Zen Arcade Reviews: ROH Showdown in the Sun Day 2

We start with newly heel Jimmy Jacobs interrupting Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness.. He says being good just wasn’t for him. “THE ZOMBIE PRINCESS JIMMY JACOBS HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE!~!~!~!” says Jimmy. Here comes El Generico with Todd Sinclair!

Jimmy Jacobs vs. El Generico
Apparently we have ourselves a match!

We start with the obligatory slugfest. Generico gains momentum early with a somersault plancha. Jacobs crotches Generico on the ropes after the Luchador tries to do something acrobatic with them. Jacobs gets a two count after he spears Generico into the corner. Crowd sez “Little Jimmy” to Jacobs, which I approve of. Generico gets a close 2 count with a crossbody block. Spinning powerbomb gets 2. Jacobs retaliates with a tornado suplex. Generico comes back with an Exploder in the corner but Jacobs puts on the End Time. Generico gets to the ropes and avoids a Jimmy Jacobs SPIKE!~! Half-Nelson Suplex! One, two, no! Generico tries to use the spike but Jacobs dodges and rolls Generico up for 3 in 7 minutes.

Analysis: ** Bit of a nothing match, as it was plagued with the problem that last night’s undercard had; the match ended just as it was getting good. Their match at Death Before Dishonor IX last year was really good, but this one wasn’t. It was simply an opener to try and get the crowd up, but Generico losing probably didn’t help their cause. I guess I can understand jobbing Generico here, considering you have to give Jacobs a little bit of steam after his heel turn. But I just don’t see Generico going too far in ROH right now…it’s just shameful.

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Cedric Alexander
Ciampa is starting to get pretty awesome, with his dominant wins over Kyle O’Reilly and his great win in the Final Four Way.

Ciampa starts out mauling Cedric. Alexander dodges the MURDERDEATHKILL knees from Ciampa and starts to mount some offense! Cedric pulls off an AWESOME elevated full-nelson facebuster. If he learns to talk, he could be a pretty good hand for ROH in a couple of years. EXPLODER INTO THE GUARDRAIL BY CEDRIC! I’m liking this match, if you can’t already tell. Ciampa comes back and just KILLS Cedric with knees into the turnbuckle. That gets the 3 count in 5 minutes.

Analysis: **1/4 Hell, for what this was, it was great. Cedric played a good plucky babyface who showed he may be able to beat Ciampa in a flash pinfall. He pulled off some good moves, but ultimately Ciampa turned out to be the killer here which is the exact way you book this. Ciampa used to be pretty damn boring, but he’s warmed up to me a lot.

Fire Ant vs. TJ Perkins
I’m a CHIKARA fan, but not a diehard fan like some are. I enjoy that shit out of their product though, which is all that matters. I dislike the CHIKARA haters too. If you can’t have fun in your wrestling, then don’t watch it. TJ Perkins is pretty decent, but has a stupid nickname and is unfortunately a Jobber to the Stars. Fire Ant, well, I’ve never seen him wrestle but one or two matches. We’ll see how it goes.

We start with our very first GENERIC INDY STANDOFF!~! of the entire weekend. Another one! But to be fair, these exchanges early are pretty slick. TJP slows it up a bit, but Fire Ant pulls off a sweet springboard armdrag. TJP takes control for a moment with a legdrop. Fire Ant does a lot of rolls and stuff, finally looking for a pinfall on a senton press. He only gets 2 though. Fire Ant kicks TJP off of the apron and nails a somersault plancha! TJP comes back with a jumping neckbreaker. Fire Ant reverses a powerbomb with a cutter, and hits a tilt-a-whirl facebuster for 2. Detination Kick from Perkins gets a two count. This match isn’t that great. 450 Splash gets TJ Perkins the win in 9 minutes.

Analysis: ** Despite all the slick moves, this was a pretty boring match. I never expected there to be a story, but they just countered and did moves, without any transition spots. I applaud their moves, but this wasn’t a very good bout. Put a Trios match here…there’s some good wrestling fun.

Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly
Okay, Kyle O’Reilly is probably one of the worst talkers I’ve ever heard. Adam Cole is 22 and has HUGE potential. Guy can talk and his in-ring work is good. Although, I guess if you want to stretch to find O’Reilly some good qualities talking-wise, he is good at playing a whiny little girl.

Cole takes control early with a headlock. After some run-of-the-mill scientific wrestling, Cole takes control some more with an armbar. O’Reilly escapes a headscissors and puts on a Bow & Arrow but Cole rolls out and resumes his armbar. Cole does a good job keeping the armbar in, outwrestling Kyle. Cole hits a Shining Wizard for a 2 count. O’Reilly comes back with a great looking Roaring Lariat for a close 2 count. Cole reverses a Tornado DDT with a KNEE BRAINBUSTER! That was a vicious looking move. They trade some strikes, but they eventually realize that they dislike each-other so they just start punching each other. Superkick to the back of the head! One, two, no! Kyle O’Reilly reverses a crossbody and grabs the tights for the pin in 8 minutes.

Analysis: **1/4 This match looked like it could have eclipsed the 15 minute mark, but again there was an abrupt finish. Before the ending, this looked like it had all the makings of a classic with some of the counters they did. They even incorporated some pretty good nearfalls towards the end. Twas not to be though, as ROH made yet another crap decision by not giving this match enough time to fill out. Although, I guess it does get Kyle over midly as a cowardly, whiny heel. But hey, what they did was really good and since it’s Ring of Honor, we’ll obviously see a rematch down the line.

Dual Duel Street Fight: The Young Bucks vs. All Night Express
They had a good match the night before, but like most of the undercard it was cut short and had an lackluster finish. Who knows if this will be any better, but ANX has proved that they can brawl with the best of them. Young Bucks can brawl too. Watch PWG Fear if you don’t believe me.

ANX walks to the ring with a shopping cart full of stuff, like New Jack. We start with ANX taking control. ANX puts the garbage can over Nick Jackson and they both just kick it. Same for Nick, but instead of kicking, they use broomsticks. Hot start to this match. Titus takes Nick around the ring and just splatters his face on the guardrail. The Bucks come back after Nick jumps over his brother, onto the stage, and does a great looking moonsault. Slingshot X-FACTOR ON THE FLOOR. Sick looking spot there. Nick puts Titus on a trash can and HITS A SENTON BOMB FROM THE STAGE ONTO HIM! Awesome spot. Matt sets Kenny King in the shopping cart and runs him into a superkick from Nick, which the awesome Nigel McGuinness calls “a bad episode of Jackass.” God damn it, I love that man. Titus grabs a chair and takes out Nick Jackson’s knee, some good psychology since the Bucks took out Rhett’s knee at Final Battle. Titus knocks Matt onto the chair where a security guard is sitting. Titus looks for a dropkick, but he hits the security guard! HA! AWESOME spot follows up: Nick Jackson fakes an injury as King and Titus look for a Powerbomb/Overcastle through a table. That provides enough time for Matt to grab Kenny and SUPERPLEX HIM through the table, while Titus sort of saves the team by powerbombing Matt through table as he is doing the suplex. But, that doesn’t really matter as Matt pins King in 12 minutes to win the Street Fight.

Analysis: ***1/4 Really fun spotfest here, with a clever, clever finish. Really, finishes like that are pretty underutilized this day and age and it’s great to see it here. They pulled off a lot of brutal spots, like an X-Factor on the floor, the Swanton through the garbage can, and the end spot. This match was a lot better than last night’s, which wasn’t bad. However, the spots, the crowd reaction, and the MUCH better finish elevate this one over the Tornado match.

Mike Bennett gives himself an ego stroke by kissing Maria in front of these surely women-deprived fans and talking himself up. Seriously, these two fuckers make out for like a minute and a half. You got to think Nigel was crying off air. I know I was.

