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THE Cubed circle news letter
Welcome to the first edition of the Cubed Circle Wrestling
Newsletter, this newsletter will be published weekly and will contain reviews
and articles discussing the week in professional wrestling. We have a big first
issue lined up, with two big reviews from last weekend, WWE Night of Champions
and ROH Death Before Dishonor IX. All ratings will be recorded and published
next week, along with the other star ratings given for September. Every week
the newsletter will be published on a Sunday and will be available in a full
color PDF, which is available for free download above this post. We will
continue to add to the Newsletter and make improvements so stay tuned.
Cubed Circle Wrestling
Newsletter Rating System
*- Horrendous match, bad booking, bad pacing, botches left
and right, poor work rate and bad crowd reactions can all lead to this.
**- Below average match, forgettable, couldn’t have added
much for the show unless there was a great angle, before after or during the
match.
***- Good match, there were some really good points in the
match, had fun watching it, it had some points missing, the crowd possibly
wasn’t into it or it didn’t go long enough. But, the match was still good.
****- Great match, well worked, the crowd were most likely
into it, this match was a highlight of the show. The match would most likely be
in the top 50 matches of the year.
*****- Almost guaranteed match of the year, ticked all the
boxes well worked, well booked, great crowd, had some amazing spots, very few
botches or no botches that really affected the match and the match could
influence the business in a major way. This is a prestigious rating and it is
the highest acclaim I could possibly give for a match, this rating is only given
out with extreme thought and consideration.
WWE Night of Champions 2011
Review
The show started off with a TNA esque promo, with the
narrator saying “where does the power go when its gone” and the champion holds
the power. It was an okay opening promo, that made little sense. We then had
our first match on the card, the team of Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston, taking
on the Miz and R-Truth.
1. Tag Team
Championship Match
Evan Bourne & Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz & R-Truth
Truth and Miz, or as they are now known Awesome Truth, came
out to there new live entrance theme it was so bad that it actually made me
laugh. Kingston and the Miz started the match off, Kingston and Bourne gained
the advantage over The Miz and R-Truth, while this was happening the name Air
Boom was getting buried on commentary, you can’t blame them, it is a terrible
name. Miz and Truth began to work over Bourne, crowd were into the eventual hot
tag, the crowd got even more hot when Miz kicked out of the SOS. Truth hung Kingston up on the tope rope,
crowd were at there peak at this point and were really loud and into the match,
which was pretty surprising given the status of both teams. The match was going
well at this point, but then came the ludicrous booking. Evan Bourne, one half
of the face team clapped his hands, the referee heard this and said that he had
heard the tag while he was distracted by the heel, R-Truth. This was completely
preposterous booking. Bourne tried to roll Truth up, but Truth kicked out at
two, Bourne then attempted the shooting star, Truth moved and Bourne landed on
his feet. Miz drilled Bourne with a DDT, Kingston broke up the pin, Truth got
the tag, but the referee was distracted, it felt really forced and left me
thinking who was the face and who was the heel. Miz hit the Skull Crushing
Finally, but the referee was distracted once again, Miz then pushed the referee
for the DQ. Miz and Truth proceeded to beat down the referee, they said that
they were sick of the conspiracy, crowd was hot at the end with you suck
chants, but like the mainevent this really left me wondering what did I just
watch? I can understand the ref not seeing the tag and the pin, but Bourne
blatantly cheating while he was the face is absolutely ridiculous.
** ¼
We then had a Be a Star commercial right after the ref beat
down, which was pure irony. Truth and Miz were interviewed by Striker saying
the referee was just another conspirator, this was an okay interview.
2. Intercontinental
Championship Match
Cody Rhodes vs. Ted DiBiase
Before the match Booker tried to put the match over, but
buried the championship in the process. The match started with DiBiase is
control, but Rhodes quickly gained the upper hand, he told the fans to put bags on their heads, it
didn’t work, in fact his entire gimmick doesn’t work. Rhodes worked on the neck
and arms of DiBiase, Rhodes played the psycho and was much more technical than
DiBiase. At this point the commentators just kept contradicting themselves and
burying each other, suffice to say there was no Jim Ross on the show. DiBiase
removed the mask of Rhodes, DiBiase had his hands full and was rolled up by
Rhodes for the win. He left the mask in the ring and didn’t even really make an
attempt to cover the face, I hope they just stop this gimmick on SmackDown.
