411’s ROH on HDNet Report 03.18.10: Richards vs. Delirious (3/15/10)

We start the program off with a recap of the altercation between ROH World Champion Tyler Black and #1 Contenders Roderick Strong and Austin Aries during last week’s official announcement of the Triple Threat Match by Jim Cornette set for The Big Bang internet PPV event. Cue the open.

Television Championship Quarter Final: Eddie Edwards vs. Colt Cabana
Colt avoids a few grapples and fakes one, so Eddie hits a kick and a few headbutts. Cabana leaps off of the second turnbuckles and hits a forearm, grabs a headlock but gets thrown off, Edwards sprawls but Colt counters it into a pin for two. He grabs the headlock again but Eddie escapes and hits a back elbow and starts kicking Cabana in the head. Colt leapfrogs off the second turnbuckle and hits a back body drop. Steve Corino watches as Cabana goes all Dusty Rhodes on Edwards, and Cabana hits a satellite headscissors and goes after Corino. Eddie tries to take advantage but Colt reverses and throws him into the ring, and then gets a sunset flip but Edwards counters to a Knee-DT. He stops the leg and applies a modified grapevine, and then hits a grounded dragon screw. He keeps going after the leg but Cabana kicks him in the head from the turnbuckles, Eddie trips him up but Colt knocks him off and hits a Russian Legsweep, and turns it into….something. It’s like a sunset flip with a Muay-Thai Clinch added. Prazak doesn’t know what it’s called either, so I guess we are S.O.L.

Eddie kicks out of a pin attempt, avoids the Colt .45 and hits an enzugiri, then delivers a sick double-stomp to the back. Edwards uses the camel clutch to humble Colt, Cabana fights out and Eddie hits a back elbow for two. Edwards hits another double-stomp to the back, another stomp and a backbreaker gets two. He applies a seated abdominal stretch, Colt gets out with a hip block takeover, but gets hit with a big clothesline. That gets two and Eddie applies a waistlock and rolls him into a few nearfalls. Cabana escapes with a headlock and palm strikes, hits an elbow and then a flying elbow. Cabana hits a few punches, some elbows, and a pair of chops but runs into a boot from Edwards. Eddie runs into the “reverse flying ass” as called by Prazak and Colt gets two. Cabana hits the Flying Asshole in the corner and goes after Corino. He chases Corino and Eddie trips up Colt and rolls into the Half Boston Crab with a knee in the back and Eddie wins.
Winner: Eddie Edwards (via Half Boston Crab) **3/4

Kyle Durdan is in the back with ROH Tag Team Champions Jay and Mark Briscoe. They are facing Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero at The Big Bang. They cut a promo that roughly goes like this: “Six time tag champions…whooped your ass…down south…ass-whoopin….Swiss cheese…SUMBITCH…Cackilacki….MAN UP!”

Roderick Strong gets to cut a promo now and that goes about as well as you’d expect. Tyler’s a liar, Strong deserves the title, he’s gonna win it. I love watching Roddy wrestle, and he has cut surprisingly good promos recently, but this wasn’t one of them.

Jim Cornette is in the ring. He introduces a man who has been controversial wherever he goes and was banned from network television: Shawn Daivari. And WOW, Daivari cuts an OUTSTANDING promo here. “As Jim Cornette just stated to everybody, my name is Shawn Daivari. And if you’ll pardon me for a second,” he takes his turban and cloak off “so I can get rid of this Taliban rigandi (spelling?) and stand before you as something no hillbilly wrestling promoter could ever see me as before.” “USA!” chants start up. Cornette: “Obviously we believe in freedom of speech here Mr. Daivari in Ring of Honor, they’re allowed to say what they want.” “I want the camera-man to get a nice, tight shot of this face so even the deaf and dumb can read my lips. I am NOT a Sheik. I am NOT a terrorist. I am a PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER! And the reason I’ve been able to walk away from guaranteed money is because I can afford to. Now unlike every ingrate American would want you to believe, that a man with my skin and my facial features and my look has money ties to the oil industry in the Middle East, I have money because I’ve earned it! For the last ten years I’ve been wrestling full time, for the last five years on primetime television. I’ve never missed a show, a loop, a tour, taken time off for injuries, been bumped, bruised, cut, scratched, I will die a MARTYR for professional wrestling! To make a living, to earn, and the reason for that Jim Cornette is because I am the best!” He heels it up by talking about welfare checks and government bail outs, and says that he’s had to earn life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and that makes him more American than anyone. Cornette says he calls racism, and should be his own man. Well, no network, no script, no hick promoter is going to stop Shawn Daivari.

Aries does a hard-sell for the triple-threat match, calling himself mentally the toughest, saying no one in the match likes anyone else, so it’s everyman for himself, anything can happen (“kids will be eaten”) but when the historians write what happens, they will say that on that night Aries became the first and only three-time ROH World Champion.

