ROH TV 5-18-13

Taped from Toronto, hopefully we get a better crowd than we did in NYC. Hosted by Kevin Kelly and STEVE CORINO!

We open with Corino (and Jimmy Jacobs) coming in through the crowd, and Corino takes his spot at the commentary table. Jay Lethal (selling the knee from the night before) is out next, and he bitches about Kevin Steen replacing him at Border Wars and informs us that Nigel McGuiness has signed a match between Lethal and Jacobs RIGHT NOW. Jacobs goes right after the knee and drags Lethal to the outside, and the bell rings…

Jimmy Jacobs vs. Jay Lethal: Lethal is basically hopping around on one leg, but he still manages to throw some chops and sits Jacobs in a chair at ringside for the 10-count punches. However, he tweaks the knee hopping down from the chair and Jacobs manages to get a couple shots in before Lethal sends him to the barricade and then tosses him in the ring. Corino, as usual, is a fucking riot on commentary insulting Lethal and his mother. Lethal chops away, Jacobs tries Sliced Bread #2 and gets nothing but a faceplant. After a couple Lethal 2-counts Jacobs hits a dropkick to the knee and starts working the leg, Lethal comes back with punches (with Corino saying he should be DQ’d for the closed fist) and gets a DDT. He calls for the Lethal Injection, but Jacobs is right there and he ties Lethal’s bad knee in the ropes and pounds away on it, and we go to commercial.

We return with Jacobs getting some 2-counts off a modified figure 4, Lethal punches his way out of it, but he misses and enziguri and Jacobs goes back to the knee. Jacobs tries another leglock but Lethal cradles him for 2, and this time the enziguri connects. They slug it out, Lethal gets a backdrop but the knee gives out when he tries a superkick. He’s still able to get 2-counts off some rollups, then he hits the Lethal Combination. He tries for the Injection again, but the knee can’t handle it and Sliced Bread #2 gives Jacobs the clean win at 8:52 aired. **, a wee bit too long for the story being told here but otherwise it was fine.

Nigel McGuiness is out next, and he announces that Adam Cole will get a rematch against Jay Briscoe, but there are a few people who are in line ahead of him. Michael Elgin is officially the #1 contender, but McGuiness says that Elgin wants another shot at Karl Anderson, and wants to take care of S.C.U.M., before he gets his shot. He also tells us that Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards will have title shots coming (Kevin Steen also has one coming thanks to the rematch clause, as does Matt Hardy thanks to S.C.U.M. winning at Border Wars), and that brings out Jay Briscoe. He cuts his usual unintelligible promo (Corino: “Do we have subtitles for this guy?”) and says “Whoop his ass” a lot. That brings out Mark Briscoe, who isn’t happy with Jay’s new attitude. Jay challenges Mark to a match at Best in the World, McGuiness says he needs to think it over.

Cliff Compton & Rhett Titus vs. Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander: The heels are already in the ring as we return from commercial, C+C try to attack right away but get caught coming in. S.C.U.M. briefly takes over, but C+C pull down the top rope as the heels charge in and they end up on the floor. Coleman (with his left shoulder taped up) misses a plancha but lands on his feet, Alexander wipes out S.C.U.M. with a running somersault dive to the outside. Back in the ring C+C do their usual double-teaming on Titus, Compton comes in and eats a nasty enziguri from Alexander. Alexander puts his head down and gets kicked in the face, and Compton sneaks in and sends Coleman’s injured shoulder into the ringpost. Alexander hits Titus with an enziguri but walks into a Michinoku driver from Compton as a gang of refs come out to check on Coleman. Alexander is alone in the ring and he gets pounded by the heels, the refs try to bring Coleman back to the locker room but S.C.U.M. ain’t having that shit and they drag him back to ringside and work the shoulder on the floor. Alexander tries to make the comeback by suplexing Titus to the floor but Compton is there to stop it, Alexander still manages to hit a full-nelson facebuster but there’s no one in his corner to make the hot tag to, as the refs again try to take Coleman to the back. This time he shoves them away (Corino: “That should be a DQ!”) and slowly makes his way back to the ring. The hot tag is made, Coleman cleans house and hits an Edge-o-Matic variation on Titus for 2. He sidesteps a dropkick and C+C do the slingshot into a splash across the knees spot, Compton makes the save but gets dumped by Alexander, who follows but gets thrown into the barricade. Compton snaps Coleman’s arm on the top rope and Titus hits him with an implant DDT to finish at 9:16. *1/2, this was not much more than a really long squash, but at least it was clean.

Adam Cole vs. Kevin Steen: Steen gets a nice pop from his fellow Canadians. They slug it out in the corner as Corino talks about Cole attending his wedding recently. Steen dominates the early part of the match but gets dumped to the floor, Cole tries to follow with a plancha but lands on his face. Steen sends him to the barricade and just bounces him off the edge of the ring with a powerbomb, then does it again even harder. Cole needs to cut back on that shit, unless he wants to be in a wheelchair before he’s 30. So Steen powerbombs him on the edge of the ring AGAIN. Jesus… Steen sends him back in, but decides to go bitch at Corino instead of concentrating on the match and Cole dropkicks him in the knee to take over. He starts working the leg as we head to break.

We’re back with Cole still working the knee, he tries the figure 4 but Steen kicks him to the floor. Steen tries to follow him out, but the knee is shot and he takes a jumping enziguri for 2. A forearm battle breaks out, Steen gets the better of that and Cole runs into a powerbomb. Christ, my back hurts just watching this. Steen gets a big clothesline for 2, but he’s still having trouble with the knee and he gets booted in the gut trying for the cannonball. Cole hits a German suplex and a Shining Wizard for 2, but walks into a shoulderbreaker. Steen tries the package piledriver, but the knee gives out and Cole tries for the figure 4 but Steen gets loose with punching. So Cole hooks the Sharpshooter, Steen makes the ropes. Cole tries a superkick, Steen catches it and hits one of his own, and the F5 gets 2. Now here’s Cliff Compton up on the apron, Steen knocks him off and gets a Sharpshooter of his own. Compton is back on the apron, and while the ref is distracted Jimmy Jacobs sneaks in and hits Steen with the hunk of chain. Superkick to the back of the head and the Florida Key finish it at 10:30 shown. After hearing about the wild matches these two had in PWG I found this kind of disappointing, but it was still pretty decent. **1/2, mostly thanks to Cole bumping to the point that we should start calling him “pinball”.

I approve of the booking here and none of the wrestling was terrible, so call it a good show this week. Next week: Taiji Ishimori is back to face off against Roderick Strong.