ROH on Sinclair Results
October 29, 2011
Report by: Jason Namako of Wrestleview.com
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Halloween edition of the ROH on Sinclair recap. 2 intriguing matches this week, so the intro has hit, and let’s get on with the show!
Video is shown highlighting last week’s time limit draw for the ROH TV Title between champion Jay Lethal and “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett.
Kevin Kelly & Nigel McGuinness welcome us to the show, from the Davis Arena in Louisville, KY.
Kelly & McGuinness hype the #1 contenders match for the ROH Tag Team Titles between archrivals The Briscoes & The All Night Express, then take us to a video of pre-match comments from the participants in our opening match, as Kyle O’Reilly, the student of ROH World Champion Davey Richards, will take on Davey’s archnemesis, Roderick Strong.
Roderick Strong w/Truth Martini vs. Kyle O’Reilly
Before the match gets underway, Truth Martini hands ring announcer Bobby Cruise a card, stating the “proper” way to introduce Martini. “Tale of the Tape” graphic is shown as the Code of Honor is adhered to as the bell sounds. Truth Martini joins Kevin Kelly & Nigel McGuinness on commentary as O’Reilly and Strong lock up to kick-start this match.
Strong with a waistlock, but O’Reilly counters into a wristlock. Strong drop toe holds him down to the mat and gets a 1 count. Strong then locks in a front chancery, but O’Reilly breaks free and we have a stalemate. Strong with a wristlock of his own now, but O’Reilly counters out and single legs him down to the mat, locking in a toe hold. O’Reilly has his knee pressed against the knee of Strong while the toe hold is still applied. Strong breaks free using his boot while grabbing on to O’Reilly’s arm, and then reverses into a LeBell Lock. O’Reilly gets to the ropes, and Strong has to break. Lock-up and Strong with a side headlock. Irish whip by O’Reilly and Strong knocks him down with a shoulder tackle. Strong goes off the ropes, O’Reilly with a leapfrog, and Strong cartwheels out of O’Reilly’s attempt at a reverse monkey flip. Strong goes off the ropes again, but O’Reilly catches him and takes him down with a hiptoss that goes right into a cross armbreaker. Strong saw it coming, and pins O’Reilly’s shoulders down for a nearfall to counter out. O’Reilly blocks Strong’s chop, Strong ducks O’Reilly’s roundhouse, and we have another stalemate. Crowd in Louisville applauds both men’s efforts as Strong with a shove, O’Reilly shoves back, and then both men exchange slaps. Strong again with a side headlock as O’Reilly Irish whips him. O’Reilly catches Strong coming off the ropes with a dropkick. Strong comes back with a gut shot, and then delivers one of his patented knife edge chops. Forearm shot by Strong as O’Reilly goes to the corner. Irish whip by Strong, but O’Reilly goes up and over and goes off the ropes. O’Reilly ducks under Strong’s boot attempt and nails him a flurry of strikes, ending in a leg sweep takedown. Forearm to the face on O’Reilly’s cover, but Strong kicks out at 2. Irish whip by O’Reilly, and he connects with a back elbow, and then delivers a bridging Northern Lights Suplex for another nearfall. Strong retreats to the corner, but O’Reilly nails him with a kick. Irish whip by O’Reilly sends Strong to the corner. O’Reilly charges in, but Strong catches him with a boot. O’Reilly charges in again, but Strong hotshots him across the top turnbuckle, and then scores with a half-nelson backbreaker for a nearfall. Strong with a stomp and an elbow to the top of O’Reilly’s head as we go to commercial.
-Commercial-
Back from commercial, as O’Reilly Irish whips Strong to the corner. O’Reilly charges in, but Strong catches him with a boot to the face, followed by an enziguri kick for a nearfall. Strong locks in a reverse bearhug, as we see that during the commercial break, Strong delivered some more of his patented hard chops to O’Reilly on the outside before bringing him back to the ring. Back to live action, the Louisville crowd chants for O’Reilly as he gets back up to his feet. O’Reilly tries to drive Strong into the buckles to break the grip, but Strong holds on. O’Reilly does it a 2nd time, and finally breaks Strong’s grip. O’Reilly ducks Strong’s clothesline attempt, and as Strong charges at him, O’Reilly catches Strong and connects with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. Both men are down as the referee begins his 10 count. Both get back up at 5 as O’Reilly connects with a succession of strikes. Strong tries for a chop, but O’Reilly ducks and nails him with another succession of strikes. Irish whip by O’Reilly, reversed by Strong, but O’Reilly slides under Strong’s legs as Strong was going for a clothesline and as Strong goes off the ropes, O’Reilly catches him with a rana.
