Ring of Honor TV – November 16, 2016: It’s a Problem Until ROH Fixes It
Ring of Honor
Date: November 16, 2016
Location: William J. Myers Pavilion, Baltimore, Maryland
Attendance: 600
Commentators: Steve Corino, Kevin Kelly
We’re on a fresh taping cycle now and that means we’re almost up to Final Battle. The big story this week seems to be the rest of the first round of the Six Man Tag Team Title tournament as we get the final four all set up. Other than that we’re probably going to get some more on Kyle O’Reilly vs. Adam Cole. Let’s get to it.
We open with a video of Adam Page attacking Bobby Fish and dueling speeches from both guys.
Opening sequence.
Six Man Tag Team Titles Tournament First Round: Addiction/Kamaitachi vs. Team CMLL
That would be Ultimo Guerrero, Hechiero and Okimura because there was nowhere near enough trios to fill in a tournament so here are a bunch of imports. Okimura and Kazarian start things off as Corino does everything he does to explain who the CMLL guys are. They hit the mat to start with neither guy getting an advantage, save for Kazarian grabbing an arm trap rollup for two.
A cutter out of the corner gets the same on Kazarian so it’s off to Hechiero, who grabs a choke on the mat and rolls around for a bit. Ultimo (a guy in his mid 40s who has won a ton of titles in CMLL) comes in and everything breaks down with Kamaitachi being sent outside for a brawl in the crowd.
Back from a break with Addiction in control with Hechiero getting beaten down. That lasts all of ten seconds as it’s off to Guerrero for a slingshot Bronco Buster (cool move) as everything breaks down. Kamaitachi hits a dive, followed by a Falcon’s Arrow on Guerrero. Daniels says he has this though, meaning Kamaitachi’s top rope knee hits him instead. A reverse superplex plants Daniels for the pin at 13:04.
Rating: C-. I’ve said this before and I’m going to say it again until ROH fixes this problem: who are these people and why should I care? I keep having to ask it because ROH never bothers to do anything about it. Kelly mentioned something about ROH, CMLL and New Japan all working together to present the best wrestling in the world.
That’s fine in theory but when the action is just ok, I need WAY more in the way of connecting with the characters. Take Okimura for instance. Corino’s explanation came down to “he wanted to be a big star in Mexico…..and now he is!” Good for him. Now what does he do? That happens WAY too often around here and it’s happening with so many people ROH brings in.
Addiction and Kamaitachi break up post match.
Here’s the Cabinet, out of their outfits. Actually never mind as Caprice Coleman rips on ROH for giving them such a horrible gimmick. The announcers don’t seem to care so Coleman says there are more of them than anyone knows.
We look at Dalton Castle challenging the Young Bucks to a World Tag Team Title match in the middle of an eight man elimination tag, which cost he and partner Colt Cabana their shot. Colt wasn’t pleased.
Castle can’t find the Boys but Cabana says they’re not needed.
Colt Cabana/Dalton Castle vs. Keith Taylor/Shane Lee
It really does amaze me that Taylor and Lee’s pants manage to stay up. Taylor and Castle get things going and that means an early chest thrust. Cabana comes in and headscissors Lee down as we have to hear about the World Series. I’m still not over that yet Corino. Lee runs Castle over with a clothesline and we take a break. Back with Taylor dropping a huge leg but Dalton slips over for the tag anyway. Corino: “Shades of Ricky and Robert!” No Steve, it’s not.
Everything breaks down and the big guys are dropkicked out to the floor, setting up a double strut instead of a double dive. Back in and Castle can’t quite suplex Taylor due to a bad case of physics. Dalton kicks Colt in the face by mistake and the Pop Up Powerbomb into a middle rope splash gives Lee the pin at 10:54.
Rating: C+. Not bad at all here as Taylor and Lee are starting to become a bigger team instead of being just a glorified freak show. It really helps that they look completely different than most teams in ROH. What good is it to have so many versions of the same team or act? It’s why I don’t get why you have ACH and Lio Rush in the same promotion. Cabana vs. Castle is…..I’m not sure what that’s going to be actually.
Adam Cole is ready for all challengers.
TV Title: Adam Page vs. Bobby Fish
Fish is defending and has taped ribs so Page jumps him before the bell to take over. Kyle O’Reilly comes out to cheer his partner on and we take a break. Back with the champ still in trouble as Page bends the ribs around the ropes. Page loads up something off the apron but gets suplexed down onto the floor in a big crash. Back in and Page is thrown with another suplex, only to score with a shooting star off the apron for a big crash. We take a second break and come back with Page getting a near fall off a flip clothesline but a really quick kneebar retains Fish’s title at 13:01.
Rating: C+. Another good match here though the ending was REALLY sudden and hurt things a little bit. I’m starting to get into Fish’s title reign and I’m having a good time with Page too so I would have been fine with either one leaving as champion here. Also it was nice to not have a bunch of people interfering here, which happens way too often.
Post match Adam Cole comes out to call out O’Reilly but Jay Lethal comes out as well, leaving Cole surrounded by challengers to end the show.
Overall Rating: C. This was fine but I’m not sure what they’re going to set up for Final Battle. The World Title is set and we’ll get the two Tag Team Title (two and three man versions) matches but the rest of the card isn’t the most clear, which isn’t a good sign with two weeks to go. Good enough TV show this week though with the title match feeling important.
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