Ring of Honor TV – July 29, 2015: The Pay Per View Problem
Ring of Honor Date: July 29, 2015
Location: Terminal 5, New York City, New York
Commentators: King Corino, Kevin Kelly
We’re now past Death Before Dishonor but TV has yet to catch up with the results. Last week was a special historical show as Ring of Honor hit two hundred episodes, leaving only an eight person tag for new wrestling. It should be interesting to see where things go tonight as we get closer to All Star Extravaganza. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Matt Taven/Michael Bennett vs. Corey Hollis/Jonathan Gresham
Taven and Bennett’s IWGP Tag Team Titles aren’t on the line. The jobbers (as named by the fans) get superkicked to start and Maria jumps in on commentary. Taven and Bennett destroy the guys on the floor with Bennett getting in a fan’s face as he chants LET’S GO JOBBERS. They settle down in the ring with Gresham getting in a few shots until Taven kicks him in the ribs, with Maria’s “see, I told you so” attitude being so perfect.
Gresham dives through the legs for a tag to Hollis, who comes in off a double missile dropkick. It doesn’t last long though as a superkick sends Hollis into a spear from Taven for two with Gresham making the save. Bennett is thrown into the ropes for a snap German suplex, only to have Taven springboard in with a kick to the face. They’re doing a good job here at the false hope spots. Hail Mary (Maria’s real name and a spike piledriver) ends Hollis at 4:27.
Rating: C-. Maria gets better every time she’s out there. The attitude of knowing she looks incredible and talking down to everyone with the bonus of believing she’s right while not sounding insulting is what Stephanie fails to be more often than not. It was also nice to let this have a few minutes instead of just having the champs crush them. Good little squash here.
Caprice Coleman vs. Bob Evans vs. Silas Young vs. Cheeseburger vs. Moose vs. Dalton Castle
Heel manager Prince Nana comes out for commentary to watch Moose, his protege, which hasn’t been mentioned since they debuted on Destination America. This is one fall to a finish and going to the floor is as good as a tag. The fans favor Castle before things get going. Castle and Moose start but Evans and Cheeseburger tag in before anything can happen.
Evans tags out to Silas out of the fear of Cheeseburger (a manly vegetarian perhaps?) as we’re still waiting on contact. Silas easily wins a test of strength on the tiny Cheeseburger but he rolls away and elbows Silas in the ribs to take over. As Kelly explains the Cheeseburger name (he needed to put on weight so he was told to eat cheeseburgers. That’s not a very good story), Silas throws Cheeseburger to the floor, meaning Coleman can come in legally and take a shoulder block.
We take a break and come back with Moose splashing Young in the corner. Coleman hurricanranas Young off the top but Evans shoves him out to the floor. More people are shoved out until it’s Castle and Silas left alone, only to have Castle take too much time strutting and get nailed in the back of the head (there’s no way I can say nailed from behind and not get a bunch of jokes).
Castle slaps on a chinlock (that’s a rare sight in ROH) but Dalton’s boys wave him back to his feet. A quick suplex puts Young down but Evans tags himself in, only to walk into a backdrop from Dalton. Off to Moose to clean house, including throwing Cheeseburger onto Evans, allowing Coleman to hit a flip dive onto both of them. Young breaks up a Moose dive (that could be awesome to see) but we do get Moose dropkicking Young off the top.
Now we get a flip dive from Moose (not a bad one either) and I’m really seeing the potential this guy has. Dalton breaks up a spear to Cheeseburger and it’s time for the parade of secondary finishers. Castle muscles Moose over in a delayed German suplex to freak out Prince Nana. Evans rolls up Moose and puts his feet on the ropes until Cheeseburger makes the save, leaving Moose to spear Evans down for the pin at 13:10.
Rating: C-. I wasn’t really feeling this one as it was just kind of a big mess with everyone fighting everyone for the sake of fighting everyone. Moose winning is the right idea as he could be a good monster down the line but the fans wanted to see Castle here. Unfortunately there was too much going on to really make sense of the match and it was too much at once. At least one of the right guys won though.
Here’s the Decade with something to say. BJ Whitmer talks about Colby Corino becoming a man right in front of the fans’ eyes, which means he has more heart than anyone in the locker room or even at ringside (with a sneer at King Corino). Whitmer praises Colby for how close he came to beating Moose and War Machine (he was squashed both times) and now sees him as his own son. BJ hopes that Colby sees him like the father he never had and tonight, Colby is getting a gift. Tonight, Colby gets to have a gauntlet match against four guys from the last tryout camp.
Colby’s four opponents combine to weigh over 1,800 pounds and that’s too much for King Corino. King gets in the ring and takes off his tie but Whitmer says this isn’t going to make up for abandoning his son. He abandoned Colby, so how long will it be before he abandons his wife and baby son? Nigel McGuinness has to come out and break up the fight as we go to another break.
I’m digging this feud as it’s built up very well, even though ROH hasn’t felt the need to say why Whitmer and Corino hate each other in the first place. Again: stop assuming we watch all of your shows and give us a thirty second recap. You know you’ve been on this new channel for like two months now, so a quick recap won’t kill you.
Back from a break with Nigel McGuinness on commentary in Corino’s place.
ACH vs. Bobby Fish
The fans are split here and Fish takes ACH down to the mat to start. ACH isn’t exactly on top of his game on the ground so he grabs a headlock to try to get back to his feet. An unnecessary cartwheel into a moonsault sets up a dropkick to put Fish down in the corner as we’re definitely seeing a contrast of styles. Bad News Barrett’s jump from the middle rope and swing around into a suplex gets two and Fish is sent to the floor where he avoids a dive as we take a break.
Back with ACH firing off some chops (for some lame WOOs) and it’s time to hit the kickoff, because what would ROH be without kicking at each other like it’s a kickboxing fight. ACH can’t follow up because of the work Fish did to his ribs during the break (nothing wrong with some basic psychology) and Fish drops him with a fall away slam. Kelly: “We invite you to order the replay of Death Before Dishonor on ROHwrestling.com! Well, order it after this match!” That was good for a chuckle.
Fish goes back to the ribs but ACH Matrixes back to avoid a cross body. That’s always a cool looking counter. Fish bails to the floor, allowing ACH to hit a sweet looking shooting star plancha. ACH hurts his knee coming back in off the top but is still able to kick Fish with the good leg for two. The 450 hits knees to bang up the ribs again and Fish goes to the two injured body parts. The Fish Hook knee bar has ACH in trouble but he bridges back into a rollup to make Fish break the hold. ACH gets kicked down on top though and a top rope falcon’s arrow gives Fish the pin at 12:55.
Rating: C+. I liked the match but it went on a bit too long. Also I would have liked the Fish Hook to make Fish tap as they spent the whole match building up the leg injury and then the submission hold is just another spot. ACH is good in the Kofi Kingston’s role of the high flier with almost no personality to speak of but you kind of knew he was going to lose here.
Overall Rating: C-. This could have been a lot worse but it’s one of those shows that ROH has to deal with: they’re after a pay per view but can’t spoil anything so we get these matches which could take place on any given night. It’s not bad, but it’s a total stand alone show with no long term consequences. Watchable enough, but nothing great.
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Ring of Honor – July 22, 2015: They Did It……Whatever That Was!
Ring of Honor Date: July 22, 2015
Location: Terminal 5, New York City, New York
Commentators: King Corino, Kevin Kelly
This has the potential to be a very interesting show as it’s the 200th episode under the Sinclair Broadcasting banner as well as the go home show before this Friday’s Death Before Dishonor pay per view. I’m really hoping they don’t go too heavy with the historical stuff here because the pay per view market is still young for them. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
It seems that most of this show will be a clip show, but I won’t be rating the matches since I won’t be seeing the majority of them and it’s not really fair to say if a match is good or bad based on a quick clip.
After a quick intro from the announcers, we go to a clip from April 25, 2015 when the Addiction took the Tag Team Titles from ReDragon. We see most of the finish after ReDragon’s hot tag, setting up a series of double team moves for near falls. ReDragon takes over but a masked man known as the KRD runs in and superkicks O’Reilly by mistake, setting up Celebrity Rehab to give the Addiction the titles.
The masked man is revealed to be Chris Sabin and the Addiction joins him to beat down the former champions. Apparently this was a big reveal, but there’s no backstory given. Quit assuming people watch all your shows. O’Reilly is busted open but the blood is censored, which I like WAY better than turning the screen black and white. What difference does it make what color it is? We know it’s blood, so why bother?
Various wrestlers are excited about making it to 200 episodes.
Highlights from Steel Cage Warfare from July 27, 2013 where SCUM was destroyed. King Corino laughs off being evil.
Package on the Top Prospect Tournament, capped off by Donovan Dijak beating Will Ferrara in the finals. They show how the match ends but then go back to show the last few minutes. The main highlight here: a Mark Jindrak reference. Now there’s one you don’t see every day. The ending was a nice back and forth slugout with Dijak hitting Feast Your Eyes (a Burning Hammer into a GTS) for the win and the tournament.
Clip of the end of Tag Wars on December 27, 2014 with ACH/Matt Sydal vs. the Briscoes vs. Addiction vs. ReDragon. Chasing the Dragon was enough to pin ACH/Sydal and retain the Tag Team Titles.
