Ring of Honor TV – June 13, 2018: This Is The Right TV Show
IMG Credit: Ring of Honor Wrestling
Ring of Honor
Date: June 13, 2018
Location: Odeum Expo Theater, Villa Park, Illinois
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Colt Cabana
We’re getting closer and closer to Best in the World and thankfully two of the biggest matches have already been announced. In this case that would be the World Title and Tag Team Title matches, though the Tag Team Titles are on the line tonight as well. If nothing else, hopefully we can get a good match without much possibility of drama. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Opening sequence.
Jonathan Gresham vs. Flip Gordon
Flip has to flip out of a wristlock to start and then flips away to avoid a leg sweep. That means a You Can’t See Me (Cabana: “Wrong TV show.”) and Gresham actually gives him credit. Gordon gets sent into the corner but Gresham isn’t exactly going right after him to follow up. The modified Octopus Hold has Gordon screaming in pain and Gresham turns it into an abdominal stretch to make things even better.
Flip gets out and dropkicks him to the floor, of course setting up the sky high dive to take Gresham out. Back from a break with an exchange of some loud chops and then a forearm off until Gordon kicks him in the head. Gresham’s springboard tornado DDT is countered into a Falcon Arrow for a slightly delayed two. The Star Spangled Stunner gives Gordon the pin at 8:51.
Rating: C. I’m surprised by the finish here as Gresham isn’t someone you would expect to be putting Gordon over. If nothing else this should give us more fuel towards the BOOK FLIP FOR ALL IN story, which is actually rather amusing and could lead to a good payoff. I can also go with Gordon using the Stunner as the finisher as he doesn’t need to flip around all the time.
Post match here’s Bully Ray to talk about Gordon. He didn’t know that Gordon’s family was from Montana, which is where Bully’s parents wanted to retire. When Ray’s mother died, he was in the process of buying his parents a ranch in Montana. When he was finishing up the purchase, his dad dies of a heart attack. Ray hands them pictures of his parents, which he had with him at the Hall of Fame induction.
He also found out that Gordon was in the Army, which means a lot to Ray. From now on, they have no heat and Ray wants to shake his hand. I won’t even bother suggesting that he’s being legit as he’s already kicked Gordon low by the time I finish the previous line. Gordon is just a young boy and Ray thinks he’s nothing.
Video on Kelly Klein vs. Deonna Purrazzo.
We look back at the end of last week’s show with Kenny King costing Austin Aries the TV Title and Aries beating him down after the match.
Kelly Klein vs. Deonna Purrazzo
Purrazzo is in street clothes and jumps Klein anyway, sending her into the steps. They head inside with Purrazzo trying an early Fujiwara armbar but getting rolled up for two instead. Purrazzo follows her to the floor and gets caught in a fall away slam to cut her off. Back from a break with Purrazzo rolling some German suplexes, capped off by a release to rock Klein again. A snap suplex that looked more like a brainbuster gets the same and there’s the Fujiwara armbar.
Klein is in the ropes so Purrazzo chops the heck out of her. One more armbar attempt goes badly though and Purrazzo is sent shoulder first into the post. A super fall away slam (without much elevation) gives Klein two and there’s a ref bump (which happens WAY too often around here). Purrazzo hits a cutter for no count and yells at the referee for being knocked down. Klein is back up and reverses the Fujiwara armbar into the End of the Match for the tap at 9:35.
Rating: C+. These are two of the best the division has and that’s not a good sign as they only had a fairly good match. The division has some talent but there’s a reason you rarely see most of the women outside of this company. When two of their best can only put up this kind of a match, they probably need to do something a little bit different as this wasn’t much to see.
Jay Lethal is facing Kushida at Best in the World. This was the announcement that he didn’t get to make last week.
Dalton Castle isn’t worried about facing two friends at the same time because he rages like a furnace. They should fear him.
Caprice Coleman is on commentary for the main event.
Tag Team Titles: Roppongi 3K vs. Briscoes
The Briscoes are defending. Jay and Mark won’t shake hands and jump their much smaller challengers before the bell. As usual, these guys are such great villains. Mark gets caught in the wrong corner to start with Yoh hitting a slingshot dive. Coleman says that new champions wouldn’t mean an upset here. Uh, time to go back to the pulpit Caprice. A double back elbow puts the champs in control though and we take a break.
Back with Jay dropkicking Yoh in the face but not bothering to cover. Mark goes up and gets dropkicked out of the air but Jay is right in to cut off the hot tag attempt. It’s back to Mark to rip at Yoh’s face but he takes too long to follow up, allowing the hot tag to Show. That means rolling German suplexes with a superkick setting up the bridging version for two. 3K (Dominator/sliding cutter combination) is broken up though and Jay kicks Sho in the face, sending us to our second break.
Back with Mark powerbombing Sho for two more and the champs aren’t happy. Jay superplexes Sho to set up the Froggy Bow for another near fall and Coleman is losing it on commentary. Yoh comes back in for some running forearms so Mark chops the heck out of the two of them. That’s fine with Roppongi, who hit double flip dives to take the champs out again. 3K hits Mark with Jay diving in for the save. Jay throws in a chair for a distraction though and Mark gets in the low blow. Sho gets choked out and the Jay Driller to Yoh retains the titles at 13:39.
Rating: B+. I had a heck of a time here with all four working hard and turning it into a really fun match. Roppongi 3K’s growth in just the last year is nothing but amazing as they’ve gone from some worthless jobbers to guys capable of having a really good tag match. Excellent main event here and one of the most exciting things ROH has done in awhile.
Overall Rating: A-. The main event alone carries this one as the first two matches, while fine, didn’t exactly have the most energy in the world. I’ll still take a fun, fast paced main event that caps off a solid hour of wrestling but I could have gone for some build towards Best in the World. At least Lethal vs. Kushida should be a lot of fun as we haven’t seen much from Kushida in recent months.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of the NXT The Full Sail Years Volume III (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:
https://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/05/25/new-book-nxt-the-full-sail-years-from-dallas-to-new-orleans/
And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:
Recent Comments