ROH Review 11/7

Ring Of Honor Wrestling Review 11/7/15
By Nathan Neumann, Twitter @Headliner5

Hello ringers and welcome back to another one of my weekly ROH TV Reviews, as you know I took last Saturday off due to Halloween but now we are back and ready to get back into the swing of things.  I’m not going to lie tonight’s episode was very forgettable but I will do my best to bring you the action and sound as excited about it as is possible.  It’s not often that something like that happens with Ring Of Honor where I’m not excited about it but every company is entitled to their hit and miss moments and this week’s episode was a definite miss in my book but that’s just my opinion.  It wasn’t by all means a terrible episode just more of an uneventful episode.  However I will stop ranting and we will get to the actual review. 

The show begins as we head inside of the arena, Kevin Kelly is joined on commentary this week by Nigel McGuinness and they promise to update us on the status of Steve Corino later on in the show.  Tonight’s episode features an All Star Extravaganza 7 rematch in the main event.

Match 1
Cedric Alexander vs. ACH

Thoughts: A good match between two former guests of Eyes On The Ring radio but sadly this match didn’t top their “No Loud Noises” match that took place earlier this year that you can view here but it was still a good match regardless of that.  The announcers play up the entire lawsuit that’s going on due to unsafe working conditions (I was hoping ROH would never do something like this but here we are…) Scott and Nigel argue back and forth as Cedric makes his way into the ring.  We are also served a reminder of ACH and Matt Sydal’s ongoing best of 5 series that will conclude during Friday nights stop in Milwaukee for Survival Of The Fittest Night 1 (I’m attending Night 2 live next Saturday so unfortunately I’ll miss seeing this match live by a day but hey I get the SOTF finals so I’m fine with it). 

The fans are solidly behind ACH and Cedric is showing frustration but at the same time he’s playing to his new role perfectly.  One of the key moments of this match happened when ACH knocked Alexander to the outside and then went to do a kick off of the apron to him however Veda Scott stopped it from happening when she got in the way.  ACH stopped short which allowed Cedric to hit the STO on the apron to take control of the match as we go to a commercial break.

Back from break and Alexander still has the advantage, he’s making the crowd boo him and the crowd is completely eating out of the palm of his hand.  ACH gets the advantage with a series of chops and then a reverse thrust kick and follows it up with a running clothesline.  ACH teases a dive to the outside of the ring but this time when Scott got in the way he stopped himself, Alexander got into the ring and tried one of his own but ACH pushes Scott in the way and Alexander once again stops himself.  ACH finally hits a dive to Alexander to finish one hell of a sequence.

Back in the ring both men reset and ACH hits a spinning discus punch and then follows it up with a bridging suplex to get a near fall.  Nigel mentions how the series that ACH has had with Sydal has completely changed him as a wrestler.  Alexander hits an enziguiri and then follows it up with a corner dropkick to maintain control.  He then went for a springboard move that looked like he messed it up but given how the match turned out I think it was part of the plan but it looked really weird.  ACH capitalizes off of this awkward spot and hits a superkick and a brainbuster and follows it up with the Midnight Star to pick up the win via pinfall.

Match Result: ACH defeats Cedric Alexander via pinfall after the Midnight Star
Match Rating: **1/2

After the match, Kevin Kelly conducts an in ring interview with ACH.  ACH said he was going to walk in with the same attitude he had against AJ Styles in his fifth an deciding match with Sydal and that was that.  From there we go to another commercial break.

Back from break Veda and Alexander were at the commentary booth and Scott blamed Alexander’s slipping on the rope due to excessive baby oil usage.  She then once again claimed unsafe working conditions and then screamed at Nigel who didn’t have a mic and then Kelly told her to “Go file a brief” so I guess this is something that is going to happen.  Angles like these have no place in ROH in my opinion; if I want this type of cheesy crap I’ll watch Monday Night RAW or worse Impact Wrestling (no wait I wont to do that I don’t hate myself that much).  From there we go to the second match of the evening.

Match 2
Will Ferrara vs. Caprice Coleman

Thoughts: Before this match started we see a vignette from when Coleman accepted an envelope from Prince Nana from a while back. Coleman cut a promo where he started by praising Ferrara but he then changed his mind and cut him down because for whatever reason Coleman is jealous of Ferrara.  He said “You had a great match against Kushida, but I would have liked to be in your place in that match.”  So it seems like this might be the start of a heel turn with Coleman which if it is that’s fine with me because right now I need a reason to care about Coleman and right now I don’t have that at all.

The match itself was okay but it was nothing to write home about (yet here I am writing about it) The two went back and forth early on and Coleman took over eventually.  Coleman was the aggressor in the match as Kevin Kelly played up the fact that according to him he was doing things “The right way”.  They also made mention of how Coleman has been Ferrara’s mentor so this is your basic Student vs. Teacher encounter (I had no idea this was even a thing).

Prince Nana made his presence felt at ringside and was taking some notes; Ferrara was selling his shoulder after running into the post shoulder first.  The ref asked Ferrara if he wanted to continue but Ferrara toughed it out but was thrown into the post once again by Coleman.  Coleman then grabbed Ferrara’s shoulder in a submission that he called the Judgement seat to force the win via tapout.
Match Result: Caprice Coleman defeats Will Ferrara via submission with the Judgment Seat.