Tony Kozina vs. Kyle O’Reilly
They do a bunch of exhibition-style wrestling leading to an Indy Standoff. Kozina grabs a headlock, gets thrown off, shoulder block, he hits the ropes, leg lariat by Kyle. He hits a snapmare and a kick to the back for two, they fight over waistlocks and Kyle hits rolling butterfly suplexes into a butterfly DDT for two. He misses a charge in the corner and Kozina hits a running headbutt. He drops Kyle on the top rope with a front suplex and hits a running dropkick to the back for two. Kyle throws him outside but Tony drops his throat on the top rope, goes up, and hits a flying hurracanrana that takes them both to the floor. Contrived but impressive. Kyle awkwardly rolls through a crossbody for two. Kyle ducks and hits a European Uppercut, hits a kick to the chest, slides under Tony’s legs and starts throwing kicks like he’s KENTA and hits a spinning legsweep.

Kozina springboards over him and gets dropkicked in the ribs when he tries a slingshot crossbody. That gets two and they start trading running forearms but Kozina runs into a boot, and does a reverse Flair flop and Kyle gets two more. He works in the Flair Flip in the corner and headbutts Kyle in the gut, and hits a slingshot springboard bulldog and a Perfect Neck Snap for two. O’Reilly misses a roundhouse kick but hits a superkick, running forearm and then a running dropkick in the corner. He hits a spinning tornado DDT and goes for a brainbuster, but Kozina counters to a small package, and Kyle reverses that to get the win. Both guys looked impressive but I’m not sure this did them any favors.
Winner: Kyle O’Reilly (via small package) **

Black says Strong has lost his mind and that makes him dangerous; he tried to keep his commitments to Roddy and if nobody wants to believe him, that’s fine. This will be the first defense in a long run for Black.

Television Championship Quarter Final: Delirious w/Daizee Haze vs. Davey Richards
Davey no-sells the wildness at the beginning of the bell, and Delirious makes a motion that he wants the belt. Waistlock by Davey, headlock takedown by Deli and Richards gets a headscissors which I presume Deli escaped because my screen just went weird and now they are circling each other. Davey grabs a wristlock but turns it into a snapmare and then grabs a chinlock. Delirious gets an arm wringer and Davey bridges before kicking the arm to escape. Delirious grabs a headlock and Davey throws him off, sprawls, leapfrogs and Deli catches him for the fireman’s carry drop, and hits a trio of sentons to the back. Deli hits a few shoulder thrusts, grabs a headlock, Davey throws him off and counters a sunset flip to a kick, which Deli ducks. Delirious gets a schoolboy for two but Richards gets an omoplata shoulderlock. Deli goes towards the ropes and Davey switches to the Samoa Joe surfboard move. Deli gets the ropes, but Davey drops some elbows on the arm and hits a hammerlock back suplex for two, and then applies Jericho Hold #372.

Deli gets up and fights with elbows but runs into the spin kick to the gut, and Richards hits a snap suplex. He goes up top and hits a missile dropkick to the back of the head. He takes too long to cover and Delirious kicks out, so back to the armbar. He stomps the elbow and Deli tries to kick him away, but Davey pulls him up and hits a stiff kick for two, and starts torquing the arm with a wristlock. He stomps Deli’s shoulder. Deli fights back and they trade forearms, Richards hits a spin kick, hits the ropes but Delirious hits a back elbow and a Panic Attack that sends Davey to the floor. Delirious fakes a dive when Davey goes back in, then hits another elbow, Richards misses a clothesline and Deli hits a backdrop suplex that sends him to the floor. Delirious takes him out with the top rope hilo to the floor, throws him inside and hits a flying lariat from the top for two.

They trade chops and forearms, Deli sends him to the ropes and counters the handspring enzugiri with a headbutt to the gut, and hits a sort of twisting DDT for two. Hagadorn encourages Richards, who escapes the Cobra Clutch, but runs into a kick in the corner. He catches a second kick and pulls Delirious down into a kick to the chest. He tries a German Suplex but Deli escapes with elbows, Deli runs into a spin kick and Richards hits a big boot and tries the German again, Deli escapes so Richards hits the Northern Lights Suplex for two. KIMURA! Delirious gets the ropes and Davey throws kicks, Deli blocks one and hits some slaps, runs into a spin kick, they duck clotheslines and Deli connects! Delirious goes for the Bizarro Driver but Richards escapes, goes for a kick but that sets up CHEMICAL IMBALANCE II! Davey kicks out!

Deli goes up top, Richards is up and hits some chops, tries a superplex, Delirious knocks him down with headbutts, but Richards counters the Shadows Over Hell with the Alarm Clock! Richards hits an elbow and a running dropkick, BACKDROP DRIVER! 1…2…NO! Buzzsaw Kick! 1…2…NO! Cross Armbreaker! Delirious counters into the Cobra Stretch, COBRA CLUTCH SUPLEX! Only two, and Davey counters another Cobra Stretch into a cradle for two. Davey avoids a charge in the corner and hits a dropkick to the arm. Tombstone Piledriver sets up the Kimura, and Delrious counters to a pin for two, and Davey counters back to the cross armbreaker and Delirious has to tap.
Winner: Davey Richards (via cross armbreaker) ***1/4

The show ends with a long video package on the “The Big Bang” Main Event.