Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O’Reilly’s stable finally has its name.
WWE Shop released the first shirt for the trio of former ROH wrestlers today, with their merchandise page calling them “The Undisputed Era.” The name of the stable is displayed on the front of the shirt, along with the letters “CFO” for Cole, Fish, and O’Reilly. “Shock The System” is written on the back of it.
This is the first time that the stable has been identified by name. They joined together and attacked Drew McIntyre as Adam Cole debuted at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn last month, which came after Fish and O’Reilly attacked SAnitY earlier in the night. Fish and O’Reilly had already debuted in losses to Aleister Black on NXT television prior to TakeOver.
The Undisputed Era have yet to cut their first promo as a team, though that could come when NXT tapes its next round of TV episodes at Full Sail University tomorrow night.
The Big News: Roderick Strong finally pinned Bobby Roode in the main event, but it was overshadowed by Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O’Reilly laying out Drew McIntyre in the show’s closing scene.
The Medium News: Strong challenged McIntyre to a future title match earlier in the night, which McIntyre accepted.
The Little Beaver-sized News: The undefeated, undisputed NXT Women’s Champion, Asuka will be on the show next week. I wonder what she’s going to say?
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Before beginning, I want to send my best wishes to everyone in Houston and the surrounding areas who are affected by Hurricane Harvey.
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The show began with SAnitY laying unconscious outside the building. Mr. Regal looked quite angry as he stared the night sky down.
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We kicked things off inside the arena with the 11th and new NXT Champion Drew McIntyre returning to the ring for the first time since winning the title. The fans were respectful, but it wasn’t as over-the-top giddy as you’ve had in prior title changes.
McIntyre said that all the bumps, bruises, and sacrifices were worth it for this moment. He said that he understands he has a huge target on his back, then turned his attention to Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O’Reilly.
He put them on notice that this is Drew McIntyre’s world now, and if they want a shot at the champ all they need to do is walk down to the ring, look him in the eye, and ask for a fight.
This brought out Roderick Strong. Strong came out to congratulate McIntyre, but also said he doesn’t care about Cole, he only cares about himself, his family, and the championship. Strong vowed to defeat Bobby Roode tonight, and after that Strong is stepping up and challenging McIntyre as a man.
McIntyre said he wanted to be challenged like a man and now he hopes Strong is ready to get knocked out like one.
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We got a replay of last week’s Bobby Roode interview where he said he has unfinished business in NXT. He vowed that after he beats Strong he will get his NXT Championship back and take it with him to SmackDown.
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Next week, we will be joined by the undefeated, undisputed NXT Women’s Champion, Asuka, where she will update us on her status.
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Peyton Royce defeated Ruby Riot
It wasn’t mentioned, but at some point in the last few months Royce let the dye out of her hair and is now back to being what I assume is her natural hair color, which is black. So now she looks more like her BFF Billie Kay.
This feud is part of the ongoing rivalry between the Iconic Duo and pretty much anyone who they feel is not glamorous. Royce and Kay mocked Riot about a month ago, then Riot defeated Kay in a match, which was followed by Royce saying Riot will never be iconic.
Royce took over by snapping Riot off the top rope. She threw Riot out of the ring, which got the crowd to buzz a little bit as Kay interfered on behalf of her friend. Riot made her comeback, which didn’t get the same reaction as it normally does and actually got less of a reaction than Kay’s interference.
Riot was on the middle rope, then Royce hit a spin kick to the head and a rolling Death Valley Driver, but Riot kicked out. Riot hit a powerbomb for a near fall — and the Iconic Duo have had enough.
Kay tried to drag Royce away and take a countout, but Riot hit a suicide dive onto both of them. Behind the referee’s back, Kay dragged Riot outside the ring and nearly booted Riot’s head off. That allowed Royce to pick up the win back in the ring with a fisherman’s suplex.
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Mr. Regal was backstage and said this thing where people are being laid out won’t keep happening. Kassius Ohno came in and wanted a no disqualification match with Hideo Itami next week. Mr. Regal agreed to it. Ohno was wearing a shirt of Mitsuharu Misawa giving Stan Hansen an elbow strike.
