Ring of Honor TV – November 4, 2015: Battle Plans

Ring of Honor
Date: November 4, 2015
Location: San Antonio Shrine Auditorium, San Antonio, Texas
Attendance: 600
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Nigel McGuinness, Mark Briscoe

We’ve got a big main event this week with Adam Cole vs. AJ Styles vs. Kyle O’Reilly. Kyle was added last week because he wanted to get his hands on Cole no matter what he had to do to get there. We also have an upcoming showdown between Jay Lethal and Roderick Strong over the TV Title. Let’s get to it.

Kyle O’Reilly says he’s in a match with a man he respects and a man he once considered a friend. If he has to go through Styles to get his hands on Cole, so be it. All that matters to Kyle is seeing Cole flat on his face, completely broken at his hands. Still not good delivery but the message worked very well.

Silas Young/Beer City Bruiser vs. Young Bucks

Silas now has the boys in jeans and regular shirts. Briscoe thinks he’ll go as the Beer City Bruiser for Halloween but that might mean eating more chickens. Nick and Silas get things going with Jackson easily taking over. Bruiser tries to come in but gets dropkicked in the face to put him on the floor. Matt comes in and gets caught in the corner for some running knees to the face.

The Boys try to fan Matt off but wind up doing it to each other instead. It’s back to Nick for his dropkicks all around and a slingshot X Factor to take Silas down. After a dive to the floor gives him a breather, Silas comes back up with a Regal roll to Nick but he takes too much time setting up his corner moonsault, allowing Matt to superkick him down. That’s enough for Silas as he tells the Boys to get in there and finish the match. I guess that’s a no contest at about 4:00.

Rating: D+. Well at least there weren’t a bunch of superkicks. This is much more of an angle than a match and they did a good job of keeping it short. It gets really old watching matches that go on for a long stretch of time and then have the ending go nowhere because it’s an angle. Keep it short like this and it’s a lot easier to sit through.

The Boys vs. Young Bucks

I guess we’ll go with Boy #1 and Boy #2. Matt puts #1 in a headlock while throwing up the Too Sweet sign. A superkick puts #1 down so #2 pulls him over for a tag. It’s off to Nick who scoops up #2 to break up a headlock. Nick offers a Too Sweet but pokes #2 in the face with it instead. Silas and the Bruiser take quick superkicks on the floor before it’s back to Matt to continue the squash.

Mark and Nigel talk about trick or treating as the Bucks actually screw something up by kicking each other. #1 comes back in with a double missile dropkick, only to eat a double superkick. A buckle bomb/superkick combo sets up a double More Bang For Your Buck (impressive, even though the Boys might weigh 280lbs combined) for the pin on both Boys at 3:48.

Rating: C-. It’s amazing how much easier it is to sit through a Bucks match when you don’t have Corino screaming his head off all night long. The cool heel characters are already old but I guess that’s the point of the act. The squash was entertaining but I’m really not sure about spending over a fourth of the show on this one story.

The Bucks superkick the Bruiser again but Silas bails before he can get his.

House show ads.

BJ Whitmer comes out and wants Nigel to fire Corino so we look back at Corino knocking Whitmer out cold a few weeks ago.

That’s not it for McGuinness as Veda Scott has officially served him papers for the lawsuit about the unsafe working conditions.

Will Ferrara vs. Roderick Strong

I like Ferrara so this could be good. Strong charges into a boot to start but comes back with a great looking dropkick. Off to an early chinlock with Strong ripping at Will’s face, followed by a butterfly suplex for two. Totally one sided so far. Some elbows and a neckbreaker give Will an opening and a tornado DDT (another move that is getting far too common) to send Strong to the floor. Another tornado DDT onto the floor (see what I mean?) has Strong reeling but he comes back with a gutbuster and the Strong Hold for the submission at 5:03.

Rating: C. Repeat DDT’s aside, I had fun with this one. Strong may be one of the weakest talkers that I’ve seen in years but at least he can go in the ring. Ferrara is a small guy who doesn’t wrestle like a regular cruiserweight which makes him a lot more fun to watch. Good little match here as the night of squashes continues.

We look at Strong vs. Lethal over the last few weeks. Lethal hopes that when he has a kid with the hottest woman in the world, they have Strong’s determination, though they won’t be a loser like Strong is. How many times does Strong have to lose to get it through his head? Lethal accuses Nigel and Roderick of being in cahoots (I love that word). This isn’t some card game because it’s Lethal’s life and he’s going to stay the champion as long as he wants.

Final Battle is coming.

Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly vs. AJ Styles

Lethal is in on commentary because of his upcoming match against Styles. Maria, Taven, Bennett, Fish, Elgin and the Bucks are all at ringside so Nigel ejects everyone other than the three people in the match. Cole immediately drops to the floor and tells the rest of them to go at it. That earns a chase from Kyle so AJ knocks Cole back to the outside for some kicks from O’Reilly.

Back in and Kyle catches AJ in an armbreaker but lets it go to put Cole in a leg lock. When that doesn’t work, Kyle suplexes them both at the same time for two each. More kicks to Cole’s chest has him in trouble but AJ low bridges Kyle to the floor and hits the moonsault into the reverse DDT. Cole takes AJ down as well and goes back inside to crank on Kyle’s leg, followed by a superkick to the knee.

AJ eats a Shining Wizard as soon as he gets back in but grabs the Calf Killer out of nowhere. Kyle breaks it up with an armbreaker so Cole puts AJ in the Figure Four at the same time. O’Reilly breaks it up to put Cole in the armbreaker but AJ makes the save. Back from a quick break with Styles and Cole kicking at each other until Kyle no sells one ala Dean Ambrose and hits the rebound lariat for two. Now it’s AJ and Kyle slugging it out until Kyle counters a right hand into a triangle choke. Cole breaks it up though and sends Styles to the floor, setting up a brainbuster onto the knee to pin Kyle at 12:03.

Rating: B. This was fun with Kyle trying to get at Cole but having to deal with AJ at the same time. Styles was just kind of there for the most part as Cole vs. O’Reilly was the focus for most of the match. It’s good that they didn’t have AJ get pinned because you don’t want to make the #1 contender look weak (right Ryback?) going into a major title match. Good match but it never hit a great level.

Post match Kyle goes after Cole again but Fish, Elgin, the Bucks and the Kingdom come out for a huge brawl. The Bucks give Cole and Taven a double IndyTaker (Sweet goodness I hate that move. Not as bad as the Meltzer Driver but still bad.). Lethal comes in to hold up the title in AJ’s face to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This was your normal fun and easy show to get through though it’s rare to see Ring of Honor get anywhere above “eh that was pretty good”. You can probably figure out most of Final Battle from here so they have time to build towards it, which is a good sign with about six weeks before the show. Good show this week, as has been the norm recently.

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