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SUPERCARD OF HONOR VIII

April 4, 2014

Silas Young . . . thinks he’s enough of a real man to finally break the RD Evans win streak.

Jay Lethal . . . steals the show in a 2/3 Falls match, and, also gives us a preview of the disappointment that would come with his second TV Title reign.

Adam Cole . . . settles the dispute over whom the true ROH Champion is, once and for all.

RODERICK STRONG vs. CEDRIC ALEXANDER

There were a few nice moments that played off the idea of Roddy’s experience keeping him ahead, like Cedric climbing up top too early, and getting pulled down. Later on, Cedric misses the spin kick off the top and Roddy hit his jumping knee and gutbuster combo for a near fall. But, instead of telling a story like that, they plod along without doing much of anything in the way of engrossing work. The idea of the grumpy vet wanting to torture the youngster is fine, but they don’t take things far enough to make it seem like Cedric is in real danger of losing, which is a failing from both of them. It also doesn’t help that the finish is right out of an episode of WCW Thunder, with Cedric seemingly having the match won, only to be distracted by the other members of the Decade.

BJ WHITMER/JIMMY JACOBS/ADAM PAGE vs. ACH/TADARIUS THOMAS/ANDREW EVERETT

This match is something of a two-way street. On one hand, by being under ‘Scramble Rules’ it concedes that it’s going to be little more than a spotfest. But, it also shows that ROH management has some appreciation for tradition, or at least for the concept of remembering the company’s roots. The match itself is more or less what you’d expect, almost nothing in the way of structure or story, but the babyfaces have all kinds of flashy spots and dives. There’s actually a nice heat segment on ACH that the crowd was getting into, but, it’s wasted in this setting, when ACH only needed to dive to the floor rather than make the hot tag. They tease a similar finish to Strong/Cedric, with Everett also distracted while trying to finish off Whitmer, but, Everett still hits his SSP for a near fall, and they do a clean finish a minute later, with Thomas getting pinned after a double team.

SILAS YOUNG vs. RD EVANS

The streak gimmick is entertaining, but, this is pretty much nondescript aside from the hijinx involved by Evans and his entourage to try to keep the streak going. The tease of Evans being counted out was probably the best moment here, with the bump Evans took on the apron looking bad enough by itself, but coming after he’d taken the back bump into the post, makes it look that much more impressive that he was able to beat the count. Some people will dislike the finish, with Silas getting the pin and then the decision getting reversed. But, it comes off fine in this sort of match. If anything, Silas shoots himself in the foot by not throwing away the belt after he almost got disqualified the first time.

MARK BRISCOE vs. MICHAEL BENNETT

The prop shots and violence make this more memorable than any of the matches that preceded it, but, there’s not much else to set this apart from the three previous matches. There’s almost nothing as far as any structure or storytelling goes. The finish, yet again, is predicated on outside interference, even though it’s legal in this case, with Maria stealing the kendo stick from Mark, which gives Bennett the opening to finish him. The table spot is supposed to be revenge from Mark, with Bennett having put him through a table recently, which would have actually been a very nice touch if Mark had actually done anything to show that he had that in mind, and, if the spot in question wasn’t Bennett spearing Mark off the stage and them both taking the bump. However, the finish scores some major points for showing off how much Bennett wanted to beat Mark, and how far he was willing to go in order to do it.

KYLE O’REILLY/BOBBY FISH vs. HANSON/RAY ROWE vs. ROCKY ROMERO/ALEX KOSLOV (#1 Contenders Match for the ROH World Tag Team Titles)

For a little while this was actually fun, with the story of Hanson and Rowe being able to use their size to their advantage against both teams, and some of the comedy bits from Kyle and Bobby worked rather well, like Kyle making a blind tag on Hanson, and Hanson grabbing him and throwing him into the ring. But, it eventually settles down and turns into just another match, with the work not being bad, but not having any real theme or story to it. Then, it just falls apart, with everyone running in and doing their stuff. Even the story of War Machine’s size being to their advantage is thrown away, when they start bumping like pinballs. The finish is OK, with Fish breaking up the Contract Killer, and Kyle stealing the pin on Koslov, but it would have come off better if Kyle and Bobby were looked at as the underdogs, rather than being on equal footing with the Hooligans.

