By Jason Powell, Prowrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Ring of Honor TV
Taped June 2 in New York, New York at Hammerstein Ballroom
Aired in syndication on June 23 and Mondays on the FITE TV app
After the ROH opening video, Dalton Castle and The Boys made their entrance while Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana checked in on commentary and hyped Friday’s Best in the World pay-per-view event. They also hyped The Briscoes and Punishment Martinez vs. Adam Page and The Young Bucks, and Jay Lethal vs. Chuckie T for later in the show.
Castle delivered a promo in the ring while The Boys fanned him. Castle said he’s putting his title on the line against two members of Bullet Club on Friday. He said people were wondering why. “Why the hell not?” Castle asked. “I’ll let you in on a little secret. I’m really damn good at this.” He said the odds are against him. He had one of the Boys hand him a soft pretzel and said he wanted to use it as a metaphor. “Okay, I don’t know what a metaphor is,” Castle said before handing it back.
Castle said the ROH Title is his. He said you could put a werewolf Frankenstein man in the ring with him and he will keep dropping opponents on their heads until they never get up again. Castle said he’s the best wrestler in the world and the title belongs to him. “Cody and Marty are going to regret that they doubt that,” he said. “This is mine and it’s going to be mine for a long time”…
The broadcast team hyped the Lethal vs. T match… A video package aired with Jay Lethal talking about how he is lost without the ROH Championship. He said management told him he would need to rack up wins. He said he chose to go back and beat the wrestlers who defeated him in the past and will fight as many people as he has to in order to regain his top spot. “I am lost right now, but that’s going to change soon,” Lethal concluded… [C]
Powell’s POV: A solid promo from Castle, yet not a strong final push for the pay-per-view. I was left hoping the challengers would also come out for a verbal exchange. That said, there’s plenty of time left in this go-home edition so we’ll see where it goes. Meanwhile, my apologies for not realizing a while back that Lethal was trying to beat everyone who beat him in the past when I noted that his win over Punishment Martinez felt pointless. I probably spaced out a promo from that time period that made it clear. Since then, they’ve done a good job of having Lethal clarify the situation and the latest video was no exception.
1. Jay Lethal vs. Chuckie T. A Lethal pre-tape aired as he was talking to the ring. He noted that it was his first match against T. Lethal was on the defensive heading into an early break. [C] Lethal came back with three suicide dives coming out of the commercials. Lethal ended up winning clean following a Lethal Injection. Lethal and T shook hands afterward…
Jay Lethal defeated Chuckie T.
A brief video aired on the Bully Ray and Flip Gordon feud… [C]
Powell’s POV: A good match that felt out of place on the go-home show. I’d rather see them dedicate television time to matches and angles that lead into the pay-per-view rather than a random match that could have opened any ROH television show. The match and the commercials during and after ate up nearly a third of the show.
A Best in the World montage aired with Kenny King, Flip Gordon, Adam Page, Jay Lethal (talking for the third time on this show), The Briscoes, Dalton Castle (talking for the second time on this show), Cody, and Marty Scurll delivering brief promos…
Ring entrances for the main event took place… [C]
2. Punishment Martinez, Jay Briscoe, and Mark Briscoe vs. “The Hung Bucks” Adam Page, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson in a six-man tag match. There were some crowd pleasing high spots early on and the crowd was super hot for the Bullet Club trio. [C] The heel trio isolated Nick, who eventually tagged in Page, who had a run with Martinez as a preview for their match on Friday. Page draped Martinez over the ropes and then Nick performed a flip into a splash onto Martinez, which led to a near fall for Page. [C]
Jay put Page on his shoulders and Martinez performed a spinning heel kick. Matt quickly speared Jay. Mark performed a Blockbuster off the apron onto Nick at ringside. Martinez stomped Matt in the ring. Jay covered Matt for a two count. The superkick party was on with the Jacksons hitting their opponents with repeated kicks. They also teamed up with Page to hit a triple superkick on Martinez. Page dove onto Martinez on the floor. In the ring, the Bucks set up for their finisher, but Mark caught Nick with a cutter off the ropes. Jay hit the Jay Driller on Matt and had him pinned until Page broke it up. A short time later, Page powerbombed Martinez through a table on the floor. In the ring, the Briscoes went for a Doomsday Device on Matt, who slipped off of Jay’s shoulders and rolled him up and pinned him…
Adam Page and the Young Bucks defeated Punishment Martinez and The Briscoes.
After the match, the Briscoes attacked the Bullet Club trio. Cody ran out with a chair and cleared them from the ring. Riccaboni quickly hyped the Best in the World event… A Best in the World ad listed the top matches for Friday’s event…
Powell’s POV: A strong main event with a hot live crowd. The main event showcased a couple of pay-per-view matches and was effective in that regard. Unfortunately, it still felt like a disappointing go-home show for a strong pay-per-view lineup. I still can’t believe we didn’t get a final exchange between Castle, Cody, and Scurll. There was so much potential for good storytelling involving Cody and Scurll alone. They were telling a good story early in the build to the Triple Threat main event and then it just sort of stopped and never picked up again on the television show. Even so, I definitely recommend Friday’s pay-per-view based on the lineup. I’m genuinely looking forward to the show even if the storyline build left something to be desired. Join me for live coverage as the show airs on pay-per-view, FITE-TV, and Honor Club at 8CT/9ET. I will be by later with an audio review of this show for the Dot Net Members.
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Funny thing is I’m area they played a rerun of last weeks show. I live in the metro Detroit area and the ROH show comes on at 3am on Saturday nights on a local television station that back in the day would be considered a “uhf” station.
Sounds like I didn’t miss too much. Sometimes ROH tv is upsetting. I know it’s pretaped and all but it usually takes two weeks after a ppv for the tv show to catch up to current.I find that to be disappointing.
Especially after all the years of being used to the Monday night after a ppv dealing with the aftermath of something monumental happening.