- Rhett Titus was spotted walking outside before the show, without crutches but with a limp. Sajid is sitting on the same side as the hard camera, where they apparently added 120 seats. An audience member had a seizure, delaying the start time. Action began with some dark match at 7:10 PM EST. Right off the bat, they announce that the next night of tapings is March 3rd, and that the main event for the 10th Anniversary Show on the 4th will be Davey Richards & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Eddie Edwards & Adam Cole.

- Four-minute tag team dark match with locals. Sarcastic streamers in the ring to start.

Taped for 2/18:

- Shelton Benjamin suspended since he didn’t pay the fine. Main event of WGTT vs. Young Bucks [which wasn't announced on the site] cancelled. Charlie Haas comes out and says he’ll fight one of the Briscoes. Briscoes out. Jim Cornette out. Makes Mark Briscoe vs. Haas with Jay Briscoe handcuffed to ringpost. Says he’s only making it because he knows Shelton’s at home in Houston.

- Steve Corino on commentary, desk moved to top right corner, next to fans behind the fence.

1. Kevin Steen vs. Andy Ridge. Steen wins a four minute hard-hitting squash with F5. Tries to piledrive Ridge but is slowed by Todd Sinclair, stopped by Corino. Jimmy Jacobs comes out, brawl, unanswered challenge. “Two most evil men in ROH history.”

2. Eddie Edwards & Adam Cole vs. Matt Taven & Mike Mondo. Cole pins Taven in 6 min. Very good match. Mondo is the only one who won’t shake hands. Beats up Taven.

3. Main Event: Charlie Haas vs. Mark Briscoe. Jay cuffed to post near me. Mark wins with rollup in 6. Two Angle slams after the match to Mark from Haas who stole the key back. Chair shot to Mark’s head, but Mark put up his hands. Charlie goes to announce booth and pays his and Shelton’s fine, says this was his plan all week.

Taped for 2/25:

4. The Young Bucks vs. Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander (The New Combination). Bucks win in 6 with moonsault 450 combo [More Bang For Your Buck] on Coleman. Very good, a couple botches.

5. Main Event for the ROH World Title: Davey Richards vs. Jay Lethal. Choreographed indie sequence of respect and parity! Tommaso Ciampa out with a chair, sits down at ringside 8 min in. Kyle O’Reilly out when Davey is distracted by Ciampa to calm Davey down. Truth Martini, Michael Elgin, and Roderick Strong out. Then Edwards and Cole. Strong was rooting for Jay. Big brawl on the outside. Cole was on the apron brawling with Elgin. Jay ran the ropes and collided with Cole, and Davey rolled him up afterward to retain the title. After the match, everyone from ringside brawled to the back but Ciampa. Richards and Ciampa yell, Ciampa wants a shot. Match got better as it went on, but not that great. Clusterfuck at ringside didn’t help match, helped heat. Davey got visibly pissed at heel fans.

- No intermission. Briscoes out to start next tapings, I think. Talking about 10th Anniversary Show match against Dem Girly Boys, the Young Bucks. Said $5000 check from House of Truth bounced. Then talked about 3/31 match with WGTT which is about much more than the titles.

- Now ten minute intermission – Strong vs. Edwards to come up. Dunno which show that promo was for, 2/25 or 3/3. By the way, crowd seems about the same, 700-800 though GA looks a little less packed. Not as hot as last month.

Taped for 3/3:

- Nigel McGuinness and Kevin Kelly in the ring. Officially announce start of 3/3 show.

6. “Technical Lighting” TJ Perkins vs. “Maria’s Boyfriend” Mike Bennett (with Maria and #WhyNotBob). Bennett wins a very good six minute match when Maria distracts TJ.

7. Tommaso Ciampa (with the whole Embassy, including Mia, who is no Maria) vs. Guy Alexander. Ciampa wins by ref stoppage in two brutal minutes due to repeated bare knees to the face. Ciampa cut a promo to the camera during and after the match challenging Lethal. Really like Ciampa.

