Sunday, April 1, 2012

Showdown in the Sun Day 1 Review

It is now time to rundown Ring of Honor Showdown in the Sun Night One, the first of a two day event from Ring of Honor Wrestling on Wrestlemania Weekend in Fort Lauderdale Florida. The Ring of Honor Title is on the line when Davey Richards puts his belt on the line against two former champions in Eddie Edwards and Roderick Strong. Plus former tag team partners turned bitter rivals go one on one with El Generico against “Wrestling’s Worst Nightmare” Kevin Steen. Time to recap Ring of Honor Wrestling Showdown in the Sun Night One

Ring of Honor Showdown in the Sun Night 1

Ring of Honor Showdown in the Sun

The Briscoe Brothers defeated Shane Haste and Mikey Nicols of TMDK
Proving Grounds Match to kick off Showdown in the Sun Night One. Some production flubs in this match, but that’s to be expected with Ring of Honor on IPPV it seems. A solid enough opening match to get things moving on the right foot and obviously just a taster. Haste and Nichols seemed perfectly acceptable in the ring, with Jay and Mark pulling out the Doomsday Device to score the pin.

Jim Cornette and the NWA World Champion Adam Pearce is out, making his return from Ring of Honor. Apparently Pearce beat Adam Cole last night under questionable means. I don’t know, the NWA hasn’t meant anything in twenty years. Out comes Adam Cole who wants a rematch which Cornette agrees, but not for the title. Thus the Battle of the Adams is joined.

Adam Cole defeated Adam Pearce

Perfectly acceptable wrestling action but Adam Pearce has always been solid and inoffensive but underwhelming. Adam Cole scores the win after countering the sunset flip. I figured Adam would win this match. Pearce shows some respect for Cole after the match.

All Night Express defeated the Young Bucks in a Texas Tornado Match

The Young Bucks won a coin toss in this match. About as well as you would expect for this one, although a bit of a surprise that the All Night Express won, as you would expect that the Young Bucks would win to set up the match further on night two. More Bang for Your Buck is avoided and the All Night Express wins.
Words from the Embassy, with them promising to give the Television Title Belt that Tomasso Ciampa Stole

Jay Lethal defeated Kyle O’Reilly to Retain the ROH Television Title

Lethal proved why he is the better mechanical wrestlers in Ring of Honor, by making O’Reilly look rather good. O’Reilly seems to be a rather decent heel and he does have a lot of potential providing he doesn’t get sucked too deep into the moves, moves, moves, strong style seriousness that is the Davey Richards ROH main event style. Lethal hits the Lethal Injection and scores the pin. Tomasso Ciampa and Jay Lethal have a face off but nothing happens.

Intermission occurs at this point.

Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team defeated Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander

Revenge match from Coleman and Alexander defeating Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team on television last week and this was fair, but I think I liked the television match just a little bit more. There was a really long heat segment on Caprice Coleman but the hot tag was made. Alexander runs wild for a short while but Super Exploder of Doom puts down Alexander for the pin.

Mike Bennett defeated Lance Storm

Wrestling 101, with the brash young man taking on the wily veteran who might be a step slower than normal, but he still has a few tricks right in this bag. Obviously Bennett had to go over but Storm gave his opponent some anxious moments, before he pulled out the victory with a Diamond Cutter variation. Then Bennett attacked like he was going to shake Storm’s hand but laid him out.

Kevin Steen defeated El Generico in a Last Man Standing Match

We all knew that this match had an uphill battle in touching their Final Battle 2010 match but it did deliver in spades for sure. Perhaps not the hard hitting brutality of the previous two Steen Pay Per View encounters but it was a different kind of good. And Jimmy Jacobs returned to his wicked ways, using a chair on Generico. The match of the evening in my book.

Davey Richards retained the Ring of Honor Championship defeated Eddie Edwards and Roderick Strong

This was elimination rules and this was your typical Davey Richards ROH Pay Per View main event style match although thankfully it went on about ten to fifteen minutes shorter, so it really did not have much of a chance to burn out my patience. Thus it was much better than expected. Strong puts down Eddie Edwards for the pin after some interference. Then it was down to Davey Richards versus Roderick Strong Part 4214. Nearfallmania and Richards gets the pin to keep the title.

Michael Elgin jumps in and attacks Davey Richards because they have a title match Saturday Afternoon on Day Two.

Other than the many, many, many production issues that this Ring of Honor Pay Per View had when it aired live, I thought this was a solid effort. I enjoyed Bennett against Storm and Generico against Steen the most out of the matches. Hopefully this afternoon will run a bit more smoothly from the technical end.

Ring of Honor Showdown in the Sun Night 1 Results
Ring of Honor Tag Team Champions the Briscoe Brothers defeated TMDK in a Proving Grounds Match.
Adam Cole defeated Adam Pearce
The All Night Express defeated the Young Bucks.
ROH Television Champion Jay Lethal defeated Kyle O’Reilly.
Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team defeated Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander.
Mike Bennett defeated Lance Storm
Kevin Steen defeated El Generico in a Last Man Standing Match
Davey Richards retained the Ring of Honor Championship in a Three Way Elimination Match over Roderick Strong and Eddie Edwards

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