Veda wins with a back suplex while Mary is seated on top rope. Good enough match to warm up.
Kelly Klein and BJ Whitmer come out. Klein gives Mary a Michinoku-driver like move and BJ harasses the ring announcer to announce Klein as ‘the only woman that matters’ in Women of Honor.
Jay Briscoe comes out and tells the crowd the ROH officials are concerned about his health and he is not supposed to wrestle tonight. Roderick Strong comes out to tell him it is better that way and Jay should take the night off. Of course, Jay doesn’t accept that reasonable offer, so the main event is still on.
– Caprice Coleman vs ACH
Good match. Caprice yelled out ‘Buddy Landel!’ and proceeded to do a Landel-style elbow off the ropes. Maybe a dozen people in the audience got it. ACH won with the 360 splash.
– Stevie Richards vs Mark Briscoe
OK match. Mark with a DVD like move and then FroggyBo off the top for the pin.
– Beer City Bruiser (w/ Silas Young) vs Cheezburger
What you’d expect. BCB wins with his finisher. Silas mocks Cheeseburger and expresses his disgust for the crown and ACH and CB. Silas picks CB up over his shoulders, but ACH makes the save.
– ANX vs Motor City Machine Guns
Fun match. Good team spots. Heat on Alex Shelley. Finish breaks down and MCMG do a double team buster move on Rhett ( I think) for the pin. MCMG are pretty over.
– Adam Page vs. ROH Champion Jay Lethal
Big pop for Bullet Club, and a good pop for Lethal. Crowd somewhat favored Lethal during the match. Back and forth action. Lots of leg selling by Jay. Page ripped off his knee brace at one point. Big pop for a Young Bucks run in. Superkicks on Lethal, but he kicks out. Another attempt and Lethal ducks and Page gets it. Then Lethal diverts one Buck’s superkick into the other Buck. Follows with a Lethal Injection on both a Buck and Page at the same time. Good for the pin. Really good match.
– Intermission had BJ Whitmer babbling. Crowd wouldn’t let him talk at all. “We want wrestling” chant.
– Dalton Castle (w/The Boys) vs Kamaitachi
Solid match. Fun spots w/ Castle and the Boys. Crowd into it. Castle w/ a bridging suplex for the win.
– Lio Rush vs Adam Cole
The rest of the Bullet Club came out w/ Cole. He then sent them off saying he didn’t need them. Really good match. Near falls and hope spots had me believing Rush would win it, especially after he finally hit a frog splash. But Cole caught him with the knee brain buster for a pin. Afterwards, he shook Lio’s hand and called hm the future of ROH. Then he hugged Lio … but it was just a cover for a Superkick party. Bucks were out and nailed Rush and then all 3 did. MCMG ran them off. Best match on the card.
– War Machine vs. ROH Tag Champions The Addiction (Daniels/Kazarian) in a no DQ title match
Early part was just WM mauling The Addiction with hairs and trash cans. Then they got Hanson taped outside to the corner and Rowe taped inside by his legs to bottom rope. Lots of offense on Rowe, but couldn’t pin him since feet on ropes! Daniels cut him loose and they tried to pin. Rowe kicks out. Powers up and frees Hanson. More brawling. They hit finisher on Kazrian, but Daniels saved. Then War Machine decided to get the tables.
Before they can, two big guys (Shane Taylor and Keith Lee) run in and demolish WM with power bomb moves. The Addiction recover and give Hanson a double suplex with a belly landing on the table for the pin.
– Jay Briscoe vs Rodrick Strong
Lots of heat on Strong. Back and forth match. Ref bump and Jay got visual pin. Revived ref and hit the Jay Driller, but only got 2. A short exchange and Strong hit his suplex into front codebreaker like finish for a surprise victory. Solid match.
Decent showcase of Klein’s strength. James had a nice Black Widow on Klein. Klein wins via tapout choke. Post match, BJ Whitmer berates Scarlett to do a proper winner announcement. Issues open challenge for any woman to face Kelly.
Show Results
– Dalton Castle vs Stevie Richards turns into ANX vs. Dalton Castle & Stevie Richards
ANX (w) come out for a segment called what’s wrong with wrestling. Stevie was blasted for lengthy career and Dalton Castle, Human Trafficker. Castle changes the match to tag match vs the “fatbags”. (Lights keep going out in building during this segment). Kenny King delivers a chairshot to a spinning Richards and capitalized for the pinfall.
– Caprice Coleman def. Cheeseburger
Coleman comes out bearing gifts (protein powder, peanuts) to make Cheeseburger bigger. Caprice wins in a solid match by submission. Cheeseburger over with the crowd.
