RADICAN’S ROH TV REPORT
AIRED SEPT. 24, 2011
TAPED IN CHICAGO, ILL.

The opening video package gave the show a sports-like feel with guys taping their wrists in-between shots of title belts. I would have liked to have seen more shots of the actual wrestlers in the opening package, but it was fine.

Kevin Kelly opened the show hyping the main event in front of hot crowd in Chicago. Kelly said Haas & Benjamin would be defending the ROH World Tag Team Titles tonight against Hero ^ Castagnoli. He then introduced his broadcast partner, Nigel McGuinness. Nigel came out to huge ovation. Nigel appeared to be touched by the ovation and said it was awesome to be back in ROH. He said when he heard ROH was going to be on broadcast TV, he had to be a part of it. Nigel said the focus on the show shouldn’t be on him, but on the guys in the back.

Winners: Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly

Radican’s thoughts: I think ROH should have shown a quick highlight package showing footage from Nigel’s run in ROH to give new fans a sense of what made him so special when he was an in-ring talent and also to provide a backdrop to what made the fans in Chicago go crazy for him.

Kelly sent viewers to a package with O’Reilly & Cole and The Bravados. Adam Cole talked about tagging with O’Reilly and said they were going to be the team of the future. Cole & O’Reilly delivered some really cheesy lines about being the “future” of ROH and “shocking” people. Harlem Bravado mentioned O’Reilly & Cole and given Lance Bravado a concussion. Harlem said small children should leave the room during their match against Future Shock.

Radican’s thoughts: I think if packaged differently, O’Reilly & Cole would fit right into the athletic style of wrestling ROH is trying to push on TV. I don’t like the name “Future Shock,” as it seems generic and something you would see in the ‘80s. The Bravado gimmick seems like it’s straight out of current WWE or TNA. It’s campy with a play on the “Bravado” last name.

Before the match, they put a “Tale of the Tape” graphic on the screen running down the statistics for each team. I like this idea a lot. It adds to the “sports” element they’ve presented so far. The graphic looked slick and modern.

1 - - Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Lance & Harlem Bravado

O’Reilly & Cole ran wild during the early stages of the match taking out both members of the Bravados. Harlem blind-tagged himself into the match and Bravados took control after taking out Cole. The crowd chanted Justin Bieber at Harlem. Kelly referenced a tweet of the week and McGuinness referred to it as “enlightening.” The Bravados hit a combination of moves on Cole, but O’Reilly broke up the pin. O”Reilly got the hot tag and ran wild. Kelly mentioned O’Reilly trains with Davey Richards. The action broke down and Lance ended up on the outside. Harlem eventually rolled to the outside and Future Shock caught them with a tandem dive. O’Reilly then hit a running knee off the apron on Harlem. O’Reilly & Cole finished off Harlem with ride the lightening, which is also known as total elimination.

Radican’s thoughts: The action in the ring was typical of what new fans can expect from most undercard matches in ROH. Neither team did anything to separate themselves from the x division style seen in TNA. The fans popped for the moves and the double teams, but neither team stood out in a way where someone new to ROH would think they have to see these two teams.

A video package aired hyping live event dates on ROHWrestling.com. Kelly said we could see stars like Davey Richards. Richards said ROH is the best in the world at professional wrestling. Kelly asked Richards if he’s prepared to defend the ROH World Title. Richards said he was ready for the best.

Radican’s thoughts: This was a good initial introduction to Davey Richards. He definitely carried himself like a star and I felt this came off well because they hyped the live events and the possibility for fans to see Richards defend his title live when ROH comes to town in the various Sinclair markets.

A video package for “Best in the World” iPPV aired from June. They showed shots of fans waiting outside the venue. Kelly interviewed different fans and asked them who would win the Eddie Edwards vs. Davey Richards match. They then went to a video package featuring highlights from the “Best in the World” iPPV. The focus was on the Four-Way Elimination tag match featuring Haas & Benjamin defending the ROH World Tag Team titles against Hero & Castagnoli and ANX and The Briscoes. The video focused on the Briscoes delivering chairshots during the post-match to Haas & Benjamin as Hero & Castagnoli looked on. ANX eventually was shown making the save.

The package then focused on Eddie Edwards defending the ROH World Title against Davey Richards at “Best in the World.” Richards was shown saying he had to crush Eddie to win the match. Edwards said the last thing he remembered was the lights going out as the footage showed Richards nailing a running kick to win the match. They then showed Richards’s emotional post-match promo with him surrounded by O’Reilly and Edwards amongst others. Kelly said Richards would defend the title in two weeks on Sinclair TV to close the highlight package.

Radican’s thoughts: I liked a lot of this highlight package. I didn’t like the focus on the Four-way tag title match because the issues were complex at the time and it might confuse new fans as to what was going on in that match. Harlem talked about his brother Lance getting a concussion earlier on the show and mixing that with the footage of the Briscoes delivering chairshots to the head isn’t the message ROH should be sending to new fans.

What I did like was the heavy focus on the magnitude of the “Best in the World” iPPV. It showed new fans what they can expect the promotion to deliver on iPPV. The real hook here was how the video package highlighted the dramatic Edwards-Richards main event. ROH has done a good job of making Richards come off like a legit star through these introductory video packages.

An ad aired for the new ROH premium site featuring tons of content added from ROH’s video library every month amongst other options. They also mentioned fans would get early access to the ROH TV show. Another video aired hyping ROH DVDs and merchandise.

