Truth Martini comes out before the match to say that he has the breakout star of 2012 in Michael Elgin, the World TV Champion Roderick Strong, and now he wants tag team gold, so he introduces the faceless Guardians of Truth.
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs The Guardians of Truth
he Guardians of Truth are a couple of guys in Executioner-style long black trunks and black masks, and they jump the Briscoes as soon as the bells rings. They work Mark over after dumping Jay out to the floor, but the Briscoes regain the momentum and take Guardian #1 out before Mark hits a rolling senton off the ropes on #2 for a 2 count. The Briscoes are all over the GoT as the fans chant “fix the ropes†to reference the fact that they appear dangerously loose. Briscoes with the double football tackle on Guardian #2, but #1 switches in and lays Jay out. GoT with a side suplex/flying legdrop combo on Jay for 2, then they put the boots to him, but Jay makes the hot tag and Mark comes in with Redneck Kung Fu. Mark comes off the top with a flying elbow (coming off the ringpost since the top rope was too loose for him to stand on), then they set up for the Doomsday Device. Whichever Guardian was on Jay’s shoulders tried a victory roll, but Jay just dropped down on top of him and got the pin.
Winners: Jay & Mark Briscoe
The Briscoes try to give Truth Martini the Doomsday Device after the match, but the Guardians shove Mark off the top rope and attack Jay until security runs in to break them up. Match seemed to have had its momentum slowed down a lot because of the loose ropes.
Eddie Edwards vs Homicide
They traded slaps at the start, Homicide goes after Edwards and gets suplexed. Homicide rolls out to the floor, so Eddie comes through the ropes with a dive that smashes him into the guardrail, then they trade chops all around ringside with Edwards getting the better of the exchange. They go back inside and Eddie comes off the top rope with a dropkick that gets 2. Homicide tries a back suplex, but Eddie lands on his feet and hits a full rotation german suplex, then hits Homicide with a running kneestrike for 2. They go back to trading chops in the middle of the ring, then they decide to upgrade and go back and forth hitting Yakuza kicks until they both go down. They make it back to their feet and Homicide has the presence of mind to hit an overhead belly to belly suplex. Eddie leapfrogs Homicide and tries a charge in the corner, but Homicide moves and Eddie smashes his shoulder into the ringpost. Homicide, being the gentle soul that he is, grabs Eddie and runs him into the post a second time. Homicide grabs a chair, but the referee takes it away from him, so he grabs Eddie’s arm and bends it awkwardly around the top rope instead. Homicide goes back to work on Eddie’s arm, which was fairly heavily bandaged coming in, and gets a Fujiwara armbar before releasing the hold to drop a knee on his elbow. Homicide hits two of the three amigos, but Eddie reverses on the third to two of his own amigos. He also goes for the third, but Homicide breaks free and hammers his elbow down across Eddie’s arm. Homicide goes to the top rope as the fans chant “si si si†at him, but Eddie nails him and hits a top rope superplex. Homicide goes for an Ace Crusher, Eddie counters to an F5 and a fisherman’s buster for 2. Back and forth exchange ends with Eddie getting a schoolboy rollup for 2, then countering Homicide’s kickout right into the Crippler Crossface. Homicide makes the ropes, then hits a tornado DDT for 2. Eddie tries for a Backpack chinbreaker, but Homicide blocks and hits the Ace Crusher for 2. Homicide with a northern lariat, Eddie blocks a second lariat with a big boot, but Homicide hits him on the second try and gets 2. Homicide is starting to get frustrated and goes for the cop Killa, but Eddie slips out the back and gets a forward victory roll for 2. Homicide charges for another lariat, but Eddie rolls through into the Achilles Lock, Lance Storm-style. Homicide gets out and small packages Eddie for 2, then another elbowsmash to the arm stuns Eddie long enough for Homicide to hit the Cop Killa for the win.
Winner: Homicide
EXCELLENT MATCH! I was saying to Mike Johnson as we were watching this that this could main event an ROH show, and they wrestled like they were main eventing.
