Ring of Honor TV Report
August 24, 2009
Taped June 20 in Philadelphia, Pa.
Report by Mike DeRosenroll, Torch ROH specialist

The show opened with a video recap of the fans turning on Jerry Lynn and Lynn subsequently losing the ROH World Title to Austin Aries.

Mike Hogwood and Dave Prazak introduced the show. They hyped Jerry Lynn's forthcoming announcement on his future in professional wrestling and the main event match between Aries and Roderick Strong.

1 - KEVIN STEEN & EL GENERICO vs. SAMI CALLIHAN & TONY KOZINA

Kozina set a comedic tone for the match by deliberately tripping as he entered the ring. As Steen and Generico made their way to the ring, Hogwood and Prazak talked about their feud with ROH World Tag Team Champions the American Wolves. The announcers said that Steen and Generico needed to win here to get another shot at the American Wolves, and mentioned some of the other contenders in the tag team division, including the Young Bucks and the Briscoe Brothers.

Generico and Steen took an early advantage, but Callihan interfered illegally to give his side the advantage at 2:00 minutes. Callihan and Kozina got a bit of offence in before Steen picked both of them up on his shoulders at the same time and delivered a double Samoan drop. This set up Kozina for Steen and Generico's package piledriver-into-brainbuster combination finisher.

WINNERS: Steen and Generico in 5:30. Decent enhancement match to build up Steen and Generico as contenders in the tag team division.

Backstage, Kyle Durden interviewed Roderick Strong about his upcoming non-title match with Aries. Strong listed all the top wrestlers he has beaten lately and said that tonight he would prove that himself worthy of a title shot. This basic promo was about as good as you can get from Roderick Strong, who is a great in-ring worker but a below-average promo. ROH smartly kept it short and sweet to establish what would be at stake for Strong in the main event without overexposing him on the microphone.

2 - D'LO BROWN vs. JOHN KERMAN

Kerman did not get a ring entrance, signaling that this would be a squash match. Brown got all the offense, and could have pinned Kerman on a couple of occasions but chose not to. Ultimately, Brown finished off Kerman with his sky high finisher off the ropes. Hogwood said that he would like to see how Brown does against stronger opposition.

WINNER: Brown in 3:00. Just a chance for Brown to establish his arrogant heel persona and a couple of his moves.

After the match, Durden came to the ring with a microphone and asked Brown what he thought of the locker room rumor that Jerry Lynn was going to retire. Brown got angry that this was the first time Durden had interviewed him and all he wanted to ask Brown about was Lynn. Brown grabbed the microphone from Durden and told him to "get stepping.'" Durden scurried to the back. Brown then cut a promo on Lynn in which he said that Lynn should retire because he had just celebrated his 65th birthday, and that he hoped Lynn would shrivel up and die so that there would be one less obstacle between Brown and the ROH World Championship.

Hogwood pointed out that Lynn is nowhere near 65 years old, while Prazak said that Brown made some good points. Hogwood said that they would hear from Lynn after the commercial break.

Next came a "paid announcement" by The Embassy. Prince Nana, Jimmy Rave, and Claudio Castagnoli cut a promo building up next week's eight man elimination match against Colt Cabana, Brent Albright, Necro Butcher and Grizzly Redwood. "Dirty" Ernie Osiris, the fourth member of The Embassy's team, was present but did not speak. Nana's promo was great, as usual. He talked about wanting to get rid of the headache that their opponents had been causing for The Embassy, and how he particularly wanted to get his hands on Cabana. Castagnoli and Rave got in basic promos establishing their individual issues with Albright and Necro Butcher respectively. Altogether it was solid, but not spectacular, hype for next week's show.

[Commercial Break]

After the break, highlights aired of Tyler Black's win over Nigel McGuinness in last week's main event. The announcers put over what a big win it was for Black.

Backstage, Durden interviewed McGuinness about his loss the previous week. McGuinness admitted that he took his eye off the ball the previous week, but said that it would never happen again. McGuinness did a good job of rebuilding himself after the loss. He came across as an arrogant heel and a credible fighter despite losing to Black. McGuinness then turned his promo to Jerry Lynn, but was interrupted when Black's entrance music began to play and Durden the show away to the arena.

Black came to the ring to a great babyface reaction and addressed the Jerry Lynn retirement angle. He said that he would win the ROH World Championship, just like Lynn did. Lynn then came to ring, to a decidedly less enthusiastic crowd response than Black, and interrupted Black's promo. Lynn addressed D'Lo Brown's earlier promo and called Brown's "shrivel up and die" comment "a little harsh." Lynn went on to say that he was thinking about slowing down and going into semi-retirement, but that he was looking forward to taking on Black because it was Black who eliminated him in the match where he lost the title. The two shook hands and returned to the back. This segment overstayed its welcome and exposed both Lynn and Black's weaknesses on the microphone.

The announcers hyped next week's main event eight man elimination match between The Embassy and Colt Cabana's team. They also mentioned that Sonjay Dutt will face Delirious next week.

3 - ROH champion AUSTIN ARIES vs. RODERICK STRONG -- Non-Title match

Aries came to the ring wearing Hart Foundation pink. The announcers referred to Aries and Strong's history together as Generation Next stable mates, and talked about how big a victory over the ROH World Champion would be for Strong's career. Aries came out aggressively and managed to get Strong in the last chancery submission hold at 2:00, but Strong quickly got his foot to the ropes. After some back-and-forth, Strong took the advantage with a backbreaker at 3:30 and then worked over Aries' chest with some heavy chops.

The action quickly spilled outside the ring, where Aries took control at 6:00 by shoving Strong into the ring post. Aries followed this up with a Randy Savage double axe handle from the top rope, then rolled Strong back into the ring where he continued to work him over in arrogant heel fashion. Strong made a comeback and hit some power moves on Aries, but Aries regained the advantage by countering a half nelson backbreaker into a crucifix bomb at 8:30.

The pace of the action picked up significantly when Strong made another comeback at 11:30. Aries hit Strong with his trademark heat-seeking missile to the outside, then rolled Strong into the ring and went for another Randy Savage double axe handle from the top rope. However, this time Strong caught Aries in mid-flight and hit him with a backbreaker for a near fall. The action continued to go back and forth with both men coming close to winning. Strong got a couple of very close near falls which brought the fans to their feet, and a "this is awesome" chant broke out at 16:30. Strong had the match in hand until Aries countered a Boston crab attempt into a roll-up and got his feet onto the ropes to score a tainted pin out of nowhere.

WINNER: Aries in 17:30. The match built up steadily, getting better and better until an outstanding final few minutes. With more time, this could have been a classic. As it was, it was a very good TV main event.

After the match, Hogwood praised Strong's outstanding showing against the World Champion. The announcers then closed out the show by hyping next week's eight man main event, and also announced that the main event in two week will feature Tyler Black vs. Jerry Lynn.

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