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While Stu Carapola is handling play by play tonight, I'll be live blogging thoughts about the Ring of Honor 13th Anniversary PPV. Thanks for logging in with us tonight on PWInsider.com!
I really liked the opening video with members of the roster getting all dolled up and heading for a night out in Vegas, all dressed like big time players....and followed by Mark Briscoe, in all his redneck glory, taking up the rear. That was a great tongue in cheek silly way to close things out.
Vegas seemed really excited for the live opening of the show. The look of the show is far improved from the last Final Battle PPV in NYC last year. We'll see whether Dave Scherer shows up on camera!
We have Spanish announcers for the first time! Cary Silkin is sitting at ringside. During our interview with him Saturday, he wasn't 100% sure he was going to make the show so it's good to see he is there. If anyone deserves to enjoy the anniversary, it's Silkin.
Cedric Alexander vs. Matt Sydal is our opener. Earlier today, we have Cedric for an interview in the Elite section and he was beyond excited to wrestle Sydal for the first time. Some really good wrestling early. Sydal pulled out some sweet pinfall takedowns. Alexander showed some real aggression ad the crowd sort of turned on him for it. They were really taking it to each other with some great back and forth, stiff kicks. There were some really nice counter-wrestling maneuvers during the bout. Cedric grabbing Sydal for a rollup while he went for a standing moonsault was a great idea. It never really made sense that guys laid there and waited for the move to hit them. Alexander nearly scoring the pin with the backbreaker variation was awesome. The finish was absolutely awesome as Alexander went for a big move but mis-judged Sydal and ended up wiping himself out on the ropes with a big dropkick, allowing Sydal to his a shooting star press for the pin. Just beautiful pro wrestling. Alexander being so upset about the loss was great too, because it reinforces that wins and losses mean something. Great opener!
They had a good video breaking down and introducing Moose to the audience. It made him look like a million bucks. Mark Briscoe then had a great promo talking about how Moose may have been playing football but Briscoe was always wrestling and hunting and tonight, he's hunting Moose.
Big reaction for Mark as he came out. People were into Moose as well. Veda Scott is awesome and so underused here. She's a star in my book. Stokely had some great facial expressions as always. Moose showed some awesome power and agility early. He actually dominated the early portion and even hit a sick Fall Away Slam on Briscoe into the ringside barricade. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino were pretty funny early on with their banter. They noted there are actual ropes instead of cable for the ropes tonight, which could lead to some differences for the fliers on the roster - which makes sense given the Alexander vs. Sydal finish. Briscoe made a comeback and nailed an awesome Cactus elbow off the apron. I love that spot but hope someone tells Briscoe there are days Mick is using a wheelchair to get across airports. 20 years from now, Briscoe is going to be feeling it. In the end, Moose scored with a spear and gets the biggest win of his career. I liked the bit where Veda Scott refused to allow the Code of Honor.
Time for the three-way tag. The Kingdom vs. The Bullet Club vs. The Addiction. With Luke Gallows snowed in in Detroit (and boy is he pissed about that), curious to see who Karl Anderson tags with. Well, he announced he didn't need a partner as he was The Bullet Club. Everyone attacked him at the bell. It settled into Kingdom vs. Addiction. I hope Anderson can blind tag himself in or else it doesn't make sense for the other teams to let him into the ring. Some good tag action throughout. Daniels did indeed choose to tag Anderson late into the bout. Lots of hot moves during the bout. Really liked Kazarian's slingshotting Anderson into the ring for an Ace Crusher. The Kingdom getting the win had to be seen as something of a surprise as they pinned Karl Anderson. Given that they have worked for New Japan in the past, I wonder if that is setting the stage for them challenging the belts down the line. Really frenetic, fun tag team bout. We are three for three in terms of entertaining bouts.
Roderick Strong vs. BJ Whitmer started out strong with some brawling. They were the first to really go to the floor, throwing each other into the barricades and given the personal animosity involved here, they should have been going at each other. Jimmy Jacobs joind Corino and Kelly on commentary. Whitmer took control with Strong being in the role of the babyface trying to come from behind and kicking up. Strong's work in recent months has just been damn awesome. Whitmer literally gave Strong the kiss of death but it only served to fire up Roddy, who killed him with a series of big strikes for the pin. Good stuff.
Coverage continues on Page 2!
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