Ring of Honor Wrestling on HDNet
Taped 5/30 in Philadelphia, PA

I missed the first roughly two minutes of the show, and got there just in time to see Claudio Castagnoli make his entrance, and a recap of last week's show's events involving Necro Butcher running off the Embassy air. Necro made his entrance immediately afterward.

1. Claudio Castagnoli defeated Necro Butcher in 8:00. Necro had the advantage early on, hitting a monkey flip, then a kick to the face, then teased a flip dive off the apron, but Claudio ran out of the way. Necro ran up to him from behind and ran him into the barricades. Claudio climbed back in the ring and tried a kick to the gut, but Necro caught him. Claudio begged him off, but then poked him in the eyes. He hit a European uppercut and several right hands.

Claudio maintained the advantage until Necro got an O'Connor Roll. Claudio kicked out, and tried a clothesline, but Necro ran right through it and then hit several right hands to the head of Claudio. Necro tried a chokeslam, but Claudio fought out and then Jimmy Rave ran out. Rave spit in Necro's face, then distracted the referee, allowing Claudio to hit a low blow (which caused Hogewood to have a seizure with anger) and roll up Necro for the win. Rave and Claudio double-teamed Necro until Brent Albright made the save.

Joe's Judgment: Slow, uninspired match with a dead crowd. The Embassy needs to do more than just run out there and beat up all the boring babyfaces and Colt Cabana. I like all the wrestlers in the group, Joey Ryan in particular, but ROH just isn't giving me a reason to care about them.

Footage aired of Austin Aries hitting Jerry Lynn with the title belt, and Hogewood pointed out that Aries was now the ROH World Champion...

2. MsChif (w/ Jimmy Jacobs) defeated Nevaeh in 6:00. Nevaeh held a headlock for a while, but then MsChif took over. She hit several kicks and stomps in the corner, and then locked in a unique submission that involved bending Nevaeh's leg backwards so that the bottom of her foot was parallel to her back. MsChif tried a Lionsault, but missed. Neveah got a nearfall after a sort of reverse neckbreaker over her knee. Jimmy Jacobs jumped up on the apron and distracted the referee, allowing MsChif to spit in Nevaeh's eyes and hit the Desecrator for the pin.

Joe's Judgment: Very solid women's match, with no botched spots. The finish was a little lame, but I can deal with it for what was a very tolerable match.

Colt Cabana and Brent Albright were standing behind the merchandise table for a segment called "The Art of Pro Wrestling". Cabana said it was an official show, because they had little microphones. Albright's was taped to his chest using duct tape. Colt asked Albright what they did with people who asked questions. Albright said "We punch them in the face." Colt said that they answered them, and they plugged rohwrestling.com and Rising Above and Caged Collision on DVD. [C]

Still photos from Austin Aries winning the ROH Title aired...

Ric Flair cut a promo, in which he basically said that ROH was awesome and treated him phenomenally...

Joe's Judgment: Maybe Ric should have returned the favor.

3. Kenny King (w/ Rhett Titus) defeated Kenny Omega in 10:00. Lots of fast-paced action early on. Omega knocked King to ringside and tried a baseball slide, but missed and allowed Titus to hold him for King to dive onto him. Omega returned the favor with a beautiful flipping dive of his own. Omega followed up the dive with a leaping elbow in the corner. King tried a cartwheel enzigiuri, but Omega caught him by the foot. Titus tripped up Omega and King took advantage. King hit a backdrop, setting Omega up on the top turnbuckle, and then hit a leaping kick to Omega's head.

King climbed the turnbuckle and tried a superplex. Omega pushed him down, but King landed on his feet, so Omega hit him with a crossbody, and followed it up with a running clothesline, a spinning crescent kick, and a neckbreaker for a nearfall. King ran up the ropes and Omega told him to stop, but King didn't listen and hit the cartwheel enziugiri and then a lariat for a nearfall. Omega hit a somersault elbow and climbed the turnbuckles, but Titus grabbed his leg, allowing King to set him up for and hit the Coronation. Omega kicked out at two, and King tried the Coronation again, but Omega reversed it into a rollup for two. King got a nearfall of his own with another rollup.

