BRM Reviews ROH Honor Reunited: Edinburgh (GREAT!)

All ROH Related Reviews and Discussions
Post Reply
User avatar
Big Red Machine
Posts: 27378
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 15:12

BRM Reviews ROH Honor Reunited: Edinburgh (GREAT!)

Post by Big Red Machine » Aug 20th, '18, 16:58

ROH Honor Reunited Tour: Edinburgh (8/16/2018)- Edinburgh, Scotland


ROH INTERNATIONAL CUP QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Johnathan Gresham vs. Mark Haskins (w/Vicky Haskins)- 7.75/10
An EXCELLENT technical opener, with fantastic limb-work from both men. This is what I want to see more of in ROH.

ROH INTERNATIONAL CUP QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Flip Gordon vs. Kip Sabian- 7.10
An exciting athletic match.

KAY LEE RAY vs. VIPER- 6.25/10
The announcers tried to emphasize to us that if one of these women (or any of the Britain-based wrestlers on this weekend’s shows) impresses ROH management this weekend, they could get flown to the US for bookings. If you want me to believe that then you need to actually do it. ROH has run three previous UK tours since they started going back to the UK less than two years ago, plus there are all of the ROH talent appearing on RevPro shows who would be able to give recommendations, plus there is the fact that you’d think ROH management would be scouring the globe for talent rather than just looking at what happens on their own shows… and the only two Brits to appear on ROH shows in the US have been Ospreay and Scurll, who were both already under ROH contract when they first wrestled for ROH in the UK.
They also insisted that winning this match “could be a stepping stone to a Women of Honor Title shot.” Again: I’ll believe it when I see it. In the six months of this championship’s existence, it actually seems like the way to go about getting a title shot is to be a completely generic nobody, and ROH management will just randomly give you one. The women who have been doing the majority of the winning in the division- Kelly Klein & Tenille Dashwood- haven’t gotten a damn thing for their successes.
Once again we get a random women’s match that goes under ten minutes. These two managed to make it less generic than the other women’s matches we usually get are, but the problem remains that ROH is touting its women’s division but never allow the women time to actually show that they are as good as ROH claims. It’s an obnoxious combination of WWE’s bullsh*t where they give lips service to the idea of caring about the women but all they actually care about is the public perception of not looking socially left behind, and the standard TNA bullsh*t promise to “put more focus on the X-Division” and then never give the division enough time or booking attention.

ROH INTERNATIONAL CUP QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Jimmy Havoc vs. Christopher Daniels- DUD!
Okay… if Jimmy Havoc is using this picture of himself to give people papercuts then it’s clearly a weapon and he should be disqualified. And even if he weren’t, it’s a foreign object that a wrestler easily trip over and thus shouldn’t be allowed in to be stored in the ring!
Daniels rightfully complains to the referee that Havoc just used this foreign object to injure him, and the announcers treated this as if Daniels was just being a big baby for complaining about a paper cut when Jimmy Havoc has scars all over his body. THAT’S NOT THE F*CKING POINT! Jimmy Havoc used an illegal foreign object with the intent of damaging his opponent with it! If we follow the announcers’ logic here then PCO should be able to gouge an opponent’s eye out (but only one of them), Kane should be allowed to set his opponents on fire, and Zack Gowen should be able to bring a chainsaw to the ring and cut his opponent’s leg off!
Havoc continued to cheat, including spots that made ROH Senior Referee Tod Sinclair look like the single dumbest person in the world. Despite this, I was apparently supposed to think that Daniels was the heel. When Havoc threw a chair into the ring, the fans at an ROH show in Scotland in 2018 chanted “ECW!” I just don’t get it.
Watching Jimmy Havoc in the first few minutes of this match reminded me of CM Punk’s story about his match with Justice Pain, where Justice Pain insisted on being “a babyface, but I act like a heel” and thus getting to do all of the cool defiant babyface stuff as well as getting all of the pops for using weapons and nut shots and similar that certain fans go gaga over. That’s basically what Jimmy Havoc was here: the guy who got to do all of the edgy heel stuff but also got to do all of the cool babyface stuff.

I’m sorry, but if Jimmy Havoc can’t wrestle cleanly then he doesn’t belong in ROH. Period. If can create some kayfabe reason for him to be there like Gabe did with Necro Butcher (the Briscoes wanted revenge on the AOTF) then fine, but otherwise, the f*cker shouldn’t be booked in the company with the word “HONOR” in the f*cking name. Daniels, meanwhile, is being treated like a heel by the crowd (and overacting like a comedic heel) for preventing Jimmy Havoc from using weapons. Yeah. What a douche he is, insisting that his opponent play by the rules.
They finally got back into the ring for about three minutes of good wrestling… and then they threw all that away when Jimmy Havoc rolled to the outside and pulled out a staple gun. He then proceed to try to staple Daniels with it. If you are ROH management, why would you ever bring Jimmy Havoc back after this? You book the guy to make his ROH debut in your big, important tournament, and he shows up with a clear intent to cheat (why else would there be a frying pan under the ring?), then immediately starts ignoring your rules and trying to cheat, until he eventually just stops trying to hide it and attempts to staple his opponent right in front of the referee. Why the f*ck would you ever bring this guy back?
The match continued with “comedy” involving the staple gun. We’re all supposed to laugh because innocent referee Tod Sinclair got stapled on the butt, because innocent people getting hurt by the deliberate actions of others is funny, apparently. Ref bump, comedy spot, comedy spot, duck a move, duck an a Rainmaker, Havoc hits the Acid Rainmaker for the win. F*ck this. This sh*t is the exact opposite of what Ring of Honor is supposed to be.

ROH INTERNATIONAL CUP QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Joe Hendry vs. Adam Page- 8/10
These guys went completely all out for this one.

PROVING GROUND MATCH: ROH World Champion Jay Lethal vs. Adam Brooks- 8/10
Cabana said at the beginning of the show that Brooks will get a title shot “if he wins” rather than the original Proving Ground concept of either a win or a fifteen-minute time-limit draw earning a title shot… so what makes this different than any other non-title match?
You can copy and paste my comments from the last match here, with some added astonishment that Brooks hasn’t been booked in the US much (especially after his fantastic match with Will Ospreay in PWG back in March).

THE BRISCOES & PUNISHMENT MARTINEZ vs. BULLET CLUB (Marty Scurll & the Young Bucks)- 7.5/10
Disappointing, considering the talent involved and the position on the card, but still pretty great. It’s about my minimum acceptable for rating for a main event, especially for a company with a reputation for work-rate like ROH.


A pretty great show from ROH, with everything other than the dud being either solid or exceeding expectations for the time it got. If they really are serious about bringing some people to the US, I’d love to see more of Viper, Haskins, Brooks, and Hendry in ROH.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

Upcoming Reviews:
FIP in 2005
ROH Validation
PWG All-Star Weekend V: Night 2
DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 22 guests