These are live spoilers and impressions from the fourth and final ROH TV taping filmed from the Du Burns Arena in Baltimore on June 23. This episode will air this weekend.
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WHAT TO WATCH: The Steel Cage Warfare match was awesome. Watch the whole thing. The visual of the streamers draped over the top of the cage was very cool.
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Match 1: The American Wolves def. Mike Sydal & guy I don’t recognize (he’s white with blonde hair, wore similar ring gear as Sydal and had a similar physique) in 5:40. This was a decent, competitive match. The blonde guy looked good during his two flurries with Davey.
The story of the match was Sydal’s team’s use high-flying maneuvers like Sydal’s top turnbuckle moonsault to the floor, his tilt-a-whirl spinning whirlwind DDT on Edwards and both men’s matrix-style dodges and tandem offense (like double hip tosses and dropkicks) while the Wolves used power and speed – dropkicks, chops, etc. After Sydal and Edwards traded elbows to the face, Davey came off the top with the double stomp for the pin.
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Usually ROH schedules the intermission between the 2nd and 3rd of the 4 TV tapings. But since they needed lots of time to set up the cage for the main event, they didn’t give us our 20 minute break until midway through the fourth taping. The audience was coming off hot show the night before at Best in the World, the weather was rather warm in Baltimore and we were on plastic chairs or unpadded bleachers the whole time. Overall, it was tough to get through. Thankfully, the main event was worth the inconvenience.
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Match 2: ROH (Michael Elgin, Jay Lethal, BJ Whitmer & Kevin Steen) def. S.C.U.M. (Jimmy Jacobs, Rhett Titus, Cliff Compton & Rhino) in Steel Cage Warfare in 25 minutes – Per the stipulation, S.C.U.M. must disband. This match had a War Games elimination format.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: S.C.U.M. played dirty by throwing salt in eyes, tying Elgin to the cage, having Matt Hardy and Steve Corino interfere and even using a fireball. When Steve Corino introduced lighter fluid, Jacobs tried to stop him. Kevin Steen took advantage and finished off Jacobs with the package piledriver to become the sole survivor.
[ Jimmy Jacobs and BJ Whitmer started the match. ]
Jacobs and Whitmer spent five minutes throwing each other into the cage. Whitmer’s suplex roll into a fisherman suplex got a two count.
[ Rhett Titus entered. ]
Whitmer threw Titus around the cage for a while.
[ Michael Elgin entered. ]
Titus and Jacobs attempted to take out Elgin, but he was too strong. Elgin delivered a double back suplex followed by his ridiculous Samoan drop/fallaway slam combination on both men. (crowd chanted for Elgin)
[ Cliff Compton entered. ]
Compton tossed salt in Elgin’s eyes and tied Elgin to the cage Tommy Dreamer-style. With Elgin incapacitated, Jacobs, Titus and Compton triple teamed Whitmer and hit a Young Bucks-style spike piledriver on him.
[ Whitmer was eliminated at 10:30 ]
[ Jay Lethal entered. ]
Lethal had a chair. Titus got hit, Compton got a dropkick version of the Van Daminator and Jacobs got the Lethal Combination onto it. Lethal took out a pair of clippers and freed Elgin.
[ Rhino entered. ]
Rhino immediately gored Elgin. He tried to gore Lethal, but Lethal sidestepped and Rhino hit Titus instead. Jay hit the Lethal Injection on Rhino.
[ Rhino was eliminated. ]
[ Kevin Steen entered. The match was now 3-on-3. ]
Before Steen could enter the ring, Matt Hardy attacked him from behind and threw him into the barricade. With the cage door open, the men starting slipping out and the match just broke down. Jacobs slammed the cage door into Lethal’s head. Steen attacked Hardy with a chair. Elgin sideslammed Compton onto the exposed floor. Jacobs and Titus slid a table into the ring and leaned it up in the corner.
Back in the ring, Titus attempted a powerbomb on Lethal, but Jay slipped out the other side. He hit Titus with a superkick followed by a Lethal Injection.
[ Titus was eliminated at 19:00. The match was now Jacobs & Compton vs Elgin, Lethal & Steen. ]
As Steen destroyed Hardy with a cane on the outside, Lethal got hit in the back with a chair and was speared through the table. Compton pinned Lethal.
[ Lethal was eliminated at 20:30. The match was now Jacobs & Compton vs Elgin & Steen. ]
Everyone got back in the ring. Compton tried to escape over the top of the cage, but Elgin followed. Elgin stood on the top turnbuckle, grabbed Compton off the cage and delivered a powerbomb into the middle of the ring. SICK! (crowd: this is awesome!)
[ Compton was eliminated at 22:15. The match was now Jacobs vs Elgin & Steen. ]
Steve Corino entered the ring and THREW A FIREBALL IN ELGIN’S FACE!
[ Michael Elgin was eliminated. The match was down to Jacobs vs Steen. ]
Steen tried to powerbomb Corino, but Matt Hardy hit him with the Twist of Fate. With Jacobs out in the corner and Hardy stalking around, Corino reentered the ring with a briefcase. He opened it to reveal LIGHTER FLUID which he started spraying on Steen. (crowd: you sick fuck!) Jacobs implored Corino to stop, but Corino back elbowed him. As Corino tried to light the matches, Nigel McGuinness stormed the ring. Nigel and Corino faced off and threw off their clothing to prepare for a fight. Corino piefaced Nigel, but then Nigel clotheslined the hell out of him. The crowd went nuts.
Hardy kicked Nigel in the gut, but Steen was there to hit Hardy with the package piledriver. Nigel got up and threw Jacobs into Steen’s arms. Steen nailed another package piledriver and pinned Jacobs for three.
[ Jimmy Jacobs was eliminated. The match ended at the 25 minute mark. ]
Streamers filled the ring. Nigel and Steen embraced. Kevin Kelly celebrated like a madman at ringside. Adam Cole came to the entrance ramp to observe. He surveyed the scene, rubbed his hands together for a few moments and returned backstage. Nigel continued to celebrate with fans at ringside. Steen mockingly shook Hardy’s limp hand and exited the ring.
(crowd: na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye)
NIGEL: It’s been a long time coming. The era of S.C.U.M. is over! Get these pieces of trash out of the ring. Out! Out! Out! (crowd: out out out)
Three officials drove Corino and Hardy out of the ring, through the crowd and straight out of the building.
(crowd: na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye)
Bobby Cruise announced that this was the most important event ROH history and reminded the live audience how they could watch ROH on local TV and encouraged us to visit rohwrestling.com. What a Wonderful World played as the crowd filed out.
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