Ring of Honor Wrestling 11/5/11
Davis Arena
Louisville, Kentucky

- The show opens to a recap video of last week’s match between Roderick Strong and Kyle O’Reilly, and the clusterfuck that happened afterwards. Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuiness run down tonight’s card, which includes a new tag team debuting in ROH in a Proving Ground match. Jim Cornette is also in the ring for an announcement.

- Cornette is here to announce the #1 contender to the ROH World Championship. After heavily putting Final Battle over, he calls out Eddie Edwards, wearing the exact same outfit he was wearing last week when he ran down to help Team Richards. Cornette says that New York is a “magic town” for Edwards, and that Final Battle is a magic night. Edwards says a lot of people have been asking him when Edwards vs. Richards III will be, and that they now know it’s going to be at Final Battle. He says nobody knows what would happen this time, as they both have a win apiece, but he knows what type of training Team Richards does and what kind of maniac Davey is, training in all sorts of martial arts. He says that that has made him reevaluate his own training, and that made him get a new trainer. Cornette asks who this new trainer is, but Edwards says he won’t reveal who it is right now, because that’s not the point of this interview.

Edwards says that he remembers that the last time they were in New York, Davey beat him for the ROH World Championship. He says that at Final Battle, there will be two Wolves in the ring, but there will only be one beast. That brings out Davey himself. Davey and Eddie shake, and Cornette asks Davey to comment on what Eddie had just said.

Richards says they’re going to this one more time, and puts over the title. He says that it’s only fitting that in the apparent Era of the American Wolves, they end the year with a bang, with Wolf vs. Wolf. He says they’re going to fight with honor and intensity. Before he finishes, though, he brings up the House of Truth and asks Eddie to team up with him again against them.

Edwards says that every time they would go out together as the Wolves, the fans would chant “next World champion.” He says they were right, but it was Edwards who was the first next World champ, and now the next time the fans chant that, Davey will know that the fans are talking about Eddie. Davey doesn’t look too happy about that sudden display of egoism, but hugs Eddie anyway to end the segment.

Thoughts: Interesting segment, very interesting. It looks like Eddie is going to turn heel on Davey in the Final Battle match itself, judging from the quiet shot he just took against Davey and the fact that he’s getting himself a new trainer (remember, Team Richards rides and dies together). They both talked an okay talk in this segment, but we all know what kind of match we’re going to get out of these two.

- Ad spot for Final Battle with the Briscoe Brothers.

- We get a recap video of Eddie Edwards vs. Michael Elgin from a few weeks ago before our first match.

- We then go to what seems to be a backstage segment with Truth Martini and Michael Elgin. Truth is trying to fire Elgin up by making him angry with the… truth about his family and Roderick Strong. The segment finishes up with the “God created all men equal” line. We then go to a quick video of Elgin’s opponent tonight, a guy named Shiloh Jonze, who says that he’s going to go up against the biggest star he’s ever faced in his career so far, and if he wins, he’s a star.

Match #1: “Unbreakable” Michael Elgin (with Truth Martini and Roderick Strong) vs. Shiloh Jonze

- No handshake here as Elgin quickly corners Jonze and hammers him down. The referee backs Elgin up, but Jonze walks out only to get rammed back into the corner with shoulder blocks. Elgin rains down blows on Jonze and Jonze is already reeling. Elgin sends Jonze to the opposite corner and misses a charge. Jonze tries to hit him with punches, but Elgin no-sells it and pushes him hard. Jonze tries to charge but gets flapjacked for his efforts.

Jonze gets back to the corner and Elgin smashes into him again, and rams his head into the opposite corner. Feels like they’ve been utilizing the corners way too much here, and it’s only been a minute. Elgin gets up to the second rope and hits a flying shoulder block for two. Elgin’s got a busted lip.

Elgin continues to dominate on offense, but Jonze is trying to fight back. Elgin sends him back to the corner yet again and hits a running forearm. Elgin sends him to the opposite corner and tries to hit it again, but Jonze gets in a boot to the face. Jonze tries to hit a tornado DDT off the second rope, but Elgin counters it into a deliberate running powerslam for two.

