS is the type of match I have been wanting to see from Forever Hooligans in ROH! An awesome, action-packed match!
Marshall Law came out and R.D. Evans cut a promo saying that it was unfair that they weren’t booked on this show. He says they aren’t leaving the ring until they get a match. Prince Nana, who has been doing commentary all night and is apparently a â€"corporate talent scout†for ROH says he will book a match between Marshall Law and two talents he just signed to ROH. Then we got some weird music two evil clowns came out and attacked Marshall Law before revealing themselves to be Eddie Kingston and Homicide. What the hell was the point the of the evil clown disguises? These guys would have gotten a massive pop anyway. The clown thing was just weird.
EDDIE KINGSTON & HOMICIDE vs. MARSHALL LAW (QT Marshall & R.D. Evans)- no rating good segment.
Eddie Kingston and Homicide wrestled wearing slacks, button-down shirts, and ties. Pretty much a squash. After the match, R.D. went to shake Homicide’s hand… so Cide broke his fingers. Kevin Kelly says that there was no way that Nigel would have let these guys into the new â€"pure†ROH, but Nana swears that he did.
ROH WORLD TITLE TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Michael Bennett vs. Tomasso Ciampa- 6.75/10
Apparently Maria has been barred from the arena because she interfered in Bennett’s match with BJ back in Toronto. Okay... but why did Nigel not bar the House of Truth from the building, too?
The band that wrote Ciampa’s entrance music was in the building to play it live.
Ciampa, who had been completely dominating the match, did an up-and-over out of the corner on Bennett, and rather than charge at his opponent, who had his back turned… Ciampa decided to play possum, faking as if he had re-injured his knee. WHY?! All this does for him is give up the advantage in the hopes that A HEEL WILL BE MERCIFUL! To be fair, Ciampa antics here were funny (making fun of Bennett when his back was turned, then going back to playing possum whenever Bennett turned to face him), but that doesn’t mean that the spot itself wasn’t stupid.
Other than that, the match was good. Ciampa dominated the match until Bennett went after the injured knee to get the heat. He even busted out a Lion Tamer version of Texas Cloverleaf, which was cool.
ROH WORLD TITLE TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Roderick Strong vs. Kevin Steen- 7/10
A pretty short match for two such big names, but it was all action.
ROH WORLD TITLE TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Michael Elgin vs. Karl â€"Machine Gun†Anderson- 8.5/10
What’s the most basic way to put a guy down? Just hit him in the head. Hard. A lot. And that’s what these two did, plus some other big power moves targeting the head and neck. Awesome match.
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The American Wolves(c) vs. reDRagon- 8.75/10
FANTASTIC MATCH! Great mat wrestling, great submissions, and tons of hard strikes.
POST-MATCH ANGLE- GREAT!
Kingston & Homicide jump the winners and Cide breaks some fingers!
A completely AWESOME show from ROH. Great quality all up and down the card! GO BUY IT!
STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Nana says â€"you’ve got to love these New York people,†to which Kevin Kelly responds â€"well, they’re your people, too.†This is clearly untrue. Nana’s people are the people of Ghana, West Africa.
2. Kevin Kelly described the TV match between Matt Taven and Mike Mondo last year, which I’m sure that 99% of the people who have seen it forgot about within a week, as â€"one of the best matches of 2012.â€
It’s statements like this that just completely destroy an announcer’s credibility. I would be surprised if the match in question even made anyone’s list of the top 75 matches of the year in ROH alone, never mind the rest of the wrestling business.
3. Kevin Kelly â€"Little did we know that the most prestigious tag team titles in the world had become a literal hot potato.â€
NO! Unless I somehow missed the belts being transfigured, they became a METAPHORICAL hot potato.