Ring of Honor TV Report
February 15, 2010
Taped Jan. 9 in Philadelphia, Pa.
Episode #47 - Fourth episode of Series 8
Report by Mike DeRosenroll, Torch ROH specialist

STRENGTHS

- This show did a nice job of developing Kevin Steen's new heel character with a strong backstage promo and a showcase main event match against Delirious. With babyface Tyler Black now the ROH World champion, ROH needs to build up some heel threats to chase him and they did a nice job of that with Steen in tonight's show. A Black-Steen feud over the World Title could be very entertaining.

WEAKNESSES

- Tyler Black's World Title victory at the 8th Anniversary Show on Saturday night only got a brief mention from the announcers at the top of the show. After all the TV time they put into hyping that World Title match, the lack of follow-up felt very anti-climatic. I realize that this show was taped before the 8th Anniversary show, but the fact that they had Hogewood and Prazak tape a brief announcement meant they could have at least put a little more time into talking about the fallout and promising reactions from Black and former champ Austin Aries in the weeks to come.

- ROH continues to shamelessly feature unprotected chair shots to the head, which is completely inexcusable in 2010. The feature segment on the Erick Stevens-Necro Butcher feud included footage of Stevens's unprotected chair shot to Necro Butcher's head several times. I suppose replaying a prior head shot is better than subjecting Necro Butcher to a new one this week, but this sort of thing should have no place in wrestling any more at all.

- Babyfaces lose fan sympathy when they act stupid, and Delirious looked stupid when he turned his back on Kevin Steen to go after Steve Corino at ringside in the main event because Corino had not done anything wrong.

DETAILED RECAP

- The show opened with a UFC-style segment with clips of Erick Stevens and Necro Butcher talking about their feud in a sit down interview format, interspersed with repeated clips of Stevens hitting Necro with an unprotected chair shot to the head. Shame on Carey Silkin and Jim Cornette for continuing to feature unprotected chair shots to the head in ROH. This is inexcusable in 2010, not to mention ironic since the motivation for Necro Butcher’s babyface character is that he wrestles to feed his family while the chair shots he always takes only serve to shorten his career.

[Opening Theme]

- In the studio, Mike Hogewood announced Tyler Black’s ROH World Title victory over Austin Aries at this past weekend’s 8th Anniversary Show. Dave Prazak said Black shocked the world by becoming the World champion. Hogewood turned to hyping the main event on tonight’s show, a Pick 6 Contenders match between Delirious and Kevin Steen, then he threw to the first match of the show.

The announcement of the title change fell flat given how much TV time ROH devoted to hyping the match for the past month. I realize this show was pre-taped, but they could have at least made the title change seem a little more more important by talking a little longer about it and promising to talk about the fallout in the weeks to come.

1 – THE EMBASSY (JOEY RYAN & ERICK STEVENS w/Prince Nana and Ernesto Oriris) vs. EDDIE KINGSTON & NECRO BUTCHER

All four wrestlers started brawling as soon as Kingston and Necro could got to the ring. Kingston paired up with Ryan while Necro paired up with Stevens and they began brawling around the outside. A split screen followed both brawls, which featured a lot of eye gouging and Irish whips into the ringside barricades. They switched brawling partners at 1:30, with Kingston now fighting Stevens and Necro fighting Ryan. Necro held a plastic bag over Ryan’s head, then tossed him into the crowd at 2:00.

The heels took control of the match at 3:00 when Prince Nana grabbed Kingston by the ankle as Kingston tried to climb into the ring, allowing Stevens to ram Kingston off the apron hard into the ringside barricade. Kingston sold an injury, which distracted Necro Butcher from fighting Ryan, allowing Ryan to blindside Necro and throw Kingston into the ring with Stevens.

The Embassy cut the ring in half and began working over Kingston heel style. They deployed an array of chokes, strikes, mat holds, and outside interference when the referee was not looking. Kingston played the babyface in distress role very well and got the crowd vocally behind his various comeback attempts. At 8:00, Kingston managed to catch a charging Ryan with a belly-to-belly suplex, then made it to his corner for the hot tag to Necro, who cleaned house against both Embassy members. Unfortunately, Stevens’ timing was off when Necro clotheslined him over the top rope, making it look like Stevens threw himself over the top before Necro reached him with the running clothesline.

