Welcome back to InsidePulse for this week’s ROH on HDNet Recap! I am your usual host, Kyle Sparks, and this week There Will Be Blood (but no Daniel Day-Lewis) as Colt Cabana and El Generico clash with Steve Corino and Kevin Steen in a street fight!
Just as last week, there’s always time for plugs! Just like there’s always room for Jell-O, but this is less filling and harder to mix with alcohol.
Just like last week, I strongly recommend reading Ricardo Rochetti and his “10 Thoughts” column for ROH on HDNet. Not really sure what else to add. He knows his stuff, and has a great tendency to flesh out a lot of my own reactions to the show–and we don’t talk during, I swear! In addition, you definitely have to check out Pulse Glazer’s Tuesday Morning Backlash column, or he might beat me up. But seriously, he’s a great student of the history of the game, and he’s got ridiculous resources to draw from for his research and analysis. Plus, I’m pretty sure I’m writing the guest spot again. Win? Win. Also, just so you think I’m not being an independent snob, check out Mark Allen’s “This Week in ‘E” column, where he covers the week that was in the biggest wrestling company in the world. Very witty, great thoughts, and an excellent way to keep up to speed on the promotion, or just relive what you might have missed. Although pay no attention to that name at the bottom of his recap of the Roundtable results.
**We open with Kevin Steen and Steve Corino, outside. Steve Corino discussing how South Philadelphia and The Arena made Steve Corino a man, as Steen looks preoccupied playing with barbed wire. These two are utterly fantastic, and to me, they’re the best thing going in ROH right now. Steen reminisces about how Generico lost Steen’s Tag Team Title. Steen promises that things will get a little crazy, and Steen will get his revenge tonight for Generico failing him. Corino again proclaims Steen the future of Ring of Honor, as we cut to the graphic for our street fight main event. Here comes the rush!
Your Hosts are, as always, Dave Prazak and Mike Hogewood.
**We cut right to the ring as The Set (Not to be confused with The S.A.T.) make their way to the ring. I really hope hope this is a squash, because, frankly, I couldn’t make out Bobby Cruise’s ring announcement and I can’t tell The Set apart.
**Up In Smoke (Cheech & Cloudy) vs. The Set (Lance & Jason Lude)
Cloudy starts with Lance Lude. Lude goes for a test of strength, and even against Cloudy that won’t end well. Lude breaks it up with a knee to the gut but eats a couple of elbows and a scoop slam for 2 before bringing in Cheech for some double teaming capped off with a gorgeous delayed slingshot senton. Lude thumbs Cheech in the eye and tags who hits a nice STO but gives up a blind tag and eats a missile dropkick from Cloudy. Cloudy goes to leap over on a corner whip, but gets caught for a reverse bodyslam and a wheelbarrow type move into a spear by Lude. An assisted splash gets 2 before Cheech breaks it up. Jason back in hits a bodyslam and misses a second rope senton, as I realize that Cheech looks like the love child of Claudio Castagnoli and one of the Briscoes. Both men tag and Lance Lude gets another thumb to the ene, but gets bealed literally all the way across the ring. Jason comes in, but Cloudy cuts him off with a partner assisted tornado DDT. Lucha armdrag from Lance and a sliding dropkick puts Up in Smoke on the floor and Jason backdrops Lance onto the floor to take out Cheech and Cloudy. Cheech counters a powerbomb into an X-Factor, and then catches Lance with a crossbody attempt and dispose of him. Cheech and Cloudy hit Party Cloudy with a Chance of Cheech and a double decker senton for the pin.
Up in Smoke (Cloudy(w) & Cheech) def. The Set (Lance & Jason(L) Lude) via double decker senton in 5:10.
This was effective for what it was. It was a solid, if short, opener, and was flashy enough to get the crowd into it. (**)
**Now we get a video package for “Skullkrusher” Rasche Brown, and his recruitment by The Embassy, culminating in the reveal of Necro Butcher as the Crown Jewel two weeks ago. Honestly, I really don’t care for Brown’s promo style, but he’s a solid enough big man. I just don’t see him having a future atop the card in ROH. Later tonight, it’ll be Rasche Brown against Erick Stevens one on one.
**Back out ringside, Sara Del Rey makes her entrance with Shane Hagadorn and the Kings of Wrestling. Her opponent, in the ring, is Jamilia Craft, who we saw a couple weeks ago taking on her trainer Daizee Haze in a solid match.
**Sara Del Rey vs. Jamilia Craft
Jamilia offers a handshake, but Sara just kicks her head off for 2. The first two minutes here have been just all Del Rey, but Craft is able toget up a boot and an elbow off a couple of corner charges and hit a tilt-a-whirl into a reverse DDT for 2. Del Rey however just gets up and kicks her down and drills her with the piledriver, and that’s all, folks.