Hybrid Fighting Rules: Kyle O’Reilly vs Adam Cole
Fans are solidly behind Cole as they circle one another. Cole tries to sweep O’Reilly’s leg, but O’Reilly steps out of the way, goes behind and takes Cole down with a waistlock. Cole tries a go behind, but O’Reilly overhooks Cole’s arm and hiptosses him. Cole finally gets a shot in, so O’Reilly takes Cole down and just pounds the snot out of him. They do a fast paced martial arts exchange with neither man able to connect, and they wind up at a stalemate. O’Reilly with a boot to the gut and he tries a back suplex, Cole slips through and tries one of his own, O’Reilly comes down bad on his ankle so Cole quickly tries to capitalize by shooting on the leg. O’Reilly spins behind, but Cole comes around on top of O’Reilly and dropkicks his bad leg out from under him. Cole with a dragon screw legwhip, then he tries another and O’Reilly counters to an enziguiri. Cole manages to hold onto the ankle, so O’Reilly tries another enziguiri, but Cole ducks and uses O’Reilly’s momentum to make the next dragon screw legwhip even harsher. O’Reilly is down in the corner and Cole pummels him with punches until the referee forces him to back off. O’Reilly gets a roll through into a cross armbreaker, Cole makes the ropes and tries to fire back at O’Reilly, but O’Reilly catches him with some stiff shots and Cole goes down. O’Reilly lets the referee count, but Cole starts to get up, so O’Reilly puts him in a seated abdominal stretch and repeatedly drills him with open hand strikes to the face. O’Reilly tries an arm wringer, but Cole breaks free and hits a flying leg lariat. Cole with a series of back elbows using the good arm, but tries an ill-advised suplex and winds up in a strike exchange. They hit simultaneous big boot and both go down, but they both beat the count back up and go back to trading right hands and literally beat each in the face until both their faces are covered in blood. They give that up and instead do the old Danielson-McGuinness headbutt exchange off the ropes, Cole gets the advantage and superkicks O’Reilly square in the face. O’Reilly beats the count and knocks Cole down, but he pops right back up. Both men are covered in blood as O’Reilly gets several more hard strikes and a backdrop suplex. The crowd boos as the guy from the NY State Athletic commission takes a seat at ringside, O’Reilly gets a front guillotine choke but Cole muscles him up into a brainbuster onto his knee. O’Reilly somehow gets to his feet, so Cole superkicks him square in the face and O’Reilly is knocked out and tumbles to the floor. He somehow manages to make it back in yet again and gets a cross armbreaker, Cole reverses to a Texas Cloverleaf, O’Reilly tries to reverse to the LeBell Lock, but Cole blocks and gets a figure four, and O’Reilly taps.
Winner: Adam Cole
This was just insane, absolutely way more than I was prepared for and so, so good. When I reviewed their first match over Wrestlemania weekend, I said that it was okay, but thought they could do a lot more given more time and a higher profile spot. This was that match, and one you absolutely need to go out of your way to see. Cole tries to shake O’Reilly’s hand, but O’Reilly smacks him in the face and walks out.
Fit Finlay vs Michael Elgin
It’s not often I start a match thinking “poor Michael Elginâ€, but this is one of those occasions. Elgin follows the Code of Honor and Finlay follows suit…then pulls Elgin in for a very tense staredown. They tie up and Elgin powers Finlay to the corner, Finlay reverses and breaks clean. Finlay takes Elgin to the corner and head feints at Elgin, but Elgin doesn’t flinch. Elgin with what Finlay apparently considered a playful shove, then he gets Elgin in a side headlock. Elgin takes Finlay to the ropes and slowly breaks, but Finlay shoots right in on the leg and takes Elgin down, then stomps on the knee and kicks him in the face for good measure. Elgin gives him a forearm to the face as a receipt, and they go back to circling one another. Finlay goes behind and steps on the back of Elgin’s knee to break him down to the mat, then rams an elbow down to the top of his head. Finlay is absolutely playing with Elgin at this point, getting a drop toehold and a side crossface. Elgin tries to roll Finlay to his back, but barely manages a 1 before Finlay rolls back and goes after Elgin’s arm. Elgin finally has had enough and fires a couple of forearms at Finlay, who just dropkicks Elgin’s knee out from under him and goes back to the side crossface. Finlay breaks Elgin down to his knees again and rams a forearm to the chest. Elgin reponds with a pair of forearms of his own, so Finlay takes him down with another single leg and grinds Elgin’s knee with his elbow. Elgin locks his hands around Finlay’s chin to try and peel him off, but finlay holds on until Elgin rolls out and they’re back on their feet. They circle one another and Finlay slaps Elgin in the face, Elgin gets pissed and