ROH TV 4-13-13

Speaking of Supercard of Honor, there won’t be a review. All
the copies I’ve downloaded (through totally legal means, of course) seem to
have no audio, and I don’t feel like buying the replay when I only care about
the main anyway. So we’ll just skip it and move on to the next TV taping. Quick
newsbite: Charlie Haas is officially fired from ROH, as is Grizzly Redwood,
thanks to the incident that happened at the Mar. 30 show. Both of them have
been removed from the roster page on the ROH website.

After clips of Jay Briscoe winning the title at the PPV we
open with Nigel McGuiness in the ring and most of the ROH roster and crew on
the apron. Nigel brings out Jay Briscoe, who cuts a promo putting over ROH and
giving us a quick recap of what’s gone on over the past year. Crowd chants “You
deserve it!” He calls out anyone that wants a shot at the title, and Adam Cole
(who will face Jay at Border Wars) is the first one to step up to the plate. He
offers his thanks and congratulations, before cutting a somewhat heelish promo,
telling Jay that he’s the future of wrestling and he’s winning the belt in
Toronto, then walking off.

Bobby Fish (w/ Kyle O’Reilly)
vs. Eddie Edwards (w/ Davey Richards): Richards joins Kelly on commentary,
O’Reilly lurks around ringside but never gets involved in the match. Kelly
makes a big deal about Fish and Edwards being tag team partners in NOAH, as if
more than 3 or 4 people watching this show care. Long bit of chain wrestling
starts us off, but doesn’t go anywhere. Fish throws kicks, Edwards responds
with some STIFF chops in the corner. I should note that the lighting for this
show is terrible. Edwards gets a 2 count off some kicks of his own, then some
more scary chops. Fish’s chest is already turning red as he gets beat on in the
corner. Crowd chants “We want chops” and Edwards is happy to oblige. Fish bails
to the floor, Edwards follows with some more chopping. Fish is taking this
beating like a man, I’ll give him that. Back in Fish tries a backdrop suplex,
Edwards lands on his feet and hits an enziguri, Fish comes back with more
kicks, one of which looked like it may have knocked one of Edwards’ teeth out.
It gets a 2 count as we head to a commercial break.

Back from the ad break we see Fish hitting a running knee in
the corner for 2, Edwards is back up chopping. He gets backdropped to the
apron, Fish tries to spear him to the floor but misses and ends up on the
outside. Edwards hits a moonsault from the apron and just smashes his leg into
the guardrail. That didn’t look planned. Back in he hits a missile dropkick,
but he’s obviously having trouble walking, so he goes back to the chops. He
runs into a boot on a blind charge, Fish goes up top but gets caught with an
enziguri and eats a backpack stunner for 2, which is then turned into a half
crab. Fish is out easily and he goes after the leg, a dragon screw legwhip
seems to really offend Richards for some reason. Fish runs into an elbow in the
corner, Edwards hits the Boston Knee Party but with the bad leg it does more
harm than good. He manages to hit a superkick, Fish no-sells it and hits the
falcon arrow for 2. Suplex for 2 and he goes up top, double stomp misses and
Edwards gets a lariat. Tiger suplex for 2 but he gets caught on the top
turnbuckle, superplex attempt is blocked with a headbutt and he hits the double
stomp from the top, but that just fucks up the leg even more and Fish wins it
with a cradle at 11:26 aired. **1/2, stiff as hell, but kind of boring and one-dimensional.
The clean finish is certainly appreciated, as I expected some sort of shenanigans
with O’Reilly and Richards hanging out at ringside.

