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ROH BORDER WARS IPPV ROUNDTABLE REVIEWS 5/12: Radican, Parks, Eaton, Leahy rate & review event featuring Kevin Steen ROH Title win

Jul 21, 2012 - 5:27:08 PM
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Ring of Honor "Border Wars" Roundtable Reviews
May 12, 2012
Toronto, Canada
iPPV/DVD available at ROHWrestling.com


Sean Radican, PWTorch columnist (7.0)

The biggest disappointment on this card was not having Jim Cornette in attendance to see his reaction to Kevin Steen winning the ROH World Title from Davey Richards in the main event. The entire build of the program between Richards and Steen was about Cornette keeping Steen away from ROH and once he got back into ROH, he tried to keep him away from the ROH World title.

Despite some booking problems, this was an enjoyable show. The overall production on the DVD version of “Border Wars” is excellent by modern independent wrestling standards. The original airing of this show on iPPV didn’t go so well, but ROH got a lot of things right on this show from a production standpoint. There were multiple replays after matches, pre-match video packages for nearly every match, and a new crane camera gave the show a more professional feel. It was nice to watch a DVD with no sound problems or strange graphics asking me to insert a memory stick for a change.

The undercard on this show is fantastic. The crowd in Toronto was red-hot for first half of this show. The Six Man Tag and Bennett vs. Storm delivered some really good action. Storm got a particularly strong reaction from the Canadian fans working against Bennett, who deserves credit for improving so much during the last nine months. The Bennett-Storm match was just a notch below their effort during WrestleMania weekend earlier this year, but it was still darn good.

The real head-scratcher on the undercard was having Tommaso Ciampa lose his undefeated streak to Jay Lethal. Ciampa wasn’t red hot by any means, but it seems like he should have been given more time and lost to a different opponent so that him losing his undefeated streak meant more. Lethal is a good mid-card act, but Ciampa seems to have a much bigger upside and giving this win to Lethal isn’t going to do much for either man going forward.

The crowd didn’t really get behind Cole-Elgin or Strong-Finlay. The Cole-Elgin match had some good spots, but the crowd wasn’t into the action and things only heated up during the closing stretch of the match. The crowd got even quieter for Finlay-Strong. Strong just doesn’t have the charisma in the ring to carry a mat based match like this as a heel. At times, it seemed Strong was trying to work face, as he tried to pump up the crowd at certain points, but to no avail. For whatever reason, this just didn’t work.

The fans were into the WGTT-Briscoes Fight without Honor for the most part. There was a really odd edit in the middle of the match, but that edit aside, things were going fine until the finish when Haas sprayed a rag with a foreign substance and used it to make Mark pass out so he could pin him. This finish was so ridiculous and it got the wrong kind of heat from the fans, who were clearly upset that an ‘80s relic was pulled out for this show.

Steen-Richards had a really good main event. A large portion of the fans turned on Davey and gave him a hard time about his signature offense during the course of the match. Richards did a good job of working over Steen’s leg and the match told a good story leading into the finish where it seemed like Steen just wouldn’t tap out to Richards’s submissions.

The in-ring action during Steen-Richards was very, but as I indicated earlier, Cornette not being there really hurt the post-match segment of Steen’s title win. Cary Silkin tried to act upset and refused to give the title to Steen. It was a good try to go against tradition, but the angle would have gotten over much better if Cornette had been in the building.

This show gets a solid recommendation overall. The undercard is stellar and transitions to a slower second half of the show prior to the main event. There’s some frustrating creative issues in play on this show, but overall, it’s definitely worth a look.

Greg Parks, PWTorch columnist (7.0)

Let me first say that this score doesn't take into account any technical issues that occurred on ROH's end the night the show originally aired. I watched this after it had been archived on the company's website, so my grade is strictly based on the show itself.

What really struck me about this show is how well ROH uses veterans with name value. They don't bring in Lance Storms and Finlays and Rhinos and throw them right into the title picture because "OMG, they wrestled on Monday nights!" They use those talents to work with and put over homegrown ROH stars. Some companies could take a lesson from ROH in how to operate in that regard.

While there was no stinker on this card and the match quality average was probably over three stars, there also wasn't anything terribly exciting coming out of the show, even with Kevin Steen's title win. A lot of the matches were really good, but there seemed to be an excitement aspect that was missing.

Eddie Edwards is a good opponent for someone like Rhino, as he works to Rhino's strengths. I'm not a big Rhino fan, but this was a good opener. The end of the six-man match suffered from the same overbooking we gripe about with WWE and TNA tag matches, and how the rules seem to get thrown out the window late. I actually thought the match ran a little long and felt like Mike Mondo's headscissors into a splash by one of the Jacksons would've been the perfect ending.

