Time for my 4AM dose of Ring of Honor! I’ve been watching the show for a little while now, and if I’m going to recap NXT, I might as well give ROH a shotl!
We open the show with highlights from last week where Jay Lethal got screwed against Richards in their World Title match. It was a well worked match that deserved a clean finish and didn’t get it. Richards was able to retain his title due to a brawl outside the ring that caused Lethal to get bumped in the back when bouncing off the ropes.
Nigel McGuinness(Desmond Wolfe in TNA) and Kevin Kelly are standing in the ring as they welcome us to the show and announce Eddie Edwards taking on Roderick Strong in our main event. I’ve seen Roderick wrestle Davey Richards and I saw the Richards/Edwards highlights from December. That should be a good match.
Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis cut a promo on Perkins and on Lance Storm for their 3/30 match…Perkins counters with a promo on Bennett and their match tonight. It’s good to see ROH guys cutting more promos to get the audience more familiar with their characters.
Mike Bennett vs TJ Perkins one on one! They work a fast pace to start the match. Maria distracts Perkins and Bennett gets the upper hand. Perkins hits a dropkick to the face knocking Bennett to the outside. Perkins dives and wipes out the trainer and Bennett. Perkins hits a sitdown powerbomb for a two count only. They exchange multiple rollup pin attempts but neither prevail. Perkins locks on a modified STF on Bennett and Maria grabs his hand to break the hold. After the distraction by Maria, Bennett hits a modified off the shoulders diamond cutter on Perkins for the three count win.
^This one was relatively quick, but still a really good match. Bennett is a fast rising star and TJ Perkins has the skill to excel in the TV Title division.
We get a promo for this Sunday’s ROH Tenth Anniversary pay per view special hyped by Jay Lethal.
Ciampa cuts a promo in the locker room about wanting to be the TV Champion.
Tomasso Ciampa is taking on Guy Alexander in our second match of the night. Ciampa starts off the match very aggressive on Alexander. He works on Alexander’s back with multiple fists. Ciampa with a running knee to the face before tossing Alexander to the outside. He tosses Alexander into the barricade and around ringside. He delivers a running knee to the head three times to Alexander as he sits in the corner. He then does it again and again and again. The ref stops the match and Ciampa is declared the winner.
^The dominance and the Russian gimmick reminds me of Ludvig Borga, only this guy looks like he can actually wrestle! Solid squash match here to put this guy over.
Showdown in the Sun is highlighted for March 30th and 31st. It’s a loaded card that features 16 matches over the course of two days and looks like a show worth watching! The biggest thing about the highlights to hype this show that intrigues me is the legitimate tag team division with more than two tag teams! It’s a hard concept to grasp after watching the other products for so long.
It’s time for our main event with Roderick Strong taking on Eddie Edwards to determine the new number one contender for the World Title! The start out slow and end up facing off after a couple minutes. Back and forth shoves. Back and forth off the ropes with some baseball slides and side hip tosses. After a lengthy battle, Strong puts something on his foot and kicks Edwards in the head for the pinfall. Strong wins just like that?
ROH ref Paul Turner comes down and argues with the original referee. Edwards hits the die hard on Strong and knocks down the original ref at the same time and Turner counts the three count victory! So now Edwards wins? Jim Cornette comes to the ring and announces a triple threat for Showdown in the Sun with Eddie Edwards vs Roderick Strong vs Davey Richards for the ROH World Title!
^This was a well worked match by these two competitors. The top tier wrestlers in ROH are easily able to keep a fan’s attention for 30+ minutes on any given night. Continuous production of these sorts of matches are part of what helps to create real stars in this business!(CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, ect.)
Overall, Ring of Honor continues to be impressive. The tenth anniversary show this Sunday should be great and I expect every week from here on out to give us a strong build towards the 3/30 ppv in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. I’ll be back with Raw on Monday! Until next time, you’ve been ThunderStruck!
www.facebook.com/thunderstruck11 – add me!
