ROH on HDNet Recap
May 24, 2010
The Arena in Philadelphia, PA
Commentators: Mike Hogewood and Dave Prazak
Report by: Anthony J. Valvo of Wrestleview.com
Sorry for the late recap again, ROH fans. I have been busy all week and now I finally got the time to give you all a thought out recap. Hope you enjoy it.
SIDE NOTE: ROH on HDNet will NOT air on May 31, 2010. Please take note of it. They will have a new show on June 7, 2010 when Tyler Black takes on Austin Aries in a non-title match.
The following is an exclusive presentation of Ring of Honor Wrestling…on HDNet!
This show is dedicated to Brad Mackie (Feb. 28, 1963 – May 13, 2010). Mackie died unexpectedly a couple weeks ago. He was the Director of Lighting for the ROH on HDNet series since the beginning. My thoughts and prayers go out to Mackie’s family.
The show began with clips of the rivalry between The Necro Butcher and The Embassy (ran by my favorite wrestling manager Prince Nana). The highlight package featured Necro fighting off Erick Stevens and Ernesto Osiris at a parking lot, Necro knocking out Giuseppe the Time Keeper, Prince Nana’s reactions when he heard Necro got banned from ROH, and finally the deal between Jim Cornette and Necro to bring him back to wrestling on HDNet.
Kidd Russell’s Rock (Remix) is playing. Let’s begin!
**Once again readers, I will be only typing up my notes for each contest. I think this is easier for all of us and it will be a win/win. So it no longer will be play-by-play, but more of a summary.**
Joey Ryan was backstage (without Kyle Durden) and called out Eddie Kingston. He called Kingston “a thug” and now he has to deal with him tonight in the ring. Ryan said that he will not only beat Kingston, but he would bring sleazy back to professional wrestling. At the end of the match, the question answered would be, according to Ryan, “Who wants a mustache ride?”
The viewers then saw a backstage promo from Eddie Kingston (without Kyle Durden again). Kingston’s bottom line was that he was taking this feud personal. It all started when Ryan was a part of an attack to his knee a long time ago. Recently, Ryan dumped him on a table (in which Kingston said he still felt that pain). But Kingston said he was built like a warrior and payback is a…well Ryan’s knows.
Match #1: Joey Ryan (w/Prince Nana and Mr. Ernesto Osiris) vs. Eddie Kingston
There were no streamers and no Code of Honor handshake.
Notes on Joey Ryan: After Kingston controlled the start of the match; Ryan countered it well with a neckbreaker. Once he covered Kingston the first time, he really got on him with punches to the head. Ryan’s punches looked stiff, but Kingston’s character is that of a power guy so he was not selling as much. It took a little interference from Prince Nana to cause Kingston to feel a bit of pain. He executed a good dropkick near the end of the contest.
Notes on Eddie Kingston: I liked his intensity when he entered the ring and started to punch away. He was brawling really well at the start of this contest. No matter the various disciplines of the suplex, he mastered them all very well. He took a lot of the basic punches and stomps from Ryan, but his character absorbs all that punishment. His clotheslines looked very powerful and crisp as well.
Who controlled this match: I would say for the most part it was Joey Ryan, but his moves were pretty basic.
Finish: Shawn Daivari (another member of The Embassy) entered the ring uninvited and attacked Eddie Kingston. The referee in charge of this match declared Kingston the winner by way of disqualification.
Winner by Disqualification: Eddie Kingston
Grade: C (leaned toward a C-)
After the match, Daivari, Prince Nana, Osiris, and Ryan all stomped on Kingston. The Necro Butcher (with a garbage can this week) ran in for the save. As The Embassy started to walk away ROH Executive Producer Jim Cornette stopped him on their tracks. Cornette told The Embassy that they had some unfinished business. Cornette said since we have two wrestlers, two weasels, and two guys who are ready to kick some @$$. So Cornette suggested that there should be a tag team match and it would be contested under “Butcher’s Rules”!
