INDEPENDENT WRESTLING INTERNET PPV REVIEW
ROH's “Showdown in the Sun Night 1”
March 30, 2012
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
By Brian Leahy, PWTorch specialist

While the main talking points coming out of ROH’s iPPV were of a technical nature (the show had major issues with audio/visual syncing and sporadic loss of feed), it’s a shame that the presentation of the product may overshadow a show, which when viewed in full, uninterrupted form through GFL’s Video-On-Demand service, delivered some high quality wrestling and entertainment.

-- The opening bout of the night saw ROH newcomers TMDK (Shane Haste & Mikey Nichols) tangle with ROH mainstays Jay & Mark Briscoe in a “Proving Ground” match. The Aussie duo of Haste & Nichols are no slouches, as one would expect from any team with repeat tours of Pro Wrestling NOAH, and provided more than a match in size to the more experienced Briscoes. While the Briscoes showed some early dominance, TMDK were given their fair share of offense and displayed some impressive double teams before falling to a redneck Doomsday Device. There’s no harm or shame in losing to ROH’s most recognizable tag team on the biggest weekend of the year, and there’s no reason not to expect Haste and Nichols back in an ROH ring later on in the year so long as their schedules allow.

-- Making a welcome return to Ring of Honor was Adam Pearce, who was interviewed by Jim Cornette regarding his successful NWA Title defence against ROH’s Adam Cole at the NWA Battle of The Belts show the previous night. Irked at the manner of Pearce’s victory (piledriver), Cole came to the ring to demand a re-match, and Pearce agreed to a non-title scrap. Though short, the bout was fine, and Pearce was typically engaged with the crowd through-out, before losing to Cole via roll-up as the referee stopped him using his piledriver in an ROH ring. ROH could do worse than welcoming Pearce back on a regular basis; there’s always a place for a solid wrestler with great mic skills in ROH.

-- In the first of their two clashes this WrestleMania weekend, The Young Bucks and All Night Express met in a “Tornado” style tag bout that, although short, was non-stop from the start. Much of the early going featured each of the Jacksons working over one of the ANX, with occasional hope spots from the ANX. As the match picked up, Titus and King gained some traction, and after absorbing stereo kicks and 450s from The Bucks, the ANX scored a roll-up pinfall victory. Post-match, the Jacksons attacked Titus's knee to further the feud going into their second match on Night 2.

-- Jay Lethal and Kyle O’Reilly put together a really nice showing in the fifth match on the card, just before intermission. No longer saddled with a vanilla-babyface character, O’Reilly got to show a little more dominance and aggression and maintained control for large portions of this TV Title match. Indeed, Lethal's “Lethal Injection” finisher came out of nowhere to secure him the win. It’s been a long road for O’Reilly (and for his former partner Adam Cole) to be taken as legitimate threats in ROH, but over the past few ROH iPPVs, they’ve been afforded an air of legitimacy which hopefully signals the start of a real, extended push.

-- Post-intermission, The WGTT took on Coleman & Alexander in a throwaway re-match from a TV match. The work here was fine, as Haas and Benjamin dominated Coleman for a long period before a hot tag brought Alexander into the fray. Inevitably, the tide swung back to The WGTT, and Benjamin’s hip toss from the top was enough to score a pinfall win over Alexander.

-- From there, the show took a dramatic upswing in quality, brought about firstly by the unlikely duo of Lance Storm and Mike Bennett. Bennett has improved drastically in recent months, and across the ring from the veteran Canadian, he couldn’t put a foot wrong. Storm looked as impressive as ever, and physically at least, looks like a wrestler in his prime, not one retired from regular in-ring competition.

The story here was nothing special, but was effectively told and they quickly had the crowd eating out of the palms of their hands. Down the home stretch, Bennett connected with a top rope side slam for a convincing nearfall, before scoring with a TKO for a clean pinfall victory. Bennett's post-match handshake with Storm was as convincing as some of their nearfalls, but his quick reversion to heel tactics and leaving Storm laid out as he walked to the back reinforced his position as a heel near the top of the mid-card. Bennett quickly elevated his game and become one to watch in ROH in 2012.

-- Just when you thought you’d seen Kevin Steen and El Generico give everything they can in every conceivable match, they were thrown into a Last Man Standing match and produced the goods once again. Though I questioned their ability to work under the stop/start conditions of the stipulation, they put together a storming bout that strayed all over the ringside area.

As the match moved towards the finish, Jimmy Jacobs came to ringside and made his long-overdue heel turn as he welted Generico in the head with a chair (Generico got a hand up) before celebrating with Steen. Jacobs's heel turn has been inevitable since his return to ROH, and it gives Steen a sidekick in his ongoing fued with ROH management.

-- It’s been some time since ROH had a well-constructed three-way dance/triple threat main event, but they had one at Showdown in the Sun Night 1. Though the various iterations of Richards-Edwards-Strong have all been seen many, many times before, the exchanges in the match were fast moving and inventive, and they mercifully kept the match from spilling into 40 minutes of kick-out sequences.

The initial section of the match was a series of 2-in-1-out exchanges, but soon gave way to some slick (and a few contrived) three-way sequences. Richards's usual match-long domination never materialized, which was probably the main reason for the match being more palatable than most recent ROH main events. If you haven’t seen a lot of these three men before, this is a treat, and even if you have it’s still very, very good with enough fresh action to keep you interested.

***

While ROH’s SITS Night 1 may not have had the build or hype of its competitors's iPPVs this weekend, it still delivered in the ring. The live iPPV experience may not have lived up to expectations, but the GoFightLive VOD service is reliable and easy to access. For $15, you can’t really go wrong with what’s offered. There’s absolutely nothing offensive on the card, and the three matches after intermission are well worth seeking out. Recommended (7.5)

Notable Match Star Ratings (Winners listed first):

Briscoes vs. TMDK **1/2
All Night Express vs. The Young Bucks ***
Jay Lethal vs. Kyle O’Reilly ***
Mike Bennet vs. Lance Storm ***1/2
Kevin Steen vs. El Generico ****1/4
Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong vs. Eddie Edwards ****

[Torch art credit Marco D'Alfonso (c) PWTorch.com]

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