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Simon Watches ROH - 2013
Topic Started: Jul 26 2014, 06:10 PM (4,874 Views)
Big Evil
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On TBS. Very Funny.

...yes. I am.
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Big Tuna
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The Master and Ruler Of The World

ROH World Champion: Jay Briscoe, Since 4/5/2013
ROH World Tag Team Champions: reDRagon, Since 3/2/2013
ROH World Television Champion: Matt Taven, Since 3/2/2013

ROH Wrestling
April 13th, 2013
New York, NY


ROH is back down to the Manhattan Center for this.

In the ring, Nigel is there with the roster again. Nigel says the ROH Title is no longer held hostage and honor has been restored, and he introduces Jay Briscoe with the belt. Jay puts over everyone and says he's always been a company man and happy just to be here until about a year ago until Steen won the title and things started to go down, and desperate times called for desperate measures, and ROH needed him to be the champion, so he did that. Jay says he's gonna have to start defending this sumbitch and tells them all to bring their ass because he doesn't plan on losing this soon. Adam Cole comes into the ring and he knows people have congratulated him, but he wants to be the first one publicly do that but as much as he can appreciate Day One and him being THE founding father, ROH is based on the future and that's him. He still has a title shot in Toronto on May 4th, and his title reign will be short lived. Cole then leaves and Jay asks when Adam's balls dropped and says he respects that, but he's gonna get his ass whooped.

Match #1: Eddie Edwards vs. Bobby Fish
Both tag partners are there. Eddie does the best he can and when he's on offense, this is fantastic. Stiff and violent and well paced. Bobby is horrible again, with lots of kicks that seem to barely land of land without much impact or force and then boring heel control stuff. That's my biggest problem. Working as a stiff vicious fighter type needs that kind of visceral reaction to work, and you need to either hear the force of the kicks or see the damage with blood or bruising or something to sell it, and there's none of that. Lots of REALLY fucking stupid things in the finishing run too. Best example is Bobby using leg kicks and a dragon screw, and Eddie then following with a Codebreaker and a Superkick with no problem. Fish wins with a roll up after Eddie's leg now buckles. Meh.
*3/4

Match #2: QT Marshall/RD Evans vs. Alabama Attitude

Decent enough showcase, but it probably far too long. The heels are already kind of jobbery and giving an actual jobber team 4-5 minute against them in an even match is a pretty terrible idea. QT hits one of them with God's Gift and RD covers for the win.
*1/4

Roderick Strong comes out before the main event when only Mondo has come out and gets on the mic. He says he's confused and says Nigel is handing out title shots to just about anyone in this company and asks how Adam Cole has a title shot before him, and says the main event is supposed to be Mark Briscoe, BJ, Caprice, Cedric, and Mondo in a match for a TV Title shot and asks how Mondo got this shot before "Mr. ROH" Roderick Strong. He says he's done every stupid thing this company has asked him to do, and he just wants a chance. Strong says Mondo's a good guy, and while he keeps killing himself to be accepted, he has to realize that the reason he's not accepted after a year is that he just doesn't belong here. FUCK YEAH RODDY. Mondo attacks him and they get into a pull apart.

Match #3: Mark Briscoe vs. BJ Whitmer vs. Mike Mondo vs. Caprice Coleman vs. Cedric Alexander [TV Title #1 Contender's Match]
Fun movefest for 6-7 minutes. Mark Briscoe is the MVP again with all his cool kung fu stuff and he adapts his usual hot tag into just being a part of the finishing run. Cedric also stands out again. Mark hits Cedric with the Froggy Bow for the win, which means now Mark will have to put over that fuck Taven.
**1/4
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Big Tuna
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The Master and Ruler Of The World

ROH World Champion: Jay Briscoe, Since 4/5/2013
ROH World Tag Team Champions: reDRagon, Since 3/2/2013
ROH World Television Champion: Matt Taven, Since 3/2/2013

ROH Wrestling
April 20th, 2013
New York, NY


TONIGHT: TAVEN/ACH FOR THE TV TITLE

Kevin Steen comes out to open the show and then Steve Corino comes out. He says he doesn't return calls, e-mails, or texts, so this is the way he has to get in touch with him. He says he understands losing a World Title and it's a big hit to his ego, but he wants him to know that it's okay and the focus has never changed and the mission to kill ROH still remains. Steen says he's been interrupting him for the last few months and his idea to kill ROH made sense to him a year ago but since they got rid of Jim Cornette, they fixed ROH, and it's fine the way it is. He has more respect for Steve than anyone in pro wrestling, but the only mission he has right now is to earn another shot at the ROH World Title. The rest of SCUM comes out and Corino says he loves him and they want the title, but maybe it's not on him that they need it on and he looks towards Matt Hardy. Steen says he would follow Corino anywhere and when SCUM started, it was them and Jimmy, and that made sense to him. He doesn't get the expansion and he can adjust to some things, but he trusts him. There's one thing he can't support AND THAT'S THIS MOTHERFUCKER, AND POINTS TO MATT. Corino yells at him and says nobody disrespects Matt Hardy and he thinks it's time they go their separate ways. SCUM gets in the ring and Steen says they can just leave and they'll be done, or they can do this and start something that will kill them all. Corino says he can't let him walk away and they all attack Steen. Nobody comes to save at all, and he gets beaten down and Matt hits the Twist of Fate.

Match #1: Roderick Strong vs. Mike Bennett w/ Bob Evans
This sure happened. Strong tries, but yeah, PORDIGY is still just that dude. This turns into more of a Roddy showcase thankfully, so at least we're done for a few months pretending that Bennett matters or is anyone of any note. Strong wins with the End of Heartache.
*1/2

Post-match, Mike Mondo comes out to attack both dudes.

Match #2: Tadarius Thomas vs. Jorge Santi
Santi is pretty horrible and sloppy, but this is only like 30 seconds before SCUM hits the ring and attacks them both.
45/Poop

SCUM keeps beating them up and Rhino Gores the jobber. Corino takes the mic and says Kevin Steen and that situation does not take them away from SCUM's focus, to kill ROH, and you're never going to see Kevin Steen again. Nigel McGuinness comes out and says to shut up and says SCUM is dissolving into the ether. Corino says he created Kevin Steen and destroyed him and this is all his plan and mission. Nigel brings out Elgin and Lethal and says to get out of their ring and Corino says like the God he is, he's spreading his message and they need the ROH Title and his spiritual son will be the next and last ROH Champion. Corino offers a wager for Border Wars, with a tag match with SCUM against Elgin and Lethal. IF they win, he'll leave, and if they lose, he gets the permanent commentary job.

INSIDE ROH:
-Jay Briscoe cuts a promo and says Adam Cole's been doing this 15 minutes and asks who the young boy thinks he is, and says the champ is here to whoop that ass.
-ACH says he beat Matt Taven in North Carolina and a lot of people might not believe it, but he likes surprising people more than anything, and you can always count on heart.
-Mark Briscoe says he gets a TV Title shot at Border Wars in two weeks, and he was born to be the TV Champ. If he has to pick between the two young whippersnappers, he wants ACH. Taven hangs out with Truth, so he probably has a disease and he doesn't want to catch anything. He already caught something from the tractor a couple years back.