– Christopher Daniels def. Ray Rowe
Rowe surprisedly booed. Towards end, Kaz comes out followed by Hanson just enough to cause a distraction. Daniels hits BME for the 3 count. Daniels helps Kaz continue the beatdown on Hanson which turns into…
– Warbeard Hanson def. Kazarian
Kaz is over with the crowd and so is Hanson. Very good match. Hanson wins with swinging leg kick. Post match, Kaz comes out followed by Rowe. A brawl ensues and War Machine stands tall with the tag belts. War Machine leaves then Addiction stands up with their belts.
– Kamaitachi vs. Jason Kincaid vs Lio Rush vs Will Ferrara vs ACH vs Roderick Strong
Roddy clears the ring to start and stares at Rush. Match breaks down and Roddy does a sick spot outside the ring where he flings each opponent into the metal barricade. Then begins in the ring with Kamaitachi. ACH and Lio do some cool floppy counter stuff. Kincaid came in with a sick off the ropes bulldog/STO spot. Very fast paced, hard to keep up. Lot of Roddy dominance. Kincaid hits the sunset flip power bomb on Lio Rush to the guys on the floor. Kamaitachi then hits a spinning modification of air raid crash for the 3 on Kincaid in the ring. Great match.
Intermission
– BJ Whitmer tries to get on mic and is booed at every opportunity. He graces us with his presence in a practice match against a guy who may have been announced as Mark Sales, dressed in Corino trunks. Whitmer squashed him quickly.
– Silas Young and Beer City Bruiser vs Shane Taylor and Keith Lee
Taylor hits 2nd rope splash on Beer City Bruiser for the pin.
– Jay Briscoe vs. Moose w/ Stokely Hathaway
Both these guys chants to start. Stiff contest. Nice tope con Hilo by Moose. Briscoe hits a Death Valley Driver on the ring apron to Moose. Jay Driller to Moose for a near fall. Crowd goes nuts thinking it was 3. Moose powerbombs Jay through ringside timekeeper table. Jay gets back in the ring at the count of 19. Jay counters the powerbomb into another Jay Driller for the win. Match of the night!
– ROH Champion Jay Lethal (w/Taeler Hendrix) vs. Mark Briscoe
Back and forth match. Mark kicked out of the second diving forearm from Lethal. Jay hit a top rope elbow drop for a near fall, later locking on a figure four. Lethal blocked a Briscoe Elbow from top, kicks him in the face and dazes him, nailing Lethal Injection for the 3. Solid match.
– Bullet Club (Adam Page & Adam Cole) (w/Young Bucks) vs. Motor City Machine Guns
Match started out of the ring with barricade throws on MCMG. Bucks superkick Sabin before heading to the back. A lot of Too Sweet eye pokes by Cole. Page connects on the shooting star to the outside. MCMG hit tag team combination from the top rope to near fall because Todd Sinclair pulled out of ring. Upon getting back in the ring, MCMG superkicks him.
Bucks return and Superkick Sabin. Cole holds Shelley and Bucks inadvertently hit Cole with superkicks and get superkicked by MCM. Page gets back in the ring, MCMG hit their finish for the 3 count on Page.
After the match, the Addiction comes out to attack MCMG. MCMG clears them to the outside where the Bucks hit Addiction w/superkicks. Sabin gets on the mic and asks the crowd if they want to see Addiction as champs. Boos. They ask if the people want to see MCMG vs YB. They says if they win the YB will be first competitors.
Bucks gets on the mic and say that MCMG is their biggest rivalry. Shelley then puts over the ROH tag division and the fans. Shelley says MCMG + YB equal profits & 5 star classics. They call the Bucks back in the ring for handshakes. Surprisingly, no Superkicks and clean handshakes.
The original alternative is back with 45 minutes of New Japan pro graps gooeyness!
Some time has passed since the New Japan-Ring Of Honor joint show in Chicago Ridge, but it allowed Adam’s thoughts to ferment like a cold bottle of Arbor Mist purchased at a gas station…and we’re gonna open that bottle and let them flow right down your earhole. We talk the greatness of seeing some greats, the main event angle, unbridled joy for KAMAITACHI (and Dragon Lee too), Adam sees your ‘Kyle O’Reilly as pioneer’ argument – and then completely smashes it into dust, the first few days of NJ’s Best of the Super Juniors, Chase, Will, Beretta, KUSHIDAMANIA, Pittsburgh’s HBK line, and much more.