Omega ran into the ropes and was held by Titus. King tried a forearm, but Omega ducked, so King hit Titus. Omega capitalized with a SICK reverse huracanrana, and then the electric chair German suplex (Croyt's Wrath) for the pin. Post match, Titus and King beat on Omega until Erick Stevens made the save...

Joe's Judgment: Very fun match. These two are the future of ROH. Stevens and Omega could be a very interesting odd couple tag team, with Stevens being the no-nonsense power guy, and Omega being the goofy high flyer. And King and Titus are still awesome.

The announcers hyped next week's Tyler Black and Bryan Danielson vs. American Wolves match...

4. Eddie Kingston defeated Andy "Right Leg" Ridge in 1:30. Ridge got four kicks in, the last of which Kingston no-sold and hit the Backfist to the Future for the pin.

Joe's Judgment: I wish Kingston would appear more regularly on ROH events. He is a top five promo cutter in North America in my opinion, and pairing him with Hero for an extended feud would be great TV/DVD material.

Jimmy Jacobs cut a promo to hype his Fight Without Honor against Delirious next week. He said that now that everybody had left the Age of the Fall, he finally felt free...

5. KENTA defeated Roderick Strong in 13:30. They locked up early and KENTA grabbed a waistlock and then a headscissors. Strong escaped the headscissors with a kip-up. Strong backed KENTA into the ropes and feigned a clean break before trying a chop, but KENTA ducked. KENTA backed Strong into the ropes, and feigned a clean break before trying a kick, but this time Strong ducked.

Roderick and KENTA exchanged chops and kicks, respectively, and Strong won the exchange with a leaping leg lariat. KENTA knocked Roderick to a seated position, and then absolutely laid him out with a stiff kick. KENTA held a chinlock, and backed Strong into the corner and kicked him several times. He tried a running elbow, but Strong caught him and threw him. A chop battle ensued, with Roderick coming out on top. Roderick hit a backbreaker and an overhead suplex throw, and then got a nearfall with a dropkick.

Strong chopped KENTA in the corner, and then tried an Irish whip, which KENTA reversed. Dave Prazak called KENTA the "originator of the Go 2 Sleep", which I'm taking as a very subtle shot at ROH alumnus CM Punk. KENTA got a nearfall with several lariats, and then a top rope leaping lariat. He locked in an STF, but Roderick got out and hit an Irinagi backbreaker for a nearfall. He tried the gutbuster, but KENTA got out, hit several kicks, a springboard dropkick, a running Yakuza kick in the corner, and a hesitation dropkick leading up to a sitout powerbomb for a nearfall, and then a Basaiku knee strike for another nearfall.

KENTA tried the Go 2 Sleep twice, but Roderick escaped and hit a superplex for another near fall, then attempted the Stronghold but was unable to lock it in as KENTA got to the ropes. KENTA kicked Roderick to the floor, and tried a running knee strike, but Roderick countered it into a powerbomb onto the ring apron. He hit a gutbuster and a running single leg dropkick, and KENTA kicked out yet again. Strong tried the Gibson driver, and KENTA countered it into the Go 2 Sleep and got the clean pin.

Joe's Judgment: Great match from Mr. Reliable, Roderick Strong, and the Rock Star, KENTA. Strong seems like he's on the verge of a huge push, which is great because he's really on top of his game right now and is having good to great matches every time out. KENTA is always on top of his game and I have yet to see him in a bad match.

Overall a very solid show tonight. Everything served a purpose, and there wasn't really anything that was bad after the opening match. Somehow the thing I'm most excited about going forward is the potential Erick Stevens/Kenny Omega tag team. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next week.

Questions, praise, comments, suggestions, criticism, hate mail? Send it all to aik27joema@yahoo.com, and watch the Dot Net homepage in the upcoming days for a review of ROH Steel City Clash, from Pittsburgh, PA on March 20th. Also, follow twitter.com/jtmath if you want to get occasional thoughts on all things wrestling. If I get ten followers, I'll put up a picture of myself.

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