Ring of Honor on Sinclair Results
May 12, 2012
Report by: Jason Namako of Wrestleview.com
Hello everyone, and welcome to this week’s Ring of Honor on Sinclair recap. Apologize for the 24 hour delay, won’t happen again. So, if you all are ready, then let’s get on with the show!
We see a highlight video from last week’s show when Kevin Steen defeated Kyle O’Reilly and had one final face off with Davey Richards before the World Title Match at Border Wars before we get to the usual intro.
Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness welcome us to the show, from the Du Burns Arena in Baltimore, MD and then take us right to the opening match.
The D-Line (Body Snatcher & Black Ice) vs. Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin)
Ice and Benjamin start things off for their respective teams. Lock-up and Ice backs Benjamin into the corner, then breaks clean. Benjamin with a side headlock, but Ice nails him with a pair of shoulder tackles. Ice kicks Haas off the apron, but Benjamin nails him with a right hand. Ice with some right hands of his own, followed by an Irish whip. Haas then pulls Benjamin out of the corner and he trips Ice from the outside.
Benjamin with knees to the head and then sends Ice’s head into Haas’ boot. Haas tags in and he sends Ice into the turnbuckles, followed by sending him into the corner. Irish whip by Haas, followed by a shoulder into the corner. Haas then with a butterfly suplex for a nearfall. Tag into Benjamin, who nails Ice with a kick to the gut. Ice tries to fight back, but Benjamin comes back with a right hand. Ice fights back with some right hands of his own, but Benjamin with a kick to the knee for a nearfall. Benjamin locks in a reverse chinlock, but Ice gets to his feet. Benjamin then goes for a Stinger Splash, but Ice catches him coming in with an elbow. Ice heads up top and then nails Benjamin with a flying shoulder tackle.
Haas and Body Snatcher get the tags in and Snatcher with a pair of clotheslines to Haas, followed by a powerslam. Benjamin comes in, but is met with a big boot. Body Snatcher with a splash in the corner on Haas, followed by a leaping elbow drop for a nearfall. Ice comes in and nails Benjamin with a right hand, but Benjamin sends him to the outside. Snatcher sets for a chokeslam on Haas, but Haas avoids it. Then, Benjamin comes in and nails Body Snatcher with a kick to the back of the leg.
Haas then locks in the Haas of Pain and Body Snatcher has no choice but to tapout.
Winners: Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team by submission (Haas of Pain)
Commercial
Back from commercial, its time for a match from the folks at CHIKARA Pro and who better to join Kelly & McGuinness at the announce table than the devious one himself, Ultramantis Black.
CHIKARA Pro Trios Tag
Los Ice Creams (El Hijo de Ice Cream & Ice Cream Jr.) & Ophidian vs. The Colony (Fire Ant, Green Ant, & Soldier Ant)
Ice Cream Jr. taunts the crowd by showing his strength as he rips some streamers. Jr. starts off against Soldier Ant. Soldier Ant with a springboard arm drag and then salutes Junior, but Junior slaps him. Green Ant enters and Jr. pushes him down. Hijo then joins in and they double team Green Ant and roll him up. The other two members of the Colony come in and they take the Ice Creams down. Ophidian then crawls through and covers all 3 for a nearfall. Green Ant with a cravate, followed by a slam. Jr. then stops Green Ant’s attempt for a dive to the outside with a kick to the gut. Green and Fire Ant with a double boot to Jr., followed by a leg drop/senton combo for a nearfall. Fire Ant heads up top and connects with a headscissors takeover, followed by a monkey flip. Fire Ant with another head scissors, followed up with a side headlock combination on both of Los Ice Creams. Fire Ant with a drop kick on Ophidian, knocking him off the apron. Green Ant then with a running forearm to Hijo. Soldier Ant follows that up with a spinning headscissors takeover. Ophidian then stops the Colony from hitting the Antapault on Los Ice Creams by hitting the electric chair on Fire Ant. Green Ant with a right hand to Ophidian, but Hijo holds Green Ant against the ropes and Jr. connects with an elbow. Ophidian then with an elbow off Jr.’s back onto Green Ant. Fire Ant comes back with a roundhouse kick, followed by a Shining Wizard to Ophidian. Fire Ant then hits a multi jump headscissors using the ropes on Jr., followed by a tornado DDT. Soldier Ant then connects with a saluting headbutt from the top for a nearfall. Green Ant then comes off the top, hitting a splash onto Los Ice Creams for another nearfall. Green Ant sends Junior to the outside, followed by sending Hijo to the outside. The Colony then hit the Antapult on Los Ice Creams, but Ophidian returns to the ring and nails Solider Ant with a knee. Ophidian locks Green Ant in the Cobra Grip. but Soldier Ant breaks it up with a roaring forearm.