It’s the radio show that wonders if other radio shows have ever put the Ronnie James Dio in radio; it’s the latest edition of the Adam and Mike BIG AUDIO NIGHTMARE~!
Submitted by Pat Laprade from a sold-out Terminal 5 in NYC
– Dark match: Cheeseburger & Davey Vega b J. Diesel & Juan Francisco de Coronado when Cheeseburger hit the Shotei on Coronado
Kevin Kelly and BJ Whitmer on commentary.
– reDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) defeated All Night Express (Rhett Titus & Kenny King) using the Chasing the Dragon in a good opener.
– Dalton Castle (w/ The Boys) beat Michael Elgin, Moose (w/Stokely Hathaway) & Lio Rush when he pinned Rush after an inverted Whirlybird.
Very good match and very cool spots, including Castle doing a German suplex to Elgin followed by one on Moose, which got a huge “Holy s**t” chant. All four guys were over with the crowd, Castle being the most over guy. Moose is improving every time I see him and Rush, at only 21, is one heck of a prospect.
– Kushida defeated Silas Young with the Kushida Lock
Kushida is the IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion but it was a non-title match. Weakest match so far. Perhaps Young wasn’t the best match up for Kushida. Not bad though, but not on par with the first two.
– Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) beat Trent Baretta & Gedo (w/Rocky Romero)
The Guns pinned Gedo after hitting the Dream Sequence on Gedo and then the stereo boots in the corner on Baretta. Solid match, not as good as the opener but still good.
– Jushin Liger & Mark & Jay Briscoe beat Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa & Adam Page after Liger hit the Liger Bomb on Tonga and Mark finished him with a big elbow from the top.
Good match. Crowd chanting “too sweet” at the Tonga, Loa and Page. Always special to see Liger live and the fans showed respect as he got a big reaction when his music hit and he got a huge chant before leaving.
– During intermission, Taeler Hendrix attacked Mandy Leon at ringside. She got in the ring with a chair and hit Leon with a DDT on it.
– BJ Whitmer got in the ring and cut a promo on Steve Corino. He said that he wasn’t a good father and a good husband and that the video footage he had wasn’t the only one. Corino got in the ring with a chair. Whitmer called him a bitch. Corino said he would beat the s**t out of him on 6/24 and called him a bitch to which the crowd chanted “you’re a bitch!”
– Veda Scott took Whitmer’s spot at commentary.
– Donovan Dijak (w/ Prince Nana) beat Cedric Alexander with his backbreaker rack into a knee lift.
Finish felt really flat. No one actually reacted and the fans were not happy with how the finish came out. After the match, Dijak raised Alexander’s arm and the crowd chanted “Thank you Cedric” and “Please don’t go” as it was Alexander’s ROH’s farewell before heading to WWE. According to PW Insider’s Mike Johnson, Prince Nana has signed a contract with ROH.
– War Machine (Ray Rowe & Hanson) defeated the ROH World Tag Team champions The Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) by DQ when Daniels broke a pin using one of the belts.
Match was ok, different from the first two tags. They did a ref bump. Kazarian tried to use the belt but nailed Daniels by accident instead.
– Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Matt Sydal with the high fly flow.
Very good match. Only 10-12 minutes, but I guess they are protecting Tanahashi who’s still injured. Crowd was really into him. Sydal was great too though. I don’t know if underrated is the right word, but he’s definitely one of the best on the indies right now and not getting the push he should have.
– IWGP Heavyweight champion Tetsuya Naito beat ACH in a non-title match with this Destino.
I’m glad Naito could actually wrestle because this was the best match of the show. A lot of dual chants “Let’s go Naito, ACH!” and lots of cool moves from ACH including a crazy kick while Naito was on the top rope. After the match, Naito attacked referee Todd Sinclair and got a huge pop for that.
– ROH Champion Jay Lethal (w/Taeler Hendrix) & Roderick Strong beat Adam Cole & Matt Jackson (w/Nick) and Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii when Strong hit his jumping high knee on Ishii.
Great match. I liked the Naito/ACH match better but someone could make a case this was the best match tonight. Okada and the Bucks got the biggest reaction out of the entrances. Even after 4 hours of wrestling, the crowd was super hot. They were really into everything Jackson, Cole and Okada, especially, were doing.
Despite recovering from a high fever and hospitalization Friday and a bum elbow, IWGP heavyweight champion Tetsuya Naito rallied Saturday and will be in action against ACH as part of the ROH/NJPW Global Wars event at New York City’s Terminal Five.
It was unclear yesterday and today if he would be able to wrestle on tonight’s show due to his many ailments.
