ROH on HDNet Recap
July 26, 2010
The Arena, Philadelphia, PA
Commentators: Mike Hogewood and Dave Prazak
Report by: Anthony J. Valvo of Wrestleview.com
The following is an exclusive presentation of Ring of Honor Wrestling…on HDNet!
The show began with a video package summarizing the feud between The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli) and The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe). The started off with events that happened a few months ago when Chris Hero argued that the Briscoes are a dangerous group. Hero accused the Briscoes of interfering in a good match and was upset that Jay Briscoe did a Butterfly Piledriver on “The Queen of Professional Wrestling” Sara Del Ray. Castagnoli said that the Briscoes went too far and they should never lay their hands on a queen. Castagnoli said whatever happened next, the Briscoes did this to themselves. The next highlight was that the father of the Briscoes was attacked by a rolling elbow from Chris Hero. The next set of events were the Briscoes interfering on yet another match the Kings of Wrestling were in. Hero recently declared ROH a “hazardous work environment” because of the Briscoes.
The Intro song played. The song is Rock (Remix) by Kidd Russell. Check it out on YouTube.
The Kings of Wrestling entered the ring with Shane Hagadorn. The Kings were welcomed with streamers. Hagadorn then grabbed a microphone, and……wait for it…are the ROH readers sitting down?
HAGADORN SPEAKS!!!
Ok, all kidding aside Hagadorn said that they were about to give the fans something unprecedented. Hagadorn got three teams for the Kings to showcase their talents. Hagadorn said that these teams are “great”, but they should be no match for the Kings of Wrestling. Hagadorn called for the first team and out came two enhancement talents.
Match #1: ROH World Tag Team Champions The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli w/Shane Hagadorn) vs. Josh Emmanuel and Ice Jackson
Notes on The Kings: Castagnoli started off thanks to paper covering rock (I am not joking). Castagnoli shoved one of his opponents down and then posed like an Olympic god. Castagnoli then did a press slam and tagged in Hero. Hero delivered an elbow and Castagnoli delivered a bicycle kick. Hero then laid the jobber with a back senton. The talent tried to punch out of trouble, but Hero no sold and delivered a huge boot. Castagnoli was in after that and executed a beautiful Pump Up European Uppercut. The other jobber entered the ring and Hero had no problem delivering an elbow strike. Castagnoli then spun one of them around and Hero then hit a graceful dropkick (Called the Big Swing Dropkick).
Notes on Emmanuel and Jackson: I don’t mean to disrespect, but Hogewood did not say who was who. All I can say about them is one of them rolled up Castagnoli for a two count, but he was the one that got pinned in the end.
Finish: Chris Hero easily delivered the Death Blow (Discuss Elbow to the back of the head) on one of the opponents and got a squash victory
Winners via pinfall: The Kings of Wrestling
Grade: D+
After the bell rang to end the match, Hagadorn said those two men put up a fight. Now he has another tag team lined up for the champs. The next team was a couple jobbers as well.
Match #2: ROH World Tag Team Champions The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli w/Shane Hagadorn) vs. Adam Cole and Nick Westgate
Notes on The Kings: Hero won the rock/paper/scissors challenge and started off the match. Hero started with a Flash Kick on Cole. Both men did a good double team move as well, with Castagnoli’s European Uppercut/Hero’s dropkick. Another move that this team did well was Castagnoli holding up Westgate in a delayed vertical suplex position and walked back for Hero to tag him in. Hero then delivered an elbow that did not appear crisp.
Notes on Cole and Westgate: Cole did hit a couple dropkicks and delivered an Enzugiri, but that was it on his end. Westgate had one kick for his offense but was the man that took a severe beating.
Finish: Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli set up and delivered a KRS ONE (Kings Reign Supreme One) on Nick Westgate to finish him off. Hero got the pin to secure the victory for The Kings
Winner via pinfall: The Kings of Wrestling
Grade: D+ (leaned toward C-)
After the match, Hagadorn said that was another team defeated by The Kings. Hagadorn then told the third team to come out as he was laughing. They were two men with their faces covered. Mike Hogewood announced them as “The Ninjas”.
However, these were not your usual “ninjas”. When Hagadorn, Hero, and Castagnoli turned their backs at them then ninjas unmasked and they were The Briscoe Brothers!
Match #3: The Briscoes (Jay and Mark Briscoe) vs. ROH World Tag Team Champions The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli w/Shane Hagadorn)
Notes on The Briscoes: They did everything very well. They executed perfect Back Drops. Both men then hit a clothesline on each member of the Kings, then hiptossed both Kings (with Hero landing on Castagnoli). The Briscoes then clotheslined Hero over the ropes and onto the floor when the finish happened.