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Jay Lethal opened as a good brawl and ended with some great action, except for the lack of a disqualification call when the ref was pulled out of the ring. Lance Storm vs. Mike Bennett was a great match and Storm is helping to make a star out of Bennett.

Nigel McGuinness got the line of the night during the Elgin vs. Cole match when talking about how Elgin was throwing Cole around like a baby: "If you ever did that to a baby, you'd be put in jail" after Elgin slammed Cole on the entrance ramp. It's fun to watch Elgin use his strength during his matches. Combine this and his Davey Richards match from Wrestlemania weekend and Elgin's ceiling has been raised.

The commentary was particularly fantastic in the Roderick Strong vs. Finlay match. It was technically well-done, but seemed to be missing something, that excitement aspect I mentioned earlier. The tag title switch was a surprise in the Briscoes vs. Haas & Benjamin match. Some think this feud has outlived its best-by date, but I think it has been one of the better feuds of the year in all of wrestling.

The main event was a solid match with good drama at times. It wasn't a match-of-the-year candidate in my mind, but Steen winning the title was the right move. It'll be interesting to see how the character of Davey Richards evolves from here.

Jimmy Eaton, Torch specialist (6.0)

Unfortunately, ROH's technical issues hounded what should have been a good show. My quick overview here is watching the show on demand, so I'm not going to judge it too harshly on the technical issues. More on that in a bit. For me, the show was slightly better then what I thought going in, but unfortunately still didn't meet my expectations of what ROH Wrestling really should be as an alternative. I wasn't emotionally invested in any match and some of the finishes just didn't make any sense. On the other hand, the in-ring action was solid throughout and I didn't really see a terrible match. For my money, I certainly won't be complaining on that front despite the fact that I wish some of them would have gone a bit longer. The average match time was probably about 13-15 minutes.

Starting with the pros, I really enjoyed Strong vs. Finlay. They had a very hard-hitting, stiff match that held my interest throughout. I can't believe Finlay is 53-years-old and is able to perform with the likes of Roderick Strong, Sami Callihan in Evolve, etc.

Other matches that stick out in my mind are of course the Main Event of ROH champion Davey Richards defending against Kevin Steen. But, more on that in a minute; that match was good, but had its flaws. Also, the six-man tag match between the Young Bucks/Mike Mondo vs. All Night Express/T.J. Perkins was just a fun match all around that pleased the crowd, along with Lance Storm vs. Mike Bennett. In general, the card was solid and featured fun matches, but it didn't leave me awed at any point whatsoever, which was a staple of ROH for me as early as a few years ago. Thankfully, the crowd helped make the show feel a bit bigger than it really was.

Now on to the cons. Unfortunately, I thought the show really suffered from "same ol', same ol'" multiple times. The best example was the Briscoes against the World's Greatest Tag Team, YET AGAIN. I feel like I've seen this match so often and, sure it was fine, but I just don't care anymore. The finish was a bit lame as well. However, I give Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness credit for trying to sell the WGTT's heel personas. Why the title change, though? It beats me, to be honest. Moving on, why did Tommaso Ciampa have his winning streak ended in a match that didn't really mean a whole lot? Again, the match was fine but why Lethal? Why not use this match to put someone else over? It just didn't make a lot of sense to me and that's nothing against Black Machismo at all, as I enjoy seeing him wrestle and Ciampa has impressed me a bit more as of late.

Lastly, you have the main attraction of the night for the ROH World Title. The match was a blast, no complaints there. I'd give it probably a solid ***1/2 looking back, but, unfortunately, it just felt flat. For some reason, it didn't feel special. Maybe because Davey hasn't been on ROH TV much or that Jim Cornette wasn't there to get in Steen's face, but something seemed to be missing. Either way, congrats to Kevin Steen, as he is the most interesting character in ROH right now.

Overall, despite its flaws, this iPPV was a decent outing, but I can't give it a high recommendation. Between some audio issues still on the archive version of the show and odd booking decisions, I can't score this higher than a 6.0. I feel bad for the fans getting an apology later than it should have happened and also a lack of information throughout on the issues they were having with the live stream. The explanation of "upgrades" they did sounded like a joke in relation to how the process of streaming works. But, despite that, there were bright spots with another very solid Elgin match against Adam Cole, and a decent opener with Rhino and Edwards. (It does seem like an insult, though, for Edwards to go from ROH World champion to opening the show in a few months span, but just another example of ROH not being able to make prolonged Superstars. Rhino looked good, though.)

Those few bright spots along with my praises above show that this wasn't a complete loss, but ROH has a steep road ahead with their awful technical displays the last few iPPVs and trying to maintain interest with their delayed TV taping schedules. I'm rooting for them, but I'm definitely in wait and see mode from here on out with a mix of cautious optimism.

Agree? Disagree? Follow me @TheCommonFan to start the debate!

