Ring of Honor Wrestling

[Coffey]

I popped for a spot in the title match main event, actually:

 

 

 

Adam Cole put thumbtacks into Jay Briscoe's mouth, then Superkicked him in the face.

 

 

 

Jay Briscoe is a great promo.

 

I didn't think the show was great but it wasn't offensive. Just kind of forgettable for the most part. Felt more like a TV show than a PPV.

[Blehschmidt]

I ring announced some indy shows that Moose worked on, and I have absolutely no idea how or why he got signed by Ring of Honor. The guy is fucking terrible in the ring, he thinks he is hot shit because he used to play football, and he barely spoke to anyone in the locker room. I will reluctantly admit he has slightly improved since I worked with him, but he still has no business being on pay per view.

[Coffey]

...but he does a FLIP on a SPEAR! There's nothing more Indy than that!!

[The Thread Killer]

Maybe I'm getting too picky in my old age, maybe I remember when ROH used to be a lot better when it was now, maybe I was just in a bad mood, I don't know. But I thought that show was really bad.

 

TTK Bitches and Moans about ROH Final Battle 2014

 

In the opener, Hanson defeated Jimmy Jacobs, Mark Briscoe, and Caprice Coleman

 

Jimmy Jacobs looked really unmotivated in this match, like he didn't even want to be there. I found Caprice Coleman to be really bland and uninspiring as well. Briscoe worked hard, but he always does. Hanson has some okay looking offense but his selling is...yeesh. I was hoping for an exciting, hot opener and got a whole bunch of meh. In my opinion, it killed the crowd.

 

Roderick Strong defeated Adam Page

 

This was okay. Because I don't get ROH TV here in Toronto, I was glad they showed a video package to explain the back-story, because at the last PPV, Strong was still part of The Decade and I had no idea who Page was. Page is fairly good, and Strong was solid. It was a fair match.

 

And WTF was up with that whole deal after the match with Corino and Whitmer? Whitmer rips Corino's headset off and starts to talk, Corino goes apeshit and charges at him, and security breaks it up while the cameras cut to the crowd. That was either a really weird shoot or a pointless work, since Corino is retired. And he showed more fire and personality than anybody else on the show up to that point, just because somebody ripped his headset off.

 

Michael Elgin defeated Tommaso Ciampa

 

I thought the premise behind this match was weird. Ciampa doesn't like Elgin because Elgin is getting a reputation as the loose cannon of ROH, and that is supposed to be Ciampa's deal? Plus, Ciampa is supposedly a face now, but he is on his last warning for attacking officials.

 

The first problem with this match (and this show) was the commentary. It was bad. Really, really bad. Dreadful. I hadn't heard Kevin Kelly in the booth since 97 and he sure hasn't gotten any better. Nigel McGuiness used to be a fairly good promo, I thought but in the authority role as the color guy he was terrible, high pitched, hysterical and annoying. Kelly is just terrible at calling a match and then he picks a hype point and beats it into the ground - in this case it was the idea that Ciampa might be suspended or fired if he touched an official. Which of course he accidentally did, causing a hysterical McGuiness to rip his headset off and flee into the crowd.

 

The last ROH show I saw, it seemed like Ciampa was getting a push - but I guess that is over. I'll be the first one to admit that I went into this match expecting to hate it because I have no use for Michael Elgin. He always struck me as a wannabe Rhino with a mullet. Well, at least the mullet is gone now. My issue with Elgin is the same issue I had with another fellow Torontonian, Edge. That issue is that he is totally unconvincing and comes across as comical and forced when he is going for "intense."

 

His eyes bug out, he makes strange faces, talks in an odd voice...these things are all intended to demonstrate to us how intense and scary he is, when instead they give the impression that he is trying out for the second grade play, or is perhaps experiencing trouble having regular bowel movements. My attitude is that if it's clear you can't act - don't try. Silence and a deadly stare go a lot farther than bugged out eyes and grunting.

 

Anyhow, supposedly Elgin is doing a watered down Brian Pillman act in ROH, so he fought Ciampa. These guys just couldn't get on the same page and get any sort of momentum going, the match seemed poorly laid out and awkward, and ended in a bad ref bump. Which led to a semi-hysterical Kevin Kelly spending the rest of the night behind the mic wringing his hands and speculating about the fate of poor Thomaso Ciampa. Ugh.

 

The Young Bucks and ACH defeated The Addiction and Cedric Alexander

 

Well, this match woke the crowd up, I'll give it that. I'm not a big fan of The Young Bucks - they strike me as wannabe Hardys, but this match had plenty of action and even though it was sort of spotfu, it didn't offend my old school sensibilities too badly.

 

My one question...The Addiction are great and everything, but wouldn't Christopher Daniels be better used back in his Fallen Angel gimmick higher up the card in a singles match? Lord knows the man has an ROH track record of proven success, and this roster is SCARY thin on talent.

