News for DirecTV customers: Sinclair is negotiating a new
contract with DirecTV, and if it doesn’t work out all Sinclair stations will be
pulled from the carrier on March 1st. This pisses me off more over the fact
that I may lose my Fox affiliate than it does over losing ROH TV (which I can
still watch on ROH.com, albeit 5 days later), especially with the first third
of the NASCAR season being shown of Fox. In other news, ROH has signed ACH to a
contract. Unfortunately, their first program for him is teaming him with
TaDarius Thomas. Ugh…
Kevin Steen is out to try and officially turn, cutting a
pretty intense face promo and sort of apologizing to the fans for being a dick.
Basically he wanted to kill ROH because of Jim Cornette, but with Cornette gone
he really has no reason to be pissed off anymore. He also informs us that he’s
giving Jay Lethal the title shot as a reward for getting rid of Cornette. Usual
good mic work from Steen here.
We see a pretty well done video package hyping the Top
Prospect Tournament final. Matt Taven looks more like a guy you’d see in the
X-Games than he does a wrestler when you see him in street clothes.
Top Prospect Tournament
Final: Matt Taven vs. TaDarius Thomas: Truth Martini is absent from
commentary, automatically making this match better than all the previous
tourney matches. Winner of this gets a shot at the TV title against Adam Cole
(who wasn’t even at this taping thanks to attending the WWE tryout camp) at the
PPV on Saturday. Chain wrestling to start, Taven hits a dropkick to send Thomas
down. He tries a soccer kick that misses, Thomas is back up with capoeira kicks
that actually look pretty decent for 2. Taven ducks another kick and goes up
top for a twisting bodypress that Thomas rolls through for 2. Thomas grabs a
headlock, Taven fight free and hits a spinning wheel kick for 2. Thomas hits a
couple armdrags and a dropkick as Martini shows up at ringside. Taven comes
back with punches, Thomas is selling the ribs so Taven works the midsection in
the corner. Backbreaker into a gutbuster gets 2 for Taven. Taven hits a
stalling vertical suplex, kips up, and hits a twisting springboard somersault legdrop
that makes contact with nothing but Thomas’ head. Ouch… It gets 2, at any rate.
Thomas gets a sunset flip out of the corner for 2, La Magistral for 2, but he
eats an enziguri. Irish whip by Taven is reversed, and as he comes off the ropes
Martini grabs his foot. Thomas hits the distracted Taven with a legsweep, a
running elbow and a kick to the face gets 2. Hangman’s clothesline by Thomas
for 2, Dragon suplex only gets 2 this time. Taven reverses a suplex attempt but
accidentally takes out the ref with a kick to the head. Now Martini tosses one
his boots in to Thomas, but he throws it down because he’s a face, and in this
promotion faces don’t act all heelish. Taven grabs it but swings and misses,
both guys go into the ropes where Willie Wanker nails Thomas with the Book of
Truth and Taven pins him at 8:27. Shockingly good match with pretty decent
heat. ***, easily Thomas’ best match so far, as all the kicks looked nice and
crisp and he’s starting to work non-kicking stuff into his moveset. After some initial
reluctance Taven shakes hands with Martini.
Inside ROH: Just
PPV hype. Quick promos from Charlie Hass, Coleman & Alexander, The American
Wolves, Fish (who’s dressed like an accountant) & O’Reilly, Michael Elgin,
and Jay Lethal.
Jay Lethal is out for a promo. He thinks Kevin Steen is full
of shit, and he’s walking out of the PPV with the title. Daniel Bryan gets a good
pop when Lethal name-drops him.
Roderick Strong, Bobby Fish (still dressed like he works at
a bank or something), and Kyle O’Reilly are in the back with Veda Scott to cut
a crappy promo.
Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly,
and Roderick Strong vs. Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards, and Michael Elgin: Standard
6-man rules. They said last week that the Briscoes/WGTT match would be this
week, but they also said last week that the PPV was this weekend, so who knows…
Speaking of the Briscoes, they join us for commentary and are pretty much incoherent,
or maybe I just don’t understand the hick language. The face team attacks to
start and all 6 guys brawl out to the floor and we go to commercial about 30
seconds in.
