Showdown in the Sun was awesome! Instead of giving you the play by play, I’m just going to briefly discuss the results and my thoughts. Enjoy!
Day 1 03/30/12
The Briscoes vs TMDK: Nicholls and Haste won a tournament to get this proving ground match with the Briscoes. This was an all around good tag team match that ended with the Briscoes getting the win. You had to expect the best tag team in ROH to win and build momentum for their big match on day two of this event.
Adam Cole wrestled an impromptu match with the NWA World Champion, Adam Pearce. These two had apparently wrestled the night before at an NWA event where Cole unsuccessfully challenged for the title. Cole and Pearce put on a quick match that resulted in Cole getting a rollup victory. I assume this will lead to a rubber match between the two for the title in the near future.
The All Night Express took on the Young Bucks in a tornado tag in what was the first of two matches. This saw some high flying wrestling and really showed off how talented both teams are. The All Night Express was able to pick up the victory in this one. What I love most about tornado tags is the fact that you have so much going on all at once; you’re basically getting double the action of a traditional tag team match.
Tommaso Ciampa cuts a promo and announces that he will give back the TV Title to Jay Lethal on day two of the show.
Jay Lethal defended the ROH TV Title against Kyle O’Reilly. This was a really good match but on by these two, but you could see where O’Reilly’s inexperience came through in small spots. O’Reilly at one point slid down the back of Lethal and rolled him into a pinfall attempt but nearly didn’t complete the move when he almost fell off Lethal’s back. O’Reilly did however show that he was the quicker of the pair in this matchup. Lethal was able to retain the title when he hit the lethal injection. Lethal would go on to face Strong on day two of the event and O’Reilly faced Adam Cole in a match that I’ve yet to find out the result of.
Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team faced off against Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander. Again, this was more of a momentum builder for WGTT before they faced off against the Briscoe’s on day two of the event. Coleman and Alexander make for a really good tag team, but in time I can see them being even better as a duo. WGTT won the match when Benjamin landed a huge throwing suplex off the top rope and got the three count. Impressive tag team wrestling once again in this one.
Lance Storm made a rare appearance in a wrestling ring and took on the prodigy Mike Bennett. Lance Storm carried this entire match. Mike Bennett hit some high spots in this one and scored the box office smash off the top rope in the end before hitting the tko for the win in this one. Bennett hit another smash on Storm after the match when he shook his hand. I’m not sure what this match did for Bennett other than to show the world just how great Lance Storm is. It literally felt like I was watching a training session for Storm and that Bennett was just a prop for demonstration. I’ve gained no further liking or intrigue towards Mike Bennett after seeing this match. I do however have a list of matches that I’d like to see Storm in based on his most recent performance.
Kevin Steen faced El Generico in a last man standing match. Wow is really all I can say about it. This is one of those matches that you just have to see for yourself. It was an absolutely perfect setup for what a last man standing match should look like. These two beat each other all over the ringside area and showed off their risk taking abilities. I loved it. Steen picked up the win after Jimmy Jacobs made an appearance and turned heel by stabbing El Generico with a spike. With or without the interference, this was just an awesome sight to see.
The main event of the night featured a triple threat elimination match with Davey Richards defending his World Title against Eddie Edwards and Roderick Strong. Whenever you put these three in the ring together, you’re going to get something great. The match wasn’t super long, but it was loaded with quality wrestling that only this trio can provide. Strong was able to eliminate Edwards first with a small package three count, and Davey finished off Strong with a kick to the head. Davey would move on to defend the title against Michael Elgin on day two of the event. Elgin attacked Davey after the match and delivered the 360-powerbomb to the champion. Great match overall. I was expecting it to go a lot longer, but this was fine.
Overall, day one was great. It wasn’t phenomenal, but it was definitely something to be remembered. The highlights for me were the last man standing match, seeing Storm carry a young guy, and seeing Adam Cole look good in an impromptu match with the NWA World Champion.
Day 2 03/31/12
El Generico challenges the newly turned heel, the “Zombie Princess” Jimmy Jacobs. Jacobs wins with a rollup after Generico gets ahold of the spike from Jacobs and attempts to lunge at him with it, but misses and gets taken to the mat for the three count. This was sound technical wrestling all around with a little bit of a cheated finish, but one that I’m okay with to keep the rivalry going.
Tommaso Ciampa goes one on one with Cedric Alexander. Caprice Coleman is in Alexander’s corner for this one. Ciampa comes out but doesn’t have the TV Title with him. Ciampa wins this one with two running knees to the head of Alexander against the steel post before getting the pinfall. Coleman goes after one of Ciampa’s managers and Ciampa makes him pay for it. This was a pretty good match, but you already knew Ciampa wasn’t going to lose this one.
We have TJ Perkins representing Ring of Honor going one on one with Fire Ant, who is representing Chikara’s promotion. This is apparently a preview of an upcoming cross promotion pay per view between the two organizations. Great match for what I saw of it. Apparently there was a power outage and go fight live does not have the finish to the match on their replay. I’m pissed. After looking up the results, apparently TJ Perkins won the match. I wish I could’ve seen it.
