Ring of Honor TV – June 21, 2017: They STILL Don’t Get It!
Ring of Honor
Date: June 21, 2017
Location: 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Colt Cabana
This is the go home show for Best in the World which means….well I have no idea what it means actually. We’ve actually had a good build to the main event with Christopher Daniels defending the World Title against Cody but the rest of the show is a combination of a mystery or really poorly built. Let’s get to it.
Jay Lethal welcomes us to the 300th episode. It feels like just yesterday that he was winning the TV Title on the second episode yet here we are. He’s ready for 300 more episodes.
Opening sequence.
Silas Young/Beer City Bruiser vs. Jay Lethal/Bobby Fish
Fish and Bruiser get things going with the big man easily running him over. Bobby is smart enough to make Bruiser run the ropes over and over, eventually leaving Bruiser bent over sucking wind. Fans: “HE’S BLOWN UP!” Well at least they know the lingo. It’s off to Lethal to do the same thing with Bruiser taking a knee next to the ropes. Young offers him a beer, so Young and Fish make him run the ropes again, causing the beer to be spat through the ropes.
Back from a break with Young taking a beating for a change until Bruiser clotheslines Jay down. Bruiser takes a Samoan drop from Fish as everything breaks down. Young gets double teamed but Bruiser makes a diving save. A wheelbarrow suplex of all things drops Fish and it’s Misery to put Lethal away at 9:12.
Rating: C-. I can appreciate them mixing the formula up a bit (Coming back from the break with the faces in control?) and Lethal vs. Young has potential. The problem continues to be Bruiser, who still feels like a glorified comedy character. Throw in Fish seemingly still finishing up with the company and it’s hard to get into a good chunk of this match.
Daniels is ready to retain his title and carry ROH into the future.
Jay Briscoe is STILL livid about losing that eight man tag (dude get a therapist) so Bully Ray and Mark Briscoe calm him down. They couldn’t have done this weeks ago?
Kingdom vs. The Boys
Kingdom jumps the Boys in the aisle and beat the heck out of them with the beatdown being on in full. They pull back a ringside mat so Matt Taven can load up a piledriver on the concrete but Dalton Castle comes out for the save. The Boys recover and grab a rollup just after the bell, followed by a double dropkick on Vinny. Things settle down with Taven getting in a cheap shot from behind to really take over. A reverse superplex drops Boy #1 and Marseglia’s Swanton gives him the pin at 1:34.
To recap: Kingdom is having a challenge match against two guys from CMLL while the Boys are challenging for Ring of Honor Titles. The match was a complete squash, including the pre-match beatdown to make the Kingdom look great while the Boys look like the jobbiest jobbers this side of Brooklyn Brawler and Barry Horowitz. I don’t know if they think the CMLL team is more important or what but this was really, REALLY stupid.
Post match Jay Briscoe comes out to yell at Dalton but Mark and Bully break it up.
Video on Punishment Martinez.
Punishment Martinez vs. Joey Daddiego
Daddiego is easily shoved away and a clothesline takes him down again. A springboard flip splash crushes Daddiego again and the sitout chokeslam is good for the pin at 1:58.
Post match Daddiego’s buddies Cheeseburger and Will Ferrara come out for the save but get beaten down as well. Jay White comes out to brawl with Martinez and clotheslines him to the floor. Good angle, though it does nothing for the pay per view as neither is on the card.
The Briscoes are fired up about 300 episodes.
Kevin Kelly and Cody have replaces Riccaboni on commentary.
Will Ospreay/Gedo/Hirooki Goto vs. Addiction/Hiroshi Tanahashi
Well….two of them are on the pay per view. Neither of their opponents are but NEW JAPAN right? Ospreay and Kazarian start things off and fight over a wristlock as we take a break less than a minute in. Dang it Ring of Honor that’s not something you do! Back with Daniels cleaning house but Ospreay breaks up his springboard moonsault.
Ospreay and company take over on the floor and it’s Goto chopping at Daniels in the corner. Something like a cutter into the middle buckle drops Goto though and the hot tag brings in Tanahashi. Ospreay and Gedo take stereo elbow drops but Goto is right there with a clothesline to break it up. Ospreay comes in with a Phenomenal Forearm and a standing shooting star gets two.
Tanahashi Sling Blades him though and we take a break. Back again with Ospreay diving onto Kazarian and Tanahashi, leaving Gedo to take a Blue Thunder Bomb. Everyone gets back inside again and the Oscutter hits Goto by mistake. A Rock Bottom to Gedo sets up the High Fly Flow and the Best Moonsault Ever for the pin at 11:12.
Rating: B-. Well that happened. It does nothing for the pay per view, it wasn’t exactly a memorable match and the biggest star in the match won’t be doing anything more than special appearances for the company. The wrestling was good enough but, as usual, this felt like it was there for the live crowd instead of the TV audience, which is quite further up the food chain.
Post match Hangman Page comes in to jump Kazarian while Cody comes in to hit Daniels with Angel’s Wings. Cody holds up the World Title.
We get some quick promos for the pay per view.
Marty Scurll is ready to take back the TV Title.
Jay Lethal needs to beat Silas Young.
Dalton Castle is outraged by the lack of Six Man Tag Team Titles.
Hangman Page promises to hurt Kazarian.
The Kingdom calls the CMLL guys Melvins.
The Young Bucks promise to superkick War Machine.
Christopher Daniels is ready to find out who is the Best in the World.
Overall Rating: D. So let’s see: four matches, one of which actually built to the pay per view, two title challenges getting destroyed in the second, one that has nothing to do with the pay per view, and a showcase of New Japan wrestlers. Throw in a good chunk of the build taking place in the last two minutes thanks to some twenty second promos and you would almost never know that this was supposed to get you to want to pay $34.99 for a pay per view where I can barely tell you three matches. As usual, Ring of Honor doesn’t seem to have any idea how this stuff works, which really is hard to believe after so many years.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Histories of Saturday Night’s Main Event and Clash of the Champions, now in PAPERBACK. Check out the information here:
https://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/05/19/history-of-saturday-nights-main-event-and-clash-of-the-champions-now-in-paperback-plus-price-drops/
And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:
Is there any chance you can do a review of Best In The World?
I’m planning on doing it over the weekend.q