Well, this is still the Pulse, I’m still Kyle Sparks, and I don’t really have a witty greeting this week. If you’re here, you either don’t get HDNet and want to know what happened on ROH’s weekly program, or you just want to know what someone else thought of the proceedings. Well, you are in luck, because I’m here to cover them this week and every week. Tonight’s show features the World Tag Team Champions, the Kings of Wrestling in action against the Dark City Fight Club, as well as Eddie Edwards defending his World TV Title against the Necro Butcher. Also promised is the return of Homicide!
So, let’s just dive right into the plugs, so we can get to this, shall we?
Reading is FUNdamental
*Ricardo Rochetti. He’s great. Also smells like…well…something nice, I’m sure.
*Raffi Shamir checks in to discuss his history of wrestling fandom. A great read from a great writer.
*Pulse Glazer offers up his thoughts and grades on the TNA Pay-Per-View that was last night. I was barely aware one was happening.
*Finally, the tremendous Will Pruett chimes in with his thoughts from the week that was and his TNA predictions. Go see how he did!
*And this week’s beer does not exist, because I’m out and haven’t had a chance to buy more yet. Disappointing.
So now…on with the show. HERE COMES THE RUSH!
Your hosts, as always, are Dave Prazak and Mike Hogewood.
**We open with a recap from last week’s cage match on HDNet. If you didn’t see it, it was a solid affair, and worth checking out, but maybe not worth going out of your way for. Some good spots nontheless, and still enjoyable development. Generico did a tremendous job, especially post-match, of getting over how close to the edge Steen and Corino have pushed him.
**Tonight in the main event, the Dark City Fight Club take on the Kings of Wrestling in Non-Title action, and we go TO THE RING!
Eddie Edwards(c) vs. Necro Butcher (w/ Prince Nana & Mr. Ernesto Osiris) – ROH World TV Title Match
This one, interestingly enough, is only a 15 minute time limit. I’d like to see some more consistency about things like time-limits for TV Title matches. Hogewood makes me happy by reminding us that Eddie has successfully defended against several Embassy members already and now faces the Crown Jewel in Necro. Super-special ring announcing too. Good stuff.
We have a helpful time limit clock that appears (but suddenly disappears) in the upper right hand corner. Lockup, and Eddie pushes Necro into the corner and breaks clean. Another lockup and Necro now backs up Eddie and throws an overhand chop in another corner, as I realize that Necro looks dressed for a slumber party. Another lockup and Eddie gets backed into the corner and again Necro does not break clean, but this time Eddie responds and Necro bails. He grabs a chair and tries to bring it in, but referee Paul Turner cuts him off. Wait, I thought part of his reinstatement months ago was that all his matches were under Butcher’s Rules. Do ROH sanctioned title matches supersede that?
Anyway, Necro bull rushes Eddie back into the corner and lays in the strikes and tosses Eddie to the outside. Right away, Necro crotches Edwards on the ringpost on the outside, and hits the chair-assisted scoop slam outside as the Embassy distracts the official. Back in the ring, Necro stomps away and hits a running flat-footed kick, before raking away at the face of Edwards. Eddie fires back with a strike, and Necro answers with a punch. They trade blows and Eddie actually gets the better of it, before clotheslining Necro over the top drawing a huge pop, made even louder by following it up with a suicide dive. Eddie presses the advantage with a whip to the guardrail and a running boot to the face. Back in the ring, Eddie hits a big missile dropkick for 2. 5 minutes in, that was the first attempt at a cover. Eddie follows up with a running forearm in the corner, and an enzugiri. Necro blocks a german suplex with a back headbutt and then adds a lariat for 2. In the corner, Necro lays in a nasty series of strikes, but gets shrugged off going for a bulldog. Eddie however charges in but meets a big fist to drop him like a bad habit.
Eddie fights back with a couple boots, and a big right hand on the second rope and adds the leaping chinbreaker and locks in the Achilles Lock, but Nana and Osiris get onto the apron. Eddie chases off Nana, boots Osiris, allowing Necro to hit a big punch and his locomotion chokeslam but Eddie counters the Tiger Driver into a small package for the 3 count!
Eddie Edwards def. Necro Butcher in 7:46 via Small Package.
ROH’s Facebook fans seemed kind of divided on this, but I enjoyed it. Necro was game, and Eddie was his usual solid self. Given that he was giving up around 40 pounds, I’d have liked to see more work on a limb to try to slow down the bigger, stronger and, frankly, simpler Necro, as the story tells itself pretty simply, but hey. Still a solid TV Title match. (**3/4)
**A commercial for Survival of the Fittest 2010 in Dearborn, MI. As I’ve said here, I’ll be there, and am greatly looking forward to Eddie Edwards vs. Chris Hero in the qualifying round.
