Ring of Honor Wrestling on HDnet
Taped in Philadelphia, PA

The show opened with highlights from The Big Bang focusing on Tyler Black successfully retaining his title against Austin Aries and Roderick Strong...

We were taken to the arena. Crowd is VERY big for TV and much hotter than in previous weeks. Jim Cornette was in the ring and introduced ROH World Champion Tyler Black. He told him that it wasn't going to get any easier, and that there are a lot of people gunning for the belt.

Black said that he has Aries' number and can beat him any time, but he's worried about Roderick Strong. He said that he was defined by his successes, while Strong was defined by his failures. He said that if he could get past Aries and Strong, he would be all right. Cornette started to to say something, but was interrupted by Davey Richards' music.

Richards came out and said that Tyler had something he wanted, and he was going to take it. Prazak mentioned that Richards won a spot in the Pick Six at the Big Bang. Richards said that as of right now, "the hunt is on".

Joe's Judgment: Passable opening segment that served to set up a potential Richards/Black title match. Black is getting more comfortable on the mic, but he's still not all that great.

Mike Hogewood and Dave Prazak were seen in front of the new green screen. Hogewood introduced a Jerry Lynn video. He talked about how he came to ROH at the age of 45 and won the world title. The video moved on to Austin Aries beating him for the belt (Tyler Black was conveniently left out of the match footage). We then saw Lynn talking about retiring, then Kenny King and Rhett Titus piledriving him last October.

Joe's Judgment: I like to pretend the Jerry Lynn title reign never happened. That said, this video package was well done and it was a good refresher or introduction, depending on how long you've been watching ROH.

1. Jerry Lynn defeated Jake Manning. Lynn did some arm work, with armdrags and such. He won in fairly short order with the Cradle Piledriver. Post match, Lynn called out Kenny King. He said that he was back and wanted to get revenge on King.

Kyle Durden was backstage with Steve Corino, who was in a suit. Durden asked why he wasn't ready to wrestle. Corino said that he's been wrestling for fifteen years, and maybe Generico should be the one getting ready. He said that Generico wasn't part of the plan, but he would make him part of the plan, and he would regret crossing paths with Corino.

2. El Generico defeated Steve Corino by forfeit. Corino came to the ring in his suit, and grabbed a mic. He said that he was happy that his best friend was Kevin Steen. He said that Generico wore a mask because he was either ugly, or he was hiding the fact that he was worthless, while Corino was a legend.

Corino said that nobody would care if Generico died tomorrow. He said that Generico wasn't cancer, he was "full blown AIDS" (only they censored out "AIDS"). Corino said that he didn't care about Generico, that he would never be anything, and that he forfeited the match. Corino turned to walk away, but Generico grabbed him by the tie and clotheslined him. Generico continued to beat him down as Corino tried to get away. [C]

Joe's Judgment: Corino pushed the envelope a bit here with some of his lines. Along with the censoring of "AIDS", another of his lines was completely censored. Whatever it was, it got him some pretty nice heat from the live crowd. Corino's a pretty enjoyable new element in ROH and he's pretty solid on the mic. Pretty good segment here.

A brief clip aired of Christopher Daniels returning to ROH at the Big Bang iPPV. Some "F--- TNA" chants were audible in the background. This was followed by a recap of what we saw earlier with Davey Richards and Tyler Black.

Kyle Durden was backstage with Eddie Edwards. Edwards talked about how he would love to go on to face his tag team partner Davey Richards in the finals of the tournament. Kenny King showed up and said that it was bad enough that Edwards was overlooking Kevin Steen, but it was "damn criminal" that Edwards was overlooking him. Edwards said that King would rather look pretty and lose than do what it takes to win, and he would love to shut King's mouth in the finals.

3. Eddie Edwards defeated Kevin Steen in 12:35. Before the match, Steen grabbed the mic and talked about how he hated Edwards last year, but after watching the footage since December, he realized why Edwards did what he did, and that now he doesn't hate Edwards. He reminded him, though, that the last time they were in the ring together, he broke Edwards' elbow, and then kicked him in the elbow to start the match.

Edwards dove onto Steen at ringside about a minute in, then controlled the brawling on the floor for the next minute or so. Edwards tried a baseball slide, but Steen stopped him and smashed his elbow on the apron, then on the ring post. Steen grabbed two chairs, threw one in the ring to distract the ref, and then smashed Edwards' elbow with the other one.

Steen stood on Edwards' elbow, then locked in a submission on the arm. Edwards broke free with headbutts and connected with a kick, and then a huracanrana, though he landed on the elbow and sold it beautifully. Steen continued to work on the elbow, including a Swanton where he landed directly on the elbow, but Edwards was able to get him up for a couple slams. Edwards got a nearfall with a knee strike.

Steen went right back to work on the elbow with a hammerlock divorce court. Steen continued to work on the arm, and Edwards continued to sell it as the crowd got behind him. Edwards hit his backpack stunner for a nearfall, but as soon as Steen kicked out he locked in a crossface. El Generico came down the ramp and stared at Steen. Steen let go of the crossface and yelled at Generico, allowing Edwards to sneak in with a small package pin.

Hogewood applauded Generico standing up for himself and Prazak acted furious. They hyped next week's main event: Davey Richards vs. Kenny King.

Joe's Judgment: Wow. Everybody, that is how you establish a heel-face dynamic. Steen is a GREAT heel. His targeting of Edwards' injury was believable, and he legitimately made me dislike him. Edwards, meanwhile, sold the arm like a champ. He never once stopped selling it, even grimacing when he set up for an offensive move.

I thought it was questionable when ROH booked four heels in the semifinals of the tournament, but it's actually worked very well and established the Wolves as tweeners who can work both face and heel with no changes to the characters. This was the best Eddie Edwards singles match ever, and I'd recommend it to anyone to watch.

Any comments regarding tonight's show, or my review? Send them to me at jtmathieson88@gmail.com

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