Ring of Honor TV – December 2, 2015: They Know What They’re Doing
Ring of Honor
Date: December 2, 2015
Location: Wings Stadium Annex, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Kevin Kelly, Mark Briscoe
Final Battle is just around the corner and for the first time in a long time, Jay Lethal’s World Title really seems vulnerable. However, for some reason ROH seems much more interested in the tag team division, though that’s been some of the more interesting stuff they’ve been doing in recent weeks. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Adam Page vs. Will Ferrara
Page is still rightfully ticked off that he’s off Final Battle because of Whitmer and Corino being forced off the show as well. Will gets jumped from behind before the bell, which is totally dishonorable but the referee starts the match anyway. Page stomps him in the corner as Kelly runs down the Final Battle card instead of talking about the match. Back up and Page charges into a boot in the corner, only to come right back with a dropkick to send Ferrara out to the floor.
A bridging pumphandle suplex (that’s a new one) gets two for Page as Briscoe cheers for Ferrara. Will makes a quick comeback with a sunset bomb out of the corner for two. It’s time for a Decade meeting on the floor but Ferrara dives onto everyone. Colby offers a referee distraction and Whitmer throws in the crutch, only to have Ferrara intercept it and lay out Page for the big upset at 4:05.
Rating: C-. It’s cool to see the perennial jobber get a win like this though I’m still surprised that they’re going to leave the Decade off the big show after everything they’ve done in recent months. Corino being out changed what they had planned but there’s no one else that they could swap in there?
Post match Whitmer goes after Ferrara and the referee, drawing in Mark Briscoe for the save.
Here’s the Addiction to yell about how badly they’ve been mistreated around here. Daniels goes on a sexist rant against Maria who belongs in a kitchen or a nursery. Daniels: “YEAH I SAID IT!” Then they had a masked man run in which should have stopped the match immediately but it just kept going. Kazarian says if Ring of Honor wants to play checkers, the Addition will play chess……in New Japan Professional Wrestling. They’ll go win the Heavyweight Tag League and then come back to regain their World Tag Team Championships of the World.
Video on Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly which will be one heck of a grudge match at Final Battle.
Package on Brutal Bob Evans vs. Cheeseburger. WHY ARE THESE TWO STILL FIGHTING??? They were fighting like six months ago and they’re still at it. Evans broke Cheeseburger’s hand at this TV taping and they’ll be fighting again on the Final Battle pre-show in another grudge match. I’ll take that over them being on the main show.
We look back at Roderick Strong winning the TV Title last week.
Here’s the House of Truth (good night that’s a low cut dress on Hendrix) with something to say. Lethal says Strong FINALLY beat him last week after all the tries but Jay knows Strong couldn’t do it again. He’ll be TV Champion again soon enough anyway. That brings Lethal to AJ Styles, who Lethal came to for advice for most of their careers. It’s true that Styles was the best wrestler in the world for years, but that changed when Lethal became the undisputed ROH Champion.
Lethal is the only undisputed champion and now he wants Styles out here to say it to his face. This brings out AJ (who thankfully can walk here) to say that Lethal is right because of that belt around his waist. Jay losing the TV Title was the best thing that could have happened to him though because he needs to focus on AJ and AJ alone. They shake hands and stare each other down with Jay holding up the belt. Well done and very simple idea here.
It’s time for Storytime with Adam Cole which has become a highlight of these shows. Cole never saw this coming because even after he kicked Kyle with reality at All-Star Extravaganza, Kyle still didn’t get it. O’Reilly isn’t going to win the World Title as long as Cole is around because that’s just not how it works. Cole starts yelling that Kyle will never be champion because he’s not the man that Adam is. He’s going to make Kyle quit and leave ROH because he can’t handle the embarrassment of how bad things are going to get at Final Battle.
We run down the Final Battle card. I might have to watch that show.
Dalton Castle vs. Adam Cole
No Boys here and Castle is clearly not happy about it. Cole on the other hand has the whole Kingdom behind him. Kelly: “I think Cole’s greatest advantage, aside from being a former World Champion, is having three mates at ringside.” You can’t buy analysis like this people. Before we get going, cue the Boys to stand by Dalton’s side but Silas Young runs out to say not so fast. How nice is it to have stipulations adhered to?
Cole jumps Castle to start and Bennett trips Dalton to break up a comeback. Nigel: “Come on I’m right here!” Castle dives through the ropes to take out the Kingdom and Cole’s dive off the apron only earns him a suplex. The fans are way behind Dalton here but Cole shuts them up with a superkick. The Kingdom gets involved and it’s a quick DQ at 1:45.
Since the Kingdom has a Tag Team Title defense coming up, it would seem appropriate for their challengers to come out and make this a six man tag. The fans chant SIX MAN and that’s what they get, thanks to Nigel.
War Machine/Dalton Castle vs. Kingdom
The good guys take over on the floor to start with Hanson and Rowe destroying Bennett and Cole, leaving Dalton to….bite Taven’s stomach? They get inside for Rowe vs. Cole with the latter getting flipped all over the place off a clothesline. Taven and Bennett trip Rowe down and crotch him though, allowing the heels to take over. A dropkick from Taven gets two and a nice high cross body (Bennett: “TAVEN! FLY!”) connects for the same.
We take a break and come back with nothing having changed as Rowe is taken back into the heel corner. A missed dropkick allows Rowe to finally make the tag and it’s off to Hanson to clean house with knees to the chest. Cole and Castle come in with Dalton showing him how to do a missile dropkick. Taven comes back in and trades about ten Tombstone attempts with Castle until Dalton FINALLY plants him.
Rowe knees Taven and Bennett out to the floor so Hanson busts out a big top rope flip dive to drop everyone. Back in and the Path of Resistance sets up a middle rope splash for two on Cole as his partners make a save. Now it’s Hanson missing a suicide dive, allowing Cole to drop Castle with a brainbuster onto his knee for the pin at 12:00.
Rating: C+. This was your signature Ring of Honor main event with the tagging being forgotten by the end and letting it turn into a wild mess which was just coherent enough to keep track of it. You don’t want the Kingdom to lose here so having Castle take the fall was the best possible option. Good TV main event here.
The Kingdom poses to end the show.
Overall Rating: C+. Another fun show here that did a good job of setting up Final Battle, which is looking like a strong card to close out the year. It really does impress me to see how far Ring of Honor has come in just a few months as I wasn’t wild on their first Destination America shows but I’m digging their product now that it’s off the national network. This was fun stuff and worked more than well enough.
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Best part about Addiction saying they’re going to the tournament? It’s half done and they’re out.