By Jason Powell
Ring of Honor TV
Taped June 25 in Concord, North Carolina at Cabarrus Arena
Aired in syndication over the weekend, available Wednesdays on Comet TV
Still shots of the Jay Lethal vs. Jay Briscoe main event from the Best in the World pay-per-view that took place two weeks earlier opened the show… The opening montage aired… Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness were on commentary and hyped Mark Briscoe vs. ACH in a match to determine the No. 1 contender to the ROH TV Title…
1. Donovan Dijak (w/Prince Nana) vs. Jason Kincaid. Dijak jawed a bit with fans, so apparently he’s a heel again. He also pulled in Kincaid aggressively when they shook hands. Kelly hyped a live Fish Tank with Bobby Fish interviewing Mark Briscoe and ACH prior to their match. Kincaid performed a cool facebuster off the ring apron heading into the break. [C]
Dijak caught Kincaid going for a suicide dive and then suplexed him into the barricade. Later, Kincaid performed dove through the ropes and performed a sunset bomb on the floor for a big pop. Dijak caught him with a big boot. Dijak hoisted him onto his shoulders and took him to the middle rope. Kincaid fought his way free and then stood on the ring post and performed neckbreaker from there for a two count. Dijak came back with Feast Your Eyes and got the clean pin…
Donovan Dijak beat Jason Kincaid.
Kelly hyped the main event and then hyped tag title match for after the break… [C]
Powell’s POV: Kincaid is a blast to watch with a crazy look and a wild move set. His quickness and high spots played off the big man well. I just wish someone would define what we’re supposed to think of Dijak. I thought viewers were supposed to like him because he left the House of Truth, but he sure came across heelish in this match. By the way, Kelly had good historical notes on both men. He spoke about how Kincaid was born on a mountain top and didn’t have running water or electricity. He’s told the story before, but it’s still a story worth repeating. Meanwhile, he noted that Dijak was a two sport athlete in college who gave up an FBI career to become a pro wrestler.
2. Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian vs. Silas Young and Beer City Bruiser for the ROH Tag Titles. Footage aired of the challengers winning tag Wars to earn the title shot. Both teams were booed. Daniels cut a pre-match promo stating that they would be facing real men for a change. The wrestlers shook hands.
It didn’t take long for the friendliness to disappear. The challengers isolated Daniels and worked him over. Later, Kazarian tripped the Bruiser, who ate a moonsault from Daniels heading into the break. A brief Mark Briscoe commercial aired before the break. [C]
Late in the match, Young hit Misery on Kazarian. Daniels came back with an angel’s wings suplex on Young. Daniels went for a superplex on Daniels, but Bruiser shoved him off and then went for a splash that was avoided. Daniels hit the BME and then Kazarian followed up with a springboard leg drop on Bruiser for the win…
Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian vs. Silas Young and Beer City Bruiser for the ROH Tag Titles.
Kyle O’Reilly cut a brief promo about facing Jay Lethal for the ROH Title in two weeks… [C]
Powell’s POV: It was odd that this match didn’t get positioned better. Kelly hyped the match quickly before the preceding commercial break and a quick graphic was shown. It should always feel important when the tag titles are defended. The lack of hype told me this match was nothing to pay attention to. I would love to see Silas and Bruiser get a run as a tough guy babyface tag team. I really believe the fans would rally behind them if they were pushed as no nonsense types who were feuding with the right heels. The heel vs. heel dynamic didn’t work and the crowd sat on their hands.
Bobby Fish hosted a live edition of the Fish Tank talkshow in mid-ring. He boasted about his accomplishments and stressed that he is the ROH World TV Champion, then introduced ACH and Mark Briscoe as his guests. Mark questioned what ACH stands for. Mark guessed American Child Hero.
Briscoe said ACH looks like he’s a 14 year-old boy who ate grilled cheese all morning. ACH chuckled. Briscoe’s next guest was Acrobatic Cat-Like Horseman. ACH was more perplexed by that one. Mark’s final guess was Ass Cheeks Huge. ACH turned around so the camera could get a closeup of his ass.
ACH was all business as he spoke about how he has to beat Mark to start his legacy. ACH said ACH stands for Annihilating Chicken Hope. Briscoe acted surprised by the fire that ACH showed. Fish said he was wearing his school clothes and didn’t want to stand between them, so they should have the match right now. Kelly sent it to break while hyping the match for after the break… [C]
Powell’s POV: I’m happy they didn’t just go to Briscoe vs. ACH cold, but this was not a very good segment. Fish is getting quirkier by the week. I loved his Fish Tank with Cheeseburger in Hopkins, Minnesota a while back, but this just didn’t do much for me.
3. ACH vs. Mark Briscoe to become No. 1 contender to the ROH TV Title. Fish sat in on commentary and continued to stress that his title is a world title. Kelly pointed out that Briscoe said the TV Title is the one he covets most. ACH and Briscoe ended up at ringside early on and ACH ran Briscoe into the ring post. ACH took a lap around the ring and then swung on the post and took Briscoe down with a head scissors. Back inside the ring, Mark caught ACH with a boot heading into the final break. [C]
ACH put Mark down with a clothesline, then performed what can best be described as a worm into a handstand into a flip back onto his feet. Damn. ACH caught Briscoe with a nice German suplex into a bridge for a two count. Later, Briscoe caught ACH with a Pele style kick. Mark followed up by running ACH’s head into each of the turnbuckle pads.
Later, Mark performed a Death Valley Driver and then went up top for his finisher. ACH got back to his feet and performed a flip kick that knocked Briscoe off the ropes. ACH performed a brainbuster and went for the Midnight Star finisher. Mark put his knees up. Mark performed a fisherman’s buster suplex and then followed with Froggy Bow for the win…
Mark Briscoe defeated ACH to become No. 1 contender to the ROH TV Title.
After the match, Fish and Briscoe had a staredown. Kelly hyped that their match would take place at Death Before Dishonor on August 19. Kelly also hyped Dalton Castle vs. Roderick Strong for next week’s main event, and he gave another plug for Lethal vs. O’Reilly in two weeks to close the show…
Powell’s POV: Entertaining work in the main event with the babyface vs. babyface style working better than the dynamic in the tag title match. I’d like to see Fish go all out heel, but I am looking forward to his match with Briscoe. Overall, this was not a hot followup to a pay-per-view edition. I guess I didn’t really expect it to be given that the pay-per-view felt like a glorified house show, but after waiting a couple weeks for this show I was hoping for something that would leave me anxious to see future shows. On the plus side, I like the way they are hyping matches for future shows. They hyped next week’s main event briefly, but they have been going above and beyond to hype the ROH Title match in two weeks.
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