By Jason Powell
Ring of Honor TV
Taped on June 24 in Lowell, Massachusetts at the Memorial Auditorium
Aired in syndication over the weekend, Mondays on the FITE TV app
After the opening video, ROH Champion Cody made his entrance. Cody walked onto the stage and kissed the ROH Title belt. The broadcast team of Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana checked in on commentary. They said Christopher Daniels was supposed to appear on the show, but he said some things that ROH management deemed inappropriate. Cabana noted that Daniels was ripping the fans of Ring of Honor. Footage aired of Cody pinning Daniels at the Best in the World pay-per-view.
Cody stood in the ring as the fans chanted “you deserve it” and then his name. “I do deserve it, don’t I,” Cody started. He thanked the fans for their “raucous and generous ovation.” Cody said the prince has become the king and “we march on everybody.” Cody brought up Daniels, who was booed by the crowd. Cody said Daniels is walking around with a classic “boo-boo face.” He said it’s as if Daniels lost his smile.
Cody told the camera to look at his smile. He noted that he had six stitches in his lip and said it’s because he wrestles every weekend, every night, in and out and it isn’t exclusively for Ring of Honor. Cody said he has yet to sign an ROH contract. “Sinclair Broadcasting no longer holds this title, they don’t own anything, the Rhodes family owns this title,” Cody said.
Cody said he’s self aware enough to know he has critics who don’t feel like he fits the honor style. Riccaboni noted on commentary that he was one of those critics. Cody suggested a rematch with Daniels in a best of three falls match. Cody said ROH’s discord with him is amazing to him. “Because I’m steroid free, full-time, and I am the World Champion,” he closed…
The broadcast team hyped Jonathan Gresham vs. Punishment Martinez… [C]
Powell’s POV: A good promo from Cody, who definitely had the crowd behind him again. It will be interesting to see if this is a pro Bullet Club reaction or if they are going to turn him fully babyface. They seem to be turning Daniels based on the rundown of his promo that apparently won’t air, but Cody’s tone and verbiage were essentially the same as it was going into his title win when he was a heel. The only real difference was that he didn’t rag on the fans to draw heat.
1. Jonathan Gresham vs. Punishment Martinez. The tale of the tape noted that Martinez was 14 inches taller than Gresham. Cabana said ROH has never been about size. Gresham used his quickness to avoid Martinez and land some strikes early. Riccaboni hyped Kushida vs. Jay White for the ROH TV Title for next week. Gresham also targeted the left knee of Martinez, who came back with a backbreaker heading into a break. [C]
Gresham continued to target the left knee. Martinez went for a springboard move, but Gresham followed him to the ropes and kicked the knee from behind. Gresham also performed a moonsault off the middle rope and onto Martinez on the floor. Martinez came back with a falcon arrow for a two count.
Martinez turned Gresham inside out with a clothesline. Martinez set up for a spinning kick, but then sold the bad knee by falling down. Gresham worked over Martinez and then followed up with a shooting star press for a two count. Martinez caught Gresham going for a suicide dive and then powerbombed him onto the edge of the ring. Gresham made the sign of the cross before being slammed down. Back inside the ring, Martinez performed a power move for the win. After the match, Martinez was about to work over Gresham, but Jay White ran out and helped Gresham clear him from the ring…
Punishment Martinez beat Jonathan Gresham.
Powell’s POV: The crowd was oddly quiet for a Martinez match to start. The wrestlers eventually won them over. I wonder how far they can go with Martinez rarely speaking. How great would “Sinister Minister” Jim Mitchell be as a mouthpiece for Martinez? They would seem to be perfect for one another from a gimmick standpoint.
Footage aired from backstage at the Best in the World pay-per-view of Bully Ray storming past a female interviewer and into a locker room where Mark and Jay Briscoe were arguing after their ROH Six-Man Tag Title loss to Dalton Castle and The Boys. Bully tried to calm them down. Mark told Jay he was useless in the match. Bully said it was Jay’s fault that they lost. Bully then pointed out that Mark was the one who was pinned. Bully said they are so worried about themselves that “you forgot about us.” Bully said they win together and they lost together… [C]
Powell’s POV: A nice bonus from the pay-per-view. This is the type of footage I wish they would insert into their gap shows. Is there a reason they can’t air their usual match footage, yet insert a pay-per-view recap commentary from the broadcast team at the pay-per-view along with backstage interviews and clips like this from the pay-per-view?
