Express Live , Columbus, OH
Ian Riccaboni, Colt Cabana & NWA World Champion Nick Aldis on commentary
Rhett Titus VS Jeff Cobb ( non-title match)
Before the match even started we had Titus doing his Mr Olimpia bit (no doubt he has worked on his physique and his confidence has shot up because of it).
Cobb came out to a good reception from the crowd, he is becoming a solid fan favorite.
Nice to see the code of honor being adhered to by both men, although it gave Titus an excuse (like he needs one) to flex his well toned Biceps.
The match itself was pretty decent with both men showing something new in their respective arsenals ( Titus- Top Rope X-Factor & Cobb- 2 Gutwrench Suplexes finished with a Piledriver) , which was cool , as I feel its always good to see a wrestler evolve his/hers repertoire.
Titus’s biggest advantage was the amount of baby oil he uses, it was amazing that Cobb could get a grip of him to Suplex him.
Titus did have a scary moment when he overshot a Slingshot Plancha and took an awkward landing that could have been a lot worse if Cobb wasn’t there to break the fall.
Cobb destroyed Titus with 2 Gutwrench Suplexes and a Piledriver before sealing a hard fought victory with Tour Of The Islands.
Winner Jeff Cobb in just over 10 minutes.
A good opening match with Cobb again looking unstoppable, If Titus could get past his overwhelming need to flex his physique at every opportunity and concentrate on the match he is having , he could be a major player in ROH.
Next up – the Women Of Honor take centre stage
Jenny Rose VS Holidead
This was my first time seeing both ladies perform, and i’m going to be honest, Holidead needs to put people away when she has them beat , not trash talk them as this was her downfall in this match, she had Rose beat a number of times following high impact moves such as Pumphandle Slam and then an Unprettier, Rose showed a lot of fire and even with the distraction of the group known as Allure (Velvet Skye , Angelina Love & Mandy Leon) Rose managed to get a surprising victory following 2 Spears and a Uranage Slam.
Winner Jenny Rose in just over 9 minutes.
This victory will put rose in contention for a WOH title match somewhere down the line, but the beat the current champion Kelly Klein, she needs to have more of a killer mentality.
Following the match Rose And Leon were having a Discussion of sorts when Velvet Skye sprayed Rose in the eyes with either hairspray or perfume, which left Rose writhing in pain.
Allure found this a perfect opportunity to take a team selfie………..Lovely.
8 Man Tag Team Action is next on the card with-
The Bouncers & Coast 2 Coast VS The Briscoes ,Silas Young & Shane Taylor
This match started off in the ring , surprisingly with technical wrestling , then after a few minutes it all went pear shaped , I don’t remember seeing many ‘official’ tags in the match and in just degenerated down into an all out brawl , with most of the competitors taking risks , with a variety of Dives , any of the teams could have won at anytime, especially The Bouncers and The Briscoes after they both hit respective Tag Team Finishers ( i’m a big fan of the Briscoes ‘Red Neck Boogie’-Crucifix Powerbomb/ Neckbreaker combo) , poor Shameem Ali took a horrible landing following the Red Neck Boogie from The Briscoes but the resulting pin attempt was broken up by the Beer City Bruiser.
The action continued until there was only Ali and Taylor in the ring , and the ever-thinking Taylor caught Ali from a Tip-Up in the corner and delivered the Greetings From 216 got get his team the victory.
Winners The Briscoes, Silas Yong & Shane Taylor.
Taylor impressed me again, not just with his intelligence in the ring , but his athleticism for such a big guy is amazing. the powers that be must be taking notice, I see gold in this man’s future.
a very rate moment after the previous match saw Colt Cabana offer the Columbus crowd an NWA World Championship Match when the Champion Nick Aldis agreed to anytime, anywhere ( to be fair he has been riding Cabana all night about his victory 1 YEAR ago ……..IN CHINA) Aldis stormed off to get ready for this impromptu match.
Up next on the card , go south of the border when CMLL’s
RUSH takes on Soberano Jr
One word sums up this match ………………….Impressive.
RUSH absolutely dominated Soberano Jr , it wasn’t even a match , it was a mauling , Soberano Jr is the CMLL Welterweight champion not some jobber , but he was made to look like that by a very game RUSH.
It took ‘El Toro Blanco’ just under 4 minutes to dispatch his opponent with the Bull’s Horns Running Corner Dropkick. WOW.
Caprice Coleman Joined Ian Riccaboni on commentary.
Next Up – 4 Corners Survival Match
Caristico VS PJ Black VS Bandido VS Flip Gordon
What a match …………… this was as high-flying , death defying as you like.
Well , what would you expect from 4 world renowned high-flyers, it started quickly as you would expect , the code of honor was adhered to by all men, and that was a slow as it got ( I wish I had another pair of eyes).
The action was everywhere and insane, all 4 men left it all in the ring and some of it in the crowd, especially Flip Gordon who no doubt diced with death when he performed one of the most beautiful , insane Springboard Somersault Plancha from the ring into the his 3 opponents who were in the crowd ( to put this in perspective Flip went from the top rope , over the security railing which was on top of a 2-3 foot high wall onto his opponents) he must have flew 15-20 feet at least and the miracle was that nobody was injured.