As one of the most popular of the New Japan wrestlers on the current tour, he had noted long autograph lines for him this year when last year on this same ROH/NJPW tour that wasn’t the case in the U.S. and Canada.
Naito beat Kazuchika Okada at the Invasion Attack PPV in Sumo Hall in Tokyo in April, and will make his next defense against Okada in the main event of Dominion on June 19th in Osaka Jo Hall.
Tonight’s show was already revamped due to storyline changes as well as a rib injury to The Young Bucks’ Nick Jackson. There are a number of other injuries to talent performing tonight including Young Buck Matt Jackson (swollen and bruised hand) and Hiroshi Tanahashi, who was banged up in matches earlier in the week.
Here’s your lineup:
Bullet Club (Adam Cole & Matt Jackson) vs “Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii vs ROH World Champion Jay Lethal & Roderick Strong
IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito vs ACH — non-title
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Reborn Matt Sydal
ROH Tag Team Champs The Addiction vs War Machine
Cedric Alexander vs Donovan Dijak w/ Prince Nana
Jushin “Thunder” Liger & the Briscoes vs Guerrillas of Destiny & “Hangman” Adam Page
CHOAS (Beretta & Gedo) w/ Rocky Romero vs Motor City Machine Guns
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion KUSHIDA vs “Pro Wrestling’s Last Real Man” Silas Young – non-title
Michael Elgin vs Moose w/ Stokely Hathaway vs Dalton Castle w/ the Boys vs Lio Rush
Here are the results from the ROH TV tapings in Toronto, Ontario. They shot 4 episodes all together. Good crowd, really hot for any Bullet Club appearances. However, not the hottest for anything else on the show. As the show was for TV tapings, the matches were shorter.
Prior to the tapings, Nigel McGuinness announced that at the next PPV, it would be Jay Lethal v Jay Briscoe II. McGuinness then joined Kevin Kelly on commentary for the TV tapings (no Mr. Wrestling III tonight).
1st Taping:
ACH d. Lio Rush Fun Match. Post Match had a run in attack by Silas Young on ACH.
Motorcity Machine Guns d. The Addicition and RPG Vice
Addiction came out and cut a heel promo on the Toronto crowd. The MCMG came out to make a challenge, followed by RPG Vice, and started a 3-way tag match. Match ended with Alex Shelley getting the pin on Christopher Daniels.
The Elite (Kenny Omega, Young Bucks) d. Michael Elgin, Yoshitatsu and Tanahashi Kenny Omega getting the pin on Yoshitatsu after hitting the One Winged Angel. Loudest pop so far, with the Bullet Club appearance.
2nd Taping:
Okada (w/ Gedo) d. Matt Sydal
Okada with the win after hitting the Rainmaker. Big pop for Okada’s appearance (much louder than the other NJPW talent so far, apart from Bullet Club). Really great competitive match between the two.
Colt Cabana d. Adam Page (of the Bullet Club)
Big pop for Cabana’s appearance. Chants of CM Punk and Art of Wrestling during match. Post-match saw Bullet Club (represented by Tama Tanga and Tanga Roa) hit the ring with a beat down on Colt. Adam Page now carries around a hangman’s noose. Choked out Colt with the rope during beat down.
BJ Whitmer Promo Had the most heat on the show so far, but not the good kind of heat though. Crowd just didn’t like him or cared what he had to say. Chants of boring. Segment was at least saved by a Steve Corino run-in. But Whitmer got away before Corino could lay hands on him.
Jay Lethal d. Donovan Dijak Finish saw The Elite run in and super kick Dijak while the ref’s back was turned. Lethal pushed the Bullet Club members out and took advantage of the downed Dijak and got the pin after hitting the Lethal Injection. Other Bullet Club members ran in after the match to beat down on Lethal, however, the Briscoes make the save.
3rd Taping:
Dalton Castle d. Gedo
Tetsuya Naito d. Moose Really good match. Naito sold a lot for Moose. Naito mocked Moose throughout the match with his fist pump taunt. Naito’s character was amazing and over with the crowd. Really contrasts his appearance last year, when the crowd had a more tepid reaction to him. Amazing to see what a year can do.
ANX d. Cheeseburger and Jushin Thunder Liger Liger with maybe as big a pop as Okada in terms of NJPW talent. Rhett Titus with the pin on Cheeseburger. Big chants for Liger post match.
Silas Young with promo on ACH After cutting a promo on ACH, Young gets down and into the crowds face. While being held back by officials on the outside, ACH sneaks to the ring makes a running top rope dive, taking out Young. ACH with the escape into the crowd.
