Ring of Honor Wrestling on HDnet
Taped in Philadelphia, PA

The show opened with highlights from Jim Cornette announcing the Pick Six on December 7th, the Sonjay Dutt vs. Tyler Black match from the following week, Colt Cabana vs. Claudio Castagnoli the following week, and Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong last week.

The new opening aired, and Mike Hogewood and Dave Prazak hyped Omega vs. Hero for a spot in the Pick Six tonight, and took us to our first match, a rematch between Joey Ryan and Necro Butcher.

1. Joey Ryan (w/ Mr. Ernesto Osiris, Prince Nana) defeated Necro Butcher in 9:30. Necro's got a haircut tonight. It makes him look slightly crazier. The two brawled at ringside, and we were reminded that this was a no DQ match. Necro got a bit of plunder and basically just beat on Ryan until Osiris grabbed a chair and hit Necro with it.

Ryan controlled the action from that point, bringing the action back in the ring and setting up a chair. He put Necro's foot on it, then went up to the top rope to doublestomp it, but Necro kicked him.

Ryan threw some white powder in Necro's eyes, and grabbed a chair. Erick Stevens ran out to make the save, but then turned around and hit Necro with the chair. Grizzly Redwood ran out and Stevens lariated the crap out of him. He hit a running chair-assisted forearm, and Ryan pinned Necro for the win. Afterwards, Stevens German suplexed Redwood for good measure.

Joe's Judgment: Finally some direction for Stevens. He should be great in his role as the Embassy's monster. I could see him and Stevens being the tag champs at some point in the not-too-distant future.

Tony Kozina made his entrance...

Footage aired from Final Battle of Kevin Steen turning on El Generico. They censored out the unprotected chairshot. Kyle Durden asked Colt Cabana what he thought about being caught in the middle of the situation. He said that he'd been friends with Steen and Generico for a long time, and thought Steen had been getting a better attitude after the Ladder War at Glory By Honor. He just wanted to know "why, Kevin, why?"

2. Colt Cabana defeated Tony Kozina in 4:30. Lots of Colt's patented comedy-Lancashire style. Kozina mounted some offense with a couple kicks and a springboard bulldog. At one point, Prazak compared him to Ric Flair. After some more quick offense from Kozina that seemed to make no difference, Colt locked in the Billy Goat's Curse and got the win.

Joe's Judgment: Decent squash greatly improved by some entertaining banter between Hogewood and Prazak. I can't believe how much better Hogewood has gotten.

A recap of last week's Eddie Kingston attack in the locker room aired. Kyle Durden was interviewing Kingston, who told him to leave. He yelled at the production guy who tried to wrap him up. He said that only cowards attack from behind, and it had to have been Chris Hero, because Hero is the biggest coward in the locker room. He said it wasn't over, because Hero couldn't get over the fact that Kingston beat him... [C]

3. Kevin Steen defeated Alex Payne in 2:35. Steen dominated. Strikes, cannonball, etc. Payne hit a Diamond Dust out of the corner, but Steen powerbombed him, hit his pump handle neckbreaker over the knee, and then gave him the package piledriver. He covered him, but then stood up and locked in the Sharpshooter for the tapout win.

Joe's Judgment: Even though this was taped before Steen turned, he still managed to work very strongly heel while technically a face, and the announcers treated him like a heel. Interesting. Sort of.

Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe is next week. A quick interview with them was shown, in which they spoke Delawarese. Both basically said they'd been fighting for a long time, and that they would win.

4. Kenny Omega defeated Chris Hero (w/ Shane Hagadorn, Sara Del Rey) in 15:00. A graphic aired promoting what looked like "Justin" Liger vs. Austin Aries for ROH's LA debut on January 29th. It could have been Jushin, but it looked much more like Justin to me. Anyway, they exchanged some holds, and Hero hit a few elbows.

Hero maintained his advantage with his standard kicks and elbows. He hit a few more of his strikes, including a sick Yakuza when Omega was lying on the bottom rope and Hero was on the floor. At about 7:00, Omega hit a couple Polish Hammers and a kick to the face, then an elbow strike in the corner and a crossbody for a nearfall.

Hero got a nearfall after a release suplex and another after an elbow strike. Omega got one with a huracanrana and release dragon suplex. Hero avoided a spin kick, and elbowed Omega in the back of the head, knocking him to ringside. Hero followed and set up a chair. Omega hit his legdrop bulldog onto the chair, then set Hero up and ran all the way from the back of the arena to hit a running double knee strike. It looked awesomer than it sounds.

Omega hit a 2K1 bomb, but Hero kicked out, to the surprise of the crowd, Omega, and Mike Hogewood. He went for Croyt's Wrath, but Hero got down and hit his ripcord elbow. Omega kicked out, and when Hagadorn went up to ringside to talk to the ref, Hero put on his loaded gold elbow pad. Omega ducked an elbow shot and rolled up Hero for the win and a spot in the Pick Six.

Joe's Judgment: Slow match at the start that really picked up as it went on. The two spots on the outside with the chair were incredible, the legdrop bulldog onto the chair edge in particular. Decent show overall. Nothing was really bad, but then nothing was fantastic either. Hero vs. Omega was a fresh main event, and while I've seen better, it was unique. The best part of the show, though, in my opinion, was the Eddie Kingston promo. The man is simply a fantastic talker.

Any comments on the show or this review can be directed to jtmathieson88@gmail.com.

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