ROH World Tag Titles: The Briscoe Brothers © vs. Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team
These guys’ feud has actually been pretty damn decent. Their debacle at Final Battle still looms over, but they’ve improved the feud since then.

Mark and Charlie start. Charlie uses his amateur wrestling to ground Mark early. Mark takes Haas down with a boot, which is followed by Charlie bailing out because he can. A brawl breaks out on the floor. Order is restored, and the Briscoes perform a double shoulderblock. Shelton cheats and targets Jay’s knee, and then tags in to do some legal work on it. You know, as much as I love Jay (and Mark for that matter) I have a feeling he isn’t going to sell that leg work for shit. Maybe Charlie Haas being Charlie Haas and just wrecking Jay’s knee for real will cover that up. I doubt it though. Hot tag to Mark! Mark gets all white-trash Bruce Lee and karate chops some bitches. Man, for all his flaws on the mic, he shows enough charisma in the ring to compensate. Although Mark shooting his gun off in the middle of Jay’s promo a couple months ago basically makes up for anything he’ll screw up in the future.. Seriously. Shelton whips Mark violently into the ringpost, which allows Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team to take control on Mark this time. Mark counters a super back-suplex from Shelton and makes the tag to Jay! Jay cleans house, superkicking Charlie Haas and diving on top of Shelton. Falcon Arrow gets a very close 2 count for Jay. Shelton takes out Mark with a facebuster on the ring frame. Olympic Slam by Haas! Haas of Pain! Jay gets to the ropes! Jay stops the Broken Arrow (Leap of Faith, whatever fuck you) by missile dropkicking Shelton. Mark rolls through and sunset flips Haas for the 3 count in 16 minutes.

Post match: Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team crotches Jay on the ringpost several times. This attack would lead to a Fight Without Honor being booked for Border Wars, which I thought would be the best iPPV ever for ROH. Shows what the hell I know…

Analysis: ***1/4 Really good match, certainly a lot better than their match at Final Battle. Well, there wasn’t anything technically wrong with that match, but the stench of the pre-match debacle screwed that match before it started. But yeah, this was a fun match. Charlie Haas being himself—the best heel in ROH—elevated the first part of the match, which was slow with all the stalling. This one lacked the nearfalls to make it special, but the crowd is into any Briscoes match and it’s fun as hell to hate WGTT. Too bad their Fight Without Honor ended like horseshit.

Blind Destiny Match #1: Kevin Steen vs. Eddie Edwards
Kevin Steen beat El Generico in an early, low-end MOTYC last night, and here he is in perhaps his first actual wrestling match since Homecoming 2012. Eddie Edwards is good. Very good. But he ain’t Kevin Steen.

Steen shakes off some shoulderblocks early. They just duel with shoulderblocks, but Steen gets the first real move with a senton legdrop. Eddie gets a two count after a top rope Codebreaker and quickly transitions into a crossface. Steen sends Eddie out of the ring with a cannonball. Steen fucks with a stupid, obviously drunk heckler in the front row by licking his finger and rubbing the him with it. Steen hits a SICK powerbomb on the apron! Jeez, Edwards took that bump like a freakin’ champ. We head to the stage, where Steen bites Eddie in the face. Steen sets Edwards in a chair and CANNONBALLS HIM OUT OF IT. You know, Steen may be a big fat fuck, but he’s probably one of the only big fat fucks who can wrestle better than most of his opponents. He’s that good. Eddie starts coming back and hits a Backpack in the ring. Eddie counters a Sharpshooter into the Achilles Lock! Steen rolls through and pins Eddie with a small package at the 10 minute mark.

Analysis: *** This was a great match for the small amount of time they got. But again, like WAY too many matches in this doubleshot, it ended way too abruptly. It’s okay though, since Steen beat Davey Richards for the World Title at Border Wars. It was a really good match for a ten minuter, but they could have done a lot more with even 5 more minutes.