TOMMASO CIAMPA © vs. JAY LETHAL (ROH Wold Television Title - 2/3 Falls)

The first fall does a really nice job of establishing their familiarity, from having wrestled each other so much. It shows that the winner isn’t necessarily going to be the better wrestler, or even the tougher wrestler, but, the smarter wrestler. The counters and reversals are nice, but it’s the little touches that make this come off so well. A good instance of this is when Tommaso is trying to set up Lethal to be swung into the guardrail, but winds up getting kicked into the rail himself, and that allows Lethal to do his dive sequence. If anything, Tommaso did just as much as Lethal to allow that to happen, because he got into a position that he couldn’t get out of. Unfortunately, Lethal doesn’t learn from that mistake either, because a few minutes later, he gets himself pushed into the post, which allows Tommaso to do his running knee. The tease of them both getting counted out comes off OK, with them fighting on the floor, until they both realize what’s about to happen, and roll into the ring to beat the count. And, how fitting to cap off a smartly worked match with a smart finish, Tommaso had hurt his knee earlier by trying to counter the Lethal Injection, and when Tommaso counters a second time into a roll up, Lethal reverses it, into a bridging pin, and, the hurt knee helps keep Tommaso from kicking out.

The second fall goes a bit shorter, and the overbooked finish knocks it down a few pegs, but still has good touches to it. Tommaso tries to start off quick, to tie the match up, including a near fall when he seemingly KO’s Lethal with a knee strike. The familiarity bits are still present, and Lethal, yet again, telegraphs the Lethal Injection, allowing Tommaso to sidestep it, and actually give Lethal his own finisher. But, he goes for broke with his ARC off the top, which Lethal wiggles free from, and is able to give him a Project Ciampa as a great revenge spot. The ref’s bump and Truth Martini interference is something I’ve always been able to do without. But, at least the finish is smart with Lethal kicking Ciampa’s bad knee to finally hit the Injection. The booking is pretty much par for the course from what I’ve seen of Lethal’s title defenses, and it’s disappointing to see that it started right at the beginning of his reign. But, it’s not bad enough to ruin what was a damn fine match. ***1/4

KEVIN STEEN vs. MICHAEL ELGIN (#1 Contender’s Match for the IWGP Heavyweight Title)

Between the intensity and some of their smarter moments, there are things to like about this match. It may not be “realistic” in the way that a shootstyle match would be, but, the stiffness and intensity make this look less like a performance, and more like an actual fight. They don’t play the familiarity card to the extent that the last match did. But, there are a few smart counters and spots, like Steen outwrestling Elgin to get out of the crossface, and Elgin’s escape of the first attempt at the Package Piledriver to attempt his powerbomb, which Steen counters into the F-Cinq. Overall, this is another spot fest with tons of bombs, and little else. At one point Elgin gets a near fall from a Tombstone and Steen does a nice job of selling his neck, but Elgin doesn’t do anything to try to work it over, even a token crossface attempt would have been nice. Steen is no better, ignoring an opening after the powerbomb on the apron and the pop up powerbomb to try for the sharpshooter, to show that he was taking advantage of Elgin’s back. One could argue that Elgin winning with the Package Piledriver is taking advantage of the neck, but, Steen’s neck was long out of mind by the time the finish came, and, Elgin’s use of the move was due to the fact that Steen had survived or popped up, from umpteen powerbombs and buckle bombs already.

It’d be easy to write this off as just another mindless spotfest, with crazy bumps, and run-ins galore. But, that wouldn’t be entirely accurate in this case. When watching the way that this plays out, it’s clear that there is a method to their madness. The chair and ladder spots don’t work simply due to the Cole/Briscoe blood feud, but, they’re also useful in keeping a man down that much longer, and allowing the other man to climb the ladder and retrieve the title belts. There’s only one real slip up during the match, which really couldn’t have been helped. After Cole escapes the superplex attempt and superkicks Briscoe off the turnbuckle and through the ladder bridge, he starts climbing, and Jay has to hurry up and get back into the ring to stop him. Considering the bump he’d just taken, it deserved a much longer sell job, but, with Cole already making the climb Jay didn’t have any other choice.

One thing that the match does an excellent job of establishing is how much smarter Cole is. It first shows up, when Jay is starting to climb, and he decides that he’s not done yet. He hops down and grabs a table, so that he can inflict more damage. It’s the first sign that Jay is more concerned with revenge and pride than he is winning back the title he never lost. Later on, they trade shots at the top of the ladder and Cole falls to the mat. Cole, knowing that Jay is a hothead, taunts him, and Jay takes the bait. Once again, Jay gives up the victory, so that he can continue beating on Cole, which leads to the Matt Hardy, Mark Briscoe, and Mike Bennett run-ins. Honestly, the run-ins themselves really don’t detract from the match, it gives Cole and Jay ample to time to rest and sell. When all is said and done, it’s back to Cole and Jay on an even playing field, and this time it’s Cole that knocks Jay off the ladder, and Cole realizes what’s most important, and, with Jay frantically trying to climb back up, Cole is able to pull the belts down and win the match. As critical I’ve been of ROH, this is one time when they absolutely get it right. I’m at a loss for any recent ladder match from WWE that’s as obviously well-thought-out, or as smart, as this one. ***½

Conclusion: The undercard isn’t much to speak of, but, the Ladder War and the 2/3 Falls match are both worth going out of your way to check out.