Rant of Honor 12.08.12 (O’Reilly and Fish vs Bravados, Jay Lethal, Steen/Bennett)

Reviews, Shows, TV Shows

The Glimpse:

As this is written, we are one week away from Final Battle 2012, which I will be live tweeting from the Hammerstein Ballroom, Sunday December 16th.

The new team of O’Reilly and Fish debut against The Bravados and Mike Bennett challenges for the ROH World Title.

The Action:

Match 1:  Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish vs Bravado Brothers  

Winners:  Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish via pinfall

Cheap start to the match with O’Reilly and Fish attacking from behind, but Lancelot quickly fights back with a Chaos Theory German suplex.  Odd early-match move choice, but I welcome that move anytime I see it.  Usual tag match fare until Harlem gets the hot tag and lays in to the new team with the Bravados’ new-found striking style.  Fun combination in the corner with Harlem thrown to the outside by O’Reilly and Lancelot running in with a clothesline, followed by a flipping Stunner from the apron by Harlem.  Fish kicks Lancelot away and Harlem stands strong against both opponents until a flurry of kicks takes him down and O’Reilly hits Davey Richards’ KO kick for a near two.  O’Reilly and Fish hit their version of Total Elimination (spinning heel kick from Fish and a sweep from O’Reilly) to finish up.

S.C.U.M. Promo:

Jimmy Jacobs doesn’t appreciate Nigel McGuinness making a three way for the Tag Titles on his first day.  Corino chimes in that the “washed up” McGuinness fails to realize how smart S.C.U.M. are.  Kevin Steen says that bringing El Generico in isn’t as smart a choice as the match maker may have thought in the first place.  Steen says all he’s done is ruin Generico’s career.

History of Steen and Generico:

Steen delivers a Package Piledriver and Generico with a Brainbuster to capture the ROH Tag Titles from the Age of the Fall.  After a tough loss, Kevin Steen demolishes Generico with a chair to start off ROH’s long standing feud.  Generico couldn’t bring himself to return the favor and takes a chair shot for his efforts.  Generico lands the Turnbuckle Brainbuster in yet another match between the two.  After finally returning the chair shot that started the year-long feud, Generico sends Steen packing in a mask vs career match.  Steen fights his way back into ROH against Steve Corino and Generico defends Jim Cornette from a Package Piledriver, only to receive one for himself off the apron through a table.  Jimmy Jacobs returns to assist Steen in a last man standing match which would silence Generico…until Steen receives a mask in a package from the generic luchador.

Match 2: Chris Silvio vs Jay Lethal

Winner:  Jay Lethal via pinfall

Lethal grabs a mic and says he feels that he’s become the new whipping boy around ROH, even after showing the “Killer Instinct” he was asked for.  Lethal says that he deserves the title shot that Generico has received.  Lethal wrestles Rhino at Final Battle for, in his opinion, no reason.  Lethal promises to wrestle Rhino, but also to fight the World Champion at Final Battle.  And there’s your mystery leading into the PPV.

Lethal rushes Silvio aggressively and takes control quickly, in his new more aggressive style.  Lethal hits a triangle jump dropkick and a suicide dive to maintain control, then tosses Silvio head over heels into the barrier.  Back into the ring, Silvio catches Lethal with a neckbreaker and then chokes him with wrist tape.  Again with the choke and a warning from the ref.  Kevin Kelly points out that Lethal is becoming more popular as he becomes more controversial and aggressive.  As he says this, Lethal nails the Lethal Combination after taking control back from Silvio, then calls for the Lethal Injection, waves it off and tags Silvio with a super kick and a Cradle DDT.  New attitude, new finisher?  With the amount of times Lethal has said “killer instinct” in the last couple months, I’m going to predict this one is called Lethal Instinct if he keeps it.

Inside Ring of Honor: “Countdown to Doomsday”

Davey Richards has asked Eddie Edwards to be his partner at Final Battle and is still technically “unconfirmed” for the show.  Fish and O’Reilly point out that the American Wolves are “done” and that Richards will be on his own.  Richards responds that O’Reilly and Fish are sheep; he’s looking for a Wolf to team with.  Richards says he’ll leave New York with their heads in a basket, partner or not.

The three way Tag Title match is “Sudden Death” rules – The challengers must pin the champions, but S.C.U.M. can pin any opponent to finish the match.  Coleman and Alexander sing a promo which comes off silly.  Mark Briscoe responds with a tune of his own that somehow comes off less silly.  Jay reminds us that dem boys just beat former WWF Tag Champs in the Headbangers.

Match 3:  Mike Bennett vs Kevin Steen (c), ROH World Championship

Winner:  Kevin Steen via pinfall

As has become custom for Kevin Steen singles matches, Steve Corino joins Kelly and Seltzer at the commentary booth.  Bennett brings Brutal Bob Evans out, but not Maria.  Bennett says he’s the only one in ROH that “looks like a star”.  There’s a certain Ziggler-esque quality to Bennett when you look at him, but there’s no comparison in the ring.

Steen explodes at the bell with two clotheslines in the corner and a cannonball senton, then sends the challenger to the floor with a third clothesline.  Bennett gets tossed to the barrier three times and Corino mentions that the brutality expected at Ladder War is too much even for him.  Back into the ring, Brutal Bob grabs a boot of the champion, distracting him enough to walk into a Bennett spinebuster for two.  Corino talks The Prodigy up, as he wrestled him extensively last year.  Great to hear Corino talk about Bennett in a straight laced fashion.  It’s the kind of thumbs up that fans want to hear as they consider supporting a guy.  Bennett keeps the control and throws Steen to the barrier, returning the favor from earlier in the match.

