1. Corino’s match tonight was all the more evidence that he should be limited to cutting promos and wrestling the occasional hardcore brawl and tag match (where Steen can do all the heavy lifting). There were several sloppy spots, and while I know Bobby Shields is no technical marvel, it was clear who the sloppiness should be blamed on.
2. I like that they had Prazak and Hogewood mention that production of this show took place before “The Big Bang!”, as it explains away any confusion that the time lags between televised events and news posted on the company’s web site may create. Of course, they ruin it later by running an ad hyping up “The Big Bang!”, on April 3rd (two days ago!).
3. Speaking of “The Big Bang!”, very nice video package chronicling the rivalry between Tyler Black, Austin Aries, and Roderick Strong. If someone hadn’t watched Ring of Honor before tonight, this would have effectively gotten he or she caught up on how the feud has progressed. He or she would also know that Aries is very good on the mic, and Strong is very bad.
4. The Dark City Fight Club squash was completely ineffective, as it was way too short to give DCFC any time to look impressive. You almost get the feeling they’re rushing through the matches tonight to get in their . . .
5. Video packages! Another one, this one on Jerry Lynn’s time in ROH, from his debut to his comeback match against Kenny King a few months back in Los Angeles. Another pretty good video package, and they did a good job of leaving out footage of Lynn getting booed by the ROH faithful.
6. Erick Stevens’ squash match was the opposite of the Dark City Fight Club’s, but just as ineffective. It went on too long, and Pelle Primo got way too much offense, only losing because he attempted one high-risk move too many and got caught.
7. Speaking of Stevens, I like watching his power offense in ROH, but I don’t see him as a guy who’ll get past the indy level. He’s simply not big enough or menacing enough to pull off the “imposing power guy” act for a bigger promotion, and I don’t know if his skills are good enough to allow him to thrive outside of that role.
8. A positive thought, as I watch ROH’s THIRD relatively long video package of the night – this one, a recap of the first round of the TV Title Tournament. For a company without the production values of WWE or TNA, ROH really does a nice job of putting together video packages. They’ve actually been the highlight of the show so far.
9. Disappointing main event between Chris Hero and Jay Briscoe. It started really slowly, threatened to pick up somewhere in the middle, but then fizzled out again. Plus, Hero is really starting to overdo it with the elbow-based offense. It’s not the same as a kick-based offense, because kicks are much easier to vary (and just look cooler), and even HHH’s knee-based offense consists of only three moves.
10. This was easily the worst ROH show I’ve seen since I started doing the “10 Thoughts” column back in August. The squash matches were poorly done, and the main event was dull. It really felt like the matches were filler for the video packages (maybe ROH wanted to get everyone caught back up, since they were pre-empted the previous two weeks). Hopefully things will pick back up next week as the TV Title Tournament continues. If anything, it might mean more Rayna Von Tosh!
