By Chris Shore

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ROH 10th Anniversary live on iPPV on GFL.tv
From the Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, N.Y.

The show opened with Nigel McGuinness and Kevin Kelly in the ring. They seemed to be unaware that the stream was live, and then you could hear a producer say to cue Kevin. Kelly and Nigel put over the show and its significance. They setup videos from the TV show of ANX talking about the opening match, but the audio was mostly of the live crowd...

1. All Night Express defeated Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team at 13:34. Benjamin and Titus started. Haas took a swipe at Titus, allowing Benjamin to take quick control. Titus fought back and tagged in Kenny King. The crowd chanted "This is wrestling" for a hammer lock. I shit you not.

Benjamin hit a low blow right in front of the referee and Paul Turner let it go. Haas tagged in and mauled King. Haas flipped off the crowd as they chanted for him to have relations with himself. Titus tagged in and hit a running neckbreaker. Benjamin ran in and ate a boot from King. Both men rolled to the floor and ANX hit tandem flipping suicide dives on the floor.

Back in the ring, Haas shoved King which got the ref involved. Benjamin sneaked in behind Titus and kicked the back of his injured knee. At least that's what Nigel told us, somehow the camera team missed it. Please don't let this be as bad as the last PPV. Haas worked the leg and dragged Titus to the corner. Benjamin hooked a figure four leg lock on the post and then tagged in.

Benjamin and Haas continued to work the leg with several Titus hope spots in between. King got the hot tag at 10:28. He took Benjamin out with an enziguri and ran the ropes. Haas blew the leap frog which got the crowd chanting again. Titus tagged back in and worked both men as King watched. King tagged in and he worked both men. Titus clotheslined Haas over the top, and Kenny King reversed a powerbomb lift from Benjamin into a rollup victory...

Shore's Slant: Good opening match. The final minute was sloppy and uninspiring, but that's all bad that can be said about it. Perfect match to get the crowd hot. It's hard to see the crowd, but it doesn't look or sound like a full house. In fact, it sounds like a relatively small crowd compared tot he last time they were hear.

Nigel waxed on and on about his match with Bryan Danielson (a/k/a WWE's Daniel Bryan). A graphic showed the participants of the next match, followed by ring entrances by Mike Bennett, Maria, and Brutal Bob. Bennett and Maria made out and the crowd chanted for CM Punk. Bennett cut a promo about the crowd being jealous and they chanted for him to STFU. Homicide ran out to start the match...

2. "The Prodigy" Mike Bennett (w/Maria and Brutal Bob) defeated Homicide at 10:50. Homicide attacked and Bennett escaped to the floor.. Bobby Cruise introduced Homicide at that point and Bennett dragged Homicide to the floor. Homicide went on the attack and bit and slammed Bennett all over the floor. Todd Sinclair finally got them in the ring.

Kelly pointed out this was the first time Sinclair had been assigned a Bennett match since the controversial Bennett vs. Lethal match. Homicide hit an exploder suplex and Bennett rolled to the floor. Homicide went for a dive, and Brutal Bob jumped in the way. Bennett slammed Homicide into the barricade to take control.

Back in the ring, Bennett worked his methodical style with a drop kick and spine buster. Bennett ripped Homicide's Yankee shirt off and wiped his ass with it. That got Homicide worked up and he hot an ace crusher. They traded blows and Homicide hit a bridging powerbomb for two. He hooked on a STF, but Bennett elbowed out.

Bennett went for a superplex. Homicide fought back and went for the Cop Killa from the second rope. Bennett backdropped Homicide to the mat instead. Bennett climbed down, and Homicide hit a slam. He called for the GTS and hit it on Bennett. Maria went nuts and tried to get in the ring to get him. Brutal Bob held her back and Bennett grabbed Homicide from behind for a roll up victory. Post match, Homicide had the crowd chant for the Yankees and thanked them for letting him come back for the 10th Anniversary...

Shore's Slant: Fun match and perfect ending. You can't put Homicide over in an one off with a guy who has all the potential in the world, and yet you don't want to kill the fans who are excited about seeing Homicide. Well booked.

