ROH Aftershock Tour: Hopkins
ROH Aftershock Tour: Hopkins (7/11/2015)- Hopkins, MN
MARK BRISCOE vs. DANNY DUGGAN- 6.25/10
Duggan looked fine, but didn’t show me enough for me to care either way if he ever comes back.
WAR MACHINE vs. SILAS YOUNG & THE BEER CITY BRUISER- 6.75/10
Silas cut an awesome pre-match promo in which he pointed out the ways that War Machine, who look like tatted-up Vikings, are unmanly. It was brilliant!
This match was really fun. Bruiser is a lot more palatable when the announcers aren’t taking about how much he smells or calling his dumb alcohol-named moves that make him feel so one-dimensional.
ACH vs. DALTON CASTLE (w/the boys)- 7/10
Good to see Castle stepping up his in-ring game.
MATT TAVEN vs. MICHAEL ELGIN- 7.5/10
Great match!
MICHAEL ELGIN PROMO- I guess this was the official culmination of his babyface turn.
FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL MATCH: Will Ferrara vs. Cheeseburger vs. Michael Bennett (w/Maria Kanellis) vs. Moose (w/Stokely Hathaway)- 6.75/10
A fun match that did a good job of building things up between Bennett and Moose while the other two played extras to allow Bennett to dodge Moose. Kevin Kelly made some comments which implied that the Piledriver became unbanned for Bennett at some point.
ADAM COLE vs. BOBBY FISH- 7.25/10
Great stuff. Cole worked on Fish’s knee and Fish sold it very well. Cole has finally taken my advice and started using that brainbuster onto the knee as a finish. I was actually quite surprised that Cole won because Fish is being set up for a TV Title shot while Cole’s current story is that the other members of the Kingdom are upset that he has been losing (which should lead to an inevitable face turn). They did head a bit in the face turn direction here by having Cole show Fish respect after the match.
JAY BRISCOE & ODB vs. JAY LETHAL & TRUTH MARTINI- 3/10
A boring match. ODB did most of the work for the babyfaces. The heels’ offense on her was almost all clubbing and hair-pulling. She also cheated via testicular claw right in front of the referee and also spat whiskey into Truth’s eyes for the finish. Only the brief bits of Briscoe vs. Lethal saved this from being a total DUD.
But even if I was a fan of ODB (I’m not) or had a desire to see her (I don’t) or had any interest in seeing Truth Martini wrestle (I don’t), and even if they hadn’t been so terrible, I would still say that booking this match was a mistake, simply because we’ve seen Briscoe vs. Lethal so much. They had their PPV match. Then they had the eight-person tag match the next day at the tapings. Now there is this match, and then next week they’re on opposite sides in the six man tag team main event. The build to their PPV match was very good, but it felt like it was all building to ONE match. And we had that match, and it as awesome. Going back to it so often (and with matches of much lesser quality) just makes it feel less special. They should have kept them apart and given Briscoe some singles wins until he says â€"I’m ready for my return match†and then you do the return match as a big main event on TV and Lethal wins and that’s the end of it.
AJ STYLES vs. RODERICK STRONG vs. KYLE O’REILLY- 8.5/10
These are my top three pics for best in-ring wrestler of the year (â€"Most Outstanding†or whatever the Observer calls it) so far, so it’s no surprise that they delivered here. Lots of cool three-way spots in this match, and lots of great action.
Another GREAT show from ROH, with great action from top to bottom, blah blah blah. Same thing I’ve said for almost every single ROH show this year because they’ve all been so damn great. Definitely recommended… just skip the ODB & Briscoe vs. Lethal & Martini match.
MARK BRISCOE vs. DANNY DUGGAN- 6.25/10
Duggan looked fine, but didn’t show me enough for me to care either way if he ever comes back.
WAR MACHINE vs. SILAS YOUNG & THE BEER CITY BRUISER- 6.75/10
Silas cut an awesome pre-match promo in which he pointed out the ways that War Machine, who look like tatted-up Vikings, are unmanly. It was brilliant!
This match was really fun. Bruiser is a lot more palatable when the announcers aren’t taking about how much he smells or calling his dumb alcohol-named moves that make him feel so one-dimensional.
ACH vs. DALTON CASTLE (w/the boys)- 7/10
Good to see Castle stepping up his in-ring game.
MATT TAVEN vs. MICHAEL ELGIN- 7.5/10
Great match!
MICHAEL ELGIN PROMO- I guess this was the official culmination of his babyface turn.
FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL MATCH: Will Ferrara vs. Cheeseburger vs. Michael Bennett (w/Maria Kanellis) vs. Moose (w/Stokely Hathaway)- 6.75/10
A fun match that did a good job of building things up between Bennett and Moose while the other two played extras to allow Bennett to dodge Moose. Kevin Kelly made some comments which implied that the Piledriver became unbanned for Bennett at some point.
ADAM COLE vs. BOBBY FISH- 7.25/10
Great stuff. Cole worked on Fish’s knee and Fish sold it very well. Cole has finally taken my advice and started using that brainbuster onto the knee as a finish. I was actually quite surprised that Cole won because Fish is being set up for a TV Title shot while Cole’s current story is that the other members of the Kingdom are upset that he has been losing (which should lead to an inevitable face turn). They did head a bit in the face turn direction here by having Cole show Fish respect after the match.
JAY BRISCOE & ODB vs. JAY LETHAL & TRUTH MARTINI- 3/10
A boring match. ODB did most of the work for the babyfaces. The heels’ offense on her was almost all clubbing and hair-pulling. She also cheated via testicular claw right in front of the referee and also spat whiskey into Truth’s eyes for the finish. Only the brief bits of Briscoe vs. Lethal saved this from being a total DUD.
But even if I was a fan of ODB (I’m not) or had a desire to see her (I don’t) or had any interest in seeing Truth Martini wrestle (I don’t), and even if they hadn’t been so terrible, I would still say that booking this match was a mistake, simply because we’ve seen Briscoe vs. Lethal so much. They had their PPV match. Then they had the eight-person tag match the next day at the tapings. Now there is this match, and then next week they’re on opposite sides in the six man tag team main event. The build to their PPV match was very good, but it felt like it was all building to ONE match. And we had that match, and it as awesome. Going back to it so often (and with matches of much lesser quality) just makes it feel less special. They should have kept them apart and given Briscoe some singles wins until he says â€"I’m ready for my return match†and then you do the return match as a big main event on TV and Lethal wins and that’s the end of it.
AJ STYLES vs. RODERICK STRONG vs. KYLE O’REILLY- 8.5/10
These are my top three pics for best in-ring wrestler of the year (â€"Most Outstanding†or whatever the Observer calls it) so far, so it’s no surprise that they delivered here. Lots of cool three-way spots in this match, and lots of great action.
Another GREAT show from ROH, with great action from top to bottom, blah blah blah. Same thing I’ve said for almost every single ROH show this year because they’ve all been so damn great. Definitely recommended… just skip the ODB & Briscoe vs. Lethal & Martini match.