We here at GuysNation already do weekly content on WWE shows, and the occasional TNA Wrestling product, but we’ve neglected another of the televised wrestling shows. Ring Of Honor is a company with a rich history and tons of potential given their talented roster. Now that they’ve found a home on the Sinclair networks, we’ve reached out to newcomer David Baruffi for his report on the product. Here’s his first take on the product:
While most have criticized ROH for their “Road Rage” show they occasionally air after iPPVs, I usually appreciate them. Sure, there are no new matches, but for a casual fan, it’s good to see these iPPV matches that I normally wouldn’t. I’ve only recently even gotten back into following pro wrestling and so the iPPVs aren’t exactly in the budget at this point. That said, these Road Rage shows should still be rare.
Destiny Of The World Champion
Jay Briscoe’s reign as World Champion seems destined to be short, but we’re informed that he did retain his title over Adam Cole at Border Wars last Saturday. The 8-time Ring Of Honor Tag champ has lots of contenders looking to dethrone him in an upcoming title defense, and when you add that to the trouble he has found himself in for some of his tweets this week, his destiny doesn’t look promising. While he has restored honor to the company, he probably won’t be on top for long.
The latest Sinclair show “Road Rage” begins with Mike Bennett w/Maria Kanellis vs. Roderick Strong, which ended up being a good match. Bennett, a high-profile free agent, was a last second replacement in this match after Mike Mondo suffered a training injury. Maria is sexy and loud, on the outside. Although the boom mics seemed to be catching every little shoutout and off the cuff the audience yells out lately. The ending of the match was bad, with Strong getting the victory after Bennett was distracted by Cheeseburger kissing Maria. For those unaware, Cheeseburger is an ultra-skinny ring crew guy/trainee that Charlie Haas beat up months earlier; not sure why his storyline keeps continuing. The win was much-needed for Strong, the former Triple-Crown Champion, as he is able to end his losing streak.
As for Mondo, he was already just coming off a career-threatening knee injury, so question marks are surrounding his ROH future.
Paul London was also a last-second replacement on the show, taking on Davey Richards in another match that ended badly. Richards overshot a top-rope double stomp onto the ring apron, and he landed squarely on London’s head. The former WWE tag team champion is reportedly okay now, but he was knocked out for a considerable amount of time. While this ROH return of his is now memorable, he’s out-of-action for the time being.
Also worth noting on TV the week before, Richards had an unbelievable match with former partner/protege Kyle O’Reilly which I’d rank as good as any match so far this year. This is why I watch ROH, there’s about 12, 15 guys on the roster, who you can just, put in a match, and you know, are you’re gonna get, a truly great, athletic wrestling match, every time!
Back to the “Road Rage” show, we’re shown the brief B.J Whitmer vs. Rhett TItus “I Quit” Match, which had some creative use of ripcords, as Titus, was crucified with them on the top rope. The match ended with Titus quitting to save Steve Corino, who’s doing his mad prophet shtick, as the leader of S.C.U.M.
Some background on the group: S.C.U.M. originated as Kevin Steen, Jimmy Jacobs and Steve Corino months ago, but has since grown into an N.W.O-type group, who’s prime focus is to end ROH. Although the group never does feel like that terrifying, outside cancerous source that it should. After Steen lost the world title to Jay Briscoe, Steen left/was kicked out of the group, becoming uncomfortable with its direction as Corino grew more maniacal.
Right after the Whitmer v Titus match ended, a stipulation-heavy tag match began, featuring Jay Lethal and Michael Elgin vs. S.C.U.M.’s Cliff Compton and Jimmy Jacobs. Elgin, has basically been the number one contender for practically a year and a half straight, and despite a high-profile loss to Karl “Machine Gun” Anderson, you can see why. He always puts on great matches, is built like a tree trunk but moves like a lightweight, and he’s powerful – like holding Jacobs upside down in a vertical suplex, a la Davey Boy Smith, for a whole minute.
Lethal suffers a knee injury during the match, and unable to continue, but just as hope seemed lost for Elgin, Kevin Steen surprises everybody by coming through the crowd. Matchmaker Nigel McGuiness lets Steen take Lethal’s place, and he gets some revenge on S.C.U.M. However, S.C.U.M. still won the match, meaning Corino can handpick a S.C.U.M. member for a title shot at the next ippv, which will probably be Matt Hardy, but he’s also now Kevin Kelly’s commentating partner on the weekly show, which I ain’t looking forward to, ’cause I’ve been tired of Corino for years now.
There’s some other things going on in ROH, like Tommaso Ciampa’s return, the rivalry between the American Wolves and the Tag Team Champs, reDRagon, the NOAH talent trade, and, the MsChif/Veda Scott feud that’s just starting in the Women’s division, but those are the main one’s this month in ROH.
