ROh Caged Hostility
ROH Caged Hostility (9/8/2012)- Charlotte, NC
JAY LETHAL vs. ADAM PAGE- 6.75/10
Before the match Lethal came out and cut a promo saying that he kicked Matt Taven in the groin at the recent TV tapings because Jim Cornette had told him that he wasn’t mean enough to beat Kevin Steen. Lethal says that Cornette will be deciding who gets an ROH World Title match at next month’s show in Rahway, NJ (which Lethal says is his home town) based on people’s performance on tonight’s show. He apologizes to Adam Page for having to â€"destroy†him tonight. Page then cut a promo saying that tonight he was going to prove that he belonged in ROH.
During the match, both men did just what they said they were going to do. Lethal just went straight after Page and didn’t go for the fan-pleasing moves he usually does. He also went for a few moves on the apron. Page, for his part, showed that he belonged in ROH just by hanging in there with a guy like Jay Lethal. A great opener.
VEDA SCOTT INTERVIEWS QT MARSHALL- QT tells Veda â€"you probably think I’m naked under here,†and Veda, who has always been portrayed as a nice, sweet, straight-laced girl… tries to check out QT’s butt. Yeah. Of all of the wrestlers in the company, Veda tries to check out QT Marshall. She also looked disappointed when QT said that he didn’t want to get with her.
QT MARSHALL vs. MIKE MONDO- 5/10
You could go through the entire history of ROH and I don’t think you’ll be able to find two wrestlers who I want to see less than these two. That being said, this match actually turned out to be quite entertaining. It was certainly better than I expected (though considering that my expectation was to be bored to sleep within the first two minutes, that’s not too hard). I guess this is a case of two negatives being multiplied together to make a positive. Mondo was quite over with the crowd, too, which really helped things. For those of you who are afraid I have gone soft on Mondo, one spot I must point out saw Mondo try to grab QT’s arm for an Irish whip or something… and just kind of fell down in the process. I rewound this at least four times to try and come up with some possible explanation for why Mondo would have fallen down here, but I can’t come up with one other than he is just a klutz.
VEDA SCOTT INTERVIEWS THE BRAVADO BROTHERS- It was painfully obvious that this was taped on a bed in a hotel room, and the Bravados have these huge smiles on their faces... and it looked for all the world like the Bravados had just double teamed Veda. Apparently they didn’t, though, as Veda kept brushing their hands off of her shoulder.
THE BRAVADO BROTHERS vs. CAPRICE COLEMAN & CEDRIC ALEXANDER- 7.25/10
The Bravados got a HUGE pop here. More than Coleman and Alexander, even. I thought that the whole point of booking the Bravados against Coleman and Alexander (another team from North Carolina) when they came to Charlotte was so the Bravados would get booed like the heels they are!
Lots of action in this match. The crowd was into all four hometown guys.
DAVEY RICHARDS PROMO- he says some personal stuff, then says he is here to watch one particular match. We all knew which match he was talking about, so why not just say which one it was?
MIKE POSEY vs. JEFF NEAL-3.75/10
During this match, Kevin Kelly tells us that, among other things â€"referees know the rules inside and out.†This special report has been brought to you by the Department of DUUUUHHHHHH!
The match itself was fine for the time it was given, but neither man did anything that gives me a burning desire to see them again. After the match they are assaulted by SCUM.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Steen cuts a promo saying that, because Cornette isn’t here, he has decided to cancel tonight’s main event to ensure that he doesn’t get injured before his title defense against Rhino next week. Not sure how he is allowed to do that, but let’s go with it. Steen then says that SCUM will now show the fans a sample of what they would have done to Rhett and the Briscoes if there was going to be a main event. They go to kill one of the nobodies from the match but Rhett comes out to make the save. Rhett takes out Jimmy Jacobs but is then taken out by Steen and Corino. The Briscoes then come out and make the save and ROH Officials assure us that tonight’s main event will happen, and tell Steen that he will be fined $5,000 if he doesn’t compete.
VEDA SCOTT INTERVIEWS THE HOUSE OF TRUTH- good
Roddy says that he is back with the House of Truth for now, but if something happens that he doesn’t like, he will go right back to being on strike.
WRESTLING’S GREATEST TAG TEAM vs. THE HOUSE OF TRUTH (Roderick Strong & Michael Elgin) (w/Truth Martini)- 4.5/10
Roddy was a jerk to Elgin early on in the match so Elgin doesn’t save Roddy when he is locked in the Haas of Pain.
ADAM COLE PROMO- Cole says â€"every night we tug up†instead of â€"every night we tagged.†While this does suddenly make Kyle’s turning on him seem a lot more personal, I think I’d rather have remained ignorant of Future Shock’s private-time activities. Other than that, a decent promo.
