Post by adamclark52 on Jan 21, 2018 0:53:48 GMT -5
Ring of Honor “Killer Instinct”
October 6th, 2012
From the Rahway Recreation Center in Rahway, New Jersey
Commentators: Kevin Kelly
Michael Elgin w/Truth Martini vs. Mike Bennett w/Maria Kanellis
Mike Bennett had longer hair here. That’s about the most exciting thing from him on his side of the match. Michael Elgin was Michael Elgin. Watch this match for Maria’s bum. That’s it. But that's the only reason to watch any Michael Bennett match, isn't it?
Winner: Michael Elgin
Oh boy, Roderick Strong has joined Kevin Kelly on commentary.
3.0 vs. the Bravado Brothers
This was pretty sloppy and boring. There were a couple of pretty bad botched spots. I have higher expectations from the Bravado Brothers so I’m blaming 3.0.
Winners: the Bravado Brothers
Roderick Strong leaves the commentary booth.
QT Marshall vs. Bobby Fish
This happened.
Winner: Bobby Fish
Elimination Match for the Ring of Honor World Tag Team Championships
Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team vs. Rhett Titus & BJ Whitmer vs. S.C.U.M. (champions)
Steve Corino was wearing your grandmas’ bathing suit in this match. This was okay enough.
Winners: S.C.U.M.
QT Marshall joins Kevin Kelly at the commentary booth.
Kyle O’Reilly vs. (...sigh) Roderick Strong w/Truth Martini
This happened.
Winner: Roderick Strong
QT Marshall leaves commentary and lo and behold Jim Cornette of all people comes out to join Kevin Kelly for Davey Richards upcoming match.
Mike Mondo vs. Davey Richards
This was actually a pretty good match but I give such little f*** about either of these guys that it was hard for me to care in any way. The crowd at least woke from their coma for this match.
Winner: Davey Richards
Afterwards Davey Richards grabs the mic and demands the crowd show Mike Mondo respect.
Jim Cornette exits and Mike Bennett joins Kevin Kelly.
Eddie Edwards & Adam Cole vs. the Briscoes
This wasn’t anything special really. Even the Briscoes couldn’t wake this crowd up.
Winners: the Briscoes
Mike Bennett leaves commentary and Jim Cornette re-joins.
For the Ring of Honor World Heavyweight Championship
Jay Lethal vs. Kevin Steen (champion)
This match started off really hype (for this show) but tapered off in the middle. The ending was...different, when Kevin Steen spat on Jay Lethals mom (who was in the front row, as the show was pretty much a hometown show for Lethal) but the fighting between the two as things fell apart went from “decently real” to “painfully fake looking”. Lethal did a great job of showing emotional rage towards Steen and everyone around him (even punching out a few referees) but when the two fought the punches were so damn fake.
Winner: no contest
Bobby Cruise apologizes to the crowd for what they just witnessed.
It was a very confusing and disjointed ending.
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DVD bonus features:
Pre-match comments from Mike Bennett, the Bravado Brothers, Bobby Fish and Roderick Strong. I watched the Bravados one and they were spectacular losers.
Post-match comments from Michael Elgin.
Footage of Jay Lethal snapping backstage after the main event
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It seems like I’m saying this after every DVD I watch but the crowd here was maybe the quietest crowd I’ve seen at a Ring of Honor show. The difference between this show and the others I’ve watched of late was it was actually a fairly large crowd. But for the first four matches I had to keep checking the DVDs box to make sure it wasn’t one of those empty arena shows. The lack of an actual commentary team didn’t help. I like Kevin Kelly and he did his best but some of his “guests” weren’t very good at all and only really sold their own angles. Jim Cornette was really the only tolerable one, and that was only in the main event.
The audio on this DVD was f***ing horrendous. Anything above normal talking volume was distorted and crackly as hell; both the ring and crowd noises and the commentary. Sometimes. Other times it was fine and I’d get fooled into turning my volume up to a normal level…then it would go crackly again and hurt my ears. It made for a very uneven viewing experience.
Overall it was a very forgettable show. The best matches were the main event and the Davey Richards verses Mike Mondo match but those are average matches on better shows.
The title screen for the show, however, is really good. It’s the best title screen I’ve seen for a Ring of Honor DVD and it made me think I was going to be watching a much more special show when I turned it on. Jay Lethals hand is moving around ominously (the same image as the cover) and the Ring of Honor logo is floating around in the background with some cool music.
