411’s Ring of Honor TV Report 11.19.11

Welcome to Week 9 of the Ring of Honor television show. My name is Shawn S. Lealos and you have entered my world…

Champions:
World Champion: Davey Richards
Tag Team Champions: Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas
TV Champion: Jay Lethal

The show opens with a video package of last week’s main event between the American Wolves and House of Truth and the revelation that Eddie Edwards has a new finisher with the dragon sleeper.

Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness open the show talking about the American Wolves.

Next up, we get a promo by Mike Mondo who “takes up a lot of space.” Mondo is Crash Holly V. 2.0.

MATCH 1: Alex Silva (0-1) vs. Mike Mondo (0-1)

ROH TV now apparently shows who sings the entrance songs that we can barely hear. The Stoves sing “Back Burner,” the entry song for Alex Silva. Mondo comes out to “Just the Tip” by Absolutely Perfect. If you wanna here Mondo’s entrance song, here is a YouTube video of “Just the Tip.” Mondo came out with his own sign reading “Godzilla fears Mondo.”

They mention that both men are 0-1 and the loser might not get another chance. The two jockey for position and then go to the test of strength. Mondo takes down Silva but Silva monkey flips Mondo. The two continue to work on the test of strength and then start hitting each other. They then do an indie move by locking each others legs up. The ref breaks the hold but gets knocked down. Silva checks on the ref and Mondo hits a cheap shop, sending Silva to the floor. Mondo hits a corkscrew plancha onto Silva on the floor.

Mondo sends Silva back into the ring. Mondo is doing a victory lap and then hits a seated dropkick for two. Mondo stomps on Silva hand then foot rakes Silva’s eyes. Mondo with a leg drop. Kevin Kelly just flatly said that Eddie Edwards is being trained by Dan Severn, spoiling the secret right there. Mondo with a chin lock. Silva breaks the hold. Mondo with a punch and they begin to trade punches. Silva with a nice Double A spinebuster for two.

Silva sends Mondo into the buckle and chases him in but Mondo leaps over on the apron and Silva hits the buckle. Mondo up top and comes off as Silva sets up a dropkick but Mondo catches his legs and drops him. Silva up and hits a clothesline. Silva with a powerbomb gets two. Mondo rolls through with a version of the fujiwara armbar. Silva makes the ropes. Silva drops Mondo’s neck on the rope. Silva goes for a kick but Mondo catches him and tries to lock in a leg lock but Silva gets out quick. Silva goes for another move but Mondo catches him with a face buster and then kicks Silva in the head. Mondo hits a double armed DDT for the win.

Winner: Mike Mondo by pinfall in 04:57 (* 1/2) (The match wasn’t that good. Mike Mondo looked decent enough but it was just one move after another and most of Silva’s moves looked pretty sloppy. Not a good match to display the ROH style.)

Next up, we go to Jim Cornette. He said he had four weeks to respond to the lawsuit by Kevin Steen. Cornette said he will make his offer next week. Cornette denied all charges against him. He said he will make his decision next week on how to move forward with Steen.

Back from commercial and we hear a promo from Jay Lethal. Lethal defends the TV title against El Generico next week and Bennett is mad because he still claims to be the champion. Lethal said Generico deserves a title shot over Bennett.

MATCH 2: Jamin Olivencia (0-0) vs. Mike Bennett (1-0-1)

I already don’t care who sings the theme songs because I can’t hear them. Kevin Kelly said Jamin Olivencia is a former OVW champion. Brutal Bob Evans is out with Bennett. According to Wikipedia, Olivencia holds the record for the most OVW TV title reigns, with six, as well as the Southern tag team titles once with T.J. Dalton. Bennett has a microphone and said he is a nice guy and the TV champion so he will defend the title tonight against Olivencia.

The two lockup and Bennett takes down Jamin. Jamin fires back with a dropkick, and armdrag and another dropkick. Jamin with two big blows. Bennett gets hold of Jamin and drops him with a spinebuster. Bennett fires away with some blows. Bennett with a bodyslam. Jamin with a chop, sends Bennett to the buckle but Bennett reverses it and hits a clothesline. Neckbreaker by Bennett.

Bennett with a chinlock on Jamin. Jamin fights out and hits some chops and forearms. Camera cuts to the crowd which I take to mean one of the wrestlers screwed up a move. Back in and Jamin hits a high knee. Jamin with a running shoulder. Powerslam for two by Jamin. Jamin to the second buckle but Bennett catches him with a kick. Jamin with a reversal and roll up on Bennett. Bennett hits the Box Office Smash from out of nowhere for the three count.

Winner: Mike Bennett by pinfall in 03:36 (*) (Neither man looked very good here. Mike Bennett took the win out of nowhere after Jamin took a distinct advantage. Poor match.)

Inside Ring of Honor: The first thing on Inside Ring of Honor is about the relationship between Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards. They show a tweet from Davey where he acts betrayed that Eddie went behind his back to get Dan Severn as a trainer and said Kyle O’Reilly stooged him out.