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Heavy Machinery defeated Edwin Negron & Damien Aweel
Heavy Machinery haven’t been seen since losing their NXT Tag Team title match to The Authors of Pain a few months ago, but here they were back at the beginning and facing the jobber tag team of the week.
Neither Aweel nor Negron had any success by themselves and somehow fared even worse when they tried a double team. Heavy Machinery picked up the win with The Compactor.
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We got a recap of Lars Sullivan destroying No Way Jose last week. This led to Mr. Regal informing Sullivan that actions have consequences. Since he beat up three different tag team partners, next week he will have a three-on-one handicap match. Sullivan shook his head and left.
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In addition to the aforementioned Ohno vs. Itami no DQ match, Andrade “Cien” Almas will get his rematch with Cezar Bononi next week.
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Roderick Strong defeated Bobby Roode
In what might be his final match on the yellow brand, Roode took a brisk one minute and 42 seconds to get to the ring. At the bell, Roode told Strong off and said that he is a failure and this will always be Bobby Roode’s NXT. Roode waved his arms around and was about to scream “Glorious” — but he got shoved down and it was on!
This match was a little rough at the start, but once they settled down they had their typical good match. Roode kept looking for ways to get reprieves, but no matter what he did Strong would somehow turn it into a backbreaker.
This led to them squaring off on the ring apron, which is the hardest part of the ring, and Roode shoving his foe into the ring post and then the steps. Strong still refused to stay down, so Roode laid him out with a spinebuster on the black mats.
Roode used his own backbreaker in the ring, which allowed him to do his Glorious pose. Strong started his comeback with a pop-up gut check. Strong used a butterfly suplex into a powerbomb and, when Roode kicked out, Strong turned it into a Boston Crab. Roode got out of that and cut him off again with a TKO into an Ace Crusher.
They ended up fighting up the ropes as Strong used a top rope superplex for a two count. Roode finally hit his Glorious DDT, but Strong rolled close enough to the ropes to get his foot on them before the pinfall. That played off their title match when Strong had the title won with a Sick Kick, but Roode barely got his foot on the ropes.
Roode screamed at Strong, so Strong hit three consecutive jumping knees to the jaw. Finally, Strong blew Roode a kiss goodbye and picked up the win with a suplex into a backbreaker.
Roderick Strong has finally defeated Bobby Roode. Drew McIntyre came out to stand on the ramp and accept Strong’s challenge when he was attacked by Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O’Reilly!
Cole laid out McIntyre with a DDT on the ramp and punched several security guards in the face. Mr. Regal finally showed up and they went running into the night with Regal staring them down.
Not sure if this will ever be brought up, or if it will be like when Samoa Joe ran away from the building into a waiting car to drive him away, but during the attack Strong didn’t even try to make the save.
So that does it from Full Sail. Until next week, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
The Big News: After defeating Heavy Machinery in the main event, The Authors of Pain were confronted by an unlikely set of new challengers: SAnitY.
The Medium News: Speaking of SAnitY, Killian Dain will face Drew McIntyre next week, with the winner facing Bobby Roode at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn.
The Little Beaver-sized News: Bobby Fish debuted in a losing effort against Aleister Black.
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The show began with an excellent video package recapping the breakup of DIY back at NXT TakeOver: Chicago. This segued to the announcers opening the show and recapping last week where Roderick Strong lost his NXT Championship match. We will be joined by the NXT Champion, Bobby Roode tonight.
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Aleister Black defeated Bobby Fish
The former Tommy End kicked the show off tonight, as he was here to go one-on-one with the debuting former ROH TV and Tag Team Champion, Bobby Fish. Fish got a decent reaction, but nothing in the same league as some of the other debuts we’ve had over the years.
Fish was allowed to look competitive in this match, as it went through a commercial break. This was one of those matches where it was painfully obvious that Percy Watson is the sore thumb at the announce table. Mauro Ranallo and Nigel McGuinness were just reciting factoids about Fish off the top of their heads, while Watson was nervously reading them off his notes.
Anyway, despite the big debut, no one believed Fish was going to win this one, but they definitely tried hard enough to make you think otherwise. The fans woke up for Black’s comeback, specifically his Asai moonsault and a jumping knee to Fish. Black then picked up the win with Black Mass.
