Ring of Honor TV – June 7, 2017: We Can Only Hope to Be Double Cheeseburgers
Ring of Honor
Date: June 7, 2017
Location: 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Colt Cabana, Ian Riccaboni
We’re continuing on the road to Best in the World and it’s pretty clear that we’re getting Cody vs. Christopher Daniels one on one for the ROH World Title. That makes sense after what we saw at War of the Worlds and they actually have some time to build this show up for a change. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Cheeseburger/Will Ferrara vs. War Machine
War Machine’s IWGP Tag Team Titles aren’t on the line. Cheeseburger forearms Rowe to start for no effect. That means it’s off to Ferrara, who has exactly the same result. Rowe snaps off rapid fire headbutts to both guys before belly to belly suplexing them both at once. It’s off to Hanson for a spinwheel kick, followed by easily blocking a bulldog from Cheeseburger.
Ferrara’s hurricanrana sends Rowe into Hanson for a breather but that’s about it for the offense at the moment. Cheeseburger gets planted but Ferrara eats something like a springboard spinning Hart Attack. One heck of a powerbomb drops Cheeseburger……FOR TWO? That was a heck of a kickout and the fans went nuts as a result.
I can’t say I blame them as my head snapped back on the kickout. That’s quite impressive when I already knew it was coming and was surprised anyway. Cheeseburger comes back with the palm strikes (see, it’s from Japan so it’s a lot more effective) but gets tossed into one heck of a powerslam for the pin at 4:16.
Rating: C+. That’s for the kickout alone, which was enough to actually surprise me. War Machine is a great choice for two power guys, which you don’t see very often around this place. You can only have so many fast paced flippy guys so going the opposite direction makes for a nice change of pace. Not bad here and one of the more entertaining squashed I’ve seen in a good while.
War Machine talks about their history in Philadelphia and this building in particular. They won the ROH Tag Team Titles here for the first time and now they want them back. That means a call out to the Young Bucks, which could be an entertaining match.
We look back at the end of War of the Worlds, along with Cody’s promo from last week to continue his issues with Daniels.
The title match is official.
Daniels says he’s ready.
Los Ingobernables de Japon vs. Bully Ray/Briscoe Brothers/Dalton Castle
Castle is the only one here without a title as Sanada/Bushi/Evil are the IWGP Never Openweight Six Man Tag Team Champions and Naito is the Intercontinental Champion while Ray and the Briscoes are the ROH Six Man Champions, which certainly aren’t knockoffs of the New Japan versions. Naito and Mark Briscoe get things going and it’s already time for Naito to fake the dive and pose, naturally turning him into an even bigger face.
Now things get interesting as it’s off to Bully vs. Naito and remember we’re in the former ECW Arena. Bully runs the ropes and rolls into the Naito pose, followed by Naito running the ropes and then tagging out. The fans applaud the lack of wrestling and it’s off to the smaller Bushi, who gets his shirt ripped open for a chop to the chest.
The rest of Los Ingobernables get the same, save for Naito who chills on the floor. Everything breaks down as Los Ingobernables tie Castle up ala Jack Gallagher. We settle down to Castle punching Evil in the face and getting his eyes raked for his efforts. Evil drops a backsplash for two and we take a break. Back with the hot tag bringing Mark in to clean house.
Everything breaks down again with Mark mostly missing a Blockbuster to Evil and Jay CRUSHING Naito with a suicide dive. Mark and Dalton hit stereo What’s Ups on Evil and Sanada but now it’s time for tables. Bushi loads up some mist so the Boys come in to save Castle (who would have had his hair covered in mist), leaving Jay to take it instead. Naito grabs a rollup for the pin at 9:57.
Rating: C-. Well that was…..interesting. This was much more about the performance than the match and I’m rarely a fan of that style. To be fair though, ROH would be crazy to not get Bully Ray out in front of an old ECW crowd in any way they could. There wasn’t exactly a lot of wrestling here but that’s about what you have to expect for the most part. Not bad but more of a performance than a match.
Jay yells at Castle and the Boys scram.
Adam Page is ready to end Adam Cole.
Punishment Martinez video. It’s amazing how much better he’s been since the Kevin Sullivan/BJ Whitmer garbage was dropped.
Jay Lethal is ready to team with Bobby Fish to face Beer City Bruiser/Silas Young in two weeks. Lethal didn’t have to look far for Fish to help him but wants Bobby to leave Young for himself.
The announcers, now joined by Kevin Kelly, talk about the Young Bucks vs. Roppangi Vice coming up in Japan.
Roppangi Vice is ready for the Bucks and say it’s illegal for the Bucks to attack them backstage like they’ve been doing. A six man is teased but when they open the door, SUPERKICKS! As usual, the Bucks are treated as the smartest, most amazing people in the promotion. Also ignore that this is far more about a match in JAPAN and not here.
Hangman Page vs. Adam Cole
They slug it out to start with Page being sent outside for a quick suicide dive. Back from a very early break with Page hitting his own dive and shouting “ADAM PAGE BAY BAY!” Cole misses an enziguri and a tabletop suplex (bridging fall away slam) gets two. Back up and Cole tells him to swing away and spits in Page’s face, triggering the forearm exchange.
The fireman’s carry neckbreaker gets two and Cole superkicks the knee. Cole grabs a Figure Four for a bit but Page is right next to the ropes. Page tries the slingshot lariat, only to walk into a superkick, followed by a Shining Wizard for a rather hot two. I mean not Cheeseburger level but everyone strives to reach that level. Maybe one day they could even, dare I say, double Cheeseburger? Page takes his head off with a clothesline and we take another break.
Back again with Cole getting two off a sunset flip and hitting another superkick. That’s no sold (of course) and Page gets two off a piledriver. Cole is right back up with three more superkicks and another Shining Wizard, only to have Page hit his own Last Shot for two. Starting with the piledriver, that whole sequence took less than eighty seconds. And people wonder why old school wrestlers criticize new stuff.
Page takes him to the apron for the Rite of Passage but eats a loud superkick. That’s not enough though as Cole hits a CANADIAN DESTROYER FROM THE APRON TO THE FLOOR to pretty much kill Page dead. Back in and Cole tries a regular version but gets countered into the Rite of Passage (less than seventy five seconds between the Destroyer and the Rite of Passage connecting). A hard lariat sets up a second Rite of Passage for the pin at 13:29.
Rating: C+. The match was entertaining but GOOD GRIEF the rapid fire selling was making me long for an old cruiserweight match. A guy takes a piledriver, pops up and hits three superkicks and a Shining Wizard before taking his own finisher in about a minute and twenty seconds? Followed by a flipping piledriver ONTO THE FLOOR not even keeping someone down for a minute?
That Destroyer probably should have not only ended the match but kept someone off TV for two weeks selling it. The problem is simple: if that barely has any effect, it’s a bit hard to buy any of this as being realistic. If the wrestling isn’t realistic, why should I believe the stories are either? This isn’t complicated: either don’t do the big spots or stop trying to cram so much stuff into a match that isn’t even fifteen minutes long. Let the stuff breathe and it’s going to be a lot more memorable than the fact that you did ten superkicks.
Post match Page whips Cole with the belt until Kazarian makes the save to end the show.
Overall Rating: C. Just a run of the mill show here with the build to Best in the World continuing. Daniels vs. Cody officially being announced is a good thing as they actually have time to set things up now instead of cramming it all into one week. Now if only they can keep up this trend instead of turning the show into some big New Japan showcase, everything should be fine.
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