With Ryan and Stevens on the outside distracting the referee, Osiris tried to hit Necro Butcher with a steel chair, but Necro saw him coming and grabbed the chair out of Osiris’ hands. Necro then began swinging the chair at Ryan and Stevens each time they tried to re-enter the ring. Prince Nana started leading his wrestlers away from the ring in protest of Necro's chair use. Kingston came into the ring, took the chair from Necro and sat in it, inviting the Embassy to come back and fight. Stevens tried to return and fight but Nana and Ryan held him back, leading to a count out.

WINNERS: Kingston and Necro Butcher by count-out in 10:00. This was a nice well-executed grudge match brawl, other than the one awkward spot between Stevens and Necro. It shows that the four wrestlers involved can put on this type of match perfectly well without resorting to unprotected chair shots to the head. This finish was the right one to continue the feud.

- Backstage, Kyle Durden interviewed “Mr. Wrestling” Kevin Steen with Steve Corino. Durden said that Steen would be facing Delirious in a Pick 6 Contenders match later in the show, but then brought up Steen’s issue with El Generico. Steen grabbed the mic and put his hand over Durden’s mouth. Steen said he had a moment of clarity when he turned on Generico at Final Battle thanks to Steve Corino. He called Corino one of the greatest wrestlers he has ever had by his side. Steen told Durden that if he wants to feel bad about a masked wrestler, he should start feeling horrible about what Steen was going to do to Delirious later. He finished the promo by kissing Durden on the forehead. Steen is really coming into his own with his promos now that he has turned heel, and Corino and Durden added to the segment with his good facial expressions.

2 – “SKULLKRUSHER” RASCHE BROWN vs. CHRISTIAN MERINO

During Brown’s ring entrance, Hogewood called him the hottest free agent in ROH. Shane Hagadorn was shown watching the match from the aisle, apparently scouting Brown. Merino looked terrified of Brown and tried to get the jump on him with a sucker punch while Brown was trying to follow the Code of Honor before the match. Brown no sold Merino’s punches, then quickly put him away with a couple of hard clotheslines, followed by his torture rack-burning hammer finishing combination.

WINNER: Brown in 0:30. Interestingly, Brown slapped a few hands as he returned to the back. Previously, he has been acting more like a heel. This might be a sign that Brown will swerve the heel managers who have been scouting his recent matches and decide to be a babyface who is his own man instead.

- A video highlight package recapped last week’s main event tag team match between the American Wolves and the Young Bucks, with a World Tag Team title shot at stake for the winners. I like that ROH does this sort of the thing to make the matches that air on television seem important.

- Hogewood announced that the Young Bucks will get their title shot at the Briscoes next week, then threw to a pre-taped promo by the Kings of Wrestling. It was a cut down version of the same promo that aired two weeks ago.

- Hogewood hyped that Jim Cornette would make a special announcement after the commercial break.

[Commercial Break]

- Jim Cornette cut a promo hyping the upcoming ROH live events in Phoenix, Arizona, March 26 and 27, as well as “The Big Bang” event scheduled for Charlotte, North Carolina, on April 3. He announced that the ROH Television Title tournament will begin in three weeks, on March 8. Cornette said that ROH has the youngest, most athletic roster in wrestling and that they will be bigger and better than ever in 2010.

3 – SONJAY DUTT & ANDY “RIGHT LEG” RIDGE vs. UP IN SMOKE (CHEECH & CLOUDY)

Before the match, Dutt grabbed the mic and cut a heel promo. He said he has the most swagger in ROH and said he decided to prove it by picking someone from the locker room and taking him to the top. I like that ROH provided an explanation for the two to be tagging together.

Cloudy dominated Ridge in the early moments, forcing Ridge to quickly tag out to Dutt. Cloudy and Cheech got some of their trademark offence in on Dutt until Dutt finally turned the tide at 1:30 by driving Cheech face first into the middle turnbuckle. Dutt and Ridge worked over Cheech heel style for a couple of minutes. Ridge used his trademark right-footed kicks, while Dutt mostly taunted the crowd. Ridge got into some trouble with Cheech at 3:30, but Dutt intervened with a running clothesline before Cheech could make it to his corner to tag out.

