Nathan's ROH Review - 11/8/14 Show

By Nathan Neumann (@Headliner5 on Twitter)

This is also happening soon. 

Hello once again! Nathan here to bring you your weekly dose of all things Ring Of Honor. This week’s show was really good, but I felt it was booked a bit backwards. I’ll get to this as I go through the review, so lets get to it, shall we?

The show kicks off with a video package explaining how The Kingdom will be rebuilt with the addition of its newest member--former ROH World Television Champion Matt Taven (who is also the longest-reigning TV champion at that).

From there, we go inside of the arena. Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness are on commentary to bring us all of the in-ring action that this week will include. Out comes Tommaso Ciampa, who Nigel makes sure to mention on commentary is walking a thin line as far as what he can and can not do to ROH officials. Out next is Cedric Alexander, and we are set for our first match of the night.

Match 1

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Cedric Alexander

Result: Cedric Alexander defeats Tommaso Ciampa via referee reversal after Todd Sinclair reversed his original decision.

Thoughts: I really liked this match, so it’s probably going to go on my list of Best ROH TV matches in 2014. It was that good. Both guys brought their best and, when put together, they had a very special match. They went all-out for a match that WASN’T on pay per view but rather FREE TV--which was absolutely fantastic.

The match started when Ciampa quickly rolled out of the ring after the ringing of the bell.  Cedric responded by jumping to the outside of the ring to take out Ciampa with a splash and even though Cedric was the one to hit the move he probably got the worst of it because he landed badly as we go to a commercial break.  Back from commercial and Ciampa has taken control with multiple stomps to the fallen Alexander who is down in the corner of the ring.

Later on in the match, Cedric went to hit Ciampa with a dropkick but instead of hitting Ciampa, he hit Todd Sinclair (which would play into Ciampa’s character development as of late). Ciampa sees that the referee is down and grabs the tag rope off of the corner of the ring and chokes out Alexander to score what he thought was the win. However, once Sinclair discovered that Ciampa did indeed use the tag rope to pick up the win, he reversed the decision to give Cedric Alexander the disqualification win. I really hope these two have another match because this match was fantastic.

Rating: **3/4

Back from a commercial Truth Martini and Jay Lethal cut a backstage pre-taped promo about Lethal’s upcoming TV Title defense against another Eyes On The Ring favorite in ACH. That match will take place next week. If you remember the last time these two faced, they went to a thirty minute time limit draw. Hopefully, this match will have no time limit, so these two can get it done.

Match 2

Moose and RD Evans vs. Worst Case Scenario (Elijah Evans IV and Ethan Case)

Result: RD Evans picks up the win with a splash off of Moose’s shoulders to extend his winning streak to 173-0 (per Veda Scott's post-match interview)

Thoughts: This match was okay, I’ve said this before but Moose does nothing for me and the team of worst case scenario was definitely the worst case scenario as far as wrestlers are concerned. Both team members look like enhancement talent (maybe that’s what they are), but I couldn’t take them seriously.  

At one point in the match, Moose hit a top rope cross body on both Worst Case Scenario team members (which was actually pretty cool--and the first time I have been impressed by anything Moose has done). The finish came when RD Evans picked up the win with a splash off of Moose’s shoulders to extend the streak This will lead into a match that will also take place this week (at Glory By Honor), in which RD Evans will get a TV title shot against current ROH Television champion Jay Lethal. We will see how that goes. I doubt Jay will lose the title but I doubt they will let RD lose the match cleanly so my gut instinct says that we will see a no contest in that match which will be weird because ROH doesn’t typically do that.

Back from another commercial, and Kevin Kelly is in the ring to interview the former ROH World Heavyweight Champion Michael Elgin. Elgin apparently has a new gimmick which involves him being a dickhead but that’s beside the point. Either way it’s very true to life it would seem. This interview did absolutely nothing and seemed really pointless because I wasn’t sure why the interview took place and after it was over I found myself scratching my head asking “why did that just happen?” Nothing to see here. Move along kids.

Rating: *1/2 (Being generous with this one)

From here--and that very awkward interview--we go to the main event of the evening.

Main Event – Match 3

The Kingdom (Matt Taven and Michael Bennett) vs. The Briscoe Brothers (Mark and Jay)

Result: Jay Briscoe hits Matt Taven with the Jay Driller and Mark Briscoe picks up the win after pinning the fallen Taven.

Thoughts: This match was pretty good being that involved Michael Bennett (who, again, does nothing for me). The match started out with a huge brawl on the outside of the ring with all four participants. Bennett did his part, as did Taven. The finish of the match came when Jay Briscoe hit Matt Taven with the Jay Driller and Mark Briscoe scored the pinfall victory. This match honestly wasn’t that much and I didn’t really have a lot of notes written down while watching it. There wasn’t much to the match, if I am being honest.

Rating: **

After the match is when most of the action took place. Adam Cole rushed the ring after The Briscoes won the match. Mark climbed to the top rope to execute the Froggy Bow, but was pushed off of the rope by Maria. Mark would “CRASH AND BURN,” as he went through a table which was set up at ringside. The way Mark landed didn’t look pretty; I seriously hope he’s okay after that. Michael Bennett would hit the Twist of Fate on Jay Briscoe and with the “Title Of Love” in tow, he and The Kingdom stand tall to end the show for the week.

Additional Thoughts: Regarding Michael Bennett, I’m not a big fan of him. But he’s not helping his case with me, as he is now starting to do Matt Hardy’s moves. First, he was doing CM Punk’s moves (probably due to dating Maria Kanellis, Punk’s former girlfriend). But it’s extremely blatant, and I understand the process of being a heel and that he has to get heat. I get that. But, he needs to stick to his own moves instead of stealing others’.

This show was pretty good, a solid hour of wrestling. My main gripe with the show as a whole was the match order. The first match of the night was the best match of the show.  If Ciampa vs. Alexander was swapped with the main event, it probably would have worked a bit better. Still, it was fine--even with that thought crossing my mind at the end of the hour.

That’ll do it for me and this week’s review of Ring Of Honor wrestling. If you have a spare hour this week, you should definitely check out the opener on this show. The other two matches were okay, but not real must-see stuff. Until next time ROH faithful, I am Nathan. So long for now and keep your Eyes On The Ring and stay tuned for all of the content that myself and the rest of the team provides. Also, please be sure to follow us on twitter @EyesOnTheRing and give us a like on Facebook at Facebook.com/EyesOnTheRing.