Rather than doing a complete write-up of the RoH Pay per View, I am just going to offer ten thoughts. PK did an expert job recapping the action, which would make it redundant for me to redo his work.
1. This Pay per View played more like episodic television, which was interesting. The previous PPVs all felt like Supercards. This one didn’t really make huge leaps forward in any angles, it just addressed as many storylines as possible and put forth some great wrestling.
2. Wild brawls through the crowd are not the most fun live. RoH’s camera work has improved to the degree that the matches are interesting. This is commendable since, to the best of my knowledge, there is no radio contact between camera men or production during taping.
3. RoH really needs to work on their lighting. At the start of the show, whenever they showed Lenny Leonard and Dave Prazak they were totally washed out or bathed in blinding light. That could be the reason behind the lousy replay times.
4. Kevin Steen is a pretty unique character in wrestling today. He has influences from all over the spectrum, yet combines them in a refreshing and new way. He acts like a dick the way that few babyfaces can get away with. The fans cheer him like few others. He had a great match with Roderick Strong along the way.
5. The opener was a fun way to start the show and Nigel being on commentary was a nice way to put over the match. Nigel selling the surprise of Tyler’s victory was a great way to build to the main event within the show. The camera didn’t do a great job of catching why no one was able to break up the pin, but the match was still a lot of fun.
6. The news updates were surprisingly a good way to catch the fans up. It didn’t seem tacked on, and allowed the PPV continuity to blend more seamlessly into the general RoH canon. I hope future PPVs have the same type of updates.
7. The Larry Sweeney show was entertaining as usual. Sweeney truly gets how to be a showman and draw the precise reaction he wants from the fans. A few RoH wrestlers could learn a lot from him. RoH still has a few guys on the roster doing big moves regardless of face/heel alignment to pop the crowd, and don’t she enough concern about their characters motivation for his actions.
8. Jimmy Jacobs repeated interruptions and showing Tyler getting ready in the back throughout the show put the Age of the Fall over in a way that they had not been able to do previously. Jimmy Jacobs showed we he is their heir to the throne of Raven with his cult like leadership in the basement of who knows where. Tyler’s intensity prepping for the main event did as much to put over the importance of a title shot as any match in the ring.
9. The tag title match was a fun little crazy spotfest, but honestly, when Driven had a match from a different venue it was cool. When this show had it just kind of seemed tacked on.
10. There are two matches that I want to talk about, but only thought to talk about them. The two main events were in a word: AWESOME!!! Dragon and Aries have managed to have different encounters each time out, and each one is a near classic. Tyler had the star making performance of star making performances in Ring of Honor. There were too many big move kick outs for my taste, but the match still told a great story and Tyler is now, more than ever, a legitimate title threat.
Well, those are my Ten Thoughts on the RoH Pay per View.
I’ll see you next time…