CHIKARA Grand Champion Eddie Kingston was introduced and he came to the ring for an interview with Kevin Kelly. Kelly put over the "Synergy" event the two promotions will do in Chicago. Eddie said it was great to be in New York and in ROH. He started to call out Davey Richards, but Eddie's wolf howl hit, followed by Kevin Steen's music and Steen came to the ring.

Steen asked Eddie when he became a bitch. He took a moment to embarrass a fan and then said he remembered Eddie being in ROH before Jim Cornette took over. He said he knew Eddie really wasn't happy about being there, and that they should join forces and destroy CHIKARA and ROH. Eddie said he didn't want to destroy ROH or CHIKARA, he loved CHIKARA. Steen called CHIKARA a Mickie Mouse promotion. Eddie told him he would slap his "f-ing" mouth off his "f-ing" face.

Steen attacked Kingston and they brawled until security pulled them apart. Kingston was pulled from the ring, and then the Colony from CHIKARA rushed the ring and attacked Steen. Steen was pulled from the ring and one of the ants did a dive and the brawl continued to the back...

Shore's Slant: Wow, that was well done. I popped big for the Colony coming out. This could be a shot in the arm for both companies in the long run.

3. The House of Truth (w/Truth Martini) defeated TJ Perkins and Amazing Red at 11:09. Strong shook Red's hand, but blew Perkins off. Strong and Perkins started. They traded arm bars and Perkins hit a drop kick. Strong tagged in Elgin, so Perkins tagged in Red. Red tried to shake hands but Elgin just looked at him. Elgin tossed Red around from lockups, so Red hit a dropkick to the knee and then several to the head. Strong ran in took a flying head scissor from Red.

The ref got guys out and Perkins and Elgin were the legal men somehow. Elgin tried to toss Perkins over the top, but Perkins landed on the apron. He tried for a sunset flip back in the ring, but Elgin caught him and hit a powerslam for two. Perkins tried for a tornado DDT in a hope moment, but Elgin stopped it and spun him around for a great backbreaker.

Strong tagged in and hit a back breaker of his own for two. Elgin knocked Red down and they double teamed Perkins. Perkins moved in the corner and String hit Elgin instead. He got the tag to Red and Red came in a house of fire. He hit a tornado DDT on Elgin and a kick that knocked Strong to the floor. Elgin charged at Perkins and Perkins pulled the rope down. Red dove on Elgin, but Elgin caught him, so Perkins dove on them both. Perkins and Red climbed back in the ring and dove on Strong and Truth on the opposite side of the ring. The match collapsed into a string of moves from all four men. Red hit a sunset bomb on Elgin that Strong broke up. The finish came on a combo backstabber on Red from Elgin and Strong...

Shore's Slant: Holy crap, that was great! Seriously, go way out of your way to see this match. I have never been a big fan of Red or Perkins, but they may have changed my mind in one match. Awesome action. For those mad I didn't give more detail about the last two minutes of the match, watch it and you'll understand. They were all over the place. And Elgin looked great with the smaller guys.

4. Tomasso Ciampa (w/The Embassy Ltd) fought Jay Lethal to a time limit draw in a ROH Television Championship match at 15:00. The match started with the typical ROH reversal and stare down gimmick. Lethal took control first and hit a dropkick on the apron that spilled Ciampa to the floor. Lethal dove for him but hit Barrister Evans instead. Ciampa took advantage and hit a clothesline and then slammed Lethal on every barricade on the floor.

Back in the ring, Ciampa whipped Lethal. Lethal tried for the Lethal Injection, but Ciampa hit a dropkick to the face instead in a nice spot. Ciampa worked a slow and methodical style that included lots of head shoving and trash talking that Nigel pointed out was a bad idea. Ciampa let Lethal stand and they traded chops in the middle of the ring. Ciampa drove Lethal into the corner and hit three running knees, but Lethal popped up and hit a superkick on the fourth.

Lethal worked his offense run and hit the back spring elbow. He went to the top for the Hail tot he King elbow. Ciampa ran up and tried for the Kryptonite Crunch from the top, but Lethal escaped, shoved Ciampa off, and hit the elbow. Ciampa rolled to the apron and Lethal fought him there. Lethal took a SICK looking Kryptonite Crunch on the apron with two minutes to go.