Match #3: Matt Taven [c] w/ The House of Truth vs. ACH [ROH World Television Championship]
This is only like six or seven minutes as another truncated TV main event. They showed flashes of what they might be able to do, and ACH was again impressive, but yeah, not enough time for anything memorable. Scarlett distracts the ref with dat everything, and Truth trips up ACH. Taven then hits the Headlock Driver to win.
**
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Big Tuna
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The Master and Ruler Of The World

ROH World Champion: Jay Briscoe, Since 4/5/2013
ROH World Tag Team Champions: reDRagon, Since 3/2/2013
ROH World Television Champion: Matt Taven, Since 3/2/2013

ROH Wrestling
April 27th, 2013
New York, NY

Match #1: BJ Whitmer/Caprice Coleman/Cedric Alexander vs. Jimmy Jacobs/Rhett Titus/Cliff Compton w/ Steve Corino

Jimmy tried his best, and this wasn't HORRIBLE since it was short and Rhett and Cliff didn't get to do much more on offense than chinlocks and slams. Jimmy worked the rest of it and the the finishing run is decent. C&C do stereo flip dives to Cliff and Jimmy, but then Corino tosses Rhett a chain and he knocks out BJ with a chain punch for the win.
**

Jay Lethal and Elgin come out to save post-match, and after the break, Lethal vs. Rhett has broken out.

Match #2: Jay Lethal vs. Rhett Titus
This sure happened. Rhett had to actually do a lot of stuff since this was a singles match, so this fell apart. Especially since Lethal was in full on not giving a shit mode. Lethal comes back and pretty easily wins with the Lethal Injection.
*1/2

INSIDE ROH:
-SCUM vs. ROH now has another stip, and if SCUM's team wins, then SCUM also gets a World Title shot
-Coleman/Cedric vs. ACH/Thomas is added to the show
-Less excitingly, so is BJ vs. Rhett in an "I Quit" match
-It's announced that Taiji Ishimori from NOAH will be in for the Border Wars show and taping the next day
-Eddie Edwards vs. Ishimiri will be on the PPV
-Next week, it's Elgin vs. NJPW's Karl Anderson

In the ring, Nigel brings out Adam Cole and Jay Briscoe for a contract signing. Cole signs it first, and then Jay signs. They shake hands and Steve Corino leads down Matt Hardy and Rhino and says this is disgusting and asks if this is his World Title match and says this is pathetic and Jay shouldn't be facing Adam Cole, he should be facing the next ROH Champion, Matt Hardy! He challenges them right now to face his man beast Rhino and Pro Wrestling Jesus, Matt Hardy. They accept.

Match #3: Jay Briscoe/Adam Cole vs. Matt Hardy/Rhino w/ Steve Corino
This is much better. I think a lot of times in his run, Matt's tried to work what an "ROH style" match might be, but he's too banged up and old/slow to really do that properly 9 times out of 10, but he can work a solid basic match and can still brawl really well thanks to dem punches, when he feels like throwing them like he used to. And Jay Briscoe is a fantastic brawler, so their sections rule. Also explains why that Briscoes vs. Mott/PORDIGY tag brawl in 2014 was so great relatively speaking. Matt throws them as his main offensive weapon and it's the best he's looked in ROH. Rhino looked great again, and both Cole and Jay brought it to the usual extent. Quality formula tag. Cole accidentally Superkicks Jay, and then Rhino gores Jay, but Cole rolls up Rhino to win.
**1/2
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Big Tuna
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The Master and Ruler Of The World

ROH World Champion: Jay Briscoe, Since 4/5/2013
ROH World Tag Team Champions: reDRagon, Since 3/2/2013
ROH World Television Champion: Matt Taven, Since 3/2/2013

ROH Wrestling
May 4th, 2013
New York, NY

Match #1: Michael Elgin vs. Karl Anderson

Good stuff, and a low level great one. Solid power stuff going on. Karl works over the knee of Elgin for a decent amount of time, and Elgin sells well in transition. They kind of let it fade away and while I would have liked a little more, it wasn't super offensive. Good power stuff and reversals, and it felt like a teaser of what they had in the chamber. Karl surprisingly pulls off the win with the Gun Stun.
***

Match #2: MsChif vs. Jobberess

This is nothing, as Veda Scott comes down during this and attacks MsChif for the DQ.
1/2*

They get pulled apart post-match, and it is not a good one.

INSIDE ROH:
-BJ Whitmer says he's been given a second chance in a lot of ways since he came back last year. He didn't like the way his career ended in 2008, but now he gets to change what his legacy is. He doesn't know who his opponent is on May 18th, but when he gets the opportunity, he'll pull the trigger if he sees the shot in front of him because you don't get second chances very often.

Match #3: Davey Richards vs. Kyle O'Reilly w/ Bobby Fish
If Kyle O'Reilly had his retard brain replaced with the brain of a veteran who can't physically go anymore, he could be the best wrestler alive. He has so many cool ideas and spots that could be great if they were logically laid out and built to, but he is such a fucking idiot about this stuff seemingly, so he winds up being one of the worst alive. This is one of those "empty house" type matches, except if the house was missing one side. They try the dueling limbwork thing with Davey's arm work vs. Kyle's leg work. Davey has the better selling of the two, which HOLY FUCK. I'm actually upset that sentence just got typed. Kyle occasionally remembers his arm is hurt and holds it before doing a bunch of arm stuff and lifting just fine. Davey's knee selling is spotty and forgotten about by the end, but it actually affected him by making him unable to really run at points and he sold it frequently after doing stuff. They fuck up an apron suplex so that Kyle accidentally hits a Brainbuster off the apron to the floor. Davey recovers super quickly and does a hanging cross armbreaker in the ropes. Kyle is somehow incapacitated for 30-45 seconds by that so Davey can climb up top while Kyle lies on the timekeeper's table. Davey then puts him through it with a double stomp. Back in, Davey hits many head kicks and is fine with that, apparently. He then puts on a Cross Armbreaker for the finish.
*3/4
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Big Tuna
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The Master and Ruler Of The World

ROH World Champion: Jay Briscoe, Since 4/5/2013
ROH World Tag Team Champions: reDRagon, Since 3/2/2013
ROH World Television Champion: Matt Taven, Since 3/2/2013

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ROH BORDER WARS 2013
MAY 4TH, 2013
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA


Match #1: Caprice Coleman/Cedric Alexander vs. ACH/Tadarius Thomas

Perfect tenish minute opening spotfest. Tons and tons of cool flips and dives and double teams, and the hot crowd really really helps this out. Not really much going on storywise, but it was all put together well and ended when appropriate and did the job it was sent out to do. ACH is beaten after Overtime.
***

Match #2: Roderick Strong vs. Mike Bennett w/ Maria

Basically the same as their TV match, just now stretched to 13 minutes when 6-7 minutes was a stretch. Strong does his stuff and this is super obviously a win for him, and Bennett adds nothing to the proceedings whatsoever. Cheeseburger comes out for no real reason to kiss Maria. Bennett chases him away, and then comes back in and Roddy hits the Sick Kick for the win.
*3/4

Match #3: BJ Whitmer vs. Rhett Titus w/ Steve Corino ["I Quit" Match]

This is also super super terrible. Lots of really really shitty brawling as Titus yet again refuses to bring it in any kind of way. BJ doesn't seem to be trying super hard in this either, but is at least competent so even not trying, he's 3-4 times better than Rhett is. Whitmer counters the zip ties and he ties Rhett to the ropes. BJ brings a chair in and Rhett won't quit. Corino comes in and offers Whitmer a free shot at his head instead, and Rhett quits instead of letting BJ hit Corino in the head BECAUSE HEAD CHAIR SHOTS ARE THE WORST THING PRO WRESTLERS CAN DO TO EACH OTHER NOW. Also, what the fuck? How is that worse than Rhett actually getting hit himself? I rarely see a case where a bad finish ruins a match, but this was a terrible match with one of the worst finishes I've seen in a long time.
I award you no stars, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Jimmy Jacobs and Compton come out to attack BJ. Elgin and Lethal save, and I guess that match starts.

