By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

Ring of Honor TV Report
May 23, 2009 - Week 10 on HDNet
Taped 4/10 in Philadelphia, Pa.

After the opening video package, the show started with table in center ring. Cue up the Wolfpack music, then Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards of the American Wolves hit the ring withe Shane Hagadorn following them from behind. Davey chuckled to himself thinking about putting Steen & Generico through a table last week. Transition into plugging an ROH tag title match against them in a tables match.

Steen and Generico then stormed the ring to chase the Wolves, but Hagadorn was left in the ring. Hagadorn tried to beg off the inevitable table blow. Steen said they're not like the Wolves. They don't put poor bastards through a table. He ripped Hagadorn's sweater vest, which prompted Dave Prazak to point out on commentary that Steen and Generico aren't exactly fashion-conscious. (They were wearing generic t-shirts and basketball shorts that looked like they came from Walmart.) Steen then put Hagadorn through a table for good measure to put an exclamation mark on the segment. Steen and Generico left with their tag title belts and vowed to put the Wolves through some tables.

Four-way title preview: Mike Hogewood broke down the four-way ROH Title match in two weeks with Lynn defending against Aries, Danielson, and Black.

On-camera: Hogewood and Prazak talked about ROH president Cary Silken and ROH ambassador Ric Flair booking a tables match for next week's ROH Tag Title match.

Jerry Lynn video: Lynn did a sit-down interview talking about studying more video tape for his three opponents to scout them. He said Austin Aries is a little shady, and he's learned from Ric Flair being the dirtiest player in the game in the past to know what to expect from Aries. Lynn said he's not getting any younger and these young guys are trying to climb the ladder toward him.

In-ring: Kenny King came out for the first match of the night. Three-way dance. Kenny Omega came out second and did a Ryu fireball move from Street Fighter. I'm guessing that's what that was. Jay Briscoe then came out with still-injured Mark Briscoe.

1 -- KENNY KING vs. KENNY OMEGA vs. JAY BRISCOE (w/Mark Briscoe)

Omega wanted sportsmanship. "It's no fun without sportsmanship!" Omega said kind of tongue-in-cheek. Jay then slapped him and the bell sounded. Match quickly moved to the floor where King landed a twisting splash onto the other two on the floor. Back in the ring, King mocked the crowd's "Omega, Omega" chants before going to work on Sportsmanship. After Jay and King went after each other, Omega recovered and landed a sweet double huracanrana. Omega did too much unsportsmanlike celebrating and Jay cut him off with a huge clothesline.

Jay was bleeding from the forehead, then King caught him by surprise with a springboard Blockbuster for a two count. Camera focused in on the deep gash over Jay's left eye causing the bleeding. King then went up top, but Omega cut him off. He nailed a sick backstabber off the turnbuckle, then Jay tried to score the pin, but Omega broke it up. Jay and Omega had a standing exchange, then Jay called for a top rope move. King cut him off, though, and Jay spilled to the outside. King high-stepped in the ring before talking trash to Omega. He wanted a torture rack backbreaker, but Omega countered into a sunset flip with a bridge for the pin and the win.

WINNER: Omega in 10:00. Excellent three-way TV match. Really nice sequence of spots and a good story of Unsportsmanlike Conduct eventually costing King the victory. One of the better HDNet matches I've watched, as it held my attention throughout. (***)

In-ring: Irish Airborne (Dave & Jake) came to the ring to get a whooping from the Dark City Fight Club.

2 -- DARK CITY FIGHT CLUB (JON DAVIS & KORY CHAVIS) vs. IRISH AIRBORNE (DAVE & JAKE CRIST)

Irish wanted Sportsmanship, but DCFC smacked them across the face instead. Texas Tornado-style action broke out with Chavis taking a double-team move until Davis landed the Monty Brown Pounce on both Irishmen to knock them across the ring. Club then cornered Dave and they landed a double-team legsweep and clothesline. Awesome. Jake wanted to get some, but he took a double-team sit-out powerbomb and neckbreaker for the pin and the win.

WINNERS: Dark City in 2:00. More credible competition on HDNet for The Club, but still need more competition to truly evaluate their worth in the tag division.

Backstage: Kyle Durden brought in Necro Butcher and Delirious to talk about tonight's main event. Willy Nelson...er...Necro talked about Jimmy Jacobs's psycho babble that he finally saw through, then Delirious saw through it too. Delirious said something about being brainwashed. hgiggh9shg9shfsd0g08sg. Out of control. Eeh.

[Commercial Break]

Next week: Who will win the ROH tag title match between Steen & Generico and the American Wolves?

Backstage: Durden brought in Jimmy Jacobs and Brodie Lee to talk about the TV main event. Jacobs said he'll go ahead and psycho-analyze both Delirious and Necro. He said without a leader, they're both lost. They run into a brick wall over and over again, personified by Brodie Lee. Jacobs said Delirious is fighting in vain and someone is going to get hurt.

Four-way video preview: Hogewood narrated a clip of Bryan Danielson in action before they cut to a sit-down interview with Danielson to talk about the ROH Title match in two weeks. Danielson said he's training with Randy Couture's camp five hours per day and he wants to make sure his cardio is never in question and his kick strikes will always blister someone. Danielson said his goal in a four-way is to neutralize two guys then force another man to submit. His job is take away Black's high-flying, Aries's kicks and brainbuster, and Lynn's cradle piledriver. Danielson said when he was champ, he defended the belt more than anyone else in the company's history.

