RADICAN’S ROH DVD REVIEW SERIES
“BATTLE IN THE CAROLINAS”
TAPED DEC. 3 IN SPARTANBURG, S.C. & DEC. 4 IN GREENSBORO, N.C.

”Southern Defiance” 12/3 results & star ratings

(1) Mike Bennett beat Adam Cole (**1/2)

(2) The Bravados beat Los Ben Dejos (**1/4)

(3) ROH TV Champion Jay Lethal beat Adam Cole in a Proving Ground match (***1/4(

(4) The Young Bucks beat ANX (***1/4)

(5) The Briscoes beat Cedric Alexander & Caprice Coleman (***)

(6) ROH World Tag Team Champions Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin beat Roderick Strong & Michael Elgin (w/Truth Martini) in a Proving Ground match (**3/4)

(7) Eddie Edwards beat El Generico (***3/4)

(8) Jay Lethal won a 20 Man Honor Rumble match to earn a future ROH World Title shot (***1/4)

”Northern Aggression” 12/4 results & star ratings

(1) Mike Bennett beat T.J. Perkins (**3/4)

(2) The All Night Express beat The Bravados (***)

(3) ROH TV Champion Jay Lethal beat Adam Cole in a Proving Ground match (**3/4)

(4) The Young Bucks beat Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander (**3/4)

(5) Andy Ridge beat Sampson (3/4*)

(6) Eddie Edwards & El Generico & Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin beat Roderick Strong & Michael Elgin & Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe in an 8 Man Elimination Tag Team match to win $10,000 (****)

Overall thoughts: (7.0) – This was a hard show to score because of the production issues on this release. My score would have been a lot higher if the production had been cleaned up. On both shows, there is a low battery light signal flashing. It doesn’t last long, but it is something the production crew should have been able to clean up. Another issue is that during the 8 Man Tag match on “Northern Aggression,” a large graphic appears on the screen during the match instructing you to insert a memory card. Again, it appears on the screen briefly, but using an alternate camera shot should have taken care of the issue. The last production issue is that there are numerous missed shots throughout both shows where something important is happening and the announcers are talking about it, but the camera doesn’t catch it.

There are a ton of positives for this release that ROH has been hyping on television. For starters, both shows feature red hot crowds that provided an excellent atmosphere for both shows. Jim Cornette sat in with Kevin Kelly on commentary and they did an awesome job of telling the story of every match on both shows. Everything on this show felt like it mattered.

This release also featured new pre-match graphics and entrance graphics to closely match what people are used to seeing on ROH TV. Both shows are also shot in widescreen, which usually isn’t the case for ROH DVD releases. Another huge bonus here is that nearly everyone on both shows got a chance to cut pre-match promos. Heck, there are even post-match promos that made the matches I was watching seem important.

“Southern Defiance” is a fun show with a hot crowd. Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander were very impressive, despite losing to the Briscoes. They look more confident in the ring and pulled off some spectacular exchanges with the Briscoes. ANX vs. Young Bucks was another fun match on the undercard that told a solid story with the Young Bucks working over Titus’s injured leg before putting away King for the win.

The best match on the show is Eddie Edwards vs. El Generico in a match that featured some great exchanges between both men with Generico playing his usual underdog role. It was also fun to see the crowd rally behind Generico as he attempted to make several comebacks. The main event Honor Rumble featured some fun moments, especially when the fans popped huge for Jay Briscoe coming out and eliminated several people.

The “Northern Aggression” undercard didn’t future many good matches, as the average was just solid, but unspectacular for the most part. The show featured a solid angle with the Young Bucks taking out Rhett Titus before ANX was set to take on the Bravados. The crowd was red hot for Kenny King, who went at it with the Bravados in a handicap match. Late in the match, Titus hobbled down to ringside and eventually helped ANX pick up the win much to the delight of the crowd.

Another thing to note on the undercard was Coleman & Alexander cut a fun promo backstage before taking on the Young Bucks. These two teams had great chemistry and the match was a lot of fun, but it didn’t have enough time to develop into something that was truly special. I came away from both shows impressed with the potential of Coleman and Alexander.

The 8 Man Tag match was simply awesome. It started out slow, but once the action picked up with a couple of brawling sequences on the outside, the crowd was red hot until the dramatic finish. The only thing that hampered this match was the large graphic popping up about halfway through on screen and numerous missed camera shots.

Cornette and Kelly did a fantastic job taking the viewer through the issues between all 8 men in the match. The match built to a fantastic finish with an exhausted Edwards taking on Strong and Elgin by himself after Generico was eliminated. The crowd heat was insane during the final stages of the match and the fans grew louder after Edwards eliminated Elgin with a rollup. Once he finally submitted Strong with the dragon sleeper, the crowd exploded. I haven’t seen ROH put on a show in an intimate atmosphere with the kind of crowd heat in a long time and Edwards came off looking like a million bucks in the end.

The production issues here are a source of frustration because they can easily be fixed with better editing. As I said before, if you can ignore those issues, this show is a must-buy. There are a lot of very good matches spread out between both shows in front of red hot crowds. For me, it is hard to give this show a higher score than I did because of the production issues. They don’t ruin the show, but they are frustrating to see pop up on both shows included in this set. The 8 Man Tag is really worth going out of your way to see and would likely rate higher in my eyes if it had been edited together more carefully. I’d like to see ROH put out more releases like this with backstage interviews, hot crowds, and better graphics, but the production errors need to be removed in order for the shows to reach their full potential on DVD.

You can purchase this release at ROHWrestling.com.

Contact Sean at PWTorchSean@gmail.com. Also, you can follow him on twitter at Twitter.com/SeanRadican.

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