Csonka Reviews ROH TV (November 22nd, 2014)

Introduction
As a reminder, this will not be another traditional recap, but instead it will be a mash up of the Rs, Instant Analysis and my usual Twitter ramblings I would do during the shows; completely uncensored and as the ideas flow unfiltered to the old keyboard. Remember, this is a review; and I am here to review the show. As always, I encourage discussion and even disagreement, just do so in a respectful manner. I will be doing the review for Raw and most PPVs and iPPVs going forward.

ROH TV 11.22.14
~ Michael Bennett defeated The Romantic Touch @ 9:05 via pin [**]
~ Michael Elgin vs. Caprice Coleman went to a no contest [NR]
~ AJ Styles defeated Hanson @ 22:30 via pin [***]

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* I reviewed the episodes from November 1st, 8th and 15th at this link.

Michael Bennett vs. The Romantic Touch: Pre-match Bennett and Maria made sure to let us know that they were married and that they were the definition of true love. It was completely obnoxious and over the top, which means it worked for their heel act very well. Bennett was upset that Nigel McGuinness never sanctioned any championship matches for his “Title of Love,” because Nigel doesn’t believe in love. We got the open challenge, Romantic Touch answered and we were off and running. They got nine-minutes, worked a completely basic TV style match and overall it was fine. I’m slightly torn on commentary, on one hand they mostly ignored Bennett but on the other hand they were pushing the PPV main event by discussing Kingdom teammate Adam Cole. I’ll take the PPV build, simply for the fact that Bennett and Maria are just a mid-card heel act that really aren’t going anywhere, because they’re basically in the same place they have been for years.

Michael Elgin vs. Caprice Coleman: We got a video package to make sure that people were up to date on Elgin’s losing the title and being angry about life. This ended up being no match, as Elgin came out in street clothes and stood around before laying down for Coleman. Commentary kept discussing “the Elgin controversy” but they never really went into specifics, and never gave you a proper reason to care about Elgin or whatever his “controversy” is. ROH running this “shoot” angle with Elgin gets worse every time I see it. In no way is it good, in no way does this make me want to watch the show (I want to skip past it every time) and in no way does it make me want to spend money. It’s 2014; can we please move past this horrible fake shoot bullshit? It doesn’t work unless you want me to turn off the TV when Elgin is on, then it’s working perfectly.

Hyping Briscoe vs. Cole: ROH put together a really nice video package, hyping the Adam Cole vs. Jay Briscoe title match at the Final Battle PPV. It was simple, it encompassed the entire feud (even going back to when Cole had first won the title and attacked Briscoe) and included good quotes from both guys. Again, the video was well done and hyped the biggest match for the biggest show of the year, which will always be appreciated.

AJ Styles vs. Hanson: This week’s main event was an overall good TV match, but I also felt that it was about five minutes too long. Sometimes, when you have a guy that can go, you can do the lower card guy vs. big star match, and that will help build that lower card star. 1-2-3 Kidd vs. Bret Hart is a perfect example of this, because Kidd was the right guy, elicited sympathy and people cared about him. But this match felt too much like the Styles vs. Yoshitatsu match from NJPW; it felt like a big star working with a guy that he normally won’t be working and giving him way too much and no one really caring. They tried, but I never believed that Hanson would win and I never was really into it. The work was good, but near the end, this match was a bit long in the tooth and I wanted it to end. Again, the actually work was good, but sometimes shorter is better. This was certainly not bad, but I am personally not getting all of the hype for this particular match. Some may disagree, which is perfectly fine, I just felt that it was a good, but long, TV match.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

5.8

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

As mentioned at the beginning, I reviewed the episodes from November 1st, 8th and 15th at this link in order to get caught up as we head to Final Battle. When all was said and done, it was a mixed bag. This week’s show, as a follow up, felt average at best and that’s likely generous. We got some build for Final Battle but not quite enough for my tastes, the opener was solid and the main event was good.

Unfortunately the Michael Elgin angle continues to drag this product down. Elgin isn’t a good enough performer from an acting standpoint to pull this off, commentary isn’t giving enough details to allow the fans to get actually invested and at the end of the day it comes off as a poor e-Fed angle. It’s the dirt worst. For me, the Elgin angle is really hurting the show. Check out the main event, it’s really the only thing you have to see.