We fade into our opening animation and then head to the studio where Steve Corino welcomes us to a special Road Rage edition of ROH TV. He is filling in for Kevin Kelly, who “may or may not have gotten lost”. Corino chastises Kevin for not using a GPS. Corino’s mock enthusiasm is fantastic and he tells the fans to enjoy the show because the ship is quickly sinking. He calls Jay Briscoe a “dirty hip”, mocks BJ Whitmer’s drinking issues and says “if any two guys could die in the ring tonight, I wish it were these two”. He goes on to call Kevin Steen an “ingrate” and a “no good jealous turd”. This is great. Corino plugs a couple of Best in the World matches before sending us to Richmond for our opener.
Jay Lethal, Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander vs. reDRagon & Matt Taven
We join the match in progress with a graphic informing us to order the full event at ROH’s website. The match has busted down into a wild brawl when we join in. Glad to see reDRagon again, as I feel like it has been a while since we saw them on TV. Place to Be Nation friend Joe Dombrowski has the call alongside Corino for this one. After some more quick brawling, Alexander hits a huge frog splash on O’Reilly to win the bout. Well, we didn’t get to see much of this one at all, but it seemed fun! Break time.
We come back to words from BJ Whitmer, as he cuts a promo on Jay Briscoe to set up tonight’s main event. Back over to Corino, who craps on ROH’s prepared script as he reads it. This guy is a true original king of comedy. More on BITW, more predicting of SCUM victories, more trashing Nigel McGuiness and he promises to become the new matchmaker so he can officially kill ROH, something he has waited eleven years to do. Good stuff as always.
Kevin Steen vs. Jimmy Jacobs
Back to Richmond and back to Joe D and Corino. Jacobs meets Steen in the aisle, triggering a quick start to the match. Corino threatens a lawsuit against Steen if he messes with him. Dombrowski talks about Bret Hart plotting a secret meeting with Vince McMahon to screw over Jay Briscoe. Or maybe not. Steen tosses Jacobs around the ring before dumping him to the floor. Corino is mocking French people and Montreal now. Steen chucks Jacobs into the railing and then chucks him back inside. Jacobs ends up with a chain and chokes out Steen until the referee calls for the bell. Steen wins by DQ and that match was hella short. Dombrowski and Corino actually have pretty good chemistry. Steen breaks free of the chokehold and snaps, beating the piss out of Jacobs, not even allowing a swath of officials to break his stride. Steen grabs a chair as some more SCUM member comes down to bail out Jacobs. Corino yells that “Jim Cornette was right” about Steen. Dombrowski reminds us that Steen’s ROH beef that led him to SCUM had to do with Cornette. Steen grabs the mic and demands that the match continues. Jacobs and the referee both agree. Steen hops outside to fetch Jacobs as we take a break. When we return, Steen is beating the piss out of Jacobs with a sneaker. Corino is begging for some honor as Dombrowski prods him. Jacobs is able to spear Steen on the ring apron to turn the momentum around. Corino is rabid, taking credit for everything Steen has done. Dombrowski is really giving it right back to him. This is some intense commentary. We have come a long way from Caleb Seltzer, kids. Jacobs continues to work over Steen as Corino reminds us that “he broke up” with Steen not the other way around. They spill out to the floor, where Steen powerbombs Jacobs on the ring apron. Back in, Steen hits a swanton bomb but only gets two. Jacobs survives that and takes the fight right back at Steen. This is a pretty good showing for Jacobs. Steen hits a cannonball, but Jacobs survives again and hits the Contra Code for two. Corino is still acting bat-shit, but confirming he is “fully composed”. Jacobs grabs a piece of the guardrail from the floor, but Steen takes advantage of the delay and wraps the chain around his fist. Steen pops up and decks Jacobs with the chain but Jacobs snaps Steen into the rail with a double leg scoop. Steen dodges a chair shot and finishes Jacobs with a package piledriver on the rail. That was a damn good match. I really enjoyed it. And it is time for commercial.
We are back and we hear from Jay Briscoe before heading to the ring for our main event.
Jay Briscoe vs. BJ Whitmer
BJ Whitmer makes his way out first as Dombrowski gives out his back-story, talking about how he was fired by the company back in 2008 for personal issues. He has cleaned himself up and is focused and looking for a perfect ending to his comeback story. Briscoe is out next and he gets the bio treatment as well. JD knows his shit and has clearly prepared for this gig. He has impressed me for sure. Before we start, we take a break. I feel like CW is targeting ads for me now as this Driver’s Ed School commercial has a slate offering a “four hour attitudinal-retraining course”. That has your boy JR’s name written all over it, folks. Sadly, it is only offered in Massachusetts, home of the biggest group of douchebag drivers known to man. And most of them have Patriots decals on their cars. I digress. We are back. Mark Briscoe has joined in on commentary now, replacing Corino and plugging away for Best in the World. Whitmer and Briscoe tumble to the floor, where they trade chops until Briscoe wipes him out with a big boot to the face. This Road Rage episode has seen more brawling on the floor than in the ring. Briscoe continues to work over Whitmer on the floor. I already miss Corino. I need him to provide commentary for every encounter with every moron I have in life. Whitmer finally turns the tide as we take one last break. When we return, Whitmer has Briscoe down and locked into a rear chinlock on the mat. Briscoe breaks free and the two are again trading heavy blows. Whitmer gets a near fall off a snap powerslam. Jay comes back with a flipping neckbreaker off the middle rope. Nice observation by JD, as he talks about how Briscoe has to dig deep into his playbook to defeat Whitmer here. BJ gets a bridging German for two, followed by a pair of fisherman’s suplexes into a pin attempt for another near fall. They fight in the corner but that ends quickly as Briscoe hoists BJ up and sends him flying over the top rope and through a table with a belly-to-belly toss. That was a cool spot. BJ is not moving as Mark checks in on him. Jay goes out and drags BJ up but the officials are trying to get Jay to back off. He ignores that warning and pitches BJ back inside for a near fall. BJ is clearly out of it and fighting on instinct, which allows him to survive a Jay Driller to the shock of the crowd. BJ somehow fights back and lands an exploder suplex, but is too dinged up to capitalize. Jay is locked in as he swats BJ off. He keeps kicking BJ in the head, but BJ will not stay down. The referee is begging BJ to allow him to stop the match, but BJ will not relent. Jay finally locks in a Dragon Sleeper, forcing BJ to pass out. Good performance by BJ there as this was almost a semi-squash with BJ just working the “never give up” angle throughout it.
Before we go, we get one last trip through the BITW card, including quick promos from the competitors.
Road Rage episodes are always solid, and this was no different. The Steen/Jacobs battle gets MOTN honors but the main event was solid as well. I also really enjoyed the commentary, as Dombrowski was impressive with his delivery and preparation. Corino was awesome as always. Best in the World is this Saturday, so visit www.rohwrestling.com for details on how to order the show. I will talk to you next week and until then, take care and respect the code.
Original Publish Date: June 2013
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