By Jason Powell, Prowrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Ring of Honor TV
Taped December 16 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at 2300 Arena
Aired in syndication over the weekend, Mondays on the FITE TV app
ROH TV opened with footage of Dalton Castle and The Boys defeating The Kingdom last week and included new footage of The Kingdom members attacking the winning trio afterward. Matt Taven cut a post-match promo boasting and stating that he will be the next ROH Champion… The opening montage aired…
The broadcast team of Ian Riccaboni, Colt Cabana, and guest Cheeseburger checked in and hyped the show. Riccaboni noted that Cody would appear. Cabana said Cody would be in the ring, yet questioned whether he would actually speak for the first time since losing the ROH Title at Final Battle…
1. “The Motor City Machine Guns” Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley vs. “The Dawgs” Rhett Titus and Will Ferrara for the ROH Tag Titles. Footage aired of The Guns beating Best Friends to retain the tag titles at Final Battle (in one of the silliest finishes ever). The teams shook hands prior to the match. The Guns were in offensive control heading into an early commercial break (which included the plug for the Honor Club streaming service). [C]
The Dawgs came back and isolated Shelley. He broke free and went for a tag, but Sabin was pulled off the apron by Titus. The Guns came back and performed some of their signature spots before Sabin pinned Ferrara to win the match…
The Motor City Machine Guns defeated The Dawgs to retain the ROH Tag Titles.
After the match, Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe came out with a mic. Jay Briscoe congratulated the Guns on their win. Jay said he and Mark consider the tag titles their property and they intend to reclaim their property…
Powell’s POV: The match was mostly a showcase match for the Guns. The Dawgs got some offense in, but it never felt like there was a chance that the champions would lose their titles. The Guns continue to lack personalities in ROH. They rarely speak and when they have it’s tended to be about taking younger wrestlers under their wing.
Backstage, “SoCal Uncensored” Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and Scorpio Sky approached Shane Taylor with an envelope. They said they were headed to the ring on business and they wanted to make sure no Bullet Club members crashed the party. “You write the check, I put ’em down, simple as that,” Taylor said. They shook hands. Taylor told the trio that if the check didn’t clear he would find them… [C]
Kenny King cut a promo and recalled his late mother telling him to keep his head on a swivel. He said he didn’t follow that advice at Final Battle and he ended up taking a beer bottle to the head. He said he won’t let that or last week’s antics with Silas Young, Beer City Bruiser, and Brian Milonas stop him from getting back on his golden throne…
2. Josh Woods vs. Jonathan Gresham. Footage aired of Gresham winning their previous encounter. A brief promo aired with Woods calling that loss a fluke. They cut to break after some back and forth action. [C] Gresham performed a big dive over the top rope and onto Woods on the floor coming out of the break. Gresham targeted the knee of Woods and eventually pinned him with a cool rollup into a bridge. The wrestlers shook hands after the match…
Jonathan Gresham defeated Josh Woods.
Powell’s POV: Hopefully the back to back losses to Gresham is moving Woods toward a heel turn. I’ve been saying since the Top Prospect Tournament that Woods strikes me as someone who would be better off as a heel with the long term plan of making him a babyface once the fans connect down the road.
Caprice Coleman hosted Coleman’s Pulpit with guest “Coast 2 Coast” tag team Shameem Ali and Leon St. Giovanni. Coleman had the duo confirm that they intend to break up as a tag team if they don’t win their next match. They said they don’t want to split, but they’ve reached a point to where the losses have become too frustrating.
Coleman asked Ali if this was his idea. Ali said it was. “I guess we know who the weak link is,” Coleman cracked while smiling at the camera. Both Coast 2 Coast members took offense. Coleman asked if they wanted to know which team they would be facing next. He teased going to commercial, but then announced that they would be facing War Machine. Ali and St. Giovanni didn’t look pleased…
Powell’s POV: Another good installment of the show. It gave the Coast 2 Coast duo a little mic time while also establishing their threat to split if they can’t win their next match. The announcement of War Machine as their opponents was well done and the split threat gives that match a nice hook.
Cody made his entrance and had a fan kiss his ring before he entered the ring. Footage aired of Dalton Castle beating Cody to win the ROH Title at Final Battle. Cody said he was victim to his hubris and had tasted defeat. “I stand before you no longer world champion,” Cody said. He added that Castle was the better man at Final Battle. Cody said he spent 13 years pining for the world championship. “Dalton, have your fun, because I am guaranteed a rematch,” he said. Cody pointed out that while he didn’t have the ROH Title, he still has the official “ring of honor.”
“The Kingdom” Matt Taven, TK O’Ryan, and Vinny Marseglia made their entrance. Taven headed to the ring while O’Ryan and Marseglia remained on the stage. Taven asked if they were really supposed to feel bad for him even though everything was handed to him on a silver platter. Taven said he’s beaten everyone in the ROH locker room and he gets looked over for people like Cody.
Taven said Cody was handed the title. He said the synopsis of Cody’s career would be that an ungrateful and undeserving brat became a bleach blonde bitch (censored). Taven dropped the mic and started to lave the ring, but Cody called him back. Cody said his hair got a bigger pop at Final Battle than Taven will ever hear in his life. Fans cheered and chanted Cody’s name and “Cody’s hair”.
Cody said there was only one thing left to do. Cody held his hand out for Taven to kiss the ring. Fans chanted “kiss the ring.” Taven obliged, but then kicked Cody below the belt. “I’m Matt Taven,” Taven said into the camera while standing over Cody…
A Punishment Martinez video package aired… Ring entrances for the main event took place. Chuckie T of “Best Friends” was struck by a streamer roll while posing on the apron. He sold it like he’d been shot. The Young Bucks were out last to a huge pop… [C]
Powell’s POV: It’s hard to tell whether ROH is playing into the fan reactions by positioning Cody as a babyface coming out of Final Battle or if this is just another came of the company not booking Bullet Club members as true heels. It was nice to hear Taven drop the awful “Melvins” line and deliver a more straight forward promo.
3. “The Young Bucks” Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson vs. Dragon Lee and Titan vs. “Best Friends” Beretta and Chuckie T. The bell rang to start the match and Titan immediately chopped Taylor, who returned the favor. The Bucks performed big dives on Best Friends. Lee performed a suicide dive on the Bucks, then Titan performed a springboard moonsault onto the duo on the floor.
Best Friends eventually took out Lee and Titan with stereo flip dives. The Bucks put Lee and Titan in Sharpshooters heading into a break. [C] The crazy high spots continued after the break. The Bucks eventually took control and hit a Meltzer Driver on Titan for the win…
The Young Bucks defeated Best Friends and Dragon Lee & Titan in a three-way tag match.
After the match, Scorpio Sky came out and distracted the Bucks, allowing Daniels and Kazarian to hit them low blow them from behind. Adam Page ran out with a chair to scare them off…
Powell’s POV: Page chasing them off a chair would seem to indicate that Shane Taylor didn’t do his job, but that wasn’t acknowledged by the broadcast team. We’ll see if they follow up on that or if it was just a hole in the story. The main event was an entertaining spot fest. I still believe fans would enjoy it more if ROH took the time to establish who the Best Friends are. For that matter, Lee and Titan are just being thrown out there. It continues to be a case of ROH creative booking in a way that suggest they believe their fans watch all of the independents and CMLL. That said, I enjoyed the overall show. The Coleman talkshow segment left me looking forward to War Machine vs. Coast 2 Coast, and I’m curious to see where they go next with Cody and Taven. Haydn Gleed will be by with a members’ exclusive audio review of this episode.
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