ROH Wrestling's Finest
ROH Wrestling's Finest (1/25/2014)- Pittsburgh, PA
ADRENALINE RUSH vs. THE DECADE (Jimmy Jacobs & BJ Whitmer) (w/Roderick Strong)- 6.75/10
Great opener. Lots of fast-paced action.
2014 TOP PROSPECT TOURNAMENT FINALS: Raymond Rowe vs. Hanson- 5/10
Two big men doing a bunch of big moves, with some spin kicks thrown in. Michael Elgin came out to watch the match.
THE ROMANTIC TOUCH vs. MICHAEL BENNETT (w/Maria Kanellis)- 5.75/10
Veda Scott came out to do commentary. She claims that The Romantic Touch is Rhett Titus. She has very little evidence.
Maria cut a pre-match promo saying that "The Romantic Touch" disgusts her because he "degrades women" by thinking that they need him. She says that she isn't afraid to be in the ring with men and that she can take piledrivers or whatever else men can give her. Maria says that she wants to show that women have power in wrestling, and to do so... she has taught her boyfriend a new finisher which HE will then use to get the win. This is the same stupid flaw as 2005 Lacey's gimmick where she was trying to prove that women are superior to men... by managing a male tag team to win the tag team titles. Bennett then said something about getting power.
On commentary Veda Scott updated us on R.D. Evans' "New Streak" claiming that he was wrestling North Korea (and if you haven't seen that YouTube video, you need to stop reading this review and go watch it because it is UTTERLY HILARIOUS) and the time difference has allowed R.D. to "pick up wins in the future." R.D. Evans time-travelling? That's utterly ridiculous! That could never happen.
They did some good stuff before The Romantic Touch tried to put the moves on Maria (as a result of Bennett using Maria as a human shield), allowing Bennett to take control of the match. The Romantic Touch made a comeback, so Maria hopped up on the apron to distract him with her sexiness. It succeeded, and Bennett picked up the win with the new finisher Maria taught him: The Anaconda Vise.
After the match, Veda Scott berated The Romantic Touch for being a coward and asserted that he was really Rhett Titus. The Romantic Touch responded by creepily sniffing her hair. Veda was understandably unhappy about this unhappy about this and went to slap him, but he blocked it and picked her up to carry her off, but she wiggled free and ran away. Kevin Kelly tried to justify The Romantic Touch's actions by saying that Valentine's Day :is his Christmas" as if that excuses creepy behavior.
HOUSE OF TRUTH SEGMENT- Matt Taven came our for his match without Truth or the Hoopla Hotties. The Hotties and Truth then came out. Truth was dressed much less ridiculously than usual. He was not wearing a wacky hat and he even had his pants on! Truth said that Taven losing the TV Title means that the House of Truth can no longer live up their partying lifestyle. He told the Hoopla Hotties to go to the back and declared that Hoopla was dead, disappointing the fans.
Taven then said that he thanked Truth for everything he has done for him, but he says he could have done it on his own. He then says that when he needed the House of Truth the most (at Final Battle 2013), they were not able to help him, so he fires Truth as his manager. In other words, Taven is saying "you didn't help me cheat enough, therefore I don't want you to be my manager." Some babyface turn this is.
ROH TV TITLE MATCH: Tommaso Ciampa(c) vs. Matt Taven vs. Jay Lethal- 7.5/10
Truth Martini came back out to do commentary and claimed that Taven didn't really fire him and that they will patch things up. he did reassert that "Hoopla is dead" and that he wanted to "get back to business" and help Taven regain the TV Title. Truth tried to give Taven the Book of Truth to use as a weapon, but Taven didn't want to. This led to them arguing and Taven being superkicked into Truth by Lethal. Truth getting knocked off the apron caused Todd Sinclair to not see Lethal get a visual pinfall on Taven via Small Package. When Taven went to get back into the ring, Truth tripped him up, allowing Ciampa to hit him with Project Ciampa and get the win. Taven shows Ciampa respect with a post-match handshake, but Lethal is obviously unhappy and he lets Ciampa know it.
