All Star Extravaganza V on August 3rd, 2013 in Toronto
Opening Match: Adam Page vs. KUSHIDA
They have a fast-paced exchange ending with KUSHIDA connecting with a dropkick. He cartwheels into another dropkick. Page retreats to the floor and manages to avoid a plancha. He rams KUSHIDA into the apron and takes control in the ring with a powerslam. KUSHIDA fights back with a well-timed kick and a handspring back elbow. He lands a standing moonsault but finds knees on a top-rope moonsault attempt. KUSHIDA spikes Page with a hurricanrana. Page lands a standing shooting star press and hits a falcon arrow. KUSHIDA connects with a knockout kick for a nearfall. KUSHIDA follows with a corkscrew splash for the win at 8:24. This match did not feel like the best reason to bring in KUSHIDA. He received a chance to look impressive and I have no doubt that he could’ve had an awesome match with Page given more time, but an eight-minute opener wasn’t ideal. **¼
Match #2: ROH World Title Tournament First Round: Silas Young vs. Tommaso Ciampa
They stare each other down and talk trash at the opening bell. They lockup and fall to the floor while still holding onto the lockup. They trade punches back in the ring and Ciampa hangs onto a side headlock. Young hits a back suplex to escape. Ciampa connects with a boot to the face and humorously targets Young’s mustache. Young blocks a facewash knee strike and charges with a kick. They battle on the apron and Young hits a suplex to the floor. Both men are able to beat the count. They exchange headbutts on their knees. Ciampa hits a dragon suplex. Young tries a desperation rollup while holding the tights to no avail. He hits his backbreaker-lariat combination for a two count. Ciampa connects with a nasty knee strike and hits a spinebuster. Young withstands some elbow strikes and connects with a lariat. Ciampa responds with Project Ciampa for the victory at 10:57. Both men delivered a hard-hitting match and I think came out for the better. I’m glad that Young isn’t being booked to gain advantages solely by cheating, as he was able to take the fight to Ciampa throughout the contest. The match would have worked better if the crowd bought into some of the strong style elements more, but this was still a solid showcase. **¾
Match #3: ROH World Title Tournament First Round: Michael Bennett vs. BJ Whitmer
Whitmer scouts a pre-match attack and hits an exploder. He lands a dive to the floor and hits a suplex onto the floor. In the ring, Bennett drop toe holds Whitmer into the ropes and connects with a dropkick. He follows with a mafia kick at ringside and slams Whitmer onto the floor. Back in, Whitmer avoids a charge and hits a back suplex. Bennett answers with a spinebuster. They trade punches and both connect with lariats at the same time. Maria tries to give Bennett her shoe to use, but Nigel McGuinness sniffs out her plan and Todd Sinclair ejects her to a chorus of boos. Nigel grabs Maria and parades around the ring with her in his arms. Whitmer takes out Bennett with a dive. In the ring, Whitmer hits rolling suplexes but falls victim to a TKO. Whitmer hits a fisherman neckbreaker along with a fisherman suplex for a nearfall. They battle on the apron and Bennett hits a piledriver. Multiple officials come out to check on Whitmer and the match is called off at 10:04. Enough has been said about this situation, but the match was going well until the final spot. I bought the hatred between them, which was lacking from their previous matches. Whitmer would go on to retire from professional wrestling.