The Colony hit the Ant Hill on Ophidian for the victory.
Winners: The Colony by pinfall (Ant Hill)
Commercial
“The Cuban Crippler” Ricky Reyes vs. Jay Lethal
Reyes starts things off with a kick instead of adhering to the Code of Honor, followed by a right hand. Irish whip by Reyes, followed by catching Lethal with an elbow. Reyes with a series of kicks to Lethal in the corner, followed by a chop. Lethal then fights back with a series of right hands and chops. Reyes then sends Lethal to the apron and drills him with a hanging neckbreaker for a nearfall. Reyes with a snapmare takeover, followed by a rake of the eyes of Lethal with his boots. Reyes locks in a neck vise, but Lethal breaks out with a series of gut shots. Lethal and Reyes then exchange forearms, with Lethal gaining the advantage.
Lethal with a leg lariat and a clothesline, followed by a spin kick. Lethal then with a handspring back elbow for a nearfall. Reyes then comes back with an inverted atomic drop, followed by an enziguri. Reyes then hits a version of the Cross Rhodes for a nearfall. Reyes lifts up Lethal for something, but Lethal rolls off his back and then hits the Lethal Combination.
Lethal calls for the Lethal Injection and connects with it for the victory.
Winner: Jay Lethal by pinfall (Lethal Injection)
We go backstage where Veda Scott is in the locker room to interview Ring of Honor World Champion Davey Richards about his Proving Ground Match with Rhino tonight.
Richards brings up the $70,000 that was offered to take him out. Richards says that Truth Martini pays a lot of money to get the Man Beast, but he already has someone in his camp that is unbreakable. Richards says that everyone saw the match in Ft. Lauderdale and that is what a champion is all about. Richards says he doesn’t have to put Rhino over because people already know about who Rhino is. Rhino, however, is the one who is in trouble. Rhino is no longer the hunter, he is now the hunted and Richards says that he is the predator. Richards closes by saying that will be hard to GORE someone when your ankle is broken.
Commercial
Back from commercial, we go to this week’s “Inside Ring of Honor”.
The first topic is the budding rivalry between Eddie Edwards & Mike Bennett, based off what happened over a month back on TV during the March Mayhem Tournament where Maria cost Edwards the match with Bennett. Next week on ROH TV, there will be a re-match between the two. We go to comments from both.
Edwards says that he thought he injured a lady the last time they wrestled, but he was victimized by Bennett’s girlfriend. Edwards says that Bennett calls himself an actor, but Maria was the true actress. Edwards says that people should call Maria “Target”, because everyone gets a turn. Next week, he doesn’t care what happens to Brutal Bob or Maria. All he cares about is coming out on top, just like Maria.
Bennett says that jealousy is a terrible thing because it is a mixture of love and hate. Bennett says that Edwards is jealous of he & Maria. Bennett says that he will finish off Edwards really quick so he doesn’t touch Maria or hurt the best trainer in the world.
The next topic is the fact that also next week, we will see a rivalry possibly ended as the All Night Express will take on the Young Bucks. We go to comments from both teams.
Nick Jackson says that the rubber match is next week. Matt Jackson mentions that they won the last match. Next week, they are going to show why they are the most amazing tag team in the world.
Rhett Titus tells everyone to get ready because it is the end of the feud and it is his day of retribution. Kenny King says that people told the Young Bucks that the All Night Express were soft, but that is not true. They will put an end to the Young Bucks next week.
Commercial
Back from commercial, we go backstage where Veda Scott interviews Rhino & Truth Martini. Martini tells Rhino that money talks and Rhino GORES, then Davey Richards dies. Rhino says that Richards is respected as a great champion and a great technical wrestler. Rhino says that he eats technical wrestlers. Tonight, he is entering a war with him. A war that Richards cannot win. Rhino says that he will rip Richards in half with a GORE, GORE, GORE!!!
Main Event in a “Proving Ground” Match
Ring of Honor World Champion (at the time of this airing) “American Wolf” Davey Richards vs. “The Man Beast” Rhino w/Ring of Honor Television Champion Roderick Strong & Truth Martini
Lock-up and Rhino pushes Richards away. Another lock-up and Rhino goes to work on the arm and wrist, but Richards reverses it by kicking Rhino in the head. Rhino then with a kick, followed by locking in a side headlock and finally hitting Richards with a shoulder tackle. Both men go for a knucklelock and Richards is somehow able to get the advantage. Richards then applies a cloverleaf with Rhino’s arm trapped, but Rhino is able to get to the ropes. Rhino with a right hand, but Richards fires back with right hands of his own. Richards with a dropkick and Rhino goes to the outside. Richards goes onto the apron and tries for the running boot to the chest, but Rhino blocks it and plants Richards onto the apron. Rhino sends Richards into the apron again and then taunts the crowd. Rhino with a forearm to the back of Richards’s head, followed by sending Richards hard into the barricades. Richards then comes back with a boot, followed by giving Rhino a receipt by sending him into the barricades. Back in the ring, Richards heads up top and hits a diving headbutt for a nearfall. Richards then goes for a cross armbreaker, but Rhino is able to break out. Rhino then catches Richards with a spinebuster for a nearfall as we go to commercial.
