411’s Ring of Honor TV Report 10.15.11

411’s Ring of Honor TV Report 10.15.11

Welcome to Week 4 of the Ring of Honor television show recap. My name is Shawn S. Lealos and you have now entered my world…

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

Last week on ROH TV, Davey Richards beat Roddy Strong in a World Championship match and we get the highlights.

Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness are in the ring to start the show. They announce a double main event. Eddie Edwards takes on Michael Elgin while the Briscoe brothers take on the All Night Express to determine the new No. 1 contenders to the ROH tag team titles.

We start with a video promo interviewing the Briscoe Brothers. These guys are just all over the place. Mark Briscoe is an idiot. Jay should be the only one to ever open his mouth. They say they aren’t two dumb rednecks. You could have fooled me.

The next promo was with the All Night Express. Rhett Titus and Kenny King pretty much talk about why they want to beat the Briscoes so bad.

MATCH 1: No. 1 Contenders Match: The Briscoe Brothers vs. The All Night Express

I absolutely love the start of the Briscoe Brothers theme song. This should be a really good match. The Briscoes are listed as “No-Code of Honor.” Funny.

Jay and Kenny start off. They lock up and jockey for position. Jay gets Kenny in the corner and kicks him. Tag to Mark and they lay in the boots to King. Rhett comes in so the Briscoe’s throw Kenny to the floor and send him into the metal barricade. They try it again but Kenny leaps up on the apron and hits one of the brothers with a flying body block while Rhett hits the Thesz Press on the other one. They are all fighting on the floor. Kenny sends Mark back in the ring. Double leapfrog by te All Nighters and then Rhett with a leg sweep and a King hits a dropkick for two.

King works on Mark and tags in Rhett. They send Mark into the buckle. King backdrops Mark, who lands on his feet but lands in an inverted atomic drop by Rhett followed by a big clothesline by King for a two count. Mark sends Rhett into the ropes and Jay kicks him in the back. Rhett nails Jay but turns into a Mark punch. Mark sends Rhett into the corner and charges with a clothesline. Jay charges with a second clothesline. Jay launches himself into King and nails him before rebounding back and the Briscoe’s hit a modified Total Elimination. NICE!

Mark starts to pummel Rhett. Tags in Jay who keeps beating on Rhett. Apparently, Rhett has a chronically ruptured eardrum courtesy of the Briscoe brothers from a past match. Mark with another nice clothesline. One count. Jay tags back in Mark and the two continue to beat down Rhett. Mark hits a bulldog for two.

Tweet of the Week: You should #watchROH becase ROH is professional wrestling not sports entertainment #BlueSwim – please stop…

Jay continues to beat on Rhett Titus. Mark Briscoe takes Rhett into the corner and climbs to the top buckle for what looked like it was going to be a head scissors flip but Rhett swept Mark’s legs out and Mark drops for a Snake Eyes in the corner. That was another great move. Mark tags in Jay but Rhett gets the hot tag to Kenny as well. Kenny with two clotheslines to Jay and then discuss punches Mark. Kenny follows it up with a Pele to Jay and then hits a nice pump handle suplex for the two count. Mark saves Jay from more damage and both escape to the floor. Suicide dive by Rhett Titus onto both Briscoe Brothers.

Jay is back in the ring. Kenny with a spinebuster and then Rhett hits a flying knee drop from the top buckle. Two count. Kenny tries for a slam but Jay fights out. Mark gets Rhett to the floor and knocks him down. Mark throws King towards Jay and Briscoe hits a Pele kick followed by Mark hitting a suicide plancha onto Rhett. Jay hits a nice suplex to King followed by a Mark flying elbow drop for two. Rhett is back in and goes after Mark. Jay gets a cradle for the three count while Mark and Rhett fought on the announcers table. I had problems following the end because my digital cable started pixelating.

Winners: The Briscoe Brothers beat the All Night Express by pinfall in 7:10 (*** 1/2)

From the look of it Kenny King got hit in the groin but I didn’t see it when it happened. Rhett starts fighting the Briscoes after the match and gets beat down until the referees and officials run in. Jim Cornette comes out. Replays of the finish show that Jay kicked King in the groin to win the match. That was a really good tag team match. It might be better than the World Tag Team title match from the first episode. These teams connected well together and this was a solid television match.

Focus On: Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team: Charlie says they were bred to wrestle. Charlie also compares ROH to training in college. With these two guys sitting down and talking, they come across a lot better than when they are cutting a promo in the ring. They go down the list of accomplishments they had as wrestlers. Shelton Benjamin was Brock Lesner’s wrestling coach at Minnesota. They call ROH fans the most intelligent and critical fans in the world. Shelton mentions his time in the WWE and said that ROH is the first place where athletic ability really mattered. Charlie to the Briscoe Brothers: “Up yours. Screw you. We were the best ten years ago and we are the best now.”

We are back live with Jim Cornette. Cornette said that the Briscoes are the winners and no one is the No. 1 contender.

