ROH TV 24th August 2013 Review

The ROH World Championship tournament finally began this week on ROH television, with Jay Lethal facing off against a returning Sonjay Dutt. This is definitely a good thing for Ring of Honor, bringing something fresh to our television screens, after the long running SCUM storyline came to a close a few weeks ago. With all tournament matches taking place on television and names like Brian Kendrick, Paul London and Karl Anderson returning to take part in the tournament we should be in for a treat, as we build toward Death Before Dishonor in September.

World Championship Tournament First Round Match: 

Jay Lethal 

vs. 

Sonjay Dutt

It's been a long time since we've seen Sonjay Dutt in ROH, his last appearance coming at 2010's Final Battle in a losing effort to Eddie Edwards, and seeing him return for this tournament made it feel like a big deal. With returns from Brian Kendrick, Paul London and Karl Anderson for the tournament as well, I think this was a fantastic move from ROH. Not only do you get the added interest from people looking to see their return, it elevates the tournament and the World Championship by making it look like a prize that people want to win, something that is often forgotten in the world of professional wrestling. The other interesting element in this one was the amount of history between the two men, who have been competing against and even teaming with each other since way back in 2004, mainly in TNA, but with their last televised singles bout coming almost five years ago, I was wondering if the two would connect on the level we have seem them do in the past.

Of course, they did and this bout was fantastic start to the tournament. With Dutt mainly competiting for TNA over the last two years, most recently on this week's Impact Wrestling in a losing effort to Manik, this definitely had an old school X-Division style about it, with the action coming at a fast pace, with a nice number of spots thrown in as well, starting with a good looking hurracanrana on the outside, using the apron. It was an extremely competitive bout, with the momentum swapping a number of times between the two, with the crowd split pretty much down the middle with a number of duelling chants breaking out. The highlight of the match for me was a fantastically quick section, that saw Dutt attempt a leg scissor takedown, with Lethal managing to hold him in a Tombstone Piledrive position with Dutt somehow flipping out of it, before kipping up and hitting a Tornando DDT, it certainly raised the bout up a notch and got the crowd even more involved than before.

The bout built nicely towards the finish, with a number of near falls and Lethal and Dutt being unable to hit signature moves Hail to the King and Moonsault Double Footstomp respectively. The ending saw Dutt attempt a Sonjay Cutter, which was reversed into a Tombstone Piledrive attempt from Lethal, with Dutt managing to get a roll up for a near fall. With both men recovering, Lethal managed to hit a Superkick to the back of Dutt's head, before hitting the Lethal Injection to get the pinfall victory and advance to the Quarter Final's of the tournament. It made sense for Lethal to go over here, as he is the ROH regular and the win over Dutt will give him good momentum heading into the next round, against either Adam Cole or Mark Briscoe.

This match proved once again, what a giant mistake TNA made in releasing Lethal back in 2010. Yes, the Black Machismo character only had so far to go within the company, but as Lethal has proved in ROH and across the world over the last few years, he has a lot more to offer beyond the gimmick. TNA seem to be doing a similar thing with Sonjay Dutt at the moment, with him not under contract, his appearances are too few and far between to really mean anything, and with the X Division roster looking paper thin at the moment, TNA should certainly look at tying to the Dutt back down to the company, and having him help the less experienced members of the roster to get over with the audience, similar to how we've seen WWE use Chris Jericho and Christian. If they don't, I would much prefer to see Dutt come back to Ring of Honor where he'll be afforded more time in his matches and really be able to shine.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere, C&C Wrestle Factory were in tag team action as they took on #PartyBoys. I have to admit I found it really difficult to get into this one, the action wasn't really what we've come to expect from Cedric Alexander and Caprice Coleman being fought at a plodding pace that never really got going. At the same time you have the team of Mike Sydal and Zizou Middoux who are still trying to find their feet, with only three previous matches as a team, and it was clear that they have yet to gel as a team. Middoux, himself, has yet to show me anything that marks him out as ready to be competiting at this level. The South African hasn't had too many matches, looking awkward when in control and having a number of notable botches, one where he was lucky not to seriously hurt himself.

C&C Wrestle Factory went on to pick up the win, after hitting their Overtime tag team manouvre on Middoux, with Coleman picking up the pinfall victory for the team. #PartyBoys definitely have a lot of work to do, if they want to become a regular feature of the ROH tag team division, and whilst matches against the likes of American Wolves and C&C Wrestle Factory will help them, they have yet to show me anything to believe they can work as a duo. Coleman and Alexander on the other hand, usually have very strong match ups, and therefore it was a little disapointing to see them look a little lethargic here, seemingly just going through the motions, hopefully normal service resumes soon for the promising tag team.