Notes on The Kings: They did nothing, as they were attacked from behind and did not generate any offense.
Finish: The Briscoes doomed Claudio Castagnoli with The Doomsday Device (Jay had Castagnoli up on his shoulders and Mark clotheslined Castagnoli from the top rope). Jay covered Castagnoli to get a win in this non-title match. This was the finish in which Mike Hogewood ferociously SLAPPED HIS PORPOISE!
Winners via Pinfall: The Briscoes
Grade: D+
After the match, The Briscoes chased away Hero, Castagnoli, and Hagadorn. The audience saw replays and then The Briscoes entered the ring while the fans celebrated.
Mike Hogewood inside the ROH studio at an unknown destination said that The Kings of Wrestling got what they deserved tonight. Prazak disagreed, as the Kings were tricked. Prazak then mentioned that people should be able to trust ninjas. Hogewood stayed pat and said The Kings deserved that attack.
Later: American Wolves vs. Dark City Fight Club and it will be Christopher Daniels vs. Roderick Strong in the main event.
Kyle Durden was backstage with “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels. Durden asked Daniels for any thoughts in his upcoming match. Daniels said that he did not mind the challenge, but he is confused about Strong’s direction. Strong accused Daniels of the loss recently and does not understand the alliance between Strong and Truth Martini. However, he said the alliance would not matter as it is now one-on-one. Last time, Daniels said that he had Strong’s back and now Strong is just an obstacle that he must overcome to be the best professional wrestler. He said that is not in The Book of Truth, but the gospel according to The Fallen Angel.
The next match was then announced.
The Dark City Fight Club (Kory Chavis and Jon Davis) vs. The American Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards w/Shane Hagadorn)
Before the match, the Dark City Fight Club got streams. The Wolves also that a good reaction from the crowd. Richards stepped on an ROH crew member before entering the ring. No code of honor was enforced. Chavis and Edwards started this match.
Notes on the DCFC: Chavis held Edwards’ arm after a tie-up. Chavis did a nice job getting leg up to take out Richards as Richards tried to come in. Edwards tried to do the same illegal move, but Chavis drilled Edwards with a shoulder tackle. When Richards applied the Texas Cloverleaf (and Edwards attacked without a tag), Davis broke it up to make the match even again. Davis came in and he punched away on Richards, positioned him at the corner and drilled his shoulders to the back of Richards. Davis then delivered a crisp back suplex on Richards. Chavis was back in and got Richards good with a few corner attacks and followed it up with a Vertical Suplex. Chavis’ awareness was great as well, as he drilled a boot to Edwards to prevent a tag. Chavis then applied a clutch hold on Richards. Davis was in and got himself into some trouble, but reversed the momentum with a hard-hitting double clothesline. The team did a modified DDT/Slam combination that was not crisp and it did look edited. Davis was about to administer some more pain until members of The Embassy ended the match. Overall, an impressive and improved performance by The Dark City Fight Club.
Notes on The Wolves: When Richards was in the match, he started working on the arm and applied a headlock on Chavis. Richards reversed hold and moves well, as he countered one power move into an armbar submission. The Wolves then took both members of the DCFC down and hit good Suicide Dives to the outside. My only complaint there was it took a while to set it up and execute. When Richards had a hold of Chavis’ leg, Edwards interfered with a leg screw whip to the ropes (this is one thing that I did not like in this match). Richards then hit a dropkick to Chavis’ leg and then applied the Texas Cloverleaf Submission on Chavis. While the hold was in place, Edwards went up top and did a Double Foot Stomp to the back of Chavis (without tagging in of course). After the hold was broken, Richards connected on some leg strikes to Chavis which sounded hard and violent. Richards no-sold some offense later in this match to deliver the Handspring Enzugiri, something that I did not think was executed well. Edwards delivered some chops moments later and then he too hit an Enzugiri-style kick to Chavis. The team later on did not tag each other in and did kicks along the corner. Their final move was done well, as it was a double team facebuster. The Wolves did well, but I just can’t stand the illegal double team. Especially from a very talented tag team.
Finish: As Jon Davis was about to do a move from the Torture Rack position, Embassy members Erick Stevens and The Necro Butcher made a b-line to the ring with chairs. The referee in charge called for the bell. Since ROH’s website has some computer threats, whether this is true or not I think the ref threw the match out as a no contest
The Match ended in a no-contest. (Note: ROH’s website does have computer threats per Google, 73 of them!)
