Sorry for the delay with the reviews of RoH on HDNet, so to make up for it, here is last week’s show and this week’s all in one. They both feature great main events of a six man tag of KENTA, Bryan Danielson and Roderick Strong vs. Chris Hero and the American Wolves (last week) and Brent Albright vs. Claudio Castagnoli in a steel cage! Which show will be better? Read on to find out.
We start the show with the RoH champion Austin Aries accompanied by Kenny King and Rhett Titus in goofy hats and the A Double L Double (Austin Aries Lucky Lottery). Aries immediately becomes my favorite person ever by kicking Kyle Durden out of the ring before he gets to talk. Aries chooses one of twenty elite wrestlers for a title shot. The A double L Double (Austin Aries Lucky Lottery) is Kenny Omega, but he is not there so he is out. He picks again and the winner is Grizzly Redwood.
RoH World Title Match: Austin Aries © vs. Grizzly Redwood
Aries toys with him and squashes him while Dave Prazak sells the match as one of the most epic of all time…hilarious. Grizzly does get a few well executed hope spots, but it is not to be for the littlest lumberjack as A Double wins with the brainbuster.
Winner: Austin Aries via pinfall
Goddamn Kyle Durden comes back out and Aries actually lets him talk…for a second. Aries takes the mike and says he just had a match of the year candidate and says we haven’t seen the end of the A Double L Double (Austin Aries Lucky Lottery)…I hope not.
We see highlights hyping Ladder War II and the feud between the American Wolves and Kevin Steen and El Generico. The match happened last weekend.
We get another hype video for a match from last weekend. This time it’s Eddie Kingston and Chris Hero. I really love this feud wherever it happens.
Brandon Day vs. Erick Stevens
I am an avowed Erick Stevens fan. I would like to see more of him if possible. Stevens squashes the hell out of Brandon Day and wins after the Choo Choo, Lariat and the Doctor Bomb. I like Erick Stevens more than Jack Swagger.
Winner: Erick Stevens via pinfall
Tyler Black talks about his present situation. He thanks Nigel for distracting him…guh? Tyler should never talk…ever.
Next week we get Tyler and Jerry Lynn against Rhett Titus and Kenny King.
Bryan Danielson is in the back with Roderick Strong and KENTA to hype the main event.
Jimmy Rave with Prince Nana and Ernie Osiris vs. the Necro Butcher
Necro decides that he has no interest in the rules and the two brawl all over the ring dismantling the barricade and generally beating each other up. The rules go out the window in this math as Ernie Osiris interjects himself and Pillmanizes Necro allowing Rave to lock in the heel hook, but Necro actually grabs the ropes. I call BS. No one should get out of the heel hook. Necro is able to throw Jimmy Rave onto a guard rail bridging the ring apron and another barricade, but Ernie tries to staple the Necro Butcher. It doesn’t work out so well for Mr. Osiris as he gets a staple for his trouble. Necro tries to go after Nana, but he is cut off by Bison Smith. This all leads to a locker room clearing brawl. The match was a fun fight breaking up the card at the very least.
Winner: Necro Butcher via disqualification
We get a brief history video of the history between Claudio Castagnoli and Brent Albright. They meet in a cage next week.
“American Dragon†Bryan Danielson, Roderick Strong, and KENTA vs. Chris Hero, and the RoH tag team champions the American Wolves of Davey Richards and Roderick Strong
I am pretty excited for this one. The good guys take the early control and Eddie Edwards gets pinballed between Roddy and Dragon’s chops and KENTA’s kicks. Sucks to be Eddie Edwards. The heels eventually gain control. This match doesn’t have a ton of structure it is pretty much just six guys being awesome with some tag team formula thrown in. This really is about the best six man that RoH could put on and these guys in no way disappoint. I’m not going to write too much about this match except…find a way to see it. It’s not a match of the year candidate per se, but it’s not far off. Strong gets the win for his team with the sick kick into the Gibson Driver to conclude and amazing match.
Winners: “American Dragon†Bryan Danielson, Roderick Strong, and KENTA via pinfall
Big Andy Final Thoughts at the end, here comes this week’s show.
Rhett Titus and Kenny King vs. Tyler Black and Jerry Lynn
What a way to kick off this week’s show with the Pretty Boy Pit Bulls vs. Team ‘ol: Tylenol Black and Geritol Lynn (man, Nigel is awesome). Jerry Lynn shows more personality in this match than ever before mocking Titus and King. Tyler and Jerry take the advantage working surprisingly well compared to the more regular team of Titus and King. This is probably the best tag match I have seen with Titus and King. Titus and King’s bets performance is not enough to net a win as Jerry Lynn hits the cradle piledriver to seal the victory. This was a very good math.
Winner: Jerry Lynn via pinfall
We get to hear from “The Shooter†Brent Albright as he hypes his cage match against Claudio Castagnoli. He says you can’t train for a cage math because it is so dangerous.
Nikki Roxx vs. Sara Del Rey
Nikke Roxx worked as Roxxi Laveaux in TNA, but she had been a staple of the indie scene for years as Nikki Roxx. These two have wrestled dozens if not hundreds of times, so this should be good. They have a nice little back and forth match until Del Rey hits the Royal Butterfly for the win.
Winner: Sara Del Rey via pinfall
Claudio gets his chance to hype the main event. Claudio says you can in fact train for a cage match, and that is just what he did.
â€Sugarfoot†Alex Payne vs. Sonjay Dutt
The match starts off surprisingly even. Dutt takes control, but Sugarfoot just won’t go down. The crowd in Philadelphia does not really like it. In Chicago they would be going nuts. Payne’s hope doesn’t pan out though and Dutt gets the win after the camel clutch.
Winner: Sonjay Dutt via submission
Kyle Durden foists himself onto Dutt who talks about how he is coming to make a name for himself in RoH because his motivation is aggressive…like his sideburns (?). OK
We see a video of Delirious drilling Judo with an RoH wrestling school student in full Gi.
We get an interview with Colt Cabana talking aboutbeing fun loving and Jewish.
Next week we get a tag team Honor Rumble for a shot at the tag titles.
Steel Cage Match: Claudio Castagnoli with Prince Nana and Ernie Osiris vs. Brent Albright
This one is apparently under escape, pin or submission rules. I prefer that to pure escape rules. Albright is the first one to get busted open. It is interesting to see Albright play the sympathetic underdog, but it works really well in this environment. When Claudio finally gets his comeuppance the fans love it. Claudio gets his head busted open for his troubles, as well. To add some insult to injury Claudio gets a chair from Prince Nana to do some real damage, but the best laid plans… Albright is able to Pillmanize Claudio’s neck and score the three count. That was an extremely fun cage math.
Winner: Brent Albright via pinfall
Big Andy Mac’s Big Andy Final Thoughts: This was two weeks of great wrestling. I would really have to look back through the shows to see if there was a better pair of shows back to back. Both shows had two very good matches and some fun squashes to boot. The two main events are worth going out of your way to see. I will try to be on time next week.
I’ll see you next time…
