By Sean Radican, Torch columnist

RADICAN’S ROH REVIEW SERIES
“FIELD OF HONOR”
AUGUST 15, 2014
MCU PARK
BROOKLYN, N.Y.

Overhead shot of MCU field.

Scarlett sang the National Anthem to kick of the show.

Steve Corino introduced the show with clips of the ROH wrestlers playing baseball. This was a great way to open the show. Corino was wearing an ROH baseball uniform for the show.

Joe Dombrowski and Steve Corino did the introduction for the show and Matt Taven made his entrance out of the dugout. ROH TV Champion Jay Lethal came out next with Truth Martini and Seleziya Sparx.

(1) ROH TV Champion Jay Lethal (w/Seleziya Sparx & Truth Martini) vs. Matt Taven in a Steel Cage match. Taven hit a dive through the cage door to wipe out Lethal while he was making his entrance. Taven went after Martini, but Lethal cut him off. Martini sold his ankle inside the ring with Taven and Lethal going at it on the floor. Taven fended off Sparx and catapulted Lethal into her against the cage. He went after Martini in the cage, but Lethal cut him off. Lethal tossed Taven into the cage several times and Martini did a home run trot before sliding into home and the fans applauded. Taven eventually mounted a comeback and hit a double under hook suplex for a 2 count, but Lethal fired back a short time later with the Lethal combination for a 2 count. Taven cut off Lethal when he went for hail to the king off the top. They battled back and forth before Taven hit a big neck breaker off the top for a 2 count. Lethal went for the Lethal injection, but Taven stepped to the side and tossed him into the cage. They went to a great spot where Lethal got stuck between the ropes and the cage and Taven nailed him with around 10-11 superkicks. Sparx tried to climb the cage, but Taven nailed her with a huge dropkick that sent her flying into a ref on the outside. Lethal recovered and caught Taven by surprise with the Lethal injection for a near fall. Jay Diesel tried to open the cage door for Martini, but Taven held it shut until Lethal cut him off. Lethal went for a superkick, but ended up hitting Diesel. Taven hit the Lethal combination on Lethal and went all the way to the top of the cage. Taven came off the top of the cage with a huge splash, but Martini made the save. The hard camera got a fantastic shot of Taven coming off the top to hit Lethal with a big splash. Taven went after Martini, who shoved the door into his head. Lethal then nailed Taven with a belt shot for the win.

Taven can’t challenge for the ROH TV Title again for as long as Lethal is champion. The announcers wondered if this could be the end of Matt Taven after the match. Taven recovered and the fans got on Taven’s case. Some fans began chanting for Taven. This was an interesting conversation between the announcers given Taven’s recent announcement that he’s decided not to sign with ROH again. The camera followed Taven and he shoved it away.

They showed Taven selling frustration in the locker room backstage. Taven said, “That’s all that’s left. There’s nothing left” and walked away.

Winner: Jay Lethal to retain the ROH TV Title

Star rating: (****) – This was a fantastic cage match. Taven fended off all sorts of interference throughout the match. Sparx took a big bump down the stretch when Taven sent her flying off the cage with a dropkick. Taven’s splash off the top of the cage in this setting looked incredible with the camera work. The crowd was super fired up down the stretch as well.

More clips aired of the ROH roster playing baseball. ROH World Champion Michael Elgin was shown running the bases after hitting a homerun. Styles smiled at him as he rounded the makeshift bases.

The sun went down after they took down the steel cage. The baseball stadium isn’t packed, but this is a great setting for a wrestling show.

(2) Watanabe vs. Mark Briscoe. Watanabe dominated the action during the early going with his power offense. Briscoe tried to mount a comeback with a series of karate chops, but Watanabe caught a kick attempt and decked him with a clothesline. Briscoe mounted another comeback, but Watanabe ended up clotheslining him to the outside. Briscoe managed to duck a clothesline on the outside and he ended up slamming Watanabe onto the apron. Briscoe set up and hit the Cactus elbow off the apron to the floor. Mark tossed Watanabe back inside the ring and finished him off with the froggy-bow.

