By Jason Powell
Ring of Honor TV
Taped June 25 in Concord, North Carolina at Cabarrus Arena
Aired in syndication over the weekend, available Wednesdays on Comet TV
The show opened with a very good recap video of last week’s Jay Lethal vs. Kyle O’Reilly match and the drama that preceded and followed… The opening montage aired… Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness were on commentary…
Jay Lethal headed to the ring. Kelly said Lethal demanded to speak about what happened to O’Reilly last week. Kelly also hyped Lethal vs. Colt Cabana for the ROH Title as next week’s television main event. Once in the ring, Lethal held up the title belt and received a polite round of applause. He said that what happened between him and O’Reilly wasn’t right. He said it wasn’t right that O’Reilly had to fight him when he wasn’t 100 percent. He said it wasn’t right that Bullet Club stole O’Reilly’s chance to become ROH Champion.
Lethal said it wasn’t right that he had to do what he did to O’Reilly. “I really hated that,” Lethal said in a serious tone. Lethal called for matchmaker Nigel McGuinness to make things right tonight. Lethal said the main event is The Briscoes vs. The Young Bucks. He said Adam Cole is sure to follow. He suggested that Cole team with the Bucks and he team with the Briscoes in a six-man tag match. The crowd applauded. Nigel stood up and milked the crowd reaction before taking the mic and agreeing to the match. Lethal walked past the broadcast table and said, “Tonight, we make things right”…
Kelly asked McGuinness about his declaration that Cole will never get another title shot. McGuinness repeated the line… [C]
Powell’s POV: A very good open to the show. The video package was very well done. Lethal’s promo was perfect in tone as far as him shifting to the babyface side and speaking out against what Bullet Club did to O’Reilly.
A hazy video featuring Steve Corino and Kevin Sullivan aired. They were sitting at a picnic table discussing Sullivan spiking him at the pay-per-view. Corino said he wasn’t upset, but he questioned why. Sullivan said Corino is ruining their universe. Sullivan had the spike with him. He told Corino he could lay his head on the pillow at night and his dreams will turn to nightmares if he doesn’t do the right thing…
Powell’s POV: What the hell was that? It was hard to hear and the hazy video made it seem like a dream sequence, but then Kelly acknowledged the video afterward by saying that was as much of an explanation as we would probably get from Sullivan.
1. Moose (w/Stokely Hathaway) vs. P-Dawg (w/posse). Before the match, P-Dawg stood in the ring with his posse and called out Moose. The four male members of the posse attacked Moose, who tossed them aside easily until he was alone in the ring with P-Dawg, who hit him with a mic. Moose no-sold the mic shot and worked over P-Dawg with a bucklebomb and then a spear. The crowd chanted one more time. Moose obliged and then pinned P-Dawg…
Moose defeated P-Dawg.
Powell’s POV: A nice squash match showcase win for a guy who now works for another company.
After the match, Prince Nana and Donovan Dijak walked to the ring. Nana said there’s a reason he brought Moose to ROH. He challenged Hathaway to have Moose face Dijak. Hathaway agreed to the match and they shook hands before leaving the ring. Moose and Dijak shook hands in the ring before the break… [C]
2. Moose (w/Stokely Hathaway) vs. Donovan Dijak (w/Prince Nana). Dijak jumped Moose before the bell. Moose came back and worked over Dijak at ringside. The broadcast team spoke about Nana being instrumental in bringing Moose to ROH, and questioned whether he’s spotted a weakness in his game. Later, Dijack went to the top rope. Moose dropkicked him from the top rope to the floor. Moose caught Dijak coming off the ropes and performed a nice sit-out slam for a good near fall. Dijak came back with a power move that Moose sold.