Blind Destiny Match #2, ROH World TV Title: Jay Lethal © vs. Roderick Strong
Roderick Strong is underrated, as he’s been for years. Jay Lethal’s just 200 pounds of awesome and probably looking at a World Title run in the next year and a half or so.

Pre-Match: Tommaso Ciampa comes out with the TV Title and cuts a promo on Lethal. He says he’s a man of his word, as he brought back the title belt. He tells Lethal to man up and give Roddy a title match to prove he’s a real champion. He says if Jay wins, he’ll shake his hand and say Lethal’s the better man. Jay takes up the challenge and if Ciampa doesn’t hold to his end of the bargain, he’ll fuck Ciampa up.

We see the run-of-the-mill exchange early, full of flips and counters and whatnot. We’re starting out a lot faster than Lethal’s match with O’Reilly on Day 1, which I strongly approve of. Jay looks for the win on multiple occasions instead of sitting in a resthold. We see a great exchange of chops early, which Nigel McGuinness thinks is probably the coolest thing to ever happen. Jay dropkicks Roddy off the apron and nails a suicide dive. Truth Martini distracts Lethal, which leads to Strong gaining control. We have an awesome chopfest, which Nigel creams his jeans over again. Strong avoids a cartwheel dropkick and puts in the Stronghold! Strong hits stalling vertical suplex for a 2 count. Lethal goes for the cartwheel dropkick a second time and he nails it! Lethal just starts fucking Roddy’s shit up and nails a Handspring Elbow for 2, which Kevin Kelly calls correctly this time! Hermie, you’re not as bad as I thought you were. Small package by Roddy! One, two, thr—NO! Man, I didn’t think Lethal kicked out there. Lethal ranas out of a Gibson Driver and nails a Superkick! One, two, no! Lethal Combination! Macho Man Elbow! One, two, thr—no! I was sold there too. Roddy prevents the Lethal Injection and Lethal rolls out. Tommaso runs Lethal into the ringpost behind the ref’s back, and throws him back in. Vertical Suplex/Backbreaker gives Roderick Strong the win and the TV Title at 13 minutes.

Analysis: *** Good match, which was brought up immensely with the finishing stretch. I don’t like this finish very much though, but it furthers what has been a decent feud between Ciampa and Lethal. Roddy isn’t gonna win the World Title any time soon, and getting the TV Title off of Lethal allows both of them to expand from where they were. Roddy can finally get away from Davey and Eddie, and Lethal can have matches longer than 15 minutes on PPV now. Everyone is happy! Simply a good match that dragged a bit before the strong finishing sequence.

Blind Destiny Match #3, ROH World Title: Davey Richards © vs. Michael Elgin
I fucking love Michael Elgin. I do. This match is supposed to be one of ROH’s best in the last couple years. Let’s see if they top Richards-Edwards II. That one was a freaking masterpiece. And Michael Elgin is only 24 years old…that’s fucking awesome. He has a bright, bright future if he keeps a good attitude.

