ROH Road to Best in the World: Night 2
ROH Road to Best in the World: Night 2 (6/7/2014)- Colinsville, IL
Scarlett Bordeaux is tonight's ring announcer. She has died the bottom half of her hair blonde, while the top is now more of a ginger than lush red it was before. It looks a lot less sexy, which I am very much not okay with.
ETHAN GABRIEL OWENS vs. ZIZOU MIDDOUX- 5/10
Ethan Gabriel Owens used to be Ethan Page, but there was already an Adam Page, so ROH decided he needed to change his name. The new initials spell out EGO, which is apparently his gimmick now. This was kind of heel vs. heel, but since neither guy was really established in the company, it worked well. The crowd was very into it, too, which is a good sign for both men.
CEDRIC ALEXANDER vs. TADARIUS THOMAS (w/Jimmy Jacobs)- 6.25/10
Cedric was extra-vicious in this match, and that alone has me hyped for when he gets his hands on Roderick Strong at Best in the World 2014. This was also by far the most I have enjoyed Tadarius Thomas in a match that wasn't really spotty. After the match Jimmy Jacobs cut a good promo that both hyped up the aforementioned Roderick Strong vs. Cedric Alexander match at Best in the World 2014 and transitioned us well into...
CAPRICE COLEMAN vs. BJ WHITMER (w/Jimmy Jacobs & Tadarius Thomas)- 5.75/10
Caprice wins via roll-up, but then gets jumped afterwards. Cedric comes out with a chair to make the save.
HOUSE OF TRUTH PROMO- Selezyia is back with the House of Truth. Scarlett was disgusted with her, and she let this be known by given them a dull introduction. Truth retaliates, embarrassing Scarlett by reminding the whole world that Scarlett used to give him head. Lethal calls out the Romantic Touch, who he keeps saying is Rhett Titus (I guess that cat is out of the bag in kayfabe, too). Lethal doesn't take him seriously, so the Romantic Touch challenges Jay to have their Proving Ground match right now. Jay says that he will beat the Romantic Touch easily, even though he is in his street clothes and not his wrestling gear. He even sends Truth and Selezyia to the back.
PROVING GROUND MATCH: ROH TV Champion Jay Lethal vs. The Romantic Touch- 4/10
They have brawl in which all of Jay's clothes wind up getting ripped off until he is wrestling in just his underwear (karma!). When they realized Lethal was in trouble, Truth and Selezyia came back to ringside. Romantic Touch blocked a Lethal Injection, but in the process Lethal ripped his mask off... revealing that it was actually Matt Taven under the mask! Taven then superkicked Lethal and hit him with the Climax for the pinfall victory. Then Taven ruined things by posing with his foot on Lethal's chest like a giant douche.
NO DISQUALIFICATIONS MATCH: Michael Elgin vs. Michael Bennett (w/Maria Kanellis)- 7/10
This started as a normal match, but when it became apparent that Bennett was more interested in trying to hurt Elgin and soften him up for Adam Cole at the PPV than he was in winning, Elgin challenged him to make it No Disqualifications. Bennett worked over Elgin's back, Elgin worked over Bennett's head, and they had a great match, aside from the "ring the ring bell on the opponent's balls" spot. No one should ever do that spot because it makes no sense. Physics does not work like that.
Cole eventually ran in and attacked Elgin with the ROH World Title belt. The heels then zip-tied Elgin to the ropes and cut off his mullet. Cole went to attack Elgin with a chair, but MsChif ran out to protect her man (if you didn't think MsChif could possibly be any more awesome, she was wearing a Star Wars shirt). Bennett grabbed MsChif and restrained her while Cole gave MsChif a choice: Either she could watch him beat the crap out of Elgin with a steel chair, or she could announce to the world that Adam Cole was much more of a man than Michael Elgin, and make out with him, "with tongue."
MsChif responded to this by spitting in Cole's face... which just makes me wonder why she didn't use the green mist here. Cole retaliated by locking MsChif in the figure four leg lock. Security finally came out to stop things, and with their point made, the heels left ringside. Once freed, the furious Elgin took his frustrations out on the security guys (who probably could have come out earlier).
