ROH Flyin' High
ROH Flyin' High (3/22/2014)- Dayton, OH
CAPRICE COLEMAN & ADRENALINE RUSH vs. THE DECADE (w/Adam Page)- 6.75/10
I was wondering why ACH’s theme sounded so catchy and familiar to me… then I realized that it’s the same f*cking thing as Summer Rae’s theme! (okay, not exactly the same, but ridiculously close).
SEGMENT TO BUILD UP THE MAIN EVENT-eh
We had previously been told that the Briscoes ran into traffic problems and were not at the arena yet. Adam Cole came out and said that he had seen them in the back and called them out, saying that he would prove that he could beat up both Briscoes at the same time. So the Briscoes music plays… and out come Michael Bennett and Maria, dressed as the Briscoes. They made fun of the Briscoes until the real Briscoes showed up and brawled with Bennett and Cole until security broke it up.
FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL MATCH: Kyle O’Reilly vs. The Romantic Touch vs. Silas Young vs. R.D. Evans (w/Veda Scott & â€"Ramon)- 5/10
Silas Young threw R.D.’s 61-0 sign because he is a jerk. He would continue to be angry about things throughout the match. Great character stuff. He eventually grabbed a leather strap he had through to ringside and started whipping people with it. Because of this, the referee ejected him from the match, which earns this match super-ultra-major bonus points from me. I’ve always hated the default â€"no DQ’s in three-way/four-way/whatever matches.†THIS is what should happen when someone does something illegal in a four way match!
As Silas made his way to the back, Truth Martini came out and hugged him. Silas did not hug Truth back, but he didn’t react violently to the hug, either, which is much better than the way he has reacted to… well… pretty much everything else so far.
The match went on for a few more minutes and had a creative finish with good aftermath.
MICHAEL ELGIN vs. CEDRIC ALEXANDER- 8.25/10
Another great singles performance for Cedric. I can’t wait for his match with Roddy at Supercard of Honor VIII.
KEVIN STEEN vs. BOBBY FISH- no rating. Okay segment.
They did some eh comedy until Steen blew a snot rocket at Kyle, so Kyle attacked him for the DQ. reDRagon beat Steen down until R.D. Evans makes the save. Steen cuts a promo and demands a tag team match, but reDRagon won’t take it because they don’t want to lower themselves to facing a makeshift tag team… and especially one that includes R.D. Evans because of the way R.D. dresses. Steen interprets this as them disrespecting R.D. because he â€"doesn’t look like a typical pro wrestler.†Steen up both himself and Generico (though without mentioning him by name) as guys who also didn’t look like typical pro wrestlers, then challenges reDRagon’s manhood, so reDRagon take the match.
reDRagon vs. KEVIN STEEN & R.D. EVANS (w/Veda Scott)- 5.75/10
Veda tries to convince R.D. not to take the match so he doesn’t jeopardize The New Streak, but R.D. wants to take the match. Veda did commentary and let it slip that she has been hand-picking R.D.’s opponents. Steen was mean to her on the outside early on. That wasn’t nice.
Apparently kicking the rope into the other guy’s nads it not a DQ.
ROH TV TITLE MATCH: Tommaso Ciampa(c) vs. Matt Taven- 6.25/10
Early on in the match, Taven went for a stalling suplex and only held Ciampa up for about seven seconds. In response, the fans chanted â€"ELGIN’S BETTERâ€â€¦ and they’re right. If you are Taven, why the hell would you even try that? In ROH, that is Elgin’s move. If you’re not going to do it better than him (and Matt Taven is certainly no Michael Elgin), you KNOW the fans are going to crap on it, so why do it?
Anyway, they wrestle for a bit with Ciampa working over Taven’s ribs (when he isn’t kneeing him in the head). Then, during a double-down, Truth Martini drags Selezyia out to ringside and whispers instructions to her. Scarlett Bordeaux, the ring announcer, shouts â€"DON’T LISTEN!†When the hell did Scarlett turn babyface? She stopped hanging out with Truth because Truth didn’t want her, but she never actually became a babyface. I just assumed ROH was using her as a ring announcer because she has a good voice and because she is really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, REALLY hot.