Match Rating: **

After the match, Coleman shook Ferrara’s hand and mockingly put him over to the camera afterward.  On his way to the back Nana handed Ferrara an envelope and he accepted it but acted confused at the same time which also leaves me confused because I have no clue what’s going on.  I have no idea where this is going but I’m fine with it although I hope it goes somewhere that makes sense and that it’s not a complete waste of time.

Up next is Inside ROH but instead of Inside ROH it’s been replaced with “Storytime with Adam Cole” (I hope we get this every week).  He runs down his feud with Kyle O’Reilly he says that he is the better man since he pinned O’Reilly in the three way main event last week.  They then flash back to June of 2012 and their hybrid fighting rules match, which Cole won.  He says his memory of that match was losing his two front teeth and a scar that now rests on his lip that he will have for the rest of his life all thanks to Kyle O’Reilly and a kick from his former partner.  It’s a constant reminder of who the better man is (that being Cole of course).  Cole concludes by saying that he wont stop until Kyle O’Reilly is out of ROH for good.

From there we head back inside of the arena where Kevin Kelly interviews Prince Nana at ringside and asks “what’s in the envelope?” Nana doesn’t answer the question outright and says that this is the “Edge Of Enlightenment” and the keys to life are in that envelope.  No idea what this means but the fans don’t even seem to care.

We then flash to highlights of the Briscoes vs. ANX match from All Star Extravaganza, which will lead us into our main event of the evening.  With ANX getting the win in their first encounter The Briscoes will be looking for revenge this time out.

Main Event – Match 3
Kenny King and Rhett Titus vs. Jay and Mark Briscoe

Thoughts: We get the Code Of Honor obeyed by all four participants before the match gets underway.  The fans begin chanting “MAN UP” as Kevin Kelly mentions the long history of these two teams which originally culminated at Ladder Wars before Kenny King did what he did but they wont mention that and now we are where we are so it all worked out in the end.  They pick up by talking about the return of ANX from a few months ago.  The match was very even in the early goings; ANX takes over on offense after a blind tag that the announcers seem to have missed.  ANX hits a leg drop/Standing Splash combination that gives ANX a two count on Jay but it wasn’t very convincing to the crowd although it was a cool spot.

Titus and Jay begin exchanging kicks to the face before makes the tag to Mark, Mark comes in with a series of chops in the corner on Titus.  Mark then takes out King with a suicide dive to the outside.  A series of Briscoe double-teaming concludes with a running clothesline from Mark on Titus, which gets a near fall.  Briscoes begin cutting off the ring while Isolating Titus in the corner.  Mark tags in and does some Red Neck Kung Fu but Titus gets brief flurry of offense but Jay runs in without a tag to cut Titus off and prevent him from tagging in King.  Mark makes the tag to Jay and knocks King off of the ring apron so he Titus once again can’t make the tag.  From there we go to another commercial break.

Back from the break and The Briscoes are still double teaming Titus but Titus finally makes his way to his corner to tag King but I don’t think it quite got the crowd reaction that they were expecting because it was executed poorly.  King gets a near fall on Mark but it’s broken up by Jay who runs into the ring without a tag.  King sets Mark up for a superplex but hits a dropkick instead.  Titus hits Jay with a top rope X Factor but then gets hit with an exploder on Titus into the ring post but King is the legal man.

Jay once again comes in without making a tag and takes out King while Mark hits a neckbreaker on Titus.  They set up for the Doomsday device but King knocks Mark off of the top rope.  ANX sets up for the One Night Stand on Jay but Mark breaks it up before they can pull it off.  All four men end up on the outside of the ring brawling and the Briscoes get the better of that exchange.  Jay gets Titus into the ring and hits him with the Jay Driller and Mark comes off of the top rope with the Froggy Bow to pick up the win via pinfall.

Match Rating: Jay and Mark Briscoe defeat Kenny King and Rhett Titus via pinfall after Mark Briscoe hits the Froggy Bow.

Match Rating: **1/2

Sadly this was a very forgettable show, if you can only watch one match you should probably watch the main event but there’s honestly no need to see the rest of it.  We didn’t really see too much storyline progression towards Final Battle but that is partly due to their weird taping schedule.

That will do it for me and this week’s ROH review for http://www.EyesOnTheRing.com make sure to visit the site on a regular basis and read my stuff plus everything else that is provided for you because we all work on this stuff for your enjoyment and without you the reader we would have nothing to write.

A quick reminder that next week there will be no review of ROH TV due to the fact that I will be attending Survival Of The Fittest Night 2 live in Hopkins, Minnesota so I’ll end up doing a review of that show in place of my usual ROH TV review and that will come out sometime on Sunday. 

In Closing make sure to follow me on Twitter @Headliner5 and feel free to tweet me your thoughts on anything ROH related or general wrestling talk if you want to chat.

Finally make sure to follow Eyes On The Ring @EyesOnTheRing and check out the radio show each and every Sunday night at 11:00pm EST via http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com/ElitePodcastNetwork provided that BTR doesn’t suck on the night that we try and do our show.  Also make sure to like us on facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/EyesOnTheRing Until next time I am Nathan saying so long and make sure to keep your Eyes On The Ring!