Ring of Honor Supercard of Honor XII: And Now They Can Afford It
IMG Credit: Ring of Honor Wrestling
Supercard of Honor XII
Date: April 7, 2018
Location: UNO Lakefront Arena, New Orleans, Louisiana
Attendance: 6,000
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Colt Cabana
It’s time for one of the biggest shows of the year in front of the biggest crowd Ring of Honor has ever had. I know I criticize them a lot but drawing 6,000 people (at least mostly paid, if not the vast majority) is no small task and they deserve some serious credit for pulling that off. Tonight is a double main event with Cody vs. Kenny Omega as part of the Bullet Club Civil War and Dalton Castle defending the World Title against Marty Scurll. Let’s get to it.
Pre-Show: Women of Honor Title Tournament Semifinals: Mayu Iwatani vs. Kelly Klein
Klein has never been pinned or submitted in Ring of Honor. Iwatani is a big deal in Stardom. An early shove puts Mayu down and Klein’s confidence is already rolling. They hit the mat with Iwatani’s early choke attempt sending Klein bailing to the ropes. A legsweep puts Klein down so she knees Iwatani in the face to take over again. That just earns her some hard chops and a rollup to give Iwatani two. Kelly’s chinlock doesn’t get her very far and Iwatani kicks her in the head on the top. A super hurricanrana brings Klein down again and a weird looking middle rope dropkick…gets no cover.
Instead Iwatani goes up and scores with a double stomp for no cover again. Klein blocks the snap dragon suplex but can’t block the reverse hurricanrana. Well she kind of can’t as she goes down, but lands on her back like a German suplex instead of flipping over. That’s good for two as well but Klein is right back with a front face DDT. A good northern lights suplex gives Mayu two but Klein suplexes her into the End of the Match (guillotine choke, with a great name) and Iwatani is out at 8:59.
Rating: C+. Klein winning here makes sense as the victory over a big international name makes her feel like a bigger deal. In addition, you don’t build Klein up as undefeated and then have an outsider come in and get the first win over her. This sets Klein up to lose in the finals, allowing whoever beats her to look like an even bigger deal.
Pre-Show: Women of Honor Title Tournament Semifinals: Sumie Sakai vs. Tenille Dashwood
Sakai is a veteran who has been around Ring of Honor for the majority of the company’s history. However, I couldn’t tell you much about her because she’s just a woman who wrestles without much else to her. Dashwood is the ball of charisma that used to be known as Emma. A very early clothesline gives Dashwood two but a spinning fisherwoman’s suplex gives Sakai the same.
Dashwood sends her into the corner over and over and grabs the Tarantula as they’re certainly starting fast. Sakai gets sent outside for a heck of a dive and it’s Dashwood in full control early on. Back in and it’s time to work on Sakai’s knee as Ian goes through Sakai’s wrestling lineage. That’s escaped so Sakai goes for a cross armbreaker into a Crossface.
It’s too early for a submission though so Sakai misses a charge into the corner and Dashwood adds a Taste of Tenille (running crossbody in the corner) for two. A Batista Bomb gets the same but Sakai is right back with Smashmouse for the same. With nothing else working, Sakai heads up top and gets release German superplexed back down for another near fall. The Spotlight kick misses though and Sakai grabs a crucifix to advance at 7:54.
Rating: C. Commentary helped Sakai here as I know nothing about her save for the little bites I’m getting here and there. I need something more than “she wrestles and she’s been here for a long time” and this was at least inching in that direction. I’m also surprised that they had Dashwood lose here as her vs. Klein seemed like a bit of a layup. Sakai better win at this point or there’s not much of a point in this result.
Post match Klein comes out for the photo op but decks Sakai from behind instead.
The opening video takes a quick look at the history of the promotion (as in about thirty seconds with clips and a standard “we’ve been doing this for a long time” voiceover) before moving into the quick clips about each match. Cody vs. Omega’s clip is on last, which I get here for a change. Cody’s line that Omega is everyone’s favorite underground band but no one can name any of their songs is still awesome.
The crowd looks great and it’s very cool to see this company reach this point.
Chuckie T. vs. Jonathan Gresham
Feeling out process to start with Gresham taking Chuckie down with almost no effort but letting him right back up. Chuckie takes him down and works on the leg with Gresham not being able to spin out. Who knew Chuckie could do that? Gresham blocks a lift from the mat with a wag of the finger (oh it’s on now) so Chuckie goes with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker instead. The moonsault misses (as is its custom) and Gresham snaps off a hurricanrana to put Chuckie on the floor.
