BRM Reviews the 7/20/2013 ROH

[Big Red Machine]

SCUM PROMO- this was taped while they were riding to the show in a limo which Corino says Matt Hardy rented for them tonight, and while riding in a limo is always cool, there were about six of them in there and they all appeared to be uncomfortably squished in. If Matt is so rich, why did he get them a limo that was smaller than the limo I went to my senior prom in?

ADAM COLE vs. WILL FERRARA- before the match starts, Roddy comes out and cut a promo saying that Cole didn't do the right thing at Best in the World 2013. How is "the right thing" helping your opponent get back into the ring to avoid a count-out? It doesn't matter how you win, so long as you win cleanly! Kevin Kelly did a much better job at selling this angle by pointing out a change in Adam Cole by saying that Cole "went against his instinct" because he started to help Roddy get back in, but then changed his mind.
Anyway, Cole offers to give Roddy a rematch right now, so the jobber disappears and we get a real match instead.

ADAM COLE vs. RODERICK STRONG- 6.5/10
Very good match with a great finish. After a ref bump, Corino throws a steel chain into the ring for Cole to use, but Roddy picks it up first. Roddy goes to hit Cole with the chain by Cole beats him to the punch and knocks the chain loose. Figuring that turnabout is fair play, Cole picks up the chain that Roddy was about to use on him and punches Roddy with it... but the ref sees and Cole gets DQed. Cole's actions are understandable, give Roddy a reason to be angry (remember that Roddy is still a heel, so he can complain about Cole's cheating while ignoring his own) with Cole and gives Cole a reason to be unhappy with ROH management.

TEAM ROH PROMOS ABOUT STEEN- good job getting over the "we don't trust Steen" angle.

ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Jay Briscoe(c) vs. Matt Hardy- 7.25/10
Great match, but I really wish it had been better. Matt went right for Jay's arm like a shark, and they did a good job telling that story, but 15 minutes felt too for this.

POST-MATCH BRAWL- not so good. Rhino comes out and Gores Jay, so Mark, who wasn't medically cleared to wrestle, came out to make the save. So Mark was in the building, but wouldn't come out to ringside to support Jay? Anyway, Corino hits Mark in the back of the head with the $10 punch, and Mark goes down. The rest of SCUM come out and they beat the Briscoes down until Elgin, Whitmer, and Lethal come out to make the save... but they, too are beaten down. SCUM zip ties the babyfaces to the ropes while Matt Hardy Pillmanizers Jay's injured arm. SCUM continues to beat the babyfaces down... and apparently no one else in the ROH locker room cares if SCUM gets control of ROH or not because they didn't come out to make the save. Finally Nigel shows up with some security guys, who, being security guys at a wrestling show, are completely ineffective. Having guys no one from the locker room who wasn't involved in the Steel Cage Warfare match try to make the save really hurt this. SCUM wants to KILL ROH, and if Corino gets Nigel's job as a result of SCUM winning next week's Steel Cage Warfare match, they will easily be able to do that. The entire locker room should be trying to make save so that they don't LOSE THEIR JOBS.

One detail here that I really liked was that Matt Hardy, being the disrespectful bastard that he was, put on the ROH World Title belt and wore it throughout this beat down. Kevin Kelly, of course, didn't notice this at all.

Overall, a very good episode of ROH.