Elgin continues the offense and locks in the seated knee to the back, but Jonze fights out of it. Jonze clotheslines Elgin but doesn’t take him down, tries again and fails, and tries to go for a sunset flip pin but fails again. Elgin tries for a banzai drop but Jonze rolls out. Jonze hits a successful flying clothesline, but only gets a one count.

Jonze tries to whip Elgin, but to no avail. Elgin counters with a backhand. Elgin hits a Buckle Bomb and a spinning powerbomb for the pin and win.

Winner by pinfall: “Unbreakable” Michael Elgin, in 3:39

Thoughts: Basic squash, this “Jonze” fella never stood a chance. They were, however, already doing great the not allowing Jonze to take Elgin off his feet until the face’s failed comeback. There were better ways to portray a comeback without having to go to the top rope, especially since Shiloh Jonze wasn’t really going to get much of a shine anyway. But anyway, this was a good way to re-establish Elgin after Eddie Edwards basically hacked away at his character with his lack of psychology. Could’ve been better, though. 2 out of 5 stars.

- We still have a Proving Ground match for the main event.

- After the break, we have the Inside ROH segment. First is the Kevin Steen issue, confirming that the fans who’ve been chanting for Steen in previous weeks were plants. It turns out Kevin Steen is suing Jim Cornette, and we have a video of Kevin Steen’s legal team (who are clearly indy wrestlers all dressed up in suits) and Steen himself. The lead suit says Steen has filed a temporary injunction against Cornette, allowing him to return to ROH. Cornette is being accused of coercion, misrepresentation, fraud, and collusion with the referees to influence the outcome of a sporting event. If Cornette doesn’t offer a settlement within four weeks, Steen’s team is going to reveal details of his “questionable” business practices, and the only acceptable settlement is a full reinstatement to ROH. Steen speaks up now, saying that he’s doing things Cornette’s way, because he challenged Steen (at the last show) to sue him. He said that if he was doing things his way, he would just go down there and beat Cornette up. Steen also says Cornette is lucky he didn’t accuse him of slander because Cornette called him insane, while Steen says it’s just a different point of view. Steen says Cornette’s keeping him out of ROH because he’s a danger to the company, but Steen thinks he’s being kept out because he won’t lay down for Cornette. Steen says he’s coming back and not going away and that his legal team will make sure of it. Steen says he’s doing this because he’s sick of not being in the best wrestling company in the world. Steen says he’s coming back for people like Steve Corino, Jimmy Jacobs, and El Generico. Steen says he’s coming back to prove he’s the best, and he won’t stop until Cornette admits it, even if it takes him beating Davey Richards. Steen says that when he stands in front of Cornette as the World champ, Cornette will have to admit that Steen belongs in ROH.

Thoughts: That had to be the most unintentionally hilarious segment I’ve ever watched in ROH. It was an awkwardly-produced segment overall, because the production team and whoever wrote it overcomplicated what should’ve been a simple video statement. First, the “legal team” looked unbelievable except for the lead counselor. Second, the segment kept cutting to ridiculous and badly-acted close-ups of the legal team reacting to the things being said. Who the hell cares about the frigging ugly lawyers? If the close-ups were a good idea to begin with (they weren’t), they should’ve been all on Steen, who is the central focus of this segment, not these sewer rats in business suits! Third, Steen cut an awkward promo that ended up sounding like a face promo by the time it finished, but that’s not a bigger deal because he did say that it was a “different view on things.” Lastly, and definitely not the least, is ROH not aware that the WWE had just run a really similar storyline? At least they’re doing it different, but this terrible segment contributed no heat whatsoever on Kevin Steen’s part. Sorry, ROH, hire better writers.

