In Depth Report
Venue was only about a 20 minute drive. Yet I don't get over that way very often. It's literally on the other side of town. I live just northeast of Baltimore. The venue is just southwest of Baltimore.Â
I've been to like 17 ROH shows over the years. This was by far the biggest venue of those 17 shows. The UMBC Arena hosts low level Division 1 college basketball and supposedly seats 3200 people. Would have made an ideal venue for a 99-00 ECW pay per view if they ever ran Maryland, or a peak TNA PPV. I'm terrible at guessing crowd sizes, but I'd estimate it was only 2/3 full.
Now you might be thinking that's terrible for a free show. BUT Ticketmaster offered two free tickets if you got your tix there, as I did. Even though I was 99.9% sure I would not be going with anyone, I figured why not grab two tickets. That way I'd have an open seat next to me. I'm not much of a people person....until I am. It's complicated. Anyway, if most of the people did what I did that it would explain all the empty seats.
Parking lot was pretty packed. I saw license plates from Pennsylvania and Virginia, neither of which are terribly far, and Rhode Island, which is terribly far. I opted to wear my sweet TNA Jeff Jarrett shirt since I never did get my NWA merch.
Ranking the Other T-Shirts
{Spoiler}1. Ric Flair in the pre-show merchandise grab. I had never seen this particular Flair shirt before. It was an odd color. Light Orange, iirc.
2. Four Horsemen- the first wrestling shirt I ever really wanted circa 1996. Never did get it. My clique and I made our own Four Horsemen shirts again. For some reason they were tye dye.
3. BWO- Multiple! Were these people tipped off about Meanie's appearance....?
4. Sabu- It was an ugly cartoon drawing of Sabu. But still. A Sabu shirt is always a win in my book.
5. NWA Powerrr- Only saw one of these. The guy sat a few rows behind me in my first locale. Shook his hand and said "best show in wrestling today."
6. NWA (blue & yellow)- A young boy was wearing this one, giving me hope for the future.
7. NWA (black & white)- Two or three.
8. ECf'nW- Still. After all these years.
9. Manowar- Easily the best band shirt of the night. That's what happens when I decide against wearing my trademark Europe tee.
10. Black Machismo- A woman one section over was wearing this. Took me forever to figure out what it was. We'll come back to the woman later.
*Macho Man & Piper shirts were all over the place at the 3 wrestling shows I went to in 2014. I saw neither at this show.
Dark Match- Master & Machine defeat SOS- I forget what SOS stands for. They were basically the Dollar Tree Usos. Master & Machine are a "big" guy with long hair and a little guy with this ridiculous hair that stands straight up. The "big" guy looked to be 6'0 200 lbs at best :lol: . Meaning the gimmick doesn't really work. I figured SOS would get the win. Nope. M&M win with.....something. I forget. This was pretty boring and bad. But did have some psychology.
1. Mark Haskins defeated Alex Shelley by submission via Sharpshooter. This was a fun 'technical' match. Shelley looked sharp as ever. He did a lot of neat little things. Crowd was overwhelmingly pro-Shelley, and into the match. However, my section was a bunch of golf clappers. Regrettably, I also golf clapped through most of this, though may have done one or two half-hearted "A-Lex Shel-Ley" chants. Can't remember for sure. Haskins worked the arm, which my man Shelley ACTUALLY SOLD. Hilariously in hindsight, Haskins survived all three of Shelley's historic finishers.....in the opener
But that's ROH/modern wrestling for ya.
2. Vincent & Bateman w/ Entourage defeated Joe Hendry & Dalton Castle w/ The BoysVincent & Bateman's squad have a decent vibe even if they do come across as the Dollar Tree Wyatt Family. I think they're called The Righteous. Vincent cut a pre-match promo. Entourage consisted of a rather buff woman who was very animated at ringside. Good valet. And a chubby balding guy with a beard.
Castle's Queen knockoff is still a Top 3 ROH theme. Can't believe The Boys are still a thing. It's been like 5 years now. I figured that would have been dropped long ago. Hendry sings his own theme.
This was pretty basic wrestling. Crowd wasn't into it at first. Even Hendry, a face, got heckled a bit. But the traditional face/heel structure got people more and more into it as it as the match progressed. Vincent did a good job of playing to the crowd. Bateman was not good though. Little things like throwing bad punches really stands out live, and Bateman's were the shits. He was also rocking a sweet Rollie Fingers mustache on his Titantron video. Yet did not have it during the match. False advertising! Castle did a cool strongman style German suplex and Hendry Fall Away Slammed both members of the Righteous at once in the spot of the night. My post from a few days ago said The Righteous got the win. So I guess that's true. But I don't remember how.
