ROH TV for January 25th saw one semi-final for the Top Prospect Tournament, two matches that were just dumb, and two matches that are worth checking out and hopefully will have ramifications going forward. It was not a smooth hour of viewing and much like Senior Editor Jerome Cusson thought I didn’t feel like they are really pushing the TPT the way they should. Do I expect guys like AR Fox, Johnny Gargano, or Tony Nese to be in ROH? No. But do I expect matches that make me think that the two guys involved were worthy of being in the tournament? Absolutely. I didn’t get that at all. Then there were the RD Evans segments. Okay. I’m not the target audience for comedic wrestling, but damn did these two “matches” take away from my enjoyment of the show overall and didn’t accomplish anything. Then there was a decent match between TD Thomas and Matt Taven and the main event was just that, a TV main event match.
TPT 2014 Semi Final: Raymond Rowe vs Corey Hollis
Raymond Rowe and Corey Hollis are two guys who should be used in ROH. The Full Nelson suplex into a knee (aka the Death Rowe) is a good finisher and Rowe looks impressive and I believe has a presence. But this was what, maybe seven minutes? If these two men are “Top Prospects” then they should be having a match that is at least 9-13 minutes. To have it be little more than a squash just says that these two were just guys they found, and one happened to be better than the other. I respect the work that Hollis is doing in the Carolina’s and that needs to be shown in these tournament matches. Rowe got the almost easy win here with his finisher and it wasn’t mentioned again. That’s supposed to be an important tournament win?
RD Evans got a win over Matt ‘Sex’ Sells. The funny part was Sells got a lot of offense in and Evans barely eeked it out. I get it. That’s the point. But Veda Scott was more over in these segments and that says something if you know what Evans is capable of doing from other promotions. Then we get a segment where you can interpret two things. 1. Evans is the dumbest guy letting Veda do call outs for him and putting her in charge of his career. Or 2. Veda Scott is the dumbest manager or trying to sabotage Evan’s career. Elgin came out. Destroyed Evans easily but because he decided to power bomb him through chairs, Evans got the DQ win thus extending his “streak” to 15-0. Elgin then went on to destroy security/ROH students (seriously looking forward to seeing some of them on ROH TV in the future. Some of them have unique looks) and all because…. he was angry at Adam Cole. Who came out later on in the night and we didn’t see Elgin barging out there to get his hands on him. I don’t know what I was supposed to get from this couple segments but I don’t think it worked.
Matt Taven vs. Tadarius Thomas
This match was okay with the larger point of it to show that Taven is no longer part of the Hoopla lifestyle and taking his job more seriously. Both men were fine in this though TD Thomas is just more and more meaningless when it comes to any type of singles importance. Granted, ACH couldn’t be at the TV tapings due to weather issues at the time so who knows what was actually planned. Taven got the win and shook hands with TD. That’s all you need to know.
Main Event: Jay Briscoe vs Bobby Fish
Bobby Fish pointing out the obvious in a pre match promo was more entertaining than most things on this show. Briscoe and Fish had a fine match, though if I was to gauge it against past ROH main events on TV, this wouldn’t be on any top 100 lists. It was a fine brawl and Fish doesn’t lose anything getting a loss here because he is the Tag Champion and Jay is the defacto #1 or #2 contender. Adam Cole came down but ultimately didn’t get anything over on Jay. At this point I don’t understand why Cole is being presented on TV as a cowardly Champion when he’s such a great talent. I can dig using Matt Hardy as a mentor, and Hardy’s championship runs in the past were similar. But I think Cole is too talented for that and has the skill and charisma to be a little more aggressive instead of always running from his challengers. I see more potential in Champions who are confident and then use whatever they can to win than a guy who looks like he’s running from all the competition and lucks into wins. But that’s just me.
Send your feedback on this episode or anything I wrote to cgstong@PWPonderings.com or on twitter at Twitter.com/cgstong
ROH Vids:
God Forgives, Outlaw Inc Don’t!
ROH World Champ Adam Cole accepts Jay Briscoe’s Challenge