Tapings start pretty much on time! Probably about 600 or less here tonight. Changed up the seating a lot.
Dark Match: Darius Marus? vs. Juji Marshall? Seriously couldn’t understand any names. Sarcastic “you still got it” chant to start. First guy is a break dancer type. Wins in 3. Only one botch.
Crowd cruelly chants Barney Rubble at Sinclair
Taped for 4/28:
1. Proving Ground Match: Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander (Th New Combination): Nice pop for NC, bigger pop for Briscoes. No handshake. Great opening minutes. WGTT come in and take out Jay on the outside with a low blow behind NC and Sinclair’s back. NC win with their double team finish in 5. Really good for the short time.
2. Rhino (w/ Truth Martini) vs. Jimmy Marsalia: Huge pop for Rhino. Truth says it’s an exciting day for HOT. They have the TV Champ Roddy, the breakout star of 2012 Michael Elgin, and the hired mercenary, the Man Beast Rhino. Talks down Marsalis and threatens him with a GORE GORE GORE. No handshake. Squashed in less than 30 secs with the gore. 18 seconds chant. Rhino’s in great shape.
- Jim Cornette and Kevin Kelly in the ring, so this is obviously about Kevin Steen. Steen out with ring boy Jimmy Jacobs. Steen has the Canadian flag, talk about Border Wars (the Toronto show on 5/12), says Cornette is trying to relive 1997 with USA vs. Canada. Bitches about Cornette not returning calls. Calls out Davey Richards, who comes out with US flag, actually gets cheered. Says he’ll kick Steen’s fat head from Canada to USA, the best country. Steen says they used to be close, wrestled all over world together. Said he was pissed that ROH screwed him, and Davey said he’d help him, but he didn’t do shit because he didn’t want Steen around since he steals the show every time. Davey says he needs to look his fat ass in the mirror. Steen calls Davey a hypocrite for saying ROH is his home, but he threatens to leave. How many times has he said that, you tell me bitch? Davey says the Elgin match showed how much he cares about he title. Davey says ROH doesn’t want the match because Steen sells tickets and Davey will end him. Challenges Steen for right now! Cornette says he’s been protecting Steen because he’s an attention ****e. Cornette makes match for Toronto, piledriver legal. They have to sign waivers in case they get paralyzed. They can kill each other. Kill Steen Kill chant. Steen says he’ll sign it and says all Cornette has is Smokey Mountain tapes. Steen signs. Cornette reveals if Steen loses, he’ll never get another shot at the title according to that contract. Steen tells Davey he only needs one shot. Davey says fat ass has no shot in Toronto. Efficient segment.
- Dude from 98 Rock comes out to push 5/18tapings tickets. Taping in general has been very efficient, not so much down time. Good stuff. Some group of kids and adults called D-Line have about 40 people here.
3. Main Event for the World TV Title: Roderick Strong (w/ Truth Martini) vs. Adam Cole: Pop for Adam, bigger pop for Roddy. Handshake. Someone yells that Truth looks like a tall glass of lemonade, which is true. Marcia Brady chants for Truth during a good match. Michael Elgin out at 6 to a big pop, wearing his new tshirt. Big nearfall after a Cole brainbuster to the knee. Roddy tosses Cole onto Elgin at ringside. Cole back in the ring, but he dives on Elgin. Back in the ring again, Elgin distracts ref, Truth hits Cole with Book of Truth, Roddy finishes Cole off with lung blower in 9. Good match, nothing special. End of first tapings.
- 98 Rock guy out with free stuff.
Taped for 5/5:
1. Tommaso Ciampa (w/ Prince Nana, RD Evans, and Ernesto Osiris) vs. Matt Taven: Ciampa hits Taven with a stiff German Suplex during his entrance. Jay Lethal out right away with a chair, sits at ringside. Taven dives onto Ciampa from the ring. Ciampa hits an Air Raid Crash to Taven on the floor right in front of Lethal. Taven hits a vertical suplex on Ciampa on the outside. People at ringside look shocked. Both back in ring. Ciampa is getting cheered. Taven reverses Project Ciampa and an attempted top rope Air Raid Crash. Hits Frog Splash for big two. Lethal is stoic at ringside. Ciampa hits Taven with two bare knees to the temple and a Project Ciampa. Really good back and forth match. Eight minutes, lots of post match jawing between Ciampa and Lethal, no fighting which is refreshing. Nana hilariously threatens to beat up a five year old in the D-Line t-shirt.