Winner: Mark Briscoe – The action was fine here, but nothing particularly memorable. Watanabe continues to get valuable experience against the ROH roster.

Prince Nana came out to do commentary and Steve Corino got upset. Nana grabbed Corino’s headset and sat down to do commentary. Corino turned his back to Dombrowski and Nana.

Veda Scott got on the mic to talk about Evans’s streak. She said tonight Brutal Burgers would move the undefeated streak to 144-0. Scott tried to start a streak chant, but it didn’t catch on. Cheeseburger held up a sign that said 143-1.

(3) Brutal Burgers (Bob Evans & Cheeseburger) vs. Moose& R.D. Evans (w/Veda Scott & Ramon). Nana took credit for Moose going to the ROH tryout and getting a spot on the roster. Evans jumped Cheeseburger from behind after he was distracted by Ramon. Cheeseburger fired back and tagged in Evans, who slammed him on top of R.D. Moose got the tag and went at it with Bob. Both teams went back and forth. Nana asked Corino what the problem was, as Corino was shown pouting at ringside. Evans had the upper hand and tried to start a streak chant, but Cheeseburger kicked him into Ramon, who was on the apron. Scott tripped Cheeseburger from the outside to give R.D. the upper hand. R.D. worked over Cheeseburger until he managed to make the hot tag to Evans, who ran wild. Evans hit a big running bulldog on R.D. He tagged Cheeseburger and they hit the stacked stunner on Evans, but Moose broke up the pin. Evans pulled the ropes on Moose, who flew to the outside. Evans went for a spear, but Evans no-sold it. Moose then ran into the ring and hit a big spear on Evans. Moose then finished off Cheeseburger with a big spear and Evans covered him while doing a wacky celebration for the win.

Evans did a homerun trot around the bases after the match. Nana said Moose should have gotten the pin in the match. It would be nice if the referees could keep track of the legal man in a match like this one, as it shouldn’t have been that hard.

Winners: Moose & R.D. Evans – This was a fun match. Prince Nana was annoying on commentary and the focus was more on him than the match once he joined the booth.

They showed another clip of the ROH roster playing baseball. ACH was thrown out at home trying for an inside the park homerun.

(4) Rocky Romero vs. Michael Bennett (w/Maria). Corino hilariously asked what year Ricky Reyes died saying he doesn’t see him on any shows that he’s booked on in reference to Romero’s former tag partner. Bennett lifted Romero and put up on the top turnbuckle before patting him on the head. Bennett turned his back to Romero, who nailed him with a dropkick off the second turnbuckle. Romero set up for a dive to the floor a short time later, but Maria tripped him to give Bennett the upper hand. Corino said that 18,000 people worshipped the Kingdom at the G1 Climax 24 Final show and Dombrowski told him that wasn’t true. Bennett dominated the action for a long period of time. Romero got a sleeper, but Bennett eventually tossed him to the floor. Maria told Bennett to go for a dive, so he went for a slingshot splash to the floor, but Romero punched him right in the face. Romero then hit a big tope to the outside and the fans fired up. Romero fired up on Bennett inside the ring and hit a hurricanrana. Romero eventually went for a springboard, but Bennett nailed him with a dropkick and then followed up with a spear on the apron. Maria touched Corino on the shoulder and he said he was never going to wash that shoulder again. Bennett missed a spear and Romero hit a tornado DDT for a near fall. Bennett went for the twist of fate a short time later, but Romero turned it into a backslide for a 2 count. They went back and forth and Romero poked Bennett in the eyes. Bennett fired back and applied the anaconda vice. Corino said Tenzan stole the move from Bennett in NJPW. Romero countered it into a rollup for a 2 count. Maria got up on the apron and started doing Romero’s dance. Bennett then hit a big spear on Romero followed by a TKO for the win.

Winner: Michael Bennett

Star rating: (**3/4) – This was a solid match between these two. The crowd didn’t seem to be as vocal as they were earlier in the show, but they had some good sequences here building up to the finish.

Kazarian takes a swing during the ROH roster baseball game.

They show clips of Daniels & Kazarian playing baseball. Kazarian hit a long double to the gap to score Daniels.

