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Mike Mondo vs Roderick Strong
I've been saying for a while how good I think Mondo is and what a great streak he's been on this year, but the more I watch him, the more he reminds me of James Gibson's ROH run in 2005. He's a really talented guy who never really got an opportunity to stand out when he worked for WWE, but since coming to ROH has been able to show what he can do without restrictions and has consistently been having one of the two or three best matches on any given show. Both these guys show a ton of intensity and threw down hard right from the start, beating the tar out of each other with shots that make Chris Benoit look like Giant Baba. Mondo cracked Strong in the face with a headbutt that busted Strong open hardway, and Roderick responded with a hard snap suplex on the floor that knocked the wind out of me. Mondo wound up taking enough punishment that the referee was ready to stop the match, but Mondo said he wanted to continue and simply refused to lose, taking all of Roderick's best shots and continuing to kick out. He nearly caught Roderick on a couple of rollups, but Strong hit the Sick Kick for a very hard fought win. Awesome opener, and Roderick blew Mondo off when he went for the handshake, but Mondo got a great ovation from the crowd for his performance.
Four Corner Survival For ROH Contract: Matt Taven vs Antonio Thomas vs Vinny Marseglia vs QT Marshall
All four of these guys are regulars in the New England independent scene, though Thomas had a stint in WWE that was best known for an infamous incident that basically resulted in the immediate end of the Byte This internet show on WWE's website. This match was a good example of the two different types of wrestlers you see on the independent scene, because the segments with Taven and Marseglia going at it came off as VERY choreographed with a series of spots strung together for the sake of doing spots, while the stuff Marshall and Thomas was doing came off as a lot more believable. At one point Marseglia did a dive out of the ring where he wasn't aiming anywhere near any of his opponents and apparently intended to nosedive right onto the floor until Marshall magically popped in at just the right time to nail him on his way through the ropes. I hate using the F word, but it looked really fake, and the rest of the ROH roster are such solid workers that it really stands out when you have guys come in who don't do anything but spots. Marshall waited until Taven and Marseglia wore themselves out with the flipping and flopping and got the win after hitting Taven with a running Dominator.
Proving Ground Match: TV Champion Adam Cole vs Brutal Bob Evans
Bob Evans makes a rare, in-ring appearance as a competitor and immediately set the tone for the match, grabbing a microphone to tell the fans he was going to take Cole out and...uh...do untoward things with his mouth. That's a little disturbing, but whatever floats his boat. Bob, who has a large portion of the audience chanting his name, is listed on the Tale of the Tape as being 48 years old, and I gotta say that he looks good for his age if he really is that old, which the announcers don't seem too sure about.
However old he actually is, Bob is a seasoned veteran and is a good example of someone at the opposite end of the spectrum from guys like Marseglia and Taven, because the two big moves he did at the beginning of the match, a hotshot on the barricade and a side suplex onto the ring apron, were done specifically to weaken Cole's back, and Bob spent the rest of the match doing basic moves like bodyslams and backdrops to continue softening Cole up. Everything Bob did had a purpose, and we saw a story where a veteran used his experience advantage to neutralize a younger, more energetic opponent's ability to use his high flying offense. Cole finally connected with a superkick out of nowhere that put Bob's lights out, then trapped him in a figure four leglock. Bob desperately fought to get out, even punching Cole's leg to try and weaken the hold so he could escape, but was eventually forced to tap out. I liked this a lot, I thought it told a great story and was a situation where it made sense that Cole would be fighting an uphill battle and have to fight to get a win against a guy who may not be in his physical prime, but has a much bigger bag of tricks he's accumulated over the years.
House of Truth Promo
Before the next match, Truth Martini comes out with Roderick Strong and Michael Elgin to inform the world that Kevin Steen is going to retain the title tonight, but will lose when he faces his hired mercenary, Rhino, on the next iPPV. Kevin Kelly asks him about the dissension between Strong and Elgin, and Truth says that they'll prove in the tag team tournament that everyone is on the same page. Elgin says that he agrees with Truth about him coming out of Toronto with gold around his waist, but it'll be the World Title because he signed a contract to wrestle the World Champion at Glory By Honor. Strong says that's not happening because Truth Martini said he would get Elgin's title shot, and he's going on strike from the House of Truth until he gets it.
Michael Elgin vs Charlie Haas
Haas comes out to start the match since Elgin's already in the ring, and Elgin barely wastes any time in doing his insane power move of the night, picking Haas up for a very delayed vertical suplex. I've said before what a monster Haas is when you see him in person, and the fact that Elgin can hold him up like that is no small feat. Roderick Strong is sitting at ringside drinking beers and being enough of a distraction to Elgin that Haas is able to blindside Elgin and repeatedly ram his legs into the guardrail. Elgin finally has enough and kicks Haas so hard that he goes THROUGH the guardrail, but Haas goes after Elgin's legs like a shark and spends most of the match trying to wear them down. Elgin was in the unfamiliar position of de facto babyface who took a beating before making a fiery comeback, the first time I ever remember seeing him in that role, and a big part of the battle Elgin found himself fighting involved Strong making a counterproductive nuisance of himself at ringside. Strong openly cheered Haas on and, after Elgin inadvertently rammed Haas into Strong, spit beer in Elgin's face and allowed Haas to roll Elgin up and pin him with a handful of tights. Elgin gave Truth Martini a death stare after the match, but they left without incident.
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs Steve Corino & Jimmy Jacobs
This match came about because of a very violent match the Briscoes had with Kevin Steen & Jacobs from a few weeks earlier, and much like the first match, they completely threw out any semblance of a wrestling match and brawled out to the floor within minutes. They eventually settled down into more of a standard match, and there's not much more to really say about this. Jacobs went for the Contra Code, but Mark blocked it and the Briscoes hit him with the Doomsday Device for the win.