2. Mike Mondo (!!!) vs. TJ Perkins: Nice pop and chant for Mondo and Perkins. Really fun atmosphere. Mikey in control most of the match. Crowd into it. TJ makes a comeback late. Young Bucks sneak out late, distract Teej who eventually does a top rope flip onto all three. Another distraction and Mikey wins with a double underhook draping DDT off the second rope. ANX out for the post-match save to a big pop. Eight minutes of pure fun.
- Steve Corino now at commentary.
3. Main Event: Kyle O’Reilly vs. Kevin Steen (w/ Jimmy Jacobs): KO booed coming out. Steen introduces himself as the next World Champ. Big pop for that. Yes chants for Steen. Luckily those haven’t caught on much otherwise. O’Reilly playing to boos. Steen powerbombs KO on the hardest part of the ring. Three little squeaky kids are chanting “Kill, Steen, Kill” behind me and squealing for Jimmy Jacobs. Steen and KO bite each other, leading to “Kiss, Steen, Kiss” chants. KO dropkicks Steen into the barricade, but Steen takes over in the ring with a brutal brainbuster. Jiu Jitsu Jackoff chant. KO reverse the F5 into an armbar, but Steen gets to the ropes. Steen powerbombs KO and his mouthpiece flies out, so Steen disgustingly puts it in his mouth and applies the ankle lock. KO gets out, throws the mouthpiece at Jacobs, and Steen hits an F5 for the win. Very good match. 7 mins.
- Post match, Jacobs and Steen attack KO’s hurt leg and Steen applies the ankle lock. “Break his leg” chant. Davey out and puts Steen in ankle lock, but Jacobs saves him. Steen goes for the piledriver, but security intervenes. This booking makes no sense. “Let Them Fight” chant. Steen gets a head shot in on KO with the racquet. Small “Davey sucks” chant at the end.
Davey grabs mic, says when he goes to Canada, Steen can consider his death certificate signed. Crowd chants “shut up Davey” and a four year old behind me yells “You can’t tell him what to do” to HUGE laughs. Davey cuts another slightly longer promo, saying the fat boy is getting the Wolf, not the American Strong Style Davey. Seemed like a redo because he sort of messed up the first one.
- Intermission. I have to reiterate, this taping is so much smoother than previous months. D-Line is a tag team apparently.
Taped for 5/12:
1. Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin vs. D-Line (Body Snatcher & Black Ice): Big pop for D-Line, big heat for WGTT. Big chants for D-Line to start, dressed like football players. D-Line kids are jeering the shit out of Charlie Haas. The D-Line wrestler with the mo hawk taps to the Haas of Pain in a fun, very basic 5 min match.
2. Chikara Showcase: Los Ice Creams & Ophidian vs. The Colony (Fire Ant & Soldier Ant & Green Ant): The Colony win a crazy 7 minute match with some crazy triple team finisher. Fun! Crowd into it.
3. Jay Lethal vs. Ricky Reyes: Big pop for Jay. No handshake, Ricky playing evil heel. Jay wins a fine 3 min match with Lethal Injection.
4. Proving Ground Match: Davey Richards vs. Rhino (w/ Truth Martini & Roderick Strong): This will allow me to directly compare Rhino and Elgin. Davey doesn’t have his Japanese title but does have the ROH Title. Rhino playing into the Gore chants, likes the crowd. No handshake. Early submission from Davey, but Rhino gets the ropes. “Midnight Cowgirl” chant for Truth in his gay white cowboy outfit. Then “Truth’s a Spice Girl”. Hard brawling on the outside. Rhino takes over in the ring with a big spinebuster. Playing total face. “Gore” chants. Davey takes control with a suicide dive. Trade punches in the ring, big suplex from Davey for two. Rhino comes back with a belly to belly for two. Davey hits an enzugiri, but Rhino comes back with a clothesline and a Boston Crab. Dueling chants. Davey reverses into ankle lock. Rhino eventually breaks out, sets up for the Gore, but Davey reverses into a sunset flip for the pin and win. 14 minutes, good match. Roddy comes in to attack Davey, but Lethal comes out for the save.
Elgin’s better.
- 98 Rock guy back out with more free stuff.
Taped for 5/19 (final tapings of the night):
Kelly and Nigel out to start. Nigel chants and Kevin Kelly chants. Cut to the only set of videos we can’t see of the night!
Crowd is probably the most energetic one since the first Du Burns chant.
