ROH on HDNet Recap
August 23, 2010
The Arena, Philadelphia, PA
Commentators: Mike Hogewood and Dave Prazak
Report by: Anthony J. Valvo of Wrestleview.com
Wanted to get this done, but I had do go on a quick trip but I am back now with this week’s Ring of Honor on HDNet recap. Enjoy.
The following is an exclusive presentation of Ring of Honor Wrestling…on HDNet!
The show started with a highlight review of last week’s main event. Last week, Davey Richards faced Roderick Strong for Strong’s title shot at Glory by Honor IX. They showed various turning points in the contest and it ended when Richards refused help from Hagadorn. The distraction led to Strong connecting with a running kick. Strong pinned Richards to maintain his standing as the #1 contender for Tyler Black’s ROH World Championship.
Then Kidd Russell’s song Rock Remix is played. I still listen to the full song once in a while.
Tonight’s main event will be The Embassy (Ernesto Osiris, Shawn Daivari, Erick Stevens, and The Necro Butcher) vs. “Skullkrusher” Rasche Brown, The Dark City Fight Club (Kory Chavis and Jon Davis), and Grizzly Redwood.
The first match then went underway
Tag Team Match
Match #1: The Briscoes (Jay and Mark Briscoe) vs. Bobby Shields and Alex Anthony
The Code of Honor was applied, the handshake before the match. It is starting to become a dying breed anyway.
Notes on The Briscoes: Mark started off with a good take down on Shields. He escaped well. Mark continued to wear down Shields with. Mark then connected on the drop kick and echoed the arena with a chop on Shields. When Jay was tagged in, Jay did a snap mare/boot combination to Shields. When Anthony was tagged in and tried to generate offense, Jay picked him up and destroyed him with a Spinebuster. Mark went in and delivered a chop to Anthony. Mark then demonstrated power with a delayed vertical suplex. The Briscoes then did some double team work with the Three Point Stance Shoulder Tackle. After a couple more solid combination moves, Jay delivered the Jay Driller on Anthony before they finished off Shields.
Notes on Anthony/Shields: Well, I gave credit to Shields for executing a headlock and worked on Mark’s arm to start. Anthony even delivered on one move with a forearm shot, but missed on the back senton. Anthony showed some quickness, but was punished when one of the Briscoes grabbed a hold of him.
Finish: After Jay Briscoe connected on the Jay Driller on Alex Anthony, Mark Briscoe and Jay set up and finished off Bobby Shields with the Doomsday Device. Mark Briscoe pinned Shields for the victory.
IT WAS THEN THAT MIKE HOGEWOOD SLAPPED HIS ALWAYS-ACCEPTING PORPOISE.
Winners via Pinfall: The Briscoes
Grade: C- (leaned towards a C)
After the match, Kyle Durden entered the ring with the Briscoes. Durden asked the Briscoes about their goals. Jay said that they don’t care about the tag team division right now; they just want to get their hands on The Kings of Wrestling. Jay said to their rivals that it was a long way from being over.
The following segment was “paid for by The Embassy and did not reflect HDNet and ROH”. Prince Nana started to laugh (which is the perfect evil laugh). Nana called the opponents for The Embassy tonight “bums”. Nana called “Skullkrusher” Rasche Brown a bum for turning down an offer to join The Embassy. Nana gave the thumbs-up to Shawn Daivari. Nana hyped up Ernesto Osiris who went from being a “bum to #1”. The Nana talked about how he liked The Choo-Choo Train in Erick Stevens. Nana said that Stevens would mow down the competition. Nana then finished it by declaring Necro Butcher as “the man of the hour”. In the end, Nana said that it was all about The Embassy. And The Embassy is Forever. Nana laughs afterwards.
The next match would be for a spot in the ROH Pick Six Contenders Series
Pick Six Contenders Series
(3) Kevin Steen (w/Steve Corino) vs. Jerry Lynn
The match will be for Steen’s spot in the Pick Six.
There were streamers for both wrestlers before the match began. There was no Code of Honor, as both were putting their hands in disgusting places and tried to get the other to shake their hand.
