Ring of Honor Review 8/23/2014

Ring Of Honor Wrestling review – Airdate: 8/23/14

By Nathan Neumann @Headliner5 on Twitter

 

There were supposed to be three matches tonight but there only ended up being two but I will get to that in the review. This show was pretty good, the main event is definitely worth a watch if you have the time.  Let’s get on with the review.

Match 1

 

Rocky Romero vs. Tommaso Ciampa

 

Result: Rocky Romero defeats Tommaso Ciampa via DQ after Ciampa wouldn’t break the Sicilian Stretch after Romero made it to the ropes.

 

Thoughts: This match was good. It wasn’t great, but it was passable.  Romero has been in two singles matches within the last few weeks. And while they were both good, he is better suited in tag team action.  At one point in the match, Romero went for a sliced bread attempt off of the ropes but Ciampa reversed it and hit a backbreaker (a better one than Roderick Strong would have done).  

Later in the match, Romero hit Ciampa with a top rope superplex to get a near fall.  Romero comes off of the top rope again and Ciampa nails him with a drop kick for a near fall of his own.  Moments later Romero hits a powerbomb for another near fall, while Ciampa hit the second rope Air Raid crash for another near fall. 

The finish of the match came when Tommaso Ciampa locked Rocky Romero in the Sicilian Stretch.  Romero managed to make it to the ropes and the referee Todd Sinclair laid down the five count.  He got all the way up to five and Ciampa didn’t break the hold.  He allowed some leeway for the time being by giving Ciampa another opportunity to break the hold but upon reaching a second five count Sinclair had no choice but to call for the bell awarding the match to Rocky Romero via disqualification. 

Like I said earlier this match was good but I really hated the finish. I really don’t understand where they are going with it (if anywhere) but it just seemed out of place and didn’t make a lot of sense to me.

 

Match 2

 

Moose vs. RD Evans

 

Result: No contest

 

Thoughts: At the start of the match, Veda Scott came into the ring and told Moose to consider her offer from last week (Moose becoming a client of Veda Scott). RD then said that he wanted to be a tag team with Moose. Veda and RD did their best to make this segment work Moose just stood there like a brick wall the entire time. Moose then proceeded to take the offer and shake RD’s hand, which meant that there was no match, I didn’t have to see Moose wrestle, and The Streak was still in tact.  So relax Streak Freaks. You can rejoice in the fact that Moose didn’t completely destroy RD. Realistically, he probably would have but this is wrestling so there’s that.

 

Main Event – Match 3

 

ACH vs. Jay Lethal ©
Ring Of Honor World Television Championship Match

Result: 30-Minute Time Limit Draw

 

Thoughts: This match was every bit of excellent. ACH is a very gifted athlete who is going to go places because he is that talented. Jay Lethal is great, he’s been great ever since ditching the Hydro gimmick and adopting the Jay Lethal moniker. The one thing I noticed at the start of the match was that Lethal’s hair was down and he looked insane. He then must have put his hair in a ponytail during commercial because his hair was up when they came back from a break. 

A few minutes into the match, ACH rolled to the outside of the ring and Seleziya Sparks threw him head first into the ring post. It looked like referee Todd Sinclair was going to DQ Lethal for the interference of his bodyguard but instead he let the match continue and ejected Sparx from ringside. Back from a commercial break and ACH has the advantage. Truth Martini attempted to trip ACH up when he was near the ropes but ACH noticed it and chased Martini around the ring.  Meanwhile, Lethal grabbed the Book of Truth and managed to hit ACH in the face with it once he reached Lethal's side. 

Later on, ACH hits Lethal with a flying back elbow (which he got extreme height on). He then followed it up by hitting Lethal with a top rope double stomp to the back of the head for a near fall.  A few minutes later Lethal once again gets the upper hand and hits the downed ACH with his patented finishing maneuver “Hail to The King” which ACH managed to kick out of at two. ACH proceeds to down Lethal and go to the top rope and hits him with a 450-degree splash. The referee made the count and it was as close to a three count as you can get without it being an actual three count. I jumped out of my chair because I thought the match was over.  The match would end in a thirty-minute time limit draw when neither man can pin the other.

I normally don’t like finishes like this but this match was excellent, and it just gives Lethal and ACH another opportunity to have another match which will probably be better than this one.  Having said that this match was excellent and I would highly recommend watching it if you can.

Final Thoughts: This show was pretty good. The opener was solid minus the finish. The second match wasn’t really a match, which I was fine with. And the main event exceeded my expectations.  I was worried about how Ring Of Honor would progress after losing arguably one of their biggest stars they have produced in the last five or so years.  However, it seems like they will be doing just fine because they have plenty of talent to fill the gap of the now-absent Kevin Steen.  That will do it for me for this week, until next week ROH fans. 

I am Nathan your resident ROH reviewer saying so long for now and keep your eyes on the ring for some great content ateyesonthering.blogspot.com