Ring of Honor TV – January 23, 2019: I Hope It’s Worth The Wait
IMG Credit: WWE
Ring of Honor
Date: January 23, 2019
Location: 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Colt Cabana, Caprice Coleman
Things got interesting to end last week’s show as Brody King and PCO debuted as Marty Scurll’s new enforcers in Villain Enterprises. That could make things interesting going forward as Scurll, and several others, chase Jay Lethal’s World Title. I’m not sure where things are going but they could be interesting if done right. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Opening sequence.
TV Title #1 Contender Tournament First Round: Facade vs. Eli Isom
Feeling out process to start with the yellow haired Facade taking him down. Isom leapfrogs over him twice in a row and hits Facade in the face but Facade stats nipping up. A kick to the face drops Isom again and we hit the double arm crank. Isom fights up but gets sent outside for a suicide dive, only to get caught and driven into the barricade for a big crash. We come back from a break with Isom getting two off a bridging belly to back suplex.
Facade scores with a Disaster kick to send Isom outside, setting up a double springboard flip dive, because of course he can do that. Back in and Isom nails a discus elbow but walks into the Neon (Burning) Hammer. A rope walk kick to the face (Neon Terminator) gets two on Isom as the announcers are losing it on these near falls. Caprice says Facade would blame that on his mother. As I try to figure that one out, Isom shrugs everything off and finishes with a brainbuster at 8:59.
Rating: C. I’ve seen Facade before and wasn’t that impressed, though his high flying looked good here. The important part here was pushing someone new in Isom, who actually feels like he’s getting somewhere. I don’t know if he wins the tournament, but it’s nice to see someone being given a chance.
Kelly Klein says any singles match she’s in will now be a title match.
We recap the debut of Villain Enterprises.
Jay Lethal knows everyone wants a shot at this title, but his eyes are on Matt Taven for everything he’s done.
To mix things up a bit, we recap the debut of Villain Enterprises.
Next week: the Kingdom defends the Six Man Tag Team Titles against Villain Enterprises.
TK O’Ryan vs. Rush
I’ve seen Rush (pronounced Roosh) in MLW and he certainly has some star power. He’s the leader of Los Ingobernables so there’s definitely something to him. Ian recaps some history between these two in Mexico, which is far more background than we get for most of the lucha guest stars. Feeling out process to start and the fans are split here.
A slap to the face annoys Rush so it’s an exchange of German suplexes to give us a staredown. They talk trash (with censored swearing) until O’Ryan takes over with the chops in the corner. A superkick rocks O’Ryan and it’s a running forearm to send us to a break. Back with a chop off going to Rush, meaning we get a tranquilo pose.
They head outside with Rush being sent into the barricade, setting up a belly to back for two inside. Rush suplexes him into the corner but charges into a spinning spinebuster for another two. Something off the top is countered into a top rope superplex from Rush and it’s a hard running basement dropkick in the corner for the pin on O’Ryan at 11:05.
Rating: B-. This was a back and forth I hit you and you hit me match but it was very entertaining stuff. Rush definitely has a presence and that makes you want to see him do his thing. Even O’Ryan looked good here, and it’s nice to see some of the stuff done down in Mexico tie into things up here. You can only get so far with “this is a huge star from Mexico” over and over so this was a good idea.
Post match the rest of the Kingdom comes in and lays Rush out with a triple Conchairto.
Rhett Titus, with a trophy, replaces Coleman on commentary.
TV Title #1 Contenders Tournament First Round: Silas Young vs. Beer City Bruiser
Before the match, Bruiser says he’s finally learned that Silas sucks. Bruiser wants a fight so we’ll make this No DQ. An early Cactus Clothesline puts Silas on the floor and Bruiser sets up a chair. Young jumps over a shot from the apron and hits a springboard clothesline to knock Bruiser down. Some elbows to the head knock Silas into the chair though and Bruiser nails a flip dive off the apron as we take a break.
Back with more chairs in the ring and a table having been set up on the floor. Silas hits a slingshot stomp to the ribs and the hanging swinging suplex gets one. Another table is set up in the corner but Bruiser spears him through it instead. Bruiser misses a charge and goes through a chair in the corner though, allowing Silas to pound away with a chair. A suplex off the barricade has Young in trouble again as this is going way longer than it needs to. Young is laid over two chairs on the floor as Bruiser goes up.
That’s broken up so Bruiser hits a super hiptoss of all things, followed by the Beer City Slam onto a chair for two more. Back from another break with Silas slamming him through two chairs for another near fall, meaning frustration sets in. Silas pulls out some zip ties and attaches Bruiser to the top rope. Cue Brian Milonas to beat Young down and cut the zip tie because Heaven forbid this match just end.
Milonas takes too long setting up something from the middle rope and gets chaired through the table at ringside. Bruiser clotheslines him down and a Vader Bomb elbow onto the chair onto Young gets two. A keg to the head doesn’t even warrant a cover as Bruiser puts him on another table instead. The frog splash misses though and Silas hits Misery for the pin at 16:00.
Rating: D. WAY too long here with whatever value the match had being thrown out the window more than halfway through. The Bruiser isn’t someone I’m going to care about because his entire character is that he’s fat and likes beer. I need a lot more than that to care and I’m completely with Silas: Bruiser held him back for a long time and Young is lucky to be rid of him. Yeah he was a little rude when they split, but I’m not going to cheer for Bruiser because of that. Cut this in half (or more) and it could be entertaining, but this was pay per view length when it needed to be average TV length.
Overall Rating: C-. That main event hurt things a lot and that’s not a good sign when it can bring down the rest of the show. I’m curious to see where some of the stories around here go but this show wasn’t exactly a good showcase for the company. The first two matches were entertaining but they’re not exactly high stakes, which keeps things a bit lower on the pole. Not a bad show, but not exactly interesting.
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