This was for Lethal’s ROH World Championship.
Ring of Honor has devoted seemingly countless hours of programming and many resources to the cause of promoting the notion that Jay Lethal is one of the best professional wrestlers on the planet. Why anyone would want to pursue that particular endeavor is bizarre to say the least but the heart wants what the heart wants.
After all that time and money, you would think that ROH would want to use Lethal’s title loss as a means of elevating someone new or someone who could become a *bigger* star for winning the title. Say what you will about Jay Lethal, but there is no question that ROH has made him a far more prominent player in the company by putting the belt on him.
A lot of things can be said about Adam Cole. However, no rational person could claim Adam Cole is suddenly going to become a bigger star because he has the title. It feels like a clear backwards step for a company that. Desperately. Needs. To. Move. Forward. As. Quickly. As. Possible.
The match itself was not bad. The whole thing was presented like a big deal which is admirable. They compensated for their in-ring weaknesses and relied on a fair bit of smoke and mirrors without every feeling gimmicky. There was no interference or shenanigans of any kind though. It was a delicate balance, and they actually managed to pull that off. The work though had no real intrigue to it beyond the final result. That was enough to make the match watchable but nothing more.
It seems obvious at the moment that Cole has won the title to transition to Kyle getting the belt at Final Battle. Was that really the way that Lethal’s excessively long reign should have ended? Probably not. It would have been a fresh and exciting idea in 2012 perhaps though. (**3/4)
Views from the Hawke's Nest 