By Jason Powell
Ring of Honor TV
Taped on July 29 in Concord, North Carolina at Cabarrus Arena
Aired in syndication over the weekend, Mondays on the FITE TV app
The show opened with a video package that recapped last week’s setup for the six-man tag title match… The opening video aired… The broadcast team was Ian Riccaboni and BJ Whitmer. They hyped the matches and Whitmer claimed that stated that Jay Briscoe vs. Matt Taven is “a main event anywhere in this world”…
1. “Coast 2 Coast” Leon St. Giovanni and Shaheem Ali vs. “Best Friends” Chuck Taylor and Trent Barreta. Caprice Coleman joined the broadcast team and chastised Riccaboni for waiting to introduce him. Riccaboni hyped the Young Bucks vs. Motor City Machine Guns as next week’s television main event. Best Friends performed a Sole Food into a dragon suplex combo on Ali, then Taylor knocked St. Giovanni off the apron. The Best Friends hugged to a pop going into a break. [C]
Best Friends teamed up for a cutter on Giovanni, who kicked out of a pin attempt. The broadcast team put it over as Coast 2 Coast showing good heart. Coast 2 Coast had a comeback with a Ali performing a nice slam on Barreta. They followed up with Ali performing a nice flip dive onto both opponents at ringside. St. Giovanni performed a big springboard flip onto Best Friends on the floor. A short time later, Barreta put his knees up when St. Giovanni went for a top rope move. Barreta caught him with a flying knee. Taylor and Barreta performed piledrivers on St. Giovanni and then Barreta pinned him. Coleman hyped a surprise for next week to conclude his time on commentary…
Best Friends beat Coast 2 Coast.
Powell’s POV: The introduction to Taylor thus far has been limited to what happens in the ring. He’s an entertaining promo so it’s odd that we have yet to hear from him. This feels like another example of ROH creative assuming that all of their viewers watch the independents and/or Japanese wrestling. As for the match, it was entertaining with the usual formula of Coast 2 Coast impressing, yet coming up short. It’s time for these guys to get a meaningful win against the right opponents.
A Jay Lethal promo aired from “earlier today.” He spoke about being hospitalized for the first time in his career by Silas Young and Beer City Bruiser. Lethal said his motivation is on revenge. Lethal was interrupted by Young, who questioned if the golden boy was shooting another party. Lethal and Young brawled with Lethal getting the better of it. Bruiser showed up and was also worked over by Lethal. Young struck Lethal with a chair from behind. Security quickly intervened… [C]
Powell’s POV: A good angle that helped put some heat back on the heels after Lethal basically destroyed them singlehandedly on the show headlined by Cody vs. Christopher Daniels in a best of three falls match.
They picked up where they left off with the Lethal footage from earlier today. Lethal got back to his feet and questioned if that was all Young had for him. Young said he wants Young and Bruiser in singles matches and tag matches. He said it’s going to end and it’s going to end soon. Lethal limped away while yelling for Silas…
2. Matt Taven (w/Vinny Marseglia, TK O’Ryan) vs. Jay Briscoe. Riccaboni said this match could be the main event of any episode of ROH TV. Taven received a flat reaction during the ring introductions while Briscoe received a big pop. Whitmer said he’s known Jay for 15 years and he’s never seen him like he’s been and labeled him a ticking time bomb. Taven caught Briscoe with a nice knee to the head and then posed for the camera and called him “just another Melvin.” [C]
Riccaboni announced Josh Woods vs. Shane Taylor for next week’s show. Meanwhile, the broadcast team agreed that they felt Briscoe wanted to hurt Taven more than win the match. Jay performed a suicide dive and went a bit over Taven and crashed into the barricade, but he popped right up. Marseglia ran in and took a neckbreaker from Jay.