Back from break and Fish is alone in the ring with the 3
faces, and he takes a powerslam from Elgin for 2. Delayed vertical suplex by
Elgin, O’Reilly and Strong try to get back in the ring but the Wolves send them
right back outside. Elgin finally gets 2 off the suplex after holding him
upside-down for nearly a full minute. Richards in now, Fish reverses an Irish
whip and Richards gets nailed from behind by O’Reilly and the heels take over.
Strong chops away in the corner, both guys throw some weak-ass forearms before
Strong hits a dropkick for 2. Fish in now with a senton for 2 and he kicks
away. Now Strong tries the minute-long vertical suplex, but can only hold him
up for about 10 seconds before Richards reverses it into a cradle. Another
dropkick sends him right back down and the heels continue to beat down Richards
in their corner with lots of quick tags. O’Reilly hits a spectacularly fucked-up
Dragon Screw just before we go to another commercial (one of the Briscoes: “Ya’ll
come back now, ya’ hear”).
We return with Richards making the comeback, and getting the
hot tag to Edwards off an incredibly stupid spot that ends with Fish DDTing O’Reilly.
Edwards hits Fish and O’Reilly with a kick from the top and chops away on Fish, who reverses
a whip but runs into a boot on a blind charge. Shining Wizard gets 2 for Edwards,
Fish comes back with a Michinoku driver. Strong in now and he tries for the
Stronghold, Edwards gets free and goes for the Achilles lock, Strong gets out
of that and we have a chop battle. Elgin tags in as Fish and O’Reilly get
dumped to the floor and the Wolves hit them with dives trough the ropes. That
leaves Elgin and Strong in the ring and Elgin just beats the piss out of him.
Black Hole Slam gets 2. He goes for a powerbomb but here’s O’Reilly with a
sleeper to break it up. Elgin German suplexes Fish while O’Reilly is still on
his back in a pretty impressive spot. Richards and Edwards both hit double
stomps off the top on Strong, but they get dumped and it’s now 3 on 1 on Elgin.
Strong hits the double knee gutbuster and Fish & O’Reilly hit Total
Elimination, Edwards makes the save. Everyone but Elgin and Strong end up on
the floor again, Strong hits 2 jumping knees and the Sick Kick for 2, a suplex
into a double knee backbreaker finishes for Strong at 14:49 aired. A couple
fucked up and/or stupid spots keep this from being great, but it was still
really good. ***1/2
Easily the best show of 2013 so far. Next week: I don’t
know, they didn’t bother to tell us. If there’s no review next weekend than the
Sinclair stations have indeed been pulled from DirecTV, so it won’t be up until
the following Thursday or Friday. Remember, if you lose your Sinclair stations
(or don’t get any to begin with) you can just go to ROH.com and sign up for a
free account, and ROH TV will be shown on the website the Thursday after it
airs on TV.
Is it available Thursday only or Thursday onwards?
ReplyDeleteThis Steen angle has to be setting up the old Ric Flair "I've changed my ways, you can trust me; No of course you can't trust me, I'm still a heel" deal right? Cause I think smiley happy Kevin Steen is a mistake.
ReplyDeleteThursday until the episode the following week is put up if you sign up for the free account I did. If you sign up for the Ringside membership (something like $8 a month, I think) you get the entire backlog of TV shows, plus discounts on stuff and probably some exclusive content and other perks.
ReplyDeleteThey are totally going to have Lethal turn heel and join S.C.U.M. at the iPPV, and probably win the title as well.
ReplyDeleteNo, I think it's a genuine turn, probably a double-turn with Steen getting booted out of S.C.U.M. and Lethal taking his place. They kind of have to turn him, he's the most popular guy in the company, and because of that I don't think his character will change a whole lot. Smiley happy Steen wouldn't just be a mistake, it would be a disaster (if they really want to make him a heel that would be a good way to go about it), so I'd expect him to do the same act, only directed towards heels.
