Next tapings officially 4/7. Attendance about usual, 800.
Dark Match: Ricky Reyes vs. Grizzly Redwood. Ricky wins a good match in five. Cameras were rolling but I think it was dark.
- Veda Scott out doing crowd work asking for people who are here for their first show, shilling merch.
Started late due to audio problems. First tapings now.
Taped for 3/17:
1. Adam Cole vs. Chris Silvio. Silvio won’t shake. Cole wins in 5. Cross armed german. Way too competitive. Kyle O’Reilly at commentary. Gets on mic, challenges Cole for 3/31. Cole says he has PMS. Accepts. O’Reilly total heel.
- Kevin Steen interview with Kevin Kelly. Out with a tennis racket with Davey on it. Remixed his music to have wolf howl from Davey’s music added. Draped in streamers. Talks about Blind Destiny match with Eddie Edwards. Total face reax. Says he’ll win title and hold company hostage. Jim will kiss his feet, ass, and balls. Jim Cornette out. Steen does 3 1/2 pushups to mock Cornette, saying more than Cornette has ever done. Announces El Generico vs. Steen on 3/30. Takes his sweet time to get to the point. Reiterates piledriver ban. Steen messes up a couple times. Calls Cornette an idiot. Says anyone who gets in his way will be taken out including Cornette, pokes him with racket.
2. March Mayhem Qualifier: Roderick Strong (w/ Truth Martini) vs. Jay Lethal (w/ NO TITLE). “Black Machismo†chant turns to “Let’s Go Lethal.†Choreographed indie sequence of mutual respect and parity (or CISOMRAP). Strong still seems to be recruiting. Truth interference botched. Michael Elgin interference botched, rollup win by Lethal. Very very good 15 min. Roddy very mad at Truth and Elgin, leaves without them. Jay is getting better and better each month.
- Cornette out to talk to the crowd between shows.
Taped for 3/24:
- Cornette interviewing Roderick (w/Truth & Elgin), Eddie Edwards (big pop), and Davey Richards (mixed, lots of heckling). Davey says he’s not sure he can trust Eddie, Eddie pissed that Davey compared him to a prick like Roddy. Roddy says he’s sorry they had a bad breakup and said Elgin will give him his match at 3/31. Elgin didn’t seem to agree, but Jay comes out and calls Roddy a butt-munch (chant) and a fart-head. Says he deserves Roddy’s spot after winning last week. Says he’ll start taking what he deserves.
Out comes Steen with wolf intro in his music. Says he’s rooting for Eddie because he wants the title match. Says he’ll find a way to get a title shot no matter what. Steen is far less effective without his swear words. Calls people in the ring circle of jerks. Sparks circle jerk chant that I won’t participate in.
Jawing between emasculated men in ring. Everyone leaves but Davey, who gets heckled with some overrated chants on his way out.
3. Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team vs. Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander (The New Combination). Streamers! Proper face-heel reactions mostly, but some cheers for WGTT. New Combo win what was a fun match until Haas was hit in he head with an unprotected chair shot by one of the Briscoes. 11 mins. Veda in the ring with a mic and short skirt as refs check on Haas with Shelton. Mic doesn’t work. New mic for Shelton who decries chair shots and says Florida will be genocide for anyone with the last name Briscoe or anyone who cheers for them. Sells for a good five minutes as crowd chants “Man Up.â€
- Ringside Jesus wipes something up with toilet paper in the ring where Haas was. Didn’t see any blood.
4. March Mayhem Qualifier: Michael Elgin (w/ Truth Martini) vs. Adam Cole. Not a strong reaction for Cole which is surprising. O’Reilly on commentary. Botched interference from Roddy leads to a Cole roll up win in 12. Attack after the bell, but Eddie out for the save. Good match, but Cole had trouble getting face heat.
- Intermission. So far tonight, I’ve seen two suicide dives straight on and Cedric Alexander was dumped into the lap of the people to my left.
Taped for 3/31 (competing with an iPPV?):
Nigel McGuinness & Kevin Kelly in the ring to start. Announce O’Reilly vs. Ciampa and Bennett vs. Someone for last two spots in March Mayhem Tournament. Four-way with the winner next week (4/7 show which will be taped tonight). Cut to video package.
5. March Mayhem Qualifier: Kyle O’Reilly vs. Tommaso Ciampa ( w/ The Embassy Ltd. and NO TITLE). Boos all around, mostly. Mia looks very nice! O’Reilly wrestling mostly like a face here. Crowd finally gets into him. Ciampa’s offense is outstanding. He’s my favorite. Ciampa wins by ref stoppage after a knee knocks out O’Reilly. Embassy goes nuts. Fun 7 minutes. Refs checking on KO like it’s serious, but it’s an obvious work from my angle. Refs drag him out stumbling.
6. Proving Ground Match: Davey Richards vs. Ryan McBride. Davey has his IWGP Tag Title. More of a positive reaction here. But huge LET’S GO RYAN chant early because he was announced as a local [Brian Note: This is true. He's also a regular in CZW]. McBride taps in less than 30 seconds to boos. Handshake afterwards.