Notes on Steen: Started off with a headlock and a shoulder tackle. He then applied another headlock. Steen then worked on Lynn’s back with the Back Senton. He continued to do damage to the back for a few seconds. When Lynn got an advantage, Corino pulled Lynn’s leg. That resulted in referee Todd Sinclair to ban Corino from ringside. When in control, Steen delivered a nice DDT. Steen then worked at the corner. Steen then went out of the ring and drilled Lynn’s leg to the ring post. Steen moments later delivered a variation of Chris Jericho’s Code Breaker (double knees to the face) and hit a nice neckbreaker of his own knee! He countered well during the match, as he Lynn was caught and planted with a Powerbomb. Steen then applied the Sharpshooter. Lynn then controlled more of the match and tried to go for the Package Piledriver, until Steen got a hold of Lynn again and delivered the Alabama Slam. When Lynn was prone at the corner, Steen ran full force and hit a Cannonball. His character was excellent, but there were times where he did not go right at the opponent after delivering something powerful.
Notes on Lynn: He controlled the match with a nice armdrag. After a tie-up, Lynn worked a little bit on Steen’s arm, but did not do much damage. He then executed the armdrag. After a series of crisp armdrags, Lynn hit a dropkick. When Steen argued Corino’s ejection from ringside, Lynn tried to get a quick rollup but did not earn the win. Lynn then hit a solid Enzugiri. He got out of the way of a corner attack in which Steen planted the ring post shoulder first, then with Steen out of the ring Lynn did a nice Slingshot Crossbody to the outside! Later on, both men exchanged punches until Lynn finalized it with a clothesline. Lynn then did a nice bulldog to the corner buckle. Lynn broke out of the Sharpshooter with a rollup. Afterwards, he hit a nice Hurricanranna and then planted Steen with a TKO. I will have to say that Lynn sold Steen’s work pretty good. Near the end, he connected on a very nice Sunset Flip Powerbomb. With Steen on the floor, Lynn connected with the Tornado DDT. Rhett Titus tried to run in and interfere in the match, but Lynn took him out with he hit a top rope move that clobbered Titus to the floor. However, in the end Titus thought he did a good job with the distraction.
Finish: After Jerry Lynn took out Rhett Titus, Kevin Steen and Lynn attacked along the ropes. Jerry Lynn tried to go for a Sunset Flip, but Kevin Steen lowered his weight on Lynn and got a pinfall victory (though Steen grabbed the rope when Sinclair was counting).
Winner by Pinfall: Kevin Steen
Grade: B (leaned to B-)
After the match, Rhett Titus poked fun at Jerry Lynn.
Next, “Skullkrusher” Rasche Brown was backstage with his team. Brown called out Necro Butcher and The Embassy. Brown got friends aligned with him as well. Brown knew bad men and then introduced the Dark City Fight Club (Jon Davis and Kory Chavis) who had his back. He also said that Grizzly Redwood wants some revenge as well. Redwood was running, but Chavis held Redwood by his suspenders. Brown said that he felt remorse for The Embassy because pain is coming. Chavis then said if no one liked that, do something about it. Davis dared whoever would come in their way. Redwood was running around and said “let’s get ’em”, but Redwood started off running in the right direction.
The next segment will be Davey Richards’ reaction to last week’s main event. You could see it exclusively on HDNet.
Next week’s main event will be exciting. It will be The Kings of Wrestling (Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero) vs. El Generico and Colt Cabana. By the way if you are a WrestleView VIP member check out the interview we had of Cabana. It was very good, trust me.
The viewers then saw exclusive HDNet footage on what happened after last week’s main event. Shane Hagadorn got on the mic and told Davey Richards to not look at him like that (Richards gave Hagadorn the look of anger). Hagadorn said that it was Richards’ fault for losing in the main event against Roderick Strong. Hagadorn said that with him, The American Wolves won the ROH Tag Team Championships. Hagadorn also said that without him, Richards lost to Strong and Tyler Black. Hagadorn told Richards if he would let him do his job Richards would be the best. Richards then punched Hagadorn and stared at him in the corner. Eddie Edwards ran in and broke up the confrontation.
Richards then talked to Edwards. Richards told Edwards that he is a wolf and part of the pack. Richards said that he does not want to see Hagadorn near him. Richards ended the segment when he said he was cool with Richards, but Hagadorn is history.
The viewers then see Mike Hogewood and Dave Prazak on the screen. Hogewood said that Shane Hagadorn may have overstepped his boundaries and something will happen very soon. Dave Prazak said that Davey Richards does not appreciate all that Hagadorn has done for him. Hogewood said that last week Hagadorn was put in his place.