The Decade came and the announcers noted that Raymond Rowe was out of action due to a motorcycle accident. Jimmy Jacobs got on the mic and complained about Daniels & Kazarian getting multiple shots at the ROH Tag Team Titles. He said they were takers, but The Decades are givers. Jacobs said they would give an opportunity to three young talents. This gave the announcers the chance to plug the ROH tryout camps.

(5) The Decade (Jimmy Jacobs & Roderick Strong & B.J. Whitmer) vs. John Knockout & Ken Phoenix & Will Ferrara. This was an extended squash. The Decade got an extended heat segment on Phoenix. Ferrara got the hot tag and ran wild, but was quickly cut off and Jacobs & Whitmer hit the all seeing eye for the win.

Winners: Jimmy Jacobs & B.J. Whitmer & Roderick Strong – This was a good chance for the announcers to get over the talking points surrounding The Decade and their place in the tag division.

(6) Silas Young vs. Tommaso Ciampa. This was a good back and forth match with some good exchanges between both men. Ciampa hit his signature series of knee strikes late in the match, but Young ended up getting the ring bell with the ref distracted with the debris in the ring and he nailed Ciampa with it for the win. Both Young and Ciampa are set for ROH World Title shots at the next set of shows.

Ciampa freaked out after the match and started yelling at the ref. He tried to stop himself from hitting the ref, but ended up catching him with a short right. Ciampa tried to apologize to the ref, who went down to a knee. Ciampa then went for project Ciampa, but several refs ran in and broke it up. Ciampa yelled at the cameras. Another ref tried to get Ciampa to go to the back, but Ciampa decked him with a punch. This would be grounds for suspension in any real sport, but apparently Ciampa had to obliterate Bobby Cruise on the next set of shows to get suspended.

Winner: Silas Young

Star rating: (***1/4) – This was a good match and the finish made sense given that both men were challenging for the ROH World Title on the next set of shows.

Steve Corino and Paul Turner share a moment after foiling Moose's bunt attempt.

Footage of Moose trying to bunt his way on during the ROH baseball game was shown. Referee Paul Turner handled the bunt and threw Moose out by a step.

(7) Cedric Alexander vs. ACH. ACH caught Alexander with a big dropkick after a fast exchange during the early stages of the match. The crowd seemed busy flipping each other off as the match continued. The fans in the crowd continued to chant at each other and not pay attention to the match. Alexander controlled the action for a long period of time. They built up to a big exchange that ended with Alexander hitting a picture perfect spinning kick for a 2 count. ACH finally hit a slingshot face buster to get the upper hand. Corino is hilarious on commentary. I just had to note that somewhere in this report. ACH snapped Alexander’s neck over the top rope and hit a big elbow off the top on a standing Alexander. ACH caught Alexander with a rolling forearm and a German with a bridge for a 2 count. ACH went for another slingshot face buster, but Alexander caught him and hit a sit out slam for the win.

Winner: Cedric Alexander

Star rating: (**1/4) – The crowd killed the atmosphere for this one with the fans chanting at each other. There was some decent action in this match, but I never thought these two were in a fight and the finish came out of nowhere.

Romantic Touch was shown twirling the bat around before stepping up to the plate. He flied out to the pitcher.

ReDRagon fresh off their return from their NJPW debut.

(9) ROH World Tag Team Champions ReDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) vs. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian. The announcers said negotiations were underway for ReDRagon to return to NJPW. Kazarian and Daniels showcased some good double team work during the early stages of the match on Fish and a short time later on O’Reilly. Fish grabbed Kazarian’s shoulder from the apron. Kazarian tried to fend off both men and the action broke down. Kazarian hit a springboard leg drop on Fish for a 2 count after Daniels hit an Arabian press to the floor on O’Reilly. Corino tried to say that going over the top rope was a DQ, which was pretty funny. O’Reilly tripped Kazarian from the outside and ReDRagon nailed him with a combination of moves to get the upper hand. They targeted Kazarian’s arm, which they had injured at Best in the World 2014. The crowd continued not to provide any kind of an atmosphere for the action in the ring. Kazarian tried to fight back, but O’Reilly nailed him with a combination of strikes and kicks capped by a leg sweep to ground him. Kazarian managed to tag out, but the ref was distracted and he forced Daniels back to the apron. Daniels finally got the tag and ran wild on Fish and O’Reilly hit a blue thunder bomb on O’Reilly for a 2 count.