Alabama Attitude vs.
QT Marshall and RD Evans: Anyone see that ad for that new show on the ID
network, “Dates from Hell”? Doesn’t the murderer guy look just like Evans?
Evans cuts a quick promo as the crowd chants “Power Rangers” before we start.
Kelly on Evans’ ring gear: “Do not adjust your TV, a grown man is wearing that
attire”. Hollis and Marshall start, they do some basic stuff before Evans tags
himself in. Hollis gets a headscissors and a dropkick to the knee, and tags in
Posey, who comes in with a slingshot legdrop for 2. The faces to some
double-teaming in their corner, Posey ends up on the outside and Marshall
tosses him into the ringpost. That looked like it hurt. He tosses Posey back in
and Evans hits a snapmare before channeling Scott Steiner and doing some
push-ups. Another “Power Rangers” chant breaks out as Marshall tags in and the
heels hit a backbreaker/neckbreaker combo for 2. A full nelson bomb attempt is
reversed into an armdrag, but Posey runs into an elbow and Marshall hits a
pumphandle suplex. Evans tags himself in again, and Marshall is none too happy about
it. Posey ducks under a big boot and makes the hot tag (to NO reaction at all),
Hollis comes in off the top, runs over and knocks Marshall off the apron, and
(barely) hits a springboard crossbody and a few clotheslines. Snap suplex and a
sort of DVD-like move gets 2 on Evans, Marshall tries to break it up but
accidentally drops the elbow on his partner. He still gets a tilt-a-whirl slam
on Hollis, but Posey comes off the top with a kick to take him out, then runs
into an Evans dropkick. Evans misses a blind charge, Hollis goes up top but
gets crotched, Evans follows but he takes a sunset flip powerbomb and the
Alabama Jam. Marshall makes the save and tosses Posey, hits God’s Gift on
Hollis, and Evans pins him at 6:00. Marshall is pissed that Evans stole the
pin, though he wasn’t legal so it’s not like he could have got the pin anyway.
*1/2, match had little heat and was a bit sloppy. Question for anyone who
watches Chikara: Is Evans/Peck dumbing down his workrate here in ROH to stay in
character, or is he just not very good to begin with? Because I always hear
people raving about him, but I can’t see why, his work in ROH has been pretty
crappy.

Mike Mondo is out for his match, but Roderick Strong is out
to complain about everyone else but him getting title shots. He insults Mondo,
Mondo attacks and the stooges break it up as we go to commercial.

Mike Mondo vs. Cedric
Alexander vs. Caprice Coleman vs. Mark Briscoe vs. BJ Whitmer: Only Whitmer’s
entrance is shown and the crowd is dead silent for it. The guy is just not
over, accept it and move on. This is under scramble rules (if anyone hits the
floor one of the guys on the apron can come in without a tag), and the winner
gets a TV title shot at Border Wars. Whitmer and Briscoe start with the usual
chain wrestling stuff, after mutual armdrags they tag in Coleman and Alexander.
This should be interesting, though with very little TV time left I doubt we’ll
get to see them do much. They fight over a rollup, Mondo comes in and Alexander
gets dumped, Mondo gets a quick rollup on Coleman. Mondo gets a couple armdrags
and a shoulderblock, Coleman bails and Whitmer takes his place. Both guys throw
chops (that under normal circumstances would look fine, but after that opener
they look pretty weak), Mondo gets dumped and Whitmer follows with a dive
trough the ropes. Alexander takes them out with a somersault dive to the
outside, Coleman hits a STO on Briscoe before hitting a springboard to the
floor, and Mondo completes the trainwreck spot with a moonsault from the top
(after waiting to make sure everyone is in position). Mark dropkicks Mondo
through the ropes, and back in the ring hits a Samoan drop and a dragon suplex.
Coleman is in now and he misses a blind charge, but comes back with some loose
punching and the triple Northern Lights on Mark for 2. Mark bails and Whitmer
is in with the rolling fisherman’s suplex on Coleman. Mondo in now with some
more loose shit and a fucked up Ace Crusher on Whitmer, Alexander hits him with
a backdrop suplex into a backbreaker for 2. He hits a superplex, but Briscoe
hits him with the froggy elbow as soon as he lands to win it at 5:37. **, had
some decent spots, but it was way too short and had no flow to it. Not much
heat either, which was kind of odd.

Rather weak show here. Next week: Matt Taven vs. ACH for the
TV title and more fallout from Supercard of Honor.