CEDRIC ALEXANDER vs. ANDREW EVERETT- 7.5/10
Roderick Strong came out to do commentary for this match. Unfortunately, he mic was not working at all, so we were only hearing Corino and Kevin's side of the conversation, which made the conversation totally unhelpful and made things look very rinky-dink.
ROH is owned by a TV broadcasting company. Did they not have a back-up mic they could use? Was no one watching the live footage they were recording o tell them to try to fix whatever the problem was? Or at least to tell the cameras to stop cutting to shots of Roddy talking into a mic that wasn't working?
I think this also might have hurt the angle they were trying to do, as when Cedric Alexander did a dropkick in the corner reminiscent of Austin Aries' IED, Corino made some joke about not realizing that "Austin" had died, then said that "he'll be back" likely in response to Roddy bringing up the fact that this was Aries' move. Cedric got the win with something slightly-but-not-really similar to Roddy's "Death by Roderick," which they are trying to play up as Cedric stealing Roddy's move.
They tried to play up all match that there were a lot of similarities between Cedric and Roddy. I really don't see any. They did mention that some people have compared Everett to Jack Evans, and that I can definitely see. He even did a 630.
So they had some trouble getting the angle over because of the mic problems, but the match itself was GREAT! This was a lot more than anyone expected from this match. Everett was put in this match at the last minute because Cedric's scheduled opponent, Paul London, couldn't make it to the show because of the weather. Cedric himself was a not quite last minute replacement for Roderick Strong (ROH had been waiting to get word if Roddy would be medically cleared to wrestle after the sick way his neck got crunched while taking a Styles Clash in AJ Style's ROH return match), so in effect, these two were substituting for a much-hyped 2 out of 3 falls match with a world title shot on the line, which itself was a rematch of a an awesome match from Glory By Honor XII, so they had some HUGE shoes to fill, and while they didn't quite fill those shoes, they definitely showed that they will probably grow into those shoes in a year or two. The fans might have been disappointed that they were going to get London vs. Roddy, but I don't think any of them left disappointed that they got this match instead. If these two (especially Everett) become big stars for ROH, this is a match people will look back on as the beginning of their rise to the top.
KEVIN STEEN vs. KYLE O'REILLY- 8/10
They told a great story with Kyle working over Steen's arm. Cliff Compton distracted Steen at an important point in the match to further their burgeoning feud.
At one point Kyle's mouth-guard came out, so Steen picked it up and put it in his own mouth (which is much less gross than where I thought he was going to put it. Kyle's cross armbreaker is now apparently called "Armageddon." For anyone else, this would be horribly lame, but for Kyle, it fits perfectly.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- decent
Compton came back after the match (I thought security had ejected him but apparently not- though he never actually jumped the guardrail), and, after being egged on by Steen, did jump the guardrail. Referee Paul Turner tried to stop Steen from encouraging Compton, so Steen gave him an 5-Cinq. Security tried to stop them form brawling, but they beat up security, then had a brawl which Steen mostly dominated until Compton hit some low blows and then put Steen through a table with a big diving splash
TRIPLE THREAT ELIMINATION TAG TEAM MATCH: Matt Hardy & Adam Cole vs. The Briscoes vs. Michael Elgin & Chris Hero- 8/10
Calling something a "Triple Threat Elimination Tag Team Match" can be slightly ambiguous about when a team team is eliminated, so they made it very clear at the beginning that a team was eliminated when either one of it's members was pinned. They did not, however, announce the stip that if someone pinned Adam Cole, that person would earn an ROH World Title shot, which was important to the story when the various wrestlers would break up each other's pins on Cole.
They told a good story with Cole and Hardy letting the other two teams fight it out, only tagging in opportunistically. The Briscoes were eliminated first, then Hero pinned Cole to earn an ROH World Title match. Hardy attacked Hero after the match, but Elgin made the save. Cole went after Elgin but got knocked out by Hero and his never-proven-to-be-loaded elbow pad.
Overall an awesome show from ROH, with great action all up and down the card, and it started a whole bunch of angles for the new year. A great first (non-TV taping) show for 2014.
