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Category: Ring of Honor

  • ROH results 10-31: AJ Styles vs Adam Cole vs Kyle O’Reilly

    The Big Takeaway – A unique main event with 3 of the top singles wrestlers in the World caps off this show. And if you like the Young Bucks, this is probably the show for you.

    Cold open has Kyle O’Reilly going over his feud with Adam Cole with sombre music playing in the background over video highlights of the angle every step of the way. He closes off by saying that if he has to go through AJ Styles to get to Adam Cole then so be it.

    Still no Steve Corino this week so Nigel McGuiness and MARK BRISCOE!!~~!! join Kevin Kelly at commentary.

    Silas Young/The Beer City Bruiser w/the boys vs The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson)

    The boys are dressed in jeans, wife beaters and black sunglasses. Commentators explain that this is how Silas Young thinks men are supposed to dress. Fans are chanting SUPERKICK before the match starts. Mark Briscoe claims he may go for Halloween as the Beer City Bruiser and Nigel tells him “you’ll have to eat a few more chickens, mate”.

    Bucks dominate early, picking apart Young and then dropicking Bruiser out of the ring when he tries to interfere, which draws a TOO SWEET chant. Young and Bruiser eventually take over when Matt tries to do one too many crotch chops. The boys accidentally start “fanning up” before catching themselves.

    Nick gets a hot tag and runs wild on Young and Bruiser and then Nick does an Asai moonsault off the ropes onto the boys outside the ring. They then “Fan him up” to the crowd’s delight. Back in the ring, Superkick #1 is Nick on Silas Young, who was upside on the turnbuckle about to do his headstand splash, knocking him out of the ring. Superkick #2 is Matt on Bruiser, knocking him out of the ring.

    Silas Young grabs a mic and says that the match was originally supposed to be The Boys vs “these two punks in the ring right here”. We go to break and apparently will have a new match afterward.

    WINNER – NO CONTEST?

    The Boys w/Silas Young and the Beer City Bruiser vs The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson)

    Superkick #1 is Matt on one on of the Boys. The other Boy pulls him to the corner and tags in. This boy impresses himself and the crowd by getting a headlock on Matt, while the crowd chants PLEASE DON’T TAP. Matt powers out and then does an eyepoke off the Wolfpac sign. Superkicks #3 and #4 are Nick on both Young and the Bruiser outside the ring.

    The Boys are really tiny as the Bucks look like giants in there against them. They take turns clotheslining one of the boys in the corner but get crossed up, allowing the boy to make a hot tag. He runs wild on the Bucks for a bit before Superkicks #5 and #6 are both Bucks on him. Then we get Superkicks #7 and #8 from both Bucks on the other Boy when he tries to run in.

    Bucklebomb by Matt into a thrust kick by Nick takes out one of the boys and then Nick does a swanton dive to the outside to take out Young and Bruiser. Matt picks up both boys on his shoulders and connects with forward Samoan drops on both. A double Bang for Your Bucks finishes it as Matt covers both Boys.

    WINNERS – THE YOUNG BUCKS by pinfall

    Bruiser and Young are in the ring berating the Boys after the match as the Bucks look on. They come into the ring and hit a double superkick on the Bruiser. They tease doing the same to Young but he rolls out of the ring.

    After a break, BJ Whitmer is at the commentary table, berating Nigel, telling him to fire Corino. Whitmer then gets into it with Mark Briscoe and we go to highlights of the angle where Corino laid out Whitmer from a couple weeks ago. Kevin Kelly explains that Nigel McGuiness was served with papers from Veda Scott, who’s suing ROH over unsafe working conditions. Nigel is asked about it by Kevin Kelly and he says he can’t legally comment on the situation.

    Will Ferrara vs Roderick Strong

    Strong is the #1 contender for the TV title after last week’s show-closing angle. They adhere to the Code of Honor. Announcers are not even pretending that this is anything but a showcase match for Strong, although Ferrara does get a brief bit of offence in. During this match, they announce that Jay Lethal will replace Mark Briscoe on commentary for the main event, which features the #1 contender for his World title, AJ Styles.

    Ferrara actually gets a two count off a Tornado DDT and Strong takes a power to the outside. Ferrara gets another tornado DDT on the floor and rolls him back in the ring for another 2 count. Strong turns it around with a gutbuster and a jumping knee. The Stronghold follows and gets the quick submission.

    WINNER – RODERICK STRONG by submission

    Kevin Kelly points out that Strong never used the Stronghold in either of his two matches with Lethal so perhaps it’s part of a new game plan that he’ll use when they fight for the TV title.

    Inside ROH with Mandy Leon is next. We look at the feud of the year in 2015 in ROH between Roderick Strong and Jay Lethal, including last week’s in-ring angle where the TV title match between the two was signed. Jay Lethal puts over Roderick Strong’s guts and determination in a taped promo. He hopes that when he has a kid with the hottest woman in the world that the child will have Strong’s determination but makes sure to point out that he won’t be a loser like Roderick Strong. He also mentions that Truth Martini taught Strong everything he knows and now he’s working with Lethal. He then focuses on Nigel McGuiness, basically saying that there’s a conspiracy against him but he’s still succeeded because he’s the greatest wrestler in the world. The match will take place on a future episode of ROH TV (no date announced).

    Adam Cole (w/Michael Bennett, Matt Taven and Maria Kanellis-Bennett) vs Kyle O’Reilly (w/Bobby Fish and Michael Elgin) vs AJ Styles (w/The Young Bucks)

    Styles stops to banter with Jay Lethal on his way to the ring. Lethal points out that he’s “really tough when he’s got his friends out here”. Nigel McGuiness grabs a mic and he sends all of the seconds to the back because this is supposed to be a Triple Threat match and there are just too many people out there right now. Fans are actually okay with this. We go to break as they all clear the ring.

    O’Reilly gets an early armbar on AJ that’s broken up by Cole, who then gets caught in an anke lock, which is broken up by AJ. They eventually all end out outside the ring, where Cole does his ADAM COLE BABY spot to almost no reaction. Cole back in the ring and O’Reilly follows him and they do some grappling, while AJ recovers on the outside. Cole deliberately working over O’Reilly’s leg and then they do the YAY/BOO spot, before Cole takes O’Reilly down with a leg kick.