Mandy Leon delivered a promo in front of the ROH banner. She announced that there will be a Women of Honor episode in two weeks. Silas Young showed up and said no one cares about women’s wrestling. He told her to make herself useful and had her hold his workplace injury sign. He changed it to 22 days that Lethal has missed since being injured. After Silas walked away, Mandy said a lot of people care about women’s wrestling. She hyped the WOH episode again…
Powell’s POV: It will be nice to see another WOH episode. At this point, I wonder why ROH doesn’t simply insert women’s matches into their regular television show rather than having these long gaps between the WOH episodes.
2. “The Tempura Boyz” Yohei Komatsu and Sho Tanaka vs. Cheeseburger and Joey Daddiego. Cheesebruger fought his way out of a double team set up and then tossed Sho onto Yeo. Cheeseburger made a hot tag to Daddiego, who worked over both opponents briefly and then tagged in Cheeseburger again and used him as a battering ramp. Daddiego speared Show to ringside. Cheeseburger performed an odd looking palm strike (Riccaboni said it was taught to him by Jushin Liger) on Yeo and pinned him.
After the match, two planted female fans in Cheeseburger gear jumped the barricade and tried to carry him backstage, but ROH security intervened. One of the security guards turned and attacked Cheeseburger, then revealed himself to be Will Ferrara. Ferrara worked over Cheeseburger at ringside and talked smack until Daddiego ran out and chased him away…
Cheeseburger and Joey Daddiego beat The Tempura Boyz.
The broadcast team hyped the main event… [C]
Powell’s POV: A waste of the Tempura Boyz. I find humor in Cheeseburger, but everything from his finisher to the planted fans angle was really campy.
Riccaboni hyped Kushida vs. Jay White for the ROH TV Title for next week’s show. They also narrated footage of Kushida beating Marty Scurll to retain the title at the Best in the World pay-per-view…
3. Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe, and Bully Ray vs. Hangman Page and “The Young Bucks” Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson. Mark performed an belly to belly style uranage on Matt. The Bucks came back with backflips into a double dropkick on a seated Mark Briscoe heading into a break. [C]
The babyface trio took offenseive control. Bully Ray set up for a dive while the Briscoes held the Bucks, but Page tried to cut it off from behind. Bully saw him coming and performed a Bully Bomb only to then take a double superkick from the Bucks. Page and Matt Jackson teamed up to suplex Ray heading into the final break. [C]
Bully kicked his way free of the Bullet Club members performing his Whassup spot. Nick Jackson leapt off the top rope and into a cutter from Bully on the way down. Bully made a hot tag to Mark, who worked over Page and Matt. Jay tagged in and he and Mark worked over Page with chops. Jay performed a neckbreaker on Matt, then teamed up for a double team neckbreaker on Nick.
Bully splashed the heels and the referee along with hthem in the corner. Bully and the Briscoes hit their Super 3D finisher on Page, but referee Todd Sinclair was down. Referee Paul Turner entered the ring only to be pulled out by the Bucks, who then superkicked him while aiming for Bully and Mark. Jay set up for his finisher on Page, but Marty Scrull ran out and hit him from behind with an umbrella. Page covered Jay and referee Sinclair came through and counted the three.
The Young Bucks and Hangman Page beat Bully Ray, Jay Briscoe, and Mark Briscoe.
Afterward, Jay Briscoe threw a chair at the ring post. Mark grabbed a security member and threw him down. Mark grabbed another security member and tossed him to the mat at ringside, then Jay grabbed a security member and tossed him into the barricade. Bully showed no expression while watching the Briscoes lose their cool…
The broadcast team hyped Kushida vs. Jay White for the ROH TV Title for next week…
Powell’s POV: Bully did a good job of showing frustration immediately following the match and then the Briscoes lost their minds again, so the storyline tension between the trio continues to build. I hope it leads to Bully working as a singles wrestler sooner rather than later. That said, the trio as a heel faction would be a lot of fun with Bully working as the singles wrestler and the Briscoes working as tag wrestlers. The finish wasn’t good for heat, as most of the fans cheered the Bullet Club members winning anyway. Still, I’m interested in seeing where things go for the Briscoes and Bully.
Overall, this was a step up from last week’s show with more star power, particularly in the main event. However, there wasn’t much of the way in storyline developments aside from the Briscoes and Bully. It feels like things are on hold coming out of the pay-per-view with most of the feuds from the pay-per-view continuing. I will have more to say about the show in my All Access audio review later today.
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