Ring of Honor
Date: August 31, 2016
Location: 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 850
Commentators: Matt Taven, Kevin Kelly

This is another show that’s only kind of related to the main stories but there’s a chance that we might get some new stuff this week. If nothing else there is a title match this week as the Addiction defends the Tag Team Titles against the Young Bucks. Last week’s stand alone show was good so hopefully they can continue that trend here. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Shane Taylor/Keith Lee vs. War Machine

Grudge match between two big teams. Kelly finally explains the story as Ray Rowe trained Taylor but Taylor turned on him and decided he was ready to be part of the better team. That’s a story that is going to work every single time and it’s fine here. Thankfully they don’t even bother wrestling here as it’s a huge brawl with Hanson dives onto Taylor, only to have Lee land on his feet to counter a monkey flip. The brawl heads outside with Lee and Hanson both being sent into barricades. War Machine starts getting the better of it with Rowe slamming Hanson onto Lee for a good looking crash.

Back in and Taylor slugs it out with Hanson, only to have Lee come over to really take over for the first time. We take a break and come back with Hanson on offense, only to get caught in something like a double chokeslam. A blind tag brings in Rowe and a springboard clothesline into a German suplex gets two on Lee. Rowe gets caught in an AA into a Jackhammer (that was SWEET) for two with Hanson making the save. Lee somehow kicks out of a sitout powerbomb and a suplex into a sitout powerbomb puts Hanson away at 11:28.

Rating: B. This was the PERFECT way to book this match and I liked it more than I was expecting to. There was no reason to waste time with the regular tag stuff so they just had two teams beat the heck out of each other with one big power move after another. Sometimes you need to switch up the booking and go with what makes sense and that’s exactly what we got here.

David Starr vs. Cheeseburger vs. Joey Daddiego vs. Tim Hughes

Bob Evans is on commentary and here’s BJ Whitmer to sit in on commentary. The four guys in the ring do nothing interesting as we hear about BJ going around the world and eating a positive cookie. Starr dives onto Hughes and Evans and Daddiego throws Cheeseburger onto them as well. Hughes takes forever to give Cheeseburger a side slam as Whitmer keeps saying it’s almost time.

The lights go out and we’re told that the new Purple Haze is coming. Back in the ring and……PUNISHER MARTINEZ IS BACK! House is cleaned for the no contest at 4:12 though we didn’t see enough to rate. To be fair it was just background noise so Whitmer could bring out Martinez. I’m really happy with this guy being back but PLEASE don’t let this be about Kevin Sullivan.

The Young Bucks promises a superkick party and kick the camera down.

Dalton Castle/The Boys vs. Cabinet

Coleman throws the Boys around so it’s off to Castle for a chest thrust-off. Dalton sends him outside and then launches the Boys over the top onto the Cabinet, hopefully breaking some of the doors and handle off the thing so it goes away for a long time. Back from a break with Boy #1 (the announcers’ words) getting triple teamed. King snaps #1’s throat across the top and it’s time for some twin magic, despite the Boys having different hair styles. The hot tag brings in Castle and of course everything breaks down. King kicks a lot and superplexes #2 to set up a guillotine legdrop/frog splash combo for the pin at 9:28.

Rating: D. The Cabinet couldn’t be less interesting if their lives depended on it. They don’t even have characters for the most part and it’s just a single idea that is tied into pop culture. You would expect that from WWE instead of a “smarter” company like Ring of Honor. The wrestling was watchable enough but I have no reason to care about the Cabinet and the live fans didn’t seem impressed either.

Adam Cole is sick of Kyle O’Reilly and knows he’s better because of the two World Title reigns.

Tag Team Titles: Addiction vs. Young Bucks

Veda Scott is on commentary. Addiction is defending and wait for the Bucks in the aisle. Therefore, since the Bucks are the best team ever, they sneak up on the Addiction, apparently just knowing the champs would be doing that. Daniels gets dropkicked in the face as we’re waiting on the opening bell. Some tables are set up at ringside and it’s Kazarian clotheslining the Bucks down to get a breather. A ladder is brought in as Veda suggests she could represent Taven on commentary if he gets even more injured.

Back from a break and I guess the bell rang while we were gone. Daniels breaks up More Bang For Your Buck by sending Nick off the top and through a table, followed by Matt slingshotting into a cutter for a near fall. Veda talks about the Bucks never beating the Addiction and that horrible voice makes it clear why she’s rarely allowed to talk.