    Strong gets a standing Guillotine but AJ comes in with a Superman punch off the ropes to break it up. With all 3 men down, crowd does a dual AJ STYLES/ADAM COLE chant. Cole first off and AJ follows and quickly puts the Calf Slicer on him. O’Reilly then puts an armbar on AJ. Cole escapes the Calf Slicer and gets the figure four on AJ. O’Reilly lets go of the armbar and goes after Cole with ground and pound and then puts the armbar on him again. Great sequence.

    AJ breaks that up and is the only person on his feet as we go to break. After the break, Cole lays out both O’Reilly and AJ with superkicks but O’Reilly recovers and hits a brainbuster on Cole but AJ breaks up the pinfall attempt. O’Reilly and AJ to their feet first and trade forearms. O’Reilly gets the better of it, with a triangle choke on AJ. Styles tries to get out of it with a Styles clash but Cole breaks it up with a superkick to the back of O’Reilly’s head. He throws Styles out of the ring and hits O’Reilly with a Brainbuster for the pin.

    WINNER – ADAM COLE by pinfall

    Finish was kind of flat but this was a really good and very unique match. After the match, the Kingdom do a 3 on 1 beatdown on O’Reilly. This brings out all of the seconds that had been thrown out earlier. The Bucks ends up in the ring by themselves and take out everyone outside the ring with dives, drawing a TOO SWEET chant. The Bucks and AJ then hit a double Indie Taker on Taven and Bennett. Jay Lethal gets in the ring and gets into a staredown with Styles, holding up the World title as the shows ends. They don’t get physical though. The last thing we hear is Lethal saying “I’m the greatest wrestler in the World” as the show closes to credits.

  • The Young Bucks sign exclusive deal with Ring of Honor

    Those that hoped to see a superkick party in a WWE or NXT ring will have to wait a while longer.

    Nick & Matt Jackson — the Young Bucks — have signed an exclusive deal with Ring Of Honor, announced by the promotion Wednesday morning and by the Bucks in this video. Matt, 30, and Nick, 29, have been part of ROH since 2009.

    While ROH called the deal ‘exclusive’, the Bucks will continue to work with New Japan Pro Wrestling. The former ROH Tag Team Champions are also three-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. Length and terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

    On Wednesday night’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer added some details:

    – They can’t work in U.S., Canada, or Mexico for anyone other than California-based PWG.

    – They will be working 10 weeks a year for New Japan at a minimum.

    – They get to keep their t-shirt business.

    There had been some buzz in recent week that the Bucks might be on their way to NXT, given the WWE’s developmental organization’s recent propensity for signing talents like Samoa Joe, James Storm, Uhaa Nation, and others.

    From the release:

    “We evaluate the landscape right now, we look around at professional wrestling, and everything is evolving. Tag team wrestling is what we do, and this place [Ring of Honor] has the best tag team division in the world, and we want the best competition,” said Matt Jackson. “We want the best matches. It’s all about quality for us. We call Ring of Honor home; you’ll be seeing a lot of us.” 

  • ROH house show report 10-24 Dayton, OH: Champions vs. All Stars Elimination Match

    Ring of Honor: Glory By Honor XIV results, Dayton, OH
    by Justin McClelland

    Prior to the show, they announced AJ Styles was out with an undisclosed injury and ACH was out with a concussion. The original Champions vs. All Stars main event of Jay Lethal, Matt Taven and Michael Bennett vs. Roderick Strong, ACH and Styles was now Lethal, Taven, Bennett and Roderick Strong (since he won the TV title the night before) vs. Dalton Castle, Moose and the Addiction.

    1. Dark Match: Kongo (who naturally hails from South America and wears a caveman-looking singlet) beat the Outlaw (who naturally wears a cowboy hat).

    2. Kelly Klein (w/ BJ Whitmer) defeated Ray Lynn in about 2 minutes with a guillotine choke. After the match Whitmer gave a speech putting Kline over as a bad ass force. I was unsure if this was taped for the DVD or just a dark match because it was held before Kevin Kelly came out and the usual “fans cheering wildly” opening.

    3. Adam Cole defeated Will Ferrera. The top rope broke early in the match but they worked around it fine. Ferrera did the plucky underdog who is outmatched but refuses to give up role.

    4. The All Night Express beat Beer City Bruiser and Silas Young.  Before the match Young berated the Boys and had them fight for a minute. The Boys were actually holding their own with the ANX, but when they stopped to fan Titus, Young and BCB attacked them and took over the match. King looked to have been hurt on a botched Samoan drop by BCB but came back for the finish which was a combination Powerbomb and Blockbuster on the Bruiser.

    Caprice Coleman beat Sampson Walker. Coleman seems to be a heel now, as he cut a smug promo on Walker noting this was the latter’s “try to get a job” match but Coleman was going to make sure he failed. Walker did a weird/gross thing of biting Coleman’s stomach and back. At the end, Coleman did the Eddie Guerrero “pretend to be hit with a chair when the ref isn’t looking” routing. As Walker tried to argue his case with the ref, Coleman school-boyed him for the cheap win.

    5. Michael Elgin beat Donovan Dijak  (with Truth Martini) with the spinning power in a 20 minute match.  Match went too long as crowd lost interest by the 15 minute point, especially after Elgin hit a top rope senton. Both guys looked good and worked a hard hitting match, but it drug in places.

    6. Joey “Diesel” Daddy-iego (with Truth Martini) beat Shereh Ali. Daddy-iego is the former J. Diesel, with the new gimmick that allows him and Truth to yell “Whose Your Daddy?” constantly. Basically a squash to showcase the new gimmick.

    7. Cliff Compton won a four-way over Bob Evans, Cedric Alexander (with Veda Scott) and Adam Page (with BJ Whitmer). First Evans cut a promo mocking Cheeseburger who he said he injured the night before. Then Compton cut a promo, noting he had a seizure in August and thanked the fans for helping him recover. This led to later Alexander mocking Compton’s seizure, which got massive go-away, disgusted heat. There was a comedy bit where the ref tossed all the seconds after each interfered. Finally, Cheeseburger ran out and clocked Evans so Compton got the win. Cheeseburger noted Evans was an idiot who had “broken the wrong hand” (i.e. his non-punching hand”) and challenged Evans for a match at Final Battle.