Kyle O’Reilly d. Kushida Best match of the night so far. Great technical bout with the two exchanging holds throughout. Great back and forth match. It’s too bad that they couldn’t go longer, but it was a TV taping match, so it’s understandable. O’Reilly with the upset victory over Kushida after a quick roll up.
4th Taping:
Dalton Castle d. Kamaitachi, Cedric Alexander, Caprice Coleman
Four-way match, and again, Dalton is the crowd favourite. Kamaitachi got a nice pop when he entered. His entrance didn’t have a video package though. Dalton picked up the win after landing the pin on Kamaitachi. Lots of fun high flying action and comedy spots. Another win for Dalton to build up to his eventual TV title match. Post-match saw Veda Scott with heat on Cedric Alexander, unimpressed with his losing. Scott about to fire Cedric, but before she can, he quits on her.
Tomohiro Ishii d. Will Ferrara Maybe weakest match of the evening. Crowd wasn’t buying into Ferrara, but they loved Ishii. I think by this time, the crowd was getting tired as well.
Team ROH (Briscoes, Roderick Strong, Jay Lethal) d. Bullet Club (Tama Tanga, Tanga Roa, Matt Jackson, Kenny Omega)
Finish saw Jay Briscoe hitting the Jay Driller on Tanga Roa. Fun TV main event, although not as exciting as last year’s Team ROH vs Bullet Club matches. It was interesting having Jay Lethal fight alongside Jay Briscoe since they’re fighting on the next PPV. I don’t recall them butting heads during the match. However, post-match, a confrontation ensued between the two.
After Lethal leaves, the Briscoes make an announcement that they’re coming to NJPW to take the IWGP tag titles off of Tama Tanga and Tanga Roa.
– Kamaitachi and Will Ferrara started the night with a web exclusive match
Crowd didn’t seem to care for Ferrara all that much, but Kamanitachi got a nice reception. Fun opener. Both guys worked quick. Kamaitachi won with a modified Air Raid Crash. Great finisher.
– They announced that the show was being taped for VOD and DVD, so apparently these matches won’t be featured on ROH TV. Bobby Cruise got the crowd pumped up for the opener.
– Bullet Club came out, with their newest member Adam Cole, who may have been the most popular American wrestler on the show tonight.
Standard BC promo work. Called out the Briscoes, MCMG, Cabana, and Lethal. Briscoes and MCMG come out, call off their tag match and challenge Bullet Club. Cole reminds them they need a 5th man. Cue Adam Page who comes out and offers to be the 5th to the ROH team and demands the match start immediately. BC retreats, Nick Jackson says they didn’t come here to curtain jerk, and they’d see each other in the main event. Solid opening segment, crowd seemed to eat it up.
– Matt Sydal and ACH beat Silas Young and the Beer City Bruiser
Sydal and ACH worked as underdogs while Silas and Bruiser played bullies. Okay stuff overall, but ACH is a much better act in person than he is on TV in my opinion. His dive to the outside using the second rope as a spring is very impressive. ACH gets the pin with a 450, and in the post match announces that he’s learned a lot from Sydal, but has to find his own path now. Sydal and ACH split amicably to a lukewarm reaction.
– Roddy Strong vs. Lio Rush
Rush came out, followed by Strong, who got a good pop. Roderick announced that Lio was replacing the injured Jushin Liger, to the displeasure of much of the crowd. Roderick worked as a full blown heel, bullying the smaller Rush. Rush did get some sneaky offense in, and looked impressive throughout. A fun spot had Lio catching Roddy in a rear naked choke, only for Roddy to run back first into the turnbuckle.
Lio climbed back on and they repeated the spot twice more. Ultimately, Roderick won by turning a guillotine into the End of Heartache, and getting the pin. Roddy added a post match beatdown for good measure, only for Liger to make the save, forcing Roddy to retreat. Liger took a position at the commentary desk for the next couple matches.
– ROH Champions War Machine beat Kazuchika Okada and Gedo
Okada with the biggest pop of the night thus far. Seemed like a significant portion of the crowd was there just to see him. War Machine, on the other hand, people seemed indifferent on. Rowe and Hanson got on the mic, and announced they were putting the belts on the line against Okada and Gedo. War Machine worked as heels (kinda), beating down the smaller Gedo before Okada could get a hot tag. In the end, Okada hit the Rainmaker on Rowe but was not the legal man. Hanson cleared Okada out of the ring and hit Gedo with a leg lariat for the win.