There was also a Four Corners Proving Ground match, with an opportunity to face Matt Taven for the World Television Championship next week on television. With Vinny Marseglia making his first appearance since May's Dragons Reign, after spending most of his time working for Masschusets based Top Rope Promotions, the only other wrestler in the match to compete for ROH before was veteran Brian Fury, who's sole match prior to this came in 2007, Fury's fellow Chaotic Wrestling competitor Todd Hanson, alongside Kongo made their debuts for the company. This was pretty decent four way contest, even if the tag in, tag out stipulation was quickly dropped by the competitors. The strongest sections of the match were when Marseglia and Fury were allowed to go at it, with both men starting and ending the contest with some athletic action. Hanson looking good when given the opportunity, with speed and flexibility rarely seen from a man his size, whilst Kongo suffered from having a recycled gimmick, which has been used by better wrestlers than he, namely Umaga. I'm not really sure what happened at the end, as the camera was showing Truth Martini and Matt Taven on commentary, but Fury picked up the pinfall victory. From what I saw here, Fury vs. Taven for the Television Title next week should be an interesting confrontation.

The big news coming out of Inside Ring of Honor this week was that Forever Hooligans had dropped the tag team titles to the American Wolves at All Star Extravaganza, before the Wolves themselves dropped the titles back to reDRagon at Manhatten Mayhem. Obviously, ROH is hoping the quick title changes will build to higher buys for the DVDs of those show, and it's worked with me, at least, I can't wait to buy the shows. C&C Wreste Factory also through their hat into the ring, asking for another title shot from Match Maker Nigel McGuiness, both men looked very strong on the mic and certainly deserve another shot at those belts. Kevin Kelly also interviewed Adam Cole, about his match with Mark Briscoe next week, whilst Cole's always seems to perform in the ring, he could definitely do with some work on the mic, as he wasn't particularly convincing here. Steve Corino also resurfaced, trying to get himself a job as a reporter, hopefully this isn't about to be a rehash of the SCUM story, although with Adam Cole talking a lot about Corino in his promo, it looks like that's what we might be about to get.   

Finally...

My final thoughts on this week's ROH on Sinclair.

1. Sonjay Dutt still has plenty to give whatever company he chooses to work for.

2. #PartyBoys still have a lot of work to do with their tag team, Middoux especially.

3. Brian Fury vs. Matt Taven should be a decent television bout next week. 

ROH TV 13th July 2013 Review

Another strong showing from Ring of Honor this week in terms of in ring action, with two solid matches, one rounding off a long running feud, the other for the World Tag Team Championships. However, as we get closer to Jay Briscoe’s World Championship defense against Matt Hardy next week on television, it just makes it even more frustrating that ROH let their World Champions contract expire and that these tapings take place long before the footage actually airs. 

World Tag Team Championship Match: 

C&C Wrestle Factory 

vs. 

reDRagon ©

This match was originally scheduled for June’s Best in the World iPPV, before Rhett Titus and Cliff Compton of SCUM were added to the mix, making the bout a three way. Now, I was a particularly big fan of that original match, feeling the three teams didn’t quite gel together, at time making for an awkward match to watch. However, I believed that any combination of three teams would have worked well in a regular tag team match, therefore I was pleased to see these two cross paths here. It’s been great to watch C&C develop as a tag team over the last year and half, as they have progressed their way up the tag team division, whilst reDRagon have managed to hold the division up when it’s looked pretty poor over the last six months.

The match was a decent affair with some hard hitting and fast flowing action, with Coleman, Alexander, O’Reilly and Fish all bringing something to the match. Unfortunately, the match was harmed by a number of factors. Firstly, time, the match only received around ten minutes of television time, which didn’t really allow the match to tell the story it needed to tell in order to get the correct end result, maybe if we’d have seen an extra five or ten minutes of action, the match would have been able to breath and the story unravel correctly. The other element that hurt the match for me, was the amount of outside influence that was included, with American Wolves, SCUM’s Titus & Compton and Adrenaline Rush all involved in a mass brawl at ringside which at time detracted from the action that was going on in the ring.