8. Main Event: Roderick Strong (w/ Truth Martini) vs. Eddie Edwards; winner gets a World Title shot March 30th in Ft. Lauderdale. 18 min in, Cole comes out to stop Truth from interfering. Elgin comes out, and both Cole and Elgin take a suicide dive from Eddie. Strong pins Eddie after a loaded kick to the face. Skinny ref Paul Turner comes out to tell Sinclair, counts three for Eddie after that Die Hard he does, which inadvertantly knocked Sinclair down. Sinclair doesn’t agree. Kelly and Cornette come out and talk about. Overbooked finish leads to obvious Elimination Triple Threat announcement for 3/30. Davey comes out for a staring contest. Very good 19 min match but too many moves and much overbooking.

Taped for 3/10:

- Bobby Cruise has a ring that says DAD. Crowd really up for last match. Kind of louder than earlier. Kelly and Nigel cut to a video about the Blind Destiny Challenge, which goes unexplained to all of us. Small “what is that?” chant.

9. Blind Destiny Qualifier: Kenny King (w/ Rhett Titus) vs. Jay Lethal. Truth and Strong out early to watch. Lethal wins a good 8 minute match, though he was obviously tired. Strong and Truth are recruiting Jay. Entire front row on camera just left, moving the Liger fan up front.

10. Blind Destiny Qualifier: Adam Cole vs. Kevin Steen. Steen over big as a face. Steen wins a very good six minute match after kicking out of the lung blower and hitting the F5. Goes for the piledriver after the match, but Edwards comes out for the save, getting boos. Then dueling Eddie Edwards vs. Kill Steen Kill chants, the former mostly me by the end. Steen’s a very good wrestler. Not a ton of “this is wrestling” chants, but a few.

11. Blind Destiny Qualifier: Kyle O’Reilly vs. Michael Elgin (w/Truth dressed as a gay pirate). Strong out to watch AGAIN three minutes in. Elgin wins a good 12 minute match. Davey came out to fend off Strong at the very end. Elgin used the spinning sitout powerbomb. O’Reilly wasn’t as over as last month.

Davey cut a promo telling Elgin that the House of Truth needs Elgin more than Elgin needs them. Said Elgin will hopefully realize that after their match in Florida. This is off TV. He puts Kyle and Elgin over as the future. Then does the “love me or hate me” bit. Show’s over!

- The next set of tapings are already set for February 4th back at the DuBurns Arena. “Crowbar” Devon Storm gets a two minute dark match win. Estimated attendance by the start of the tapings was at about 800. Sajid scored a front row seat off to the side of the commentary table (Kevin Kelly & Nigel McGuinness back in the saddle) and offers the following details:

The view from his seat:

Taped for 1/21:

1. Eddie Edwards vs. Mike Mondo. Great reax for Eddie. Mikey is one fifth blond. Spirit Squad chant. Eddie wins a short but good competitive squash with a cradle piledriver.

- Briscoes out for a promo with Jim Cornette. Big pop. Asked who gets the $5000 fine money that WGTT had to pay for the headshots. Funny. Pure babyface promo.

2. Roderick Strong (w/Truth Martini and Michael Elgin) vs. Ricky Reyes. Roddy wins a short competitive match with a handful of tights. Truth was on commentary.

3. Main Event: Kenny King (w/Rhett Titus on crutches) vs. Matt Jackson (w/Nick Jackson). Buck wins a really good ten minute match when Nick hits Kenny with Rhett’s crutch.

- Good face/heel dynamics tonight. Great energy.

Taped for 1/28:

4. Tomasso Ciampa w/ Prince Nana & RD Evans vs. TJ Perkins. Perkins is very good at working the crowd. I’d be surprised if Chimpo didn’t make it to WWE by 2015. Really good six minute match. Chimpo wins with Project Ciampa.

- Good mix of families and people 20-35. More of the latter. Just bought a ticket for the 4th.

5. Michael Elgin vs. Grizzly Redwood. Crowbar out originally against Grizzly Redwood. But wait, Truth out with Roddy, Elgin and a Willy Wonka chant. Offers Crowbar $500 to give Elgin his spot. Truth tells Grizzly after this match, he’s gonna wish he died as a child. Goes to commentary. Nasty running front slam into the barricade from Elgin. Fun match. Grizzly was a bump machine. Elgin is amazingly agile; won with a sitout powerbomb in about 4.

- There’s a raging homophobe behind me dropping F-bombs tonight about House of Truth. No one is laughing.