3. Flip Gordon defeat Slex- The weirdly named Slex is an Aussie making his ROH debut. His Titantron made him out to be a Million Dollar Man type of character but none of that came across in the match. He's pretty jacked and resembles Crash Holly in appearance.....at least from my upper deck seat. This was a fine meat and potatoes flyer vs. powerhouse match. Flip scored the win with a sick Curb Stomp. Come to think of it, Flip didn't do as much flying as usual. Maybe he's tightening up his style for a main event run? Perfectly acceptable wrestling though.
Post-match sees
Shane Taylor & SOS attack Slex. Taylor lays him out with a Piledriver. Then cuts a promo referring to ROH storylines I am unfamiliar with. This didn't work for me. I wonder if Slex forgot to shake everybody's hand backstage? He lost his debut AND got wrecked in the post-match. Felt like a first night burial. Worst debut since Bastion Booger?
*My upper deck section was quiet and boring. There were a lot of empty seats down below. So I snuck down a level. I mean, tickets are free. It's not like I'm stealing somebody's seat. New section had two dads who were brothers or (more likely) friends with their two young boys of about 6-8 years old sitting one row in front of me. One father/son duo was adorably wearing matching "A Boy And His Dinosaur" shirts. Kids are the best people to sit near at wrestling shows. 100 times better than smarks. So I instantly knew I made the right move. Unfortunately, there was a group of about 5 douchey 30somethings a few rows in front of them who cheered for the heels all night long and trampled all over the shows "no profanity" rule. Oh well. Can't win them all. The worst part was realizing I was once those guys. Well, at least when it came to the "cheering the heels" thing. I never spouted much profanity at wrestling shows.....unless it was ECW, of course.Â
4. Alex Zayne defeated
Andrew Everett in a battle of high flyers. Andrew Everett sighting! He was on one of the ROH shows I went to in 2014. Then I didn't read his name anywhere for like 5 years. And now he resurfaces. He still has the long locks. But now he's wearing an ugly Andre-style onesie singlet. Needs to drop that. It makes his butt look big. I'm just saying....
I tolerated this live but probably would have hated it had I watched on the device of my choosing. They did do some cool aerial stuff, and the crowd popped for it, but they were dead silent in between the big moves. Like you could hear a pin drop for most of this match. Meaning the wrestlers themselves aren't over. Just the moves are. Everett lost despite being the better guy imo. His missed Shooting Star Press was a thing of beauty. He seemed to hang in mid air. Zayne lacked the polish of even an Andrew Everett. He does this ludicrous shooting star double stomp. Missed it the first time and botched it the second time (it was more like a Shooting Star knee drop). Then he won with some stupid 37 step driver.Â
5. Briscoes defeated Bandido & Flamita in a wild match that was surely most people's MOTN. Yet there was one other match I preferred. No story to speak of. It was just a balls to the wall actionfest with lots of big moves and nearfalls. BUT it also had a super invested crowd. Baltimore loved the Briscoes at the pair of 2014 shows I attended. And they still love The Briscoes in 2020. They were the most over act of the night. Lots of "LET'S GO BRISCOES" chants throughout. The loudest of which came when the Briscoes were steamrolling the Luchadores. That's weird simply because the loudest chants usually come when the favorite is on the defensive. Even I got into the act with the "LET'S GO BRISCOES" chanting. This match also garnered three "This Is Awesome" chants and at least one "ROH" chant. Pretty crazy the Briscoes are still doing this kind of match in 2020. Between them and all the other early ROH stars on top in WWE these days, the old "these kind of matches shorten careers!" talking point has been discredited. The Luchadores were right there with them. Bandido resembles Hayabusa while Flamita reminds me of Rey. Too many moves to speak of, but Mark hit a picture perfect Blockbuster from the apron to the floor on my side of the arena. Briscoes win it with a Doomsday Device.
*Intermission. First half of the show was superior to the second. Show started to drag after this next match....
6. Twenty Person Battle Royal- This was a blast live. My MOTN. Though I doubt it would be anything special on tape. Lots of FUN and storytelling. I didn't know half the participants, or any of the storylines going in, yet I
felt like I did due to the stellar layout of this match. Participants included Crowbar. Gangrel! BLUE MEANIE! The Bouncers! Silas Young!
