By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Ring of Honor Wrestling TV (Episode 426)
Taped October 25-27, 2019 in London, England, Newport, Wales, and Bolton England
Aired in syndication on November 16, 2019, Fridays on SBG regional sports networks, Mondays on FITE.TV
After the opening video, footage aired of Shane Taylor and Joe Hendry’s last match in Chicago that went to a 15-minute time limit draw. Ring announcer Bobby Cruise announced that Hendry would receive an ROH TV Title shot for lasting 15 minutes with the champion…
Show hosts Ian Riccaboni and Quinn McKay stood in front of an ROH backdrop and hyped Shane Taylor vs. Joe Hendry for the ROH TV Title, and Rush vs. Jeff Cobb for the ROH World Championship from the Honor United Tour…
Highlights aired of Rush defeating Jeff Cobb to retain the ROH World Championship at the October 27 event in Bolton, England… [C]
Powell’s POV: I’m not sure why they opted to air highlights of this match while airing the entire Taylor vs. Hendry match instead. The Rush vs. Cobb match was entertaining when I watched it on HonorClub and it seems like ROH could have loaded up this show by airing both matches in full. On the bright side, despite the show being mislabeled as last week’s show on my onscreen guide, the SBG regional sports networks are airing the episodes that air the same weekend in syndication. The show being mislabeled led me to assume that they were making the shows even more dated for the regional sports network viewers, but fortunately that’s not the case.
The hosts hyped some merch and noted Jay Lethal’s new attitude. They set up highlights from the Honor United event on October 25 in London of Jonathan Gresham beating Jay Briscoe after spitting a substance into his eyes. “Did Gresham just ink… was that ink from the Octopus?” Riccaboni asked on commentary…
Footage aired from the same show of Jay Lethal fighting Mark Briscoe to a no-contest. Gresham tried to introduce a chair. Lethal took the chair from Gresham and shoved him, then said he would show him how it’s done. Lethal hit Jay Briscoe with a chair while Mark was down in the corner. “Jay Lethal, you’ve just broken my heart,” Riccaboni said. “Why did you do that? Why?”
Footage aired from the October 26 in Newport, Wales of Lethal delivering an in-ring promo with Gresham. Lethal said Gresham helped him understand that the wrestlers the fans love and are champions now do whatever the hell they want to do and no one says a word. Lethal said he and Gresham will now do whatever they want. Riccaboni was quick to label Lethal’s attack on Jay Briscoe as a cowardly act. Lethal said he and Gresham want the ROH Tag Titles…
Highlights aired from the Bolton event of Gresham attacking PCO during his match against Jay Lethal for a DQ finish. Gresham cut a brief promo saying they want the ROH Tag Titles. The Briscoes ran out and brawled with Lethal and Gresham… [C]
Powell’s POV: Riccaboni is so good in these situations. The ink thing plays into the Octopus nickname, but it’s pretty silly since he appeared to spit water or some clear substance that clearly wasn’t ink. But Riccaboni’s line got a chuckle out of me and he was great at putting over his own disappointment with Lethal over his heel turn.
Riccaboni and McKay set up highlights of Kelly Klein defeating Mandy Leon in London to retain the Women of Honor Championship. Leon hit Klein with a chair while the referee was distracted and pinned her, but senior referee Todd Sinclair ran out and informed the referee what happened, which led to a restart that saw Klein win using her K-Power finisher… [C]
The hosts discussed the Honor United tour. Riccaboni spoke about the UK talent on the tour and plugged that the entire tour is available on the HonorClub streaming platform. He also noted that Bandido was forced to pull out of the tour, which led to him being replaced by Flamita…
Highlights aired from the Bolton show of Flamita beating “Speedball” Mike Bailey…
A video package set up the ROH TV Title main event and featured comments from the champion and the challenger… [C]
Ring entrances for the ROH TV Title match took place. Taylor came out jawing at fans. They did a rough cut to Hendry making his entrance with four guys who were also dressed in white shirts and ties (well, one of the men didn’t have a tie)…
1. Shane Taylor vs. Joe Hendry for the ROH TV Title. Dalton Castle sat in on commentary with Riccaboni. Cruise delivered in-ring introductions for the title match. They cut to a break early in the match. [C] Taylor took offensive control and ran Hendry into the guardrail heading into the final break. [C]
Hendry returned the favor by whipping Taylor into a barricade that came apart. A fan behind the barricade either fell or was knocked down by the barricade. Back inside the ring, Taylor punched Hendry and then covered him for a two count. Taylor rallied with a suplex and then fired away with some strikes. Hendry yelled to the crowd, then Taylor knocked him down with a right hand.
Hendry quickly regrouped and performed a Codebreaker that led to a near fall. Taylor came back with a piledriver that resulted in a good near fall. Taylor went to the middle rope and splashed Hendry and got another near fall. Hendry basically Hulked up and actually hit a fallaway slam on Taylor for a good near fall of his own.
Hendry applied an ankle lock. Taylor rolled out of the hold and Castle said that if Hendry wants to win the title then he needs to take Taylor’s ankle home with him. Hendry reapplied the move. He tried to drag Taylor to the middle of the ring, but Taylor kicked him off. Hendry hit Taylor with a lariat and went for a move that Taylor slipped out of. Taylor headbutted Hendry and hit his Welcome To The Land finisher and scored the clean pin.
Shane Taylor defeated Joe Hendry to retain the ROH TV Title.
Taylor had his arm raised to close the show…
Powell’s POV: A good match. It was logical to hold this in England where Hendry is over. He hasn’t clicked with the ROH fans in the U.S. yet based on the reactions he’s been getting, so seeing a crowd rally behind him in a television match can only help his cause. Meanwhile, Taylor continues to be a good TV Champion.
Overall, the show chronicled the notable events from the Honor United taping, including the Jay Lethal heel turn, but they offered no incentive for viewers to tune in next week. It will be interesting to see how they fill out the remainder of their television heading into the ROH Final Battle pay-per-view, as they had The Experience in Pittsburgh event and then the comedic “Unauthorized” event. The latter of those shows wouldn’t make for much of a build to Final Battle, so we may get more from Honor United and then some footage from The Experience. I will have more to say in my weekly members’ exclusive audio review of this episode coming up later today.
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