By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Ring of Honor TV
Taped March 16, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada at Sam’s Town Live
Aired in syndication on March 30, 2019, Mondays on the FITE TV app
The show opened with a recap of Villain Enterprises forming after The Kingdom confronted Marty Scurll… The ROH opening aired… The broadcast team was Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman, and Dalton Castle. Riccaboni and a graphic hyped the G1 Supercard event…
1. Mark Haskins vs. Rush. Castle was on commentary for the match with the idea that he was watching Rush, his opponent at the G1 Supercard. Rush encouraged Haskins to chop him. Haskins obliged. Rush no-sold several chops, then knocked down Haskins with a single chop. Haskins threw a flurry of chops that backed Rush into the ropes. They went to ringside and Rush fired back with several chops and ran Haskins into the barricade going into a commercial break. [C]
Rush dropkicked the back of a seated Haskins, then performed some pushups and took a bow. Haskins blocked a kick from Rush and hit him with several forearms and kicks. Haskins ran the ropes and ate a superkick, then came back with a dropkick of his own. Rush rolled to the floor. Haskins teased a dive, but Rush simply stepped aside. Haskins caught himself on the ropes and then performed a spear through the ropes to take out Rush on the floor.
Back inside the ring, Haskins performed a double stomp. Haskins picked up Rush and appeared to drop him. Haskins simply covered him for a two count. Rush came back with a snap German suplex and then performed a cutter for a two count. Rush positioned Haskins in the corner and teased his finisher, but he gave Haskins a light kick instead and then struck his pose. Haskins leapt up and put Rush in an armbar. Rush broke it quickly.
Haskins went for a triangle, but Rush powered him up and slammed him into a top turnbuckle. Haskins came back with a running knee and got another two count. Rush came back with a sunset bomb. Haskins bounced right back with a DDT. Both men threw simultaneous kicks. Rush tossed Haskins into the corner and then performed a Bullhorn running kick for the win.
Rush defeated Mark Haskins.
Haskins offered a post-match handshake, but Rush blew him off… [C]
Powell’s POV: Mostly entertaining with a few clunky moments. It’s a bit odd that ROH has opted to introduce Rush in competitive matches rather than establishing him through more traditional enhancement style matches. On the bright side, he did come off like more of a star in this match than he did during his recent television match with TK O’Ryan. By the way, the graphics that ROH is using for the G1 Supercard matches look terrific. It’s just a shame that this is the only show from these tapings that will air ahead of Saturday’s event.
Footage aired from Honor Rising on February 23 of The Briscoes cutting a promo about Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa winning the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Titles (the finish of that match was shown). Jay Briscoe challenged Tonga and Loa to put their titles on the line in a title vs. title match. Footage also aired from the 17th Anniversary show of PCO and Brody King beating The Briscoes to win the ROH Tag Titles. Graphics showed PCO and King vs. Tonga and Loa vs. The Briscoes vs. Evil and Sanada for both titles for the G1 Supercard…
The broadcast team set up footage of Jay Lethal, Matt Taven, and Marty Scurll setting up their triple threat ladder match for the ROH Championship for the G1 Supercard… [C]
Jeff Cobb cut a backstage promo and noted that he’s been in ROH for six months and no one has pinned his shoulders to the mat. He said he was pinned by Will Ospreay in Japan. Cobb said he would put his ROH TV Title and challenged Ospreay to put his Never Openweight Championship…
Riccaboni and Coleman spoke about the Mayu Iwatani vs. Kelly Klein match for the WOH Championship at the G1 Supercard. Coleman said this is Klein’s last chance or she could fall to the bottom of the bracket. Footage aired of their match from the 17th Anniversary pay-per-view…
A Kelly Klein promo aired. She was seated on a couch and said she started to question what she and everyone else thought she was after losing to Iwatani. Klein said she may need to come at Iwatani with something else. She said she beat her the first two times they met and then maybe she took her for granted. She said they are 2-2 against one another and now one of them has to bring more in the rubber match. She called it the biggest match in Women of Honor history and said it will decide who the best woman is and MSG is the best place to hold the match that will decide their feud once and for all. Klein said she earned the opportunity and to hold up the WOH Championship. She said there is nobody who will take it from her…
Powell’s POV: A good promo that recapped the feud nicely going into what sounds like the blowoff match to their feud. I was down on Klein for not showing much in the way of heel mannerisms at the 17th Anniversary pay-per-view. She really didn’t show any here either and I came away wondering if that’s by design.
