ROH 12 Anniversary Show (collector's edition)

ROH 12 Anniversary Show (collectorROH 12 Anniversary Show (collector

By Big Red Machine
From February 21, 2014
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ROH 12th Anniversary Show (2/21/2014)- Philadelphia, PA

SILAS YOUNG vs. MATT TAVEN- 6/10
Truth Martini came out to do commentary during the match, wearing a red suit and black shirt that he must have borrowed from James Mitchell. Taven wins clean in a good opener. Silas attacks Taven on the post-match handshake. Truth likes this and offers Silas a handshake but Silas snubs him.

THE DECADE vs. MARK BRISCOE, ADAM PAGE, & CEDRIC ALEXANDER- 6/10
Good action. Caprice Coleman was on commentary to help put over Cedric’s feud with the Decade. Roddy tried to hit the backbreaker variant that started this whole issue, but Cedric countered it and hit Roody with it instead. Then BJ Whitmer destroyed Cedric with a lariat. That was cool.
Whitmer got in Corino’s face after the match, which I was actually glad to see considering how Corino has spent the past year totally burying BJ on commentary for no real reason.

ROH TV TITLE MATCH: Tommaso Ciampa(c) vs. Hanson- 5.75/10

MICHAEL ELGIN vs. RAYMOND ROWE- 6.25/10
Apparently Matt Hardy’s flight got cancelled, so Elgin will face Raymond Rowe instead. They had a good big-man slugfest. After the match Adam Cole showed up and set up to hit Cole with the ROH World Title but Rowe stopped him. Cole wound up caught between the two big men but Mike Bennett came out and made the heel save with some low blows. Jay Briscoe came out to brawl with Bennett, leading to…

“REAL” ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Jay Briscoe(c) vs. Michael Bennett- 6.75/10
They brawl around the ringside area, then Maria makes her way out from the back, distracting Jay and allowing Bennett to start the heat. During his comeback, Jay pulled some stuff we don’t normally see from him like a Falcon Arrow and a very impressive frog splash. I liked the overbooking on the finish as it allows Cole to pay Bennett back and sets up a reason for Bennett to complain about his loss to keep this feud going (while getting to be a hypocritical heel). Between the events of this show and the previous show (State of the Art), I’m surprised that they haven’t booked Cole & Bennett vs. the Briscoes yet. It seems like it would be a perfect B show main event for a double shot, but Cole is already all booked up for Raising the Bar weekend. Maybe they’ll do it in Dayton as a semi-main under AJ vs. Hero.

ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: reDRagon(c) vs. Adrenaline Rush- 7.5/10
Nigel has replaced Corino on commentary. ACH has apparently stolen Kenny Omega’s stop sign slap spot. The false finish with the foot on the ropes looks like it might lead to a rematch or an ACH heel turn, or maybe even both.

AJ STYLES vs. JAY LETHAL- 7/10
Slightly disappointing, all things considered. The crowd was very hot for it, though.

EDDIE KINGSTON PROMO- Good.
He says that being suspended cost him money, which took food off of his table. He is angry at Nigel and Cary, angry at Sinclair Broadcasting, and angry at the fans for still supporting ROH after ROH did this to them. He says they are recruiting a new member. Homicide was there, too, but he didn’t talk.


ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Adam Cole(c) (w/Matt Hardy) vs. Chris Hero- 7.5/10
Before the match Nigel told us that to ensure there would be no interference in this match, Jay Briscoe, Michael Elgin, Mike Bennett, and Maria have all been sent back to the hotel. It was at this point that I realized just how much I have been conditioned by mainstream wrestling because once Nigel said this, I was 100% sure that someone was going to interfere in this match. In an ROH World Title match at ROH’s anniversary show. Thankfully no one did, and that is an important step. If everyone knows that when you tell them you are going right, you will actually be turning left, turning left won’t be a surprise. If you keep telling them you are going right and you actually do go right every time, then the next time you tell them you are going right they will actually be surprised when you go left.

