Now, as promised, a special comment about Saturday's Ring Of Honor show at the Gateway Center in Collinsville, IL.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
Normally ROH doesn't conflict with the local independent promotions, but this past weekend was an exception as Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling had their monthly event in East Carondelet. To be fair, ROH doesn't run here that frequently as they had been averaging one show a year up to this point; in fact, it was a surprise to me that they were returning so soon since their previous show(last June). From what I heard, Ring Of Honor will be back in Collinsville in June. It sounded like ROH was a legit sellout as some people were turned away at the door if they hadn't already bought tickets. That's a pretty impressive feat, considering some key names weren't on the show(particularly Heavyweight Champion Jay Lethal and Matt Sydal).
From what I heard from Drew Abbenhaus, SICW had a good turnout as well(though I don't think there's much crossover audience between SICW's old-school product and Ring Of Honor's fast-paced style). In a shocker, Flash Flanagan regained the Classic Title from Kahagas due to interference from Ron Powers, making him the only person to not only hold the title twice but on three separate occasions. Also, Dave Vaughn made his return to the ring after a lengthy hiatus...he joined Big Daddy's new stable as the veteran manager had a falling-out with Red River Jack(unmasked as Cowboy Bob Orton). More on these events as I see them on Wrestling Explosion(cheap plug).
Saw several familiar faces in attendance, some of whom were working in small roles on the show. Lucy Mendez was checking tickets at the door and I recognized John E. Rock among the security guards. I ran into Edmund "Livewire" McGuire, who hasn't been too active in recent years. Also briefly spoke to MsChif who had her new addition to the family in tow. A few people were in attendance who weren't on the show...some of them worked the Indianapolis event and were simply along for the trip. Met female wrestler Solo Darling at one point; I think Kelly Klein(formerly Mary Elizabeth Monroe) was there as well. Truth Martini was in the house, as was Christopher Daniels; Daniels was suspended on this past weekend's episode of ROH TV for striking an official. (I'm sure he was offering moral support to his close personal long-time friend Curry Man at the Indy event.)
R.I.P. to Darren Dean, who was a Davey Richards trainee who competed regularly in the area a few years ago; he teamed with Aaron Solo(w) on a regular basis and I hadn't seen him in a little while. Haven't heard many details about his passing, but he passed away at a surprisingly young age.
Your ring announcer was the lovely and talented Scarlett Bordeaux(back to solid red hair...woo). I'm not as familiar with the Ring Of Honor referees as I should be, but I believe the officials for the night were Todd Sinclair, Paul Turner, Brian Gorie, and former St. Louis resident Mike Gordon. Your ringside commentators were Ian Riccaboni(?) and Mr. Wrestling III. (Seriously, Steve Corino wears glasses and Mr. Wrestling III doesn't. If Corino was Mr. Wrestling III, he wouldn't be able to see!)
Keith Lee & Shane Taylor vs. Alpha Class(Danny Adams & Paco Gonzalez): The pre-show match featured Elgin trainees Adams & Paco against ROH newcomers Lee & Taylor. Lee & Taylor are two big black dudes who came to the ring in business attire. The match was mostly one-sided, though Adams & Paco had their moments. Taylor pulled off a scary(in a good way) somersault plancha onto the Alpha Class duo! Taylor pinned Paco after Lee suplexed Paco into position for Taylor's sitout powerbomb in 7:21. The new team got themselves over with the crowd pretty quickly after being total unknowns at the start.
Tag Team Champions War Machine(Todd Hanson & Raymond Rowe) vs. Frankie Kazarian & Chris Sabin, non-title: Due to Daniels' suspension, it was Kazarian & Sabin as the Addiction/Knights Of The Rising Dawn duo for the weekend. Kazarian cut a promo about how the Rams were leaving St. Louis and returning to his home state of California; quite a few fans(myself included) were all "yeah, you can have them, have fun with that". Kazarian and Sabin had a feud in TNA but hadn't teamed up very often in the past; of course, both are accomplished tag team wrestlers with other partners. I feel like I've become "burned out" on the ROH style as I wasn't as into the matches on this night as other people were...maybe it's just me, but who knows. I feel like I've oversaturated MYSELF with wrestling to the point where a lot of stuff runs together in my mind...that may be part of it. Wonder if Lee & Taylor will be fast-tracked to a title shot so they can do the requisite HOSS BATTLE~!? At any rate, the champs won when Rowe pinned Sabin after the Fallout(back suplex/guillotine legdrop combo) in 10:07.