They could say he has some sort of psychological issue, or maybe something less
wacky like the only reason he wears it is to shield himself, because this just
isn’t working. The match had a lot more potential and could have given both men
a chance to shine, but sadly it was a short match, with a finish that obviously
didn’t have much thought put into it.
** ½
Christian came out said he wanted one more match, which
seems to be his new gimmick. He said that Buffalo had never won the Super Bowl
and that he had won it twice, referring to the world championship. This was
cheap it that obviously didn’t work, because straight after that he requested
that the fans would chant one more match along with him, obviously expecting
them to boo. Instead they chanted along with him, until right on cue someone
comes out to interrupt him, it happened to be Sheamus. He made a testicle joke
that really wasn’t funny and said that he would help him win the championship
if he became the number one contender, Sheamus, Christian and the crowd chanted
one more match for a while. They continued to chant until Sheamus Brogue Kicked
Christian and the segment ended. Something I would expect on SmackDown that for
some reason we keep getting on Pay-Per View.
3. Fatal
Fourway for the United States Championship
Alex Riley vs. John Morrison vs. Dolf Ziggler vs. Jack
Swagger
The match started in chaos, but settled done in a few
seconds. Then mere seconds into the match Riley dived to the outside, but over
shot and his leg awkwardly hit the steps, it looked painful. Swagger and
Ziggler met in the ring and Swagger met Ziggler with a clothesline. Morrison
hit the spider suplex on Riley, after he landed a straight vertical leap to the
top rope. Riley countered starship pain, Ziggler locked in the sleeper on
Morrison and Swagger locked in the ankle lock on Riley, the only problem was
Riley never really sold the leg until just before the ankle lock was locked in
again. Swagger hit the gut wrench power bomb on Morrison, but Ziggler stole the
pin for the three. The match could have gone far longer, it only went around
ten minutes, there were also commentary botches left and right. But, they did build the story of Swagger and
Ziggler so that was fine, the match didn’t do anything to hurt the title or
Ziggler so that was fine. The crowd was pretty dead in parts, but this was a
fun little match.
***
Henry was interviewed by Josh Matthews, he said that Josh
was a hater and that he would prove him wrong. The camera angle was very
affective, it made Henry look huge and his arm looked about twice the size as
Josh’s torso so that was good. We then had Vicky Guerrero being interviewed by
Striker, she said that things were looking up and if Triple H lost she would be
the next COO, she then kissed Matt Striker. I didn’t care for the segment.
4. World
Heavyweight Championship Match
Mark Henry vs. Randy Orton
This match started in a stare down into a collar and elbow
tie up, Orton started to strike the legs of Henry and sent him to the outside.
Then they did exactly what they should have done, Henry started to dominate,
Orton cut him off briefly with the sleeper hold, while he was on the back of
Henry. Orton went to the top and Henry just threw Orton off the top and then
proceeded to bend Orton around the ring post, back first in a U shape. He
continued to work over the back of Orton, he stood on the back of Orton as well
as executing a simple body slam on Orton. Henry continued to work on Orton and
every time Orton tried to make a comeback, Henry would slam him straight back
down. Orton started to get in some offense after hitting multiple clotheslines
that would not force Henry off of his feet, Orton then hit a dropkick that sent
Henry to the floor. Orton attempted the draping DDT, but Henry maneuvered his way
out of it. Henry executed the World’s Strongest Slam, Orton kicked out at two.
Henry missed the second rope press and rolled to the outside once again, Orton
hit the draping DDT. At this point Cole was actually putting over Henry and the
match, which was surprising. Orton weakened goes for the RKO, but is easily
thrown off by Henry, Henry nails the splash for the three. This got a really
big pop and the push that led to this title reign was very effective, Henry
never lost and the 15 year speech really worked. This match even eased the
burden of the upcoming Hell in a Cell match, it is such an intense stipulation
and it only has two weeks of build. But, in this case they could use Henry’s
domination in this match as a reason why the Cell is so critical. After the
match Henry cut a really good promo, saying how the people never believed in
him so they couldn’t share in his moment. This match was pretty much as good as
you could expect it to be, maybe a little better, Henry really played a good
monster and the crowd really popped big when he won.
