I’ve been writing so much lately about the ROH and NJPW announcement that ROH TV really fell by the wayside the past two weeks. The HD trailer they released also didn’t help due to the myriad of dream matches that have been going through my head since it was put out on Youtube. But let’s get back into the swing of things and talk about some of the best wrestling on US television (syndicated, I know).
I’m going to be doing an abridged version, knocking out two episodes in one review. The 2/15 episode started out with the Romantic Touch versus Michael Bennett in a Valentine’s Day themed match, sorta. Veda Scott on commentary was entertaining at times, but seriously what is the point of her telling us that the Romantic Touch is actually Rhett Titus? Is it leading somewhere? Are we actually supposed to care? I kinda doubt it, but even if we are, are we going to see RD Evans and good ole’ RT feud? It’s kinda just there.
Then we had the opening promo by Maria and Michael Bennett before the match, both of which were good. Both of them pointing out they want to take the power in ROH. But then Bennett has a competitive match with Romantic Touch. A guy who didn’t even make it to the finals of the Top Prospect Tournament. The match was decent to good with basic action from both men. The antics of RT trying to have a moment with Maria were fun, but they didn’t exactly inspire me to think Bennett was really a talent I should be taking seriously. If we’re going to be moving Bennett up the card and having him feud against guys like Steen, he can’t be having competitive matches with guys who are down the ladder unless the point is to also take them more seriously. Was there fun in this match? Sure. Was it pointless and probably forgotten by the time you’re reading this? Yeah. But it still bugged me.
The main event and second match of the episode was the three team elimination tag match where if anyone scored a pin on Cole, they would get a future World Title match. The Briscoes, Michael Elgin and Chris Hero, and ROH World Champion Adam Cole and Matt Hardy were all involved and it was a good match. I enjoyed Hardy and Cole reluctance to ever step into the ring unless they had an advantage. The Briscoes despite being eliminated first still held their own and I’m sure down the line we’ll see Cole vs Briscoe again. Chris Hero won the match and earned himself a shot at the ROH World Title somewhere down the line and I think that the build towards the World Title has been really great lately in ROH. We have a Champion who I think could be booked a to be a tad stronger, but his opponents in Jay Briscoe, Michael Elgin, Chris Hero and others all have won matches and been kicking ass. It makes the ROH World Title seem important which is probably key above all. A good episode of television.
The February 22nd episode opened up strong, yes pun intended. Roderick Strong was on commentary to talk about The Decade but to also give his insight during the matches. His feud with Cedric notwithstanding.
Our opening match was two men who have shown what they can do in the Carolina promotions like CWF Mid Atlantic and PWX. A really great action packed match with both men just trying to tear it up. No animosity, just athleticism and pride on the line. Cedric was really focused on getting the W. Going for pinfalls after enziguri’s or after a particularly high altitude back drop. Andrew Everett was able to show off his spectacular top rope shooting star press to the outside that I’ve seen numerous times in CZW and CWF alongside his high impact/high flying moves like his hurricanrana that practically spiked Cedric’s head into the ring. I almost heard DANGEROUSSS in my head after seeing it. Really good match and even more importantly, Cedric won with a back breaker variation with Roderick Strong watching. This is old school ROH match building. I fully assume Roderick and Cedric to try to one up each other in their match as to who can hit a better back breaker variation.
They showed us ANOTHER vignette about how Hoopla is dead. I don’t care.
Tommaso Ciampa cut a promo about Hanson getting a ROH TV Title shot. He’s about as intense as it gets and I think he’s really bringing interest back to that division.
The main event of Kevin Steen versus Kyle O’Reilly was good. Apparently these two haven’t met in a singles match since 2012 in a major independent promotion according to WrestlingData.com. This match was intense and only furthered that Steen is the man when it comes to his interactions with the crowd be it bringing the match to them at ringside or holding up a sign that says real men like zoos. Ultimately O’Reilly looked strong coming off of a loss here because he was able to get a former ROH World Champion into several arm bars that could have ended the match. Cliff Compton’s interference and subsequent post match brawl with Steen was more the focus afterwards and it tied together with the feud they have going on so it worked for me. I liked this match a lot and hoping that O’Reilly get’s more chances to shine later on in singles competition though I am in no hurry to see reDRagon go their separate ways.
Two good weeks of ROH television. We’re getting Jay Lethal versus AJ Styles next week so I’m looking forward to that as well. As always send your feedback to cgstong@PWPonderings.com or tweet me at @cgstong on twitter
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