ROH TV 8/25/12

A week late like always I bring you Ring of Honor wrestling. This episode sees the kickoff of the tag title tournament with a wild opening round as Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander face Matt & Nick Jackson, the Young Bucks. We also see the debut of "God's Gift" QT Marshall and our main event is a Six Man Mayhem match: Jay Lethal vs. Roderick Strong vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Mike Bennett vs. Mike Mondo vs. TJ Perkins.


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--The "C&C Wrestling Factory", Cedric Alexander and Caprice Coleman, start us off against the returning Young Bucks. The Bucks were on freeze in ROH due to living in California and being cost-prohibitive to fly to the show, but for the tag title tournament they've made their comeback (along with their fellow Californian later on, TJ Perkins). The Bucks have really made the most out of their "no respect" gimmick, as their refusal to shake hands has become a really big heat getter in the beginning of matches. I really like their attitude, in general. They mock the fact that a few guys who would likely look down on them for what they look like and how they wrestle anyway expected them to kiss ass, and they wrestle an entertaining, high flying wrestling style that most people would deride as dangerous, and refuse to apologize or be shamed for doing so because it's the kind of wrestling they enjoy doing and they wouldn't be happy doing anything else. The Bucks are unapologetic about who they are and what they do, and they've managed to define themselves by it. It's all very punk, or very Punk, for that matter.

Anyhow this match: I can't even do it justice in words. I'd be up all night trying to describe every high flying spot or innovative double team these guys pulled off. After a rocky few months starting out, C&C shifted into high gear and they've started making whiplash-fast aerial action a part of what they do. Pair that with a team like the Bucks, who've been spending time in CHIKARA and are well versed in that quasi-lucha style anyway, and you have the kind of match about which Gorilla Monsoon might have said "They're spending more time above the ring than in it!" Everything hits crisp, everything as at breakneck pace, and the timing is perfect. It's worth getting online and checking this one out because it is a phenomenal way to kick off a tag title tournament in the company that has the hottest tag team scene in North America (not that that's saying much about our continent's wrestling, but it's true regardless). As I said, it's just move after move after reversal after spot after move throughout. Some people might bristle at this being a "spotfest", but in my opinion they just don't know how to dance to this rhythm. The finish saw, after a series of reversals, Coleman hitting the hands-free top rope rana for the pin. Take my damn word for it, fans of tag team wrestling want to see this matchup.

--Next Charlie Haas calls out Jim Cornette to complain about Shelton Benjamin being "suspended" from ROH (he's actually working in Japan) and argue for getting his partner back since the person whom he was suspended for hitting, Kenny King, is no longer employed. Cornette refuses and Rhett Titus comes out. After both Titus and Haas agree the most fair course of action would be to face each other one on one and let the winner take the tag titles back to their chosen partner, Cornette stands firm that the tag title tournament will continue. Haas then makes a proposition: Titus chooses Haas as his partner, they win the tournament together, and then face each other for the titles as planned. Titus agrees, and it looks like ROH has a new pair of Wacky Tag Team Partners Who Hate Each Other gunning for the gold. Next week (or as you like to call it in your fancy time-accurate world, tonight) they face the Guardians of Truth, but that leaves an opening in the tournament for the Bravado Brothers' challengers. And hey, weren't there just some people complaining last week about not being in the tournament.....

--Tadarius Thomas is a small and average looking young wrestler who apparently incorporates martial arts and breakdancing into his style. "God's Gift" QT Marshall (pronounced Mar-SHALL") is a thoroughly plain looking Northeastern wrestling road hound, who comes out wearing a Rick Rude robe and biting the Ravishing One's gimmick despite not having the body to back it up. I think Marshall actually signed with ROH after these appearances. God only knows why because a blander wrestler I've never seen. He has no look to speak of, and he didn't do much besides punch, kick, and hit one okay-looking lariat. Thomas was interesting enough with his capoiera-style kicks but it looked like pretty much all he had in the tank. Marshall finished with an Alabama Slam. Boo. It's so transparent as to why this guy got signed: he's 6'1 and 242, which is of course big for ROH (the goober even tried to do a chokeslam, like being 6'1 makes him some kind of giant). The thing is, he's got no muscle tone, and the only thing keeping him above 215-220 range is a little bit of a belly. Not that there's anything wrong with that but we've been down this road before, and someone is bound to be over-impressed by this guy based on his size, which isn't worthy of being impressed by, and people will act like he deserves to be WWE-bound because of it. From what I saw in this match, they can friggin have him.

--Six Man Mayhem is a six-way match under tag rules. These are always fun just due to the fact that there's never really a chance for the action to lag. This one in particular is for a shot at Adam Cole's TV Title at Death Before Dishonor X. Jay Lethal, TJ Perkins, Roderick Strong, Tommaso Ciampa, Mike Bennett, and Mike Mondo make up this one. I'm a huge fan of three of these guys, a moderate fan of one, and not a fan of the other two. Regular readers will have no trouble knowing which is which. I' am, however, going to make more of an effort to learn to stomach Mike Mondo, because while I'm generally unimpressed, he seems like there is a glimmer of wrestling talent there that just needs to be focused into a sound style, because right now he's kind of all over the place. One segment featuring him & Ciampa had an extended pinfall reversal segment where Mondo held on to the pin attempts even after Ciampa kicked out, and those worked well for him: Mondo already has the look of a tenacious Napoleon type small guy, he might as well make that pit-bullish latching onto someone and not letting go gimmick a full fledged part of his routine. Another interesting spot had Perkins (who I've greatly missed in ROH, since he has the look and ability to be a big deal for them) holding Bennett in an Indian deathlock while simultaneously giving Roderick a Northern Lights suplex. I didn't really feel like Lethal was too invested into this one, as nothing he did really stands out, but he of course has bigger fish to fry, if predictions are correct. In the final pair-off, Bennett and Mondo vented some animosity on each other related to their nothing match at Best in the World. Mondo is ostensibly still on a face-ish run here but he'll be the heel when he goes against Cole. Whoops, gave it away there: Mondo hits the double-arm DDT for the pin on Bennett. I'm glad of anyone there it was Bennett taking the pin, but DBD will be the make it or break it point for Mondo.

--What was good was exceptional this week, so nothing to complain about besides the drab match featuring QT Marshall. Even Inside ROH had some fun goofy promos from S.C.U.M as well as the Briscoes (making a Michael Phelps bong joke). The main event was fast paced and well executed, but the opening tag match needs to be seen by anyone who appreciates aerial or tag team wrestling. Seriously, this time, take my word for it: Go to ROHwrestling.com and watch this one.