Butcher’s (Hardcore to non-ROH followers) Rules Match
Match #2: Joey Ryan and Shawn Daivari (w/Prince Nana and Mr. Ernesto Osiris) vs. The Necro Butcher and Eddie Kingston
No Code of course in this match.
Notes from the team of Joey Ryan and Shawn Daivari: Well, at least they took a huge beating. Daivari did at one time take Kingston down from the outside. But that was it until the finish.
Notes from the team of Necro Butcher and Eddie Kingston: Necro knows how to use a garbage can better than anyone right now, as he drilled both Embassy wrestlers with it multiple times. Kingston and Butcher continued to dominate this match by drilling both members to the ROH barricades. Butcher’s offense was innovative tonight. One example was when he lifted Daivari up and rammed him to the post groin-first. Butcher continued to be dominant with a boot to the face (well I should say foot since he wears no shoes while wrestling). Necro ended his brawling by throwing Ryan over the barricade and into the crowd, and followed that up with an Airplane Spin. Kingston inside the ring hit a great looking T-Bone style throw near the end of the match.
Who controlled this match: Well, usually in a Butcher’s Rules match it is The Necro Butcher. It was the same in this contest, but the result was a bit surprising.
Finish: Shawn Daivari kicked Eddie Kingston square in the groin. Daivari quickly got the pinfall victory and The Embassy celebrated.
Winners by Pinfall: Joey Ryan and Shawn Daivari
Grade: C
After the match, The Embassy members destroyed Necro and Kingston. Once they pushed Kingston out of the ring the focused more on Necro Butcher. Skullkrusher Rasche Brown entered the ring and The Embassy expected Brown to continue the beating. Instead, Brown clobbered The Embassy members for a moment until they ran out of the ring. Mike Hogewood called Brown “The Man”.
The viewers then saw the commentators in their ROH Studios at an undisclosed location. Mike Hogewood said that Brown made a great move and that Brown has bigger things to accomplish. Dave Prazak simply said that it was a bad idea to turn down The Embassy.
Later: Eddie Edwards vs. Colt Cabana for the ROH Television Championship. This will be Edwards’ first title defense.
Kyle Durden was backstage with Steve Corino. Durden said that Corino requested this time and gave Corino the floor. Corino asked why he was here. Corino said first off, he was here because the show’s ratings go up every time he appeared on HDNet. The second reason was because he heard Colt Cabana complain about his Television Tournament loss months ago to Edwards because of his (Corino’s) interference. Corino said that “losers complain and make excuses”. Corino then said that he told Cabana three times the he should be careful with whom he is aligned with because if Cabana made the same mistakes, then he and Kevin Steen would make his life miserable.
The viewers then once again take a look inside ROH Studios at an undisclosed location. Mike Hogewood announced the main event for the evening and liked Colt Cabana’s chances in this match. Dave Prazak said that if Eddie Edwards can beat Cabana once, he could very well do it again. Hogewood then said that earlier this month, ROH had a big-time show at New York. This takes us to a highlight package of Supercard of Honor V at New York City.
The highlight package of Supercard of Honor V was aired. Some of the highlights featured were the following:
Grizzly Redwood’s surprise to The Embassy. The surprise turned out to be former ECW wrestler Balls Mahoney. After that clip, we had post-match promos from Mahoney and Prince Nana.
Sara Del Ray took on Amazing Kong (known as Awesome Kong in TNA). Del Ray won this pretty good match thanks in part to the Loaded Elbow of Chris Hero. TNA let Kong go why I ask? WHY???
“The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels defeated Eddie Edwards in a non-title match via the Best Moonsault Ever. After the match Daniels grabbed a mic and said that Edwards’ tag team partner Davey Richards would have to beat him in order to be the best in professional wrestling
Delirious and Austin Aries had a segment. During the Aries’ promo, Delirious knocked out Aries, only to have Rhett Titus and Kenny King aid Aries in a total ambush.
Colt Cabana and Kevin Steen had a hellacious Death Match. They showed Steen busted open and used a barbed wire bat on Cabana. It did not show the winner in this contest (which was Kevin Steen).