Moose kicked Dijak and then missed a clunky dive off the top rope. Dijak went for Feast Your Eyes on Moose, who fought out of it and clotheslined Dijak. Moose went for a spear, but Dijak moved and shoved him into the corner. Dijak chokeslammed Moose on his knee and only got a one count. In the end, Dijak hit his Feast Your Eyes finisher and scored the clean pinfall. After the match, Nana spoke with Hathaway. Dijak blasted Hathaway with a big boot and the headed to the back with Nana…
Donovan Dijak beat Moose.
Kelly hyped the main event… Backstage, Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian delivered a promo about how they are at the top of the loaded ROH tag division. Kazarian said they are tag team wrestling greats… [C]
Powell’s POV: ROH got their Moose loss before his departure, as this was his final match at a television taping prior to his TNA departure. It’s a nice win for Dijak. It’s just a shame that it came out of nowhere and he didn’t gain nearly as much from this as he should have. The broadcast team did a lousy job of putting over the win. Kelly’s call was so routine that you would have thought Dijak beat P-Dawg rather than Moose. I can’t believe they didn’t react in a way to really put this over as a huge step forward for Dijak. Weird.
Kelly narrated a brief video hyping the Lethal vs. Cabana main event for next week… The Cabinet delivered a promo in front of the ROH screen while patriotic music played. Kenny King said they are going to build a wall around the Young Bucks, and make them pay for it with their merch money. Rhett Titus complained about the little people running around. Caprice Coleman cut him off said he doesn’t like them either. King complained about the dumb people in the locker room. He complained about Moose. Hathaway said they would just cut him, but he’s used to that…
Ring entrances for the main event took place… [C]
3. Adam Cole, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson vs. Jay Lethal, Jay Briscoe, and Mark Briscoe in a six-man tag. Matt Taven sat in on commentary and spoke about how he hopes the babyface team gets retribution. Cole and Jay Briscoe started, but the teammates entered moments later and it became a six-man braw in and around the ring.
Jay Briscoe was about to powerbomb Cole in the ring, but the Young Bucks broke it up with a double dropkick. Taven said Mark Briscoe looks like a foot and he would never hang out with him. He also said that when the show is over and other wrestlers go out, the Bucks go on Twitter. He said that when they go to the iHop, no one knows who they are and question “who are these little kids.” Taven claimed that all eyes turn to him when he walks into the same venue. Then he said fans relate to the Bucks and Cole because the fans say, “I’m a nobody just like them.” Ugh. Mark Briscoe was sent onto a table at ringside heading into the break. [C]
Powell’s POV: I don’t know if Taven is supposed to be a heel or a babyface since he’s basically burying everyone, but I know he should not be on commentary ever again.
After the break, Mark was still injured from the table spot, so Nigel escorted him to the back. The Bullet Club members had a 3-2 man advantage that continued into the final break. [C] Lethal hit Lethal Injection on Cole and then rolled up Matt Jackson and pinned him.
Jay Lethal, Jay Briscoe, and Mark Briscoe defeated Adam Cole, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson.
The Bullet Club worked over Lethal and Jay Briscoe after the match. They hit a pair of triple superkicks on Lethal, who was on the ring apron. Cole pulled out a bag that contained a pair of scissors. The Bucks held Lethal on the apron while Cole cut the hair of Lethal. He pulled out clippers and began shaving the head of Lethal. There were some boos. Former ROH owner Cary Silkin was apparently the only man to stand up for Lethal, as Kelly called for him to be pulled away from the ring. The Bullet Club members posed over the shaven Lethal while Cole held up the title and said that he will make it his…
Powell’s POV: Everything involving Jay Lethal, Kyle O’Reilly, and the Bullet Club has good to very good for the most part. The rest of this show and most of the other programs are really lacking. The main event was hot. I didn’t care for the finish since the heels had the numbers advantage and the babyface duo had the out, but the post match angle put the heat on Bullet Club. The story is easy to follow in that Cole took this step to force himself back into the title picture. It’s the first sense of true heat the the Bullet Club members have had in ROH. Here’s hoping they continue in this direction rather than being the cool heels of the promotion.
Be the first to comment