6. Main Event: Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander (The New Combination!) vs. Davey Richards & Kyle O’Reilly. Nice ovation for Davey & O’Reilly. Cornette out on commentary. Cameraman on the left side of the ring keeps getting in the way. Cedric Alexander is pretty impressive. Worst spot of the night when Coleman somehow makes Kyle DDT Davey. Stupid this is awesome chant. Legitimately awesome nearfall on KO after a couple of ranas and a frog splash. Kyle submits Alexander with a guillotine choke with a Davey double stomp in the middle. Excellent ten minutes. Babyface show of respect.

- O’Reilly chant after the match which was precious. Davey promo. “Guess Ring of Honor has found a new home in Baltimore.” Welcome home chant. Puts O’Reilly over as a future world champ. Says he and O’Reilly are a new tag team called Team Ambition. Awful name gets chanted. Puts New Combo over. Coleman thanks the crowd who love them.

- Out comes Eddie. He and Davey argue off mic. Ambition doesn’t look happy. Heelish from Eddie, gets shooed out by Sinclair.

- Ten minute intermission. Promote the official afterparty at De La Roses across the street in the First Mariner Building. Truly awful intermission music. Sexy And I Know It. These people are also starting to smell.

Taped for 2/4:

- Nigel yawned! Kelly & Nigel in the ring to start. Crowd starting to sound a bit tired. Countdown to crowd shots. Announces Lethal vs. Bennett no time limit. Nigel kinda stumbles. Cut to interviews with both guys that we can’t hear.

7. No Time Limit Match for the World TV Title: Jay Lethal vs. Mike Bennett (w/ Brutal Bob & Maria Kanellis). Maria is right in front of me. Homophobe tells Lethal to hit Maria. Lethal wins an OK 12 min match after botched interference from Maria, prompted homophobe to tell Bennett to smack her in the face. Everyone is now actively ignoring him.

- Kevin Kelly in the ring. Introduces Kevin Steen who comes out to a mostly positive reaction. Lots of heckling from my section. Cornette comes out with Silkin and security. Compares Steen to Owen Hart breaking Austin’s neck. Says Owen was remorseful. Bans piledriver. Steen comes back saying he’ll win the title. Swears on his sons life. Fun to heckle this fat person. He actually responded to me telling him to shut up at the beginning of his promo.

- WGTT out to a mixed reaction. Heel promo. Holding show hostage until Briscoes come out for a title match. Corny out. Corny says no time. Rematch chant. Out come the Briscoes after a bit. Brawly brawl. Match!

8. World Tag Team Title Match?: The Briscoes vs. Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team. Ends by DQ after a chairshot to the head to Mark. Boo. Five minutes. $5000 fine from Corny.

Taped for 2/11:

Kelly and Nigel in a tender embrace.

- Kelly says Lethal earned a World Title match. Main event is Briscoes vs. Elgin and Strong tonight with a $5000 side bet. First, O’Reilly vs. Edwards. Pretape comments.

9. Eddie Edwards vs. Kyle O’Reilly. O’Reilly out to a nice reaction from a tired crowd. Eddie out to a good tired reaction. Dueling chants before a tense handshake. Indie pose of parity and respect! Davey out to coach O’Reilly when he gets caught in an ankle lock. Jawing between Wolves. Rolling underhook suplexes into the armbar, but Eddie gets the ropes. My section starts an O’Reilly chant. Vertical to the outside. Adam Cole out to coach Eddie when HE gets caught in an ankle lock. Eddie wins reversing roll up. Awesome last few minutes.

- Eddie cuts a very heelish promo asking Cole to be his tag partner. Cole accepts. Says match any time anywhere. Right now chant. Awesome match. 15 or so. O’Reilly is due for big things.

10. Mike Mondo vs. Matt Taven. Didn’t mention it earlier, but he again had a sign that said “Godzilla Fears Mondo”. Facing Matt Taven. He’s getting Ryder chants because of his head band and pants. Steve Corino sits in on commentary. He’s got spirit chants and we want Ryder chants. Steen out interrupting with a promo complaining about not getting ring time. Steen beats them both up. Mikey technically wins. Security out to separate Steen and Corino.

- Todd Sinclair out with two envelopes. One says “Briscoes $5000″ and one says “House of Truth $5000″.