Brian Leahy, Torch specialist (7.5)

I won’t lie; it was difficult to get sufficiently inspired to watch ROH’s Border Wars. Having endured the best part of an hour of diabolical service on the night of the iPPV, over a month later I finally got around to watching the show, mainly motivated by the "Best in The World: Hostage Crisis" iPPV. It’s a real shame that the show invokes such negative feelings in my memory because, short of some typically infuriating booking, it was actually a really good show with no truly bad matches, and the quality of the stream itself was of a pleasantly high quality.

Though not an inspiring match on paper, the opener between Eddie Edwards and Rhino was a great start to the evening. Rhino worked his typical style, taking it to Eddie with high-impact power moves, while Edwards worked around the larger Canadian with strikes and dives. The two meshed really well together, and I’d be interested in seeing more Rhino in ROH based on what he did here. Unfortunately, the "interference & roll-up” finish reared its ugly head and allowed Edwards to score a crowd-pleasing but disappointing victory.

Mondo & The Young Bucks took on TJP & The ANX in another enjoyable second bout. I continue to be disappointed by ROH’s use of Perkins on iPPV, but at least he got treated as more than enhancement talent in this one. Almost everyone kept up their end of the deal in this one, almost (I’m looking at you Mondo), and it really picked up towards the end. Perkins scored the win with an inch-perfect 450 splash on one of the Bucks.

I really feel like Tommaso Ciampa has turned the corner following his bout with Jay Lethal. Ciampa showed a never-before-seen level of intensity and projection. Unfortunately, the ROH love affair with putting Jay Lethal over continued at the expense of Ciampa’s win-streak, though the repeating Lethal Combination that ended the bout, and Ciampa’s rampage after the bell may have done more to put the Sicilian Psycho over more than anything ROH has done with him to this point.

Storm and Bennett fell just short of the level of their match at Showdown in the Sun in the fourth bout. The bout seemed a little more rushed than their first encounter, and I don’t feel like it had the same time to develop, though the Canadian fans didn’t seem to care. ROH’s protective booking again almost sapped the enjoyment completely out of this one for me too; why Storm would need to use a chair to defeat Bennett remains to be seen. Still, Storm looked good in there, and working this style he would still appear to have some miles left in the tank. Meanwhile, Bennett has grown into a perfectly acceptable and believable upper-card heel. Well done, ROH.

Post-intermission, two of ROH’s hottest rising stars were saddled with each other in a bout worth nothing but bragging rights. To their credit, Elgin and Cole worked fast and tight, and told a simple but effective (if predictable) story in the time they were allotted. Elgin was over big with the home crowd, but Cole seemed to sway some of the crowd his way by the end with his gutsy performance. A thoroughly competent display from both men; I can only hope they start getting rewarded with better spots on the card sooner rather than later.

Strong and Finlay faced off over the ROH TV title in a frustratingly pedestrian bout to mark the first match that under-delivered on the card. There was no sign of the pissed-off, ass-kicking Finlay that sparkled in EVOLVE bouts. Instead, we got mild-mannered grappler Fit Finlay who traded stiff(ish) strikes and slams with a Roderick Strong, whose offense was stunted by working with a wrestler, who while not past it, most certainly cannot be exposed to the offense that Strong’s opponents typically are. This was good, it just wasn’t the best use of either men.

The Briscoes vs. World's Greatest Tag Team was everything I feared - more of the same coupled with typically awkward execution from The WGTT. This was easily the worst, and least intense “Fight Without Honor” in company history, a gimmick which once was the ultimate feud-ender in wrestling. The finish of this match was the least inspired gob-smacking booking I’ve seen in a long long time. Haas theatrically soaked a rag in ether and used it to put Mark to sleep. Meanwhile, I had almost fallen asleep without the need for an ether soaked rag.

Finally, Steen vs. Richards for the ROH World Title was good, really good. Richards found himself playing the inevitable heel role as the Canadian fans cheered on Steen, and both men thrived under the conditions. The walk-and-brawl early on didn’t do a whole lot for the bout, but it avoided any prolonged technical trades that would have felt out of place under the circumstances. Back in the ring, Richards worked over Steen’s leg, while Steen dished out some typical Steen-esque offence and attitude. Down the home straight, they seemed to lose the crowd with some prolonged submission holds, but they successfully brought them back with some well-timed head-drops. Steen’s long-overdue title victory came in just under 25 minutes, and never dragged for a solitary moment; ROH would do well use this match length as a template for most future main event bouts.

All things considered (and now that my blood pressure has returned to normal), Border Wars was quite enjoyable. The company’s booking approach still gets in the way of a delivering a wholly satisfying show, and there still doesn’t seem to be enough movement up the card for emerging talents, but they could do worse than churn out a show of this quality every quarter.


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