Match #4: ROH World Title Tournament First Round: Matt Taven vs. Roderick Strong
Before the match, Nigel McGuinness yells at the Hooplah Hotties for not having managerial licenses. If that’s our biggest problem I think we’re doing okay. Kevin Kelly is enthralled with the situation. Taven stalls for awhile before running into a dropkick. Strong hits a backbreaker and connects with a leg lariat. A distraction by Truth Martini allows Taven to connect with a springboard enzuigiri. He takes control until Strong blocks a top-rope moonsault with his knees. Strong hits a spinning side slam and connects with a dropkick through the ropes. Martini hits Strong with the Book of Truth while the referee is distracted. Taven accidentally boots Martini. Strong drops Taven back-first across the apron. In the ring, Taven connects with a roundhouse kick. They exchange kicks and Taven hits a double underhook facebuster. Strong responds with a superplex and transitions into the Stronghold. Taven is able to reach the bottom rope. He hits a rope-assisted neckbreaker and lands a frog splash for a nearfall. Strong hits a series of backbreakers, connects with the Sick Kick, and hits an orange crush backbreaker for the win at 13:12. This was another chance for Taven to show that he could be a legitimate contender in Ring of Honor without the House of Truth’s help but that didn’t happen. The interference became old very quickly and Nigel policing around ringside felt tired after he carted out Maria during the previous contest. They seemed to be finding their rhythm down the stretch, but the interference and Taven looking weak put a damper on things. **½
Match #5: ROH World Title Tournament First Round: Paul London vs. Michael Elgin
Elgin showcases his power advantage early on. London snaps off a satellite headscissors. Elgin blocks a hurricanrana but gets low-bridged to the floor. He reenters the ring and sends London flying with a shoulder tackle. London comes off the middle rope with a knee strike and connects with a basement dropkick. Elgin catches him on a flying crossbody attempt and hits a powerslam. He takes over until London manages to avoid a corkscrew senton. The action goes to the apron where London hurricanranas Elgin to the floor. Back in, London connects with a springboard dropkick and lands a standing shooting star press. Elgin catches him with a bicycle kick and a swinging side slam. Elgin hits a dead-lift german suplex for a nearfall. London escapes a bucklebomb and connects with a double stomp. They exchange strikes in the center of the ring. Elgin gets the last word with a roaring elbow to the back of the head. London dropkicks him to the outside and follows out with a dive. London adds a springboard double stomp to the back of the head for a two count. London cannot get Elgin over for a sunset bomb. He tries a springboard maneuver but Elgin dropkicks him in midair. Elgin superplexes London from the apron into the ring. London withstands a bucklebomb and counters a powerbomb with a reverse hurricanrana. He lands a shooting star press for a nearfall. Elgin counters a middle-rope hurricanrana into a powerbomb. Elgin connects with the backfist, hits a bucklebomb, and finishes with a powerbomb for the victory at 20:02. London came into this match with the gameplan of outlasting Elgin with high-risk offense and it eventually caught up to him. Elgin should be starting to gain a reputation of working well with aerial opponents. Additionally, London trying to make a statement in Ring of Honor once again added to the atmosphere, as you truly felt like he was giving everything he had to defeat Elgin and advance in the tournament. Everything came together here and this match gave the card the shot in the arm that it needed. ***¾
Match #6: ACH and Tadarius Thomas vs. Matt and Nick Jackson vs. Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander
RD Evans is on commentary to scout other tag teams for Marshall Law. Thomas and Alexander dodge each other’s kicks and find themselves at a stalemate. The Young Bucks interrupt things with some tandem offense. Alexander takes out the Young Bucks with a dive to the floor. ACH and Thomas hit Alexander with an enzuigiri-flatliner combination. ACH hurricanranas Matt and moonsaults off the apron to avoid a kick. Nick superkicks ACH at ringside. The Young Bucks knock everyone else to the floor and celebrate in the ring. They isolate Thomas until everyone enters the ring to stop a pin attempt and the match breaks down. Coleman connects with a flying clothesline on Nick and moonsaults to the floor onto him. Alexander hits a sit-out facebuster on Matt and Coleman adds a top-rope leg drop. ACH bicycle kicks Thomas into a dragon suplex from Thomas. Adrenaline Rush lay out Alexander with double team offense. Thomas lands a moonsault to the floor onto a group. ACH follows with a dive of his own. In the ring, the Young Bucks take over with multiple superkicks until Coleman hurricanranas them at the same time. ACH lands a 450 splash onto Alexander for the win at 10:58. This was certainly a sprint, but every team managed to standout during the eleven minutes. The Young Bucks were a welcome addition to the mix and they should have many fresh matchups in ROH. This match featured the crisp, fast-paced action that you’d expect from these three teams. ***
Match #7: ROH World Title Tournament First Round: Brian Kendrick vs. Kevin Steen