*** ¼
We had a backstage segment with Laurinaitis and CM Punk, he
Laurinaitis that he needs respect and he wished Punk luck. The whole
questioning of authority thing feels pretty forced at the moment, its like Punk
doesn’t even take it seriously, back in July when the angle first started it
was much more subtle, focused and intense than this. They subtly hinted that
Laurinaitis was conspiring against Triple H.
5. Divas
Championship Match
Kelly Kelly vs. Beth Phoenix
Night of Champions took place in Buffalo, NY and even though
Diva’s normally get more or less the same reaction, regardless of which town
they are in, this was different and Phoenix was really over. So over in fact,
that I think it would be safe to say it was the biggest reaction to a Diva
since Trish Stratus at Unforgiven 2006, maybe even more so, but sadly this
didn’t make a difference and we got the same old Diva’s match that we get every
month. This could have started a new era for the woman’s division, this could
have even led to a big match with Kharma. Kelly was booed, but was in control
for the early portion of the match, until some shenanigans on the outside.
Phoenix hit a big superplex which seemed like a good idea, but of course Kelly
can’t take a bump. She landed awkwardly, Phoenix went for the Glamslam, but
Kelly got the roll up for the three. This finish infuriated me to no end, not
just because of the reasons listed above, but when are the fans going to care
about the woman’s division again. Maybe when Kharma makes her return, but then
who is going to face her, The Bella Twins, I don’t see that drawing peoples
interest somehow.
**
6. WWE
Championship Match
Alberto Del Rio vs. John Cena
WWE aired a pretty decent promo before the match, it showed
some vintage footage of Buddy Rodgers winning the WWWF championship, as well as
Sammartino, Hogan etc. Del Rio, the champion entered first, which seems to be
the case for most of the champions for the last few months. Del Rio made his
entrance with no car, I thought that it was a way to put over the seriousness
of the match, but then Del Rio started to shout at Ricardo. Then out came Cena
in a yellow Ferrari, it felt forced and they really shouldn’t have put Cena in
the spotlight more than Del Rio, but that is the least of their problems going
out of this match. Del Rio took the mic from Roberts and called Ricardo, he
said that Ricardo must do it the right way, in Spanish. Ricardo made the
announcement, it is always awesome, then Cena took the mic from Roberts and
turned this championship match into a comedy skit. He executed it with the same
delivery as his comedy promo’s on Raw, finally the match got under way. We had
pretty strong dueling chants, not for Cena and Del Rio, but Cena and Cena sucks.
Ricardo was expelled from ringside, for pulling the leg of Cena, Del Rio hit a
really stiff kick, by WWE standards to the back of Cena. Del Rio started
working over the neck and throat of Cena, there were pretty loud you cant
wrestle chants, I am not sure if they were directed at Cena or Del Rio, maybe a
little bit of both. Del Rio landed another stiff kick, this time to the leg of
Cena, Del Rio gained control of the match, until the inevitable hulk up of
Cena. Cena went for the AA, but was caught in a back breaker. Del Rio landed a
beautiful enzugiri on Cena, who was on the top turnbuckle. Del Rio was looking
really great at this point and nailed a wonderful German suplex, he then went
up and hit a wonky senton on to the chest of Cena. Del Rio locked in the cross
arm breaker, but Cena powered out, Cena hit the AA and out comes Ricardo, Cena
throws him into the post and then locks in the STF. Now at this point I
expected Del Rio to reach the ropes, or maybe reverse it into the cross arm
breaker, but instead he just tapped, just like that. No doubt, no fluke, no DQ,
no count out, Cena just went out there and beat the star that you were building
for months. This made absolutely no sense what so ever, Cena is now a ten time
WWE champion and he has held the championship 2-3 times this year, depending on
if you count his win against Mysterio. So why would he need a win against Del
Rio? Plus WWE are heading to Mexico
soon, so wouldn’t it make sense to have Del Rio has champion on the show? And
this just devalues the title further, lets look at all the title changes in the
last few months, Cena beat Miz, CM Punk beat Cena and left, then we had that
mess of a tournament, Del Rio cashed in on Punk and now Cena beats him? WWE
really needs to take a step back and look at this, because if they think that
this equals ratings, then they are sadly mistaken.
