ROH Showdown in the Sun - Day 1 Review

A Three-Way World Title Match and a Last Man Standing Match highlight ROH's return to the Sunshine State!

ROH Showdown In The Sun – Day 1

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 3/30/12

*Just a quick note, I'll be reviewing the DVD version, so sans the stream issues both nights suffered.

1.) Proving Ground Match – The Briscoes vs. TMDK: ***

The Mighty Don't Kneel won this opportunity by coming out on top of the tag team tournament at Rise & Prove. This was a pretty solid opener. Got the crowd fired up for the rest of the show. I hope ROH brings in TMDK for shows in the future.

Out next, in a surprise appearance is (then) NWA World Champion Adam Pearce. They talk about Pearce's title defense against Adam Cole on the NWA show the night before, and Adam Cole decides to come out, and we have an impromptu match!

2.) Adam Cole vs. Adam Pearce: **1/2

Pearce is wrestling in his jeans. The NWA World Title is obviously not on the line here. For only being a 5-Minute filler match, this was pretty good. Cole & Pearce put on a fun showing.

3.) Dual Duel Match #1 – Tornado Tag – The Young Bucks vs. The All Night Express: ***1/4

These teams will be facing each other on both nights, with one stipulation picked by ANX and one picked by The Young Bucks. This was fine for what it was, but it ended rather abruptly with a Rhett Titus roll-up. The ending really hurt the match in my view. I believe The Bucks attacked ANX post match, but I can't remember.

The Embassy comes out and after some banter from Prince Nana, RD Evans explains that an injunction has been filed against them after they stole the World TV Title at the 10th Anniversary Show. He says they don't have the belt at the moment but will return in to Lethal.

4.) ROH World TV Title – Jay Lethal vs. Kyle O’Reilly: **3/4

A decent showing, but I think this was a fair deal below what these two are capable of. We saw another rather quick finish which hurt the match a bit.

Another note, Jay Lethal finisher, The Lethal Injection, really annoys me. The whole springboard off the ropes thing is completely unnecessary. Your opponent is just standing there and can easily dodge/get out of the way while Lethal is doing all these theatrics. I had the same issue with Nigel's rebound lariat finisher. Stupid.

5.) Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team vs. Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander: ***1/4

Haas & Benjamin's heel run is now in full swing. This was another solid match. Very similar to the match they had with ANX at the 10th Anniversary Show. Very simple and logical tag team booking that proves successful. Coleman & Alexander look pretty solid.

6.) Lance Storm vs. Mike Bennett (with Maria Kanellis): ***1/2

So basically Lance Storm is coming back to ROH to teach Mike Bennett some respect. I've heard a lot of people praise this match and I will have to agree. Definitely Bennett's best ROH outing to date. Storm worked a pretty good match with him and Bennett definitely looked good coming out of it.

7.) La Revancha – Last Man Standing – Kevin Steen vs. El Generico: ****1/4

This is El Generico's first ROH appearance since Steen took him out at Final Battle 2011. The La Revancha tagline was a little match, but as for the match, all I have to say is WOW. These two prove once again that they can create magical moments and great matches anywhere they go, for any promotion. Lots of entertaining stuff. Of course you had the end where Jacobs turned heel and helped Kevin Steen win the match.

8.) ROH World Title – Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Roderick Strong: ****

So this is the culmination of the series of matches these guys have had (Strong/Richards, Strong/Edwards, Richards/Edwards) over the past year and a half. It's also a three-way dance, so two of the three guys have to be eliminated for the match to end. While it was an entertaining contest, and a very good match, the problem is that we've seen this combination so many times that it's gotten stale and at some times boring, hence the reason why Davey was getting more & more jeers in the closing months of his reign. Strong eliminates Edwards first then Davey eliminates Strong about two minutes later. 

After the match, Michael Elgin attacks Davey Richards, setting up their title match on the next show.

Overall: 8.25/10

This was a pretty good iPPV, but their were a few things that prevented it from being great. The abrupt endings of several of the undercard matches and the lack of fresh material in the main event were a big part of this. Storm/Bennett and the Last Man Standing Matches definitely make this show worth checking out though.