We kick off the show with a brief highlight package of the SCUM war ending and Nigel McGuinness saying there were casualties, most notably World champion Jay Briscoe. Briscoe was of course stripped of the belt and a tournament to declare the next champion was started. On this episode of Road Rage, we see both of the semi-finals from ‘Death Before Dishonor XI’.
All four guys, Adam Cole, Tommaso Ciampa, Michael Elgin and Kevin Steen make their cases as to why they will win the tournament and be the new champion.
ROH World Title Tournament Semi-Final
Adam Cole vs. Tommaso Ciampa
The crowd was chanting “This is awesome” within the first five minutes, and they were completely right. The two wrestlers started the match off fast as they both wanted to end the match as early as possible to get rest before the finals. They beat the crap out of each other throughout the match. Cole smartly focused his attack on Ciampa’s knee, while “The Sicilian Psychopath” threw out whatever he could to keep himself in the match. Cole eventually moved on to the finals by knocking out Ciampa while having the figure four locked in and getting the pinfall.
ROHWorld.com’s thoughts: I liked the ending because it made Cole look ruthless without hurting Ciampa much, if at all. This is my favorite tournament match that I’ve seen so far.
ROH World Title Tournament Semi-Final
Kevin Steen vs. Michael Elgin
This contest was a sharp contrast to the previous semi-final match as Elgin and Steen wrestles at a methodical pace. Not saying it wasn’t good, as it was, but it was a change of pace from what we just watched. It should come as no surprise that it wasn’t as good as their “Glory by Honor” match from last year, and it would’ve been foolish to expect it to be. Instead, they gave us a stiff and physical match like only they can deliver. There was a good bit of psychology during this match, too, as Steen’s shoulder was too injured during an earlier crossface, which meant he didn’t have the strength to life Elgin into the Package Piledriver. That played into the ending as Elgin once again locked in the crossface and Steen had no choice but to tap out.
ROHWorld.com’s thoughts: It was a good, hard-fought win for Elgin to send him into the finals of the tournament where he will face Adam Cole in what should be an awesome match. This was different to the other semi-final but sometimes different is good.
The ROH World Title tournament will come to an end next week on TV as we will see the final between Michael Elgin and Adam Cole!