    8. The Briscoes defeated War Machine. This was a good 20 minute match with crazy moved. Unfortunately the fans were distracted early by streamers that got caught in the ceiling fan and sundry attempts to get the streamers down. They did a lot of moves including each team giving their finishers to the other before Jay pinned Rowe (I think) with the Jay Driller.

    9. The Champions beat the All Stars in an elimination match. Dalton Castle was at worst the second most over guy on the show behind the Briscoes and maybe even exceeded their popularity and was definitely the star of this match. The Kingdom pinned Kazarian with a spike piledriver. Daniels pinned Taven and then Bennett. Lethal pinned Daniels. Castle and Moose fought the two singles champs for a long time until Lethal pinned Castle with the Lethal Injection after Truth Martini interfered and Moose was pinned by Stong shortly thereafter. Afterwards, Lethal had a staredown with Strong as each held up their belts. Then AJ Styles (Who was doing commentary) got in the ring and had a staredown with Lethal. A fun main event with a lot of comedy from Castle, who did his whole crazy routine and nobody knowing what to make of it, and Lethal who did some great heel stuff.

  • Ring of Honor results 10/24: The Kingdom w/Maria Kanellis vs ReDRagon and Michael Elgin

    The Big Takeaway – Showcase matches for Moose and Dalton Castle. Veda Scott threatens a lawsuit and a wild main event highlight a fun hour of ROH TV.

    Nigel McGuiness joins Kevin Kelly at commentary for this show. He replaces Steve Corino because Corino put his hands on BJ Whitmer last week. Nigel cannot elaborate on whether he’s been suspended or fired at this time.

    Donovan Dijak w/Truth Martini vs Moose w/Stokely Hathaway

    In 4 years, you’ll probably be seeing this match on Monday Night RAW. Moose gets the early advantage, knocking Dijak out of the ring with a dropkick and then following him outside to toss him into the ring barricades. Dijak recovers and chokeslams him onto the ring apron as Martini briefly joins commentary to sing his praises.

    Back in the ring and Dijak tries a moonsault but Moose gets his knees up. Moose with a couple of running shoulderblocks and then knocks him off the top turnbuckle with a dropkick. Moose follows up with a somersault plancha to the outside. Dijak turns it around and hits a chokeslam for Feast Your Eyes but Moose powers out. A spear from Moose finishes it.

    WINNER – MOOSE by pinfall

    Cedric Alexander w/Veda Scott vs Dalton Castle w/o his boys

    Castle comes out without his usual getup. Just a Dalton Castle t-shirt and regular wrestling trunks. Cedric taunting Castle at the start and Castle just wants to fight, taking him down with a suplex and then pounding on him in the corner. Alexander tries to fight back but Castle hits a couple of gut-wrench suplexes. Fans chanting DAL-TON CAST-LE after starting with the “Fan Up” chants.

    Castle uses a Gator roll to try and set up the deal-lift German suplex. Veda Scott grabs Castle’s leg to slow his momentum, allowing Alexander to take the advantage. Alexander chops Castle in the corner but Castle no-sells it and hits some chops of his own. Alexander goes for a dive off the ropes but Castle catches him and suplexes him again. Castle then finishes him with the Bang-A-Rang.

    WINNER – DALTON CASTLE by pinfall

    Veda Scott gets a mic and is screaming at Nigel for booking a no-DQ match for Alexander against Moose at All-Star Extravaganza. She calls it an unsafe working environment and says they’ve causes severe emotional distress. She threatens a lawsuit and promises thing are about to get a lot more difficult and more expensive.

    Jay Lethal and Truth Martini are out next and Lethal’s got both the World and TV title belts. He’s sporting a sharp fedora and dressing in all-black. Fans chanting AJ STYLES to get under Lethal’s skin. Martini starts to talk but is interrupted by Roderick Strong, who grabs a mic from ringside.

    Strong congratulate the House of Truth for making history. He also wants to congratulate the man who beat him. He teases shaking Lethal’s hand but instead shakes Martini’s hand and says Lethal wouldn’t even be in ROH, let alone have both belts, without Martini. He then asks for ONE MORE MATCH, like he’s Christian or Matt Hardy. Lethal laughs it off, saying he’s already beaten him “a thousand times”. He says Strong has to get in line cause he’s got a lot of challengers lined up.

    Nigel McGuiness gets in the ring and basically agrees with Lethal. AJ Styles is the new #1 contender and he can’t get another shot at the World title. BUT….there is no #1 contender for the TV title so he books a TV title match between Lethal and Strong. Obviously, it will be at a future date since there’s already a six man tag match main event and ROH actually books it’s main events ahead of time and not on the fly like on Monday Night RAW.

    Mandy Leon is here with Inside ROH and they look at the Best of 5 series between ACH and Matt Sydal. They show highlights of all 4 matches, including the first two which happened before people who watch just the TV and PPVs knew there even was a best of 5 series (like me). Sydal won the first, ACH won the next 2 and Sydal won the fourth to tie it up at 2-2. The deciding match will be held at Survival of the Fittest in Milwaukee on November 13th.

    The Kingdom (Adam Cole, Michael Bennett and Matt Taven) w/Maria Kanellis-Bennett vs “Unbreakable” Michael Elgin and ReDRagon (Bobby Fish/Kyle O’Reilly)

    No Code of Honor as these guys are fighting even before the bell. They announce next week’s main event is Adam Cole vs AJ Styles. Elgin elicits a “BIG MIKE” chant from the crowd by doing a cannonball dive outside the ring onto Bennett and Cole. He then suplexes Taven into an armbar from O’Reilly but Taven makes the ropes. It settles down at this point, with the faces cutting off the ring and working over Taven as we go to break.

    Back from break and Elgin’s doing the Harry Smith delayed suplex spot on Taven. No pin attempt as the faces just continue to make quick tags. Bennett comes in without a tag and helps turn things around. Taven gets to the corner and now Bobby Fish is isolated in the Kingdom’s corner as they make quick tags.

