ROH Road to Greatness: Night 2
ROH Road to Greatness: Night 2 (9/7/2013)- Birmingham, AL
TOMMASO CIAMPA vs. LUKE HAWX- 6.25/10
Obviously Ciampa wasn’t going to lose here, but they made sure that Hawx got enough offense in that he still looked decent. I would definitely like to see him back in ROH.
VEDA SCOTT PROMO- Great! And I think Veda got hotter since turning heel.
KEVIN STEEN vs. Q.T. MARSHALL (w/Veda Scott)-4.75/10
Q.T. and Veda try to leave during the shine, so Steen grabs Q.T.’s ring robe. Veda sees this and shouts â€"THAT IS LARCENY!†Heel Veda Scott=awesome.
At one point Q.T. did the â€"You can’t see me†hand gesture then hit the FU for a one count. Between this and The People’s Elbow from Live and Let Die, I hope that stealing WWE finishers winds up as Q.T.’s new gimmick (with Veda protecting him from copyright infringement claims).
MICHAEL ELGIN vs. RAYMOND ROWE- 5.75/10
Rowe looked decent matching power moves with Elgin, but there really wasn’t much of a story beyond that and the outcome was never in doubt.
DAVEY RICHARDS vs. MICHAEL BENNETT (w/Marie Kanellis)- 7.25/10
The fact that the ref never even tried for a countout really bothered me. All he did was follow the wrestlers around and nag them like an ineffective little twerp. Other than that, this was a great match. Bennett worked over Davey’s neck and Davey worked over Bennett’s chest with his standard arsenal of kicks and stomps… and he also randomly busted out a whole bunch of Octopus Stretches.
I wasn’t so thrilled with Davey’s post-match promo. Why would he say that Bennett is the better man if Bennett didn’t win cleanly?
PROVING GROUND MATCH: ROH World TV Champion Matt Taven (w/Truth Martini & the Hoopla Hotties) vs. Jay Lethal- 7/10
I love the HOT’s antics, but Lethal should not be forcing himself on Selezyia. That is sexual harassment right there, and that is not what babyfaces do! Otherwise a great match.
INSTANT REWARD PROVING GROUND MATCH: ROH World Tag Team Champions reDRagon vs. Alabama Attitude vs. Adrenaline Rush vs. Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander- 7/10
The gimmick here was that if one of the challenging teams wins, they will get a tag title match right away. Also, apparently this match uses lucha tag rules.
Alabama Attitude were very over in Alabama, which is good for them, because they haven’t been over anywhere else I have seen them. One state down, forty-nine more to go! All kidding aside, Alabama Attitude looked impressive to me for the first time here. I’d like to see them back in ROH.
This was your standard tag team scramble. It was spotty but fun, and they gave it quite a good amount of time.
RINGMASTER’S CHALLENGE: Adam Cole Roderick Strong- 7.75/10
The second fall came way too quickly for my tastes, but otherwise I thought this match was awesome. I thought the finish here was great stuff for the Cole’s slow heel turn. Still, I can’t help but feel disappointed with this match because it didn’t come anywhere close to living up to the first Ringmaster’s Challenge.
Overall, a great show from ROH, but mostly skippable in terms of storyline developments.l You won’t be disappointed if you buy it, but it is in no way a must-see show.
STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Kevin Kelly (about Scarlett) â€"she’s a wrestler? Give me a break!â€
This whole storyline about the HOT members needing licenses to be at ringside and Scarlett not having had one(and the implication that she got one just so that she could be at ringside for Taven’s matches) would have worked a lot better if Scarlett HADN’T ALREADY WRESTLED A MATCH FOR ROH BACK IN MARCH!
TOMMASO CIAMPA vs. LUKE HAWX- 6.25/10
Obviously Ciampa wasn’t going to lose here, but they made sure that Hawx got enough offense in that he still looked decent. I would definitely like to see him back in ROH.
VEDA SCOTT PROMO- Great! And I think Veda got hotter since turning heel.
KEVIN STEEN vs. Q.T. MARSHALL (w/Veda Scott)-4.75/10
Q.T. and Veda try to leave during the shine, so Steen grabs Q.T.’s ring robe. Veda sees this and shouts â€"THAT IS LARCENY!†Heel Veda Scott=awesome.
At one point Q.T. did the â€"You can’t see me†hand gesture then hit the FU for a one count. Between this and The People’s Elbow from Live and Let Die, I hope that stealing WWE finishers winds up as Q.T.’s new gimmick (with Veda protecting him from copyright infringement claims).
MICHAEL ELGIN vs. RAYMOND ROWE- 5.75/10
Rowe looked decent matching power moves with Elgin, but there really wasn’t much of a story beyond that and the outcome was never in doubt.
DAVEY RICHARDS vs. MICHAEL BENNETT (w/Marie Kanellis)- 7.25/10
The fact that the ref never even tried for a countout really bothered me. All he did was follow the wrestlers around and nag them like an ineffective little twerp. Other than that, this was a great match. Bennett worked over Davey’s neck and Davey worked over Bennett’s chest with his standard arsenal of kicks and stomps… and he also randomly busted out a whole bunch of Octopus Stretches.
I wasn’t so thrilled with Davey’s post-match promo. Why would he say that Bennett is the better man if Bennett didn’t win cleanly?
PROVING GROUND MATCH: ROH World TV Champion Matt Taven (w/Truth Martini & the Hoopla Hotties) vs. Jay Lethal- 7/10
I love the HOT’s antics, but Lethal should not be forcing himself on Selezyia. That is sexual harassment right there, and that is not what babyfaces do! Otherwise a great match.
INSTANT REWARD PROVING GROUND MATCH: ROH World Tag Team Champions reDRagon vs. Alabama Attitude vs. Adrenaline Rush vs. Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander- 7/10
The gimmick here was that if one of the challenging teams wins, they will get a tag title match right away. Also, apparently this match uses lucha tag rules.
Alabama Attitude were very over in Alabama, which is good for them, because they haven’t been over anywhere else I have seen them. One state down, forty-nine more to go! All kidding aside, Alabama Attitude looked impressive to me for the first time here. I’d like to see them back in ROH.
This was your standard tag team scramble. It was spotty but fun, and they gave it quite a good amount of time.
RINGMASTER’S CHALLENGE: Adam Cole Roderick Strong- 7.75/10
The second fall came way too quickly for my tastes, but otherwise I thought this match was awesome. I thought the finish here was great stuff for the Cole’s slow heel turn. Still, I can’t help but feel disappointed with this match because it didn’t come anywhere close to living up to the first Ringmaster’s Challenge.
Overall, a great show from ROH, but mostly skippable in terms of storyline developments.l You won’t be disappointed if you buy it, but it is in no way a must-see show.
STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Kevin Kelly (about Scarlett) â€"she’s a wrestler? Give me a break!â€
This whole storyline about the HOT members needing licenses to be at ringside and Scarlett not having had one(and the implication that she got one just so that she could be at ringside for Taven’s matches) would have worked a lot better if Scarlett HADN’T ALREADY WRESTLED A MATCH FOR ROH BACK IN MARCH!