ROH No Escape Review

El Generico & Roderick Strong go at it inside a Steel Cage!

ROH No Escape

Charlotte, North Carolina 7/9/11

1.) “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett vs. Andy “Right Leg” Ridge: **1/2

A solid, short match that made Bennett look good.

2.) Grudge Match – Kenny King (with Rhett Titus) vs. Mark Briscoe (with Jay Briscoe): **3/4

So the gimmick here is that the members of both teams will be in back-to-back singles matches with their respective partners handcuffed to the ring posts to prevent interference. This match was fairly decent and sees King pick up the win.

3.) Grudge Match – Rhett Titus (with Kenny King) vs. Jay Briscoe (with Mark Briscoe): **1/2

This wasn't as good as the first match but was fine for what it was. Jay decks Referee Paul Turner and uses bolt cutters to let his brother Mark loose. Eventually Jay gets DQ'ed. Wasn't necessarily pretty but a good continuation of the story. 

Briscoes do a post-match beatdown until Wrestling's Great Tag Team makes the save. 

4.) Tag Team Challenge Match – The American Wolves vs. Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly: ****1/4

This was a VERY good match. Here we have a match people have been waiting to see and it definitely  delivered. Edwards wins with his Achilles Lock/Foot Stomp combo on O'Reilly, but apparently doesn't hear the bell and keeps the hold on and Todd Sinclair has to pull him off. Davey & Eddie get into some heated words after the fact, but I don't think it came off as well as they were hoping.

5.) Michael Elgin & Chase Owens vs. Caprice Coleman & Cederic Alexander: **1/2

Truth Martini cuts a promo before the match, saying in the Main Event, El Generico will end up dead like Dale Earnhardt (Sr.) which gets him a lot of heat in NASCAR country (plus the Earnhardt's are from just outside Charlotte). Basically if Chase Owens performs well, he's gets a spot in the HOT. The match was pretty decent. C & C picks up the win, and Elgin lays out Owens after the match.

6.) Chris Hero vs. Colt Cabana: ***

These two have met before on a few occasions. Like their previous encounters, it was pretty good, but nothing really stood out. 

7.) Non-Title Match – Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team (Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas) vs. The Bravado Brothers: **

So facing a pissed of WGTT is a sort of punishment for The Bravados after their meddling in the pre-show match back at Best in the World. Honestly, this one wasn't that good. Basically a squash. 

Afterwords a brawl erupts between WGTT, The Briscoes, ANX, and the Bravados.

8.) Steel Cage Match – Roderick Strong vs. El Generico: ***3/4

After several months of feuding, El Generico & Roderick Strong look to settle things in a Steel Cage. It wasn't the blow away cage match I was expecting, but for a House Show Cage Match it was still pretty good. The whole El Generico/HOT was actually one of the better feuds of 2011 and doesn't get a lot of  attention for some reason. There were a lot of good matches involved.

Overall: 7.5/10

This show had the opposite affect that the show in Richmond had on me. Going into it I thought it would be really good, but it ended up disappointing slightly. The American Wolves/Future Shock match delivered as expected (and is worth seeing), and the Cage Match, albeit slightly below expectations, was very good as well. The rest was honestly a bit underwhelming. The American Wolves Match & The Cage Match are the reasons to get this show.