ROH Boiling Point 2012
Providence, Rhode Island 8/11/12
1.) Special Challenge Match –
Roderick Strong vs. Mike Mondo: ***1/2
I think turned out to be a bit better than people initially thought it would be. People like to criticize Mondo, but he had a very solid opener here with Roderick Strong. When in the ring with the right people, Mondo can have great matches.
2.) Four Corner Survival –
Winner Receives an ROH Contract – Matt Taven vs. Antonio Thomas vs. QT Marshall
vs. Vinny Marseglia: **3/4
All four these guys are local Northeast/New England wrestlers, to my knowledge. Caleb Seltzer makes his first appearance here for ROH, explaining the backgrounds of the four guys involved. This was actually a fine match. Though I questions this kind of match, with these kind of guys, being on an iPPV, it was find for filler. QT Marshall wins & gets a contract with ROH.
3.) Proving Ground Match –
ROH World TV Champion Adam Cole vs. “Brutal” Bob Evans: **1/4
A lot of people, including myself, criticized this. Adam Cole goes from pinning Davey Richards at the 10th Anniversary Show, having a star making performance at Best in the World: Hostage Crisis, and winning the TV Title, to wrestling a manager/part time-ish wrestler. Evans says he's going punch Cole in his "sweet, delicate mouth". Pretty uninteresting match. Evans got in way too much offense in my opinion, but at least Cole won.
Mike Bennett, Maria & Evans beat up on Cole after the match until Eddie Edwards & Sara Del Rey make the save.
4.) Michael Elgin vs. Charlie
Haas: **
Truth Martini cuts a promo beforehand, spoiling the World Title Challenger at Death Before Dishonor X and talks about all the Hoopla going around about cohesion in the HOT. Michael Elgin cuts him off by saying he's signed a contract and it officially cashing in his Survival of the Fittest Title Shot at Glory By Honor XI in October. Roderick Strong comes out and is none too happy about this, and declares he's going on strike from the HOT.
Finally we get the actual match. Their match at Death Before Dishonor IX was decent, but this was worse. There's some outside nonsense involved Haas, Truth, Strong, Elgin, and a lot of beer. This match just never got going. Blah....
5.) The Briscoes vs. S.C.U.M.
(Steve Corino & Jimmy Jacobs): ***1/4
Steve Corino being clean shaven just looks.....weird, but I've become more accepting of it over time. Pretty much your standard tag team match here. The Briscoes get the win.
6.) 2/3 Falls Match – Tommaso
Ciampa (with Barrister RD Evans) vs. Jay Lethal: ***1/2
This feud started off not so good, but a great match at Border Wars and Ciampa's crazy gimmick have freshened things up a bit. The first fall comes very early, in the first two minutes, after Ciampa blows out/severely injures one of his knee. They continue the match and Ciampa evens up the score, but Lethal uses "Killer Instinct" (i.e. a low blow) followed by Lethal Injection for the Third Fall and the win. I gotta say this turned out to be pretty good. The fact Ciampa continued to go all out for that on essentially one leg makes this even more awesome. Sad that Ciampa got injured, looking forward to his return.
7.) Mixed Tag Team Match –
Eddie Edwards & Sara Del Rey vs. “The Prodigy” Mike Bennett & Maria
Kanellis: ***1/4
Sara Del Rey is heading to WWE (as a trainer for the Divas) so she's been having here farewell tour on the indies, this being her last ROH match. While I think this was more of a "sports entertainment" type match, it was still very solid. Fun to. Maria & Sara go under the ring & Sara comes out with Maria's top. At this point Nigel McGuinness, who was mesmerized with Maria to begin with, completely loses it. (He's hilarious whenever Maria comes out). Edwards & Del Rey win and Bennett covers Maria up & rushes her to the back. The fans thank Del Rey before she leaves.
8.) ROH World Title –
Anything Goes – Kevin Steen vs. Eddie Kingston: ***3/4
Steve Corino is out on commentary, but Kingston immediately goes after Corino. He ends up sending him & Jimmy Jacobs to the back before continuing the match with Steen. This leads to Steen powerbombing Kingston on an upside down table between the ring & the barricade. They try to stretcher Kingston out as Steen cuts a promo ridiculing the fans and then goes to far when he takes a shot at the late Larry Sweeney. This sends Kingston into a rage as he rushes back to the ring to fight Steen. Corino & Jacobs try to get involved again but Rhett Titus comes out and fights them off. Steen ends up retaining. I gotta say that despite the oddness with the whole stretcher thing (which affected my star rating a bit), this was very good. Steen & Kingston did a really good job, both in the build-up and the match itself. Very good stuff here.
Afterwords, Steen gets into it with some fans, apparently striking them, but it later turned out these apparently were plants.
Overall: 7.25/10
I initially criticized the decision of making this show, in a place ROH has never been before, an iPPV on what seemed like short notice. They ended up proving me wrong by having a sellout of 900+ in their first trip to Providence, which is great because it means they'll be back here in the future. Everyone knew this would be a B-Show, and that's pretty much what we got, though there was some good stuff one here. Steen/Kingston, Mondo/Strong & Lethal/Ciampa were all pretty good, and the two tag team matches were entertaining. While some stuff in the middle of the card brought the show down a peg, and while nothing on here I'd say is "must see" it was still a solid and entertaining B-Show.
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