Davey is sitting down for an interview. He has his ROH World title and the IWGP tag team title in his lap. Davey said he felt confusion and distrust at Eddie for going to Severn. He feels that going to Severn was dishonest because it was his idea to train with Severn. He said Severn was his idea and that Eddie going to him behind his back was dishonest. He then said he will beat Eddie and Final Battle.

ROH also went to Dan Severn’s training camp in Michigan to get an interview with Edwards, which will be shown next week.

Next up, we see the All Night Express approaching World’s Greatest Tag Team from last week.

The Briscoe Brothers have challenged Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander to a match because they got a Proving Ground opportunity after the Briscoes had to wait six months for theirs. They said they will beat them quicker than WGTT did. Mark: “we can beat them in three minutes.” Jay: “Maybe three and a half, depends on how long it takes to pull our foot out of their ass.” Then we see Caprice and Cedric talk. They are pretty good with the promo with Caprice doing all the talking and then Cedric giving a one-word response at the end, ala D-Von Dudley.

MATCH 3: Kyle O’Reilly (1-1) vs. Davey Richards (2-0)

Davey took the mic at the beginning and said he doesn’t care about trust or rivalries, he just wants a good fight tonight. Tony Kozina, another member of Team Richards, is also at ringside. Before the match can start, Truth Martini comes out and joins the commentators.

The two begin to trade kicks and jockey for position. Richards gets the advantage, delivers some knees and a big kick. O’Reilly rolls through with an arm bar, Davey reverses out with a leg lock but O’Reilly breaks out. Both men miss kicks and then they both try a dropkick at the same time. The two lockup but Davey with an ankle lock submission before O’Reilly locks in his own. Both men wrench on each others legs. O’Reilly makes it to the ropes. Truth mentions that Roddy Strong has refused every challenge for Final Resolution so far because they are all beneath him.

Davey back with an arm bar and the advantage. Hammerlock by Davey but O’Reilly reverses out with an arm bar. Davey kicks O’Reilly in the face and then hits O’Reilly with two real stiff kicks. O’Reilly with two kicks of his own. Davey with a punch, O’Reilly with a kick. O’Reilly continues his kicks but Davey blocks him and gets in some kicks of his own. O’Reilly with a forearm and the two begin to trade blows.

Davey with a running knee lift. Takes down O’Reilly and then locks in a cloverleaf. Davey gets a two count. O’Reilly tries to fight back but Davey with a big dropkick. Big kick to O’Reilly. O’Reilly finally takes the advantage and hits a Three Amigos with Butterfly Suplexes and then locks in an arm bar submission hold. Davey gets to the ropes. O’Reilly charges but Davey catches him and puts him on the top buckle. Davey runs with a knee into O’Reilly’s ribs. Davey knees O’Reilly in the chest. Mule kick by Davey after that and he is taking his time. Davey kicks O’Reilly in the face.

O’Reilly on his back and starts kicking back. The two begin to trade punches but Davey gets the advantage and knocks the crap out of O’Reilly. O’Reilly up by the nine count but Davey runs with a big kick to O’Reilly’s face for a two count. Davey with a side suplex for a two count as well.

Commercial break.

Back from commercial and Richards has O’Reilly in a surfboard. The two with simultaneous kicks and then they start to trade blows. They then trade kicks. Truth said he would love either Davey or Eddie in his House of Truth. Davey with a BIG clothesline takes O’Reilly’s head off. Davey misses a running strike but then O’Reilly missed one as well. The two trade slaps but Davey hits a reverse kick. O’Reilly with a jumping knee and then a side kick to Davey’s face. O’Reilly gets a two count. Davey up and the two trade kicks again. O’Reilly with an alarm clock for two on Davey. O’Reilly heads up top. Davey up quick and kicks O’Reilly in the head, sending him outside the ring and then punts O’Reilly in the head.

Davey out after O’Reilly. He misses a kick and slams his leg into the ring post. O’Reilly charges across the ring apron and hits a missile dropkick on Davey into the ring barricade. O’Reilly up top and hits another missile dropkick for two. O’Reilly with the Guillotine choke hold. Richards powers out and flips down into the ankle lock. O’Reilly reverses out and hits the tornado DDT rolling back into the Guillotine choke again. Richards out with a bridge pin for two. O’Reilly goes for the choke again but Davey locks O’Reilly’s ankle. O’Reilly reverses out and locks in an ankle lock of his own. Richards reverses the hold again. O’Reilly won’t tap out so Tony Kozina throws in the towel.

Truth Martini heads to the ring to tell Davey Richards how many mistakes he made. Davey responded by kicking Truth. Richards and Kyle then kick the crap out of Martini.

Winners: Davey Richards by a thrown in towel in 15:45 (***) (This was a pretty solid match although too much of it was trading kicks and slaps for my liking. However, the submissions and reversals were very well done and I loved the UFC styled submission locks they used. Once they started to try to make each other tap, the match picked up steam and turned out to be a lot of fun. I don’t like the throwing in of the towel but it helped O’Reilly look like he was a real challenge.)