PROVING GROUND MATCH: ROH TV Champion Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly- 7.25/10
The spots didn’t feel like they flowed together well at times, but still a great match.
STEEL CAGE MATCH: Rhett Titus & The Briscoes vs. SCUM (Jimmy Jacobs, Steve Corino, & Kevin Steen)- 6/10
They started off brawling on the outside and Mark wound up getting locked out of the cage. When he tried to climb in, he wound up get getting pushed off and falling through a table at ringside. A fan handed a ref a beer to give to Mark to try to revive him… it almost worked. Mark eventually did revive himself via drinking beer. This comedy spot had no place in a steel cage grudge match.
So Mark hasn’t been in the ring yet, but somehow the match officially started and the ref is counting pins. Mark actually wasn’t necessary, as Jay and Rhett often managed to get the better of all three members of SCUM without Mark’s help. Mark eventually managed to scale the cage and hit a moonsault press off the top onto SCUM. The babyfaces pick up the win shortly thereafter. This was extremely disappointing. Easily the worst steel cage match in ROH history.
The heels then got up and attacked the babyfaces… but they didn’t jump them from behind or anything like that. They just each walked up to a babyface and punched him right in the face. They then took the babyfaces out with shots with the ROH World Title belt. The heels then headed backstage, but were jumped from behind by Jay Lethal. While taking on three men by yourself is certainly courageous, it becomes a lot less courageous when you do it from behind, and when you are fresh but they have just gone through a grueling, bloody cage match.
This whole thing was so poorly booked it is astounding. Having one of the Briscoes get the pin helps no one. Either have the heels go over or give the pin to Rhett, who will benefit from it (you can use it to set up a title shot for Rhett). Then if the heels win you don’t have to make the babyfaces look like dorks by just having the heels beat them up afterwards by punching them in the face. Then the supposedly face Jay Lethal attacks the tired, exhausted heels from behind (as opposed to the heels, who faced the babyfaces like honorable men before attacking them). Possibly the worst part about this, though, is that the thing that they did with Lethal here felt like the exact same thing they did less than two months ago with Rhett Titus at Brew City Beatdown (which is what got Rhett his spot in this match in the first place)!
JAY BRISCOE PROMO- barely coherent.
JAY LETHAL PROMO- apparently Jay has just found out he is getting an ROH World Title match next month in his home town in New Jersey. This started out great but dragged on for way too long.
A bad show by ROH standards. One of their worst that I can remember seeing (though not even in the top three worst ROH shows of 2012). Thank G-d the Cornette Era ended the next month
JAY LETHAL vs. ADAM PAGE- 6.75/10
Before the match Lethal came out and cut a promo saying that he kicked Matt Taven in the groin at the recent TV tapings because Jim Cornette had told him that he wasn’t mean enough to beat Kevin Steen. Lethal says that Cornette will be deciding who gets an ROH World Title match at next month’s show in Rahway, NJ (which Lethal says is his home town) based on people’s performance on tonight’s show. He apologizes to Adam Page for having to â€"destroy†him tonight. Page then cut a promo saying that tonight he was going to prove that he belonged in ROH.
During the match, both men did just what they said they were going to do. Lethal just went straight after Page and didn’t go for the fan-pleasing moves he usually does. He also went for a few moves on the apron. Page, for his part, showed that he belonged in ROH just by hanging in there with a guy like Jay Lethal. A great opener.
VEDA SCOTT INTERVIEWS QT MARSHALL- QT tells Veda â€"you probably think I’m naked under here,†and Veda, who has always been portrayed as a nice, sweet, straight-laced girl… tries to check out QT’s butt. Yeah. Of all of the wrestlers in the company, Veda tries to check out QT Marshall. She also looked disappointed when QT said that he didn’t want to get with her.
QT MARSHALL vs. MIKE MONDO- 5/10
You could go through the entire history of ROH and I don’t think you’ll be able to find two wrestlers who I want to see less than these two. That being said, this match actually turned out to be quite entertaining. It was certainly better than I expected (though considering that my expectation was to be bored to sleep within the first two minutes, that’s not too hard). I guess this is a case of two negatives being multiplied together to make a positive. Mondo was quite over with the crowd, too, which really helped things. For those of you who are afraid I have gone soft on Mondo, one spot I must point out saw Mondo try to grab QT’s arm for an Irish whip or something… and just kind of fell down in the process. I rewound this at least four times to try and come up with some possible explanation for why Mondo would have fallen down here, but I can’t come up with one other than he is just a klutz.
VEDA SCOTT INTERVIEWS THE BRAVADO BROTHERS- It was painfully obvious that this was taped on a bed in a hotel room, and the Bravados have these huge smiles on their faces... and it looked for all the world like the Bravados had just double teamed Veda. Apparently they didn’t, though, as Veda kept brushing their hands off of her shoulder.