**Backstage, we’ve got Kyle Durden with the Kings of Wrestling and Sara Del Rey. Apparently Papa Briscoe has been banned from every building ROH runs. Durden makes the point that the Kings haven’t defended the titles much of late, and Hero asks the obvious question. Against who? Hero
The Bravado Brothers (Lance & Harlem) vs. Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly
Okay, I will admit it, I can’t tell the Bravados apart. Not even close. At least Kyle and Adam look different and have different trunks on.
Kyle O’Reilly and Harlem start. O’Reilly starts with a kick to the gut and a side headlock. He gets shot off, and a chain wrestling sequence ends with O’Reilly grabbing a cross-arm breaker and Harlem counters with a roll-up for 2. Harlem goes up with a nice armdrag but O’Reilly responds with a forearm. Harlem adds a dropkick and tags in Lance. Double-team flapjack gets 2, and Harlem is tagged back in. Adam Cole gets the blind tag and adds a big kick for 2. Cole hits an inverted atomic drop and a Northern Lights Suplex for 2. O’Reilly back in and follows in Harlem off a whip, but gets rolled up for 2. O’Reilly adds a uppercut to the back of the head and a belly-to-back suplex for 2. Cole tagged in and they hit a 2nd rope dropkick/legsweep combo for 2. Nice. Suplex countered, and Harlem dodges long enough to tag Lance who starts cleaning house. Lance adds a chop and spinning belly-to-belly on Cole, and a superkick to O’Reilly. Double team enzugiri and a german suplex get 2. Lance fires off Cole, but ducks his head and a series of counters lead to a knee assisted neckbreaker; Lance tags, and Cole does the same.
O’Reilly hits a two-man dragon screw on the Bravados, and the Bravados hit a powerbomb/frogsplash combo for 2. Lance backdropped to the floor and Cole adds a suicide dive. O’Reilly and Harlem trade rollups, but O’Reilly kicks out, sending Harlem into an enzugiri by Cole on the outside. Harlem turns into a tornado DDT and a guillotine choke for the tap out.
Kyle O’Reilly(W) & Adam Cole def. The Bravado Brothers (Harlem(L) & Lance) in 4:56 via Guillotine Choke.
This was frankly so fast that I barely got a chance to even look at the screen. However the crowd was into it, there weren’t any blown spots, but it felt like it was what could have been a decent match on Fast Forward. That kind of hurt my enjoyment of the whole thing. Solid, but in 20 minutes it won’t mean anything. (**)
**We cut to a video package of the 6 man tag match a few weeks ago that saw Strong pinning Daniels after Truth Martini interference, and then Daniels pinning Strong after interference went wrong. Coincidentally, the 6-man tag will basically be the semi-main in Dearborn this Friday night. Up next, we’ll have an interview with Daniels.
**Apparently, The Prodigy is coming soon to ROH on HDNet. I didn’t know they had a new album coming out. I kid, I kid…
**Now, to the ring, where Christopher Daniels is on his way out to talk to Kyle Durden. I question Durden saying that Daniels long road is coming to it’s fruition, when he’s had at least 5 title shots. A typically solid Daniels promo. “Gospel trumps truth, and the Gospel according to the Fallen Angel says that Christopher Daniels will be the next ROH World Champion.” But some new music plays and HOMICIDE IS BACK! Homicide interrupts Daniels. The Philly fans welcome Homicide back. He says “no beef” with Daniels, he’s glad to be back, but it seems like everyone’s got a title shot but him. Homicide blames it on Cornette, calling back up the issue they had years ago and insinuating that Cornette is trying to screw him over again. Well, that logic would fly in the face of the fact that Cornette ostensibly brought him back, but hey, why not.
**Fun fact: Homicide & Christopher Daniels have met in ROH twice. On April 12, 2003, Homicide defeated Daniels at The Epic Encounter, and on March 30th, 2007, Homicide defeated Daniels again. The Notorious 187 is 2-0 against Daniels, which could make for some interesting interaction later.
**Now, ROH will be in the Toronto area on Saturday, Nov. 13th. The show will feature all 3 ROH titles being defended, capped off with Roderick Strong making his first title defense against “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels. Sounds good to me.