Sara Del Rey def. Jamilia Craft via piledriver in 2:37.
This was just a total and utter squash. A little disappointing given Jamilia’s moveset and overall promise. That plus her connection to Daizee Haze makes her a natural underdog face. Oh well. (1/2*)
**We go backstage with Roderick Strong and Truth Martini. Next week on ROH on HDNet, it will be Roderick Strong vs. Christopher Daniels. Truth Martini says Roderick has found the “Center of Self” and says that Roderick is “the most self-centered individual I have ever met.” Roderick promises to destroy Daniels next week, “and THAT is the truth.” Back ringside, we pimp that match for next week, as well as our street fight main event.
**Now we get a commercial for this weekend’s shows in Louisville, KY on July 22nd (my birthday!), Collinsville, IL on July 23rd and Chicago Ridge, IL on July 24th (my wedding anniversary!). Suffice it to say, I won’t be going to any, but if you’re nearby, you definitely should! Details can be found at ROHwrestling.com.
**We flash back to 2 weeks ago when the Briscoes interrupt the Kings of Wrestling’s match against the Dark City Fight Club and the mayhem that ensued. We segue to earlier today with the Kings of Wrestling–looking very manly in pink–and Sara Del Rey. Hero declares the Briscoes sore losers, immature and untrustworthy in a professional environment. Hero justifies the Papa Briscoe incident by saying he was struck first. The Kings are declaring ROH not just unsafe, but a hazardous work environment. Claudio clarifies by saying that they refuse to be in the same building as the Briscoes anymore. Nice interview as always from the Kings. Now to the ring where The Embassy is on their way down.
**“Skullkrusher” Rasche Brown vs. Erick Stevens
By the way, Erick Stevens’s Ghana jacket is just awesome. Rasche wastes no time and rushes the ring as both men start throwing bombs. Brown takes control and tosses Stevens to the outside and follows him, connecting with a stiff forearm, and just beating Stevens all around ringside. Stevens retaliates with a couple shots but Brown takes back control quickly and allows Stevens to break the count before continuing the beatdown and sending Stevens into the guardrail with an overhand chop. Rasche charges and just goes headfirst and upside down into the barricade as Stevens moves, and the Embassy’s monster is in control. Stevens chokes on the ropes and allows Nana and Osiris to pound on Brown after the break, and Stevens keeps pressing on. Brown unfortunately starts hulking up and the two just exchange forearms, before Stevens psychs up and thumbs the eye. Stevens goes to charge off the ropes and runs into a discus lariat for 2. Nana grabs the foot to prevent the spear, and Stevens hits the Runaway Train, but eats a spear when attempting his lariat to follow up. Brown goes for the chokeslam but gets jumped by Necro Butcher for the DQ.
“Skullkrusher” Rasche Brown def. Erick Stevens via DQ in 3:28.
Really, the selling was minimal, the action was iffy, and I’ve seen these two have a much better match live. (*)
**Post match, The Embassy start the beat down on Brown, only to be run off by the Dark City Fight Club. The three big men stand tall as The Embassy looks on.
**From ringside, we cut to a video package detailing the Cabana/Generico/Steen/Corino stuff, and it’s something we’ve all seen 100 times before. This is one of the things that just drives me crazy about this show, because they tend to repeat footage so much. I’ll elaborate more on this in the wrap up at the end.
