ROH on HDNet
Taped in Philadelphia, PA

[Q1] The opening video aired. Mike Hogewood and Dave Prazak welcomed us to the show. They plugged tonight’s main event of Davey Richards vs. El Generico. Even more important, according to Prazak, was the in ring return of Mark Briscoe...

1. Claudio Castagnoli and Jimmy Rave (with Prince Nana and Ernie Osiris) defeated Colt Cabana and Brent Albright in 8:23. The heels attacked Cabana and Albright before the bell rang and had control early. Claudio scored the first nearfall after a gutwrench suplex. I could have done without his tights, which looked like jeans that were five sizes too small.

Castagnoli and Rave continued to work over Albright. Colt finally tagged in and hit a series of moves on both opponents. He hit a lionsault for a two count. Albright tagged back in and the face team took the advantage. Albright locked in an armbar, which Hog referred to as an “arm block.” With the referee distracted, Nana gave Albright a low blow. Claudio hit the Riccola Bomb for the win...

After the match, Claudio stomped a chair into Albright’s head. Necro Butcher came out but it was too little too late...

Twill’s Two Cents: Surprisingly bad match given who was involved. The heels were on the offensive for pretty much the entire match and then scored the fluky win. Not a great way to start the show.

Kyle Durden interviewed the American Wolves backstage. Davey Richards said he was pissed off and confused. He was pissed off that the attention they should be getting is instead being given to Mark Briscoe’s return. He was confused as to why El Generico would want to get in the ring with him. Eddie Edwards said the hunt was on...

Footage was shown of the history between Nigel McGuinness and Tyler Black. They will face each other on next week’s show...

[Q2] Silas Young cut a promo on Delirious and all of ROH...

2. Delirious (with Daizee Haze) defeated Silas Young in 6:44. Solid chain wrestling and counters by both guys early on. Silas went to the floor and grabbed Haze. When Delirious came out to her aid, Silas attacked him. They continued to go back and forth. Delirious won the match with the panic attack and Shadows over Hell...

Durden interviewed Delirious in the ring after the match. He cut a Zombie-like promo and headed to the back...

Twill’s Two Cents: Very solid match that unfortunately, the crowd just sat on their hands for. These two worked well together but the fans just don’t have any reason right now to care much about either guy.

Footage was shown of the American Wolves defeating Kevin Steen and El Generico for the ROH Tag Team Championships...

A graphic hyping Mark Briscoe was shown...

The announce team let everyone know the show is moving to Monday nights. Hogewood shouted “Slap the porpoise.” ... [C]

Twill’s Two Cents: Slap the porpoise is just as bad as “Jamaican me crazy.”

[Q3] Jay Briscoe came out to the ring to introduce his brother. Mark was met with a “Welcome back” chant...

3. Mark Briscoe defeated Alex Payne in 4:14. Briscoe showed off the healthy knee early with a spinning heel kick off of an Irish whip. He followed up with a northern lights suplex with a bridge for a two count. Payne hit an impressive monkey flip and a reverse neck breaker before Briscoe regained the advantage.

Payne took out the knee and followed up with a leg sweep. He locked in a submission on the bad knee/leg but Briscoe was able to get to the ropes. Mark came back and set up Payne for a superplex. He hit the ace crusher and powerbomb for the win. After the match, both Briscoes shook Payne’s hand...

Twill’s Two Cents: Fun match that showed Briscoe is at or close to 100%. He moved around well and Payne was a good opponent for him because he bumped around well for Briscoe. Glad to see Mark back and what they do with both Briscoe brothers going forward.

4. Davey Richards (with Sara Del Rey, Shane Hagadorn, and Eddie Edwards) vs. El Generico (with Kevin Steen) ended in a no contest in 9:53. Generico opened the match with a huge kick to the head and scored a two count off the bat. Richards bumped like a pinball. Generico hit a somersault plancha onto both Wolves on the floor.

Davey finally gained the advantage with a closeline at the three-minute mark. Predictably, the heels used their numbers advantage when Richards distracted the referee. Davey hit a beautiful snap suplex and missed a top rope headbutt. Generico hit two closelines and a backdrop.

[Q4] This is hard to even explain, but on the floor, Generico dove through the corner between the middle and bottom ropes, grabbed Davey, and hit a DDT. Awesome. Back in the ring, Generico hit a Michinoku Driver for a very nearfall. Davey quickly took out Generico’s bad knee.

Richards scored a nearfall after a German suplex. The fans chanted “Ole” for Generico as Richards worked him over. Generico regained the advantage and set up Richards for the top rope brain buster. Eddie Edwards attacked Generico. Kevin Steen attacked Edwards. The referee threw the match out...

The four men brawled and the locker room emptied out with midcard guys. Sara Del Rey took a copule of shots. I think we got a shot of Bobby Dempsey’s tighty whiteys. The brawl went all over the arena and correctly focused on the Wolves and Steen and Generico. Generico made his way back to the ring and Steen joined him to end the show...

Twill’s Two Cents: Very enjoyable match until the weak finish. Technically, Generico should have won by DQ because he was attacked first. Nonetheless, Richards is awesome. He has a great look, great moveset with speed and power, an in-ring resemblance to Dynamite Kid and Chris Benoit, and his facial expressions are awesome. He is one of the top five most believable heels in all of wrestling right now.

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

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