Nov 3 TV Taping Review

*Spoilers!* This is the place to discuss the latest ROH announcements and events before they've aired on TV.
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DBSommer
Posts: 2476
Joined: Tue May 22, 2012 1:06 pm

Nov 3 TV Taping Review

Post by DBSommer »

Review for Pittsburgh TV Tapings (aka The Sweatbox Becomes The Icebox)

So I decide this morning I'll leave an hour early just in case there's traffic or some other issue. I end up leaving 23 minutes later than I planned, but that's cool since that still leaves me 37 minutes to spare.

22 minutes down the road, I suddenly realize I have left my ticket back home. So much for any comfort zone.

I make it there just as Jay Briscoe gathers everyone in the ring, only missing the dark match. Luckily there will be a *lot* of other matches, so it'll be okay. Had a second row seat, which was great and I will be doing from now on. I'm near the ramp, too, so I get to go over there by the second airing and might even be on TV a few times. TV tapings are definitely worked different from house shows. Crowd seemed hot live, hopefully will come across that way on TV. Didn't look like a sell out on the floor, but GA seemed more filled than before as well.

Won't grade the matches as watching it off TV is never the same thing as watching it live. Rostraver has lots of room, but poor climate control. In the summer, the place was a sweatbox. Now it's cool enough I leave my jacket on the entire show, as well as having the foresight to wear a sweater as well. And since the floor is ice, even with the artificial turf they lay down, the cold will seep into your toes. Nothing a second pair of socks couldn't handle though.

Just cursory thoughts. Nigel being the new authority figure: great choice. More Nigel is always wanted.

Allyson Kay looked good. Nice opener.

Roddy Strong vs. Tadarius Thomas. Good, but Thomas probably used his kick thing a little too often. He looks good, but could probably use a bit more seasoning to round out his offence. Apparently no one is left in the HoT, is there? I have no idea what Martini will do.

Cole vs. O'Reilly. Ending to that feud. Nice match, but never saw their submissions match so I can't compare them. Still really fun to watch live and enjoyed it a lot.

C+C defeat WGTT. C+C looked good. WGTT looked competent. BTW, everyone still hates Charlie. He was definitely the guy that got the most good heat. All but spit at the guy in front of me from getting in his face. Love C+C getting the push they deserve. I would personally prefer seeing them get the gold, but I'm not wild about SCUM's in ring work.

As a side note, I curse not shouting out at Benjamin's 'I've got a question for you Nigel' with 'I don't know what the question will be, but the answer is, 'Because you suck.'" mostly because I'd have been right (It was, why aren't you letting WGTT have the title shot at FB)

Bobby Fish made himself relevant fast. The KO to McBride seemed a bit surprising since it happened quick and wasn't that spectacular. Also he looks disturbingly like M-Dogg Matt Cross. Fish's interview was delivered with just enough foreshadowing that in hindsight makes his turn more obvious. Fish is fun to banter with. For example, after helping O'Reilly beat the crap out of Davey, some of the guys behind me start chanting 'Filet O' Fish'.

Fish: (being a smug heel) You were chanting my name a few minutes ago.

Fan: We still are. We're just adding 'Filet O' to it.

Fish: (using the same delivery) That's a good point.

SCUM vs Rhett BJ. Would have liked to have seen more Jacobs/Whitmer action. Again they do the 'BJ suplexes both of them to the floor hard' move they did last time in PA that looks damn painful live. Would also love the Rhett-WGTT feud to disappear, though WGTT continues to lose, thankfully.

Bangers vs. Briscoes

Bangers look competent, but unspectacular. They're wearing Banger's shirts about real men wearing skirts with their faces on it. I would almost buy it for the sheer ridiculousness of it. Actually I think they could be decent characters if they acted like they're big name guys that are over with the crowd, oblivious to the fact they're not. Someone did have a Bangers sign which Jay managed to rip out of his grasp and tear up, so evidently they do have some fans, or someone gave them the equivalent of a pity f*ck. ^_^

QT vs. Adam Page. Page looks like he should be signed, and QT looked decent. Considering his rep, he either had a good night or he's getting better. He did get his nose busted bad early. Not a true gusher, but a lot of blood for a high nose cut. But the real key was Evens, who is great, and his getting his pants shredded by Nana and standing in the tattered rags with fans chanting tidy whities (actually they were grey) was a fun moment. The way he was positioned our side got to see far too much of his bottom. They seemed to shoot away from that side for TV purposes. BTW Nana is over.

Elgin-Richards 3

Live, this was simply awesome. I hope it comes across TV that way, because it truly was. The guys were going at it so hard, and the inside so cool, steam was actually coming off their heads (unless they have a real close up it won't be obvious on TV the way it was live). Not up to SitS Day 2 (but how many matches are?), but I felt it was much better than their first meeting on TV. MOTN for me.