smashes him with a couple of forearms, but Finlay with yet another single leg takedown and Elgin has to expend energy to get out of the hold. Elgin finally gets a go behind on Finlay and gets a waistlock, but Finlay again has an answer and uses his hips to roll Elgin over him and back onto the mat where Finlay gets him in a top wristlock. Elgin gets to the ropes, so Finlay uses the referee to distract Elgin so he can come in and kick Elgin in the gut and pound on him with forearms to the chest. Elgin reverses a whip and sends Finlay into the corner, but runs into Finlay’s boots. Finlay dodges another couple of wild swings, but Elgin gets a suplex and then drops Finlay down with a huge clothesline. They go out to the floor, but that turns out to be a mistake for Elgin, as he winds up on the wrong end of an exchange where Finlay rams Elgin’s back into the ring apron, then picks Elgin up in a fireman’s carry and drops him across the top of the guardrail. Finlay gets inside and waits for Elgin to get onto the apron, then just drills him with a hard forearm and sends him back out to the floor. Elgin rolls back in under the bottom rope and he looks pissed. Finlay backs toward the corner, then boots Elgin in the face again and charges out with a hard forearm that drops Elgin on his ass. finlay with a short clothesline and a kneedrop for 2, then gets Elgin in a rear chinlock. Elgin picks Finlay up and gets a back suplex, but Finlay maintains control and gets another nasty chinlock. Elgin counters to a legscissors as they seem to be losing parts of the crowd, but Finlay escapes and takes Elgin back down by the legs. Elgin suddenly catches Finlay with an enziguiri out of nowhere, then dodges a charge and Finlay runs his shoulder into the ringpost. Now Elgin takes the golden opportunity to hit Finlay with several clotheslines in the corner and a superkick. Elgin suplexes Finlay off his knees and drops him forward into a uranage for 2. Elgin goes for a powerbomb, Finlay backdrops but now Elgin uses one of his own tricks against Finlay by mulekicking him out of the corner. Elgin goes up for a moonsault, but Finlay shoves him out to the floor, then goes out and rolls him back inside and covers for 2. Finlay hits the Celtic Cross, but Elgin kicks out at 2 so Finlay hoists him back up and hits a Tombstone, but Elgin again is out at 2. Finlay can’t believe it, but he drags Elgin back up one more time and goes for another Tombstone. Elgin slips out the back, palmstrikes Finlay in the face, powerbombs him into the corner, and htis the sitout powerbomb for the hardest fought win of his life.
Winner: Michael Elgin
This told a great story because you had Elgin, who’s been one of the most dominant guys in the company for the last year, coming in and basically being manhandled to show that no matter how good you are, there’s always someone way better. He survived massive amounts of punishment and managed to turn a really bad situation around really quickly with the flurry of moves at the end. This was much better for Elgin than if he would have cakewalked through Finlay, or even been presented as even with him because the win means much more because of what he had to do to earn it.
Finlay wants to shake Elgin’s hand after the match, Truth Martini laughs Finlay off, but Elgin comes over and shakes his hand like a man. Martini gets in Elgin’s face about it, so Elgin backs him to the corner while apparently expressing in no uncertain terms that Truth Martini should try not to tell him how to live his life.
INTERMISSION
We come back from intermission with Mike Bennett making his way to the ring with Maria Kanellis and Brutal Bob Evans for the first ever live edition of the Prodigy Service Announcement. He says New York wasn’t his first choice for this since he’s from Boston, but ROH told him that he could wrestle anyone he wants on the show, but he says that unless it’s a title match, he won’t do it because he’s the best wrestler on the planet and nobody else comes close. Crowd starts a CM Punk, and he says that they can chant for the Best In The World, but he’s Better Than The Best, so he’s just going to hand the microphone back to his fellow Bostonite Bobby Cruise, and he and Maria will show the fans the best makeout session they’ve ever seen. He and Maria start to go at it, but Mike Mondo comes out and says he’s from New York, the first show he ever came to was here at the Manhattan Center, but it’s always been his dream to wrestle here. He keeps getting ignored by ROH management when they see his number on the caller ID, but he wants to live his dream and he says he’s not leaving until he gets to fight Mike Bennett, then after he gets done fighting Mike Bennett, he’s….well, going to do something else with Maria that starts with the letter F. Mike Bennett jumps Mondo, but gets his ass kicked and he bails out to the floor. Referee Paul Turner is out here trying to break them up, and it looks like we’ve got a match.