"Unbreakable" Michael Elgin vs. Adam Page: As Page made his entrance, B.J. Whitmer attacked him from behind and beat him down at ringside. Whitmer got on the microphone for some exposition, saying it was payback for Page turning his back on him in Charlotte(at the most recent TV taping). Elgin ran Whitmer off and B.J. declined to step into the ring with the former Heavyweight Champion...but Page was up for the match despite taking his lumps. It became a battle of two fan favorites with Elgin's power against Page's agility...considering the pre-match beatdown that Page suffered, it went a lot longer than I would have guessed. It was your standard ROH fare with a ton of big moves and kickouts, accentuated by Elgin's impressive power spots; Elgin won with the spiral bomb in 14:12(!) and mutual respect ensued afterwards.
Roderick Strong vs. Cheeseburger for the T.V. Title: Speculation ran rampant over who Strong's challenger would be; I wondered if it could be a local standout like Davey Vega or Kevin Lee Davidson(though K.L.D. would make an appearance later in the show). It turned out to be a food-themed weekend for Strong as he retained his title against Curry Man in Indianapolis. Strong's arrogant response to Cheeseburger's presence didn't sit well with the previously pro-Roddy crowd...and Cheeseburger's immediate palm strike for a quick near-fall got a great reaction(LIGER SHOTEI~!). Cheeseburger spent most of the match simply surviving and going for flash pin attempts...the guy is popular and makes a great underdog. Strong pulled him up from a few of his own pin attempts and that nearly backfired on him, but Roddy finally put him out of his misery with the Stronghold(Liontamer-style Boston crab) in 8:31. The fans were TOTALLY against Strong by the end of the match...so in that regard, mission accomplished.
The Briscoe Brothers(Jay & Mark) vs. "The Last Real Man" Silas Young & "Beer City Bruiser" Matt Winchester: These guys had a really good match...a lot of brawling with some aerial moves thrown in. Bruiser did a somersault dive off the apron at one point...eep. I often wonder what's left for the Briscoes to do in Ring Of Honor...Jay's been Heavyweight Champion on two occasions and the brothers have held the Tag Titles EIGHT times! They recently became the first holders of the IWGP NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Titles with Toru Yano(¯\_(ツ)_/¯), so that adds to their already impressive resume. Unfortunately, Jay's political incorrectness may work against him as far as greener pastures go...he's gotten into Twitter trouble on more than one occasion. Silas took the Doomsday Device from the Briscoes but Bruiser broke up the pin attempt. Jay wasn't able to hit a proper Jay Driller on Bruiser due to his size, so he improvised with a Pedigree-esque face-first drop instead; Mark followed up with the Froggy Bow for the win in 17:00.
Intermission~! Ben Simon was in attendance and was fully aware of my concession consumption for the night. There was a water fountain in the building so I could have gone without refreshments, but I did get a couple of 20-ounce bottles of soda(Pepsi and Mountain Dew). They were a bit overpriced, though($2.75 each!).
Will Ferrara vs. Kevin Lee Davidson: Good to see K.L.D. get on the show; he got a good reaction from local fans who are familiar with him. He had a distinct size advantage over ROH rookie Ferrara, to say the least. He got a good reaction for his spinning heel kick; I look forward to seeing his career progression as he gains experience. Ferrara made the quick underdog comeback and won in 2:06 with an Asai DDT; if nothing else, it went longer than his ten-second TV match with Elgin(which, I understand, was severely clipped down for airing).
Dalton Castle(w/ The Boys) vs. Delirious: I was looking forward to this match for sheer entertainment value; sadly, I never got into a position for the masked man to throw my hat. *sob* This was Mike Gordon's lone match as the referee and he got several "Carrot Top" chants for his distinctive hairstyle. Of course Castle is ridiculously popular and Delirious had a hometown crowd, so the fans liked both guys. Delirious spent a lot of time chasing The Boys around the ring...repeatedly. I suspect he was simply distracted by the shiny outfits, but that's just one man's guess. There were several double-knockdowns in a row, leading to The Boys Fanning Up(tm) to revive Castle. That caused Delirious to go after The Boys AGAIN and chase one of them under the ring...and when they emerged, the Boy in question was suddenly wearing a Delirious mask. That caused his brother to attack him in the confusion before the real Delirious emerged from ringside...heh. Referee Mikey G was knocked down(which the fans seemed to enjoy) and Castle rolled up Delirious for a VERY long time before a second referee ran in to count...two. They had several close near-falls before Castle won with the Bangarang(tilt-a-whirl faceplant) in 13:13...most tremendous.