11. Main Event: Briscoes vs. Roderick Strong & Michael Elgin. Cornette on commentary. Truth seems to be wearing a vest he made out of a Persian rug. Five thousand dollars becomes a fun chant. Almost whimsical. Good back and forth. Three little girls are chanting man up. Face full of powder to Jay on the outside send him to the back. Comes out with a baseball bat and nails Elgin for the DQ. House of Truth wins a good match in 13. Briscoes hold the money hostage in the ring with the bat. Lead $5000 chants.

Show’s over. They really booked that last episode well to keep everybody in it. Really fun time other than the chair shit and homophobe and smelly people. Mark Briscoe in the lobby taking pictures. Kenny King, Davey Richards, O’Reilly too. I’m taller than Davey. Mia Yim out too.

1) Michael Elgin defeated TJ Perkins. Elgin got the win in 7:25 with his spinning powerbomb finisher. Good opener and a fun contrast of styles as expected. Perkins put on a good show and hit some of his signature spots, but couldn’t hit his finisher, and Elgin hit most of his usual power moves.

2) Tomasso Ciampa defeated Jimmy Rave. The full Embassy crew accompanied Ciampa, and Prince Nana and RD Evans did some mic work before the match. Rave had an Abe Lincoln style beard and shorter hair, but generally looked pretty much the same as during his last run. Todd Sinclair was the referee, which led to “Twinkies” chants and general idiocy from the crowd. Rave utilized both the heel hook and the Rave Clash but couldn’t put Ciampa down. Inevitably, the Embassy all interfered, leading to Ciampa hitting Project Ciampa for the win at 8:29. Unless Rave is sticking around, Ciampa absolutely should have won cleanly.

There have been technical difficulties in attempting to show replays after each match.

3) ROH Television Championship elimination match: Jay Lethal defeated Mike Bennett and El Generico to retain. Pretty early in the card for a title match. Bennett entered first with Brutal Bob Evans and a scantily-clad Maria Kanellis. The crowd chanted “CM Punk” at Maria and Bennett kissed her and cut a promo. Bennett avoided the action early, and eventually both babyfaces hit a dual suicide dive on him. Later, Bennett was outside again and hid behind both Evans (in “Put up your dukes” mode) and Maria; shortly after that, there was three-way action in the ring which eventually led to Bennett hitting a spinebuster on Lethal for a near fall. Generico hit a cool double springboard dive out of the corner onto Lethal, the nearly pinned Bennett with a half nelson suplex. Generico kicked out of a Lethal flying elbow, then cut off a second one. Bennett stopped him from a brainbuster attempt and rolled him up (with two hands full of tights) for the elimination at the 18 minute mark. Lethal then immediately hit what Kevin Kelly called the Lethal Injection (although I don’t actually think it was that) for the win at 18:15. Really good match.

4) Kevin Steen defeated Steve Corino in a No DQ match to earn reinstatement in ROH. Steen was denied locker room access, so he entered through the crowd. Just like Sandman at One Night Stand, only fatter and slightly less over as a babyface. Jimmy Jacobs was the special referee and both Cary Silkin and Jim Cornette were at ringside. Corino was introduced as wrestling out of Sea Island City, NJ. I think he’s working his way toward having every city in North America as part of his intro at one point or another. Steen hit the majority of the early offense to the delight of the crowd. Weapon-like implements included a chair, a guard rail section, a table, and a garbage can (they actually had a clever excuse for this being in the ring area as they used it to discard streamers). Steen is closer than ever to not making it over and paralyzing himself on his somersault leg drop. Corino bled and Steen was expectedly disgusting. Corino slammed Steen onto a pile of chairs and then hit a top rope splash from a longer distance than I thought he was capable of jumping. Corino kicked out of a surperplex onto a guardrail bridged over chairs. Corino knocked Steen off the second rope through a stack of tables and chairs on the floor. Corino hit his sliding clothesline with one chair into another chair for a two count. Steen hit an ugly cobra clutch suplex then an exploder onto a chair for two. Nigel can’t believe it. I can’t believe I’m writing this much about this match. Jacobs finally got actively involved, stopping Steen from a big chairshot, which allowed Corino to punch Steen with a roll of quarters for a near fall. Shortly after, Steen hit a Package Piledriver through a platform of chairs and Jacobs very slowly and reluctantly counted 3. The match was about 24 minutes long. This wasn’t good, but I guess it did what they were going for.

