Thought Zero – I decided to try something different with the Ten Thoughts today. Simply out of lack of available time. I recorded the show and am going to try to do these 10 thoughts as I watch in real time. There may be some spelling errors in names and such, and I apologize for that. But let’s see how this goes…
1. The Top Prospect tournament continues as Jason Kincaid takes on Lio Rush. Both men have interesting looks, while Lio Rush is smaller and younger than Kincaid. Kincaid has quite the mountain man meets a samurai type outfit going for him.
2. Early on and Rush seems to be doing a bunch of speedy, flippy stuff. Kincaid hits a cool combination – clothesline in the ropes into a slingspot rolling neckbreaker into a Gorey stretch. Even Nigel says “I love it” after that combo. And almost immediately afterwards, Kincaid hits some cool looking wheelbarrel into a backbreaker drop thingiemajig. I like seeing moves I haven’t seen before, as long as they look crisp and painful.
3. Oh, and the straps come down for Kincaid, which means, since he isn’t Jerry Lawler, it is now time for Rush to go on offense. And there he goes, as Rush returns to the speed and flippy and high flying style. Looks fairly lucha with a lot of action but very little actual impact. And then Kincaid hits a Coast to Coast dropkick and a blockbuster to the floor. Kincaid looks like a star in this match so far, I must say. He then proceeds to miss a top rope double stomp, and Rush wins with some super quick flippy Spanish fly thing.
4. It was obvious they were pushing Rush to win this thing, but the wrong guy went over. Kincaid has a good and unique look. He has a solid and unique moveset. And in a very brief match, he got the crowd very thoroughly behind him. Rush might be a future star (Kevin Kelly sure wanted to sell us on that possibility), but Kincaid seems to have a handle on things right now. I have no idea if he can talk, but every intangible seems to be there.
5. Second match – Silas Young and the Beer City Bruiser versus Caprice Coleman and Will Ferrara. We still have no idea what is going on with Prince Nana and these two, but apparently they don’t hate each other any more and are a team now. Oh, and Ferrara has grown a pretty significant hipster beard, I must say. Most of the match is Young and Bruiser beating on smaller Ferrara, until he makes a hot tag to Coleman. Finally, the Boys run down to distract Bruiser and Young (STILL continuing that feud), and Coleman and Ferrara pick up the win. Not a horrible match, but there is still no need to continue the Boys/Silas Young storyline.
6. Silas Young is an interesting character. He a pretty good in-ring hand. He doesn’t seem like he is a threat to any top star, but he is sort of a litmus test to see if you can move up the card. His “Last Real Man” gimmick is a little silly and sometimes gross, but it works in small doses. Not to get into other promotion’s booking, but given the relationship ROH and NJPW have, I could see Young making a few waves over there. Not as a “cool” wrestler, but as an ugly gaijin. His heel mannerisms and overall scuzzy character could be a good foil for some popular wrestlers over there and even up his value to ROH that much more.
7. And here comes BJ Whitmer to talk about Steve Corino. And on command, Steve Corino comes out from the back and announces that the person he knows wants to go after Whitmer is actually Adam Page. Page confirms this information, and there is the face turn. Big miss there, though. I think the turn would have worked (the crowd seemed to be excited for it and has wanted to cheer Page for a couple years now) if not for one thing – they didn’t have Page just lay out Whitmer. Whitmer hasn’t been involved in any significant in-ring action for a long while now, while Page has looked good against everyone, up to and including Jay Briscoe. Page should have just dropped Whitmer easily, nailed the Rite of Passage, and walked off. If ROH wanted to do a mentor/student storyline between those two, Whitmer could easily come out in following weeks and talk it up. Instead, they go for a pull-apart brawl. Which I guess is “supposed” to make Page look like Whitmer’s equal, but given how little I have seen of Whitmer in the past couple years, I think it just made Page look like he wasn’t ready to make the next step in his career. Hopefully they can salvage this, because we all know my demographic of 1 is the only important one the suits consider.
8. Rundown of the 14th Anniversary card has some pretty good matches on it, including War Machine versus All-Night Express in a No-DQ match for the ROH tag titles. And a six-man match between ACH, Matt Sydal, and Kushida versus The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega. That match will most likely be an energetic fan favorite, but I wonder if Alex Shelley makes an appearance with Kushida there. Maybe that could be Shelley’s new gimmick – A Fatal Attraction stalker who can’t stand getting dumped by a teammate. (It could be a nice twist as well as an evil and interesting development to Shelley’s character.)
9. Mark Briscoe versus Tim Hughes. I have no idea who Hughes is, he didn’t get a televised entrance, and he really should invest in a couple days at the beach to work on his tan. But he is carrying a plain white towel he must have stolen from the Charlotte Holiday Inn. Oh, hey, it seems that Hughes is a follower of Brutal Bob. Joy. I can only conclude this will be a Mark Briscoe squash. Let’s see if I’m right… and, yeah, I’m right. But I am okay with that. Mark tends to be the one who takes the losses in the Briscoe team, so it is good to let him shine in a match like this. It helps keep the hope alive in the crowd whenever he is wrestling. (Bonus moment that actually made me laugh out loud – Mark set up for the Crane kick, only to slap the smack talk out of Hughes.)
10. Main event – Young Bucks versus ACH and Matt Sydal. I like all these guys and this match promises to be full of crazy spots, lots of energy, and innovative sequences. But why aren’t ACH and Sydal coming to the ring together? They’ve been teaming together for quite a while now, can’t they get a team entrance? Now the match… Everyone is impressive, everyone hits their spots, it is hard to remember who the legal men are, etc. etc. Maybe I am a little burned out of the Young Bucks right now. I think they are great, but everything sometimes seems a little too choreographed (which some bad camera angels don’t really help), if that makes sense. But in an upset, ACH and Sydal pull off the victory. It was a good match, and better than any tag match I have seen on WWE TV in years, but I want more from these guys. Keep innovating and don’t get complacent.
Okay, thought #10 sounds a little more negative than I meant it to be. I really did enjoy the main event match and will probably go back and watch it again. Maybe I am just getting tired, trying to do this without any stretching beforehand. No announcement of matches for next week, so we will just fly blindly into that one. I have another column coming up later this week which I have yet to begin. Any suggestions or comments, ideas or requests, please sen them along. I aim to please. Until next time…