Inset promo: Chris Hero gave today's weather forecast of boots and elbows. Hero said Eddie Kingston wants to get his hands on him, but that won't happen tonight. ... Hero then came to the ring with Sara Del Rey. ... Inset promo from Kingston basically shot down Hero's points. ... Back to the ring where Kingston charged the ring, then chased Hero around the ring, then back into the ring.

3 -- CHRIS HERO (w/Sara Del Rey) vs. EDDIE KINGSTON

Crowd hot for Kingston when the bell sounded to officially start the match. Hero and Kingston chased each other around the ring with Sara offering some help for Hero to gain the advantage. Hero then rolled up Eddie in the ring mat and landed a running senton splash on the Eddie sandwich. Back in the ring, Hero kicked him in the head and Eddie asked for another. Hero obliged and Eddie fell to the mat selling pain. Prazak said Hero is normally accompanied by Sara and Hagadorn, but Hagadorn was incapacitated in the opening segment. (Apparently Larry Sweeney has achieved Randy Savage super-do-not-ever-mention status.)

Kingston continued to ask for a beating, so Hero kept kicking him. Kingston shook off repeated blows before taking an elbow strike to the head. Kingston shook it off, then landed a boot of his own. Kingston scored with a swinging DDT, then both men recovered on the mat. Kingston landed a back-drop driver before landing repeated forearm blows in the corner. Ref gave him a five count, but Eddie kept pounding and pounding before DQ'ing Eddie. Eddie then reared back and blasted ref Todd Sinclair, much to the pleasure of the anti-Sinclair ROH audience.

WINNER: Hero via DQ in 6:00. I really enjoy watching Kingston wrestle because he carries himself like a big man who doesn't need to sell every single move from an opponent. He really builds up tension by no-selling like a Morishima or Sasaki with his big frame. Definitely would like to see a future re-match on ROH TV down the road. Kingston has been a stand-out performer with only two appearances on ROH TV thus far. (**)

One week ago: Claudio Castagnoli beat Brent Albright with help from The Embassy. Nice flashback to follow-up on last week's TV main event. Colt Cabana made the save for Albright.

Backstage: Durden brought in Albright to follow-up on the match. Albright said Claudio and he had a war last week, but he got with a shoe just as he had Claudio beat. Albright then brought in Cabana to thank him for the save. Cabana said he just wants to put a smile on Albright's face. Nana and Ernie ruined his return to ROH, so he's going to have Albright's back now to get back at the Embassy. "Who throws a shoe? Huh?!" Cabana asked.

Next week: They showed a graphic for Wolves vs. Steen & Generico next week for the ROH tag titles in a tables match. Hog and Prazak then recapped the opening segment to set up next week's title match.

In-ring: Jimmy Jacobs and Brodie Lee came out first for the TV main event. The old-school ECW TV intro cued up and out came Necro and Delirious. One my all-time fave theme musics. Just fit ECW perfectly back in the day.

4 -- NECRO BUTCHER & DELIRIOUS vs. JIMMY JACOBS & BRODIE LEE

With both teams kinda near the ring, the match kinda started with a TNA PPV main event brawl around the ring. They went to a split-screen to show Necro against Lee and Jacobs against Delirious. Jacobs and Delirious finally made it into the ring to officially start the match while Necro and Brodie continued to fight on the floor. Everyone ended up on the floor except for Delirious, who went up top for a flip dive onto Lee and Jacobs. Necro then introduced three chairs into the ring. Apparently he wanted to play Musical Chairs. Jacobs and Lee had other ideas, as they double-suplexed Necro over the top rope clear to the floor. Ouch on the back. Just a cringe-inducing spot on the replay.

At 5:00, Lee and Jacobs worked on Delirious with Necro KO'ed on the floor. Delirious tried to fight back, but Lee brick-walled him. Suddenly, Jacobs picked up Delirious as Lee was going for an elbow drop, which meant Lee ate the ring mat thanks to Jacobs. That was a hilarious not-so-good moment in tag team wrestling history. Jacobs tried to make a cover on Delirious, but he kicked out twice on one counts. "One?! One?!" Jacobs asked. Crowd was stunned. How dare there not be a nearfall. Meanwhile, Necro was still out cold on the floor.

At 10:00, Necro finally re-entered the ring and chopped Brodie, but Jimmy re-entered with a cheap plastic bag in his hand. Jacobs spilled some thumbtacks on the mat and bare-foot Necro stepped in them before throwing Jacobs to the floor. Necro scooped up some of the tacks and threw them into Lee's face. He then slammed Lee into the tacks before Delirious came off the top with a Shadows over Hell splash for the pin and the win. Hog reminded us that good always conquers evil. Necro and Delirious celebrated post-match to close this week's episode. Cue up the old-school ECW TV theme.

WINNERS: Delirious & Necro in 11:00. Actually, a good TV main event. I usually don't have high expectations for this combination or these types of brawling matches, but this was surprisingly good. Everything came up golden on this week's TV. (**1/2)

One last plug: Next week, it's Steenerico vs. Wolves for the ROH Tag Titles. Tune in for tables action. Also, check out Ric Flair at the next ROH TV tapings on May 29 and Flair in Va. on June 12 and Flair in NYC on June 13.

Overall Thoughts: Easily ROH's best episode of HDNet TV. This felt like a much more organized episode of TV with a focus on last week's events to follow-up on the previous TV main event, plus a very good opening match, plus great hype for next week's tag title main event and the ROH Title match in two weeks. Even Hogewood was vastly improved with a more subdued approach to calling the action.

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