Ring of Honor Wrestling on HDnet
Taped in Philadelphia, PA

Joe's Judgment: Sorry for being a bit late this week. I moved back into college last week and I'm watching this via Slingbox instead of on TV. I had some trouble early on and it's still a little buggy, but I'm here and watching the show.

1. Delirious defeated Sonjay Dutt. Midway through the match, Dutt hit a flipping back senton and went on control. He locked in a camel clutch and then lifted Delirious up into a Musclebuster for a nearfall.

Delirious went into the ropes and dumped Sonjay to the floor. He hit the Panic Attack in the corner and then tried Shadows Over Hell, but Sonjay rolled out of the way. Delirious got a nearfall with a backslide, but Sonjay got free and tried a complex pin combo, which Delirious countered into a rollup for the win.

Joe's Judgment: Pretty good match. I wasn't high on Dutt in ROH when he was announced, but what I've seen from him has been great and I've changed my mind.

2. The American Wolves (w/Shane Hagadorn) defeated Cheech and Cloudy in 2:30. Cheech and Cloudy got some quick offense, but missed a couple dives and landed on the concrete floor. From there on out it was all Wolves, getting the win after Richards powerbombed Cloudy onto a lungblower from Edwards, and following it up with a single leg cross crab from Edwards to tap out Cloudy.

Joe's Judgment: The Wolves looked like badasses here, but I don't like C&C being used as jobbers. They're pretty talented for such small guys (Cloudy is 5'5") and if they were booked credibly could be another force in ROH's stacked tag team division.

Post match, the Dark City Fight Club came out and hit their powerbomb/neckbreaker combo on Cloudy and got a face reaction for it. Um, okay.

Team Cabana cut a backstage promo with Cabana playing the general and Brent Albright, Grizzly Redwood, and Necro playing his soldiers. Cabana asked them if they were ready, and Albright said "Hoo-Rah!" a bunch of times. Cabana finally turned it into a promo and called out Nana and the Embassy...

3. Erick Stevens defeated Silas Young in 5:30. Young held a headlock for a while until Stevens dumped him on his head with a suplex. Silas got a bit of offense with some knees in the corner, but Stevens quickly took over, with chops, a second rope shoulder block, and then caught Young coming off the second rope with a Samoan Drop for a nearfall.

Silas countered the Doctorbomb into a rollup for a nearfall, then got a nearfall with a backbreaker/clothesline combo. However, his offense was short lived once again, as Stevens hit the Choo Choo and then the Doctorbomb for the pin.

Joe's Judgment: Not a bad big man match, but it didn't feel like it meant anything. Stevens is talented, but putting him against a semi-regular like Young seems like a waste.

4. Colt Cabana, Brent Albright, Necro Butcher, and Grizzly Redwood defeated The Embassy (Jimmy Rave, Claudio Castagnoli, Ernie Osiris, and Prince Nana) in 19:40. Osiris started off by getting beat up by first Necro, then Redwood. Castagnoli tagged in, as did Necro, and Castagnoli grabbed an abdominal stretch, helped out by his teammates. The ref saw it and broke it up, and Necro botched an abdominal stretch of his own, but Castagnoli sold it like it was legit. Necro grabbed Albright's hand, Albright grabbed Grizzly's, Grizzly grabbed Cabana's, and Cabana grabbed the hand of a guy in the front row, much to the anger of Dave Prazak on commentary.

Castagnoli finally got out of the abdominal stretch and brawled to the floor. Everybody took turns hitting dives, culminating with an Asai moonsault from Cabana. Redwood tried a dive of his own, but Osiris caught him in a powerbomb and pinned him for the elimination. Cabana went for the Colt 45 on Osiris, but Claudio caught him with a bicycle kick. Claudio worked over Colt for a while, before Colt tagged in Albright. Albright went to town on the heels, and ended up brawling with Castagnoli all over the place, resulting in both being counted out and eliminated.

Rave and Necro were the next to square off. Rave hit an STO on the apron and set up a chair at ringside. He placed Necro's ankle in the chair and allowed Osiris to hit a flip dive onto Necro's ankle, then tossed him in the ring and forced him to tap out to the heel hook.

The match is now down to Cabana vs. Rave, Osiris, and Nana. Rave got a quick rollup on Cabana for a nearfall. Cabana taunted Nana at ringside briefly, allowing Osiris to jump him with a sleeper from behind, which Colt reversed and then hit the Colt 45 for the pin and the elimination. Rave entered and Cabana destroyed him, getting a nearfall with the Flying Asshole. Rave kicked out, and Cabana tried to lock in the Billy Goat's Curse, but Rave sent him into the ropes, then locked in the heel hook. Cabana sent him into the ropes, but Rave rebounded with a spear for another nearfall.

Rave sent Cabana into the corner, then charged him, but Cabana jumped up and did some sort of a bodyscissors takedown into a victory roll to eliminate Rave. Nana was taunting the crowd, and the camera switched to him as the ring announcer said that Jimmy Rave had been eliminated. Nana freaked. Awesome performance. Nana entered the ring reluctantly, and fell prey almost instantly to the Flying Asshole and then tapped out to the Billy Goat's Curse for the final elimination.

Joe's Judgment: The in-ring work wasn't all that special, but this was still a fun main event because of the participants. They could have played up the Necro-Rave and Albright-Castagnoli feuds a bit more, but they focused on the comedy a bit and it was a nice change of pace for the Embassy. Colt is awesome for his ability to get the crowd involved. And while having one man beat three may seem like a poor booking move, keep in mind that Osiris is the Embassy's footstool, Nana isn't a wrestler, and Colt only beat Rave via rollup.

Nice to be back covering ROH after a couple weeks off. By the way, NFL preseason games are horrible live if you don't like either of the teams and have nobody there to talk to. You can contact Joe Mathieson at jtmathieson88@gmail.com. See you back next week.

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