Gresham tries a suicide dive but goes over Chuckie’s head for a nasty looking crash. Chuckie’s friend Trent Barretta offers a distraction though and Chuckie’s second backbreaker gets two. A rollup into an ankle lock has Chuckie in more trouble as Gresham is starting to roll. Chuckie slips out and gets two off a Falcon Arrow but Gresham gets in a knee to Chuckie’s knee. That just earns him Soul Food (Eat Defeat) and a small package gives Chuckie the pin at 8:29.
Rating: C. Fine choice for an opener here as the fans like Chuckie and it’s not like Gresham loses anything by taking a fall here. He got to do his stuff and then get pinned so it all works out well. Not a bad match either with the fans getting to see something fun, though this probably could have been a pre-show match rather than the tournament stuff.
Some demonic looking guy comes up to the announcers’ table, leaving something there (later revealed to be an alligator claw) and saying something I couldn’t make out.
Punishment Martinez vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Non-title (Ishii won the Rev Pro UK Heavyweight Title the night before in a great match and has the title with him here) and this could be fun. Martinez now comes out of a casket and has a mask during his entrance. Well that’s certainly more intimidating. Ishii gets a crazy reaction and you shouldn’t be expecting anything else. They do the tall vs. short staredown and Ishii goes straight to the forearms and shoulder blocks.
Martinez shrugs it off and takes him into the corner for some clotheslines. Ishii shrugs off some kicks to the face and hits his own running corner clothesline. A heavily muscled up suplex drops Martinez for two but he’s right back up with a kick to the head to send Ishii outside. The over the top dive overshoots Ishii and Martinez lands ON HIS HEAD with Cabana clearly sounding nervous on commentary.
Thankfully Martinez is right up….and hitting a springboard flip dive just because he can. Back in and a top rope spinwheel kick (always looks cool) gets two. Ishii gets kicked in the face to cut off a comeback attempt and a super hurricanrana gets two. A curb stomp misses and Ishii grabs a German suplex, followed by a delayed superplex (just…dang) for two of his own. The sliding lariat is countered so Ishii hits a clothesline to the chest for two more. Martinez knees him in the head though and the South of Heaven chokeslam is good for the pin at 8:25.
Rating: B-. Sweet goodness what a showcase for Martinez. If nothing else, to beat the heck out of a monster like Ishii is a big deal, especially in Ring of Honor where New Japan guys are revered. This should move Martinez up the ladder and towards the World Title, which is a place you could keep him in for a long time in an athletic Kane kind of role. Ishii barely got in anything here and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a rematch somewhere else, perhaps in Rev Pro for the title.
Hangman Page vs. Kota Ibushi
No backstory here but it’s part of Kenny Omega reforming the Golden Lovers with Ibushi, which didn’t sit well with the Bullet Club, including Page. They start slow with Page powering him around off a lockup and then headlocking Ibushi for good measure. Page’s standing shooting star misses but so does Ibushi’s kick to the chest. The second attempt at the kick works far better and Page is down with Ibushi not following up.
A neckbreaker across the middle rope (hangman style of course) puts Ibushi down again though and the fans are not pleased with Page. It takes a lot to get the Bullet Club booed so well done. A bridging fall away slam (meaning it’s not exactly falling away) gets two as Colt talks about wrestling in every Veterans of Foreign Wars hall in America. Ibushi gets tired of the trash talk and hits a very smooth dropkick to put Page down, followed by a standing moonsault. They’re doing well with giving Ibushi those bursts of offense while Page controls for the most part.
Ibushi hurricanranas him to the floor but Page is ready to break up the moonsault to the floor. Page jumps to the barricade and Ibushi GERMAN SUPLEXES HIM ONTO HIS HEAD (making my mouth come open on the terrifying landing), thankfully with Page writhing in pain instead of, you know, not moving.
Now the running moonsault to the floor drops Page again and you know that’s getting a standing ovation. Back in and a kneeling Tombstone gives Page two and he can’t believe the kickout. Ibushi goes with the simple idea of kicking him in the head but gets backdropped onto the apron. A great looking moonsault to the floor drops Ibushi again and the Buck Shot Lariat gets two.
