Csonka Reviews ROH TV (November 1st, 8th and 15th)

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 TV 11.01.14
~ Mark Briscoe defeated Caprice Coleman @ 7:00 via pin [**½]
~ The Decade defeated Brutal Burgers @ 4:20 via pin [*]
~ AJ Styles defeated Matt Sydal @ 12:50 via pin [****]

Mark Briscoe vs. Caprice Coleman: This was an overall fun, but unspectacular match. They worked hard, and presented a solid match overall. Mark Briscoe is just there these days for me, but I have been enjoying Coleman a lot more these days. In many ways this felt like a match to fill out the show, which isn’t bad when it is a good effort. Coleman feels like a guy that really thrives in the tag team scene, although I am not sure who I would pair with him to get the most out of that potential and skill. This was a good start to the show.

Nigel Talks Ciampa: Nigel McGuinness brings out Tommaso Ciampa and reinstates him, but makes sure to add that there is a no tolerance policy. No more assaulting non-wrestlers for Mr. Ciampa. Nigel explained that Ciampa had to work his way up from the bottom, and with the back and forth that they did it felt as if they were building to a match between the two, but unless something major has changed, we’re not getting that. But it felt that way. Jay Briscoe came out to make sure that Nigel wouldn’t get disrespected any further, and that brought out the Kingdom to attack Jay. Mark tried to make the save and he got laid out as well.

Brutal Burgers (Cheeseburger and Bob Evans) vs. The Decade (BJ Whitmer and Adam Page): This was a squash, but was more about the story than the match. They are really working to make Page a player as a heel, and that is what they were doing here. I like what they’re trying, not sure if it will work or not, but I appreciate the effort.

AJ Styles vs. Matt Sydal: I had heard a lot of great things about this match, which is another reason I had decided to play catch up. Sydal has been doing well since his WWE release; he’s worked hard to get the rust off after being out of action for so long, and was certainly looking to prove something here. If you didn’t know, Styles has been having an awesome 2014, and with their history, this had a big match feel to it. This was an awesome match and would have been at home on any PPV this year. Between how good these guys are, add in the fact that they have greatly matured since they last met, and the match flowed well and delivered big time. I only wish they had a few more minutes, because I really feel that they could have developed this into a true MOTY contender. Hopefully ROH books them on a PPV in 2015.

SHOW SCORE: 8.0

ROH TV 11.08.14
~ Cedric Alexander defeated Tommaso Ciampa @ 12:05 via DQ [***]
~ RD Evans and Moose defeated Ethan Case and Elijah Evans @ 5:10 via [*½]
~ The Briscoes defeated The Kingdom (Michael Bennett and Matt Taven) w/Maria @ 10:15 via pin [**]

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Cedric Alexander: This was going along really well, like I was digging this match big time. They were working hard, they were clicking and the crowd was responding very well to what they were presenting. The problem here was the finish, where Ciampa choked out Alexander with the tag rope, and Nigel came out and reversed the decision. I felt that it took all of the focus and again put it on Nigel and Ciampa. And again, it feels as if they are building match between the two. And I say again, unless something major has changed, we’re not getting that. It also makes no sense because Nigel selectively gets involved and allows all kinds of shenanigan filled finishes all the time. Ciampa also destroyed Alexander post match, reminding Nigel that Alexander wasn’t a non-wrestler. So yeah, apparently he can straight up try and murder someone and it’s cool. UGH.

Ethan Case and Elijah Evans vs. Moose and RD Evans w/Ramon: This was ok, but really served as nothing more than to keep Evans’ streak alive. The wrestling didn’t suck, but was mainly there. At least RD Evans continues to be a scholar and a gentleman.

Michael Elgin “Shoots”: Michael Elgin comes out of promo time, he has a rub in and tries to be “real” and talks about “shooting”. He lost me there, and the crowd basically shit al over this. They don’t want it, they know it sucks and they let ROH know. Kevin Kelly was the smart one and left the ring for this.

The Briscoes vs. The Kingdom: This show has not been good, and I was hoping that the main event would help turn the show around a bit. Unfortunately that was not the case. They worked a tame and formula tag team match that would have been fine for the middle of the show, but came across completely lacking as the show’s main event. They had the set up from last week going into this, but unfortunately I felt as if this lacked the heat that the previous week provided the set up for.

SHOW SCORE: 4.5

ROH TV 11.15.14
~ Caprice Coleman, Tadarius Thomas, and Will Ferrara defeated The Decade (Roderick Strong, BJ Whitmer, and Adam Page) @ 11:00 via pin [**½]
~ ROH TV Title Match: Champion Jay Lethal defeated ACH @ 18:45 via pin [***½]

Caprice Coleman, Tadarius Thomas, and Will Ferrara vs. The Decade (Roderick Strong, BJ Whitmer, and Adam Page): This was a fun little opening match, but not exactly great. The match served two purposes, one to get Coleman a win, which judging from recent results he needed and two, to continue the heel heat on Page and tension with Strong. Overall they used this as a storytelling tool to continue the internal drama within the Decade. That’s not a bad thing mind you, just an observation. Post match Whitmer tried to get Strong and Page to make nice, but they all ended up brawling and seemingly breaking up the stable on TV. Well that was disappointing, you’d think that they’d save that for a bigger show.

* Post match they announced Jay Briscoe defending the ROH Title against Adam Cole at Final Battle.

Raymond Rowe Returns: Following a video package on the war machine team, Raymond Rowe made his return to discuss being away due to his motorcycle accident. Whitmer and Page returned and challenged Rowe, leading to officials coming to the ring to hold Rowe back. Whitmer then cut a promo on Strong, discussing removing him from the Decade. We’re getting Strong vs. Page at that show, so this built to that and also got Rowe back in the minds of the fans. It wasn’t great, but overall served its purpose.

TV Title Match: Jay Lethal defends against ACH: This was a much better main event than last week, but not at the level of Styles vs. Sydal. I felt that ACH did a much better selling here than he normally does, which added some drama to the overall presentation, but not enough to make the crowd fully invested. I really enjoyed the work from both and Lethal has been doing some great work as a heel, but I never felt as if the crowd bought into ACH winning the title. The crowd seemed to enjoy the action, but never appeared to be fully and emotionally invested in the near falls by ACH. Lethal won clean to retain the title. Post match Matt Sydal (who was on commentary) comes to check on ACH. He offers his hand in respect to Lethal, which is turned down. Sydal, who hasn’t won a match in ROH at this point, points at Lethal and the title. They’ll face at Final Battle, which I like the match, but why the hell should Sydal get a shot?

SHOW SCORE: 6.5