Saturday, March 16, 2013

ROH Epic Encounter III Review

Davey Richards & Kenny Omega put on a classic in Canada!

*This show is available On-Demand for Ringside Members at rohwrestling.com*

ROH Epic Encounter III
Mississauga, Ontario 3/20/10

Bobby Cruise announces that Roderick Strong & Mark Briscoe were unable to make it to the venue due to issues crossing the border into Canada.

This brings out ROH World Champion Tyler Black, who says he's relieved that he wouldn't have to team with Strong against Austin Aries & Kenny King, given that Strong was a Top Title Contender. This brings out Austin Aries. He cuts a promo and fakes out a fight with Black, but it's a set-up as Kenny King attacks Black from behind. This brought out Jay Briscoe, Rhett Titus, Tyson Dux & Rasche Brown, and a brawl ensues. Aries & his boys are sent packing and says if they want to fight, he, King & Titus will find a partner for later.

1.) The House of Truth vs. The Flatliners: **1/2

The Flatliners are local talent who have appeared on a few of ROH's previous Canada shows. An average tag team match, nothing special.

2.) Kevin Steen vs. Player Dos (with Player Uno): ***3/4

Steen is wearing a "Cabanaramma" headband. An injured Player Uno is at ringside with his partner. This was surprisingly very awesome. Matches like this make me wonder why ROH didn't pick up The Super Smash Brothers as regulars. It's unfortunate, because they're good. We saw some awesome moves, and it took two Package Piledrivers to put away Dos.

After the match, Kevin Steen came back out and gave Dos a third Package Piledriver.

Eddie Edwards comes out and gets some cheap heat by he's an American Wolf. This brings out Petey Williams and we have an unexpected World TV Title Match!

3.) ROH World TV Title - Eddie Edwards vs. Petey Williams: ***

This ended up being a pretty solid match. They seem to work well together. Petey gets distracted by Shane Hagadorn, and this ends up costing him the match.

4.) Austin Aries, Kenny King, Rhett Titus & Adam Pearce vs. Tyler Black, Jay Briscoe, Tyson Dux & Rasche Brown: ***1/2

Aries introduces (then) NWA World Champion Adam Peace (and then ROH Booker). This turned out to be a pretty good match. It kind of felt like a Multi-Man Tag that one would see in WWE, and that's actually a good thing. It made for a much more interesting contest. Plus ROH doesn't do eight-man tags often.

5.) Steve Corino vs. Colt Cabana: **1/4

Eh...this match was ok, but mostly not very interesting. It only really served as angle advancement, as Kevin Steen interfered for the DQ. El Generico comes out with a chair to chase them off.

6.) Pick 6 Series - El Generico vs. (3) Chris Hero: ***3/4

This was a VERY good match. Hero & Generico put on a great showing that was one of the best ROH matches of 2010. 

After the match, Kevin Steen comes back out, and finally explains why he turned on El Generico. He says that he hated Generico originally, but accepted him as a brother after years of wrestling together. It took several things to change his tone, including losing the World Tag Team Titles in Ladder War II and being on the following ROH show without El Generico (and realized he missed them). But the final straw was at Final Battle 2009, when Generico hugged him before he was about to announce his retirement, leading to what ended up happening. He calls Generico a parasite and tells him to strike him with a chair. Cabana wants him to strike Steen, but Generico struggles with the until Steve Corino comes out to spoil the moment.

7.) Davey Richards vs. Kenny Omega: ****1/2

These two had their first match back at Clash of the Contenders which was won by Omega. This match  was just plain awesome. Richards didn't wait for the bell to start, and the match was balls to the walls pretty much the entire time.

Richards gives Omega credit, and says he's coming for Tyler Black & his ROH World Title.

Overall: 8.5/10

Despite the issues with Roderick Strong & Mark Briscoe not being there, this turned out to be a pretty solid show. Richards/Omega and Hero/Generico were great, the Eight Man Tag was pretty good, and Steen/Dos was surprisingly great as well.

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