Match #4: Michael Elgin/Jay Lethal vs. Jimmy Jacobs/Cliff Compton w/ Steve Corino [MANY STIPULATIONS MATCH]
I guess literally every other available SCUM member was busy. There's no other reason that fucking Compton gets the nod here instead of Rhino or Matt Hardy or Jimmy Rave (who is gone, never to be seen again for some reason). Jimmy again tried as hard as possible to make this work, both in terms of offense and bumping/selling. Elgin and Lethal are fine here too. Lethal hurts his knee on a Tope Suicida, which consider how safe looking his Topes are, means he's apparently super brittle. He gets taken away, and Elgin is on his own. It breaks down a little bit now when Compton has to do stuff. KEVIN STEEN RUNS OUT TO RECEIVE THE HOT TAG THOUGH AND REPLACES LETHAL! FUCK YEAH! Steen has a fucking incredible hot tag and Jacobs takes one of the most brutal Apron Powerbomb bumps since the last time Generico took one. Then sort of awkwardly and in a shitty call given how well received the hot tag was and how dead in the water SCUM is without Steen, Jimmy schoolboys Steen from behind and with the tights to win.
**3/4

Steve Corino is now on commentary and Matt Hardy gets a future title shot, and you can just hear the crowd die.

After intermission. QT Marshall and RD Evans come out and Evans speaks. He says reDRagon aren't even here this weekend and says this is a disgrace and they should be stripped of the titles so that his client and he can win them. The lights go off and start to flicker though AND TOMMASO CIAMPA RETURNS! He cleans house and it's pretty awesome and RD Evans and QT bail as Ciampa gets a big ovation.

Match #5: Eddie Edwards vs. Taiji Ishimori
This was a total move/spotfest, but it was all pretty crisp and done well enough. Ishimori isn't on the KENTA/Marufuji top NOAH export level, but he's super solid and works super fast and hard. They basically just go nuts with cool shit for 15-16 minutes in front of a super hot crowd that always really helps these kinds of matches. Eddie eventually pulls off the win with the Die Hard, ending at about the right time.
***

Match #6: Matt Taven [c] w/ The House of Truth vs. Mark Briscoe [ROH World Television Championship]

This did not work well. I've written in the 2011 and 12 reviews about how you really can't force people on ROH fans (despite how awful some of their favorites like Kyle and Fish are) and this Taven push is incredibly forced, and people just aren't reacting. There is a blueprint for the right way to get over a minimalist heel with lots of interference organically, and that's Jimmy Rave. Taven seems to be very much in the same situation, but he is not taking to it at all unlike Jimmy. There's four people in and around the ring in this match, and Taven came off like the least important of all of them. Mark Briscoe is a star, and Taven was third fiddle to Truth and Scarlett. The match wasn't really much. Taven is a total blank slate, doing nothing poorly, but also nothing well, which is in many ways more upsetting to watch. Truth brings out another lady to make out with Scarlett to distract Mark, and he obviously is distracted and Taven gets a roll up to win.
**

Match #7: Davey Richards vs. Paul London

This is the match where Davey tries to murder Paul, but apart from that, it was a lot of fun. In a real cool touch, London wears the gear he wore in his last ROH match in 2003. London reminds everyone for the first time in like a decade that he's actually an awesome technician too, and he gets a run of really great and tight matwork out of Davey. They increase the tempo gradually in that old ROH type of way, although Davey tries to ruin it with a few stupid things, but Paul mostly reigns him in really well. Then Davey overshoots on his apron double stomp and he almost dies.

Posted Image

London is kind of dead, but he makes a comeback. Davey gets his knees up on the London Star Press, and then gets a cradle after that for the win. It seemed like Paul was okay, so I would have been okay with that going a little longer.
***

Match #8: Jay Briscoe [c] vs. Adam Cole [ROH World Championship]

This was good fun. Another one of those kind of old ROH type slowly developing face/face deals. Cole tries to work on the knee, but he isn't aggressive enough so he can't really make it work long term. Jay sells it pretty well throughout though. They do a finishing run and Steve Corino comes out with a SCUM t-shirt and throws it at Cole. Cole says no and Nigel crotches Corino on the top rope AND HITS THE TOWER OF LONDON FUCK YEAH! He throws Corino to the back, but all it really did was distract Cole and Jay hits the Jay Driller to win.
***

Post-match, they shake hands. Cole looks like he's going to Superkick Jay from behind, but when Jay turns around, he doesn't do it and leaves.
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Big Tuna
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The Master and Ruler Of The World

ROH World Champion: Jay Briscoe, Since 4/5/2013
ROH World Tag Team Champions: reDRagon, Since 3/2/2013
ROH World Television Champion: Matt Taven, Since 3/2/2013

ROH Wrestling
May 11th, 2013
Toronto


Strong vs. Bennett from the iPPV is replayed.

Then Rhett/BJ.

Then the tag.

Fuck yeah recaps.
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Big Tuna
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The Master and Ruler Of The World

ROH World Champion: Jay Briscoe, Since 4/5/2013
ROH World Tag Team Champions: reDRagon, Since 3/2/2013
ROH World Television Champion: Matt Taven, Since 3/2/2013

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ROH Dragon's Reign
May 11th, 2013
Belle Vernon, PA

Match #1: The American Wolves vs. QT Marshall/RD Evans

Surprisingly fun. They're fighting low level jobber heels, so they let loose and don't try anything epic. Decent heel stuff from RD and Marshall and then the Wolves do a finishing run and pretty much run through them like should logically happen. Eddie beats Marshall with the Achilles Lock and head stomps.
**1/2

Match #2: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Vinny Marseglia

This got 12 minutes for some reason. Marseglia is decent, but Ciampa should be running through guys upon returning given the kind of character he is. Ciampa hits some awesome knees at the end again and hits real hard throughout. Ciampa wins with the Air Raid Crash.
**

Match #3: Matt Taven w/ The House of Truth vs. Tadarius Thomas

Solid one again. Neither man is great, but they managed to put together something that hovered around average. Thomas looks to have improved a bit in the last few months, since he now shows a lot more offense and skill beyond just the gymnastics. Not great yet, but hey. The HOT gets ejected, so Taven is on his own. This is a good idea to do on a show more people will see to show him less as a 2nd-4th fiddle. He manages the clean win with the Headlock Driver.
**1/4

Match #4: Michael Elgin vs. ACH

DIS MATCH. Pure big vs. little spotfest, and there is just so much cool shit. Elgin catching a Tope Suicida and hitting a deadlift belly to belly on the floor. ACH taking the most brutal guardrail bumps in ROH since 2006-7 Jimmy Jacobs decided to do Flair style corner bumps into them. ACH's insane flip dive deal. Just like twenty minutes of really well laid out and building cool shit in a sort of basic formula package. Elgin also steps his game up huge and busts out a solid Bicycle Kick. Not on a Claudio level, but he's also not Claudio. ACH has some awesome nearfalls at the end, but Elgin wins with the buckle bomb and then Spiral Bomb.
***

Match #5: Dalton Castle vs. Jimmy Nuts

This is like a minute before Rhett attacks both of them and ruins it.

