By Jason Powell
Ring of Honor TV
Taped August 20 in Las Vegas, Nevada at Sam’s Town Live
Aired in syndication over the weekend, available Wednesdays on Comet TV
The ROH opening video kicked off the show… Steve Corino made his entrance wearing all white and joined play-by-play voice Kevin Kelly as his color commentary. Kelly was giddy and gave Corino a hug when he sat down. Kelly hyped The Addiction and Kamaitachi vs. Okada and RPG Vice as the main event. Corino said it’s been almost a year since he was on commentary and made a call for action…
Powell’s POV: Finally! Here’s hoping Corino is back for the long haul. He’s one of my favorite color commentator’s in the game, and he and Kelly have good chemistry.
The Cabinet made their entrance, then the Guerrillas of Destiny were out next…
1. The Guerrillas of Destiny vs. Kenny King and Rhett Titus (w/Caprice Coleman). Kelly noted that the GOD are the sons of Haku. Corino said their mother was the toughest member of the family for raising the boys and being married to Haku. The Cabinet member had the advantage going into the break and posed with Coleman at ringside. [C]
Late in the match, Coleman tried to get involved and was roughed up. GOD hit Guerrilla Warfare on Titus for the win. After the match, Coleman put on a headset and said Bullet Club has no business here. Kelly thanked him for his words…
The Guerrillas of Destiny beat Kenny King and Rhett Titus.
Powell’s POV: This match felt really random. I know the Cabinet are heels, so were we supposed to root for the Bullet Club members? Strange.
The broadcast team set up a recap of last week’s six-man tag main event… Jay Lethal delivered a promo in front of the ROH screen. Lethal said he is looking for revenge on Tetsuya Naito for walking out on him. Lethal will face Naito at the All Star Extravaganza pay-per-view… [C]
A video aired of Shane Taylor recapping his history with Ray Rowe of War Machine. Taylor said Rowe trained him in 2007 and then they ran the streets of Cleveland. Taylor said Rowe talked and then he listened. He said Rowe left to go to Texas to form War Machine with Texas, leaving him surrounded by the enemies that Rowe created. Taylor said he buried them all one by one, and now there’s no one left by Rowe. “Everyone’s past catches up with them, Rowe, and yours just did,” Taylor concluded…
2. Shane Taylor and Keith Lee vs. Ricardo Rojas and Ken Phoenix. Taylor and Lee dominated the match and finished off the enhancement wrestlers with a powerbomb from Lee followed by a big splash from Taylor…
Shane Taylor and Keith Lee beat Ricardo Rojas and Ken Phoenix.
After the match, Taylor called out Rowe. War Machine came out. Rowe questioned how many times he put a roof over the head of Taylor when he had nowhere else to go. He said Taylor is the last person he expected to stab him in the back. Rowe said it’s not about Taylor’s betrayal or revenge, it’s about violence. He said he hopes Taylor enjoyed his 15 minutes in the spotlight because the next 15 minutes will be something Taylor will wish he could forget… [C]
Powell’s POV: The presentation of Lee and Taylor continues to leave something to be desired. Their poppy entrance music doesn’t seem to mesh with their presentation, and I still don’t know why these guys haven’t been given a real tag team name. It’s also odd that the storyline is all about Rowe and Taylor, leaving Hanson and Rowe just sorta standing there with nothing to say.
ROH Champion Adam Cole delivered a promo in front of the ROH screen. He hyped his tag match with Adam Page vs. Michael Elgin and Hiroshi Tanahashi as next week’s TV main event… [C]
3. War Machine vs. Shane Taylor and Keith Lee. The match started coming out of the break and Kelly noted that Nigel McGuinness told them during the break that it would be an official match. Kelly sided with Rowe, explaining that Hanson and Rowe formed a bond in the Top Prospect Tournament, and Rowe helped Taylor, who now feels left behind. Taylor and Lee isolated Rowe in their corner early on. Hanson eventually tagged in and worked over both opponents.
Later, Rowe caught Lee with a knee, then ran the ropes for a move and ran into a chair thrown by Taylor. Hanson returned the favor by hitting Taylor with a chair. The referee called for the bell. Kelly said the referee was throwing the match out. Afterward, Lee and Taylor set up a pair of chairs, then Lee powerbombed Rowe onto them. Security ran in to keep Lee and Taylor off Rowe… [C]
War Machine fought Shane Taylor and Keith Lee to a double disqualification.
Powell’s POV: A solid brawl that continued the feud between the teams. War Machine are over, but they really need to make some tweaks to Taylor and Lee to get fans engaged in this feud beyond big spots and chairs to the head. It’s not a bad feud, but I think it could be better with some work.
A video focussed on the Ladder War 6 for the All Star Extravaganza pay-per-view…
Matt Taven joined the broadcast team. Taven announced that The Kingdom will be one of the teams in the six-man tag team tournament. Taven promised they will take home the tag titles… Ring entrances for the main event took place…
4. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Trent Barreta, and Rocky Romero vs. Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and Kamaitachi. Tiger Hattori was the referee. Taven stuck around on commentary for no good reason. There was an early commercial break. [C] Barreta tagged in and popped the crowd with a dive over the top onto Daniels and Kamaitachi. The heels worked over Barreta heading into the last break. [C]
Okada worked over the tag champs, then tagged in Romero, who also hit them with a dive and then performed a nice huracanrana on Kamaitachi. Okada performed an inverted neckbreaker on Daniels. Romero covered Daniels, but Kamaitachi broke it up. Kazarian caught Okada with a leaping DDT. Kazarian ate a double knee from RPG Vice. Romero performed a suicide dive onto Kamaitachi. Daniels and Kazarian ended up performing Best Meltzer Ever on Romero and pinning him…
Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and Kamaitachi beat Hiroshi Tanahashi, Trent Barreta, and Rocky Romero.
Powell’s POV: The seemingly monthly RPG spot-fest. There’s rarely any type of storyline involving RPG, so viewers just pick a side and then marvel at the high spots more than anything. In this case, they gave the Addiction a rare clean win to build them up heading into Ladder War.
I really wish they would develop a rival for Okada in ROH rather than just having him work random matches. ROH is probably handcuffed in that NJPW probably doesn’t want him to lose, but I wish they would realize that the thrill of simply seeing Okada on ROH television is gone. I wish they would make his appearances count by booking him in a competitive program rather than simply treating him as something of a guest star. If NJPW doesn’t want to have him put over ROH talent, then why not bring one of his NJPW feuds to ROH television?
Overall, a throwaway edition of ROH TV. It was the type of show that may hold your interest for an hour thanks to the in-ring action, but there wasn’t any major storyline progression, nor did it leave this viewer anxious to see next week’s show or the pay-per-view. Here’s hoping the go-home edition for All Star Extravaganza is better.
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