ROH on HDNet
Philadelphia, PA
July 11, 2009

Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Mike Hogewood.

• Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brent Albright – Sweden vs. USA Flag Match
  

Not your typical flag match. The object of the match is to grab your country’s flag hanging from the entrance way and bring it with you back into the ring. Both guys try and get out of the ring early but to no avail. They finally reach the floor when Albright clotheslines Claudio out. Albright misses a charge into the guardrail, allowing Castagnoli to grab the Swedish flag. He grabs Albright and gives him a gutwrench suplex on the ramp way and then tries to make things more difficult for Albright by pulling back a guardrail in his pathway. Claudio poses with the flag, allowing Albright to regroup and lunge over the guardrail on top of Claudio for a barrage of punches. Albright takes Claudio over with a belly to belly suplex and grabs the US flag. Claudio tries to slide back inside, but Albright pulls him back out and throws him into the rail. Hogewood makes a big deal of Claudio putting the Swedish flag in his pants when he tries for a RICOLA BOMB on the floor. Albright backdrops out, but takes a low blow. Castagnoli tosses Albright in the ring without the US flag and then wipes his pits with the flag before throwing it into the crowd. Hogewood goes BALLISTIC! Albright battles back with a pescado and gets a fan to toss him back the flag and tries to roll in, but Claudio grabs him by the legs and swings him into the guardrail. They fight on the apron and when it looks like Castagnoli is going to win with the flag stuck in his pants, Albright pulls out the flag when he makes the leap into the ring. Albright wipes his pits with the Swedish flag and flies into the ring on top of Claudio for a flying bodypress with the US flag in hand. (7:29) Unnecessary hatred for the Swiss coming from Hogewood. Chocolate, watches, cheese – these are all good things we get from those people. Maybe I’m a terrible American, but I have to say that this was dumb even for wrestling. ½*

In the back, Kyle Durden holds the mic in between Roderick Strong and Jay Briscoe while they talk over their accomplishments.

They tried to get a word from D’Lo Brown to introduce him to the ROH fans, but they know who he is and he refuses to give the producers anything. I mean, we’re talking about the real deal now.

• D’Lo Brown vs. Alex Payne
  

Samoan Cutter, Sky High caught in mid-air, and a hard powerbomb gets the easy 1-2-3 for D’Lo. (2:16) Loved the Sky High. *

Kyle Durden wants to know why Eddie Kingston hates Chris Hero so much. Because Hero was trying to keep him out of ROH for all these years and his only goal in ROH is to take him out.

YAY! Time to move some merchandise with Colt Cabana and Brent Albright. I find myself buying a t-shirt already.

So, is Flair done with ROH or not? I just saw a date for July 25.

Clips are shown of Austin Aries winning the ROH world title.

• Jerry Lynn, Erick Stevens, and Kenny Omega vs. Austin Aries, Kenny King, and Rhett Titus
  

Aries does the typical ’80s heel shtick where he avoids the former champion at all costs. Omega starts with Aries, but he gets the better of Kenny by rolling out of an arm wringer and stomping Omega on the back. In comes Titus, they do some headlocks and hammerlocks. They act like they’re one step ahead of the other until Omega nails Titus with a spinning heel kick and knocks Rhett’s room key out of his tights. Who keeps them there anyway? Tag to King, he wants to get some revenge on Omega for beating him twice already on HDNet. Omega fights out of the heel corner and tags Stevens. He bowls King over and tags Lynn for a Midnight Express double-team drop toe-hold/elbow drop. Aries trips up Lynn, allowing King to tag him in and deliver some damage while Lynn is down on the mat. Lynn fights up and Aries races over to his corner for a tag to King. Stevens helps Jerry clean house on the heels. With Titus on the floor, Lynn delivers a CANNONBALLLL off the apron. Aries cuts off Omega when he wants to fly and hotshots him on the top rope. And now Omega becomes *your* face in peril. Flash Man’s Time Stopper catches Titus, but Aries cuts off the tag. He calls for the BRAINBUSTER, but Omega counters with an inverted atomic drop. Omega rolls past Aries and makes the HOT TAG TO LYNN! Aries jumps out and tags Titus. King saves Titus and delivers the Elijah Express on Lynn. Faceslam on Rhett’s knee gets two. Lynn fights off another double-team and then Stevens flies in with the flying shoulderblock on King Titus. Aries cuts off the CHOO CHOO SPLASH with a clothesline and hits the running dropkick in the corner. Stevens rolls out and now Aries wants to deliver the Heat Seeking Missile, but he runs right into Lynn for the CRADLE PILEDRIVER? No! King Titus breaks it up. However, Omega leaps over everybody and gives King Titus the Kotaro Krusher! Now the heels bail to the floor. Here comes Omega with the Asai Moonsault from the inside out taking down King Titus. Back in, Aries breaks up a Cradle Piledriver on Titus with a belt shot. While Aries poses with the belt, Stevens gets poised for the CHOO CHOO SPLASH. Aries pulls Titus in the way and leaves him for dead as Stevens lifts Titus up in the air for the fatal LARIAT. (12:04) Solid enough, but it didn’t wow me. ***

Clips are shown of the American Wolves/Steenerico tables match to hype next week’s main event.

• Roderick Strong vs. Jay Briscoe (w/Mark Briscoe)
  

This is labeled as the rubber match between these two which include their matches from Stylin’ and Profilin’ and the Tag Title Classic shows. Briscoe got the last win, so that should hint to you who is going over here. We see some armbar stuff to start. Strong wins a slugfest and chops Jay in the corner. Missile dropkick misses and Briscoe takes over with a dropkick of his own for two. Briscoe keeps Roderick on the mat with a barrage of kicks. They end up on the apron where Strong comes back with a slingshot crossbody for two. Briscoe drops him with an STO in the corner. That gets two. Jay runs into a boot and takes a slingshot falcon arrow for two. Strong can’t get the GIBSON DRIVER, so he settles for a quick crucifix for two. Spinebuster from Briscoe gets two. Strong enziguri kicks Briscoe off the top and sends him to the floor. Briscoe sidesteps a dive and Yakuza kicks Strong down. Back in, a flying bodypress from Jay gets two. Strong knees out of a dragon sleeper and hotshots Jay into an STO backbreaker for two. Briscoe counters the STRONG HOLD, but can’t avoid Death By Roderick. Running Yakuza Kick stops Strong momentarily as Briscoe mounts a comeback with a series of chops. Roderick chops back, but charges into a quick Death Valley Driver! Cover, 1-2-NO! Strong backdrops out of the J-DRILLER, but gets nailed with a clothesline. Back to the dragon sleeper. Strong flips him over for two. Death By Roderick sets up the GIBSON DRIVER for 1-2-NO! When that doesn’t get the pin, the STRONG HOLD earns a tapout. (12:02) And like most ROHDNet feuds, Briscoe refuses a handshake and shoves Roderick back. Mark Briscoe comes in and separates the two. Somewhat uninspired match. Mark REALLY needs to come back soon. **¾

Nigel McGuinness gets some promised interview time. He’s going to tell us next week who is going to be the next ROH world champion. I’ve give you three guesses!

And ROHDNet continues on this downward spiral as far as I’m concerned since the four-way dance at the beginning of June.

Next week, KENTA and Steenerico take on Chris Hero and the American Wolves. Don’t know why that would disappoint.