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-To me, the big story is Kevin Steen. He won a brutal match against Steve Corino, which according to the stips means that Steen is officially back on the ROH roster. El Generico did a run in after the match to save Jim Cornette, and Steen killed him with a package piledriver through a table on the outside. Then he came out at the end of the show and did a money promo, challenging Davey Richards.
Steen has been doing the Steve Austin/CM Punk rebel gimmick, and much like Austin and Punk, he's too good at, because now he's a babyface whether they like it or not. Steen is the total package, is insanely over, and he's a better choice moving forward than Davey Richards as the star of the company. He is poised for a real breakthough year in 2012.
-Richards vs. Eddie Edwards was a long (41 minutes), intense match that was hurt by a dead crowd. The work was fantastic, the story was fantastic (tied at 1-1, this was the rubber match, and the story was while Richards is the better wrestler, Edwards pushed himself to the limit and matched him hold for hold, and kicked out of a million moves that would have killed anyone else, showing tons of heart), and it was worked just like a big Japanese main event. The crowd didn't hate it, they were just not into it like a normal ROH crowd, and it did hurt the match. I'd say ****, could have been ****1/2 or so with a better crowd.
-Briscoes won the tag belts from Haas & Benjamin. They worked a wild brawl. Very ECW esque match, with blood, weapons, and crazy bumps. This felt like a double turn, with WGTT working like heels, and the Briscoes getting cheered like crazy. ROH has a problem, where the smark fans end up turning all of the heels like Briscoes and Steen.
-Jay Lethal retained the TV title by beating El Generico and Mike Bennett in a three way. Bennett pinned Generico first, then Lethal hit the lethal injection to pin Bennett seconds later. Good match. The highlights were Generico hitting his sick swinging DDT outside the ring that I can never describe properly, and Maria Kannelis making her ROH debut as Mikey Bennett's girlfriend. She was pounded with "CM Punk" and "Sloppy Seconds" chants. She was great in her role as the bitch heel slut.
-The production was AWFUL. The replays were horrible, the sound was uneven, and the director missed a bunch of big spots. Awful, awful , awful. Made the show look low rent.
-Overall, not the best ROH show i've seen (not even close) but easily worth the $15. Couldn't touch last year's Final Battle, which was nothing short of amazing. I'd rank this show behind several Dragon Gate shows and Money In The Bank for best shows of the year, but it was better than WrestleKindom, all of the TNA shows, and most if not all of the NOAH Budokan shows.
Steen has been doing the Steve Austin/CM Punk rebel gimmick, and much like Austin and Punk, he's too good at, because now he's a babyface whether they like it or not. Steen is the total package, is insanely over, and he's a better choice moving forward than Davey Richards as the star of the company. He is poised for a real breakthough year in 2012.
-Richards vs. Eddie Edwards was a long (41 minutes), intense match that was hurt by a dead crowd. The work was fantastic, the story was fantastic (tied at 1-1, this was the rubber match, and the story was while Richards is the better wrestler, Edwards pushed himself to the limit and matched him hold for hold, and kicked out of a million moves that would have killed anyone else, showing tons of heart), and it was worked just like a big Japanese main event. The crowd didn't hate it, they were just not into it like a normal ROH crowd, and it did hurt the match. I'd say ****, could have been ****1/2 or so with a better crowd.
-Briscoes won the tag belts from Haas & Benjamin. They worked a wild brawl. Very ECW esque match, with blood, weapons, and crazy bumps. This felt like a double turn, with WGTT working like heels, and the Briscoes getting cheered like crazy. ROH has a problem, where the smark fans end up turning all of the heels like Briscoes and Steen.
-Jay Lethal retained the TV title by beating El Generico and Mike Bennett in a three way. Bennett pinned Generico first, then Lethal hit the lethal injection to pin Bennett seconds later. Good match. The highlights were Generico hitting his sick swinging DDT outside the ring that I can never describe properly, and Maria Kannelis making her ROH debut as Mikey Bennett's girlfriend. She was pounded with "CM Punk" and "Sloppy Seconds" chants. She was great in her role as the bitch heel slut.
-The production was AWFUL. The replays were horrible, the sound was uneven, and the director missed a bunch of big spots. Awful, awful , awful. Made the show look low rent.
-Overall, not the best ROH show i've seen (not even close) but easily worth the $15. Couldn't touch last year's Final Battle, which was nothing short of amazing. I'd rank this show behind several Dragon Gate shows and Money In The Bank for best shows of the year, but it was better than WrestleKindom, all of the TNA shows, and most if not all of the NOAH Budokan shows.
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