ROH TV Report
October 5, 2009
Report by Mike DeRosenroll, Torch Specialist

The show opened with a video recap of last week's main event cage match between Brent Albright and Claudio Castagnoli, a good way to make the main event seem important.

In the studio, Mike Hogwood and Dave Prazak hyped tonight's main event, the Honor Rumble. This is an eight team progressive entry battle royal. They did not mention any of the teams involved.

1 - DELIRIOUS (with Daizee Haze) vs SONJAY DUTT

A crawler on the screen announced that Jim Cornette has rejoined ROH, will be debuting on HDNet soon and said to go to ROHWrestling.com for more details. This is a good way to drive traffic to the website, which ROH relies on heavily for selling DVDs and other merchandise.

Delirious took an early advantage and got Dutt in an early submission predicament, with an Indian death lock at 1:00, but Dutt made the ropes to force a break. Delirious used some judo takedowns, prompting the announcers to mention the judo training he was shown taking with Daizee Haze in a video package last week. The action spilled out to the floor and, at 3:00, Delirious went the top rope only to have Dutt use Haze as a human shield, preventing Delirious from attempting a high-impact move. Delirious climbed down and came to Haze's aid, allowing Dutt to take advantage of the distraction and take over the match.

Back in the ring, Dutt worked over Delirious for a couple of minutes using heel tactics like a chop to the throat and choking Delirious with the tassels of his mask. Delirious mounted a comeback at 5:30, so Dutt bailed to the outside only to have Delirious go to the top rope at hit him with a cross body dive to ringside. Back in the ring, Delirious hit a cobra clutch suplex for a near all at 7:00. Dutt then made a comeback and tried for a pin with his feet on the ropes at 8:00, but the referee saw his feet on the ropes and stopped the count. Delirious regained the advantaged a tried for his Shadows over Hell splash from the top, but Dutt nicely countered it into an ace crusher. Haze them jumped on the apron for no reason, distracting the referee and allowing Dutt to choke out Delirious with his mask tassels. When the referee turned back to the wrestlers, Delirious tapped out to the camel clutch.

WINNER: Dutt in 9:30. A good fast-paced opening match, well-executed by two pros, but tarnished by a nonsense finish. Dutt did nothing wrong by cleanly countering Delirious' Shadows over Hell attempt, so Haze had no reason to complain to the referee (other than the bookers needed a distraction so Dutt could cheat to taint his victory). Heel managers sometimes create ref distractions when their charge is legitimately in trouble, but Haze is a babyface, so did not make sense for her to do that. On the plus side, the repartee between Hogwood and Prazak was funny and entertaining without detracting from the match.

After the match, Dutt teased that he would attack Haze, but Delirious came to her aid and Dutt scurried to the back.

A video package hyped the upcoming Honor Rumble. Clips of some of the teams involved were shown.

Backstage, Eddie Kingston cut a promo. He said he was not done with Chris Hero and that the injuries he was going to inflict on his opponent tonight were on Hero's head. This was a solid promo, much better than the promo Kingston cut on Hero two weeks ago. Kingston seemed more intense and believable this time.

2 - EDDIE KINGSTON vs KYLE MATTHEWS

Kingston attacked Matthews before the bell and beat him down. With his opponent neutralized, Kingston played to the crowd and got them chanting "Hero! Hero!" as a way of calling out Chris Hero. Kingston's playing to the crowd allowed Matthews to tease a couple of comebacks, but Kingston easily brushed these aside and soon finished him off with a spinning back fist.

WINNER: Kingston in 2:30. Good squash match. Matthews sold well for Kingston and teased his comebacks at logical times, and Kingston connected well with the crowd while emphasizing his issue with Hero.

Another, longer, video package aired to hype the Honor Rumble. This one included brief clips of the main teams involved in the match talking about themselves. Good hype here.

Hogwood announced that Joey Ryan would face Roderick Strong after the commercial break.

[commercial break]

Hogwood announced that next week's main event would feature Chris Hero against KENTA, and threw to Kyle Durden in the back.

Backstage, Durden interviewed Chris Hero. Durden asked about Eddie Kingston, but Hero dismissed Kingston and changed the subject to his match next week with KENTA. He said that KENTA's kicks are prettier than his hair, but that he (Hero) is better. Hero's delivery was good as always, but this promo did not do anything to establish an issue between the wrestlers, or any consequence to the match. The camera angle in this segment was well-chosen to emphasize the height difference between Hero and Durden, making Hero look huge.

3 - JOEY "MAGNUM" RYAN (with Prince Nana and "Dirty" Ernie Osiris) vs RODERICK STRONG

Before the opening bell, Nigel McGuinness came to the ringside and cut a promo on Strong with the house mic. This was not one of McGuinness' better ROH promos. He ran down Strong for caring more about entertaining the fans than the physical well-being of his opponents. So what? In the ROH universe, Strong is supposed to be trying to beat his opponents up so he can pin or submit them. I guess you could argue that it makes McGuinness more of a heel to run down Strong for something so innocuous, but it did not make sense for Strong to get as upset as he did over it.

While Strong was distracted by McGuinness, Ryan attacked him from behind to take an early advantage in the match, but Strong fought back quickly. Strong was in control until Ryan hit him with a low dropkick to the knee at 2:30. Ryan worked over Strong heel-style for a couple of minutes, then attempted his moustache ride finisher from the top rope at 4:30. Strong managed to knock Ryan off the ropes and mounted a hot comeback, hitting some of his trademark strikes and backbreakers. Ryan fought back, and for a couple of minutes the wrestlers exchanged moves, counters and pin attempts fairly evenly. At 8:00, Strong hit Ryan with an enziguiri, then lifted him to the top rope and hit a superplex for a near fall. Strong then landed a gut buster for a seemingly sure pin, but Nana grabbed Strong's foot and pulled to the outside to break up the pin. Strong shoved Nana over the guardrail and into the first row of fans. As Strong reentered the ring, Ryan hit him with a superkick-small package combination for the quick victory.