Kevin Steen runs out to attack Rhett, and that match breaks out.

Match #6: Kevin Steen vs. Rhett Titus
I enjoy the idea of Steen running through SCUM (mostly for rematches with Jacobs and Rhino). Rhett brings nothing to this, and it's basically the Steen show. He does his stuff on the floor for a while and it rules. Steen basically refuses to let Rhett have any kind of control segment because it kills the crowd every time, so this is a solid example of Steen as a general leading someone to something better than they're used to. He lets Rhett do some nearfalls, but mostly just does stuff before he wins with the Package Piledriver.
**1/2

Match #7: Adam Cole vs. Roderick Strong vs. BJ Whitmer

This was weird. It's only like ten minutes and really thrown together, but it's in no way bad. Corino continues to try and recruit Cole on commentary and says the only thing that gets him sexually excited as much as Matt Hardy winning the ROH Title is the thought of Adam Cole in a SCUM shirt. They do a lot of spots and it's fun, but pretty rushed. Cole takes out Strong with a bunch of Superkicks, but Whitmer gets him with an Exploder for an upset win going into his title shot next week.
**1/2

In the back, Jay Lethal cuts a promo. He says he has Jimmy Jacobs in a No DQ match tonight and this situation has gone on long enough. He says every match against SCUM is a fight without honor, and he's glad they don't have to pretend to play by the rules anymore tonight, and tells Jimmy to get ready for a fight.

Match #8: Jimmy Jacobs vs. Jay Lethal [No Disqualification Match]
Jimmy's weirdly great 2013 continues with a great brawl. They're somewhat held back here and don't get super insane, but there's a lot of great set ups and payoffs. It's basically like a classic Jacobs brawl, but without a lot of blood or a big emotional build up beforehand. The spike in the turnbuckles spot is one of the better trademark transition spots in a brawl ever. There's a nice out of control feel once this gets going with the chairs and table and garbage can stuff. Jacobs takes some crazy bumps like the Flatliner part of the Lethal Combination through an open chair. Corino eventually interferes, and Kevin Steen comes out to stop him! LETHAL ACCIDENTALLY SUPERKICKS STEEN NO! JACOBS HITS A SPEAR THROUGH THE TABLE FOR THE WIN! Quality use of the Rhino spot, and probably a 9/10 compared to Rhino's 10/10.
***

BJ Whitmer comes out to do commentary.

Match #9: reDRagon [c] vs. The Briscoes [ROH World Tag Team Championship]
The Briscoes do the best they can to get a second really good match out of these guys, but it doesn't work. They focus on Jay's previously hurt shoulder. Mark randomly decides to be the best mat worker in the match early on, before the shoulder thing happens. They do that and RD are like dual Damien Sadnows in that they were just the most boring fucking dudes ever when working a control segment. I watched this not 3 minutes ago, and I can't tell you a single thing they did besides a vague arm focus. Mark has a great hot tag and then in a shittily abrupt finish, Kyle hits Mark in the back with one of the belts and Fish hits a bad head kick to win.
**1/4

Post-match, the Wolves come out to run off the champs. The Briscoes and Wolves have words, since Jay is facing them both in title matches soon, and Michael Elgin comes out on the entrance way to look on.
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Big Tuna
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The Master and Ruler Of The World

ROH World Champion: Jay Briscoe, Since 4/5/2013
ROH World Tag Team Champions: reDRagon, Since 3/2/2013
ROH World Television Champion: Matt Taven, Since 3/2/2013

ROH Wrestling
May 18th, 2013
Toronto, Ontario, Canada


Steve Corino comes out to introduce himself as the new color commentator, until this show is canceled and SCUM wins.

Match #1: Jimmy Jacobs vs. Jay Lethal
Another great one here, but Lethal holds up his end of this one more than he did the No DQ match. Lethal sells the knee well, and Jacobs works the leg with most of what he does. Lethal's leg hinders him from doing stuff, and they keep it really simple with that premise. Lethal's leg gives out on the jumping part of the Lethal Injection, and Jimmy hits the Contra Code for the first win a regular Contra Code has gotten in ROH in like 7 years.
***

TONIGHT: KEVIN STEEN VS. ADAM COLE

Nigel McGuinness comes out and recaps that Jay Briscoe successfully defended against Adam Cole at Border Wars. Adam Cole proved that he's championship material and Jay proved that he's no paper champion. He says the first contender is Michael Elgin, who's the #1 Contender after Supercard of Honor. However, Elgin wants to beat Karl Anderson and rid ROH of SCUM before then. So that opens up some spots for guys who have been out of the picture for a year and says in June, both Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards will get title shots. Jay Briscoe comes out and he says it looks like he's got some good opponents, and he likes whooping people's asses. Jay says there's not a man here who can whoop his ass, and Mark Briscoe comes out! YEAH! He says all Jay talks about is how he can whoop anybody's ass even when they're picking up dead chickens. Mark says he's whooped his ass in the past and Jay says he's right and says he thinks he can whoop his ass, and says they should do it in Baltimore at Best in the World and wants the match. Nigel says that's something to think about, but makes no decision.

Match #2: Caprice Coleman/Cedric Alexander vs. Rhett Titus/Cliff Compton
Yeah, terrible. The faces try hard, but Rhett and Domino are just SO fucking bad. Sloppy, awkward, no fire. Coleman hurts his arm on the floor, and Cedric is alone. Caprice comes back to get the tag and I notice now that the ring is the loudest mic'd spot in the building, but like JUST the ring. Not the sound of hitting or people saying stuff, but the sound of people bouncing off the mat is the loudest. ROH has the loudest ring ever. This match fucking drags forever. Rhett hits the Bloody Sunday to win.
3/4*

Match #3: Kevin Steen vs. Adam Cole

Only ten minutes again, so I'm pretty sure these dudes won't get an ROH match with proper time until this year. This is a truncated version of what they can do. Steen dominates until he gets distracted by Corino. Cole works the leg a little bit. Steen comes back without really selling it. Compton comes out to distract the ref, and Jimmy Jacobs runs out to hit Steen with a chain. He rolls back out, and Cole takes advantage with the Florida Key to win.
**1/2
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Big Tuna
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The Master and Ruler Of The World

ROH World Champion: Jay Briscoe, Since 4/5/2013
ROH World Tag Team Champions: reDRagon, Since 3/2/2013
ROH World Television Champion: Matt Taven, Since 3/2/2013

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ROH Relentless
May 18th, 2013
Richmond, VA

Match #1: Michael Elgin vs. Kyle Matthews

Another great sub-10 minute Elgin showcase to open a b-show like this. Matthews is a little plain seeming here as he tries to do a lot of high impact stuff that doesn't work so well against Elgin given the size difference, but he does have a great Tope Suicida in an Aries type style through the bottom ropes, so I like him. Elgin obviously shut this all down and won the the Spiral Bomb.
**1/4

