By Jason Powell, Prowrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Ring of Honor TV
Taped January 20 in Nashville, Tennessee at Municipal Auditorium
Aired in syndication over the weekend, Mondays on the FITE TV app
The show opened with footage of Matt Taven kicking Cody below the belt in an angle that aired two weeks earlier… The opening video aired… The broadcast team of Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana checked in…
1. “The Motor City Machine Guns” Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin vs. “Best Friends” Chuck Taylor and Trent Beretta for the ROH Tag Titles. The teams shook hands prior to the match. The Best Friends landed moves on both opponents in the corner and then met in the middle of the ring and hugged heading into a commercial break. [C]
Beretta accidentally kicked Taylor at ringside, but they came right back with a double team move that resulted in Beretta performing a Cutter on Shelley at ringside. Taylor performed a flip dive onto both Guns, then hugged Beretta in the aisle. Suddenly, Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe attacked Best Friends from behind to end the match.
The Motor City Machine Guns fought Best Friends to an apparent no-contest.
After the match, the Briscoes focussed on attacking the Guns. They tied Shelley to the ropes and forced him to watch while Jay performed a Jay Driller on Sabin onto a chair…
Powell’s POV: A good angle made better by Riccaboni sympathizing with the babyfaces and acting outraged by the antics of the heels. It sounds like the simplest thing in the world, yet we hear so little of that in WWE and Impact Wrestling these days that it really stands out when it happens in ROH. The Guns and Best Friends still lack character development, but hopefully that will change as they work with the angry heel Briscoes.
Backstage, Beer City Bruiser and Brian Milonas cut a promo about debuting as a team next week while Silas Young stood between them. Young said he couldn’t wait to see it and added that he would be there with them. Meanwhile, a graphic hyped Punishment Martinez as coming up after the break… [C]
A Punishment Martinez video package aired. He boasted about torturing Jay White, beating Frankie Kazarian, Will Ospreay, and Jay Lethal. He said he proved by winning the 2017 Survival of the Fittest that he is at the top of the ROH food chain. He said Dalton Castle has received nothing but congratulations from his peers since winning the ROH Title at Final Battle. “Let me be the first to grant you condolences because your time as as world champion is is dead,” Martinez said…
Powell’s POV: A cool piece of production from ROH.
The broadcast team spoke at their desk located on the arena floor about next week’s Dalton Castle vs. Punishment Martinez match. They also recapped the Briscoes interfering in the tag title match and then attacking the Motor City Machine Guns…
2. Shane Taylor vs. Marty Scurll. Scurll threw a kick at Taylor from the apron, but Taylor grabbed his foot from the floor. Scurll went for a huracanrana, but Taylor blocked it and ended up shoving Scurll into the guardrail. Taylor chokeslammed Scurll onto the apron heading into a break. [C]
Taylor caught Scurll going for a suicide dive, but Scurll was still able to DDT him on the floor. Back in the ring, Scurll was unable to lift the big man for his Ghostbuster move. Taylor ended up performing a running splash for a two count. Cabana barked that Taylor shouldn’t blame the ref when he didn’t hoook the leg.
Scurll came back by wrenching Taylor’s arm over the top rope, but Taylor caught hi with punches and then performed a Baldo Bomb for a two count. Taylor played to the crowd in the corner and yelled “Knockout” but Scurll avoided his punch. Taylor broke free of Scurll’s finger break spot. Scurll powered up Taylor for the Ghostbuster and got a two count. The broadcast team said it was a standard brainbuster in that Scurll didn’t drop Taylor’s head on his knee.
Taylor powered Scurll into the corner to break up his chicken wing attempt. Scurll tried to bring his umbrella inside the ring, but Taylor stepped on it. As the ref tried to take the umbrella away from Taylor, Scurll pulled out a bag of powder and threw some into the eyes of Taylor before pinning him…
Marty Scurll pinned Shane Taylor.
