Honor in the Heart of Texas on June 1st, 2013 in San Antonio, Texas
Opening Match: Kyle O’Reilly vs. Mike Sydal
I don’t like Sydal’s chances here. They begin with some chain wrestling and Sydal uses his agility to keep up. Bobby Fish is at ringside being hilarious. Sydal snaps off a few armdrags but O’Reilly slows him down with a basement dropkick. Sydal lands a springboard crossbody and connects with a knockout kick. He lands a standing moonsault and applies a muta lock. O’Reilly hits a divorce court and takes control, working over the arm. Sydal comes back with a corner lariat and double knees from the top rope. He sends O’Reilly to the floor with an enzuigiri and follows out with a top-rope moonsault. In the ring, Sydal misses a charge and collides with the ringpost. O’Reilly connects with a corner yakuza kick and hits rolling butterfly suplexes. O’Reilly synchs in an armbar for the victory at 9:38. The result was never in doubt, but Sydal gave a solid performance. O’Reilly looked impressive working over the arm and received a chance to win with a sequence that he usually doesn’t use to put opponents away. A harmless opener. **½
Match #2: Mark Briscoe vs. Steve Corino
Corino interrupts a promo from a local radio broadcaster and Mark makes the save, starting this match. Corino is wrestling in a suit and tie. Mark connects with a series of strikes. Corino uses his tie to choke him. Mark drags Corino to the floor and sends him into the ringpost. Mark connects with a dropkick through the ropes and repeatedly throws Corino into the barricade. Upon reentering the ring, Corino crotches Mark on the middle rope and takes over. Mark fights back with redneck karate. He hits a rolling death valley driver and lands a top-rope splash. Jimmy Jacobs and Rhett Titus run out but Mark fights them off. Corino punches Mark with a chain and Todd Sinclair calls for the disqualification at 6:49. This felt like an extended segment rather than an actual match. The bad news is that the in-ring action felt much longer than seven minutes and I’m not sure what this contest accomplished beyond hyping the texas tornado tag team match later on the show. *¼
Match #3: Athena vs. Barbie Hayden
They exchange armdrags and Athena monkey flips Hayden across the ring. Hayden stalls for too long at ringside and Athena takes her out with a dive. In the ring, Hayden blocks a springboard maneuver and takes control. Athena traps her in an ankle lock and connects with a handspring clothesline. Hayden avoids a second clothesline and curb stomps Athena into the middle turnbuckle. They battle on the middle rope and Hayden gets pushed to the canvas. Athena hits the O-Face for the win at 6:59. Hayden was just there to take the O-Face. The action was pretty average but the crowd absolutely loved the finish. *½
Match #4: Matt Taven vs. Eddie Edwards
If Edwards defeats Taven or lasts the time limit, he’ll receive a shot at the World Television Title. Taven is by himself tonight. They trade control of a wristlock and Edwards snaps off a few armdrags. He traps Taven in the tree of woe and connects with a sliding dropkick. Edwards locks in a surfboard and transitions into a dragon sleeper. Taven catches him with a springboard dropkick. The action goes to the floor, where Edwards lays in chops around ringside. Back in, Taven hits a rope-assisted neckbreaker and takes over. Edwards comes back by dropkicking Taven as he tries to skin the cat. Edwards lands a dive to the floor and connects with a missile dropkick back in the ring. He adds multiple chops in the corner. Edwards hits a sit-out gourdbuster. Taven escapes a backpack chinbreaker but finds himself in the achilles lock. Taven reaches the ropes. He hits angel’s wings for a nearfall. Taven blocks a top-rope hurricanrana and lands a frog splash. Edwards answers with a flying double stomp and a powerbomb. Edwards follows with a 2k1 bomb for the victory at 15:55. Once again, Taven has a really good match without needing any shenanigans from the House of Truth. The booking of the rematch needs to be handled carefully. I’d hate to see Taven defeat Edwards in the title match with help from the House of Truth because that would be telling the exact opposite story than the one they’re trying to tell with Taven. As for now, this match delivered and provided the type of contest that this card needed to get on track. ***
Match #5: Jay Lethal vs. ACH
