By Jason Powell, Prowrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Ring of Honor TV
Taped March 10 in Las Vegas, Nevada at Sam’s Town Live
Aired in syndication on March 31 and Mondays on the FITE TV app
The broadcast team of Ian Riccaboni, Colt Cabana, and guest Marty Scurll checked in after the opening video…
1. ROH Tag Team Champions Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe vs. Dalton Castle (w/The Boys) and Kenny King in a non-title match. This was billed as a championship challenge since all four men hold ROH titles. They took a break early in the match. [C]
The Briscoes isolated Castle and worked him over. Scurll spent time on commentary talking about how he would become the ROH Champion on the biggest show in the company’s history. Castle was still being worked over heading into another break. [C]
Castle finally made a hot tag to King, who worked over Mark Briscoe. Jay hit King from behind, but King came right back with a kick on Jay and then hit a spinebuster on Mark for a two count. Mark caught King with a uranage and the Briscoes took turns working over King. Jay performed a superplex and then Mark hit Froggy Bow. Mark went for a pin, but Castle broke it up.
King showed signs of life by hitting a couple of moves on Jay. Silas Young walked to ringside in street clothes and jawed at King. Jay tried to take advantage of the distraction, but King saw him coming. Jay still managed to catch him with a huracanrana and a Jay Driller for the win…
The Briscoes defeated Dalton Castle and Kenny King.
After the match, Scurll entered the ring with the ROH Title belt and acted like he was going to hit Castle. Instead, he simply handed the title belt to Castle… [C]
Powell’s POV: It is refreshing to see tag team specialists defeating a team of talented singles wrestlers. This rarely happens in WWE, where they sadly bury their tag teams in order to put over singles wrestlers all too often. Riccaboni tried to make it seem like the Young distraction disrupted the flow of the match, but Scurll was actually right when he countered by saying the Briscoes dominated the match. It was the right place for a match like this to take place since you want the babyface champions looking a little vulnerable heading into their big title matches, and I’m a believer that top tag teams should always be protected in tag matches against singles wrestlers.
Footage aired of Bully Ray telling The Kingdom they were not needed at Supercard of Honor…
“The Kingdom” Matt Taven, TK O’Ryan, and Vinny Marseglia delivered a promo in front of the ROH backdrop. Taven said he thought Bully Ray was going to be their knight in shining armor, but he’s just another Melvin. He said Ray has another thing coming if he thinks he can stop them from appearing at Supercard of Honor and exposing the conspiracy…
2. Cheeseburger vs. Kikutaro. Riccaboni said Cheeseburger told him that Kikutaro is his dream opponent. “The Dawgs” Rhett Titus and Will Ferrara sat in on commentary. The duo did some comedy and posed together, but then Kikutaro rolled up Cheeseburger for a two count.
Kikutaro ran referee Paul Turner into the corner. He charged at Turner, but Cheeseburger put up Turner’s book and Kikutaro ran into it. Kikutaro called for a mic. The referee got one and held it up while Kikutaro had Cheeseburger in a front facelock and thanked the fans for coming. The Dawgs attacked both wrestlers to end the match in a no-contest.
Cheeseburger fought Kikutaro to a no-contest.
After the match, Bully Ray came to the ring and helped Cheeseburger to his feet… [C]
Powell’s POV: This felt like something that would have been a better fit on one of the gap shows that will air next week and the week after the Supercard of Honor pay-per-view. I guess we’ll have to wait and see if there’s a reason this match took place on this show. I wasn’t familiar with Kikutaro until Colt Cabana featured him in the Wrestling Road Diaries 3 documentary. It also features Grado and focusses on the art of comedy in pro wrestling. It’s a fun and interesting documentary.
A video recapped the recent Women of Honor Title tournament matches…
3. Deonna Purrazzo vs. Mayu Iwatani in Women of Honor Title tournament match. Purrazzo was featured in a pre-match promo that was shown during her entrance. She said Iwatani might be the icon of the Stardom promotion, but she is a Fujiwara armbar specialist and would move a step closer to winning the title. Iwatani kicked Purrazzo to the floor and set up for a dive, but Purrazzo recovered and caught her with an uppercut. Purrazzo had offensive control heading into a break. [C]
Iwatani dove off the top rope and Purrazzo caught her in an armbar at ringside. She had to release the hold to get the match back in the ring. Purrazzo performed a brainbuster for a two count. Purrazzo performed three German suplexes. Iwatani came right back with a dragon suplex. Riccaboni noted that Iwatani normally bridges after performing that move, but she didn’t have enough after taking punishment from Purrazzo.
