ROH TV 5/5/12 – The Wolf is Back
– Tommaso Ciampa def. Matt Taven: Far from a squash, Taven actually got several near-falls in this surprisngly lengthy match. In an awesome moment, Taven skinned the cat to enter the ring and Ciampa immediately hit a dragon suplex. Ciampa eventually managed to hit his signature knee strikes and finished Taven off with Project Ciampa. Lethal watched stoically from ringside.
– The Young Bucks interrupted a TJ Perkins backstage promo, mocking his emo ways. Several half-hearted insults later, TJ shoved Matt-Buck and stormed off.
– Mike Mondo def. TJ Perkins: TJ had this one in the bag but the Young Bucks came to ringside and distracted him a couple of times, allowing Mondo to hit the Double-Arm DDT for the win. “Let’s go Mondo” chants. B-More, you crazy.
– After the match the Bucks and Mondo triple-teamed Perkins, leading to the All-Night Express making the save to set up a 6-man tag at Border Wars (see below)
– Inside ROH: Haas and Benjamin, the Briscoes, Eddie Edwards and the entire House of Truth gave some thoughts on their matches at Border Wars, Kevin Kelly gave younger viewers a crash course in Fit Finlay, and Mike Bennett mocked Lance Storm again. Nothing too exciting.
– Kevin Steen def. Kyle O’Reilly: Decent enough match, but I feel they held back a little, with Steen somewhat in autopilot. Jacobs caused a minor distraction and Steen hit the F-5 for the win.
– Steen and Jacobs assaulted O’Reilly after the match, bringing out Davey Richards but he was overwhelmed too. Officials tended to Team Ambition and Davey got on the mic and called Steen fat again, stating American Strong Style was dead and the Wolf was back, promising he’d win at Border Wars.
– Episode Review: While not technically the go-home show, ROH are aware not everyone will see the next episode before Border Wars, so this served the purpose of one, creating the final match for the card with the Perkins/Mondo match, and adding last-minute heat to the rivalries between Ciampa and Lethal and Steen and Richards. A fair amount of action this week and I think they’ve done as much to hype Border Wars as they can with all the vignettes, promos and matches over the last few weeks.
Border Wars Updates
– All-Night Express and TJ Perkins vs Young Bucks and Mike Mondo: Stemming from this week’s episode of ROH TV that saw the Bucks insult TJP backstage and later interfere in his match against Mondo, prompting the ANX to make the save. A nice way to keep both rivalries fresh and get them all on the card. I’d expect this to open the show and just be an athletic showcase to get the crowd going.
– Steve Corino is going to be in attendance and ROH claims he’ll finally break his silence in regards to Kevin Steen and Jimmy Jacobs. To quote Jerome Cusson: “If Corino costs Steen the title…”
– By now you should all be aware that ROH are going to stream this and all future iPPVs through their own website, something many of us are dubious about. Well there was no reassurance to be found when they streamed CM Punk vs Bryan Danielson from way back when and experienced major difficulties. They state the site crashed due to too much traffic, claiming they didn’t anticipate so many people trying to watch the match. Fear not though fans! They’re using some fancy-pants server on Saturday that’ll totally be able to handle the traffic. Not a great moment to mess up guys.
– For a full Border Wars preview, take a listen to the latest edition of the Podcast of Honor.
News
– The Tuesday Roll-Out is a good-un this week, with a special 2-disc DVD set dedicated to the epic trilogy of matches between CM Punk and Samoa Joe. The second disc features their joint shoot interview and a non-title match they had before the three they’re known for. So much want for this. Also there’s an Eddie Edwards shirt that features the slogan ‘Chop Your Face’. Funny.
– The ROH website wished Davey good luck this weekend. I could be wrong, but this must surely be the first time the company itself rather than Jim Cornette has advocated a wrestler. I’m sure that’ll endear him to those who have turned their back on him already.
– SLAM! Wrestling interviewed Mike Bennett and Maria. If you don’t want to read them here’s some highlights: When asked about his first match with Storm Bennett said as far as he knew everyone loved it, “Maria said she loved it, and Bob said he loved it. Nothing that I’ve heard so far has been negative.” That’s good heelin’ right there. As for Maria, she claims Bennett is “a very calm man” and wants there to be an ROH women’s division. Rock on sister!
– Matt Taven’s performances on ROH TV have impressed the company so much that he’s being brought in once again for the 5/18 tapings. I can’t say he blew me away, but him getting mentioned specifically like this makes me think they’ll toss him a win.
– As for next week’s Roll-Out, ROH gave the teaser “we’re going old school,” Steve Corino compilation?
Into the Video-Zone
– Kevin Steen posted this video discussing the importance of the month of May to his wrestling career, having debuted on his 16th birthday and his impending title match with Davey on May 12th at Border Wars. Steen claims he’ll reshape the company in his image, so expect the Super Smash Bros and Peter Avalon to get booked in ROH imminently.
– If you’ve listened to the latest Podcast of Honor you’ll have heard Chris GST talking about a new Tommaso Ciampa promo that made him a little uncomfortable due to excessive hand movement. Well here it is! Despite Ciampa’s odd fingers and very weird beard (rhyme, yo) I was very impressed by this. Being undefeated means a LOT to the Ciampa character and while he didn’t lose to Lethal at the 10th Anniversary Show, he didn’t win either, and it’s driving him a little crazy, explaining why he gave the belt to Roddy despite previously trying to win it. It’s beyond cliched to say this isn’t about belts anymore, this is personal, but this promo got that point over for me at least.
– Finally, Mike Bennett’s got a new Prodigy Service Announcement for you all to enjoy as well. Maria claims she won’t be at Border Wars because she’s already seen her man beat Lance Storm. Can’t argue with that. They’re leaning so hard on the idea Bennett’s going to win that I think Storm might in fact pull it out. I owe Ari a buck.
The Battle of Richmond
– The previously unnamed Richmond, VA card now has a name. I’m not going to type it again, it’s right above this. Twice. Anyway, in addition to the previously announced matches of Team Ambition vs Kevin Steen & Jimmy Jacobs, the Briscoes vs Roderick Strong & Michael Elgin, Eddie Edwards vs Mike Bennett and Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team vs the All-Night Express, some new matches have been announced.
– Tommaso Ciampa vs Adam Cole: These two have faced off several times in multi-man affairs, as well as locking up for other promotions, but I believe this is a first in an ROH ring. Ciampa’s undefeated streak shouldn’t end at Border Wars, so expect him to be bringing momentum into this, while Cole’s time at the top is over for the time being and thus he should go under.
– Jay Lethal vs Mike Mondo: If you don’t like Mike Mondo then it sucks to be you, because he’s here to stay folks. I have to say, I bag on the guy a lot, but his match against Matt Taven on TV a few weeks ago was actually pretty decent, so this could end up being a competent bout.
– Chris Silvio & Paredyse vs Jeff Early & Zak Hilton: (Tumble-weed)
– Plus: The Bravados!