Clip of Hanson vs. AJ Styles from November 22, 2014. Hanson hits a nice powerbomb for two but takes too much time going up (especially considering how big he is), allowing Styles to hit the Clash for the pin.
One last clip of Lance Storm vs. Mike Bennett from August 4, 2012. That’s kind of a random one to end on but any extra Maria is a great thing. Bennett won with a Photo Finish (TKO) onto a chair.
House of Truth vs. Briscoe Brothers/ODB/Roderick Strong
That would be Donovan Dijak/Jay Diesel/Jay Lethal/Truth Martini. ODB and Truth actually start with Martini busting out a Spinarooni. It’s off to Lethal vs. Strong, so Lethal tags out to Dijak for our first actual violence. Roderick takes over and drags Donovan to the corner for the tag to the Briscoes for some double teaming. Mark hits a middle rope splash and we take a break, coming back to Donovan hitting a release suplex slam on Mark to take over.
Off to Lethal for some stomping in the corner as the heels start rotating. Everyone but Truth gets in some shots on Mark until he comes back with a middle rope forearm to the face. The hot tag brings in his brother for left hands and a neckbreaker to Dijak. The Jay’s (as in not Diesel) slug it out with Lethal taking over and slapping on a cobra clutch. We take a break and come back with Roderick getting the hot tag to hammer away on the World Champion.
The Sick Kick gets two and everything breaks down with Lethal superkicking Roderick. ODB tags herself in and chokes the champ, allowing for a tag off to Martini. The House of Truth surrounds ODB but she takes a shot from the flask and slugs all of them until the heroes come back in. Everyone goes to the floor, leaving ODB to spit booze in Truth’s eyes, setting up a rollup pin at 16:35.
Rating: D+. Well that happened, and instead of setting up something for the pay per view, a wrestling valet pinned a manager. I’m so glad we got that instead of anything between the World Champion and his challenger or any mention of the Briscoes’ match on Friday. No, what we needed was Truth Martini getting rolled up for a laugh instead of talking about a pay per view. I know they’re new at this but work with me here people.
Overall Rating: D-. I don’t want to say this was a bad show, but it was a misfire. Like I said in the opening, this would have been fine for a stand alone special anniversary show, but it doesn’t work when you have this right before a pay per view. A lot of the highlights were either meaningless or fine but it didn’t really make me want to watch more of the show. The idea here was fine, but they needed to tweak it a lot more to make it work.
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Ring of Honor – July 15, 2015: Rednecks And Real Men
Ring of Honor Date: July 15, 2015
Location: Terminal 5, New York City, New York
Commentators: King Corino, Kevin Kelly
It’s time for more build towards Death Before Dishonor, where Roderick Strong will be challenging Jay Lethal for the World Title. However, Lethal is still the TV Champion, meaning it’s time for a title defense against Mark Briscoe. This show has been solid so far and hopefully it keeps going in that direction. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Adam Page vs. Matt Sydal
This continues to be part of the King Corino vs. BJ Whitmer feud over Colby Corino being Page’s young boy. Matt takes Adam into the corner to start before dropping him with a hurricanrana. A spinwheel kick puts Page on the floor but a baseball slide takes Colby out by mistake. You would think Papa Corino would be more upset over this but it sounds like more of an annoyance than anything else.
We take a break and come back with Sydal getting a close two off a rollup but a pumphandle fall away slam (that’s a new one) gets the same on Matt. With nothing else working, Sydal just kicks Adam in the face but can’t hit the shooting star. Instead it’s a fireman’s carry into a backbreaker for two for Page, followed by a front flip from the apron into a clothesline. Matt comes back with a kick and the shooting star for the pin at 9:15.
Rating: D+. Why am I supposed to care about Adam Page? He’s a generic guy in the ring with nothing interesting going on other than an association with BJ Whitmer, who seems to be the one with the issues with King Corino. The match was really lacking too as they were just doing moves until Sydal hit his big move to win. Boring match with a boring heel.
Post match Whitmer comes in for the beatdown but ACH tries to make a save. This goes very badly as Colby throws in a bunch of chairs to help with the beatdown, capped off by the reverse piledriver on Sydal onto the chairs. King Corino freaks out and tells his kid to stop.
We run down the Death Before Dishonor card.
Here’s the gorgeous Veda Scott to mock Moose’s loss to Cedric Alexander. At Death Before Dishonor, Alexander will prove that you win with skills instead of potential. Alexander is going to take what Moose never deserved. This was a good way to build a match in about a minute and that’s exactly what it was supposed to be.
Silas Young vs. Will Ferrara
Silas knees him in the ribs to start and drops him with a release gordbuster. I’m digging the old school style he’s using and it’s working well for him. Back up though and Ferrara grabs the arm to slow things down and take over for a bit, only to get dropped on his back in a kind of powerslam. Silas cranks on both arms at once before Ferrara stops a charge with two raised boots. A tornado DDT gets two but Silas one ups him (in a way) with a DDT into the corner. Cue Dalton Castle’s boys for a distraction, allowing Ferrara to roll him up for the pin at 5:47.
Rating: D+. Just a quick match here with Ferrara being a decent enough worker for his experience level, but this was more about Castle vs. Young. It’s interesting that Castle is really a glorified comedy character but is getting a pretty high profile feud. What’s even more interesting though is how well he’s handling it so far. That’s a good sign going forward and Young is a great choice for him to feud against. Not much of a match but it served its purpose.
The Briscoes are fired up for next week’s 200th episode.
TV Title: Mark Briscoe vs. Jay Lethal
Lethal, also the World Champion, is defending. They slug it out to start with Jay knocking him to the floor for a baseball slide. Truth Martini loads up the Book of Truth but ODB (the Briscoes’ friend) breaks it up to let Mark take over with a string of rams into the barricades. Back in and Mark gets two off a top rope chop to the head and we take a break.
We come back with Roderick Strong on commentary to bore everyone to death. Mark suplexes the champ down and kicks him in the chest, only to have the House of Truth come in for a distraction so Lethal can take over. We hit the chinlock followed by a front facelock until Mark nails a running clothesline. Jay superkicks him in the jaw to stop the comeback but the Lethal Injection is countered with a German suplex to send him outside. A Cactus Jack elbow takes us to our second break of the match.
Back again with ODB and Martini getting into it again and Jay Briscoe taking out Jay (PICK A NEW FIRST NAME) Diesel, allowing the Froggy Bow (frog splash elbow) to get two on the champ. ODB gets wiped out and Diesel hits Mark low, setting up the Lethal Injection (that stupid handspring RKO) to retain the title at 16:45.
Rating: B-. I liked this more than I was expecting as they managed to have all the people running in but still kept the whole thing from falling apart. I’m not wild on Mark’s promos but at least his in ring style matches his insane persona. Lethal still doesn’t do much for me and I don’t like one guy holding two titles, but it’s not bad so far.
Roderick Strong comes in to break up the post match beatdown, possibly setting up a six man next week. I’m mostly right as it’s going to be an eight person tag with ODB and Martini thrown in for good measure.
Overall Rating: C-. This wasn’t their best show but the main event helped a bit. Instead, they were basically spending the entire show hyping up the next pay per view, which is a very nice change of pace. Lethal still isn’t the most interesting guy in the world though and I’m not wild on him as a champion. That could be fixed through some more time though and it’s a problem with being thrown into a series instead of allowing it to be built up. The 200th episode should be fun though.
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Ring of Honor – July 8, 2015: How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria’s Kingdom?
Ring of Honor Date: July 8, 2015
Location: Terminal 5, New York City, New York
Commentators: King Corino, Kevin Kelly
This should be an interesting show as it’s FINALLY just a new ROH show instead of a co-promoted show with New Japan. The main story is the fallout of Jay Lethal winning the World Title at Best in the World to go with his TV Title. Now it’s time to get ready for Death Before Dishonor in a few weeks so let’s get to it.
After a quick opening sequence, we get a stills package on Lethal vs. Briscoe at Best in the World with Jay walking out with the titles. That was a pretty safe bet all around.
Regular opening.
Dalton Castle vs. Watanabe
The fans are almost entirely behind Castle here. Castle dances around to start but gets dropped by a shoulder. I still don’t get Watanabe. He’s really just a guy in tights who does moves, which actually would get him way over in Ring of Honor so maybe I just don’t get the point. Castle gets knocked into the corner so his guys fan him off, only to have Watanabe get knocked into the corner where Dalton’s guys fan him off too. Ok point for a funny spot.
We take a break and come back with an exchange of small packages without many counts in between. A backsplash gets two for Watanabe but Dalton grabs a suplex to get a breather. Castle follows up with a German and we get a cool, Lucha Underground style overhead shot to show Watanabe sprawled on the mat. Watanabe pops up (a Japanese wrestler not selling that much?) and hooks a Cloverleaf….into a catapult? That’s a new one on me. Watanabe spends a bit too much time posing though and gets caught in a reverse sitout powerbomb for the pin at 10:10.
Rating: D+. Castle isn’t bad but again, I have no idea why I’m supposed to care about Watanabe. Something about Watanabe being on a training mission which I know is a real thing in Japan, but I see no reason to care about him training to go and become a bigger deal in Japan.