The viewers then go backstage with Kyle Durden. Durden said that soon he will interview Roderick Strong and Truth Martini, but right now he had ROH Executive Producer Jim Cornette backstage with him. Durden said that Cornette must be excited about Glory by Honor IX. Cornette hyped up the “dream” tag team match that will take place in New York City on September 11. It will be The Kings of Wrestling vs. Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin. Cornette said that he had a hand at training Haas and Benjamin and this match could be a “Match of the Year” candidate. Before Cornette could finish his thought, Truth Martini began to laugh.
Truth Martini and Roderick Strong then entered the backstage segment. Martini said that a character is easily kept then recovered. Martini said that Cornette’s character is under suspicion. Martini then hyped up the main event for Glory by Honor, which will be his associate Roderick Strong vs. Tyler Black for the ROH World Championship. Martini told Cornette that he does not want this to be a farce and Strong should have been the champion at Supercard by Honor, but the referees were too incompetent. Martini then said that Black must have been “hand-picked” as the champion.
Martini proposed that he and Strong decide who will be the official for upcoming match. Cornette finally talked and said that he was sick of Martini. Cornette refused the request and said that Strong should be lucky to have a match. Then there was a loud knock at the door and someone barged into the backstage area. That “someone” was ROH World Champion Tyler Black.
Tyler Black said that he was sick of all this talk and that was fine. Black then had a plan. The plan was to have a No Disqualification Match. Strong said that Cornette would not accept that stipulation. Black told Cornette if he did not make this match happen; there would NOT be a World Championship match. Cornette tried to talk Black out of this challenge. Martini shouted out that he would accept the No DQ match for the ROH World Championship. Cornette said it will create more trouble for Black. Black said that it would be fine because he will mow down The House of Truth until it is one-on-one. Black then told Strong if he did not defeat him, then there will be NO more title matches!
And now…”The Voice of ROH” Bobby Cruise announced the Main Event!!
Main Event
8-Man Tag Team Match
The Embassy (Mr. Ernesto Osiris, The Necro Butcher, Shawn Daivari, and Erick Stevens w/Prince Nana) vs. “Skullkrusher” Rasche Brown, Jon Davis, Kory Chavis, and Grizzly Redwood
The Embassy was welcomed with toilet paper and streamers. The match began with No Code of Honor, as Brown’s team made a run at The Embassy and it was out of control for the first few moments.
Notes on The Embassy: Osiris started the match with a headlock to Redwood after getting destroyed a good bit by Chavis. Necro came in to deliver a huge boot to Redwood and followed that up with a Chokeslam. Once in trouble, the entire Embassy regrouped, and I actually thought that was brilliant storytelling. When Nana got involved in the match by grabbing hold of Brown’s leg, Daivari run up and attacked Brown from behind. Necro brawled a bit with Brown and shoved him onto the floor. OUCH! Stevens launched Redwood to the waiting fist of Necro! Stevens later on delivered a nice Gutbuster to Redwood. Stevens applied a bear hug to Redwood until Redwood escaped. Overall, as one can tell, The Embassy mainly attacked the heck out of Grizzly Redwood.
Notes on Brown’s Team: The team got the upper hand to start. Chavis delivered chops and a knee drop to start. When Chavis tagged in Davis, they did a Backbreaker/Leg Lariat combination on Osiris. Davis then connected with some forearms on Osiris and then Brown came in and delivered an overhand chop and followed it up with a one-arm hiptoss on Osiris! When Redwood finally got the advantage, he the Log Roll (rolling around the canvas until the opponent trips). I liked how Redwood took a beating, but then still managed to do some ax punches to take down Necro. The move of the match happened when Brown picked up Redwood and launched Redwood onto The Embassy. Redwood was able to consistently get some offense in on Stevens during the match. When a chair was in play, Brown was able to deliver a running boot to Necro (the chair was sandwiched between Brown’s boot and Necro’s head). Right after that, Brown did a non-chalant clothesline to the much-lighter Osiris. Chavis and Davis worked on Stevens a bit later, and executed a nice lariat/leg sweep combination. Davis also worked on Daivari’s neck by hitting the neckbreaker. With almost (if not everyone) on the floor, Rasche Brown hit an impressive Suicide Dive over the top rope to land clean on all outside the ring.
Finish: When the smoke settled, Kory Chavis and Shawn Daivari were in the ring. With the referee distracted, Prince Nana entered the ring and hit the Low Blow to Chavis while Daivari gave Chavis the one-finger salute. Daivari rolled up Chavis to secure the win for The Embassy.