Truth distracts the ref while Selezyia hops up on the apron and tries to punch Taven, but Taven blocks it, so Selezyia gives him a low blow. Ciampa then hits Taven with an electric chair version of Project Ciampa for the win. Apparently Truth had promised Selezyia a hug in exchange for screwing over Taven, but he doesn’t give it to her because… I guess he doesn’t want to hug a brunette with a great rack. At least this time they found a new way to have Truth screw Taven over.
MATT TAVEN PROMO- bad
He says that for a year, he was â€"brainwashed†by Truth Martini, but now he wants to kicks Truth’s ass at Supercard of Honor VIII in New Orleans. He said this with almost no emotion at all. He was nothing close to the pissed-off babyface he should have been.
AJ STYLES vs. CHRIS HERO- 7.5/10
Hero tried to knock AJ out while AJ worked over Hero’s knee. A great match, but the finish seemed to come out of nowhere.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Hero cuts a babyface promo after the match with a bunch of hometown cheap pops. Then he gets beaten up by the Decade and Jimmy Jacobs says that he is not welcome back in the ROH locker room.
THE BRISCOES vs. ADAM COLE & MICHAEL BENNETT (w/Maria Kanellis)- 6.75/10
Jay pins Cole and Mark and Bennett go through a table, both to build up to Supercard of Honor VIII. If this sounds familiar to you, it is because I wrote virtually the same thing about the ROH TV main event between these two teams that coincidentally aired this same name. This was just a worse version of that match. A pretty disappointing outing for Bennett’s first ROH main event, and another under-delivering main event in the Adam Cole Title reign.
The heels get their heat after the match, ending in Cole hitting both Briscoes with the ROH World Title belt. I do like that hitting someone with the title belt has become a signature move of Cole’s as the champion. They also do some damage to Jay’s shoulder with the ringpost. Michael Elgin finally comes out with a chair to make the save.
A very good show from ROH, but it doesn’t feel that way by the end because the screwy finish in the TV Title match and Taven’s bad post-match promo, the disappointing (well… relatively, anyway) match between Hero and AJ, and the underwhelming main event that was basically a worse version of a match we just saw on TV make you forget about how awesome Cedric vs. Elgin was.
CAPRICE COLEMAN & ADRENALINE RUSH vs. THE DECADE (w/Adam Page)- 6.75/10
I was wondering why ACH’s theme sounded so catchy and familiar to me… then I realized that it’s the same f*cking thing as Summer Rae’s theme! (okay, not exactly the same, but ridiculously close).
SEGMENT TO BUILD UP THE MAIN EVENT-eh
We had previously been told that the Briscoes ran into traffic problems and were not at the arena yet. Adam Cole came out and said that he had seen them in the back and called them out, saying that he would prove that he could beat up both Briscoes at the same time. So the Briscoes music plays… and out come Michael Bennett and Maria, dressed as the Briscoes. They made fun of the Briscoes until the real Briscoes showed up and brawled with Bennett and Cole until security broke it up.
FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL MATCH: Kyle O’Reilly vs. The Romantic Touch vs. Silas Young vs. R.D. Evans (w/Veda Scott & â€"Ramon)- 5/10
Silas Young threw R.D.’s 61-0 sign because he is a jerk. He would continue to be angry about things throughout the match. Great character stuff. He eventually grabbed a leather strap he had through to ringside and started whipping people with it. Because of this, the referee ejected him from the match, which earns this match super-ultra-major bonus points from me. I’ve always hated the default â€"no DQ’s in three-way/four-way/whatever matches.†THIS is what should happen when someone does something illegal in a four way match!
As Silas made his way to the back, Truth Martini came out and hugged him. Silas did not hug Truth back, but he didn’t react violently to the hug, either, which is much better than the way he has reacted to… well… pretty much everything else so far.
The match went on for a few more minutes and had a creative finish with good aftermath.
MICHAEL ELGIN vs. CEDRIC ALEXANDER- 8.25/10
Another great singles performance for Cedric. I can’t wait for his match with Roddy at Supercard of Honor VIII.
KEVIN STEEN vs. BOBBY FISH- no rating. Okay segment.