Inside Ring of Honor: We start off with a look at Truth Martini, who Jim Cornette calls a con-man. Davey Richards calls Truth a leach. Truth takes credit for leading Roddy Strong to the world title by telling him that nothing was Roddy’s fault but everyone else’s fault. Truth represents Michael Elgin and is there to keep Eddie Edwards away from the world title picture so Roddy is the next in line again. Elgin is good on the mic. I actually think he is better than Truth from these video clips. “Die Hard” Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards both talk about the fact they need to have a rematch for the world championship.

MATCH 2: “Die Hard” Eddie Edwards vs. “Unbreakable” Michael Elgin

Truth Martini leads Michael Elgin out to the ring. It looks like Truth Martini is the big bad manager in the ROH, over men like Prince Nana and Steve Corino. Eddie Edwards is the first ever triple crown winner, when it comes to TV title, world title and tag team title (I guess the old triple crown with the pure title no longer exists?). Elgin refuses the Code of Honor (does that even matter anymore? Most the bad guys refuse it).

They lock up to start. They trade blows and then circle again. Edwards with a headlock. Elgin sends Edwards into the ropes and hits a big boot before they trade forearm blows. They exchange slaps and then exchange boots. Finally, Elgin shoulder tackles Edwards, taking him down. Elgin gets Edwards in the corner. Shoulder tackle and then a hard forearm. BIG long suplex by Elgin, holding Edwards up for a long time. One count. Edwards and Elgin trade chops but Elgin takes the advantage and lays in the boots to Edwards.

Edwards sends Elgin into the buckle and attempts an armdrag but Elgin holds on to the arm and refuses to flip. He flips Eddie up onto his shoulders and tries for the Oklahoma Stampede but Edwards slips off and goes for a big knee, which misses. Edwards hits an elbow, heads up top and hits a hurricanrana and hits a quick arm drag. He locks in the Achilles Lock but Elgin fights out quickly. Edwards with the Lion Sault for two. Elgin sends Edwards into the buckle but Edwards leaps to the second buckle and tries for a leaping Code Breaker. Elgin catches him, slams him back first into the buckle, runs across the ring and slams him into the opposite buckle and then connects with a back suplex for two.

Commercial Break.

Eddie Edwards tries to fight back but Elgin hits two backbreakers and then a side slam for the two count. Elgin goes for a suplex but Edwards drops to a knee twice to block it. Edwards blocks it a third time by flipping over Elgin but ends up trapped in a headlock. Elgin elbows him in the head three times and then goes for a move off the ropes. Edwards catches him with two chops and then two superkicks but can’t take the big man down. Edwards with a nice reverse suplex and both men are finally down. Edwards is up first. Kick by Edwards. Elbow by Elgin. Edwards with the enziguiri and then up top to hit a missile dropkick for two. Elgin sends Eddie into the ropes but Eddie ducks a clothesline and sends Elgin out of the ring and to the apron. Eddie with a running knee strike to take Elgin to the floor and then hits a baseball slide and then heads into the ropes a third time for a suicide plancha. WOW!

Both men are down on the floor. Nigel: “He’s taken out his opponent, he’s taken out himself and he’s taken out the front row of fans.” Eddie sends Elgin back in to the ring and climbs to the top buckle. He misses he double stomp but Eddie stays on his feet and hits a quick kick to the back of Elgin’s leg and then a HARD kick to his face. He gets a two count. Both men back up and they trade blows. Eddie finally hits the code breaker but Elgin doesn’t go down. Elgin misses two straight clotheslines and Eddie has him confused. Eddie with another quick kick to the legs of Elgin and then tries to get in another strike but Elgin with a BIG lariat to end that. Elgin has Edwards out on the outside ring apron and wants to suplex Edwards onto the steel ring post. Eddie floats over to the other side of the ring post and then hits a big superkick over the ring post itself. Edwards up top and hits a double stomp to Elgin, who was still on the outer ring apron. Elgin is hurt and Edwards is on the floor.

Edwards back to the top buckle and hits a double stomp onto Elgin’s back while he was bent over. Edwards goes for the Die Hard but Elgin lifts him up and hits a Buckle Bomb. Elgin sets Edwards up for the powerbomb but Edwards rolls around and wraps up Elgin for two. Superkick by Edwards and this time he hits the Die Hard for the win.

Winners: Eddie Edwards by pinfall in 13:34 (*** 1/2)

Both men are down and exhausted. Truth Martini rolls into the ring and then Roddy Strong runs in and gets in Eddie’s face. Truth, Elgin and Roddy all get in Eddie’s face but Nigel McGuinness takes off his headphones and jumps in the ring, taking Eddie’s side. Nigel takes off his jacket and glasses and looks ready to fight as the show goes off the air.

That last match was great. While it was not as awesome as Roddy and Davey from last week, it was a fantastic match between a power wrestler and a technical wrestler. Each man used their strengths against each other and their styles melded well in the ring. With both matches this week really good, this is arguably the best episode of ROH TV yet.