Strong now in the corner, as O’Reilly prepares to charge. O’Reilly charges, but Strong back body drops over the ropes, however O’Reilly lands on his feet on the apron. Strong nails him with a forearm, but O’Reilly grabs his arm and whips it down across the top rope. O’Reilly heads up top and connects with a missile dropkick for a close nearfall. O’Reilly, fired up, underhooks Strong and setups for the Three Butterflies, but Strong counters and lifts up O’Reilly for the Death by Roderick, but O’Reilly counters that with elbows. O’Reilly goes off the ropes, and Strong lifts him up a 2nd time. O’Reilly slides off the back, underhooks Strong and this time hits the Three Butterflies(Combo of 2 Double-Underhook Suplexes & a Double Arm DDT). O’Reilly covers, but Strong just gets the shoulder up before the 3 count. “This is Awesome” chants by the crowd, as O’Reilly heads back up top. Strong charges in to stop him and knocks him off the top rope. Strong has O’Reilly in the corner now, and just unloads on him with a flurry of forearms and hard chops. Strong, after hitting an onslaught of forearms to O’Reilly, gets a head of steam and drills O’Reilly with a running forearm. Strong brings O’Reilly out of the corner, and connects with a belly-to-back sitout powerbomb for a nearfall.
Strong tries to lift up O’Reilly a 3rd time, but O’Reilly blocks it. Strong kicks him in the gut and front facelocks him, setting up for the End of Heartache, but O’Reilly knees him in the face on the way up. Strong tries for it a 2nd time, but O’Reilly knees him again. O’Reilly tries to go off the ropes, but Strong charges at him and nails him with a knee to the gut, followed by another enziguri kick. Strong lifts O’Reilly up again and this time connects with the Death by Roderick for a very close nearfall. Strong gets right up after the pin attempt, and locks O’Reilly in the Strong Hold(Boston Crab). O’Reilly, though, is able to reach the ropes to break the Strong Hold. Strong brings O’Reilly to his feet, and underhooks him, setting him up for the Gibson Driver(Sit-Out Tiger Bomb), but as O’Reilly counters it, Strong drills with a rolling forearm. Strong tries for another half-nelson backbreaker, but O’Reilly counters it and crucifixes Strong for another close nearfall. Strong misses a clothesline attempt, as O’Reilly goes off the ropes and connects with a tilt-a-whirl into a DDT that goes right into O’Reilly’s patented guillotine choke.
Strong tries to roll through the hold, but O’Reilly keeps the hold locked on. Strong forces O’Reilly’s shoulders to the mat for a nearfall, leaving O’Reilly no choice but to release the hold. Both men back up to their feet, as Strong nails O’Reilly with a tiger knee, knocking O’Reilly’s mouth guard out. Strong then hits a succession of forearms and as O’Reilly is dazed on his feet, Strong goes off the ropes and connects with the Sick Kick for the victory.
Winner: Roderick Strong by pinfall (Sick Kick)
After the match, Truth Martini gets on the mic and says to O’Reilly to send a message to Davey Richards that Team Richards is nothing but losers. O’Reilly goes after Martini, but Strong nails him from behind. Michael Elgin comes in, and The House of Truth begin to beat down O’Reilly. Another Team Richards member Tony Kozino comes in, but he gets taken out as well. HOT goes back to O’Reilly as Davey Richards hits the ring. Richards starts to fight off Strong & Elgin, but Truth Martini nails him from behind. However, that didn’t faze Richards as he goes after Martini. The distraction though allows Strong to nail Richards from behind and HOT begins to beat down Richards. Eddie Edwards hits the ring and finally clear Strong & Elgin from the ring. Martini tries to get involved again, but The American Wolves hit an assisted Alarm Clock kick to Martini, clearing him from the ring. Officials and security try to stop Strong & Elgin from going back to the ring, as Elgin shoves one of them down, who begins to favor his leg as we go to commercial.
-Commercial-
Back from commercial, ROH Executive Producer Jim Cornette is at ringside with Kevin Kelly and declares that each member of the House of Truth will be fined $2,500 a piece for this melee and for the fact that Elgin shoved down a security guard, who is now hurt. A bunch of fans wearing “Steen is Right” shirts begin chanting “We Want Steen” as Cornette says to them that Kevin Steen will never work again for Ring of Honor, and if Steen doesn’t like it, then he can sue Cornette.
