Ring of Honor TV – October 7, 2015: The Michael Bay of Wrestling
Ring of Honor
Date: October 7, 2015
Location: MCU Park, Brooklyn, New York
Attendance: 2,000
Commentators: Prince Nana, Kevin Kelly, King Corino
This is a special change of pace as Ring of Honor held an event called Field of Honor at a baseball stadium in Brooklyn back in August. Therefore tonight, we’ll be taking a look at some of the bigger matches from the card before we finally get back to the updated storyline stuff that we’ve been waiting the better part of a month to actually see. Let’s get to it.
Time Splitters vs. Briscoe Brothers
Jay and Kushida get things going. Nana: “When was the last time we saw Jay and Mark team up?” Corino: “Yesterday.” It’s off to Mark before anything happens and Kushida gets stomped down into the corner. Kushida comes back and takes both Briscoes down with a headscissors and bulldog, only to have Mark punch him in the face. The Time Splitters speed things up and take over on Mark with rapid fire strikes as we take a break.
Back with Alex working on Mark’s arm but Mark sends Alex into a distracted Kushida who cranks on his partner’s arm by mistake. I’ve seen them do that spot before and it makes them look like stupid heels. They get their act together though and take turns on a wristlock as Corino lists off various Japanese wrestlers he worked with over the years. You know, because this is the New Japan show instead of Ring of Honor. A quick tag brings in Jay for a clothesline and it’s off to a front facelock.
Jay elbows Shelley in the face for two and we hit the chinlock. Shelley fights up and dropkicks both Briscoes down, allowing for tag to Kushida. Things speed up again until Jay breaks up a springboard. Shelley dives off the apron to knee Jay in the face, knocking him into the infield. Mark’s kung fu doesn’t get him very far as Kushida kicks him in the arm and puts on the Hoverboard Lock. Jay makes the save and all four are back in with Shelley holding his jaw.
The Splitters bust out some Motor City Machine Guns style offense, complete with a You Can’t See Me from Kushida. A moonsault/knee drop combo gets two on Mark but Jay comes back in for a Razor’s Edge/neckbreaker combo for two on Shelley. Two straight Jay Driller attempts are broken up until Mark suplexes Kushida down, setting up the Jay Driller on Alex for the pin at 14:30.
Rating: C+. This is a great example of how Ring of Honor gets on my nerves and makes me want to stop watching it. Most of the match was spent namedropping various Japanese wrestlers that these guys have worked with like it’s the most amazing accomplishment in the world to have worked a tour of Japan as a midcard tag act. It’s very pretentious and makes Japan sound like it’s a million miles ahead of any other wrestling on the planet.
The more Corino talks, the more he sounds like you’re a knuckle dragging moron if you don’t watch every Japanese show in history, which I hear enough of on the internet. It’s cool stuff, but stop pretending like it’s the only thing in the world. There’s other stuff out there, including Ring of Honor, which comes off like it’s nothing compared to the wonders of Japan.
Clips of Watanabe winning a gauntlet match for a TV Title shot next week. We see a good chunk of Watanabe vs. Cedric Alexander until Moose came out to interfere, allowing Watanabe to get the pin with an STO. Not enough of the match was shown to rate but I still don’t get Watanabe. I do however get the appeal of Veda Scott. Good lord.
Video on Adam Page vs. Jay Briscoe. Page must have something up his sleeve because he’s going to get killed.
Nigel McGuinness joins commentary.
Kazuchika Okada vs. Roderick Strong
Okada’s IWGP World Title isn’t on the line. They trade arm work to start until Okada grabs a freaky variation of the abdominal stretch (picture an STO but instead of driving him down, Okada grabs the arm and bends Strong around to stretch his ribs. That’s rather cool looking.), sending Strong to the ropes. A nice dropkick puts Okada down for two and we take a break. It’s Strong in control as we come back but Okada is quickly out of a chinlock. Instead it’s a kick to the face for two more as this has been almost all Strong so far.
We hit a one arm camel clutch until Okada grabs a rope. It’s cool to see Strong working on a body part to set up his finisher. I love basic psychology like that and it’s always going to work. They head outside and chop away until Strong drops him back first and then ribs first onto the barricade. Back in and we hit a chinlock with Okada’s arm trapped to stretch the ribs. Okada fights up with some running forearms and a DDT, followed by a nipup. What rib injury?
An enziguri out of the corner and a belly to back faceplant gets two for Roderick. Well if Okada won’t sell the ribs and back why not go for the face instead? Okada dropkicks him off the top and out to the floor as we take another break. Back again with nothing having changed and Strong dropping Okada onto the apron for two. A White Noise backbreaker gets the same for Okada but Strong hooks an Angle Slam.
Strong’s superplex gets two and there’s the Strong Hold (Boston crab) but Okada makes the rope. It’s not like he would sell it anyway so Strong was just wasting his time anyway. The Rainmaker is countered by three straight jumping knees to the face, a fireman’s carry gutbuster and the Sick Kick for two. Well of course it’s just two because Okada is Japanese and therefore unbeatable. Okada pops up, tombstones Strong twice and rolls some Germans for the pin at 17:24.
Rating: C-. This is Ring of Honor summed up in a single match. There’s no question that this was an exciting match, but the quality isn’t there. Strong wrestled a logical match (his finisher is a Boston crab and he worked the back) but Okada WOULDN’T SELL THE THING. I mean, put your hand on your ribs at least. It’s exciting and entertaining, but it gets really old trying to explain to ROH and New Japan fans that there’s a bit difference between exciting and quality.
Overall Rating: C. We’ll go with right in the middle for this one as neither match did much for me but neither was bad. I’m sick of these New Japan shows though as you can take or leave them without missing anything. I like the stories that ROH has but we’re stuck waiting for a month between the updates because of their taping schedule. In between though we get to worship at the altar of New Japan and hear the fans tell us that THIS IS AWESOME because so many of this company’s fans equate excitement with being good. It’s very Michael Bay-esque of them and that’s only a good thing on occasion.
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I like Okada a lot but their habit of booking Japanese guys as unbeatable is pretty annoying.
Pretty sure Gedo makes sure his top guys don’t job.
Pretty sure you can order the entire event on VOD. Why have I yet to get any fallout on All Star Extravaganza?
A screwy taping schedule.
No, that’s stupid. I can excuse one week delay since they release episodes on Fridays, the same day as their PPV’s, something else that’s stupid. But how the hell do you hook new fans who saw the PPV if you don’t follow up on what they saw for over a month? The hell do I care if Okada and Strong have a good match? It has no weight on anything.