ROH Killer Instinct Review

Jay Lethal finally gets a shot at Kevin Steen's World Title!

ROH Killer Instinct

Rahway, New Jersey 10/6/12

1.) "The Prodigy" Mike Bennett vs. "Unbreakable" Michael Elgin: ***

Maria Kanellis & Truth Martini are their men's respective corners. A solid opening match that has Elgin looking strong going into his World Title Match at Glory By Honor XI.

2.) The Bravados vs. 3.0: ***1/4

These two team have been having a feud in CHIKARA but this is the first time their feud, and 3.0, have ventured into ROH. Crowd didn't give 3.0 much a reaction but they were into them more and more as the match progressed. A fine tag team match. I would love to see 3.0 again in ROH, especially now since they are the current (as of this review) Campeonatos de Parejas.

3.) Bobby Fish vs. QT Marshall: **1/4

Fish made some ROH appearances in 2007-8 but was never a regular. He's been wrestling in Dragon Gate USA and more so Evolve the past few years. This was ok. I was very happy with the result as it meant Bobby Fish would be staying.

4.) ROH World Tag Team Titles – S.C.U.M. (Jimmy Jacobs & Steve Corino) vs. Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team vs. Rhett Titus & BJ Whitmer: **3/4

Since this is a Three-Way, it will be contested under elimination rules. This was a decent match. The eliminations happened in rapid succession. WGTT go out first and then get into it with Titus & Whitmer, which allows S.C.U.M. to retain.

5.) Roderick Strong vs. Kyle O’Reilly: ***1/4

A very competitive match. Nice to see O'Reilly actually doing something productive after spending the summer doing almost nothing following his break-up with Richards.

6.) The Nightmare Begins Rematch – Davey Richards vs. Mike Mondo: ***1/2

These two had a Time-Limit Draw in their first encounter. I'd say they topped themselves compared to that first match. Mondo shows once again that he has improved and Richards looks good as well coming off his summer hiatus from ROH.

Afterwords, Richards cuts a promo putting over Mondo, and taking a shot at SBG.

7.) The Briscoes vs. Eddie Edwards & Adam Cole: ***3/4

This is a first time ever match in ROH. Edwards will also be challenging Cole at Glory By Honor XI for the TV Title. A very good tag team match and a fun one to watch. Solid back and forth action.

8.) ROH World Title – Kevin Steen vs. Jay Lethal: ****

For a house show title defense this was looking pretty awesome. Lethal hit 4 consecutive dives on Steen at the start. Lots of great action. Of course we all know what happened at the finish. Steen gets into it with Lethal's parents at ringside, leading to water getting thrown on Steen, Steen spitting on Lethal's parents, and Lethal going crazy in a brawl that needed S.C.U.M. & ROH officials to break it up. Not sure how Lethal continually punching Steen on the floor constitutes a No-Contest. I think it would have been much better if Lethal went crazy on S.C.U.M. with a chair & hit moves on anyone around him (That would have been better for his "Killer Instinct"). Of course Steen tears down the entrance set on his way out and fans litter the ring with trash as Lethal escorts his parents out.

The DVD also includes Lethal taking out Jim Cornette backstage, following the chaos of the finish.

Overall: 8.0/10

I honestly found this to be, for the most part, enjoyable. It seemed that the show got better as it went on, in terms of match quality (especially for the second half, which has a lot of good matches). The idea of the finish was a good idea, but it had poor execution. The show is also easy to get though, enjoyable, and doesn't really have a bad match (although one could be considered a throw-away).