Ring of Honor TV – December 29, 2016: The Redcoats are Coming
Ring of Honor
Date: December 28, 2016
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Nigel McGuinness, Steve Corino
Since this year seems to be immune to traditional Best Of shows (even ones we were promised), this is another show featuring matches from a recent house show tour. In this case it’s the Reach for the Sky tour of the UK which saw a lot of action surrounding the TV Title. Let’s get to it.
We open with a package on the tour.
Opening sequence.
Kevin Kelly welcomes us to the show and tells us where we’ll be going on the tour (Liverpool, Leicester and London).
TV Title: Bobby Fish vs. Will Ospreay
Fish is defending and this was originally only a Proving Ground match until ROH said “eh just make it for the title”. Bobby puts the Union Jack on the mat next to the title, which seems to be a big sign of disrespect. The champ goes for the arm to start but Ospreay starts spinning around to escape, including knocking Fish to the floor, setting up a Tajiri handspring into a backflip.
We take a break and come back with a Space Flying Tiger Drop (cartwheel into a moonsault out to the floor) dropping Fish again and freaking the crowd out. Back in and Ospreay goes up top but Fish knocks him down to bang up Will’s knee. An exploder suplex into the corner gives the champ two.
Fish loads up a brainbuster but Ospreay spins out into a Stunner for a very fast counter. A middle rope Phoenix splash (the knee wasn’t that banged up) hits Bobby’s knees so he twists Ospreay’s knee down again. Ospreay is fine enough to hit a rolling kick to the head, only to moonsault right into the kneebar. Will stands up though and bends back onto Fish, giving him the pin and the title at 8:50.
Rating: B-. I’d like to see the full version of this as I’m sure the knee work will build up a bit better than it did here. What we got was fine enough though and the ending was a nice idea with Ospreay shifting gears and going with the wrestling instead of the high flying to surprise Fish. I liked this more than I was expecting and Ospreay could be awesome in Ring of Honor.
Fish is upset but hands Ospreay the title.
Tag Team Titles: Will Ospreay/Marty Scurll vs. Young Bucks
Joined in progress. Ospreay and Scurll are challenging despite being huge rivals. Scurll takes Matt to the mat to start and it’s too early to try Marty’s crossface chickenwing. They poke each other in the eye and dive over for the double tag, giving us a standoff. Ospreay does a lot of nipping up to get out of a wristlock and it’s time for all of the flips without much contact actually being made.
A double armdrag sends the Bucks to the floor and Ospreay does his moonsault into the pose, followed by Scurll running over do pose next to him in a funny bit. Back in and the Brits start taking over on Matt with Marty grabbing a surfboard and Ospreay adding a sliding dropkick to the face.
Nick gets the tag and does all his flips to take over again because he’s sold enough so far. A double suicide dive drops the challengers and we take a break. Back with Scurll getting caught in the corner and DDT’ed onto the apron. A 450 gets two for Matt and it’s Ospreay coming back in with the shooting stars and a middle rope moonsault for a very close two. All four are down and that earns a standing ovation.
The Bucks offer a double SUCK IT so Scurll BREAKS THEIR FINGERS. Now it’s time for the evil umbrella but Ospreay says not so fast. As you might expect, Ospreay hits Scurll by mistake and that means a double superkick. More Bang for Your Buck gets two on Marty and that means the Meltzer Driver, only to have Ospreay springboard in to hurricanrana Nick out of the air…..and right into the spike on the Tombstone to pin Scurll at 13:04.
Rating: B-. Ok yeah the ending rocked. I mean, it wasn’t perfectly executed but it certainly looked good and that’s what matters here. I’m not big on throwing two rivals together and having them become the number one contenders but it actually makes sense here. They work very well together and that’s what matters the most. Good match here, even with the Bucks’ usual issues.
That loss resulted in a challenge being issued for the final night of the tour.
TV Title: Marty Scurll vs. Will Ospreay
Ospreay is defending and this is joined in progress with Scurll fighting out of a wristlock. The bouncing escape gives us several more counters as this is British wrestling to the letter. Scurll avoids the moonsault and they flip into a kneeling standoff. The fans are split on who to cheer for but seem to shift towards Ospreay as he grabs an Octopus Hold and twists Marty down into a rollup for two.
Scurll is sent outside for a running shooting star off the apron with Ospreay looking like he had to pop his thumb back into joint. In an old school move, Scurll hides under the ring and sneaks up on Will to take over. That’s enough for a lap around the ring as we take a break. Back with Scurll cranking on Ospreay’s fingers and doing that freaky CRACKING bit again.
A suplex into a Stunner and back to back shooting stars into a moonsault have Scurll reeling but he catches Ospreay out of the air in the chickenwing. Sweet, sweet sequence there with Will backflipping out to escape. One heck of a clothesline drops Will for one (yes one) and both guys are down. It’s umbrella time but Scurll opts to break more fingers and STOMP WILL IN THE HEAD. Another chickenwing gives Marty the title at 9:34.
Rating: B. These two really do work well together and there’s something very cool about swapping people in and out with the title on a house show tour. Both of these guys are signed to some form of a deal with ROH and I’m sure we’ll see Scurll vs. Fish at some point in the future. Good match and a good way to end the show.
Overall Rating: B+. Quite the show here and I had a lot of fun watching it. British wrestling is one of the hottest things in wrestling at this point and it’s a good idea for ROH to sign up some of the top stars in the area. It helps that a lot of their wrestlers can wrestle that style as well, making this a very natural fit. If nothing else, it’s not New Japan all over again and that’s a good thing.
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