A number of stars, as well as a match have been announced for ROH’s upcoming Best in the World tour.
Stardom’s Kagetsu and Hazuki were announced for the show on Ring of Honor’s Twitter account today. KUSHIDA has also been signed to compete.
In addition to the talent announcements, ROH also announced a tag team championship match with champions The Briscoes defending the titles against The Young Bucks. The two teams have been feuding in recent months, and faced off against one another on a recent episode of Ring of Honor television where the match ended in a disqualification. The Briscoes left the Bucks lying after the match.
A triple threat match for the Ring of Honor title was previously announced back at the last set of television tapings. Dalton Castle will defend the title against Marty Scurll and Cody in a three way bout. Nick Aldis, who is currently the NWA champion, has said that he will only defend the NWA title if Cody not only wins the ROH title, but puts it on the line at All In.
Best in the World will take place on June 29 at the UMBC Event Center in Baltimore, Maryland. There will be a TV taping the following day in Fairfax, Virigina.
EVIL was super over with the crowd, while Taylor got “Cleveland sucks” chants due to being from Ohio. EVIL won after hitting a headbutt, a lariat, and Everything is EVIL. The match was plodding at times and probably should have ended three minutes before it did.
– Tenille Dashwood & Jenny Rose defeated Women of Honor Champion Sumie Sakai & Stella Grey
Dashwood was really popular with the crowd. Rose used what looked like a Rock Bottom-type of move to pin Grey.
After the match, Rose dusted off the Women’s title and tried to hand it to Sakai, but Sakai got offended and slapped her. They brawled and Sakai tried to put Rose in an ankle lock, but she kicked her away before other referees broke it up. Commentary put over Sakai vs. Rose for the title at Sunday’s television tapings in Chicago.
– Hangman Page vs. Punishment Martinez never got started
Page jumped Martinez with a chair from behind and threw the chair in Martinez’s face. Things spilled to the outside and Page quickly set up a table on one of the ring post corners on the outside, driving Martinez through it. The referees ordered Page to leave ringside.
– Marty Scurll defeated Matt Taven, Kenny King, and SANADA in a four-way match
Jay Lethal was supposed to be in the match but was replaced by SANADA due to injury. SANADA was cheered big time.
Scurll won with a low kick and an inside cradle on Taven as Taven argued with and pushed referee Todd Sinclair. There were some comedy bits during the match as SANADA did his hog-tie move on King and Taven, then Scurll tried to do it on him but couldn’t figure out how. Scurll and SANADA teased doing it on Sinclair.
– Roppongi 3K (Sho & Yoh) defeated Motor CIty Machine Guns and The Young Bucks
There were dueling chants of “Motor City” and “Let’s go Bucks,” but Roppongi 3K won in an upset by hitting 3K. It was kind of a cluster match that picked up in the last several seconds. The rules were that anybody could tag anybody in, and the finish came as the Bucks and MCMG were trying to take each other out with their usual crazy moves and Roppongi 3K snuck in to take advantage.
– ROH Television Champion Silas Young & Beer City Bruiser defeated The Boys
Young and Bruiser won after a big splash from Bruiser off the rope and Young hitting Misery.
Cheeseburger was out and acting all banged up from being attacked by Bully Ray previously. There were huge chants for Liger and tons of streamers thrown for him.
SoCal Uncensored picked up the victory by pinning Cheeseburger after the Best Meltzer Ever. Aside from a few spots when Gordon was in, this felt like a boring old-school house show match.
After the match, Gordon left but Liger and Cheeseburger posed on the ropes. Bully Ray then came out and gave Liger a low blow from behind, powerbombed Cheeseburger, and attacked them with his chain. Gordon made the save and tackled Bully, then superkicked him out of the ring. Liger and Cheeseburger were helped to the back.
– Cody Rhodes (w/ Burnard the Business Bear) defeated Hiromu Takahashi (w/ Daryl Jr.)
Tons of streamers were thrown for this one. Daryl Jr. was on commentary with a headset, though it was thankfully brief. There was lots of comedy at the start as Burnard and Daryl Jr. acted like they wanted to fight each other and security separated them. The ref ejected Burnard and sent Daryl back to the timekeeper’s table.
Cody got the pin after a vertebreaker. This was good, but I’d say it was only a small notch above house-show level. There was a slow but good pace and everything they did seemed to have purpose.
– ROH Tag Team Champions The Briscoes defeated Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI to retain their titles
The NJPW wrestlers continued to be crowd favorites, but The Briscoes retained with a Jay Driller and a top rope elbow drop on BUSHI. The crowd was into BUSHI, but I think they knew he was taking the pin.
It will be The Briscoes defending their titles against Hiroshi Tanahashi & Jay Lethal. This will be the first defense for The Briscoes since they defeated the Motor City Machine Guns at ROH’s 16th Anniversary pay-per-view earlier this month to begin their ninth reign with the belts.
