RADICAN’S ROH TV REPORT
AIRED OCT. 8, 2011
TAPED IN CHICAGO, ILL.

The show kicked off with highlights of Jay Lethal beating El Generico to capture the ROH TV Title.

The show started with the fans in Chicago going crazy. Jim Cornette called out the Briscoes to the ring. Why is Cornette the only one that sounds good on the mic on TV? Cornette said the Briscoes had been fined $5,000 dollars for their actions at “Best in the World.” Jay said they were here to talk about the ROH Tag Team Titles. The audio went in and out while Jay talked. Cornette said ROH refuses to reward the Briscoes for their stunt in NYC at “Best in the World.” Cornette said he had a compromise and announced the Briscoes would wrestle ANX to determine the #1 contender to the tag titles next week.

Jay said they’ve owned ANX. I guess Ladder War III never took place. The audio is really all over the place here. Jay said ANX better be ready to man up.

Radican’s analysis: This segment personally drove me crazy. Cornette seemed like a push over just giving into the Briscoes. Then they totally ignored the Ladder War III match, which took place the week before TV debuted. I know these shows were taped before Ladder War II took place at “Death Before Dishonor IX,” but it seems odd to ignore that match. It is what it is with TV and continuity for now. It certainly wasn’t a bad way to expose a new audience to the Briscoes-ANX feud. The audio issues made things a bit difficult to follow and they used a ring bell sound effect to censor Jay.

Kevin Kelly hyped ROH live events coming to Sinclair markets. He brought in Haas & Benjamin for this segment.

An “ROH Focus on” package aired on Tomasso Ciampa. Cornette called Ciampa spooky. Ciampa said he’s the dominant man in ROH and he never plans to lose. Cornette talked about Ciampa being the Crown Jewel of Prince Nana’s Embassy. Nana talked about Ciampa. He said all he sees is dollar bills and world championships in Ciampa. Ciampa said Nana took away his distractions. Cornette said he doubted Nana’s claim to being a prince. Nana said his father had always supported him with gold and not filthy American money. Cornette said he’s not sure if Ciampa is mentally stable. Ciampa said the word quit doesn’t exist in his world. Ciampa said his training consists of flipping tires and other difficult-looking routines. Kelly said we’d see Ciampa in action next.

Radican’s thoughts: This was a mixed bag for me. I don’t think Cornette did anything to further Ciampa’s heel character with his comments. I liked Nana’s words, but he should have put over Ciampa more than himself. Ciampa was fine here. I’d like to see more of his promos each week just to see him grow as a talker. He didn’t grab my attention here, but he didn’t turn me off either.

An ad for ROHWrestling.com aired.

Steve Corino came in on commentary as Andy Ridge made his entrance. Corino said he’s trying not to be evil anymore. CIAMPA came to the ring with Nana and Ernesto Osiris. It sounds like they dubbed the music over the crowd noise for the ring entrances.

They showed a “Tale of the Tape” graphic prior to the match. Ciampa refused to shake hands with Ridge.

1 - - ANDY RIDGE vs. TOMASSO CIAMPA (w/The Embassy)


Corino put over Ciampa on commentary as he delivered a clothesline to Ridge. Ridge blocked a suplex and both men brawled on the apron. Ridge hit several kicks, but Ciampa fired back with a series of chops. Ridge won the exchanges with a clothesline. Ciampa fired right back and tripped Ridge on the apron before swinging him into the barricade at ringside. Ouch! Corino talked about how talented Ciampa was, but if he continued to listen to Nana, he wouldn’t get anywhere. Corino referenced Kevin Steen without using his name, so Kelly quickly cut him off. Ciampa worked a headlock, but Ridge fired back with a chin breaker followed by a series of kicks. Ridge followed up with a springboard ace crusher for a 2 count. They showed the tweet of the week. It was better than the one they used last week, but totally useless.

Ciampa fired back with a series of running knees in the corner. He followed up with project Ciampa for the win.

Winner: Tomasso Ciampa

Radican’s thoughts: First of all, ROH should put Corino on commentary immediately. Second, ROH should have just shown the last 30 seconds of this match because Ridge got a lot of offense in against someone that’s supposedly been dominant.

