By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Ring of Honor TV
Taped April 13, 2019 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at Stage AE
Aired in syndication on May 4, 2019, Mondays on the FITE TV app
The ROH opening aired… The broadcast team was Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman, and they were joined by Rhett Titus, who did his posing gimmick…
1. PJ Black vs. Eli Isom (w/Cheeseburger, Ryan Nova). The wrestlers adhered to the Code of Honor (the same name as my Kentucky Derby pick that came in second on Saturday). After some friendly back and forth, they cut to a commercial. [C] Black put Isom in his version of the Billy Goat’s Curse and tapped his face into the bottom turnbuckle. Late in the match, Black performed a huracanrana from the ropes, then performed a springboard 450 splash for a near fall. Black acted shocked that Isom kicked out. Black caught Isom with a superkick and then performed a moonsault into a double stomp and scored the pin. Black shook Isom’s hand and pointed at him afterward…
PJ Black defeated Eli Isom.
Riccaboni hyped the tag team main event… [C]
Powell’s POV: A fine match, though not exactly a hot way to open the show. I hope they are telling a story with Black being honorable now that leads to him showing his true colors later. ROH has too many one dimensional handshaking babyfaces, though with the loss of Tenille Dashwood and the David Finlay injury, they may be adding him to Lifeblood. Isom still needs to get away from the undercard silliness of the Shinobi Shadow Squad. Cheeseburger plays his part in ROH very well, but it really defines Isom down to be associated with the undercard faction.
Riccaboni hyped this week’s War of the Worlds tour. He hyped the Guerrillas of Destiny vs. Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham for the ROH Tag Titles in Buffalo, and Matt Taven vs. PCO for the ROH Title in Toronto…
The broadcast team checked in from their perch where Titus was doing his posing bit again. Riccaboni hyped the War of the Worlds tour dates and also hyped Yuji Nagata and Kojima appearing…
Ring entrances for the women’s match took place. Klein was all smiles as she made her entrance. Footage aired of The Allure attacking Klein at the G1 Supercard. Riccaboni hyped that Dalton Castle would make his first comments since the G1 Supercard coming up after this match. The broadcast team noted that Klein wanted to win the WOH Championship on her own and without help from Camp Klein. Lyn said she doesn’t like Klein and would never shake her hand. Klein smirked and the fans chanted “Kelly’s gonna kill you”…
2. Women of Honor Champion Kelly Klein vs. Ray Lyn in a non-title match. They took a break early in the match. [C] Lyn went for a cross body block, but Klein caught her and performed a fallaway slam. Klein threw a weak kick and followed up with her K Power finisher for the win.
Kelly Klein defeated Ray Lyn in a non-title match.
After the match, Klein took the mic and said, “Now you will respect me.” Lyn shook Klein’s hand and left the ring. Klein recalled telling the fans that she would be a fighting champion. She said she is proud to defend what the title stands for every time she steps foot in the ring.
Klein boasted that she is the first two-time WOH Champion and called her win over Mayu Iwatani at the G1 Supercard as the greatest win of her career. She said The Allure decided to steal her moment. She said they care about attention, filters, hashtags, retweets, and having their boobs pushed up to their chin, whereas she cares about wrestling.
Velvet Sky and Mandy Leon walked onto the stage and distracted Klein, who was attacked from behind by Angelina Love. Jenny Rose ran out to make the save and quickly took a DDT. Love held Rose from behind while Sky wrote the Allure symbol on Rose’s forehead. Riccaboni said he didn’t want to see this and asked to take the cameras off of the trio… [C]
Powell’s POV: So heel Klein said all of her matches would be title matches, but babyface Klein is apparently cool with having non-title matches? Strange. On the plus side, the live crowd reacted favorably to babyface Klein. The reaction to The Allure trio felt a little flat, but it’s early in their run.
Footage aired from the G1 Supercard of Rush defeating Dalton Castle in 20 seconds, followed by Castle destroying The Boys afterward…
Dalton Castle came out to his entrance music with a mic in hand and headed to the ring. A “Where’s the Boys?” chant broke out. Castle said he could see a lot of faces that were looking for answers. He said that’s fair. He said he owes some people some explanations. He called for The Boys to come out.