    Cole goes to the opposite corner and spits on Kyle O’Reilly, drawing him into the ring. The ref tries to push him back, allowing the Kingdom to do some triple teaming. Kelly also announces that the Young Bucks are back on TV next week, facing Silas Young and his buddy, the Beer City Bruiser.

    Taven arguing with ringside fans, very audibly saying “This is why we’re tag champs, cause we’re really good”. This whole segment, the Kingdom maintained control going to break with Fish stuck in an Adam Cole chinlock.

    Back from break and Fish hits a Samoan Drop on Bennett and then tags in Eglin. He’s a house of fire, eventually hitting a double powerslam on Taven and Bennett, covering them both but they kick out. After a kick exchange between Elgin and Bennett, Elgin takes both Bennett and Taven’s heads off with short arm clothesline and then tags in O’Reilly.

    Cole comes in without a tag and does the “Adam Cole Baby” spot but O’Reilly jumps on his back with a sleeper. Cole is not the legal man though and Bennett hits O’Reilly from behind to break it up. Outside the ring, Bobby Fish spears Adam Cole into a ring barrier. Back in the ring, it’s ReDRagon and the tag champs going at it, with ReDRagon having the advantage.

    They set up Chasing the Dragon on Taven but Bennett pulls Bobby Fish out of the ring. Taven and Bennett hit a double superkick on O’Reilly. Elgin in and lays out both Bennett and Taven with punches. He goes for a double clothesline but gets taken out with a double superkick. Bennett and Taven then hit the Proton Effect on O’Reilly and Cole nails him with a Shining Wizard but that only get a two.

    Kingdom sets up for a Spike Piledriver but O’Reilly gets out of it and catapults Bennett into Taven, who’s perched on the top. Elgin then hits a buckle bomb on Bennett, throwing him into Taven, who’s still tried up on the ropes. Chasing the Dragon on Bennett follows and that’s it.

    WINNERS – REDRAGON/MICHAEL ELGIN by pinfall

    Cole grabs one of the tag belts and lays out all 3 winners immediately after the bell. As the Kingdom is leaving, O’Reilly grabs a mic and challenges Cole to a rematch TONIGHT. Nigel says he can’t make the match because Cole’s already fought and he’s booked next week already as well. But what he can do is make the main event a 3 way and it’ll be Cole vs AJ vs O’Reilly in the main event next week.

  • ROH TV taping results: Jay Lethal defends the TV title against Roderick Strong

    Submitted by Troy Macumber

    Episode One

    – ACH beat Cedric Alexander. Very good match. One big missed spot by Cedric, but very entertaining.

    – Caprice Coleman beat Will Ferrera in a bit of a snoozer. Made him tap out, then Prince Nana gave both guys envelopes. Did a short promo being very vague and mysterious.

    – The Briscoes beat Kenny King and Rhett Titus. I think this was match of the night. Great performances by all as usual.

    Episode Two

    – War Machine beat Silas Young and Beer City Bruiser. War Machine looked pretty good, but just an average match. A couple missed spots in this one too.

    – We got a promo where Nigel McGuinness told Steve Corino he could reinstate him as a wrestler but not an announcer. Corino said that he had to have spinal fusion surgery and his career was most likely over. Then, he left and never came back for the rest of the night. Gave a really cool speech. A+ moment.

    – Michael Elgin then squashed a local guy that looked like Rusev and Samoa Joe had a love child. Then, he challenged Jay Lethal for the ROH title.

    – The Kingdom beat The Addiction for the ROH Tag titles. At one point, Sabin and Maria got bounced by the ref. He got knocked out, and Maria came back, and gave Daniels a ball shot and a pretty good SUPERKICK. Then a guy in a red mask superkicked Kaz in the face and the Kingdom got the pin. Another very good match.

    Episode Three

    – Moose squashed a local named Carter, then challenged Lethal for the ROH title. Elgin then came back out and got in Moose’s face. Truth Martini came down and said neither guy was worthy and ended up setting up a tag match with Moose and Elgin vs Dijak and Jay Diesel. Elgin and Moose ended up winning of a cool buckle bomb into a spear combo.

    – BJ Whitmer came out and did a pretty bad promo. This drew out Nigel from the announce table. He then banned Whitmer and Page from Final Battle.

    – Roddy Strong beat Jay Lethal for the ROH TV title. It started very slow, but ended up being an amazing match. It’s going to be a great TV match for them. It was a very pleasant surprise. I went in expecting to not see a title change. It was shocking and great booking. Two of the top guys in the promotion proving why they are there.

    Episode Four

    – Ferrera beat Adam Page with interference from Mark Briscoe, who was on commentary. Nothing special here.

    – Cheeseburger beat Hughes. Hughes and Brutal Bob then attacked Cheeseburger and brought a saw from under the ring and were planning on cutting his hand off. Cheeseburger was saved by the refs of all people in possibly the worst segment I have seen since 90s WWF. It was awful.

    – AJ Styles (who I believe is injured) did a promo with Jay Lethal for the Final Battle match. It was ok.

    – The Addiction came out and did a promo that they were leaving ROH to go to NJPW to take part in the tag tournament. Then they said they will come back and win the ROH titles back.

    – Dalton Castle beat Adam Cole by DQ after The Kingdom interfered. They looked like they were going to gang up on him in the beginning when The Boyz came from the crowd and were going to help (even put the peacock masks on!) when Silas came and took them away. The Kingdom then ganged up on Dalton until War Machine came and made the save. Then, doing his best Kane/Vince impression, Nigel made it into a 6 man. It was a decent match, ending with Cole pinning Castle.

  • Jay Lethal drops ROH TV Title to Roderick Strong

    Roderick Strong defeated Jay Lethal to win the ROH TV Title tonight at the TV tapings in Kalamazoo, MI.

    Strong and Lethal had a series of ROH title matches the last few months with Lethal winning the series with a television match after a 60-minute match at the Death Before Dishonor iPPV in July.  Lethal held both the World and TV Champions, a storyline that ROH had done prior to WWE doing the same storyline with Seth Rollins.  

    Lethal, who remains the current ROH World Champion having ended the year-plus win streak of Jay Briscoe, hadn’t lost a singles match in ROH in nearly one year.