The pinfall reversal sequence gives us a sequences of reversed pinfalls until Ibushi grabs a German suplex for two more. They slug it out from their knees and then on their feet with Ibushi asking him to hit harder. It turns into a slap off until Page hits the discus forearm to the jaw. The sitout Last Ride gets two and an arm trap German suplex gets the same. That’s it for Ibushi who SMASHES Page in the face with a knee for the pin at 14:31.
Rating: B+. That knee alone was worth it. These two beat the heck out of each other and it turned into a great spectacle with both guys showing how hard they were working to beat the other. The dives were awesome and the shots were hard, which is all you could ask for here. Page was awesome as well and looked like he belonged on this level, which says a lot when you consider that he was a young boy when they were in New Orleans for Supercard of Honor in 2014.
We recap the pre-show tournament semifinals.
Women of Honor Title: Sumie Sakai vs. Kelly Klein
The title is vacant coming in and Daffney is at ringside. I’m not sure why as she was never a champion that I know of, but she wrestled in the previous generation so she’s a legend or something. Sumie isn’t up for waiting on the bell and jumps Kelly before the bell, only to get suplexed down for her efforts. A rollup gives Sakai one so Kelly grabs a Stun Gun. They head outside with Klein in full control as the announcers talk about how Sakai is pretty much done. Just get her nameplates ready then.
The End of the Match goes on outside but Klein lets it go in a hurry. Why? Other than the twenty count she could hold that thing as long as she wants. Back in and Sumie slips out of a super fall away slam and hits a kind of rollup powerbomb to drop Klein. The fisherwoman’s suplex looks to set up a victory roll but Klein muscles her over for a German suplex.
Cue a bunch of people from the tournament to watch at ringside as Sakai gets dropped with another shot to the chest. Klein gets two off a northern lights suplex and Sakai grabs a fisherwoman’s buster. Sakai misses a moonsault (she might have grazed Klein) so it’s a really bad looking DDT to put Klein away (her first pinfall loss in ROH) for the pin and the title at 7:44. The DDT was so messy looking that I wouldn’t be surprised if the moonsault was supposed to be the finish and Sakai did whatever she could for the finish.
Rating: D+. What the heck was that? We spent months (years in some cases) talking about how important this thing was and the final doesn’t even get eight minutes? In a pretty lame match too? The ending was bad as well as you can’t even have Sakai hit her finisher? And why is Sakai champion again? She’s been here a long time? That’s the best reason you have?
I really don’t know about this as you have better, more interesting options but this is what we get, possibly as a thank you for her work in the division. You know, the thing that wasn’t even worth eight minutes and had its other matches (neither of which broke nine minutes) on the pre-show. This felt like ROH saying “there, you have your title now” and that’s not how this was built up, which is a lot more annoying than anything else. Not a very good match and an even more questionable choice to win the thing.
Sakai holds up the title in what feels like a very rushed celebration.
We get a graphic for the next match and miss Klein and Sakai hugging. Back in the arena, the rest of the women hug Sakai as the graphic for the next match is still on the screen. Good grief if you don’t care, don’t pretend that you do.
We recap the Six Man Tag Team Title match. So Cal Uncensored and the Young Bucks/a variety of partners have been feuding over the titles for months now with So Cal Uncensored winding up with the titles thanks to doing horrible things to Matt Jackson’s back. They need to hold onto the titles to avoid being fired at the end of the year so tonight it’s a ladder match with Flip Gordon fighting on the Bucks’ side.
Six Man Tag Team Titles: So Cal Uncensored vs. Young Bucks/Flip Gordon
So Cal Uncensored is defending in a ladder match with Shane Taylor on commentary. It’s a brawl to start (well duh) and Gordon kicks the first ladder into Scorpio. Nick hits a corkscrew dive over the top to take Daniels down and Kazarian gets a ladder tossed into his face. Sky tries a flip dive….over the Bucks….who are holding a ladder….which they use to cover themselves. Even Cabana has no idea what that was supposed to be.
Back in and Daniels accidentally clotheslines Kazarian over the top but miscommunication drops Matt as well. Daniels uses the distraction to go up but Matt throws Nick onto the ladder for the save. Gordon and Kazarian clothesline each other down, leaving Daniels to throw Nick off the top and onto the ropes. Now it’s Kazarian and Gordon both jumping onto the ladder for a slugout on top until Kazarian takes him down with a huge TKO. All six are back in with the Bucks and Gordon suplexing Daniels and Sky.