They trade control on the mat and ACH humorously shows Lethal how close he came to connecting with a superkick. Lethal takes ACH over with a hip toss and connects with a basement dropkick after teasing him with it. The crowd is pretty evenly split. ACH snaps off a headscissors and returns the favor with a dropkick of his own. They block each other’s dive attempts and Lethal is finally able to land one. In the ring, Lethal hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. ACH lands a flying crossbody and dropkicks Lethal when he tries a headstand in the corner. They collide in the center of the ring and both men are down. ACH lures Lethal to the floor and follows out with a kick-flip dive. He reenters the ring with a slingshot ace crusher. Lethal catches him during a springboard attempt and hits a sit-out gourdbuster. ACH responds with a nasty lightning spiral for a nearfall. They trade kicks and Lethal gets the last laugh with a basement superkick. He connects with Hail to the King for a nearfall. ACH armdrags out of the Lethal Combination. Lethal connects with an enzuigiri and hits the Lethal Combination on a second try. Lethal follows with the Lethal Injection for the win at 17:41. These two tried to one-up each other for eighteen minutes and it was as awesome as you’d expect. ACH is clearly having a breakout year but Lethal has been delivering in the ring every time he’s been put into a position to do so. There’s really not much more to say except that it’s great to see these types of matches receive the chance to come through. This was completely different than ACH’s recent match against Michael Elgin but just as good. ***¾
Match #6: Bobby Fish vs. Raymond Rowe
Rowe is making his Ring of Honor debut and it looks like he could be sticking around. Fish mocks the crowd by wearing a handkerchief and chewing on straw. Fish frustrates Rowe early on as the crowd chants “Rowe’s going to kill you” at Fish. Rowe forcefully takes down Fish and he quickly retreats to the floor. Back in, Rowe hits a backbreaker and lays in some loud chops. He adds an overhead suplex. Kyle O’Reilly provides a distraction, allowing Fish to kick out Rowe’s legs. Fish takes control and works over the left leg. Rowe battles back with a few lariats and a saito suplex. Fish responds with a saito suplex of his own and connects with a forearm to the back of the head. Rowe charges with shotgun knees and hits a dead-lift german suplex for a nearfall. Fish goes back to the left leg but gets caught by a powerbomb. Rowe attempts a dragon suplex but Fish reverses into a crucifix pin for the victory at 11:42. This match completely came out of nowhere. Rowe was incredibly impressive and I think ROH should give him a serious look. His offensive was explosive in a way different from anyone else on the roster. Fish really had to use his resourcefulness to win and came out of this contest looking great as a result. ***
Match #7: Adam Cole vs. Roderick Strong
They wrestle to a stalemate and trade pin attempts to no avail. They find themselves in a backslide at the same time and stare each other down. Cole fights out of the Stronghold but runs into a leg lariat. Strong connects with some chops and hits a gutbuster. Cole avoids a dropkick and hits a leaping neckbreaker. He maintains control until both men collide on crossbody attempts. Strong wins a strike exchange with a dropkick and hits a powerslam. Cole answers with a fireman’s carry neckbreaker. He connects with a shining wizard and applies a figure four. Strong rolls to the ropes. They battle on the apron. Cole knocks Strong to the floor and follows out with a dive. In the ring, Strong crotches Cole on the top rope and hits a superplex. They exchange forearms and Strong hits a gutbuster. Cole anticipates the Sick Kick and connects with a superkick. He hits a brainbuster across his knee for a nearfall. Strong comes back with a roaring forearm and hits the Gibson Driver for the win at 15:19. There were a couple of things working against this match. For one, the crowd didn’t know who to cheer for, as Strong was being arrogant and Cole’s current demeanor is up in the air. Secondly, I think the crowd was expecting something to happen regarding Cole’s character. However, beyond actually losing the match and refusing a post-match handshake, nothing significant happened with Cole. They’ve had better matches against each other in ROH and the factors I’ve already mentioned made this contest feel inconsequential. **¾
Match #8: Texas Tornado Match: Michael Elgin and BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Jacobs and Rhett Titus
Both teams begin brawling before the opening bell. The fight goes into the crowd. Elgin stuffs Jacobs into a garbage can and then slams him onto it. Titus gets thrown into a merchandise table as Jacobs and Whitmer start attacking each other. At ringside, Whitmer lands a dive onto Titus. Elgin military presses Jacobs in the ring. Titus sends Whitmer into the barricade and cuts off Elgin. SCUM hit a delayed vertical suplex on Elgin but that doesn’t seem to phase him. Whitmer and Elgin answer with stereo delayed vertical suplexes. Whitmer plants Jacobs with an exploder while Elgin hits a death valley driver into the turnbuckles on Titus. Jacobs lands a plancha to the floor onto Elgin. SCUM work over Whitmer in the ring until he gets fired up during an exchange with Titus. Whitmer hits a flatliner-DDT combination on SCUM. Elgin powerbombs Jacobs onto Whitmer’s knees for a nearfall. Titus elevates Jacobs into a senton on Whitmer. SCUM exposes the concrete floor by lifting the mat. Elgin saves Whitmer from a spike piledriver onto the concrete. He suplexes Titus from the apron into the