ROH on HDNet
Philadelphia, PA
May 30, 2009

Your hosts are “Misogynistic” Dave Prazak and “Homophobic” Mike Hogewood.

Tonight in the main event, the ROH world tag team champs Kevin Steen and El Generico take on the American Wolves in a tables match!

• Roderick Strong vs. Rhett Titus
  

Titus hails from the “Temple of Lust”. Prazak asks Hogewood if he’s ever been there. “Uhh, no?” After some decent mat stuff, Strong catches Titus with Air Pillman and takes control of the match. Backbreakers and chops follow, but then Titus hits an Edge-O-Matic out of the corner. Jumping knee drop gets two. He continues with the offense by nailing Strong with a Stinger Splash and High Knee for a nearfall. Roddy chops out of a front facelock and springs off the ropes with a flying bodypress. Titus fights off a Uranage backbreaker and delivers a swinging neckbreaker for two. Titus misses a corner charge and HERE COMES RODERICK! He gets the Uranage backbreaker after all, but can’t get the three-count. Titus escapes Death By Roderick and O’Connor rolls him up for two. Modified Rocker Dropper gets two. Strong slips out of the Muff Driver and stuns Titus with an enziguri to hit Death By Roderick. Sick Kick gets Roderick the win. (6:54) Actually not a bad back and forth match. Whatever you do, don’t swivel your hips while you’ve got Roderick’s head in between your legs! That’s what SHE said. **

Video package to hype Austin Aries. Yeah, he’s an opportunist and brings style to the substance.

• Sara Del Ray vs. Daizee Haze vs. MsChif (w/Jimmy Jacobs)
  

MsChif is shown with her SHIMMER world title, but the belt isn’t on the line here. Del Ray gets rid of Daizee Haze right off the bat, but then she runs into a drop toehold from MsChif and takes a standing moonsault. MsChif applies an Octopus Stretch on both sides of Del Ray’s body. That’s pretty cool. Daizee breaks that up with a missile dropkick. Daizee takes MsChif down with a face slam out of the corner and then turns around into a choke lift from Del Ray only to be dropped on top of MsChif. They fight to the floor where Daizee dives on top of Del Ray and fails. While Daizee’s stomping Del Ray, MsChif sprays her with the GREEN MIST! Back inside, MsChif puts Daizee away with the DESECRATOR. (2:40) Now this is how they should be booking MsChif on TV. They haven’t really done much with her otherwise. *½

After the match, Kyle Durden interviews Jimmy Jacobs and MsChif. Jimmy says he’ll use MsChif in the AOTF as a missile to take out “That Harlot” Daizee Haze. Down on the floor, the ref is trying to help Daizee wash the mist out of her face with some bottled water. It’s the small things.

Video package to hype Tyler Black airs for the title match next week. He’s so much younger and hungrier than the others is the general theme he’s trying to get across.

“The following has been paid for by the Embassy.” Prince Nana and Ernie Osiris talks up Bison Smith and Jimmy Rave, but introduces Claudio Castagnoli as his new associate. Now shut that camera off, you stinkin’ fool. WHO’S TV-PG NOW?

• Erick Stevens vs. Sami Callahan
  

Erick Stevens looks JUST like Ben Stiller to me. Then again, I watched Dodgeball for the 2399^th time last night, so maybe he really doesn’t look like at him at all. Callahan has yet to win a match on HDNet and I doubt he can do it here either. Callahan cools down Stevens to start and licks his head? Off an O’Connor roll block, Callahan connects with the sliding clothesline. KOJI CLUTCH! Oh, but Stevens makes the ropes. Callahan hits a corner clothesline and rolls backwards to charge again, but Stevens EXPLODES on him and spears him into the opposite corner to set up the CHOO CHOO SPLASH. Lariat leads to the DOCTORBOMB for the win. (2:49) I really do dig Erick Stevens. This was like the Strong/Titus match only shorter. *

Hogewood and Prazak have an interview with Nigel McGuinness via “satellite”. How’s your rehab going? None of your business. Who do you think is going to win the four-corner survival match on next week’s show? Nigel puts everybody over while insulting them at the same time. What do you want to tell your fans watching at home? He can’t say how he really feels about ROH fans on TV. C’mon Hogewood, you should know that by now.

