ROH HITS & MISSES 12/17: The Addiction vs. Coast To Coast, Shane Taylor, Coleman’s Pulpit with Brandi Rhodes, Six-Man Tag Main Event

HITS

The Addiction vs. Coast To Coast: The story of this match was not the match but rather the outcome of it. If memory serves me correctly, Coast To Coast has not gotten a signature win throughout this year. They have been very close on many occasions but have not pulled it off. Things were no different in this match where they gave The Addiction all that The Addiction could handle but The Addiction still got the win. After the match, LSG first grabs the microphone followed by Shaheem Ali. LSG reminds Ali that they have not won a match of significance this last year. LSG alludes to this being the end of Coast To Coast but Ali says one more match for us and it is do or die. Here is the thing. It is Final Battle weekend. You are simply not going to get any major storyline progressions with two weeks to go in the year. I thought this was a good match and I am at least somewhat curious what happens with these guys in the coming weeks. They have been a decent tag team thus far. Let’s see where this leads.

Shane Taylor vs. Eli Isom: Future of Honor talent Eli Isom stood no chance here against Taylor. This was not very competitive, nor did I expect it to be. Taylor destroys Isom and ends it with his knockout punch. The knockout punch is old school so of course I am a fan of it. This match was nothing special but if you are going to continue to build Taylor into a top talent in ROH then enhancement talent matches are a good way to start and put some wins under the man’s belt.

Coleman’s Pulpit with Brandi Rhodes: I could have done without the shameless WAGS plug for the upcoming show that Brandi is going to be on soon. However, I like Brandi addressing how she has performed as a wrestler to this point in ROH. Brandi admits she is a rookie and is still learning. Coleman questions if Cody is helping her get where she is and Brandi answers that she is not using her husband’s status, but that she is working hard to accomplish being a successful wrestler on her own hard work. This was not a home run segment for Coleman’s Pulpit, but I liked it enough to make it a hit. I felt a sense of honesty from Brandi with where she is over the last year as a wrestler and she admits in the interview that she has plenty of room to improve.

MISSES

The Young Bucks & Omega Promo: Short and to the point here. It did nothing to make me want to watch the main event coming later in the show.

The Young Bucks & Kenny Omega vs. Best Friends & Rocky Romero: Let’s get this out of the way right now. I realize this type of match is what many ROH fans live for. For me, it is not my cup of tea. I realize many ROH viewers watched this match this week and clapped and cheered and enjoyed it. The live crowd loved it. They cheered the entire time and were very much into this. I am the old guy that just does not enjoy a million flips and dives and other high risk moves that mean nothing. Here is the other thing that I dislike about ROH tag matches and 6-man tag matches. It is obvious there is no such thing as a legal man. Now, I get that this is just how it is nowadays but let’s be clear we are not watching a tag match as much as we are watching just 6 guys randomly fighting. If that is what you like, then that is cool but for me it just drives me a little nuts. With all of this said, yes this was entertaining for most, but it did nothing for me and that’s that.

Final Thoughts

I had very little expectations going into this week. It is Final Battle weekend and logic tells you that you will not see anything special as far as the progression of storylines or new feuds beginning. We will have to wait for Final Battle to conclude and the newest set of tapings before we know what we are looking at going into the new year. With that said, I thought this was still a good episode to watch. Do not ever let my misses mislead you, the main event was entertaining. I am just not a fan of the overdone flips and dives. If you miss this week’s episode, you are not missing much as this is not must-see TV. But if you happen to watch it, I think you will be happy with the show.

Mike Mills is the PWTorch.com ROH TV Hits and Misses Specialist, providing his point of view on ROH TV weekly. You can follow Mike at @BTT_Podcast and @Mike504Saints on Twitter. Also, check out his old school wrestling podcasts at tinyurl.com/BTTPod.

NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S COLUMN: ROH HITS & MISSES 12/10: ROH TV Title Match, The Addiction, WarBeard Hanson, The Briscoes, Taven vs. Lethal, ROH World Title Contract Signing