Ring of Honor TV – January 15, 2020: They’ve Lost That Wrestling Feeling
IMG Credit: Ring of Honor
Ring of Honor
Date: January 15, 2020
Location: 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Caprice Coleman, Ian Riccaboni
Hosts: Ian Riccaboni, Quinn McKay
We’re back after last week’s less than inspired show. The biggest problem with last week was they didn’t make me all that interested in seeing what happened to a lot of these people. That being said, it’s not like there were a lot of people included last week. It didn’t feel like a fallout show and I don’t see that continuing this week. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Opening sequence.
We look at Jonathan Gresham vs. Alex Shelley in a teacher vs. student match with Shelley winning. Tonight, it’s the rematch.
Quinn and Ian explain that Shelley beat Gresham in a teacher vs. student match and tonight it’s the rematch.
We get clips of Flip Gordon making Rey Horus tap out at Final Battle Fallout.
Brian Johnson still doesn’t want to study under PJ Black.
Crowbar vs. Eli Isom
Yes the WCW Crowbar and he has a woman and a large man with him. He doesn’t like the new generation so Isom says he’ll show what the new generation can do. Crowbar jumps him in the corner to start but gets suplexed out. Some shoulders give Crowbar one but Isom is right back up with a dropkick. The big man blocks the suicide dive though and the woman’s distraction lets Crowbar hit a running knee to the back. Crowbar hits a legdrop between the legs and we take a break.
Back with Crowbar sending him into the barricade and hitting a Vader Bomb off said barricade. They head inside again with Isom firing off some forearms and hitting a King Corbin Deep Six for the double knockdown. A bicycle kick knocks Crowbar off the apron and into the arms of the large man. That means a big suicide dive to take them both down as the fans are behind Isom again. Back in and Crowbar catches him on top with a super hurricanrana but walks into a hard clothesline. Isom brainbusters him for the pin at 9:34.
Rating: C-. The match was fine, but Crowbar??? Of all the people they could bring in for something like this, they picked Crowbar and let him have two people out there with him? It isn’t about the content, but rather the idea of having Crowbar around which makes ROH look low rent. Crowbar is the kind of guy who would be a midcard attraction on a low level indy show, not a company that is supposed to be one of the biggest in the country.
We look at Bully Ray chokeslamming Maria Manic through a table so we can get some ECW chants.
Ray talks about not liking Maria put Angelina Love through a table in his arena.
Cheeseburger/Ryan Nova vs. Soldiers of Savagery
Isom is still at ringside after the first match. It’s a brawl to start with Nova hitting a fast suicide dive on Khan. Moses gets kicked in the head but Khan pulls him down from the apron for a Rock Bottom. We settle down to Cheeseburger getting beaten up with forearms to the back and the chest, setting up the bearhug. Cheeseburger jawbreaks his way to freedom and it’s a diving tag to Nova so house can be cleaned. Nova kicks away and Cheeseburger gets in on it as well, only to have Moses hit a double clothesline to cut them down. A Snapshot finishes Nova at 5:06.
Rating: C. The Soldiers are a good enough team and ROH could use some monsters like them. That being said, they have barely been featured on TV since their debut and they don’t have anything resembling a story. The tag division could use a boost, but they’re not getting anywhere against heel champions at the moment. I’ll give them this though: they’ve made Cheeseburger watchable with the Squad stuff so well done.
We run down the Honor Reigns Supreme card.
Jonathan Gresham vs. Alex Shelley
Jay Lethal is here with Gresham. They fight over arm control to start and that’s an early standoff. Gresham spins him down and works on the leg on the mat but Shelley spins out for another standoff. Back up and Gresham misses a moonsault press as we take a break. We come back with Shelley Downward Spiraling him into the buckle to take over.
They run the ropes until Shelley’s leapfrog is pulled down by the leg with Shelley dropping a knee on said leg. A few rolls send us into a Figure Four on Shelley but he channels his inner Dunne and bends the fingers apart for the escape. Gresham takes him down by the knee again and we take a second break.
Back again with Gresham hitting a shinbreaker, only to have Shelley snap off an enziguri with the good leg. Shelley pulls himself up but loses a chop off, mainly thanks to another kick to the ribs. The same rollup that Shelley used to win the first match gets two and a superkick rocks Gresham again. They trade headlock takeovers into headscissors (kind of late in the match for that sequence) until Gresham stacks him up for the clean pin at 11:35.
Rating: C+. The technical stuff was good here but they didn’t do that well into going into the history between these two. It was treated like some big showdown match but instead it was just a nice, back and forth technical exchange. Gresham working the knee was fine, but there was very little to suggest that he was some new big time heel, especially one who had just won a title by cheating.
Post match Shelley shakes hands with the champs before leaving in peace to end the show.
Overall Rating: C. Better show overall this week but you would still have no idea that they are a month removed from their biggest show of 2019. Maybe that’s due to the change in bookers with Marty Scurll taking over and that’s one thing, but egads it’s rather annoying waiting around on something interesting to happen. Or at least for them to air the interesting thing that happened. Not a bad show this week, but another one you don’t need to see.
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