ROH Boiling Point 2012
ROH Boiling Point 2012 (8/11/2012)- Providence, RI
MIKE MONDO vs. RODERICK STRONG (w/Truth Martini)- 6.25/10
Good opener.
FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL MATCH FOR AN ROH CONTRACT: Vinnie Marseglia vs. QT Marshall vs. Matt Taven vs. â€"The Promise†Antonio Thomas- 6.25/10
Good action. The only guy who impressed me here was Taven.
ADAM COLE vs. â€"BRUTAL†BOB EVANS- 4.25/10
HOUSE OF TRUTH SEGMENT- good
CHARLIE HAAS vs. MIHCAEL ELGIN (w/Truth Martini)- 5.75/10
I didn’t like the way they did the stuff with Roddy. It really felt like it got in the way of the story of Haas working over Elgin’s knee.
THE BRISCOE BROTHERS vs. STEVE CORINO & JIMMY JACOBS- 6.5/10
TWO OUT OF THREE FALLS MATCH: Jay Lethal vs. Tommaso Ciampa (w/R.D. Evans)- 6/10
I though Ciampa’s selling was very poor. Apparently his injury was legit, but it looked like he was just doing a crappy job of selling it. It really seemed like he was just forgetting to sell it at some points. I also hated Lethal using a low blow.
SARA DEL REY & EDDIE EDWARDS vs. MARIA KANELLIS & â€"THE PRODIGY†MIKE BENNETT- 6.5/10
A good match, until the finish. I absolutely hated the finish for three reasons. First of all, why would you have Bennett take a loss when you could have had Maria do it instead? Bennett is someone who you are trying to push as a star, so a loss hurts him, while Maria barely wrestles, so the loss doesn’t hurt her. Second, the real build to this match was about Maria, and Eddie bringing in Death Rey to counter her. Yeah, Bennett and Eddie were feuding, the feud wasn’t interesting in any way until Death Rey got involved. If the babyfaces were going to win (and they should have) the satisfying conclusion for this story is for Sara to make Maria tap out.
The third reason I hated this finish was that it just screamed â€"the women are here for their T & A value!†While we know that is mostly the case with Maria, having Sara rip Maria’s clothes off makes Sara an element in that as well. Not only is this a major disservice to Sara, but it just goes against the reason that she was brought into the angle. She is here to kick Maria’s a**, not rip her clothes off. The wants to make Maria tap, not humiliate her.
ANYHTING GOES MATCH FOR THE ROH WORLD TITLE: Kevin Steen(c) (w/Jimmy Jacobs) vs. Eddie Kingston- 7/10
One thing that absolutely drove me nuts here was the way that Kingston was portrayed by the commentators. The story that they tried to sell was that Kingston had been in ROH and had been kicked out for being too violent and out of control, but then found a home in CHIKARA and revitalized his career. Say what you will about WWE’s revisionist history, but I’d prefer that to what they did here. WWE’s revisionist history casts WWE in a better light via omissions. It doesn’t tell you the whole truth, but it rarely (if ever) just plain makes things up. What ROH has done is make things up. Kingston was well established in CHIKARA well before he became a member of the ROH roster, and there is absolutely nothing to back up the claim that Eddie was kicked out of ROH for being too violent.
Yes, yes, I know that it is all a work. My point, though, is that if you go back and watch Kingston’s matches and the shows he was on (and I would assume that ROH does indeed want it’s fans to buy some of the less recent DVDs from its website), there is no evidence at all to support this. In fact, around the time that Kingston left, Necro was suspended for accidentally punching a fan and the time-keeper… but then let back into the company AND GIVEN A SPECIAL STIP ALLOWING ALL OF HIS MATCHES TO BE NO DQss (by Jim Cornette, no less). So if Necro did something a lot worse than anything Kingston did, and Corny was willing to accommodate Necro’s overly violent behavior, why the hell would he not let Kingston back?
I also absolutely hated the whole stretcher thing. I can’t see the Eddie Kingston character ever allowing himself to be stretchered out unless he couldn’t move. For him to be able to get up while being stretchered out is either stretches my suspension of disbelief too far, or is character assassination.
Overall, an unacceptably bad show from ROH. If you are going to claim that you are the best wrestling out there- that you are new and different and better than the stuff that we have seen on TV for the past ten years (which is a claim that ROH often makes), then you have to be great. In the past, ROH has put on strings of absolutely phenomenal shows, and has earned the right to make that claim, but making that claim and then putting on a show like this pretty much kills that claim, especially for new viewers. If ROH claims to be so great, but then puts on a show like this, why should a new viewer believe them when they say that a show like Supercard of Honor III or Death Before Dishonor VIII is so awesome?
