Ring of Honor Wrestling on HDnet
Taped in Philadelphia, PA

The show opened with recaps of the Jerry Lynn piledriver incident from October 19th, and the Tyler Black fireball incident from more recently. The opening video played, and then there were Mike Hogewood and Dave Prazak in front of the green screen hyping the main event.

1. Eddie Kingston defeated Claudio Castagnoli in 8:15. Hogewood mentioned that Kingston is going to try and be like his rival, Chris Hero. After Kingston's entrance, Hero's music played and he came out and said he would like to see Kingston try and be like him. He took a seat in the aisle as Claudio came out.

Claudio started the match by slapping Kingston with a glove. Okay. Prazak admired Castagnoli's physique, and poked fun at Kingston's. He called Kingston a roughneck, which I'm surprised made it onto the broadcast since it's clearly a reference to a competitor of ROH (Kingston is a member of the Roughnecks stable in CHIKARA).

The two traded several slaps and uppercuts. Claudio teased the Giant Swing, but decided against it and hit a Samoan drop instead. He tried the bicycle kick, but Kingston caught him with a nice capture suplex. Kingston got a nearfall with a lariat, and then hit an elbow strike. Prazak noted that the elbow strikes were a trademark of Hero's.

Claudio got Kingston up for an airplane spin, spun him around, and then continued the spin with no hands. It was great with a smaller guy, but with somebody the size of Kingston, it was incredible. Claudio went for the Ricola bomb, but Kingston reversed into a huracanrana pin for a nearfall. Wow.

Kingston rolled to the floor, and grabbed a chair, much to the anger of Hero. As Turner put the chair back, Kingston pulled out Hero's green loaded elbow pad and knocked out Claudio with the Backfist to the Future after a brief strike exchange, then pinned him as Hero freaked out.

Joe's Judgment: Wow. This was one of the best eight minute matches I've ever seen. They told a great story with Kingston trying to be like Hero, and then using Hero's elbow pad. Kingston may not be the most athletic guy, but he tells a great story in the ring, and his promo skills are almost Jericho level. And the huracanrana he pulled off was awesome.

A Kenny King video aired. He talked about how he was a future champ...

2. The Briscoes vs. the Dark City Fight Club (Jon Davis and Kory Chavis) went to a no-contest in 8:25. Basic brawling for quite a while. DCFC missed a Hart Attack legdrop, then tried the same move again under a minute later and hit it. DCFC continued to work over Mark Briscoe, who made the hot tag to Jay around the six minute mark.

The two teams started brawling on the floor. Things broke down completely, and the Briscoes threw chairs at both DCFC guys causing the bell to ring. They continued brawling, with Mark Briscoe and Kory Chavis going into the crowd. The locker room emptied to break things up.

Joe's Judgment: After the greatness of the opening match, they follow up with this? Sigh. The match sucked. The brawl was only okay after it ended, because DCFC looked like badasses going up the ramp and jawing with the Briscoes.

Kyle Durden was backstage with Austin Aries. Durden said that Aries had to be worried because Tyler Black was coming back next week. Aries disagreed. He talked about tonight's main event, and recalled when he held the belt before, he and Cabana had a cage match, which Aries won... [C]

3. Kevin Steen and El Generico vs. The Set (J-Sinn and Lance Lude). The Set is one big black guy (J-Sinn), and one skinny white guy (Lance Lude). According to Hogewood, one guy looks like he eats a dozen donuts a day, and one guy looks like he just got out of a POW camp. They also wear furry boots.

J-Sinn and Steen traded shoves, before Steen tagged in Generico. Sinn tagged in Lude, who was laughed at by Hogewood. The Set hit some pretty cool double teams, all of which involved J-Sinn throwing Lude into Generico. Steen tagged in and Lude ran away. After Steen overpowered J-Sinn, Lude tried a crossbody, but Steen caught him, then powerbombed him, then Steenerico hit a Swanton and frogsplash on Lude for the pin.

Joe's Judgment: Hogewood buried the Set all match long. It was pretty funny to be honest. The match was quick and made Steen look like a badass. Nothing else really to be said.

4. Austin Aries defeated Colt Cabana in 14:00. Hogewood claimed that the biggest difference between Cabana and Aries was that Cabana enjoys life, whereas Aries is always unhappy. Prazak mocked Cabana's tights as Cabana controlled the first six or so minutes.

Aries dropkicked Cabana and after another minute or so of basic holds, went for his spinning elbow drop. Colt moved out of the way, then got up and nailed Aries with a sick elbow. He backed Aries into the corner and attempted the Flying Asshole, which Aries avoided. Aries went up top and yelled "Flying Asshole!", then missed a splash. Funny.

Colt caught Aries as he tried for the IED, then held him up in a fireman's carry as he climbed up the ropes, then dropped Aries on the turnbuckles. Innovative. He got a nearfall with that, then another nearfall with the Colt 45. He tried the Billy Goat's Curse, but Aries kicked him to ringside, then hit the Heat Seeking Missile and a brainbuster for a nearfall.

Cabana recovered and reversed a dropkick into the Billy Goat's Curse. Kenny King ran out, but was fended off by Brent Albright. The ref turned around to get them to go away, and while his back was turned, Aries tapped out. Then out came Rhett Titus, and broke up the hold. Aries then proceeded to kick Colt in the head, and lock in the Last Chancery for the tapout victory. Aries, King, and Titus celebrated up the ramp to close the show.

Joe's Judgment: The match was nothing more than you'd expect from these two. Still, they had me guessing towards the end. The show was overall sorta forgettable, and will be forgotten just a couple weeks from now, which sucks because the opening match was a gem. Not a bad hour, but nothing that will go on any end-of-year lists.

If there's anything you want to say about this show or wrestling in general, you can always email me at jtmathieson88@gmail.com.

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