1/19 ROH in Milwaukee: Kevin Steen vs. Michael Elgin vs. Roderick Strong vs. Eddie Edwards in a Defy or Deny match, Davey Richards vs. Kyle O'Reilly, Matt Hardy vs. B.J. Whitmer

ROH live event
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Report by Dot Net reader Chad Bublitz

1. Adam Cole pinned Silas Young. An okay hometown pop for Silas, good reaction for Cole who was very over by the end of the match. Both men participated in a postmatch handshake. Great opener that got the crowd hot.

2. Bobby Fish (w/Kyle O'Reilly) defeated Tadarius Thomas by submission. An okay match with a lot of chain wrestling. Fish won by submission with a leg lock.

3. Charlie Haas pinned Rhett Titus. Before the match Haas cut a promo about ditching Milwaukee just like Prince Fielder and drew a lot of heat. Nothing special here though.

4. Steve Corino, Jimmy Jacobs, and Rhino defeated The Briscoes and Jay Lethal. A wild six-man tag. Rhino was shown some love by the Milwaukee crowd, but the Briscoes got a bigger reaction. Corino cut a sleazy sex-oriented pre match promo. Jacobs really didn't do much in the match besides ham it up with the fans; it was almost all Corino getting beat down by the Briscoes and Lethal until Rhino pinned one of the Briscoes after a Gore.

5. Matt Hardy defeated BJ Whitmer after Rhett Titus threw in the towel. Man, has Hardy lost a few steps. A slow match that just seemed to drag on. Hardy had a ton of go-away heat and won by putting Whitmer in a guillotine and holding on until Titus came out to throw in the towel.

Nigel McGuinness came out to stop Whitmer from attacking his partner for throwing in the towel, and Hardy cut a promo about how he deserves Adam Cole's TV title. Cole came out and a pull apart brawl ensued when Hardy tried to kick him in the nuts again. Hardy got the upper hand and ran out with the title.

6. Davey Richards pinned Kyle O'Reilly. A fantastic match that the crowd was ridiculously hot for. Richards and O'Reilly did their typical alternating chop/kick/slap spots and it looked absolutely brutal from the third row. Too many near falls to count, and the crowd ate them all up. Richards won with multiple head kicks to a kneeling O'Reilly. Post match, he was helped to the back, still selling the head injury.

7. Kevin Steen defeated Michael Elgin, Roderick Strong and Eddie Edwards in a Defy or Deny match. This one is tied with Richards vs. O'Reilly for match of the night. All the men bumped their asses off in this one. Some of the spots included Steen delivering both a powerbomb and package piledriver to Edwards on the apron, Edwards throwing Steen off the apron onto the ramp, and Elgin performing his many feats of strength including the minute long stalling vertical suplex, picking Steen up from the mat and delivering a powerbomb and a German suplex, and Samoan dropping Steen while giving Strong a fallaway slam. Elgin was eliminated first, much to the dismay of the Milwaukee crowd which loved him throughout. Strong was eliminated second, and Steen finished off Edwards.

Post match, Steen called out the annoying guys (and there were a lot of them) who were throwing bottles and cans in the ring, and go figure, they backed down. All in all, a great event for my first ROH show, well worth the $30 ticket. The return date is July 12.