**Back now, a video recap of the Kings of Wrestling/WGTT tilt from Glory By Honor IX. It was a tremendous match, and has me very excited to note that the WGTT will be at the ROH TV tapings in Louisville, KY on Dec. 9th. Full of win.
Dark City Fight Club (Jon Davis & Kory Chavis) vs. The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli w/ Shane Hagadorn)
Hero and Chavis start. Lockup and Hero winds up a hammerlock into a side headlock. Chavis lifts him up and shoots him off, only for Hero to hold on by the beard. Chavis tries again and bowls over Hero with a shoulder block who quickly tags. Claudio gets hiptossed and Jon Davis tags in. Claudio gets caught in a leapfrog with a powerslam for 2. Chavis tagged in, and Claudio is in big trouble early, with a running demolition decapitation for 2. However, Claudio is able to tag. Hero blocks the hiptoss and adds a knee strike. He gets cocky with a headstand off a corner charge, but Chavis responds by grabbing Hero’s beard and decking him before grabbing a headlock. Chavis gets a knee to the back from Claudio, but pounds on both Kings. Hero gets a tag and the Kings hit a big boot/european uppercut combo as Claudio tags in and adds a series of elbowdrops.
Hero back in, now, and the Kings make a wish and adds a senton for 2. Hero rams Chavis into Claudio’s boot on the buckle and tags him back in. Claudio stomps away in the corner and as Todd Sinclair breaks it up, Hero adds a choke on the outside. The Kings continue with their double team offense, but a double boot fails when Chavis catches both and pounds down both Kings. Hero makes sure Chavis can’t tag by knocking Davis off the apron and getting back for the tag. The Kings score with the giant swing/low dropkick combo for 2. I love that move. Hero tags back in Claudio for a series of 2 counts. Hero gets a blind tag and the Kings hit a springboard european uppercut Hart Attack for 2 and Hero is apoplectic. Hero chokes Chavis in frustration, and grabs a cravate, but Chavis pounds out and reverses a whip, leading to a series of counters get Chavis a backslide for 2. Another whip in and Hero counters with a kick but Chavis responds with a Sky High Bomb. Claudio tags and misses a charge, allowing Davis to get the hot tag.
Davis scores with a slingshot shoulderblock and a back body drop, following with a running knee for 2. Claudio avoids the powerslam, but gets met with a kneelift and a leg lariat for 2. Claudio comes back with a chinbreaker and a european uppercut, and the two exchange strikes. Davis briefly presses the advantage but Davis cuts him off and hits his tilt-a-whirl powerslam for 2, broken up by Hero. Chavis responds by getting in and pounding away on Hero, and the DCFC both eat knee on charges. Hero goes for the quebrada and the DCFC casually stroll out of the way (TM, Samoa Joe) and hit Total Elimination! However in the chaos, Claudio hits a pop-up European on Davis. The Kings hit an odd sit out powerbomb combo for 2, broken up by Chavis. Hero chops away on Chavis, but the roaring elbow is interrupted by the POUNCE, PERIOD, for 2. Davis back on the offensive, as Chavis inadvertently distracts Sinclair. The Kings take advantage with a vertical suplex lift into an elbow strike to the back of the head, followed up by a european uppercut. Claudio dropkicks Chavis out as Hero gets the pinfall.
The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero(W) & Claudio Castagnoli) def. The Dark City Fight Club (Jon Davis(L) & Kory Chavis) in 10:24 via elbow strike/european uppercut combo.
This was the typically solid stuff you come to expect from the Kings, and the DCFC was more than game to keep up. They looked like a million bucks for the most part, and it still shocks me that ROH doesn’t seem to have anything for these guys. They’re a solid power tag team and the Philly crowd is somewhat warming to them. Kind of a shame, really (***)
**Next week, The Briscoes will be in action against Austin Aries & Rhett Titus. Plus, Steen has an offer for Generico to end their war in “One Final Battle” (hint, hint). BE THERE!
**Let’s add up the numbers. On a 50+ minute show, there was 23:06 of wrestling. As I’ve heard written, a show can be 75% wrestling, but if the wrestling is poor quality, it doesn’t make for a good show. With that, ROH generally doesn’t have much to be concerned about, as even their bad stuff is still solid. This show, however, felt kind of filler as far as in-ring stuff went, but a lot of great interview segments with their stronger talkers (Daniels, Kings, etc.) picked up the slack, and with more Steen/Generico awesomeness and not only the Briscoes, but Austin Aries making an appearance next week, the good should just keep on coming.
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!
