Kevin Kelly welcomes us to the show and hypes the matches on the show. Truth Martini is on commentary with Kelly and Caleb Seltzer.
Top Prospect Tournament
Matt Taven vs. ACH
This should be awesome. It’s the final first-round match in the tournament. The two wrestle to a stand-off after exchanging a series of fast-paced moves. Taven sends ACH to the floor with a springboard dropkick, and then flies over the top rope onto ACH. Taven hits a moonsault for a two-count. ACH hits a scissor kick with Taven’s head between the ropes. ACH hits an awesome looking flip over the top where he used the middle rope as a springboard. ACH connects with a short DDT for a two count. Taven responds with a spinning kick for a two count of his own. He goes to the top, but ACH cuts him off. ACH hits a rope-assisted flipping kick to knock Taven off the rope, but he didn’t connect cleanly. Tavens answers back with a rope-assisted neckbreaker and follows it up with a frog splash to pick up the pinfall and advance in the tournament.
Winner by Pinfall: Matt Taven
ROHWorld.com’s Thoughts: That match was a lot of fun. It was just two wrestlers going out there and flying all over the place, and when it’s wrestlers the caliber of Taven and ACH, it makes for an entertaining contest. I’m glad to see Taven back and I hope we get to see more of ACH in the future. These two guys could be major players in Ring of Honor.
Nigel McGuinness is in the ring and introduces ROH World TV Champion Adam Cole and Matt Hardy. McGuinness says both Cole and Hardy asked for a match against each other. He says he will not give Hardy a title match because Hardy had to kick Cole in the nuts to beat Cole. He will give Cole a match against Hardy, and it will not be for the ROH World TV Title because Hardy has to earn the title by beating Cole clean. Hardy declines the offer because he has nothing else to prove. Cole says he has no problem putting the belt on the line, and he insists the next match is for the title. McGuinness says he’s the match maker and what he says goes. Hardy says his credentials speak for themselves and he deserves a match for the TV Title and says McGuinness is jealous of him because McGuinness hasn’t had the career Hardy has. Cole says McGuinness has put more into Ring of Honor than anyone and has earned everyone’s respect. Cole says he’ll give Hardy a reason to fight him without the title on the line and punches Hardy in the face. They brawl until security breaks them up.
It’s now time for this week’s Inside ROH. They run down the Top Prospect Tournament brackets. Truth Martini puts over each of the remaining wrestlers in the tournament. Martini takes his pants off and says he’s giving the Hoopla Hotties what they’ve been waiting for. Kelly hypes the Cincinnati house show main event between S.C.U.M. and Adam Cole, Michael Elgin and Davey Richards. Cole, Elgin and Richards say they will defeat S.C.U.M. Team Am-Fishin’ say they’re going to send the Briscoes back to the chicken farm broken and defeated after the “11th Anniversary Show.”
The Briscoes and Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander are in the locker room getting hyped for the main event.
Athena vs. MsChif
Veda Scott joins the commentary team for the match. Athena hits a springboard crossbody for a two count, but MsChif responds with a unique-looking gutbuster. MsChif connects with a standing moonsault for a near fall. MsChif throws Athena face-first into the bottom turnbuckle and stomps repeatedly on her head. Athena fights MsChif off and hits a a diving stunner off the top rope that she calls the O-Face. That was pretty cool looking. She goes back to the top but MsChif cuts her off. MsChif ties her up in the ropes and hits a Pepsi Plunge-type move called the Obliteration to pick up the victory.
Winner by Pinfall: MsChif
ROHWorld.com’s Thoughts: This match started off pretty sloppy, but got decent by the end. The problem here is that ROH gives us no reason to care about the match. MsChif shows up sporadically at best, and has average matches. They’re building her up as unstoppable, but why should we care? Ring of Honor has no Women of Honor division, and unless they fully commit to one, matches like this are just a waste of time.
S.C.U.M. (Kevin Steen, Steve Corino, Jimmy Jacobs & Rhino) vs. Cedric Alexander, Caprice Coleman & The Briscoes
Jay Lethal joins Kelly and Seltzer for this match. All eight men brawl around ringside immediately after the bell rings. Nobody stays in the ring more than a few seconds before going back to the floor to brawl. Jay Briscoe unloads a series of jabs on Corino in the ring. This match is finally settling into a match as the show goes to commercial.
Back from the break and S.C.U.M. is in control over Jay Briscoe. They are in full control working over Jay. He catches Steen charging at him in the corner, and drives Steen’s head into the middle turnbuckle. Jay tags in his younger brother, who comes in with some Redneck Kung-Fu. Rhino stops Mark’s momentum, but Coleman takes Rhino and Corino out with a dropkick. The match breaks down even more as everyone but Steen is on the floor. He goes to the top and somersaults onto everyone on the floor. Alexander hits Steen with a great-looking springboard tornado DDT, but Jacobs breaks up the pinfall. Jacobs and Corino hit their finishers on a Briscoe, and and Rhino hits the Gore on Coleman. Steen finishes the match with a Package Piledriver on Alexander.
Winners by Pinfall: S.C.U.M.
ROHWorld.com’s Thoughts: This was very disappointing. There was too much chaos and brawling around the outside for my taste. And the action of working over Jay Briscoe wasn’t the most exciting thing to watch. Once Jay made the hot tag, things picked up, but it was mostly a mix of guys hitting random moves, even though the Steen somersault was cool. The ending fell flat and the crowd didn’t seem to care. Overall. this was a disappointing way to end the show.