Post match, The Addiction, who were not announced, hit the ring, and challenged War Machine to a title match in NYC Saturday night. War Machine declined, and offered instead to put the belts on the line tonight. Crowd was excited for another title match.
– Kushida defeated Dalton Castle
People are really into Castle, and his entrance got big cheers. Kushida was also extremely over with the crowd. Funny spot early had Dalton retreating to the corner and being fanned by the Boys, only for Kushida to do the same moments later. They briefly fought over the Boys’ services before getting serious once again. Good chemistry between these two.
– Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin beat the All Night Express
Good match, Elgin seems much less stale with Tanahashi by his side. Tanahashi was by far the most over man in the match. Better than the War Machine/Okada & Gedo match, but not by much. A few miscues by Kenny King that the crowd really got on him for. Finish was dual High Fly Flows by Tanahashi and Elgin, with Elgin getting the pin. Tanahashi was truly the star here. Everything he did looked effortless.
– Tomohiro Ishii pinned Moose
Moose was very over, but did attract some rather vocal detractors. Ishii was well liked, and got a decent reaction. The story of this one was Ishii finding ways to chop down Moose. Moose is much larger in person, and towered over Ishii. I’m not the biggest Ishii fan, but this match was very good. Trading chops, standard headbutts from Ishii (much of the crowd was encouraging Moose to engage Ishii in a battle of headbutts). Moose got the crowd going by swinging Ishii back and forth while standing in the corner of the ring barricades. Huge reaction for Ishii nailing Moose with a superplex. Ishii finally got the win with a brainbuster. After the match, Todd Sinclair ran down and grabbed Nigel McGuiness, who had been on commentary, and brought him to the back. No announcement to the crowd as to what was going on.
– The Addiction defeated War Machine to win the ROH tag titles
Crowd seemed to be 60/40 for The Addiction from the get go. All out brawl to start. First several minutes were spent on the floor, with the ref unable to gain control. War Machine remained dominant for much of the match, until Kaz was able to slip a title belt in the ring and distract the ref, allowing Daniels to hit Rowe with the belt. Ref was distracted for too long and Rowe kicked out at 2. Kaz tried the same routine, but Daniels got caught. While the ref returned the belt to ringside, Kaz hit Rowe with a chain made of bullets (bandoleer?), allowing Daniels to get the pin. New champs. Crowd was hot for the finish. Nobody in the room seemed to expect it.
– Nigel returned to commentary after the Tag Title Match
– ReDragon beat IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito and ROH World Champion Jay Lethal
All 4 men were great, but Naito in particular stood out from the beginning, starting with a great entrance (including a belt toss). Comedy spot early had O’Reilly stomping Lethal’s fingers repeatedly, prompting Taeler Hendrix to kiss Lethal’s hand to alleviate the pain. O’Reilly gave Naito the same treatment, but when Naito asked Hendrix for the same treatment she gave Lethal, Lethal intervened. Naito eventually had a fan in the front row kiss his hand, to quite the reaction. Naito teased a dive to the outside, only to roll into his signature “I don’t give a sh*t” pose. Both teams went back and forth, lots of great action all around, too much to recount.
Finish had Lethal and Naito intercommunicating in the ring, allowing O’Reilly to take advantage and make a hot comeback. Bobby Fish took out Naito by running him into the barricade, before hitting Chasing the Dragon with O’Reilly to get the pin on Lethal. Seemed to be setting up a O’Reilly/Lethal title match. After the pin, Naito entered the ring with a chair, only to sit down in it rather than take out ReDragon. Naito treated us to a second belt toss, and seemed very displeased with Lethal. Seeds planted for a match between these too at some point as well. Strongly recommend seeing this match when it becomes available.
– Bullet Club vs. MCMG/Briscoes/Colt Cabana
Finally, Bullet Club came out for the main event. Noticeable change in the audio at this point in the night, so this match may have been shot for TV. Bucks and Cole were more over than Guerrillas of Destiny, but the latter seemed to win the crowd over by the end. Briscoes and MCMG out, only for Adam Cole to tell them that the Superkick Party started early in the back, and Adam Page can’t make it to the ring anymore. Cue Bullet Club beat down. The Bucks and Guerrillas divide and conquer, each taking a man to a corner on the outside barricades.
Adam Cole begins “Story Time with Adam Cole” only to be interrupted by Colt Cabana, who got arguably the biggest pop of the night. 10 man tag was complete chaos, but a lot of fun. Guerrillas and Briscoes seem to click with one another. Bucks taunted MCMG about TNA. Everyone got their signature spots in, except for the Guerrillas who don’t seem to have any yet.
