By Jason Powell
Ring of Honor TV
Taped on May 14 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at 2300 Arena
Aired in syndication over the weekend, Mondays on the FITE TV app, and Wednesdays on Comet TV
Jay Lethal opened the show and acknowledged that it was the show’s 300th episode. He said it felt like it was just yesterday when he won the ROH TV Title on the second episode. He said it’s been a wild ride and it’s all because of the fans. Lethal questioned what’s in store for him and ROH, which he called the greatest company in the world… The opening montage aired…
Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana checked in from ringside and played up that it was a milestone episode…
1. Silas Young and Beer City Bruiser vs. Jay Lethal and Bobby Fish. Cabana referred to Lethal and Fish as a dream team. There was a comical spot with Bruiser getting winded and struggling to complete a leap over Fish, who had dropped down on the mat. Lethal tagged in and called for Young, who declined. Lethal did more rope running comedy with Bruiser and called for Young again. Bruiser went the corner. Young held up a finger, the dropped off the mat and grabbed Bruiser a beer. Bruiser drank the beer and went back to running the ropes. He stopped and spat out the beer through the ropes as if he hard hurled. [C]
Lethal worked over Young, whom Riccaboni stated had tagged into the match during the break. Bruiser turned Lethal inside out with a clothesline, but Fish put Bruiser down with a Samoan drop. Lethal and Fish teamed up to hit a series of strikes on Young, which led to a two count. Later, Fish accidentally kicked Lethal to ringside. Bruiser performed a summersault dive onto Lethal on the floor, which drew gasps from the live crowd. Late in the match, Lethal hit the Lethal Injection on Bruiser. However, Young caught Lethal with a knee to the head and followed up with Misery for the win…
Silas Young and Beer City Bruiser defeated Jay Lethal and Bobby Fish.
Backstage, Christopher Daniels, who appeared to have a chipped front tooth, cut a promo about the 300th episode milestone. He spoke about being the first tag champion, the second ROH TV Champion, and now ROH Champion. Daniels said to expect continued excellence from ROH and continued dominance from him… [C]
Powell’s POV: A nice opening match with the right guy going over given the story that Young has Lethal’s number heading into their singles match at Friday’s Best in the World.
Riccaboni narrated a video package that focussed on the Bully Ray and The Briscoes vs. Dalton Castle and The Boys match for the ROH Six-Man Tag Titles that will take place at Best in the World. New footage aired of Bully trying to calm down Jay Briscoe after their lost the eight-man tag match on television because of The Boys saving Castle. Bully told him it was only one match and they would get past it…
The Boys made their entrance for amatch when they were attacked from behind by Matt Taven and Vinny Marseglia, who were accompanied by TK O’Ryan. Taven and Marseglia set up for a double team move on the concrete, but they were interrupted by Dalton Castle’s entrance theme. Castle headed to ringside and stared at the two Kingdom members. The Boys regrouped and the match was on…
2. Matt Taven and Vinny Marseglia (w/TK O’Ryan) vs. The Boys (w/Dalton Castle). As Castle glared at Taven and Marseglia from ringside, one of the Boys dropkicked Taven to ringside, while the other rolled up Marseglia for a two count. The Kingdom duo regrouped. Taven performed a reverse suplex off the ropes, which Cabana said was the finishing move of Ultimo Guerrero. Marseglia followed up with a swanton bomb for the win…
Matt Taven and Vinny Marseglia beat The Boys.
Afterward, Taven said they came to make a statement. Marseglia kicked the referee. “Be one of us,” Taven said before dropping the mic. Jay Briscoe came out and that caused the Kingdom to leave. Castle and Jay jawed at one another. Mark came out to play peacemaker, then Bully Ray came out and did the same. Riccaboni said on commentary that it was just a match and suggested that they let bygones be bygones…
A Punishment Martinez video package aired. “Prepare to be punished,” he said… [C]
Powell’s POV: Sort of an odd match that focussed more on the undercard Kingdom vs. Ultimo Guerrero and El Terrible match than Castle and The Boys heading into their six-man tag title match, but the post match angle made it more understandable. The focus is on Jay’s over the top reaction to losing. I thought they might be turning Castle heel, but now I’m left wondering if this leads to the Briscoes breaking away from Bully Ray.