- The second part of Inside ROH focuses on what happened at last week’s main event, with Mike Bennett refusing to go five more minutes with Jay Lethal. Bennett says he didn’t run away from Lethal because he already won the match. He said he was looking to the ref for a stoppage, but the distraction allowed Lethal to be lucky. Bennett says that if ROH was smart, they’d know that him being TV champ would triple the ratings, especially with the females. Bennett wants an immediate rematch with a different referee. Todd Sinclair says that he saw Lethal protecting himself, and that he asked him if he was done, to which Lethal said no. Sinclair says that he felt it was a good call, and that he doesn’t care if Bennett has a problem with it. Jay Lethal says that Bennett’s ego is so big he couldn’t see what really happened in the match. He said that his missed Macho Elbow did hurt and give Bennett a chance to capitalize, which he didn’t because he went to do a ground and pound. He said that he did what Bennett did and took that one chance he needed (the distraction). He said that he loudly said no when Sinclair asked him if he was giving up. He said that Bennett may have been on top of him (#pause) but he sure didn’t beat him.

Thoughts: Now this story is definitely intriguing, and definitely explains the strange goings-on in the match itself. Bennett’s logic is strange, though – if he insists that he already won, why ask for a rematch? Wouldn’t it make more sense if he was campaigning to be named the real TV champ? Although, what I have in mind is some line-blurring akin to what CM Punk did with his shoot. But anyway, I’m definitely interested in this. Let’s see where this goes.

- After the break, Cornette talks about the Proving Ground match. For those who missed it in the report last week, anyone may challenge a champion in a Proving Ground match. If the challengers win or outlast the champs in the 15-minute match, they get to have a title shot.

Main Event: Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander vs. Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin) in a Proving Ground match

- (37:28) The match begins after a commercial break. Both teams shake hands, which is refreshing to see after lots of non-shakes or sarcastic shakes. Shelton Benjamin and Caprice Coleman start the match for their teams. Benjamin and Coleman with a lock-up, with Shelton transitioning into a side headlock. Coleman forces Shelton to run to the ropes, and Shelton scores first with a shoulder block. They lock up again, and Shelton scores again with a side headlock takeover, still bridged into a headlock. Coleman with a headscissors, but Shelton gets out of it and reapplies the headlock. Coleman gets out and counters with a hammerlock, but Shelton reverses into his own, grounding Coleman with it. Coleman rolls through and reverses with a wristlock, but Shelton springboards and reverses into an arm drag to a cross armbreaker attempt, but Coleman gets to the rope. Good chain-wrestling sequence which would normally have garnered applause from the crowd, but the tired audience is silent.

Shelton sends Coleman to the ropes, and Coleman ducks a clothesline to hit a crossbody, but Shelton catches him. Shelton tried to go for a slam there but Coleman got out of it. Coleman tries to go for a rolling pin but Shelton holds on to the rope. Coleman sweeps Shelton’s legs and finally takes him down. Coleman goes for a shining wizard, but Shelton evades. Coleman runs but stops short of a kneeling Shelton, who’s selling amazement at the upstart rookie. *This* particular sequence elicited some applause.

Shelton claps a little and tags in Charlie. Charlie gets in there and quickly lifts Coleman with a slam. Charlie showing a little more energy here as he locks on a front headlock, rolling around and getting to his feet. Charlie shows a little more life on offense, battering Coleman more than Shelton did, taking him down with a wristlock. Coleman tries to fight back with kicks to the head and counters with a quick arm drag, and finally tags Alexander in, hitting a low dropkick and a leg drop to the head combo for two.

Alexander continues to build momentum as he hits a running kick to Charlie’s chest in the corner. Alexander continues his offense on Charlie on the ropes, and it’s near enough to allow Shelton the blind tag, which Alexander doesn’t see as he whips Charlie. Shelton mule kicks him from behind, and Charlie hits a boot as well for two.

Shelton with a leg lock, moving in closer to their corner to tag Charlie in. who goes to work on Alexander’s left leg. Alexander tries to fight back, but Charlie just keeps cutting him down through his leg. Charlie hits a leg snap from the second rope for two. Charlie reapplies the leg lock as the show goes to commercial.