*** ½
7. No
Disqualification
Triple H vs. CM Punk
The crowd wasn’t even nearly as hot for this match as the
crowd at Summer Slam for Cena vs. Punk. The match started off with Punk taking
Triple H down, while he made his entrance. Triple H threw Punk over the
announce table and went for the pedigree on the announce table, Punk countered
and went for the GTS on the table, he was thrown off by Triple H. Triple H
started to work over the leg of Punk, that Punk even sold the next night on
Raw. Triple H started to work over Punk’s leg and throwing his leg into the
post. They started to brawl once again and Punk was thrown over the guard rail,
They brawled in the crowd, entrance ramp and on the stage. They eventually get
back in the ring, Punk hit Triple H with the chair and wedged it in the
turnbuckle. Triple H nailed the pedigree and Punk was thrown into the chair.
Triple H clipped the leg of Punk on the outside, Punk sold it really well,
Triple H started to work on the leg of Punk again, ramming it against the post.
Triple H connected with the steel chair on Punk’s leg, Triple H went head first
into the steps and was placed on the announce table. Punk hit a really good
looking elbow through the table and it broke Vince will be pleased. Then the
match went straight to hell, out came R-Truth and the Miz, they laid out Triple
H and Punk, they dragged Punk’s limp body onto Triple H and Triple H kicked
out. Miz pushed referee Armstrong, Miz attempted to punch Armstrong, but
Armstrong caught the punch and delivered a punch of his own, similar to what
referee Bryce Remsburg often pulls out. Out comes Laurinaitis, Punk and Triple
H throw Truth and Miz out of the ring, way to build talent. Triple H hit the
pedigree a referee comes out, but Laurinaitis told him to check on Armstrong,
Triple H shouts at Laurinaitis and in the confusion Punk hits the GTS.
Laurinaitis gets the referee to count, but Truth removed Punk from the cover,
which made no sense. Punk clocks Truth on the outside, Punk gets back in the
ring and Triple H hits the pedigree, Punk kicked and the crowd went nuts. Next
who should come out, Kevin Nash, he lays out Punk and Hunter and then hits the
powerbomb, Punk tries to fight him off and then he gets powerbombed, you
wouldn’t think this is a man that can barely move. Triple H gets the sledge
hammer, nails Punk with it and gets the three. This had to be the most over
booked finish of the year and the sad thing was that most of it was not
explained on RAW, sure we had some explanation of why Truth and Miz did it, but
why was Nash there why was he not mentioned. And its not like these questions
were left up in the air, they weren’t even mentioned in the slightest. And to
make matters worse we are not getting a rematch at Hell in a Cell, unless
Triple H or somebody interferes in a triple threat match and in that case what
will the cell be there for. I think that Vince or some part of the creative
team could not make up their mind and just decided to throw everything
together, without any thoughts on what they were going to do next. The match
was a good brawl and Punk really sold well, but the finish really detracted
from the overall match and the actual match itself never received much time.
*** ¼
Overall
Overall, the show had some decent wrestling and one good
finish, but besides that the show from top to bottom was riddled with bad
booking. From the shambles in the opener to the mess in the main event, this
show was a prime example of the reason that the WWE cannot get young talent
over and why there angles often fail towards the end. It all stems from
illogical booking and miss direction, the Phoenix match was a prefect example,
to see a diva that over is something that you do not see every day, therefore
someone should have called an audible and Phoenix should have gone over. But,
they didn’t and Phoenix wont be able to get over like that again, but they just
don’t see the problem. The overall show was below average and if you haven’t
seen it yet I really wouldn’t waste my time watching the show.
ROH Death Before Dishonor IX
Review
The pre-show started off with Silkin, Cornett and Koff
coming out to address the crowd, their mics never worked for a while. Ring of
Honor debuted the new ROH logo on the apron and barriers which was nice. The
fans wished Cornett happy birthday, they sang happy birthday to Cornett, there
weren’t that many fans there since the venue was still filling out, but it was
still a nice thing to see. There were some audio issues how ever. There was a
pre-show, with Andy “Right Leg” Ridge vs. Grizzly Redwood, which was an okay
little match, we also had a promo with the Briscoes, which was a fun little
promo, it only went about three minutes.