They showed a graphic 20 minutes into the program plugging the Davey Richards defending the ROH World Title against Roderick Strong in the main event. That’s inexcusable.

An ad for ROHWrestling.com aired pushing the ROH experience.

Another ad for the “Best in the World” DVD aired.

We came back from commercial with McGuinness interviewing a “fan.” McGuinness asked him if he thought Richards or Strong would win. The fan said ROH should bring back Kevin Steen. Nigel called the fan a wanker.

Radican’s thoughts: I wonder how ROH is eventually going to explain the Steen storyline, which is extremely insider, to a new audience.

Kevin Kelly introduced the “Inside ROH” segment on the Strong-Richards match. Strong said winning the ROH World Championship would make him the center of attention. Strong said if he can beat Richards, he’d make Richards’s life miserable. Strong said beating Richards would be better than sex. They went to Richards, who said winning the ROH World Title at “Best in the World” brought closure for him. He talked about growing up with his grandparents. Richards said his grandfather, who was struggling with cancer, would come alive because of wrestling. Richards said he has a lot of pride in himself because of his grandfather. Richards talked about going to Japan and learning his grandmother had died. Richards said the belt was the only connection he had left.

Radican’s thoughts: This video package blew me away. You had the perfect heel vs. babyface dynamic here. Strong and Richards both delivered during their promos. The Richards segment was really well done. Kudos to everyone that put together that video package.

They went right to Strong’s ring entrance after the video package ended. Strong came out, but it was hard to judge the reaction he got. Richards came out and the fans at ringside slammed the guardrails. Cruise did the formal introductions. Kelly said the match would begin after commercial.

They aired another ad with Kelly plugging ROH live events in the Sinclair markets. This time ROH TV Champion Jay Lethal joined him. Lethal said the company was about real professional wrestling. Lethal didn’t say anything that would make me want to go buy a ticket.

They showed the “Tale of the Tape” graphic once the commercials ended. Both men stood face-to-face in the center of the ring. They refused to shake hands.

2 - - DAVEY RICHARDS vs. RODERICK STRONG – ROH World Title match

Strong took Richards down to the mat early, but Richards drove him into the ropes. Strong slapped Richards across the face after the broke apart. A heavy chant for Richards broke out as both men circled each other in the middle of the ring. Both men exchanged counters and came to a stalemate and the crowd applauded. Richards caught Strong in a submission on the mat. Strong countered with a submission of his own on Richards. Richards escaped and grounded Strong with an arm submission as the crowd clapped. Richards went for an ankle lock, but Strong shoved him to the floor. Both men ended up on the floor and Richards lit up Strong with kicks as Kelly talked about Richards’s training camp in preparation for the match.

Strong fired back with a kick and tossed Richards into the guardrail. Both men exchanged chops on the floor and Strong won the battle with a huge chop. They continued to go at it on the floor with Richards whipping Strong into the guardrail and following up with a running kick to the head. The announcers said both men were fighting for the biggest prize in wrestling. Strong snapped Richards’s neck over the top rope from the outside and went on the attack. Kelly referenced McGuinness as being a former ROH World Champion. Both men brawled up top and Richards hit an enzuguri that sent Strong to the floor. Richards got distracted by Martini and Strong nailed him with a kick from the apron as they went to break with a nearfall.

They came back from the break with Strong in control. They showed two small boxes with the “live” action and highlights from action during the break that saw Strong win an exchange of blows with a dropkick. They went back to live action with Richards hitting a suplex as the crowd applauded. Both men recovered and began exchanging blows in the middle of the ring. Richards won the exchange with two big kicks. Richards kicked Strong to the outside and nailed him with a running kick on the apron. Richards followed up with a dive through the ropes and the crowd went nuts, although the sound was low for the pop.

Richards went up top and hit a missile dropkick inside the ring for a nearfall. Strong and Richards exchanged blows in the center of the ring. Davey hit a series of slaps and nailed Strong with a running forearm and a suplex for a 2 count. The crowd chanted “this is awesome” as Richards went on the attack. Strong fired back and caught Richards with a powerslam for a 2 count. Strong went for a backbreaker, but Richards caught him in a pinning combination for a 2 count. Strong fired back with a big kick for a 2 count. Richards hit a backbreaker on the apron and rolled Richards back into the apron for a nearfall. Strong hit a kick, but Richards hit the alarm clock. Richards then caught Strong with a lariat that left both men down on the mat. The crowd chanted for Richards as he struggled to his feet.