Winners via Pinfall: The Embassy
Grade: C+
After a replay of the main event’s highlights, The Embassy celebrate their controversial victory while Brown, Davis, and Redwood check on Chavis.
To finish off the show, the viewers saw a promo of another match that will take place next week (could be the main event, not sure). It will be a non-title match when Steve Corino battles ROH World Champion Tyler Black.
End of show.
Quick Results
The Briscoes defeated Alex Anthony and Bobby Shields by Pinfall
Kevin Steen defeated Jerry Lynn by Pinfall
The Embassy defeated Rasche Brown, Dark City Fight Club, and Grizzly Redwood by Pinfall.
Mike Hogewood’s porpoise was slapped when The Briscoes connected with the Doomsday Device on Bobby Shields.
Thoughts on the show
Post-Match comments from Briscoes – It was done ok for it being only a few seconds long. Jay Briscoe made certain that they want their hands on The Kings of Wrestling and don’t care about the Tag Titles at the time. It was a point taken and good intensity by Jay.
Embassy’s Message – It was a nice, small hype package in which the manager, Prince Nana, promoted each member of The Embassy very well. He could not have done a better job.
Brown’s Backstage Promo – Brown only had one volume…LOUD! I thought it was still solid because it told a story between them and The Embassy. The DCFC said their piece and Redwood was cracking me up a bit because of his small antics. Redwood is very underrated on that ROH Roster.
Turmoil between Richards and Hagadorn – If this was to make Richards a face, it was done well. Hagadorn went total heel manager mode on Richards and Richards could not take it anymore and almost killed Hagadorn. This does add a small story that involves the ROH Television Champion Eddie Edwards. Now Edwards has to make a choice. The Wolf or The Manager? I am looking forward to seeing what happens with all three parties in the future.
The Backstage War of Words with Cornette, Martini, Strong, and Black – I would have to say it was a bit boring when Cornette was hyping up that tag team match, but when Strong and Martini entered it was a nice battle of words. Martini not only is a good manager, but a heck of a negotiator. Martini’s work on the mic is exactly what ROH needs. Nana is solid, but Martini takes the heel manager role to a whole new level. When Black ran in, he did a good job showing his emotions and it led to the No Disqualification Stipulation in what may be Black’s final ROH match in September. I actually saw emotion from Cornette, but was very surprised and happy to witness Black grow a bit as a character.
Thoughts on matches
Briscoes vs. Anthony/Shields – I liked how the Briscoes put on a clinic of move after move over the course of the squash match. There moves were crisp and they did not have to sell any injuries. I could not type much about Anthony, but Shields worked Mark’s arm a bit to start the match and that was ok in my book.
Steen vs. Lynn – This was easily the best match on the card. It was a nice, slow pace to start. I credit Steen a ton for working on almost every part of Lynn’s body, and I still find Steen to be a true diamond in the rough on the ROH roster. Steen had a wide array of attacks, and he was efficient on all of them. Lynn was more of a move-for-move guy, but I could tell that his focus is still on Titus, Kenny King, and Austin Aries. I though the right guy won the match, but I gave credit to Lynn because he really impressed with his conditioning and the way he can still move around in the ring.
The Embassy vs. Team Skullkrusher – I enjoyed the all-out brawl to start, as this rivalry stewed very nicely the past couple months. The first few minutes was just a power display by Brown and the DCFC, but what killed it was Osiris not selling a thing when Redwood got into the match. Out of all of them, I was real impressed that Brown can fly out of the ring. Guys that size in other promotions keep it in the ring, but Brown was able to not just brawl with his opponents, but he was able to fly out of the ring to take out people. I actually liked the finish. Prince Nana saw his team was in trouble, so he took matters to his own hands. Nana was intelligent and was at the right place at the right time to get the win for his faction. With the win, it continues their feud and I am sure they will have a program at Glory by Honor
Overall Thoughts
The segments were pretty good because it once again carried many storylines in just one hour. The quality of the segments may have sacrificed a bit in the matches, but the matches overall were slightly above average. I think they really hyped up the upcoming iPPV well and look forward to what happens next week. Based on the criteria I have for different shows, I think ROH did a pretty solid job tonight.
Overall Grade: B
That does it for ROH on HDNet (the recap edition). I am Anthony J. Valvo and I hope you have a good weekend. See you on Thursday with another “From the Desk of Mr. V” column!
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