Castle says there are a lot of boys out here tonight, but after Best in the World (at this point he lays back on his guys’ bent over chests), he’s the only real man in Ring of Honor. Cue Silas Young as we go to a quick break.
Nigel McGuinness brings out Jay Lethal for his first chat as champion. The fans tell the heel champion that he deserves it because smark fans don’t understand the difference between faces and heels. Truth Martini says the fans aren’t Lethal’s people, because the House of Truth are his people. Jay is clearly the best in the world because he is the undisputed World Champion. Fans: “TIE YOUR SHOES!”
Lethal is about to leave but Nigel asks him which of those titles is he going to be vacating. That’s fine with Nigel, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. See, Lethal may see the titles as the same thing, but Ring of Honor sees them as two different things. Therefore, Lethal will be defending the World Title against Roderick Strong at Death Before Dishonor, but he’ll be defending the TV Title next week against Mark Briscoe. Jay rants about how he knows he’s the greatest and if he has to wrestle twice in a night, so be it.
This brings out Roderick Strong to a better reaction than Lethal. Strong tells Lethal to look him right in the face like a man. On July 24, Lethal is walking in as champion but Strong is walking out with the belt. That was one of the most generic, lame face promos I’ve heard in a very long time, but at least Strong can usually back it up in the ring.
Kingdom vs. Michael Elgin/Red Dragon
That would be Matt Taven/Adam Cole/Michael Bennett with Maria, who is as gorgeous as ever. Before the match, Maria tells Cole not to worry about what happened at Best in the World (not important enough to specify) because tonight they’ll prove that this Kingdom shall never fall. After a break and they shake hands for the Code of Honor and therefore we don’t miss any action. That’s a good ROH.
Bennett vs. Elgin to get things going with Mike’s (Bennett) shoulder having no effect. Elgin’s shoulder on the other hand works a bit better and he loads up a suplex. Taven and Cole come in to kick him in the ribs but he won’t go do, so Red Dragon slaps on a pair of submission holds as this is one sided so far. The rest of the Kingdom finally gets together to take Elgin to the floor so Bennett can hit a flip dive.
Back in and a high cross body gets two on Elgin as Taven takes over. We take a break and come back with Elgin diving over for a tag, only to have Cole and Taven pull his partners down to the floor. Elgin finally takes the Kingdom down and makes the hot tag as everything breaks down. Taven eats a DDT into a wheelbarrow suplex for two but pops up and dives onto O’Reilly and Fish.
Back in and a hot tag brings in Elgin to clean house with suplexes, followed by a fireman’s carry to Taven and Bennett at the same time. Cole’s kick to the ribs doesn’t break it up again so Elgin swings their legs around to hit Adam in the face. The Kingdom takes them down again and Bennett loads up a Backpack Stunner with Taven adding a running boot to the face for two.
Red Dragon dives on Cole and Bennett, leaving Elgin to powerbomb Taven onto all four of them. Back in and a superbomb gets two on Taven with Cole diving in for a save. Cole plants Elgin with the Canadian Destroyer and a big spike piledriver gets two so Kyle actually tags out to Kyle. Yeah tagging still exists in this thing. A guillotine choke has Cole in trouble but he has to settle for a Dean Ambrose rebound lariat, followed by Chasing the Dragon for the pin on Cole at 17:16.
Rating: C+. I had fun with this but I’m really not a fan of the big messy tag matches. These are basically ECW tag matches without the weapons, which isn’t something that’s really appealing for me. It’s certainly entertaining, but it’s nothing that I’m ever going to want to watch again. Well other than Maria of course.
Cole walks out on his partners to end the show.
Overall Rating: C+. I liked this show more than the previous few weeks because now I’m going to have a chance to get to know the Ring of Honor roster instead of some all star team they have. It’s good that there’s a continuing relationship with New Japan, but I’m glad that it’s limited instead of dominating the shows anymore. Fun episode this week and another shot that flew by.
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Ring of Honor – July 1, 2015: A Lesson To Wrestling Companies
Ring of Honor Date: July 1, 2015
Location: 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: King Corino, Kevin Kelly
We’re finally past the Global Wars stuff so it’s time for something actually Ring of Honor instead of a co-promoted show. Therefore tonight….it’s War of the Worlds, which is another Ring of Honor/New Japan co-promoted show from before Global Wars took place. They’re entertaining, but I’m more interested in their storylines instead of shows from two months ago. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Kelly promises fallout from Best in the World next week, meaning it’s FINALLY a new, all ROH show.
Addiction vs. Gedo/Kazuchika Okada
Addiction’s ROH World Tag Team Titles aren’t on the line, but they do insist on being called the World Tag Team Champions of the World. Gedo and Okada are part of the Chaos stable. Kaz and Gedo get things going with Gedo firing off some Flip Flop and Fly (with the punches missing) before it’s off to Okada vs. Daniels. The fans are split but Okada wins some points by teasing a big chop to the chest but stopping to gently pat him.
Gedo books his team into control with a poke to the eye but it’s quickly back to Kaz. The Addiction screws up to give Gedo a rollup (with tights) for two. At least Gedo is showing some personality here. He’s one of those guys where I just don’t get it so this is a mild improvement. Back from a break with Kaz putting Gedo in a freaky arm/leg hold but Daniels shoves the referee and almost gets in a fight with him, which might be an homage to Tommy Young boxing with Jim Cornette back in the day.
A top rope stomp to the chest gets two on Gedo but he grabs a quick Downward Spiral, finally allowing the hot tag to Okada. House is cleaned and the White Noise onto the knee gets two. Some double teaming slows Okada down until a double cross body gives us a breather. Back to Gedo for a jawbreaker and low superkick for two but Celebrity Addiction (belly to back into a gutbuster) is enough for the pin on Gedo at 14:41.
Rating: C+. This is where I get tired of Ring of Honor fans. The match was really nothing all that great, but Gedo and Okada are from Japan so the fans are going to act like this was one of the most amazing things they’ve ever seen. Yeah it was fine, but it was just a run of the mill tag match. Okada has his moments of awesome, but Gedo is just a guy for the most part.
Daniels takes the Rainmaker post match, and it’s still just a clothesline.
Adam Page vs. Watanabe
This is joined in progress. Watanabe takes him down with a neckbreaker and backdrops Page to the floor. Page backflips out of a German on the floor to prevent a broken….well probably multiple brokens, and a Colby Corino distraction lets Page mostly miss a shooting star off the apron. Back in and Page breaks up a half and half suplex but gets caught in a belly to back superplex. I’m still waiting on anything but a spot fest here. My suspicions are confirmed as Page hits his Right of Passage reverse piledriver for the pin at 4:54 shown.
Rating: D+. Well that happened. This is another good example of the problem with these shows: who are these people and why should I care? If you don’t follow New Japan, there’s very little reason to care about what these people are doing. I know both guys are young stars, but that’s about all I know of either guy. You could have any guy fill that role, and that’s not a good sign. The match certainly wasn’t bad, but I have no connection or reason to care about either guy and that hurts a lot.
AJ Styles vs. Adam Cole
Styles’ IWGP World Title isn’t on the line. They shove each other around and run their mouths a bit to start before Cole cranks on a weak armbar. Styles shrugs it off and comes back with an AA into a backbreaker to take over. A seated version of the Superman forearm (minus the springboard) gets two and the drop down into the dropkick sends Cole to the floor and us to a break. Back with Cole hitting a nice wheelbarrow suplex onto the apron for the first really cool spot of the match.
A knee to the face gets two for Cole and we hit the chinlock. Cole spits on the commentators and flips off the fans (censored) but AJ will have none of that and comes back with a torture rack powerbomb for two of his own. Corino thinks AJ is sexy. Ok then. Cole’s recently injured shoulder is sent into the corner but he superkicks AJ out of the air for two more. We hit the Figure Four and Corino is in full on fanboy mode. Fans: “THIS IS WRESTLING!” Oh shut up.
Styles makes the rope and kicks him to the floor as we take another break. Back with a VERY fast paced kick exchange, capped off by AJ missing the Pele and taking a low superkick for a near fall. A Canadian Destroyer doesn’t work very well so Cole busts out a Styles Clash for an even nearer fall. How exactly do you nearly fall anyway? Is it like slipping and catching your balance at the last minute? Now the Pele connects and AJ is mad enough to hit a kneeling piledriver and the Clash for the pin at 22:45.
Rating: B-. I liked the match and they picked it way up later in the show, but again this was more for people who are long time watchers of the show than a good initiation for new fans. I’ve seen enough of Cole to know he’s good (though not as good as he’s made up to be) but they didn’t do a great job of making me know that. Still though, good main event.
They shake hands to end the show.
Overall Rating: C+. The show was fun, but I’m REALLY not a fan of this style of show. Like I said, if you don’t know how things are going in Ring of Honor or New Japan, this was mainly just a collection of wrestlers having matches with no stories or anything to make me care about them. It was a fine show for an hour, but these guys really needed some video packages or promos to let us connect to them.
A lot of wrestling companies forget about how important it is to care about the wrestlers and think it’s all about the in ring action. You’re almost always going to be able to find better wrestling, but wrestlers you care about having good matches are far more interesting than wrestlers you don’t care about having a slightly better match. I’m really glad we’re finally moving forward next week, because this stuff is getting tiresome.