Once some sort of order returned to the match each man tried closing the match out with signature/ finishing moves (Flip- 450 Splash, PJ – Springboard 450 Splash, Bandido- Blockbuster Suplex & Caristico – Spanish Fly)
Flip and PJ were the only 2 men left standing, Flip tried a Fireman’s Carry but PJ countered it and tried to German Suplex Flip but he held onto the rope, Bandido saw the opening and executed a 21Plex on both PJ Black and Flip Gordon to whom he scored the pinfall victory.
Winner Bandido in the most exciting 15 minutes I’ve watched in quite a while, huge win for the Mexican Sensation.
Kenny King Joins Commentary – albeit using a blind gimmick after being misted by The Great Muta at the G1 Supercard Honor Rumble.
30 Minute Iron Man Tag Team Match
Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham VS Mark Haskins & Tracy Williams – Winners go on to face Guerrillas Of Destiny for the ROH Tag Team Championships
All 4 men are technically sound wrestlers with Williams and Gresham being the 2 ‘Shooters’ if you will and their exchanges were stuff you show any aspiring young wrestler , with hold and counter hold exchanged. ( I may sound boring , but I love the technical style.) and then the more innovative offense came from Haskins and Lethal , making this a very even contest.
This match came alive in the second 15 minutes with Haskins getting the first fall via Sharpshooter Submission, after that I saw a new found urgency to Gresham and Lethal trying to event he score , although throughout the next 10 minuets or so it seemed like Haskins and Williams were desperate to get a second fall and it cost them , Haskins went for the Sharpshooter again and successfully locked it in , for what seemed like an eternity to Gresham , but some how he countered and rolled up Haskins to make it 1 fall a piece.
That left the clock at around 3 minutes remaining , so both teams were pulling out all the stops with Haskins hitting a Samoan Driver on Gresham Lethal locking Williams in the dreaded Figure 4 Leglock to which Williams got a rope break.
Mr Williams got little reprieve when Lethal and Gresham Combined to hit the Cornette Cutter ( Wheelbarrow Slingshot Cutter) for the second fall.
Haskins was like a man possessed for the final 2 minutes of the match trying to gain a submission on Gresham using various Leglocks such as Figure 4 Leglock , Windsor Knot /Indian Deathlock but in his attempts Gresham stretched and tagged in Lethal who delivered the Hail To The King Elbow Drop to Haskins for a near fall.
All 4 men were spent when the time limit expired.
Winners and Number 1 Contenders for the ROH Tag Team Championships – Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham.
All 4 men shared a handshake and mutual respect , which was refreshing.
Impromptu NWA World Championship Match
Nick Aldis (C) VS Colt Cabana
This match was slowly building up to a good finish after both competitors were even for most of the match , Cabana being his usual jovial self , playing to the crowd cost him ( This is a championship match , he needs to be more serious) and Aldis, ever the thinking man’s wrestler was a step ahead on a number of occasions , Cabana locked Aldis in the Chicago Crab but the champion got to the ropes.
Aldis regained advantage and scored a near fall following a Tombstone Piledriver and Top Rope Elbow Drop.
Then for no reason at all the super arrogant Marty Scurll came to ring side and made off with the NWA Title only for the Amazonian Kamille to stop him dead in his tracks,
Aldis ate a Cabana Dropkick fro his trouble and when Cabana got him back in the ring Scurll decided to have a physical exchange with Cabana , causing the DQ.
Winner by DQ – Colt Cabana.
A terrible finish to a good match , Cabana looked perplexed by the actions of Scurll , I have no doubts that their paths will cross eventually.
Main Event Time
ROH 6 Man Tag Team Champioship Match
The Kingdom ( ROH World Champion Matt Taven , Vinny Marseglia & TK O’Ryan) VS Villain Enterprises ( Marty Scurll , Brody King & PCO)
Marty makes it interesting , declaring a Columbus Street Fight – The Kingdom Agree – bedlam ensues.
And it never slowed down , action everywhere you looked , weapons , tables , umbrellas if it wasn’t nailed down it was going to be used as a weapon.
Marseglia and O’Ryan thought that they took out PCO early with a Double Superplex through 4 Chairs.
Brody King And O’Ryan each got through tables as does Taven, bur somehow kicks out from the resulting pin attempt.
Scurll nails Taven with The Climax(Headlock Driver & Taven’s own Finisher) for a 2 count but in the end it was the crafty Scurll and his 2 monsters getting the victory after he cracked Taven with his signature umbrella and PCO hit a picture perfect PCOsault for the 3 count – this makes PCO the number 1 contender for the ROH world Championship (what a career revival this is for the 51 year old French-Canadian Frankenstein)
Winners and Still ROH 6 Man Tag Team Champion Villain Entrerprises.
Show ends with PCO holding the ROH World Title High – Taven and his Kingdom could soon fall……only time will tell.
A good show overall , with plenty of good action , even the crowd were alive throughout.
Next stop for me is the Crockett Cup April 27th.
I’m looking forward to reviewing it for you all .
Happy reading
Danny
@BiekoDaniel
