Ring of Honor's anniversary shows fall t an awkward time for the company. They come just two months after Final Battle, generally the company's biggest card of the year, and around a month before WrestleMania weekend, at which ROH always has a presence (usually with a show called Supercard of Honor). It makes the pacing of storylines difficult and can result in a show which is more about bridging the gap between the bigger shows on either side of it and not giving too much away.
To an extent that happened this year. The four-way main
event was a way to put on a significant card-topper while also holding more
impactful singles confrontations in reserve for Supercard of Honor IX and
beyond. Meanwhile the ACH versus AJ Styles match was a big match but not
something that was likely to draw many viewers if used elsewhere and the Bucks
versus reDRagon outing was the latest in a lengthy series. The only big match
on offer that could have been saved was Lethal versus El Patron, but then whenever
the former WWE champion debuted it was going to be of significance.
All told Ring of Honor put forth a good effort with this
anniversary show. They struck the right balance between conservation and making
it appealing in its own right.
The show kicked off with a Las Vegas-themed intro video
(because it was being held in Las Vegas). It was a theme that continued
throughout the evening and made a nice change of pace. In the arena Kevin Kelly
and Steve Corino (now going under the name King Corino because why not?) talked
up the evening's top three championship matches before introducing the new
Spanish announce team. This addition would later be attributed to the signing
of El Patron. I can believe that's true.
Cedric Alexander v Matt Sydal made a cracking opener. The
two men had a lightning quick bout that gave the crowd a chance to blow off
steam and kicked the broadcast off with a bang. Sydal got the win after
Alexander went for a kick in the corner only to hit the ropes awkwardly,
landing in position for a match-winning Shooting Star press (a botch due to
unfamiliar ropes, but everyone involved styled it out well). Alexander shook
hands after the match but looked like he was on the verge of a breakdown.
Match two saw Mark Briscoe take on Moose, the culmination
of a feud that had begun with an errant spear from Moose to Briscoe. While the opener
had lasted around fifteen minutes this match was significantly shorter, long
matches not really being Moose's thing. 'The Offensive Line' muscled Briscoe
around the ring, cutting off a lot of his offence with power moves and efficient
ring placement before Briscoe mounted a comeback with a Blockbuster off the
apron and a Cactus Jack elbow. It wasn't enough to win. Moose quickly regained
control and floored Mark with a wild spear to win.
After the match Veda Scott slapped Moose's hand away from
a handshake. He looked unimpressed with her but didn't push the issue. As they
left Veda shouted that Briscoe was a loser.
That was followed by a three-way tag team match. The
Addiction faced the Kingdom team of Matt Taven and Michael Bennett and Bullet
Club representative Karl Anderson. 'The Machine Gun' was going it alone after
Doc Gallows' plane had been grounded due to severe weather. The match had a
steady first half and picked up a great deal for the home stretch. Taven and
Bennett hit a double spike piledriver on Anderson for the victory after a
Yuranage suplex and a Stun Gun to had eliminated Kazarian and Daniels
respectively.
The BJ Whitmer and Roderick Strong grudge match followed
that. They'd been teammates in The Decade and initially fell out over their
differing views on the group's young boy Adam Page. It's developed further
since then, with Whitmer feeling that Strong's selfish and desperate to protect
his spot and Strong feeling Whitmer's jealous of his success and ability. It
was a good story making good use of the history the two men have in ROH. It was
a stiff affair. Strong won after a disrespectful "kiss of death" from
BJ fired him up and he hit a pair of high knees, an elbow strike and the lumbar
check.
Match five saw Maria Kanellis defend the title of love,
formerly Jay Briscoe's real world title, against ODB. For the record that now
stands for One Dirty Briscoe, which is pretty clever (by wrestling standards).
The pre-match video featured some great verbal work from Kanellis. WWE missed a
trick not rehiring her when they had the chance. She and Bennett could have
been great in NXT.
Before the match Maria announced that she was unable to
wrestle because she was pregnant. But that was a swerve! Bennett ran in through
the crowd and super kicked Mark Briscoe, who'd accompanied ODB to ringside, as
Maria hit ODB with the title belt. ODB kicked out, Briscoe evened the odds with
Bennett, and then ODB clobbered Maria around ringside. Following a few minutes
of that Maria floored ODB with a super kick then held her for Bennett to do the
same. That backfired when ODB ducked out of the way, leaving Maria to take the
move from her husband.