1. Rhino &
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Homicide & Jay Lethal
The match started out with Lethal wrestling circles around
Ciampa, literally for about a minute. Rhino tagged in and Lethal took him down
straight away, but Ciampa and Rhino began to work on him. Rhino went for the
gore and missed and Lethal hit him with a big super kick. Homicide was tagged
in and went for the three amigos, but didn’t land the last one as usual, it is
starting to get predictable. Ciampa hit that really hard knee in the corner,
Homicide hit the ace crusher on Ciampa, but it was broken up by Rhino. Lethal
took Rhino out with a hurricanrana, but Ciampa hit his newly christened move
Project Ciampa for the win. Ciampa landed it perfectly this time, unlike on
previous shows where he botched the move. The Embassy started a beat down on
Homicide, but Lethal saved the day by swinging the TV title like some sort of
strange weapon, which was funny. It was a decent ten minute opener, I am not sure about Rhino in
ROH, in fact I am not quite sure if Homicide is suited to the roster either,
but the match still came off fine.
** ½
2. Mike Bennett
vs. Shelton Benjamin
I think that out of all the men on the entire show, Bennett
received the most heat, because if this was a TV match they would have had a
lot of trouble editing the explicit chants. The crowd got super hot when
Bennett started to dominate with punches and a suplex, the crowd saved the
majority of the match, because it is fine to have a few punches and a generic
looking suplex at some point in the match, but this just went on for five
minutes. This was obviously to cover up his short comings, the commentary team
also did a good job covering up the short comings of Bennett, calling his style
minimalistic. The problem was that at the level that Bennett is at, you can
only have him do so much, but this match went ten minutes and some of the same
spots were repeated. Now going into this match I wasn’t quite sure what Bennett
was supposed to be, was he supposed to be a WWE parody, did they actually think
he was good what was the deal? Well it seems at this point that Bennett is just
supposed to be a heat drawer, he draws a lot of heat, because of the fact that
he resembles a WWE style wrestler so much and that is just fine. Benjamin won
with Pay Dirt and the crowd chanted get the **** out at the end of the match.
If one thing is certain about Mike Bennett, he definitely draws a reaction.
** ½
3. Three Way
Elimination Match
Future Shock (Adam Cole & Kyle ‘O Reilly vs. The Bravado
Brothers vs. The Young Bucks
This match was really an opportunity for the Bravado’s to
shine and really prove them selves as an up and coming tag team, unfortunately
they were eliminated first at around the seven minute mark. They still had a
pretty good match, the Young Bucks signature dive to the outside got a big pop,
all three teams then hit dives to the outside, one of the Bravado’s then got
super kicked after being placed in a chair at ringside, O’ Reilly hit his
signature missile dropkick to the Bravado in the chair. Harlem Bravado got
double teamed by both teams, Matt Jackson then hit a sliced bread No. 2 off the
one Bravado onto the other one. Future shock hit a suicide dive doomsday
device, which was a really impressive spot. The Bravado’s were eliminated at
the seven minute mark and the match kicked into second gear, The Bucks hit a
flurry of spots that culminated in a double tombstone, it got a big pop. The
mixed martial arts training that O’ Reilly trains in really showed at this
point, when both members of future shock locked in a triangle chock and landed
a flurry of elbows in the process. The fans were really into the match,
chanting this is wrestling, the Bucks hit More Bang for Your Buck for the win.
The match could have gone longer, it didn’t really have a lot of time to build
and the fans were really into it. The match only went 13 minutes or so, but all
three teams got a lot of spots in. After the match the Bucks refused to shake
the hands of Future Shock, at this point Kevin Kelly said believe the hype, it
was really funny comment. It didn’t feel to insider and it was subtle, but it
was still affective.