 

Moose defeated RD Evans

 

I defy anybody to watch this abortion and tell me with a straight face that it wasn't booked in the pits of hell by Lucifer himself.

 

RD Evans tried three times to jump onto the top rope and springboard off. He finally gave up and stopped trying when you could literally hear the entire crowd laughing at him because he kept falling. And Moose's idea of selling is to half stumble a step backward and comically wave his arms in circles. I thought his offence was okay but his selling was terrible.

 

No. Just...no.

 

sek is correct in saying that this was "angle advancement" in having Moose, Hathaway and Veda Scott all break away from Evans, but the execution was just so BAD. The booking was terrible...the turn could be seen a million miles away by everybody except two people, RD Evans and Kevin Kelly. And what possible payoff can there ever be? RD Evans looks like the "before" picture in the old Charles Atlas comic book ads, he showed tonight that he can't perform in the spotlight (if at all) and if he is carryable, it sure as shit isn't going to be Moose who does it.

 

My beef is this - I have seen countless matches that were scores better than this at Indy shows in front of a handful of people. I have seen very few matches worse than this, from a technical standpoint. This was a fairly prominently placed match on a Live PPV - only the second ever - for a company that is supposedly the #3 wrestling organization in North America.

 

You have to believe that somebody ordered this show in order to see what ROH was all about and decide if they were worth following. If that was me, and I saw this? I'd not only never order an ROH show again, I'd consider never watching wrestling again. As a paying customer I deserved better than this dreck, and if ROH seriously thinks they can usurp TNA as the #2 promotion, they're going to have to try a HELL of a lot harder than this. And I guess that was my issue. With matches like this, it seems like they weren't even trying.

 

Jay Lethal defeated Matt Sydal

 

Lethal is having a fun little run with the ROH TV title. I didn't mind his rivalry with ACH but obviously I was expecting a ton more from this. They showed a video package leading into this, which explained that Sydal had been offered a spot in "The House of Truth" but turned it down, hence this match. I never saw one Evan Bourne match in WWE, but I remember Sydal in ROH from years past. I have always found Lethal to be a solid, dependable if unremarkable performer inside the ring, so I figured - established high flyer vs. solid heel, should be good, right?

 

Not so much.

 

Much like the Ciampa/Elgin match, these guys just didn't seem to click. The pieces were there, but the chemistry was off and the whole thing came across as stilted and unsatisfying. There wasn't anything technically horrible about this match, but it was entirely forgettable when I thought it had the potential to be more.

 

reDRagon defeated Time Splitters

 

The crowd perked up for this one too. Definitely the match of the night. A bit less old school southern tag style and bit more spotastic than my tastes, but I am big fan of both teams and they worked hard and did a good job. I can't complain about the match itself.

 

Here's where I can (and will) complain...

 

Kevin Kelly casually mentions that this is the rubber match between these two teams, they hold one win a piece against each other. But for whatever reason, there are no video packages documenting this, no pre-match packages of any kind to hype it at all. These guys are 1-1 against each other, the titles are on the line, and it's almost an afterthought.

 

Jay Briscoe defeated Adam Cole

 

Speaking of video packages?

 

So I'm led to believe that this match is a "Fight Without Honor" with no rules, due to Adam Cole attacking Jay Briscoe's dad. I'm told this, it is the motivation behind the Main Event of the PPV, but they didn't actually, you know, bother to actually SHOW US THE ATTACK or anything. It's not like it's the story behind the Main Event that sets up the story! Why would the people who don't get the TV show need to see the motivating factor behind the match that is Main Eventing the show they're being asked to buy? That's just a waste of time!

 

I talked about the match earlier, so I won't belabor the point. I was surprised to see Briscoe go over, since I was under the impression that he was just a stop-gap solution as champion after that whole mess with Elgin's passport. I assumed Cole is their new #1 guy, but hey - a surprise result is always welcome. Once again, I'm so old school they tore the school down - so I wouldn't Main Event a PPV with a garbage match, I'd rather see a solid wrestling match. But it was for the World Championship, and it was blowing off an angle, so there you go.

 

Final Thoughts...

 

I need to see the shoot interview Cornette gave when he left ROH. I don't really like Cornette, he strikes me as an out of touch, stuck in the past, raving nutbar. But after seeing this show, I am starting to wonder if some of his complaints about ROH are valid. Because really? This show just wasn't good in my opinion. ROH used to be a great company and put out a great product. In fact, I found it hard to keep up with how much good stuff they were putting out.

 

Somewhere over the past couple of years, something got lost. Their talent is really weak. I only see 4-5 Main Event potential guys on this roster. And the booking is just flat, uninspired, unimaginative shit. They have good TV coverage and live PPV, and they are literally wasting it. Keep in mind, maybe it's me.

 

I’ve been a wrestling fan for 30 years. I’ve said in the past, maybe I’m outgrowing this stuff, finally. After attending Global Wars in May and finding myself surrounded by truly unpleasant people, I swore off ever attending live wrestling again. After this show, it is highly unlikely I’ll ever pay for a ROH show again.