The Bucks start taking over and let’s hit those….Wild and Crazy Kids references? I KNEW I WATCHED THIS SHOW FOR A REASON! With Daniels on the ladder on the bottom rope, the Bucks backflip Gordon into a 450 for the next crazy spot. Kazarian is back up with the ladder around his head but Gordon nips up to avoid shot after shot. The double superkick to the ladder brings Kazarian down, followed by Matt hitting the 450 onto Sky onto the ladder.
Matt goes up top but a ladder to the back brings him down again as the champs take over. Sky is back up and snaps off a super hurricanrana to drop Gordon. Celebrity Rehab onto the ladder rocks Matt again but Gordon is back up with a series of kicks and a monkey flip to send Kazarian into the ladder. Another flip dive drops Daniels, leaving the Bucks to beat up Scorpio.
Kazarian brings in a ladder so Matt stomps onto it, crushing Kazarian’s hand in a nasty crunch. A wheelbarrow cutter sends Daniels into the ladder and it’s off to a Cease and Desist on Sky through the ladder. Flip climbs up at the same time but Daniels uses a ladder for the save. Kazarian tries a hurricanrana over the top but takes out Daniels by mistake, leaving Flip to flip onto all of them.
Since the Bucks aren’t that bright, Nick dives onto everyone else before going up, allowing the Kingdom, in Dudley Boyz camouflage, to make the save. Rock Star Supernova plants Matt but they beat up the champs as well. TK O’Ryan, who isn’t in the match, climbs up but everyone else turns the ladder over. The Bucks superkick So Cal Uncensored down but all six climb at the same time. Gordon gets smart by jumping to the very top of the ladder and touches the belts. That earns him a shot from Daniels, sending Gordon face first onto the top of the ladder and down to the mat in a bad crash.
Kazarian and Matt fight on the top until Daniels takes Matt down with a Downward Spiral from the top. The others go down as well and it’s time to clear some ladders out. It’s time for the big ladder but before the climbing can start, Kazarian gets superkicked. The Kingdom has to be taken out again and Nick DDTs Kazarian onto the apron. Gordon springboards into a double blockbuster to take Sky and Daniels onto the pile….and it’s table time.
O’Ryan and Sky are laid onto said tables and that means stereo 450 splashes to the floor. Daniels is left alone to go up but Matt runs up for a save. In a smart move, Daniels drops down and shoves the ladder over, sending Matt through Marseglia through a table. That’s enough for Daniels to go up and pull down the titles at 24:08.
Rating: A-. It’s a great match but as is always the case with these things, all the ladder matches start to run together after awhile. There’s really nothing here that makes it stand out but the spots were cool and the ending worked. I’m glad the Bucks didn’t win again at least but there was too much Kingdom for my taste. Still though, solid stuff.
Post match the Kingdom steals the titles and run off.
We look at some highlights while the ring is cleaned up.
It’s intermission time and that means we get to see the pre-pre-show match.
Brian Milonas/Beer City Bruiser vs. Motor City Machine Guns vs. Luke and PJ Hawx
Caprice Coleman is on commentary. I’ve heard a lot about Hawx but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen more than one or two of his matches. PJ (apparently Luke’s son) works on Shelley’s wrist to start before it’s off to Luke for some backbreakers to Sabin. Chris kicks PJ away but Bruiser comes in to lumber people over. Milonas’ falling splash gets two on PJ and the big guys crush him for good measure.
A side slam/big boot combination (the Authors of Pain used to use that) plants Shelley and the big guys are dominating. Sabin comes back in to slug away but gets crushed by Bruiser in the corner. PJ is up as well though and cleaning house with a big dive to the floor. You don’t have a big pile on the floor with Milonas around though and it’s a cannonball to crush them all. Back in and the PowerPlex destroys PJ for the pin at 6:17.
Rating: D+. I still don’t care for Milonas and Bruiser but this was perfectly fine for an opening match to warm up the crowd. They kept it short and the dives were good to move things along. This is a case where the match might not have been the best but it was the right way to do things, which is what matters most in this situation.
The intermission keeps going for a few more minutes.
Tag Team Titles: Jay Lethal/Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Briscoes
The Briscoes are defending and there’s no story here. Lethal and Tanahashi are two great singles guys and they’re getting a shot at the titles. I’ve heard worse ideas, especially when the Briscoes are such dominant champions. For the sake of simplicity I’ll only refer to Jay Brisco as Jay. Lethal and Jay start things off with a lockup going nowhere. Briscoe shoulders him down and snaps off a hurricanrana (you don’t see him do that very often) and it’s off to Mark vs. Tanahashi.
