By Jason Powell
Ring of Honor TV
Taped on April 8 in Baltimore, Maryland at William J. Meyers Pavilion
Aired in syndication over the weekend, Mondays on the FITE TV app, and Wednesdays on Comet TV
ROH TV opened with a recap video that recapped the wildcard eight-man tag match with the winner advancing to face Jay Lethal at War of the Worlds. The narrator hyped Hangman Page vs. Jay Lethal vs. Jay White vs. Silas Young in the four corner survival match to determine the number one contender… The opening video aired… Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana were on commentary, and Bobby Cruise was the ring announcer…
1. “Coast to Coast” Leon St. Giovanni and Shaheem Ali vs. Matt Taven and Vinny Marseglia (w/TK O’Ryan). A pre-taped promo aired with Vinny saying they lost their titles, O’Ryan is hurt, and now Coast to Coast will be their victims. O’Ryan used crutches to get to the ring as he is still recovering from the gruesome leg injury suffered at the anniversary pay-per-view.
The Kingdom members adhered to the Code of Conduct, but then they attacked LSG and Ali to start the match. Ali performed a dive onto both Kingdom members, then LSG followed up with a dive of his own that hit Marseglia heading into the break. [C]
LSG continued to work over Taven coming out of the break, and then Ali got the better of Marseglia. LSG performed a coast to coast leap, but Taven caught him with a dropkick. Taven took down Ali and then put him in position for a swanton from Marseglia. Taven made the cover and the referee could have counted to three, but Marseglia stopped him. Taven said the ROH Title is coming to The Kingdom and then performed Christopher Daniels’s Angels Wings suplex on Ali and pinned him…
Matt Taven and Vinny Marseglia defeated Leon St. Giovanni and Shaheem Ali.
Powell’s POV: Taven is challenging for the title at a live event in Michigan, so that they were simply promoting that match. Coast to Coast continue to impress. I’d like to see ROH do more with then than give them competitive losses. It’s good to see O’Ryan was back at the tapings quickly after that horrific injury he suffered when his leg crashed onto the guardrail while performing a big high spot.
Stills shots aired of the Young Bucks vs. Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy ladder match from Supercard of Honor…
The Young Bucks made their entrances while Cabana said the torch was passed at Supercard of Honor. Matt Jackson said they were coming off the greatest ladder match in wrestling history and in doing so they got back the ROH and Superkick Tag Titles.
Nick Jackson brought up Adam Cole trying to fire them from Bullet Club. Matt said everything was cool and they worked things out with Cole in the back. Matt said they’ve beaten them all in pro wrestling, so he and Nick decided to have an open invitation for next week.
Matt said if there’s anyone past, present, or future who feel they can beat them then this is their shot. Nick said that means Demolition and Rock-n-Roll Express. “That sure as hell doesn’t mean The Revival,” he said. “How about Billy & Chuck?”
Mikey and Kenny from the Spirit Squad interrupted the promo. He said they have been winning titles domestically and internationally. Mikey said they didn’t have to wait until next week. The Spirit Squad members charged the ring and ran into superkicks from the Bucks. The broadcast team questioned whether the teams would meet next week… [C]
Powell’s POV: A good promo by the Bucks. I don’t know why we don’t hear from these guys more often. I like the way that Matt was playing it straight while Nick said less, yet was the more outspoken of the two by bringing up the situation with Cole and by making the crack about The Revival. It helps establish unique personalities between the brothers. Meanwhile, the Squad showing up doesn’t do anything for me, especially considering that they were immediately made to look like goofs, but it’s hard to imagine the Bucks having a bad match with anyone.
2. Matt Sydal vs. Flip Gordon. The broadcast team hyped Marty Scurll vs. Matt Sydal for the War of the Worlds pay-per-view. Riccaboni noted that Gordon is the only wrestler in ROH history who comes from Montana. Cabana put him over as a great prospect. Gordon did an early kip up routine and got some “Flip” chants. Sydal looked amused, then kicked the leg of Gordon, who returned the favor.
Sydal caught Gordon with a nick kick to the head and then a standing moonsault for a two count. Gordon delivered a kick of his own, but Sydal came right back with a high knee and went up top. Gordon met him on the top and caught him with a springboard kick that led to a two count. Sydal caught a charging Gordon with a kick and then performed a shooting star press for the win…
Matt Sydal beat Flip Gordon.
