ROH Road to Best in the World 2015: Amarillo
ROH Road to Best in the World 2015: Amarillo (5/29/2015)- Amarillo, TX
BJ WHITMER vs. AMERICOS- 3.5/10
Americos is small. Whitmer bullied him. Not much to write home about.
FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL MATCH: Mark Briscoe vs. Will Ferrara vs. Silas Young vs. Jay Lethal (w/Truth Martini)- 4.75/10
Surprisingly short. Mark Briscoe has a great Fisherman’s Buster, though.
ROMANTIC TOUCH vs. DALTON CASTLE (w/his boys)- 4/10
This match really needed to decide if it wanted to be comedy or action because it shifted back and forth quite a few times, and rarely in a manner that felt natural. A big problem with the comedy they tried to do (which mostly failed) was that thy started off doing the same thing WAY too many times. Seeing these two fail at having a comedy match has confirmed my feelings about these two all along: Romantic Touch is a gimmick that has more than run its course, while Castle is a one-note character who could have a few interesting interactions but would become stale after that.
CAPRICE COLEMAN vs. JAY BRISCOE- 6.75/10
This is the sort of spot where the problem with having Jay Briscoe as the ROH World Champion really shows through. The world champion in any promotion (and especially in ROH) is supposed to be able to take guys and bring another level out of them. Jay doesn’t do that. Most past ROH World Champions would have managed to get something extra out of Caprice. Jay just gave us a normal Caprice-level match.
I will say one good thing about this match, though, and that is that I liked the way they used kicking out at one. Normally when guys do it (especially after a finisher or in an Ishii match) it feels like they are doing it just for the sake of doing it. In this match, it felt like every time they did it (never after a finisher, too), they were sending the other guy the message that â€"I’m not done yet.â€
THE DIRTY OUTLAWS PROMO- They say that everything is bigger in Texas, then ask who their opponents are, so we got…
THE DIRTY OUTLAWS vs. KEITH LEE & SHANE TAYLOR- 2.75/10, but fun.
Lee and Taylor were billed at a combined weight of 820 lbs. (playing into the Dirty Outlaws’ promo). Lee looked impressive, being large and athletic. Taylor just looked large and fat.
MICHAEL ELGIN vs. ACH- 8/10
Awesome match. They told the standard story these guys usually tell of power vs. speed, and they did a great job of building things up (especially that CRAZY finish). They also did a spot where Elgin got frustrated and thought about using the ringbell as a weapon, but then didn’t and wound up winning clean, which furthers the face turn he has been doing this month.
WAR MACHINE vs. THE KINGDOM (w/Maria Kanellis)- 4.25/10
We’ve got a â€"LET’S GO KINGDOM!†chant! And Adam Cole isn’t even involved. Wow. Just… wow.
The match was short and ended in a DQ, which was disappointing, but it was intended to set up what would happen in…
ADAM COLE vs. RODERICK STRONG- 5.25/10
A very promising start ruined by interference from The Kingdom. War Machine came out to make the save, so we got a new main event:
WAR MACHINE & RODERICK STRONG vs. THE KINGDOM (w/Maria Kanellis)- 7.25/10
Yes, it was great, but it just didn’t feel anywhere near as great as a Roddy vs. Cole singles match would have. Why not let them have the awesome singles match they were headed for and put Roddy over (because he’s in the #1 contendership match at the PPV while Cole doesn’t have much of anything going on). Then have The Kingdom attack Roddy after the match and have War Machine make the save, building to a six man at one of next weekend’s shows (because, again: Roddy is in the #1 contendership match, but none of these other five guys really have anything going on)?
Also, I’m calling BS on the finish because Bennett used a Piledriver, which he is barred from using.
This was a… very good show from ROH. Elgin vs. ACH was awesome and the main event was certainly good enough to be a main event (although admittedly towards the lower end of that spectrum), but the show as a whole felt weak. Part of the reason for that is the lack of star-power (no reDRagon, Kaz, Daniels, Sabin, Sydal, Moose, or Cedric), but I think an even bigger reason for that is that this is the first show this year where it felt like they were having a show just to have a show, rather than trying to do something with the show, and as a result, a lot of it felt pointless- which was only made worse by the fact that Lethal vs. Briscoe really seems to be the only thing going on in the company right now. It almost feels like this show was very good despite itself (and mostly thanks to ACH and Elgin) rather than by design. Considering the total lack of storyline consequences for anything and the fact that ACH and Elgin have had a better version of the same match at Dragon’s Reign (a better show than this one), I’d say this show is skippable. Definitely their worst show of the year so far, being edged out by Conquest Tour: Chicago because that show at least felt big.