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Hideo Itami and Kassius Ohno argued backstage after their match last week, with Itami blaming Ohno and “people like Ohno” for their loss to SAnitY. Ohno said he went out of his way to try to get Itami out of the funk he’s been in since Chicago, but no more.
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The Street Profits did a series of Snapchat videos to build to their NXT debut soon.
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Two weeks ago, Kayla Braxton tried to interview Velveteen Dream while he was leaving the arena. Dream refused to be interviewed and told Braxton to figure something else out.
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Vanessa Borne defeated Jayme Hachey in a Mae Young Classic qualifying match
Who will join the group of 32 in the Mae Young Classic tournament? Will it be Vanessa Borne or Jayme Hachey? Borne previously competed under her real name of Danielle Kamela and Hachey is the former Jayme Jameson.
These two had a mid-level NXT women’s match. It was not remarkable by any means, but not offensive either. Borne won with a spinning suplex.
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Drew McIntyre was leaving after NXT last week when he was attacked by Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain. Wolfe yelled “tick tock” and said that McIntyre’s time as being undefeated is running out.
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Back in Mr. Regal’s office, he was having a meeting with NXT Champion Bobby Roode. Regal mentioned both Killian Dain and Drew McIntyre. Roode said he could beat both of them any day of the week, but recommended McIntyre wrestle Dain and see what happens. He was then offended that Mr. Regal would imply that Roode would want the two of them to take each other out.
Regal ended up making that match for next week, between Dain and McIntyre and the winner will challenge Roode next month at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn.
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For the first time in 53 days, Johnny Gargano returned to NXT. He came to the ring to the loudest ovation of the night. When the music ended the crowd erupted into chants of “Johnny Wrestling.”
Gargano said he missed that and said the fans and the ring are irreplaceable. He used to be excited when he heard his music because the fans would see something special, but now all he can think of was what happened in Chicago.
He has spent all these days going over everything in his head, but he will never understand what happened. However, he is not here to dwell on the past, but he is here to look towards the future. He can’t control what happened, but he is here and is in front of all these people.
He said that no matter what, he wanted to be at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn. He said he needs to be Johnny Gargano again, but he also needs to be Johnny Wrestling. The promo ended with what I presume is his new theme song, as he came out to the DIY theme.
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Ember Moon will wrestle Ruby Riot next week.
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NXT Tag Team Champions The Authors of Pain defeated Heavy Machinery to retain their titles
The Authors of Pain debuted 13 months ago and since then they have never lost a single match in NXT. Heavy Machinery re-debuted four months ago and, likewise, have never lost a single match. Streaks are about to end.
This match was everything it was promised to be. It was four 300-pounders slugging it out in their quest for championship gold. The first big spot of the match was Rezar being knocked off his feet by his challengers, which led to a four-way face-off and the commercial break.
Back from commercial, the champions cut off Tucker Knight for the heat, but a missed middle rope move by Rezar led to Otis Dozovic getting the hot tag. It broke down into a four-way, as Dozovic and Knight suplexed and slammed AOP around with such ease. They beat on the champs in a way that no one ever has before.
Heavy Machinery went for The Compactor on Akam, but Rezar broke it up with a boot to Knight’s face. That was the final swing of momentum, as the Authors of Pain quickly put Dozovic away with The Last Chapter.
Can any team stop the Authors of Pain? Well…if two can’t stop them, maybe three can. SAnitY came out and stood on the ramp as papers fell from the ceiling. The crowd didn’t know what to make of it, but the announcers sold it as pages from Paul Ellering’s book that he reads from.
So, that does it for this week. Thank you for reading, and until next week, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
One-half of reDRagon has seemingly arrived in NXT.
Bobby Fish made his first WWE appearance at tonight’s NXT television tapings at Full Sail University. His first match was against Aleister Black.
The match came after reports that Fish had been spotted at the building earlier in the day, along with Pro Wrestling Sheet noting that he’d be making his debut.
An NXT debut that was already known about happened at the tapings as well, with Mauro Ranallo joining the broadcast booth for the first time since announcing that he’ll be staying with WWE. Triple H introduced him to the crowd at the start of the show.
Fish had previously reached a new short-term agreement with Ring of Honor when his contract came up at the end of last year. When that expired in March, he continued working for ROH on a per-date basis and started taking other bookings.