**Colt Cabana & El Generico vs. Steve Corino & Kevin Steen – Street Fight
Steen and Corino toss in about 3-4 chairs on their entrance and have Cabana and Generico barricaded off to start. Generico disarms Corino and ducks a chairshot from Steen and we’re on. The action is going to be ridiculous here and I don’t know how much I’ll be able to recap play-by-play. Paired off Generico/Corino and Cabana/Steen early. Corino eats guardrail and Generico hits him with a bottle of water. Why not. Cabana eats guardrail as well as Generico and Corino go back into the ring and Generico just tees off, before elbowing out Steen. Generico goes for his lucha DDT, but stops halfway to dive onto Steen. The pairings have now reversed, and the faces are just dominating. Steen literally RIPS off a portion of barricade and scoop slams Cabana onto it, and Generico whips Corino into the third row, as Cabana and Steen are now brawling in the crowd as well. Steen pulls up Cabana by the lips and demands he “smile for the camera! Colt Cabana’s always having such a good time!” before biting Cabana’s ear! Steen is just amazing and as I say that, Steen hits Generico with a fisherman buster THROUGH A CHAIR on the floor! Good God, I think he’s dead. Corino comes back over the barricade, but Cabana is there to greet him with 10 punches. Steen decks Cabana from behind with a chair and hits a leaping enzugiri variant to down Cabana as they focus on the semi-mobile Generico. We’ve got about 3 more chairs in the ring now as Philly wants tables. No. Philly DEMANDS tables. Instead, Corino and Steen just take turns destroying Generico in the corner. Colt now back in with dueling jabs to both men and the bionic elbow is cut off with a kick. Colt ducks the double clothesline but misses the asai moonsault and gets stereo kicks for his trouble. Steen celebrates by licking the camera lens (yes, you read that right) as Philly proclaims that this is awesome. Corino just tosses pieces of table at Generico’s head as Steen bites Cabana’s forehead. Corino pulls out a couple of real tables and the crowd approves heartily. There are now two tables in the ring and one on the outside, as Steen snot rockets Generico and mocks the crowd. Corino sets up tables in 2 adjacent corners and Colt tries to fight back, but Steen stops that with a lungblower. Steen charges Generico but Generico pulls a low bridge, and hits Corino with a half nelson suplex onto the table–that does NOT break–and another one into the ring for a 2 count. Steen comes back launching a chair at Generico to take some starch out of the masked man and is about to do something dastardly through two chairs. Cabana breaks it up and Steen takes a half nelson suplex THROUGH the chairs, for 2 broken up by Corino. Corino takes a flying asshole (chair assisted, natch), but Generico eats a powerbomb and a Steenalizer (pumphandle neckbreaker) THROUGH A CHAIR for 2. He shouldn’t have kicked out of that. Corino now brings in another piece of guardrail as Steen spreads a table out over the top turnbuckle. Corino is setting up three chairs and keeping Cabana out of the ring. Steen buys time by murdering Generico with a chairshot. The guardrail portion is bridged over the seats of four chairs, perpendicular to the table over the top turnbuckle. Steen was going to climb up onto the table but Cabana broke it up. Cabana fires away on Corino but takes a lariat. Generico decks Corino and puts him up on the guardrail portion. Generico up top. No way. Steen breaks it up. SUPERPLEX ONTO THE GUARDRAIL HOLY SHIT. Cabana saves Generico at 2. What the hell. Steen takes a Faarooq spinebuster through a chair and Colt just drills Corino with 3 chairshots to drop him. My God, what’s going to end this thing. Colt sets up a table now as Steen is crawling into the ring to revive Corino. Cabana sets Corino on the top rope table and goes up with him but Steen saves with a chair to the knee. Generico sends Steen into the guardrail. Cabana and Corino pound away as the table shakes and the Philly crowd pleads with them to not die. I agree. Corino superplexes Cabana off the top rope table through the table on the mat for the 3 count!
Steve Corino(W) & Kevin Steen def. Colt Cabana(L) & El Generico via top rope superplex through a table in 17:15.
Wow. Just, wow. Now THAT is how you do a street fight. No blood, but just absolutely brutal sick spots, and the only complaint I have is that Generico kicked out of the Steenalizer through the chair. If Cabana wasn’t in a position to save, I would say that should have been the finish. Still just a fantastic street fight that puts over the hatred big time without giving away too much of Steen vs. Generico. This will definitely be on a future volume of ROH’s Best of HDNet. (****)
**We cut to the back, as Steen and Generico have fought into the parking lot, where Steen powerbombs Generico onto the hood of an SUV! As Steen berates his former partner, it’s Tyler Black on the scene! Black wants revenge for last week, clearly, and runs Steen’s head into the car and pounds away as we fade out!
Let’s add up the numbers. On a 50+ minute show, there was 28:30 of wrestling. Well, it meets my length requirement, but how did it really stack up? 1 squash, 1 adequate–if short–tag match, 1 absolute filler angle-advancement match and an absolutely fantastic street fight. The tag match was solid for a 5 minute match, and the street fight was absolutely must-see. Definitely one to try to find on YouTube or wherever you can later this week.
But as far as I discussed earlier: I do have a problem with the level of repetition of recap videos. ROH promotes these types of things enough via their YouTube channel, Facebook, website, etc. You’re wasting valuable minutes of a TV show (when you only have 1 hour of TV a week) on recaps that many people have seen several times before. You could have removed or cut a couple of those down and fleshed out the opening tag match a little more, or given a little more time to the Sara Del Rey/Jamilia Craft match, and let her actually show some of that “plucky underdog babyface” stuff that would have made that match an infinitely more compelling story.
Regardless, it was still a great show this week, and if Strong and Daniels get near 17 minutes next week, I will be a VERY happy man. As always, thanks for reading, never hesitate to hit me up with any comments questions or anything else and I hope to see everyone next week!