Mark wastes no time in going after the hair so Tanahashi busts out the crane kick pose. Red neck kung fu is no match for a dragon screw legwhip and we hit the GO ACE chant. The middle rope swanton gets two as we’re still waiting to get into the second phase here. Lethal comes back in for a pair of basement dropkicks and even knocks Jay off the apron as a bonus. You don’t do that to Jay though and Lethal gets his head knocked off as a result.
Mark’s running apron dropkick keeps Lethal in trouble and I wouldn’t expect that to change for a while. As you might guess, this turns into a discussion of super bands and how they don’t have the most success in the world. Lethal chops both champs and sends Mark outside, with Tanahashi following instead of taking a tag. The suicide dive takes Jay down and it’s off to Tanahashi for two off a standing backsplash. That means a fight over a suplex with neither being able to pull it off. Mark adds in a kick to the back and it’s Jay kicking Tanahashi in the face to take over.
We’re off to the camel clutch, followed by a big double shoulder from the champs. A Sling Blade to Mark is enough for the hot tag off to Lethal as things pick up again. The Lethal Combination and a cutter are enough to set up a Figure Four. Mark comes in with the Froggy Bow for the save and Jay’s brainbuster gets two on Lethal. The Lethal Injection is only good for two on Mark and the fans think that was three. Tanahashi is back in but a Doomsday Device is broken up. Instead Jay gives Lethal a German suplex and the real Doomsday Device retains the titles at 19:36.
Rating: B. As mentioned, this was two great singles guys getting a Tag Team Title match so I’m not sure how much of a chance fans were really giving them. What they did have though was a rather good match, which is all you can ask for here. The Briscoes are as good as anyone right now and there’s no need to do anything more than put in a solid performance. Ring of Honor has a deep tag division but no one is anywhere close to their level (save for maybe the Bucks) so this is as good of an idea as they can do.
We recap Silas Young vs. Kenny King for the TV Title. They’ve traded the title a few times now so tonight is the final battle (as opposed to their match at Final Battle) in a Last Man Standing match.
Before we get to the match, here’s Austin Aries (with a banana in his pocket) to say he wants the winner of this match. He’ll be on commentary here.
TV Title: Silas Young vs. Kenny King
King is defending and it’s Last Man Standing. Silas loads up a table before King comes out as Aries complains about not having a place to put all of his belts. King punches him into the corner to start but gets his head taken off by a running clothesline. A swinging Rock Bottom backbreaker puts Young down as the announcers want to know how Aries is allowed to be here. King goes with a Boston crab to slow Young down before switching to the Last Chancery (Aries: “WHOA WHOA WHOA!”). It’s cool as Aries has given his permission, but King is botching the execution.
Young fights up and tosses King over the top and through the table for an eight count. Some whips into the barricade and right hands have King in more trouble but Young stops to yell at the fans. Back in and King manages a backbreaker onto the turnbuckle, followed by an apron Blockbuster to the floor. Aries isn’t sure if that’s worth the risk to your own body and as usual, he’s got a good point. Young is up at eight and they head back inside, only to walk into a spinebuster to stay on the back.
They head to the apron and Young’s back is fine enough to hit Misery, sending King face first onto said apron for an eight. It’s trashcan time with King taking a shot to the back, causing Ian to bust out a Bangin on a Trashcan reference, making him the greatest commentator of all time. King dropkicks the can lid into Young’s face and the Royal Flush onto the can for nine with Young rolling underneath the ropes to land on his feet in a smart save.
It’s time for another table but King takes WAY too long setting it up, allowing Young a good bit of time to recover. King puts him on the table but here’s Beer City Bruiser to offer a distraction…as we cut to the commentary table for no logical reason. Egads it’s bad enough when WWE does that nonsense.
A quick suplex onto a ladder has Young in trouble again and a shooting star from the top to the floor drives him through a table in the big spot of the match. They’re both down with Young pulling himself up on the barricade but King’s feet have been tied up by Bruiser, who was hiding underneath the ring. Oh come on with that stupid ending.
Rating: C+. This was good for the most part but that ending was ridiculous. So King hits the big finishing spot but HAHA screwy finish to end the feud! They were trying to make King look good but put the title back on Young too and that’s not a good idea. You have to pick one or the other and trying to go in the middle just makes me roll my eyes as the backdoor they’re trying to go through hit them in the head on the way out. The rest of the match was fun stuff and the usual good brawling, but it could have moved at a somewhat faster pace.
