ROH Supercard of Honor VII Review

Jay Briscoe's time has finally come!

ROH Supercard of Honor VII
New York City, New York 4/5/13

1.) "God's Gift" QT Marshall & Barrister RD Evans vs. ACH & Tadarius Thomas: ***

Before the match, Evans comes out in a suit. He goes on about who Marshall's Mystery Partner is and that he had to search the globe for the best. He eventually reveals the mystery man to be himself, and rips off his suit to reveal his wrestling attire. The match itself was pretty solid for an iPPV opener. Got the crowd into it.

Shelton Benjamin comes out next. He was supposed to have a match with Charlie Haas, but with THe Outlaw's retirement following the big fiasco at WAR, he's left without a match on one of the biggest weekends of the year. He calls Cheeseburger into the ring, and commends him for standing up to Haas over the past few months. This brings out the returning Mike Bennett, along with Maria Kanellis & "Brutal" Bob Evans. He cuts a promo on the fans and talks about all of the contract offers he's been getting from....everywhere, apparently. He was about to make an announcement before Cheeseburger takes the mic from him. He calls Maria something pretty nasty and gets a Knockout Punch from Bennett. Shelton then goes at Bennett, and we got a match!

2.) "The Prodigy" Mike Bennett vs. Shelton Benjamin: **3/4

This was a pretty decent match. Nothing really special, but a solid effort. I'd put this above the match they had at Death Before Dishonor IX. They did some stuff with Maria, which was pretty entertaining, and Bennett eventually gets the win via nefarious means. Shelton gets a good ovation from the crowd as he exits

3.) #1 Contender's Match - Jay Lethal vs. "Unbreakable" Michael Elgin: ****1/2

WOW. All I can really say is that was an awesome match. It just really seems like both of these guys have been on a roll in 2013, as they both keep having consistently great matches in ROH. In this case, they were against each other and it made for a really great wrestling contest. Elgin would get the hard fought win and a future World Title Shot.

After the match, S.C.U.M. comes out and attacks both Elgin & Lethal. Corino then calls out ROH for the big 10-Man Tag and the ROH guys rush out & get things going!!

4.) 10-Man War - Team ROH (BJ Whitmer, Mark Briscoe, Mike Mondo, Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander) vs. S.C.U.M. (Jimmy Jacobs, Jimmy, Rave, Rhett Titus, Cliff Compton & Rhino with Steve Corino): ***1/4

The first part of the match was pretty much just wild brawling around ringside. The second half saw S.C.U.M. mainly isolate Mondo before Rhino eventually hit the GORE and secured the win for S.C.U.M. I believe Jimmy Rave also took a nasty piledriver from Caprice Coleman. The match itself was fine. Pretty much what you would expect and a good point to cut to intermission.

During intermission they showed all of Jay Briscoe's previous ROH World Title Matches, which was pretty cool and did a good job of building up the Main Event.

5.) Roderick Strong vs. "Machine Gun" Karl Anderson: ***1/2

Anderson is currently a mainstay in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. This isn't the first time he's wrestled in ROH (appeared on a pair of shows in 2007) and it's also not the first time he's wrestled Strong (They had a match in PWG). It was a pretty solid contest. It might have been a little shorter than I thought it would be, and their wasn't anything flashy, but it was a solid, hard-hitting match that proved to be pretty fun to watch. Anderson would get the win over the self-proclaimed "Mr. ROH".

6.) ROH World TV Title - Matt Taven (with Truth Martini) vs. Adam Cole vs. Matt Hardy: **1/4

Steve Corino does the announcing duties for Hardy. This wasn't a very good match. I don't know what it was, but it just never really clicked. Scarlett ended up giving Nigel McGuinness a lap dance while he was trying to do commentary with Kevin Kelly, and the focus seemed to be more on that than the actual match. The first elimination (this was an elimination match, by the way) came when Cole eliminated Hardy in the same way Hardy beat Cole at Final Battle 2012 with a low blow & small package. Hardy started crying like a baby and Nigel made fun of him. The finish was odd, but Taven ended up retaining.

7.) ROH World Tag Team Titles - reDRagon vs. American Wolves: ****1/4

The last time they were in NYC, it was the Wolves who were victorious, but this time, reDRagon comes in as the World Tag Team Champions and they themselves have been on a winning streak in the tag team division. This was another fantastic match. I'd still put Lethal/Elgin over this, but this was still very good. Awesome action from both teams, but Kyle O'Reilly got a handful of tights and the win for reDRagon.

8.) ROH World Title - Kevin Steen vs. Jay Briscoe: ***3/4

The Briscoe Family is at ringside to watch the match. Jay also comes into this with a shoulder that wasn't 100% after getting injured by Rhino at the 11th Anniversary Show. The match started relatively slow, but Steen consistently worked over Jay's injured shoulder. Things would pick up towards the end, as S.C.U.M. kept trying to interfere but were thwarted each time by ROH guys. The groups eventually got into a huge brawl in the entrance way. Matt Hardy gets in the ring and tries for the Twist of Fate on Jay but Steen throws Hardy out of the ring! It takes two Jay Drillers but Jay Briscoe finally achieves his dream and becomes the ROH World Champion! While not the best World Title Match, the crowd and all the stuff that happened on the outside made things special. I liked Steen going after the shoulder and the last five minutes were really great.

Overall: 8.75/10

I'd put this just under the 11th Anniversary Show because it was not as consistent in terms of match quality. Regardless you have two really awesome matches on here and a World Title Change that was one of the most anticipated in a long time. Aside from the TV Title Match that wasn't really good at all, the rest of the card is relatively solid. Definitely one of the best shows of the year from ROH.