By Jason Powell
Ring of Honor TV
Taped October 1 in Lowell, Massachusetts
Aired in syndication over the weekend, available Wednesdays on Comet TV
Footage aired from the Ladder War main event of the All Star Extravaganza pay-per-view with the Young Bucks winning the tag titles… The opening video aired… Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino were on commentary from the side of the entrance stage…
ROH Champion Adam Cole, ROH Tag Champions The Young Bucks, and Hangman Page made their entrance for a promo. Kelly said they say there will never be another Ladder War and even that’s too soon. Matt Jackson boasted that they turned the pay-per-view into a Five Star Extravaganza. He said they are two-time ROH Tag Champions and the greatest tag team of all time.
Cole took the mic and said Bullet Club is “really, really good at a lot of things.” He said they promised to make a statement at the pay-per-view and they did. Cole said he proved that Michael Elgin has never been in his league. Cole said Page demolished the shoulder of Kyle O’Reilly. He also spoke about the Bucks winning Ladder War and the tag titles.
Cole said Bullet Club will also win the six-man tag titles, and Page will become the ROH TV Champion, meaning they will have every title in the company. Cole said they will have all the gold and all the power, and that’s too sweet. Cole dropped the mic…
Kelly hyped the opening tag match… [C] Highlights aired from the Reloaded Tour of Bull James making his debut, and Silas Young winning the Honor Rumble to earn an ROH Title shot in Lakeland, Florida… A Jay Lethal promo aired regarding his TV main event against Silas Young. Lethal said he doesn’t know what Young’s problem with him is all about. Lethal said he’s ending it because nothing will stop him from being ROH Champion…
Powell’s POV: A good opening promo with the Bucks boasting, and Cole laying out the Bullet Club plan to win all the gold and the power in the process.
1. Shane Taylor and Keith Lee vs. War Machine. Taylor and Lee were out second. Ray Rowe and Hanson immediately performed a suicide dive on them and the bell rang to start the match for some reason. The teams fought at ringside. The broadcast team agreed that the referee was going with relaxed rules with the goal of getting a winner and an end to this program.
Rowe caught Lee with a knee at ringside. Taylor backdropped Hanson onto both men on the floor. Taylor then summersaulted off the apron onto all three men on the floor heading into a break. [C] The teams fought inside the ring with no tag rules being enforced. Rowe threw an impressive exploder suplex on the massive Taylor. Lee used an impressive shoulder block that sent Rowe across the ring. Hanson slammed Lee.
Later, Hanson bled from the forehead. For some reason, Lee and Taylor actually went out of their way to perform a tag. War Machine came back and Hanson got a two count on Lee. Rowe went for a suicide dive, but Taylor punched him. IN the ring, Lee got a two count on Hanson. A short time later, Taylor kicked out of War Machine’s finisher. In the end, Hanson avoided a moonsault from Lee. Rowe hit Lee with a Destroyer and then pinned him. After the match, Taylor struck the War Machine members with a chair and then yelled at Rowe… [C]
War Machine beat Shane Taylor and Keith Lee.
Powell’s POV: Another big brawl between these teams. It was similar to what they’ve done in the past, but I found myself enjoying this one more, in part because they have done a better job of establishing Taylor and Lee since then.
Caprice Coleman cut a backstage promo about how The Cabinet is at the top of the brackets for the six-man tag title tournament… The broadcast team spoke about ACH, Kushida, and Jay White beating The Briscoes and Turu Yano in the first match of the tournament…
2. Caprice Coleman, Kenny King, and Rhett Titus vs. Jason Kincaid, Leon St. Giovanni, and Shahim Ali in a first round ROH Six-Man Tag Title Tournament match. The Cabinet did their Colin Kaepernick protest schtick before the match. Ali offered King a handshake early on, but King once again took a knee. Coleman acted crazy by yelling with a high pitched voice as he worked over Ali. The Cabinet members knelt again. This time Kincaid and St. Giovanni kicked them from behind. [C]
There was a wild spot with Titus hanging from the tree of woe when Ali performed a running dropkick at the same time his partners went coast to coast, yet it only led to a two count (which is ridiculous). Titus put his knees up to block a Phoenix Splash. Moments later, Coleman hit a top rope leg lariat and pinned St. Giovanni and pinned him…
Caprice Coleman, Kenny King, and Rhett Titus beat Jason Kincaid, Leon St. Giovanni, and Shahim Ali to advance in the ROH Six-Man Tag Title tournament.
The broadcast team hyped upcoming live events in Florida and the TV main event… [C]
Powell’s POV: The coast to coast spot was really cool, yet made worthless by not only the kickout, but the fact that Titus was back on the offensive about 20 seconds later. The Cabinet will face ACH, Kushida, and White in round two of the tournament.
3. Jay Lethal vs. Silas Young. The wrestlers shook hands prior to the match. The broadcast team spoke about how Lethal and Young entered the Honor Rumble match as the first and second entrants and went all the way to the end. Lethal caught a seated Young with a dropkick, then performed another dropkick that sent Young to the floor. Lethal performed a suicide dive and then ran Young into the barricade. Lethal performed a second suicide dive. Adam Cole came out and joined the broadcast team on commentary heading into the final break. [C]
Young was in control coming out of the commercial and Cole pushed his upcoming title tour (live events). Cole also spoke about how Young has been a dark horse in ROH, yet said he would shut him down when they meet in Lakeland. Lethal came back with a top rope elbow for a two count. Young came back and got a two count of his own.
Cole said he was going to take a closer look at the action and then walked onto the entrance ramp. Kyle O’Reilly came out and attacked Cole from behind. O’Reilly ended up working over Cole at ringside while the match continued in the ring. Young performed a rolling senton and was setting up for a top rope move when he was distracted by O’Reilly setting up for a move off the apron. Young shoved O’Reilly. Lethal rolled up Young and pinned him…
Jay Lethal pinned Silas Young.
After the match, Young was upset with Lethal. O’Reilly entered the ring and shoved Young. Cole hit O’Reilly from behind. Young threw Lethal to the floor. Cole and Young looked at one another, but the other men recovered before they could come to blows. O’Reilly hit a brainbuster (that was basically a suplex) on Cole. Young picked up the ROH Title while Kelly played up the idea that there are three top contenders for Cole’s title…
Powell’s POV: A solid main event. I like that Young is in this top mix, but I fear that it’s going to be a short stay in that this is merely to push him as Cole’s challenger heading into the Florida event they hyped repeatedly. I hope I’m wrong about that because Young should be featured more prominently than he has been, though it would be nice to see him climb the ladder rather than go from getting nothing to suddenly being in the top mix because he won one match that never aired on television.
Overall, a good show in terms of the action went. It wasn’t a big launch point for new storylines as you hope to get coming out of a pay-per-view, but they filled the time nicely. It was nice to see the live events get more attention than usual. I’m not sure if there’s a renewed emphasis on pushing the live events or if this was done to push the Florida events specifically. Check back on Thursday for Darren Gutteridge’s ROH TV Hit List.
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