    Strong, considered by many to be one of the best wrestlers in the world, is now a two-time ROH TV Champion; a former ROH World Champion; a former ROH Tag Team Champion with Austin Aries; the 2005 Survival of the Fittest winner; the 2010 Honor Gauntlet winner; the 2010 Toronto Gauntlet winner; and the second Triple Crown Champion in company history.

  • Ring of Honor TV results and recap 10-17: Jay Briscoe vs Adam Page No Holds Barred

    The Big Takeaway – A wild brawl and awesome angle headline a fun show as ROH is starting to set the table for their year-end PPV, Final Battle.   

    The Addiction (“Almighty” Christopher Daniels/”The Heavy Metal Rebel” Frankie Kazarian) w/Chris Sabin vs The All Night Express (Kenny King/Rhett Titus)

    A battle of former tag champs kicks off the show and Kevin Kelly points out that neither team was actually beaten for their titles. ANX was stripped when Kenny King left the company and the Addiction lost in a 3 way without losing the fall.

    The teams surprisingly adhere to the Code of Honor. Sabin gets involved early but Kenny King backdrops Kazarian out of the ring on top of him and Sabin ends up getting ejected by the ref coming off of it. ANX gets the early advantage with some double-teaming on Kazarian. Kazarian gets the tag after a couple of minutes but Daniels gets more of the same. Daniels turns it around after some interference from Frankie before we go to break.

    Leading into the break we get a backstage promo from Jay Briscoe building up his main event tonight with Adam Page. He calls him “green boy” and says he has no idea what he’s getting into. At the end of it, he’ll be a better man for the experience but it isn’t going to be fun for him. No doubt.

    Back from break and the Addiction are double-teaming and Daniels hits the BME on Titus and then does the one foot cover with the General pose but Titus kicks out. Fans are chanting ALL NIGHT and LETS GO TITUS. Titus fights back but Daniels uses an eye poke to stop his momentum. Titus is fighting to get to the corner but Daniels uses the old school heel tactic of hitting King with a cheap shot, causing him to try and get into the action. The ref holds him back, allowed double-teaming from the Addiction.

    Titus finally gets the hot tag to King and the place explodes. Eventually all four men in the ring and Titus is still selling the effects of the extended beating. The Addiction take out King with a Total Elimination and then Frankie hits Titus with a flying knee from the top while Daniels holds him and then covers but that only gets a two. King recovers and it able to fight them off but eventually all four men are down.

    The all recover at roughly the same time and Daniels ends up hitting King with a Brainbuster and then Titus with a Uranage. This brings out a masked KRD guy, which distracts Daniels. As Daniels is chasing him, Titus hits Daniels with a dropkick and then picks him up for a powerbomb while King comes off the top rope for a lariat and that gets the fall for ANX.

    WINNERS – THE ALL NIGHT EXPRESS

    After A commercial break, the Kingdom’s music is playing and they are out, dressed to the nines, for an in-ring interview. Maria, in particular, is almost unrecognizable as you rarely see her in a dress. Highlights of the KRD member interfering at the PPV, helping the Kingdom win the belts, are shown.

    Bennett tells some story about a farmer and a snake while the fans chant BORING. The moral of the story is that the snake bit the farmer and the farmer shouldn’t have trusted him. The Kingdom are the snakes in this story. We get more highlights from the PPV when Adam Cole turned on Kyle O’Reilly in the main event.

    Maria gets the mic next and introduces herself as Maria Kanellis-Bennett, the manager of the greatest faction in the world. She may work in a male-dominated industry but she doesn’t play by a man’s rules. She hands off to Taven. They formed a year ago, not out of necessity but out of greatness and you measure greatness by gold and they are the greatest tag team in the world today because they hold the gold. They will not sleep until Adam Cole gets back what is his, the ROH World Championship.

    Cole is next. He turned on Kyle O’Reilly because O’Reilly doesn’t deserve to be anywhere near the ROH World title. He was sick when Kyle O’Reilly was listed as one of the top contenders and not him. He mocked Michael Elgin who he says had such a “great run” in the US that he had to go to Japan to become relevant again. “Way to go, Little Mike”, he says. He gets his “Adam Cole baby” line in and the fans do not chant along as they usually do, so the turn is working.

    ReDRagon are out but being held back by security. The Kingdome taunt them with the belts in the ring. Bobby Fish gets a mic and warns Adam Cole that he has no idea what’s he’s done. He also tells Taven that they will be taking the titles back. Cole says he’s love to see the two of them take on the three of us. This brings out Michael Elgin to even the odds with a new “#BIGMIKE” shirt. Ya, I won’t be buying that. Elgin clears the ring of the Kingdom and gets his hands on Maria but the Kingdom pull her to safety. BIG MIKE chants from the crowd. Elgin challenges the Kingdom to six-man match but they retreat to the back.

    Inside ROH with Mandy Leon is up next. This week she looks at the rivalry between Silas Young and Dalton Castle. Highlights from the last PPV when Young beat Castle to get control of the boys are shown. Then we get the angle from last week when Young and the Beer City Bruiser beat on the boys for a few minutes in a “match”, which was their first lesson in becoming men. This will lead into next week, when Dalton Castle is back on ROH TV without his boys for the first time.

    Adam Cole gets a backstage promo hyping up a match in two weeks with #1 contender AJ Styles. He promises to drop AJ on his head in the match. After a teaser for Final Battle, the Briscoes are there. Mark keeps interrupting Jay and all of this was just to tell us that “we’ll be back after this commercial break”. My description doesn’t do this justice but this was awesome.

    Main Event – No Holds Barred

    Adam Page w/BJ Whitmer vs Jay Briscoe

    Whitmer joins Kelly and Corino on commentary. If history is any indication, this won’t last long as Corino always loses his cool when Whitmer is around. Kelly announces that Nigel McGuiness has signed a six-main main event for next week with the Kingdom vs ReDRagon and Michael Elgin.

    Fans serenade Page with “Jay is gonna kill you”. Page extends his hand for the Code of Honor but slaps Briscoe when he goes to shake it. Briscoe all over him after that and they immediately go the outside. Page’s shoulder is all taped up and Briscoe is concentrating his offence on it. Page lays out Briscoe with a hard chair shot to take control. Page sets up a table but this gives Briscoe time to recover and he lays out Page with a chair shot.

