Ring of Honor TV – April 6, 2016: We Get The Concept
Ring of Honor
Date: April 6, 2015
Location: Sam’s Town Hotel and Gambling Hall, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Mr. Wrestling III, Kevin Kelly
We’re still in Las Vegas and it’s time to have another show that airs after a big show with no mention of the big show’s results. In this case it’s Supercard of Honor from Wrestlemania weekend but we’re doing the TV that deals with the fallout from the 14th Anniversary Show. It would be nice if they could find a way to work this out but I don’t see it coming anytime soon. Let’s get to it.
Instead of the regular opening sequence, we get a look at Donovan Dijak laying out Jay Lethal and injuring Truth Martini a few weeks back.
Lethal goes on a rant about how Dijak has injured his best friend after it was all Martini’s idea to bring him into the House of Truth in the first place. Now Dijak has the ROH World Champion coming for him and that’s not going to be pleasant.
Opening sequence.
Kazuchika Okada/Gedo vs. ReDRagon
Okada is IWGP Champion coming in. The Japanese guys want nothing to do with a pre-match handshake so it’s a bit testy as we get things going. Gedo cranks on Fish’s head to start before getting two off a rollup. That’s countered into a legbar as the fans chant for the New Japan guys.
Fish wants Okada and even lays down in the ring, offering him a chance to come in. Okada does come in but it’s also off to O’Reilly as the announcers talk about Kyle’s ear injury. An early sunset flip attempt is countered into a cross armbreaker until Gedo comes in to break it up with a right hand to the bad ear. The Japanese guys start in on the ear and we take a break.
Back with Kyle striking away at Okada and diving over for the hot tag to Fish. Everything breaks down and Okada hits his over the shoulder backbreaker on Fish but the Rainmaker is countered into a Samoan drop. Gedo breaks up the hot tag and superkicks Bobby for two as everything breaks down again. Okada gets sent to the floor and it’s Gedo getting double teamed with rapid fire forearms, followed by Chasing the Dragon for the pin at 12:24.
Rating: C. The match was fun but it’s nice to see the New Japan guys get beaten for a change. I know they’re a special attraction but far too often it seems there’s no reason to watch the match because it’s a guaranteed win. ReDRagon needs better opponents though because they’re at the point of having nothing left to do in tag action.
We look back at the Briscoes picking up the Tag Team Titles last week, much to War Machine’s annoyance.
The Briscoes say War Machine can’t call themselves the best of all time because they’ve never beaten Dem Boys. That sounds like a challenge to me and it should be one heck of a fight.
Adam Cole vs. Kushida
Kushida’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title isn’t on the line. Cole shoves him around to start and for once the ROH guy seems to be the crowd favorite. Kushida doesn’t take kindly to this and rides Cole on the mat to some nice applause. A Fujiwara armbar sends Cole scrambling to the ropes. Adam gets in a few shots from the apron though and we take a break. Back with Kushida hitting an atomic drop and some seated dropkicks to the head to get the fans back on his side.
A front flip kick sends Cole out to the floor but the moonsault hits knees back inside. Cole gets two off a hard running Shining Wizard, only to have to get out of the Hoverboard lock with a small package. Kushida tries more kicks so Cole stomps on his hand, only to get kicked in the arm. There’s another Hoverboard lock but Cole puts him on his shoulders for two and forcing the break. Back up and Cole superkicks him in the back of the head, setting up the suplex into the backbreaker for the pin on Kushida at 11:05.
Rating: C+. This is the kind of match that I’m not wild on: exchanging moves and then doing the finish. There’s no real connection between these teams and there’s no real reason to see the two of them fighting. It’s certainly not bad or anything but I’m going to forget I saw it in a few minutes because it had no impact on anything whatsoever.
Dalton Castle is ready for his Fight Without Honor with Silas Young. He might even fill Young’s pants with brine shrimp and throw him in a blender.
We look back at the Motor City Machine Guns reforming at the 14th Anniversary Show.
Addiction vs. The Machine Guns
Yeah no Motor City now. Sabin and Daniels get things going but Kazarian gets in a cheap shot thirty seconds in like a heel should. As you might expect, the Guns clean house and send us to an early break. Back with Shelley coming in off the top to work on Kazarian’s arm, setting up the quick takedown and rapid fire basement dropkick.
The double dive sends the Addiction into the barricade, followed by a high cross body from Shelley for two on Kazarian. Daniels gets in a shot to the back though and Addiction finally takes over. Kazarian and Daniels take turns on Shelley, including a double clothesline, allowing Daniels to put his foot on the chest for two. We take another break and come back with Shelley giving Kazarian a Stunner while DDTing Daniels at the same time.
That’s still not enough for the hot tag as Daniels pulls Sabin off the apron, only to have Shelley send Daniels head first between Kazarian’s legs. We finally get the hot tag to Sabin as everything breaks down. Kazarian gets kicked in the face but Daniels sends Shelley outside, setting up a big dive to take Alex out. Shelley slides back in almost immediately and starts the double team strikes on Daniels, followed by Skull and Bones for the pin at 12:21.
Rating: C. I was a big fan of the Guns back in the day but given how many fast paced teams there are now and the fact that Sabin is nothing compared to what he used to be (And somehow a former TNA World Champion. I still don’t get that one.), there’s really nothing left for them to do, making this a fairly worthless reunion. The match was fine but still not my style for the most part.
Post match the Addiction beats the Guns down, only to have Kushida and Matt Sydal run in for the save. The Young Bucks come in to superkick the two of them down, triggering another brawl to end the show.
Overall Rating: C. I’m really getting tired of these tag brawls to end the shows. We get it: the tag division is really competitive. Now either do something with them or stop having the same story over and over. There’s almost no reason for most of them to be fighting other than “the tag division is competitive” and that’s not going to work for months at a time.
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