Supercard of Honor will take place at the UNO Lakefront Arena in New Orleans on April 7th and has surpassed 5,000 tickets sold, topping the attendance record of 3,500 that was set during WrestleMania weekend last year.
Here’s the updated lineup for the show (which includes matches that have been officially announced and ones that were set up at ROH’s latest set of TV tapings):
Kenny Omega vs. Cody
ROH World Champion Dalton Castle defending against Marty Scurll
ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky) defending against The Young Bucks & Flip Gordon
ROH Tag Team Champions The Briscoes defending against Hiroshi Tanahashi & Jay Lethal
Kota Ibushi vs. Hangman Page
The semifinals (Mayu Iwatani vs. Kelly Klein and Tenille Dashwood vs. Sumie Sakai) and finals of the Women of Honor Championship tournament
ROH TV Champion Kenny King defending against Silas Young in a last man standing match
Bully Ray teamed with Mark & Jay Briscoe to challenge The Kingdom for their six-man tag titles. Hanson and Punishment Martinez battled in a singles match with tag team implications. And a semifinal match set the stage for the conclusion of the Top Prospect Tournament.
Also, “Story time with Adam Cole” turned solemn and the Bullet Club retaliated against Frankie Kazarian.
Where to watch —
Airing this past weekend in syndication, the episode is available this week via the FITE TV app before airing on Wednesday at midnight ET on Comet TV, including on that channel’s free online live stream. The episode is also available on the official ROH website to watch for free on Thursday. Check local listings for availability.
Show recap —
The show opened with Mark and Jay Briscoe reflecting on the debut of Bully Ray in ROH where he joined up with “Dem Boys” to form a team. In the main event of this show, they challenge The Kingdom for the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship.
Damien “Punishment” Martinez defeated Hanson
These two were recently in a short tag team feud that produced some wild brawls. They picked up where they left off here by brawling at the outset of a mean guy match.
Though the match was good enough, annoying noises (and these weren’t just cheers or boos) from a portion of the crowd were so audible it made the first half of the match almost unbearable to watch. The second half of the match after the first commercial break was much more pleasant as the noises stopped.
The brawling gave way to them trading near falls down the stretch. Hanson kept countering Martinez when he attempted a chokeslam. Not necessarily breaking news, but Hanson can fly like a cruiserweight. He did springboards and such. Not to be outdone, Martinez ran and leapt over the ropes into a dive to the outside.
In the closing moments, Hanson climbed the ropes looking to finish off Martinez with a high flying move off the top. Suddenly, Davey Boy Smith Jr. walked onstage to cause a distraction. Hanson turned his attention to Davey Boy, allowing Martinez to capitalize and execute his South of Heaven chokeslam for the pinfall.
Recapping events from the 15th Anniversary Show, footage of TK O’Ryan smashing his leg into a guardrail showed the injury that led to him being sidelined for some time to come. Thusly, the six-man tag later in the show will include a substitute for The Kingdom to defend the titles.
After the recap of the severe injury to O’Ryan, Silas Young cut a promo hyping a house show. That was ironic as he would go on to replace O’Ryan in the main event of this TV show.
In his promo, Silas promoted the “ROH Unauthorized” show in Milwaukee. As the tagline indicates, the show will be more edgy as all the matches are “unsanctioned” so anything goes. Silas vowed to fight a lot and drink lots of beer.
In an angle, Hangman Page attacked Frankie Kazarian in a parking garage. The Bullet Club were retaliating on Kazarian for swerving them. Page jumped Kazarian as an unknown associate filmed the sneak attack.
Grabbing a rope, Page went to presumably put a noose around Kazarian’s neck when a bystander wandered onto the scene off camera. Bullet Club then fled the scene.
John Skyler defeated Curt Stallion and advanced to the finals of the Top Prospect Tournament
Taped during “Manhattan Mayhem” from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, Brutal Bob Evans provided guest commentary for this semifinal match of the tournament.
Both Stallion and Skyler worked hard trying to have as exciting a match as possible. They were doing just that when Stallion wiped out on a dive through the ropes. Skyler sidestepped and Stallion crashed onto the floor just before a commercial break. The match continued and they kept working hard. God only knows how as Stallion took quite a bump on the outside.
They set a quick pace and continued it throughout most of the match. For the finish, Stallion went for a Frankensteiner as they were perched on the top turnbuckle. Skyler blocked it to deliver his finisher, Southern Salvation. Skyler pinned Stallion to advance towards the finals of the Top Prospect Tournament.
Adam Cole somewhat tried to repair ill will in the Superkliq subfaction of the Bullet Club. In a solemn promo, Cole pleaded with The Young Bucks for them all to reconcile their differences. Ever the heel, Cole never totally admitted his own fault nor did he take any blame for their issues.
The Briscoes & Bully Ray defeated The Kingdom & Silas Young to win the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship
A backstage skit showed Silas Young making his proposal to The Kingdom for himself to sub in exchange for his own team getting a future title shot. Though everyone agreed to him being the replacement, tension clearly existed within the group from the beginning.