Both men slid in on 19 with one minute to go. Lethal hit the Lethal Combination. The Embassy goons jumped on the apron and Lethal knocked them all down. Princess Mia got his attention, but Lethal pulled her dress up which made her drop down. He turned and attacked Ciampa in the corner and hit several chops and strikes until the time limit expired. Lethal asked for five more minutes. Ciampa attacked him from behind and hit Project Ciampa instead. He grabbed the TV title belt and the Embassy fled the area. Lethal recovered and ran to the back to get his belt...

Shore's Slant: That match had a tough act to follow, and it suffered some for it. Ciampa's pace was odd considering how big of a deal the announce team made about it. You just knew we were going to get the time limit draw. I didn't dislike the match, it just went on in a tough spot and the wrong guy won. ROH desperately needs a heel champion to help build babyface stars.

***Intermission***

During intermission, they showed clips of various big moments in ROH history. They had the audacity to put the match that setup this show's main event in, which is an insult to those moments that were actually big. Video comments from the tag champs and challengers...

5. The Briscoes defeated The Young Bucks to retain the ROH World Tag Team Championships at 13:11. The Bucks attacked before the bell, but the Briscoes sent them to the floor. They battled all over the floor with the Briscoes getting the best. The Briscoes worked over Matt Jackson in the ring with Redneck Kung Fu and shoulder tackles.

The early part of the match was mostly Briscoes with their high impact strikes and slams, but the Bucks hit several superkicks, including one that split Mark Briscoe's lip. Mick hi a 450 splash on Jay as Matt held Jay in the ropes. The Bucks went for More Bang for Your Buck, but Jay got the knees up on Nick's splash and Mark shoved Matt to the floor. The Briscoes hit the Doomsday Device for the win...

Shore's Slant: Good match that was hard to cover because it was mostly strikes and superkicks. Plus I got an important phone call right at the beginning that threw my rhythm off. Nevertheless, a fun match that is worth seeing.

A video recapped Jimmy Jacobs challenging Steen to the next match. Ring entrances occurred and Steve Corino came out with Jimmy Jacobs. Corino cut a promo and said this has gone on too long. He said Steen beat his ass all over Final Battle and he hasn't been able to continue since. He said ROH wasn't about Steen and it was time to move on. The crowd chanted for Steen and Corino said their cheers would bring the company down.

He said he and Jimmy talked about it and there would not be a match. Steen snatched the mic out of his hand. He said the old Corino would have punched him in the face for grabbing the mic, but now he crosses his arms and sulks like a girl. He started to say more, and Jacobs attacked him from behind. Corino asked Jimmy what he was doing, and Jacobs took off his robe to reveal he was wearing his old Age of the Fall gear, including the bloody coat from when they strung Jay Briscoe up. The fight spilled to the floor and the bell rang...

6. Kevin Steen defeated Jimmy Jacobs (w/Steve Corino) in a no disqualification match at 14:55. Corino got on the headset and said that he and Corino agreed this wouldn't happen. Jacobs went around throwing chairs in the ring and attacking Steen. They battled around the ring and then back into the ring. Steen hit a code breaker through a chair to take control. The fight spilled back to the floor and down the aisle. Steen climbed on top of a barricade, but Jacobs tossed him off onto the ramp.

Jacobs dragged Steen to the ring, but Steen shoved him into the post. Steen hit him with a chair across the back. He took some of the barricade apart, even dragging some poor woman to the ground, and slammed Jacobs on two of them. On the third, Jacobs reversed into a DDT on the barricade.

Jacobs put Steen in the ring and setup a table on the floor. He tried to suplex Steen from the ring tot he floor, but Steen dragged him back in the ring and tried to powerbomb Jacobs through the table. Jacobs escaped and they spun tot he floor. Steen hit two apron powerbombs and then went for a thid on the table. Jacobs anded on the apron instead, hit the far ropes, and then speared Steen off the apron onto the table.

Back in the ring, Jacobs setup two chairs and went for sliced bread, but Steen shoved him off onto the chairs. Steen went for a top rope senton, but Jacobs got the knees up. Steen stood in the corner, and Jacobs pulled the spike out of his boot. He charged at Steen. Steen moved and Jacobs stabbed the spike into the turnbuckle. Steen hit an F5 for two. He setup two chairs in the ring, back to back, and lifted Jacobs. Jacobs slipped out, grabbed the spike, and stabbed Steen in the head.

