ROH TV 2/25/2012

ROH TV
Date 2/25/2012
From: Baltimore, MD

Tonight, ROH World Champion Davey Richards defends against ROH Television Champion Jay Lethal!

The Young Bucks open the program cutting a promo about their match tonight and their ROH World Tag Team Championship match against the Briscoe Brothers at the pay per view. Nick Jackson believes they will use Coleman and Alexander as stepping stones to what they will do to the Briscoe Brothers at the 10th Anniversary show. Matt considers themselves to be the biggest rock stars in pro wrestling and that they are simply the best team going today. Matt finishes off saying that they will only need to put forth 60% of their effort to take care of business tonight. Cedric Alexander notes that they have gotten close to the promise land but tonight, if they win, will put them where they need to be. Coleman says that they haven’t wrestled against a team who sleeps in cars just to get noticed. Coleman considers himself and Alexander to be the mainstream rebellion and Coleman sings that he is looking into the future and he sees gold.

Opening Contest: Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander vs. The Young Bucks
Well, 60% ended up being the perfect amount of effort needed as the Young Bucks were able to prevail over Coleman and Alexander after hitting the More Bang For Your Buck. Coleman and Alexander continued to look alright in the ring and I feel like 2012 could be a year for them to get a good push. Anyway, the win for the Bucks was a good attempt to give them momentum, though the 60% effort line kind of makes Coleman and Alexander look foolish for not being able to beat them.

Your Winners: The Young Bucks via pin fall

Backstage, Veda Scott interviewed the Embassy Limited. Ciampa predicts that on March 4th, he is going to take whatever gold Jay Lethal has around his waist. Ciampa tells us that he will humble Lethal into a boy. Ciampa declares he will be the first and only undefeated champion in ROH history.

Kevin Kelly introduces the ROH World Tag Team Champions the Briscoe Brothers for an interview. Jay says that they are going to make the Young Bucks their personal bitches in New York City. He mentions that when they got the $5,000 dollars from the House of Truth the check bounced! They also talk about Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team. Jay says the next time they square off it will not be for the championships and that someone is going to be leaving in a body bag! The segment ends with a Man Up chant.

Inside ROH this week focused on the Jacobs vs Steen and WGTT vs. ANX matches for the 10th Anniversary show. Jacobs says that he is going to turn evil one more time and he knows how to do it. He says that he can still feel that evil sickness inside of himself. He wants to know if there is really a winner when evil faces evil? We hear from Steen who notes that Jacobs would cut his own balls off to get back into ROH. Steen talks about hope and how Jacobs hoped that Corino would beat Steen so that Steen would go away forever. Now, Steen is hoping that he bleeds so that Jacobs can feel a little bit of what he used to be like. Steen closes by saying that Jacobs will realize his future as a company man is bleak, but his potential as a man who lets darkness inside of him is unlimited.

We also hear from the All Night Express. Rhett Titus is making his return from injury on March 4th. Kenny King says that they owe WGTT one and that they are going to take care of them on March 4th.

We hear from Roderick Strong who says that he is rooting for Jay Lethal to beat Davey Richards because he feels like he can beat Lethal easier. Strong is confident that he will have the ROH World Championship by April 1st, at the latest.

Backstage, Veda Scott interviews Eddie Edwards and Adam Cole. Edwards says that Richards can easily lose tonight if he is distracted. Cole tells Edwards that Kyle O’Reilly has been a big distraction but he assures Edwards that he will hold up his end of the team to win on March 4th.

Main Event: ROH World Championship Match
[champion] Davey Richards vs. ROH Television Champion Jay Lethal
As expected, these two got plenty of time to put together a great match for television. Early on, neither man is able to get a clear cut advantage and they have a stalemate, which is predictable. Lethal got the first impactful move by hitting his hip toss/dropkick combo but Richards didn’t let the momentum carry on that much longer as he locked in a reverse figure four and kept working on Lethal’s legs for a few moments.

Lethal refuses to stay down and is able to hit a tilt a whirl back breaker followed by a side Russian leg sweep. Richards counters a submission hold with the Stretch Muffler. Lethal connects with a middle rope leg lariat for a near fall. We see Tommaso Ciampa come out with a steel chair to get a closer look at the action as we go to commercial.

Richards sends Lethal over the top and knocks Lethal off the apron with a running kick. Richards follows up with a suicide dive on the floor sending Lethal into the guard railing. Ciampa and Richards have a confrontation until Kyle O’Reilly comes out to get Richards focused. The distraction allows Lethal to hit a flying forearm shot back in the ring.

Lethal gets a two count after hitting a handspring back elbow. Richards blocks the Lethal Combination with several elbow strikes. Guess what? The House of Truth has come out to ringside. This is probably going to turn into a clusterfuck. Richards soon hits a superplex and hits the Falcon Arrow before locking in a cross arm breaker. Lethal reaches the ropes to break the hold. As if there can’t be enough people out at ringside, Eddie Edwards and Adam Cole make their way out as well.

Late in the match, they both go down following a clothesline but Lethal delivers a superkick to combat a spin kick from Richards. Richards turns Lethal inside out with a clothesline. As expected, a brawl breaks out at ringside. Lethal hits the elbow drop off the top but Richards kicks out before three. Lethal attempts the Lethal Injection but Michael Elgin tossed Adam Cole into Lethal’s path causing the move to be cut off. That allows Richards to hit a roundhouse kick to win the match.

Your Winner and STILL ROH World Champion: Davey Richards via pin fall

To close the show, security runs out to break up the brawl. Ciampa didn’t bother to get involved as he watches on as Lethal shakes hands with Richards.

Final Thoughts:
I thought it was a good episode this week for ROH. The promos by Steen and Jacobs actually got me quite interested in their no disqualifcation match at the 10th Anniversary show. I’ve actually felt that Jacobs return to ROH has been less than stellar since he hasn’t been evil. However, if he is going to bring that attitude back, even for one match, I think it will be a good brawl. The main event this week was pretty good, though I could’ve done without all the wrestlers coming out to watch the match. I understand why they did it since it all incorporated the 10th Anniversary show, but still. Nonetheless, I’m giving the show a thumbs up.

Thanks for reading.