There has also been a situation with claims related to tampering from ROH that have at least temporarily blocked some people (including Fish and Kyle O’Reilly) who were formerly with them from signing with WWE.
Image: @TheSamiCallihan. Report submitted by reader Brian Reznick.
This was a weaker PWG show, but it was still good and had one outstanding match (Lio Rush vs. Keith Lee). The show started around 8:05 and ended at 11:15 with the standard intermission. The crowd was not quite as hot as the best PWG shows, though it was still very good.
– Chuck Taylor defeated Trevor Lee
The crowd loved Taylor and hated Lee, but also weren’t as hot for the match as the wrestlers involved usually merit. They went about 15 minutes and Taylor won.
– Dezmond Xavier defeated Jason Cade and Jake Crist in a triple threat match
Fun match filled with high spots. Cade looked good in his PWG debut.
Early in the match, they set up a ridiculous series of continuous dives where one guy would dive onto the other two and one of the guys who took the dive would immediately get back in the ring and start another dive. They either did a run of three or four dives each and it was capped by Crist going to two corners and doing the Randy Orton pose before hitting a final dive to the outside.
Xavier pinned Cade after a variation of a top rope corkscrew splash. The crowd chanted “please come back” for Cade after the match.
– Keith Lee defeated Lio Rush
This was the match of the night. They set up an early motif where Lee would keep trying to tell Rush to “Bask in his…,” but before Lee could say glory, Rush would attack him. Lee fended off each attack, sometimes catching Rush in mid-air and one time putting his hand to Rush’s forehead and holding him at arm’s length.
Rush eventually landed a few strikes, and ended with a slap to the face. They then continued the pattern of Rush attempting a comeback, landing a little, but Lee slamming him around.
The crowd was very into the whole match with counter chants going, but a truly outstanding spot in the middle got a huge standing ovation. Both guys had ended up outside of the ring and were coming back in. As Lee came in, Rush hit him low, and laboriously picked him up for a Death Valley Driver. The crowd went nuts when Rush hit the driver and then went to the top rope for a great frog splash and cover, but Lee powered out at one, tossing Rush halfway across the ring.
Lee eventually flattened him, picked him up, flattened him, picked him up, gave him a huge Last Ride-style powerbomb and covered him for the 1-2-3.
– Unbreakable F’n Machines (Michael Elgin & Brian Cage) defeated War Machine
They had the second best match of the night. It was a great clash of the big guys. A highlight spot was Elgin holding Rowe for an extended vertical suplex, Cage tagging in, and Elgin handing Rowe off to Cage before Cage finished the suplex. The crowd counted this as 23-24 seconds.
Elgin and Cage got the heat on Rowe for a while before he made the hot tag to Hanson. Hanson did a fun hot tag, using a cartwheel and clothesline on both Cage and Elgin setting up the running clotheslines on each of them in the corners.
Rowe then picked Hanson up and scoop slammed him on each guy. War Machine were not able to hit Fallout and Elgin/Cage won after a middle rope powerbomb to Rowe from Elgin followed by Cage hitting the Weapon X. Loud chants for War Machine after the match.
– Sami Callihan defeated Matt Sydal
Quick, fun match following intermission. Sydal got the advantage early by hitting some hard leg kicks and strikes. Each guy took bumps onto chairs, but there were no chair shots to the head (which is good). Callihan won with his over-the-shoulder single leg crab. Callihan had legit heat with a good portion of the crowd throughout the match.
– Jeff Cobb defeated Trent Barreta
Another great “big guy” vs. “little guy” match. The story was Trent trying to get quick flurries of offense and Cobb repeatedly flattening him with every variation of suplex that has ever existed. Both guys looked great here and there were dueling chants throughout the match for each guy.
They fought around the ring and back into the ring. Cobb again began to take advantage with suplexes. Trent would keep trying to escape only to be grabbed and thrown again. Trent mounted a comeback by exiting the ring, surprising Cobb, and eventually piledriving him on the apron.
He got back in the ring and hit the Dudebuster for a near fall. Cobb came back with a series of suplexes before hitting the Tour of the Islands for the pin.
