Ring of Honor TV Report
April 5, 2010
Taped Feb. 5 in Philadelphia, Pa.
Episode #52 - Third episode of Series 9
Report by Mike DeRosenroll, Torch ROH specialist

STRENGTHS

- The main event match between Jay Briscoe and Chris Hero was very good. In addition to being a very good match, it furthered the Briscoes-Kings of Wrestling feud over the tag titles and Hero’s win propelled him into the Pick 6, making him eligible for a future ROH World Title shot, which could be a great match for a future ROH DVD release.

- ROH gave appropriate acknowledgement to the fact that there was an Internet pay-per-view this past weekend. This episode was taped before the pay-per-view, and the announcers were up front about this fact, directed viewers to the ROH website for results, and plugged the replay on gofightlive.tv. This was a massive improvement over their complete failure to acknowledge their last two big shows on TV the Monday after those shows happened, which undercut the importance of those shows.

WEAKNESSES

- Aside from the main event, the wrestling this week was disappointing, with nothing but three squash matches on the undercard. I enjoy a good squash match, and two of the three this week were entertaining while they lasted, but only having one competitive match made this week’s show feel too light on wrestling. It did not help that two of the squash matches used essentially the same spot where the jobber got a glimmer of hope from a brief spell of offense, only to have the heel star go to the outside and lure the jobber after him in order to turn the tables on the outside.

- The show suffered from a lack of backstage promos, which were replaced this week by overly-long video packages hyping the return of Jerry Lynn next week, the replay of the Big Bang Internet pay-per-view, and the TV Title tournament. Video packages and promos both have their place to promote storylines, but all the video packages at the expense of promos this week began to feel repetitive and boring.

DETAILED RECAP

1 – STEVE CORINO (w/Kevin Steen) vs. BOBBY SHIELDS

Shields got an early flurry of offense with a couple of arm drags and a dropkick, prompting Corino bail out to ringside. Shields chased him out, but Corino has ready for him and shoved Shields into the ringside barricade to turn the tide of the match. At 1:00, Shields botched a kick by Corino to Shields’s head against the steel barricade by delaying selling the move, which made it obvious that Corino’s foot only hit the steel to make a noise and not Shields’s head. I liked that Corino did not really kick Shields in the head, but that moves needs to be sold better.

Corino threw Shields back inside and worked him over heel style for a minute. Colt Cabana came out and stood in the aisle at 2:30. This distracted Corino and allowed Shields to mount a brief comeback, but Corino cut it short by reversing an Irish whip into an armbar, then following up with a reverse DDT and a sliding lariat for the pin fall.

WINNER: Corino in 3:00. Solid, logical match in which Corino gave the more athletic Shields a little more offence than a typical enhancement talent, but won thanks to his veteran wiles.

- After the match, Corino grabbed the mic and challenged Cabana to get into the ring if he wants to get into Corino’s business. Cabana hit the ring but Corino backed away and said he just wanted to talk. Corino said that this was Cabana’s last warning, and that Cabana needs to be careful who he stands up for. Corino then tried to walk away, but Cabana grabbed him by the arm. Corino tried to elbow Cabana in the face, but Cabana blocked and unleashed a flurry of strikes on Corino followed by a running butt but in the corner. At this point, Corino escaped the ring. Kevin Steen rushed to ringside and tried to go after Cabana in the ring, but Corino held him back. Cabana’s music played as Corino dragged Steen away.

- In the studio, Hogewood told viewers that tonight’s show was produced before the Big Bang pay-per-view on the weekend. Dave Prazak directed viewers to ROHwrestling.com for results and plugged the replay on gofightlive.tv.

- They aired a video package hyping the triple threat ROH World Title match between Tyler Black, Austin Aries, and Roderick Strong at the Big Bang.

2 – THE DARK CITY FIGHT CLUB (KORY CHAVIS & JON DAVIS) vs. THE SET (LANCE LEWD & JAY SIN)

Chavis and Davis hit the ring and immediately started beating down Lewd and Sin. They quickly isolated Lewd in the corner and started working him over with strikes. Sin showed some fight by getting a boot up to catch Chavis charging at him, then landed a series of punches on Davis. Lewd recovered from the earlier beat down enough for Sin to pick him up to use as a battering ram, but Davis replied with a clothesline to Sin then sent Lewd flying. Chavis and Davis used one of their signature double-team strike combinations on Sin, then finished off Lewd with their Project Mayhem finisher.

WINNERS: Chavis & Davis in 1:30. Entertaining squash victory for Chavis and Davis that did not overstay its welcome.

- Hogewood introduced a video package on Jerry Lynn. The package recapped him winning and losing the ROH World Title in 2009, emphasizing Austin Aries’s role as an antagonist to Lynn before ultimately winning the title from Lynn. It then recapped Lynn flirting with retirement after losing the title to Aries, and concluded by recapping the injury angle last fall in a post-match attack by Kenny King and Rhett Titus.

- Back in the studio, Prazak noted that Lynn returned to action in January at the ROH live event in Los Angeles and plugged that the DVD is available on the ROH website. Hogewood introduced highlights from the event. The highlights showed Lynn winning the match with a small package, King attacking Lynn after the match with a chair and Lynn avoiding the chair shot, and getting his revenge on King by landing his finisher on the chair.