MIKE MONDO vs. RODERICK STRONG (w/Truth Martini)- 6.25/10
Good opener.
FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL MATCH FOR AN ROH CONTRACT: Vinnie Marseglia vs. QT Marshall vs. Matt Taven vs. â€"The Promise†Antonio Thomas- 6.25/10
Good action. The only guy who impressed me here was Taven.
ADAM COLE vs. â€"BRUTAL†BOB EVANS- 4.25/10
HOUSE OF TRUTH SEGMENT- good
CHARLIE HAAS vs. MIHCAEL ELGIN (w/Truth Martini)- 5.75/10
I didn’t like the way they did the stuff with Roddy. It really felt like it got in the way of the story of Haas working over Elgin’s knee.
THE BRISCOE BROTHERS vs. STEVE CORINO & JIMMY JACOBS- 6.5/10
TWO OUT OF THREE FALLS MATCH: Jay Lethal vs. Tommaso Ciampa (w/R.D. Evans)- 6/10
I though Ciampa’s selling was very poor. Apparently his injury was legit, but it looked like he was just doing a crappy job of selling it. It really seemed like he was just forgetting to sell it at some points. I also hated Lethal using a low blow.
SARA DEL REY & EDDIE EDWARDS vs. MARIA KANELLIS & â€"THE PRODIGY†MIKE BENNETT- 6.5/10
A good match, until the finish. I absolutely hated the finish for three reasons. First of all, why would you have Bennett take a loss when you could have had Maria do it instead? Bennett is someone who you are trying to push as a star, so a loss hurts him, while Maria barely wrestles, so the loss doesn’t hurt her. Second, the real build to this match was about Maria, and Eddie bringing in Death Rey to counter her. Yeah, Bennett and Eddie were feuding, the feud wasn’t interesting in any way until Death Rey got involved. If the babyfaces were going to win (and they should have) the satisfying conclusion for this story is for Sara to make Maria tap out.
The third reason I hated this finish was that it just screamed â€"the women are here for their T & A value!†While we know that is mostly the case with Maria, having Sara rip Maria’s clothes off makes Sara an element in that as well. Not only is this a major disservice to Sara, but it just goes against the reason that she was brought into the angle. She is here to kick Maria’s a**, not rip her clothes off. The wants to make Maria tap, not humiliate her.
ANYHTING GOES MATCH FOR THE ROH WORLD TITLE: Kevin Steen(c) (w/Jimmy Jacobs) vs. Eddie Kingston- 7/10
One thing that absolutely drove me nuts here was the way that Kingston was portrayed by the commentators. The story that they tried to sell was that Kingston had been in ROH and had been kicked out for being too violent and out of control, but then found a home in CHIKARA and revitalized his career. Say what you will about WWE’s revisionist history, but I’d prefer that to what they did here. WWE’s revisionist history casts WWE in a better light via omissions. It doesn’t tell you the whole truth, but it rarely (if ever) just plain makes things up. What ROH has done is make things up. Kingston was well established in CHIKARA well before he became a member of the ROH roster, and there is absolutely nothing to back up the claim that Eddie was kicked out of ROH for being too violent.
Yes, yes, I know that it is all a work. My point, though, is that if you go back and watch Kingston’s matches and the shows he was on (and I would assume that ROH does indeed want it’s fans to buy some of the less recent DVDs from its website), there is no evidence at all to support this. In fact, around the time that Kingston left, Necro was suspended for accidentally punching a fan and the time-keeper… but then let back into the company AND GIVEN A SPECIAL STIP ALLOWING ALL OF HIS MATCHES TO BE NO DQss (by Jim Cornette, no less). So if Necro did something a lot worse than anything Kingston did, and Corny was willing to accommodate Necro’s overly violent behavior, why the hell would he not let Kingston back?
I also absolutely hated the whole stretcher thing. I can’t see the Eddie Kingston character ever allowing himself to be stretchered out unless he couldn’t move. For him to be able to get up while being stretchered out is either stretches my suspension of disbelief too far, or is character assassination.
Overall, an unacceptably bad show from ROH. If you are going to claim that you are the best wrestling out there- that you are new and different and better than the stuff that we have seen on TV for the past ten years (which is a claim that ROH often makes), then you have to be great. In the past, ROH has put on strings of absolutely phenomenal shows, and has earned the right to make that claim, but making that claim and then putting on a show like this pretty much kills that claim, especially for new viewers. If ROH claims to be so great, but then puts on a show like this, why should a new viewer believe them when they say that a show like Supercard of Honor III or Death Before Dishonor VIII is so awesome?