    They end up back in the ring and Page sets up a chair in the centre. Whitmer goes to hand Page his crutch but this brings out Mark from the back, who intercepts it. Mark hobbles to the back with the crutch, while Jay is in the ring peppering Page with punches. Briscoes teases a Jay Driller into the chair but Page escapes and ends up hitting a DDT to get control as we go to break.

    Back from break and Page is in control. He’s screaming “SAY MY NAME” at Briscoe, as Briscoe all along has been acting like he had no idea who Page is. Page charges at him in the corner and Briscoe gets out of the way, which causes Page to end up on the outside table. Briscoe puts him through the table with a double foot-stomp from the apron. ROH chants from the crowd after that.

    Back in the ring and Briscoe methodically beating on Page. HE hits a couple of neckbreakers and then grabs the chair. He puts it around the neck and hits another neckbreaker as the fans explode. MAN UP chants. Briscoe goes to the outside and gets another table from under the ring. He sets it up in the corner and sets Page up to be driven through it. The time to set it up allows Page time to recover though and he ends up hitting a pump handle slam on Briscoe to put him through the table. That only gets a two-count though.

    Fans chanting YOU CANT BEAT HIM as we go to break again. Back from break and Briscoe in control as they fight in the apron. There’s another table set up at ringside and Jay teases putting Page through it. Corino and Whitmer are jawing at each other on commentary. Page ends up getting control on Briscoe while the fans chant YOU STILL SUCK at him. Page gets yet another table and sets it outside, while Jay is recovering.

    They end up back in the ring but battling on the apron. Briscoe flattens Page with a slingshot lariat. He teases a Jay Driller off the apron onto the table. Page escapes and teases the Rite of Passage on the apron but Jay escapes and gabs a chair that was laying on the mat. He flattens Page with a chair shot and then lays him out with the Jay Driller through the table. Fans going nuts with ROH chants and YOU JUST KILLED HIM. Back in the ring for the pin but Page kicks out at two.

    Briscoe can’t believe the kickout as Whitmer is celebrating on commentary. Briscoe standing over him, screaming “Come on Boy”. Page gets to his knees and then spits in Briscoe’s face. Briscoe loses it and starts wailing on him after that. Briscoe takes his head off with a clothesline, while Whitmer and Corino are really going at in on commentary after Whitmer was making cracks about Corino’s family. Whitmer hits the Jay Driller for the pin.

    WINNER – JAY BRISCOE by pinfall

    Kelly berates Whitmer after the match saying that he was arguing with Corino when Page needed his help. Corino mocking him as well. Fans chanting THAT WAS AWESOME and Whitmer gets in the ring with his crutch. He beats on Briscoe with it and this brings Corino into the ring. He takes off his suit jacket and grabs a roll of coins from his pocket and lays out Whitmer with one punch after Whitmer taunts him. CORINO chants from the crowd. He leaves the ring, huge Kelly and then goes to the back as he knows he’s going to be suspended from commentary after that.

    Great main event and fun angle to close the show.

  • Ring of Honor TV results (10/14): Jay Lethal defends the TV title against Watanabe

    The Big Takeaway: 

    Jay Lethal with his first title defence since the PPV and match 4 in the best of 5 series between ACH and Matt Sydal highlight this show.  

    Show Recap:

    We finally get a show taped after the All-Star Extravaganza PPV, which took place 3 weekends ago. San Antonio, TX, was the site of this taping.

    ACH vs “Reborn” Matt Sydal

    This is match 4 of the best of 5 series. ACH is up 2-1 going in and Kevin Kelly informs us that 75% of sporting teams that win game 3 of a best  of 5 series go on to win the series. ACH won the third match at All-Star Extravaganza. A statistic they didn’t mention is that in best of 5 series or best of 7 series in pro wrestling, they virtually always go to the deciding match so there is approximately a 100% chance that Sydal wins here.

    They adhere to the Code of Honor to start but there is a little tension building off the previous 3 matches. Sydal worked a very subtle heel style at the PPV and with this taking place in ACH’s home state, it stands to reason the crowd would be behind him in this match.

    They do some mat wrestling early with neither guy getting the advantage. Then a bunch of flips. Crowd was fairly dead for all of this until Sydal knocked ACH out of the ring and followed him out and they brawled in front of the crowd. Sydal whipping ACH into the guard rail but ACH recovered right away and they were back in the ring quickly.

    ACH hit the “Dum-Dum” stomp (double foot-stomp to the back of the head from the top rope) on Sydal but only got two. They went to break with guys down after a couple more failed pin attempts by ACH. Back from break and Sydal is out of the ring and ACH nails him with a sliding dropkick in front of the announce desk. Duelling chants for both guys, with the ACH chants slightly louder.

    Back in the ring and ACH attempts a top rope move but Sydal nails him with a thrust kick in midair. Sydal chops him down with knees and then hits a leg lariat for a two. Fans chant THAT WAS TWO after Sydal argues with the ref. ACH stumbles to his feet and then falls and the ref is checking to see if he’s unconscious. Sydal is all over him instead of letting the ref check on him, which the announcers point out.

    ACH recovers fairly quickly and hits a running elbow in the corner, followed by a German suplex with a bridge to get a two. Sydal hits a top rope Rana but ACH lands on his feet. ACH hits a roaring elbow, followed by a swinging neckbreaker but Sydal kicks out right before the three. Crowd thought that was the finish.

    ACH sets up for the Midnight star but Sydal rolls out of the ring. ACH hits the Fosbury flop dive outside the ring and the crowd is going nuts. In the ring, Sydal hits two jumping knees to the head and then goes to the top rope. ACH hits a dropkick from the canvas to the top to knock Sydal off the ropes. ACH then hit a brainbuster and went to the top for the Midnight Star. Sydal got his knees up though.

    Sydal hit a standing Rana that dropped ACH right on his head and then went to the top rope. Shooting Star Press and it’s over.

    WINNER – MATT SYDAL by pinfall

     Match started slow but really picked up at the end to turn into the usual 3.5-4 star match that these two usually have. They shook hands at the end and then were jumped by the Addiction and Chris Sabin. Both guys were laid out with Celebrity Rehap.