- Kelly in the ring. Kevin Steen interview. Every time Kelly is in the ring alone, it’s Steen. Out with racket, serves a streamer like a tennis ball after a second try. Steen requested interview asking why ROH does everything they can to prevent him from wrestling on the show. Steen is doing straight comedy. Kelly says he’s a risk to his opponents and doesn’t stop beating him up. Now he’s playing to the crowd as a face, calling us fine people he wants to wrestle for. Says someone is either holding Davey back from facing him, Davey can’t hear him because of his cauliflower ears, or can’t hear because his head is up Cornette’s ass.
Davey and Cornette out. Says Steen is a novelty act or in his third trimester. Crowd chants let them fight. Cornette tries to tell Davey not to buy into Steen. Steen says Cornette should ban the ankle lock like he did the piledriver. Davey says he’ll shove the piledriver up Steen’s ass. Steen asks if Davey’s balls had been in Cornette’s pocket. Davey slaps Steen. Steen laughs and leaves as crowd chants “Kill Steen Kill.â€
Davey argues in ring with Cornette, asks if crowd wants him and Steen. Cornette and Davey argue on the way out.
7. Final March Mayhem Qualifier: Mike Bennett (w/ Maria & #WhyNotBob) vs. Eddie Edwards. Good face heel dynamic. Boston vs. Boston! Eddie is cut on his back when Bob gives him a backdrop on the railing. Eddie gets his revenge on Bob with a big dive. Lots of back and forth. Bennett wins a very good 13 minute match after Maria oversells a bump on the apron from Eddie and the ref is distracted. Eddie gets a massive post-match reaction for being a legit tough motherfucker. Four very visible bloody lines on his back, and he bumped on them the whole match.
Taped for 4/7:
8. The Young Bucks vs. TJ Perkins & Shiloh Jonze. No one knows Shiloh, but Bucks are stars. Also, the technical lighting seems to have improved. Bucks are screaming like girls both on offense and defense and it’s hilarious, but Shiloh is taking everything so they’re not getting heel heat. TJ in and spicing up the match. Bucks are a little too cartoonish when selling. Bucks win with More Bang for Your Buck. 7 minutes of good action, but the heat was kind of missing. Bucks shook only each other’s hands before and after match.
9. Matt Taven vs. Mike Mondo. Small polite reaction for Taven. Streamers! These guys start off like guys who are feuding, which is nice. Mikey lands wrong and has a legit leg injury. Takes off his left boot on the outside. But it’s a fake out! Rams Taven into the barriers like a dozen times hard, runs around in the ring with one sock and one boot. What a heel! Back to work and Taven DESTROYS Mondo throwing him into the barrier. The girl sitting behind the barrier RAN like halfway across the section. Fucking hilarious. These guys continue to kIll each other, getting THIS IS AWESOME chants because it fucking was. Mondo wins reversing a flying move from Taven into a Downward Spiral. Both leave to massive THAT WAS AWESOME chant, which Mikey fucking loves. Six crazy fun minutes, and these guys will be remembered next month.
10. Main Event: Adam Cole vs. Jay Lethal vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Mike Bennett (with all their usual crew). Maria and Mia in the SAME match. This is the climax of March Mayhem. Cole mouthed $24,000 to the camera, which may be the prize. Lethal tries to go after Ciampa but is stopped. Nice reaction for Cole, Ciampa is popular, boos for Bennett, big reaction for Lethal. $24,000 is indeed the prize.
People have to tag in here. Lethal starts going hard after Ciampa. Lotsa moving parts to this one, as Bennett’s crew and the Embassy are jawing too. Cole dives onto everyone on the outside, but is taken out of action on the outside by Bennett. Lethal eliminates Bennett with Lethal Injection but gets immediately eliminated by Ciampa with a knee to the head. Now Ciampa vs. a hurt Cole.
Huge knees to Cole in the corner but he comes back with a superkick. Ciampa hits Cole with Sheamus’ White Noise [Air Raid Crash] on the outside for a good nearfall. Cole eventually gets Ciampa in a really over read naked choke, but Ciampa gets his arm up on the third check. Ciampa wins with Project Ciampa clean as Lethal is held back in the entry way. Really fun 14 minutes.
- Veda presents the check, but Prince Nana takes it and sings “We In The Money.†RD Evans says the $24,000 far exceeds the investors’ expectations. Felt like a crowning moment.
Dark Match: Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe, and Papa Mike “Big Man†Briscoe (w/ a fat guy) vs. Roderick Strong, Michael Elgin, and Truth Martini. Truth taunts Papa about saying he had a pretty mouth. Mark vs. Roddy to start. Papa is saying stuff like “yeah chickyâ€. Elgin in to work over Mark, then Truth in and Mark plays possum as Truth goes to the top. Mark gets up and Truth bails.
Mark tags in Papa, and Truth tags in Elgin. Papa tags in Jay who calls Truth a pussy. Papa eventually gets some licks in on Elgin, but mostly Jay vs. Elgin. Some heel interference on the outside from Roddy and Truth has Jay in peril.
Mark tags in, cleans house. Eventually, Papa gets the tag, SPEARS Elgin, CHOKESLAMS Roddy. Briscoes take out Elgin and Roddy on the outside, and Papa pins Truth after a STONE COLD STUNNER. Fun as fuck, probably like 10 minutes.
Steen once again owns these tapings. Can't wait to see another Steen/Generico match too.
