1. Jim Cornette interviews Haas and Benjamin who say nothing of non-boredom quality. Cornette as a face seems rather silly. Wasn’t he really good at being a heel manager? Why does ROH send him out there with this lameass smile constantly on his face making the audience want to eat glass whenever he talks?
1a. They want the Briscoes. Apparently the Briscoes will only give them a match if Haas/Benjamin put the Titles on the line. ROH doesn’t want this because they believe it will reward the Briscoes being drunk rednecks attackin’ bitches. First, that should get rewarded. Second, uh, couldn’t they at least try saying, “hey, you’re under contract, have the fight non-title?”
2. So, let me get this straight…they bring back Jimmy Jacobs over the summer and put him in the middle of last years hottest feud involving Kevin Steen and on the second episode of television he’s losing a match to Mike Bennett?
3. Bennett’s interview before the match was rather lame. That’s certainly the growing trend when it comes to ROHTV speaking segments right now. They should let him mention WWE by name as his next destination and that he is only using ROH as a stepping stone to get there. They mention The Rock, but, for being a guy that went from wrestling to the movies. Embracing the fact that you are a step (steps) below WWE is a good thing.
No one watching the show is going to flip the channel because they recognize the WWE as a place where their top talent is going to wind up. They might even say, “holy shit, these guys might make it to the WWE? I’m in!” But, it seems like the current crop of ROH leadership would probably think ECWs Rob Van Dam “Mr. Monday Night” promotion was a dud…
3a. If Bennett is going to reference The Rock…why not have him make fun of Kevin Kelly in interview segments? Why have Kevin Kelly if you’re not going to parody that stuff he did with The Rock?
4. On the bright-side, this wasn’t a squash match and for an opener, I think that is a step in the right direction.
5. It’s a good thing that Eddie Edwards had an interview segment talking about WHY he was nicknamed “Die Hard.” Because, up until recently, I had assumed his nickname was “Eddie.”
He got the nickname because he was tied to a large bomb and asked a dude named Simon for some Aspirins because he was being wracked with a headache all day. Simon even let him keep the bottle of Aspirins, and guess what? It saved the fucking day!
6. Roderick Strong and Davey Richards speak about their upcoming Title match next week. On the one hand, it’s good that they promote next week. On the other, it is Davey Richards talking. However, Strong had one decent line where he made fun of Davey for his only friends being his training partners and his dog.
Someone name we one good reason why Davey shouldn’t walk to the ring with a poodle on a leash? YOU CAN NOT.
7. Let me take a thought to talk about rohwrestling.com While it’s silly to completely overload this broadcast that I am watching ON ROHWRESTLING.COM with commercials for rohwrestling.com, it seems like the new rohwrestling.com has some good potential. The pay side of things, which I haven’t kicked up the money for yet, could be solid depending on just how much classic stuff they let you get. But, also, they’ve been putting up some classic matches on the free side of things as well. Homicide and Steve Corino’s barbed wire match is up there right now. It’s better than anything you’d get on this episode of TV by a rather large stretch.
8. El Generico and Jay Lethal have what the announcers would like you to believe was a battle between two resilient dudes. It was more or less just a go nowhere move exhibition and then with the 3 minute overtime they kicked that into an extra gear, the crowd got behind it and it was kind of fun. But, the preceding 15 minutes seemed to drag a lot.
Wait, did I say three minute Overtime? Jim Cornette ran down screaming that they only had 3 minutes left on the TV time, because god forbid they edit out some of those boring interviews so that we could give a match a normal period of extended time.
9. Some guy was holding up a 2-count sign in the crowd on the nearfalls. Really? I’m not against the fans having their fun, even if it is real lame. But, I hope this guy has already scheduled his Tommy John Surgery before the Davey Richards – Roderick Strong match next week. I’m guessing we’re going to see way too much of that sign.
10. I get that they need some interviews on the show to get their guys established. But, when the talent is just so fuckin’ dry, it just makes the show drag. I really don’t mind all the promos and commercials. They need to be done. My problem is that the commercials mainly just seem overwhelming because the rest of the show is trying really hard to not be fun.