Briscoe grabbed O’Ryan’s crutch and pulled the injured wrestler into the ring and backed him into the corner. Jay turned toward Taven, who smiled. O’Ryan removed his cast and struck Briscoe with it for the DQ. The Kingdom members placed chairs over and under Briscoe and slammed three chairs down on him… [C]
Jay Briscoe beat Matt Taven by DQ.
Powell’s POV: O’Ryan also jogged around the ring, so it appears as though he has recovered from the nasty broken leg suffered at the 15th Anniversary pay-per-view. I continue to enjoy the angry Jay Briscoe character while also hoping that there’s a storyline explanation for it coming beyond The Boys costing him a meaningless six-man tag match. Riccaboni did a good job of questioning where Bully Ray and Mark Briscoe were, as it did seem odd that neither one of them accompanied Jay to ringside, nor ran out to save him.
Cody cut a backstage promo and had referee Todd Sinclair draw names from a hat with names of opponents he’s beaten. The first name was Jack Swagger. Cody claimed he ended him. The second name was Ricochet. Cody said he eviscerated him. He encouraged potential opponents to sign up and show up whether in ROH or outside ROH…
The broadcast team recapped the previous Kingdom attack on Jay Briscoe. They included new footage of Mark Briscoe coming out with a chair and running off The Kingdom… Ring entrances for the main event took place…
3. Dalton Castle and The Boys vs. Colt Cabana and The Tempura Boyz for the ROH Six-Man Tag Titles. Cabana and the Tempura Boyz pulled Castle and The Boyz to ringside. Colt ran the ropes inside the ring and then posed with the Tempura Boyz at his side heading into the break. [C]
Castle and The Boys cleared the ring. The Boys laid down and made a human chair for Castle to sit on in mid-ring, which drew a big pop. A little Bruno inspired fun. Later, The Boys tried a twin magic spot. However, Cabana spotted it and threw the weary Boy back inside the ring to prevent it. Funny. [C]
Cabana and the Tempura Boyz took turns performing moves on one of the Boys in the corner. The Tempura Boyz mocked their opponents by pretending to fan off Cabana in the middle of the ring. The Boys did twin magic again. Cabana told the Tempura Boyz he had it covered, and he ended up being worked over by the fresh Boy.
Castle tagged in and worked over Cabana. A short time later, Cabana went for a butt splash in the corner, but Castle caught him and suplexed him. Castle tossed his Boys onto the Tempura Boyz at ringside. Castle teased a dive on Cabana, but instead stopped to peacock. He eventually performed the dive on Cabana. Inside the ring, the Boys performed a double missile dropkick on Cabana, then Castle suplexed him into a bridge for a two count.
The Tempura Boyz came back with a double flapjack on one of the Boys. Cabana set up for a bionic elbow, but Castle grabbed his arm from behind. Cabana hit both Boys with bionic elbows. He went for the move again on Castle, who blocked it and performed the Bangarang and pinned Cabana clean…
Dalton Castle and The Boys beat Colt Cabana and The Tempura Boyz for the ROH Six-Man Tag Titles.
After the match, Castle took the mic and spoke about how he saw Cabana as an inspiration before he even laced up his own boots. He said Cabana has made it hard to like him, but he still wants to like him. Castle said he’s beaten Cabana three times, yet Cabana still looks at him like he’s not the spectacular wrestler he says he is. Castle asked Cabana if he’s earned his respect. Cabana stood up and shook the hand of Castle to close the show…
Powell’s POV: A fun main event as one would expect given the parties involved. It was also a fun show with a solid opener, and a quality second match with the post match angle. I will actually miss Colt’s hatred of Castle, but it’s also nice to see them wrap up the feud in a satisfying manner. So does this mean Cabana is a babyface color commentator? On a side note, I like the way they continue to have brief Cody interviews on weeks when he’s not appearing in the ring. It’s a nice touch to have the ROH Champion appearing so frequently while also giving the show a dose of star power. I will have more to say in my member exclusive audio review later today or on Thursday morning.
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