3. Punishment Martinez vs. Joey Daddiego. Before the match, highlights aired of Martinez attacking Jay White and Will Ospreay following their match at the War of the Worlds pay-per-view. Martinez dominated the match and won by pinfall after a chokeslam…
Punishment Martinez defeated Joey Daddiego.
After the match, Will Ferrara and Cheeseburger came out to check on Daddiego. Martinez cleared Cheeseburger from the ring and then chokeslammed Ferarra. Cheeseburger returned and was about to be manhandled by Martinez, but Jay White ran out and fought Martinez. White clotheslined Martinez to ringside. Martinez landed on his feet and smiled at White before walking away…
Powell’s POV: It’s nice to see Martinez winning a squash match, as this is the approach I suggested they take with him when he first started appearing on television. It’s also good to see them get the White and Martinez feud back on track, as it seemed to be forgotten during the first few weeks of television coming out of the last pay-per-view. Sorta like Will Ospreay. Seriously, after that match, White, Ospreay, and Martinez should have been all over ROH TV.
Riccaboni hyped the main event of Chaos vs. The Addiction and Hiroshi Tanahashi… [C] Backstage, the Briscoes cut a promo about the 300th episode milestone. Mark said 300 is about the same number of times he’s banged his head. Jay said they won’t stop until they get to a million episodes…
Kevin Kelly replaced Ian Riccaboni on play-by- play, and Cody Rhodes sat in on commentary with him and Cabana. Colt announced Kushida vs. Marty Scurll for the ROH TV Title for the pay-per-view…
4. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Christopher Daniels, and Frankie Kazarian vs. Will Ospreay, Hirooki Goto, and Gedo. Ospreay and Kazarian started the match. Ospreay took down Kazarian and posed heading into an early match break. [C] After a few more minutes of action, Tanahashi performed a sling blade clothesline on Ospreay heading into the final break. [C]
Tanahashi dove onto opponents coming out of the break. Ospreay one upped him with a shooting star press onto Tanahashi, Kazarian, and Goto at ringside. A short time later, Daniels performed a uranage on Gedo. Tanahashi performed a High Fly Flow and then Daniels followed up with the Best Moonsault Ever for the win. Cody said he was not impressed…
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Christopher Daniels, and Frankie Kazarian beat Will Ospreay, Hirooki Goto, and Gedo.
As Cody was ranting on commentary, Daniels spat on him from the ring. Cody got up and took off his jacket and tossed it into the crowd. Hangman Page entered the ring and struck Kazarian from behind. Cody attacked Daniels. Page performed his finisher on Kazarian, then Cody performed an Angel’s Wings piledriver. Cody held up the ROH Title while standing over Daniels and Kazarian…
A montage for Best in the World featured brief comments from Marty Scurll, Jay Lethal, Dalton Castle and The Boys, Hangman Page, The Kingdom, The Young Bucks, and Christopher Daniels. A narrator hyped the Daniels vs. Cody match to close the show…
Powell’s POV: It was nice to see Ospreay, but we really should have seen him coming right out of the last pay-per-view. At least he was very impressive yet again. It seems like ROH has limited access to Ospreay and thus do not push him as aggressively as they do Marty Scurll. Tanahashi was very over and the live crowd enjoyed the six-man. The match itself felt like an oddly timed showcase with no real story, but the commentary from Cody and the post match angle were very good in terms of hyping the Best in the World pay-per-view.
Join me for live coverage of ROH Best in the World as the show airs Friday night at 8CT/9ET. Dot Net Members will hear my exclusive audio review after the show.
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