We go to this week’s “Inside ROH” video, with comments from the 2 wrestlers in line for a ROH World Title shot at Final Battle, ROH TV Champion Jay Lethal & “Die Hard” Eddie Edwards. Also, we also see comments from ROH Tag Team Champions Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team and the new team of Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander, who will square off next week in the 1st “Proving Ground” match.
The rules of the “Proving Ground” match are simple. Any viable contender in the world, on the ROH roster or not on it, can challenge any of the champions(World, Television, and Tag Team) to a non-title match. It is a 1 fall match with a set time limit. Should the contender win the match or go to the time limit against the champion, then that contender will receive a title match against that champion within 90 days(not 60 as I said on previous ROH news) of that match taking place.
“The King of Old School” Steve Corino joins Kelly & McGuinness on commentary for our next match. Before the ring introductions, Corino tries to plead that something should be done about bringing Steen back so he face him, but Kelly quickly cuts him off and goes to the ring introductions for our next match.
Alex Silva vs. “The Dominant Male” Tommaso Ciampa w/The Embassy
Before we get started, for those who don’t know about Silva, he is a 20-year old prospect from Ohio Valley Wrestling who was just recently on the AWE PPV in which he faced Fit Finlay.
“Tale of the Tape” graphic is shown as Silva sticks out his hand for the Code of Honor, but Ciampa just spits on his hand, then dropkicks him into the corner as the bell sounds. Ciampa unloads on Silva with forearms and stomps in the corner, then brings down his kneepad, setting up already for the running knee. Ciampa charges, but Silva rolls out to the floor and double-legs Ciampa to the outside. Silva nails a succession of chops and forearms to Ciampa, but Ciampa drives him backfirst into the barricade. Ciampa hits a hard overhead chop to Silva, then hits a suplex on the floor. Ciampa rolls Silva back into the ring and gains a nearfall.
Ciampa chinlocks Silva, then unloads with a succession of clubs to the exposed chest of Silva. Ciampa locks in a reverse chinlock, as the Louisville crowd tries to will Silva back into the match. Silva gets back up to his feet and hits some gut shots to try and break Ciampa’s grip, but Ciampa nails him with a knee to the gut. Ciampa with an Irish whip, Silva reverses it, but gets sidestepped on the back body drop attempt with a kick to the face by Ciampa. However, that only fired Silva up, as he comes back and drills Ciampa with an enziguri kick that rocks the undefeated Sicilian. Silva goes off the ropes, Ciampa misses a clothesline, and Silva tries for a running roll-up, but Ciampa rolls through it.
Silva tries to come in, but Ciampa from his knees, dropkicks Silva in the knees, sending him crashing facefirst to the mat. Ciampa drills Silva with a punt kick in the face, then delivers a knee drop to the back of Silva’s head. Ciampa has a demented look on his face, as he charges Silva in the corner, but Silva gets out of the way and Ciampa eats the top turnbuckle. Silva nails him with a running elbow for a nearfall. Crowd starts to get behind Silva, as he goes out to the apron to prepare for a springboard. Ciampa gets out of the way on Silva’s springboard attempt, and as Silva lands on his feet, Ciampa connects with a neckbreaker.
Ciampa drags Silva to the corner, brings down the kneepad once again, and hits the 4 running knees in the corner, each one more vicious than the other. Silva doesn’t know where he is, as Ciampa lifts him up to his feet, then sets him up and connects with Project Ciampa for the win to remain undefeated in Ring of Honor.
Winner: “The Dominant Male” Tommaso Ciampa by pinfall (Project Ciampa)
Ciampa has a sick and twisted look on his face as we go to commercial.
-Commercial-
Main Event in a #1 Contenders Match for the ROH Tag Team Titles (Winners will face Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team at Final Battle): The Briscoes (Jay & Mark) vs. The All Night Express (“The Pretty Boy Pitbull” Kenny King & Rhett Titus)
Both teams talk trash to one another and don’t wait for ring announcer Bobby Cruise to finish the ring introductions, as they go right after one another as the bell sounds. Titus & Mark go out to the outside, and Jay & King slug it out inside the ring. Titus sends Mark crashing to the barricade as Jay Irish whips King. King reverses the whip and as Jay catches his foot, King hits him with a unique kick with the other foot. King now with an Irish whip, Jay ducks under the clothesline attempt, but is nailed by Titus, who hits a slingshot shoulder tackle. King hits a springboard leg drop, then Titus hits a running splash. Jay goes headfirst off the top turnbuckle as King rains in gut shots to him. Tag in to Titus and King holds Jay in front chancery, while Titus comes off and hits a running boot to the ribs of Jay Briscoe. Titus nails Jay with a sledge across the back in the corner, then connects with a hard chop. Irish whip by Titus sends Jay to the corner. Titus charges in, but Jay gets the boot up, and scores with a Flatliner, sending Titus facefirst into the middle turnbuckle.