They did some eh comedy until Steen blew a snot rocket at Kyle, so Kyle attacked him for the DQ. reDRagon beat Steen down until R.D. Evans makes the save. Steen cuts a promo and demands a tag team match, but reDRagon won’t take it because they don’t want to lower themselves to facing a makeshift tag team… and especially one that includes R.D. Evans because of the way R.D. dresses. Steen interprets this as them disrespecting R.D. because he â€"doesn’t look like a typical pro wrestler.†Steen up both himself and Generico (though without mentioning him by name) as guys who also didn’t look like typical pro wrestlers, then challenges reDRagon’s manhood, so reDRagon take the match.
reDRagon vs. KEVIN STEEN & R.D. EVANS (w/Veda Scott)- 5.75/10
Veda tries to convince R.D. not to take the match so he doesn’t jeopardize The New Streak, but R.D. wants to take the match. Veda did commentary and let it slip that she has been hand-picking R.D.’s opponents. Steen was mean to her on the outside early on. That wasn’t nice.
Apparently kicking the rope into the other guy’s nads it not a DQ.
ROH TV TITLE MATCH: Tommaso Ciampa(c) vs. Matt Taven- 6.25/10
Early on in the match, Taven went for a stalling suplex and only held Ciampa up for about seven seconds. In response, the fans chanted â€"ELGIN’S BETTERâ€â€¦ and they’re right. If you are Taven, why the hell would you even try that? In ROH, that is Elgin’s move. If you’re not going to do it better than him (and Matt Taven is certainly no Michael Elgin), you KNOW the fans are going to crap on it, so why do it?
Anyway, they wrestle for a bit with Ciampa working over Taven’s ribs (when he isn’t kneeing him in the head). Then, during a double-down, Truth Martini drags Selezyia out to ringside and whispers instructions to her. Scarlett Bordeaux, the ring announcer, shouts â€"DON’T LISTEN!†When the hell did Scarlett turn babyface? She stopped hanging out with Truth because Truth didn’t want her, but she never actually became a babyface. I just assumed ROH was using her as a ring announcer because she has a good voice and because she is really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, REALLY hot.
Truth distracts the ref while Selezyia hops up on the apron and tries to punch Taven, but Taven blocks it, so Selezyia gives him a low blow. Ciampa then hits Taven with an electric chair version of Project Ciampa for the win. Apparently Truth had promised Selezyia a hug in exchange for screwing over Taven, but he doesn’t give it to her because… I guess he doesn’t want to hug a brunette with a great rack. At least this time they found a new way to have Truth screw Taven over.
MATT TAVEN PROMO- bad
He says that for a year, he was â€"brainwashed†by Truth Martini, but now he wants to kicks Truth’s ass at Supercard of Honor VIII in New Orleans. He said this with almost no emotion at all. He was nothing close to the pissed-off babyface he should have been.
AJ STYLES vs. CHRIS HERO- 7.5/10
Hero tried to knock AJ out while AJ worked over Hero’s knee. A great match, but the finish seemed to come out of nowhere.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Hero cuts a babyface promo after the match with a bunch of hometown cheap pops. Then he gets beaten up by the Decade and Jimmy Jacobs says that he is not welcome back in the ROH locker room.
THE BRISCOES vs. ADAM COLE & MICHAEL BENNETT (w/Maria Kanellis)- 6.75/10
Jay pins Cole and Mark and Bennett go through a table, both to build up to Supercard of Honor VIII. If this sounds familiar to you, it is because I wrote virtually the same thing about the ROH TV main event between these two teams that coincidentally aired this same name. This was just a worse version of that match. A pretty disappointing outing for Bennett’s first ROH main event, and another under-delivering main event in the Adam Cole Title reign.
The heels get their heat after the match, ending in Cole hitting both Briscoes with the ROH World Title belt. I do like that hitting someone with the title belt has become a signature move of Cole’s as the champion. They also do some damage to Jay’s shoulder with the ringpost. Michael Elgin finally comes out with a chair to make the save.
A very good show from ROH, but it doesn’t feel that way by the end because the screwy finish in the TV Title match and Taven’s bad post-match promo, the disappointing (well… relatively, anyway) match between Hero and AJ, and the underwhelming main event that was basically a worse version of a match we just saw on TV make you forget about how awesome Cedric vs. Elgin was.