Ring of Honor TV – September 6, 2017: You Can Tell It’s Pay Per View Time
Ring of Honor
Date: September 6, 2017
Location: Cabarrus Arena and Events Center, Concord, North Carolina
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Colt Cabana
We’re rapidly approaching Death Before Dishonor and it would be nice to actually hype up the show instead of just having a single episode to build things up. They got it right with Best in the World and I have no idea why it’s so hard to repeat the success. Unfortunately it’s the end of a taping cycle so things might not be the most energetic. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of Jay Lethal vs. Silas Young, which has turned into a nice feud, assuming they finally go anywhere with it.
Beer City Bruiser vs. Jay Lethal
No DQ and we’re joined in progress with the two of them fighting in the aisle. Lethal slugs away and manages to avoid a cannonball to send Bruiser into the barricade. Jay hits one of his own and Bruiser is in early trouble. A dropkick staggers Bruiser with Jay scoring with a suicide dive to follow up.
Back from a break with Lethal missing a chair shot and Silas Young on commentary. Scratch that as he heads towards the ring, where Bruiser is hitting Lethal in the ribs with a chair. The chair is wedged into the corner and you know what that’s going to mean. Security stops Silas so he goes back to talk some more, which means we need to look at him far more often than is necessary. A basement dropkick of all things staggers Lethal and it’s time for some duct tape.
Jay fights back though and takes off his belt for a beating. Ian and Silas argue over whether or not Riccaboni is impartial as Jay sends Bruiser head first into the chair in the corner. Young heads to the ring again and we take a break. Back with Bruiser missing a top rope elbow, earning him some praise from Silas. Young: “Smart move Bruiser.” Colt: “Said no one ever.”
There’s the Lethal Injection but Jay would rather tape Bruiser to the ropes instead of covering. Jay grabs Bruiser’s keg and puts it over the knee, which he then crushes with a chair. More chair shots to the leg have Bruiser screaming in pain and it’s a Figure Four for the submission at 15:11.
Rating: B. When did Bruiser start getting good? I was buying into the hatred and the violence here with Lethal getting a good warmup before his major showdown with Young at the pay per view. When Lethal is on his game he’s as good as anyone in the promotion and this was no exception. Really solid brawl with the beating doing a great job to show off Lethal’s anger.
Post match Jay puts the hold on again as security holds Silas back.
Video on Minoru Suzuki, who is from New Japan and has an MMA background so he’s the coolest guy ever.
Cody talks about the difference between MMA and “sports entertainment”. Which one of them is real? Suzuki has 29 recorded wins in mixed martial arts. You know what else is ready? Cody is going to stretch him and Suzuki is going to call him daddy.
Earlier today Will Ferrara attacked Cheeseburger at an autograph signing.
We look at the Addiction attacking the Motor City Machine Guns and the Young Bucks last week.
Earlier today Caprice Coleman wanted to interview the Addiction but just had chairs and a microphone, much to his annoyance. Kazarian says he wanted to talk to Caprice Coleman and only Caprice Coleman because he knows what it’s like to be disrespected. Look at the lack of set that Coleman requested weeks ago. That’s why the Addiction is declaring war on respect.
Caprice asks if Daniels wants the Tag Team Titles back so Daniels takes the one mic they’re sharing (Coleman: “Be careful. It’s attached.”) to say that’s not the point. He feels betrayed by the fans, who booed him at Best in the World. Daniels was ready to lead the company but the fans didn’t want that. They’re going to find out what the fans want and that’s what they’re going to prevent from happening. If the fans want the best wrestling, the Addiction is going to burn it to the ground.
Will Ferrara vs. Howie Timberche
Howie throws him into the corner for some right hands and sings A Whole New World from Aladdin before punching Ferrara in the face. More dancing and singing sees Ferrara get slammed down, followed by a good looking dropkick. They head outside with Timberche getting pulled shoulder first into the post, followed by the suicide tornado DDT. Timberche gets in a jumping back elbow and a side slam before putting him in the Tree of Woe (complete with more singing). A backflip into an elbow gets two on Ferrara but a low blow cuts Howie off. The second tornado DDT gives Ferrara the pin at 4:26.
