By Chris Shore

ROH Wrestling on SBG stations
Taped in Baltimore, Md.

[Q1] A video showed highlights from the Final Battle match between Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards, including Kevin Steen's promo at the end...Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuiness opened the show in the ring. Kelly put over Davey's win and said there was a shakeup in the tag division with new champions. He said they would show footage later of the title change, and the injury to Rhett Titus at the hands of the Young Bucks.

Nigel took over and said Titus had to have surgery and would be out for months. He hyped the main event of Kenny King vs. Matt Jackson with both men's partners in their corners...Mike Mondo and Eddie Edwards both cut pre-match promos. Mondo acted crazy, and Edwards put me to sleep...

1. Eddie Edwards defeated Mike Mondo at 5:40. The tale of the tape said Edwards was only a pound lighter than Mondo. That might be the funniest thing I've heard all week. Edwards took quick control and tied Mondo into the Tree of Woe. He hit a dropkick in the ring and then went to the floor. Further proving that ROH hired a TV crew that knows nothing about wrestling, Edwards had to wait for a camera man to move so he could hit another dropkick to the head from the floor.

Mondo fought back and worked the arm Eddie hurt years ago. Eddie tried to chop his way out, but Mondo brought a leg up so Eddie chopped the leg. That was neat. Eddie continued to fight back with chops and did his series of chops in the corner. Mondo hit an arm breaker and the crowd chanted "We got spirit," referring to Mondo's time in the WWE Spirit Squad gimmick. Mondo put Edwards on the top rope and climbed up, but Eddie shoved him down and hit a double stomp from the top. He followed with Die Hard for the win...Kelly hyped the Briscoes for next...[C]

Shore's Slant: It's been a while since I covered ROH for the site due to a number of reasons, so let me take a moment and congratulate ROH for vastly improving the production value, and for Nigel McGuiness growing more comfortable on the headset. Also, the set in Baltimore looks great.

That said, I still have some minor gripes. Neither Mondo nor Edwards were identified with a graphic during their promos. They were once ring introductions started, but that's too little too late for ROH. WWE can get away with it because millions of people see their stuff each week. ROH is still growing their audience and needs to give as much information as possible.

The match between Edwards and Mondo was decent, but boring overall. Nobody considers Mondo a threat to Edwards, so this should be an enhancement match. Instead, they gave it more time than it needed and tried to get Mondo over with some offense. They failed to do so because the psychology just isn't there. Good work, but a poor idea.

The announce team hyped the main event and then setup a video that recapped the WGTT vs. Briscoes at Final Battle. They showed many of the chair shots, but cut them at impact and turned it to black and white as some sort of "censorship" I guess.

WGTT cut a pre-tape promo and said they made a rookie mistake by allowing the fans to get in their heads. Haas said it cost them their tag titles. Benjamin trashed the Briscoes YouTube videos and Twitter and said the NY fans were stupid enough to fall for it. Haas said they were fined $5000 for their actions before the match. Benjamin complained that the fans turned on them for doing what they said they would do. Haas said they were wrestling's greatest tag team, and anybody who didn't believe it could go to hell.

Jim Cornette did his weekly peacock strut promo, also a pre-tape, and said the fans cheered the Briscoes because they wanted to, as is their right. He said with all the research done on concussions in sports, ROH would not allow anybody to hit people over the head with chairs. He sad he fined WGTT $5000 and that would be the automatic fine in the future for anyone hitting someone over the head with a chair...

Shore's Slant: I'm trying really hard not to through my laptop through the screen. Cornette is so full of crap. There were two matches with unprotected chair shots to the head, yet only one fine, and I can about promise it's a kayfabe fine. I won't rehash my anger and frustration here, but Cornette insulting my intelligence makes me want to.

Cornette was in the ring and introduced the Briscoes. Jay interrupted Cornette's first question to ask who got the $5000. Jay said since they were the ones that got hit with the chairs, they should get the money. He added that since they weren't cosmetically pleasing" Cornette could have the whole locker room come out and hit them in the head with chairs and they would have a good retirement fund.

Shore's Slant: RAGE!

Cornette asked about the challengers to their tag titles. Mark said they were like ducks on a pond, line them up and they'll knock them down. Jay took the mic from Cornette and said if anyone was coming for the title, they better man up. He got the crowd chanting "Man up" to end the segment...[C]

Shore's Slant: I cannot believe they let Jay glorify the chair shots. Unbelievable. Same incoherent promos we always get from Dem Boys. I know it entertains, but they can't get any more over than they are, so start trying to get other guys over.