Davey comes out with a barrage of kicks. Davey kicks Elgin off of the apron and quickly nails a tope con hilo. Davey sits on the top rope, but Elgin—who’s on the apron—clotheslines him into the ring. Elgin puts Richards up in a suplex, and keeps him in the air for upwards of about 30 seconds before he drops him down. Elgin uses his power to take further control, catching Davey off of a handspring and nailing a Shock Treatment backbreaker. Richards comes back with a missile dropkick for 2. Davey wins a forearm exchange and hits an Exploder for a two count. Davey nails a superplex, but Elgin’s all like FUCK YOU DAVEY and gets up. Davey tries to take him out with a strike combo, but Elgin nails an enziguiri! Davey recovers and nails a spin kick, but Elgin’s like FUCK YOU, so Davey yells, “FUCK YOU” and lariats him to hell for 2. Elgin goes to the outside and powerbombs Davey on the guardrail! Back in the ring, Elgin nails a corkscrew senton! One, two, no! This is starting to get fucking awesome. Elgin holds on to the top rope after nearly being powerbombed off the top, but Davey kicks him in the head AND NAILS A FUCKING TOP-ROPE DRAGON SUPLEX!! One, two, thr—NO!!!! ANKLE LOCK! Shit, that suplex was vicious. Elgin gets to the ropes! The crowd is on their feet! Davey looks for his kick combo, but ELGIN STANDS UP! They trade stepkicks and knees to the head! This crowd, which was strongly behind Davey to begin the match, is now siding with Elgin. CHAOS THEORY FROM ELGIN! SUPERKICK! HELLEVATOR!!! ONE, TWO, THR—NO! CROSSFACE! Davey gets to the ropes on his last gasp. Okay, this match is fucking fantastic. Totally lives up to the hype. Davey mounts a comeback and hits a double stomp on the ring apron! Double stomp in the ring! One, two, thr—NO! ROARING LARIAT! EXPLODER! One, two, no! Elgin nails a Roaring Elbow! REVERSE BRAINBUSTER! One, two, thr—NO! This is already better than the 10th Anniversary Show main event, I’ll tell ya what. BUCKLE BOMB! DAVEY HITS A SPINNING KICK! ELGIN NAILS A ROARING LARIAT! Davey rolls through the Spiral Bomb into an ANKLE LOCK! ELGIN REVERSES INTO A LABELL LOCK! KNEE TO THE HEAD! SPINNING POWERBOMB! ONE, TWO, THR—NO!!! CROSSFACE! ELGIN ROLLS TO THE CENTER OF THE RING! DAVEY REVERSES INTO AN ANKLE LOCK! Elgin rolls through but falls! SHINING WIZARD! ELGIN IS UP AT ONE! KO KICKS! ONE, TWO, THR—NO! SPIN KICK! ONE, TWO, THREE! Davey retains the World Title in 25 minutes.

Post-Match: Davey puts over the fans, ROH, and puts over Michael Elgin as well, saying Elgin doesn’t need the House of Truth. Stupid time to do a promo, but after a match like that, I won’t complain.

Analysis: ***** This is one of the best matches I’ve ever seen, I kid you not. I’ve never, EVER sat up from my computer chair and watched a match like this. Not for KENTA-Danielson, Richards-Edwards II, or Cena-Punk at MITB. This is the only match I’ve done that for. Davey, for all your faults, you damn near won me back with this match. Davey worked his ever-loving ass off and put on one of the best matches in years, proving that he can still wrestle just as well as anyone. Also, Michael Elgin…man, this match only proves that he’s gonna be an absolute superstar. He was a machine in this match. He used his power to one-up Davey at several turns, but his inexperience and endurance failed him at the wrong time, and he lost. But really, in this one, Elgin came out looking like the star. He did EVERYTHING right in this match. He never botched, he sold when he needed to, and even when he no-sold, it somehow made the match even more exciting. That takes a real pro. This match was worth the price of both events, and the best ROH match since Tyler Black/Davey Richards at Death Before Dishonor VIII, and I’m willing to wager that this match is better. If you’re a wrestling fan of any type, I strongly advise you to watch this match. Hell, even if you’re sick of ROH by this point, this match is better than any match from last year, and is probably better than the best one of 2010. This was an utterly spectacular, jaw-dropping, and beautiful match that reminds me why I am a wrestling fan.

The 411: This was an improvement over Day 1. This felt like an ROH PPV, with big matches like Briscoes/WGTT, Edwards/Steen, and the absolute masterpiece of a main event in Elgin/Richards. But the show gets a high grade because it is consistent. While there are matches that could have been better booked, none of it was bad. It's just a great show to watch from top-to-bottom. If you ever get this show, make sure you see the main event. I know I've talked it up a lot, but it's so worth the hype. Strong recommendation for Day 2.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]