    After a commercial break, the Addiction were still in the ring. Kazarian is upset because their World tag team championships of the World were stolen from them. Kazarian rips on Texas, saying they may not believe in bathing or education but they believe in justice. They demand that justice be served. Daniels gets on the mic and says he’s not talking to the fans, cause they’re beneath him, they are talking to whomever interfered in the title match at the PPV, costing them their belts.

    “We were not pinned, we were not beaten and therefore we are still the World tag team champion of the World”. They then challenged the champions to bring them out their belts. Instead of the Kingdom, they get the All-Night Express of Kenny King and Rhett Titus. “ALL NIGHT” chants from the crowd greet them.

    Kenny King claims that they are the linear tag team champions as they were never beaten for the titles, they were beaten by politics. Seems like they’re setting up either a 3 way for the titles or a program between these two teams.

    After a break, Kevin Kelly informs us that we will get a match next weeks between the Addiction and ANX. Kelly and Corino also inform us for the first time (if we didn’t watch the PPV) that Silas Young beat Dalton Castle to win the boys, which leads into the next match.

    Silas Young is out with the Beer City Bruiser and the Boys. Young chastises them for wearing “Dalton Castle crap” when he told them to wear wrestling gear. So their first lesson is how to take a whupping from a man.

    “Pro Wrestling’s Last Real Man” Silas Young/Beer City Bruiser vs The Boys

    Young says “take care of them Bruiser” and leaves the ring. Bruiser does just that, mandhandling them for a couple of minutes. Bruiser goes for a top rope splash but the Boys move out of the way. Boys ride him like a bucking bronco in a very “unmanly” way, which brings in Young. He lays them both out and hits misery on one to get the win.

    WINNERS – SILAS YOUNG/BEER CITY BRUISER

    Bruiser and Young carry the beaten boys to the back over their shoulders. Jay Lethal and Truth Martini do a backstage promo hyping up Lethal’s TV title defence against Watanabe in tonight’s main event. Nothing much to this.

    “Inside ROH” with Mandy Leon is next and tonight we look at the Kingdom and specifically Adam Cole’s involvement in the main event match between Jay Lethal and Kyle O’Reilly. ReDRagon cut an angry promo on Cole. O’Reilly says he pities him and he’s dug his own grave because he’s going to be eating his meals through a straw after ReDRagon are done with him. Cole rebuts with a promo of his own. He explains his actions by saying that when he was out with his shoulder injury, he got sick and tired of people saying Kyle O’Reilly would be the next ROH champion. He will be the next champion. Kyle O’Reilly is a “lesser Adam Cole. The segment closes with highlights of the tag title match at the PPV and Kingdom winning the belts.

    ROH TV Champion Jay Lethal w/Truth Martini vs Takaaki Watanabe

    We get highlights of the Gauntlet match that Watanabe won to earn this title shot. They adhere to the code of Honor, as Lethal usually does. Duelling chants early on and Kevin Kelly informs us that in addition to the tag match announced earlier, Jay Briscoe and Adam Page will meet in a no-DQ match and The Kingdom will have an in-ring promo.

    Watanabe gets the early advantage and Lethal bails outside the ring. Watanabe follows him out and rolls him back into the ring but Lethal uses an eye poke and then some interference from Martini to get the advantage. He then this the Trifecta of “Crash and Burns” and poses on the top rope as we go to break. Fans loving this.

    Back from break and Lethal screams at Watanabe “I’m the Ring of Honor Champion” and the fans respond with a YES YOU ARE chant. Lethal having his way with the challenger and using illegal tactics, just cause he can. Ref arguing with him but Lethal doesn’t really care. He throws Watanabe out of the ring and then stops to chat with Martini. This looks very much like a Ric Flair title defence on TV in the mid-80’s against an overmatched challenger.

    Watanabe gets brief flurry of offence but Lethal stops that with a kick to the head and a lacklustre cover for two. Lethal acts like he’s going to go for a running kick but instead stops and puts a headlock on Watanabe, which the crowd eats up. Watanabe whips Lethal into the corner five times in a row to get the advantage. He then hits an overhead suplex with a release but Lethal comes back with a bicycle kick and goes for the Lethal Injection but Watanabe breaks it up with a Full Nelson attempt.

    Lethal powers out with elbows but then Watanabe nearly takes his head off with a short-arm clothesline. He covers but only gets a two off of that. Martini slides in the Book of Truth and while the ref is distracted getting it out of the ring, Lethal hits a low blow. He follows up with the Lethal Injection for the win.

    WINNER AND STILL ROH TV CHAMPION – JAY LETHAL by pinfall

    Match was nothing special but a fine showcase for Lethal. Fans chant for AJ Styles after the match and Lethal annoyed by it as he leaves to the ring to close the show. Styles won a #1 contenders match at All-Star Extravaganza so that will be Lethal’s next program.

  • ROH announces two day Survival of the Fittest for Milwaukee and Minneapolis

    Ring of Honor will be doing its annual Survival of the Fittest Shows on 11/13 in Milwaukee at the Turner Hall Ballroom and 11/14 in Hopkins, MN, just outside Minneapolis, at the Eisenhower Community Center, with an ROH title shot at stake.

    This year’s event will feature, on the first night, two different four-corners matches, two three-way matches and two singles matches.

    The second night will be headlined by a six-way elimination match featuring the winners of the six matches on the previous night.

    There will be 18 wrestlers in total on the first night. Thus far, the promotion has announced nine of them:  Mark Briscoe, Jay Briscoe, Michael Elgin, ACH, Matt Sydal, Moose, Ray Rowe, Hanson and Dalton Castle.

    Past winners of the tournament have included Delirious, Roderick Strong, Elgin, Adam Cole and current ROH champion Jay Lethal.

  • Ring of Honor results and recap 10/3: Kazuchika Okada vs Roderick Strong

    The Big Takeaway – More canned matches that were taped before the PPV and no follow-up from All-Star Extravanza more than two weeks after that show. The main event was one of the best TV matches in North America so far this year.

    This show was taped from the Field of Honor event in Brooklyn on Summerslam weekend and took place in a Baseball stadium. Very cool visual. This also kept up the theme of ROH vs New Japan.

