ROH live event (Spartanburg, S.C.)
Report by Josh Q. and ProWrestling.net
The crowd was definitely lacking from what ROH had hoped, as earlier this week all general admission tickets were half price and half price at the door. Then on top of that, one I got inside I was told to go ahead and fill in second row ringside (of 2 rows) off to the left of the hard camera.
The show started off with a 10 bell Salute for Bison Smith with all the wrestlers at ringside.
After being welcomed by Bobby Cruise and introducing Jim Cornette and Kevin Kelly, Cornette and Kelly did a short interview with the head of the Local Sinclair Stations for TV and then we got on with the show.
1.”The Prodigy” Mike Bennett defeated Adam Cole. Slow match, Crowd seemed pretty hot. I couldn’t really get into it and never have really been into Mike Bennett. He just bores me.
2. The Bravado Brothers defeated a local team. I didn’t catch the name of the local guys, Harlem Bravado got some Justin Bieber chants (do they really look a like? I wouldn’t know). The Bravados won when Lancelot rolled up one of the guys and Harlem provided some extra leverage out of the ref’s view.
3. Jay Lethal defeated TJP in a Proving Ground match. Great match here with a great crowd some early Randy Savage Chants early got lethal to let loose a bit of his awesome Savage impression eventually changed over dueling Lethal and TJP chants throughout, TJP kicked out of the Lethal Combination but got caught with an Ace Crusher shortly after.
4. The Young Bucks defeated The All Night Express. Good match, Titus took a real beating in this one and got worked over for what seemed like an eternity. The Bucks ended up winning with the More Bang for your Buck.
5. The Briscoes defeated Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander. The Briscoes came out to easily the biggest pop of the night, Alexander and Coleman where fairly impressive as this was my first time seeing them as a team. The Briscoes won with the Doomsday Device.
6. Charlie Hass and Shelton Benjamin defeated Roderick Strong and Michael Elgin in a Proving Ground match. Sadly, I don’t recall much about this match. It wasn’t bad or anything just not memorable other than Martini shouting “three” after every near fall and the fans yelling “two” back at him.
7. Eddie Edwards defeated El Generico. Wow, this was by far the match of the night. Both guys got great reactions and really showed what ROH is all about. Edwards won with the Achilles Lock.
8. Jay Lethal won a 20-man Honor Rumble. It was kind of an “is what it is” kind of match until it got to the final four of Strong, Elgin, Lethal, and Generico. Jay Briscoe was the 5th or 6th man out and cleared the ring of all the guys out before him. There was a funny moment when the ring cleared out after WGGT and the Brisoes eliminated each other and Grizzly Redwood was the only man left, but he was greeted by Michael Elgin coming out next. Surprisingly, he was not quickly eliminated.
I’m not sure if it was a botch or not, but when the 18th man came out (I can’t remember who), Rhett Titus also came out and Todd Sinclair looked over at Cornette and Kelly like “I don’t know what just happened.” Strong and Lethal were the last two remaining and fought it out on the apron for a little before Lethal eliminated Strong to earn an ROH Title shot in early 2012.
Overall it was a pretty good show for the debut in Spartanburg. I hope they come back, but I’m not exactly banking on it due to the turnout.