The Kings of Wrestling (Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero) retained their ROH World Tag Team championship with a win over the Motor City Machineguns (which I guess could not be seen in the video package because of their TNA contracts). However, the Briscoes made a huge statement to the Kings of Wrestling when Jay Briscoe delivered the Jay Driller on Sara Del Ray! The Kings of Wrestling cut a post-match promo after that. Chris Hero said that their actions (Briscoes) did not fly. Castagnoli said whatever happens next, the Briscoes brought this to themselves.
Finally, they showed clips of the main event involving Tyler Black and Roderick Strong for the ROH World Championship. After Black defeated Strong (with a ton of controversy), Strong said that it took three referees to screw him and that Black could not beat him fair.
After the video package, the viewers saw ROH Executive Producer Jim Cornette backstage with an announcement. Cornette talked about the Roderick Strong and Tyler Black match and how it ended in controversy. However, Cornette said the decision stood and that Black is STILL the ROH World Champion despite a complaint filed by Strong. Cornette then said he had a tough decision to determine Black’s next challenger for the ROH World Championship. However, Cornette announced that on June 19 at Toronto for ROH’s Death Before Dishonor VIII (which will be on gofightlive.tv), the main event will be…
Tyler Black defending the ROH World Title against Davey Richards!
ROH plugged Death Before Dishonor VIII.
A video package aired and it featured yet again Austin Aries kicking Delirious in his throat. This happened months ago if seemed like. Later during the package, Aries completely took Delirious out of action with the help of Kenny King.
Mike Hogewood welcomed us back to ROH Studios. Hogewood said that he was upset with Aries’ actions yet his announcing partner Dave Prazak still enjoyed Aries.
We then saw yet another video package of last week’s altercation with Roderick Strong and Austin Aries. It started with Strong demanding another rematch for the ROH World Championship to Jim Cornette when Austin Aries offered Strong to be “second best” Strong responded with a stiff slap to the face and that cause a backstage brawl. It continued right before Strong’s Pick Six match with Kevin Steen when Aries attacked Strong from behind. Strong still ended up maintaining his top spot in the Pick Six despite the out of the ring attack by Aries and the grappling, brute strength of Kevin Steen.
June 7th (though Hogewood said next week), Tyler Black will go one-on-one with Austin Aries in a non-title match.
Kyle Durden was backstage with Austin Aries. Durden told Aries that he will fight Tyler Black in a non-title match. Durden also said that Black was the man that defeated Aries for the title months ago. Aries responded by telling Durden that he was a two-time ROH World Champion and he accomplished more than any of those wrestlers. Aries said that the ROH World Title gave people money, power, and control. Aries said that he had all of that even without the title. Aries said that while Black was trying to be a man, Strong was being a bitch. Aries continued the segment when he said that both Black and Strong have bruised egos, while A-Double has confidence. Aries ended the interview when he said that both men will look in the mirror and bicker about each other, but Aries is still the best man in ROH. Durden noticed that Aries had a nice French Manicure. Aries said that he could pull this off and not Durden because it was a “man-icure”.
MAIN EVENT TIME!
**FOR THE ROH TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP**
ROH TV Champion Eddie Edwards (w/Shane Hagadorn) vs. Colt Cabana
In case you don’t know, Mike Tedesco’s favorite ROH Wrestler is Colt Cabana. Since Cabana shouted out Man vs. Food the other day, I don’t blame Tedesco.
Both men received a few streamers before the match. Bobby Cruise (the voice of ROH) did ring introductions. Before the match started, the Code of Honor was enforced (both men shook hands before the match).
Notes on Eddie Edwards: He started off the contest by doing a tie-up to a corner. He executed a good Front Chancery after Colt delivered a good bit of offense early in the match. His countering earlier in the match was solid, he went hold-for-hold with Colt well and it was efficient. If there was one very good think Edwards did all match long was his disciplines of kicks. Every kick he administered tonight was crisp and right on the money. I really thought the way he ended the match was great, as he was doing anything to keep the title over his shoulder. I liked the Shinbreaker to the title, the Leg Screw takedown, and finally the Achilles’ Lock. The lock should finish the match, and it did. Overall, I was pleased with Edwards’ performance. He really has improved in his grappling since last year, but if I could find one thing wrong is that he still has trouble selling offense from his opponents.