That would play into the story of the match. Young even argued with both Matt Taven and Vinny Marseglia in the ring before things got started.
As Young argued with The Kingdom, Bully Ray interrupted them to introduce himself and The Briscoes. Then they jumped the heels before the bell and cleaned house.
Marseglia was getting bullied by Bully Ray when he cut him off. The Briscoes pummeled Marseglia for doing such. Taven and Young interfered to crotch Jay Briscoe on a ring post, turning the tide for The Kingdom.
The heels worked over Jay until a hot tag to brother Mark. As Mark began to run wild, The Kingdom cut him off. Young tried to steal a cover from The Kingdom. Taven and Young begin to argue when a babyface tag brought in Bully Ray to clean house.
Both Briscoes lifted Marseglia for Bully Ray to deliver the 3D. Bully Ray then pinned Marseglia to capture the ROH World Six-Man Championship.
The taping opens with The Addiction coming to the ring. Already in the ring is something covered with a table cloth that Kazarian points out to Daniels. Daniels uncovers what turns out to be a martini glass and a shaker full of appletini. He drinks some and cuts a promo about becoming champion, and talks about the plan he came up with to trick the Bullet Club.
Dalton Castle comes out and says that it looks like Daniels and Kazarian were having a party and he wanted to attend. He offers and tries the appletini and appears to enjoy it. He congratulates Daniels on the title, but says that he doesn’t envy him because he’ll have to defend the title against Dalton Castle, a fate that Dalton wouldn’t wish on his worse enemy.
Adam Cole and the Young Bucks come out. Cole cuts a promo saying that Daniels and Kazarian screwed him out of the title. He said that Daniels didn’t deserve to be champion and that Dalton was a joke of a title contender. Kazarian then challenged Cole and the Bucks to a 6 man tag against the Addiction and Castle, which the Bullet Club accepted.
– Raymond Rowe def. Davey Boy Smith Jr.
Smith hit him with a cheap shot to the leg right from the beginning and worked the leg for a few minutes. Rowe eventually made a comeback and won with the Death Rowe.
– ROH TV Champion Marty Scurll submitted Kenny King (w/Caprice Coleman) to retain
They did chain wrestling early with no one getting an edge until Scurll hit an eye poke. Scurll did all of his typical work: stomps on the elbow/hand, taunts, etc. King looked pretty good in the match and hit some good offense during a comeback. Scurll eventually worked to the finger break spot and chicken wing for the victory.
> Hour 2:
– Punishment Martinez def. Warbeard Hanson
Hanson was up on the top turnbuckle when DBS Jr. came out and distracted Hanson, allowing Martinez to hit his sit out chokeslam for the pin. After the match, Rowe came out and helped Hanson walk up the ramp.
– Bully Ray and the Briscoes def. The Kingdom (with Silas Young) to win the Trios tag titles
The Briscoes and Bully Ray won the titles via 3D. Bully was plenty verbal on the apron during the match, always yelling to his partners, telling them to watch out when someone is attacking from behind, to kick out, etc. Bully cut a great promo for the crowd after the cameras were off. He said that he had never won a 6 man tag title before and that it was an honor to say that he was on a team with the Briscoes. He put the Briscoes over more, put the crowd over, and just seemed really excited about being in ROH and teaming with the Briscoes.
> Hour 3:
– Chris Sabin def. Caprice Coleman
This was a relatively short match. At one point, Sabin was sitting on the turnbuckle and Coleman did a jumping huracanrana to pull Sabin off the buckle. Sabin won with the All Hail Sabin.
– Ropongi Vice def. Cheeseburger/Will Ferrara
This was a standard, good, fast-paced tv tag match. They set up the shotei for a good pop and broken up pinfall. RPG won with the footstomp/dropkick by Rocky into the Dudebuster. After the match, Ferrara wouldn’t shake hands, pushed Cheeseburger and stormed out of the ring.
– Eight-Man Wild Card Tag: Jay Lethal, Jay White, Silas Young, and Hangman Page def. Colt Cabana, Lio Rush, Bobby Fish, and Warbeard Hanso
It was explained that all eight wrestlers were drawn at random and assigned to a team.
There was a good comedy spot at the beginning where White and Cabana were going to start. Rush wanted to start, but Cabana ignored him until Hanson stepped in and then Cabana capitulated and got out of the ring.
The story of the first half of the match involved Young and Page tagging each other in and ignoring the two Jays, or tagging one of the Jays on the back when they were in. The slow portion of the match was Silas and Page working over Fish. Cabana was yelling at Fish the whole time and generally looked disgusted. The match began to break down into chaos with everyone hitting all of the moves.
At one point, Rush, Page, and Hanson were in the ring. Page got knocked down and Hanson told Rush to bodyslam him onto the downed Page. The crowd popped huge when Rush was able to get Hanson up and slam him down. The finish was Lethal getting the pin with the Lethal Injection. After the match, the two Jays celebrated while Page jawed at both of them and Silas repeatedly insisted on the ref raising his hand.