Now, of course the lack of interference doesn't mean that this match was by any means clean. After a ref bump, Hero busted out the Hero's Welcome, then locked in the STRETCH PLUM to make Cole tap, but the ref wasn't conscious to count the pin. When the ref did recover, Cole managed to get the win, but they now have a reason for Hero to get a rematch.
The match itself was great, but not really what it needed to be for the spot it was in. I did enjoy Hero using a nice combination of both his "Knockout Artist" rolling elbows and his older stuff. Cole's selling towards the end could have been better, and the match had a lot less action than I was expecting.
Kevin Steen came out after the match and had a staredown with Cole, but Cole backed off. Steen says he will see Cole very soon. He then said that this was not an ROH show anymore but a "Kevin Steen Show… and my guest tonight is not going to get interviewed; he's going to get his ass kicked. So Cliff Compton- wherever you are- get in the ring right now so I can make you my b*tch."
I love Steen promos.
Compton came out through the crowd with no music (because he doesn't actually work for ROH), and they started the…

UNSANCTIONED PHILADELPHIA STREET FIGHT: Kevin Steen vs. Cliff Compton- 7/10
So after beating him up and tossing him into the barricades and mean stuff like that, Steen pulls out to Kendo Sticks from under the ring… and he TOSSES ONE TO COMPTON? WHAT THE F*CK?! Steen had been cutting promos saying he was going to KILL Compton… and now he is giving him a weapon to fight back with?! This was only made worse by the fact that Compton failed to catch the Kendo Stick and Steen didn't press this advantage at all, letting Compton pick the weapon up unharassed.
That bad spot out of the way, they had a great hardcore match with a lot of weapon use and Steen in particular taking some bumps that looked horribly painful (not that Compton's didn't look painful, but the stuff Steen took seemed like he didn't land quite like he expected to). After the match, Steen puts Compton over as being tough (which, again, really doesn't fit in with the angle), then said that now that he was done with Compton, he wanted a shot at the ROH World Title. Outlaws Inc. came out to mockingly applaud him, but didn't really do anything else.
Steen continued, saying that he didn't live up to the legacy of the title during his first reign, but vows to do so when he wins it again. He also vowed to be ROH World Champion by the next time ROH returns to Philly, a callback to a vow he made back in 2008 at Battle For Supremacy to win a title before the next time ROH returned to Dayton (which he did fulfill).


This was a good show, with a lot of good wrestling, but a lot of it just didn't live up to what it should have been. Hero vs. Cole and AJ vs. Lethal were particularly disappointing, but given the big stage, some of the other matches could (or even should) have been better than they were. Hell… even the ring announcing was disappointing. Scarlett Bordeaux was the ring announcer for tonight instead of Bobby Cruise, and not only was she not particularly good at it, but she was also wearing a lot of clothes. This was definitely one of the worst anniversary shows in ROH history (though that is in part due to how awesome many of the others have been). It was still very good, and for a less important show, it would even have been great, but for an anniversary show, it was disappointing.


COLLECTOR’S EDITION BONUS DISC:
HONOR-CON- it is what it is.

BUNCH OF PROMOS- all good

CAPRICE COLEMAN vs. AMASIS- 3.75/10
Kevin Kelly incorrectly stated this to be Amasis’ ROH debut. Some of their stuff looked good. Some of it looked… not so good.

JENNY ROSE vs. SELEZYIA SPARX (w/Scarlet Bordeaux)-DUD!
Wow. Lots of phantom stuff here, or stuff that just looked weak. I think that the worst of it was when they were trading forearm shots to breasts rather than to the face like normal wrestlers would.

AJ STYLES vs. MICHAEL ELGIN (from ROH TV, taped 2/22/2014)- 8/10
An awesome match, even though you could tell that they were clearly holding back. The full uncut version of the match is definitely worth a watch, even if you’ve seen the version that aired on TV.


STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Kevin Kelly (about AJ Styles)- "He was the Pure Champion, and a good one."
A good one? He had ONE DEFENSE, and it was against the same guy he beat to win the belt.

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