This match wound up turning into a FANTASTIC angle to lead into Best in the World 2014 (cut off a man's mullet and then torture his wife while he is forced to watch- heavy stuff), but I was still a little unhappy that the match didn't technically have a finish. If you have Elgin tied up like that and are threatening MsChif, why not demand that Elgin forfeit the match, too?
ACH vs. SILAS YOUNG- 6.75/10
A much-needed very good showing from Silas. At this point he still feels like an undercard jabroni about to face a main eventer like Steen, but having matches like this will at least make him look like he almost stands a chance.
ADAM COLE PROMO- Good.
He says that Elgin thought that their title match wasn't personal, but to Cole, ANY ROH World Title match is personal.
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Adam Cole(c) vs. Tommaso Ciampa- 8.75/10
Cole wanted Scarlett to introduce him as "the best in the world," which she laughed while doing. Way to bury the champ, Scarlett. The crowd responded to this by chanting "CM PUNK!" Oh come on! This is RING OF HONOR! The "best in the world" is Bryan Danielson!
After that, though, this match was FANTASTIC! You got exactly what you would expect from these two. Ciampa was a fiery babyface and tried to win with the knockout knee, but when Cole did too much damage to the knee, Ciampa switched focus and tried to win with the Sicilian Stretch. I almost hate to say it, but this match felt wasted in this spot, where the outcome was never in doubt due to all of the build for Cole and Elgin for Best in the World 2014 in just two weeks.
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: reDRagon(c) vs. the Briscoe Brothers- 7.5/10
Kyle and Bobby did a great job of isolating Mark. Jay eventually got the hot tag, and they worked in some good nearfalls as well as a great finish.
A great show from ROH; one of the best so far this year. The undercard did a great job building to Best in the World 2014 while still being enjoyable on it's own, and the two main events just did their thing, making sure that this show was worth buying (rather than me feeling like a paid ROH for the privilege of watching a commercial for their upcoming PPV). The title defense against Ciampa has been one of the two best of Cole's reign so far (down only to the main event of Final Battle 2013)
STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Kevin Kelly- Cole kicked Ciampa in the knee. Kevin called it an "enzugiri," which means a "kick to the back of the head."
Scarlett Bordeaux is tonight's ring announcer. She has died the bottom half of her hair blonde, while the top is now more of a ginger than lush red it was before. It looks a lot less sexy, which I am very much not okay with.
ETHAN GABRIEL OWENS vs. ZIZOU MIDDOUX- 5/10
Ethan Gabriel Owens used to be Ethan Page, but there was already an Adam Page, so ROH decided he needed to change his name. The new initials spell out EGO, which is apparently his gimmick now. This was kind of heel vs. heel, but since neither guy was really established in the company, it worked well. The crowd was very into it, too, which is a good sign for both men.
CEDRIC ALEXANDER vs. TADARIUS THOMAS (w/Jimmy Jacobs)- 6.25/10
Cedric was extra-vicious in this match, and that alone has me hyped for when he gets his hands on Roderick Strong at Best in the World 2014. This was also by far the most I have enjoyed Tadarius Thomas in a match that wasn't really spotty. After the match Jimmy Jacobs cut a good promo that both hyped up the aforementioned Roderick Strong vs. Cedric Alexander match at Best in the World 2014 and transitioned us well into...
CAPRICE COLEMAN vs. BJ WHITMER (w/Jimmy Jacobs & Tadarius Thomas)- 5.75/10
Caprice wins via roll-up, but then gets jumped afterwards. Cedric comes out with a chair to make the save.
HOUSE OF TRUTH PROMO- Selezyia is back with the House of Truth. Scarlett was disgusted with her, and she let this be known by given them a dull introduction. Truth retaliates, embarrassing Scarlett by reminding the whole world that Scarlett used to give him head. Lethal calls out the Romantic Touch, who he keeps saying is Rhett Titus (I guess that cat is out of the bag in kayfabe, too). Lethal doesn't take him seriously, so the Romantic Touch challenges Jay to have their Proving Ground match right now. Jay says that he will beat the Romantic Touch easily, even though he is in his street clothes and not his wrestling gear. He even sends Truth and Selezyia to the back.
