It’s the first show from a new round of TV tapings, and the
last taping from Baltimore for a while, as starting next month ROH will be
doing TV tapings the night after the PPVs in the same arena.
We start off with Veda Scott in the back with TaDarius
Thomas and QT Marshall, who are as bad on the mic as they are in the ring.
Top Prospect
Tournament: QT Marshall vs. TaDarius Thomas: Who thought this was a good
idea? Yeah, let’s take two of the worst wrestlers on the planet and put them in
the same match. Truth Martini is on commentary as usual for this tourney, and
is just horrible at it. They lock up, Marshall brings Thomas down and smacks
him in the back of the head a few times and poses for the crowd. Another lockup
leads to Marshall getting bitch-slapped in the corner. Thomas charges in,
Marshall tries to crotch him on the top rope but Thomas lands on his feet on
the second rope and backflips over Marshall. Marshall tries to powerbomb Thomas
from the ring to the floor, but Thomas backdrops him to the outside. Thomas
follows him out and ends up getting posted. Back in Marshall drops a couple
elbows, Thomas comes back with the shitty kicks. Neckbreaker by Thomas gets 2,
Marshall gets a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and a powerslam for 2. He tries for
God’s Gift, Thomas holds on to block and hits a dragon suplex to win it at
5:45. *, pretty crappy but nowhere near as bad as I was expecting, given how shitty their first match was. The constant
shots of the crowd and the commentators make me think there was a lot of
editing here.
Up next is a rather poorly shot segment of Charlie Hass
beating the shit out of BJ Whitmer and a Hyundai at a car dealership. OK then…
Nick Westgate &
Brian Fury vs. Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander: I have no idea who
Westgate and Fury are, and it really doesn’t matter in this case, as Rhino runs
in and Gores Coleman for the DQ at 0:59. Barely even a match, so no rating. Steve
Corino comes out and cuts a quick promo but doesn’t say anything notable.
Top Prospect
Tournament: Silas Young vs. Matt Taven: Martini is on commentary again.
Chain wrestling to start, Taven gets a rana and a legsweep for 2. Young gains
the advantage with a cheap shot and takes over with some stomps. Taven comes
back with a kick that sends Young to the floor, he tries a dive from the apron
but is caught and powerslammed. It gets 2 back in the ring. Young ends up on
the floor again and Taven hits a moonsault from the top. Frog splash by Taven
misses, Young hits a backbreaker and tries to combo that into a clothesline but
Taven ducks it and gets a rollup to finish at 5:47. **, match was fine,
commentary was atrocious.
Inside ROH: We
see clips of Adam Cole attacking Matt Hardy at a house show, the stooges break
it up and Hardy nails Cole with the TV title and walks off with it. Cole cuts a
pretty good promo. “Newsflash Matt: nobody cares about you!” We also see Nigel
McGuiness grant Charlie Haas a shot at the tag team title next week, with the
stipulation that if WGTT loses they can never team in ROH again.
Jimmy Jacobs vs. Jay
Lethal: Corino is on commentary for this one. Jacobs bails to the floor as
soon as the bell rings, Lethal follows him out and kicks his ass on the outside.
More brawling back in the ring, Jacobs gets dropped on the bottom rope and
Lethal kicks him in the head from the floor. Jacobs comes back with a
headscissors, he grabs a chair from the crowd and sits Lethal in it, but the
dive from the ring to the floor misses as we go to commercial.
Back from the break we see Jacobs hitting a neckbreaker for
2. More punching and kicking from both guys, Lethal hits a reverse DDT but gets
rolled up for 2 while calling for the Lethal Injection. Lethal Combination for
2, he hits a superkick and goes for the Injection, Jacobs hits a sort of
backbreaker to block it. Sliced Bread #2 by Jacobs gets 2, he tries a top rope
rana but Lethal holds on, Lethal gets a DVD and hits the Macho Man elbow to
finish at 5:35 shown. **, not bad, but was over before it could really get
going. Rhino runs out and sets up for the Gore, Caprice Coleman attacks him but
gets tripped up by Corino and ends up getting Gored. S.C.U.M. gets ready for a
beatdown on Lethal, but Kevin Steen comes out to call them off.
Pretty “meh” show this week. Next week: Briscoes vs. WGTT
and the finals of the Top Prospect Tournament.
