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Last night, Ring Of Honor (ROH) had their first event, the Glory By Honor iPPV in Mississauaga, Ontario, since the news broke that the highly ambitious Hunter Johnston had replaced Jim Cornette as their head writer in a booking reshuffle that was mutually agreed upon by all parties involved. It was an important event for a couple of reasons:
- Their last iPPV, Death Before Dishonor X, was blighted by technical difficulties, which meant that most customers couldn't log into their account to view the show until intermission. Given that they were starting the slow process of rebuilding their fans confidence in their production abilities again, a flawless iPPV watching experience was of paramount importance.
- Johnston's coronation as ROH King of Creative before their "Killer Instinct" house show in Rahway, NJ, on Oct. 6th turned into another black day, as fans completely crapped on the no contest finish in the main event between ROH World Champion Kevin Steen and home town challenger Jay Lethal; an inconclusive pull-apart brawl caused by Steen spitting on Lethal's mum. They couldn't afford another creative misfire like this either.
By and large, they delivered on both counts. There were hardly any complaints about the quality of the feed. Meanwhile, the booking was safe and predictable, allowing the focus to be on the in-ring action, which was of the usual high calibre, especially the main event which got rave reviews. Really, the only newsworthy item on the whole show was the closing angle, where announcer Nigel McGuinness hand delivered a box to Kevin Steen that was opened to reveal El Generico's mask, the hood of Steen's arch rival and former tag team partner who has only been used a handful of times since Sinclair Broadcasting Group bought ROH. That's a step in the right direction, as ROH needs another great worker on their roster and Generico was hugely over in ROH as a cult underdog babyface before they kicked him to the kerb for no good reason, but it wasn't a bold decision either, given that his return tease would inevitably be well received by the fans. Quick results are given below, more detailed recaps can be found at f4wonline.com, pwinsider.com and prowrestling.net:
- Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander defeated The Bravado Brothers in a good opener when Alexander pinned Lancelot with a frog-splash.
- Mike Bennett beat Mike Mondo after Maria Kanellis slapped Mondo and Bennett hit the TKO for the pin in a match that died early but had a strong finish.
- Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin defeated Rhett Titus & BJ Whitmer when Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team hit their double team powerbomb finisher on Whitmer for the pin in a solid match.
- Jay Lethal defeated Davey Richards by submission with the Koji Clutch in a fine wrestling match.
- Roderick Strong refused to face Tadarius Thomas and quit the House Of Truth. Truth Martini had Rhino replace Strong in the match, who lost after Martini's interference backfired, which led to Rhino turning on Martini and press slamming him out of the ring onto the guard rail below, which may spell the end of the House Of Truth gimmick and Martini in future ROH storylines.
- ROH TV Champion Adam Cole beat Eddie Edwards after hitting the Florida Keys suplex for the pin in a very good bout.
- ROH World Tag Team Champions Steve Corino & Jimmy Jacobs defeated The Briscoes in a fun brawl when Corino shoved the referee into the ropes and kicked Jay low when their opponents were going for a Doomsday Device finisher, which allowed Jacobs to easily pin Jay with a victory roll.
- ROH World Champion Kevin Steen beat Michael Elgin clean in an amazing main event after a package piledriver off the top rope. After the match, Strong took out Elgin with the Sick Kick, before Steen was given the mysterious gift mentioned earlier.