Show opens with the new Ambassador for ROH, Ric Flair being introduced and coming to the ring to a standing ovation. By the looks of it Flair had a fairly long spiel on the stick which the director cut to ribbons to keep the show at tv length, Naitch did himself no favours by citing WWE names when he was bigging up the ROH roster (as was evident by the booing when he mentioned HHH but there were no boos when he mentioned Shawn Michaels).
Flair introduced current ROH Champ Jerry Lynn and did a job of putting him over (not that he needed it) but Lynn was very humble in his response. Austin Aries comes out to try and get himself over (to the usual chants of "Austin Asshole") and what was rather funny was when he rhetorically asked Flair & Lynn who had been "the man" in ROH before they turfed up some wag in the crowd shouted out "Danielson" referring to Bryan Danielson.
Flair introduced current ROH Champ Jerry Lynn and did a job of putting him over (not that he needed it) but Lynn was very humble in his response. Austin Aries comes out to try and get himself over (to the usual chants of "Austin Asshole") and what was rather funny was when he rhetorically asked Flair & Lynn who had been "the man" in ROH before they turfed up some wag in the crowd shouted out "Danielson" referring to Bryan Danielson.
Chris Hero vs Kenny Omega. It seems this week they aren't doing the factfile introductions any more unless they are now reserving those just for new wrestlers appearing on tv for the 1st time. It seems Omega is doomed to remain a curtain jerker at the moment in ROH and no doubt will be jobbing to heel Hero tonight. This one started off with an armbar that both guys reversed numerous times (to be honest that was pretty boring after about 30 seconds so why they stuck with it for so long is beyond me), whats even more annoying is after breaking the hold they went to mat work but Omega finally broke the incredible monotony with some decent high flying stuff.
Omega took a near fall off a flying cross body block into a nice roll-up & was selling for Hero who made a c**ppy flying kick through the ropes, Omega made a very nice bridging suplex for another near fall. Sara Del Rey (who had also come to the ring with Hero) distracted the ref long enough for Hero to put on his loaded elbow pad & hit the spinning elbow to take the rather predictable win in a match where the much better worker was Omega and Hero did fuck all.
Omega took a near fall off a flying cross body block into a nice roll-up & was selling for Hero who made a c**ppy flying kick through the ropes, Omega made a very nice bridging suplex for another near fall. Sara Del Rey (who had also come to the ring with Hero) distracted the ref long enough for Hero to put on his loaded elbow pad & hit the spinning elbow to take the rather predictable win in a match where the much better worker was Omega and Hero did fuck all.
Brodie Lee (with Jimmy Jacobs) vs The Necro Butcher. Before this match they did do the talking heads intro that they normally do along with the fact file so I guess they are keeping some elements of that introduction for certain matches. Necro started this before the bell with a backsplash off the apron onto Lee before nailing him a few times with a chair, Lee hit a nice slam onto the entrance ramp before finally carrying Necro to the ring and the match officially got started.
The match was all Lee from the bell with the occasional double team from Jacobs when Lee distracted the ref, Lee is an extremely sloppy worker (I've never seen anyone execute a worse big boot & Lee managed to f**ck up that simple move twice in less than 10 seconds) but Necro was still selling even though Lee really didn't deserve it. Necro used Lee to bump Jacobs off the apron and took the win off a roll-up. A pretty s**t match made worse by Lee and his flubs and lack of basic talent.
The match was all Lee from the bell with the occasional double team from Jacobs when Lee distracted the ref, Lee is an extremely sloppy worker (I've never seen anyone execute a worse big boot & Lee managed to f**ck up that simple move twice in less than 10 seconds) but Necro was still selling even though Lee really didn't deserve it. Necro used Lee to bump Jacobs off the apron and took the win off a roll-up. A pretty s**t match made worse by Lee and his flubs and lack of basic talent.
Sal Renaro vs Erick Stevens - Stevens merited a banner introduction & Renaro who was already in the ring was only worthy of a vocal intro so I had to Google him so excuse me if I spelled his name wrong. Stevens got in a cheap shot before the bell which earnt Renaro a powerslam into the canvas followed by a nice overhead suplex, Stevens was suitably p**sed off and hit a splash into the corner following up with a viciously stiff looking clothesline that Renaro sold like crazy which Stevens followed with a nice Powerbomb to take the win. I would have liked a slightly longer match with more chance to see how Renaro could respond, nice work by Stevens though.
Austin Aries vs Roderick Strong. Yet again its another 20 minute main event & yet again I am left to wonder if the 2 men involved can fill the whole match without slowing off too much. No-one has been able to do this since ROH started on tv so we will see if this week can be the 1st time. Currently it is really hard to understand the mindset of the ROH bookers as far as Aries is concerned as he has gone from Main Eventer to Curtain Jerker & back to Main Eventer just as fast. Pretty much f**k all happened in this match, Aries won off the Brainbuster. Exceptionally dull match with zero action, not worthy of main event status or even worth giving away for free.
Yet again ROH had 2 talented guys in the main event & squandered the chance to make something worth watching, I must ask how ROH managed to persuade Ric Flair to come on board as surely TNA or WWE could have offered him much more money (are the rumours of Flair asking 100K US $ per appearance true?) but I guess he didn't want to return to WWE as he has done pretty much everything he possibly could there.
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