I usually don’t talk about these things but this is worth mentioning.Impact – 266,000 viewers
ROH – 227,000 viewers
ROH airs at 11pm and has already aired in syndication by the time it airs on Destination America. Now it’s within shouting distance of TNA’s new episodes. I know there was a debate last night as well as the World Series, but ROH is now close to even in viewers with Impact while airing a show that debuted in syndication days earlier. That’s not good for TNA no matter how you look at it.
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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And they’re not too bad.According to 411mania.com,
– Ring of Honor’s debut on Destination America are in. The episode scored 163,000 viewers and a 0.04 rating in the 18 – 49 demographic.
For those curious, the numbers are lower than Impact Wrestling’s Wednesday debut by 45% and 55%, respectively. Impact scored 232,000 viewers and a 0.09 demo rating.
A bright point for Ring of Honor is that their 11 PM replay scored 110,000 viewers and a 0.03 demo rating, compared to the 85,000 and 0.03 that last week’s 11 PM Impact replay did. Impact’s midnight replay scored 72,000 viewers and a 0.02 demo rating.
There are a few things to keep in mind:
1. This is second run programing for Ring of Honor as it already aired on their syndicated stations.
2. Ring of Honor has a far smaller national footprint than TNA. TNA was coming off a much bigger network while you could argue ROH has never been on the national stage (calling HDNet a national stage is as big a stretch as saying TNA is competent), meaning this was basically their national (as national as Destination America can be) debut.
3. With a show debuting on a new network, it’s common to see the numbers go up over the next few weeks as people find out about it.
All in all, this isn’t bad. There’s room for improvement, but if Ring of Honor closes the gap, TNA is in big, big trouble.
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.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of Complete Monday Nitro Reviews Volume III at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
So……..is it still a legal issue to say that TNA is in trouble? I mean, I know anything I say against TNA is just part of the massive conspiracy to hold them down because TNA has never done anything wrong in the history of ever and it’s all just people hating on them, but this doesn’t seem good does it?
Meltzer Says Impact Has Been Canceled
Obviously take this with a pound of salt, but allegedly Destination America has canceled the show and it’s done in September. Apparently the ratings have been strong but not strong enough to warrant the money put in. No word on if this is true or if it’s going to stand up going forward, but if there’s truth to this, TNA is in major trouble. Again.
New Column: Destination: Hope
Today we’re looking at TNA’s new home and how it might be a blessing in disguise as a bullet to the leg.