Match #2: Adam Cole vs. Adam Page

Another good sub ten minute showcase for one of the younger generation guys. They get right down to cool stuff after a minute and Cole has a killer Tope Suicida. Page again shows a ton of promise all in terms of cool offense, bumping, and a lot of fire. Page survives all the tradmarks, but he keeps jumping and walking into Superkicks, and Cole wins with a Northern Superkick and the Florida Key.
**3/4

Match #3: Mark Briscoe vs. Roderick Strong

Solid stuff, but not quite great, since neither man was super focused on this being great, and were clearly just kind of going through the motions. It's very much just a lot of stuff. Lots of good stuff though, just kind of held back and not what they're fully capable of. There's a lot of roll ups back and forth and the sunset flip reversal spots actually pay off in a rarity as Mark wins with the sunset flip cutback.
**1/2

Match #4: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Chris LaRusso

This is much more like it, as Ciampa destroys a jobber in two minutes with dem knees. He wins with a knee trembler.
*1/4

Match #5: The American Wolves vs. Rhett Titus/Cliff Compton

This is a waste of Eddie, and in another rare sentence, this is a waste of Davey. Compton is super lazy here, and basically anything he does that isn't a basic punch or kick or something looks super labored. This is a Wolves match so there's going to be some manner of bumping and it looks like he could not possibly care less. He makes Rhett look fantastic in comparison. This is another terrible SCUM match, and the Wolves get stereo tap outs with an ankle lock and the Achilles Lock.
*1/2

Steve Corino stands up from commentary and he announces that at the TV tapings on June 23rd, his best friend, Pro Wrestling Jesus, and his best friend Matt Hardy will finally get his ROH World Title shot, and announces that on June 23rd, ROH dies. Corino says it's time to go all in and he challenges Nigel to go all in. He says after Matt Hardy wins the title, there's only one more nail left in the coffin, and he challenges Nigel to a 4 vs. 4 match. If ROH wins, SCUM is done and will disband and he'll even apologize, but WHEN SCUM wins, he Cwants Nigel gone and he wants his job as matchmaker and booker man, and it doesn't take a genius to realize what he's gonna do. HE WILL REFUSE TO BOOK ANY FURTHER SHOWS, AND ROH AS YOU KNOW IT WILL DIE. This would be so fucking great with better people in SCUM. Also, where the fuck did Rhino go?

Match #6: Jay Lethal/Caprice Coleman/Cedric Alexander vs. Matt Taven/reDRagon
This is a thing. Cedric again is totally fantastic, and he vs. Taven is a lot of fun. The heel isolation segment on Lethal is again pretty fucking boring, but Cedric rules again on the hot tag. Finishing run is pretty fun, but nothing super special and not enough to make this more than average given most of the first half. Kyle gets beaten by C&C after the Overdrive.
**1/2

Steen vs. Jacobs is supposed to happen, but they get into a fight before the bell, and it's turned into a No DQ match.

Match #7: Kevin Steen vs. Jimmy Jacobs [No Disqualification Match]
Not surprisingly, this is super awesome and the best match of the show. This one is only 10 minutes, but it's got a great chaotic out of control feel where they basically use everything and every moment early on feels like two dudes who hate each other trying to beat the shit out of each other. Jimmy uses a big fucking chain for choking and whipping and then breaks out a reckless Tope Suicida. They bring a barricade in, and both of them take nutty head bumps on it. Steen hits the Package Piledriver on the barricade for the win.
***

Post-match, Steen hits Jacobs with the F5 on a chair and points to Corino and yells that he'll be next.

Match #8: Jay Briscoe [c] vs. BJ Whitmer [ROH World Championship]
This didn't need 20 minutes and that kind of hindered it. I like both dudes a lot, but this was all back and forth, and this is kind of a shitty crowd to do that in front of. They also didn't really have enough interesting things for that, but the second half was all good. BJ takes another crazy bump as Jay hits a Back Suplex off the apron and through the timekeeper's table. They both eventually get back in and trade big stuff. Jay debuts a Dragon Sleeper and BJ passes out in that for the win. Not exactly the strongest finish either.
**3/4
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The Master and Ruler Of The World

ROH World Champion: Jay Briscoe, Since 4/5/2013
ROH World Tag Team Champions: reDRagon, Since 3/2/2013
ROH World Television Champion: Matt Taven, Since 3/2/2013

ROH Wrestling
May 25th, 2013
Toronto, Ontario, Canada


TONIGHT: STRONG VS. ISHIMORI

Match #1: Mark Briscoe vs. Colin Delaney
MY DUDE COLIN D. OLSEN! He takes some awesome bumps in a Mark Briscoe showcase, and it's all pretty awesome. Mark wins with the Froggy Bow.
**

Coming back, Nigel is in the ring with both Briscoes, and he announces Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe as the Best in the World main event! The American Wolves both come out to the ring and Davey says it will be brother vs. brother, but it's going to be Davey vs. Eddie. You're not actually brothers. Davey says they'll fight them again if they want, but they're both coming for the titles and Best in the World is their show. Steve Corino gets up from commentary and says this is ridiculous. He says Nigel had the opportunity to do the right thing by giving Matt Hardy his rightful title shot and says whoever is champion after Best in the World will have to face him for that title and lose to THE JESUS CHRIST OF PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING andthe last ever champion, Matt Hardy. Jay goes to hit Corino, but he moves and Jay hits Davey. Corino bails and a pull apart happens between the teams.

Match #2: MsChif vs. Cherry Bomb
Showcase for MsChif again before the angle. Veda Scott comes out to distract MsChif, and Cherry rolls her up for the upset.
*

INSIDE ROH:
-They announce Jay vs. Davey Richards for the belt on 6/1 in San Antonio
-Also, Elgin and BJ Whitmer vs. 2 SCUM members in a tornado tag, and Jay Lethal vs. ACH
-Good work actually promoting these non-iPPV events
-ACH says he watched ROH as a kid, and Jay Lethal was his hero, and now he comes home as the hero and gets to wrestle his own role model.
-Kevin Steen comes to Nigel and he asks when his title rematch is. Nigel says he's the one who allowed SCUM to get their title match before him, and he's not sure if his head is in the right place or if this isn't all a ruse. Steen says to put every SCUM member in front of him one on one, and he'll show him that he's not with them and that the title rematch is what he deserves. This is total bullshit, as most champions over the last few years have been given rematches without really earning them.