Post match the double beatdown is on but Aries runs in for the save.
Since Ring of Honor apparently doesn’t have scissors, King has to hop away with his feet still tied. Thanks for the big spot dude. Enjoy your reward.
Cheeseburger/Eli Isom vs. The Dawgs
We’re nearly three hours into this show, have the double main event to go, and THIS GETS PAY PER VIEW TIME??? The announcers nearly laugh at Cheeseburger for picking Isom when people like Austin Aries, Colt Cabana, or ANYONE ON THE ROSTER is available. The Dawgs jump them before the bell and Isom gets crotched against the post. His knee gets crushed with a chair and here’s Bully Ray for the save.
With the Dawgs on the floor, Ray calls them scumbags for jumping their opponents before the bell. Since Cheeseburger doesn’t have a partner, the match has to be thrown out. Cheeseburger begs Ray to be his partner so Ray can have a final fight to go with his final moment. He appeals to Ray not wanting to disappoint 6,000 people so Ray says ring the bell.
Cheeseburger/Bully Ray vs. The Dawgs
The beating is on with the Dawgs in trouble and a Bionic Elbow to Ferrara. There’s the palm strike and Cheeseburger plays D-Von in What’s Up. Ray tells him to get the tables and then chokeslams Cheeseburger. If you actually call this a match….I’m not sure why.
Ray asks Cheeseburger who he thinks he is for putting him on the spot like that. Cheeseburger is what’s wrong with wrestling (yep) like the rest of his kind. This entire generation is selfish, spoiled and entitled because they think it’s all about them. It’s guys like Cheeseburger, Will Ospreay, Flip Gordon and Ricochet that have destroyed wrestling. Cue COO Joe Koff to ask what’s going on but Ray says signing people like Cheeseburger is killing wrestling. Koff, who doesn’t have a mic, yells a lot as Cabana wants Ray out of the ring (yep).
Now it’s Flip Gordon coming out but Ray loads up a piledriver, which would end the show here and now with no questions asked. Ray tells the young boy to get off the apron, which has Cabana calling the old bitter vets the problem with wrestling. More insults to Koff are followed by Ray putting on his WWE Hall of Fame ring (Cabana: “Then go over there. Go to New York.” You know, where so many of this company’s shows are held.) and powerbombing Cheeseburger to FINALLY end this.
Where do I even begin here? First of all, this was fifteen minutes on a show that is already approaching four hours with two major matches to go. That’s about twice as long as the Women’s Title match received. Second, I can’t stand Cheeseburger so I don’t know why I’m supposed to be disagreeing with Ray.
Cheeseburger is pretty much the Ring of Honor mascot and I need a lot more than that to make me care about him. Wow he’s a small guy with foam cheeseburgers and Jushin Thunder Liger taught him a move. WHO CARES??? I get that he’s not supposed to be taken seriously but he’s been on the show for at least the last few years in the same role and stories. This company doesn’t have a lot of TV time and wasting it on him gets old in a hurry.
Other than that, this very easily could have been done on TV instead of adding even more time to an already long pay per view. Throw in Ray being the face boss for what, three weeks or so, and it’s already feeling like a warmed over WWE/TNA storyline. This was a big waste of time and I was agreeing with a lot of what the heel was saying. Do this later (if you absolutely have to do it) and stop inflating your shows. Modern wrestling companies do not grasp the idea of less being more sometimes and it would really be a nice lesson for them to learn.
We recap Cody vs. Kenny Omega in the battle of the Bullet Club. So a little over a year ago, Cody joined the Bullet Club, led by Kenny, and slowly started trying to take over. This didn’t sit well with Kenny and the rest of the team has been pulled into the middle. Of course to know the full thing you have to watch New Japan and the Being the Elite webseries but since I don’t watch either, those are the details I’m going into this with instead of doing a bunch of research.
Cody vs. Kenny Omega
Cody comes in with Bernard the Business Bear (there better be a good reveal), Brandi Rhodes, and a bunch of cops. The fans lose their minds at the opening bell but hang on because Cody needs a kiss from Brandi. It takes over a minute to lock up….and they immediately cut to the crowd. Cody’s headlock goes nowhere as Kenny kicks him to the floor and runs the ropes until Bernard trips him up.