– The LDRS (Marty Scurll & Zack Sabre Jr.) defeated reDragon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly)
This match was very good, but it should have been shorter. They went 30-35 minutes, but should have gone 20-25 as there were points where the crowd was somewhat out of it. Scurll was the most over guy in the match, though the crowd was probably 60-40 pro-ZSJ.
The story of the early part of the match was that reDragon outwrestled the LDRS. In every combination between the four guys, they would grapple back and forth (great sequences from everyone), but reDragon would always end with a slight edge. reDragon mounted a comeback toward the end and hit Chasing the Dragon on Sabre, but he kicked out.
The finish came when Scurll hit Fish with the umbrella and Sabre got O’Reilly into his submission that looks like the Rings of Saturn and started kicking O’Reilly in the head. O’Reilly got an arm free and was trying to escape when Scurll walked in and did the finger break spot. Sabre then caught O’Reilly’s free arm and started kicking him more. I couldn’t tell if O’Reilly tapped or if referee Rick Knox decided he was out, but Knox called for the bell.
After the match, Sabre and Scurll started stomping reDragon and Chuck Taylor came in for the save (he’d been on commentary). Sabre and Scurll fled to the back. Taylor got the mic and challenged ZSJ for the title.
Taylor said that if he loses to Sabre, he’ll never get another title shot. Sabre came back out, took the mic, and said that Taylor was bad and other mean things.
Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish once again teaming up highlights the announced lineup for PWG’s May 19th show.
Fish and O’Reilly haven’t teamed since PWG’s Mystery Vortex IV back in December, which was around the same time that O’Reilly’s contract with Ring of Honor had expired. Fish’s contract has expired recently as well, though he is still working with ROH as a free agent. They will be facing Jeff Cobb and Matt Riddle.
reDRagon will also be teaming up for PWX at a show on April 30th in Hickory, North Carolina prior to the match in PWG.
Two title matches are also set to take place on the show, which is titled “Head Like a Cole.” Zack Sabre Jr. will defend his PWG World Championship against Trent (Baretta), and The Young Bucks will look to regain the PWG tag titles as they face off against Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero M.
Other matches rounding out the card are Sami Callihan against the show’s namesake Adam Cole, Lio Rush taking on Mark Haskins, and Shane Strickland facing Michael Elgin. There will also be a battle of the Lees as Keith Lee takes on Trevor Lee.
Tickets will go on sale on April 27th at 8 p.m. PT.
Ring of Honor television featured the road to Final Battle with the first in a series of episodes taped in Baltimore. On the show from this past week, World TV Champion Bobby Fish defended his title against a Bullet Club challenge. Also, the ROH World Champion Adam Cole found himself surrounded by challengers.
The show opened with promos from Page and Fish hyping their main event match later on.
A trios match then kicked off the show and concluded the first round of the six-man championship tournament.
Team CMLL defeated The Addiction & Kamaitachi to advance in the six-man tournament
Team CMLL was Ultimo Guerrero, Okumura, and Hechicero. They are not a regular team in Mexico, but collectively represent CMLL in the ROH tournament. Kazarian and Okumura started the match. Hechicero tagged in to get worked over briefly before Daniels bumped and fed for the luchadors. Kamaitachi did lucha spots with them.
They brawled on the floor with lucha everywhere. Addiction singled out Hechicero and began working him over. Hot tag to Guerrero and he cleaned house. For a near fall, Guerrero executed a super gordbuster planting Daniels off the top rope. Moments later, Addiction got a near fall and a high-low sweep. Hechicero ran wild until he wiped out. Kamaitachi accidentally dropped double knees on his own partner. Guerrero then pinned Daniels after an inverted superplex.
Afterwards, Kamaitachi argued with The Addiction. Daniels admitted his fault in their losing, and he offered Kamaitachi a free shot at him as penance. Kamaitachi spat at Daniels instead and walked away.
The Cabinet stormed to ringside and complained to announcers Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino. The Cabinet were angry about their push and basically buried their creative direction. Apparently even they think their gimmick was lame.
Backstage, Dalton Castle was looking for his boys when he ran into Colt Cabana. Cabana said they didn’t need the boys and ushered Castle to the ring. Subtle hints of a shift in Colt’s personality here as the seeds of a rift are planted.
