ROH TV Review - 8/30/14

Ring Of Honor Wrestling review – Airdate: 8/30/14

By Nathan Neumann @Headliner5 on Twitter

This week’s show had three matches even though in my opinion it should have only had two.  The main event was for the ROH World Title and one of the three matches that took place on this show should have been cut in order to give the world title match more time. Anyways, enough of my rambling. Let’s get to it, shall we?

Match 1

War Machine (Hanson and Raymond Rowe) vs. The Briscoe Brothers (Mark and Jay)

Result: No Contest

Thoughts: I really liked this match, as it was very hard hitting and all four guys seemed to have brought their A game. In the early moments of the match, Rowe sets Mark Briscoe up in the corner and hits him with a running clothesline, which was followed up by a broncobuster variation by his partner Hanson.  I really liked that sequence as it flowed really well, Hanson and Rowe work great as a team. When they first put them together I thought I wouldn’t like it but I was pleasantly surprised with how well they actually fit with one another. 

I do like Rowe a bit more than Hanson but my only true gripe with Hanson is in his finishing move.  For those who may not know or are reading one of my reviews for the very first time, Hanson is a big 265LB guy and he does a spin kick for a finisher and it doesn’t fit him at all. At one point in the match, Hanson dives out of the ring though the top and middle ropes and takes out his partner and both Briscoes. Later on in the match, Hanson went through a table thanks to a top rope double foot stomp from Mark Briscoe.  The finish to the match came when Paul Turner threw the match out shortly after Hanson went though the table at ringside due to losing control over the entire match.

I really liked this match and I would normally frown upon a match that ends the way this one did.  However if this matches finish leads to more matches between these two teams and a possible feud, I’m all for it.  The tag division isn’t lacking in any way (in fact it’s probably the best tag team division in all of wrestling at the moment) but it could use some freshening up and Hanson and Rowe are the perfect guys to do it with.

Match 2

Adam Page and Tadarius Thomas vs. Moose and RD Evans

Result: RD Evans and Moose defeat Adam Page and Tadarius Thomas after a spear by Moose.

Thoughts: This match was okay for what it was but I wasn’t a big fan of it to be honest, Moose is atrocious an Adam Page has only had one match that I’ve enjoyed seeing him in.  The one thing I happened to like about this match was a spot between Tadarius and Moose where Moose went for a choke slam early on in the match but TD flipped out of it.  Other than that one spot this match was lacking, and Thomas and Evans never even touched each other.  The finish came when Moose hit a spear on TD to allow RD to get the win.

Main Event – Match 3

Cedric Alexander vs. Michael Elgin ©
ROH World Championship Match

Result: Michael Elgin defeats Cedric Alexander via referee stoppage after a stretch muffler and kicks to Cedric’s head to retain the World Title.

Thoughts: This match was good but it wasn’t great like I expected it to be, it seemed like they were a little off and had a bit of miscommunication though out the match.  As soon as the bell rang the challenger Alexander jumped Elgin and rolled him up to try and score an early victory.  

Later on in the match, Elgin swung Alexander from the ring apron head first into the guardrail on the outside of the ring.  Moments later, Alexander hit Elgin with a springboard lung blower for a near fall.  The champion responded by hitting the challenger with a sit out dominator for a near fall of his own.  Cedric would get another near fall and his last of the match after hitting Elgin with two top rope splashes from opposite corners of the ring. The first one was to Elgin’s back and the second was to Elgin’s chest to which a near fall occurred this would be Cedric’s last near fall of the match. The finish came when Elgin locked Alexander in a stretch muffler and proceeded to add insult to injury by kicking Alexander repeatedly in the back of the head until Alexander was unresponsive.  This forced the referee’s hand as he stopped the match and awarded the decision and the title retention to the champion Michael Elgin.

Final Thoughts: This show was decent although not as good as last week’s show. The opener was really good while the second match was just okay in my eyes. The main event was decent enough but like I said they seemed a bit off in parts of the match and they had a better match at ROH’s flying high event in Dayton Ohio.  Anyways that’s all I have for you this week so until next week ROH fans I am Nathan your ROH Reviewer saying so long for now and keep your eyes locked on that ring for some great content at eyesonthering.blogspot.com