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Ring of Honor – June 24, 2015: Quality Meets Entertainment
Ring of Honor Date: June 24, 2015
Location: Ted Reeve Arena, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Attendance: 1,500
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, King Corino, Nigel McGuinness
It’s the final week of the Global Wars cycle, meaning next week it’s back to the full on Ring of Honor crew for the first time in this series. Tonight we’re getting appearances from some major New Japan stars, which should lead to some interesting pairings with the Ring of Honor guys. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Roderick Strong vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Strong is on a roll at the moment and is known as Mr. ROH. Nakamura is a huge star in New Japan and has amazing charisma. I’ve always been a Strong fan and Nakamura is one of the few New Japan guys who lives up to the hype he receives. Nakamura takes him down by the arm to start but Strong reverses into a key lock of his own. Back up and Strong nails some dropkicks but can’t put on a bow and arrow hold.
An Angle Slam gets two on Nakamura but he kicks Strong in the head and starts with his signature knee strikes. Another knee puts Strong over the barricade and we take a break. Back with Strong winning a slugout but falling to the mat. Strong is back up with a torture rack into a backbreaker though (he’s been called the Messiah of the Backbreaker), sending Nakamura to the ropes before the Strong Hold (Boston crab) can be locked in.
Instead it’s Nakamura slamming him down but missing the running knee (Bryan took it from him) and taking a jumping knee to the face. A backbreaker onto the top turnbuckle gets two as I’m digging the psychology in this one. His move is a back hold so work on the back. Why is that so complicated? A big forearm drops Strong and a jumping knee from the middle rope knocks him silly.
Strong is up first and grabs the Strong Hold, sending Nakamura into the ropes for a break. They slug it out again with Strong taking Nakamura’s head off with a running boot (Sick Kick) but a suplex backbreaker (I told you he knew a lot of them) only gets two. The running knee gets one on Strong and Nakamura can’t believe it. Granted he usually gyrates around like that so it’s hard to tell how mad he is. Strong hits another knee but Nakamura just blasts him with a knee/kick to the face for the pin at 17:05.
Rating: B+. This was a hard hitting wrestling match here and that’s the kind of stuff that Ring of Honor is shooting for. Strong is a big star in ROH but Nakamura comes off like a natural performer, which makes him stand out anywhere he performs. This was a fun match that again lived up to its hype, which is what Nakamura does best.
Michael Elgin vs. Gedo
Gedo is a smaller guy who also books New Japan. Elgin is a big power guy who can do other things to back it up. Gedo goes to the eyes to start but walks into a fall away slam for two. Things are going slowly due to Elgin’s eye but he’s still easily able to suplex him back in, complete with a count of thirty from the fans. They weren’t second of course but wrestling fans aren’t the most patient people in the world.
Elgin’s spinning Swanton misses and Gedo kicks him in the face for two. There’s always something to be said about keeping it simple. Elgin gets tired of this defense stuff though and buckle bombs Gedo, followed by a helicopter bomb (Elgin Bomb, one of my favorites) for the pin at 4:48.
Rating: D+. Yeah this wasn’t clicking. Elgin needs someone with more speed to get a decent match out of him and Gedo is more of a cheater than anything else. It doesn’t help that Gedo is pushing 50 and is really there more for his name than anything else. Not horrible, but it’s good that they kept this short.
Roppongi Vice/Kazuchika Okada vs. AJ Styles/Young Bucks
This is Chaos vs. Bullet Club with Vice being a tag team of (Trent) Baretta (with its 19,000 spellings) and Rocky Romero. The Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson) are the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions and Styles is IWGP Heavyweight Champion, making this champions vs. challengers. Styles and Okada get things going with AJ snapping off some armdrags before they trade victory rolls for two each. An early attempt at both finishers fails as well and it’s a standoff after a very fast start.
Off to Baretta vs. Nick for some missed superkicks before Matt and Rocky come in. The Bullet Club gets tired of waiting and cleans house with a single superkick. Yeah the Bucks REALLY like throwing superkicks. Baretta gets triple teamed but Romero comes in to break up a cover. The Bucks start their pretty slick double teaming before it’s off to Styles for a suplex into the corner. I like it when wrestlers do normal moves into different places. It’s simple yet still seems fresh, which is hard to do these days.
Back from a break with AJ taking Romero and Okada off the apron to prevent a tag, so Trent whips out a tornado DDT for the tag to Romero. Rocky cleans house by dropkicking AJ off the apron and hurricanranaing both Bucks at the same time. Matt nails a superkick to slow him down but Rocky pops off the ropes and hits a clothesline to put both guys down. Okada and Styles come in off another double tag with Okada taking over in a hurry. AJ comes back with his moonsault into a reverse DDT but Okada reverses into something like White Noise into a backbreaker.
Nick gets double teamed by Vice as everything breaks down. A Doomsday Device but with a running knee and on the floor, plants Nick but AJ plants Okada with Sunday Bloody Sunday (Prince Devitt’s old move, basically a one arm DDT brainbuster). Like so many Japanese stars, Okada isn’t interested in selling though and pops up with a tombstone. The Rainmaker (maybe the most overrated finisher I’ve ever seen. It’s a standing clothesline with theatrics) misses and Nick takes Okada to the floor with a tornado DDT which clearly didn’t connect.
Romero gets hung over the ropes for a swanton and More Bang For Your Buck (a quick series of dives) is broken up and Okada drops a top rope elbow on Nick. AJ’s springboard forearm (I love that move) takes Okada out again but Matt starts firing off even more superkicks, only to have Okada dropkick Styles down to break up the Clash on Romero.
All six slug it out and a triple superkick staggers Chaos. Okada again pops up and a double superkick/Pele combo and a spike piledriver into a flipping spike tombstone (the Meltzer Driver. Yes that Meltzer) puts him right back down, followed by a double superkick into a Styles Clash on Baretta for the pin at 17:25.
Rating: B. Here’s the thing: this match was not a very well done match. It was sloppy at times, the “fighting spirit” thing still comes off as a way to not have to sell, the flips are borderline meta, the move is actually called the Meltzer Driver, Kelly has to shout SUPERKICK every single time one connects, the tagging part was forgotten halfway through (and no that’s not an ROH thing. It annoys me when every company does it) and the fans cheering for the heels is always annoying because they’re cool heels instead of trying to do, like, heel stuff.
However, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t an incredibly entertaining match. This was fun throughout with everyone moving all over the place and having a great time out there. Yeah it’s a spot fest, but that normally means it’s entertaining. Styles continues to be on another planet since going to Japan and this was no exception. Really fun main event here, albeit with issues I’ll likely be insulted for pointing out.
Overall Rating: A-. This show was a really good example of balancing good wrestling and entertainment, but again, they have the problem of New Japan leaving next week. However, this was a good way to get the fans in the tent, which is going to keep them coming back later. In theory at least. This was definitely the best show they’ve put on so far, which is a very good sign after just a few weeks. Really fun hour here with all wrestling and no story, which can work every now and then.
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Ring of Honor – June 17, 2015: I’m Starting To Get It
Ring of Honor Date: June 17, 2015
Location: Ted Reeve Arena, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Attendance: 1,500
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, King Corino
It’s week three of Global Wars and this show will feature the debuts of some major New Japan stars. The big story continues to be the battle of the Jays as Lethal and Briscoe get ready for their showdown at Best in the World 2015. There’s only one more week after this before we get to something fresh so let’s get to it.
We open with……the opening sequence. Makes sense.
Decade vs. War Machine
War Machine is Hanson/Ray Rowe, a pair of monsters who look like vikings with foot long beards. Decade is BJ Whitmer/Adam Page here. The fans tell Whitmer to shut up but he reminds them that the microphone is a lot louder than they are. Whitmer doesn’t think King Corino learned his lesson a few weeks back, so Colby Corino, who remember is 18 years old and might weigh 180lbs, is his replacement.
Rowe starts with Page, who immediately tags in Colby. Corino gets right in Rowe’s face and slaps him, setting up a tag to Hanson. Rowe tags out and a big side slam plants Colby down. Back to Rowe for a nice backbreaker into a gutbuster into a powerbomb on Colby. Rowe throws Colby over to Page but Page won’t tag. A belly to back suplex/guillotine legdrop finally ends Corino at 2:12. This was an angle instead of a match and I’m starting to get into this, even though I’m not entirely familiar with Corino vs. the Decade’s backstory.
Here’s Cedric Alexander, who has been on a losing streak lately after being billed as a breakout star last year. He has to start getting some wins, and he wants to start with the undefeated Moose. Here’s his chance.
Moose vs. Cedric Alexander
Moose has Stokely Hathaway and the very lovely Veda Scott. Cedric’s dropkick has little effect as the huge Moose slams him down but misses a splash. They head outside with Cedric escaping a slam and sending Moose into the post. Back in and Moose hits a nice dropkick of his own to put Alexander on the floor and us on a break. We come back with Cedric hitting a big dive to the floor, followed by a nice springboard tornado DDT for two.