Daniels and Kazarian hit back to back to back to back Lionsaults and spinning legdrops for no cover as the heel champions wrestle like heels and the “heels” wrestle like the faces they really are. Matt finally flips off the top into a cutter of his own as the Bucks take over again. Nick’s Swanton hits knees (feet but close enough) but Matt springboards into a DDT onto the apron to knock Kazarian silly. Hey, did you know that’s the hardest part of the ring?

Daniels comes right back with a suicide dive but Angel’s Wings is broken up with, you guessed it, a superkick. Cue Kamaitachi for a distraction but the Motor City Machine Guns come out (WAY too fast) for the save, only to have Nick dive onto the Guns. In the melee, Sabin accidentally hits Matt with the chair to give Daniels the pin at 9:15.

Rating: C. I’m not a fan of either team but it’s not like the tag division exactly has a lot of options at the moment anyway. The match was a bit more reined in than most Bucks match and I’m glad that they’re not going with the Bullet Club holding all of the titles at once, at least not so soon. I still have no idea why I’m supposed to care about Kamaitachi other than he has something to do with New Japan and they’re amazing or something.

Kevin Kelly calls this a travesty after talking about how the Bucks break the rules all the time. I’m not even going to bother complaining about it this time as you’ve heard it before.

Overall Rating: C+. I liked the opener and the booking of the main event was a nice plus so we can kind of overlook the boring Cabinet match. It also helps that the expectations are a bit lower because it’s not a regular show with major storyline development, leaving us with just the wrestling to carry things. Good enough show here as ROH is getting a lot more steady, which is a really important step.

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Ring of Honor
Date: March 16, 2016
Location: Nashville Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee
Attendance: 675
Commentators: Mr. Wrestling III, Kevin Kelly

Tonight is literally all about the tag division as we’ll be seeing the entire show containing one match. In this case it’s a seven team gauntlet match, which hopefully won’t include any thirty second falls. The winners here get a Tag Team Title shot at some point in the future, which could make for some entertaining action. Let’s get to it.

Tag Team Gauntlet

ReDRagon and Caprice Coleman/Will Ferrara (Together due to accepting Prince Nana’s envelopes over the last several, several months. Normally I would say they need to get things going with that story but I don’t remember the last story I cared less about so drop it already) get things going with Ferrara and O’Reilly starting us off. Kyle can’t get a Kimura in so he holds the arms to avoid a dropkick.

Ferrara gets punched down with ease, allowing ReDRagon to start taking their turns on him in the corner. Fish gets two off a belly to back but Will dives through the legs and gets the tag. Unfortunately it’s not the hottest tag because the fans realize they’re going to see six falls before the ending. Everything breaks down and Fish backdrops Ferrara over the corner, only to have Will come back in and get caught in Fish’s knee bar for the tap at 5:52.

The third team in is the House of Truth, comprised of Joey Daddiego/Chris Laruso. This seems to be Laruso’s debut, who is described as a martial artist and a lawyer. The action starts after a break with Chris armdragging Fish down for little effect. Bobby comes right back with another knee bar but Laruso is fast enough to get over to the ropes.

ReDRagon starts taking turns again as they tend to be quite efficient at doing, including O’Reilly pounding away with strikes to the head. Daddiego has to break up an arm hold as the fans are still dead silent for this. A powerbomb gets Joey out of a triangle choke and everything breaks down again. Laruso kicks Daddiego by mistake and Joey walks out, leaving Laruso to get kneed in the face and choked out by Kyle at 17:30 total, including entrances.

The Young Bucks are in fourth and tell ReDRagon to suck it to get things going. Fish and O’Reilly grab stereo ankle locks, only to get sent out to the floor, allowing us to get TOO SWEET and a double suicide dive. We settle down with O’Reilly throwing Matt’s kick into Nick’s leg, allowing him to dragon screw leg whip both of them at the same time. It’s stupid when Davey Richards does the DDT version and it’s stupid here too. Everything breaks down and Nick’s Swanton hits Fish’s knees.

Kyle and Nick start trading kicks on the floor, only to have O’Reilly counter a superkick with an ankle lock. We take another break and come back with Fish suplexing Matt for two. It’s back to Kyle, who gets caught with a spinning Diamond Cutter out of the corner. Cool looking spot, even if the flip wasn’t really necessary. Nick comes in off the hot tag and superkicks Fish, only to miss another Swanton. Kyle and Nick come in off the double tag for a double superkick from the Bucks. More Bang For Your Buck puts ReDRagon out at 35:56 total.