BJ WHITMER vs. AMERICOS- 3.5/10
Americos is small. Whitmer bullied him. Not much to write home about.
FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL MATCH: Mark Briscoe vs. Will Ferrara vs. Silas Young vs. Jay Lethal (w/Truth Martini)- 4.75/10
Surprisingly short. Mark Briscoe has a great Fisherman’s Buster, though.
ROMANTIC TOUCH vs. DALTON CASTLE (w/his boys)- 4/10
This match really needed to decide if it wanted to be comedy or action because it shifted back and forth quite a few times, and rarely in a manner that felt natural. A big problem with the comedy they tried to do (which mostly failed) was that thy started off doing the same thing WAY too many times. Seeing these two fail at having a comedy match has confirmed my feelings about these two all along: Romantic Touch is a gimmick that has more than run its course, while Castle is a one-note character who could have a few interesting interactions but would become stale after that.
CAPRICE COLEMAN vs. JAY BRISCOE- 6.75/10
This is the sort of spot where the problem with having Jay Briscoe as the ROH World Champion really shows through. The world champion in any promotion (and especially in ROH) is supposed to be able to take guys and bring another level out of them. Jay doesn’t do that. Most past ROH World Champions would have managed to get something extra out of Caprice. Jay just gave us a normal Caprice-level match.
I will say one good thing about this match, though, and that is that I liked the way they used kicking out at one. Normally when guys do it (especially after a finisher or in an Ishii match) it feels like they are doing it just for the sake of doing it. In this match, it felt like every time they did it (never after a finisher, too), they were sending the other guy the message that â€"I’m not done yet.â€
THE DIRTY OUTLAWS PROMO- They say that everything is bigger in Texas, then ask who their opponents are, so we got…
THE DIRTY OUTLAWS vs. KEITH LEE & SHANE TAYLOR- 2.75/10, but fun.
Lee and Taylor were billed at a combined weight of 820 lbs. (playing into the Dirty Outlaws’ promo). Lee looked impressive, being large and athletic. Taylor just looked large and fat.
MICHAEL ELGIN vs. ACH- 8/10
Awesome match. They told the standard story these guys usually tell of power vs. speed, and they did a great job of building things up (especially that CRAZY finish). They also did a spot where Elgin got frustrated and thought about using the ringbell as a weapon, but then didn’t and wound up winning clean, which furthers the face turn he has been doing this month.
WAR MACHINE vs. THE KINGDOM (w/Maria Kanellis)- 4.25/10
We’ve got a â€"LET’S GO KINGDOM!†chant! And Adam Cole isn’t even involved. Wow. Just… wow.
The match was short and ended in a DQ, which was disappointing, but it was intended to set up what would happen in…
ADAM COLE vs. RODERICK STRONG- 5.25/10
A very promising start ruined by interference from The Kingdom. War Machine came out to make the save, so we got a new main event:
WAR MACHINE & RODERICK STRONG vs. THE KINGDOM (w/Maria Kanellis)- 7.25/10
Yes, it was great, but it just didn’t feel anywhere near as great as a Roddy vs. Cole singles match would have. Why not let them have the awesome singles match they were headed for and put Roddy over (because he’s in the #1 contendership match at the PPV while Cole doesn’t have much of anything going on). Then have The Kingdom attack Roddy after the match and have War Machine make the save, building to a six man at one of next weekend’s shows (because, again: Roddy is in the #1 contendership match, but none of these other five guys really have anything going on)?
Also, I’m calling BS on the finish because Bennett used a Piledriver, which he is barred from using.
This was a… very good show from ROH. Elgin vs. ACH was awesome and the main event was certainly good enough to be a main event (although admittedly towards the lower end of that spectrum), but the show as a whole felt weak. Part of the reason for that is the lack of star-power (no reDRagon, Kaz, Daniels, Sabin, Sydal, Moose, or Cedric), but I think an even bigger reason for that is that this is the first show this year where it felt like they were having a show just to have a show, rather than trying to do something with the show, and as a result, a lot of it felt pointless- which was only made worse by the fact that Lethal vs. Briscoe really seems to be the only thing going on in the company right now. It almost feels like this show was very good despite itself (and mostly thanks to ACH and Elgin) rather than by design. Considering the total lack of storyline consequences for anything and the fact that ACH and Elgin have had a better version of the same match at Dragon’s Reign (a better show than this one), I’d say this show is skippable. Definitely their worst show of the year so far, being edged out by Conquest Tour: Chicago because that show at least felt big.