2 Out Of 3 Falls: Jay Lethal vs Tommaso Ciampa
It looks like Tommaso Ciampa is in store for some kind of new direction now that he's suffered his first loss. No more Embassy, new entrance music, and he looks even more intense than before. Lethal slapped Barrister RD Evans when he tried to shake on Ciampa's behalf, and then he went on to completely sqush Ciampa in the first fall. Ciampa literally got no offense in as Lethal hit the Lethal Injection and then the Lethal Combination to win the first fall in under two minutes. The second fall was as one-sided as the first, with Lethal continuing to beat on Ciampa almost at will until Ciampa knocked him silly with a kneelift out of nowhere, then hit Project Ciampa to pull out a miraculous win in the second fall. The match got a lot more competitive in the third fall with both men trading haymakers and basically trying to beat each other until one of them dropped. Ciampa again found himself on the losing end of the exchange and resorted to a low blow while the ref had his back turned, but then Prince Nana ran out and attacked RD Evans, distracting the referee again and allowing Lethal to hit a low blow of his own and follow up with a handspring into the Lethal Injection for the win. Terrific match, and the rather brutal way Lethal pounded on Ciampa and kicked him in the uprights played into the storyline that would unfold over the next few months where Lethal was told that he needed to have more of a killer instinct before he'd get another ROH World title shot.
Eddie Edwards & Sara Del Rey vs Mike Bennett & Maria Kanellis
This was pretty much what you'd expect it to be: Maria spent the early minutes taunting Del Rey, but hid out on the apron while Bennett did all the work. Maria was happy to tag in once Bennett had Edwards in trouble, coming in long enough to throw a few stomps and tag right back out, an infuriating situation for Edwards since he refused to hit a woman. That said, he was perfectly fine with letting Del Rey beat women up as much as she wants, which she did once Edwards finally got the hot tag. Del Rey chased Maria under the ring while Bennett put Edwards in his own Achilles Lock, but Del Rey re-emerged with Maria's outfit in hand, as Maria was now apparently naked under the ring. This distracted Bennett long enough for Edwards to get him in an Achilles Lock of his own and force Bennett to tap. Bennett took Bobby Cruise's jacket and used it to cover Maria up and spirit her to the locker room before anybody got to see her goodies. When I talked about Cornette's removal from creative in the Elite section earlier this week, I said that while I generally considered Cornette's booking to be really good, I occasionally saw very outdated angles that didn't quite fit into 2012, and chasing someone under the ring and stealing their clothes would be one of those angles.
ROH World Title Match: Kevin Steen vs Eddie Kingston
This match had been building for a few months, going back to a confrontation these two had in New York City that led to a match for Kingston's CHIKARA Grand Championship when ROH and CHIKARA ran their double header back in April. That match ended in a DQ when Steen hit a low blow on Kingston, but since ROH Executive Producer Jim Cornette was desperate to find anyone who could take the ROH World Title from Steen, Kingston's years-long ban from ROH was lifted for one night so he could come back and challenge Steen for the title. And by the way, it was announced at the start of the match that this would be a no DQ streetfight.
Kingston didn't waste any time getting down to business, knocking Steve Corino on his ass for making fun of Kingston's weight before Kingston ever made contact with Steen. They spent most of the opening minutes of the match brawling around ringside, with Steen coming after Kingston with a spare turnbuckle before Kingston suplexed Steen through a table. A major turning point in the match came when Steen set up a table between the guardrail and the ring apron, but set it up with the folded legs facing upward, and when Steen powerbombed Kingston through the table, he was knocked out cold and the match came to a screeching halt.
Now things got real, because while Kingston was so badly hurt that officials came down to check on him and eventually help him to the back, Steen had a microphone and was shooting his mouth off, saying that Cornette brought in challengers from outside ROH so he doesn't have to worry if Steen hurts them, then tells the referee to quickly raise his hand before the iPPV stream drops. Steen finally crossed the line when he told Kingston that he may have dedicated the match to Larry Sweeney, but Sweeney's watching him get carried out and thinks he's a (female body part). That was enough for Kingston, who pushed the officials aside and came storming back to the ring to finish the fight.
Kingston came after Steen like a house of fire, but he was already badly injured from the powerbomb through the table and got hurt even worse when Steen kicked the middle rope into his groin and gave him a DDT on a chair. Kingston nearly pinned Steen off a backdrop driver through a table, and again with a second backdrop driver through a chair, but Corino pulled the referee out of the ring before he could make the three count. Rhett Titus ran out of the back and took out Corino, but Kingston still had to deal with Jimmy Jacobs, whose distraction allowed Steen to slip in and low blow Kingston and hit an F5. Kingston kicked out, so Steen smashed Kingston over the back with a chair four or five times, then set up several chairs to form a sort of bench that he gave Kingston an F5 through, and that was all she wrote for Kingston.
As I said earlier today when I covered the Delirious DVD, my reviews have this funny habit of relating to current events, and it happens again here when Kevin Steen started the trend of attacking fans that CM Punk continued on Monday. The fans Steen went after turned out to be plants, but it did strike me as a pretty funny coincidence.
* * *
I really enjoyed this show. The wrestling was great, I particularly liked Mondo-Strong and Lethal-Ciampa, and the main event was off the charts. I also liked the continued progression of the friction between the members of the House of Truth, with Elgin seething to the point that you knew it wouldn't be long before things blew up, and after almost completely disappearing from ROH for a year after the Kings of Wrestling left the company, I liked that Sara Del Rey got to go out on a high note before moving on to WWE. Recommended show, and you can find information on ordering this or any other ROH DVDs at their website here.
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