Brutal Bob Evans and Tim Hughes come in fifth, charge into a double superkick, and are knocked to the floor for the opening bell. Hughes and Evans stall on the outside until we get another double superkick. Some might say this is a one move team. Hughes gets inside for a slow motion side slam, only to have Nick superkick him in the jaw. Evans comes in for some sweet shin music, setting up ANOTHER double superkick. A corner powerbomb into an enziguri sets up the hanging swanton for the pin on Bob at 39:57.

Next up is the Addiction, who sneak in from behind to jump the Bucks. Kazarian and Daniels start things fast and of course charge into a superkick. Another superkick drops Kazarian and a third breaks up Angel’s Wings, allowing Matt to roll Daniels up for the pin at 43:30. Well that was quick.

Addiction beats the Bucks down again after the match as Roppangi Vice come in last. The Addiction beats them down too until Vice fights them off, allowing referees to break it up. The actual match starts fast with the Bucks taking a slight advantage before we go to a break. Back with Vice dropping Matt with a Doomsday Device off the apron with a knee instead of a clothesline. Well at least they’re moving fast out there. Vice’s double jumping knee to Nick’s face gets two and it’s off to a seated abdominal stretch.

Back up and Nick sends Romero to the floor before superkicking Trent off the apron. The hot tag brings in Matt but we take yet another break. Back with nothing having changed and Matt telling Romero to suck it. The Meltzer Driver is broken up (Kelly: “That’ll mess up the star rating.”) twice in a row with Nick getting crotched on top during the second counter. More Bang For Your Buck is broken up as well and Strong Zero puts Matt away at 53:29 total, giving Vice the title shot.

Rating: B-. I liked most of this but they definitely could have cut some stuff out. Stuff like Hughes and Evans or Coleman and Ferrara easily could have been excluded to give more time to the bigger pairs but I get why they wanted to get as many people into this as possible. ReDRagon starting things off was a good option and they’re even protected by only losing in their third fall. I could have gone for a different team than Vice winning but you take what you can get in something like this.

Vice celebrates a lot.

We end with a video hyping up next week’s Global Wars, including a clip of Okada/Nakamura vs. the Briscoes from last year.

Overall Rating: B-. These show long matches are hard to pull off but if you can get an entertaining match out of it, things are about as strong as they can be. This has nothing on Zayn vs. Joe from a last week but at least there was enough entertaining stuff here to keep the show moving at a fast pace. It’s nothing great or anything, though it accomplished something and set up a match later on so it’s not the worst idea.

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Ring of Honor
Date: February 24, 2016
Location: Nashville Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee
Attendance: 675
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Nigel McGuinness

We’re getting closer to the finals of the Top Prospect Tournament and hopefully we’ll get some build on the World Title feud this week. However, it’s also the start of a new taping cycle which means that this is the last week that will be taking place before the Anniversary Show airs on Friday. Therefore, the next few shows will be stand alone so enjoy the continuity while it lasts. Let’s get to it.

There’s a new set and the production values have gone way up.

TV Title: Roderick Strong vs. Jonathan Gresham

Strong is defending. Before the match, Veda Scott comes out to offer Gresham a lot of money in exchange for giving his shot to Cedric Alexander and then leaving Ring of Honor forever. The request is quickly denied and that’s all for that story at the moment. Gresham takes the champ down by the arm to start but has to flip out of the Stronghold to give us a standoff. They trade chops (because of course) with Strong getting the better of it because Gresham is no Sting.

Gresham heads to the apron for a flip in, only to land on Strong’s knee for a backbreaker. We take a break and come back with Strong chopping even more and dropkicking Gresham out of the air. A running boot in the corner misses and Jonathan bends Strong’s fingers to break up a backbreaker. Gresham loads up what looks like the same thing Pentagon Jr. uses to break arms in Lucha Underground but goes after the fingers again.

It’s off to some more standard arm work with an armdrag and Octopus Stretch followed by…..an ankle lock. Yes an ankle lock after working on the fingers and the arm because people like Gresham think that makes you look smart and/or cool. Thankfully he’s back to the arm a few seconds later (making the ankle lock stuff look even dumber), only to have Strong knee him in the head to retain at 8:45.

Rating: C-. The match was watchable if you can ignore the ankle lock nonsense in the middle. Gresham is fine but he’s another wrestler who has no real character and is just out there doing moves. That’s going to get you over in a place like Ring of Honor but when half the roster fits that description, it’s really starting to get lost in the shuffle. On top of that, none of this matters because New Japan wrestler Tomohiro Ishii won the title because HAHA NEW JAPAN ROCKS, basically throwing the whole story out and resetting things less than a week before a pay per view.