2. Roderick Strong (w/The House of Truth) defeated Ricky Reyes at 4:16. Both men shook hands and Truth joined the announce team. Reyes took quick control and Nigel told Truth to shut his mouth and concentrate on his guy. Strong slipped out of a corner splash and hit a backstabber in the ropes.

Reyes came right back and hit a spinning back elbow. He hit a DDT from the knees for a two count. Strong hit a kick and charged for a clothesline. Reyes ducked and rolled Strong up. Strong rolled through and hooked the tights so much they had to blur Reyes's ass for the win...[C]

Shore's Slant: This match was much like the first match, except Reyes got in more offense and that made it more believable than the Edwards match. No real doubt that Strong would win though, so still not great stuff. This has been a rather sleepy episode.

The "Inside ROH" segment featured Kevin Steen cutting a promo about hurting Steve Corino, Jimmy Jacobs, and El Generico at Final Battle. Steen said this was just the beginning for him. He said he would be returning to ROH TV in two weeks. He trashed Cornette and cussed when talking about Davey Richards. He promised to hold the promotion hostage until he got what he wanted.

The segment continued with Prince Nana, RD Evans and Tomasso Ciampa backstage. Nana talked about the Embassy and Evans interrupted to say that the focus was on Ciampa now. He said his contacts in the business world led to someone buying into the Embassy, so they were now a multinational corporation and Ciampa was their money maker.

The final segment hyped the 10th Anniversary Show on Sunday March 4, and that the iPPV would be only $9.99. Kelly also hyped the WrestleMania weekend shows and the price of $19.99 for both shows on iPPV...[C]

Backstage, Veda Scott, interviewed Davey Richards and Kyle O'Reilly and asked about them facing Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander next week. Davey said he wasn't doing much tag team wrestling because he was preoccupied with the world title, and that his former partner had some issues but they were moving forward, and Team Ambition would be ready next week. Scott asked O'Reilly about Adam Cole and O'Reilly said Cole was cool with it. He asked Davey if next week, ROH could have the New American Wolves. Richards told him one step at a time, and not to worry about the wolves...

Shore's Slant: The only thing worse than a Davey Richards match finish is a Davey Richards promo. He didn't say much here, which was good, but this looks to be a setup for Edwards vs. O'Reilly, with perhaps Adam Cole thrown in somewhere. The best thing I can say about the segment was THEY HAVE A GIRL NOW! OK, she wasn't great, but it was nice to see something other than a sausage fest.

Old school introductions occurred for the main event. Way to overuse that...

3. Matt Jackson (w/Nick Jackson) defeated Kenny King (w/Rhett Titus) in 10:15. Titus is on crutches after having surgery on his knee for a torn meniscus. King took early control and setup Matt for a corner splash. Matt went to the floor and hugged his brother to draw heat. Back in the ring, King hit a slam and went for a move from the apron. Nick tried to stop King, so King hit a dive on him. Matt hit a dropkick through the ropes on King to take control...[C]

Back from commercial. A replay showed King scoring several near falls, but finally getting hit with a dropkick. Matt locked in a rest hold, but King escaped and tried for a Pele type kick. Matt hit a superkick to the back instead. Matt went for another kick, but King caught him and hit an exploder suplex to start his offensive run. He hit the Pele kick and then a nasty spinebuster for two.

King charged into the corner and ate a super kick. Matt hit a springboard frontflip ace crusher in a coll looking spot, and then followed with a scary looking springboard into a DDT on the apron. King got the knees up on a sloppy 450 and hit a spinning sideslam for two, except that the camera cut to Nick snatching a crutch away from Rhett. The last minute was an overbooked mess with Nick hitting King with a weak crutch shot and Matt rolled up for the victory. Post-match, the Bucks started to attack Titus, which the announce team almost ignored, but security ran out and a brawl broke out. The final graphic hyped the Richards/O'Reilly vs. Alexander/Coleman next week...

Shore's Slant: Fun match from Matt and Kenny, but I just didn't have any passion for it. It's been so long since Final Battle, the heat has come off this feud. That's the biggest reason why having your TV and PPVs desynched is such a problem. You lose momentum. This is something they have to address going forward. The show has made big improvements since the last time I reported, but it has a long way to go still.

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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