Rating: C-. I really hope that’s not all we see from Timberche, who should have gotten at least a second look out of that performance. He has a good look, a lot of charisma and his work is fine. Ferrara was outshined here, which isn’t surprising given how generic he is. He’s just a small guy who doesn’t have anything that makes him stand out, which is a problem for a lot of people around here. Timberche was fun and I’d like to see him again, though he definitely looks more like a WWE guy than an ROH guy.
Post match Cheeseburger comes out to issue a challenge for next week. I know he’s a cult favorite but I’ve been watching him have the same “my partner betrayed me” feud for what feels like years now.
Jay Briscoe has a concussion but Ring of Honor paid for him to be here anyway so here he is.
Mark Briscoe/Bully Ray vs. Cody/Adam Page
I love that Cody is one of the only champions around that still wears the belt. Cody does his “who wants the shirt” bit before handing it to Page. The classics never die. Mark dropkicks Page off the apron and sends Cody outside for a dropkick. The apron Blockbuster makes things even worse but Cody elbows him in the face to get a breather.
After a little spitting from Mark, Page trips him up and hits the slingshot clothesline to really take over. Mark can’t quite fight out of the corner yet as Cody forearms him in the back and stomps away. Back from a break with Mark kicking Page in the face and making the hot tag off to Bully for the house cleaning.
Bully hammers on Page and hits a Bionic Elbow on Cody (that’s rather cruel). What’s Up with Mark hitting an elbow instead of a headbutt has Cody in trouble and it’s table time. Cue Marty Scurll for a distraction but Jay comes out to take care of him. Jay sets up a table but gets punched in his concussed head, which can’t be a good thing.
Marty and Jay fight around the back of the crowd and it’s a Doomsday Device on Page. Cody breaks up the elbow to drive Page through the table but walks into Mark’s fisherman’s buster for two. Cue the Kingdom to take Mark out though and Cross Rhodes puts him away at 11:20.
Rating: C-. This was every ROH main event all over again: too much stuff packed into a match to really work, which goes against the idea of the entire promotion. Then again it’s what worked in WWE for so long and that’s what wrestling companies do, even if it gets dull in a hurry. At least the ending helped set up the Six Man Tag Team Title stuff at Death Before Dishonor, which still isn’t all that thrilling.
Post match the Kingdom lays out Mark and Bully until Jay makes the save. That just earns him Rock Star Supernova (still way too awesome of a name for such a lame team) to end the show.
Overall Rating: D+. You can tell they’re at the end of a taping cycle here and unfortunately it’s a taping cycle as we head towards a World Title match with a challenger who has no connection to the promotion. In other words, the World Champion is just a detail in the promotion while the big deal is a Japanese legend who isn’t appearing or talking until the pay per view. You know, like what happened at the last pay per view. But hey, at least the New Japan fans get what they want out of this and that’s what matters. Not a good show this week, as they’re firmly in the period of having nothing to do despite a big show coming up.
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As much as I love NJPW I do wonder why ROH has gone this route with them for so long as it seems like a 90/10 split on the booking constantly.
Then again ROH wouldn’t be in this position if they were managed correctly in the first place. ROH was the one of the first wrestling promotions to dip into the iPPV market and has allowed itself to get lapped by several other promotions, they really need an OTT service with access to their tape library. The managed to get a decent tv deal because of the ownership( to be fair attendance has never been higher mostly due to tv) but they can’t manage to tape tv regularly and never keep up with their PPV schedule( they seriously control both the TV tapings and PPV schedules why can they not align them?). They had a reputation for homegrowing talent and giving the biggest indie stars a stage to step up and get noticed nationally and internationally but they have let Gabe Spolsky set up shop funnel all of the prime indie talent through Evolve and into NXT. Instead of signing their guys and more people and running an organizied ship that effectively utilizes assets they do the opppsite and have for years.
Why do they keep shooting themselves in the foot and why do we keep expecting to learn to not shoot themselves in the foot?