> Hour 4:
– ROH TV Tag Champions The Hardys def. The Briscoes to retain
The Hardys were announced as Jeff and Matt and had the same music as the PPV. They didn’t really play up with Broken Matt stuff, but Matt did say “wonderful” after a move. They also did the spot where they each had a Briscoe in the corner and took turns doing chops. Jeff was yelling “obsolete” with each chop.
Jeff did most of the work and looked very tired by the end. Briscoes were made to look really strong with Jay kicking out of a twist of fate/Swanton. Hardys won with Matt hitting a gutbuster on Jay and Jeff hitting the Twist of Fate on Mark and the double pin.
While the Hardys were celebrating in the ring, the Young Bucks came out. Matt Jackson told the Hardys that the Bucks wanted the ROH tag titles and the stolen Superkick titles back. He challenged the Hardys to put both sets of titles up and make the match in Lakeland, FL, a match the Hardys made famous: a ladder match.
Hardys looked at each other, looked at the crowd, and started doing the Daniel Bryan “yes” arm motion. It would appear that we have a ladder match (with possibly 4 belts hanging above the ring) in Lakeland.
– Dalton Castle and the Addiction def. Adam Cole and Young Bucks
Cole and Daniels started with Cole doing similar heel things as he did during the PPV match. He told Daniels that he wasn’t in his league. Dalton tagged in early and got some time with Cole. The Boys quickly became involved in the match. With the faces all outside the ring near the ramp, Cole and the Bucks set up the dive spot where Cole stays crouched in the center and the Bucks run the ropes while the crowd does the Terminator clapping.
The Boys pulled the Bucks out of the ring and replaced them to run the ropes. The Bucks pulled them back out of the ring as they ran the ropes and gave each Boy a superkick. The Bucks re-entered the ring, stood next to Cole (who remained crouched the whole time) and ran the ropes before doing the dives outside onto the faces. The faces were apparently quite shaken up before this spot, because they had to stand there while all of this happened. The Boys went to the back after this.
Match went into all of the high spots and ended when the Addiction took out the Bucks outside and Castle pinned Cole with the bangarang.
After the match, Cole cut a promo. He called the Bucks back into the ring and said he was disappointed and upset with them because they weren’t there for him last night or tonight. He said he still considered the Bucks to be friends, but that he was firing them from the Bullet Club. Bucks responded that Cole wasn’t the leader of the Bullet Club and couldn’t fire them. They said there was only one other person in The Elite, he was the leader of the Bullet Club, and his name was Kenny Omega.
Kenny Omega and the Elite were victorious once again, this time with the help of Cody. Adam Cole retained the ROH title, defeating YOSHI-HASHI. Hirooki Goto retained the NEVER Openweight Championship against Punishment Martinez. War Machine continued to dominate, and has made clear what their next goal is.
Show Recap —
Jado & Silas Young defeated David Finlay & KUSHIDA
Young cut another promo before the match, saying he and Jado continue to receive disrespect. They jumped KUSHIDA and David Finlay at the bell.
Short, solid match. It boiled down to Finlay and Young, who had some nice back and forth. Young caught Finlay with a knee then followed with Misery (TKO) for the win.
Young boys Kitamiya and Oka were the Boys for this evening. Taguchi came out dressed like Dalton Castle and demanded he get the same entrance. SANADA at one point again taunted Milano Collection AT by putting Castle in the Paradise Lock.
Good back and forth match between everyone. BUSHI and Tiger Mask teased tearing off each other’s masks. Takahashi and Taguchi went at it, with the story being Takahashi avoiding Taguchi’s ankle lock submission at all costs. That might be the key to their upcoming match. EVIL and Delirious had a good exchange while it lasted, with EVIL picking up the win with the STO.
LIJ ripped off Tiger Mask’s mask after the match. That seems to happen to him a lot.
War Machine defeated Guerillas of Destiny
Good match from what I saw. War Machine in particular looked really good here, and controlled a lot of the match early. They went for Fallout but Tonga reversed it and landed the waistlock DDT on Rowe. The stream died at this point, but War Machine did get the win over GoD when Tonga was pinned.
War Machine challenged the champions, Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii, for a future title match.
Hangman Page, Yujiro Takahashi & Bad Luck Fale defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Jay Lethal & Juice Robinson
Solid bout. The babyfaces showed some solid teamwork in spots, including Robinson holding up one of his opponents and Tanahashi following with a slingblade. Lethal went for the Lethal Injection but Tonga grabbed him. Page came back and hit a big lariat, giving him the victory for his team.
Yujiro laid out Robinson with the Pimp Juice DDT after the match.
NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto defeated Punishment Martinez to retain his title
This was okay. Martinez is obviously very green, and it definitely showed in this match, but he did do a few cool things. They went back and forth early and had a forearm shot exchange. Martinez hit some running forearm shots in the corner, then drilled Goto with a falcon arrow.
Goto rolled out of the ring but Martinez came back with a crazy top rope suicide dive to the floor. Martinez went for his chokeslam finish but Goto countered with the GTR and scored the win.
