Smarky Re-Cap: Ring of Honor (1/19/13)

After 3 longs weeks, ROH finally returns (with a new opener too)! After some slick new graphics, the team “Alabama Attitude” make their way to the ring to face Fish and O’Reilly. I noticed that Alabama Attitude is using a Voodoo Johnson song for their theme song, a band that has been basically providing a theme song for everybody (along with Blue Smock Nancy). Never seen Alabama Attitude before, but I know Fish and O’Reilly are amazing, and ROH guys generally always put on great matches. It would probably just be a quick squash match though. I have to say, Kyle O’Reilly is one of my favorite newcomers in ROH right now. He might need a little bit of mic work (okay, a lot), but he has a great look and an amazing in-ring ability. Hope we get to see him with the Television Championship this year. Bobby Fish is great too, but I haven’t got the chance to see too much of him yet. Alabama gets a surprising amount of offense in. The new team look absolutely great, but I can honestly say I can’t get behind a team called “Alabama Attitude”. O’Reilly and Fish take back control and win the match after a kick/brainbuster combo. Both teams looked great, but I doubt Alabama Attitude are permanent ROH members.

We go to a backstage interview with Charlie Haas, who is starting to use a “Charlie Haas hates things” gimmick. I’m not sure if you’ve seen the 10 second YouTube videos with Charlie Haas just saying things he doesn’t like, but if those YouTube videos are a precursor to what we can expect from Haas, then it looks like Haas is going to start sucking. We go to the ring to see matchmaker Nigel McGuinness call out Jay Lethal. This whole Lethal/Steen/McGuinness feud is making me think that Lethal is going to be the next ROH World Champion. Steen’s awesome, but Lethal would be a great champion too. The guy has loads of charisma and great in-ring ability. I am surprised that WWE hasn’t picked him up yet.

McGuinness tells Lethal that he is giving him a warning (referencing when Lethal spat in his face at Final Battle), and that next time Lethal pulls something like that, there will be severe consequences (are there any other kind in wrestling?). Lethal asks Nigel what he needs to do to get another shot at Steen’s championship, with Nigel telling Lethal that Steen is the only one who can get Lethal a title shot. Lethal tells Nigel on his way out that he now knows what to do, and the two exchange warnings. I’m really interested to see what they do with this Lethal angle, but as I said before, I think it’s going to end with him being the ROH World Champion.

We get a little re-cap for the Cole/Hardy feud. It’s announced that next week BJ Whitmer will face Cole for the title instead, due to Hardy’s dirty win. I really hope that this feud won’t lead to Hardy as champion, because to be honest, I despise Hardy. I guess that means he’s doing a good job though, right? Kevin Kelly announces that the Top Prospect tournament is returning this year. I noticed that Mike Sydal is a part of that tournament, and correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe he is the younger brother of Evan Bourne.

We go back to the ring to start the Top Prospect tournament with Mike Sydal vs. QT Marshall, accompanied by my hometown boy RD Evans. QT Marshall has great charisma, but I feel he greatly lacks in the ring (at least by ROH standards). (Random side note: Is QT Marshall already balding?) Some good action coming from these two, just a little bit slower than expected. Sydal hits a huge Moonsault off the top rope to the outside onto QT, and sends him back in the ring. I’m not sure how, but QT hits Sydal with the running Dominater and pins him to win. Good match.

We go backstage for an interview with the #1 contender for the Tag Team Championships, Coleman and Alexander. It’s extremely awkward to watch Alexander talk, since his mic skills are pretty terrible and look even worse next to Coleman, who is pretty exceptional. I’ve noticed that Haas hasn’t been seen with Shelty tonight, which probably just confirms that the Gold Standard hasn’t re-signed with ROH. As much as it sucks to see the World’s Greatest Tag Team split, hopefully it leads to Benjamin coming back to the WWE.

We go back to the ring to begin the Tag Team Championship main event between C&C and the Briscoes. I was really disappointed when the Briscoes won the titles at Final Battle, since I was a big fan of S.C.U.M and the Briscoes have been getting pretty stale. Still, the ROH tag division is 100 times better than TNA‘s and WWE’s. I know there are a lot of jokes I could make about the very redneck Briscoes facing the very black Coleman and Alexander, but I’m going to restrain myself. (You’re welcome!). There were great double team moves by both teams. Probably one of the best things about the ROH tag division is the fact that every team can do a bunch of amazing double team moves. Makes the teams look more like teams. WWE should take notice of this, as their tag teams almost never interact with each other in a match. The Briscoes retain after hitting Alexander with a Doomsday Device, putting an end to an amazing match. After the match, Jacobs, Corino, and Rhyno (who is wearing a S.C.U.M shirt) attack both teams. I like the addition of Rhyno to the group, as it adds a new layer of interest to the team.

Anyways, great showing from ROH after a few weeks of absence, and although we didn’t see the World of Television Champions, their feuds were still represented.