That’s not cool with Moose who takes his head off with a hard clothesline, followed by some hard chops. Cedric comes right back with a bunch of dropkicks in the corner but Moose spears him down. Both guys are in trouble and Veda slips Moose a wrench. He isn’t interested in using it, so Cedric takes it away and blasts Moose in the head for the pin, giving Moose his first loss at 9:05.
Rating: D+. The match was back and forth but what in the world are they thinking with the booking? Moose is less than a week away from a #1 contenders three way on pay per view and you give him his first loss on the go home show? This is a very bad choice in booking and they really need to think these things out. I do not get this, but I’m assuming it leads to Veda leaving Moose.
Matt Sydal/ACH vs. Tetsuya Naito/Hiroshi Tanahashi
Sydal is formerly known as Evan Bourne, ACH is a high flier and Tanahashi is basically the John Cena of Japan. The Japanese guys won’t shake hands to start, in theory making them heels here, even though an ROH crowd isn’t going to boo a star like Tanahashi. Sydal and Tanahashi trade go behinds to start until Matt takes him down for a standing moonsault. A double tag brings in Naito and ACH with the fans being split. They take their time to start until Naito slugs him down in the corner to take over.
ACH avoids a clothesline and does some unnecessary flips before dropkicking Naito in the face. Tanahashi knees ACH in the back and throws him into the barricade as we take a break. Back with Tanahashi missing a middle rope swanton but still preventing a hot tag. We hit the chinlock from Naito as I’m struggling to find things to say here. There’s no real story here other than company vs. company and the announcers aren’t giving me any information about any of the four guys.
Naito sends him into the corner for a basement dropkick. ACH finally counters a hurricanrana and makes the hot tag to Sydal, who comes in to clean house. In a nice counter, Sydal loads up the standing moonsault but Tanahashi is waiting on him with a German suplex. ACH fires off a bunch of kicks to Tanahashi and a clothesline for two. A German suplex from ACH gets the same and he mocks Tanahashi’s air guitar. Tanahashi puts on his Texas cloverleaf but Naito tagged himself in. Granted the referee didn’t seem to notice, leaving ACH to have to grab a rope.
The New Japan guys break up Sydal’s Asai moonsault but ACH hits a big dive to take both of them down. Back in and ACH hits a kind of springboard downward spiral to Tanahashi, followed by Sydal’s shooting star for two. Now it’s ACH going up top for a 450 but Tanahashi seemingly got the knees up. A sling blade sets up the High Fly Flow (frog splash) to give Hiroshi the pin at 11:12.
Rating: C+. Fun match but it got a bit messy near the end. I still don’t get why they’re trying to make all the Japanese guys heels when they’re naturally faces for the most part, especially with fans like the ROH crowd. Still though, good enough match here and it got the crowd going like it was supposed to.
It’s time for the contract signing, as run by ROH match maker Nigel McGuinness. TV Champion Jay Lethal is up first with World Champion Jay Briscoe following him up. Briscoe is flanked by his brother Mark and for a pair of rednecks, I’m really not feeling shirts with Twitter handles on the front. Both guys sign up and McGuinness talks about how this is the biggest match in ROH history.
Lethal would love to flip the table and beat Briscoe down right now, but he’d rather have Briscoe at his best. Notice that Lethal repeats the date of the show instead of just saying “at Best in the World”. Briscoe promises to beat Lethal so bad that Lethal has to become Black Machismo again and those are fighting words. The belts are held up for a big jawing session to end the show.
Overall Rating: C+. I’m looking forward to getting through this Global Wars stuff as it’s really taking away from the ongoing stories. Instead of a bunch of Ring of Honor stuff, we’re getting a meaningless series of matches which don’t make either promotion look better than the other. They did a good go home build to the title vs. title match though, which I liked a lot better than anything else on the series so far. Good episode, but I’m looking forward to the first regular ROH show.
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Ring of Honor – June 10, 2015: Thy Kingdom Come Home
Ring of Honor Date: June 10, 2015
Location: Ted Reeve Arena, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Attendance: 1,500
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, King Corino
It’s still Global Wars Night 2 here with more matches taped back in May. We’ve still got two weeks before we get to any shows that have been taped after the Destination America deal was announced. Also, Best in the World 2015 is coming soon, which means the Battle of the Belts with Jay Briscoe’s World Title vs. Jay Lethal’s TV Title. Let’s get to it.
We open with the Addiction saying Red Dragon is finally getting their shot after all their whining and complaining, but tonight they get what they ask for, even though they’re right where the champions want them. Red Dragon has seen what they’ll do to win these titles, so what would they do to keep them?
Opening sequence.
Bobby Fish of Red Dragon has been attacked outside the arena. Not that we get to see it or anything but at least it was mentioned.
Here’s Addiction to open things up in the arena, even though they’re scheduled in the main event. Since Fish is out, there’s no title shot because the contract says against Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish. Daniels offers a shot right now and here’s O’Reilly to fight on his own.
Tag Team Titles: Kyle O’Reilly vs. Addiction
Kyle slugs away on Daniels and Kazarian to start and chops Daniels in the corner before ducking a clothesline from Kazarian, sending him into his partner instead. The numbers finally catch up to him though and a High/Low gives the champions control. I’ve always liked that move. It’s Kazarian starting for the team but it’s quickly back to more double teaming as the champions cheat like heels should be doing.
Kyle sends Daniels to the apron for more miscommunication and everyone heads to the floor with Daniels being sat in a chair. Kazarian is sent head first between Daniels’ legs, setting up a running dropkick off the apron to knock both champions out of the chair. The fans are way into this as you would expect. Back in and Kyle rolls some butterfly suplexes into a cross armbreaker but Daniels comes in with the title belt for the DQ at 4:16.
Rating: C+. I was digging this way more than I was expecting as Kyle kept it going as fast as he could, which is why a four minute match was the best thing they could have done. This felt like an angle instead of a match and there’s nothing wrong with that. This was the kind of energetic opener than was a good option to kick the show off and much better than the Kushida match last week.
Addiction beats Kyle down post match but Matt Sydal and ACH come out for the save.
We recap the ending to last week’s show and see Donovan Dijak hitting the reverse AA into a GTS on Mark Briscoe. That’s a cool move, but it shouldn’t take three tries for us to see it connect.
Mark says he’s going to initiate Dijak into this company and give him a beating. There’s something about ostriches vs. chickens in there too.
Dalton Castle vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
I’ve seen Castle wrestle before and really didn’t think he was as great as people say he is. His entrance is good but there’s almost nothing in the ring to back it up. I’m going to assume you know who Liger is. Castle offers a handshake to start and Liger isn’t sure how to respond. I think we’re in for a comedy match here. Both guys give us clean breaks against the ropes and the ROH fans are already calling this awesome. No, not really no.
The surfboard has Castle in early trouble but since it can only last a few seconds, Castle is able to throw Liger to the floor. Liger ducks what was going to be a dive but Dalton struts around the ring instead. They head outside with Castle being whipped into the apron for a 619 under the bottom rope and back out for a hurricanrana (ok that was sweet) as we take a break. Back with Liger backdropping him to the floor and baseball sliding him into the barricade, setting up a flip dive off the apron.
Liger asks for Castle’s peacock men to come in the ring to steal Castle’s pose, which actually was awesome. An annoyed Dalton comes back in to suplex Liger down and strut into a falling splash. We hit a front facelock and chinlock on Liger for a bit as things slow down as they should. Back up and it’s a double clothesline to give us another tried and true spot. Liger’s top rope hurricanrana gets two but his top rope splash hits knees. The Liger Bomb gets two more and the brainbuster is enough to pin Castle.
Rating: B-. Now that was actually entertaining from Castle. To be fair the other match I saw had him in TNA so maybe I can just blame them for screwing up someone else as is their custom. Castle is a good comedy guy and could go somewhere in the midcard if they build him up in the right way. Liger is always worth a quick look.
They shake hands post match and it’s still cool to hear Liger’s music.
Liger wishes Cheeseburger luck in his match and gives him a quick palm strike (Liger’s signature) demonstration.
Bob Evans vs. Cheeseburger
This is a grudge match between former partners. Evans is an older guy who wears trunks way too small for him and laid out Cheeseburger after a loss. Cheeseburger is a tiny guy who is treated as a huge underdog. We start fast with Cheeseburger kicking him out to the floor but eating a right hand to put the small guy down in a hurry. Cheeseburger dives off the apron to take him down and avoids a charge into the barricade.
Something resembling a swanton off the barricade doesn’t quite crush Bob (Cheeseburger couldn’t crush a sandcastle. Or a Dalton Castle) and he runs Cheeseburger over back inside. A tornado DDT across the top rope gives Cheeseburger an opening and the Seth Rollins springboard knee to the head sends Bob to the apron. That’s fine with Evans as he picks Cheeseburger out of the air and side slams him through a table on the floor for a HUGE crash and a no contest at 2:55. Fans: “REST IN PEACE!” They packed a lot of stuff into a short amount of time here and that’s the right idea with something like this.
Jay Lethal is ready for his contract signing next week and wants Jay Briscoe to bring his pen.
Jay Briscoe tells Lethal to just sign his name next week.
Addiction vs. Red Dragon in a No DQ match at Best in the World.
