ROH TV 1-26-13

Quick update on the Adam Cole/Sami Callihan to WWE situation: they’ve been invited to a 3-day camp down in Florida at the end of the month (in other words, this week). Bad news for ROH is that the Briscoes are also getting tryouts, along with Ricky Reyes (whom I’m not familiar with). ROH better start picking up some new talent A.S.A.P…

We open with Nigel McGuiness in the ring, who brings out Jay Lethal and S.C.U.M.  This is the first time I’ve gotten a good look at the new ROH world title, and it’s pretty nice. Lethal asks for his title shot, and after some back and forth shit-talking from Corino and Lethal a very depressed-looking Steen accepts. They’re obviously setting up a face turn for Steen, and all I can say is that it’s about damn time.

Veda Scott is in the back with Michael Elgin, who hypes up his match with Roderick Strong at the next PPV. Just for fun, here's a match with Veda against Reby Sky.

I'd comment on whether or not this is any good, but to be honest I was just paying attention to that smoking hot ref the whole time. Anyone know who she is?

Top Prospect Tournament: Silas Young vs. Adam Page: Truth Martini is on commentary again. Young is a 32 year old 10 year vet, which hardly qualifies as a prospect in my mind. He looks like a 70s porn star. People who regularly watch ROH TV may remember Page busting QT Marshall’s nose open a couple months ago on his way to being squashed. They lock up, a brief back and forth sequence ends with a Page hiptoss and he chops away. High knee from Page and Young bails to the apron, Page goes after him but gets dropped throat-first on the top rope. Young back in but he runs into a boot on a blind charge and Page comes off the top with a sort of clothesline for 2. He misses a kick from the apron and Young goes to work in the corner, hitting a nasty looking DDT with Page’s feet on the second rope. It gets 2, Young gets a snapmare and a mule kick, and follows that up with a backbreaker for 2. Page comes back with a huge bitchslap, punches, and chops, Young cuts him off with a boot to the gut and goes for a DVD, Page gets free and hits a powerslam for 2. He tries to dump Young, but Young reverses it and sends Page to the apron and tries to maybe piledrive him through the ropes (which couldn’t possibly work, of course), and Page backdrops Young to the floor. Just an idiotic spot right there, kind of like how Scott Hall used to try the Razor’s Edge 6 inches away from the ropes while facing the wrong way and he’d get dumped. Page hits a shooting star press from the apron to a standing Young on the floor, then gives him a mean wedgie as he tosses him back in the ring. Crossbody off the top from Page gets 2, Young hits a full-nelson bomb shortly thereafter and holds onto the nelson, Page taps at 5:51. These two didn’t mesh together too well, and the match was kind of awkward. Young also looked pretty damned green. *1/2, Page really should have gone over here.

Charlie Haas is out now to cut a terrible promo. He calls Ray Lewis a pussy (which shockingly isn’t bleeped, I guess it’s OK to say “pussy” as long as it’s not referring to female genitalia), and in the interest of good taste I’ll just skip the stabbing jokes. He bitches about Whitmer getting the TV title shot tonight even though he pinned Whitmer at Final Battle, though his own backstage attitude is the reason he’s not wrestling at these tapings. He then decides to go after one of the kids from the ring crew that’s trying to clean up all the shit the fans are throwing at him. Haas calls him “cheeseburger”, the kid claims to be one of the ROH dojo guys (and I’m guessing he is, otherwise why would he be at ringside), but he weighs 120 at most. Haas challenges him to match, and the kid isn’t backing down, so Hass suplexes the shit out him off the Code of Honor (even though there’s no ref) and kicks his ass. Lesson here is that Hass shouldn’t be within 10 feet of a mic.

Rhett Titus vs. Matt Hardy: Goddamn, Hardy is FAT. I didn’t really notice when I watched Final Battle on the laptop, but seeing him on the big TV shows me how much he let himself go. He doesn’t get nearly the harsh reaction he did in NYC, it’s about 50/50 here, maybe leaning towards face heat. Titus is sporting the DDP taped ribs, selling injuries from Final Battle. Lockup to start and they fight over a wristlock, Hardy goes to the ropes to break and then goes after the ribs. A couple cris-crosses go nowhere, then Titus gets a crossbody for 2. Hardy bails, Titus tries a plancha but misses, and Hardy starts working the ribs. Side slam gets 2, some more shots to the ribs then Titus reverses a bulldog into a rollup for 2. Hardy goes back to the ribs, and this time the bulldog lands for 2. He tries something off the second rope, but Titus dropkicks him out of mid-air and hits a spinebuster for 2. Hardy is clearly out of gas, and they do a pretty crappy looking sequence that ends with a Side Effect by Hardy for 2. Twist of Fate is reversed to a backslide and Hardy bails to the apron. Titus slides under him and drops him face first on the edge ring, but Hardy goes back to the ribs. Hardy sends him to the ring post, powerslams him on the floor, and back in the Twist of Fate finishes at 6:29. Most of the match was Hardy working the ribs, and while that makes perfect sense storyline-wise it’s not too fun to watch. Still, this wasn’t horrible or anything, and a hell of a lot better than the match with Cole. *1/2, which is about ** more than I was expecting, and if Hardy were in shape this could have actually been a good match.

ROH TV Title: BJ Whitmer vs. Adam Cole (c): Again, I really don’t see what Whitmer did to earn this title shot, as he’s not even a singles guy. Crowd is solidly behind Cole here. Chain-wrestling sequence to start as Hardy joins us for commentary. Armdrag and a dropkick by Cole gets 2, and Cole works the arm. That goes on for a bit, then Cole hits a neckbreaker, but Whitmer pulls down the top rope as he charges in and he ends up on the outside. Whitmer tries the dive through the ropes but Cole nails him with the jumping enziguri. Splash off the top misses and we go to commercial.

We return with Whitmer hitting a boot to the face for 2. Both guys throw forearms, then Cole hits another jumping enziguri and a Shining Wizard for 2. The commentators keep going on about how Whitmer has a head injury from Final Battle, which kind of makes you wonder about the ROH medical staff if he’s been cleared to wrestle. Whitmer back with a high knee and a snap suplex into a Northern Lights for 2. Double fisherman’s suplex for 2. Kelly (to Hardy): “So you look down on everyone in ROH?” Hardy: “I think I just look down on people in general” Asshole…  Cole hits a crossbody from the top for 2, Whitmer hits an exploder suplex for 2, he hits a superplex but sells the head injury. The ref considers stopping the match, but Whitmer is back up with a bitchslap so we continue. Cole responds with a really nice superkick, German suplex and a shoulderbreaker get 2 (with the timekeeper ringing the bell prematurely), Florida Key ends it for real at 8:12. **1/2, just a match, I don’t really have anything else to add here. Cole and Hardy stare each other down to end the show. Unless Hardy goes back to WWE I don’t think the rematch is going to happen.

Nothing to see here, folks. Next week: more Top Prospect action, and a 4 team gauntlet match.