• ROH World Tag Team Champions Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. The American Wolves – Tables Match
  

Tables are legal, but a pinfall or submission is still what wins you the match. They meet in the aisleway and a split-screen brawl ensues because this is SERIOUS BUSINESS. Once the champs are in the ring, they target Richards while Edwards is on the floor. Steen hits a pair of somersault legdrops on Richards. Edwards makes a save for his partner, but winds up taking a Backpack Senton. KEVIN – GET THE TABLES! They bang the American Wolves heads onto a table and then lean it up in the corner. Edwards avoids a whip on the table, but then charges back at Generico into a T-bone suplex into the corner. Richards pulls out Generico and whips him into the guardrail. In the ring, Steen ducks a clothesline and goes to powerbomb Richards through the table. Richards slips out and dropkicks Steen’s injured knee. And it begins. Generico comes in and takes the Alarm Clock to set up the superkick into the German suplex onto the table. It doesn’t break though, but certainly does some damage. Edwards is the one to finally snap the table in half with a shinbreaker to Steen. Richards teases a Figure-Four, but the crowd likes that too much so he decides not to do that and gives the crowd the universal “up yours” sign. Meanwhile, Edwards props another table up in the corner. Steen fights off a double-team attack in the corner as Generico flies in from out of nowhere onto the American Wolves. Michinoku Driver to Edwards! Cover, 1-2-NO! Generico escapes the D.R. DRIVER and walks the ropes into a tornado DDT. He sees Edwards on the floor, so he takes him out with a somersault dive. In the ring, Richards charges at Steen and gets hit with a powerbomb on the table. Senton Bomb by Steen! Flying Splash by Generico! Cover on Richards, 1-2-NO! Edwards saves his partner. On the floor, the tag champs set up a double-stack of tables. They grab Edwards to powerbomb him off the apron THROUGH the table, but Richards saves him by scoring a running dropkick on Steen’s bad knee. See, that’s the difference in setting up a contrived table spot and not. In the ring, the American Wolves brutalize Steen in the corner. Richards misses a Shooting Star Press (!!). Down on the floor, Generico FLIES THROUGH the bottom and middle ropes into Edwards for a swinging DDT! Holy crap that was awesome. He puts Edwards on a table and flying splashes him through the table! Meanwhile, Steen has Richards in a SHARPSHOOTER! Here comes Shane Hagadorn still selling the back from last week (of course this is a TV taping, so it makes more sense for the live crowd). He breaks up the hold, but takes a PACKAGE PILEDRIVER for his troubles. Steen places Richards on a table for the Moonsault, but Richards hops up and shoves Steen down through the double-stack of tables! I think Steen will call it a night now. Generico charges Richards with a Yakuza Kick and calls for a BRAINBUSTER through the table. The problem is he forgot about Edwards, who runs in for the low-blow to set up the DOOMSDAY ACE CRUSHER THROUGH THE TABLE! That does it for Generico as Edwards gets the pin. (15:15) We’ve got NEW ROH world tag team champions. Well that was a battle. Lots of great stuff with the American Wolves working over Steen’s knee while Steenerico were crazy enough to take a lot of risks to hold onto the belts. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful. This is your *new* best-match-to-date for ROH on HDNet as it felt more like a match you would see on ROH PPV. At least on the torrent I downloaded, they failed to advertise the Take No Prisoners PPV premiering June 12. ****

Next week features the main event match ROH on HDNet has been hyping for weeks now. ROH world champ Jerry Lynn defends against Tyler Black, Austin Aries, and Bryan Danielson in a four-corner survival match. This certainly has the ability to supersede the tables match as a ****+ possibility.