Shane Taylor & Keith Lee defeated Dalton Castle & Colt Cabana
A departure from the wild brawls seen on previous episodes, Lee and Taylor took part in some comedy spots with Cabana on his self-proclaimed quest to prove funny does equal money. Nevertheless, Lee and Taylor went on to maul them. Castle got a bloody nose by the end. For the finish, Lee powerbombed Cabana so Taylor could splash him off the middle rope and cover him for the pinfall.
Hyping a semifinal tournament match on the next episode, Matt Taven cut a promo vowing The Kingdom would conquer Team CMLL.
In another pre-tape promo, ROH World Champion Adam Cole ran down his upcoming challengers, Kyle O’Reilly and Jay Lethal. Those two would have their own nonverbal responses to Cole later on.
ROH World TV Champion Bobby Fish defeated Hangman Page to retain his title
The back story of the match was that Page injured Fish on a previous episode. Fish’s ribs were taped as he sold the injury. Page jumped Fish before the bell and targeted the injury. Page shined up Fish, working him over for much of the match. In a hope spot, Fish valiantly tried making a comeback, only for Page to cut him off moments later. Fish eventually made the comeback. Fish caught Page and barred the knee into a submission hold. Page struggled as he reached for the ropes before tapping out.
After the match, Adam Cole entered the scene to confront Kyle O’Reilly as he went to check on his reDRagon tag partner. O’Reilly squared off with Cole. Jay Lethal suddenly ran down to also confront Cole. Both O’Reilly and Lethal are set to challenge for the World title. Cole was trapped between them, though he managed to slither away to fight another day.
On the next episode of ROH TV airing this weekend in syndication, Kyle O’Reilly squares off with Silas Young. Also, Team CMLL faces The Kingdom in a semifinal match in the six-man tag tournament.
This weekend ROH is live in the United Kingdom with the “Reach For the Sky” tour spanning three shows in England. ROH has a guide with supposedly everything UK fans need to know about the tour.
The rise of a new version of The Kingdom began on the latest episode of Ring of Honor television. Taped in Lowell, MA, the show featured Matt Taven returning to TV with a new stable facing off against Adam Cole and the Bullet Club.
Also on the episode, Dragon Lee earned a TV title shot against Bobby Fish. In the opening match, Big Mike played cat-and-mouse with trickster Toru Yano.
Michael Elgin defeated Toru Yano
Taped before breaking his orbital bone, Big Mike was his usual self here. So was Yano. The early portion of the match was Yano begging off. He offered a left handed handshake then tried to turn it into a test of strength. He failed that test as the power of Elgin proved too great. Elgin then pummeled Yano before knocking him out of the ring.
On the outside, Yano grabbed a pair of snips that he used to cut loose a turnbuckle pad. Yano gained a momentary advantage using underhanded tactics like choking Elgin with the tag rope. But Big Mike would soon fire up.
Elgin got a near fall when he executed a falcon arrow. Moments later, Elgin retrieved the snips and cut loose another turnbuckle pad. Upon blocking a buckle bomb, Yano sent Elgin into an exposed buckle. Referee Todd Sinclair blocked an attempted low blow only for Yano to use him as a human shield. Yano then used a low blow anyway and cradled Elgin for a two count.
Elgin hoisted up Yano and dropped him on an exposed buckle with snake eyes. Yano still kicked out even after a lariat clothesline. So, Elgin finished him off with a sit-out powerbomb and covered him for the pinfall.
Hyping a TV title match on the next episode, Bobby Fish cut a promo on Hangman Page. Besides being a title match, there is a grudge to settle as Page injured Fish in storyline when he attacked him with a chair. Fish would later have his ribs taped and that played a part in the story of the next match.
Dragon Lee defeated World TV Champion Bobby Fish in a non-title proving ground match
In an effort to get him over and introduce him to the TV audience, a video package highlighted Dragon Lee and aired earlier in the show before this match. On commentary, Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino played up the injury to Fish. Dragon Lee was at first reluctant to target the taped ribs until doing so later in the match. That was after Fish turned up the intensity.