After the match, Marty Scurll ran out and tried to apply the chicken wing finisher on Sydal, who avoided it and connected with a kick to the head… [C]
Powell’s POV: The match felt like it was as much of a showcase for Gordon as it was for Sydal, which would have been fine if Sydal wasn’t the guy challenging for the ROH TV Title at the pay-per-view. Sydal came off well in his appearance on Impact Wrestling last week, but this crowd didn’t seem all that excited to see him. Cabana correctly pointed out that Sydal was more charismatic in the ring than he has been as he spoke to the crowd (in a failed attempt to get them to chant his name), so hopefully he’ll click as he attempts to revitalize his career.
Adam Cole made his entrance and was about to be interviewed by Riccaboni when he took the mic away from him. Cole said everyone wanted to hear from him. He said people want to know what the status of Bullet Club is. Cole said he said things he didn’t mean when he said he wanted to fire the Young Bucks from Bullet Club.
Cole said the Bucks know he didn’t mean it and he’s sorry and now Bullet Club is stronger than ever. He said they will prove it next week when he and Cody (Rhodes) team to face Christopher Daniels and Dalton Castle. Cole said Bullet Club is the greatest faction of all time and they are putting the ROH locker room and locker rooms around the world on notice…
The broadcast team hyped Cole and Cody vs. Daniels and Castle as next week’s television main event…
A video package focussed on Cody’s promo on Daniels in which he told him to imagine what would happen if an outsider who doesn’t have and ROH contract took the title from him…
Powell’s POV: The idea this week is to make it seem like all is right in the world of Bullet Club, but the tag match next week may tell another story. Meanwhile, the winner of the main event will join Cody in challenging Daniels for the title in a Triple Threat match.
Daniels sat in on commentary. Cabana called him on drinking an appletini on the set. Daniels said he checked Baltimore laws and he is allowed to drink on commentary… Ring entrances for the main event took place… [C]
3. Silas Young vs. Jay Lethal vs. Jay White vs. Hangman Page in a four corner survival match for a shot at the ROH Title. Daniels said the worst case scenario for him would be Page winning because then he would have to face two members of Bullet Club at the same time. The wrestlers did a big tower of doom spot with Lethal on the bottom with Page suplexing Young and White heading into the break. [C]
White caught Lethal with a nice dropkick. The color commentators were critical of White for hesitating and not attempting to pin Lethal. White slapped the back of Lethal’s head a couple times, which led to Lethal firing up and working over White.
Later, Young spat at Page, who wiped it off his chest, put it in his mouth, and spat at Young. Silas went for his handstand spot on the top rope, but Page stood up and superkicked him. A shot time later, White ended up performing a suicide dive onto Lethal and Page, then went up top and flipped onto them on the floor heading into a break. [C]
Late in the match, Young hit the plunge on White and went for a cover, but Lethal broke it up. Lethal hit the Lethal Injection on Young and covered him for the win. After the match, Cody walked out wearing a Daniels “Destiny” t-shirt. Daniels was shown holding up the title while Cody pointed at his shirt and Lethal jawed from the ring…
Jay Lethal defeated Silas Young, Hangman Page, and Jay White to earn an ROH Title shot at War of the Worlds.
A video package focussed on some of the New Japan Pro Wrestling talent who will be at War of the Worlds. The talent shown were Goto, Los Ingobernables, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Kushida…
Powell’s POV: A good four-way match that sets the stage for an intriguing three-way with Daniels, Cody, and now Lethal at the pay-per-view. The episodic nature of the television continues to be a nice improvement and this week was no exception. I have enjoyed the early work of Riccaboni and Cabana as a team, but the main event call was a little too laid back. Some of that may have been due to Daniels joining them and it being more conversational. Even so, it just felt like the tone should have been more serious, particularly form Colt, given that it was a main event match with higher stakes than usual. That said, it’s good to see Riccaboni and Cabana getting a chance to work more as a team rather than having Riccaboni work with a revolving cast of guest commentators. Overall, this continued to run of good, episodic television shows.
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