BRM Reviews the 4/8/2012 ROH

[Big Red Machine]

TJ PERKINS & SHILOH JONZE vs. THE YOUNG BUCKS- 4/10

JAY LETHAL PROMO- good

MIKE MONDO vs. MATT TAVEN- 5.5/10
A very good match, but I would have rated it higher if I gave a damn about either of these two guys. The match made me appreciate their skill, but I never cared about the characters involved or Mondo’s dirty tactics. And when I, of all people, the lover of kayfabe, don’t care that a heel used dirty tactics, it means you have done something wrong.

PRESS CONFERENCE FOOTAGE- Great!

BORDER WARS COMMERCIAL- this aired when they came back from the commercial that was between the intros for the main event, and the actual match itself (between the commercials and the start of the match, with the intros having been on the other side of the commercial). Why? There was no point to this, as we know that the Briscoes will be there because Corny announced during the press conference that all of the belts would be defended (and if the Briscoes lose to Hallowicked & Jigsaw, does anyone really think that they won’t be booked for the show anyway?). All this did was take away a minute of time from the main event match which they have been building to for the past three weeks.

MARCH MAYHEM GREAT 8 TOURNAMENT 4 WWAY ELIMINATION FINAL: Adam Cole vs. Jay Lethal vs. Tomasso Ciampa (w/The Embassy) vs. Mike Bennett (w/Maria Kanellis & “Brutal” Bob Evans)- 7/10
I really didn’t like Cole’s fighting spirit spot here, and what was the point of Lethal coming out at the end? We already know that Lethal and Ciampa don’t like each other, Ciampa got a semi-cheap pin on Lethal, keeping up his heat, and no one did anything illegal, so there is no reason why this finish couldn’t have been clean. Also, Cole has just recently pinned ROH World Champion Davey Richards, and has a Proving Ground match with him coming up later this month. He should not be losing cleanly.

Overall, a decent episode of ROH.