Steen went to the mat and bladed. Jacobs looked at the spike horrified. He continued to just stand there as Steen recovered. Steen looked at him and smiled. He punched Jacobs in the nuts and then hit Jacobs with the F5 on the chairs in a BRUTAL looking spot. Post match, Steen grabbed the spike and put it in Jacobs's belt and walked away. He wrote something in blood on Jacobs's shirt and left the ring as Corino checked on Jacobs...

Shore's Slant: That was better than I thought it would be, but I don't really get the story they were telling there. I mean, I understand Jacobs "embraced the hate" and then changed his mind, but I don't get why. It just plays funny to me. The match was brutal, but in a more controlled way than I thought it would be. This has been a very good show, but I have one complaint. None of these matches feel special. They have been fantastic to watch, but nothing makes me want to tune into the next TV show from a story standpoint. And that's a failure this company can't afford.

Ring entrances occurred for the main event, and they gave it old school introductions like it was a title match. Ugh...

7. Adam Cole and Eddie Edwards defeated Kyle O'Reilly and Davey Richards at 39:35. The code of honor was observed, and Cole and O'Reilly started. Before they locked up, O'Reilly tagged out. Eddie wanted to tag in, but Cole wouldn't, so Eddie tagged himself in. Before they could lock up, Cole tagged himself back in. GET ON WITH IT!

Cole and Richards locked up and backed into the corner. Davey broke clean and they went to an arm bar sequence that had one very loud guy chanting boring. Davey and Adam mat wrestled while Kevin Kelly put over that "Only ROH would give young guys a main event spot." He even referred to the "wheelchair league" in his rant. Hey Kevin, the wheelchair league isn't in danger of getting shut down. How about worrying about your own family first.

Both men tagged out just because and Eddie and Kyle overworked a test of strength until Kyle hit some headbutts. They did the monkey flip gimmick from the test of strength and then traded submission reversals before standing and staring again.

Cole and Richards tagged back in and Davey hit a drop kick. He tagged in O'Reilly and O'Reilly missed a kick to the head so that these two did the stare down bit. Cole hooked a head lock on O'Reilly, but O'Reilly hit a back suplex and tagged in Richards. Richards worked a trailer hitch until Cole made the ropes. Richards whipped Cole to the corner and charged. Cole got the feet up and tagged in Richards. Richards hit several chops for two and tagged Cole back in.

Cole hit a suplex with a float over for two. He tagged Eddie, and Eddie knocked O'Reilly to the floor. Richards hit a cool combo rollup and German bridge combo that scored a nearfall on both Cole and Edwards. Richards hit a back suplex again and tagged O'Reilly. O'Reilly hit a supe back suplex for two and then rolled into the cross arm breaker. Edwrads reversed into the Achilles' lock. O'Reilly reversed into a crossface. Eddie rolled him up for a two count.

They traded chops and kicks in the middle of the ring, and O'Reilly hit an egoplex for two. O'Reilly hit the ropes and Eddie hit a sick lariat. Cole tagged in and hit a flying clothesline. They traded shots in the ring and Davey tagged himself in on a blind tag. O'Reilly took out Eddie and Davey hit a sit down dropkick for two.

Richards locked in a submission hold and O'Reilly ran in and pulled on Davey to add leverage. Richards mouthed off to Eddie and tagged O'Reilly in. O'Reilly was in for one move and tagged Davey back in. Cole and Davey traded forearms until Davey hit a kick. He screamed, "It's over boys," and tagged in O'Reilly.

Kyle face washed Cole with his boot in a clear heel move that Nigel pointed out. O'Reilly hit the three butterfly suplexes and hooked the cross arm breaker. Davey ran in and took out Eddie and C ole almost rolled O'Reilly up for the pin. My feed choked for a moment and when I got it back, Cole and O'Reilly were down and Eddie hit a fisherman buster on Richards for two. The crowd has died for this match.

Eddie and Adam hit dropkicks that knocked both their opponents to the ground. Eddie tossed Cole over the top on both men, and then Cole held them for Eddie to hit a springboard moonsault. Back in the ring, Eddie hit the chin breaker, followed by a Cole splash for two. Eddie hit a throw for two and Davey started fighting back.

