ROH Border Wars 2013
ROH Border Wars 2013 (5/4/2013)- Toronto, ON
TADARIUS THOMAS & ACH vs. CAPRICE COLEMAN & CEDRIC ALEXANDER- 7/10
Great match! Tons of crazy, awesome, athletic stuff! Perfect for an opener.
Mondo got hurt while training for this match, and while I’m never happy to see someone get hurt, I am extremely happy that I won’t have to see Mondo on this show! So now this the match becomes a singles match:
RODERICK STRONG vs. â€"THE PRODIGY†MIKE BENNETT (w/Maria Kanellis)- 6.5/10
I absolutely HATED the finish here. Cheeseburger (the kid who Charlie Haas had been bullying) comes out, grabs Maria and forces himself on her with a kiss. This distracts Bennett who winds up walking into a Sick Kick for the pin. I absolutely HATE IT when babyfaces do things like this! Yes, Maria is a heel, but that doesn’t make forcing yourself on her OK! That right there was SEXUAL ASSAULT! Babyfaces shouldn’t be doing it, fans shouldn’t be cheering it, and announcers shouldn’t be endorsing it! Yes, that’s right, Kevin Kelly put this over as being justified by saying â€"Bennett decked Cheeseburger in New York, Cheeseburger gets revenge here on Toronto.†What Kevin seems to not understand is that Bennett didn’t just hit Cheeseburger for no reason. Bennett hit Cheeseburger because Cheeseburger called Maria a â€"cum-burping gutter slut.†Also, this is now the second time we have had someone going around forcing themselves on Maria (Mondo did it last summer to build up to the match at Glory By Honor XI). Think of something new.
I QUIT MATCH: BJ Whitmer vs. Rhett Titus (w/Steve Corino)- DUD!
They brawl and do some chokeholds with Sinclair asking people if they quit after pretty much everything, with got SO DAMN ANNOYING! Rhett tries to tie Whitmer to the ropes with zip-ties but BJ fights back manages to tie Rhett to the ropes instead. BJ pummels him but Rhett won’t quit, so BJ goes to get a chair. Corino (who had been ejected from ringside earlier) comes back out and just offers to let BJ hit him instead of Rhett with the chair. As BJ is about to do so, Rhett quits. WHAT THE F*CK?
If BJ loves ROH so much and Corino is the mastermind behind the group that wants to kill ROH, WHY NOT JUST HIT CORINO WITH THE F*CKING CHAIR ANYWAY?! Second, and even more importantly, why would Corino offer to take a chairshot to buy Rhett time to quit when he could have just stopped BJ from hitting Rhett with the chair BY ATTACKING HIM?! It’s a damn I Quit match! There are no DQs! Seriously! This was like, Vince Russo bad.
After the match, Jacobs and Compton come out and attack BJ, then lay the boots to him (no one tries to come out to cut Rhett free). Then Lethal and Elgin come out to make the save, leading to…
IF SCUM WINS, CORINO BECOMES THE NEW COLOR COMMENTATOR AND ONE MEMBER OF SCUM WILL GET AN ROH WORLD TITLE SHOT, BUT IF ELGIN & LETHAL WIN, CORINO IS GONE FROM ROH FOREVER: Jay Lethal & Michael Elgin vs. SCUM (Cliff Compton & Jimmy Jacobs)- 4.75/10
The shine lasted WAY too long and ended when Jay Lethal went down with a leg injury. Major props to Jay as I was certain this was legit until Kevin Steen came out and Nigel let him substitute for Lethal. As a concept, I don’t like substitutions like this, but I think that the execution in this match was a big mistake. Steen coming out and getting a hot tag would have been great… except that Elgin was faring pretty damn well on his own against both members of SCUM (including some great feats of strength that will make your jaw drop). This is the main reason for the low rating: The shine lasted way too long and Elgin did so well by himself that SCUM really didn’t get much offense in at all.
R.D. EVANS PROMO- R.D. Evans & Q.T. Marshall come out and R.D. starts to cut a promo. He is interrupted by the fans Fandangoing, to which R.D. responds â€"what is that? The Canadian national anthem? What a horrible song!†R.D. says he thinks reDRagon should be stripped of the tag titles for not being here tonight. Evans is then interrupted again, this time by the return of Tommaso Ciampa! Ciampa goes after the heels and almost hit Ciampa with his big knee in the corner but Evans pulls Q.T. out of the ring and the heels bail.
Steve Corino came out and said that he had something big to do tonight, so he will start as commentator at tomorrow’s TV taping.
EDDIE EDWARDS vs. TAIJI ISHIMORI- 7.75/10
ROH TV TITLE MATCH: Matt Taven(c) (w/Truth Martini & the Hoopla Hotties) vs. Mark Briscoe-6/10
PAUL LONDON vs. DAVEY RICHARDS- 8.25/10
London’s still got it. Probably would have been even better if Davey hadn’t landed on London’s face with that double stomp.
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Jay Briscoe(c) vs. Adam Cole- 8/10
An awesome match. Cole did a great job of working over Jay’s knee. There were points when I was sure Jay was going to lose. What I didn’t like was Corino distracting Cole by offering him a place in SCUM, and that leading (indirectly) to Jay retaining. What I did like (a lot!) was Nigel hitting Corino with the Tower of London!
After the match it looks like Cole is going to Superkick Jay, but instead he heads to the back angrily, not shaking Jay’s hand, either.
Overall, a great show from ROH, but the SCUM matches dragged it down, which is unfortunate, as I have been enjoying the angle so far.