Notes on Colt Cabana: He was very technical in the ring, as he addressed Edwards’ injured arm throughout the contest. His countering ability was pretty good, as outside the finish he routinely countered Edwards’ holds with an armbar or with simple punches. The Superplex that he hit was picture perfect! However, one can tell that Cabana really took a lot of punishment when that was administered. Cabana used all parts of the ring in this one, especially when he punched Edwards in the ring, drilled his arm on the ring post, and concluded this portion with a splash off the ring apron. His punches looked good and his emotions were truly there when he attacked Steve Corino. Though someday I wished to see Cabana hold this title, he had a great performance. However, once his feud dies down with Corino and Kevin Steen I could see Cabana holding a singles title pretty soon.
Who controlled the match: This one was pretty even from start to finish, but I think that Cabana controlled the pace of this match more. If Edwards controlled the contest, I think it would have been more fast paced. Still, both men did a great job in the ring.
Finish: While the referee was paying attention to Steve Corino, Shane Hagadorn pushed the TV Title Belt into the ring. Eddie Edwards grabbed onto Colt Cabana’s leg and rammed it shin-first on the title belt. Edwards then applied the Achilles’ Lock on Cabana. Cabana tapped out after a moment and Edwards retained the ROH Television Championship.
Winner via Submission: Eddie Edwards (Edwards retained the ROH TV Championship)
Grade: B
After the match, Steve Corino attacked Cabana a bit more. Cabana then got up and countered Corino’s attacks with punches and elbows. Cabana set up for the butt-butt, but Kevin Steen pulled Corino out of the ring and the show ended at that.
Quick Results
Eddie Kingston defeated Joey Ryan via Disqualification.
Joey Ryan and Shawn Daivari defeated The Necro Butcher and Eddie Kingston via Pinfall in a Butcher’s
Rules Match.
Eddie Edwards defeated Colt Cabana via Submission to retain the Ring of Honor Television Championship.
I guess PETA called HDNet recently, because for another week Mike Hogewood did NOT Slap the Porpoise.
Overall Thoughts of the Show
Let me start with the segments outside of the wrestling.
All the video packages – I liked the summary of the feud between The Embassy and The Necro Butcher. It was a good way to show new viewers of the program the hatred between them. The Supercard of Honor recap was nicely done. They showed simple, effective parts of that show and the post-match promos were done well in my opinion. I may actually purchase this on DVD when it comes out. It looked like it was a good show based on what the package showed me. I am tired of seeing the Delirious injury angle. I get it, Aries took out Delirious and it was not right. Unless they are building up more to this, it really amounts to nothing. However, the video package with Austin Aries and Roderick Strong was put together nicely. For someone that did not wrestle on the show, Aries got a LOT of air time.
Joey Ryan’s Promo on Kingston – It did nothing for me. I thought it came off cliché and really was scripted. I mean he showed a bit of emotion, but it seemed like he was reading off a script.
Eddie Kingston’s Promo on Ryan – This one was excellent, maybe his best since he appeared on ROH. He made his case as to why this feud is now personal and why he wanted to destroy his opponent tonight. The promo was raw and showed emotion. It was also short and to the point.
Steve Corino interview – Even though he said the same things he did last month to Colt Cabana, I found this to be very good. Corino showed more emotion and more hatred for Cabana in this segment. As a teacher, I hate to say the same things over and over again to students. Corino felt the same way when he addressed that to Cabana. In my opinion, Corino may be the best talker out of anyone in the ROH roster (with Austin Aries coming a close second).
Jim Cornette’s announcement for the PPV in Toronto – It is good that we are going to see a change in the title match. Roderick Strong has his good moments, but I think it was time to give someone else a chance at the ROH World Title for now. It appears that Strong has his hands full with Aries. I also look at the Pick Six standings (I will put the Pick Six Standing near the bottom of my recap) and it seems like everyone else is in a feud or still in limbo with another company. With that said, I think it is a good idea to give Black a new opponent. I am actually happy to see that it was Richards. You either like or hate his style of wrestling, but I for one think he is a top 10 pound-for-pound wrestlers in the world, maybe even top 5.