- Hogewood then announced that Lynn will return to ROH on HDNet next week.

3 – ERICK STEVENS (w/Prince Nana and Ernesto Osiris) vs. PELLE PRIMEAU

During Stevens’s ring entrance, highlights aired of the ringside brawl between Stevens and Necro Butcher that resulted in Necro being banned from television for striking the timekeeper. The announcers noted that Stevens was fined for his part in the brawl.

Early on, Stevens used his power to fend off Primeau’s stick and move offence until Primeau managed to take him down with a head scissors, prompting Stevens to flee to ringside. Primeau attempted to dive over the top rope onto Stevens, but Stevens caught him in midair and hurled Primeau stomach first into the ringpost. Stevens then rolled Primeau back inside and worked him over in the ring with some strikes, a bodyslam and a bear hug. Primeau mounted a big comeback at 1:30 by countering Stevens’ follow-up a standing suplex into chinbreaker, then unleashed a series of high-flying moves leading to a near fall off of a springboard Thesz press-double stomp combination. Primeau then made the mistake of going to the top rope for a big move. Stevens caught Primeau in midair as he came off the rope and countered with a belly-to-belly suplex. Stevens then finished off Primeau with choochoo splash-lariat-doctor bomb combination for the win.

WINNER: Stevens in 3:00. Poor squash match. Stevens sold more for Primeau’s offense than Primeau sold for Stevens, and Primeau has never been portrayed as a threat to top tier ROH stars, so the effect was to make Stevens look weak.

- After the match, the Embassy members started beating down Primeau some more. Some referees tried to break it up but Nana assaulted referee Paul Turner. If assaulting the timekeeper got Necro Butcher banned for TV, will assaulting a referee get Nana banned? Necro Butcher suddenly came out of the crowd with a chair and the show cut to commercial just as the Embassy members fled the ring to escape Necro.

[Commercial Break]

- In the studio, the announcers explained that they cut away from the action so abruptly in order to comply with Executive Producer Jim Cornette’s ban on Necro Butcher appearing on TV, then threw to a recap of the first round of the Television Title tournament. Lengthy highlights aired of all four first round matches. This was way too long.

- Hogewood announced that the TV Title tournament semi-final matches will take place over the next two weeks. Eddie Edwards will wrestle Kevin Steen in one semi-final next week. The following week, Kenny King will face Davey Richards in the second semi-final.

4 – Pick 6 Contenders Series Match: JAY BRISCOE (w/ Mark Briscoe) vs. CHRIS HERO (w/Shane Hagadorn, Claudio Castagnoli, and Sara Del Rey)

The match began with a really good exchange of chain wrestling and mat wrestling. After coming to a stalemate, the two wrestlers began exchanging running shoulder blocks back-and-forth at 2:30. Hero eventually ended the exchange by suckering Briscoe into trying for another shoulder block then cutting him off Briscoe with knee to gut. This merely angered Briscoe, who retaliated with a rapid series of punches, chops and kicks. Hero tried going to the outside for a breather at 4:30, but Briscoe followed him out chased him back into ring. Briscoe maintained his advantage with more strikes until 5:30, when Hagadorn grabbed Briscoe’s foot while Briscoe had Hero in front facelock. Briscoe released the hold and turned his attention to Hagadorn, allowing Hero to dump Briscoe over the top rope from behind. Hero then distracted the referee to allow Castagnoli and Del Rey to lay a beat down Briscoe on the outside. Mark Briscoe raced around the ring to run them off, but not before the damage was done to Jay.

After the outside beat down, Hero threw Briscoe back in the ring and began working him over with his signature strike-based offence. Briscoe managed to mount a comeback at 7:30 by resorting pulling Hero’s hair, which gave him an opening to hit a back suplex. From here, the two injured competitors began exchanging stiff strikes and moves back-and-forth, with the impact and intensity rising steadily as they wore each other down. At 8:30, Hero hit a leg cradle suplex on Briscoe. He tried to follow up with a running elbow, but Briscoe countered by catching Hero in a fireman’s carry and putting him down with a Death Valley driver. After exchanging a few more hard strikes, Briscoe got a near fall at 10:00 after a spinebuster.

At 11:00, Briscoe slammed Hero face first into the middle turnbuckle and Hero rolled to the outside, but Briscoe hit running helo over the top rope onto Hero and Castagnoli. Briscoe threw Hero back inside, went to the top rope and hit a cross body for another near fall. Briscoe tried to set up Hero for his Jay driller finisher at 12:30, but CH slipped out and tried to set up Briscoe for the death blow elbow, only to have Briscoe counter with a backslide into a leverage pin for a near fall. With Hero in trouble, Del Rey leapt onto the apron to distract the referee while Castagnoli entered the ring on opposite side to interfere. Mark Briscoe managed to grab Castagnoli by the leg and pull him out of the ring before Castagnoli to hit a move on Jay, but the distraction was still enough to give Hero the opening he needed to hit two death blow elbows for the pin fall.

WINNER: Hero in 14:00. Very good, hard-hitting Japanese strong style match.

- Hogewood signed off saying that the war between the Briscoes and the Kings of Wrestling is far from over.

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