They came to the middle of the ring and exchanged blows again. Richards sold a forearm and returned the favor to Strong, who went down to a knee. Strong hit a chop and Richards fired up and nailed him with a kick. Kelly said they were running low on TV time. He said the match would continue next week if they ran out of time. Strong caught Richards with a kick in the corner and followed up with a gut buster for a nearfall. The fans chanted “this is awesome.” Richards ducked a charge in the corner and hit a running knee. Richards put Strong on the top turnbuckle and nailed him with a superplex. He held on and hit a falcon arrow for a 2 count. Richards then grabbed an ankle lock, but Strong fought out of it. Strong went for another gut buster, but Richards caught him with an ankle lock. Richards grapevine the leg and Martini got on the apron as Strong tapped. Richards chased Martini into the ring and ducked a clothesline from Strong. Richards took out Strong and went after Martini. Richards sent Martini out of the ring and walked right into the sick kick from Strong for another nearfall. Strong applied the Stronghold, but Richards countered it into the ankle lock. Strong pushed him off, but Richards hit a kick. Strong spit at Richards and slapped him in the face. Richards fired back with a roundhouse kick to the head, but Strong kicked out. Richards then got the ankle lock and grapevined the leg for the tap out.

Winner: Davey Richards to retain the ROH World Title

Star rating: (***1/4) – This was the best match ROH has presented on television so far. Strong and Richards delivered some really good in-ring action, but the shenanigans with Martini and too many nearfalls watered things down a bit.

Kelly said there would be a double main event next week. Richards closed the show saying “Welcome to Ring of Honor.”

Overall score: (6.5) – Once again, the show was a mixed bag. I thought the segment with the Briscoes was a miss. Cornette gave into them easily and granted them a path to an ROH Tag Title shot. It was also difficult to follow the discussion between the Briscoes and Cornette given the audio issues. I’ve seen the Briscoes cut some great promos to hype their matches and having Cornette mediate their mic time detracted from the potential of what they could done to get fans excited about their match against ANX.

I thought the “Focus” segment highlighting Ciampa was fair, but Cornette’s commentary made Ciampa come across more hokey than scary. The creative team should think about varying the way they introduce wrestlers to the new audience, as a package with Nana introducing Ciampa and what he brings to the table would have done a better job of getting Ciampa over. Ciampa is someone I’ve been watching in 2011 and he’s really shown improvement from the beginning of the year to the end. It’s good to see him getting a push, but as was the case with Bennett last week, the company introduced a new talent with high potential and had them wrestle in a semi-competitive match. If the company is going to introduce guys like Ciampa and Bennett as a big deal, they’re matches should show how dominant they are in the ring. If ROH had shown the last 30 seconds of Ciampa’s match, he would have come across like a killer.

I was surprised it took 20 minutes for the Richards-Strong match to finally be announced. The company has put over Richards each week, but most of the show this week should have been dedicated to putting over Richards and the importance of the ROH World Title.

The Strong-Richards match was really good, but the problem was it illustrated a problem that exists in ROH. The crowd will cheer for the in-ring action, but they don’t invest emotionally in the wrestlers in the ring. The crowd entertaining themselves with “ROH, ROH” and “This is awesome” chants during the match, but Strong and Richards didn’t do much to connect emotionally with the crowd. Both men did a good job setting up their match in an outstanding video package, but what Strong and Richards brought to the table in the highlight package wasn’t present in the ring.

Another issue was the post-match of Strong-Richards cut off with Kelly saying that next week fans will see two main events on ROH TV without even mentioning the matches. The post-match with Richards celebrating a win after beating Strong would have put over the title, but the quick end of the show with no mention of what fans will see next week ended things on a flat note.

This was an enjoyable show, but the company needs to do more to connect the fans to the wrestlers they are introducing on the show.

Contact Sean at PWTorchSean@gmail.com

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