*** ¼
4. El Generico
vs. Jimmy Jacobs
The match started off very technical, until Generico got in
control, he worked over Jacobs for quite a while, which was strange since
Generico almost always plays the face in peril for large portions of his
matches. Both men did really well in the match, Jacobs fired up well and was
halted by Generico who landed the Yakuza kick, but Jacobs escaped from the top
rope brain buster. Generico nailed the Yakuza a second time, but he took to
long and Jacobs hit the DDT and the crowd went insane. This was very subtle at
first, because you could see Generico was looking at something, but you
couldn’t tell what and it could have been brushed off as nothing. Then pretty
much the reason why the match took place, Steen comes out through the crowd and
he has a mic with him, he started to curse and insult people on the mic and
then his mic got cut. The ring crew came out and Jacobs attacked Steen, a brawl
ensued. Steen hit the powerbomb on the apron and Generico went for the dive to
the outside, but Steen made it in the ring. Cary Silkin came out and tried to
negotiate, Steen shook his hand and then went for the package piledriver on
Silkin. Silkin barely escaped, now out comes Cornette and they have to hold
them apart, Cornette landed a punch, the crowd was chanting let them fight.
This was a great segment, it was kept short and intriguing they added a bit
more to the tension between Cornette and Steen. And they introduced Jacobs to
the fray, plus the match was different to a normal Generico match, with regards
to who was in control and how he was portrayed. The angle doesn’t need any
insider references and ROH has enough patience to carry it out to its logic
conclusion. And with Ring of Honor setting things up in that way, we just might
land up with a new maineventer, in the form of Kevin Steen.
*** ½
5. Michael
Elgin vs. Charlie Haas
This seemed to be a pretty logical match up, two strong,
tough men that can wrestle and it was almost guaranteed to be a better pure
wrestling match than Benjamin vs. Bennett. Elgin followed the code of honor,
Elgin worked over Haas for a bit and then both men engaged in a shoulder block
battle. Haas nailed relentless German suplexes, he let go once or twice, but
they were just brutal, reminiscent of Angle or Beniot. Elgin went for his
signature running power slam on the outside, but was back suplexed on the
barricade for his trouble, it looked absolutely brutal. Elgin went for a
superplex, but it was reversed into a German suplex off of the top rope by Haas
and Haas ended the match with a lariat. The match was enjoyable overall, but it
didn’t do enough to show Elgin’s toughness, or get any of his moves over. Yes,
he had a pretty decent match with Charlie Haas, but its not going to help him
much if he didn’t get anything of note in, at least Bennett was able to get a
huge amount of heat, but Elgin didn’t get much over.
*** ¼
6. Ring Master
Challenge Match
1st Fall only Pinfall 2nd Only
Submission 3rd Fall 15 Minute Iron Man with a 30 Second Rest Period
Between Each Fall
Roderick Strong vs. Eddie Edwards
The match was pretty even for the first five minutes, it had
a nice slow build, with a big burst every now and then. Both men started with
heavy striking in the first round, the commentary was cut early on and only
came back at around the tenth minute. Strong won the first fall, in just over
ten minutes, with the suplex into the double knee backbreaker. There was a
thirty second break between rounds, which added something new and different,
allowing tension to build. Strong began to really work on Edwards in the second
round, the only problem I had was Edwards selling during this portion of the
match. His selling was similar to his match with Hero at Revolution Canada, he
would sell one body part and then forget about it in the middle, which was
really irritating since everything else was pretty top notch. Edwards started
his comeback with the LeBell Lock, but Strong gained control once again,
slamming Edwards into the ringside chair back first. Strong locked in the
Strong Hold, but Edwards reached the ropes, Edwards selling was fine at this
point since Strong only locked in the hold for a short amount of time. Edwards
tried to fight back with strikes, but he was caught in the gut buster, that he
transitioned into the Achilles Lock, Edwards won this fall. Roderick then
rolled to the outside where he was caught off guard with a dive by Edwards,
straight after the rest period. Roderick then pulled a female photographer in
front of him, in a great heel move. Roderick landed a backbreaker on the
turnbuckle, but Edwards kicked out at two, Strong then hit the double knee
backbreaker, that Edwards still undersold. He sold the fatigue pretty well at
least. Strong landed the Gibson driver on the entrance way, Strong got back in
the ring and waited for the count out. But, Edwards began to stir at 16 and was
back in the ring by 20, both men gained a lot of urgency when the five minute
remaining mark was announced. Both men exchanged combos at the two minute mark,
but Strong gained the first fall with 90 seconds remaining, with help from
Martini. There was a 90 second rest period, Edwards went after Truth during the
rest period, Truth tried to hit Edwards with the book of Truth, but hit Strong
instead. Edwards then hit a 2K1 bomb to even the scores, there was a 30 second
rest period. The third fall ended in a draw, there were loud one more minute
chants, out came Cornette, he asked both men if they wanted more time they
agreed and Cornette said there must be a winner and it went to sudden death.