They went to an “Inside ROH” segment hosted by Kevin Kelly. The package highlighted the “Code of Honor” with Cornette talking about why most wrestlers shake hands before and after matches. Kelly then talked about Jay Lethal challenging for the ROH TV title next week against El Generico. Lethal talked about ROH being competition. Lethal also said he spent six years being somebody else, but now he’s back in ROH. Lethal talked about the fans chanting for him at the “Best in the World” event. Lethal then focused on TV Champion El Generico. Lethal said Generico was a great wrestling, but he would go down next week.

Radican’s thoughts: I don’t think the “Code of Honor” being brought back is going to hook in new fans, but Cornette did a good job of explaining the “Code of Honor” and why most wrestlers follow it in ROH. ROH has toyed with adding and dropping this concept many times, so it will be interesting to see if it sticks this time around.

Lethal talking about his run in TNA wasn’t necessary. ROH should leave segments like that, which don’t interest the mainstream audience, to WWE and TNA. They package did a good job of getting over the importance of Generico defending the TV Title against Lethal next week. It’s good that ROH is already building towards future episodes by referencing that the TV and World titles will be defended in the coming weeks.

An ad for the “Best in the World” DVD aired. I’m not sure if these are online exclusive video packages, but this did a good job of telling people where they could buy “Best in the World.”

A video package aired highlighting the Four Team Elimination match. This was different from the other video package, but I don’t understand why ROH needed to show highlights from this match again. The package showed Haas & Benjamin winning with a double team spinebuster on Hero. They showed the Briscoes hitting more unprotected chairshots on Haas & Benjamin.

We came back to McGuinness talking to a fan at ringside. He asked him who would win the main event tonight. The fan said Hero & Castagnoli would win.

Radican’s thoughts: I didn’t think this added anything to show. Hopefully they flush out how the tweets from fans and ringside interviews add to the product down the line.

Both teams came out to generic music. Bobby Cruise did the introductions for the main event. Both teams got a good pop, but the crowd should have been mic’d better.

Kevin Kelly hyped ROH live events. He brought in the Briscoes, who Kelly said would appear at ROH live events. They didn’t talk about any specific dates during this segment. Mark said they were in ROH to get the tag titles back. Jay said they had won the tag straps six times.

They showed the tale of the tape quickly prior to the match.

2 - - ROH World Tag Team Champions Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin vs. Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli (w/Sara Del Rey & Shane Hagadorn) – ROH World Tag Team Title match

The “Code of Honor” wasn’t followed to begin the match. McGuinness talked about Hero & Castagnoli being able to wrestle many styles. Haas got the better of Castagnoli on the mat during the early stages of the match. Kelly talked about what Claudio & Hero are capable of in the ring. Kelly said Haas & Benjamin could prove their dominance with a win tonight, despite already beating Hero & Castagnoli several times. Castagnoli fired back on Benjamin and tagged in Hero, but Benjamin took him down right away with an arm drag. Benjamin fired back with a big punch moments later and Hero bailed to the corner.

Kelly and McGuinness talked about the history between these two teams and referred to the Four Team Elimination match at “Best in the World” again. Hero ducked a spin kick from Shelton and nailed him with the cyclone kill. Castagnoli held Benjamin on the outside and Hero nailed him with a dropkick through the ropes and the crowd cheered. Kelly sent us to a commercial break.

We came back with Castagnoli still in control of Benjamin in the ring. They showed footage that took place during the commercial break. I liked how they highlighted Benjamin making an unsuccessful comeback. Benjamin managed to duck a charge from Hero, who spilled to the outside. Castagnoli grabbed Shelton, but he caught him with the signature kick. Hero ended up pulling Haas off the apron and Benjamin couldn’t make the tag. KOW took the opportunity to nail Benjamin with a double team rolling elbow from Hero with the ref distracted. Hero & Castagnoli continued to dominate the action, with Shelton unable to tag out of the match. Benjamin finally hit a double neck breaker on Hero and Castagnoli. The crowd roared as Benjamin struggled, but eventually tagged in Haas, who ran wild.

Haas hit a German on Hero and a T-bone suplex on Castagnoli, but Castagnoli kicked out. Haas hit a top rope hurricanrana and a big boot on Castagnoli for a 2 count. Hero tagged in and hit the KTFO on Haas for a nearfall. McGuinness cheered on Hero for some reason. Hero hit another big rolling elbow before tagging in Castagnoli, who hit the airplane spin on Haas. Hero eventually dropkicked Haas while Castagnoli swung him around in the ring. Haas looked to be done, but he managed to kick out. KOW set up for KRS-1, but Shelton broke it up. The action broke down and Benjamin hit a superkick on Hero. Haas and Benjamin the hit the leap of faith on Castagnoli. Haas and Benjamin then hit a spinebuster/clothesline combo on Hero for the win.

Winners: Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas to retain the ROH World Tag Team Titles.

Radican’s thoughts: This was a very good television match. I thought the announcers leaned too heavily on calling signature moves. Fans got a good dose of what to expect from big ROH tag matches without giving away too much.

Kevin Kelly signed off hyping TV Champion El Generico vs. Jay Lethal next week.

Overall score: (6.5) I liked a lot of what I saw on this show, but I wasn’t blown away. I thought this was a much better effort than most of the HD Net shows I saw in the past. I liked the production, new graphics, and highlight packages. There were a lot of nice touches on this show, but there were some drawbacks as well. I’ll be back with more of my thoughts with a take later tonight or tomorrow.

Contact Sean at PWTorchSean@gmail.com

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