THE BRAVADO BROTHERS vs. CAPRICE COLEMAN & CEDRIC ALEXANDER- 7.25/10
The Bravados got a HUGE pop here. More than Coleman and Alexander, even. I thought that the whole point of booking the Bravados against Coleman and Alexander (another team from North Carolina) when they came to Charlotte was so the Bravados would get booed like the heels they are!
Lots of action in this match. The crowd was into all four hometown guys.
DAVEY RICHARDS PROMO- he says some personal stuff, then says he is here to watch one particular match. We all knew which match he was talking about, so why not just say which one it was?
MIKE POSEY vs. JEFF NEAL-3.75/10
During this match, Kevin Kelly tells us that, among other things â€"referees know the rules inside and out.†This special report has been brought to you by the Department of DUUUUHHHHHH!
The match itself was fine for the time it was given, but neither man did anything that gives me a burning desire to see them again. After the match they are assaulted by SCUM.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Steen cuts a promo saying that, because Cornette isn’t here, he has decided to cancel tonight’s main event to ensure that he doesn’t get injured before his title defense against Rhino next week. Not sure how he is allowed to do that, but let’s go with it. Steen then says that SCUM will now show the fans a sample of what they would have done to Rhett and the Briscoes if there was going to be a main event. They go to kill one of the nobodies from the match but Rhett comes out to make the save. Rhett takes out Jimmy Jacobs but is then taken out by Steen and Corino. The Briscoes then come out and make the save and ROH Officials assure us that tonight’s main event will happen, and tell Steen that he will be fined $5,000 if he doesn’t compete.
VEDA SCOTT INTERVIEWS THE HOUSE OF TRUTH- good
Roddy says that he is back with the House of Truth for now, but if something happens that he doesn’t like, he will go right back to being on strike.
WRESTLING’S GREATEST TAG TEAM vs. THE HOUSE OF TRUTH (Roderick Strong & Michael Elgin) (w/Truth Martini)- 4.5/10
Roddy was a jerk to Elgin early on in the match so Elgin doesn’t save Roddy when he is locked in the Haas of Pain.
ADAM COLE PROMO- Cole says â€"every night we tug up†instead of â€"every night we tagged.†While this does suddenly make Kyle’s turning on him seem a lot more personal, I think I’d rather have remained ignorant of Future Shock’s private-time activities. Other than that, a decent promo.
PROVING GROUND MATCH: ROH TV Champion Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly- 7.25/10
The spots didn’t feel like they flowed together well at times, but still a great match.
STEEL CAGE MATCH: Rhett Titus & The Briscoes vs. SCUM (Jimmy Jacobs, Steve Corino, & Kevin Steen)- 6/10
They started off brawling on the outside and Mark wound up getting locked out of the cage. When he tried to climb in, he wound up get getting pushed off and falling through a table at ringside. A fan handed a ref a beer to give to Mark to try to revive him… it almost worked. Mark eventually did revive himself via drinking beer. This comedy spot had no place in a steel cage grudge match.
So Mark hasn’t been in the ring yet, but somehow the match officially started and the ref is counting pins. Mark actually wasn’t necessary, as Jay and Rhett often managed to get the better of all three members of SCUM without Mark’s help. Mark eventually managed to scale the cage and hit a moonsault press off the top onto SCUM. The babyfaces pick up the win shortly thereafter. This was extremely disappointing. Easily the worst steel cage match in ROH history.
The heels then got up and attacked the babyfaces… but they didn’t jump them from behind or anything like that. They just each walked up to a babyface and punched him right in the face. They then took the babyfaces out with shots with the ROH World Title belt. The heels then headed backstage, but were jumped from behind by Jay Lethal. While taking on three men by yourself is certainly courageous, it becomes a lot less courageous when you do it from behind, and when you are fresh but they have just gone through a grueling, bloody cage match.
This whole thing was so poorly booked it is astounding. Having one of the Briscoes get the pin helps no one. Either have the heels go over or give the pin to Rhett, who will benefit from it (you can use it to set up a title shot for Rhett). Then if the heels win you don’t have to make the babyfaces look like dorks by just having the heels beat them up afterwards by punching them in the face. Then the supposedly face Jay Lethal attacks the tired, exhausted heels from behind (as opposed to the heels, who faced the babyfaces like honorable men before attacking them). Possibly the worst part about this, though, is that the thing that they did with Lethal here felt like the exact same thing they did less than two months ago with Rhett Titus at Brew City Beatdown (which is what got Rhett his spot in this match in the first place)!
JAY BRISCOE PROMO- barely coherent.
JAY LETHAL PROMO- apparently Jay has just found out he is getting an ROH World Title match next month in his home town in New Jersey. This started out great but dragged on for way too long.
A bad show by ROH standards. One of their worst that I can remember seeing (though not even in the top three worst ROH shows of 2012). Thank G-d the Cornette Era ended the next month