After the match, Steven drilled Chavis with a chair. As more brawling ensued, Rasche Brown ran in and helped the Dark City Fight Club. Brown started hammering away on The Embassy. While the carnage occurred, The American Wolves left the area. Brown then whipped Stevens to the corner so hard you could feel the hatred. Necro was reverse whipped through the ROH barricade and into the crowd! Moments later, The Embassy retreated while Jon Davis, Kory Chavis, and “Skullkrusher” Rasche Brown dared them to enter the ring.
Moments ago highlights of The Embassy’s failed attempt to take out the Dark City Fight Club. “Skullkrusher” Rasche Brown helped out the DCFC.
Mike Hogewood is in the studio and said that this rivalry will go on for a while. Hogewood then asked Prazak for his thoughts and prediction for tonight’s main event. Prazak said that Strong now has the House of Truth on his side and they will guide him to victory. Hogewood then said that Strong has the talent, but why did he align himself with Truth Martini? Hogewood did not pick a winner and said this will be a great main event.
After the commentators were off the TV set, there was a video timeline surrounding Roderick Strong’s quest for “The Truth”. Christopher Daniels was in this package as well, and said that he wanted to teach. Daniels and Strong teamed up a few weeks ago, but they lost their match and Strong blamed the loss on Daniels. The following week, Strong said that ROH treated their wrestlers like trash and he wanted to just find “The Truth”. Truth Martini then debuted on HDNet and said he will be honest with Strong at all times. Strong said that since he knows the truth, no one will stop him. Martini mentioned how Strong was a changed man since their meeting.
And now it is time for the MAIN EVENT!! Because “The Voice of ROH” Bobby Cruise said so!
Pick Six Contenders Series
“The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels vs. Roderick Strong (w/Truth Martini)
I believed this match was for Strong #1 Spot in the Pick 6 Standings (Daniels is #2). I won’t check the standings on ROHWrestling.com until their site problems are settled.
Both wrestlers received streamers. Daniels wanted to administer The Code of Honor, but Strong wanted no part of it.
Notes on Daniels: After some head games, Daniels reversed Strong’s holds with a headlock. Daniels then grounded Strong with a headlock and administered the same holds for the first couple minutes of the match. Once in control, Daniels was spot-on with his inverted atomic drop and neckbreaker. Daniels then executed a nice Back Suplex, and then did a good job targeting the back and neck area, as he was working on those parts during the start of the match. He delivered a nice slam and then did a beautiful split-legged moonsault to Strong’s back. When Strong worked on his back, Daniels let us all know it. Daniels delivered only one power move after all that force on his back (which to me meant he sold the injury and that is a good thing). Daniels’ awareness was pretty good, he rolled up Strong for a two count right after Strong attempted the Strong hold. He took a lot of punishment throughout the middle of the match, but came back well with a flurry of punches and a solid forearm blow. I liked how he did some hammer punches and then delivered a spin kick. When fighting along the edge of the ring, Daniels got an advantage with a pendulum kick. With Strong out of the ring from that kick, Daniels hit another split-legged moonsault (which was excellent). He was slightly distracted when Truth Martini tried to read a page from “The Book of Truth” and it worked briefly. When both wrestlers were back in the ring, Daniels did a great job hitting the STO and then delivered a Clutch submission hold. Daniels last move that was important was the Death Valley Driver, and that was done pretty good as well.
Notes on Strong: At the start of the match, Strong did not want any part of Daniels and started to shove and push him. After Daniels offense, Strong came back working on Daniels arm. Strong then cornered Daniels and delivered some shoulders to the abdominal area. Strong then held onto Daniels with the Knuckle Lock. Strong then kicked Daniels around a bit and then delivered his first backbreaker of the night, which really hurt Daniels. I liked his in-ring heel work as he just kept stomping Daniels at the corner after the backbreaker. After that, Strong set up and executed a picture-perfect Vertical Suplex. Strong then held onto Daniels with the reverse Bear Hug. Later on, Strong went to the corner again and hit Daniels hard with kicks and chops. Strong then set up for a Back Suplex but instead turned it into a Backbreaker! It was then that Strong’s heel emotions really kicked in full force; he was very good in character from start to finish. When Daniels was distracted by Martini, Strong regained the advantage with a rack hold and slammed him down on the ring frame back first! After a knee strike, Strong then set up and hit the Ura-Nage Backbreaker! At the end of the match, Strong pushed Daniels to the ropes and Martini clubbed him with “The Book of Truth”.
