By Jason Powell
Ring of Honor TV
Taped July 16 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at 2300 Arena
Aired in syndication over the weekend, available Wednesdays on Comet TV
The ROH opening video aired and then the broadcast team of Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness checked in from ringside…
1. Jonathan Gresham vs. “Hangman” Adam Page. Before the match, Gresham offered a handshake. Page spat into his own hand, then attacked Gresham to start the match. Gresham came back briefly and went for a leap off the apron, but Page caught him and threw him off his shoulders and into the ring post heading into the break. [C]
Gresham threw some kicks and performed a nice tilt-a-whirl face slam. Gresham applied a crossface, but Page powered up and hoisted Gresham onto his shoulders before depositing him on the apron and then kicking him to the floor. This led to Page’s springboard clothesline and then he followed with Right of Passage for the clean win…
Adam Page beat Jonathan Gresham.
Powell’s POV: It’s really cool to see Page come into his own. He showed good potential as an undercard wrestler, yet it was hard to tell whether he was ready for the spot in the Bullet Club. He’s making the most of it and seems like a new wrestler based on this match and especially the one he had with Jay Briscoe at Death Before Dishonor.
Backstage, The Cabinet hyped their match against Dalton Castle and The Boys for next week’s show. Caprice Coleman was in preacher mode, and then Rhett Titus and Kenny King checked in. King said Castle goes against everything the Cabinet stands for and he said they will make wrestling great again…
Kelly hyped War Macine vs. Keith Lee and Shane Taylor for next week’s show along with Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian vs. The Young Bucks for the ROH Tag Titles. Footage aired of the setup for both matches. Adam Cole, Adam Page, and The Young Bucks delivered a backstage promo. The Bucks did the talking and hyped their tag title match…
Powell’s POV: We’re roughly 15 minutes into the show and we already know the three matches that will air on next week’s show. Granted, we don’t know much about this week’s show, but I like that they are taking the time to promote a week out.
2. Stuka Jr. vs. Kamaitachi (w/Christopher Daniels). Stuka Jr.’s video wall listed the CMLL logo and showed his match footage from the Mexican promotion. Nigel spoke about how this show was in the same venue in which ECW introduced Psicosis and Rey Mysterio Jr. Kelly spoke about how ROH has a partnership with New Japan Pro Wrestling and now Stuka Jr. is the first to compete from CMLL.
Kamaitachi blew off the Code of Honor. Kelly noted that Stuka Jr. and his partner Fuego held the tag titles for four and a half years. He said the Stuka Jr. name was actually taken from his brother. Stuka performed a pair of suicide dives. The fans chanted “uno mas.” Stuka went for an Asai Moonsault, but Daniels grabbed his leg while the referee checked on Kamaitachi. Daniels ran Stuka Jr. into the guardrail and put the boots to him heading into the break. [C]
Kamaitachi tried to remove the mask of Stuka Jr., which the live crowd booed. Daniels distracted the ref as Kamaitachi jabbed a chair into Stuka’s knee. Stuka eventually came back with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on the floor, then followed up with a moonsault off the top rope onto Kamaitachi on the floor.
Later, Stuka went up top as Kelly spoke about his finisher. Daniels got involved long enough for Kamaitachi to recover and perform a move from the ropes. Late in the match, Stuka accidentally bumped the referee. Stuka took out Daniels with a dive from the top rope to the floor, then performed a great top rope splash on Kamaitachi for a visual pinfall, but the referee was still down. Kamaitachi ripped the mask off Stuka and then caught him with an inside cradle. Stuka put his mask on without his face appearing on television…
The broadcast team spoke about how fans can expect to see more CMLL wrestlers in ROH. Kelly hyped Jay White vs. Jay Briscoe for the main event… [C]
Powell’s POV: I really dig Kamaitachi and would like to see ROH get everything they can out of him for as long as they have access to him. I really wish they would have dragged out his feud with Jay White rather than having White beat him decisively, but it’s not too late to position Kamaitachi as a star. The match was entertaining and it was cool that the crowd booed when Kamaitachi made the early play for White’s mask, as it shows they understand that it’s a disrespectful move for the heel. Stuka was good, but I wish there had been some type of buildup for his debut rather than simply throwing him out there.
A video package aired on Kevin Sullivan and his involvement in the BJ Whitmer and Steve Corino feud. At the end of the chaotic video, Sullivan said he has two sons and maybe one should be sacrificed…
3. Jay White (w/Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley) vs. Jay Briscoe (w/Mark Briscoe). The wrestlers adhered to the Code of Honor. Briscoe caught White with a couple of hard elbows for an early one count. Briscoe performed a running kick and got a two count heading into the break. [C] Briscoe controlled the bulk of the action coming out of the break. After a kick from Briscoe showed a lot of light, Briscoe performed the Death Valley Driver for a two count.
Jay set up for his finisher, but White escaped and performed a nice German suplex. White caught Briscoe with a series of nice uppercuts from the floor, then suplexed him on the floor heading into the final break. [C] White had a run of offense before Briscoe cut him off with a nice clothesline. Briscoe got to his feet first and set White on the top rope. They fought for position and Briscoe eventually performed a superplex. White was busted open and had some blood around his right eye. They got to their knees and traded punches. Briscoe got the better of the punches. It was announced that television time expired and the match was a draw. The fans booed…
Jay White fought Jay Briscoe to a time limit draw.
Powell’s POV: A draw?!? I can’t even remember the last time I saw a time limit draw on television. I love the idea of a draw. It was ridiculous that WWE got rid of time limits on the main roster. Obviously, you don’t want to see too many draws, but it is a nice tool. It would have been nice, though, if the ring announcer had mentioned that there was an actual time limit, as I believe he simply said the match was one fall. The purpose of the match seemed to be establishing White’s toughness by showing he can hang with Briscoe. It will be interesting to see if there is a rematch. I wish they would have taken the time to record promos from the wrestlers heading into the main event to make the match feel a little bigger, but it was still a fun match. Overall, a good edition of ROH TV from an in-ring stand point and in terms of promoting next week’s show.
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