They begin with some chain wrestling before Steen challenges Kendrick to a shoulder block battle. Steen connects with a dropkick and Kendrick retreats to the floor. Kendrick stalls for awhile at ringside. Steen gives chase but falls victim to a sliced bread onto the apron. Kendrick takes control in the ring. Steen comes back with his pumphandle neckbreaker. Kendrick lifts him off the middle rope and hits a death valley driver. Kendrick jumps off the middle rope and hits a tornado DDT for a nearfall. Steen responds with the F-Cinq for a two count. He follows with a sleeper suplex. Kendrick pulls Paul Turner in the way of a charge and delivers a low blow to Steen. Steen recovers with a corner cannonball and applies a sharpshooter for the victory at 12:53. They had a difficult time capturing the crowd’s attention despite some decent back and forth action. The finish was a bit odd as well, as Kendrick resorting to cheating didn’t lead to anything and Steen immediately overcame it. A bit disappointing all things considered. **½
Match #8: ROH World Title Tournament Quarterfinal Round: Jay Lethal vs. Adam Cole
They start with some nice counter wrestling with both men trading the advantage. Lethal hits a back suplex but Cole answers with a leaping neckbreaker. Lethal hits an inverted DDT but finds himself in a figure four and quickly reaches the bottom rope. Cole lures him into an enzuigiri. Lethal dropkicks Cole off the apron and follows out with a dive. In the ring, Cole hits a fireman’s carry neckbreaker. He adds a sunset bomb and connects with a shining wizard. Lethal finds an opening to hit the Lethal Combination. Cole anticipates a missile dropkick and attempts another figure four. Lethal counters into a rollup for a two count. Cole blocks the Lethal Injection with a superkick and hits a brainbuster across his knee for a nearfall. They trade superkicks and Lethal connects with Hail to the King. Lethal follows with the Lethal Injection for a nearfall. They battle up top and Cole superkicks Lethal’s leg. Cole hits a super german suplex, connects with another superkick, and hits the Florida Key for the win at 16:45. This was a solid match but all of the contests tonight barring Elgin/London have been pretty reserved. I’m not saying that they were purposely holding back or anything, but this match didn’t stand out like I thought it could. Still, there were a lot of impressive exchanges and Cole smartly kept his focus on Lethal’s leg throughout the entire match. Cole advancing seemed like the direction that they were headed, but I wouldn’t have been upset if Lethal won the tournament. ***¼
Match #9: ROH World Tag Team Titles: Rocky Romero and Alex Koslov © vs. Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards
Romero and Richards begin, renewing their rivalry from the No Remorse Corps days. Romero begs off and sneaks in a dropkick. Richards then tries to beg off to no avail. That was odd. Edwards and Koslov have a back and forth exchange. Koslov dropkicks him to the floor and follows out with a dive. Romero lures Richards to the floor and then catches him with a knee strike off the apron. The Forever Hooligans take control in the ring, isolated Edwards. The champions almost come to blows at one point but decide to hug it out. There are so many weird things happening during this match. Edwards hurricanranas Koslov, superkicks Romero, and makes the tag. The American Wolves work over Romero until he fights them off with kicks and tags out. Koslov lands a flying crossbody onto Richards and snaps off a headscissors on Edwards. He catches Richards with a springboard dropkick and Edwards with an enzuigiri. Koslov hits a twisting brainbuster on Edwards for a nearfall. Edwards responds with a backpack chinbreaker. Richards takes down Koslov with kicks and steals his hat. Richards has officially made the crowd hate him. The Wolves trap the Hooligans in stereo submissions. The Hooligans counter with stereo rollups for two counts. Koslov hits a tornado DDT on Edwards. Richards connects with a knockout kick on Koslov followed by a double stomp. Romero connects with a missile dropkick on Edwards. The Hooligans add a doomsday knee strike for a nearfall. Richards teases the double stomp onto the apron onto Romero but Koslov prevents that from happening. That got the biggest reaction from anything in the match thus far. The Hooligans hit a super hurricanrana on Richards for a two count. Koslov follows with a scary shooting star press. Richards hits a tombstone on Koslov. Edwards superkicks Romero and hits a sit-out gourdbuster. Richards adds a flying double stomp for a nearfall. Romero almost catches Richards with a rollup but falls victim to the Alarm Clock. The Wolves hit a powerbomb-backcracker combination on Romero to become the new ROH World Tag Team Champions at 26:36. I’m not sure how to describe what was missing from this match except to say that it just didn’t feel like the main event of All Star Extravaganza. The face/heel dynamic felt off and the crowd’s response came and went in waves. It’s not even like they were trying to force an epic main event with the twenty-six minute duration. Rather, there was just nothing to sink your teeth into. In that regard, I preferred their previous match at the 11th Anniversary Show. The good news is that Richards seems to be having fun with professional wrestling again and I think the Wolves still have some fresh matchups in the tag team division. ***
Overall: All Star Extravaganza V boasted an impressive card, but I can’t help but come away a bit disappointed. Even matches that hit the three-star mark like Cole/Lethal and the main event could have been much better. The only contest that felt special was Elgin/London, but that should come as no surprise as Elgin has been having stellar matches on almost every show. Looking at the match quality alone, I can give this show a recommendation, but this is not a show that you need to be in a hurry to see. Still, the pieces were in place for this to be a standout event for ROH, and I look forward to watching Manhattan Mayhem V for the same reason.
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