411’s Ring of Honor TV Report 10.22.11

Welcome to Week 5 of the Ring of Honor television show recap. My name is Shawn S. Lealos and you have entered my world…

Champions:
World Champion: Davey Richards
Tag Team Champions: Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas
TV Champion: Jay Lethal

We start off with Nigel McGuinness and Kevin Kelly in a new announcer’s position by the entrance. The audio is already better than it was on the first four episodes. We get to meet the first two wrestlers to fight tonight, the first being T.J. Perkins, speaking from the locker room. He mentions how he has been wrestling since he was 14. He actually is pretty decent on the mic. Next up is Mike Mondo, the Giant Killer. This guy is horrible on the stick. For those who don’t know, Mondo is a former member of the Spirit Squad. He’s no Dolph Zigler, that’s for sure.

MATCH 1: T.J. Perkins (0-0) vs. Mike Mondo (0-0)

I’ve seen both these guys wrestle before, Perkins in the NWA and Mondo in the WWE and Perkins can run circles around Mondo. They shake hands to start. Mondo takes down Perkins first. Mondo with a wristlock and a fan yells that he sucks. Perkins works his way out and hits a big dropkick. The two exchange quick moves and then Perkins locks in the reverse rocking chair and then the STF Mondo makes it to the ropes. Perkins gets Mondo in the tree of woe and hits a running baseball slide dropkick. Mondo heads outside and Perkins tries to bring him back in but gets dragged out. Mondo sends Perkins into the metal barricade. Mondo hits a senton from the apron onto Perkins. They are back in the ring and Mondo hits an over the top splash for two.

Mondo starts to pound on Perkins. Kelly mentions how Mondo was trained by Danny Davis and is a former OVW Champion. Mondo lays in the boots but Perkins fights back. Kevin Kelly mentions that Bret Michaels of Poison has helped promote the new ROH TV show on Twitter. That’s cool. Mondo reverses a whip and hits a big dropkick. He gets a two count. Mondo hits an elbow, a body slam and a knee drop for a two count. The two start to trade blows. Mondo misses a clothesline and Perkins suckers him in, sending him out onto the floor. Perkins hits a suicide dive and then sends Mondo back into the ring. Perkins up top and hits a missile dropkick for two.

Perkins locks in the Figure Four Deathlock (leglock cloverleaf) but Mondo makes it to the ropes. Mondo hits a modified hot shot but then trips heading back into the ring. It looks like Mondo goofed up and he starts to stagger around the ring. Perkins moves in but Mondo hits the Code Breaker and then kips up to prove he was faking it. Mondo with some “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert styled strutting and then he hits a seated dropkick to Perkins’ face for a two count. Perkins is up. Mondo blocks a superkick but can’t stop the second one. Perkins hits another big kick, this one to the back of the head of Mondo. Perkins heads up top but misses a missile dropkick and Mondo goes for the cradle, which Perkins rolls through and gets the roll up for the win.

Winner: T.J. Perkins by pinfall in 7:12
Rating: **1/2 (That was a nice little match. We didn’t get anything special out of it and Perkins did none of his big marquee moves. Mondo is a nice little stocky bad guy. The match was not great but wasn’t anything offensive. Mondo refused to shake hands afterwards.)

Next up we get an advertisement for Final Battle 2011 on Friday night, Dec. 23. It costs $14.95 for the iPPV. Kelly talks to Jay Lethal about the event. No matches have been signed. Lethal calls his TV title the gateway belt to the world championship.

We get a look at last week’s No. 1 contender’s match between The Briscoe Brothers and All Night Express. The Briscoe’s won with a low blow so Jim Cornette said he would make his decision later about the No. 1 contenders position.

Back live, the Briscoe’s music hits and they make their way to the ring. Jim Cornette is already in the ring. Cornette tells the Briscoe Brothers they have to fight the All Night Express again next week for the No. 1 spot at Final Battle. Jay Briscoe said that is no problem because they will just whip their ass again next week. Jay said he knows Ring of Honor doesn’t want the Briscoe Brothers at Final Battle. Cornette said they have to prove themselves over the All Night Express. Jay said that Cornette must have forgotten they are six times champs and at Final Battle they will get their belts back. Then, the Briscoe Brothers started chanting “seven times” and “man up” and started hitting each other to get fired up.

Backstage, Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team talks. Charlie Haas said they want the Briscoe Brothers and not the All Night Express. They say they will deal with the All Night Express later but they want revenge against the Briscoe Brothers first. I like how Shelton Benjamin calls them “those chicken farmers.”

Inside Ring of Honor: We start off with Kevin Kelly talking about Final Battle 2011. Roddy Strong is making excuses for his loss two weeks ago. Roddy and Truth Martini said that Davey Richards attacked Truth for no reason and Davey won the match because Roddy was trying to protect Martini. Roddy said because of that loss, he won’t get the Final Battle 2011 world title match. Roddy issued a challenge to anyone in the world to fight him at Final Battle. It’s the Roderick Strong Invitational Challenge and he wants the best wrestler in the world to come face him. Roddy then said this will give him a chance to outshine Richards and the world title match by stealing the show. Next week, Roddy fights Kyle O’Reilly (one of Davey’s students) and said he will beat him up and make Davey miserable.