 

Maybe my standards are too high, I’m not sure. But I am pissed that I paid good money and got this in return. I know damn well I could have waited a few hours and gotten the show for free, but I have always financially supported ROH because they have put out a good product which to me, was a viable alternative to the WWE. Anybody can have one bad show, but this show was crappy on so many levels, I don’t know what to think.

[The Thread Killer]

double double post post

[shoe]

I just watched the Tag wars t.v show. The wrestling on the show was good in all 3 matches. I thought the Young Bucks vs. ACH and Sydal match was fun with some real impressive high spots. You wish they could have split up the Tag wars across a few shows because the show came across samey and make the payoff that more special.

[The Thread Killer]

So El Patron is coming into ROH for two shows - he'll be facing Christopher Daniels and ACH.

 

I have no opinion on this, since the last time I saw Dos Caras Jr. do anything inside a ring, it was when he was legally murdered by Cro-Cop at PRIDE Bushido in 2003. The only memory I have of that event and his participation was that he was wearing a jockstrap over his face, and he got KTFO about 45 seconds into the first round - proving that just because you can do something it doesn't mean you should.

 

(Hmmm. Perhaps CM Punk should pay attention to that.)

 

Regardless, I'm led to believe he had some success in WWE, so maybe this is a good signing for ROH.

 

If they don't screw it up.

 

Which they probably will.

[C.S.]

Third opponent now: Roderick Strong.

 

http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/ROH_News_29/article_82352.shtml

[Coffey]

I'm all for Alberto Del Rio going to Ring of Honor but I have zero interest in any of those matches. They need to choose better opponents for him, in my opinion. I would much rather see him work, in example, Jay Briscoe, Jay Lethal or Adam Cole. Even Silas Young or Tommaso Ciampa. What's next, a fourth match against Michael Elgin? Actually, that could be OK too, I guess.

 

I have just never been a fan of Roderick Strong. Daniels is OK but I don't "get" that match & ACH could have a good match with him but I think their styles might clash. We'll see, I reckon.

[Dylan Waco]

They are clearly building to Patron v. Top guys which is the smart thing to do

[shoe]

In the Observer their's speculation they only have him for a handful of dates because he's expensive. More speculation was if Court Bauer got Del Rio to come in at a cheaper rate.

 

So I guess time will tell.

[goc]

Is Del Rio the biggest star to work RoH? I would consider Matt Hardy to be the biggest star to work RoH previously and even though Del Rio achieved more success in WWE as far as holding titles goes I'm still not sure which one of them I would consider the bigger star.

[BillThompson]

As much as I love Hardy I'd go with Alberto as the bigger star. He has an international appeal that I don't think Matt possesses, he did accomplish more in WWE, and when those are combined I think he's a bigger get for RoH.

[Dylan Waco]

Jeff worked ROH.

 

So did Kobashi if you count that

[shoe]

Eddie Guerrero too.

[Phil Schneider]

The answer is Dusty Rhodes

[anarchistxx]

Ricky Steamboat? Mick Foley?

[Phil Schneider]

Neither of them worked a match. Flair made some appearances if we are counting guys who didn't work matches

[NintendoLogic]

If we're talking level of stardom when they were actually in ROH, the answer is easily Kobashi.

[Johnny Sorrow]

I'd say that Phil's right. Retired Dusty is still a bigger over all star than anyone else mentioned.

 

Plus, I made Dusty laugh at that show during this picture

 

[goc]

Jeff worked ROH.

 

So did Kobashi if you count that

I didn't really consider Jeff (2003) or Eddie (2002) for this since they both worked for RoH before they became WWE main eventers.

[Grimmas]

They are clearly building to Patron v. Top guys which is the smart thing to do

Too bad one of them is Roderick Strong, which seems like such a waste.

 

I would watch the ACH match and am excited. No desire to see Daniels, but that is a smart match to book. Strong though? They have to have better opponents than that, don't they?

[Cox]

Muta and Liger also worked for ROH and would have to be in the conversation as well.

[bradhindsight]

On the heels of a strong Winter Warriors tour, things seem to be moving into the right direction for ROH. I was at the Philly taping Rumble weekend and the old ECW Arena was jam-packed. Had to have close to 2,000. It was a blast.

 

It sounded like Atlanta was similar last night, if not larger, and they hadn't ran Atlanta since 2011. This is a positive lead-up to the 13th Anniversary Show which is on PPV. The buys for their two 2014 PPVS were 12,000 for Best in the World and then 8,000 for Final Battle. The drop-off is not good but maybe they rebound here. The 13th anniversary show has a deep card, Styles, the Young Bucks, and Anderson/Gallows - the Bullet Club is hot and in three sep matches.

 

Liger has been announced for the Mania weekend show.

[Mad Dog]

They upped the price on this PPV so I imagine the numbers will fall even further for it.

 

They also recently asked Sinclair for a budget increase and were told no.