I should add Davey played with the back of his neck even before he hit the ring, though they didn't seem to imply it was injured. Did it during his other match against Vinnie as well, so it makes me wonder if it's legit bothering him. If so that makes his match even better.

Fish & O'Reilly over the Bravadoes. They need to work a little more to truly click, but they did seem to mesh well. I like Fish, and I don't think either match was anywhere near his best effort, so he should only get better.

Jay Lethal vs. Chris Silvio. I smell heel turn for Jay at/after FB with his speech and reaction to the crowd. He was really over as well. Was up close and personal on the botch handspring as it happened right in front of me and he did seem to land on his head and it took him a few moments to clear it. Nice recovery.

Steen vs. Bennett. Not good really. Steen just dominated it too much. Definitely good for a TV taping and not a house show. I did miss Maria. Steen wearing her shirt is just not the same thing as her being there. Sorry Kev.

Davey (also pulling double duty) over Vinnie. Davey needed a win to look good considering the number of losses he's suffered. Everything seems to be building up to a Wolves reunion, which would be great. Although were Eddie to turn on him in a tag match against Fish and O'Reilly, I could see that as well.

And last but not least: Steel City Street Fight. Damn, that was brutal. Toward the end Jay asked Mark for chairs, so Mark goes in back and comes out with a wheelbarrow full of them and tosses them into the ring to Jay. BTW, when you're near Mark Briscoe, you come to realize he is either a hell of an actor or legit crazy.

Not surprised Corino was possibly legit injured on the superplex onto a guardrail, since it was a superplex onto a f*cking guardrail. I think when C+C double dived onto everyone outside the ring (Jay and Corino were inside), I don't think they hit it clean. Alexander was clutching his back in front of us and one of the refs was holding his arm like it was broken, and most of the others looked none too good either. Still it should come across as one brutal match.

BTW Steen had a soliloquy at the end which will air near FB about Generico. Nice work on his part.

All in all, the only thing I regret is that I didn't notice there were also PWG dvds at the merch table until the tail end of intermission when they were counting down to air time, so I decided to wait until the end to pick the one I wanted up. Sadly, they had already packed everything by the end of the show. I'll have to wait until a sale to grab them.

Oh yeah, my voice is now totally shot. Damn, it was a fun night. 4 1/2 hours of wrestling and watching the storylines unfold live. I hope they come back to do it again.
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Marketh.
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Re: Nov 3 TV Taping Review

Post by Marketh. »

As a side note, I curse not shouting out at Benjamin's 'I've got a question for you Nigel' with 'I don't know what the question will be, but the answer is, 'Because you suck.'" mostly because I'd have been right (It was, why aren't you letting WGTT have the title shot at FB)
Would've been awkwardly long for a heckle anyway.
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BrandenScott
Posts: 287
Joined: Wed Mar 07, 2012 7:57 am

Re: Nov 3 TV Taping Review

Post by BrandenScott »

It was a great show. I was front row section D. I was told by a member of the ROH crew that they are considering doing a lot more shows here due to the crowd being so hot. The building and my feet were freezing but thats my only complaint. I bought several shirts before the show and was going to buy a Briscoes one after intermission but they stopped selling merch. Also at the end of the show I stuck around a bit until the roh crew made a group of us leave so they could get Corino out. I guess he was legit injured last night. Seeing the bump he took it doesn't surprise me.
DBSommer
Posts: 2476
Joined: Tue May 22, 2012 1:06 pm

Re: Nov 3 TV Taping Review

Post by DBSommer »

Marketh. wrote:
As a side note, I curse not shouting out at Benjamin's 'I've got a question for you Nigel' with 'I don't know what the question will be, but the answer is, 'Because you suck.'" mostly because I'd have been right (It was, why aren't you letting WGTT have the title shot at FB)
Would've been awkwardly long for a heckle anyway.
True, not like they're going to wait for snarky comments by the marks. :D One of the guys in front of me was ragging on Corino getting the table from under the ring in the last match and Corino bantered with him. Sadly I couldn't quite hear what the fan was saying, but it was good enough for Corino to react.

Haas did let us know the outcome of the Notre Dame Pitt game. Triple overtime. Tried making us hate him by saying we sucked like our team, not realizing everyone knows Pitt sucks and Notre Dame is nationally ranked at #4, so making it that far was nothing more than amazing. So maybe we suck, but we overachieve as well. Haas is damn big, BTW.

Now that it's the next day, everything was still as fun as last night. The steam rising from Davey and Elgin was one of those moments you're going to remember. As well as wearing extra socks in the winter, and really light clothing in the summer when it comes to rostraver. My voice is starting to come back finally as well.
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