reDRagon(Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish) vs. The All Night Express(Kenny King & Rhett Titus): Oddly, the ANX duo has trended heelward since their much-ballyhooed return to ROH; despite that, they earned a future Tag Team Title shot with a triple threat match victory at Final Battle over The Briscoes and The Young Bucks. This show had a lot of tag matches (five out of the ten matches were tags), but they did a decent job of spacing them out. I think Kyle lives in St. Louis nowadays (as does his trainer Davey Richards), so the fans know him well. They had a ton of near-falls for each team, including one spot where the referee was distracted as Fish had Titus tapping out to the Fish Hook(heel hook). This called back to the ref missing Strong tapping out to Fish at Final Battle, something Fish has repeatedly reminded Strong about...heh. Despite this, reDRagon went on to win in 17:11 when Fish pinned King after the Chasing The Dragon(brainbuster/head kick combo). (Notably, Davey and Eddie Edwards do their own version of Chasing The Dragon in TNA nowadays.) It seemed odd for the top contenders to lose, but I guess that puts O'Reilly & Fish in contention for the tag belts as well.
Moose(w/ Stokely Hathaway) vs. Adam Cole: I'm one of those people who isn't QUITE sold on Cole, though his teased face turn in the recent storyline with Kyle O'Reilly worked extremely well. He's on his own nowadays as The Kingdom is no more: Matt Taven is injured and Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis-Bennett have jumped to TNA. (This past weekend's ROH TV show was the Bennetts' final appearance.) Moose is a guy who will be on WWE's radar in the near future; it's just a matter of experience at this point. He showed his impressive athleticism on a few occasions, including a major plancha in the closing minutes of the match. I need to check out more of Cole's body of work; in particular, I hear good things about his time in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. He couldn't use his usual arsenal of signature moves due to Moose's size, but a rollup with a handful of tights scored him the tainted victory in 12:40. (Thanks to my friend for timing the last two matches as my cellphone's battery was running low.)
The Young Bucks(Matt & Nick Jackson) vs. A.C.H. & Alex Shelley: A.C.H. has updated theme music now that he's signed a full-time deal with Ring Of Honor. His team with Shelley seems to be a makeshift one, but both have had success in tag team competition in the past(particularly Shelley). The Bucks are the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions and had their title belts with them. I was wondering which match would get the final slot and it came down to the international resumes of the Bucks and the "hometown" status of A.C.H. (he moved to St. Louis from Texas a few years ago). The tag matches for the night were varying degrees of spotfests, though that's to be expected from some of the people involved. A.C.H. did an insane Fosbury Flop-style dive in this one. As you would expect, the Superkick Party(tm) was in full effect here...though A.C.H. and Shelley would return the favor a few times. I'm pretty sure we saw More Bang For Your Buck at one point, but Matt Jackson would pin A.C.H. after the dreaded Meltzer Driver(springboard-somersault-spike Tombstone) in 15:50. Whew!
Post-match, mutual respect abounded between the Bucks and A.C.H. A.C.H. vowed to make it to the top despite what some people think of him...it's been a weird undercurrent to his ROH career that he HAZ TEH HEAT WIT TEH BOYZ N TEH BAK and the TV commentators would make subtle allusions to that. It looked like we would get handshakes all around, which is another weird inside joke (the Bucks have allegedly rubbed people the wrong way by not shaking hands with the right people). However, the Bucks double-superkicked A.C.H. (as Shelley bailed out of the ring) and left to a mostly positive reaction. The interesting thing was that A.C.H. seemed upset at the fans afterwards, yelling "YOU LIKED THAT?!?" Hmm...is there a heel turn on the horizon? We shall see...
This coming Saturday, Dynamo Pro Wrestling returns to Wood River, IL...several matches have been announced, including the return of the Viking War Party(Alexandre Rudolph & Jake Parnell) against the new team of Brandon Aarons & Garrett Shanks. In other matches: Keon Option returns from a recent injury to face Jayson Khaos, Evan Morris faces The Snitch, Mike Outlaw faces a tough test in the form of Kevin Lee Davidson, and Alpha Class takes on The Professionals(Shawn Santel & Mauler McDarby). The next few months will be very busy and I hope to see a little bit of everything this year...I may finally check out Metro Pro Wrestling on the 30th if nothing comedic comes up.
That's my special comment for this, the second wrestling show I've attended in the year 2016. Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
-PB, Watching Wrestling Wrong Since 1991
P.S. We are all marks.
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