After the match, an outraged Strong laid out Ryan with a running Yakuza kick and hollered at the camera that he was coming for McGuinness.

WINNER: Joey Ryan in 9:00. This was a good TV match. The fans were really into it. The post-match angle made little sense though. Why was Strong so focused on McGuinness when it was Nana and Ryan whose cheating cost him the match? Are we supposed to believe that Strong is more preoccupied with McGuinness' pre-match promo than by getting robbed by The Embassy?

Backstage, Kyle Durden interviewed ROH World Champion Austin Aries, who announced that he had received so much positive feedback on the Austin Aries Lucky Lottery two weeks ago that he would be bringing it back next week. Durden asked Aries to address the rumours that the lottery was rigged, and Aries ran down Durden. Aries' heel character has been very entertaining lately, but not in a way that has been building up big match heat, which seems like a waste of a wrestler of Aries' talents and the ROH World Title.

A video package aired hyping KENTA for next week's main event against Chris Hero. The video package did a good job of featuring KENTA's great in-ring skills. Anyone who just loves great wrestling would be left very much looking forward to next week's show by this video package, but it is too bad that no issue or angle has been built up for this big match.

4 - EIGHT-TEAM HONOR RUMBLE

THE YOUNG BUCKS (MATT & NICK JACKSON) started out against THE EMBASSY (JIMMY RAVE & "DIRTY" ERNIE OSIRIS) with Prince Nana at ringside. The Young Bucks dominated early, giving them a chance to showcase several great double team maneuvers. They eliminated Osiris with stereo superkicks at 1:00, leaving Rave alone against them until THE DARK CITY FIGHT CLUB (KORY CHAVIS & JON DAVIS) entered the match at 1:30. The Young Bucks looked like idiots for not reacting to Chavis and Davis' entrance music, leaving their backs turned to the newcomers and allowing themselves to be beaten down from behind. Chavis and Davis dominated everyone in ring, and the fans crapped all over it, until KENNY KING & RHETT TITUS entered the match at 3:00. Once King and Titus got involved, the action bogged down into typical battle royal stalling.

Things picked up briefly at 4:30 when BRENT ALBRIGHT & ERICK STEVENS hit the ring. They cleaned house and eliminated Jimmy Rave, then got into a stare down in the middle of the ring with Chavis and Davis. Before the four big men could fight, the other two teams got back involved and the action again slowed down into battle royal-style stalling. At 6:00, KEVIN STEEN & EL GENERICO hit the ring. Generico entered the ring by climbing to the top rope and diving into a crowd. At 6:30, the Young Bucks eliminated Chavis and Davis with simultaneous drop kicks. King and Titus then managed to isolate Matt Jackson and eliminate him. Chavis and Davis, still angry at being eliminated, came over and started beating down Matt Jackson outside the ring. Nick Jackson went to the top rope and hit a double cross body dive onto Chavis and Davis on the floor, saving his brother from a further beat down but eliminating the Young Bucks from the Honor Rumble.

The Young Bucks and the Dark City Fight Club continued to brawl at ringside as THE BRISCOES (JAY & MARK BRISCOE) entered the match at 7:30. Brent Albright eliminated Rhett Titus and Kenny King eliminated Albright in quick succession, leaving King and Erick Stevens without partners in the match. They fought each other while the Briscoes fought Steen and Generico. Albright went to the top rope, which only fools do in battle royals, allowing King to eliminate him with a leaping kick to the head that knocked Albright all the way to the floor. King celebrated his achievement with a cocky strut, drawing the attention of the other four wrestlers in the ring. The other four teamed up on King and eliminated him just as THE AMERICAN WOLVES (DAVEY RICHARDS & EDDIE EDWARDS), the tag champs, entered the match at 9:00, accompanied to ringside by Shane Hagadorn and Sara Del Rey.

With the Wolves, the Briscoes and Steen & Generico the three final teams, the match turned into a fast-paced three-way brawl with high spots coming in quick succession. By 11:00, everybody had taken a couple of big moves and all six men were laying on the mat selling. Soon afterwards, Edwards was close to being eliminated when Sara Del Rey interfered to keep his feet from hitting the floor. Del Rey's interference distracted the referees, who therefore failed to see Steen eliminate Richards on the other side of the ring. Realizing that the refs had missed his elimination, Richards got back in the ring and surprised Steen and Generico from behind as they fought Jay Briscoe, eliminating both Steen and Generico. As Steen went crazy at ringside, Richards and Edwards eliminated Jay Briscoe at 13:00, leaving Mark alone against the tag champs. The Wolves started beating down Mark, but Jay grabbed Richards' foot from the outside, immobilizing Richards against the ropes and allowing Mark to clothesline him over the top and to the floor at 13:30. Mark then made short work of Edwards before eliminating him for the win.

WINNERS: The Briscoes in 14:00. This was not a good match. It had all the worst characteristics of a battle royal without the drama of a Royal Rumble. The match could have built some drama once it was down to the final few participants, but the final few eliminations came too quickly, particularly Mark Briscoe's elimination of Eddie Edwards. From a storyline perspective, the match did manage to advance the midcard feud between the Young Bucks and the Dark City Fight Club, while the finish reestablishes the Briscoes as the top challengers for the tag titles.

[The Briscoes photo credit Wade Keller (c) PWTorch]

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