This week’s show begins with brief highlights of the ROH World Title match at the ’11th Anniversary Show’ as well as the aftermath which saw the evolution of SCUM.
We then go to the ring and Nigel McGuinness is standing in the middle of it with a majority of the roster on the apron. Nigel says shit just got real and the future of the company is being threatened. He says they won the battle but have started a war that ROH is willing to fight. He says there are credible contenders to Kevin Steen and singles out Adam Cole. He promises Cole a World title match and then says his match with Matt Hardy will be a #1 contender match for the ROH World TV title. Nigel then says BJ will also get a title shot and makes a match for ‘Supercard of Honor VII’. Michael Elgin will face Jay Lethal with the winner getting a World title shot. He also promises both Briscoe brothers a title shot as well. Nigel says SCUM have been banned from the building this week but will be in action next week.
The American Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) vs. ACH & Tadarius Thomas
ACH and Davey begin the match and trade some nice technical holds before TD and Eddie get tagged in. The Wolves begin to take control as Eddie hits TD with a superkick on the apron before Davey hits a running kick of his own. TD takes some more punishment but finally tags in ACH who cleans house. Big crossbody off the top gets him a two on Davey. ACH hits a slingshot cutter on Davey for two and then knocks him out of the ring with a dropkick. TD then hits a back handspring into a moonsault on Eddie as ACH hits the Air Jordan on Davey! ACH hits a reverse hurricanrana on Davey but then gets hit with a diving headbutt from Eddie. Alarm Clock by Davey on TD and then hits the tombstone piledriver but TD stops the count. With TD out of the ring, the Wolves hit a powerbomb onto the knees combo for the victory.
ROHWorld.com’s thoughts: The crowd chanted ‘that was awesome’ and it certainly was. About as good a TV match as you’ll see. Plenty of exciting action and some great double team moves. The team of ACH and TD looked great together and ACH is quickly becoming an ROH favourite. The Wolves looked great as always and picked up a win to give them momentum into ‘Supercard of Honor VII’. A fantastic start to the show.
BJ Whitmer vs. QT Marshall w/RD Evans
Evans distracts BJ to begin with and Marshall hits a clothesline to take advantage. Big DDT from Marshall gets him two but BJ begins to fight back and hits a big boot for two. BJ hits a flatliner to Marshall before hitting repetitive knees to the head and Todd Sinclair has to end the match.
ROHWorld.com’s thoughts: This was basically just a squash match designed to make BJ look like a legitimate threat. It managed to achieve that so the job was done.
In this week’s ‘Inside ROH’ we take a look back at the fallout of the ’11th Anniversary Show’. We see how Matt Taven shocked ROH by winning the World TV title. We also see brief highlights of how reDRagon won the ROH World Tag Team titles. We now hear from Jay Lethal who says he’s not going to complain and it’s the great wrestlers who get back up after defeat. He says he’ll beat Elgin and get another title shot. reDRagon then speak with O’Reilly saying they will end the hunt for good. Davey Richards says they’re nothing until they beat the top dogs which is the American Wolves. Eddie says the Wolves are tag team wrestling and reDRagon are just fresh meat to them.
Back to the ring now as Truth Martini is joined by Matt Taven and two hoopla hotties for Hoopla Uncut. Martini says ROH is a television company so Taven is the most important champion and more important than Kevin Steen. Martini asks Taven what it’s like to be the champion, he says actions speak louder than words and proceeds to whip it out. By that, I mean he whips out the ROH World TV title as the hoopla hotties look impressed. Martini then asks the hotties to take their pants off as Caleb Seltzer goes a bit Jerry Lawler on us and the segment swiftly ends.
Roderick Strong vs. Jay Lethal
Nigel is on commentary and says if Roddy wins tonight, he’ll get an ROH World title shot. Quick start to the match as Lethal hits the cartwheel into a dropkick for two. Strong evades a dropkick attempt from Lethal and hits a backbreaker to take control. He locks in a submission before hitting a number of chops which only seem to fire Lethal up. Lethal Combination by Lethal sends Roddy to the outside and he follows that up with a suicide dive. He goes to the top for the Hail to the King but Roddy cuts him off and then hits a running knee and a forearm before Lethal fires back with a superkick followed by another one. He goes for the Lethal Injection but Strong catches him and hits a backbreaker for two. Strong Hold locked in but Lethal gets out of it. Strong goes for the Gibson Driver but Lethal escapes and then hits the Lethal Injection for the victory.
ROHWorld.com’s thoughts: Another good TV match on this show that managed to build Lethal back up after his loss to Steen at the ’11th Anniversary Show’. It was maybe a bit short for such a big-name contest but they managed to pack a lot of stuff into it. Roddy unfortunately doesn’t seem to be going anywhere and it’ll be interesting to see what’s next for him. A good match to end a really entertaining show.