Another week, another welcome to InsidePulse. This week may be my last for quite some time, unfortunately as more theatrical endeavors infringe on my ability to bring you your weekly dose of Honor. Current rehearsal schedules have me potentially missing weeks until February 21st. Yikes. I’ll try to figure out something, and get with the powers that be here at the Pulse and we’ll see what we can do. More on that in a moment. First we have housekeeping stuffs to get out of the way. ROH is coming off a very solid show to open up 2011 and tonight offers the debut of “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett and a main event featuring Roderick Strong taking on Colt Cabana in non-title action! Let’s get to the plugs!
Reading is FUNdamental
*Ricardo Rochetti will give you 10 Thoughts. You will (hopefully) read them. After this, of course.
*Pulse Glazer checks in with some TNA grades coming off of Genesis. I don’t want to spoil things but looking at this report card, if TNA were my kid, they’d be grounded. Feel free to add any other bad jokes in the comments.
*Chris Biscuiti takes a look at the current state of affairs in TNA and some things that have piqued his interest in WWE-land.
*Finally, Mark Allen gets you up to speed on what’s going on this week in WWE.
*This week’s ROH on HDNet Report is brought to you by Roscoe’s Hop House Pale Ale. I was a little skeptical at first as well, but you know, it’s a pretty solid brew.
Before we really get started, I want to let everybody know that tonight’s recap is going to be a little different than you may be used to. A combination of feeling under the weather and not getting home from a rehearsal until almost 10 pm made doing live play-by-play seem a little too monumental for me tonight and I chose to do it in a slightly different–and less stressful–style. I still include times, winners, moves that won the match, ratings, etc., but I just don’t go live PBP with it. If I am able to do any other HDNet shows between this week and my return to weekly availability on February 21st, they may well be in this format, so any suggestions would be appreciated. Or it may all be moot because someone may miraculously get HDNet between now and then and be able to cover for your beloved thespian. In any event…let’s get to the show!
*We open up with the video package we’ve seen before hyping “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett. He debuts tonight!
HERE COMES THE RUSH!
**Your hosts are, as always, Dave Prazak and Mike Hogewood.
**Tonight, Roderick Strong takes on Colt Cabana in non-title action. But first we’re heading to the ring!
Nick Dinsmore vs. “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett (w/ Bob Evans)
If Dinsmore got back into shape–he looks pretty out of it–he could still hold some value, as I seem to recall him being a pretty solid worker in OVW. That said, he wrestled a pretty paint-by-numbers match with Bennett here. Bennett never looked in any kind of dire straits, but Dinsmore held up pretty well and got just enough offense to keep it fresh and keep the match from being a total squash. Odd finish sees Dinsmore getting caught up in the ropes off a charge and walking into a spinebuster for the 3 count.
Mike Bennett def. Nick Dinsmore in 6:04 via Spinebuster.
Well, the crowd needed to be introduced to Bennett, and frankly, he didn’t look overly impressive. I was a little concerned about this. He was adequate, he didn’t blow anything, his selling was fine, but he didn’t light the world on fire. This will be interesting to follow, as ROH has clearly tried to build up a lot for him, and he’ll need to start facing legit competition VERY fast in order to live up to things. (**)
**In the pink studio of DOOM, Hogewood and Prazak look back on the feud between Steen and Generico and their blowoff at Final Battle 2010. Great highlight package. Some borderline uncomfortable looking spots in that one.
**Up next, the ROH World Tag Team Champions, the Kings of Wrestling! Next! But coming back from commercials, we get the highlight package of the Briscoes and the KOW from Final Battle.
**Back from the break and the video package, Jim Cornette welcomes the Kings of Wrestling, Shane Hagadorn and Sara Del Rey to the ring. Hagadorn claims there’s no more competition for the Kings of Wrestling. Cornette announces the new #1 contenders, the All-Night Express, who come out to a noted lack of reaction. I don’t think the crowd knows whether to boo them or not. The ANX gets a bit of a pop when Rhett declares that it’s serious business now. Kenny King busts out a solid catchphrase in, “If you ain’t runnin with us, you’d better run from us.”