Jay tags in Mark, who drills Titus with a boot to the face. Mark connects with a succession of strikes and setups for a suplex. However, Titus counters and waistlocks Mark. Mark fights back with back elbows, but Titus shoves him away into a right hand by King. King is tagged in as Titus sends Mark headfirst into the top turnbuckle. Double Irish whip by ANX as Titus charges and connects with a back elbow and a forearm, then whips Mark into a spin kick by King for a nearfall. King hits a snap suplex, then floatovers into a mount position and rains in right hands to Mark before gaining another nearfall. King tags back in Titus who kicks Mark in the ribs. Mark tries to fight back with a back elbow, but Titus nails him with a right hand. Tag back into King as Titus Irish whips Mark. Titus hits an inverted atomic drop and King comes off the ropes and hits a flying clothesline for another nearfall. King rains in more right hands to the ribs of Mark as he tags back in Titus. King has Mark locked in a front chancery, as Mark tries to fight out with gut shots but to no avail as Titus nails him with a right hand to the kidneys. Titus scores with a scoop slam, then hits a knee drop before tagging back in King. ANX hits a double suplex on Mark, then King chokes Mark in the ropes. King Irish whips Mark, but as Mark goes off the ropes, Jay blind tags in and as Mark counters King and hits a jawbreaker, Jay comes off the ropes and drills King with a clothesline. Headfirst goes King off the top turnbuckle as Jay rains in right hands and chokes King with his boot as we go to commercial.
-Commercial-
Back from commercial, as Jay tags back in Mark, as The Briscoes with a double Irish whip to King, and The Briscoes connect with a double shoulder tackle on King and knock Titus off the apron. Mark digs his forearm in the face, as we see that during the commercial break, King almost pinned Jay with a sunset flip out of the corner, but of that pin attempt, Jay drilled him with a boot to the face.
Back to live action, as Mark unloads on King with strikes in the corner, then facewashes him. Mark misses a clothesline, and King hits an atomic drop, followed by a spinning kick to the back of Mark’s head. Both men are down, as King tries to crawl over to his corner to make the tag. Jay sees this, however, and he rushes in and knocks Titus again off of the apron as the Louisville crowd chants “Man Up”, as they are behind the Briscoes in this match. The Briscoes drag King back to their corner, and Mark tags back in Jay. King tries to fight back with a gut shot, but Jay nails him with a boot to the face. King again tries to fight back, but Jay hits him with a club to the back. Headfirst goes King off the turnbuckles as Jay begins to unload on him with stomps in the corner. Jay chokes King with his boot, then tags back in Mark. Mark facewashes King again, then snapmares him out of the corner, and locks in a reverse chinlock, while ripping at King’s face. King gets back to his feet and breaks Mark’s grip with back elbows. King goes off the ropes, and catches Mark with a backslide for a nearfall. However, Mark gets right back up and unloads with clubs to the back of King, then tags back in Jay. Mark hits King with a kneelift, then lifts up King, and the Briscoes connect with the Redneck Boogie(Double team Powerbomb/Neckbreaker combo). Jay goes for a cover, but Titus comes in and breaks up the pinfall, saving the match for his team. Mark sends Titus through the ropes to the outside as Jay setups King for the Jay Driller(Double Underhook Piledriver). However, King is able to counter and back body drop out of the hold. King nails Mark with a right hand, then evades Jay’s clothesline attempt and tags in Titus.
