By Jason Powell
Ring of Honor TV
Taped on July 29 in Concord, North Carolina at Cabarrus Arena
Aired in syndication over the weekend, Mondays on the FITE TV app
The opening montage aired… The broadcast team of Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana checked in on commentary and hyped two matches before shifting to ring announcer Bobby Cruise for the introductions for the opening match…
1. Jay White and Jonathan Gresham vs. IWGP Tag Champions “War Machine” Hanson and Raymond Rowe in a non-title match. War Machine jumped out to the strong start by slamming White and then Gresham. Rowe slammed Hansen onto both men before they even removed their t-shirts. White and Gresham rebounded and worked over Hanson in the corner. Later, Rowe performed a nice running knee to the head of White, then performed an overhead suplex on White, who came back with a suicide dive heading into a break. [C]
War Machine set up for Fallout, but Gresham pulled Hanson down. Rowe hoisted up both opponents on his shoulder, but Gresham slipped off and joined White in double teaming Rowe, which led to a near fall. Later, White performed a uranage on Hanson. Rowe no-sold punches from White and started eating forearms from both men. He eventually blasted Gresham with a knee to the head. Later, White suplexed Rowe and then Gresham performed a 450 splash for a good near fall. A short time later, War Machine performed Thor’s Hammer on Gresham for the win…
War Machine defeated Jay White and Jonathan Gresham.
After War Machine left the ring, Punishment Martinez entered and attacked White from behind and knocked Gresham to the floor in the process. Martinez chokeslammed White… [C]
Powell’s POV: A good opening match. It seemed like a lock that War Machine would win, but White and Gresham had a nice near fall off the 450 and the live crowd got up for it. The post match angle with Martinez is just more of the same in terms of the company finding ways to extend their feud.
Backstage, Caprice Coleman threw a fit while asking for “the stuff” that he ordered. He complained to production crew members that he ordered a bishop chair, a pool pit, and stain glass windows. He told them that they have one week to get his stuff. Coleman looked into the camera and said Coleman’s Pulpit will debut next week…
The broadcast team was joined by QT Marshall and they recapped The Kingdom attacking Jay Briscoe with a chair until Mark Briscoe ran them off. Riccaboni announced that Jay suffered a concussion and would miss next week’s main event, which he announced as Mark Briscoe and Bully Ray vs. Cody and Adam Page…
2. Shane Taylor vs. Josh Woods. Riccaboni said Taylor has lost 60 pounds. White was all over him to start the match. Taylor battled back, but White connected with a kick that knocked him to ringside. Woods followed and they traded blows on the floor. Taylor ran Woods into the barricade. [C]
Taylor was in offensive control coming out of the break and scored a two count off a suplex. Woods came back with a high knee in the corner. He picked up Taylor on his shoulders, but he couldn’t keep him there. Taylor clotheslined Woods for a two count. Woods countered into a Cross Arm Breaker. It looked like Taylor tapped, but the ref let the match continue, so apparently that wasn’t the planned finish.
Taylor escaped the hold, but Woods put him in an ankle lock and then performed a nice German suplex for a two count. Taylor blocked a kick and then threw a knee to Woods’s chest and covered him for two. Taylor grabbed a chair from ringside and tried to use it, but the referee took it away from him. Woods rolled him up for the win…
Josh Woods beat Shane Taylor.
After the match, Taylor clotheslined Woods. Marshall shouted encouragement from ringside before Taylor splashed Woods. Marshall entered the ring and had Taylor perform another splash. Cabana said he didn’t understand the connection. Marshall picked up Woods and held him as Taylor punched him out. Marshall pulled an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Taylor, who smiled…
Powell’s POV: A decent match with the crowd going from silent to getting into the action as it went on. The finish felt lazy from a creative standpoint, but the post match angle with Marshall was interesting.
Backstage, the Young Bucks said they run the place and they hope the Motor City Machine Guns are ready for a superkick party… The broadcast team hyped the Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view on September 22 in Las Vegas. Riccaboni noted that Cody had an open challenge for the ROH Title and it’s been accepted by Minoru Suzuki…
Backstage, Cody didn’t look pleased about Suzuki answering his challenge. He slammed the lockers and told the cameraman to leave… [C]
Powell’s POV: This will please NJPW fans and it’s a match that I’m looking forward to, but it seems odd that they set up Cody vs. Dalton Castle on the online pay-per-view. The story is that Castle is injured, so they apparently called an audible and it’s a good one, but I’m not sure why they opted against addressing the Castle injury.
Kenny King was seated backstage and spoke about his run on The Bachelorette television series. He said people stop him at the airports and say they wish he would have won. King said he learned a lot from the experience and being secluded. He spoke about missing his daughter while he was on the show. King said during that time he kept thinking about ROH and how he hasn’t performed to his true potential. He asked people to judge him on what he’s about to do. He spoke about facing Kushida for the ROH TV Title and how everything slowed down for him. He said Bullet Club ruined his opportunity by interfering in the match. He said you will see the best of him when he gets his rematch with Kushida at the pay-per-view…
Ring entrances for the main event took place. Bobby Cruise delivered in-ring introductions for the title match. The Bucks were introduced and walked over and held their belts in the faces of their challengers… [C]
3. “The Young Bucks” Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson vs. “The Motor City Machine Guns” Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley for the ROH Tag Titles. The Bucks took offensive control. Matt grabbed Shelley’s hand and did the “suck it” bit while Riccaboni said that’s not something he can show his son. The Bucks performed simultaneous Sharpshooters and too sweeted each other going into a break. [C]
Shelley avoided Nick’s high knee in the corner and Matt ended up taking the move from his brother accidentally. Sabin tagged in and worked over Matt while also taking out Nick at ringside with a suicide dive. Later, the Guns performed one of their signature sequences on Matt. The teams traded superkicks. Sabin ended it with a double clothesline on the Bucks.
With all four men down, Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian ran out and attacked both teams for the DQ. Referee Todd Sinclair was pushed down by Daniels. Riccaboni vented on commentary about the main event being ruined. Cabana said Riccaboni was really upset. “And who wouldn’t be?” Riccaboni asked. Riccaboni hyped next week’s main event to close the show…
The Young Bucks fought The Motor City Machine Guns to an apparent no-contest.
Powell’s POV: A decent main event before the interference finish, but it didn’t live up to expectations given the two teams involved. It felt like the match was just about to kick into a higher gear when The Addiction interfered. It’s too bad this match didn’t air before The Addiction faced The Bucks on the online pay-per-view. Instead, one can only wonder if they are setting up another meeting between the three teams that faced off in Ladder Wars at last September’s All Star Extravaganza pay-per-view.
A solid show with two undercard matches and main event tag title match. ROH could have done more to make the tag title match feel more important as they did for the recent Cody vs. Christopher Daniels best of three falls match, but perhaps they held off on that since they weren’t giving a clean finish. On a positive note, it was nice to see ROH promoting their pay-per-view nearly a month out. Hopefully they will continue to air Suzuki highlights leading up to the match rather than assuming all of their viewers pay close attention to NJPW. I will have more to say about this show in my audio review later today or on Thursday morning.
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