After the match, Steen spoke briefly and then hit a Package Piledriver on Jacobs. Cornette came into check on him, and I finally got my wish as Generico decided to care about this and stopped Steen from attacking Cornette. They traded punches and Generico hit a Yakuza kick. Steen countered an attempted turnbuckle brainbuster with a Package Piledriver through a table on the floor. The crowd chanted “Welcome back!” for the conquering hero. They sold the injury in a huge way (including Kelly calling Steen a son of a bitch) and this was actually a pretty good angle which would have been great if the idiots in the crowd realized that Steen is a heel.

Intermission

5) Contenders Cup tag team gauntlet: The Young Bucks defeated the Bravado Brothers, Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander, Future Shock, and the All Night Express. Teams were randomly drawn for order of entry. The Bravados started out against Coleman & Alexander. For the second time in recent ROH history, a color commentator incorrectly posited that the best strategy in a gauntlet match is to go hard early in order to win quickly and therefore “save energy” for the end. Coleman got a near fall with some would-be finisher off camera. After five minutes, Alexander eliminated the Bravados with a roll-up. Cole & O’Reilly entered next. If both jobber teams were going to enter and leave first, would anyone have objected to this just being a three-team elimination match? I guess the New Combination beating the Bravados ever so slightly elevates them and further puts the Bravados’ roster status in jeopardy, but still. Good action in the second fall and one or two semi-plausible near falls for the NC, but Future Shock eliminated them with Ride the Lighting at 11:45 (total). The Young Bucks entered third. The announcers played up the issue between the Bucks and ANX, which would seem to telegraph that the Bucks would win this fall. At one point, O’Reilly hit nine straight rolling butterfly suplexes on Nick Jackson. O’Reilly missed his flying kick off the apron, allowing the Bucks to hit a double superkick and More Bang for Your Buck on Cole to eliminate Future Shock just past the 20 minute mark. Really good stuff there. Titus and King immediately started off hot against the Bucks, but the Bucks took control quickly as Titus’s knee injury was aggravated. Nick Jackson hit an awesome counter to King’s cartwheel kick by simply kicking him in the head. The Bucks targeted Titus’s knee whenever they had a chance, and won in 29 minutes by referee stoppage after Matt had Titus in a leg lock and Nick hit him with a 450 splash. Good match with a nice logical finish.

Kevin Kelly addressed the rumor that Nigel McGuinness was a rumored opponent for Roderick Strong’s open challenge, and Nigel said that Truth Martini didn’t want Strong to wrestle him.

6) Roderick Strong defeated Chris Hero. Strong cut a promo and claimed that there were no worthy opponents, so he should be declared the winner by default. Martini led ref Todd Sinclair in a ten count (with rhyming quips interspersed) for some reason until Hero came out just before ten. That would have been an awesome surprise if it hadn’t been rumored for a few days. The match started just after 10:00, with two presumably long matches still to come. Typically good stuff but nothing too noteworthy through the first ten minutes. Hero was a half-step off in a few instances. At 14 minutes, Strong hit a cool combo finishing with a Gibson Driver for a near fall. Hero fired back with three straight spinning strikes for his own 2 count. He then hit a Death Blow, and Martini came in the ring, apparently trying to break up the pin, but not really doing anything except distracting Hero. Another distraction shortly after that allowed Strong to hit the Sick Kick for the win at 16:37. Good match, but the crowd was kind of flat and the usual Martini shenanigans hurt it.

The production was uniformly unacceptable on this show.