Mike Mondo vs Mike Bennett
Mondo goes out to hte apron and takes out Evans with a Thesz Press, but Bennett picks him up and hits a spinebuster onto the ring apron, then they go inside where Bennett unloads on Mondo with big right hands. Mondo suddenly fires up and destroys Bennett with big uppercuts and kneestrikes to the head, but goes up to the top rope and misses a swandive headbutt. Bennett stands over Mondo and mouths off to him, but Mondo reaches up and catches him in a small package for the win.
Winner: Mike Mondo
Short match, but a good start for Mondo as what I assume will be a regular on the main touring ROH roster instead of just TV spots. I liked how they built Bennett up as this abrasive jerk so Mondo could come out and use his New York credentials to get crowd support for this.
ROH TV Title Match: Roderick Strong vs Tommaso Ciampa vs Jay Lethal
This is being held under elimination rules, and also happens to be the first time Ciampa and Lethal have been in the ring with each other since Lethal handed Ciampa his first loss at Border Wars. Lethal and Ciampa need to be physically held apart during ring introductions, but go right after each other as soon as the bell rings. They fight out to the floor and then come back inside where Strong gets involved and takes out both guys. Strong gets dumped out to the floor and then Lethal goes at it with Ciampa, but Lethal suddenly hits a dive through the ropes onto Strong. Mia Yim gets up on the ring apron and superkicks Lethal, and then all heck breaks loose until Strong hits a uranage backbreaker on Lethal for 2. Lethal unloads with a pair of chops on Strong, but Ciampa comes in and goes after both men, picking Strong up in an electric chair and dumping him on his face and covering for 2. Ciampa tears Lethal down with chops in the corner, but Ciampa comes off the ropes for the kneestrike and Lethal pops up and superkicks him, then Ciampa hits a kneestrike anyway and both men are down. Strong dumps Ciampa to the floor and quickly covers Lethal, but only gets 2. Vertical suplex gets 2 as well, and Strong unloads with hard forearms while talking trash. Lethal gets to his feet and now they trade chops in the middle of the ring until Ciampa comes in and they both chop the crap out of him. Ciampa goes down and Lethal takes both men out with running clotheslines. Lethal with a handspring elbow to Ciampa, then runs off of Strong’s chest to hit Ciampa with a tornado DDT. Lethal with a figure four on Strong while locking Ciampa in a Crippler Crossface in a very cool spot, but Ciampa gets to the ropes to force the break. Lethal pops Strong into the air for an Ace Crusher, but Ciampa knocks him silly with a kneestrike and then comes off the top with Hail To The King. He covers Lethal for 2 and then tries for Project Ciampa, Strong hits an enziguiri on Ciampa, Lethal leg lariats Strong and then goes for a superplex on Ciampa, but Ciampa shoves him off right into a rolling elbow from Strong. Strong runs in and hits a leaping enziguiri on Ciampa and then shakes the ring with a HUUUUUGE superplex, and Lethal goes up top and hits Hail To The King and covers Ciampa for 2. Strong Tullys Lethal to the floor and Truth Martini goes after Lethal, Lethal nails him and a scuffle between the two sides happens on the floor, leading to Prince Nana rolling into the ring and tripping Ciampa as he was going for Project Ciampa on Strong. Strong falls on top and pins Ciampa, then something I didn’t quite catch happened as Lethal was coming off the ropes for the Lethal Injection and Strong popped him into the air for the vertical suplex into a backbreakerand covers for the win.
Winner: Roderick Strong
A lot going on in this one that and it was a little difficult to catch everything, but solid match overall and I liked how they found ways to eliminate Lethal and Ciampa in such a way that neither one lost anything. Strong really is the master of three way matches, nobody I’ve ever seen has quite the same ability to use the dynamic to his advantage in the same way tag teams use tag team rules to do stuff you can’t do in singles matches.