ROH World Champion Adam Cole defeated YOSHI-HASHI to retain his title
Pretty good match. It never went into “great” territory but this was a fine title match for the time they were given. Cole shoved YOSHI-HASHI off the top rope to the floor early on. Cole was mostly in control until YOSHI-HASHI started to fight back, powerbombing him into a bridge for a near fall. Cole came back and hit the Destroyer. Cole hit a running knee strike, then when that didn’t work, hit the Last Shot to retain the title.
Kenny Omega, Cody & The Young Bucks defeated Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay & The Briscoes
Wild match full of crazy spots. Really a great, exciting contest than never slowed down, and everyone looked good in the ring.
Ospreay was worked over by the Bucks and Omega. They did a great spot where the Bucks kept superkicking Ospreay, and Cody and Omega would prop him back up on the apron and did that over and over. Ospreay came back with a DDT on Omega, giving his team the advantage. Ospreay wiped everyone out with a Sasuke special and Okada tried to follow that but Cody grabbed him.
Ospreay tried to attack but Cody grabbed him and suplexed him back to the outside, leaving it between Okada and Omega. Okada went for the Rainmaker but the Bucks came back with superkicks and wiped out Okada with a triple superkick. Ospreay took out the Bucks as everyone came in to clear house. Ospreay went for the Oscutter on Cody, but he reversed it into the Cross Rhodes for the win.
Omega cut a promo after the match saying that there are no babyfaces or heels in their world, there is first place and second place, and Bullet Club and the Elite are first place. Omega reaffirmed that 2017 would be their year as the show ended.
Final Thoughts —
This was another night of good action. The main event was the usual crazy match you’d expect to see in a match featuring Ospreay or the Young Bucks. War Machine continue to impress and may just be the team that can bring the Heavyweight tag team division back to relevance. YOSHI-HASHI looked good in his match against Adam Cole, who continues to excel in his role as a World Champion. Also some great buildup towards the Anniversary shows next weekend. Good show overall.
Kenny Omega returned to New Japan Pro Wrestling, teaming with Adam Cole to defeat The Briscoes. Champions and challengers for tomorrow’s two big title matches all looked dominant. After their first encounter, Cody made it clear the issues he has with Shibata are far from over. War Machine and the Young Bucks had an all out encounter, with the larger of the two teams scoring a big win.
Show Recap —
Juice Robinson, KUSHIDA & David Finlay defeated Silas Young, Gedo & Jado
Young cut a promo before the match saying how the crowd was disrespecting him and how he and his teammates were real men, before all of Chaos attacked the faces to kick off the match.
From there, it progressed to a really strong opening bout. Juice Robinson looked really good here. KUSHIDA and Finlay busted out double topes on the outside as Robinson hit the Pulp Friction on Gedo for the win.
The faces went into the crowd to slap hands with people after the match. Somewhere near the end it looked like Robinson broke his nose, it was a bloody mess.
NEVER Six-Man Tag Team Champions EVIL, SANADA & BUSHI defeated Delirious, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask to retain their titles
Pretty good match. EVIL and Delirious started things off. It soon became a brawl with everyone fighting on the outside. Mostly a good back and forth match that the crowd got into.
Delirious got some great near falls that the crowd got into. SANADA floated over with a German suplex and sent Delirious into the ropes, where EVIL smacked him with a steel chair. SANADA sunk in the Skull End for the submission victory.
SANADA wrapped up Kawato in a ball after the match, something Milano Collection AT used to do. Announcers on (English) commentary wondered why Los Ingobernables de Japon keep picking on Milano.
Will Ospreay, Kazuchika Okada, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto defeated Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi, Tama Tonga & Tonga Roa
This also went to the outside, where Roa smacked Okada with the ring bell so hard the bell actually rang. Okada and Fale went at it and built up to a pretty good spot where Okada fought and fought until he finally bodyslammed him.
Yujiro and YOSHI-HASHI also worked together, with the former hitting the Miami Shine but YH kicked out. After Goto cleared house, YOSHI-HASHI picked up the win, pinning Takahashi with Karma.
War Machine defeated The Young Bucks
This was a great match that built really well, with some great spots. The crowd even chanted “This is awesome” at one point. Hanson and Rowe started things off early but Hanson took out his partner by accident as the Bucks gained the advantage.
Bucks went for double suicide dives but War Machine grabbed them both and threw them into one another. Matt springboarded across two top ropes and landed a great looking tope to the outside. War Machine gained control and went for the Fallout but the Bucks fought back. They somehow did a move where Hanson grabbed Rowe, but was so out of it the Bucks superkicked him in the legs, laying out Rowe with a sit-out powerbomb in the process.
Bucks went for the Meltzer Driver but Hanson grabbed one of the Bucks in mid-flip. They hit a pop-up powerslam. Matt made a brief comeback, but was cut off as War Machine hit Fallout for the win.
