ROH Champions vs. All-Stars 2014 - Results & Afterthoughts

Ring of Honor returned to internet Pay-Per-View (iPPV) on Saturday, October 11, 2014 with their Survivor Series/Bragging Rights-style event, Champions vs. All Stars, pitting ROH's Champions against their All Stars (mostly #1 Contenders) in a 4 vs 4 Team Elimination Main Event.

To my personal delight, Veda Scott replaces Steve Corino on commentary for the first half of this event. Steve Corino returns for the latter half of the card.

Nigel confronts Tommaso Ciampa

The show opens with Scarlet Bordeaux welcoming Nigel McGuiness to the ring as she acts as ROH's personal ring announcer for tonight's event. She's sporting strawberry pink hair, which I'm guessing is leftover from her time acting as one of Adam Rose's Rosebuds on WWE.

Nigel formally welcomes back Ciampa but warns him that there will be NO tolerance for Ciampa attacking officials and other non-wrestlers outside of sanctioned matches. If he failed to comply that Ciampa would be banned from ROH. Nigel adds that Ciampa will be replacing Mark Briscoe in tonight's main event since he hasn't been medically cleared after being exposed to poison ivy.

Seriously, that's HANDS DOWN the most creative and the most stupid excuse to replace someone in a wrestling match that I've heard in YEARS. Bravo, ROH.

BJ Whitmer def. Will Ferrara

Ferrara seems to be ROH's next breakout star for 2015 as he was playing the underdog role here against Whitmer's vicious offense.

Ferrara made a strong impact during the Honor Rumble on the October 11th TV taping that was aired the very night that this event was live on iPPV. Unfortunately for Ferrara, tonight wasn't his night as the Decade's own BJ Whitmer made short work of him as payback for what happened during that match. I wouldn't be surprised if Ferrara is jobbing to the House of Truth on the next set of TV tapings after eliminating them from the Honor Rumble.

UPDATE: During the October 25 TV taping, Ferrara was given a Television Championship match against Jay Lethal - thus confirming my prediction about ROH getting behind this kid.

TaDarius Thomas def. Owen Tavers

This was the only "throw-away" match on this card, as Owen Tavers seemed to be a local jobber and not part of the current ROH roster - making this match completely pointless. That fact was driven home even more after the botched finish at the top rope (referee stopped the count at 2 even though there wasn't a kickout), forcing Thomas to finish Tavers with a spin kick to the face. 

Christopher Daniels def. Cedric Alexander

This was an amazing match from bell to bell. If Cedric Alexander isn't wearing gold by this time next year, I'm going to be shocked. Between him and ACH, they both have a strong future ahead of them in this profession. Christopher Daniels doesn't even skip a beat either and provides a worthy adversary for Alexander to test his skills against. This match was a nail-biter, especially in the final moments as you have no idea who is going to walk out of this as the winner.

Post-match Christopher Daniels gets on the microphone and puts over Cedric Alexander as the future of ROH and establishes the code of honor out of respect. Class act right here. Alexander may have lost (again in a high profile match) but he continues to win over fans and garner more respect from ROH's live audiences.

Jimmy Jacobs def. Frankie Kazarian 

Not a bad match, but I felt it was pretty crazy to book this immediately following Daniels/Alexander as that was a tough act to follow to begin with. Lots of near-falls and close calls in this one, but ultimately, Jimmy Jacobs comes out on top with a 2nd rope variation of the Contra Code to counter Kazarian's 2nd rope German Suplex attempt. It's also interesting to note that Jimmy Jacobs was pretty neutral in this match when The Decade are known for their heel antics.

Post-match, Jacobs gives an emotional promo about much it meant to win tonight in the very same building that he saw professional wrestling in for the first-time.

Matt Taven def. The Romantic Touch 

Keeping true to his namesake, The Romantic Touch wastes NO time hinting on Scarlet Bordeaux before the match starts.

This is rather confusing... I remember seeing Taven at the FWE ReFueled iPPV event last month and now he's back in ROH as a part (clearly heel now) of The Kingdom with Maria Kanellis, Mike Bennett, and Adam Cole. Shouldn't Taven be going after revenge towards Truth Martini and the rest of the House of Truth for betraying him? Yeah, I'm as confused as most of you guys.

UPDATE: Apparently, this iPPV was live AFTER ROH recorded their TV tapings that aired for October 25th while this event was live on October 11th. Way to spoil the "big surprise" for the TV tapings, ROH... Sheesh.

Matt Taven just seems like a poor man's replacement for Matt Hardy until he's done with the TV tapings for Impact Wrestling. He seems to be losing the "ladies' man" gimmick from before as well. Scarlet Bordeaux gave Taven the cold shoulder before AND after he won. Looks like Taven won't be winning back the "Hoopla Hotties" anytime soon.

I felt like this match should have went on after Daniels/Alexander. It felt more like a "cooldown" match than Jacobs/Kazarian was.

Champions vs. All Stars
ROH World Champion Jay Briscoe, ROH World TV Champion Jay Lethal w/ Truth Martini & ROH World Tag Team Champions reDRagon (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish) vs. Adam Cole,Tommaso Ciampa Mark Briscoe, ACH and Roderick Strong

Get comfortable for this one as it's a well over a hour for this match, with a two hour time limit for this main event. The match itself is set up like a traditional Survivor Series match with the match continuing until there is a last man standing to deem either the team of Champions or All-Stars the winner.

Eliminations: 

1. Jay Lethal eliminated by ACH via School Boy Roll-up out of nowhere - This starts a minor "Bullshit" chant by the fans in attendance. I personally mark for both ACH and Jay Lethal, but that was just nuts to have Lethal lose within less than a minute into this match. 
2. Tommaso Ciampa via disqualification after Bobby Fish faked being hit with the Tag Team title. Ciampa goes nuts and levels everyone left with the gold until Nigel arrives to restore order just before Ciampa was about to lay his hands on the referee.
3. Kyle O'Reilly eliminated by Roderick Strong via an elevated backbreaker
4. Roderick Strong eliminated by Bobby Fish via quick roll-up immediately following O'Reilly's elimination. 
5. Bobby Fish via 450 Splash by ACH after receiving a Super Kick from Adam Cole.
6. Adam Cole via Doomsday Device by Jay Briscoe (w/ assist by Mark Briscoe) after Cole accidentally knocked ACH through the announcer's table at ringside. 
7. ACH via Jay Driller by Jay Briscoe to name Jay Briscoe the winner for Team Champions. 

Closing Thoughts

This wasn't a bad iPPV event at all. I just wish Ring of Honor advertised it better. Plus, it was pretty strange to air it LIVE the same night of their TV tapings. It was pretty short, but with only ONE throw-away match and a hefty-sized main event, I really can't complain much here. Even without the Young Bucks on the card, ROH really did give fans "more bang for their buck" - literally.