The Boys walked onto the stage. Castle told them it was okay and he just wanted to make things right. The Boys joined him in the ring. Castle said that what happened at Madison Square Garden was a mistake and was wrong. He took a step toward them and the Boys took a step back. Castle said he deserved that.
Castle said he was frustrated and he took his frustrations out on them. Castle said that what the three of them had was something special and he’s not willing to throw it away because of a mistake. Castle asked if they would agree to move past it. The Boys held their arms out, smiled, and nodded, and then they had a group hug.
Castle said that’s exactly what he needed to see and feel. Castle said what the fans were seeing was stronger than ever. He said you will never see him put his hands on his Boys ever again. Castle said put his hand on the shoulder of one of the Boys and said, “These Boys are no boys of mine.” Castle attacked both Boys and left them lying. Castle teased leaving the ring, then returned to do more damage and removed the masks of both Boys… [C]
Powell’s POV: The best segment of the show thus far. That’s not saying a lot, but this was well done. Castle cemented his heel turn and left viewers curious in terms of where he and the Boys go next. Riccaboni did his usual strong job on commentary by acting shocked and outraged by Castle’s attack.
3. Mark Haskins and Tracy Williams vs. TK O’Ryan and Vinny Marseglia. The Kingdom duo attacked their Lifeblood opponents to start the match. When Haskins and Williams held their own, O’Ryan and Williams took a quick powder. Riccaboni hyped Matt Taven vs. Flip Gordon for the 400th episode of the ROH television show coming up in two weeks. Haskins and Williams applied double Camel Clutches and the broadcast team wondered if that was it, but then the duo inexplicably released the holds for no reason going into a break. [C]
The Kingdom duo isolated Williams for a stretch and he sold shoulder pain. Haskins took a hot tag and eventually applied a submission hold on O’Ryan, but Marseglia pulled his partner’s foot to the ropes. Haskins released the hold and kicked Marseglia, then dumped him onto the ring apron. Haskins returned to the ring and was immediately put in an inside cradle by O’Ryan for a two count. Williams checked in and performed a frogsplash for a two count and once again held his bad shoulder.
Williams set up for a piledriver, but held his bad arm at his side, allowing O’Ryan to block the move. Williams eventually applied an ankle lock that Marseglia broke up with a boot to the face. Marseglia set up for their finisher, but O’Ryan was spent and couldn’t do his end. A short time later, Haskins put O’Ryan in a Sharpshooter and got the submission win…
Mark Haskins and Tracy Williams defeated TK O’Ryan and Vinny Marseglia.
After the match, Williams took the mic and said Bully Ray has been nothing more than a snake, a stench, and a cancer. He said the only way to get rid of that is to cut it out completely. Williams said he and Haskins are the only two people in the building who wanted Ray to come out even though they doubted he would come out by himself.
Bully Ray walked onto the stage and asked off-mic if they were still mad about what he did to Tenille Dashwood. Bully had Williams toss him the microphone. “Go to hell,” Ray said before walking to the back. Riccaboni closed the show by plugging the War of the Worlds tour for HonorClub…
Powell’s POV: The main event was a well worked match, yet like the opening match it lacked the feeling of importance. And I can live with that for a show opening match, but the television main events should feel more meaningful than this did. The highlight of the show was the Castle angle. ROH needs more storytelling like that on their weekly television show.
ROH also need to strike while the iron’s hot. It’s bad enough we waited weeks before getting a first-run show coming out of the G1 Supercard, but we’re two weeks into the new footage and we’ve yet to see them follow up with Rush. Heck, we’re now a month removed from the pay-per-view and while ROH has only had two television shows, does it make any sense that we’ve seen Stuka Jr., Caristico, O’Ryan, Marseglia, PJ Black, and Eli Isom in throwaway television matches and yet we still haven’t seen Jay Lethal since he lost the ROH Title nor heard from the new ROH Tag Champions?
Check below for the latest Pro Wrestling Boom Podcast with Jason Powell and guest Court Bauer discussing MLW’s future, pay-per-view possibilities, whether MLW talent could appear on the AAA event at MSG, Salina de la Renta serving as the executive producer for the latest MLW Fusion television show, and more.
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