By Chris Shore

ROH on HDNet
Taped in Philadelphia, Penn.

The show opened with the cheese—and awesome—Bravado Brothers video…The opening video aired, followed by the Bravado's entrance, and Mike Hogewood and Dave Prazak checked in on commentary. A video showed the Bravado's talking about the match, and then another video showed Steve Corino telling Grizzly Redwood and Bobby Dempsey to watch out for the Bravados…

1. The Bravado Brothers defeated Grizzly Redwood and Bobby Dempsey at 4:20. Harlem and Dempsey started. Dempsey hit a headbut on Harlem and tagged in Grizzly. Harlem punched Grizzly and he and Lance worked quickly in and out. They hit a combo neckbreaker and continued to toss the little guy around.

Grizzly finally made the hot tag and Dempsey worked a house of fire on both Bravados. He slammed both guys around and picked up Harlem. Harlem grabbed the ref and slid off Bobby's shoulders. Lance hit a crossbody that Bobby caught, but he fell over Harlem for the pinfall victory…

A video recapped the Top Prospect semi-final matches and Mike Bennett's verbal altercation with Steve Corino…[C]

Shore's Slant: Fun opening match. I really like the Bravados and think they have a big future. Plus, I hear they might be coming South in the near future, so that would be awesome.

2. Davey Richards defeated Tony Kozina in a Pancration rules match at 4:13. Jim Cornette and Kyle O'Reilly worked on commentary for this match. The rules are basically no closed fists to the head and the match ends by submission or knockout. It's a little more than that, but that's the gist. Kozina is a training partner with Richards.

Richards hit a roundhouse to drop Kozina at the start. Kozina made the count and they worked like an MMA match. They got closer and traded palm strikes to the head and Kozina hit a Saito suplex. Davey made the count and they wrestled down to the flor. Davey hit a knee to the face and mounted Kozina, hitting strikes. The ref stopped for a TKO finish…[C]

Shore's Slant: Interesting concept. It would take some time for fans to get used to, but it could be something interesting long term. O'Reilly was very good on commentary with Cornette.

Prince Nana and the Embassy came to the ring. Nana introduced Princess Mia and his lawyer. He introduced his newest project, Tomasso Ciampa. Ciampa is a BIG dude by ROH standards, perhaps even bigger than Claudio Castagnoli…

3. Tomasso Ciampa (w/The Embassy) defeated Mike Sydal at 2:22. Ciampa hit a dropkick before the bell to start the match. He slammed Sydal into the turnbuckle and tossed him to the floor. Princess Mia ran over and beat the hell out of Sydal and then a Superkick in high heels. Wow. Sydal climbed back in the ring and hit a few kicks, but Ciampa hit a huge powerbomb for the win…

Shore's Slant: Ciampa looked pretty good, nothing terribly impressive except he's pretty agile for a big guy. I'm interested to see how he develops.

4. "The Prodigy" Mike Bennett (w/Brutal Bob) defeated Kyle O'Reilly to win the Top Prospect Tournament at 10:04. O'Reilly and Bennett mat wrestled to start with O'Reilly getting the best with a reverse armbreaker. Bennett made the rope and hit a dropkick. He went to the apron and drove O'Reilly into the turnbuckle. He tried for a clothesline, but Kyle kicked him to the floor. Kyle whipped Bennett to the railing and then hit a dropkick from the apron.

Kyle turned his attention to Bob and Bennett attacked from behind. They battled to the ramp and Bennett hit a DDT on the steel. The ref started the count and Kyle took 19 seconds to finally get back in. Bennett stomped a mud hole in the corner and worked the back.

Kyle flipped out of the rest hold and attacked Bennett with strikes and kicks. Bennett ducked one kick, but O'Reilly kicked him in the back of the head for two. Bennett came back with a spinebuster for a near fall. O'Reilly basically no sold it and came back with a kick to the head, followed by a missile drop kick for two.

O'Reilly jumped on Bennett's back and botched spinning around and fell. He managed to lock in the triangle choke, but Bennett flipped over for a pin attempt. O'Reilly kicked out and locked in a front guillotine choke. Bennett sold it for a while and the ref checked. On the third arm drop, Bennett stood up and hit a sidewalk slam for the win.

Post-match, Bennett cut a promo on winning the tournament and said he knew it all along, and the boys in the back knew it all along. He said the only person who didn't think he would win was Steve Corino. He told "the old man" to leave the wrestling to him and he wouldn't have to kick Corino's ass.

Corino stood up and Bennett dared him to get his walker and climb in the ring so he could show him. Bennett made several more old jokes while Corino climbed in the ring. They stood face to face and Bennett told him to keep his nose out of his business as the crowd started a "You suck" chant.

Corino said he wasn't there to fight, he was there to watch. He said he was wrong about picking O'Reilly. He asked Bennett if it would make him feel better and more of a man if Corino called him the Top Prospect. He said he wasn't going to do it because he warned Bennett about overconfidence. He said he wasn't there to fight, it was Bennett's moment.

Bennett said it was his moment and this was the year of "The Prodigy." Corino said 15 years ago he was just like Bennett. He said he wasn't as pretty or jacked up, but he was as big a asshole. He said nobody respected him now because of it and if Bennett wanted to be just like him, then he could go ahead and be so.

Bennett said he didn't want to be him, he wanted to be the Prodigy and for Corino to stay out of their business. Brutal Bob got in Corino's face and repeated it twice. Corino snapped and attacked both men. Bennett hit a clothesline on Corino and stomped on him. He and Bob worked over Corino and Bennett hit a side slam to leave Corino laid out in the ring…[C]

Shore's Slant: That was the best match I've seen Bennett in, and his mic skills have always been fair to good. I had some problems with the match. I didn't like the finish so much because it came out of nowhere, but in the wrong way. And I didn't like some of the no selling that both men did. ROH is notorious for that, and there is a way to do it right. But much like the ending, it was the wrong way. I'll have more to say tomorrow on the hitlist. Thanks for reading and I'll see you then.

Questions? Comments? Anyone, anyone? Let me hear from you. Email me at css3238@gmail.com or on Twitter @the_shore_slant with whatever is on your mind.

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