Read on for my thoughts on last night's ROH PPV.
Deep breath. We can get through this.
- Rush vs. White vs. Dijak vs. Kamaitachi:
ROH going with the old staple of wrestling: we don't know anything else to do with these guys, so let's throw them all in a match together. It's pretty much the norm for the X-Division.
It took no time at all to get to our first cutesy synchronized move of the night. Really, they need to just stop pretending these matches are wrestling and just have the crowd rate spots like they're dives off a high board. No one would have to sell or cut promos. Just go in there and do moves until the "This is awesome" chants stop.
At least Dijak is badass. I really hope he makes it to a bigger stage and makes more money.
Dijak destroying at least Rush and White would make my night. They could stop the PPV there.
Impressive spots by Rush and White, but both are just so generic as performers I can't bring myself to care at this point. After watching wrestling for 18 years, everyone starts to blend together no matter how good they are. Strong personalities are needed for me to get interested.
Rush is pretty much flippy create-a-wrestler. White is striking/hard-hitting create-a-wrestler
JESUS FUCKING CHRIST WHAT A MOVE BY DIJAK. He definitely doesn't "need" to pull out that kind of spot, but it's still really impressive.
Oh I'm all for Dijak getting a title shot. It's a shame he didn't get to take the title from Lethal.
- Silas vs. Shibata:
Nice start to this. I like Silas quite a bit, too.
This is a really weird position for Silas. He works better when the OTHER wrestler is the one trying so hard with dives and stuff.
Shibata is not taking any shit. I miss Ishii, but maybe this guy can kill generic guys in his place.
Silas is underrated beyond his Last Real Man gimmick.
That was impressive! I hope we see more of Shibata.
GENIUS post-match. Real respects real and all that.
- GoD/Takahashi vs. Yano/RPG Vice:
I wonder if WWE would be interested in the Guerrillas as a team given their "sign ALL the Samoans" approach to things.
I'm liking the psychology here so far. It mostly feels like an actual fight instead of a spotfest.
I'm liking Takahashi's intensity.
Good use of the turnbuckle pad.
Poor Yano...
And another stereo dive spot. I guess since they didn't have one in the last match, we had to see one here. I wouldn't put it beyond ROH to have had Silas and Shibata do one on the announcers or cameraman or something.
That was mostly good. Just an odd combination of wrestlers' styles.
- Bullet Club/Chaos fight:
That was actually really clever to set up the next match. ROH deserves a lot of credit for that.
- J. Briscoe vs. H. Page:
I love them killing each other right out of the gate.
Four straight matches with dive spots. Jesus Christ.
This is a war already! I'm loving it.
This is by far the most interesting and fired up I've seen Page. Good to see him showcased in this way.
This is absolute brutality.
That was going really well until the shooting star/superkick spot. It was cool and brutal, but broke the "this is a real fight with people trying to kill each other" vibe.
Pretty intense fight. Much better than the spotfests we usually see.
- Okada vs. Castle:
Fine start to things. I like following the big crazy war with something less serious. That's very smart.
I'm liking the back and forth from both men.
Castle's quite good. He's not just a fun gimmick.
HOLY FUCKING SHIT ANOTHER DIVE SPOT. Is this a rib? There are way too many dives in wrestling.
I'm really impressed with Castle's technical abilities. WWE, take note of this man.
Funny stuff overall.
Really good match. It was really nice to have a breather.
Solid post-match. ROH is doing a better job of putting together a varied card instead of everyone going hard doing similar things.
- Fish vs. M. Briscoe:
This is a fun combination of styles.
Some pretty impressive spots here.
Fish is generally pretty impressive. Just keep him away from the mic.
Really spectacular exchange of spots.
"Just do ALL the MOVES."
That was mostly solid.
- Addiction vs. Naito/EVIL vs. Elgin/Tanahashi:
I enjoy the heel work of the champs.
Elgin is one of my favorites. I wish we got to see him more in ROH.
Good teamwork between Elgin and Tanahashi.
Fun stuff with the heel duos not getting along.
Elgin's just incredible.
AND ANOTHER DIVE. FUCK.
This is a pretty gun brawl with everyone involved.
Michael Elgin should be at the top of WWE's "want" list once his current deal ends. Maybe NJPW will get The Big Guy and let WWE get Elgin.
That was a really exciting ending. Everyone played their parts well.
- Lethal vs. Cole:
Please don't feed someone else to Big Match Jay.
NICE heel move from Adam to start. Jay's a clear step down from him as a heel.
I love Lethal being really fired up. This should REALLY matter to him.
It's a little early to go for a table, but I can't say I'm surprised Jay's going this route. He's talented, but not top guy material.
Cole just totally outclassing him here. This isn't even close.
The mark of someone who's not a strong worker is relying on a lot of flashy spots to get a cheap reaction for athleticism instead of being a great babyface or heel. Six suicide dives in a row is really impressive from an athletic standpoint, but surely two would be enough to get the point across?
I'm really enjoying Cole here.
Smart heel moves using the ref.
And now we're seeing how many cool moves they can do. Less is more, guys.
This is just embarrassing. It's like a video game or exhibition of moves instead of a match. Way too many high-impact moves being kicked out of.
GOD finally. PHEW. Maybe now we'll see a change in ROH. It's been a LONG, uninspiring title reign.
- O'Reilly attacks Cole:
ROH is ADHD the promotion. Apparently the big title change was already old news so they needed yet another big move to end things. Kyle vs. Cole again should be good as far as 5,000 move matches go. Hopefully we get Cole vs. Cabana before then.
Another PPV with some really, really good stuff (Page vs. Briscoe), and an underwhelming Jay Lethal main event. At least there wasn't a Young Bucks match to drag things down even further.
More wrestling coming up.
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