By Jason Powell
Ring of Honor TV
Taped October 1 in Lowell, Massachusetts
Aired in syndication over the weekend, available Wednesdays on Comet TV
Footage aired of Hangman Page and Adam Cole attacking Kyle O’Reilly… The opening video aired… The broadcast team of Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino checked in from their perch on the stage…
1. Donovan Dijak (w/Prince Nana) vs. Danny Miles. Dijak was accompanied to the ring by members of his training academy, just as he was at the pay-per-view that was held the night before the taping in the same venue. Dijak destroyed Miles and performed Feast Your Eyes. Kelly said it was all over. Dijak didn’t go for the cover, as the fans and Nana called for one more time. Dijak obliged. Nana asked for yet another. Dijak complied.
Donovan Dijak defeated Danny Miles.
After the match, Nana took the mic and said Dijak never quit at the last pay-per-view, nor will he ever quit in the ring. He said he’s an example of what an athlete should be from top to bottom. Nana said he was disappointed by the outcome at All Star Extravaganza, but it will never happen again. Nana looked at Dijak and asked, “Right?” Dijak stared back at him intensely and then shook his hand…
Powell’s POV: A good squash match win for Dijak in front of his hometown fans. I couldn’t tell whether Nana’s comments were meant to be a case of him putting Dijak on the spot in a heelish way. I assume so, but the broadcast team didn’t put it over that way. Rather, Kelly just said Dijak sent a message via his match…
Backstage, Adam Cole and The Young Bucks were interviewed. The Bucks showed off their newly won ROH Tag Titles. The Motor City Machine Guns walked through the curtain. The Bucks dubbed them the “Fragile City Machine Guns.” This led to a brief brawl with the teams being separated by security…
The Briscoes delivered a backstage promo to hype their match against The Addiction that was listed as coming up after the break… [C]
The Briscoes made their entrance for the match. Christopher Daniels, Kazarian, and Kamaitachi walked to the ring dressed in street clothes. Daniels had staples in his head. Kazarian said they had stitches and staples, yet they were still there. Kazarian said war can change a man, and Ladder War changed them both.
Kazarian described the Briscoes as warriors. Kazarian said people call them the greatest team in ROH, but he said they will fight to make sure they change that. Kazarian said The Addiction will never die. Kelly noted that The Addiction couldn’t wrestle on this show, but the opportunity for future matches between the teams was there. As the Addiction were leaving, Jay said that was a hell of a speech, but they came for a fight. He called out The Young Bucks for a match… [C]
Powell’s POV: While Kazarian’s promo was not as strong as the great Daniels promo that aired on the pay-per-view go-home show, it was one of his better promos. Are The Addiction members becoming babyface veterans or will this all be a swerve that will play out at some point?
The Bullet Club opening played and Kelly played up the idea that the Bucks were going to answer the challenge. He questioned what shape they would be in coming out of Ladder War. Adam Cole and Hangman Page walked out instead. Cole had a mic and said “man up” in a mocking manner. He said the Briscoes challenged a team that went through hell at Ladder War 6.
Cole said they think they run the place because they’ve been around since day one, but the Bullet Club runs the place. Cole called the Briscoes rednecks and said they wouldn’t be facing the Bucks tonight. Jay called for them to bring their “little, pretty asses in here.” The duo teased leaving, then hit the ring and the bell sounded to start the match with the teams trading punches…
2. Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe vs. Adam Cole and Hangman Page. The heel duo isolated Mark in their corner heading into a commercial break. [C] Cole worked over Briscoe and then tagged in Page. Mark caught Page with an elbow off the ropes and then kicked Cole before making a tag to Jay, who was bleeding from the back of his head. Kelly noted that the blood was “from an earlier attack.”
Jay set up for his finisher on Page, but Cole hit him with the ROH Title belt for the DQ. After the match, Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish came out with chairs to run off Cole and Page. Fish’s ribs were taped from the Bullet Club attack on a previous show…
The Briscoes defeated Adam Cole and Hangman Page by DQ.
Powell’s POV: Kelly was really good on the call here. Rather than act like the behavior of the heels was par for the course as Michael Cole often does on Raw, he acted offended by the heel antics as a good play-by-play voice should. I assume this is building to some type of eight-man tag with the Bullet Club facing The Briscoes, Fish, and O’Reilly, which could be really good.
Backstage, Matt Taven said we’re one week away from The Kingdom being built in his name…
Kelly interviewed Jay Lethal on the stage. Lethal jokingly thanked Cole for shaving his head. He said it’s easier to maintain and he’s getting compliments. Lethal said Cole did everything he did to regain the championship and now he will do the same to make sure he returns from their match in London as ROH Champion… [C]
Footage aired of The Cabinet winning in the six-man tag title tournament. Caprice Coleman delivered a brief backstage promo… The broadcast team discussed the tournament brackets…
3. Kushida, Jay White, and ACH vs. Caprice Coleman, Kenny King, and Rhett Titus in a six-man tag title tournament semifinal match. Coleman explained that they were kneeling in protest rather than adhering to the Code of Honor. The babyfaces still offered their hands, then gave them the “up yours” hand gesture (putting it nicely). The heels quickly gained control and put the boots to White. [C]
Coleman ended up using the ropes to avoid a Kushida hold. He used a high pitched voice while yelling “get him off me” repeatedly. Funny. The babyaface trio worked over the left arm of Coleman. Kelly said their strategy was to soften it up for Kushida’s Hoverboard finisher. [C]
The heels isolated ACH. Kushida came back and worked over King and Titus, then suplexed Coleman into a pin while also tying up Titus into a pin, but both men kicked out at two. The crowd chanted Kushida. ACH held Titus while his partners worked him over. In the end, Kushida took out a Cabinet member on the floor, then ACH hit his finisher on Coleman and pinned him…
Kushida, Jay White, and ACH beat Caprice Coleman, Kenny King, and Rhett Titus to advance to the finals of the six-man tag title tournament.
Kelly hyped Bobby Fish vs. Dragon Lee in a Proving Ground match, and more Bullet Club vs. The Kingdom in a six-man tag tournament match for next week’s show…
Powell’s POV: A good match, but the six-man tag tournament isn’t doing much for me. I had no desire to see ROH add six-man tag titles, and the tournament hasn’t won me over. At least it turned out that this wasn’t just a vehicle for The Cabinet. The most compelling part of the show involved the Cole and Page with the Briscoes. That match belonged in the main event. I get the idea of trying to make the tournament feel more prestigious by putting it on last, but it’s just not happening. Be sure to check out today’s All Access Daily podcast via the main page for Darren Gutteridge and Haydn Gleed’s audio review of this same show.
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