1. Mike Bennett (w/ Maria Kanellis and Brutal Bob Evans) vs. Eddie Edwards: Big pop for Maria. Why Not Bob chant. Maria is hot. Eddie is full mohawk McGillicutty tonight. Eddie’s still got marks on his back from the railing spot last month. Heated start with stiff slaps to the face. Nice STF from Eddie, then brawly brawl on the outside. Bennett seems more confident this month in the ring. D-Line kids are pointing at Maria’s ass. Big backbreaker from the top to Eddie. Trading forearm shivers to the face, then boots to the face. Eddie tosses Bennett out twice, then nails an Asai moonsault. Backpack chinbreaker, half crab by Eddie but Bob distracts him. Eddie hits a Code Breaker from the top, but Bennett takes over with a big spinebuster. Eddie up top and nails Bob with a double stomp and pins Bennett in a small package. Excellent 11 minutes.
- Afterwards, Bennett attacks Eddie from behind with Maria distracting him, then #WhyNotBob hits Eddie with a scoop backbreaker. Maria straddles Eddie, says “how dare you touch me!” and slaps him. Awesome act. Good pairing.
2. Michael Elgin vs. Grizzly Redwood & Jamal Dickinson: Originally just Redwood vs. Dickinson, Elgin, Roddy and Truth come out before the match. Truth proposes they tag up against Elgin for $1000. Elgin kills Dickinson quick with a spinning sitout powerbomb and he’s carried out. Grizzly comes in and is eventually powerbombed onto the apron. Grizzly hits a Tornado DDT in the ring, but Elgin continues to kill him. Some Elgin chants, but mostly quiet since people like both guys. Lethal out to help as Grizzly’s tag partner. Ref allows it for some reason, but Grizzly can’t get there. Hot tag! Flying forearm, double leg lariat, springboard back elbow. Roddy slams Grizzly hard into the barrier and kills him on a chair. In the ring, Elgin hits a black hole slam, but it all breaks down when Lethal hits Roddy off the apron and Roddy attacks him for the DQ. Elgin is pissed and argues with Roddy until Lethal hits Roddy with Lethal Injection. Truth tries to make peace, but Roddy and Elgin face off to “FIGHT” chants. Eventually Truth convinces them to shake hands to big heat. Good ten minutes of TV.
3. Elimination Match: The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) vs. The All Night Express (Kenny King & Rhett Titus): ANX attack the Bucks before the bell! Rhett isolated in the ring at first, but Kenny cleans house. Both teams dive outside, and Kenny is pinned way too quickly with a double superkick in five. Everyone is confused, but then Bobby announces it’s an elimination match. No heat since Kenny is out. Matt Jackson yells that Kenny has AIDS to a round of boos. Bucks work over Rhett’s left leg. Rhett reverses Matt’s setup for MBFYB and gets the pin out of a rollup. Matt won’t leave ringside, so Kenny comes back out. Rhett makes a comeback on Nick with a Samoan Drop for a two. Matt tries to interfere, but Kenny hits him with a front suplex on the apron. Rhett hits an elevated DDT for the win in 12.
- As they celebrate, WGTT attack ANX from behind, but D-Line come out for the save and challenge for an eight-man. This is probably dark. Haas says if any idiot kids chant D-Line, they’re going home. Then he threatens to smack a kid. BEST HEEL IN WRESTLING. They start to leave but the crowd chants MAN UP and the match is made.
Dark Match: The All Night Express and D-Line vs. The Young Bucks & Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team: Non-Mohawk D-Line starts against Shelton who bails and tags in Matt, who bails and tags in Nick, who bails and tags in Haas, who stalls and tags in Shelton. Rhett tries to start a chicken clucking chant. Big D-Line guy shoves Shelton down and tags in Mohawk. Tease test of strength, the WGTT and D-Line face off in three point stances. D-Line wins the tackle. Both teams go into huddles. Yes chants ensue, then Daniel Bryan chants, to which Kenny King asks, “who?” Eventually, Haas takes over on Mohawk and spits at the faces repeatedly. Nick tags in and does a Flair impression. Mohawk plays babyface in peril to Shelton, eventually hot tags Kenny who goes to work on Haas. Kenny tags in Mohawk intead of the other two fresh guys. Melee! Charlie grabs a PBR and he and Kenny trade sips and punches until Kenny hits a superkick for the win! Fun stupid 15 minutes dark match.
- ANX and D-Line celebrate to end the show! But wait, Charlie back in the ring to wipe his ass with a D-Line shirt, and he gets quadruple teamed! Haas gets on the mic and heels it up. NOW ANX and D-Line celebrate to end the show.
Fun energy to this show, but no real standout matches.
