ROH Winter Warriors Tour: Dearborn
ROH Winter Warriors Tour: Dearborn (1/30/2015)- Dearborn, MI
Jay Briscoe comes out and cuts a quick promo saying he wants his match to be first, so we opened the show with the…
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Jay Briscoe(c) vs. Michael Bennett (w/Maria Kanellis)- 6.5/10
BOBBY CRUISE ON COMMENTARY!
Disappointing, especially for an ROH World Title match. Jay’s title defenses are just not up to ROH World Championship level.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- the challenge is made for the Briscoes vs. Kingdom last time ever match that would main event Winter Warriors Tour: Atlanta, the final show of the tour.
BJ WHITMER vs. HANSON- 5.5/10
One fan had perhaps the basic wrestling sign I have ever seen. It was white with black lettering and said "I do not like BJ Whitmer." In this fan’s defense, there wasn’t too much to like in this match. Whitmer worked over Hanson’s neck, but the finish felt completely out of nowhere.
Stokely Hathaway replaced Bobby Cruise on commentary.
TOMMASO CIAMPA vs. TYSON DUX- 6.75/10
It was nice to see Ciampa include a bit more traditional wrestling into his â€"hit your head and knock you out†style of offense.
JIMMY JACOBS vs. TADARIUS THOMAS- 7.75/10
TD’s ROH career ends on a high note with by far his best singles outing. Lots of respect to Jimmy Jacobs for letting this kid who was leaving the business kick out of all of his stuff just to give the kid a great and memorable match for his final match in front of his hometown crowd.
POST-MATCH PROMO- I’m not thrilled with Jimmy putting TD over, but I guess you could view this as the beginning of Jimmy and BJ’s split.
MATT TAVEN vs. MATT SYDAL- 7.25/10
THE ROMANTIC TOUCH vs. DRU ONYX- 2.5/10
I don’t think this went more than six or seven minute, but even that felt like forever. Onyx seemed over with the crowd, but whatever charisma he has did not translate well on DVD.
MICHAEL ELGIN vs. MARK BRISCOE- 7/10
Elgin appears to be wearing some sort of graduation gown.
Another great match.
POST-MATCH ANGLE- the part with Elgin and the Briscoes was very good, but when Ciampa came in (and especially when Hanson came in), it just started to feel like self-parody.
ALBERTO EL PATRON vs. ACH- 7.75/10
Some UGLY phantom punches by Alberto in the corner early on, but they got back on the right path extremely quickly and had a GREAT match!
ROH TV TITLE MATCH: Jay Lethal(c) (w/the House of Truth) vs. Roderick Strong- 8/10
An awesome main event, but the whole restarting business with BJ Whitmer interfering took a bit away from it.
SHORT BRAWLS- Roddy and BJ draw in the locker room while Alberto and Lethal do so in the ring. The locker room brawl is quickly broken up, while the one in the ring ends quickly because Lethal decides to bail. Alberto cuts the show-closing promo thanking the fans and putting over ROH for letting him be part of the promotion.
A great show from ROH. Nothing was blow-away (though the main event was awesome), but the undercard was very strong. It’s not a must-see show (unless you’re a huge Tadarius Thomas fan), but it is a lot of fun, easy to sit-through, and has a lot of great wrestling.
BONUS CONTENT:
There is a Kevin Kelly show recap, but also a good promo by Roderick Strong to build up the main event and give it some historical context.
Jay Briscoe comes out and cuts a quick promo saying he wants his match to be first, so we opened the show with the…
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Jay Briscoe(c) vs. Michael Bennett (w/Maria Kanellis)- 6.5/10
BOBBY CRUISE ON COMMENTARY!
Disappointing, especially for an ROH World Title match. Jay’s title defenses are just not up to ROH World Championship level.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- the challenge is made for the Briscoes vs. Kingdom last time ever match that would main event Winter Warriors Tour: Atlanta, the final show of the tour.
BJ WHITMER vs. HANSON- 5.5/10
One fan had perhaps the basic wrestling sign I have ever seen. It was white with black lettering and said "I do not like BJ Whitmer." In this fan’s defense, there wasn’t too much to like in this match. Whitmer worked over Hanson’s neck, but the finish felt completely out of nowhere.
Stokely Hathaway replaced Bobby Cruise on commentary.
TOMMASO CIAMPA vs. TYSON DUX- 6.75/10
It was nice to see Ciampa include a bit more traditional wrestling into his â€"hit your head and knock you out†style of offense.
JIMMY JACOBS vs. TADARIUS THOMAS- 7.75/10
TD’s ROH career ends on a high note with by far his best singles outing. Lots of respect to Jimmy Jacobs for letting this kid who was leaving the business kick out of all of his stuff just to give the kid a great and memorable match for his final match in front of his hometown crowd.
POST-MATCH PROMO- I’m not thrilled with Jimmy putting TD over, but I guess you could view this as the beginning of Jimmy and BJ’s split.
MATT TAVEN vs. MATT SYDAL- 7.25/10
THE ROMANTIC TOUCH vs. DRU ONYX- 2.5/10
I don’t think this went more than six or seven minute, but even that felt like forever. Onyx seemed over with the crowd, but whatever charisma he has did not translate well on DVD.
MICHAEL ELGIN vs. MARK BRISCOE- 7/10
Elgin appears to be wearing some sort of graduation gown.
Another great match.
POST-MATCH ANGLE- the part with Elgin and the Briscoes was very good, but when Ciampa came in (and especially when Hanson came in), it just started to feel like self-parody.
ALBERTO EL PATRON vs. ACH- 7.75/10
Some UGLY phantom punches by Alberto in the corner early on, but they got back on the right path extremely quickly and had a GREAT match!
ROH TV TITLE MATCH: Jay Lethal(c) (w/the House of Truth) vs. Roderick Strong- 8/10
An awesome main event, but the whole restarting business with BJ Whitmer interfering took a bit away from it.
SHORT BRAWLS- Roddy and BJ draw in the locker room while Alberto and Lethal do so in the ring. The locker room brawl is quickly broken up, while the one in the ring ends quickly because Lethal decides to bail. Alberto cuts the show-closing promo thanking the fans and putting over ROH for letting him be part of the promotion.
A great show from ROH. Nothing was blow-away (though the main event was awesome), but the undercard was very strong. It’s not a must-see show (unless you’re a huge Tadarius Thomas fan), but it is a lot of fun, easy to sit-through, and has a lot of great wrestling.
BONUS CONTENT:
There is a Kevin Kelly show recap, but also a good promo by Roderick Strong to build up the main event and give it some historical context.