Titus nails clotheslines on both Briscoes, then nails Jay with a boot to the face and a discus clothesline. Titus with a right hand to Mark, then Irish whips him into Jay in the corner. Titus charges, and nails a running forearm to Mark, then sends him through the ropes to the outside. Titus, fired up, charges in again, and connects with a running dropkick in the corner on Jay. King, back up to his feet, charges in and connects with the Shotgun Knees. Jay comes out of the corner and Titus connects with a standing dropkick. Titus covers, but Mark breaks up the pinfall. King sends Mark through the ropes to the outside. ANX set up for the combination backbreaker/top rope knee drop, but Jay blocks it with elbows. King tries again, but Jay counters out, and underhooks King, setting up once again for the Jay Driller. King blocks it as Mark holds on to Titus’s foot, preventing Titus from leaping off the ropes. Jay with clubs to the back of King, then goes off the ropes, only to be met by a King forearm. King goes off the ropes, but Jay catches him and connects with a standing spinebuster. Jay charges at Titus and clubs him across the back. Jay perches Titus on the ropes and delivers a right hand. Jay goes up with Titus and setups for a super rana, but Titus counters and snake eyes Jay across the top turnbuckle. Crowd chants “ROH” as Titus has a look in his eye and is fired up, however Mark comes back in and drills Titus with a running front dropkick, sending Titus into the corner. Mark places Titus on the top turnbuckle, then delivers a hard uppercut shot. Mark springs to the apron, then springboards and catches Titus, connecting with a springboard Ace Crusher. Mark is now all fired up but out of nowhere, King springboards and hits a springboard Blockbuster onto Mark. Jay back in and he spikes King with a DDT.
All 4 men are down as Titus gets back up and unloads with clubs to the back of Mark. Titus lifts up Mark in a powerbomb position as The All Night Express set up for the One Night Stand(Powerbomb/Springboard Blockbuster combo). However, as King goes up top, Jay knocks him off with a bot as Jay was on the apron, Titus is unaware of what happened, as Jay heads up top. Jay comes off and assists his brother into hitting Titus with a rana for the victory.
Winners and #1 Contenders for the ROH Tag Team Titles at Final Battle: The Briscoes by pinfall (Assisted Rana)
The Briscoes celebrate their victory as we go to credits.
My Thoughts
I thought that this was a much better episode of ROH TV this week. All 3 matches were done well, all the guys worked hard, and they actually ran some angles, which I think they sorely needed to do.
Strong and O’Reilly had a solid, hard-hitting match. The style was really toned down compared to what you would see on a normal ROH DVD or iPPV, which I think helped both guys out in a big way.
Thought the post-match angle was done nicely, and it planted the seeds of doubt between Edwards & Richards, as it took a long time for Edwards to come out there and help out Richards. More building blocks to the eventual re-match, and I like it.
Like that they are slowly but surely, heading towards a Kevin Steen vs. Steve Corino match at Final Battle, with the subtle hints with the “fans”, to Cornette saying Steen can sue him, to Corino on commentary trying to discuss the matter, but being quickly cut off. This angle has been done superbly, and I cannot wait to see its climax at Final Battle.
Interesting concept with the “Proving Ground”, as it makes the non-title matches seem more important, and it also gives a more logical reason as to how you receive title shots in Ring of Honor.
Also in that “Inside ROH” video, liked the comments from both Lethal & Edwards. Both have never been the best on the mic, but they both came across the feeling that Final Battle and being the guy selected to face Richards for the ROH World Title is an important goal for them, and by doing so, makes the title more important, as being what one Mr. Hunter Golden deems as the “ruby-red slippers” that everyone wants to go after.
Really liked the showcase/squash for Tommaso Ciampa, as he continues to show great presence, and he is also one of the few people in ROH who works toward the hard camera with his great facial expressions. Very few of the guys in ROH since the show has started, have worked towards the hard camera. For Ciampa, a complete newbie to a TV product, to be able to already get down the hard camera aspect of a wrestling TV show, shows me that sooner or later, the rocket is going to be strapped to him and he will be somebody to watch out for, not just in ROH, but in a greater aspect going forward. Great stuff as always from Ciampa.
Another good match from ANX & The Briscoes. Both teams are really good at the tag team format, and are really diverse as well, because they can do the straight up tag match, as well as the hate-filled, weapons style brawl as ROH fans have come to see throughout the course of this year. It was though in a way, because the start of this feud in March was a double-turn, Briscoes going heel, and ANX going face. But it seemed to me that in this match, with the Louisville crowd behind the Briscoes, that they were almost in a way doing another double-turn, and going back to the original format of Briscoes face and ANX heel. Maybe it was just me, but it seemed to come across that way in the match, at least from my perspective.
Much better episode this week from ROH, let’s hope they keep it up, and recommend you guys watching the whole show, because it was a way better effort than last week’s show.
My Grade: B+
Well, that will do it for the Halloween edition of the Ring of Honor recap, I will be back later today with the latest trek to the land of the Sunshine State with the FCW recap, then finally Thursday night/Friday morning with the WWE Superstars recap. Until then, I will see ya next week for more Ring of Honor, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!