Briscoe fought with Bennett as Maria surprised everyone
by kicking out. Presumably determined to prove she warranted a spot on the show
Maria took a military press into the lads at ringside and then took part in
providing a human crash mat as ODB leapt off the top rope. After giving Bennett
a Doomsday Device with Briscoe's help ODB returned to ring to pin Maria with
her Bam finisher. She and Briscoe then posed with the real world title (the pink
love cover having been yanked off) before heading backstage.
ACH and AJ Styles had a very good match after that, as
was easily predicted, was essentially a procession through well thought out
high spots. The first was an early attempt at the Styles Clash, 'The Phenomenal
One' flipping himself out of a jackknife pin and into the move with smooth
precision. ACH fired back with a crisp tornado DDT and a running phoenix tope
straight out of the early playbook of Styles himself.
When that didn't get him the victory ACH unleashed his
latest move, a fisherman buster variant called the Big Bang Attack. Styles
kicked out but ACH stayed on him with a modified enziguri-cum-Pele kick as 'The
Phenomenal One' clambered to the top rope. Styles avoided a 450 and applied the
Calf Killer. ACH turned it into a pin but Styles slipped out to hit a Bloody
Sunday and the Styles Clash for the victory. ACH was allowed to look
competitive before taking the loss and Styles added to the list of solid
outings his had since cutting himself loose from TNA.
reDRagon versus the Young Bucks was another predictably
great match. Again it was essentially a procession of high spots with little
story to link them together, but the Bucks and reDRagon are more proficient at
this type of match than ACH. In some ways they're better at it than Styles.
Highlights included: a gut buster followed by a neck
breaker on Fish; a top rope moonsault to the outside from Matt to Fish; O'Reilly
applying an armbar to Matt while hanging in the ropes, with Nick leaping over
them to wipe out Fish and then unleashing a super kick to break the hold;
another super kick from Nick to O'Reilly as Matt tried to sunset bomb him to
the outside, allowing him to throw O'Reilly into Fish; the ever over buckle
bomb-enziguri combo; a springboard splash turned into an armbar on Nick by
O'Reilly, broken up by a top rope elbow from Matt; and an Indy-taker on the
floor to O'Reilly.
The finishing sequence was the best of the evening. The Bucks
hit Chasing the Dragon on Fish after wiping out O'Reilly with the Indy-taker. Fish
kicked out the crowd erupted in boos. Nick and Matt hit More Bang for Your Buck
on Fish, only for Shayna Baszler (a UFC fighter who'd accompanied reDRagon to the
ring) to pull Todd Sinclair from the ring. The Bucks left the ring and stalked
stalked her around ringside, allowing O'Reilly to hit them both with a knee
from the apron. He grabbed Nick and took him back into the ring to give him a
tornado DDT. Fish followed that with a top rope falcon arrow.
The pair then hit Chasing the Dragon but Matt pulled
Sinclair from the ring to save the match for himself and his brother. He headed
back into the ring and cleaned house with super kicks and crotch chops before reDRagon
hit him with the elevated DDT into a German suplex. As Matt writhed outside the
ring Nick was left vulnerable for a second Chasing the Dragon for a successful
reDRagon defence.
Jay Lethal's TV title defence against Alberto El Patron
took the semi-main event spot. They started off quick, El Patron super kicking
J Diesel off the apron and diving onto Lethal at ringside then throwing him
into crowd barriers. Back in the ring Lethal took control by crotching Alberto
on the top rope before unleashing a slew of cheap shots and a superplex.
The Knights of the Rising Dawn (who had briefly appeared
during the tag title match) showed back up as Alberto hit a reverse suplex from
the second rope. Lethal fell to clotheslines and a backstabber and signalled
for the cross armbreaker but Lethal beat him to it. El Patron worked his way
out of his own signature hold and rolled to the outside. Lethal stayed on him
with a trio of suicide dives. The last sent El Patron tumbling over the crowd
barricade (Corino was quick to point out that the lad he landed on was
particularly hefty). When he rolled back into the ring at sixteen he was met
with stomps by Lethal. The champ's attempt at a superplex backfired when the
challenger pushed him down into a tree of woe position and double stomped him
for a two count.
