By Jason Powell, Prowrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Ring of Honor TV
Taped May 13 in Chicago, Illinois at the Odeum Expo Center
Aired in syndication on May 26 and Mondays on the FITE TV app
The show opening aired and then the Dawgs made their entrance. The broadcast team of Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana checked in and hyped the two title matches…
1. “The Dawgs” Rhett Titus and Will Ferrara vs. Jushin Liger and Cheeseburger. The crowd was hot for Liger, who did a cannonball off the apron onto Ferrara heading into the first commercial break. [C] The Dawgs isolated Cheeseburger, who eventually made a tag to Liger. The legend hit a palm strike and a Liger Bomb on Ferrara for a two count. A short time later, Cheeseburger broke up a double team attempt by the Dawgs. Liger hit a brainbuster on Titus and pinned him…
Jushin Liger and Cheeseburger beat The Dawgs.
A video package set up the women’s match… [C]
Powell’s POV: A good opening match with the live crowd digging the babyface duo and reacting to Liger like the legend that he is. It was also nice to see the Dawgs be made to look competitive rather than simply rolling over. By the way, ROH showed a wide shot of the venue during the match. It looked good, but it surely would have looked better if they turned up the lights just a bit. It’s so dark that you can’t get a great feel for just how many fans are in the building. This was also an issue at the ROH Supercard of Honor show during WrestleMania weekend. I know they like the focus to be on the ring and I’m all for that, but I wish they’d take a moment and turn the lights up to show off just how impressive their bigger crowds are.
Dalton Castle delivered a promo in front of the ROH backdrop while The Boys stood by. Castle mentioned that both Cody and Marty Scurll want a shot at his ROH Title. He threw out the idea of having both men get in the ring with him…
The broadcast team spoke about the possibility of a three-way match involving Castle, Cody, and Scurll. Highlights aired of Scurll accidentally hitting Cody on last week’s show…
2. Sumie Sakai vs. Jenny Rose for the Women of Honor Championship. Ring announcer Bobby Cruise delivered in-ring introductions for the title match. The women blew off the Code of Honor in favor of going right at one another. Sakai performed an early cross body block onto Rose at ringside. [C]
Sakai hit a missile dropkick for a two count coming out of the break. Later, Rose delivered a shoulder block through the ropes, causing Sakai to take a big bump off the apron. Rose followed up with a clunky clothesline off the ropes and then a fisherman’s buster suplex for a two count. Sakai came back and got a two count off a top rope huracanrana.
Rose performed a release German suplex. Sakai landed on her feet, but Rose speared her for another good near fall. In the end, Sakai hit her Smash Mouth finisher and scored the clean pin…
Sumie Sakai defeated Jenny Rose to retain the WOH Title.
Powell’s POV: A good match. The crowd seemed rather ho-hum during the introductions, but Sakai got them fired up quickly with the big cross body block off the top rope. Sakai winning the tournament to become the first WOH Champion felt flat, but she could win over the fans quickly with regular performances like this one.
Footage aired of Marty Scurll pinning Dalton Castle in Columbus, Ohio in April, and then of Castle eliminating Scurll and then being pinned by Cody in a match from April in Lakeland, Florida. A Cody and Scurll promo aired. Cody spoke about how Castle would face the number one guy in ROH. Scurll cut him off and assumed Cody was talking about him. Cody turned him away from the camera and said Bullet Club is fine and he had his chance. Cody turned around and said Bullet Club is fine. Scurll agreed and said he would beat Castle at the Best in the World pay-per-view…
Powell’s POV: Some context for those two matches would have been nice. I had to look up both matches in our live events section. Scurll’s win over Castle came in a Deny or Defy match, and Cody’s win came in an eight-man elimination match.
A SoCal Uncensored promo aired from inside a locker room. They spoke about having the ROH Six-Man Tag Titles stolen and boasted that they are the best six-man tag champions… [C]
A Silas Young promo aired. He said there are two types of guys in the world. He said there are guys who take pride in their work and then there are guys who whine and cry about everything. He said Austin Aries falls into the latter category and hyped their match for next week…
The broadcast team spoke briefly about the Young vs. Aries match for next week. Cabana said it’s great to have Aries back, but it’s not great to have that attitude he brought with him. They shifted the focus to the six-man tag title change that took place in Lowell, Massachusetts that resulted in The Kingdom winning the tag straps. For some reason, both broadcast team members questioned whether there really is a conspiracy against The Kingdom in ROH…
Powell’s POV: The hype for the Young vs. Aries match left a lot to be desired. Granted, it’s a television main event, but it was positioned as any other television main event rather than something truly special. Cabana is obviously telling the story they want him to tell, but from watching ROH television I’m not sure what attitude he was referring to. Aries came off like a babyface in the appearances I’ve seen. Plus, you’d think he’d be the babyface in a match against Young.
Ring entrances for the main event took place. Matt Taven stopped and let two women kiss him on the cheek. “Those are female fans, unlike the Bullet Club,” Taven said into the camera… [C]
3. “The Kingdom” Matt Taven, TK O’Ryan, Vinny Marseglia vs. “SoCal Uncensored” Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and Scorpio Sky for the ROH Six-Man Tag Titles. Riccaboni noted that Tenille Dashwood vs. Karen Q will also air on next week’s show along with the ROH TV Title match. Marseglia popped a balloon that was pressed against the ear of Sky. The crowd responded with a “this is awesome” chant. [C]
Daniels performed a dive through the ropes onto Taven and O’Ryan. Daniels stood up and looked into the camera and said, “48, bitches” in reference to his age. Taven performed a really nice dive over the top and onto Daniels. It was time for rapid fire dives from the ropes or apron and onto wrestlers on the floor. O’Ryan took a trust fall and his teammates scrambled to catch him. Sky was up last and did a big flip dive onto the pile.
Daniels tried to use brass knuckles, but referee Paul Turner took them away. Kazarian tried to use his cane, but Turner also took that away. Kazarian swung a chair at Taven. The chair ricocheted off the ropes and into the face of Kazarian. With Kazarian down and everyone else just standing there, Taven covered Kazarian. The referee called off the match for some odd reason. It was announced as a DQ finish…
SoCal Uncensored defeated The Kingdom by DQ.
Riccaboni announced Dalton Castle vs. Cody vs. Marty Scurll in a Triple Threat for the ROH Title for the ROH Best in the World even on June 29 in Baltimore, Maryland. Cody was shown backstage shaking his head and not looking pleased as Riccaboni closed the show…
Powell’s POV: Last week’s show saw three Bullet Club members defeat SoCal Uncensored in the main event, yet this week’s show saw SCU getting a shot at the ROH Six-Man Tag Titles. I suppose it could be a case of SCU getting their contractually obligated rematch after dropping the tag titles in Lowell, but it’s still a bit strange. The Kingdom stealing and then winning the titles made things awkward and hard to follow, which isn’t a good thing when there seemed to be little interest in the ROH Six-Man Tag Titles to begin with.
I enjoyed the body of the actual match despite it featuring two heels teams fighting over titles that I still don’t care about. I’m not really sure what ROH wanted from the fans since it was two heels teams. Fortunately, it worked out in that the fans were responsive to the big spots even if they didn’t really choose sides. The finish was a mess. I guess the idea was that the referee thought someone hit Kazarian with a chair and that’s why he called for the bell. We had the benefit of the broadcast team telling the story, but this must have been really strange for the live crowd.
Despite some issues with the main event, I enjoyed the overall show thanks in part to the good atmosphere provided by what seemed like a big and lively bunch in Chicago (technically Villa Park). Haydn Gleed will be by with his audio review of the show early this week.
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