Ref got taken out by an errant superkick from one of the Bucks. This allowed Adam Page to hit the ring, who immediatly turned on the faces and joined Bullet Club. Page put Jay Bricscoe through the ringside table with a keeling reverse belly to back piledriver. Superkicks for everyone. IndyTaker from the inside to the outside on one of the Machine Guns. Triple Superkick from Cole and the Bucks to Mark Briscoe for the finish. Post match, Page and Bullet Club hung Chris Sabin from the ring with a noose. Got decent heat.
BC left through the crowd and stood on the bar to celebrate. Cabana cut a defiant promo on the Bullet Club to end the show.
Chhristopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian (aka The Addiction) captured the ROH tag team titles Monday night in Dearborn, MI in an impromptu match with War Machine. The match was part of their latest set of TV tapings.
The night stared with Machine defending the titles against Kazuchika Okada & Gedo in what was originally a non-title match. They agreed to put the belts on the line, and won when Hanson pinned Gedo, although Okada used the Rainmaker on Rowe at the same time as the finish.
The Addiction then came out and said that War Machine were fraudulent champions because they were actually the best team in ROH. Daniels claimed they never got a rematch when they lost the titles and were undefeated in ROH — easy heat since they lost Sunday night on PPV. They demanded a title shot on the May 14th show in New York.
Hanson then said that The Addiction hadn’t won a match in months, and they’ve hurt Lio Rush, Jushin Liger and Cheeseburger. They said The Addiction can get a title shot, but it’s tonight, take it or leave it. Then, they lost the belts.
On Sunday night in Chicago Ridge, IL, the stars of Ring of Honor will battle the stars of New Japan Pro Wrestling at Global Wars, part of a unique series of early-spring events between the promotions that have been running for the past few years here in the U.S. and Canada.
Tonight’s PPV lineup is a strong one, headlined by a title match with the longtime champion Jay Lethal defending against a returning and popular challenger in Colt Cabana. You can email feedback to the show (positive/negative/neutral) to dave@wrestlingobserver.com
**********
RODERICK STRONG VS. ADAM PAGE VS. ACH VS. DALTON CASTLE – WINNER GETS A TV TITLE SHOT
Crowd was weak early, but picked up when ACH did a flip dive. The match kept moving with a lot of good moves. The finish saw Strong use a superplex, gutbuster and sick kick on Page, but then Castle used the bang a rang, dropping Strong onto Page and Castle pinned Page.
After the match, Strong got mad saying that he’s the best wrestler in the company and had the TV title shot.
JUSHIN LIGER & CHEESEBURGER VS. CHRISTOPHER DANIELS & FRANKIE KAZARIAN
They did the big upset finish as Daniels was being cocky and doing finishers on Cheeseburger when Cheeseburger pinned Daniels with a front rolling cradle. Right before the finish, Daniel & Kazairan laid out Liger with Celebrity Rehab and Liger landed on his head. He was selling the neck but it was clearly a sell spot but he was out for the rest of the match.
Daniels and Kazarian laid out Cheesebuger as Daniels gave him a low blow. They used the Best Meltzer Ever after the match, which is a combination tombstone piledriver and Daniels coming off the top rope onto him.
ROH TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS WAR MACHINE VS. MARK & JAY BRISCOE
War Machine retained when Hanson gave Jay a spin kick and then they used the Fallout on Mark — a move where Hanson came off the top rope while Rowe held Mark up. Hanson pinned Mark. This was a wild match. The crowd miking on this show is weak or the crowd is real quiet. The match wasn’t smooth at all, but there were a lot of big moves and the crowd did give them a “This is awesome” chant. Jay put Hanson through a table with a double foot stomp. There were several dives and they did a lot of big stuff. Hanson also kicked out of both Froggy Bow (elbow off the top) by Mark and the Jay driller by Jay. Fans chanted “Thank you” when it was over.
IWGP CHAMPION TETSUYA NAITO VS. KYLE O’REILLY (NON-TITLE)
This was the best actual wrestling so far on the show, very good and Naito came across like a superstar but the crowd miking issue took this match down. O’Reilly did all of his stuff with the various submissions and Naito did his usual spots and mannerisms. The crowd at points lightly booed O’Reilly, but mostly were into the match. O’Reilly got a near fall with a bridging back suplex but Naito used a spinebuster and Destino for the pin. After the match, Naito used a low blow on O’Reilly and then threw the belt in the air. Before the match, Naito also dropped the belt down and showed no respect for it.