They started off with mat wrestling that led to dives and heated exchanges down the stretch. Fish sold the ribs during the match, fighting through the pain. Lee applied a submission hold but Fish got a rope break. Fish had a last minute flurry, but Lee rolled him up with a la magistral cradle for the pin. In winning the “proving ground” match, Lee gets a future title shot for beating the champion.
The announcers put over Fish having to defend the title in “seven days” against Page on the next episode of ROH TV. In reality, the matches took place several weeks apart. Nevertheless, the injury angle unfolded on TV the past several weeks so the storyline is consistent.
The Kingdom defeated Bullet Club to advance in the six-man tag tournament
The back story here was the history between Adam Cole and Matt Taven. Formerly, Cole was the leader of The Kingdom with Taven as a stablemate. Cole went on to leave the stable before joining Bullet Club. Taven reformed The Kingdom in his image after being sidelined by an injury and now seeks vengeance on Cole.
With Taven as the leader of a new Kingdom, TK O’Ryan and Vinny Marseglia debuted as members of the new faction. They would face Cole and The Young Bucks in this match as part of the first round in the B block of the six-man tag team championship tournament.
As part of their grand entrance, a scribe read a proclamation from a scroll as a little person held candles and a microphone in introducing Taven and his new Kingdom. The new stable attacked Bullet Club before the bell to start the match. They thrashed Cole and the Jackson brothers, leaving them laying heading into a commercial.
Just after the break, Bullet Club came back with triple superkicks. They went to do the Rise of the Terminator spot, but The Kingdom tripped them up. Bullet Club responded by powerbombing them all on the ring apron, then redoing the Terminator spot to set up triple dives through the ropes. Cole almost ate it as he exploded across the ring, but he recovered nicely. Bullet Club would go on to do some comedy before Kingdom cut them off.
Kingdom worked over Matt Jackson for some time doing double and triple-team combinations. For the hot tag, Nick Jackson ran wild before a commercial, and was he still running wild as the show returned from the break. Relating to the back story, Cole and Taven eventually came face-to-face. They had mostly avoided each other until squaring off late in the match. A slugfest ensued.
Taven spat at Cole, so Cole superkicked Taven’s braced knee, then Cole sent a snot rocket at Taven in retaliation. They traded near falls as the others would also jump in. The Bucks of course had a superkick party. Cole jumped off the top rope into a wicked Canadian Destroyer that folded up Taven. When the dust settled after the action peaked in the closing moments, Kingdom isolated Matt and O’Ryan covered him for the pin.
Ring of Honor television from this past week featured what was supposed to be Bullet Club vs. Los Ingobernables. However, it didn’t quite work out that way. Plus, Bobby Fish defended the TV title against NEVER champion Katsuyori Shibata.
Jay Lethal, Michael Elgin & Kyle O’Reilly defeated Adam Cole, Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi
(Photo: six-man dream match in ROH… or maybe not)
A six-man tag match announced last week began as Bullet Club vs. Jay Lethal, Tetsuya Naito & EVIL. As the match progressed, Adam Cole squared off with Lethal. Suddenly, Naito and EVIL both bailed on the match, leaving Lethal outnumbered as they left the scene.
Lethal was being pummeled when Michael Elgin came down to be a substitute tag partner for Lethal. Matchmaker Nigel McGuinness gave his blessing. In storyline, Elgin is the next challenger for Cole’s world title at the next pay-per-view.
After a hot tag, Elgin cleaned house on Bullet Club. As the Club cut off Elgin, Kyle O’Reilly stormed to the ring to volunteer as another substitute tag partner. O’Reilly ran wild after tagging in. He eventually squared off with his rival, Cole, as O’Reilly wants both revenge and a future title shot.
Despite being beaten down while being outnumbered earlier in the match, Lethal scored the deciding pinfall after hitting Takahashi with the Lethal Injection and covering him.
(Photo: the winners with their sights set on Adam Cole)
After the match, all three babyfaces glared at Cole. Each of the three has their own issues with him. Lethal is the former champion looking to regain his title, Elgin is the next challenger in line, and O’Reilly continues his blood feud with Cole.
Later in the show, Lethal demanded a match against Naito for his treachery in bailing on him. McGuinness granted him a match at the next PPV. He also reminded Lethal of the last time Lethal “begged for a match,” referring to Lethal losing the title to Cole after their feud became personal.
