ROH Raising The Bar: Night 2
ROH Raising The Bar: Night 2 (3/8/2014)- Chicago, IL
TYSON DUX vs. MICHAEL ELGIN- 5.5/10
Tyson Dux held Elgin up for a while in a stalling suplex. Yes. That is correct. I did not mistype it and you did not misread it. Of course this immediately led to a spot where Elgin showed him how it is really done.
After the match, Elgin cut a promo putting Dux over as a mentor of his. The announcers also hammered this point home on commentary.
ADRENALINE RUSH vs. THE DECADE (Roderick Strong & BJ Whitmer) (w/Jimmy Jacobs & Adam Page)- 6.5/10
Page held the curtain and the ropes open for the Decade, and did other actions to show that he is agreeing to be their bitch. Jacobs cut a promo saying that that Page was earning the respect of the veterans the correct, old-school way. Basically, he is their young boy.
Kevin Kelly asks Adam Page to give them some thoughts on commentary, but Jimmy Jacobs quickly nixes that by yelling at Page to pay attention to the match so that he can learn.
BJ and ACH seemed to have some sort of miscommunication because BJ went for a vertical suplex but ACH took a DDT. Whitmer seemed really pissed and started chopping the sh*t out of ACH in the corner, but that might just be him playing into the Decade gimmick.
JAY LETHAL vs. MICHAEL BENNETT (w/Maria Kanellis)- 5.25/10
There is exactly ONE fan in the arena with a Mike Bennett t-shirt. Fortunately for this fan, he was seated right in the front row. He jumped to his feet in excitement for Bennett’s entrance, and was rewarded with both Bennett’s shirt and a high-five from Maria.
Bennett went for a Pepsi Twist IN CHICAGO… and the crowd didn’t react at all. WHAT THE F*CK?!
They really didn’t do much here. I was expecting a lot more.
NO DISQUALIFICATIONS MATCH: The Briscoe Brothers vs. Outlaws Inc.- 7/10
This wasn’t originally scheduled to be a No DQ’s match, but the two teams just decided to have one, referee’s protests be damned. So they did and we got a double DQ, which the fans didn’t like. Security and Nigel came out to break them up, but Jay Briscoe asked Nigel to give the fans what they wanted (the fans were loudly chanting â€"LET THEM FIGHT!â€), so Nigel restarted this as a No DQ’s match.
They had a wild, violent match with lots of shots to the head, both with weapons and without.
MATT TAVEN vs. SILAS YOUNG- 5/10
Apparently Taven injured his shoulder last night against Taven, but it wasn’t taped up or anything. Silas worked the shoulder over until Taven made a comeback. Taven had him set up for the Frog Splash but Truth Martini appeared up above the entrance way, distracting Taven. Again. This allowed Silas to cut him off and get the win. Again. I’m getting tired of this. Can we please have some development here?
Taven attacked Silas after the match because he was frustrated.
KEVIN STEEN vs. CEDRIC ALEXANDER- 6.75/10
Both the announcers and the spots in the match did a good job of putting over Steen’s attempt to get in better shape. Cedric also used a few more of Roderick Strong’s signature backbreakers.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- okay
Outlaws Inc. showed up. Steen called them pussies and wanted to fight them but Nigel and some referees tried to stop it. Outlaw Inc. decided that they didn’t want to fight. Steen shouted â€"Go back to CHIKARA. That’s where you belong, you little b*tch!†Kingston did not take kindly to that, but still went backstage.
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: reDRagon(c) vs. The Young Bucks- 8.25/10
If the Bucks were going to be the babyfaces (especially Matt, who valiantly fought on with a broken hand), then they shouldn’t have done the heelish cartwheel backrake spot. Still, this was the type of awesome match you’d expect from these two teams (though unfortunately not the dickish heels vs. dickish heels dream match that I wanted),and a nice reminder that the Bucks can play great babyfaces. Also, Kyle O’Reilly has the BEST SPAGHETTI-LEGS EVER.
RINGMASTERS’ CHALLENGE FOR THE ROH WORLD TITLE: Adam Cole(c) vs. Chris Hero- 7.25/10
Kevin Kelly misremembered the last Ringmasters’ Challenge (between Roddy and Cole at Road to Greatness: Night 2) as being an ROH World Title match. The title was vacant at the time. He also claimed that Hero’s â€"That Young Knockout Kid†moniker was something he had â€"early on in his career.†I guess Kevin considers ten years to be â€"early on†in someone’s career.
The first two falls came too quickly for my liking, and they made a major misstep in mostly ignoring all of the work on Hero’s leg after the second fall. The third fall was good, aside from that mistake. They really hit each other hard.
The match was very, very good, but it wasn’t ROH World Title quality. This was the second disappointing title match these two have had, and at this point, I really don’t want to see this feud continue. Thankfully Cole actually did win cleanly in the overtime (which I liked a lot, because it helps him remain a strong champion while still being able to be a dirty heel).
Another good show from ROH, but like last night’s show, the disappointing world title match brings it down. This is the danger of naming a show something like â€"Raising the Bar†before the show actually happens. If the show doesn’t work out as well as you hoped, you wind up looking kind of stupid, and that definitely happened to ROH this weekend.