**Back from another break, we have a Kyle O’Reilly and Adam Cole interview. This segues nicely into Cole and O’Reilly taking the ring against Mike Posey and Corey Hollis.
Kyle O’Reilly & Adam Cole vs. Mike Posey & Corey Hollis
Cole and O’Reiley have matching themed trunks now, a nice touch. Personally, I can’t get over the fact that Mike Posey used to be a TNA referee. Probably a better wrestler than “Dangerous” Danny Davis, but nowhere near the heat machine. Anyway, pretty paint-by-numbers tag team squash match. Hollis and Posey do their job well, and the double lungblower combination that O’Reilly and Cole use as their finish is suitably sick, but they’ll have to find something else to use against guys the size of Hero, Claudio, etc.
Adam Cole (W) & Kyle O’Reilly def. Corey Hollis (L) & Mike Posey in 3:51 via Double Team Lungblower Combination.
Pretty standard tag team squash, like I said. Cole and O’Reilly are a solid young team, but they both seem to have better futures as individual guys. This is where ROH needs to bring in teams like the Super Smash Brothers or the Osirian Portal or the like to give them a bigger name to beat. (*)
**Previously on ROH, Homicide took on Claudio Castagnoli. It was a solid matchup, but nothing earth-shattering, but saw Homicide picking up the victory after some attempted chicanery went wrong for Claudio. Next week, Chris Hero takes on Christopher Daniels, and according to Kyle Durden introducing Christohper Daniels backstage, the winner will get a World TV Title shot! Yes, please! Daniels says he’ll take out Hero and then take the TV Title, and that it’s not just a threat, it’s gospel. Nice.
**Main event time!
Colt “Boom Boom” Cabana vs. Roderick Strong (w/ Truth Martini) – Non-Title Match
It might be a little thing, but I really don’t like that Roderick doesn’t wear the belt to the ring. Cabana steals Truth’s special introduction card as Bobby Cruise was reading it and gets in a few verbal jabs on Martini. These two last met on July 23rd at Hate: Chapter II, in Collinsville, IL, with Strong picking up the victory. Our own Jake Ziegler gave it **1/2. This match is also another chapter in the evolution of Colt Cabana as a character in ROH, who wants to emphasize pure wrestling and wrestling as a purely athletic endeavor. I personally have a problem with Cabana continually going for the Colt 45, as I don’t recall him hitting it on HDNet yet, and it hasn’t really significantly been put over as a finisher in quite some time. After a series of kicks to the head, Strong gets the duke.
Roderick Strong def. Colt Cabana in 11:30 via Sick Kick.
Strong gets another solid, if unspectacular, outing as champion. Unfortunately, fewer and fewer of Strong’s matches are getting that “must see” feel to them. I hope that doesn’t bode badly for his title reign, as he’s been a dedicated company man and up and down the card for quite some time. He definitely deserves the acolades and time at the top, but if he can’t deliver in terms of iPPV buys or really getting a big fight feel for his title defenses, one has to be a little concerned (**1/2)
**Next week, Daizee Haze takes on MsChief, and Christopher Daniels takes on Chris Hero for a shot at the ROH World TV Title! Be there!
**As usual, let’s add up the numbers. This week’s show ran about 55 minutes or so, and we had merely 21:25 of wrestling. While on it’s surface, that is not a strong ratio, we also got a solid interview segment from the Kings of Wrestling and ANX setting up their Tag Title feud, development of Cole and O’Reilly, and a solid Christopher Daniels interview setting up his match with Chris Hero next week that I’m greatly looking forward too. Still not an exceptionally strong show, but good enough for government work, as they say.
As always, thanks for reading, never hesitate to hit me up with any comments questions or anything else. Even if I’m not back next week, hopefully you are for another ROH on HDNet!