Austin Aries Interview – Aries comes off as “the best” and he is right. He is the only two-time ROH World Champion and that says a lot in this company. I really enjoy how he is riling up both Tyler Black and Roderick Strong. Aries is in total control of this character and he is truly running with this one. Aries again hit is out of the park with this segment.
As for the matches…
Kingston vs. Ryan – I know that Eddie Kingston no-sells, but people don’t realize that it is his gimmick. He is the “last of a dying breed”, so I don’t take points off if he no-sells a punch or two. The contest was a good little brawl. However, Joey Ryan really did not show me anything in this match. Kingston showed determination and heart. Ryan was just really bland in that ring. With a gimmick like this, that is quite confusing.
Kingston and Butcher vs. Ryan and Daivari – This match was entertaining. No one is better in hardcore matches today than The Necro Butcher. At first, his character did not interest me. Now I am sold on Butcher. I think this match centered only around The Necro Butcher’s brawling style. However, give ROH’s creative team credit for booking the finish. I had no problems with it, as it was an “anything goes” type match. I only wished for more intensity from Shawn Daivari because I know the guy can be intense.
Cabana vs. Edwards – This was a good, entertaining main event. It was not the “match of the year”, but what it showed was how good Colt Cabana really can be in the ring. Once again, WWE dropped the ball on how entertaining Cabana can be inside and outside the ring. Edwards looked frustrated at times and he no-sold at times, the he really put on a solid effort. Cabana was all over the place, but he was controlled in each spot. Overall, this was by far the match of the night. It was a solid main even from start to finish.
In conclusion, this week’s ROH program was good, but not great. It had great storytelling, but at times the execution was not there. With that said, I am going to give this a slightly above average grade tonight.
Overall Grade: B-
-Mr. V’s Pick Three of the Night-
Wrestler of the Night – Colt Cabana
He showed great ring presence in his match with Eddie Edwards. He was aware of his surroundings and made this match aggressive, yet entertaining. Win or lose, Cabana earned it this week.
Disappointment of the Night – HDNet’s Programming
Nothing really came off as disappointing in the ROH front, but I am disappointed in HDNet’s programming schedule because of this.
I read the listings and they preempted ROH for May 31. At first, I thought it was for the Memorial Day tribute, but it was not. Instead in ROH’s time slot is…James Taylor the musician in concert. If I saw anyone who worked for HDNet I would throw tomatoes at them.
Surprise of the Night – Eddie Kingston
He showed that he can be more than a brawler. He executed his suplex maneuvers well and he was pretty good on his promo tonight. This was way better than where he was the last time he appeared on television.
The ROH / HDNet Pick 6 Contenders Standings have been updated as of 5/24/10. (Credit: www.rohwrestling.com)
1. Roderick Strong
2. Christopher Daniels
3. Kevin Steen
4. Chris Hero
5. Davey Richards (will get a title match 6/19 in Toronto)
6. Kenny King
Thanks for reading my latest ROH Recap. See you the week of June 7, 2010.
E-mail: mistervwv@hotmail.com
Facebook: Anthony J. Valvo (Pittsburgh, PA)
Be sure to catch my weekly column “From the Desk of Mr. V” as well as my works on WrestleView and Examiner.com
If you like my recaps please check out my fellow friends’ work on WrestleView.com. Honestly, you can’t find a better group of recappers out there.
Dave Stephens recaps Monday Night Raw
Josh Boutwell recaps TNA Impact
Mike Tedesco recaps WWE NXT and Friday Night Smackdown
Jeff Springer recaps WWE Superstars
Don’t feel like reading my long recaps and columns? Have an extra five bucks a month? Then spend the money and catch “The Teacher’s Lounge”, hosted by columnists Dave Stephens (That’s A Wrap and Raw Recapper) and Mr. V. ONLY on the WrestleView Radio Network. To sign up, click here.