But the star of the match was Maria Manic, who was basically doing a Chyna gimmick. I actually watched a few of her matches recently if for no other reason than she is currently Teddy Hart's* significant other. The big talking point is "ROH's women's division sucks!" Umm....hello....you've got Maria Manic RIGHT THERE! She definitely has a presence. One to build the division around for sure. She's basically a less big (but still pretty damn big) Chyna with a better in ring game. I imagine she ends up in WWE/NXT before long....unless she's as crazy as her boyfriend. Which actually seems like a distinct possibility.
Anyway, Maria was probably the 2nd most over act on the entire show behind only the Briscoes. She got a huge pop for press slamming Businesslike Beard #1 to the floor. But she lost me after simultaneously eliminating The Bouncers in the style of HBK eliminating Yoko & Vader at Royal Rumble 96 (which I also hated). I turned on Maria big time after that, as I was backing The Bouncers, and let everybody around me know it with a few "Let's Go Bouncers!" shouts/chants.
From there on out I was backing Silas Young, and proved it with a few "Let's Go Silas!" shouts/chants. Maria almost immediately had a cool showdown with Silas. How convenient! Up to now Maria had run through everybody in a rather ridiculous "Bo Jackson on Tecmo Super Bowl" sort of way. But my man Silas made her earn it. I'd be down for a Maria/Silas match at some point. Silas has Maria hanging on the ropes when Maria's nemesis Bully Ray runs out from the back (he wasn't in the match) to pull her out. Huge boos! And they're about to get even louder when Bully Ray powerbombs Maria Manic through a table! Oh no! Now we get HUGE boos and an "ASSHOLE" chant. Maria/Bully (with Maria going over) should be a money match for them.
But this wasn't JUST the Maria Manic Show. Gangrel hit a few of his signature spots before being eliminated early to a chorus of boos. The Bouncers & Meanie had a fun fat guy dance party before The Bouncers turned on Meanie and eliminated him. Silas had a lackey helping him out. Some other guy also had a lackey. But I think this lackey turned on his mentor. A woman one section over in the Black Machismo shirt(!) had been pretty quiet all night. But now she cheered EXTREMELY LOUD for a guy named Dak Draper, who eliminated a bunch of people early before being eliminated himself by Cheeseburger. This woman's SCREECHING when Draper was eliminated is still ringing in my ears.Â
Final Four was Silas, His Lackey, Businesslike Beard #2, and Dragon Lee. Pretty sure stupid Beard #2 eliminated Silas. Dragon Lee (who did nothing all match) eliminated Beard #2 to win it.
Or so I thought. SWERVE! Kenny King had been pulling a Jerry Lawler all match. Kenny jumped Dragon Lee to eliminate him. NO! Swerve #2! Dragon Lee skinned the cat in the style of Steamboat or Michaels and eliminated an unsuspecting King. Dragon Lee then unmasks....
To reveal Flip Gordon! Huge pop! LOVED the triple swerve here. Apparently just about everybody else in the building "knew" it wasn't the real Dragon Lee. Turns out he was wrestling a show in Japan. Yet barely knowing who Dragon Lee is beyond "a name I read on the internet once or twice,"
I did not know Dragon Lee was in Japan. So this swerve caught me 100% off guard.
Flip earns a title shot with his win. Only problem is the current ROH champ is his Villain Enterprise stablemate PCO. Dun dun dun! What will Flip do?? Challenge his ally? Or patiently wait until PCO loses the title and then challenge the new champ? Booking! Storytelling! Yay!.
*Teddy Hart was actually in the building wearing an outfit only Teddy Hart would wear. I saw pics of him sitting in the crowd to prove it. Sadly, I did not come across the Tedster. Had I done so I'd have instantly regretted not wearing my Teddy shirt. Normally I'd be all "Why is TEDDY HART in the building but not wrestling, or even making an appearance?" But I vaguely recall reading something fairly recently about him going through yet another serious legal issue, though I forget the details. So I guess that explains him not being used. And, yeah, I get it. Yet I can't help thinking he's angling for a job in ROH. I mean, his girlfriend already works there.....
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-Wrote entirely too much about that Battle Royal and now I'm burned out. Will cover the last 4 matches tomorrow.
Arrived early to potentially take advantage of a merchandise markdown. Never did get my NWA merch due to their Shop page being a mess. So I was hoping the NWA would have a merch table set up. They did not. And I came up empty on Aldis gear when digging through the boxes of ROH stuff. Meaning it was a complete waste of time to get here 3 hours early. 
