TBHND

TBHND
Well that's what I heard,,,

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Ring of Honor Wrestling for the Weekend of 4/25/14

-The show opens with still photos from Ladder War at Supercard of Honor VIII.

-From New Orleans, LA

-Hosts are Kevin Kelly & Steve Corino

-Kelly & Corino talk about Cole becoming the "Undisputed" RoH World Champion, and Jay Lethal winning the TV title. Lethal makes his first defense against Alex Koslov in tonight's main event. Plus, there is doubt surrounding the future of the Briscoes.

-Adam Cole opens the show with Matt Hardy by his side. Cole is still feeling the ladder match, since this was taped the day after. Cole says no one can understand what it's like to go to bed knowing you're the best pro wrestler on the planet and still have people question you. Cole says he went to hell and back to retain his world title, while Jay Briscoe went to hell and stayed there. Cole says both he and Michael Bennett beat the Briscoes like they've never been beaten before, and that the Briscoes will never show their face in RoH again. Cole presents Hardy with the Jay Briscoe title belt, and Hardy renames it the ICONIC Championsip.

Kevin Steen interrupts, stating that Cole has no idea what hell is, because Steen is the Devil, and he's going to show Cole hell at Border Wars in Toronto. Steen talks about never getting a title shot after losing the title last year. Steen makes fun of Cole for saying Toronto is Steen's hometown, when Steen is from Quebec. Steen punches Cole and goes after Hardy, but falls victim to a heel beatdown after Michael Bennett interjects.

-Match 1: Cedric Alexander VS BJ Whitmer (w/Jimmy Jacobs, Roderick Strong, & Adam Page)

-Whitmer backs Alexander into the corner, and gives a clean break. Roderick Strong joins the announce team as Cedric hits a dropkick for two. They exchange chops, but Whitmer hits a kitchen sink, followed by a gutbuster. Whitmer gets a modified abdominal stretch, but then walks into an enziguiri, followed by a Trouble in Paradise for two. Cedric slips while walking the ropes, but still manages to kick Whitmer in the face. Whitmer hits a snap powerslam, followed by a couple modified fisherman suplexes for two and we go to break.

-Truth Martini gloats about having yet another champion on his resume.

Back from break, Cedric counters an exploder and gets a rollup for two. Cedric hits a lumbar kick, but Jacobs distracts both he and the ref. Cedric takes care of Jacobs, but whiffs on another spin kick, and Whitmer hits a lariat for the pin.

**1/4 Not bad, not bad at all.

-Page holds Alexander in place as Jacobs cuts a promo on him. Alexander spits at Jacobs, so Strong kicks him in the face, and hits his release suplex into a backbreaker finish.

-Adam Cole tells Steen to "Run Steen Run".

-Match 2: Andrew Everett VS ACH (w/Tadarius Thomas)

-Jimmy Jacobs joins the announce team. They have a standoff, then Everett hits a nice dropkick. ACH comes back, and gets a Cloverleaf. Everett fires back with a springboard dropkick, then spikes ACH on his head with a rana for two. Everett hits a suplex, but misses a springboard SSP. ACH hits a double stomp to the head, followed by a low superkick. ACH ends up outside, and Everett hits a dive. Back in, Everett misses a double moonsault, allowing ACH to hit a pretty vicious running knee to the face, followed by a 450 for the pin.

*3/4 Didn't really care for this. It did have a nice contrast of Everett only having flippy stuff in his repertoire and looking only to impress the crowd, while ACH had some nice strikes that got him the win.

-A video recaps the Truth/Taven angle, as well as Lethal joining Truth while winning the TV title.

-Match 3 for the RoH Television Championship: Jay Lethal [c] (w/Truth Martini) VS Alex Koslov

-Koslov turns down a handshake, but then offers one after a standoff. Koslov hits a dropkick to send Lethal outside, then follows with a flip dive as we go to break.

Back from break, Lethal works Koslov over on the floor, then rolls him back inside for two. Kozlov counters the hiptoss/dropkick combo into a rollup for two. Lethal tries a springboard, but gets met with a dropkick on the way down. They do a strike exchange, then Koslov avoids an avalanche before hitting a springboard dropkick followed by Cossak Kicks and a double stomp to the face for two.  Lethal tries fighting back, but he runs into a heel kick. Lethal rolls outside, and Koslov almost loses his balance on a springboard, but manages to execute a cross-body to the outside.

Back in, Lethal gets a Lethal Combination into a Koji Clutch. Koslov hangs on, then counters into a Cobra Stretch, forcing Lethal to grab the ropes. Lethal fights off a superplex, but Koslov avoids the newly-renamed Hail to the Champ. Lethal hits a kick to the gut, but Koslov counters the Lethal Injection into a Burning Hammer for two. Koslov goes up, but a bandaged Matt Taven runs out to go after Truth, who runs into the ring. Taven then takes the opportunity to go after Lethal, which draws a DQ.

*** This was getting pretty good before the finish. Not surprised to see Koslov protected here.

-FINAL THOUGHTS: Decent start to the new taping cycle. Nothing particularly memorable, but nothing too bad either except for Everett thinking it's 2002.

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