ReplyDeleteThat's good info, thanks. I'll stick with the free account I think - I'm interested in ROH but I'm too wary that they're dying to invest even a few bucks (or quid in my case)
ReplyDeleteI would think so, and I think it's the right move. If Steen wins than who is left as an opponent? You have Adam Cole (if he stays) and I guess Charlie Haas. If you know Cole is hanging around than you can make the case for Steen dropping the belt to him in NYC, but otherwise you have to get the belt off Steen. The reign has run it's course, it's time to move on. And yes, Lethal is probably turning.
ReplyDeleteI'm for the turn too, and I doubt Delirious is dumb enough to turn Steen into a "smiling" babyface. He'll just be like he is in PWG.
ReplyDeleteI'm not ordering 11th anniversary however due to travel plans but I might get the DVD at the North Carolina event I'm attending at the end of March.
I expect the Sinclair/DirecTV thing to be hammered out in time, so service should resume as normal next week. But yeah, I'd go with the free account. ROH has been investing cash (notes, in your case, right?) into production (they're owned by a broadcasting corporation, so it's not like they have to worry about running out of money or losing their TV show), but there is not really any big-name talent for them to pick up. There's plenty of good workers out there (like AR Fox), but no one that I can really see being a good draw or anything. I think they might have been waiting for the post-election roster cuts from WWE that never happened, and now I bet they're waiting for the post-WM roster cuts.
ReplyDeleteI wish Adam Cole could be like he is in PWG. His heel promos on his YouTube channel are great, and I can't see how ROH is booking him as a face. I guess it's to bring in the women, and he plays the face well enough, but it's just a waste. I think he's like Punk, a natural heel.
ReplyDeleteSooo...they're turning Steen face a year and a half after they should have?
ReplyDeleteDunno why people are saying the NWA is dead, cause RoH is continuing some ancient traditions.
They haven't needed Cole to turn heel due to his star making performance at Best in the World last year but if Steen turns face then I'd say it's a good time to pull the trigger on it. They can do it after the Matt Hardy rematch.
ReplyDeleteROH hasn't sunk to current NWA levels though. Maybe until they put their title on a "Tokyo Monster" who's under 6 feet tall and actually stage a "shoot" to get publicity. Oh and have their title continuously shit on.
ReplyDeleteMany people forget to mention that Cole cut his teeth in Maryland in his rookie years (me being in that area, I've seen a lot of his Maryland work) and he's honestly one of the best heels that's been in the Maryland area in a long while. And you're right, he's just a natural, cocky as hell heel.
ReplyDeleteI was at the taping and the Steen promo was actually a little more heated than what was shown. In particular, they edited out a comment where Steen said that ROH was about young talent and not about "some middle aged jackass trying to relive his glory days from 30 years ago!". The full promo really came off as a final burial of Cornette; a "fuck you, don't come back" kind of burial.
ReplyDeleteMichael Elgin is so very awesome... Easily the most enjoyable thing in ROH for me. I love that man and his balding mullet.
ReplyDeleteAnd the HoT has a new guy. Not sure Taven should get the TV title from Cole, even if he's WWE-bound.
ReplyDeleteSticking TaDarius with ACH isn't that bad a move; Thomas might become a semi-decent wrestler via osmosis.
And Dem Boys were drunk. I refuse to believe otherwise.
So now we've got a 6 man scramble match at 11th anniversary between all the TPT participants. Could be really good especially with ACH involved.
ReplyDeleteAnd ROH, PLEASE have ACH wrestle in NC on March 30th because I'll be there live. In fact it's my very first live ROH show so make a good first impression.
It's either Taven or Matt Hardy getting that title (assuming Cole leaves), I'd much rather see it on Taven.
ReplyDeleteI'm talking NWA 20 years ago. Right after WCW left.
ReplyDelete