Kingdom vs. Bullet Club
The Bullet Club is the top heel stable in New Japan but they’re insanely popular anywhere else. This is ROH vs. New Japan again with Matt Taven/Michael Bennett (with Maria Kanellis, who is absolutely gorgeous and looks even better in person) vs. Doc (Luke) Gallows/Karl Anderson. The Kingdom’s IWGP Tag Team Titles aren’t on the line because this isn’t a New Japan show and those belts should be meaningless but they’re from Japan so they’re cool right? Gallows’ face paint, which looks like a black and white stripe prison uniform, looks awesome.
Anderson, who has issues with Maria, goes after her to start but gets cut off by Maria’s husband Bennett. Taven is left alone in the ring and dives onto Bullet Club, who are referred to as the internet darlings. Bennett adds a flip dive off the apron as the ROH contingent is in full control early on. Taven tries to dive off the middle rope but gets caught in a cutter from Anderson, followed by Gallows dropping Bennett on the apron as we take a break.
Back with Bennett in trouble and taking a Brogue Kick from Anderson. A running boot to the face drops him again as this is one sided. Taven crawls back to the apron as a reverse 3D plants Bennett, only to have Taven come off the top with a splash on Anderson to get a breather. The Kingdom fights back with a double dropkick to Gallows and a superkick/spear combo to Gallows. Taven misses a high cross body though and everything breaks down with Anderson and Bennett shoving the referee for the double DQ at 9:38.
Rating: C. Fun match here to set up the six man between the teams and a partner each at Best in the World. There’s a story involved with Anderson having a thing for Maria but it never really went anywhere here. Anytime she’s out there it’s a good thing though as she looks great but is also awesome at being a heel valet.
Post match Bennett is about to be slammed onto chairs but Maria offers a distraction, only to have Bennett eat a cutter and Taven to take the slam through the chairs instead.
Overall Rating: C+. I had a good time with this show and found it much more entertaining than the previous week’s episode. It was more about the in ring action, which has always been one of ROH’s selling points. Instead of just having a bunch of Japanese guys, it focused more on the homegrown talent, which is a better way of getting fans used to the product rather than just talking about guys who aren’t going to be around in a few weeks.
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Ring of Honor – June 3, 2015: Wake Me For The Real Debut
Ring of Honor Date: June 3, 2015
Location: Ted Reeve Arena, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Attendance: 1,500
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, King Corino
So this show just debuted on Destination America as a lead-in to Impact Wrestling. I’m not the biggest Ring of Honor fan in the world but I do have a passing knowledge of the promotion. I’m not sure how long I’m going to do this for but I’ll knock out the first few weeks of it at least. Let’s get to it.
Keep in mind that this isn’t supposed to be a special debut episode as it was taped before the Destination America deal was announced, meaning it’s hard to know what we’re getting here. However, apparently these matches are from the Global Wars two day event.
This show originally aired over the last weekend in May, depending on when your area gets the Sinclair syndicated feed.
The Briscoe Brothers (the best Mark and World Champion Jay) are ready for the House of Truth tonight and Mark Briscoe is about as psychotic as you can ask him to be, which gives you a good introduction to the promotion.
Opening sequence. Nothing out of the ordinary here.
The announcers talk about the Best In The World pay per view on June 19 with a main event of TV Champion Jay Lethal vs. World Champion Jay Briscoe in a title vs. title match.
Will Ferrara vs. Kushida
This is ROH vs. New Japan. One encouraging note here: we’re three minutes in and we know our main event tonight, the PPV main event and our opening match. That’s efficient stuff for an hour long show. Kushida kicks Ferrara down to start but Will comes back with a quick neckbreaker for two. Back up and Kushida fights out of a fireman’s carry before kicking Ferrara in the head.
Kushida bails to the floor and eats a suicide dive into a DDT for a nice crash. They head back in with Will nailing a running elbow in the corner but getting caught in a Fujiwara armbar. A big moonsault gets two on Ferrara and he slaps on a Kimura (apparently called the Hover Board Lock as Kushida is one half of the Time Splitters tag team. It’s a Back to the Future reference in case you have bad taste in movies) for the submission at 5:14.
Rating: C. Glorified squash here and a good way to get the fans used to the New Japan partnership, even though they won’t be around much longer after this show. The match was fine but it was clear that Ferrara was in way over his head. Not a bad match but there’s only so far you can go in a five minute match with one guy so far ahead of the other.
The Addiction (Kazarian and Christopher Daniels) say they’ll give Red Dragon a title shot next week and only next week.
Silas Young vs. Takaaki Watanabe
These two split after a tag match at Global Wars Night One. Young is billed as the Last Real Man in Professional Wrestling. They slug it out to start with Young elbowing out of a German suplex attempt. That’s fine with Watanabe as he plants Silas with a belly to back suplex. Now the German suplex connects and the fans are entirely behind Watanabe.
A superplex attempt doesn’t work so well though and Silas nails a middle rope clothesline for a delayed two. Back up and a running neckbreaker plants Young before a clothesline puts him on the floor. Another German on the floor knocks Silas silly but can only get two back inside. Young shrugs it off, grabs an airplane spin of all things and lays Watanabe out with a TKO for the pin at 6:20.
Rating: D+. Well that exists. There’s nothing else for me to say here as I have no idea why I’m supposed to care about either guy and the match was nothing interesting. Young has a decent enough character but, as is the case with almost every guy from New Japan, I have almost no reason to care about them. If the wrestling isn’t great, there isn’t much to see otherwise.
BJ Whitmer vs. Moose
Whitmer is part of the Decade, a stable of veterans, and has a young boy (basically a servant) named Colby Corino (son of commentator King (Steve) Corino). The undefeated Moose is a monster in the vein of Ahmed Johnson. Whitmer grabs the mic and says he knows he can destroy Moose, but he’ll let Colby do it instead. This is Colby’s in ring debut.
Colby Corino vs. Moose
Whitmer tells Colby, who looks like he’s about 14, to prove that he’s more of a man than his father ever was. Colby slaps the monster in the face to start and Moose takes him to the floor for a big swing, sending Colby back and forth into the barricade. A wicked powerbomb onto the apron sets up a powerbomb on the floor and Colby is somehow still alive. Back in and one foot on the chest gives Moose the pin at 2:44.
Jay Lethal freaks out over having to fight the Briscoes tonight but manager Truth Martini says don’t worry about it.
Donovan Dijak/J. Diesel vs. Briscoe Brothers
There are far too many people in this company named Jay. Dijak and Diesel are part of the House of Truth heel stable. Lethal sits in on commentary as Dijak drives Mark into the corner, only to eat a forearm to the face. Back up and Mark does the Karate Kit crane pose but both guys have kicks blocked, only to backflip out for a cool visual.
Off to Diesel who starts throwing punches (Golden Gloves background apparently) and Mark quickly tags out. Diesel beats up the World Champion as well, only to have Jay take J into the corner for a boot choke. Back to Mark for two off a Russian legsweep as Lethal mocks Jay’s custom World Title. The House of Truth takes Jay into the corner for a quickly broken up double team before it’s off to Mark for redneck kung fu (seriously).
Martini offers a distraction so Dijak can kick Mark off the top rope for two and we take a break. Back with Dijak catching Mark in midair and driving knees into the ribs for two. Off to Diesel for a fall away slam but Mark fights out of the corner and flips over for a tag to his brother. Jay cleans house and everything breaks down, setting up a Doomsday Device on Diesel for the pin at 11:18.
Rating: C+. Best match of the night by far, but at the end of the day you can only have so much interest in a prospect like Dijak and a glorified puncher in Diesel against the best tag team in company history. It was a fairly obvious ending but the Briscoes are good enough to make it work.
Post match Dijak hits something like a GTS (camera missed most of it) on Mark. Lethal comes in to go after Jay but eats the Jay Driller (double underhook piledriver) to end the show.
Overall Rating: D+. Wellllllll……..this is a hard one to grade. To begin with, this wasn’t supposed to be a debut episode as the Destination America deal came up out of nowhere. The Global Wars shows are going to take a few weeks to get through before we get down to what should be considered the real debut. That being said, this isn’t the worst show ever but it’s really just kind of there. The wrestling was forgettable, the stories aren’t the most interesting (I’ve never cared about Jay Lethal. I just don’t get it) and this didn’t feel like anything interesting. I’ll keep watching for a few weeks but they’ll need to pick it up a bit.
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ROH Best in the World 2014: I Can’t Think Of A Title But It’s A Good Show
Best in the World 2014
Date: June 22, 2014
Location: Tennessee State Fairground Sports Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
Attendance: 1000
Commentators: Steve Corino, Kevin Kelly
This company’s fans are loyal if nothing else. I get a lot of requests for ROH shows and this is the latest one that people have been asking for. This was their debut on regular PPV and the show has gotten some rave reviews. I do tend to like ROH when I sit down and watch it and I had a great time at Supercard of Honor. Hopefully this is just as good, though I’m worried it’s going to have issues living up to its praise. Let’s get to it.
We open with a video of various ROH stars and a voiceover talking about how great you have to be in Ring of Honor. Everyone says it’s about being the best and World Champion Adam Cole says “in the world”. Not bad.
Kelly and Corino welcome us to the show.