ROH World Tag Team Title Match: Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team vs All Night Express
King and Haas start us off and the crowd tells Haas what they think of him, so he tags out and Shelton goes at it with King instead. They go back and forth until King gets a series of hiptosses and armdrags, and Shelton bails out to the floor. The crowd is going NUTS for the ANX, they badly want to see them win the title. King unloads on Shelton with right hands, rams him hard into the corner, and backdrops him out before taking him down with a headlock. Benjamin manages to tag Haas and he comes in to work King over while exchanging pleasantries with the fans. Shelton comes back in, but King quickly recovers and turns things around, taking Haas out and hitting a double team splash/slingshot legdrop with Titus. King winds up in the wrong corner and gets choked out by Haas, then Shelton leaps up with an enziguiri to the face and Haas covers for 2. Shelton tags in and gets a seated rear chinlock on King, then he pulls him up and hits a snap suplex for 2. Haas hangs King upside down in the corner and charges in with a knee like he’s Kevin Sullivan. he picks King up and tries another charge, King leapfrogs Haas and rolls him up for 2, but Haas lays him right back out and then tags Shelton in so he can hit some kneedrops. Shelton pulls out the sick ass spot of the night when he picked King up like he was going for a wheelbarrow suplex, but instead drops King forward over his knees. Haas comes in and abuses King until the referee steps in, and King uses the distraction to roll Haas up for 2. Haas and Benjamin go for a double suplex on King, but King counters to a double DDT and makes the hot tag to Titus, and he comes in like a house of fire. Titus cleans house on both guys, backdropping Shelton and them nailing Haas with a big boot to the head and a leaping bulldog. Titus with a big boot/roaring clothesline combo on Shelton for 2, he goes up top and Shelton tries to do the leaping suplex,but Titus drops under Shelton and drops him face first onto the top turnbuckle. King comes in with Shotgun knees on Shelton and covers for 2, but Haas comes in and suplexes King out of his shoes, then gives Titus the Hacker Slam and Shelton covers for 2. King tosses a chair into the ring to Shelton and dares him to use it, the referee sees and tells King to get lost, but Titus sneaks in and hits Shelton with a DDT onto the chair for a false finish. King takes Haas out with a dive over the ropes, Titus goes for one as well but Shelton blindsides him and knocks him outside. Now all four men are on the floor and Titus gets busted open (I didn’t quite catch how), and he ends up back inside as a smiling Haas gleefully pounds on his skull as blood mists into the air with each shot. Haas unloads on Titus in the corner and cuts off the hot tag, then chokes Titus out with his boot. Shelton tags in and stomps the crap out of Titus as well, and the referee stops him to check on the blood, but then Shelton and Haas come back to beat on him some more. Haas takes the microphone and asks the referee if he’s going to stop the match, because they’re going to kill him if he doesn’t. The referee lets it go, so Haas says the blood’s on his hands, and he goes back to destroying Titus. They set Titus up for the Leap of Faith, but King comes in and takes Shelton out with a tornado DDT. Haas goes after King and takes him out with a big boot, but Titus catches him with a schoolboy rollup and pins him to win the title.
Winners and NEW ROH World Tag Team Champions: All Night Express
Crowd goes NUTS when Titus got the pin, and the celebration is on as the ANX breaks the wine open as Haas & Benjamin stand in the ring in disbelief. They go out to the floor and lay Titus and King out, but the new champions get back up and head to the back with the belts (and wine bottles) held high.
Steve Corino comes out before the main event and says that he’s proud to be evil,and he’s going to sit on commentary for the main event so Kevin Steen has representation from someone who cares about him, unlike “that fat piece of s*** Jim Cornette.†This bings out Cornette, who says that he’s not stupid because he knows that Corino will get involved if his boy gets in trouble. Corino’s a contracted announcer for ROH so he can sit in on commentary, but Cornette will sit right out here with him, and if Corino gets involved the slightest bit, he’s going to do something about it. After ring introductions, Kyle O’Reilly comes out to get the microphone and says that he’s not in Davey’s corner because Davey didn’t like how he handled his loss to Adam Cole. He respects Davey, but he’s not going to let Davey slap him around on TV, and he’s not out here to stab him in the face, he’s going to stab him right in the eye because he’s telling him to his face that he’s tired of being Davey’s little bitch, and that’s all he’s going to be as long as he stays with him. No more Team Richards, no more Team Ambition, there’s Davey Richards and Kyle O’Reilly, and New York can kiss his ass. O’Reilly drops the microphone and walks off.