Lethal blocked a super kick and the pair exchanged
punches. Alberto received a Lethal Combination but kicked out. Lethal headed to
the top rope to attempt his Hail to the King elbow drop but got caught and
crotched. Alberto fought off interference from Truth Martini and trapped him in
the cross armbreaker. Lethal came off the top with the elbow but El Patron
release Martini and reapplied the hold on Lethal as he landed.
Martini distracted the referee as Lethal lamped Alberto
with The Book of Truth. 'The Greatest First Generation Wrestler' was stunned at
the kick out but kept it together enough to catch a super kick attempt and
wobble the challenger with a bicycle kick. He went for the Lethal Injection but
his arm was too hurt from the cross armbreaker to support his weight, allowing
El Patron up roll him up with an Okana roll for two. Lethal's kick out sent
'Mexico's Greatest Export' flying forward into a shot from The Book of Truth.
He turned back around into the Lethal Injection, which was enough to put him
down for a three count. The match was very good. It got over Lethal's
win-at-any-costs character, kept Alberto strong and showed why he was such a good
addition to the roster.
The main event was preceded by the appearance of two
former ROH world champions. Nigel McGuinness joined the commentary team and
Samoa Joe made a "surprise" appearance. I say surprise but it had
already been announced he was returning and it had seemed a fair assumption
he'd make an unannounced appearance on the anniversary card. Joe cut a pro-Ring
of Honor promo and announced his intention to regain the world
championship.
The main event was a four-way match for the ROH world
championship. Champion Jay Briscoe was attacked at the bell by all three
challengers, Hanson, Tommaso Ciampa and Michael Elgin. That wasn't enough to faze
him, he was outside the ring within minutes setting up a table.
The first half of the match was standard multi-man fare.
Everyone got a turning working with everyone else and a handful of standard
spots were cycled through. The highlight was an all too brief exchange between
Briscoe and Elgin. I understand why ROH didn't want to do a singles match
between them here and the addition of Hanson and Ciampa made a nice change, but
they could have done something interesting one-on-one.
The final stretch verged on overbooking (by Ring of Honor
standards) but was still enjoyable. Todd Sinclair took a bump as he headed back
into the ring and was sent sprawling to the floor. Hanson ignored this and hit
a a Rikishi driver on Briscoe, making a cover in excess of the required three
but not having a referee to count for him. As he got up he was attacked by the
KRD. Their beating of Hanson, Ciampa and Briscoe got them a distinct lack of
heat. The return of Raymond Rowe did better. He chased them off through the
crowd and the match continued with Elgin giving Briscoe a Jay Driller through
the table that had been set up at the start of the match.
There was no referee to count the fall but it was a
natural falsie anyway: nobody would fall to such a move in a pay-per-view main
event. Elgin grabbed a chair and prepared to cave in Briscoe's skull with it.
Nigel McGuinness got into the ring to stop him. Being a mad ol' heel Elgers went
to power bomb the matchmaker. Ciampa made the save, had a bit of a stare off
with McGuinnes, and then cracked Elgin with a chair as he leant out of the ring
shouting. He went for a cover of his own but the match again continued because
there was no healthy ref.
Ciampa hit a power bomb on Elgin. Briscoe broke that up. Ciampa
retaliated with Project Ciampa on Briscoe, who kicked out at two. Elgin power
bombed Ciampa again. Briscoe broke the cover and rolled Elgin up for a two
count. Hanson returned to the fray and wiped out Briscoe with a spin kick. Briscoe
landed on Ciampa and got the pinfall win as Elgin pulled Hanson out of the
ring.
Elgin freaked out at his own stupidity and misfortune
(had he not pulled Hanson from the ring he'd have been free to make the save
and the match would have continued) then headed up the aisle. There he came
face-to-face with Samoa Joe. They shared a brief moment of tension before Joe
continued to the ring to hand Briscoe the world championship. The show went off
the air with the longest reigning champion ever and the current two time
champion staring each other down in the ring. It was all very macho.
***
Results summary:
Matt Sydal defeated Cedric AlexanderMoose defeated Mark Briscoe
The Kingdom defeated The Addiction and Karl Anderson
Roderick Strong defeated BJ Whitmer
ODB defeated Maria Kanellis
AJ Styles defeated ACH
reDRagon defeated the Young Bucks to retain the tag team championship
Jay Lethal defeated Alberto El Patron to retain the television championship
Jay Briscoe defeated Hanson, Tommaso Ciampa and Michael Elgin to retain the ROH world championship
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