Now, I understand that reDRagon have an ongoing feud with The American Wolves, and it looks like C&C might be moving into a series with Adrenaline Rush, and SCUM were there because they are SCUM and have a big match to build up to in two weeks, but it certainly removed any feeling off importance that this match had before they came out, which was a real shame. Having said that the action in the ring was always exciting and imaginative, including a crazy frontkick from the apron from Kyle O’Reilly with Caprice Coleman propped up against a chair, which looked to crush Coleman against the barricade. The ending saw Alexander take a dive frontflip springboard to outside onto all the brawling tag teams, which allowing reDRagon to take advantage of Coleman finishing him off with their Chasing the Dragon double team move for a pinfall victory. It was decent finish, and makes sense to keep the titles on reDRagon it their heading into a final showdown with the American Wolves, if only to give the Wolves one more tag team title reign.

Overall, this match was a good display of technical and highflying wrestling, but with the outside interference and time constraints, I did come away feeling a little disappointed, as I know these two teams could do a hell of a lot better, given the chance. As previously mentioned, it looks like reDRagon are heading towards a final showdown with the American Wolves after the two had seemingly been kept on separate paths for a long time, it’s been a nice slow build for these two teams and I’m excited to see the pay off when it finally comes. C&C Wrestlefactory seem to be heading into a rivalry with Adrenaline Rush, both teams have similar styles and should mold well together, and hopefully sooner rather than later we’ll be seeing C&C and Adrenaline Rush feuding over the tag title belts.

Best of the Rest (In the World)

Elsewhere, ROH World Champion Jay Briscoe came to the ring to discuss his title defense on next week’s show against Matt Hardy. It was quick effective promo with Jay saying his shoulder injury, sustained in his match at Best in the World against his brother, Mark Briscoe, would not stop him from beating Hardy next week. I expect next week’s match to be pretty similar in the nature to this promo, nothing particularly pretty and tell a succinct and exciting story.

It’s a shame then, that this match doesn’t really mean a lot. Yes, it is for the World Championship, but we know from ROH themselves that the ROH World Championship is now vacant, with a 16-Man Tournament featuring some of the top names in ROH and elsewhere, commencing shortly. Therefore, the good work that ROH have done in building to Matt Hardy’s title match which has been a pretty big focus on television over the last few months has been pretty much thrown out of the window, because ROH decided to keep the title on someone who was about to leave the company.

Tommasso Ciampa and QT Marshall seemed to put an end to their feud this week, in surprisingly lengthy contest. I expected Ciampa to basically squash Marshall, however this bout turned into so much more than that, telling a good story and with some nice psycology surrounding Ciampa’s previous knee injury as well as on screen return for Prince Nana, there was a lot going on, but it all seemed to fit together well. The end saw Marshall’s manager RD Evans run into a Project Ciampa after being scared by Prince Nana, before Ciampa eventually hit the Bionic Knee on Marshall for the pinfall victory, after a fantastic contest. I’m interested to see how Ciampa fits in with Prince Nana now, it would be nice to see them reunited as a face duo, with Nana helping Ciampa finally reach the heights that he deserves in Ring of Honor.

Mike Bennett was also in action against Nick Merriman, in what should be the definition of a squash match. Bennett suckered Barrowman in for a Code of Honor handshake, only to hit a Box Office Smash, followed up by Photo Finish for the pinfall victory. It was what happened after the match that was the interesting part, with Bennett deciding where his future in wrestling lied. It turned out that Bennett would be signing for Ring of Honor, however he offered ring crew member and long time rival, Cheeseburger, the contract instead. Of course this was only to sucker Cheeseburger in, as he got struck with a Super Kick from Bennett, with Brutal Bob Evans eventually taking a Box Office Smash. Bennett went on to cut a fantastic promo on the break up of he and Evans’ partnership. It’s surprising that ROH hasn’t pushed Bennett harder over the last three years, as it’s difficult to see what he’s lacking to perform at a higher level.

On Inside Ring of Honor, both Steve Corino, flanked by SCUM member Jimmy Jacobs, Rhett Titus & Cliff Compton and Michael Elgin gave their thoughts on upcoming ROH event. Corino did a good job talking up the next two weeks of ROH television, main evented by Jay Briscoe vs. Matt Hardy and the SCUM vs. ROH steel cage warfare match respectively. Whilst Elgin spoke about ROH’s debut in the Mattamy Athletic Centre (formely Maple Leaf Gardens) and why he should main event that show in his hometown. I really like these sorts of promos, as they bring an old school feel to the show, that feels fresh when compared to WWE and TNA’s approach to programming. 

Finally...

What have I learnt from this week's ROH on Sinclair?

1. ROH have the same ability as WWE and TNA to ruin what should be a good match, with over complication.

2. It's difficult to care about next week's World Championship Match, when we know there is no longer a World Champion.

3. Mike Bennett and Tommaso Ciampa deserve to be positioned higher within the Ring of Honor ranks.