Things worked out well for me as one of my cousins got married on Saturday...the reception just happened to also be in the Gateway Center, so I walked over to the show after dinner.
The turnout was really good; attendance was said to be around 500. Saw several familiar faces from the area wrestling scene as ringside security guards and in other roles. Fans were into the show and seemed to know who the relevant players were.
I have quickly learned that a fan's perception of Ring Of Honor(and, locally, St. Louis Anarchy) depends heavily on one's tolerance for the big-moves-for-two-counts style of match. I'm in the middle ground on it...I'm fine with it to a point, but eventually overkill does set in. Moreover, if a wrestler hopes to make it to WWE, they'll probably need to tone that down to some extent.
At the end of the day, I tend to "live and let live". If a wrestling promotion is a) drawing people, b) making money, and c) putting on a show that the audience enjoys, then who am I to say anything? I freely admit that I watch a ton of wrestling on a regular basis and there's a good chance that I'm "burned out" to some extent. Long story short, my viewpoint may not necessarily be the best. I know what I like and I'm just one fan getting one ticket and writing one whiny blog. If what a promotion is doing works, then cool. If not...then that's the problem of the promotion in question and people aren't likely to listen to me anyway. I've never been in the ring, after all.
I also freely admit that there are some wrestlers that I just don't "get" while everyone else seems to praise those people as God's gifts to wrestling. Again, chalk it up to personal preference; if those people are, ahem, "best for business", then that's what counts.
At the end of the day, I've got more important things to worry about in life than professional wrestling. Trust me, I miss the days when that was my biggest concern. I would probably be a lot happier if I turned it off and never looked back. I respect the people who realized that and were able to walk away. Maybe someday I'll do the same, but today's not that day and tomorrow doesn't look good either.
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Your ring announcer was Scarlett Bordeaux; she now has blond streaks in her hair. As a vocal fan of redheads, I am conflicted about this.
Danny Adams vs. Paco Gonzalez: This was a preshow match between two proteges of Michael Elgin(who now trains people in the St. Louis area). Hadn't seen either of them before, obviously. Fans didn't quite catch the names and chanted "Let's Go Red Trunks" for Gonzalez. To be fair, I didn't quite catch Paco's name and only got it from one of Elgin's Twitter posts. Adams won with a Falcon Arrow.
"All Ego" Ethan Page^H^H^HEthan Gabriel Owens vs. Zizou Middoux: Middoux's from South Africa so U-S-A-U-S-A-U-S-A. He teamed with Mike Sydal for a little while as #PartyBoys. I didn't realize until well after the fact that Ethan's new name has the initials E.G.O....now I see what you did there. I can only assume there was potential for MARKET CONFUSION~! with Adam Page on the same roster. Saw Ethan a few times on AAW's TV show via YouTube...he regularly teams with "Walking Weapon" Josh Alexander as The Monster Mafia and also held the AAW Tag Titles with Elgin. He was on ROH TV at least once and worked the Carbondale show on Friday, so it seems like he's on their radar. Ethan won with his version of the Rock Bottom.
Cedric Alexander vs. Tadarius Thomas(w/ Jimmy Jacobs): Jacobs was only in a managerial role for the night(he faced Elgin in Carbondale). This was our first storyline-based match as Cedric's feuding with The Decade in general and Roderick Strong in particular. The push is on for the Best In The World pay-per-view later this month, to the point where the weekend's shows were titled "Road To Best In The World"; Cedric's facing Strong in a submission match on that show. Tadarius and Adam Page have become lackeys for the Decade and tend to get abused after losing(though it didn't happen in this case).
I like Tadarius; he has a unique style. Alexander's been finishing with a belly-to-back suplex into a double-knee backbreaker(Lumbar Check) which ticked off Strong since backbreakers are his thing. Would have thought that Alexander would win with a submission hold to push the Strong match...but perhaps he didn't want to give the opposition anything to scout. PSYCHOLOGY~! or something. Anywho, Lumbar Check for the win, Cedric gets away before the post-match attack can happen, and it leads straight into the next match...
Caprice Coleman vs. B.J. Whitmer(w/ Jimmy Jacobs & Tadarius Thomas): I saw Coleman quite a bit on NWA Wildside and Anarchy's TV shows before he became a ROH regular as Alexander's tag partner. It was an unusual case of an amicable split...after losing their last shot at the Tag Titles, Coleman and Alexander agreed to focus on their singles careers. Big fan of Coleman and it was cool to see him in person. Was also cool to see him get the win as I wasn't expecting it...slick victory roll counter to an exploder suplex attempt. Alexander re-entered with a chair after the match and I was joking about he'd better not turn on Caprice after last Monday's Raw...heh.
T.V. Champion Jay Lethal(w/ Truth Martini & Seleziya Sparx) vs. The Romantic Touch, non-title^H^H^HProving Ground Match: Unfortunately, the twist was spoiled for me beforehand...contrary to popular belief, I hate when that happens. It's the worst-kept secret in Ring Of Honor that Romantic Touch is (usually) Rhett Titus and I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference before the actual unmasking. It started with a Lethal promo and Romantic Touch interrupting, kick-starting the match before it was "officially" scheduled. Truth acknowledged former "Hoopla Hottie" Scarlett with some off-color remarks. The impromptu start resulted in Lethal wrestling in his street attire and R.T. ripping off his clothing, prompting a "This Is Awkward" chant.
