10 Thoughts on ROH on HDNet 08.30.2010 feat. Roderick Strong, the Kings of Wrestling, and Tyler Black vs. Steve Corino

Reviews, Shows, TV Shows

1. I never understood the notion that a promotion’s champion can leave with the title. I am not 100 percent sure of the legalities of the situation, but I am fairly certain that the belt is at no time the champion’s personal property, but rather the company’s, and thus the champion would have no right of possession to it if his contract expired and he was no longer an employee of the company.

2. As Pulse Glazer reported, it looks like ROH is going with a variant of the CM Punk farewell for Tyler Black. I’m not sure Black has the mic skills to pull it off convincingly, but the powers-that-be must have anticipated (rightfully so, although you couldn’t really tell from tonight) that the fans are going to treat Black as a heel on his way out the door, and it’s not like they have enough time to execute a compelling heel turn, so I don’t know what would be a better option.

3. Roderick Strong just seems so far above the House of Truth that it is strange to see them together. Maybe it’s intended to be a testament to Truth Martini’s manipulative powers, and maybe the House of Truth will get a good rub from hanging out with the (likely) next ROH World Champion. However, if the three are going to continue to be stablemates of sorts, Raymond and Able need to be elevated, even if slightly.

4. Good promos from both sides to hype the chain match for Glory By Honor, but Kevin Steen’s was clearly superior to Colt Cabana’s. Steen has the subdued, psychotic delivery down beautifully, whereas I still have a hard time buying Cabana’s “I’m going to yell into the mic” routine. Oh, and Steen’s shirt was the shit.

5. I could really go for a singles encounter between Claudio Castagnoli and El Generico. They demonstrated some good chemistry and a really nice power vs. speed dynamic during the portions of the tag match where they matched up against each other.

6. I don’t know what the plans for Cabana and Generico are after Glory By Honor, but I wouldn’t mind seeing them stick together just long enough to get occupy the Kings of Wrestling for a title match at one of ROH’s “house shows”. The four wrestled a very well-put together tag match, highlighted by some really terrific face-in-peril work from Generico (my MVP for tonight’s show).

7. I’m glad that, if recent ROH Newswires are any indication, the Eddie Edwards 10-Minute Hunt will be coming to an end soon. The idea had some potential at first, but it’s gone nowhere fast. Tonight’s may have been the lowlight, as I was at least waiting for some post-match development in the Edwards/Richards/Hagadorn saga, but it never came.

8. If Black is going to heel his way out of promotion, he should probably forego high-fiving the fans on his way to the ring. I’m not saying he needs to go all Kevin Steen and ridicule them (as that would be too forced and inconsistent with his character), but just ignore them and make them drink in the wonder of Tyler Black, the guy who’s getting some serious money from the billionaire in Connecticut.

9. There’s a ceiling to how good of a straight up, one-on-one match Steve Corino can have nowadays, and he and Black probably got pretty damn close to it. I don’t mean that in a derogatory manner, as they had a pretty decent match.

10. This is probably one of the best “hard-sell” shows I’ve seen from any promotion in 2010. Everyone that needed to appear to promote the main matches did (except for Haas and Benjamin, but that’s understandable), the matches ranged from inoffensive to good (even the opening six-man wasn’t bad, and no, I’m not counting the 10-Minute Hunt as a match), and we ended with a pretty hot brawl and an AWESOME video package. If I didn’t have Rangers-Yankees tickets for September 11, I’d be ordering Glory By Honor on the strength of the “triple main event” alone.