ROH World Television Champion Bobby Fish defeated Katsuyori Shibata to retain his title
They exchanged kicks and strikes early on. As the match unfolded, Fish began to work a leg. Prince Nana came down to ringside during the match. Nana provided guest commentary as he supposedly was scouting for Donovan Dijak, who faces the winner at the next PPV.
Fish was working over Shibata when he fired up. Shibata began to pummel Fish. Shibata went for the penalty kick but Fish dodged the attempt and applied an ankle hook submission.
(Photo: stereo submission holds)
As Fish was applying a leglock, Shibata countered with one of his own. Both had each other locked in submission holds.
The pace quickened in the closing moments as they exchanged strikes and suplexes. Shibata went for an armbar but Fish fought to counter. Then, Shibata went for a triangle choke and Fish countered by bridging into a cover and pinned him.
Dijak walked out on the stage to stare at Fish. Shibata also indicated that he wanted a rematch.
In other news, McGuinness announced the suspension of Steve Corino is over and he will return to commentary on the next episode.
Here’s a recap of the four Best of the Super Juniors B block matches that took place this morning in Shizuoka. Thankfully, New Japan World cut the tag team matches that fill these shows. Not that they’re bad, but they’re super formulaic. Some people get into them, and for the very good ones I can get into them too. Most of the time, I just can’t.
Chase Owens vs. Will Ospreay
This was pretty good. Owens is solid. Not flashy like some guys in this tournament, but works really well with a lot of people. Ospreay’s offense was tremendous here, doing everything including the Sasuke special to Owens on the outside. Owens cut him off and pinned him with the package piledriver in a surprise (at least, for me).
There will probably be many examples like this during the tournament, not just because they want to add an air of unpredictability in the tournament but also because they probably had to change a lot of results due to the Young Bucks being pulled from the tournament.
Trent Baretta vs. Volador Jr.
I guess the rule in Japan if you’re a luchador that’s lost his mask is you can wear it for as long as you want, but you have to take it off sometime during the match. The first half of this was okay, nothing special. Volador did a cool dive to the floor. Seems like every time there was a big spot, things would slow down for a while. Things picked up after a while, but the match as a whole was just kind of there save for a few cool spots by Volador. He hit the top rope hurricanrana that won his match on the opening day, but Baretta kicked out. Volador went to charge in the corner, but Baretta lifted up up into the Dudebuster and nailed it for the win.
Bobby Fish vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
Both Fish’s theme and Liger’s theme are no longer dubbed over. For some reason, though, Owens’ theme was. Fish smacked Liger’s leg with some kicks early and focused on throse throughout the match. Liger made a comeback and hit the liger bomb for a nearfall. Liger went for a hurricanrana off the top rope but Fish grabbed the ropes, causing Liger to land on his bad leg. Fish kept working on Liger’s leg in a long ankle lock submission. Liger escaped, then managed to hold Fish down long enough by grabbing the ropes t o pick up the sneaky win. Do what you gotta do, I guess.
Tiger Mask vs. Ricochet
This was okay for most of it. Nothing bad, but Tiger Mask’s work is always just there, just good enough not to be bad. Ricochet didn’t do anything flashy for this match either and as a result the match in general was just kinda there. Ricochet picked up the submission win with a modified armbar.
Ring of Honor announced today that three of its top stars — ROH champion Jay Lethal, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly — have signed new contracts with the organization and there are major booking plans in place for all three men in the year ahead.
Lethal signed several weeks ago, while Fish and O’Reilly inked deals about a week ago.
All had been expected to re-sign since Lethal had not lost the championship in any of his recent title defenses. Additionally, Fish & O’Reilly staying on also included the provision they’ll continue to keep their jobs with New Japan Pro Wrestling, something the Young Bucks got in their deal when they re-signed in October 2015.
The new deals were similar to the old deals in that ROH will have exclusivity on the wrestlers in North America, but they are free to take overseas bookings. The lone exception to the stateside exclusivity are PWG shows.
Lethal vs. O’Reilly vs. Adam Cole for the ROH title will headline the 2/26 ROH PPV show from Las Vegas, Nevada.