Tanahashi and Taguchi were dressed as the Boys and did the whole bit for Dalton Castle. Naito worked on Tanahashi’s knee. Basic, solid match as everyone worked with their rival. It boiled down to Martinez and Castle, with Castle blocking Martinez’s South from Heaven chokeslam finisher. Martinez cut him off and was able to hit it after a second attempt. Makes sense as he’s facing Goto for the NEVER title tomorrow.
The rest of LIJ tried to fist bump Martinez after the match in a show of solidarity, but he just stared them down. Naito responded by flipping him off.
Jay Lethal & Katsuyori Shibata defeated Cody & Hangman Page
This was a solid bout. I thought the work between Page and Lethal was the highlight, but I think they’re building towards a Shibata/Cody match soon so that kind of makes sense. Speaking of, Cody can mark another checkmark off his list as he and Shibata started things off. They did some mat wrestling. Shibata went for the PK but Cody ducked and tagged in Page.
He and Lethal worked for a long time and looked good. Page even did that great shooting star press dive, wiping out Lethal. Shibata and Cody were back in for a moment but Shibata took out Cody with an STO. Lethal and Page were at it when Cody came in and tried to take out Lethal with the Cross Rhodes. Shibata laid out Cody with the penalty kick and Lethal followed with the Lethal Injection for the win.
Cody roughed up Shibata after the match, then bailed as Lethal and Shibata shook hands in the ring.
Adam Cole & Kenny Omega defeated The Briscoe Brothers
Good main event. Hot action, some good spots, and great back and forth action. Kenny Omega came out to a great reaction and milked it for all it was worth. Cole and Omega teased some communication problems early. The Briscoes slammed Omega on the mat and undid the mats. They went for an assisted Jay Driller on the exposed area but Omega back body dropped Mark on the outside, then laid them out with a moonsault off the barricade.
It turned into a pretty good back and forth match. Cole and Mark Briscoe worked really well with one another. Briscoes went for the Doomsday Device but Omega somehow countered with a belly-to-belly suplex to the mat. Omega struck with the V-Trigger knee strike and Adam Cole followed with the Last Shot for the win, pinning Mark Briscoe.
Kenny Omega started to cut a promo when Adam Cole cut him off. Cole said he forgot the most important thing, that Adam Cole is in New Japan as well, he’s the ROH Champion, and 2017 is going to be his year. Omega said that’s nice and all, but the problem is you don’t speak Japanese and these people don’t understand. It seemed like they were building tension between the two. The audience laughed as Omega did his catchphrase to end the show, with Cole looking none too pleased.
Final Thoughts —
This was a really solid show in-ring wise. Everything delivered and everyone looked good, for the most part. Everything also built really well towards the next night, as Goto, Martinez, Cole, and YOSHI-HASHI all looked good tonight for their big title matches tomorrow.
If there’s one match you gotta check out, see the Young Bucks vs. War Machine. Both teams are really hitting their stride right now and this match was a great example of that.
This was a fun opener. Castle was over as expected.
– War Machine defeated Dirty Andy Dalton & Rhett Titus
Dalton is a local and really good, he’s been in Pro Wrestling NOAH. Great to see him get an opportunity. Titus was recruiting for The Rebellion but of course ended up leaving Dalton high and dry.
– Adam Cole & Cody defeated The Addiction
The story was that Cole pinned Daniels and said he’s in his head. This was a lot of fun.
– Hangman Page defeated Jay Lethal after Cole and Cody interfered.
The Addiction ran them off and Daniels said he’s the next ROH World Champion and Cody will get his from Lethal.
– Will Ferrara defeated Jax Dane, Jonathan Gresham, and Sho
This was an unadvertised match. Dane is a monster and it was all about showcasing his size and strength. Ferrara stole the win basically.
– Bobby Fish defeated Lio Rush in a fantastic match.
This was Lio’s best match I’ve seen. It took a top rope Falcon Arrow to finish him off. There was a big “This is Awesome” chant afterwards. Adam Cole tried to attack Fish after the match but ended up getting a Falcon Arrow on the World title for his troubles.
– Search & Destroy (MCMG & Jay White) defeated The Kingdom by DQ.
Fun, fast-paced match. S&D had this won but Matt Taven hit White with his walking stick.
– ROH World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks defeated The Briscoes in an incredible two-out-of-three falls match.
The Briscoes got the first fall which was standard rules. The second fall was to be lucha rules but The Briscoes didn’t want any of that so they immediately got DQed by hitting The Bucks with chairs.
The third fall was complete insanity with no disqualifications. The Young Bucks hit an Indy Taker on the walkway with Nick Jackson basically doing a long jump off the entrance. Hangman Page came out to break up a pin and then eventually a Meltzer Driver on some chairs finished off The Briscoes.
Ring of Honor television from this past week was the go-home show leading to Final Battle. Taped in Baltimore and featuring the final hype for ROH’s biggest show of the year, the show also arguably featured two good matches.
Alex Shelley provided guest commentary on the first match alongside announcers Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino. Shelley gushed about both wrestlers in the opening match.
