Csonka Reviews ROH Survival of the Fittest 2014 (Night One)

Introduction
As a reminder, this will not be another traditional recap, but instead it will be a mash up of the Rs, Instant Analysis and my usual Twitter ramblings I would do during the shows; completely uncensored and as the ideas flow unfiltered to the old keyboard. Remember, this is a review; and I am here to review the show. As always, I encourage discussion and even disagreement, just do so in a respectful manner. I will be doing the review for Raw and most PPVs and iPPVs going forward.

ROH Survival of the Fittest 2014 (Night One)

~ Survival of the Fittest Qualifier: Tommaso Ciampa defeated Will Ferrera @ 11:00 via pin [**½]
~ Survival of the Fittest Qualifier: Roderick Strong defeated Tadarius Thomas @ 11:00 via submission [**¾]
~ Survival of the Fittest Qualifier: Adam Page defeated Cedric Alexander @ 10:30 via pin [***¼]
~ Survival of the Fittest Qualifier: Adam Cole defeated Delirious @ 23:10 via countout [***]
~ Survival of the Fittest Qualifier: Hanson defeated Jay Lethal @ 15:20 via pin [***½]
~ Christopher Daniels and Kazarian defeated Jimmy Jacobs and BJ Whitmer @ 12:20 via pin [**½]
~ Survival of the Fittest Qualifier: Matt Sydal defeated ACH @ 19:30 via pin [****]
~ No DQ Match: Michael Bennett and Matt Taven defeated Mark and Jay Briscoe @ 13:30 via pin [**¾]

* Again, I am catching up on some ROH prior to the Final Battle PPV on December 7th. I reviewed ROH TV for (November 1st, 8th and 15th) and (November 22nd), and now am going to check this one out on a recommendation. I cannot promise that I complete part II before Sunday’s PPV.

Survival of the Fittest Qualifier – Tommaso Ciampa vs. Will Ferrera: I thought that this was a solid opener for the show. Ciampa looked good, but at the same time Ferrera came off competitive and was able to hang well with Ciampa. I haven’t seen a lot of Fererra, but felt that the match helped more than hurt as the crowd was into it well enough. Not what I would call a “singles breakout performance” or anything, but certainly something to built on for him.

Survival of the Fittest Qualifier – Roderick Strong vs. Tadarious Thomas: The action picked up a bit in this match, and while better, I came away a bit disappointed as I expected more. The finish came out on nowhere, which for tournament matches I feel is good but I don’t feel that the crowd expected it and thus it came off a bit anticlimactic. They also had some flow issues here and there, which is odd for a Strong match, because his stuff usually feels well laid out.

Survival of the Fittest Qualifier – Cedric Alexander vs. Adam Page: Once again, the match quality improved a bit with this match, and we have the feeling that we’re gaining momentum, which is always a good thing. Page is really improving and I am buying more into him as I see him perform. They had a really hot crowd as well, which only aided the in ring work. Along with Page’s improvement, the win made perfect sense here, and adds to his personal momentum.

Survival of the Fittest Qualifier – Delirious vs. Adam Cole: Delirious vs. Adam Cole was a fun match, but went a little too long and then had a bad finish. I want to give credit to both guys first, they worked well together and it was fun seeing Delirious again in an ROH ring. The way Cole won, while not a great finish, at least adds into his dick heel character. Cole pushed Delirious off the top, injuring his knee, made the ref count, applied the figure four for a bit and then got the countout victory. Again, this adds to Cole’s character, but came off poorly. First of all, to work such a long match only to give a lame finish takes you out of all of the action you just watched. Secondly, Delirious is a character that rarely appears; he is always over and does not need to be protected in any way.

Survival of the Fittest Qualifier – Jay Lethal vs. Hanson: Up to this point, this was the best match on the show. I recently reviewed Hanson vs. Styles, and while good, didn’t think it was as good as some had said. This match with lethal is what that match should have been. Good work, they didn’t go overly long but got a nice amount of time to work and overall it came off very well. Lethal sold well for him, the crowd was into things and Hanson not only advances, but also scores a win over the ROH TV Champion to set up a match down the line. I have really enjoyed Lethal’s ROH run, as he rarely disappoints.

Christopher Daniels and Kazarian vs. Jimmy Jacobs and BJ Whitmer: This was a perfectly fine, but unspectacular tag team match. It’s the kind of match you’d expect from four veterans working the post intermission match on a house show. The work was simple, clean and would be a welcomed piece of work on the ROH TV show. Their job wasn’t to steal the show here, and I get that, but with who was involved I had hoped for a little more. Also, the pre-match with Evans & Moose wasn’t really needed other then to pad the show, and I could have done without the Page/Moose stuff. The meal was done, stop adding a ton of garnish and sauce, let it stand on its own. Again, this was good work from four veterans, I’d like to see it again when they have a bit more time and can open up.

Survival of the Fittest Qualifier – Matt Sydal vs. ACH: I absolutely loved this match, it was easily the best thing on the show. First of all the crowd was into this match the whole way through, ACH is the newer and younger fun guy and Sydal used to be that guy. Secondly, what I just said played into the match. The way that they worked the match was that Sydal was trying to overcome the younger version of himself, which led to part three. Sydal’s work of the leg was not only good, and ACH did sell well, but you can see that it worked towards the finish. Sydal used his experience once he realized he couldn’t match speed and go exactly move for move with the youngster and tried to break him down. This had a great crowd a really good story and some very good work by both competitors.

No DQ Match: Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Michael Bennett and Matt Taven: Overall I felt that the show closed on a down note, as this match did little for me after the excellent Sydal vs. ACH match. This felt like a late 90s WWE hardcore title brawl, with the only foal to send the fans home happy. Now there is nothing wrong with that, but this felt like they got an “Attitude Era For Dummies” book, and grabbed the paint by numbers instructions and went to town. Were their entertaining aspects to this match? Certainly, but coming off of the previous match it felt like a lazy style and archaic compared to the cool and at times innovative style ACH and Sydal gave us. I may have liked this more early on in the show, it lacked as a main event.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”