Csonka’s Retro ROH TV Review (2.04.12)

Csonka’s ROH TV Review 2.04.20

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– ROH TV Title Match: TV Champion Jay Lethal defeated Mike Bennett @ 10:11 via pin [***]
– ROH Tag Team Title Match: Champions The Briscoes defeated Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin @ 4:30 via DQ [**½]

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– We open with highlights of Jay Lethal defeating El Generico and Mike Bennett to retain the TV Title, leading to hype for tonight’s TV Champion Jay Lethal vs. Mike Bennett match.

TV Champion Jay Lethal vs. Mike Bennett: Maria & Brutal Bob are at ringside; this is billed as the main event, but since there is no time limit for tonight’s match, it’s going on first, which I like. It’s the little things. Mike powders right away for some stalling. Back in and they lockup, tackle by Mike and as Jay takes control, they brawl to he floor. Back in and Jay controls with strikes, chops and powders as Jay looks for a lethal injection. To the floor and Jay controls as they roll back in. Jay follows with strikes, and dumps him to the floor. Jay takes out Bob, Mike hides behind Maria and cheap shots Jay. Post break and Mike is still in control with ground and pound. He grounds the action, Jay fires back but Mike follows with a sleeper. Jay fires back, escapes and they trade strikes until Jay hits an enziguri. He follows with clotheslines, a springboard moonsault press and missile dropkick for 2. Superkick by Jay, and Mike counters the lethal injection into a neck breaker for 2. Jay cradles him for 2, Bob takes the ref as Mike bumps Jay down, and Maria pushes Mike onto Jay who cradles him for the win. TV Champion Jay Lethal defeated Mike Bennett @ 10:11 via pin [***] This was a good opener, playing off of their established history well, as Lethal was over big, while Bennett was absolutely hated. The dynamic worked well as Lethal was a great babyface champion, and the ROH faithful loved to hate Bennett, as he felt like such a WWE styled buy with Bob & Maria at ringside and the way he worked.

– Veda Scott interviews Eddie Edwards and his issues with Kyle O’Reilly. O’Reilly has a man crush on Davey Richards, and doesn’t give a shit about Adam Cole or Future Shock. O’Reilly arrives and challenges Edwards to a match.

Kevin Steen is Back: We get a video on Steen’s path of destruction at Final Battle, where he injured Corino, Jacobs, & Generico as he teased piledriving Cornette. Kevin Kelly brings out Steen, wearing his Steenerico shirt to remind everyone he took out Generico. Steen says he’s been waiting for this moment for a year. He dismisses Kelly and says for 12-months he’s been asking himself a question, what kind of company keeps their top guy at home for a year? It seems to him that other promotions let their talent get away with much worse. So why is he kept away? It’s all Cornette, because he wouldn’t kiss Cornette’s ass like Davey Richards. There is a lot of talk about the world ending, which is fine, he will face it as ROH Champion. When he gets his chance he will rip Jimmy’s boy apart, and will hold the company hostage like he was at home. He will create chaos and pain, it will all change and Cornette arrives flanked by security. Steen calls him an asshole, and Cary Silken is also there. Cornette says he’s looked forward to this, calls Steen fat and Steen mocks him for carrying a tennis racket and never played a sport a day in his life. Steen says Cornette loves to spend time in MMA gyms, Cornette says hat since he laid out three men with piledrivers, and since he was there when Austin was temporarily paralyzed by Owen Hart, leading to his premature early retirement. Steen has no remorse, so from this day on, the piledriver is banned in ROH. Steen laughs this off and says he’s not happy, but laughs at Cornette claiming it’s for safety when he’s a hypocrite. Cornette is just protecting Davey, but he can’t be banned anymore and he will come up with something, because he will take the championship and will be the nightmare Cornette can never wake up from. This was great stuff with both guys delivering and playing off of the Final Battle angle extremely well.

– We go inside ROH, hyping that there may be issues within the House of Truth, who now blame the Briscoes for losing the big tag match last month. They face next week, Elgin & Strong vow revenge. The Briscoes claims they did their part, and they will face with both teams putting $5,000 on the line. Later this month, World Champion defends against TV Champion Jay Lethal. Both men hype the match. Rhett Titus is out injured from the match with the Young Bucks at Final Battle. Titus plans to be back sooner rather than later, and are coming for the Young Bucks.

– Haas takes the mic and says they aren’t wrestling the Bravados tonight. They refuse to work because Steen stole their mic time. They rundown the crowd for their “luke warm” reaction, and says they just defended themselves vs. the Briscoes, and says they should be cheered. They are holding the show hostage until the Briscoes give them a rematch. Cornette and officials arrive and he says they don’t have tome tonight. Shelton & Haas refuse to leave, as the Briscoes arrive and accept the match.

Champions The Briscoes vs. Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin: They all brawl right away, the Briscoes hit dives and back in, Haas fires back as they double team Jay, covering for 2. More double teams follow, and they continue to isolate Jay and post him. Haas tags in and double teams follow as Haas covers for 2. Shelton takes over, Jay fires back and cuts him off. Tag to Mark as Haas joins him, redneck kung fu follows and Mark runs wild. The iconoclasm follows and it breaks down, Shelton chair shots Mark and that’ a DQ. Champions The Briscoes defeated Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin @ 4:30 via DQ [**½] This was short and solid, and a fine way to play off of the established angle to keep things going.

The 411 on Wrestling Podcast returns to the 411 Podcasting Network for episode 112. On the show, 411’s Larry Csonka & Steve Cook go retro, looking back on the first NWA Clash of the Champions events. Jerome Cusson then joins for a Dark Side of The Ring: David Schultz and The Slap Heard Round the World review. The show is approximately 156-minutes long.

* Intro
* Clash of The Champions I Review: 4:09
* Clash of The Champions II Review: 41:36
* Clash of The Champions IIII Review: 1:13:30
*Dark Side of The Ring: David Schultz and The Slap Heard Round the World Review: 1:38:14

* iTunes
* Spotify
* Stitcher
* Google Play

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

This look back at ROH TV was a good one, with a good opener, a great Steen vs. Cornette segment, and the closing angle featuring the Briscoes vs. Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin helped continue that feud along nicely.