Lio Rush defeated Jonathan Gresham
These two had a heck of a match. Rush continues to shine when given any opportunity. Gresham more than held his own as well in this one. They did some chain wrestling and flashy exchanges in the early portion of the match. Traditionalists might not like the fast pace and lack of long selling, but the excitement seen was impressive.
As the match progressed, the spots became more physical and more intricate. They exchanged many near falls down the stretch. Gresham kicked out of a Rush Hour finisher. Moments later, Rush downed him with the Rush Hour a few more times before he leapt off the top with a very high frog splash. Rush then covered him for the pinfall.
Afterwards, Chris Sabin joined Shelley at ringside. They had “business” to attend to. On the house mic, Shelley first put over the previous match and its participants. Sabin called them the future of ROH. They are taking on a mentor role, according to commentary from Kevin Kelly. Motor City Machine Guns were almost over-the-top in being babyfaces. Maybe that is a sign that this leads to a heel turn down the line.
A sit-down promo with Kyle O’Reilly hyped the main event for Final Battle. On the PPV, O’Reilly challenges Adam Cole for the ROH World Championship. In this promo, O’Reilly talked about their history leading into the title match. He talked about them teaming back in the day in Future Shock and their transition from friends to enemies.
O’Reilly also mentioned that Cole has continually cost him winning the World title. O’Reilly vowed to win the title at Final Battle. He brought up a previous bloodbath they had in the Hammerstein Ballroom, which is also the site of this year’s Final Battle. The promo was tremendous and was edited together well to include clips of their history. Watch it here.
Later in the show, the final segment was Cole’s rebuttal. He talked about many of the same things as O’Reilly, except he put his spin on it. Edited together with clips of their history like the earlier promo, it got over the story they are trying to tell. Watch Cole’s promo here.
In another hype segment, a Final Battle control center rundown talked about the full card for Final Battle.
The Briscoes defeated The Addiction
Addiction refused to participate in the Code of Honor handshake beforehand. That would play into the aftermath following the lengthy match. It went through two commercials breaks, which is fitting since the match basically had three stages.
The first stage led to Mark and Jay Briscoe shining as they looked to dispatch Daniels and Kazarian. In the second stage, Addiction worked over Mark, getting heat on him to build to the hot tag.
In the third and final stage, Jay ran wild off a hot tag. Addiction got in some near falls during the match, and the two teams had heated exchanges in the closing moments. Lots of big moves at the end. Mark kicked out after Celebrity Rehab. A few moments later, Briscoes blocked a Best Meltzer Ever.
Eventually, Jay took out Kazarian with a Death Valley Driver. Daniels then took a Jay Driller, and Mark followed up with a Froggy-bow before covering Daniels for the pin.
After the match, The Briscoes offered their hands for Addiction to shake. A tense staredown ensued until Addiction relented and shook their hands just as the show closed.
– ROH Tag Team Champions The Addiction beat Silas Young & Beer City Bruiser to retain in a great match.
– Fish Tank segment with Mark Briscoe and ACH led to a number one contenders match for the TV title. Briscoe then beat ACH.
– Jay White made his ROH debut and beat Kamaitachi (with Christopher Daniels) by DQ. Postmatch, the Addiction beat them down which brings out the Motor City Machine Guns.
– Jay White & Motor City Machine Guns beat ROH Tag Team Champions The Addiction & Kamaitachi
– Keith Lee & Shane Taylor beat an unknown tag team.
– Dalton Castle beat Roderick Strong in Strong’s farewell ROH match
Both guys hugged afterwards and there were “Thank you Roddy” and “You deserve it” chants post-match. Strong gives an emotional speech, thanking fans for their support and says he hopes to wrestle in ROH again someday.
– Kyle O’Reilly came out for his World Title match with Jay Lethal, but before Lethal can come out, Adam Cole hits the stage and says O’Reilly has skipped him in line and doesn’t deserve this match, and, in fact, he won’t be wrestling at all tonite. Young Bucks sneak attack O’Reilly from behind and the Bullet Club injures his arm and shoulder with a steel chair.
– War Machine beat an unknown tag team.
– Caprice Coleman and the All Night Express beat Cheeseburger & Will Ferrera & Moose
– ROH World Champion Jay Lethal beat the injured Kyle O’Reilly in a great match
Bullet Club attacks both post-match, leading Nigel to declare that Adam Cole will never get a title shot as long as he’s in charge. Lethal asks that he be added to the announced main event.
– Moose beat Mike “P-Dog” Posey. Dijak came out to challenge Moose. Dijak beat Moose, then attacked Stokley Hathaway.
– ROH Champion Jay Lethal & Briscoes beat Bullet Club
After the match, the Bullets incapacitate Lethal in the ropes and Cole cuts off Lethal’s dreads, then violently shave his whole head. Bucks lead the crowd in “That was too sweet” and “You deserve it” (to Lethal) chants to end the show.
Fantastic show, crowd was really into almost all of it.