Purrazzo applied the armbar in the ring again. Iwatani reached the ropes. Iwatani came back with multiple kicks and then applied a unique suplex from full Nelson position into a bridge for the win. The ladies bowed and shook hands afterward… [C]
Mayu Iwatani defeated Deonna Purrazzo to advance to the semifinals of the Women of Honor Title tournament.
Powell’s POV: Easily the best of the televised tournament matches. It’s also the first time that it was tough to know that one of the women had to be eliminated. It’s great that Iwatani is working at ROH Supercard of Honor. She is slated to face Kelly Klein in the semifinals. On the other side of the bracket, it will be Tenille Dashwood facing Sumie Sakai, and the winners will meet in the finals at Supercard of Honor as well.
A Supercard of Honor video with various wrestlers making brief comments about their matches. They focussed on the ROH Tag Title match, the ROH TV Title, Adam Cole vs. Kota Ibushi, Punishment Martinez vs. Tomohiro Ishii, the ROH Six-Man Tag Titles, and the ROH Title match…
Cody made his entrance wearing a suit. He had a fan kiss the ring of honor as he walked to the ring for a promo. “Bullet Club is fine,” Cody started. He said it was the deep breath before the plunge. Cody asked if anyone could name a Kenny Omega match that they thought was great and made them feel something that didn’t involve Kazuchika Okada or Chris Jericho.
Cody spat out his gum and said no. Cody said Kenny is that underground band that you swear to love, yet you can’t name any of his songs. Cody said the perception is that Omega is the greatest wrestler in the world, but the reality is that Cody dominates the newsfeed and is the leader of the Bullet Club.
Cody said Omega called him a rejection of his former company when the reality is that Omega is a rejection from its developmental system. Cody said took issue with Omega putting his hands on his wife. “That’s not how I saw it,” Riccaboni said on commentary.
Kenny Omega’s music played and he made his entrance carrying the Bury the Bear head (he wore the suit and attacked Cody at the ROH 16th Anniversary event). A “Kenny” chant broke out and Riccaboni hyped Omega vs. Cody for Saturday’s Supercard of Honor event.
Omega took the mic and recalled Cody saying “The Bullet Club is fine, the Bullet Club is mine.” He said it has a nice ring to it and they’ll have to talk about it at the next board of directors meeting. He said you’d think Cody actually would have brought it up to the leader before saying it in all fo his promos.
“As for your wife, Cody, as for Brandi, you see, when she forced herself upon me and kissed me in the middle of the ring, I was confused,” Omega said. “More so, I was confused at your reaction, Cody, because I thought up until this point it was pretty much common knowledge that that wasn’t the first time that had happened.” Cody removed his jacket. Omega said that kiss was so suspiciously long that he wouldn’t be surprised if she wanted to do it again.
Cody charged at Omega and they traded punches in the ring. Hangman Page ran out and pulled Cody back. Eventually, ROH security, the Young Bucks, Marty Scurll, and Flip Gordon ran out to pull the duo apart. Riccaboni delivered a final mention for the ROH Supercard of Honor event…
Powell’s POV: A strong angle to close the show. I must ask why they didn’t advertise Omega a week out? Hell, why not advertise him at the start of this show? It’s nice to be surprised at times, but why not attempt to get more viewers to watch by advertising a rare Omega appearance in advance? Anyway, Cody and Omega both had good zingers in their promos and the pull apart brawl was exactly what it needed to be with both men trading punches and no moves being executed. I really enjoyed the promos and the brawl, but I can’t help but feel like ROH could have gotten more out of this had they taken a different approach.
Overall, the company provided good hype in the opening and closing segments. The women’s match was strong. So there was some good Supercard of Honor hype on this edition. The comedy match felt out of place, but perhaps it needed to air because they intend to do something at Supercard of Honor that hasn’t been advertised as of this update? I guess we’ll find out.
Join me for live coverage of ROH Supercard of Honor on Saturday night. I also hope that you will check out the new “Pro Wrestling Boom Podcast with Jason Powell” below. The first episode features former WWE creative team member and current NWA producer Dave Lagana, and this week’s episode will feature a long form interview with Ring of Honor COO Joe Koff just days before the Supercard of Honor event.
Be the first to comment