Ring of Honor TV – September 23, 2015: Japanese For Good Filler
Ring of Honor
Date: September 23, 2015
Location: 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: King Corino, Kevin Kelly
This is one of those weird shows where the pay per view has taken place but there’s almost no way to talk about it because this episode was taped a month prior. Therefore, expect a lot of odd commentary where nothing is really revealed because the announcers don’t know the details yet. Let’s get to it.
Michael Elgin vs. Silas Young
We get right to it as the announcers say Young is dealing with the fallout from All-Star Extravaganza, despite a lack of any sort of details of what happened at the show. Young’s shoulders have no effect as the announcers talk about Elgin’s success in the G-1 Climax tournament in Japan. A big gorilla press puts Silas down and Elgin shows off with a long delayed vertical suplex for two.
Young gets creative with a DDT onto the apron and a slingshot double stomp (ow), sending us to a break. Back with Elgin missing a charge and something like an Irish Curse getting two for Silas. Michael comes back with big right hands (why overcomplicate things?) and a sitout Rock Bottom for two of his own. Elgin wins a slugout until Young kicks him in the face and hits his headstand into a springboard moonsault for two. That’s really not a very heelish move.
Michael kicks him in the face as well and scores with a discus lariat, followed by an apron superplex into a falcon’s arrow for two. Cool looking move there. Misery (TKO) puts Elgin on the floor and Silas pulls the padding back, only to get powerbombed into the barricade. Elgin is all ticked off and the Elgin Bomb is good for the pin at 11:28.
Rating: B-. This was a way to say that Elgin is back after his trip to Japan and it worked quite well in that regard. Young shouldn’t have lost after winning such a big match at All-Star Extravaganza but that’s part of the danger of taping shows this far in advance. Good opener here though and a fun match.
Adam Cole says his match with Shinsuke Nakamura is one of the best wrestlers in the world, but Cole is THE best in the world, which he’ll prove next week in Philadelphia. Simple, yet effective.
ACH vs. Caprice Coleman
Feeling out process to start as they fight over a wristlock and trade flips, capped off by Coleman getting no count off a dropkick. The announcers sell the idea that ACH is this generation’s Coleman as Caprice trips ACH and drops a leg for two. ACH comes back with a running kick to the face from the apron but his bottom rope clothesline is blocked.
Coleman grabs three rolling northern lights suplexes and we get a pretty awkward striking sequence, including a one inch punch from Coleman. It actually stops ACH from hitting his big dive and Caprice nails the Sky Splitter (top rope Rough Ryder) for two. ACH is still screwed up from the punch (Corino: “Holy Ox Baker!”) but he comes back with a quick brainbuster and the Midnight Star (450) for the pin at 6:52.
Rating: C. The one inch punch was a little awkward but at least ACH finally won something. They could make him something like the Kofi Kingston of this company but he needs to quit losing so much. Coleman is a good veteran who can make anyone look good and there’s some amazing value in that kind of a role player.
Post match Corino asks Coleman about the envelope that Prince Nana gave him a few weeks ago. There was money and a letter inside. Coleman took the money and read the letter over and over. At first it didn’t make sense but now he knows that Nana was right. Nothing more is explained.
Roppongi Vice/Kazuchika Okada vs. Briscoe Brothers/Hiroki Goto
Okada, part of Chaos with Vice, is IWGP Heavyweight Champions and Goto is the IWGP Intercontinental Champion. Well as of this taping at least. Jay and Okada get things going for what ROH would consider a dream match. They slug it out with Okada kicking Jay in the face to take over. Off to Rocky Romero (of Rocky Romero/Trent Baretta) who doesn’t do as well so here are Goto and Trent.
Hiroki scores with some shoulders before it’s off to Mark for shoulders of his own. Mark is fascinated by Trent’s headband and puts it on, setting up redneck kung fu and a dropkick. Vice starts some double teaming on Mark and Okada adds a slingshot hilo for two. All three members of Chaos rake Mark’s eyes until Mark grabs a Death Valley Driver on Okada. Goto comes in to fight Okada like he wants but he gets kicked in the face, setting up Okada’s top rope elbow.
The Rainmaker is countered into a backbreaker and we take a break. Back with Jay cleaning house before it’s off to Mark, who gets clotheslined in the corner to change control again. Jay comes back in with a powerbomb into a neckbreaker as everything breaks down. Mark counters the Rainmaker into a suplex but Romero kicks him in the face. Trent makes a blind tag but gets caught in a Doomsday Device from the apron to the floor.
Back in and the Froggy Bow gets a VERY close two on Trent but Okada comes back in with a tombstone. Goto breaks up the Rainmaker with a headbutt and everyone is down again. That’s enough for Jay as he blasts Trent in the face and scores with the Jay Driller for the pin at 14:05.
Rating: B. This was your usual fun six man New Japan match which is a great option to fill in the gaps on shows like this one. The Briscoes continue to look awesome as a team and would be a great addition to the already stacked tag division at this point. Okada vs. Goto was treated like a side story here, which is probably best considering they don’t work for this company.
Overall Rating: B+. This is one of the better shows the company has had on Destination America as everyone was on point and rolling this week with three good matches that served no real purpose other than filling in time. I’m not sure when we get to the next story driven shows but at least we had an entertaining show this week, which is all you can ask for here.
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