Omega dives onto Bernard and takes off the head revealing….just a guy, or at least someone not important enough to show. Cody uses the distraction to get in a cheap shot as the bear is ejected. Oh come on now. Hasn’t he suffered enough? Cody loads up Shattered Dreams but stops and flips off the crowd instead. So to clarify: the WWE Hall of Famer who works here is a heel move but Goldust is a face. Got it. I think? The fans sing for Omega and are rewarded by Cody powerbombing him to cut off a comeback attempt.
The American Deathlock goes on but Kenny makes the rope, only to be slapped by Brandi. In a blatant bit of cheating, Cody has a foreign object thrown in but uses the referee distraction to kick Omega low. All Cody so far. The beating continues on the floor with Cody shifting his focus to the back. Omega gets sent face first into a chair but hang on because Cody has to steal a beer and spit it at fans. Of course that gets Cody a chant and it’s time to slap it out.
Omega gets the better of the chopping but his moonsault hits knees. Cody heads outside and takes one heck of a suicide dive, followed by a sitout bulldog for two back inside. Something like Adam Cole’s old Last Shot plants Cody again and there’s the V Trigger for a big reaction. A pair of Snapdragons makes things even worse but Cody breaks up a third attempt and scores with a Disaster Kick for two.
Another V Trigger in the corner looks to set up the One Winged Angel but Cody reverses into a Figure Four instead. Omega is in trouble and rolls around to little avail. A few slaps to the face wake him up enough for the turnover though and the hold is broken. Cody grabs a dragon screw legwhip to send Omega to the apron and it’s table time (Kevin: “Did we have a banquet earlier today?”).
Cross Rhodes through the table is broken up and a piledriver is blocked as well with Omega trying the Snapdragon on the apron. It knocks Cody down, though it would be a little more effective if Cody’s head actually touched the apron. Amazingly enough that’s not enough to finish Cody, who picks Omega up and drops him ribs first on the side of the table for a good looking crash. Instead of, you know, using the table again, Cody throws Omega back in for two off the Alabama Slam (almost no reaction from the crowd) and they’re both down again.
Another V Trigger rocks Cody and the reverse hurricanrana gets almost no rotation and Cody nearly lands on his back. Again, the fans aren’t reacting to most of this stuff and it’s not a good sign when they’re only about twenty minutes in to what’s likely going to be a crazy long match. Brandi sets up a table on the floor and gets on the apron, meaning it’s a missed V Trigger to put her through the table. Kenny is distracted so Cross Rhodes gets a close two, again with VERY little reaction.
Cody doesn’t know that Brandi is down so here’s Flip Gordon to help her out, following up on a Being the Elite angle. I know that’s the case because commentary tells us about it, which is all I need. A superplex brings Omega back down and it’s time for a whipping with the weightlifting belt as we move into the Hollywood Hogan period. Cody misses the moonsault though and one heck of a knee to the face has him in even more trouble.
Two more running knees get two (Remember: when Omega spams moves, he’s awesome. When someone in WWE does it, they’re not real wrestlers.) but the One Winged Angel is reversed into a Vertebreaker for two more. We get the required ref bump (How else are you going to get the Bucks in there?) and a double crossbody puts both guys down. Cue the Bucks (with a Being the Elite camera) to decide whom to superkick. They aim for Cody but hit Omega instead with reality setting in very quickly. Cross Rhodes gives Cody the pin at 36:35.
Rating: B-. Well, it was good and long (you could have cut 10-15 minutes) and it advanced the story. The problem is this felt like a big chapter but not a chapter important enough for 36 minutes of nothing mind blowing. Cody can’t get to that level and it’s showing more and more every time he’s in a major match. They did a very good job of explaining things that set up the match and feud, which was a major issue coming in so well done there. Overall though, this was lacking and nothing that I’m going to remember as really, the big spot was Brandi’s table bump and that was nothing great. Good, but not what they were hyping.
Omega glares at the Bucks as he’s helped to the back.
We recap the World Title match. Dalton Castle won the World Title at Final Battle and is still trying to prove himself as the World Champion. Marty Scurll beat Castle in his first match in Ring of Honor so he might have Castle’s number. Somehow, this is close to the Rick Rude vs. Ultimate Warrior match in 1990, if that’s possible.