Post match Bobby Fish comes out to steal the title, triggering a brawl.

Bob Evans/Tim Hughes vs. War Machine

Non-title. Rowe and Hughes get things going and Tim is thrown into the corner for an early tag to Evans. Bob’s amateur wrestling attempts go just as badly and it’s back to Hughes. The champs keep having fun with an exploder suplex and it’s off to Hanson. Rowe cartwheels away from Evans and a reverse powerbomb followed by Hanson’s top rope splash is good for the pin on Bob at 2:56. Total squash.

Post match the All Night Express comes out with weapons to say time is running out on the title reign. All the other teams look at War Machine and see tattooed power. Kenny King looks at them and sees some bearded thugs. They aren’t here to fight tonight because they have plans for War Machine on Friday.

Silas Young is out of patience for the Boys and can’t wait to crush them next week.

The Young Bucks say wrestling is very dirty so they need to bring in the Cleaner Kenny Omega. This Friday will be the world’s biggest superkick party.

We look back at Adam Page attacking BJ Whitmer last week.

BJ Whitmer vs. Chase Brown

Brown is named Cauliflower and he brings some out with him. Whitmer knocks him into the corner to start and there’s the exploder suplex for the pin on Brown at 56 seconds.

Whitmer gives him another exploder but here’s Steve Corino before Whitmer can say anything else. Instead, BJ wants Adam Page out here so Page sneaks in through the crowd with a clothesline and right hands until we take a break.

Dalton Castle has the Boys ready for next week.

Here’s Adam Cole for some Story Time. He’s finally getting his shot at the World Title at the Anniversary Show and you’re going to see Jay Lethal and Kyle O’Reilly trying to keep up with him. Adam promises that Kyle is never getting near the World Title and Lethal has never met anything like him. This brings out the House of Truth with Lethal talking about how Kyle has never been a champion so let’s leave the kid out of this.

On Friday in Las Vegas, Lethal is going to prove that the house always wins. As Nigel groans about needing security again, here comes Kyle O’Reilly to interrupt. They don’t even bother talking again and the fight is on. Cole lays Lethal out but walks into Kyle’s brainbuster. O’Reilly picks up the belt to a VERY quiet reaction as security arrives.

ACH/Alex Shelley vs. Briscoe Brothers

Mark and Jay have ODB with them for an unnecessary cameo. Christopher Daniels is on commentary. ACH and Mark get things going with a lockup until ACH nails a dropkick on both Briscoes. Mark comes back with a running clothesline before Jay comes in for some uppercuts and headbutts. It’s off to Shelley who sends Mark to the floor and a top rope ax handle puts Jay down.

We take another break and come back with Alex forearming Jay, allowing the tag off to ACH. Everything breaks down and the Briscoes are in trouble with ACH mostly hitting the Jordan onto Jay. Back in and a jumping cutter gets two on Mark with Jay making the save and cleaning house. Mark kicks Alex in the face but gets kicked in the corner. Daniels gets on the apron for a distraction and ACH misses the Midnight Star, allowing the Doomsday Device to put ACH away at 8:35.

Rating: D+. You knew the ending here as there was no way they were going to job the Briscoes before the match with Tanahashi and Elgin on Friday. On top of that, the Shelley and Pals vs. KRD feud is somehow still chasing its own tail and won’t end no matter how dull and uninteresting of a story it is. This was your usual “this team is on a roll” match and a lame ending to a very weak show.

Post match Kazarian and Sabin come in for the beatdown until security breaks it up.

An add for the Anniversary Show (read as NEW JAPAN IS AWESOME) takes us out.

Overall Rating: D. The more of these go home shows I see, the less interest I have in the ensuing pay per views. If there’s one thing Ring of Honor needs to do, it’s find a better way to build up their big shows. I really don’t know what the top match is on Friday (yes I know the World Title match is going on last) because the TV Title has been built up the best, Whitmer vs. Page is associated with the most personal feud, Tanahashi is treated as a bigger star than anyone in Ring of Honor and the World Title is the World Title but it’s lucky to get a mention every week.

This show didn’t do much for me either as you had a decent opener, two squashes, a talking segment which drew crickets and the average main event. I’m really not sure how this is supposed to make me want to buy a pay per view but I guess the powers of New Japan and its start showing up are supposed to be enough. Not a good go home show here and the pay per view is really not doing much for me either.

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