After the match, Scurll called out Punishment Martinez, who raced to the ring minus music. Scurll calmed Martinez down and predicted that he will defeat Dalton Castle to win the ROH Title on next week’s show. He said the fans may disagree on that, but they could all agree that they want to see The Villain as the next champion. The fans cheered.
Scurll said he wants the first title shot after Martinez wins the title. Scurll shoved the mic into Martinez’s chest. Martinez nodded. Scurll went to leave, but Martinez grabbed him and chokeslammed him. Martinez smirked at the booing crowd…
Powell’s POV: Scurll was super over with the live crowd as a babyface. The match was enjoyable and made Taylor look strong despite taking the loss. However, the match finish made the referee look like a moron in that the powder was still in the air and all over the ring when he made the three count. On the plus side, they are giving Martinez quite the build heading into his title match next week.
A video package recapped Bully Ray leaving his boots in the ring in Philadelphia from last week’s show, plus footage aired of Jay Lethal praising him… [C]
The broadcast team hyped Mandy Leon vs. Madison Rayne in the first Women of Honor title tournament match for next week. They also hyped the Castle vs. Martinez title match for the ROH Title, and Beer City Bruiser and Brian Milonas vs. Coast 2 Coast…
Powell’s POV: I love it when ROH takes the time to properly promote their shows a week in advance. Much of this show has been dedicated to building up Martinez, and the rest of that segment took less than a minute and yet it was successful in terms of making me looking forward to next week’s show.
Ring entrances for the main event took place. The Kingdom came out first. Cody came out wearing a new red hooded outfit and removed the hood on the stage before heading to the ring. Cody bumped fists and did the “too sweet” with fans on his way to the ring…
3. Cody vs. Matt Taven (w/TK O’Ryan, Vinny Marseglia). Taven avoided a springboard kick from Cody. Taven went for the same move, but Cody ducked it heading into a break. [C] Cody drove Taven face first into the apron. Cody ran up the ropes and dove onto all three Kingdom members at ringside. Taven came right back by running Cody into the ring post and then the guardrail.
Taven threw Cody to ringside and then distracted the referee while Marseglia and O’Ryan ran Cody into the guardrail twice. Taven twisted Cody’s arm and wrenched it around the ring post. Back inside the ring, Taven targeted Cody’s left shoulder. Cody came back with a clothesline. Both men connected with simultaneous springboard kicks and were down heading into the final break. [C]
Cody avoided a springboard moonsault and threw an uppercut from the mat. Taven came back with a spinning kick and then hit the springboard moonsault for a two count. Cody came back with an Alabama Slam for a two count. A short time later, referee Todd Sinclair ejected O’Ryan and Marseglia when they teased interfering. As he was clearing them from the ring, Taven wound up with a walking stick, but Cody kicked him below the belt to return the favor from their angle and then hooked him in an inside cradle for the win…
Cody defeated Matt Taven.
The broadcast team hyped upcoming events and next week’s television show. Meanwhile, O’Ryan returned and attacked Cody from behind. “Do it,” O’Ryan yelled. Marsleglia slammed a chair over the hand of Cody. The Kingdom members worked over Cody while the fans chanted for the Young Bucks. O’Ryan and Marseglia held up Cody and then Taven kicked him below the belt. Taven performed his Climax move on Cody and then stole his “ring of honor” from his finger and then put it on his own finger. The Kingdom members posed to end the show…
Powell’s POV: It’s hard to imagine it sticks with Cody given what’s happened with him and Kenny Omega in Japan, but I like that the Bullet Club members worked as babyfaces on this show. The fans cheer them anyway and so it’s much easier to follow when they work against heels rather than the true babyfaces being put in the awkward position of being booed while working against them in most cases. It was odd that none of the Bullet Club members ran out to help. I like when ROH pays attention to detail, so I’m holding out hope that this will be explained next week. Overall, this was a good show and the hype for next week’s television show as strong. Meanwhile, it looks like ROH is getting serious about doing more with Taven and The Kingdom. You can check out my free podcast interview with Taven at PWAudio.net. Haydn Gleed will be by with a members’ exclusive audio review on Wednesday.
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