Shore's ROH Showdown in the Sun Combo Hitlist: The best and the worst from both ROH iPPVs this weekend, including Davey Richards, Michael Elgin, Tomasso Ciampa, iPPV problems and more

By Chris Shore

ROH Showdown in the Sun Hits

Davey Richards vs. Michael Elgin: Do not adjust your monitors, I put a Davey Richards match first. And with good reason. If you see nothing else from these two shows, see this match. Michael Elgin announced his arrival to the top of the ROH card, and Davey worked a style that I found much more appealing than normal. The match was not perfect, as I pointed out in my report, and I thought Davey's post-match promo sucked heat off the finish (which compared to the rest of the match was lame), but it was still a great match. We're only three months through the year, but this will be remembered come December when the Match of the Year conversations start.

Kevin Steen vs. Eddie Edwards: When I interviewed Eddie this week, I told him this match was the one I was most looking forward to. That wasn't blowing smoke up Eddie's ass, and the match lived up to expectations. In fact, this was match of the weekend until Elgin and Richards put on an instant classic. That match is still the one you have to see, but if you got time for a second one, this is the one to catch.

Mike Bennett vs. Lance Storm: OK, if there are three matches you have to see, this is the third. I promise I'll stop there, but you really should see this match, especially if you are one of the fools that thinks Bennett can't wrestle. Yes, Storm is a ring general who can carry just about anybody, but he didn't do any heavy lifting here. Bennett more than held his own, and he may have the brightest future of anyone on the ROH roster. And adding the beautiful Maria to your act certainly doesn't hurt.

Kevin Steen vs. El Generico: This was a brutal street fight that used the stipulation to its fullest without becoming garbage. The Jimmy Jacobs run in left me a little flat, but mostly because I'm not a big fan of Jacobs. It made sense and gave Generico a match for the second day, but I wanted Steen to look strong both days. He's the next ROH champions, or at least should be, and while he doesn't need the wins from a heat point of view, I like his act better when he's alone. Other people muddy it. Still, the match itself was very good.

Adam Cole vs. Adam Pearce: I'm not the biggest Pearce fan in the world, but he was very good here and he and Cole gave us a fun, if short, match. I don't understand why ROH is suddenly giving all these other promotions air time on their PPVs (NWA, CHIKARA), but this was at least entertaining, unlike the Fire Ant vs. TJ Perkins match. Cole has real potential and I look forward to what they do with him next.

Tomasso Ciampa: Ciampa only wrestled one match this weekend, and it was basically a glorified squash, but there's something about the guy that just screams "star" to me. His promo before costing Jay Lethal the TV title was well done, and he is starting to prove he really doesn't need the Embassy around him, even though they are a nice touch. Keep your eye on this guy.

ROH Showdown in the Sun Misses

iPPV Technical Problems: I'm not going to beat a dead horse here, but this has to be mentioned on any list that addresses misses this weekend. Night one brought an audio/video synchronization issue that made the show down right unwatchable with the sound on. I spent the second half of the show on mute, which really takes away from the experience. The second day brought a brown out that cut the feed twice, resulting in the loss of two matches.

The brown out was legit. I heard from people in the Ft Lauderdale area that there were weird power issues all over the place during that time, so that was more bad luck than anyone's fault. What is absolutely their fault is the failure to address the issue appropriately on the broadcast and Internet. The reason why ROH (and the others) come to wherever WrestleMania is and put on shows is because they know the demand for wrestling is the highest that weekend, and more people will be looking at their product. What those extra people saw was not only a poorly run event, but one that wouldn't even address its mistakes and seek forgiveness. The result is, many of those people will not forgive.

Roderick Strong wins the TV title: This miss has nothing to do with Strong. It could have been any wrestler taking the title from lethal and I would have called it a miss, and I say that after weeks of begging ROH to take the title off Lethal. There is only one person who should have won that belt, and that's Tomasso Ciampa. He is in the middle of a very good feud with Lethal, and it was centered around that title so much that Ciampa ran off with the belt. Now the belt is gone, so why continue the feud? Poor booking decision on this one, even if it did lead to the second ever Triple Crown winner.

Red Ant vs. TJ Perkins: Before anyone gets in a huff about me calling the CHIKARA match a miss, let me remind you that I think CHIKARA is probably the best of the "big indys" and have enjoyed their product the most over the past eight to ten months. This match is a miss not because ROH brought in CHIKARA, but because it was a spot fest, and not very good one. I've always been hit or miss with Perkins. The guy is a great athlete, but he seems to be missing that elusive "it factor." Red Ant is a great character, but all the Ants seems out of place when not together in the Colony. Even the live crowd didn't seem impressed with this match. I know I wasn't.