ROH TV 3-23-13

We open with a replay of the end of the 11^th Anniversary show and the McGuiness segment from last week.

Silas Young vs. Michael Elgin: Jay Lethal joins the commentators. They stall for a bit before locking up, Elgin sends Young into the corner and gives him a clean break. Brief chain wrestling sequence leads to Young getting the Boston crab, Elgin powers out of it but eats an elbow on a charge and a cris-cross ends with Young getting shoulderblocked to the outside. Elgin follows but gets nailed coming back in, Young tries to knock him off the apron but Elgin slingshots in with another shoulderblock for 2. Young takes out the leg and chokes Elgin on the middle rope, then works him over in the corner. A kick to the chest only gets a 1 count and now Young gets pounded in the corner, a blind charge misses and Young goes back to the leg. He takes a pretty nasty forearm and Elgin German suplexes him into the corner. Seeing as how the ROH turnbuckle pads are about the size of couch cushions I think it would have been more effective to just do a standard German, but I’m not here to tell the guy how to do his job. Elgin hits some more forearms and some chops and clotheslines in the corner. Oklahoma gets 2, but the deadlift German is reversed into a victory roll. Second attempt lands for 2, Young comes back with a Pedigree for 2, he gets a Samoan drop but misses an Arabian bodypress. Bucklebomb and the spinning sitout powerbomb finishes Young at 7:34. **1/2, solid but totally unremarkable match.

Charlie Hass is out next. Kelly: “Why would anyone ever give Charlie Haas a live microphone?” Good question. I guess Chicago Ridge is on the North side of Chicago, because the crowd boos when he mentions the Cubs but pops when he mentions the White Sox. He says that he turned on Shelton Benjamin because he’s been carrying him for 10 years and he’s sick of it. He also tells us that Haas/Benjamin is scheduled for Supercard of Honor, but Benjamin doesn’t have the stones to show up. He challenges anyone in the crowd or the locker room to come out and fight him, Grizzly Redwood answers.

Charlie Haas vs. Grizzly Redwood: Redwood attacks right away, Haas no-sells it and comes back with a big boot. Grizzly gets a rollup, and that’s the extent of his offense. Overhead belly to belly and the Haas of Pain ends it at 1:26. He won’t let go of the hold, so Mike Mondo makes his return to save him. I won’t even bother rating this.

Veda Scott is in the ring with Mondo and Redwood. Veda seems to have a thing for Mondo (lucky bastard), and the crowd picks up on it too with a “She wants Mondo” chant. He talks about how he came back in only 4 months because he’s in Beast Mode 24/7. And now here’s S.C.U.M. out of the crowd Shield style to jump Mondo and Redwood. Cliff Compton grabs Veda, Whitmer, Coleman, Alexander, and Mark Briscoe come out to try and make the save but don’t get in the ring. Corino wants next week’s show to be S.C.U.M. TV, Nigel McGuiness comes out and says he can get his wish if they let Veda go, Compton lets her loose. Hey, an invading faction getting their own TV show, where have I seen that? After the commercial McGuiness hops on the third commentary position to let us know that Veda is OK, he leaves and Corino is back out to introduce Matt Hardy, who also comes in through the crowd.

Matt Hardy vs. Adam Cole: There’s still nearly 20 minutes of show left, and considering that Hardy gets gassed after about 5 minutes I’m not sure it’s a good idea to give them that much time. Winner of this gets Matt Taven for the TV title at Supercard of Honor. A forearm battle starts us off, Cole hits a crossbody and throws punches, the ref pulls him off and Hardy clips his knee. Hardy plays to the crowd and Cole superkicks him to the outside and follows with a dive to the floor. Cole kicks his ass all around ringside and suplexes him on the floor, he heads back in to break the count and Hardy nails him as he heads back out. Cole sends him to the barricade and hits the Austin Thesz press from the apron. He gets the ringpost figure 4 but the ref makes him break the hold, he tries for the Panama Key but Hardy reverses it and sends him into the guardrail. Cole just barely beats the count back in and Hardy (who’s bleeding hardway from his back) punches away, Cole comes back with more forearms and a dropkick and we go to commercial.

Back from break Hardy hits a neckbreaker and a suplex for 2. He gets a Razor’s Edge and a foot choke in the corner, Side Effect gets 2. More punching from Hardy, but Cole no sells it and makes the comeback. Jumping enziguri (there it is!) and the Shining Wizard gets 2, missile dropkick for 2, and Cole stomps away in the corner. Fireman’s carry into a neckbreaker gets another near fall, but a crossbody off the top misses. Hardy gets the figure 4, Cole reverses and Hardy makes the ropes. Now Cole gets the figure 4, Hardy makes the ropes again. Cole tries the slingshot DDT on the apron but misses and goes face first to the floor. Hardy heads out and pulls up the mats to expose the “concrete”, but the Twist of Fate is reversed to the Florida Key, and here’s Rhino to Gore Cole for the DQ at 13:14. *1/2, better than the Final Battle match but that ending can go fuck itself. Coleman and Alexander make the save, the rest of S.C.U.M. and various ROH guys make their way out and everyone brawls to end the show.

Not a great show this week, to say the least. Next week: All S.C.U.M., all the time!