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Ring of Honor TV Report
October 12, 2009
Taped August 15 in Philadelphia, Pa.
Report by Mike DeRosenroll, Torch ROH specialist

Opening Thought: The Chris Hero-KENTA match on this week's ROH show was excellent. I suggest that it's worthy of being included in the end-of-month "Match of the Month" poll. It's not a match of the year contender, but it could be in contention for match of the month. Otherwise, this was a rather weak edition of the ROH show on HDNet. Hopefully things will improve in a few weeks when the Jim Cornette-influenced shows start airing.

The show opened with video highlights of last week's Honor Rumble main event. In the studio, Mike Hogwood and Dave Prazak opened the show. Hogwood congratulated the Briscoes on winning the Honor Rumble. Then they threw to the ring for the second ever Austin Aries Lucky Lottery.

In the arena, Austin Aries made his ring entrance. Hogwood continued to voice his belief that draws are rigged. Aries said the names of 19 top stars were left in the draw, and drew the name of "Sugarfoot" Alex Payne. Hogwood was disgusted, noting that Payne is an up-and-coming wrestler who has improved a lot lately but has not earned a title shot.

1 – ROH World champion AUSTIN ARIES vs. "SUGARFOOT" ALEX PAYNE -- ROH Title match

Aries easily dominated Payne in the early-going and toyed with him using a lot of chain wrestling. Payne showed some fighting spirit but Aries quickly countered all of Payne's attempts to mount some offence. Payne finally turned the tide at 3:00 by slipping out of a suplex attempt and countering it into a side Russian leg sweep for a two-count. Hogwood noted that one small slip up like that could cost Aries the match and the title. The crowd booed Payne's short burst offence. Aries regained control at 3:30 by catching Payne going to the top rope and hauling him down into a shoulder breaker. Aries quickly hit his Brain Buster finisher and went for the cover, but then pulled Payne's shoulders off the mat at the count of two. He then locked in the Last Chancery submission hold and Payne quickly tapped.

WINNER: Aries in 4:00 to retain the ROH World Title. This was decent enhancement match for Aries. Payne is a good old-school enhancement talent who sells well and mounts hopeful comebacks at appropriate times - a modern day Special Delivery Jones. ROH should be concerned about the crowd booing Payne's comeback though. It is unclear to me if the booing was because they were rejecting Payne, because they were rejecting the Lucky Lottery gimmick, or because Aries has been too entertaining as a heel and the crowd want to cheer him as a result. Time will tell.

After the match, Aries refused to release the submission hold on Payne. Bryan Danielson hit the ring to make the save, but Aries bailed out to ringside before they touched. Danielson grabbed the mic and called the Lucky Lottery a sham. He said the title should be defended against the best of the best and challenged Aries to a match right away. Aries said he was sick of people calling Danielson "the best in the world" and said he would step in the ring to shut his mouth. He teased getting back in the ring, but then said "just not tonight" and left. Good short exchange on the mic to set up a future title match between Aries and Danielson.

Hogwood threw to a pre-taped Chris Hero promo talking about his upcoming match with KENTA. Hero bragged that he is a heavyweight who moves like a junior heavyweight. The promo was interspersed with highlights of Hero and KENTA. Good hype for the main event.
A video package recapped Bison Smith's interference in the Necro Butcher-Jimmy Rave match three weeks ago that resulted in locker room clearing brawl. Nice short segment to remind people of the back-story for the next match.

2 – NECRO BUTCHER vs. BISON SMITH (w/Prince Nana and "Dirty" Ernie Osiris)

After a basic opening exchange, the action spilled to the outside where Smith whipped Necro into the guardrails and choked him with a chair before rolling him back in the ring. Necro mounted a comeback at 1:30 with a volley of punches and kicks. Necro tried to bodyslam Smith at 2:30 but could not lift him, allowing Smith to regain the advantage. Smith showed good power by throwing Necro across the ring like a rag doll. Smith worked over Necro heel style then went to the top rope at 4:00, but Necro clotheslined him down to floor outside. Necro followed him out with a dive from the ring apron. Both men grabbed chairs, Smith knocked Necro's chair out of his hands, then Necro grabbed Smith's chair and the two got into a tug-of-war for it. While the tug-of-war was going on, the referee counted both men out.

WINNER: Double count-out in 5:00. A solid basic match. The non-finish was appropriate for this early stage of the feud. Necro continues to get great reactions from the Philadelphia crowd at the TV tapings, and he really sold for Smith to make him seem like a major threat.

After the match, Necro and Smith continued to brawl and the locker room emptied again to break them up. During the brawl, Smith hit Necro with a hard unprotected steel chair shot to the head. This put Necro at needless risk of neurological injury. The angle would have gone fine without this. Shame on Ring of Honor and owner Carey Silkin for continuing to put their talent at risk like this.

Going into the commercial break, Hogwood hyped an upcoming match between Tyler Black and Rhett Titus.

[Commercial Break]

After the break, Hogwood announced that next week's show will feature a match between Colt Cabana and Claudio Castagnoli, then he introduced a pre-taped Colt Cabana promo. Cabana talked about how much he hated the restrictions that were on him at the last place he worked. It seemed like he might be talking about WWE but, at the end, he said that those restrictions are just part of being a lemonade vendor and he was glad to be a wrestler so he does not have to do that anymore. Nice way to tease an insider promo and then pull it back from that for a funny moment.

