We are looking for correspondents for Saturday’s ROH live events in New York City. If you attend a show, you are encouraged to send a report to dotnetjason@gmail.com
Ring of Honor TV taping
Toronto, Ontario at Ted Reeve Arena
Report by Dot Net reader Mike Beauvais
Episode One
Nigel McGuinness opened the show to announce that Jay Lethal would defend the ROH Title against Jay Briscoe at Best in the World. He also said that the Bullet Club makes too much money for the company to suspend them, but he levied one of ROH’s largest ever fines against them for their actions on Sunday night.
1. ACH beat Lio Rush. Decent little opener to get the audience going with crowd-pleasing offense. Silas Young was on commentary and went to accost Rush after the match. ACH backed him off, but Young jumped him when his back was turned.
2. Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) defeated ROH Tag Team Champions The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) and Roppongi Vice (Rocky Romero and Trent Beretta) in a three-way dance. The Addiction cut a funny promo before the match running down Toronto, its sports teams and the rest of the tag division in ROH. The other two teams eventually came down with the stipulation being that the champions would grant a title shot to the team who could beat them. Shelley pinned Daniels following the ASCS Rush. MCMG and RPG Vice shook hands following the match.
3. NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions Kenny Omega, Nick Jackson, and Matt Jackson defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin, and Yoshitatsu. The crowd went nuts for the Bullet Club and treated them like superstars. Tanahashi and Elgin were also over big, as well. Good match with everybody getting in its signature offense. The finish came when Omega hit the One-Winged Angel on Yoshitatsu. Adam Page and the Guerillas of Destiny came out to celebrate post-match.
Episode Two
1. Kazuchika Okada (w/Gedo) beat IWGP Junior Tag Team Champion Matt Sydal. Big reaction for Okada. Quick, but decent match. Okada blocked the Shooting-Star Press and hit Sydal with the Rainmaker for the win.
2. Colt Cabana over Adam Page. Page is now going by “The Hangman,” replete with a noose. The crowd was hot for the BC all night, but there was little reaction to Page with a bit of an NWO Black and White-vibe to him. Cabana was over big. The finish saw Cabana hit a drop kick near the turnbuckle, followed by a headlong dive that linked up Page’s feet into a pinning combination. Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa beat down Cabana after the match, with Page putting his noose around his neck.
BJ Whitmer cut a promo on Steve Corino and got booed out of the building. The crowd just crapped all over him. Corino eventually ran in from the crowd.
3. ROH World Champion Jay Lethal (w/Taeler Hendrix) defeated Donovan Dijak (w/Prince Nana). The crowd was super into Lethal who worked babyface here. A better match than I was expecting, including Dijak pulling out a Fosbury flop over the ropes to the outside in a great spot. The finish came when Kenny Omega and Nick Jackson’s attempted superkicks to Lethal hit Dijak, allowing Lethal to follow up with the Lethal Injection for the win. The Briscoes eventually ran off the Bullet Club to make the save.
Episode Three
1. Dalton Castle (w/The Boys) beat Gedo. The crowd loves Castle. The story here is that Gedo kept attacking the Boys throughout the match. The finish came when one of the Boys poked Gedo in the eye while he was on the top rope, allowing Castle to follow up with Bang-A-Rang.
2. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito defeated Moose (w/Stokely Hathaway). The crowd loved both guys. Naito mocked Moose’s arm gesture throughout the match, starting a chant of his own. Naito hit Destino for the win and then beat down referee Paul Turner after the match for no reason. He threw his title up in the air and left without it. It’s easy to see why Naito is the hottest act in NJPW right now. His charisma has grown in leaps and bounds.
3. All Night Express (Kenny King and Rhett Titus) beat Jushin “Thunder” Liger and Cheeseburger. Huge pop for Liger and the crowd really dug Cheeseburger, too. Titus put away Cheeseburger for the win. The crowd chanted for Liger after the match, who bowed to the crowd.
Silas Young came back out to cut a promo on ACH, aghast that he plays video games backstage and thinks he’s a comic-book character. He eventually started jawing at some ringside fans until ACH jumped him and then crowd surfed back into the crowd.
4. Kyle O’Reilly defeated IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Kushida. This was excellent. Crowd was into both guys. O’Reilly won with a rollup. There was a ton of chain wrestling to start, followed by a lot of stiff, crisp offense. O’Reilly sold his shoulder throughout the match. The pair shook hands after the match and seemingly agreed on a title shot for O’Reilly. O’Reilly grabbed a Canadian flag at ringside to celebrate afterwards.
Episode Four
1. Dalton Castle (w/The Boys) beat Cedric Alexander (w/Veda Scott), Caprice Coleman, and Kamaitachi in a four-corners match. More crowd love for Castle in what was basically a comedy match with Kamaitachi adopting Castle’s mannerisms. Castle hit Bang-A-Rang on Kamaitachi for the win. After the match, Scott ran down Alexander for another loss and attempted to fire him, but he quit before she could. This appeared to write off Alexander for his rumored move to EVOLVE/WWE.
2. Tomohiro Ishii defeated Will Ferrara. Not a great match, but the crowd liked Ishii. Ishii wins with his suplex into a brainbuster. Ishii appeared to be upset after the match and immediately left for the back after it was over. He didn’t even have his hand raised.
Steve Corino came out and cut a good promo on BJ Whitmer, referencing his history with Kevin Steen, Dusty Rhodes and Terry Funk. Corino vs. Whitmer is set for Best in the World.
3. ROH World Champion Jay Lethal (w/Taeler Hendrix), Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe and Roderick Strong defeated The Bullet Club (IWGP Intercontinental Champion Kenny Omega, IWGP Tag Team Champions Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa and Nick Jackson). The crowd went nuts for the Omega and Lethal face off, which hopefully foreshadows an eventual program. The finish came when Lethal threw himself in front of Jay to eat stereo superkicks from Omega and Jackson, allowing Briscoe to hit a Jay Driller on Loa for the win. Strong, who will face Mark at Best in the World, walked out on the team prior to celebrating. Lethal and Jay pushed and shoved with Lethal thinking Jay wasn’t grateful enough for being saved from the superkicks. The Briscoes ended the show by cutting a promo to thank the crowd and announcing that they would be heading to NJPW to take the Guerrillas’ titles.
Notes: Neither Adam Cole or Bobby Fish appeared on the show. Fish had trouble getting across the border, which has happened to him in the past. I’m assuming it was a similar situation for Cole, considering the company would have surely wanted to follow up on him joining the Bullet Club. The crowd was exhausted by the end of the show and reactions suffered as the night went on because of fatigue. All told, the tapings approached the five-hour mark.
Be the first to comment