Ring of Honor World Title: Marty Scurll vs. Dalton Castle
Castle is defending and has more Boys than usual. With NWA World Champion Nick Aldis in the crowd, Castle drives Marty into the corner to start. Marty’s right hand in the corner earns him a chest thrust and Scurll is already looking confused by Castle. An exchange of wristlocks gives us another standoff, which isn’t a good sign given that we’re already to nearly four hours with this show and the crowd is obviously tired.
Scurll flips him off so Marty reaches into his (own) trunks to pull out a middle finger. You don’t offer Marty your finger but Dalton punches his way to freedom before the finger is broken. Instead Marty grabs the golden umbrella but puts it in the corner, allowing Marty to grab a single leg. The chops it out from their backs before going to a standard punch out. Castle goes with the wrestling in the form of some gutwrench suplexes but Marty avoids a charge to send the champ into the post.
As the Boys FAN UP, Marty keeps Castle in trouble with some chops. It’s time to start stomping on the arm as this is definitely going long, no matter what makes sense on this show. Marty snaps the arm back ala Pentagon in Lucha Underground to not much success. That really should be a big deal but here’s it’s just a move. Shows what happens when you get a move over. Castle strikes away and elbows Marty in the face, followed by a simple beal to really get back into this.
Marty sends him outside but Castle grabs a German suplex through the ropes and drops him hard on the floor. Back in and Scurll kicks him in the head (because a GERMAN SUPLEX ON THE FLOOR isn’t a big move) but gets knocked back to the floor. A DDT plants Castle on the floor again (How long are they going to spend out there?) but he powers out of a tornado DDT. The Bang-a-Rang is reversed into a rollup so Castle knees him in the face instead.
The fans finally get into this with some dueling chants but calm back down when Castle can’t hit a gutwrench superplex to the floor. A superkick drops Castle on the floor again (erg) and Marty backdrops him onto the steps in the aisle for a VERY nasty looking bump. Back in again and the already damaged arm is sent into the buckle as the fans have already dropped their short lived interest.
The Ghostbuster gets two and they go outside AGAIN as the match is clearly being extended for the sake of being extended. Castle gets sent into the steps and in the melee, Aldis hands Marty some clippers so he can cut off a turnbuckle pad. A suplex drops Marty though and a deadlift German suplex gets two more.
Marty is back up with a superkick to the back of the head for two of his own….and now it’s time to stop as he looks underneath the ring for something specific. He can’t fine whatever it is so Dalton sends him into the barricade instead. Marty finally finds some powder, which is kicked back into his face. The blindness causes him to break the referee’s hand so there’s no count off the Bang-a-Rang. Well that’s a new way to do a familiar spot so well done.
With the referee on the floor, Marty gets in an umbrella shot for two. The Boys get beaten down and we need a new referee. A brainbuster gets a delayed two from a second referee so LET’S KEEP GOING! The threat of a chickenwing earns Marty another Peacock Pose but he grabs a loose chickenwing anyway. Castle reaches for the rope so Marty BREAKS THE FINGER and stomps away at the champ’s head. Back to back superkicks rock Castle but he pops up with the Bang-a-Rang to retain at 31:41.
Rating: D. Oh…just no. This was WAY too long, to the point where you could have cut it in half and had a much better match. There were multiple instances where they were just walking around trying to fill in time and that’s not what you want to do when a show is getting close to four and a half hours.
The previous match went nearly forty minutes and this should have been cut down as a result. The wrestling was fine and Castle getting a win over a pretty strong name helps him a lot but egads the length just murdered this match. This might have worked better with fifteen minutes cut off on a less overloaded show but as it was, this didn’t work at all.
Overall Rating: C+. There’s a really good show underneath a lot of the dead weight on this one. This show was dying for one heck of an edit/rewrite to make things better but as it is, this is a major struggle. It felt like Ring of Honor was trying to go with a Wrestlemania style show and it collapsed underneath the weight. There was a lot of stuff on here (the Bully Ray turn, the opener, large chunks of both main events and a little of the ladder match, plus the intermission) that could have been left off. This needed to be about an hour shorter because as it is, they’re teetering on the brink where a lot of very good stuff is forgotten.
Now that being said, there’s a lot of very good stuff on here. The ladder match and Page vs. Ibushi are both worth seeing and some of the other matches range from entertaining to more than worthy of being on a show like this. Above all else though this felt like the big show, especially with the huge crowd. They should be proud of what they accomplished here as that’s a heck of a house and a heck of a gate. Just use some of that money to hire someone to say “cut this and cut that”, because it could turn a good show into a great one and now wear down the crowd so much.
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