3 – TYLER BLACK vs. RHETT TITUS

During Black's ring entrance, the announcers reinforced the ongoing storyline with Jerry Lynn taking Black under his wing. Hogwood mentioned that Lynn was helping Black with the mental focus more than his wrestling. Titus hit Black with a cheap shot during the opening handshake to take an early advantage in the match. At 2:00, with Titus inside the ring and Black on the apron, Black went for a springboard off the top rope but Titus cut him off with a standing drop kick that sent Black crashing to floor. Titus followed Black to the outside, where he choked Black and whipped him into the guardrails, before bringing the action back into the ring and continuing to work over Black heel style.

At 4:00, Black finally gained the advantage by reversing a neck breaker attempt by Titus into a neck breaker of his own. Black got a flurry of fast-paced offence culminating in a springboard clothesline for a two count at 4:30. Then came an even exchange of moves, counters and leverage pin attempts. Titus stopped Black with a thumb to the eye and got a very near fall at 6:00, but Black recovered to hit a Pele kick out of nowhere followed by his God's Last Gift finisher (a small package driver) for the pin.

WINNER: Titus in 6:30. Just an okay match. The wrestlers executed everything well enough, but Black never seemed to be in jeopardy despite Titus controlling most of the match because the announcers kept talking about his storyline with Lynn, making it obvious that Black would win. A squash match would have served the same storyline purpose and given Black a better chance to showcase his offense and athleticism. I am not suggesting that Black should have squashed Titus (this would be a terrible waste of Titus), but if the point was just to reinforce the Black-Lynn storyline, then Black should have been booked against an enhancement talent instead.

As Black made his way up the aisle, Lynn came out and congratulated him on the win. Hogwood announced that Lynn will face Kenny King next week, and that Austin Aries had just agreed to face Bryan Danielson for the ROH World Title in next week's main event. That should be a great match and a fitting farewell from ROH TV for Danielson.

4 – CHRIS HERO (w/Shane Hagadorn and Sara Del Rey) vs. KENTA

During the ring introductions, Prazak said that this match could be a main event for Pro Wrestling NOAH in Japan. Hogwood said the only ROH could bring a match like this to American television. Prazak repeated the story that Hero learned his rolling elbow finisher from the late great Mitsuharu Misawa in Japan, and noted that both Hero and KENTA were part of the tour where Misawa tragically died a few months ago.

They began the match with a nice exchange of mat work, which Hogwood criminally undersold by saying "neither man has done anything so far" at 1:30. Shortly afterwards they began a standup exchange of hard chops and strikes. Prazak cleaned up a bit after Hogwood by saying "It's always a feeling out process, Hog, just waiting for that right moment to throw that first strike." KENTA came out ahead on the strike exchange and began working over Hero with his hard kicks and other stiff offensive moves. Hero turned the tide at 4:30 by getting out of the way when KENTA charged him in the corner, so that KENTA went shoulder first into the post. The action spilled outside the ring and, at 5:30, Hero showed great agility by leaping onto the guardrail and connecting with a flying elbow to the floor. Hero continued to work of KENTA heel style in the ring and, at 7:30, went for a cocky cover. When KENTA got his shoulder up, Hero said he wanted a knockout rather than a pin.

KENTA made a comeback at 8:00 at got a nice flurry of his trademark offense. He followed this up with the STF submission, but Hero made it to the ropes at 9:30. At this point the crowd was evenly split for Hero and KENTA, making for a raucous atmosphere. At 10:00, KENTA charged Hero in the corner but Hero caught him with a stiff elbow to turn the tide again. At 11:30, after he landed a trademark combination of elbow strikes, Hero went for a leaping elbow from the top rope but KENTA impressively caught the much larger Hero on his shoulders and tried to the GTS (fireman's carry into a kick to the head), but Hero avoided it. At 12:00, the two hit each other with simultaneous strikes and both fell the mat in exhaustion.

KENTA recovered first and landed a springboard dropkick at 12:30. The two then began a great exchange of running boots back and forth from corner to corner, which brought the crowd to its feet. KENTA came out ahead after this exchange and landed a double stomp from the top rope for a near fall at 13:30. At 14:00, KENTA set up Hero for another GTS attempt but Del Rey distracted him by jumping on the ring apron while Hagadorn distracted the referee on the other side of the ring. This allowed Hero to hit a combination of elbows culminating in his rolling elbow finisher, but KENTA managed to kick out at 14:30. The crowd popped big for KENTA kicking out of Hero's finisher. At 16:00, Hagadorn created another distraction while Del Rey threw Hero's loaded elbow pad into the ring. As Hero set up KENTA for another rolling elbow, Eddie Kingston hit the ring, grabbed the loaded elbow pad off of Hero's arm and ran off. With Hero distracted by Kingston outside the ring, KENTA recovered to hit a combination of kicks and the GTS for the pinfall.

WINNER: KENTA in 16:30. Excellent match and a fine display of Japanese strong style wrestling. The crowd heat was not great to start, but the wrestlers drew the fans into the match. The outside interference detracted slightly from the finish, but Kingston's interference to prevent Hero from using the loaded elbow pad provided a crowd-pleasing outcome. The crowd chanted "Thank you both" followed by "Please come back" to KENTA after the match.

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