Finish: After Truth Martini destroyed Christopher Daniels’ head with “The Book of Truth”, Roderick Strong charged after Daniels and connected with a Running Boot. Strong pinned Daniels and won this Pick Six Contenders Match
Winner via Pinfall: Roderick Strong
Grade: B+
After the match, Truth Martini and Roderick Strong celebrated. The ROH commentators had their opinions on Roderick Strong and the show ended after that portion.
Quick Results
The Kings of Wrestling (Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero) def. Josh Emmanuel and Ice Jackson via pinfall.
The Kings of Wrestling (Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero) def. Andy Cole and Nick Westgate via pinfall.
The Briscoe Bros. (Jay and Mark Briscoe) def. The Kings of Wrestling (Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero) via pinfall.
The American Wolves (Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards) and Dark City Fight Club (Jon Davis and Kory Chavis) fought to a no contest.
Roderick Strong def. Christopher Daniels to maintain his #1 spot in the Pick Six Contenders Series.
Mike Hogewood’s Slap the Porpoise Moment of the Night: When The Briscoes finished Claudio Castagnoli off with the Doomsday Device.
Thoughts on the non-wrestling portions
Video of The Kings and The Briscoes rivalry – I thought this was a good showing of their feud. It told a good story and it did a good job catching the attention of the viewers.
The time Shane Hagadorn spoke for a long time – I know, I am surprised as well. He was not terrible on the mic either, but I can tell he needs improvement in that department. However, it was good to hear him be a part of the action and not just standing there doing anything for his associates. Since this was the first time I heard Hagadorn in a lengthy segment, I will cut him some slack. There is still room for improvement, but he did a pretty solid job for this being a first time on HDNet.
Daniels Interview – I thought Daniels was excellent in his interview. He spoke very well and clear. He hyped up his match with Roderick Strong very well. It made me want to watch their main event with more interest. Honestly, in my opinion Daniels was very underrated on the mic.
Strong/Daniels timeline – Though the match after this was good, I was uncertain about this timeline. It was very short compared to other feuds going on in ROH, but it told a good story nonetheless. Also, the timeline did very good with Strong’s association with Martini.
Thoughts on the wrestling portions
The Kings vs. the three teams – I thought the first two matches demonstrated how powerful the Kings of Wrestling were. When Castagnoli’s power and Hero’s elbow strikes are featured, then it made for good television. I really was happy to see The Briscoes as the third team. These two teams have a story to tell, and even though this was a short chapter, it was pretty effective. Not much on a wrestling front, but I was entertained.
Wolves vs. DCFC – I thought that this mainly was to get the Dark City Fight Club over without damaging the status of The American Wolves. If that was the case, then ROH did a pretty good job ending this with a no contest. The DCFC were strong and for the most part demonstrated some superb power. The Wolves were good as well, but still their performance is ruined with the numerous attacks without being tagged in. The rules have to be applied for both teams, and with the Wolves consistent interference, to me at least, it is distracting. The Wolves are too good of a team to do these cheap tactics.
Strong vs. Daniels – This was a match I was looking forward to recapping and taking notes on, and I was not disappointed. If Daniels did in fact leave TNA for good, he made the right decision because who know how bad in shape TNA is in right now. Strong had an impressive win and it helped his cause with Martini at his side to “throw the book” at Daniels. From start to finish, this match grabbed my attention and for the second week in a row, ROH booked an excellent main event.
Overall Thoughts and Grade
Each match told a story. Each segment outside the ropes told a story. I thought this show was mainly to build stories and continue feuds. If that was the case they did pretty good. But overall I found this show as above average. The booking was average in this show, but it is not because of a lack of effort. The main event was the only reason this show was “above average” this week.
Overall Grade: B-
-Mr. V’s Pick Three of the Week-
Wrestler of the Night: Roderick Strong
With a new gimmick and a new ally, Strong used his heel tactics to perfection in a victory over a proven wrestler in Christopher Daniels.
Disappointment of the Night: The American Wolves
I’m sorry, but a team like The Wolves doesn’t need to attack in the ring without being tagged. If a member of the Wolves would attack outside the ring, it would be different. But this whole bit they have been doing in the last couple matches does not interest this recapper.
Surprise of the Night: Shane Hagadorn
After weeks of waiting patiently, Hagadorn finally cut a promo for his wrestlers! He could improve on his delivery, but I thought for starters he did a decent job. I hope more follows, because I can’t stand heel managers that just stand there and applaud. They need to be interfering once in a while (see Prince Nana and Truth Martini).
That does it for ROH on HDNet (the recap edition). I am Anthony J. Valvo and I hope you have a good weekend. See you on Thursday with another “From the Desk of Mr. V” column!
E-mail: mistervwv@hotmail.com
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