LEAHY'S INDEPENDENT WRESTLING DVD REVIEW SERIES
ROH's “No Escape”
July 9, 2011
Charlotte, N.C.
By Brian Leahy, PWTorch specialist

Following a pitiful showing at “Tag Team Turmoil 2011,” Ring of Honor put together a marginally more satisfying card the following night in Charlotte at their “No Escape” DVD taping. (DVD info at ROHWrestling.com .)

Named for the headline cage match featuring the blow-off to Roderick Strong vs. El Generico, “No Escape” had a handful of mildly entertaining (if totally forgettable and sometimes infuriating) matches on the undercard combined with an occasional flash of brilliance.

- The show got off to a surprisingly enjoyable start as Mike Bennett took on Andy “Right Leg” Ridge in the opener. Ridge looked sharp in only his second ROH singles bout since his unsuccessful run in the inaugural, and quickly forgotten, “ROH Trail Series” back in 2010. His quick movement and believable underdog offense proved a suitable spoil to “The Prodigy,” who overpowered him at every turn, but looked appropriately vulnerable when caught unaware. At this point in his ROH tenure, Bennett was well-served in opening bouts like this, where the crowd was happy to get on his back, and allow him to get the most out of his limited offense. After some flash pin attempts from Ridge, Bennett hit his Piledriver for the win, putting him back on track after dual losses the night previous.

- In matches 2 and 3, The Briscoes faced the All Night Express in singles “grudge” matches where the non-participants were handcuffed to opposite ringposts before each match. Kenny King and Mark Briscoe kicked off the grudge series with Titus and Jay handcuffed at ringside. Shockingly, the handcuffs didn’t seem to hinder the levels of interference in this one, as both Titus and Jay got involved at points while still cuffed to their respective posts. Much like the ANX singles bouts the night before, the action was clean, but lacked real heat, which seems to be a persistent issue when it comes to both members of the ANX. The finish came when King dropped Mark with The Coronation allowing ANX 1a to score the win over Briscoe 1b.

Following some pleasantries, both teams swapped places allowing Jay and Rhett to begin their match, which suffered from the same issues as the first. The elder Briscoe dominated much of the proceedings, but when repeated pinfall attempts failed to yield a positive result, Jay produced a pair of boltcutters to free Mark, despite some dramatic pleading from the ringside referee. Mark and Jay wailed on Titus, as the official called for the DQ. In a case of terrible editing, the camera switched to King at ringside who looked on in concern and tugged at the handcuffs in a meek attempt to free himself. Todd Sinlcair stood two feet away, boltcutters in hand, and repeatedly made some motions towards cutting King loose, only for King to stop him. Why did King do this? Presumably he had gotten word through some other channel that Hass and Benjamin were on their way, but judging by the time it took them to come out to make the save they must have gotten stuck in traffic. And, so after 20 minutes of action, absolutely nothing was resolved and ROH officials and wrestlers alike were made to look like idiots.

- The extended Davey Richards wrestling family was on-show and on-form in the fourth bout to raise the high watermark. Hot on the heels of a tournament win at the Tag Team Contenders Lottery, Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly faced the American Wolves in a “dream match” of sorts. The action here was good, really good, as the junior team was afforded levels of offense not seen against other duos in their time in ROH. The levels of familiarity between the four seemed high and the action flowed nicely, but not so much that the action seemed choreographed. Down the home straight, the action broke down with an extended sequence of kick-outs and saves, but with a running time of 20 minutes or so, it didn’t feel like they overkilled on the false finishes.

The finish itself was nicely executed with Edwards applying the Achilles lock to O’Reilly and repeatedly kicking him in the head. As Sinclair signalled for a bell that never rang, Edwards maintained his grip until eventually relinquishing it. Richards didn’t seem to believe Die Hard’s story, despite Eddie pleading his innocence, and so the seeds of dissention between the Wolves were set.

- In the most predictable match of the night, Coleman & Alexander secured victory over Michael Elgin & H.O.T try-out/designated jobber Chase Owens. The action was decent, and the match booking served a few purposes, but the names involved meant the bout was of little consequence. Coleman and Alexander looked good here, and got in some impressive offense, but following his fine showing in the main event of the last show, Elgin should have been allowed a bigger stage than a popcorn tag bout.

- Chris Hero and Colt Cabana put on a disappointing bout in the third match from the top. Going into this one, I had high hopes for a well-wrestled singles contest, but it amounted to little more than some stalling and by-the-numbers offense from both. On any other night, in any other promotion, this could well have been really good, but with neither having anything to gain, they slipped into third gear and let it run for 15 minutes. In fairness, their trades were clean, but with no story to tell, they struggled to fill the time and keep the crowd engaged. After interference from Shane Hagadorn at ringside, Hero booted Cabana in the face for the pinfall. What exactly necessitated the unclean finish is completely unclear, but served to weaken the impact of the match even further.

- In non-title action, The Bravados took on World's Greatest Tag Team in another waste of time, which thankfully only lasted about five minutes. Amounting to little more than a squash, Hass and Benjamin cruised through Lance and Harlem in typically uninspired action. Regardless of whether ROH was paying The WGTT by the minute, or Hass and Benjamin are on guaranteed money, nothing excuses rolling them out in worthless matches like this.

- ROH has a long history of delivering top-quality cage matches to blow off grudges. Over the years, Black and Jacobs, Jacobs and Whitmer, Punk and Rave, Homicide and Daniels, and Jay Briscoe and Samoa Joe and many more settled their feuds between the mesh in sometimes bloody, and most-often enthralling bouts. Did Generico and Strong come close to any of those matches? Probably not, but they did put on a good showing for the N.C. crowd. Strong dominated much of the early going, putting heat on Generico for his well-timed comeback spots. Down the home straight, the exchanges became less one-sided, as Roderick hit some trademark offense while the “Generic Luchador” tried to set up Strong for his turnbuckle brainbuster. Generico succeeded in hitting that very move, once Truth Martini had been neutralized (so much for the cage), and secured a popular win to end the feud.

Overall

“No Escape” didn’t exactly blow me away, and other than the main event and the big tag team match, there wasn’t a ton of action worth watching on the card. I think it’s fair to say that ROH had a problem with their undercard at this point, lacking fresh match-ups and fresh talent, hindered further by uninspired booking. Another issue is it’s hard to say that anything that happened on this card had any significance beyond the night, and save for what happened at the end of the American Wolves match, everything seemed to be quickly forgotten. For those reasons, it’s probably best left alone (6.5)

Notable Match Star Ratings

Mike Bennett vs. Andy Ridge **1/2
The American Wolves vs. Cole & O’Reilly ****
Chris Hero vs. Colt Cabana **1/2
Roderick Strong vs. El Generico ***3/4

Contact Brian via twitter (@cobyhectic)

[Torch photo credit Wade Keller (c) PWTorch.com]

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