By Jason Powell, Prowrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Ring of Honor TV
Taped June 30 in Fairfax, Virginia at Eaglebank Arena
Aired in syndication on August 11 and Mondays on the FITE TV app
The ROH opening video aired… The broadcast team of Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana checked in. Bobby Cruise was the ring announcer…
1. ROH Tag Champions Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe vs. “The Bouncers” Beer City Bruiser and Brian Milonas in a non-title match. With both Bouncers on the floor, Jay performed a flip dive onto them. Mark followed up with a flip dive of his own off the top rope onto Bruiser and Milonas heading into a commercial break. [C]
The Bouncers came back with Bruiser holding Mark out while Milonas performed a leg drop off the middle rope. Bruiser covered Mark, but Jay broke up the pin. Jay hit a Death Valley Driver on Bruiser a short time later. Mark took out Milonas on the floor with a Blockbuster. Jay performed a neckbreaker on Bruiser, then Mark performed Froggy Bow on Bruiser and pinned him…
The Briscoes defeated The Bouncers in a non-title match.
After the match, Jay boasted about being the best team in the world and the nine-time ROH Tag Champions. He said no team in the world will take the belts from them, especially SoCal Uncensored. The SCU trio of Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and Scorpio Sky came out to a mild reaction. Sky said the odds are in their favor. He said he could hang back and let Daniels and Kazarian take care of business. Daniels and Kazarian hit the ring and fought with the Briscoes until security quickly intervened. They had a brief pull apart brawl while the fans chanted “let them fight” heading into a break… [C]
Powell’s POV: A good Briscoes style television tag match. Mark and Jay didn’t make any attempt to turn the crowd against them during the match to the point that they were looking to the fans after performing their bigger spots. I don’t know if they are abandoning their heel status already or if they just didn’t stay true to their characters. It’s odd because they were wrestling a heel duo and yet they are feuding with the SoCal Uncensored trio that seemed to turn babyface by fighting with the Briscoes.
2. Tenille Dashwood vs. Karen Q vs. Madison Rayne vs. Kelly Klein in a four corner survival match to become No. 1 contender to the Women of Honor Championship. All four women delivered brief promos that aired while they made their respective entrances. Dashwood and Rayne had an early exchange that led to the two of them shaking hands afterward. Moments later, Dashwood threw a cheap shot punch at Rayne and laughed. They did a tower of doom spot with Klein powerbombing Rayne and Q while Dashwood took the superplex. [C]
Klein hoisted Q onto her shoulders. Rayne ran at Klein for a cross body, but she caught her and performed an impressive Samoa drop/fallaway slam combo on both women. Klein covered Q for a two count. Dashwood caught Klein with a kick. Q threw Dashwood to ringside and tried to steal the pin, but Klein kicked out. Rayne kicked Q and performed the Rayne Check before getting the pin…
Madison Rayne defeated Karen Q, Kelly Klein, and Tenille Dashwood to become No. 1 contender to the WOH Championship.
After the match, Sumie Sakai walked onto the stage for a long distance staredown with Sakai. Riccaboni said they will meet for the WOH Championship in two weeks. Riccaboni hyped the main event…
Cody and Brandi Rhodes made their entrance heading into a break. [C]
Powell’s POV: A good women’s four-way match. Klein had some impressive moments and each of the women got a chance to shine. It’s encouraging to see more WOH matches on the ROH television show lately.
Cody spoke about being unlucky in his ROH Title matches. He did a big buildup style introduction for Burnard the Business Bear. Instead, NWA Champion Nick Aldis made his entrance instead. Aldis noted that Cody didn’t win the ROH Championship that he was supposed to win in order to get an NWA Title shot at All In. Aldis asked Cody what he had to put up to get the title shot instead.
Cody gave him his ring of honor and called it collateral. Cody told Aldis to think about it. As Aldis was leaving, Cody told him to think about moving from the penny slots to the high rollers table by working in front of 10,451 fans. He said while he was beating Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi, all Aldis did was beat a 53 year-old history teacher to win the title.
Aldis returned to the ring and put on the ring of honor. Aldis held the ring up and wanted Cody to kiss it. The Young Bucks ran out and get between them. Marty Scurll and Hangman Page followed. Scurll stood in front of Aldis while Riccaboni noted that they are childhood friends. Riccaboni said they would follow the developments and told people to follow along on the ROH website… [C]
Powell’s POV: A good angle. Part of this already aired on the NWA Youtube series. I’m happy that Cody’s ring of honor wasn’t enough to get him the match since it’s not something that’s been established as being coveted by anyone other than him. Rather, it was Cody’s strong and appropriate comments about who Aldis beat for the title and what a big step up it would be for Aldis to defend the title on the All In event.
Ring entrances for the main event took place. The babyfaces came out first. When Flip Gordon came out, Bully Ray ran out behind him and ran him face first into the ring post… [C] After the break, everyone was out. Bully took the mic and asked, “What are we gonna do now?” He said it was a six-man tag match and Cheeseburger and Woods didn’t have a partner. He told them to enter the ring, raise his hand, and let him go home. The fans chanted for Colt Cabana. Riccaboni noted that Colt wasn’t ready to wrestle and they said he was wearing regular attire. Cheeseburger and Woods opted to face the heels in a handicap match…
3. Bully Ray, Shane Taylor, and Punishment Martinez vs. Cheeseburger, and Josh Woods. Cheeseburger got the better of Bully Ray briefly. Taylor shoved Cheeseburger off the ropes and the heels regained control heading into a break. [C] The heels isolated Cheeseburger coming out of the break. Taylor knocked Woods off the apron. Cheeseburger performed a tornado DDT on Taylor and wanted to tag out, but Woods was still down on the floor.
Colt Cabana got up from the broadcast table and rushed to the corner to take the tag. The crowd roared and for some reason referee Todd Sinclair allowed it. Cabana worked over Taylor and Martinez. Woods returned and fought with Martinez while Colt performed a springboard moonsault on Taylor. Bully ran in and was speared by Cabana, who worked him over with punches. Riccaboni tried to explain that the referee was able to use his discretion to allow Cabana to enter the match. Cheeseburger tagged himself in and performed a double stomp off the top rope on Bully, who rolled to ringside. Cabana dove onto Bully on the floor. Taylor hit his finisher on Cheeseburger and pinned him.
Bully Ray, Shane Taylor, and Punishment Martinez vs. Cheeseburger, Josh Woods, and Colt Cabana.
After the match, the heel trio worked over the babyfaces. Ray grabbed a chain and whipped Cabana with it a few times (the chain shots looked rough). Flip Gordon ran out with a chair and worked over Martinez and Taylor. Flip had the chair and Bully had the chain, but Bully opted to flee the ring. Gordon stood tall at the end of the show…
Powell’s POV: A really fun main event. Sure, Sinclair allowing Cabana to enter the match is a little silly, but there’s no denying that it received a strong reaction from the live crowd. They are doing a very good job of building up to the eventual Bully Ray vs. Cabana match by giving viewers only small doses of it. For that matter, Ray has good feuds going with Cheeseburger and Gordon. ROH TV Champion Punishment Martinez oddly felt like an afterthought and felt a little out of place in this match, but otherwise it was really fun.
A good show with some quality in-ring work and the good Cody and Aldis angle. I’m surprised the company didn’t advertise that Cody would appear, but perhaps having him make an unadvertised appearance will send the message to viewers that they need to watch the show regardless of what’s advertised. The women’s match delivered as well and this was a quality hour of television. I assume they didn’t advertise anything for next week because this was the final show taped in Fairfax. Haydn Gleed will be by with his audio review for the members later today or tomorrow.
Be the first to comment