    The Time Splitters (IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion Kushida/Alex Shelley) vs The Briscoes (Mark and Jay Briscoe)

    Briscoes were in and out of the crowd during their entrance and when they did wide shots, you got a really good picture of how empty the stadium actually was but the main shot made it look like the place was packed. They also had the crowd miced really well. Prince Nana joined Kelly and Corino on commentary.

    Early on the commentators were talking more about Adam Page and Jay Briscoe than anything in this match. Shelley and Kushida were kind of teasing dissension as at one point, Kushida had his back to the ring and was slamming Shelley’s arm against the ropes repeatedly with the idea that it was one of the Briscoes’ arm but Kushida didn’t know. Then Shelley had his back to the ring when Kushida was trying to make a tag. The announcers didn’t even reference any of this. Then just as quickly as all of that started, it was dropped and the Time Splitters were working together again.

    Shelley took out Jay Briscoe with a jumping knee off the apron, which allowed Kushida to hit a moonsault press for a near three. They brawled in the ring for a bit. Jay recovered and was brawling on the outside with Shelley. Kushida locked in the Hoverboard lock on Mark, while Jay was still outside the ring but Jay made it in to  make the save.

    All four in the ring and Shelley stretched Jay out, while Kushida did the “You can’t see me” gesture to him and hit the sliding dropkick on him. Double running knees on Mark and then the Time Splitters hit a combination Superfly splash (Shelley) and standing Shooting Star Press (Kushida) on Mark but Briscoe kicked out at two. Shelley actually counted along with the ref and reacted the same as he did on the kickout.

    Time Splitters were setting up a doubleteam Sliced Bread but Jay broke it up. Razor’s edge by Mark into a Diamond Cutter by Jay on Shelley only got a two count. Jay then hit a Jay Driller on Shelley for the win. The last five minutes were fun.

    WINNERS – THE BRISCOES by pinfall

    All four guys shook hands after the match. After a break, we got a gauntlet for a TV title match that was joined in progress with Cedric Alexander vs Watanabe. Alexander was laying cocky heel and wasted too much time, allowing Watanabe to roll away from a frog splash. He then hit a neckbreaer/Sunton splash for two.

    Alexander hit a Death Valley Driver for 2. Alexanders hit a series of running dropkicks in the corner to fire up the crowd. This brought out Moose. The distraction allowed Watanabe to hit a German suplex and a Half Nelson Suplex. A headbutt, followed by a forearm smash and finally the STO got the pin for Watanabe, who will now get a TV title shot (and by “will get”, the match happened two weeks ago….more on this later).

    Inside ROH was up next with Mandy Leon, sporting Jay Lethal’s new T-shirt. This week focused on the Adam Page/Jay Briscoe feud, complete with Page calling out Briscoe a couple months back when Briscoe wasn’t even there. Then we got the verbal exchange from them a couple weeks later, when Briscoe answered the challenge but BJ Whitmer wouldn’t accept. Then we got the match, which wasn’t really a match as much as a 3  on 1 attack at the hands of the Decade. This ended with Page hitting the Rampage onto a pile of chairs and setting up next week’s main event, which is a NO-DQ rematch of the two.

    Main Event – Roderick Strong vs IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada (non-title)

    Nigel replaced Nana on commentary. Okada was insanely over with this crowd, as they exploded on the opening notes of his entrance theme and chanted his name throughout the entrance. They did adhere to the Code of Honor prior to the match.

    LETS GO RODDY/O-KA-DA chants before they even locked up. Strong got the better of things early on, leading in and out of the first commercial break, slowing down the match with mat work and submission set-up moves. Strong was very subtly acting like a heel, taunting Okada after hitting moves.

    After about 10 minutes, they were brawling outside on the field and Strong suplexed Okada into the crowd, drawing a HOLY $hit chant from the crowd. Strong then hit a gourbuster onto the ring barricade and then went back into the ring to try and get a countdown win. Nigel criticized this strategy, saying he was giving Okada too much time to recover and should’ve stayed on him.

    Okada made it back before the 20 count and Okada soon took control with a neckbreaker. They went back and forth for the next few minutes with both guys hitting moves but not going for covers. Crowd chants of THIS IS WRESTLING started up. Okada hit a standing dropkick onto Strong, who was on the top turnbuckle, to knock him out of the ring going into a second break.

    Back from break and Strong hit a backbreaker onto the ring apron on Okada and then rolled him into the ring for a 2 count. Okada hit a shoulderbreaker and both guys were down in the centre of the ring. When they got back to their feet, they treaded forearm uppercuts and chops and Shelley got the better of it. Shelley set up for a superplex but Okada pushed him off the top. Shelley hit an enziguri on Okada, who was still on the top rope and then hit the Superplex but only got a 2.

    Strong then locked in the Strong-hold (Boston Crab) in the center of the ring. Okada managed to make it to the ropes to break it up. Strong then hit a series of forearms and whipped Okada into the ropes but Okada hit the picture perfect dropkick to stop his momentum. Okada set up the Rainmaker but Strong powered out with a forearm smash and a series of jumping knees and then hit the Sick Kick for the near fall that everyone thought was the finish.

    Crowd and the announcers were going nuts at this point. Okada then hit a tombstone piledriver but didn’t go for the cover. A second Tombstone and then the Rainmaker pose but again, Shelley powered out of it. German suplex by Okada and looked like he was going to go for a second but hit the Rainmaker instead, which was of course the finish.

    WINNER – KAZUCHIKA OKADA by pinfall

    Just an outstanding main event that would not be out of place as a PPV main event. They pushed that the rest of the card is available on the ROH as a VOD and that next week, we’ll get the TV title match between Jay Lethal and Watanabe.

    Which brings me to a point that needs to be made here. This is now the third show since the PPV and there has been zero follow-up on any of the stuff from that show, which is a problem in 2015. The Adam Cole angle where he reunited with the Kingdom is something that they absolutely should be talking about by now. As well, one of the big selling features of the show was the angle between Dalton Castle and Silas Young and “the boys”. We should be seeing vignettes with Young trying to turn the boys into men by now. I would hope they’re coming but by the time they do, the match will be a couple months old. This is something they really need to work on if they hope to expand their fanbase. Bell to bell, they’re without a doubt the best company in North America, at least in terms of ones that have television but they need to update their presentation.