No real immediate story here; Lethal was treating the match like a joke since R.T. has been a comedy character(he flirted with Veda Scott on ROH TV this past weekend and got kicked in the "ding-ding" for his efforts). However, Lethal "accidentally" pulled off the mask when he attempted his Lethal Injection(rope-handspring Cutter) finisher...and it was actually Matt Taven under the hood! Taven was managed by Martini to a lengthy reign as T.V. Champion before getting destroyed by Tommaso Ciampa in December; Taven would turn face and dump Martini, something Martini did NOT take well. Lethal made the proverbial deal with the devil and won the belt from Ciampa thanks to Truth's assist. Taven delivered a flurry of offense after the unmasking, finishing with the Climax(a trapped-arm headlock driver which he hadn't used since his days with the House Of Truth). Some fans were confused about whether the title was on the line as Taven celebrated with the belt, but Lethal got it back...Taven will get his title shot at Best In The World.
"Unbreakable" Michael Elgin vs. Michael Bennett(w/ Maria Kanellis): Maria's shorts were even tinier than usual on this night, something I didn't think was physically possible. Bennett brought a chair into play early, prompting Elgin to ask for the match to become a no-DQ affair...Scarlett announced it as such, so I guess someone off-camera made the ruling(matchmaker Nigel McGuinness?). I like Elgin and I don't really "get" Bennett...he's a good heel in a promotion where very few people actively play that role, at any rate. Of course, I've heard insinuations that Bennett's critics are merely jealous of his relationship with Maria and thus have no merit. Elgin's challenging Adam Cole for the Heavyweight Title at BITW and Cole's been aligned with Bennett and Matt Hardy lately. Bennett even used the Twist Of Fate at one point, earning him more hatred than almost anything else in the match. Elgin set up a piece of guardrail across two chairs and teased a spiral bomb onto the setup, but Cole ran in to set the angle into motion(call it a no-contest).
It's too bad that Elgin JUST got those mullet T-shirts only to get his hair cut here...ak. Elgin and MsChif's marital status is another not-so-well-kept secret and this is MsChif's neck of the woods, so that part of the angle went over well. After all that, I'm still not sure if Elgin's winning the title...Elgin's been unable to "win the big one" for a long time and Cole's been pushed huge as the heel champion. Guess we'll see...BUY THE PAY-PER-VIEW~!
We got an intermission at this point. I should have gone to see if there was any wedding cake left.
A.C.H. vs. "The Last Real Man" Silas Young: I noted to one of my colleagues that it's odd for a guy with Silas' character to have a flippy-type finisher like the Peegeewaja Plunge(turnbuckle handstand into a ropeflip moonsault). The St. Louis area loves them some A.C.H.; he's one of the main favorites at St. Louis Anarchy and moved here from Texas in the past year or so. A.C.H. won a six-way match at the Carbondale show to earn a title shot at Adam Cole later in the night; good to see he's getting opportunities like that. Figured Silas would win since he's on the PPV card in a few weeks(vs. Kevin Steen). A.C.H. survived most of Young's big moves but finally tapped to the Stocklock(full nelson out of the Crippler Crossface position).
Adam Cole vs. Tommaso Ciampa for the Heavyweight Title: Cole beat Ciampa in the semifinals of the title tournament last year, but Ciampa rebounded by winning the T.V. Title and holding it for several months. Cole, like Bennett, is a guy that I just don't "get"...he's talented and he's good in the heel role, but I don't see why it's him that's a big deal as opposed to some other guys. The overbooking torpedoes went into full effect with two abused referees, several visual falls for Ciampa, and Bennett & Maria running interference. A lot of big moves were survived, including Ciampa getting knocked off the top rope through a table on the floor, then Cole taking an Air Raid Crash onto the ring apron. Ciampa finally hit his Project Ciampa finisher(powerbomb onto both raised knees) but Cole somehow crucifixed him for a flash pin out of the ensuing cover. It looked like Ciampa's feet were in the ropes but the first ref missed it.
reDRagon(Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish) vs. The Briscoe Brothers(Jay & Mark) for the Tag Team Titles: O'Reilly & Fish are now three-time Tag Champs and the Briscoes were going for their ninth(!) reign as titleholders. Surprising that this went on after the Heavyweight Title bout, but O'Reilly lives in St. Louis nowadays and the Briscoes are very popular around here. A lot of big moves were thrown around in this one as well, but a well-timed low blow made the difference by taking Jay out of the picture. O'Reilly pinned Mark after Chasing The Dragon(brainbuster/head kick combo). Jay was nice enough to plug the PPV before they left(they're facing Matt Hardy and Bennett).
Upcoming:
-Saturday 6/14: Dynamo in Fenton(Stratford Inn); MMWA in St. Louis(S. Broadway). Also WLW in Green Ridge, MO and Metro Pro in Kansas City, KS.
-Saturday 6/21: SICW in East Carondelet with Ted DiBiase appearing. Not sure about whether Bobby Heenan will be there.
-Saturday 6/28: Dynamo in Glen Carbon; WLW in Troy, MO.
Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
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