Match #3: Roderick Strong vs. Taiji Ishimori
On commentary, Nigel tries to claim that Jay and Mark have never wrestled each other, despite it being referenced last week, and them having a match in 2007 in ROH, and on a show Nigel was booked on. This one kind of sucks, as Roddy works heel which mean Boring Roddy is back. Lots of vague midsection work and generic stomping, which Ishimori all generally just ignores to do highspots. Roddy's been to NOAH, so he should really know better. Really good finishing run though. Ishimori wins with a 450 Splash.
**1/4
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The Master and Ruler Of The World

ROH World Champion: Jay Briscoe, Since 4/5/2013
ROH World Tag Team Champions: reDRagon, Since 3/2/2013
ROH World Television Champion: Matt Taven, Since 3/2/2013

ROH Wrestling
June 1st, 2013
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Match #1: Caprice Coleman/Cedric Alexander vs. ACH/Tadarius Thomas vs. QT Marshall/RD Evans [#1 Contender's Match]

Fun stuff. Corino keeps complaining that Rhett and Compton aren't in this, since they beat C&C. All the Team Black #1 vs. Team Black #2 stuff is super awesome. ACH and Cedric in particular are just insanely impressive, and they should just be a team and cut their anchors loose. They could be the insane rivals that the Inner City Machine Guns need. ACH has the best Bicycle Kick in wrestling apparently, now that Claudio is banned from using it to protect Andy. Some miscommuncation from the white team holds this back a little bit, and C&C win with Overtime on Thomas.
**3/4

In the back, Mark Briscoe cuts a promo and says it's that time of year again and in three weeks, he's going to take the title from his big headed brother. Jay Briscoe walks in, annoyed, and Mark says they're actually supposed to talk about next week's main event, and it's dem boys against The 'Merican Wolves. Jay says they're a hell of a tag team, but they're not the baddest tag team on the planet, so tough shit.

At ringside, they say Elgin/London was supposed to happen, but London was badly hurt at Border Wars with a serious concussion, so that match will take place some time this summer instead. They show the closing moments of Davey/London instead, which is fine.

INSIDE ROH:
-Mark Briscoe says for 28 years, he's been getting picked on by his big brother. He remembers they picked up everyone for basketball practice and Jay was in the front seat and he just turns around and hits him in the nose in front of all his friends for no good reason. Firing pellet guns at him for no good reason. Come on, man. Nobody fights like family, and he remembers when he tried to embarrass him at his high school graduation party and he slammed his ass, and if Jay tells it different, he's lying to him. Little brother's about to be the man.
-Jay Briscoe says he's proud of the man Mark's become and people might not know that the reason Mark's become the great man that he is is because he's had older brother looking after his simple ass for 28 years. It's not an easy job, because he's a simple boy. He had to whoop his ass just to keep him straight because he ain't got no sense. He says he's gonna have to straighten his ass out again in front of the whole family, because they're all gonna be there. Both their wives and kids, uncles, cousins, maybe even the damn dog.

In the ring, Nigel brings out Michael Elgin and Paul London. London has his t-shirt tucked into his cargo shorts, because I guess he just got off work. Nigel says Paul proved he can still hang but he has to take care of his head and Nigel says he can't destroy his career for one match. HYPOCRITE. Nigel again reiterates that he will make this match once Paul is healthy. RD Evans and QT Marshall come out to be mean and Elgin kills RD with a backfist. Tommaso Ciampa then comes out and beats the shit out of Marshall. He ends it with an Air Raid Crash on the ramp. Elgin then feeds RD into Project Ciampa. Elgin and Ciampa then go nose to nose and say stuff, looking like they're either about to fight or very roughly make love against a wall in the alley way. Referees come out to break it up.

Match #2: Jay Lethal vs. BJ Whitmer vs. Mike Bennett w/ Maria [TV Title #1 Contender's Match]]
This is much lesser. PORDIGY is horrible still. Stuff happens, and whatever. Corino is again mad on commentary and asks why Lethal got this shot when Jacobs beat him two weeks ago, which is again a really good argument. Lethal ends up beating Whitmer with the Lethal Injection.
*3/4
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The Master and Ruler Of The World

ROH World Champion: Jay Briscoe, Since 4/5/2013
ROH World Tag Team Champions: reDRagon, Since 3/2/2013
ROH World Television Champion: Matt Taven, Since 3/2/2013

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ROH Honor in the Heart of Texas
June 1st, 2013
San Antonio, TX

Match #1: Kyle O'Reilly w/ Bobby Fish vs. Mike Sydal

This sure happened. Kyle gets a not very good wrestler to run through his stuff against, and it's not psychologically offensive or anything, it's just an overlong nothing match. There's no use trying to get 9-10 minutes out of this when literally nobody believes Sydal can or will win. Kyle wins with the Fujiwara Armbar.
*1/2

There's a thing with a local affiliate and he's about to bring someone out to interview, but Steve Corino comes out. Corino insults San Antonio for being horrible, and says the most famous wrestlers from San Antonio are drug addicts and closet homosexuals and says he can beat up anyone from this state. Instead of doing the obvious thing for a good little segment and pop, Mark Briscoe comes out instead. Mark says he's supposed to fight a member of SCUM tonight, and he chooses Corino.

Match #2: Mark Briscoe vs. Steve Corino
This is fun for what it is. Corino basically gets beaten up with some minimal offense via cheap shots for six minutes. It's kind of a bummer how Corino has transitioned into a manager role now given how much he clearly can contribute, but it's what he wants to do and he's clearly amazing at it. Rhett Titus and Jimmy Jacobs finally come out to attack. Seems like they could have cut that in half and done the same idea, but oh well.
*1/2

Michael Elgin and BJ Whitmer run out to save, and Corino goes back on commentary to say they'll face Jacobs and Titus later. WHERE IS RHINO?

Match #3: Athena vs. Barbie Hayden
At least Athena is also getting showcases now. Athena has some cool highspots and what not, and wins with that cool flying Ace Crusher deal. Could have used less time, but whatever, because it was mostly pretty fun. MsChif vs. Athena in a singles match could be pretty cool if they actually manage to remain committed to this division, which is improbable.
*1/2

Match #4: Eddie Edwards vs. Matt Taven

Hey, finally a real actual match! Taven is alone for once, and he seems game to let Eddie work his usual fun 15ish minute deal. It's clearly Taven being slotted into a role in a formula Eddie's had for a few years, but he manages to do it without it seeming unnatural and holds his own, so I came away with a higher opinion of him than I did coming in, which was the point. This is how you elevate people in a modern indy environment. Good low-level great stuff here, and Eddie wins with the Die Hard.
***

Match #5: Jay Lethal vs. ACH

ANOTHER great ACH showing in a loss to a top guy. Lethal is alright here as the veteran presence and does experience-based counters to sell that, but this is the ACH show in his home area. Lots of cool bumps and highspots and then Lethal ends ups winning with the Lethal Injection. It never really felt like ACH had an actual shot here, unlike the Elgin match, but otherwise great stuff for what it was. I was surprised to see this went 18 minutes, which is a really good sign.
***

Match #6: Bobby Fish w/ Kyle O'Reilly vs. Raymond Rowe

Terrible. TERRIBLE. BOBBY FISH IS THE WORST. This is a 12 minute showcase match, which is so fucking stupid, but it can be made to work if the "star" of the match wasn't such a fucking jabrone. Fish spends all match doing boring leg work and then the jobber no sells all of it and Fish never bothers going to the leg again and wins with a crucifix pin. Why even bother then? Bobby Fish is seriously the worst.
1/2*

Match #7: Adam Cole vs. Roderick Strong

This is an improvement. They work a nice face/face match based around Cole's growing aggression and also hesitance to use it now, and the crowd chants "WE WANT BLOOD". San Antonio is horrible. They manage to escalate it pretty well, and tease stuff that gets paid off later on. Cole does another killer Tope Suicida. Good finishing run stuff without giving too much away and saving for rematches, and Strong wins with the Gibson Driver.
***

Post-match, Cole refuses a handshake and walks off.