7) ROH Tag Team Championships: The Briscoe Brothers defeated Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team to win the titles. They seemingly decided to go with the tide of the crowd reactions as Haas & Benjamin attacked before the bell, including using the belts. They brawled at ringside and the opening bell still didn’t ring. WGTT were more aggressive and dished out most of the offense. Back in the ring, they attacked with chairs, including a big unprotected shot to Mark’s head. And then a slightly protected one for Jay. Still no bell at this point, and it seemed like there would be no match. More chair shots (not to the head). Jay started to bleed and then took an unprotected shot to the head. They hit a semi-botched Leap of Faith. For some reason, Paul Turner called for the opening bell at this point. If I didn’t make it clear by now, this was a definite heel turn by WGTT. Jay hit a supekick to cut off a second Leap of Faith and had an awesome face-off with Haas. Benjamin hit a Stinger Splash on Mark but then sold his pre-existing rib injury. The Briscoes were in control at this point, and took off his shirt to expose his taped ribs. Haas tagged in and hit some nice offense. Later, Haas avoided a spike Jay Driller and hit a series of German suplexes on Jay. He got Jay in the Haas of Pain, and Benjamin blocked a flying attempt to break it up by Mark. The damage to Benjamin’s ribs allowed the Briscoes to double team Haas, and refs helped Benjamin to the back. This pretty much ruined the underdog situation that the pre-match attack set up. Turner was wiped out on an Angle Slam attempt by Haas, and Benjamin came back out (he was gone for less than two minutes) and hit Mark in the head with a wooden sheet. WGTT went for a Doomsday Device, but Mark recovered and knocked Shelton off the ropes, then the Briscoes hit their own Doomsday Device for the win in 13:13 and their 7th tag titles. Certainly not without its (arguably major) flaws, but a good match with a well-done double turn and some good drama.

8 ) ROH World Championship: Davey Richards defeated Eddie Edwards to retain the title. As advertised, Dan Severn cornered Edwards and Tony Kozina and Kyle O’Reilly cornered Richards. They had a 1990s All Japan style opening with each man going for his finisher in the opening minute. Richards controlled early on. The crowd was clearly exhausted by this point. Edwards turned the tide and maintained control after a stint on the floor. At ten minutes, Richards hit a dive, prompting Kelly to use the phrase “soaring and scoring” for at least the third time on the night. A few minutes later, Edwards hit an Asai moonsault to the floor, but hit his leg on the guard rail. They had a really nice exchange in the ring resulting in Edwards getting an STF and then an ankle lock. They faced off mid-ring and traded slaps. Twenty minutes in, they exchanged strikes on the turnbuckles, and Richards hit a superplex. He held on and attempted another suplex, but Edwards blocked and suplexed him over the top to the floor, resulting in both men being outside until the count of 19. Later, they hit strikes simultaneously and were both down. Roderick Strong came out and eventually came to blows with O’Reilly and Kozina. He backed down from Dan Severn, who was then attacked by Michael Elgin. The corner men and House of Truth briefly fought, and Severn carried Martini to the back. If they were going to involve the seconds in the match, this was a good way to do it as it had no effect on the match from a competitive/kayfabe standpoint, but in a practical sense, gave the wrestlers an extra half-minute or so of rest than they might have otherwise taken. When they got back up, they traded strikes and Edwards hit a nice combo ending with a sit-out powerbomb for a two count. Edwards applied the dragon sleeper for the first time in the match, and each man got a reversal, then Edwards hit a tombstone and a 2K1 Bomb for a near fall. Both men were clearly fatigued as they surpassed 35 minutes. They exchanged strikes in the corner again, and Richards hit a release dragon suplex. They battled on the apron, and Richards threw Edwards off with an exploder, nearly resulting in a count-out. He got another 19 count following a dragon suplex on the apron. During that count, the camera crew had perhaps their only good moment of the show as they got a good close-up of Richards exasperated face as the crowd chanted for Edwards to get up. In the final minutes, Edwards had clearly used up his ammo and was in pure “Die Hard” mode as he kicked out of a buzzsaw kick at the 40 minute mark and a running kick to the head after that. Finally, Richards hit another buzzsaw kick, a spinning back kick, and a 360 buzzsaw kick to the kneeling Edwards to win and retain the title in 41:17. An epic match that was excellent, but dragged at times and didn’t quite live up to their previous world title match. Still, comfortably the best match of the night.

After the match, Richards cut a promo and began to praise Edwards, but Kevin Steen interrupted him and cut a promo mocking their respect for each other and Team Richards. He said that he would win the title and take ROH down in 2012.

Overall, a very good show with some pretty big flaws, including a truly awful night for the production crew. We’ll have more thoughts coming soon on BS With Honor, including a guest appearance by Cal Burnside, who attended the show.

After the jump, check out the all-seeing “Eye of Sauron” fan. (Those hanging things are no picnic either, are they?)