ADRENALINE RUSH vs. THE DECADE (Jimmy Jacobs & BJ Whitmer) (w/Roderick Strong)- 6.75/10
Great opener. Lots of fast-paced action.
2014 TOP PROSPECT TOURNAMENT FINALS: Raymond Rowe vs. Hanson- 5/10
Two big men doing a bunch of big moves, with some spin kicks thrown in. Michael Elgin came out to watch the match.
THE ROMANTIC TOUCH vs. MICHAEL BENNETT (w/Maria Kanellis)- 5.75/10
Veda Scott came out to do commentary. She claims that The Romantic Touch is Rhett Titus. She has very little evidence.
Maria cut a pre-match promo saying that "The Romantic Touch" disgusts her because he "degrades women" by thinking that they need him. She says that she isn't afraid to be in the ring with men and that she can take piledrivers or whatever else men can give her. Maria says that she wants to show that women have power in wrestling, and to do so... she has taught her boyfriend a new finisher which HE will then use to get the win. This is the same stupid flaw as 2005 Lacey's gimmick where she was trying to prove that women are superior to men... by managing a male tag team to win the tag team titles. Bennett then said something about getting power.
On commentary Veda Scott updated us on R.D. Evans' "New Streak" claiming that he was wrestling North Korea (and if you haven't seen that YouTube video, you need to stop reading this review and go watch it because it is UTTERLY HILARIOUS) and the time difference has allowed R.D. to "pick up wins in the future." R.D. Evans time-travelling? That's utterly ridiculous! That could never happen.
They did some good stuff before The Romantic Touch tried to put the moves on Maria (as a result of Bennett using Maria as a human shield), allowing Bennett to take control of the match. The Romantic Touch made a comeback, so Maria hopped up on the apron to distract him with her sexiness. It succeeded, and Bennett picked up the win with the new finisher Maria taught him: The Anaconda Vise.
After the match, Veda Scott berated The Romantic Touch for being a coward and asserted that he was really Rhett Titus. The Romantic Touch responded by creepily sniffing her hair. Veda was understandably unhappy about this unhappy about this and went to slap him, but he blocked it and picked her up to carry her off, but she wiggled free and ran away. Kevin Kelly tried to justify The Romantic Touch's actions by saying that Valentine's Day :is his Christmas" as if that excuses creepy behavior.
HOUSE OF TRUTH SEGMENT- Matt Taven came our for his match without Truth or the Hoopla Hotties. The Hotties and Truth then came out. Truth was dressed much less ridiculously than usual. He was not wearing a wacky hat and he even had his pants on! Truth said that Taven losing the TV Title means that the House of Truth can no longer live up their partying lifestyle. He told the Hoopla Hotties to go to the back and declared that Hoopla was dead, disappointing the fans.
Taven then said that he thanked Truth for everything he has done for him, but he says he could have done it on his own. He then says that when he needed the House of Truth the most (at Final Battle 2013), they were not able to help him, so he fires Truth as his manager. In other words, Taven is saying "you didn't help me cheat enough, therefore I don't want you to be my manager." Some babyface turn this is.
ROH TV TITLE MATCH: Tommaso Ciampa(c) vs. Matt Taven vs. Jay Lethal- 7.5/10
Truth Martini came back out to do commentary and claimed that Taven didn't really fire him and that they will patch things up. he did reassert that "Hoopla is dead" and that he wanted to "get back to business" and help Taven regain the TV Title. Truth tried to give Taven the Book of Truth to use as a weapon, but Taven didn't want to. This led to them arguing and Taven being superkicked into Truth by Lethal. Truth getting knocked off the apron caused Todd Sinclair to not see Lethal get a visual pinfall on Taven via Small Package. When Taven went to get back into the ring, Truth tripped him up, allowing Ciampa to hit him with Project Ciampa and get the win. Taven shows Ciampa respect with a post-match handshake, but Lethal is obviously unhappy and he lets Ciampa know it.