ring. Jacobs hits a springboard ace crusher on Elgin. Elgin responds with a backfist, a bucklebomb, but Jacobs reverses the spinning powerbomb into the End Time! Whitmer hits a fisherman neckbreaker on Jacobs and follows with a fisherman suplex for a two count. Titus plants Whitmer with a leaping facebuster. Elgin hits a swinging side slam on Titus and bucklebombs Jacobs into him. Elgin hits his fallaway slam-samoan drop combination on SCUM. Steve Corino runs into the ring and attacks Elgin. Mark Briscoe makes the save and chases him away. Jacobs quickly rolls up Whitmer for the victory at 19:33. Nineteen minutes of brawling for a rollup finish felt extremely underwhelming. I just do not understand why SCUM can rarely win cleanly in their matches. It might be a different story if SCUM was going to be a permanent fixture in years to come, but considering their short longevity as a stable, they didn’t come off as very threatening in the ring. The early crowd brawling felt pretty ordinary but the finishing stretch led to some decent exchanges. However, the finish left a sour taste. **½
Match #9: ROH World Title: Jay Briscoe © vs. Davey Richards
Both men follow the Code of Honor. The crowd gets really into a test of strength spot early on. Richards fools Jay into a drop toe hold and the crowd now hates him. Jay throws a shoulder block and demands a test of strength. Now Jay fools Richards into a wristlock. Jay snaps off a hurricanrana and they wrestle to a stalemate. The test of strength finally happens and Richards breaks it up with a kick to the midsection. Jay lands a plancha to the floor. They actually have a test of strength on the floor as the crowd goes wild. Richards punts the champion from the apron. They exchange strikes at ringside. In the ring, Richards begins to work over the left leg. Jay fights him off with some power offense and takes control. Richards comes back with a series of kicks and starts “yes” chants randomly. Dueling “yes” and “no” chants during a strike exchange. Richards offers a test of strength and Jay just boots him in the face. Richards wins a strike exchange with the Alarm Clock. Jay responds with a superkick and both men regroup. Richards hits a brainbuster and they roll to the apron. Richards hits a dragon screw leg whip in the ropes. He misses another punt and Jay hits a death valley driver onto the apron. Back in, Jay lands a top-rope splash for a nearfall. Richards hits an exploder into the turnbuckles. He lands a dive to the floor and sends himself into the third row. That’s the old Davey Richards we used to know and love. Back in, Jay avoids a flying double stomp but falls victim to a tombstone. Richards connects with a flying double stomp for a two count. Everyone buys that as a nearfall after what happened to Paul London at Border Wars. Jay hits a gourdbuster off the top rope. He counters a cross armbreaker but Richards applies an ankle lock. Richards connects with a knockout kick and hits the DR Driver for a nearfall. He goes back to the ankle lock. Jay escapes and fires back with a lariat. He hits a falcon arrow. Jay rolls through a backslide and hits the Jay Driller to retain his title at 23:20. I think the main takeaway from this match is that Richards seems to be having fun in ROH again and that’s great to see. The way they played around with the test of strength spot captured the crowd but they didn’t let it consume the action. Some will criticize this match for devolving into the typical Davey Richards title match with mindless strike exchanges, but I think it’s clear to see that something else was at work here simply by the way the crowd was reacting to the action. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this one but it ended up being a great main event. ***¾
BONUS Match: Carson and Ricky Starks vs. AJ Summers and Rudy Russo
Russo hits a swinging neckbreaker on Carson and comes off the middle rope with a hurricanrana. Summers and Russo connect with stereo boots on Ricky. Summers plants Ricky with a tornado DDT. Ricky responds with a german suplex and the Starks work him over. Summers lands a flying crossbody onto Carson and makes the tag. Russo traps Ricky in an armbar for the win at 5:16. The crowd liked this match enough for the pre-show, but everyone was a bit hesitant with each other and that led to some awkward moments. *
Overall: Although Honor in the Heart of Texas gets off to a slow start, once Edwards/Taven delivered, the show never looked back. That’s not to say that every match from that point on met expectations, but the trend of recent house shows continued as every contest received the right amount of time to allow everyone to stand out in some way. Lethal/ACH and Jay/Richards were not only the best matches on the show and worth checking out, but they also provided fun wrestling mixed in with seriousness (something that a lot of people say ROH doesn’t have enough of anymore). On the back of those two matches, this show earns a solid recommendation.
You can purchase this DVD at Ring of Honor’s store right here.