I agree this show was nothing special or important. I liked Silas Young, and I thought the Haas/Whitmer segment was fun. At least it was something a little different. Having Corino on commentary right after Martini does a good job or exposing how awful Martini really is. Seems like they are going to try to turn Steen face in the least interesting way possible by just having him respect everyone all of a sudden. He's already over as a face, so I don't see how suddenly having him shaking people's hands is going to help him.
ReplyDeleteYoung looked better here than he did a couple weeks ago. I too liked the Haas/Whitmer segment, though I didn't really see what the point was.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to "Marshall's winning the tournament", Curry?
ReplyDeleteBJ should've given Haas The High Hard One off the roof of a car, that might've made that segment bearable.
My theory on Truth's godawful commentary on this show; He's trying to get fired for some reason. I hope it works, I did NOT need to know he was getting wood during the Taven/Young match.
As for Steen, it's either a really easy to see coming face turn, or it's a "Steen's getting in Lethal's head" angle. Either way, I think Kevin's run ends at Jay's hands.
Fuck if I know, man. As far as match quality goes this is one of the worst tournaments I've ever seen.
ReplyDeleteI thought that segment was fine, outside of the fact that it looked like a 5 year old as holding the camera.
Martini is beyond horrible, and we'll see more of him next week. While I was watching EC earlier I thought to myself "This commentary sucks, but is still not the worst commentary I've heard today. Not even close."
I'm 90% sure Steen is going face, and he might as well, crowd loves him anyway. I too think Steen is jobbing at the PPV. It's time to get the belt off him anyway, he's had it since when, last May? Lethal is as good a choice as any, he's over, he's the biggest name they have (outside of Hardy, who sucks), and he's not likely to leave the company.
Potential Editing aside (since what's broadcast is all I can go by), that Marshall-TD match was just as good as the other prospect match.
ReplyDeleteCole's Promo was great--but if he's leaving for the WWE then TV champ Matt Hardy is probably inevitable
Shelton must be leaving? the timing of this break-up angle is too perfect
More Jimmy Jacobs please
The second match had a couple highspots, at least. And those two looked like they were actually wrestling, instead of trying to wrestle.
ReplyDeleteWHO. THE HELL. ARE THESE. NO-NAMED JAYBRONES???
ReplyDeleteROH IS TERRIBLE
after Hass nearly killed BJ at final battle they Have a no dq match at the anniversary show-it was the final build to that
ReplyDeleteThat should be a pretty fun match.
ReplyDeleteI concur, I actually find BJ and Hass to be similar, and they both have that rough neck badass feel to them that lends itself to no-dq matches
ReplyDeleteBut who jobs? It's gotta be Whitmer, right? I mean, there's no way Whitmer can go over there. They seem to want to push Haas hard (NO ONE else in ROH has been getting a series of YouTube videos) and Whitmer is just... Whitmer. Who can take a guy who calls himself "BJ" seriously?
ReplyDeleteon the flipside, BJ is the face and it is the blow off to the feud--losing won't hurt Hass' heat (of which he has a considerable amount--BJ is toast if he doesn't win
ReplyDeleteMy dear lord whoever thought it was a good idea to trim down a jimmy jacobs/jay lethal match in favor of giving the turds in the first match time is clearly out of touch. Honestly, ROH never would have made it based on the near non existant strength of their production or storylines, they built their reputation on the backs of all the top shelf talent that are now in WWE and TNA. And right now they don't even lay claim to having the best roster in indies; all the notable indie talent is on the DGUSA/EVOLVE/CHIKARA axis now. At this point anyone worth a shit in ROH should be looking for a way out,
ReplyDeleteThat pretty well sums it up. Another issue possibly upcoming is the fact that Sinclair may be pulling all their channels from DirecTV at the end of the month, cutting off a lot of their fanbase. Including me, next week's ROH TV review might be the last one for a while unless they work out the negotiations. Or unless I can find it on a torrent site.
ReplyDeleteI think he's toast either way, no one really gives a shit about Whitmer. And why would anyone, really?
ReplyDelete100% Monetary costs only apply for early bird access--anyone can watch for free on Saturdays--It's so people in markets outside their broadcast area can watch
ReplyDelete