roh-tv-review

This was ROH. This show was probably the best out of the four taped in Nashville and I think that it is worth going out of your way to check out if you’re an ROH fan or recommending to someone who hasn’t seen ROH yet. Two great TV matches and a TPT tournament semi final that finally made the wrestlers seem like they were important sums up my feelings but let’s go match by match.

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TPT 2014 Semi Final: Hanson vs Andrew Everett

Hanson got to show the monster he is and should be in ROH. The guy is pretty agile and moves pretty fast for his size and even did a dive, while not successful, showed he has some stuff that may surprise people. What do I need to say about Andrew Everett though? A spectacular out of the ring shooting star press and impressive flying moves in the ring made him feel like an actual top prospect who should be given more bookings in ROH. These are the types of matches that the TPT should have had the entire time.

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Mike Bennett vs Cedric Alexander

It’s clear that Bennett is the star that he always claimed to be from the beginning, even though for my taste that has only occurred more recently. Early on in his ROH career I felt he was being pushed down our throats way too early and I stand behind that. But he’s been a top talent for the past few years and has proven he deserves major feuds. The Steen situation was wonky but now we’re away from that and Bennett is still putting on a string of good matches. His opponent Cedric Alexander is also pursuing a singles career in ROH and this was a great match to start that off. Both men looked impressive here with an equal amount of offense and just the right amount of shenanigans from Maria. Bennett having to use his new finisher after several attempts to pin Cedric in those final moments made Cedric look strong in defeat. Obviously the Anaconda Vice is a nod to Maria’s previous relationship with some Chicagoan who is no longer wrestling, but the heat that it gets is pretty amusing.

Between these two segments there as a vignette with some slogans going on like, ‘The Hits that will Blow You Away’ or ‘This Is Wrestling’ were played and while I can’t confirm this is from the mind of Court Bauer who recently started doing branding/marketing consulting with ROH, I found it to be refreshing. ROH wants to show that it is the alternative to the “sports entertainment” that is in the mainstream and it could make younger viewers feel like they are a part of something underground-esque and cool. Kinda like having that niche band that only you know about or that you introduced to your “not-as-hip” mainstream friends. Is that still a thing in 2014? I don’t know, but it still could allow ROH to stand out.

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Main Evet: AJ Styles vs Roderick Strong

This match was as good as I thought it would be and while I know we got an edited version on TV, I didn’t see any signs of the roughness that those live reported. While I don’t doubt that it occurred, the editing did well to hide whatever was there. Several spots during the match including Roderick Strong catching AJ during a baseball slide and turning it into a half nelson back breaker on the ring apron reminded me of what AJ can do when he’s allowed to wrestle. Their was even a very legit reaction to AJ breaking out the calf cutter from the crowd. The chants of, “this is wrestling” and other similar feelings made this match slightly better when it came across my screen. I’m going to assume any AJ match though will get similar love from the crowds. Overall the botch at the end was clearly an accident and while I knew it was coming didn’t make it any less cringe worthy. I was glad to read in the latest newswire from ROH that Strong is cleared medically to wrestle this weekend in Texas. A great TV main event and worth going out of your way to see from ROH for free while you can.

Follow us on PWP as we will be posting live results from ROH either onsite or on twitter. Still not sure yet.

Send your feedback on this episode or anything I wrote to cgstong@PWPonderings.com or on twitter at Twitter.com/cgstong

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By chris gst

Long time indie wrestling fan. Started with ROH and just kept going.

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