Ring entrances for the main event took place…
2. “The Kingdom” Matt Taven, TK O’Ryan, and Vinny Marseglia vs. “Villain Enterprises” Marty Scurll, PCO, and Brody King for the ROH Six-Man Tag Titles. The teams brawled to start. Villain Enterprises got the better of it, then they settled in with two men in the ring and the partners in their respective corners (for the moment anyway). [C] PCO and Marseglia exchanged chops. Marseglia performed a cutter and then PCO avoided Marseglia’s swanton attempt. [C]
O’Ryan made a blind tag that swung offensive control to the Kingdom’s side. The champions isolated Scurll for a stretch. A short time later, the Kingdom isolated King while his partners were down at ringside. They performed the Rockstar Supernova (triple powerbomb) on King. Riccaboni noted that Scurll was still the legal man for his team. PCO lead a comeback for the challengers and performed a crazy cannonball through the ropes onto Taven going into the final break. [C]
PCO was on the apron when O’Ryan turned and hit him. Marseglia snuck up underneath PCO from the floor and ended up powerbombing him onto the entrance ramp, which fulfills PCO’s moment of insanity for this match. In the ring, Scurll caught O’Ryan in the chicken wing and got the submission win.
Marty Scurll, PCO, and Brody King defeated Matt Taven, TK O’Ryan, and Vinny Marseglia to win the ROH Six-Man Tag Titles.
Powell’s POV: It’s another case of liking the men who hold the titles and still not caring about the actual six-man tag titles. With PCO and King also holding the tag titles, it sets up a scenario where the trio could potentially hold the ROH Title, ROH Tag Titles, ROH Six-Man Tag Titles, and the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Titles coming out of MSG. My guess is this is more about getting the six-man tag titles off of soon to be ROH Champion Taven, and Villain Enterprises will come out of the show with only the ROH Six-Man Tag Titles.
Villain Enterprises celebrated inside the ring while Taven was shown sitting at ringside looking shocked. Riccaboni hyped the G1 Supercard and closed out his end of the show while the celebration continued… A G1 Supercard commercial aired… A G1 Supercard video package aired with Jay Lethal, Marty Scurll, Matt Taven, Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe, and Dalton Castle talking separately (other than the Briscoes) about Madison Square Garden. Most of the wrestlers were in awe, while Taven made it seem like it was the only place deserving of him. Lethal said it will be an honor to walk into MSG as the ROH Champion. He said the only thing that could top that is leaving MSG as the ROH Champion. “Man, that’d be awesome,” Lethal said to close the show…
Powell’s POV: A really good video package to close the show. I just wish there had been at least a month of focused build to the event on the weekly television show instead of one week. It’s a shame that they didn’t shoot more footage like this to air during the gap shows we saw the two previous weeks. It’s crazy that they are having their biggest event ever and there was no mention of any of the New Japan Pro Wrestling standalone matches. So while ROH did a good job of spotlighting most of their matches or inter-promotional matches on this episode (Bully Ray’s open challenge didn’t get any attention), it’s hard not to feel letdown by the overall television build to the event. Nevertheless, it should be a hell of a show on Saturday and I am looking forward to it. Haydn Gleed will be by with his weekly members’ exclusive audio review of this show on Tuesday. Join me for live coverage of the ROH and NJPW G1 Supercard on Saturday night as the show airs on HonorClub, New Japan World, FITE TV, and pay-per-view television.
Check below for the new Pro Wrestling Boom Podcast with Jason Powell and guest PCO, who discusses the ROH and NJPW G1 Supercard event that will be held on April 6 at MSG, taking crazy bumps at age 51, what he still wants to accomplish in pro wrestling, and much more.
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