Ring of Honor TV – September 26, 2018: Of Course It’s Rushed
IMG Credit: Ring of Honor Wrestling
Ring of Honor
Date: September 26, 2018
Location: 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman
It’s the go home show for Death Before Dishonor and now we actually know a thing or two about the card. Last week saw Will Ospreay answer an open challenge from Jay Lethal for the World Title shot on Friday, which should mean a quality main event. Other than that, it’s time to get the rest of the card ready for the pay per view so let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
We open with a recap of last week with Silas Young and Bully Ray attacking Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham to set up this week’s tag team main event.
Opening sequence.
The Boys vs. Best Friends
Chuckie and #1 start things off with the latter cleaning house off a dropkick and stereo hurricanranas sending the Friends to the floor. #2 hits a big flip dive of his own but Barretta chops #1 in the back of the neck, followed by Chuckie nailing a helicopter bomb for two as we take a break.
Back with #1 hitting a tornado DDT on Chuckie but having no one to tag. Everything breaks down for a few seconds and #1 slips out of an Outsider’s Edge, allowing #2 to tag himself in. Barretta turns him inside out with a clothesline though and drops him on his head in a scary crash. Things get even worse though with a Dudebuster and Awful Waffle for the stereo pins on the Boys at 7:27.
Rating: C. This was a good choice for a fast opener as both teams nailed what they were going for. The Boys have no reason to be anything more than a gimmick team but they were a perfectly fine smaller team here. We’ll call this one a pleasant surprise, which is always a nice thing to have.
Video on the Addiction vs. the Briscoe Brothers.
Adam Page vs. Kenny King
For some reason King comes out carrying two flotation devices. Feeling out process to start with Page powering out of a wristlock and giving us a standoff. King poses and dances a bit before slapping on a headlock. A shoulder puts Page on the floor and King even stops for a picture with a fan.
That’s just stupid though as Page gets up and hits a running shooting star off the apron. Page throws the flotation devices inside and suplexes King onto one of them as we take a break. Back with King fighting up with a backbreaker into a clothesline. A spinwheel kick keeps Page in trouble and a spinebuster gets two.
Page flips out of a German suplex though and forearms King in the face. King is right back with a kick to the face but the Buckshot Lariat gives Page two of his own. The Rite of Passage is reversed into a rollup with feet on the ropes but the referee catches King. Instead they go into a series of rollup with King grabbing the trunks for the pin at 12:04.
Rating: C-. I liked this one enough though I’d like to see Page get a few more wins on his own. King is only so good as a heel and it seems that we’ve seen everything he’s going to be able to do. Maybe he gets back in the TV Title picture soon but I can’t imagine him going much higher than that.
Top Prospect Tournament First Round: Dante Caballero vs. Brian Johnson
Jeff Cobb doesn’t waste time this week and comes in to take out Dante for the DQ at 58 seconds.
Johnson gets wrecked too. Cobb says the tournament is over (WOOT!) because he is the top prospect.
Video on Sumie Sakai vs. Tenille Dashwood.
Silas Young/Bully Ray vs. Jay Lethal/Jonathan Gresham
Ray yells at Young before the opponents even come to the ring. Gresham and Ray start but Bully tags out before doing anything. It’s a feeling out process between Young and Gresham with Jonathan taking him to the corner for a clean break. A hurricanrana into a basement dropkick has Young in trouble and Gresham even slaps Ray in the face. That’s enough for Bully who walks up the ramp before coming back in to have Gresham run around him without much effort.
Another slap earns Gresham a heck of a backdrop though and it’s off to Lethal for the first time. They both miss dropkicks (!) and we take a break. Back with Lethal telling Ray to chop him harder and a slap off breaking out. Ray runs him over but Gresham comes back in and stereo suicide dives have the villains in trouble. Back in and Ray crotches Gresham though and Jonathan is in trouble.
Ray takes too long winding up an elbow though and it’s a dropkick to the knee. The Octopus hold goes on but Ray powers out in short order. Gresham tells him to bring it on so Ray chops him down a few times. A clothesline allows the hot tag to Lethal so house can be cleaned, including a double suplex on Ray. Gresham even plays D-Von on What’s Up and it’s Hail to the King into the shooting star on Young with Ray diving in for a save. Misery hits Gresham for the pin at 17:13.
Rating: C+. Giving Young the pin here was nice but I’m not sure if you can go with having either Gresham or Lethal losing here. In other words, it’s a match that probably should have gone to a countout or a DQ as there’s only so much you can get out of these guys with a pay per view on Friday. As in the pay per view Gresham isn’t actually on.
Addiction promises to win the Tag Team Titles.
Punishment Martinez tells Chris Sabin to stick to tag wrestling.
Sabin says he’s winning.
Silas Young thinks Flip Gordon and Colt Cabana are in over their heads.
Kenny King calls Jushin Thunder Liger old.
Lethal says it’s all about the title.
Bullet Club all talks at once to end the show.
Overall Rating: C-. This is a good example of why the Ring of Honor pay per view structure doesn’t work. They only started talking about Death Before Dishonor a few weeks ago and now we’re not likely to hear anything about the show until close to Halloween. The wrestling was fine, but there’s only so much you can do in such a short time, especially when the #1 contender isn’t actually on the show. Easy show to watch, but it didn’t make me want to see the pay per view.
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