Also, Adam Cole vs Kyle O’Reilly is completely cut out but I read that O’Reilly won the match. The Young Bucks and the All Night Express were in the middle of their match when the stream apparently shut down again. The Young Bucks won the match with a suplex through a table. I hope these matches somehow end up on the DVD release at the very least.
The power coming on picks up with Mike Bennett cutting a promo in the ring talking about Lance Storm not being there. He makes out with Maria in the middle of the ring before leaving.
The Briscoe’s are up next defending their tag titles against Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team. These guys brawl all over the place and showcase their stuff! Haas had one of the brothers set up for the leap of faith and the other brother interrupts. This allows the set up brother to take a standing headscissors into a ground rollup on Haas for the three count. WGTT attacks the brothers after the match and show zero sportsmanship. Haas really impressed me with his technical work in this one and Benjamin stood out with his aerial spots as usual. This was an awesome match, and the Briscoe’s came away proving why they are the best tag team in wrestling today.
Kevin Steen vs Eddie Edwards: This is absolutely awesome! Just minutes in and I just watched Steen hit a standing jumping flip turned into a leg drop to the back of the head of Eddie Edwards! Steen and Edwards both work the crowd well. They brawl on the outside and Steen goes for a powerbomb but Edwards counters it into a hurricanrana! Edwards charges Steen and goes for another but Steen catches him and powerbombs him against the edge of the apron! Where is Joey Styles when I need him? Steen throws Eddie on the stage and continues the assault and even bites him in the face. Steen sits Eddie in a chair and does the running flip cannonball right into Edwards. Eddie later jumps off the stage and nails the double stomp to the chest of the fallen Kevin Steen. Eddie hits the backpack chinbreaker for a two count only. Steen goes for a submission but is too tired. Edwards counters into a submission leglock. Steen counters the submission leglock into a small package rollup for the three count win! This was an awesome match. I could’ve handled another five or ten minutes between these two at the rate they were going. Just awesome!
Jay Lethal and Roderick Strong come out for their match. Ciampa comes out to return the title to Jay Lethal. Ciampa tells Lethal that if he puts the title on the line against Strong and wins, he will get in the ring, hand him the title, and shake his hand before telling him that he is the better man. Lethal accepts this offer. These guys put on a clinic. Lethal goes for the flying elbow near the end of the match and only gets a two count out of it. He goes for the Lethal Injection but Strong knocks him to the outside of the ring. Ciampa grabs Lethal and smashes him into the ring post and tosses him back into the ring before the referee sees anything. Strong picks up Lethal for a suplex but throws him in the air instead and nails him in the back with his knees and he comes crashing to the mat. Strong gets the three count and becomes the new World TV Champion! Ciampa flings the belt into the ring after the match. Roderick Strong is now the second man ever to be the triple crown champion in Ring of Honor. This match was awesome. There’s no doubt Lethal and Ciampa will now have a huge feud, but who will feud with the new TV Champ in Strong? I’d guess Eddie Edwards, and maybe some of the more green guys on the roster who need someone more seasoned to work with them.
Davey Richards defends the World Title against Michael Elgin. I can’t even begin to explain how great this match is. Richards wins it in around thirty five minutes. It’s just incredible to see the chemistry that these two have in the ring together. Elgin is a guy that understands how to control the pace of a match and how to really work the crowd well. If you weren’t a believer in Michael Elgin before this match, you will be once you see it. It was unbelievable. Richards gets the win on a third pin attempt after multiple kicks to the head of Elgin. Richards gets on the mic after the match and puts over Elgin. He says Elgin will be a future World Champion and that he will get a lot further without Truth Martini and with the support of the crowd. He name drops Samoa Joe and Bryan Danielson as guys that he learned a lot from. He says Michael Elgin played a bigger part in making this a match of the year candidate than Richards himself did. Richards is a class act without question.
Final thoughts: If you’re disappointed with that other company’s big pay per view on Sunday night, this will be worth purchasing when it comes out on DVD. I was pretty pissed off with the cut out matches, but the main event of day two and the three matches prior were enough to make up for it. The whole card was spectacular, but I’d have to say that day two shined more for me than day one. I wasn’t expecting Jay Lethal to lose the TV Title to Strong, and now I’ve realized that his feud with Ciampa is going to be more personal than prestige based. Honestly, I’m just excited to see where things go for ROH after this one!
For those of you that are friends with myself and Mike Lightning on Facebook, you know that we both did predictions for this card. We predicted on the fourteen known matches at the time. Because Mike picked Kyle O’Reilly to win the TV Title as the only pick different from me, Mike ended up with 9/14 matches correct. I ended with 10/14 correct. It will be interesting to see how we match up with our WrestleMania predictions.
If you haven’t added myself of Mike Lightning on facebook, come join the fun and interact with us on our pages. We update on a regular basis with the current news discussion in the IWC. www.facebook.com/thunderstruck11
Thanks for reading!