The action broke down and ReDragon nailed Daniels with a series of double team moves for a 2 count after Fish wiped out Kazarian with a flying elbow. Kazarian thwarted a double team attempt on Daniels and Fish got dumped to the outside. Kazarian wiped out Fish with a slingshot splash and Daniels hit the BME on O’Reilly, but Jacobs ran down and distracted the ref. Daniels went after Jacobs, but The Decade ran out and they tossed Daniels into the ringpost. How is that not a DQ? Fish & O’Reilly hit chasing the dragon on Daniels. Kazarian tried to run back into the ring to make the save, but it was too late.

Winners: Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly to retain the ROH World Tag Team Titles.

Star rating: (**1/2) – This match was mostly used to bridge to a future match between The Decade and Daniels & Kazarian given the finish. There was some good action in the match, but things had just started to really pick up when The Decade interfered to cost Daniels & Kazarian the match. It also looked like the ref definitely should have seen Kazarian getting beat down by The Decade on the outside, but the match was allowed to continue.

Dombrowski mentioned the ridiculous WWE style math saying that Adam Cole had a 25% chance to regain the ROH World Title in the main event.

They showed a clip of Corino with a baseball before going to a nice overhead shot of the ring from the top of the stadium. Jay Briscoe came out first for the main event. A.J. Styles came out next wearing the IWGP Hvt. Championship belt and got a good reaction from the fans as he too sweet’d them at ringside. Corino got really excited when Adam Cole made his entrance. Elgin came out last and the announcers said Elgin wants to be remembered along the same lines as champions like Samoa Joe and C.M. Punk. They said ROH matchmaker couldn’t make a number 1 contender out of the three challengers, so he had made this match a 4-way. Cole refused to follow the code of honor.

Too sweet me bro!

(8) ROH World Champion Michael Elgin vs. A.J. Styles vs. Adam Cole vs. Jay Briscoe in a Four-Way match. Briscoe went right after Cole at the bell. Everyone took turns punched Cole during the early stages of the match and he rolled to the outside. Styles and Cole ended up on the outside and Jay wiped them out with a big flip dive. The fans fired up and chanted for Jay. Jay went for a series of punches on Cole in the corner, but Cole slipped under him and hit a superkick to his leg. Cole tried for the figure 4 on Jay, but Jay rolled him up for a 2 count. Corino and Dombrowski talked about how heavy the IWGP Hvt. Title sitting next to them was. Corino said the ROH Title defense record is 38 as Elgin ran wild on all three of his opponents with power moves inside the ring. Elgin got Styles up onto his shoulders, but Styles slipped out and lifted Elgin before hitting a neck breaker over his knee. Cole went for a top rope German, but Elgin elbowed him to the mat. Elgin went for a corkscrew splash, but Cole rolled out of the way. The action continued at a rapid pace and everyone was down except for Jay after a big sequence of moves.

They built up to a tower of doom spot with Elgin powerbombing Styles, who suplexed Jay. Cole hit a German on the outside on Elgin and tried to cover Styles and Briscoe, but could only get a pair of 2 counts. The announcers mentioned that Cole was victorious in his tag match in NJPW the previous weekend at the G1 Climax 24 Finals. Cole kept his opponents on the outside at bay, but Elgin eventually dragged Jay to the floor to break up a pin attempt. He then went at it with Cole inside the ring and got the stretch muffler on Cole. Jay tried to break it up by kicking Elgin, but he held on to it. Elgin then let go of Cole and applied the stretch muffler on Jay. Styles ended up breaking it up with a springboard forearm. Elgin and Briscoe ended up going at it. Jay ducked a clothesline, but Elgin clotheslined him with the opposite arm for a 2 count and the fans fired up. Elgin went for a deadlift suplex on the apron on Jay, but Cole broke it up and hit a sunset bomb and a shining wizard, but Styles broke up the pin. The announcers mentioned that Styles has never held the ROH World Title. Styles hit a combination of big moves on Cole and covered him for a near fall.