Davey Richards is up next and mentions how, last year at Final Battle, he couldn’t beat Roddy Strong but this year he goes in as the world champion. He then talks about how his students are the reason he is great now. He also mentions how he improved by wrestling in New Japan and learning how to survive there. He said he isn’t worried about who he will fight at Final Battle.

Next week on Inside Ring of Honor, we learn more about Final Battle and learn about a new tag team coming to ROH (I’m guessing the Young Bucks).

We come back from commercials and see how Jay Lethal won his TV title from El Generico.

We get another Final Battle 2011 promo, this one with Eddie Edwards talking about making his mark there.

MATCH 2: TV Championship: Jay Lethal (1-0) vs. Mike Bennett (1-0)

Mike Bennett comes to the ring with Brutal Bob Evans. Nigel talks about how the fans hate Bennett and Nigel guesses it is because of his big mouth. When Jay Lethal comes to the ring, Kelly mentions how Lethal got his start in ROH as a teenager and then left, only to grow disenfranchised with sports entertainment and return to Ring of Honor. The fans chant “You Can’t Wrestle” during Mike Bennett’s introduction.

No Code of Honor for Bennett. They lock up but neither can take the advantage. Lethal nails Bennett and then hits an elbow. Nice handspring into a dropkick by Lethal to Bennett. Bennett fires back with a shoulder block and then a headlock. Bennett hits a dropkick for two. Bennett charges Lethal, winds up on the apron and then Lethal leaps to the second buckle and hits a dropkick, sending Bennett to the floor. Lethal misses a baseball slide but hits a BIG chop. Bennett responds with a punch. Lethal lays in some kicks. Right beside the two are some fans with Kevin Steen signs chanting Steen’s name.

Letha with a reverse figure four and then arches up into a surfboard. Jay Lethal slams Bennett’s face into the mat and gets a two count. Lethal hits a bodyslam and gets another two count. Lethal then hits a running dropkick. Kelly compares Lethal to Tomasso Ciampa and says they are both undefeated right now in Ring of Honor. I’d like to see Lethal and Ciampa fight. Brutal Bob interferes and Bennett takes advantage with a hot shot before delivering a devastating lariat. Both men are down but Bennett crawls over and gets a two count. Bennett lays in some boots and then throws Lethal out of the ring.

Commercial Break.

Back from break and they are in the ring and Lethal has the advantage. Bennett tries a clothesline but Lethal dodges it and hits his own elbow. Bennett throws Lethal into the corner and hits a running clothesline. Bennett hits a nice swinging neckbreaker and gets a two count. Nigel mentions he fought Lethal once and broke Lethal’s sternum but Jay refused to give up, proving how tough he is. Bennett kicks Lethal and then backs him into the corner and delivers more kicks. Lethal fights out but Bennett hits a powerslam for two. Bennett with a leg scissors but Lethal fights out.

Lethal tries for a suplex but Bennett blocks it. Bennett locks in a front face lock. Nigel said that Bob Evans got the nickname brutal because his matches were brutal. Nice. Lethal powers out and hits an inverted atomic drop. Bennett goes for another lariat but Lethal ducks under and just starts pounding on Bennett. Lethal hits a dropkick and starts to get fired up. Three minutes remain in the time limit. Lethal hits a handspring off the ropes into a neckbreaker for a great move. It only gets Lethal a two count. Lethal picks up Bennett and the two begin to trade blows. Lethal misses a suplex and tries a cross body but Bennett catches him and hits a spinebuster for two. Bennett goes for the Box Office Smash but Lethal blocks it. Bennett hits a German suplex but Lethal lands on his feet and hits a quick DDT. Lethal gets a two count. Lethal tries for the figure four but Bennett wraps him up in a cradle for two. Lethal hits a superkick. Lethal sets up the Lethal Injection (flying elbow) but Bennett moves, causing Lethal to crash to the mat. Bennett back in and starts beating on Lethal. What they are going for here is the ground and pound from UFC where the ref stops the fight when the opponent can’t defend himself. The ref won’t stop the match and when Bennett complains, Lethal flips him over and starts punching Bennett as time expires.

Winner: Time Limit Draw – 15:00
Rating: *** (I hear a lot of people whining about ROH and time limit draws but that is something that I remember fondly from the old days of TV title matches in NWA/WCW. I like draws like this because they give the time limit an actual sense of urgency. Besides, this is the first match on ROH TV that officially ended in a draw. The Lethal vs. Generico match got overtime to determine a winner. In this instance, Lethal offered Bennett five more minutes but Bennett refused the overtime opportunity and left. That shows he doesn’t have the guts of Lethal. It is good character development.)

This week’s ROH TV show was a step down from last week’s great show. Both matches were decent and, amazingly, Mike Bennett was not horrific. However, neither match was a knockout, so I can only give this show a slight thumbs in the middle. I do like how the entire episode they pumped up Final Battle as their biggest card of the year. They are making the iPPV seem very important, which really matters as they try to bring in more fans.