Ring of Honor TV – May 15, 2019: Did They Need To Edit Something?
IMG Credit: Ring of Honor
Ring of Honor
Date: May 15, 2019
Location: Stage AE, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman
It’s not a good sign when I have to look back at my notes to see what is going on with today’s show. Since the MSG show, nothing has really stuck with me, aside from Dalton Castle’s nice heel confirming segment last week. The shows haven’t been terrible, but I need something a little better than not very memorable. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Opening sequence.
Shinobi Shadow Squad vs. Coast To Coast vs. Bouncers
That would be Cheeseburger/Ryan Nova for the Squad. Ali headlocks Nova to start but can’t get an O’Connor roll. A rolling neckbreaker takes Ali down and it’s off to Cheeseburger as the match quality seems likely to go down. Everything breaks down and the Bouncers squash both teams in the corner with some running splashes. Bruiser bites various people but insists that he can’t do it because he has no teeth.
With that paradox confounding some people, Coast to Coast kick the Bouncers out to the floor, leaving the Squad to dropkick Ali and LSG into the corner. Ali is right back up with the big flip dive onto the floor onto various people, sending us to a break. Back with Cheeseburger in trouble, including a slingshot hilo into a chinlock from LSG.
Nova gets knocked off the apron so Cheeseburger settles for a tag off to Milonas, who kicks the heck out of Ali to take over. The swinging Boss Man Slam gives Milonas two as everything breaks down. Nova tries some forearms on Milonas and Cheeseburger has to save him from certain doom. Double superkicks stagger Milonas but Bruiser clotheslines Nova. That leaves Cheeseburger to dive onto Coast to Coast and it’s Closing Time to finish Nova at 9:56.
Rating: C-. Heaven help me but I think I’m starting to like the Bouncers. They don’t do anything revolutionary and they’re rather limited in the ring, but they do what they do quite well. It also helps a lot when so many members of the roster are smaller guys and you have these two monsters. That makes them stand out so much more and it helped a lot here. Not a bad triple threat either.
We recap Flip Gordon challenging Matt Taven for the World Title.
We look at the end of last week’s show with Lifeblood calling out Bully ray for revenge over what he did to Tenille Dashwood.
We look back at the Allure attacking Jenny Rose and Kelly Klein.
We look back at Dalton Castle attacking the Boys. Why are we recapping the last two weeks?
We recap (erg) the Honor Rumble from MSG where Great Muta and Jushin Thunder Liger gave us an awesome moment but we needed to push Kenny King because that has worked so well over the years.
Here’s Kenny King….who is now blind because of being misted in the Rumble. King should be happy right now but since he’s blind, all of his happiness is gone. Since he started at #1 though, he should be called Kenny “Shawn Michaels” King. He brags about throwing out Muta and Liger to win but then Muta misted him and took away his vision. What matters most though is that he and Matt Taven are boys, but King is coming for the title. Before that though, he’s coming for Jay Lethal, albeit after he has his eye surgery. Lethal will bent the knee.
Flip Gordon talks about his knee injury and how hard he worked to beat the timetable for his return. Now he’s ready for his World Title shot next week on the 400th episode.
Flex Simmons vs. Josh Woods
Simmons is a guy with a rather limited physique who poses a lot. Woods spears him, faceplants him and finishes with the Seismic Toss (reverse fireman’s carry slam) at 38 seconds. Are they allergic to wrestling on this show?
Post break Woods says he’s down to fight. His shirt saying “down to fight” implied that.
Shane Taylor vs. Bandido
Bandido tries some early grappling before just superkicking the much bigger Shane in the face. Taylor’s jumping sitdown splash misses and a basement dropkick puts him on the floor. That means the suicide dive, followed by the Fosbury Flop dive to send us to a break. Back with Taylor not liking being hit in the chest, meaning it’s a single chop to bring Bandido to his knees.
Another chop puts Bandido on his back but he’s right back up and trying a fireman’s carry for some reason. That just earns him a heck of a chokeslam, followed by an even harder right hand. Taylor talks trash before tossing Bandido across the ring as the beating slows down. A running corner clothesline crushes Bandido again and a running clothesline in the middle gets two. Elbows to the face and shoulder give Shane two more and he punches a diving Bandido out of the air for a great visual.
Back from another break with Bandido slugging away again and no selling a shot to the face. He sells a chokeslam though, with Shane going down as well from near exhaustion. Bandido tries a discus forearm but gets headbutted away, allowing Shane to hit a swinging Downward Spiral for two. Another right hand breaks up another springboard and a hanging Stunner gives Shane two more. Ok these kickouts are getting ridiculous. Somehow Bandido is back with a springboard crossbody and a GTS of all things. The 21 Plex finishes Taylor at 13:56.
Rating: B. They lost me near the end there as Shane has been knocking people silly for a long time now and Bandido survived all of it before winning in the end. That’s a lot to take and I didn’t buy it near the ending there. Bandido is a star in the making (if not one already) but this was a bit of a stretch. I’m sure Shane is going to be fine, but that was a little too far with the kickouts.
Post match here’s Bully Ray because OF COURSE IT’S BULLY RAY in the big closing. Ray goes after Bandido but Mark Haskins and Tracy Williams run in. The yelling is on but the newly signed Soldiers of Savagery come in and beat down Lifeblood. Bully Ray and Shane Taylor are confused and ask each other who brought in the Soldiers. The Soldiers leave on their own to end the show.
Overall Rating: C-. The wrestling was better than usual here but egads what was that big stretch of recaps in the middle? It felt like they had to edit something out and that was all they had to fill in time. I’ve said it for the last few weeks but they continue to squander the momentum they had from the biggest show they’ve ever had. That’s rather disappointing but honestly, I’m not really surprised.
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