Views from the Hawke’s Nest: Ring of Honor TV Review 10.22.11

This will be a review of the show; for a complete report on the show, check out Shawn S. Lealos’ Column of Honor

Your commentators are Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness and they hype the TV Title main event between Jay Lethal and Mike Bennett

A video showed highlights of TJ Perkins discussing his career and his potential in Ring of Honor…Mike Mondo cuts his typical cheesy ‘80s character promo about how he is a giant killer…TJP has arguably been serious to a fault in his career and Mondo is definitely goofy to a fault, but they are both good in the ring

TJ Perkins vs. “Giant Killer” Mike Mondo
Perkins got the better of an early matwork exchange. Mondo got caught in the Tree of Joey Lawrence, and TJP hit a dropkick to his face. Mondo lulled him to the outside, and threw him to a barricade. Back in the ring, Mondo hit a slingshot press. Mondo worked him over for a while after that. Perkins low-bridged Mondo out of the ring, and he then followed that up with a suicide dive. Springboard dropkick by Perkins: 1…2…NO! Perkins locked in a Figure 4 Deathlock, but Mondo made the ropes. Mondo cut him off with a Codebreaker, but Perkins came back with a superkick and a rollup to get the win.

I’m all for Perkins getting a good push in Ring of Honor, but can’t Mondo do a properly clean job to Perkins’ finisher? Does Mondo need to be protected at all?
Match Rating: **1/2

Kevin Kelly is in the back to hype Final Battle 2011. Jay Lethal pops in and says that he will be at Final Battle. Lethal claims that the TV Title is the gateway to the World Title.

Cut to a video package highlighting the main event from last week where the Briscoes cheated to beat the All Night Express. Apparently Jim Cornette ruled that the Briscoes did not get a title shot because they cheated.

The Briscoes come out to talk to Jim Cornette. Corny says that the Briscoes and the All Night Express are going to have a #1 contenders match next week on TV. Jay Briscoe says that they know ROH doesn’t want the Briscoes to main event Final Battle. The Briscoes were totally outlaw babyfaces here. The Briscoes pumped themselves up, by yelling “Man Up” and hitting each other in the head. Best babyfaces ever…wait, they’re heels?

Video of Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin saying they want the Briscoes. They were fine, but the Briscoes have so much more charisma it is not even funny. The NYC crowd is so going to be pro-Briscoe at Final Battle.

Inside ROH: Kevin Kelly promotes Final Battle 2011. Roderick Strong and Truth Martini cut promos making excuses for Roddy’s loss to Davey Richards for the World Title two weeks ago. Roddy says he is issuing the Roderick Strong Invitational Challenge for Final Battle, where he will challenge an opponents that consider themselves to be the best in the world. Davey (with a terrible haircut) cuts a promo about how his “Team Richards” camp (him, Kyle O’Reilly, and Tony Kozina) is vital to his success. Davey puts over his trips to New Japan Pro Wrestling (with video). Davey says he is not worried about who is opponent at Final Battle is.

Hawke: Roddy has become very amusing in his promos, but it doesn’t make him seem like a main eventer anymore. I can’t tell if that is by design or not. Davey is very good at portraying himself to be real person, but his charisma in the ring far out-shines anything he can do on the mic.

Jay Lethal© vs. Mike Bennett (w/”Brutal” Bob Evans) [ROH TV Title]
They did a video package of Lethal’s title win over El Generico a few weeks ago. Of course, I only have had time to properly review to ROH TV shows, and I get to review another Mike Bennett match.

No Kevin Kelly, ROH fans don’t hate Mike Bennett for wanting to be a movie star. They hate Mike Bennett because he is an average professional wrestler in a company that supposedly strives to be the best, but promotes this average professional wrestler as “great.” Lethal sent Bennett to the floor early on and the two slugged it out on the outside. Some fans were chanting for Kevin Steen (with posters) right next to where they were brawling (pretty convenient). Kelly only vaguely references who they were talking about, which means anyone who has only seen ROH on SBG networks has no fucking clue what the “fans” are chanting about. Back in the ring, Lethal had the advantage. Bob Evans distracted Lethal, which allowed Bennett to recover and cut off Lethal with a lariat. Bennett hit a neckbreaker for a nearfall. Bennett worked over Lethal some more after that, and fans got more and more behind Lethal. Lethal finally came back with punches and an inverted atomic drop. 3 minutes left in the time limit, as Lethal hit a handspring ace crusher. Bennett came right back with a spinebuster for a nearfall. Lethal escaped a German suplex and hit a DDT. SUPERKICK FROM LETHAL; Lethal to the top rope, but Bennett rolled out of the way before the Macho elbow. Bennett did some ground and pound, hoping that Todd Sinclair would stop the match and give him the title. The time limit expired. Lethal was ready for 5 more minutes, but Bennett and Bob Evans decided against it.

This was a fine matchup. The crowd was really into Lethal, but they didn’t despise Bennett the way most ROH crowds seem to do.
Match Rating: ***1/4

Final Thought: As I said in my last ROH TV review, Bennett is a fine pro wrestler and he can be carried to solid matches, but ROH should not be promoting a guy as “great” when the matches on the screen say otherwise. Kevin Kelly promotes Bennett with all these talking points of his size, speed, etc, but Ring of Honor has always promoted greatness to reflect the matches in the ring, not the physical attributes of the wrestlers. By having the company promoting Bennett as great based on physical makeup, the promotion looks out of date, and it fails to distinguish itself as something different than the WWE or TNA.

In an overly simplistic analogy, baseball analysis has largely been divided by writers who romanticize the “intangibles” about the players with those analysts who use statistical analysis of the on-the-field performances to determine which players make the most difference to their teams won-loss record. Shouldn’t ROH be promoting greatness as in-ring product dictates, not based on how a guy “measures out” in spring training?

Top Ring of Honor TV matches in the Sinclair Broadcast Group Era:

1.) Davey Richards© vs. Roderick Strong for the World Title: 10.8.2011 (***3/4)
2.) Jay Lethal vs. El Generico© for the TV Title: 10.1.2011
3.) Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas© vs. Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli for the Tag Titles: 9.24.2011 (***1/2)
4.) Eddie Edwards vs. Michael Elgin: 10.15.2011
5.) Jay Lethal© vs. Mike Bennett for the TV Title: 10.22.2011 (***1/4)
6.) Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Lancelot & Harlem Bravado: 9.24.2011 (***)
7.) Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe vs. Kenny King & Rhett Titus: 10.15.2011

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