Both men started face to face, they unload with chops and strikes, they seemed
exhausted and gave everything they had. Strong went for the top rope brain
buster, but Edwards reversed it into a hurricanrana. Both men battled on,
Edwards hit a double foot stomp on the apron, but only connected with the arm.
Then we just had near fall, upon near fall and finally at the 45 minute mark
Edwards won with the fisherman’s buster. This was an amazing match and the last
fall was really great, but should they have just changed the stipulations of
the match just like that, I mean this is the first match of its kind and the
rules are already being bent. I also thought that Edwards selling was really
patchy, one minute he is selling like his back is broken and then he gets
kicked in the back and he barely reacts, that was my problem. Other than that
the match was really great and we had some pretty diverse action throughout the
45 minutes. The match really stole the show and I respect the fact that both
men, really left it all in the ring.
**** ½
7. Ladder War 3
The Briscoes vs. The All Night Express
Both teams started off brawling from the get go, they
continued to use weapons and brawl on the outside, King went through a table
early on. While King was incapacitated on the outside, the Briscoes isolated
Titus. Titus hulked up, but was halted with a chair shot to the back, after
being thrown into a chair in the corner, Titus went limp and bladed. Mark
Briscoe was suplexed through a ladder, King was back in the match and the ANX
double teamed Jay. Jay then started to bleed, Jay sentoned Titus while he was
on a ladder held between two chairs. Mark was then busted open, there were make
Kenny bleed chants, King was double teamed and singled out. Titus attempted to
assist his partner, the ANX was still dominated, The Briscoes attempted the
double team Jay Driller, but Mark was thrown off the top turnbuckle through a
table that was set up earlier. ANX set up a table in the ring, ANX then hit a
springboard doomsday neckbreaker through the table on Jay Briscoe! No team had
gone for the contracts at this point, Titus attempted to climb the ladder, but
Mark Briscoe drop kicked the ladder from under him. Mark then airplane spun
with the ladder Funk style, Terry Funk chants ensued. Jay then pulled out a
gigantic ladder, that was eye level with the balcony on the outside, Mark
Briscoe landed a splash off of this gigantic ladder onto Titus through a table.
Jay Briscoe started to set up a ladder in the ring, but was halted by King,
King landed a shooting star press. Jay and King battled on top of the ladder in
the ring, for the contract, until Briscoe fell off the back of the ladder and King
grabbed the contract. Jay was lying in a pool of blood and King signed the
contract with blood. The match could have been a simple spot fest, but it was
well paced and felt pretty ordered. With that being said the finish was a bit
of an anticlimax, I think the crowd was expecting some over the top spot, but
instead Jay just fell off of the ladder. And it was fine for what it was, the
match should also give the ANX enough momentum going into their championship
match with Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team.
****
Overall
They couldn’t have done that much with the show with regards
to angles and championships, because of the upcoming TV debut, but they still
showcased some very good wrestling and we had the Steen angle progression with
a YouTube Promo after the show. We had the Ring Master Challenge match which
was really good and a main event which wasn’t as good as the Edwards Strong
match, but it still did its job and it was really entertaining. This show
definitely gave Ring of Honor momentum going into their first show on Sinclair.
NEXT WEEKS ISSUE
Next weeks issue will feature a cover story on CM Punk, as
well as a full review and report of the ROH on Sinclair from this weekend and it
will also feature ratings given out for September including: ROH Tag Turmoil,
No Escape and more. So be sure to check back for another full issue next week.
Until then I hope you enjoyed this issue and enjoy your week.
Contact
Any Questions or queries: Rubyclouding@gmail.com
Twitter: @Rubyclouding
And the home of Cubed Circle Wrestling www.cubedcirclewrestling.blogspot.com
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