ROH on HDNet
Taped in Philadelphia, PA

[Q1] Footage was shown of last week's four way match for the ROH Championship in which Jerry Lynn retained the belt by pinning Bryan Danielson. Mike Hogewood and Dave Prazak welcomed us to the show and A Double, Austin Aries came out to the ring...

He was greeted with "Austin Asshole" chants. Aries said he fooled people into thinking he was a young upstart, but the reality of the situation is that he was a well seasoned and well traveled veteran. He said the fans always want more and he always gave it to them. However, he is going to stop giving and start taking.

A Double said he was the brightest star in ROH and nobody beat him in the title match. He said he could not be beaten. Despite some people not liking his methods, Aries does things for himself and not the fans. He said Jerry Lynn does things for the fans and the people deserved a charismatic champion, so Lynn needed to come down to the ring and hand him the ROH World Championship.

Aries concluded the promo by saying if Lynn was not going to face reality, he would take reality and knock Lynn upside the head with it...

Twill's Two Cents: Minus a couple of flubbed words, very nice promo from Aries. He was correct too in saying he is the charismatic champion the fans deserve. Imagine Aries with the belt (no spoilers here just in case) and Tyler Black chasing him? That would be a very entertaining championship feud.

Backstage, Kyle Durden interviewed Shane Hagadorn and Chris Hero. Hero said the "HD" in HDNet stood for "Hero Dominates" or "Hero Destroys." He said he would take care of Jerry Lynn tonight...

Hogewood and Prazak made their first on screen appearance. Prazak said Ric Flair has officially stepped down as the ROH Ambassador and the news was first broken on ROH's Twitter page. Both men thanked Flair, wished him the best in his future endeavors, and said Flair would still make all scheduled appearances...

Twill's Two Cents: Classy move by Prazak and ROH.

1. Jay Briscoe (with Mark Briscoe) defeated D'Lo Brown by countout in 4:59. Hogewood incorrectly stated D'Lo is making his first appearance in ROH. Prazak corrected him by saying it was his first appearance on HDNet. Briscoe controlled the very early going until D'Lo hit a huge closeline to turn the tide of the match.

D'Lo hit a brainbuster for the first nearfall. Briscoe regained the advantage after countering another closeline and driving D'Lo into the turnbuckle. Jay hit a superkick and DVD for a nearfall. D'Lo retreated to the floor to regain his composure. However, he purposely decided not to reenter the ring and was counted out...

[Q2] Immediately after the match, Jay took the mic and told D'Lo to admit if he was scared. He offered him the chance to come back to the ring and stop being a little bitch. D'Lo came back to the ring but elected not take Briscoe up on his offer...

Twill's Two Cents: Jay looked good and D'Lo looked very slow. Obviously a weak finish but it could lead to more down the road, especially when Mark comes back. Unspectacular opener.

Footage was shown of the American Wolves defeating Steen and Generico two weeks ago for the ROH World Tag Team Championships. In my opinion, this was one of the two best matches in the short history of this show, with Danielson vs. Black II being the other. Speaking of those two, they will team up and face the Wolves for the belts in two weeks...

2. Kevin Steen and El Generico defeated Silas Young and Bobby Fish in 5:44. Young and Generico traded offensive maneuvers early on. Fish tagged in and scored a couple of nearfalls on the generic luchador. They tagged in and out while keeping Steen out of the match. Generico tried to run the ropes with a wrist lock and missed the rope. Of course, he was greeted with "You f---ed up" chants.

Steen finally tagged in and hit an awesome Swanton onto Fish. Young broke up the fall. Generico knocked out Young with a running kick. He then hit one on Fish as well. They followed up with the cradle piledriver/brainbuster combination for the easy three count...

Immediately after the match, Kyle Durden interviewed the former champions. He asked where they go from here. Steen asked what was up with Durden's hair (he has a mohawk). Steen gave the basic, "we're getting our titles back" promo, but did a nice job with it...

Twill's Two Cents: Solid match. Give credit to Young and Fish as they worked hard even though it was obvious this was Steen and Generico's "get back on the horse" match and victory. Steen and Generico are still one of my favorite acts in ROH.

A match graphic aired featuring tonight's main event of Jerry Lynn vs. Chris Hero. Hogewood said we would also meet the crown jewel of The Embassy, Jimmy Rave... [C]

[Q3] Mike and Dave welcomed us back to the show and Hog finally pointed out Dave's hair being brown again. Prazak said since Hogewood compared him to Bobby Dempsey, a change needed to be made...

Durden interviewed Jerry Lynn backstage. Lynn put over the difficulty of the four way match. Nigel McGuinness comedically interrupted the promo. Nigel shook Jerry's hand but pretty much heeled him. Jerry offered Nigel a rematch once he was healthy...

Prince Nana cut a promo to introduce the crown jewel of The Embassy, Jimmy Rave. It was funny because he called him a "sellout." He meant that Rave has sold out arenas all over the world, but it was funny. Rave used Ernie Osiris as a footstool to get into the ring...

3. Jimmy Rave (with Prince Nana and Ernie Osiris) defeated Grizzly Redwood in 1:37. Rave dominated from the opening bell minus a couple of bright moments for Grizzly. Jimmy hit Ghana-rrea for the win...

After the match, Rave locked in the heel hook on Redwood. Necro Butcher made the save...

Twill's Two Cents: Nice to see Rave back in ROH. By the way, is "Ghana-rrea" the best or the worst name of a move in the history of professional wrestling?

Hogewood announced KENTA vs. Roderick Strong as next week's main event...

The announcers mentioned Jerry Lynn being booed despite retaining his title in the big four way match last week. Prazak wondered if the pressure of being champion was getting to him...

4. Jerry Lynn defeated Chris Hero (with Shane Hagadorn and Sara Del Rey) in a non-title match in 16:54. Lynn scored a few quick nearfalls in the opening minute. He then began to work on the arm. The match pace slowed down a bit as both men tried to wear each other down.

[Q4] Lynn rolled up Hero for a two count, but Hero jumped right up and hit a big kick to Lynn's head. Hero followed up by utilizing his power to keep Jerry grounded. Lynn picked up the pace and hit several moves off of the ropes. He then hit a bulldog from the middle rope for a two count.

Lynn went for the cradle piledriver, but Del Rey distracted the referee, allowing Hagadorn to pull Lynn to the floor. Hero missed a dropkick to the floor and Lynn hit a running somersault plancha. Hero rose first, walked the guardrail, and hit a big forearm.

Back in the ring, they exchanged pinning combinations before Hero nailed him in the back of the head with a rolling elbow for a two count. Lynn hit a tornado inverted DDT for a two count. With both men on the ropes, Lynn, tumbled to the floor. Lynn rolled back into the ring and Hero scored another two count.

Hero tried his own cradle piledriver but Lynn countered. Hero hit two rolling elbows and scored another two count. Del Rey threw him the loaded elbow pad. He put it on, tried a rolling elbow, and missed. Lynn applied a small package and won the match...

A Double hit the ring and knocked Lynn out with his own belt. He taunted him and put the belt over his shoulder as the fans chanted "Austin Aries." ...

Twill's Two Cents: This was a tale of two matches. The early to middle part of this match was forgettable, but the end was very good. I don't like Hero's haircut and ring gear, but he can definitely go in the ring. I loved Aries laying out Lynn as the show went off the air.

What did you think of the show? As always, you can let me know by shooting an email to dotnetrich@gmail.com.

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