TADARIUS THOMAS & ACH vs. CAPRICE COLEMAN & CEDRIC ALEXANDER- 7/10
Great match! Tons of crazy, awesome, athletic stuff! Perfect for an opener.
Mondo got hurt while training for this match, and while I’m never happy to see someone get hurt, I am extremely happy that I won’t have to see Mondo on this show! So now this the match becomes a singles match:
RODERICK STRONG vs. â€"THE PRODIGY†MIKE BENNETT (w/Maria Kanellis)- 6.5/10
I absolutely HATED the finish here. Cheeseburger (the kid who Charlie Haas had been bullying) comes out, grabs Maria and forces himself on her with a kiss. This distracts Bennett who winds up walking into a Sick Kick for the pin. I absolutely HATE IT when babyfaces do things like this! Yes, Maria is a heel, but that doesn’t make forcing yourself on her OK! That right there was SEXUAL ASSAULT! Babyfaces shouldn’t be doing it, fans shouldn’t be cheering it, and announcers shouldn’t be endorsing it! Yes, that’s right, Kevin Kelly put this over as being justified by saying â€"Bennett decked Cheeseburger in New York, Cheeseburger gets revenge here on Toronto.†What Kevin seems to not understand is that Bennett didn’t just hit Cheeseburger for no reason. Bennett hit Cheeseburger because Cheeseburger called Maria a â€"cum-burping gutter slut.†Also, this is now the second time we have had someone going around forcing themselves on Maria (Mondo did it last summer to build up to the match at Glory By Honor XI). Think of something new.
I QUIT MATCH: BJ Whitmer vs. Rhett Titus (w/Steve Corino)- DUD!
They brawl and do some chokeholds with Sinclair asking people if they quit after pretty much everything, with got SO DAMN ANNOYING! Rhett tries to tie Whitmer to the ropes with zip-ties but BJ fights back manages to tie Rhett to the ropes instead. BJ pummels him but Rhett won’t quit, so BJ goes to get a chair. Corino (who had been ejected from ringside earlier) comes back out and just offers to let BJ hit him instead of Rhett with the chair. As BJ is about to do so, Rhett quits. WHAT THE F*CK?
If BJ loves ROH so much and Corino is the mastermind behind the group that wants to kill ROH, WHY NOT JUST HIT CORINO WITH THE F*CKING CHAIR ANYWAY?! Second, and even more importantly, why would Corino offer to take a chairshot to buy Rhett time to quit when he could have just stopped BJ from hitting Rhett with the chair BY ATTACKING HIM?! It’s a damn I Quit match! There are no DQs! Seriously! This was like, Vince Russo bad.
After the match, Jacobs and Compton come out and attack BJ, then lay the boots to him (no one tries to come out to cut Rhett free). Then Lethal and Elgin come out to make the save, leading to…
IF SCUM WINS, CORINO BECOMES THE NEW COLOR COMMENTATOR AND ONE MEMBER OF SCUM WILL GET AN ROH WORLD TITLE SHOT, BUT IF ELGIN & LETHAL WIN, CORINO IS GONE FROM ROH FOREVER: Jay Lethal & Michael Elgin vs. SCUM (Cliff Compton & Jimmy Jacobs)- 4.75/10
The shine lasted WAY too long and ended when Jay Lethal went down with a leg injury. Major props to Jay as I was certain this was legit until Kevin Steen came out and Nigel let him substitute for Lethal. As a concept, I don’t like substitutions like this, but I think that the execution in this match was a big mistake. Steen coming out and getting a hot tag would have been great… except that Elgin was faring pretty damn well on his own against both members of SCUM (including some great feats of strength that will make your jaw drop). This is the main reason for the low rating: The shine lasted way too long and Elgin did so well by himself that SCUM really didn’t get much offense in at all.
R.D. EVANS PROMO- R.D. Evans & Q.T. Marshall come out and R.D. starts to cut a promo. He is interrupted by the fans Fandangoing, to which R.D. responds â€"what is that? The Canadian national anthem? What a horrible song!†R.D. says he thinks reDRagon should be stripped of the tag titles for not being here tonight. Evans is then interrupted again, this time by the return of Tommaso Ciampa! Ciampa goes after the heels and almost hit Ciampa with his big knee in the corner but Evans pulls Q.T. out of the ring and the heels bail.
Steve Corino came out and said that he had something big to do tonight, so he will start as commentator at tomorrow’s TV taping.
EDDIE EDWARDS vs. TAIJI ISHIMORI- 7.75/10
ROH TV TITLE MATCH: Matt Taven(c) (w/Truth Martini & the Hoopla Hotties) vs. Mark Briscoe-6/10
PAUL LONDON vs. DAVEY RICHARDS- 8.25/10
London’s still got it. Probably would have been even better if Davey hadn’t landed on London’s face with that double stomp.
ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Jay Briscoe(c) vs. Adam Cole- 8/10
An awesome match. Cole did a great job of working over Jay’s knee. There were points when I was sure Jay was going to lose. What I didn’t like was Corino distracting Cole by offering him a place in SCUM, and that leading (indirectly) to Jay retaining. What I did like (a lot!) was Nigel hitting Corino with the Tower of London!
After the match it looks like Cole is going to Superkick Jay, but instead he heads to the back angrily, not shaking Jay’s hand, either.
Overall, a great show from ROH, but the SCUM matches dragged it down, which is unfortunate, as I have been enjoying the angle so far.