Back from a commercial, Bennett is still in charge and lands a dropkick for two.  Bennett misses an attack in the corner and ends up in a second rope tree of woe, letting Steen land another cannonball.  Both men get to their feet and exchange rights and forearms with Steen forcing Bennett to the corner.  Steen hits an apron-to-ring spike DDT in the other corner and tries a second rope moonsault which Bennett doesn’t quite avoid.  A spear from Bennett for two and then the challenger places Steen on the top rope.  Steen bites Bennett and then hits a Swanton for two.  Steen wants the F-Cinq and Evans grabs his foot again, so Steen just tosses Bennett onto him on the floor.  Steen follows with the powerbomb to the apron and the Package Piledriver for a squeaky clean title defense before Final Battle 2012.

Steen celebrates by running down the list of people he has defeated in the past few months.  Steen mentions Lethal not receiving any future title shots while Steen is champion and blames his mother.  Lethal hits the ring but is subdued by about a half dozen people before things get physical.  If Generico wrests the ROH World Title from Steen at Final Battle, I think we see where Steen’s attention will be as far as a feud goes.

The Reaction:

Smart to debut Fish/O’Reilly with Kevin Kelly talking him up something fierce on commentary.  Fans who have ROH as their only “indy” exposure may not recognize him, so good to see the team on the product before Final Battle.  Kelly continues to point out that Fish and O’Reilly have planned this for some time, parking them firmly in the heel spot with the Wolves as the heroes we want to see pick up a win.  Caleb Seltzer continues to hammer home that Fish has had MMA fights outside the Pro Wrestling world, proving that when it comes to establishing roles and backgrounds, the commentary team is just as important as the action in the ring.

Your usual Jacobs and Corino promo (which isn’t a bad thing at all, mind you) and strong words from Steen.  The Ladder War is going to be a brutal one.

Excellent summary of Steen and Generico, although it might have been nice to add a quick graphic for each scene with the event it took place at.

Lethal reinforces his new aggressive streak by nixing the usual finisher and kicking his opponent’s head off and spiking him with a new DDT.  Smart move.  Standard match with a surprising amount of offense from Silvio.  I’ll never understand referees not DQ’ing a guy for choking someone with wrist tape, but so be it.

Strong focus on tag team action “Inside ROH” this week.  The mystery of Edwards seems to be a lead for everyone to be more excited for his return at the show, cause a bigger pop when his music hits.  Bit heavy handed on the Wolf references (kind of like Ryback’s first big promo and a ton of “hunger” and “food” references).  Anytime there’s an excuse for the Briscoes to sing, it’s worth it.  I realize this is odd to juxtapose to a criticism of Coleman/Alexander doing the same thing, but the whole idea behind the Briscoes is they’re whacked out country boys.  Big tough SOBs like Coleman/Alexander randomly inserting singing into a promo is odd; one is a minister, so I guess we’re expected to just let that go.

Excellent short match from the ROH Champion and his opponent.  A clean win over a formidable foe is exactly what a champion needs heading into one of the biggest shows of the year.  Good action back and forth and Bennett is no worse for losing to the World Champion.  Glad to see that although he had Jacobs and Corino present, they didn’t unnecessarily insert them into the action.  And Corino was absolutely perfect on commentary – Talking up his man, of course, but also throwing Bennett a few vocal bones to keep him in a good spot coming off a loss.

The Rant:

Good action and a nice exclamation mark/”Eff you” to Davey Richards by using his running KO kick.  Surprised Bravado kicked out of it, but now at least we know what Fish and O’Reilly’s team finish is.

Absolutely too much consistent offense from Silvio against the newly aggressive Jay Lethal.  Lethal should have beaten the bejeezus out of this men, almost unanswered.  I’m thinking 85/15 on the offense, not the 60/40 we saw.  Again, no real flaw to the action, but the balance was off for what we’re seeing out of Lethal and where he’s heading.

Hard to “Rant” on a good match between a champion and a still-rising star.  If I have to raise a complaint, we’ll point to Bennett not avoiding Steen’s moonsault and catching the whole thing on his legs.  It’s hard to buy Steen missing and getting hurt when his huge frame lands on Bennett’s legs.  Again, Corino does a great service to both men in the ring on the microphone as he usually does.  He’s usually only out for Steen singles matches, but the more time Corino spends at that table, the better for everyone involved.

Apologies for not being too rant-y this week, but I think that’s actually a good sign for a company that gets a lot of criticism for their product, especially in recent months.  I for one am looking forward to Final Battle wholeheartedly.

The Preview:

Jay Briscoe takes on Steve Corino in a “Steel City Street Fight”.  This will be a great way to lead into one of the semi-main events for Final Battle 2012.  I will be making best efforts to summarize this show before Final Battle, but I can’t completely promise that, as I’m not in an area with a Sinclair affiliate station.  Regardless, my tweets from FB2012 will be compiled into a summary of the show soon after I get home (and hopefully before TLC starts!)

The Shill:

As always, if you like what you read here, let me know in the comments or on twitter @sbfantom.  Come on over to The Geek Asylum – we’re currently on hiatus, but we’ll soon be back for extended Raw and Smackdown reactions.  Can’t make it to Final Battle?  Considering not ordering the show?  Get live updates December 16th via my Twitter and @pulsewrestling.

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