TYSON DUX vs. MICHAEL ELGIN- 5.5/10
Tyson Dux held Elgin up for a while in a stalling suplex. Yes. That is correct. I did not mistype it and you did not misread it. Of course this immediately led to a spot where Elgin showed him how it is really done.
After the match, Elgin cut a promo putting Dux over as a mentor of his. The announcers also hammered this point home on commentary.
ADRENALINE RUSH vs. THE DECADE (Roderick Strong & BJ Whitmer) (w/Jimmy Jacobs & Adam Page)- 6.5/10
Page held the curtain and the ropes open for the Decade, and did other actions to show that he is agreeing to be their bitch. Jacobs cut a promo saying that that Page was earning the respect of the veterans the correct, old-school way. Basically, he is their young boy.
Kevin Kelly asks Adam Page to give them some thoughts on commentary, but Jimmy Jacobs quickly nixes that by yelling at Page to pay attention to the match so that he can learn.
BJ and ACH seemed to have some sort of miscommunication because BJ went for a vertical suplex but ACH took a DDT. Whitmer seemed really pissed and started chopping the sh*t out of ACH in the corner, but that might just be him playing into the Decade gimmick.
JAY LETHAL vs. MICHAEL BENNETT (w/Maria Kanellis)- 5.25/10
There is exactly ONE fan in the arena with a Mike Bennett t-shirt. Fortunately for this fan, he was seated right in the front row. He jumped to his feet in excitement for Bennett’s entrance, and was rewarded with both Bennett’s shirt and a high-five from Maria.
Bennett went for a Pepsi Twist IN CHICAGO… and the crowd didn’t react at all. WHAT THE F*CK?!
They really didn’t do much here. I was expecting a lot more.
NO DISQUALIFICATIONS MATCH: The Briscoe Brothers vs. Outlaws Inc.- 7/10
This wasn’t originally scheduled to be a No DQ’s match, but the two teams just decided to have one, referee’s protests be damned. So they did and we got a double DQ, which the fans didn’t like. Security and Nigel came out to break them up, but Jay Briscoe asked Nigel to give the fans what they wanted (the fans were loudly chanting â€"LET THEM FIGHT!â€), so Nigel restarted this as a No DQ’s match.
They had a wild, violent match with lots of shots to the head, both with weapons and without.
MATT TAVEN vs. SILAS YOUNG- 5/10
Apparently Taven injured his shoulder last night against Taven, but it wasn’t taped up or anything. Silas worked the shoulder over until Taven made a comeback. Taven had him set up for the Frog Splash but Truth Martini appeared up above the entrance way, distracting Taven. Again. This allowed Silas to cut him off and get the win. Again. I’m getting tired of this. Can we please have some development here?
Taven attacked Silas after the match because he was frustrated.
KEVIN STEEN vs. CEDRIC ALEXANDER- 6.75/10
Both the announcers and the spots in the match did a good job of putting over Steen’s attempt to get in better shape. Cedric also used a few more of Roderick Strong’s signature backbreakers.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- okay
Outlaws Inc. showed up. Steen called them pussies and wanted to fight them but Nigel and some referees tried to stop it. Outlaw Inc. decided that they didn’t want to fight. Steen shouted â€"Go back to CHIKARA. That’s where you belong, you little b*tch!†Kingston did not take kindly to that, but still went backstage.
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: reDRagon(c) vs. The Young Bucks- 8.25/10
If the Bucks were going to be the babyfaces (especially Matt, who valiantly fought on with a broken hand), then they shouldn’t have done the heelish cartwheel backrake spot. Still, this was the type of awesome match you’d expect from these two teams (though unfortunately not the dickish heels vs. dickish heels dream match that I wanted),and a nice reminder that the Bucks can play great babyfaces. Also, Kyle O’Reilly has the BEST SPAGHETTI-LEGS EVER.
RINGMASTERS’ CHALLENGE FOR THE ROH WORLD TITLE: Adam Cole(c) vs. Chris Hero- 7.25/10
Kevin Kelly misremembered the last Ringmasters’ Challenge (between Roddy and Cole at Road to Greatness: Night 2) as being an ROH World Title match. The title was vacant at the time. He also claimed that Hero’s â€"That Young Knockout Kid†moniker was something he had â€"early on in his career.†I guess Kevin considers ten years to be â€"early on†in someone’s career.
The first two falls came too quickly for my liking, and they made a major misstep in mostly ignoring all of the work on Hero’s leg after the second fall. The third fall was good, aside from that mistake. They really hit each other hard.
The match was very, very good, but it wasn’t ROH World Title quality. This was the second disappointing title match these two have had, and at this point, I really don’t want to see this feud continue. Thankfully Cole actually did win cleanly in the overtime (which I liked a lot, because it helps him remain a strong champion while still being able to be a dirty heel).
Another good show from ROH, but like last night’s show, the disappointing world title match brings it down. This is the danger of naming a show something like â€"Raising the Bar†before the show actually happens. If the show doesn’t work out as well as you hoped, you wind up looking kind of stupid, and that definitely happened to ROH this weekend.