HIROSHI TANAHASHI & MICHAEL ELGIN VS. KAZUCHIKA OKADA & MOOSE
This was a significant result because Tanahashi & Elgin are a regualr New Japan tag team and they lost this match. Moose speared Elgin and Okada then hit Elgin with the Rainmaker to win. The fans were really into Tanahashi vs. Okada when they were in together. A lot of good stuff here including Okada and Moose both doing the dropkick with Tanahashi and Elgin sitting on the middle rope. Moose did a dive off the top rope to the floor on both Tanahashi and Elgin. Elgin did a delayed vertical suplex on Moose. The crowd knew most of the spots, even chanting “Ace” when Tanahashi did the Moose arm deal. People were on their feet a lot and did another “This is awesome” chant but it still felt quiet a lot. Good match.
TV CHAMPION TOMOHIRO ISHII VS. BOBBY FISH
They put over that Fish is 39 years old and this may be his last big chance. This was weird because Ishii worked the same kind of match he’d work if it was a Japanese big show and Fish was right with him but the crowd was so quiet. Fish won the title clean in the middle by choking Ishii all the way out. Ishii never tapped but went out. The crowd was shocked tHat was the ending. You can tell the place is porly miked beause everyone is standing, you can see people chanting but can barely hear it. This was the best match so far. Really hard hitting from start to finish, hard chops & hard kicks by Fish, Ishii did his headbutt spots and a delayed superplex spot.
YOUNG BUCKS & TAMA TONGA & TANGA LOA VS. KUSHIDA & MATT SYDAL & CHRIS SABIN & ALEX SHELLEY
This was a fast paced match with all kinds of big moves. The match was built around the Bucks setting a record for the world’s largest superkick party for a superkick record. Mr. Wrestling III had a superkick counter, but it totaled zero superkicks. This had the most reaction of anything on the show. Kushida and Sydal are two of the best wrestlers in the world, and Shelley did a lot of unique moves. The Bucks mostly were selling stuff while Tonga & Loa played monsters no selling stuff. After Kushida did a flip dive over the post onto Tonga & Loa, the Bucks used the Meltzer Driver on Shelley for the pin.
They had a confrontation at the desk with Mr. Wrestling III and B.J. Whitmer, who came out wearing a Masked Superstar mask since Superstar was a big rival of Wrestling II. Whitmer handed him a flash drive and told him to go to his hotel room and watch what’s on it after the show — clearly the next stage in the Corino vs. Whitmer feud.
They noted that they didn’t introduce the new Bullet Club member. That is still to come.
ROH CHAMPION JAY LETHAL VS. COLT CABANA
They were out there having a good match. Cabana was really over with the crowd, being it was in Chicago. Taeler Hendrix interfered and Nigel McGuinness and ref Todd Sinclair ejected her, McGuiness dragging her to the back. Cabana had Lethal in the Billy Goat’s Curse when Hendrix came back out and dragged Sinclair out of the ring. The Bucks came out, seemingly to superkick Hendrix for interfering, but she moved and they nailed Sinclair. But then they nailed Hendrix anyway.
The Bucks had two Bullet Club shirts and gave them to Lethal and Cabana. Then the lights went out. Adam Cole was in the ring with a Bullet Club shirt when they came on and they all superkicked Lethal and Cabana and a million security guards. Everyone was superkicking everyone, including Kevin Kelly, Mr. Wrestling III, a camera man and even Mr. Massie (the Bucks’ father). He jumped in the ring and they stopped Cole from superkicking him, but then they superkicked him.
Tonga & Loa spray painted BC on a table and Loa powerbombed a security guard through the table. This was all very reminiscent of an NWO-era Nitro show. The crowd kind of booed them as it was designed as a heel turn. They put zip ties on Lethal, and Cole kept superkicking him. Cole grabbed the belt, clearly teasing the idea that Cole was going after the title next.
At another point, after they took out the announcers, Matt got on the headset and pretended to be Jim Ross doing “This man has a family” and “stomping a mudhole” and called Nick “King.” So, the show ended with a ring and floor with more than a dozen people laid out and the Bucks, Cole, Tonga, and Loa left standing.
Worth it at half the price, the original alternate is back with the GRATIS edition to help get you in the mood for Tuesday morning’s New Japan Dontaku show. After we talk for 13 minutes about other random things like the state of women’s hockey, we get into NJPW-ROH in Chicago, Zeus matches, Junior Fujita, lying about attendance, the ballad of Ryusuke Taguchi, spotlights on SANADA, snowflake predictions for Tuesday morning’s Naito-Ishii main, and much more.