I again lost my friggin feed, and when it came back, Eddie and Davey had their opponents in single leg crabs facing each other and traded blows. They dropped the holds and their opponents hit back suplexes on them both. Cole and O'Reilly traded blows in the middle of the ring, and then Cole clotheslined O'Reilly over the top rope. O'Reilly had a scary fall as his arm got caught up in the rope.

Eddie and Davey took each other out with suplexes and tagged both their partners in who had made it back to their corners. Cole and O'Reilly traded blows and then Eddie and Davey ran over so that all four guys suplexed each other over the top rope. Everybody made it back to the ring and battled. Davey kicked Cole in the corner and looked at Eddie. Eddie chopped O'Reilly and looked at Davey. They ended up hitting rapid kicks and chops on their respective men until both guys were down.

Davey and Eddie faced off in the middle of the ring and traded kicks and chops until Davey hit a clothesline that apparently took him out too. Cole and O'Reilly did their face off moment and traded Brogue kicks and German suplexes. O'reilly threw his mouthpiece out and hit several slaps on Cole. Cole hit a superkick for two and tagged in Eddie.

Cole took out Davey and Eddie hit a codebreaker on O'Reilly, followed by a backstabber from Cole for a near fall that got no response. Eddie botched some move off the top rope and he and Cole hit superkicks on O'Reilly. Davey broke the count. O'Reilly tossed Eddie over the top rope and tagged Davey. Davey kicked Eddie from the apron and O'Reilly hit a dropkick onto the chair on Eddie. Davey hit two top rope double stomps on Cole for two.

Cole and Edwards came back and hit a combo superkick and german with a bridge for two on Davey. Eddie hit a top rope ranna and a combo powerbomb/backstabber that O'Reilly broke the count on at 37:00. Cole hit a tornado DDT on the timekeepers table on O'Reilly that took out both men. Davey worked the ankle lock on Davey three or four times in a row. On the last one, Eddie reached out and tagged Cole in the corner. Cole went tot he top and hit a cross body on Richards for the win.

Davey called for a microphone. Davey started to speak and then stopped. He knelt on one knee and said congratulations. Adam knelt down and shook Davey's hand, and then Davey shook Eddie's. Cole offered his hand to O'Reilly. O'Reilly snatched the mic away and said he didn't shake the hand of anybody he respected. He said he didn't respect Eddie and he damn sure didn't respect Cole.

Davey started to say something when Kevin Steen interrupted. He told Davey to shut up, it was Kevin Steen time. He said he wished he had a Colt 45 so he could "shoot" Davey. He said "Young Wolves Rising" as the worst title ever. He said Cole and O'Reilly were cute, but they weren't the future, he was. He said the main event should have been Steen vs. Richards for the title.

He said a lot of people thought Davey was scared, but he knew better. Davey wasn't scared of anyone, but Cornette was. He said that Davey was the one guy who could change Cornette's mind, and until he did, Steen would be Davey's personal nightmare. He called him a jiujitsu bitch and then said it was trending worldwide. O'Reilly left the ring first, and then everybody but Davey did to end the show...

Shore's Slant: The match itself had some cool moments, but it went about 15 minutes too long. A lot of the last 20 minutes was contrived double team spots that the crowd didn't react all that much for. Speaking of the crowd, I don't know if they were burned out from the Steen match or if they just didn't like it. I tend to think the latter because they got hot for Steen at the end, but I can't say for sure. I know this was my least favorite match of the night.

Overall this was a very entertaining show. The first six matches were wild and the main event had its moments. The problem still remains though. Only the main event, and really only the post match events (O'Reilly and Steen), make me want to tune into see more. There was no continuing drama in any match, with the possible exception of the TV title match. Everything else felt finished when it was over. Where's the hook? Still for $10, I have to recommend the replay for the wrestling itself. I'll have more later in the member's audio review and tomorrow on the ROH 10th Anniversary hitlist. Thanks for watching along with me tonight.

Questions? Comments? Anyone, anyone? Let me hear from you. Email me at css3238@gmail.com or tweet me @TheShoreSlant with whatever is on your mind.

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