After the break, Shelton is now in the ring with Alexander, who is on his feet and raining blows on him. Shelton fights back with strikes of his own and a kick to the chest to take Alexander down for a near fall. We see what happened during the break, which saw Alexander fighting back. Shelton in the present now with a rear naked choke on Alexander, but he quickly fights out of it. Alexander tries to tag Coleman in, but Shelton drags him away and to their own corner to tag Charlie in.

Charlie hits a kick to Alexander’s head, and continues to dominate on offense. Charlie with a stepover leglock, just putting the pressure on that left leg, but Alexander manages to get to the bottom rope. Charlie continues to work him over as Alexander just tries to fight back, but to not much avail. Charlie tried to go for what seemed to be an Angle Slam, but Alexander countered with a sunset flip pin for two.

Charlie continues to isolate Alexander from his partner, keeping him in the opposite corner. Alexander turns back a charge from Charlie, and manages to hit a tornado DDT from the second rope, which takes them both down, forcing the KO count to start. (That always seems to happen in an ROH main event.) Both men manage to get to their feet and finally tag their partners in.

Coleman gets some shots in on Shelton and tries to go for the Irish whip, but Shelton counters it into his own. Coleman rebounds with a sunset flip pin for two, and runs again to hit a leg lariat for a near fall. Shelton sends Coleman to the corner but Coleman evades. Shelton gets to the second rope only for Coleman to hit a frankensteiner. Alexander runs into the ring for a double team maneuver, but more bewildering editing as the broadcast inexplicably goes to a shot of a fan in the audience, completely missing the move. Coleman and Alexander hit a stereo baseball slide on Charlie on the outside. Coleman goes for another move, which is again glossed over by a quick cut to Charlie on the outside, and Coleman gets a two count. Three minutes left in the match.

Coleman and Alexander try to go for a double team move on Shelton, but Charlie pulls Alexander out of the ring. It’s WGTT’s turn to double team now as Shelton sends Coleman to get hit with a brutal German suplex from Charlie. Alexander gets in the ring only to be hit by a superkick from Shelton and their signature leapfrog attack. (Shelton did not completely clear Charlie’s head on the jump.) WGTT hits Wrestling’s Greatest Finisher on Coleman (with a little subtle tribute to JBL) for the pin and win, with a little under two minutes to spare.

Winner by pinfall: Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team, in 10:41

Thoughts: Decent TV main event, but the silent, tired crowd really hurt it. There was decent action going on between both teams, and I loved the distinct roles both teams played: Coleman and Alexander as the upstart rookie team with something to prove, and WGTT as the wizened veteran team who just had all the answers, even though this is their first meeting. Despite that, though, Coleman and Alexander weren’t given as much time to shine, but from what I saw, they seem to have some potential as a solid team, even though they don’t look like much. I’d like to see more of them. 2.5 stars out of 5.

- After the match, both teams shake hands and hug again. The Briscoes come down, and Jay has a mic. Jay congratulates Haas and Benjamin for beating the newest rookies on the roster. Jay just reiterates that they’ll be facing WGTT for the titles at Final Battle, and they’ll be 7-time champs after that.

- Next week, the American Wolves face the House of Truth. The show ends on that note.

Overall Thoughts: After last week’s being the best episode so far, the show takes a step back by returning to the formula they used prior to the previous episode. I get that they have to advance so many storylines in so little time, but there really isn’t much to like about the videos they keep relying on. We had one squash match, one so-so tag main event, and one ridiculous video segment, all which don’t really add up to much. I did enjoy the tag match and the development of a new feud for the TV title, but you get the feeling that there is always time for another short match, which they proved with the previous episode. Lastly, taping three shows’ worth in one venue in 1-2 days is really taking a toll on the audience, and in turn the match quality; if this continues you can easily predict that the crowd will be dead in every third show. A good maximum should be two one-hour shows worth of footage in one taping, to keep the crowd energetic. All in all, a ho-hum episode this week. B-

Source: lordsofpain.net