Match #8: Michael Elgin/BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Jacobs/Rhett Titus [Texas Tornado Rules]
First person to kill a cat with a saw or break their foot going after a cheeseburger wins. Elgin and Jimmy do their best, and when this is a crowd brawl, it's no shock that the camera is on them for 95% of it and ignores BJ/Rhett. They drag on forever back inside with uninspired clubbing stuff. Corino runs out to help and Mark Briscoe comes in to run him off to the back. Jacobs schoolboys Whitmer with the tights to win.
**

Match #9: Jay Briscoe [c] vs. Davey Richards [ROH World Championship]

This was very much a match. This was 23 minutes and given that it was a largely storyless face/face move trading type match, 15 probably should have been where it maxed out. Still, there was some really fun stuff going on. Davey's fallen victim to the curse of ROH booking where they so rarely do repeat champions that nobody actually thinks he'll win, especially so early on in a reign and on an obvious b-show. Anyways, after doing many things, Jay gets the win with the Jay Driller.
**3/4
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The Master and Ruler Of The World

ROH World Champion: Jay Briscoe, Since 4/5/2013
ROH World Tag Team Champions: reDRagon, Since 3/2/2013
ROH World Television Champion: Matt Taven, Since 3/2/2013

ROH Wrestling
June 8th, 2013
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Match #1: Matt Taven w/ The House of Truth vs. Pepper Parks

Decent enough showcase, I guess. Headlock Driver ends it.
*

Match #2: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Rip Impact

Another good squash from Ciampa. Lots of super hard forearms and knees and Kelly and Nigel announce Elgin/Ciampa for Best in the World. HNGH. Elgin comes out to watch from ringside, so Ciampa hits a top rope Air Raid Crash to win to send a message.
*1/2

Post-match, Michael Elgin comes out and says he's the wrong person to pick a fight with, and he'll see him at Best in the World.

INSIDE ROH:
-The Elgin/Ciampa thing from last week is re-aired
-Michael Elgin says Ciampa thought he'd be mad, but he gets it. He's been on the sideline, and he comes back and picks the biggest dog in the yard to fight, and he would have done the same thing. Ciampa has guts and he's a little crazy, but he's not backing down, because he's running through everyone on his road to the title. He says people say God created all men equal, but they were wrong.
-Adam Cole says there's been a lot of talk lately about his "attitude change", but his integrity hasn't changed. Losing the TV Title made him realize that all that matters are wins and losses, and come Best in the World, he has Roderick Strong. He says in Baltimore, Adam Cole will walk away as a winner.
-Kevin Steen vs. Matt Hardy is booked for Best in the World
-Kevin Steen says if someone told him 10 years ago that he'd be in ROH talking about his match with Matt Hardy, he'd say they were crazy. He was watching Matt a decade ago making a name for himself with all the punishment he took, but TLC was nothing compared to him, and he's going to make him wish he was being hit with tables, ladders, and chairs again. People try to cure cancer, but he's going to be the first one to do it, when he takes him out for good.

SCUM comes down to the ring and Corino says Nigel's made some mistakes, and demands that Jimmy Jacobs get a rightful TV Title shot and Rhett and Comption get a rightful Tag Team Title shot. He keeps calling out Nigel and taunting him and then threatening to sue if he does anything. Lethal, Coleman, and Cedric come out to back Nigel up and Corino says they've all lost to SCUM members and says Ring of Homies needs to back up. They all get mad at that and get in the ring. Corino yells at Nigel to do the right thing and says this is hypocritical of ROH again to deny them stuff when they claim it's about wins and losses. A fight between the wrestlers happens and it gets pulled apart as Corino leaves.

Match #3: The Briscoes vs. The American Wolves
Fun stuff, yet again, but back to their old standard of good but not great after the enjoyable match at the start of 2013. Them only having fifteen minutes should have helped, but it felt like a weird decision where they just decided to work a kind of house show version of what they can do since they didn't get all the time they might have wanted. I blame Davey. This also lacked a lot in the way of quality flow and just became a lot of stuff at points in the first half. Mark accidentally punches Jay off the apron, and then gets hit with the Punt Tombstone and the Wolves win.
**1/2
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The Master and Ruler Of The World

ROH World Champion: Jay Briscoe, Since 4/5/2013
ROH World Tag Team Champions: reDRagon, Since 3/2/2013
ROH World Television Champion: Matt Taven, Since 3/2/2013

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ROH Live and Let Die
June 8th, 2013
Columbus, OH


Lost this show about halfway through, but it's an obvious b-show before a big iPPV, so fuck it.

Adam Cole vs. Caprice Coleman - **1/2

Roderick Strong vs. QT Marshall - **1/4

Davey Richards vs. Cedric Alexander - **3/4

reDRagon vs. ACH/Tadarius Thomas - **1/2

Kevin Steen vs. Rhino - **1/4
-This is only like six minutes because ROH is fundamentally broken still when it comes to the use of Rhino, I think. I don't know.

Matt Hardy vs. Mark Briscoe - *3/4
-Also only 5-6 minutes

Michael Elgin/Jay Lethal/BJ Whitmer vs. Jimmy Jacobs/Rhett Titus/Cliff Compton [No Rules] - **1/2
-Jimmy again did his best and almost succeeded. Weapons and it being only 10 minutes helped a good deal. SCUM wins again.

Jay Briscoe [c] vs. Eddie Edwards [ROH World Championship] - ***
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The Master and Ruler Of The World

ROH World Champion: Jay Briscoe, Since 4/5/2013
ROH World Tag Team Champions: reDRagon, Since 3/2/2013
ROH World Television Champion: Matt Taven, Since 3/2/2013

ROH Wrestling
June 15th, 2013
Richmond, VA


The closing moments of the six man air to open.

Steen vs. Jacobs is next.

BJ vs. Jay for the belt closes.
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Big Tuna
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The Master and Ruler Of The World

ROH World Champion: Jay Briscoe, Since 4/5/2013
ROH World Tag Team Champions: reDRagon, Since 3/2/2013
ROH World Television Champion: Matt Taven, Since 3/2/2013

ROH Wrestling
June 22nd, 2013
Sandy Fork, DE


This entire episode is a documentary on the Briscoes. It's fucking AMAZING and has so many hilarious moments, but it's not really anything I can recap properly. It was an awesome awesome awesome fluff piece though, and I recommend watching it if you ever come across it.
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ROH World Champion: Jay Briscoe, Since 4/5/2013
ROH World Tag Team Champions: reDRagon, Since 3/2/2013
ROH World Television Champion: Matt Taven, Since 3/2/2013

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ROH BEST IN THE WORLD 2013
JUNE 22ND, 2013
BODYMORE, MD


At commentary, Corino announces that his SCUM guys have been added to the title matches.

Match #1: BJ Whitmer vs. Mike Bennett w/ Maria & Bob Evans
This generally happens. BJ does stuff and PORDIGY is still super boring and mediocre at everything. Whitmer cuts off Brutal Bob's interference, and hits the Exploder for the win. I think it's super cool that they're making the Exploder slowly back into a credible b-match finish, so kickouts can mean more in bigger matches. Logic!
*3/4

Post-match, Maria blames Bob for the loss, and they walk out on Bob Evans.

