4/18 Twilling's ROH on HDNet Live Coverage: Brent Albright vs. Claudio Castagnoli, Necro Butcher vs. Jimmy Jacobs, Sami Callahan vs. Eddie Kingston

ROH on HDNet
Taped in Philadelphia, PA

[Q1] The opening video aired. Footage was shown of the results of last week’s matches. Tonight’s main event of Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brent Albright was mentioned. Mike Hogewood and Dave Prazak welcomed us to the show. They plugged the main event and introduced Jimmy Jacobs, who cut a pre-match promo on Necro Butcher...

1. Necro Butcher defeated Jimmy Jacobs by disqualification in 5:44. Butcher brought the staple gun to the ring and Prazak called him on it. Necro dominated the opening minutes of the match. He threw Jacobs to the floor and hit him with the ring bell. Butcher set up a table on the floor, but Jacobs came back and hit a back suplex on Butcher on the floor.

Back in the ring, Jacobs stood above Butcher and hit a series of right hands. He scored a one count after a second rope elbow. He went for the spear but Butcher countered with a big right hand. He hit a chokeslam and tiger driver but did not want to make the cover. Butcher went and grabbed the staple gun. Brodie Lee came in and interfered, causing the referee to disqualify Jacobs...

After the match, Jacobs and Lee tried to staple Butcher, but Butcher fought them off and stood triumphantly in the ring...

Twill’s Two Cents: Prazak did a nice job explaining the past between Butcher and The Age of the Fall. The match was short and sloppy in places, but I am looking forward to seeing this storyline continue, which is what ROH TV needs.

Kyle Durden interviewed Brent Albright backstage. Albright talked about how personal his feud with Claudio Castagnoli has become. He said Claudio would get out or tap out...

[Q2] 2. Eddie Kingston defeated Sami Callahan in 6:04. Callahan hit a series of knife edge chops as Kingston countered with impressive suplexes and huge right hands. Callahan began bleeding from the forehead at about the five minute mark. Kingston hit the backdrop driver and followed with the spinning back fist for the win...

Twill’s Two Cents: Fun, physical match that included a lot of impressive spots from both men. Kingston has a Taz like suplex reportoire. I would have liked to see a longer match, but they went balls to the wall for the six minutes they had.

Kyle Durden interviewed Claudio Castagnoli. Claudio talked about Albright being a lazy American and that he was very European... [C]

The announcers interviewed Jerry Lynn. Lynn said he would be a fighting champion as he put over CM Punk, Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, Bryan Danielson, and Nigel McGuinness...

[Q3] 3. Bobby Dempsey defeated Orange Cassidy in :23. Dempsey hit the death valley driver right away for the win...

Twill’s Two Cents: Obvious squash match to set up Dempsey vs. any of the members of Sweet and Sour Incorporated.

A new segment entitled “Buzz Words” featured Eric Stevens describing himself with a series of adjectives...

4. Kenny King and Rhett Titus defeated Cheech and Cloudy in 5:59. Cheech and King engaged in a chain wrestling sequence early on. Quickly, all four men were in the ring. Cheech and Cloudy hit simultaneous bulldogs for the first nearfall. A double team put Cloudy at a disadvantage. Titus and King isolated Cloudy for several moments.

Cloudy fought back and was able to make the tag to Cheech. Cheech hit a sweet move where he went to the top, did a cartwheel across the tope rope, and hit a superkick. Cloudy tagged in and a double team move scored them a nearfall. Titus regained the advantage. Titus and King then hit a tandem powerbomb/blockbuster for the win...

Twill’s Two Cents: This was definitely a fun match, but in six minutes, it is difficult to tell a story, so it was obvious both teams just tried to fit all of their big spots in. It was an entertaining match, but it would have been better served with at least five more minutes.

The tale of the tape of Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brent Albright was shown...

5. Claudio Castagnoli defeated Brent Albright in 11:43. Claudio attacked Albright on the floor before he step foot into the ring. Albright came back and threw Claudio into the ring. The referee then rang the bell.

[Q4] Castagnoli was biting Albright in the corner and Hogewood nearly had a heart attack complaining about it. Albright threw Castagnoli to the floor. He followed up with a springboard high cross body, but Claudio caught him. He ran with Albright and slammed him through the ring barrier. Claudio moved the action back into the ring and scored a nearfall.

Claudio had the advantage and again both men were on the floor. Albright hit an overhead belly to belly suplex on the floor. The crowd was solidly behind Albright. The comeback was short lived as Claudio scored another nearfall in the ring.

Albright hit a Rock Bottom and followed it up with a t-bone suplex. He hit a snap powerslam for a very nearfall. Albright countered a vertical suplex into a spinning neck breaker for another two count. Claudio impressively hit the big swing on Albright. He just could not score the three count.

Albright applied a Crossface as well as a crowbar (armbar). Claudio was able to get his boot to the ropes to break the hold. They exchanged punches with Claudio standing and Albright sitting on the top rope. Albright countered a superplex by pushing Claudio off and hitting a high cross body for a two count. Hogewood argued it was a three count and the referee messed up.

Both men continued to exchange holds and counter each other. Albright went for a half nelson suplex but Claudio countered it into a victory roll. He leaned back and grabbed the bottom rope, allowing him to score the three count...

Tyler Black vs. Bryan Danielson was advertised as the main event for next week...

Twill’s Two Cents: This is the ROH version of a big man’s match, but both of these men are quick and good workers. I thought they unnecessarily went to the floor too much, but beyond that, the match was fun to watch. Both men took a lot of chances and bumped well for each other. I would have preferred a clean finish, but I was pretty happy with the match nonetheless.

What did you think of the show? Feel free to let me know by shooting an email to dotnetrich@gmail.com.