PROVING GROUND MATCH: ROH TV Champion Jay Lethal vs. The Romantic Touch- 4/10
They have brawl in which all of Jay's clothes wind up getting ripped off until he is wrestling in just his underwear (karma!). When they realized Lethal was in trouble, Truth and Selezyia came back to ringside. Romantic Touch blocked a Lethal Injection, but in the process Lethal ripped his mask off... revealing that it was actually Matt Taven under the mask! Taven then superkicked Lethal and hit him with the Climax for the pinfall victory. Then Taven ruined things by posing with his foot on Lethal's chest like a giant douche.
NO DISQUALIFICATIONS MATCH: Michael Elgin vs. Michael Bennett (w/Maria Kanellis)- 7/10
This started as a normal match, but when it became apparent that Bennett was more interested in trying to hurt Elgin and soften him up for Adam Cole at the PPV than he was in winning, Elgin challenged him to make it No Disqualifications. Bennett worked over Elgin's back, Elgin worked over Bennett's head, and they had a great match, aside from the "ring the ring bell on the opponent's balls" spot. No one should ever do that spot because it makes no sense. Physics does not work like that.
Cole eventually ran in and attacked Elgin with the ROH World Title belt. The heels then zip-tied Elgin to the ropes and cut off his mullet. Cole went to attack Elgin with a chair, but MsChif ran out to protect her man (if you didn't think MsChif could possibly be any more awesome, she was wearing a Star Wars shirt). Bennett grabbed MsChif and restrained her while Cole gave MsChif a choice: Either she could watch him beat the crap out of Elgin with a steel chair, or she could announce to the world that Adam Cole was much more of a man than Michael Elgin, and make out with him, "with tongue."
MsChif responded to this by spitting in Cole's face... which just makes me wonder why she didn't use the green mist here. Cole retaliated by locking MsChif in the figure four leg lock. Security finally came out to stop things, and with their point made, the heels left ringside. Once freed, the furious Elgin took his frustrations out on the security guys (who probably could have come out earlier).
This match wound up turning into a FANTASTIC angle to lead into Best in the World 2014 (cut off a man's mullet and then torture his wife while he is forced to watch- heavy stuff), but I was still a little unhappy that the match didn't technically have a finish. If you have Elgin tied up like that and are threatening MsChif, why not demand that Elgin forfeit the match, too?
ACH vs. SILAS YOUNG- 6.75/10
A much-needed very good showing from Silas. At this point he still feels like an undercard jabroni about to face a main eventer like Steen, but having matches like this will at least make him look like he almost stands a chance.
ADAM COLE PROMO- Good.
He says that Elgin thought that their title match wasn't personal, but to Cole, ANY ROH World Title match is personal.
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Adam Cole(c) vs. Tommaso Ciampa- 8.75/10
Cole wanted Scarlett to introduce him as "the best in the world," which she laughed while doing. Way to bury the champ, Scarlett. The crowd responded to this by chanting "CM PUNK!" Oh come on! This is RING OF HONOR! The "best in the world" is Bryan Danielson!
After that, though, this match was FANTASTIC! You got exactly what you would expect from these two. Ciampa was a fiery babyface and tried to win with the knockout knee, but when Cole did too much damage to the knee, Ciampa switched focus and tried to win with the Sicilian Stretch. I almost hate to say it, but this match felt wasted in this spot, where the outcome was never in doubt due to all of the build for Cole and Elgin for Best in the World 2014 in just two weeks.
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: reDRagon(c) vs. the Briscoe Brothers- 7.5/10
Kyle and Bobby did a great job of isolating Mark. Jay eventually got the hot tag, and they worked in some good nearfalls as well as a great finish.
A great show from ROH; one of the best so far this year. The undercard did a great job building to Best in the World 2014 while still being enjoyable on it's own, and the two main events just did their thing, making sure that this show was worth buying (rather than me feeling like a paid ROH for the privilege of watching a commercial for their upcoming PPV). The title defense against Ciampa has been one of the two best of Cole's reign so far (down only to the main event of Final Battle 2013)
STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Kevin Kelly- Cole kicked Ciampa in the knee. Kevin called it an "enzugiri," which means a "kick to the back of the head."