ROH World Title Match, Anything Goes: Kevin Steen vs Davey Richards
Steen goes right out to the apron to start the match, Davey kicks him off and through a ringside table, then they start fighting on the floor. Davey stops to go after Jimmy Jacobs, but he turns around and runs right into a pop-up powerbomb on the ring apron. Steen rams Davey into the guardrail and slams him on the floor, then throws a couple of metal guardrail covers on top of him and comes off the ring apron with a splash. They go back inside and Steen goes for a Swanton, but Davey gets the knees up. He goes back after Steen, but Steen catches Davey and suplexes him into the corner. Davey turns it around and kicks Steen out to the floor before following him out with a dive. They wind up fighting around the ring and onto the ring apron where Davey suplexes Steen and drops him headfirst on the apron. Davey sets up a table at ringside and puts Steen on it, then goes to the top rope and double stomps Steen through the table. He rolls Steen back inside and connects with another top rope double stomp that gets 2. Davey goes after Steen with a chair, but Steen blocks and hits a Codebreaker using the chair, then slams Davey onto the chair for 2. Steen goes up top and Davey goes up after him, suplexing him onto a pile of chairs in the ring. Davey covers and gets 2, then gets another table and sets it up in the ring. He sits Steen up top and goes for another superplex, but Steen gets him in the eyes and hits a super fisherman’s buster through the table that had so much impact that half of the table bounced across the ring after they went through it. Steen sets up a couple of chairs face to face, but Davey nails him and suplexes him onto the chairs instead. Now Davey is standing over Steen with a chain and chokes the champion with it, then wraps the chain around his boot and Kawada kicks Steen before sitting him up and kicking him in the head. He covers for 2, then gets pissed off at the referee and lays him out with a kick. The crowd liked that one. Davey gets a ladder out from under the ring and slides it under the bottom rope, but Steen pops up and surprises him with an F5 that gets 2 from replacement referee Paul Turner. Steen now puts him out with the Package Piledriver, then he tries to do the same to Davey onto the ladder, but Davey escapes and hits the DR Driver onto the ladder. He covers, but we’re out of referees, so after the crowd counts to around 14 or 15, he grabs the original referee and drags him back in. Jacobs comes in and goes after Davey and pulls the steel spike out of his boot, but Jim Cornette comes into the ring and grabs the spike away. He threatens to go after Jacobs with it, but turns around and gets kicked low by Corino. Jacobs gets the spike back and goes after Davey with it, but Davey ducks and suplexes Jacobs into the corner. Steen gets ahold of the spike and hits Davey low with it, then hits the Package Piledriver to retain.
Winner: Kevin Steen
Steen says that he’s closed out the last two ROH shows with the microphone, and he’s going to make it a hat trick. He’s waited a long time to stand in front of those people in this ring, in this building, with this belt. He hates hypocrites like Jim Cornette, but right now he wants Davey to know that for the last 18 months, he’s been a hypocrite because he’s needed to be to get a title match. The stuff he said about Davey being an undeserving champion wasn’t true, he thinks Davey is one of the hardest working people in the business and he is the best in the world. He then says that the fans are the most hypocritical people in the wrestling business, and to illustrate that, he talks about how the fans cheered when Generico beat him and sent him packing (leading to a Generico Ole chant), but then six months later he showed back up here and he was like a god here. Everyone thanks Cary Silkin for everything he did for the company, but they went nuts when he was going to break his neck with the package piledriver. The fans buy tickets to an ROH show, then chant for Bryan Danielson and CM Punk, two guys who probably don’t even remember this company. The fans turn on every World Champion: they did it to Nigel McGuinness, Tyler Black, and Davey Richards, and they can’t turn on him because he doesn’t give a s*** what they think. He’s going to be the last ROH World Champion, and now instead of saying f*** ROH, he’s going to say what he means, which is f*** Ring of Honor.
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