ACH vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Caprice Coleman vs. BJ Whitmer vs. TaDarius Thomas vs. Watanabe
This is a Six Man Mayhem match, meaning two men in the ring and one at every corner with lucha rules, where someone going to the floor allows someone else to replace him just like a tag. The winner gets a future TV Title shot. Whitmer and Thomas are both part of the Decade stable and have ring boy Adam Page in their corner. Ciampa and ACH get things going with Ciampa getting annoyed at ACH’s nipups. ACH misses a kick to the head but has to avoid a big knee to the head, drawing some applause.
Watanabe comes in without a tag but shoves Ciampa to the floor to make it legal. ACH sends Watanabe outside so Coleman comes in, only to have Thomas tag himself in. Both guys miss kicks until Thomas kicks ACH in the head, earning himself a dropkick to the floor. Whitmer comes in to jump ACH and chop away but ACH heads outside to give us Ciampa vs. Thomas. Tommaso suplexes him to the floor but follows him out, leaving us with Watanabe vs. ACH. This is moving too fast and nothing is having time to build.
Everyone heads outside and ACH loads up a dive but Whitmer breaks it up. The fans are ALL OVER him for stopping their fun. The Decade takes over as things finally slow down a bit. Watanabe pushes the referee for trying to stop him in the corner before going to a claw on ACH. Back to Whitmer who runs into a kick to the face, allowing ACH to tag in Coleman. Thomas comes in with a hurricanrana to Ciampa as everything breaks down.
Coleman hooks a double northern lights suplex on Watanabe and Thomas but Ciampa breaks up the pin. Watanabe and Ciampa do the forearm slugout before Ciampa hits something like White Noise for two. Whitmer breaks it up but ACH nails a double stomp to his back. ACH kicks some people to the floor but Whitmer powerslams him to break up another big dive. Watanabe suplexes Whitmer for two with Coleman making a save. Project Ciampa (powerbomb into a backstabber) plants Coleman and gets two on ACH as the Decade makes another save.
Whitmer and Thomas are legal and BJ is fine with suplexing his stablemate. Coleman comes in off the top with a top rope Rough Ryder, only to have Watanabe nail him with a running clothesline. Ciampa hits a running knee to Watanabe in the corner before diving on everyone not named ACH and Coleman. Now Coleman dives on all of them, leaving ACH to hit a HUGE springboard swanton onto the pile. He pops up and throws former partner Thomas back in for a 450 and the pin.
Rating: C. It’s fun and the big spots at the end were good but there was WAY too much stuff going on here and it was just a huge mess for the sake of having a spotfest. That being said it was entertaining and the kind of fun match it was supposed to be. ACH seems to be a solid in ring guy and more than just flips so there may be some potential there.
We recap Jay Lethal vs. Matt Taven. This is mainly about Lethal’s manager Truth Martini, who took Taven to the TV Title before they split. Martini sided with Lethal and tried to ruin Taven’s career, so Taven did the old “put on a mask and beat the other guy to prove your worth” deal, though the mask came off during the match. Martini will be handcuffed to the post tonight.
TV Title: Matt Taven vs. Jay Lethal
Lethal is defending of course and has some chick named Seleziya Sparx in his corner. It takes forever to get Truth handcuffed. We finally get going with Taven nailing some chops to put the champion down. Taven tries to go after Martini but Lethal makes a quick save. Back in and Lethal totally misses an enziguri but Matt goes outside anyway. They chop it out on the floor before heading back inside for something resembling a Blue Thunder Bomb from Taven.
Matt goes after Martini again, allowing Lethal to nail him with a baseball slide for two. The champion puts on the chinlock until Taven comes back with an enziguri (actually connecting) of his own. A backbreaker gets two more for Matt but his bulldog driver is countered into the Lethal Combination.
Lethal follows up with a Macho Elbow for two but Taven escapes the Lethal Injection and nails another enziguri. A brainbuster gets two and Lethal hits the floor for three straight suicide dives. Taven picks up a chair and goes after Martini but Truth hands the head of security a wad of cash. That earns the security guy a superkick but Sparx breaks Martini’s handcuffs, allowing him to escape. Back in and the Lethal Injection retains Jay’s title.
Rating: C-. This was more about the manager than anything else but we didn’t get the payoff just yet. I still don’t care for Lethal all that much and the Injection is one of the dumbest looking moves I’ve seen in years. Taven isn’t much either but the match was exciting enough, mainly due to keeping things moving like they did.
We recap Cedric Alexander vs. Roderick Strong. This is a feud over respect with the Decade not caring for Alexander standing up to them. They’ve beaten him down time after time but Alexander won’t quit. Therefore, tonight we have a submission match. Cedric is very weak on the mic and made me feel like he was scared of Strong.
Cedric Alexander vs. Roderick Strong
Submission match. Strong, with Page and Thomas from earlier, is aggressive to start but Cedric is able to keep up with him on the mat, sending us to a standoff. Alexander nails a hard dropkick, only to have Strong put a knee in his ribs. A clothesline puts Strong on the floor and Cedric mostly misses a suicide dive. Cedric hammers away but gets backdropped onto the apron in a sick looking landing.
Back in and Strong puts on a reverse chinlock to stay on the spine. That goes nowhere because it’s a reverse chinlock so Strong plants him with a suplex. Alexander gets all fired up and puts Strong in a fireman’s carry before throwing him into the air for a kick to the head. A series of headbutts and a dropkick send Strong outside and Cedric follows with a dive but only hits the ring boys.
Back in and a springboard DDT sets up a guillotine choke on Roderick but he makes a rope. They trade enziguris with Alexander getting the better of it. He hits a few running dropkicks in the corner to set up a dragon sleeper and Strong is in trouble. Page has the towel ready but Strong saves himself with knees to the head. A superplex plants Alexander again and Strong goes nuts with forearms to the head. He loads up his fireman’s carry backbreaker but Alexander counters into a double underhook neck crank.
Cedric has him in big trouble….so he lets go of the hold for some reason. Both guys go up and fall out to the floor and it’s Strong up first. Alexander kicks away from the Strong Hold (Boston crab) so Strong tries a top rope Pedigree. Cedric counters that into a backbreaker onto the top turnbuckle and a quick Strong Hold makes Roderick tap.
Rating: C+. This was a hard hitting brawl with both guys playing their rolls well enough. The story works with Strong being cocky by going with the same stuff he’s always used and Alexander never giving up and using Strong’s own move against him. Solid stuff here and probably the best match of the night so far.
Strong still won’t shake Alexander’s hand.
We recap Matt Hardy/Mike Bennett vs. the Briscoe Brothers. Hardy and Bennett cost Jay Briscoe the World Title at Supercard of Honor, so Cole gave Hardy Briscoe’s custom title. Matt put his picture on the belt and named it the Iconic Title. Tonight is the showdown with Jay’s brother Mark helping his family.
Briscoes vs. Mike Bennett/Matt Hardy
Maria, basically wearing a swimsuit, is with Bennett and Hardy. For some reason, actor Nick Searcy comes out with Hardy as well. Corino is a HUGE Hardy fan, almost to the point of being an MF’er. Mark and Mike get things going and the brothers quickly stomp Bennett down in the corner. Mike finally comes back with a dropkick and tags in Matt. The heels start working on Mark’s arm and a double suplex gets two. Mark dives over to make the tag off to Jay. He finally gets his hands on Hardy and everything breaks down.
Jay hammers on Matt outside but Searcy gets in a cheap shot on Briscoe from behind. Unfortunately Searcy isn’t the biggest guy in the world but it’s enough to get Matt a breather. Back in and Jay pounds in right hands to Hardy’s head before nailing a few neckbreakers. With Matt in trouble, Bennett comes in with the Iconic Title to Jay’s head for the lame DQ.
No rating yet as the Briscoes listen to the fans and want to restart the match. Matchmaker Nigel McGuinness comes out and says let’s keep this going with No DQ. The Briscoes couldn’t be happier and the chairs start coming into the ring. McGuinness comes in on commentary as the brothers are cleaning house. Mark drop toeholds Bennett face first into a chair but Maria trips Mark up, allowing Mike to hit him in the head with a chair.
Bennett pelts the chair at Mark’s head and collapses from exhaustion. Matt brings out a ladder and the fans think this is awesome. Bennett hits a Side Effect on Mark on the floor as Jay hits an AA on Matt, driving him through two chairs in the ring. A suplex sends Matt into the ladder against the ropes to put him on the floor. Mark drops the Cactus Jack elbow and everyone is down. The Briscoes are up first and hit a Doomsday Device to Bennett on the floor. Nice twist on the move there.
Back in and Matt hits Jay with Searcy’s Peabody Award for two. Mark goes after Searcy and ends him with a Froggy Bow (frog splash elbow). The Briscoes aren’t done yet and load up the Doomsday Device, only to have Maria make a save. Matt hits the Twist of Fate for two on Jay before setting up a table and ladder in the ring. Mark takes Bennett to the floor and drives him through a table with another Froggy Bow. Back in the ring Matt is climbing the ladder but Mark sprays him with a fire extinguisher, allowing Jay to superplex him through a table. The Jay Driller is enough to pin the unconscious Hardy.