Match #2: The American Wolves vs. ACH/Tadarius Thomas
Black Flip Team B are now called Adrenaline Rush, which whatever. It's not the worst name. This match is pretty awesome, since it's only 12 minutes. Davey and Eddie work a lot of veteran stuff and are more subtly heelish. It's more than I expected from Davey to understand the idea of not doing as much fancy shit so the kids can impress with all their crazy flips and highspots. ACH takes out Eddie with a wonderflip, although not the Insane ACH Dive. Davey gets his knees up on the 450 Splash, and unfortunately, they fuck up the roll up after that and it's super awkward for the finish.
***

Match #3: Adam Cole vs. Roderick Strong

This was a disappointment. Same kind of basic face/face stuff as earlier in the month initially. Cole then went after the leg, and Strong pretty much ignored it completely to do his comeback and then the stuff they already did last time, largely in the same order. They fight on the apron and Cole hits a Superkick. Strong falls through the timekeeper's table, and Cole decides to just take the count out win now, going along with the last promo he cut.
**1/2

Steve Corino follows after Adam Cole to now try and recruit him again.

Veda Scott comes to try and do commentary, but RD Evans comes out. Kelly says he'd like to talk to Veda about her and MsChif, but for this match, he wants RD. Veda looks upset, but leaves, and RD joins. RD says he and QT Marshall are now known as Marshall Law.

Match #4: Michael Elgin vs. Tommaso Ciampa
This was great, but I honestly think it could have been even better. They did a straightforward power battle type deal, but Baltimore isn't a very good crowd despite ROH doing well financially there more than most places. They're really quiet and only come alive for huge stuff, so this doesn't work as it might in NYC or Toronto or a good Chicago or Philly or Milwaukee crowd. Lots and lots of big stuff and again, if the crowd was there, the kickouts would have felt even bigger. Both men survive each other's finishes, which is a big deal given how protected the Spiral Bomb and Project Ciampa have both been since they arrived in 2011. Elgin busts out a Rainmaker for the win, which is kind of a cringeworthy finish that shows how much of a puro mark he is, and makes him come off as much less of a badass.
***

After Elgin leaves, QT Marshall comes out to try and attack, but Ciampa is up and throws him out, so Marshall Law bails.

Match #5: Matt Taven [c] w/ The House of Truth vs. Jay Lethal vs. Jimmy Jacobs [ROH World Television Championship]
This is surprisingly great. They get a lot of freedom to do cool shit for once, and there's a lot of cool spots put together in a nice tight 13 minutes. Taven tries to be a coward where as Jacobs is more honorable for once as the situational tweener between Lethal and Taven. Jacobs vs. Lethal is again really great. There's a lot of House of Truth interference at the end, and Jacobs hits the Springboard Cutter on Lethal. Taven hits him with a Superkick and steals the cover on Lethal for the win.
***

Match #6: reDRagon [c] vs. Caprice Coleman/Cedric Alexander vs. Rhett Titus/Cliff Compton [ROH World Tag Team Championship]

This sucks. Only 5-6 minutes. Coleman and Cedric don't get to do a lot, and it's the two worst regular teams in the company doing stuff. Fish "hits" a head kick on Coleman for the win.
3/4*. All

Match #7: Kevin Steen vs. Matt Hardy w/ Steve Corino [No Disqualification Match]

Steen did his best, but yeah, Matt's just not capable of a great singles match anymore, or at least not when they put on such a handicapped No DQ match like this without tools like blood or more brutality than a few things with chairs and tables. They do chair stuff and all of SCUM interferes. Nobody comes to help Steen because nobody trusts him, and Matt hits the Twist of Fate through two chairs to win. On one level, Matt "needs" the win going into his title shot the next day at the tapings, but he's already the most over heel in that sort of way that ROH has had since Jacobs in 07-08.
**1/4

Match #8: Jay Briscoe [c] vs. Mark Briscoe [ROH World Championship]

This is exactly the match I expected. It's fun enough and I liked the high points. They didn't try anything out of their reach like a match based on selling or even anything of a story behind trying to find out who's tougher or better. They did a good job escalating the match until the finish, but Baltimore being a bad crowd for big matches tonight again kind of hurt this. Jay hits a third Jay Driller for the win. The multiple Jay Drillers was the only thing I really had a problem with, just like their 2003 match.
***
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Big Tuna
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The Master and Ruler Of The World

ROH World Champion: Jay Briscoe, Since 4/5/2013
ROH World Tag Team Champions: reDRagon, Since 3/2/2013
ROH World Television Champion: Matt Taven, Since 3/2/2013

ROH Wrestling
June 29th, 2013
Baltimore, MD


Taven vs. Jacobs vs. Lethal airs.

The three way Tag Title match is next.

Steen vs. Mott is the main event.
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The Master and Ruler Of The World

ROH World Champion: Jay Briscoe, Since 4/5/2013
ROH World Tag Team Champions: reDRagon, Since 3/2/2013
ROH World Television Champion: Matt Taven, Since 3/2/2013

ROH Wrestling
July 6th, 2013
Baltimore, MD

Match #1: Caprice Coleman/Cedric Alexander vs. Alex Reynolds/John Silver

C&C run through stuff, and it's announced that they have an actual 2v2 title shot next week. ACH and Thomas are out on the stage to watch. They win with Overtime.
*1/2

In the ring, Nigel McGuinness puts over Best in the World and says Mark Briscoe will not be cleared by doctors to be on Team ROH inside Steel Cage Warfare, which leaves him with a spot to fill with Elgin, Lethal, and BJ Whitmer. Kevin Steen comes out and says to put him in. Nigel says the people want it, but Steen is the one who started SCUM and he can't trust that he's going to restore honor and Steen says he's looking for payback, not honor. He started it, and he can finish it. Steen says to grow a pair and put him in the god damned match. SCUM comes out to fight Steen, and Nigel leaves. BJ Whitmer comes out to save, and Elgin and Lethal follow, and they run off SCUM.

Match #2: MsChif vs. Veda Scott
They now say Veda is a lawyer, which would have been nice information a year ago when she debuted. Veda is alright, but pretty inexperienced. Veda surprisingly kicks out of the Desecrator, but MsChif hits a Pedigree drop from the Shattered Dreams position to win.
*1/4

Before his match, Silas Young gets on the mic. He says he's embarrassed that he has to follow a women's match, and they don't belong in the ring. They belong at home, cooking and cleaning, and this is a man's business. He doesn't see any real men left, and he's the last real man in professional wrestling.

Match #3: Silas Young vs. Adam Page
Awesome match. Page takes some awesome bumps to get Young over. Corino keeps talking about his journalism degree from West Texas State, and Kevin Kelly honestly doesn't know it's not a school anymore/has been renamed. Page hits an awesome suplex off the railing to the floor. Page surprisingly gets a prawn hold for the upset.
**

Post-match, Silas beats him up.

Match #4: Matt Taven [c] w/ The House of Truth vs. Eddie Edwards
The highlight of this is Corino saying people from Boston are so dumb they cheer for a murderer like Aaron Hernandez, and Kelly says that's only alleged. They do a lot of back and forth and it's less good than their match in June. That's the theme seemingly, they do the rematches on TV and they rarely live up. Interference happens, and Taven miraculously holds onto the belt with the Headlock Driver.
**1/2
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