CEDRIC ALEXANDER vs. ANDREW EVERETT- 7.5/10
Roderick Strong came out to do commentary for this match. Unfortunately, he mic was not working at all, so we were only hearing Corino and Kevin's side of the conversation, which made the conversation totally unhelpful and made things look very rinky-dink.
ROH is owned by a TV broadcasting company. Did they not have a back-up mic they could use? Was no one watching the live footage they were recording o tell them to try to fix whatever the problem was? Or at least to tell the cameras to stop cutting to shots of Roddy talking into a mic that wasn't working?
I think this also might have hurt the angle they were trying to do, as when Cedric Alexander did a dropkick in the corner reminiscent of Austin Aries' IED, Corino made some joke about not realizing that "Austin" had died, then said that "he'll be back" likely in response to Roddy bringing up the fact that this was Aries' move. Cedric got the win with something slightly-but-not-really similar to Roddy's "Death by Roderick," which they are trying to play up as Cedric stealing Roddy's move.
They tried to play up all match that there were a lot of similarities between Cedric and Roddy. I really don't see any. They did mention that some people have compared Everett to Jack Evans, and that I can definitely see. He even did a 630.
So they had some trouble getting the angle over because of the mic problems, but the match itself was GREAT! This was a lot more than anyone expected from this match. Everett was put in this match at the last minute because Cedric's scheduled opponent, Paul London, couldn't make it to the show because of the weather. Cedric himself was a not quite last minute replacement for Roderick Strong (ROH had been waiting to get word if Roddy would be medically cleared to wrestle after the sick way his neck got crunched while taking a Styles Clash in AJ Style's ROH return match), so in effect, these two were substituting for a much-hyped 2 out of 3 falls match with a world title shot on the line, which itself was a rematch of a an awesome match from Glory By Honor XII, so they had some HUGE shoes to fill, and while they didn't quite fill those shoes, they definitely showed that they will probably grow into those shoes in a year or two. The fans might have been disappointed that they were going to get London vs. Roddy, but I don't think any of them left disappointed that they got this match instead. If these two (especially Everett) become big stars for ROH, this is a match people will look back on as the beginning of their rise to the top.
KEVIN STEEN vs. KYLE O'REILLY- 8/10
They told a great story with Kyle working over Steen's arm. Cliff Compton distracted Steen at an important point in the match to further their burgeoning feud.
At one point Kyle's mouth-guard came out, so Steen picked it up and put it in his own mouth (which is much less gross than where I thought he was going to put it. Kyle's cross armbreaker is now apparently called "Armageddon." For anyone else, this would be horribly lame, but for Kyle, it fits perfectly.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- decent
Compton came back after the match (I thought security had ejected him but apparently not- though he never actually jumped the guardrail), and, after being egged on by Steen, did jump the guardrail. Referee Paul Turner tried to stop Steen from encouraging Compton, so Steen gave him an 5-Cinq. Security tried to stop them form brawling, but they beat up security, then had a brawl which Steen mostly dominated until Compton hit some low blows and then put Steen through a table with a big diving splash
TRIPLE THREAT ELIMINATION TAG TEAM MATCH: Matt Hardy & Adam Cole vs. The Briscoes vs. Michael Elgin & Chris Hero- 8/10
Calling something a "Triple Threat Elimination Tag Team Match" can be slightly ambiguous about when a team team is eliminated, so they made it very clear at the beginning that a team was eliminated when either one of it's members was pinned. They did not, however, announce the stip that if someone pinned Adam Cole, that person would earn an ROH World Title shot, which was important to the story when the various wrestlers would break up each other's pins on Cole.
They told a good story with Cole and Hardy letting the other two teams fight it out, only tagging in opportunistically. The Briscoes were eliminated first, then Hero pinned Cole to earn an ROH World Title match. Hardy attacked Hero after the match, but Elgin made the save. Cole went after Elgin but got knocked out by Hero and his never-proven-to-be-loaded elbow pad.
Overall an awesome show from ROH, with great action all up and down the card, and it started a whole bunch of angles for the new year. A great first (non-TV taping) show for 2014.