Rating: B-. This was basically a TLC match minus the title to pull down. They did the big spots well enough and the crowd was WAY into it. The superplex was a good spot, but there wasn’t anything in there that hasn’t been topped before. It was entertaining, but not a masterpiece of any sort.
Maria takes the Iconic Title when Jay isn’t looking.
We look at Adam Cole and the Kingdom (Cole, Maria, Hardy and Bennett) cutting Elgin’s hair at a recent show. Elgin’s wife, wrestler Mschif, came out to beg for her husband, earning her a figure four from Cole.
I’m assuming we’re at intermission now as an interviewer talks to an NFL player that has signed to ROH. The player, now known as Moose, willing to work hard but Veda Scott interrupts and says she’ll handle the interviewer. See, they should have been talking about RD Evans’ New Streak, now at 122-0. Evans is in Osaka, Japan to collect more wins tonight but Scott is here to recruit Moose. He says they can talk about this later.
We recap Silas Young vs. Kevin Steen. Silas isn’t happy with Steen for “stepping away” (read as going to WWE) because Silas is a REAL MAN and he doesn’t like Steen leaving like a coward.
Kevin Steen vs. Silas Young
Steen hits him at the bell but Young bails outside before Steen can try his Cannonball in the corner. He sends Young hard into the barricade a few times but Silas comes back with forearms to the jaw. Back in and a big chop sends Young to the floor again but he counters an apron powerbomb. Steen gets kicked into the barricade and Young takes over with a clothesline to the back of his head.
We hit the chinlock on Steen for a bit before a neckbreaker gets two for Silas. Kevin fights up and hits a powerbomb out of nowhere to put both guys down. Silas comes back with a hard clothesline but ducks his head. Steen’s package piledriver attempt is countered with a good crotching for two. Something out of a fireman’s carry (WAY too popular of a move) is countered and Steen sends him into the buckle for the Cannonball. Even with a bad neck, Steen connects with a Swanton Bomb for two.
Young kicks him in the head and hits a rolling fireman’s carry but Steen avoids a springboard elbow drop. Another shot to the head has Steen in the corner for some quality trash talking, followed by another knee shot. Steen is in big trouble in the corner but he counters a superplex into something like a spinning superplex of his own. Silas is done but Steen Package Piledrives him anyway for the pin.
Rating: D+. This didn’t do it for me actually as we’ve done the physical stuff already. I get that it’s Steen’s style, but it’s coming right after the No DQ tag match and this was nowhere near as violent. The head injury stuff was fine but it only became a big issue for a few moments at the end. Not bad but it wasn’t the best.
Post match Steen praises Young and says he doesn’t have many matches left in this company. He’s looking forward to every minute he gets to spend here in the next month and a half, but he’s very happy that he got to wrestle Young on this stage. Young shakes his hand and leaves peacefully. Fans: “Please don’t go!” Steen: “He has to go. I’m not done yet!” Steen thanks the fans but Young comes in and decks him like a true villain should.
We go to the Fish Tank where Tag Team Champions Red Dragon talk about how much they love Appletinis and don’t like ROH bringing in old people to take their titles from them. Fish talks about his great great granddaddy fighting a war with a musket because he’s kind of out there.
Tag Team Titles: Christopher Daniels/Frankie Kazarian vs. Red Dragon
The champions are Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly. Kyle and Daniels get things going with the fans behind the Fallen Angel. They start on the mat with neither guy able to sustain an advantage. Kyle nails him in the back of the head but Daniels smacks him in the face to come back. A leg lariat puts O’Reilly down and brings in Kazarian for a double stomp and a near fall. Frankie armdrags Fish a few times and puts on an armbar to slow things back down.
Kaz drops a legdrop to the back of the head and brings Daniels back in for a gorgeous Lionsault. Fish finally gets in a right hand for a breather but Kyle walks right into a front facelock from Kaz. The champions finally get a breather though as Kazarian misses a charge into the post. Kyle immediately puts on an armbar before it’s back to Fish for the forearm exchange.
Back to the armbar for a bit before Kyle misses a knee drop. Fish’s distraction lets Kyle hook a standing guillotine, only to have Kazarian drop him down into a spinebuster. Bobby sprints around the ring to pull Daniels down to the floor to keep the champions in control. Fish stays on the arm but doesn’t stay on it well enough to prevent a tag to Daniels. Christopher cleans part of the house and everything breaks down.
A middle rope stomp to the chest puts Kyle down on the floor, setting up a big suicide dive. Daniels hits a slingshot Diamond Cutter on Fish but Bobby avoids the BME. There’s a Samoan drop to Daniels but he avoids a BME from Fish. Kaz comes back in with the slingshot DDT on Bobby but Kyle sweeps his legs out. Daniels hits a quick Blue Thunder Bomb on Kyle and Angel’s Wings on Fish but O’Reilly makes a last second save.
The champions send Daniels to the floor and into a chair next to the barricade, setting up back to back dropkicks from the apron in a brutal looking spot. Back in and Kazarian kicks Kyle in the head and nails the Flux Capacitor (top rope C4) but he lands on the arm. Fish pulls the referee out at the delayed two and the fans aren’t pleased. Chasing the Dragon (brainbuster with a kick to the head) gets two on Kazarian but a cross armbreaker makes Kaz tap.
Rating: B. This was a good but not great match. I still don’t get the massive appeal of Red Dragon though I do like their promos. Bad Influence wasn’t Bad Influence here and it brought things down a little bit. They went with a different style here and it worked, though not at the level people were hoping they would hit.
We recap Cole vs. Elgin. They met in the finals of the World Title tournament last September where Elgin had him pinned but the referee was down. Cole then turned heel and feuded with Jay Brisco for awhile before we could get back to this big showdown. Elgin wants to be remembered as one of the greatest ever and he has to win the title to do that.
ROH World Title: Michael Elgin vs. Adam Cole
Cole hasn’t done much for me yet but he’s growing on me. He charges at Elgin to start but gets taken down and hammered on the mat. The champ bails to the floor to make Michael chase him, allowing Cole to send him back to the floor. Adam loads up a dive but Elgin does the Samoa Joe step to the side. I love that. Michael blocks a chair shot and pops Cole with a right hand. He follows up with a running release powerslam on the ramp before taking the champion back inside.
Cole comes back with a jumping reverse neckbreaker (think an RKO with Elgin’s back to Cole) but takes too time going up. Elgin is slammed off the middle rope for two and we hit the chinlock. It doesn’t last long so Cole goes to the middle rope for a headscissors, only to get caught in a gutbuster for a nice counter. Elgin tries a string of power moves but can only hit a tiger suplex for two. A few kicks to the head get two for Adam but Elgin is able to lift him up from the mat into a suplex. Cole knees out of that in a great counter and suplexes Elgin onto his knee for two.
Elgin comes right back with a Crossface but Cole rolls him over for a cover to escape. The Cesaro dead lift superplex into a falcon’s arrow gets two on the champion. Cole counters the Elgin Bomb and tries a hurricanrana but has to counter a super Elgin Bomb to get it. The Florida Keys (arm tap German suplex) get a very close two for Cole. Michael is in trouble so he just kicks Cole in the face. Adam comes back with a superkick but it nails the referee instead.
A buckle bomb followed by the Elgin Bomb should have Cole beaten but there’s no referee. The Kingdom hits the ring for a beatdown but Michael picks them up for a Samoan drop/fall away slam at the same time. The smile on Elgin’s face made that even better. Elgin powerbombs Cole onto the Kingdom in a cool visual, sending Maria’s eyes bugging out of her head.
Maria slaps Elgin in the face, allowing Cole to try a Canadian Destroyer from the apron. Elgin counters that but Bennett hits him with the belt, allowing Cole to hit a German suplex on the floor. The tag team War Machine comes out to fight the Kingdom to the back and Michael barely beats the count back in. Maria throws the belt in, earning her some green mist from Elgin’s wife MsChif. The buckle and Elgin Bombs give us a near fall so close that the streamers come flying into the ring. Fans: “WE F’D UP!”
Cole comes back with a missile dropkick to the knee and wraps it around the post. There’s a Hart Breaker on the leg and Elgin is in trouble. Back in and Elgin rolls through a rollup into the Crossface but Cole hits him in the leg. Elgin’s leg is so banged up that he can’t charge for a clothesline. The middle rope Canadian Destroyer only gets two and the look on Cole’s face is great. He loads up another Destroyer but tries a sunset flip for a surprise. Elgin is ready for it though and counters into a triple powerbomb for the pin and the title.
Rating: B+. This was the kind of match they needed to make the show feel like a big deal, even though the ending was pretty clear about halfway through. They were following a classic formula here of throwing EVERYTHING at Elgin but having him hang through it all. I wasn’t wild about his knee being strong enough for three powerbombs at the end but I can live with it. Cole looked good too as he’s got a higher flying Bobby Roode style working for him right now. Really good match here.
Elgin celebrates to take us out.
Overall Rating: B-. I liked the show but it wasn’t the best I’ve ever seen from ROH. The main event is worth checking out but nothing else was really a blowaway match. There was good stuff on the show though, if nothing else due to the absence of a lot of ROH’s bad habits. The no selling and forearms were almost nowhere to be seen on this show and it made the show far less annoying. It’s a good show and a good first effort on PPV.
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