Holy s---! Cole superkicks Styles coming off a springboard attempt.

Styles set up for the Styles clash, but had to let it go to cut off Jay. Jay ended up hitting a DVD on Styles off the ropes, but Elgin broke up the pin. Elgin ended up carrying Jay and Cole around the ring. He threw them both over his back and covered Jay for a 2 count. Styles went for a tornado DDT on Elgin, but he blocked it. The action broke down and Elgin ended up going for a double German on Jay and Styles, but Styles landed on his feet! Styles went for a springboard on Cole, but Cole nailed him with a superkick. Styles kicked out at the last second and the fans went nuts. After some back and forth action, Styles had Elgin set up for the Styles clash, but Cole nailed him with a super kick. Cole went for a code red off the turnbuckles, but Elgin got out of the way and eventually finished him off with a buckle bomb and an Elgin bomb.

The announcers said that because Cole lost the fall, he had to start at the bottom once again in the ROH World Title picture. Elgin went around ringside and shook hands with the fans after the match. Cole sat dejected in the ring. Corino and Dombrowski reflected on the results from the show before signing off.

Winner: Michael Elgin to retain the ROH World Title.

Star rating: (***3/4) – This was a very good main event. The match started a little slow, but really picked up during the last five minutes. They did some good multi-man spots throughout the match, but Cole’s superkick on Styles as he went for a springboard was the spot of the match.

Overall thoughts: (6.0) – The show started off red hot with a fantastic cage match for the ROH TV Title between Lethal and Taven. This was a very cool setting for a wrestling show, despite the stands looking bare from certain camera angles. After that the show really began to drag outside of some fantastic clips of the ROH roster playing baseball before the show started. Silas vs. Young brought things back up with a good match, but outside of that there wasn’t much to get excited about except for the main event. This was a very cool setting for a wrestling show, despite the stands looking bare from certain camera angles.

The ROH production team did a great job of capturing the atmosphere of the ballpark with some great shots of the crowd, highlights of the ROH roster playing baseball, and a nice overhead shot from the top of the stadium looking down at the ring.


The Cage match between ROH TV Champion Jay Lethal and Matt Taven was a fitting blow off to their feud. They had a great match and the outside interference from Martini and Sparx added to the match as things built up to Taven hitting an incredible splash off the top only for Martini to break up the pin. Lethal ended up getting the win, which set the stage for Taven to be written out of the current storylines.

After the opener, the show featured a lot of filler in terms of in-ring action. There were no matches leading up to the main event worth going out of your way to check out, which is a real shame, as a lot of them felt like filler. Although there were no bad matches on the card, it was certainly disappointing to see this show, which felt like it should at the very least be a big VOD taping, come off like filler for the most part.

Ciampa-Young was a good match, but it bothered me that they went to a screw job finish with Young winning for the belt and then a couple of matches later, the ROH World Tag Team Title match between ReDRagon and Daniels & Kazarian ended after interference from The Decade. There are so many clever ways to get to the Daniels & Kazarian vs. The Decade feud that was focused on during this show, but the way in which The Decade cost Daniels & Kazarian their chance to win the ROH World Tag Team Titles was very basic.

The crowd didn’t provide much of an atmosphere for this show for the most part outside of the main event and the opening match. I felt bad for Alexander and ACH having to wrestle in front of fans that seemed more interested in entertaining themselves by being obnoxious in the stands.

The main event was very good, but at times it felt like a collection of spots more than a wrestling match. The action was very good down the stretch and they did some really nice multi-man sequences leading into Elgin finishing off Cole for the win.

I give this show a mild recommendation. The main event and the opening Cage match are worth checking out. For a match as big as the main event, it would have been nice to hear some promos from Elgin, Cole, Briscoe, and Styles before the match. Although Elgin was facing three men that have been in the title mix for most of 2014, it didn’t feel like a huge deal that Elgin won the match the way it was presented on this show.

You can purchase ROH’s “Field of Honor” on VOD by clicking HERE. For more information on ROH, visit ROHWrestling.com.

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