Commercial
Back from commercial as Rhino nails Richards with a knee to the chest, followed by a forearm to Richards’ kidneys. Richards tries to fight back with some right hands, but Rhino comes back with a kick. Richards then sends Rhino over the top rope to the outside. Richards goes back onto the apron and this time nails Rhino with the running apron kick. Richards then goes back in the ring for a head of steam and nails Rhino with a tope dive that sends Rhino crashing into the barricades. Back in the ring, Richards heads up top and hits a missile dropkick for a nearfall. Richards charges at Rhino, but Rhino catches him coming in with an elbow. Rhino then blocks an exploder suplex with elbows and then both men go back and forth exchanging forearms. Richards gains the advantage and connects with a running forearm, followed by this time hitting an exploder suplex for a nearfall. Richards then misses a roundhouse kick and Rhino scores with a belly-to-belly suplex for a nearfall. Richards fights back with a series of right hands, but Rhino comes back with clubs to the back. Rhino goes for a powerbomb, but Richards blocks it and Irish whips Rhino to the corner. Richards charges and connects with a running forearm, followed by an enziguri, but then Rhino cleans his clock with a decapitation clothesline for a nearfall. Rhino locks Richards in a Boston Crab, but Richards gets out and counters into the Ankle Lock. However, Rhino turns onto his back and kicks Richards in the face to break the hold. Richards then re-applies the Ankle Lock and pulls Rhino to the middle of the ring so he cannot reach the ropes. Strong pleads with Rhino not to tap as Rhino is able to kick Richards off again. Rhino then drills Richards with a running knee to the head and then sets for the GORE.
Rhino charges, but Richards catches him coming in with a Sunset flip for the victory.
Winner: “American Wolf” Davey Richards by pinfall (Sunset Flip)
After the match, Roderick Strong comes in and attacks Richards. Rhino gets to his feet and joins Strong in beating up Richards. Multiple referees come to ringside to ask them to stop, but to no avail. All of a sudden, Jay Lethal runs in to make the save and sends Strong out to the outside. Lethal with a series of right hands to Rhino, followed by a handspring back elbow that sends Rhino to the outside also. Richards & Lethal stand tall in the ring as we go to credits.
My Thoughts
Decent show, but like last month, Ring of Honor needs to stop having first-run programming on weekends where an iPPV is happening at the same time.
Opening tag match was fine to try and get a new team over in D-Line, but they really need to change up their in-ring gear because its looks so minor league it ain’t even funny.
CHIKARA Trios match was a cluster, but very entertaining. However, I felt it was a little too short for my taste and I also didn’t feel they did enough on commentary to really get over what CHIKARA is all about. Yeah they mentioned the Lucha influence, but they overlooked the family friendly aspect of CHIKARA along with its comedic characters. Hopefully, they can touch upon that on a future ROH TV episode.
Lethal & Reyes was solid and I feel Reyes could be someone ROH can make a semi-regular guy on the undercard. With such a small roster and match-ups being used a plenty, its always nice to see some new fresh faces and I feel bringing in guys Reyes, Rhino, Taven and others can do wonders to freshen up the low to mid card of the ROH roster.
Finally, the main event was surprisingly good considering who was matched up. You wouldn’t think that Davey Richards & Rhino could have a good match, but to me, they did. Rhino did a good job of controlling the tempo and was right there to cut off Davey when he needed to. Richards was good at playing the smaller guy bouncing off the larger Rhino, but then using his speed to frustrate him, which led to many of Richards’ comebacks. Everything to me clicked in this. It wasn’t OMGZ amazing, but it was a very enjoyable main event.
Overall, decent show, but let this be a lesson to ROH that if you have an iPPV, run a preview show instead of first-run programming.
My Grade: C
Well, that will do it for me this week. I want to thank you all for reading and I will be back next week, but remember.
If you are a non-VIP, every Thursday, myself and Nicholas “OneManX” Gray bring you The Wrestleview Independent Roundtable, looking at the world of Indy wrestling, whether it be from Ring of Honor, FCW, SHIMMER, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, CHIKARA, CZW, Dragon Gate USA, EVOLVE, and many more independents from around the world with weekly recaps of the ROH & FCW TV shows and DVD reviews. For more visit vip.wrestleview.com.
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So with that, I’ll see ya next week for more Ring-of-Honor!