Dutt tagged in and tried for a double team maneuver with Ridge, but they mistimed the move and collided with each other at 4:00. This allowed Cheech to reach Cloudy for the hot tag. Cloudy threw Ridge to outside, then had a brief spell of offence on Dutt before Dutt turned the tables again by dodging a charge from Cloudy in the corner and landing his trademark teeter-totter kick. Ridge tagged in a landed a few strikes on Cloudy. Dutt tried to hold Cloudy in place for another kick from Ridge, but Cloudy slipped out of the hold causing Ridge to kick Dutt off the apron to the outside at 5:00. Cloudy tagged in Cheech, and they hit a double team 619-flying drop kick, followed by another double team move that is apparently their finisher (Cloudy does a 360 off of Cheech’s shoulders) for the win.

WINNERS: Up In Smoke in 5:30. Hogewood celebrated Cheech and Cloudy’s first win on HDNet.

- After the match, Dutt grabbed the mic and said that Ridge showed everyone he has no swagger, the he clotheslined Ridge and put him in a Camel Clutch. A bunch of referees ran from the back to make Dutt release Ridge. ROH ran this same angle back in 2002, with Joey Mercury and Christian York as the up-and-coming tag team who got the surprise win and C.W. Anderson as the arrogant heel who thought he could win with any perennial loser from the back as his tag partner. That angle fizzled because York and Anderson both left ROH soon afterwards. Hopefully it will turn out better this time.

- Hogewood hyped next week’s ROH World Tag Team Title match between the Briscoes and the Young Bucks. Still photos from the last Briscoes-Young Bucks match, last fall at Glory By Honor VIII in New York, appeared on the screen with a plug that the show is available through the ROH website.

- A pre-taped Briscoes promo aired. As usual, Jay did most of the talking. He said that he and Mark are the best tag team in ROH history. He said that, although the Young Bucks beat them in their last match, it would be different now that the belts were on the line. Okay promo.

4 – DELIRIOUS (w/Daizee Haze) vs. “MR. WRESTLING” KEVIN STEEN -- Pick 6 Series match

Prazak recapped the stipulations of the Pick 6 Contenders Series; you have to be one of the “Pick 6” to be eligible for a ROH World Title shot, and you get into the Pick 6 by beating a current member of the Pick 6 for their spot. He added that the winners of Pick 6 matches get a $2,500 match bonus. This needed to be explained again, since it has been a couple of months since Jim Cornette first explained the concept.

After a fairly even early exchange, Delirious managed to take Steen to ground with an arm drag and Steen quickly bailed out the ring. Steen then began wasting time stalling on the outside, in an apparent homage to “The Living Legend” Larry Zbyszko. Daizee Haze finally managed to distract Steen, allowing Delirious to catch him at 3:00 and force him to start fighting on the outside. Delirious threw Steen back into the ring and climbed to the top rope, but Steen made it quickly to his feet and pulled Delirious off the top, injuring Delirious’ arm. Steen then methodically worked over Delirious’ arm heel style for several minutes, using the ring post and ropes as weapons as well as deploying a shoulderbreaker and a hammerlock Russian leg sweep.

Delirious finally mounted a comeback at 9:00 when Steen charged at him against the ropes but Delirious dropped out of the way and pulled down the top rope, sending Steen over the top to the floor. Delirious followed this up with a somersault dive from top rope to floor. Back in the ring, Delirious tried to apply his cobra stretch submission on Steen, but his injured arm was too weak to keep the hold in place. Steen regained control with a strike to the head at 11:00, followed by a powerbomb for a near fall. He then locked in the sharpshooter, but Delirious made it to the ropes and force a break.

Steen went to the top and tried for a flip dive at 12:30, but Delirious get knees up to block the move. Delirious then went back on the offence, prompting Steve Corino to come to ringside. Delirious stupidly tried to step through the ropes to go after Corino, allowing Steen to kick the middle rope and injure Delirious below the belt. Steen followed this with a package neckbreaker for a near fall. Steen then tried for a cannonball on Delirious in the corner, but Delirious rolled out of the way. Delirious landed a Panic Attack on Steen, the tried for his Shadows Over Hell finisher (a back splash from the top rope), but Steen avoided it and locked in a crossface armbreaker, forcing Delirious to tap.

WINNER: Kevin Steen via submission in 14:00. Delirious looked like an idiot for turning his back on Steen and going after Corino, even though Corino had done nothing and was not threatening Delirious or Haze just standing on the outside. Otherwise this was a good solid match that told a logical story. Steen makes a very dislikeable heel and Delirious garnered sympathy well during his Steen’s extended spell of offence focusing on his arm. The tainted finish was okay because these sorts of finishes have been rare since Jim Cornette took over as the on-air authority figure.

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