– Cheeseburger defeated Some Canadian Guy With A Fanny Pack. Cheeseburger was super over. The guy’s fanny pack was more over than the guy himself.
Main Show:
– Steve Corino promo on Whitmer, who was on commentary.
– ROH Tag Team Champions The Addiction defeated Kamaitachi and Juice Robinson via Best Meltzer Ever. Juice was super over.
– Dalton Castle defeated Will Ferrera via Deadlift German Suplex.
– Motor City Machine Guns defeated Lio Rush and Moose. This was a fun match. Rush is very impressive. MCMG put Lio over after the match by giving him the ring for the crowd to cheer him.
– Donovan Dijak defeat Trent Baretta. Prince Nana accompanied Dijak to the ring. Dijak is a decent heel.
– Four Corner Survival: Kyle O’Reilly defeated Roderick Strong, Michael Elgin and ACH via submission. This match ruled. Every sequence was jaw dropping. Elgin and Kyle had a great sequence of Germans and kicks. Roddy was great, per usual, as was ACH.
– BJ Whitmer promo. Two random dudes brought out a hog-tied Corino.
– War Machine destroyed two local talents.
– ROH TV Champion Bobby Fish defeated Rocky Romero via leg submission. Great match. Fish is awesome. Dalton Castle was on commentary for this match and they had a stare down after the match.
– Beer City Bruiser and Silas Young defeated The Briscoes and ANX in Tag Wars finals. BCB and Silas hit their finishers on ANX. Crowd celebrated like Milwaukee won the World Series.
– Colt Cabana and ROH Champion Jay Lethal defeated The Young Bucks via Double Lethal Injection. Crowd was super hot for this match. Bucks looked good after returning from injury. They hit an Indie Taker, but no Meltzer Driver. No disrespect to the Bucks, but they looked gassed and/or didn’t want to risk another injury. After the match, Colt had Lethal’s title and hinted he wanted a rematch. Lethal grabbed his belt and left.
The Big Takeaway – Decent enough wrestling but nothing really stands out in as skippable a show as you’ll see from ROH.
Nigel McGuinness is back on commentary but they’re promising an update on Steve Corino’s status later in the show. Tonight’s show was taped in Kalamazoo and features a rematch from All-Star Extravaganza in the Main Event.
Cedric Alexander w/Veda Scott vs ACH
The announcers talk about Veda’s impending lawsuit due to unsafe working conditions during the intro and Scott and Nigel jaw at each other as Alexander makes his way into the ring. We are also reminded of the best of 5 series between ACH and Matt Sydal that resumes this Friday in Milwaukee with the deciding match.
Fans solidly behind ACH as Alexander is one of the few true heels in ROH. During the dead spots of the match, Nigel talks about how ACH and Sydal have both become better wrestlers as a result of the best of 5 and they’re often seen in the hotels after the match talking over their matches, what worked and what didn’t. Very different way to build a series like this than would’ve been done in the past.
A key spot in the match happened when ACH knocked Alexander out of the ring and then went to do a kick off the apron on him. Veda Scott got in the way and ACH stopped short, allowed Alexander to hit and STO on the apron and take control.
Alexander was still in control after a commercial break, milking the crowd for boos. ACH turned things around with a series of Ric Flair chops and then a reverse thrust kick and a running clothesline. Playing off the earlier spot, ACH teased a dive outside the ring but when Scott got in the way, he stopped himself. Alexander then got in the ring and tried one of his own but ACH pushed Scott in the way and Alexander stopped himself. ACH then hit a dive on Alexander to finish the sequence.
Back in the ring, ACH hit a spinning discus punch and then a suplex with a bridge, which only got a 2. Nigel continually putting over how ACH’s strategy in the match has changed as a result of the Sydal series.
Alexander hit an enziguri and then followed with a dropkick in the corner to take control. He then went for a springboard move that looked like he messed but given the way the match played out, maybe have been a planned spot. ACH hit a superkick and a brainbuster and followed up with the Midnight Star to get the win.
WINNER – ACH by pinfall
Angle alert as Kevin Kelly did an in-ring interview with ACH after the match. He said he was going to walk in with the same mentality he had against AJ Styles but the difference is he would walk out with his hand raised. And that was it. I guess I’ve been watching too much WWE.
After a break, Veda and Alexander were at the commentary table and Scott blamed Alexander slipping on the rope on the rope being covered in baby oil, adding to the unsafe working conditions. She screamed at Nigel without a mic in the most annoying way possible and Kelly brushed her off, saying “Go file a brief”.
Will Ferrara vs Caprice Coleman
The angle from seemingly months ago when Coleman accepted an envelope from Prince Nana was shown at the beginning. Coleman did a promo that started off putting over Ferrara but ended up burying him and came off kind of jealous of him. “You had a great match with Kushida….I would’ve liked to have wrestled Kushida”. Seemed like the start of a heel turn.
Match was what you’d expect. Back and forth early with Coleman eventually taking over. Coleman was definitely more aggressive as Kevin Kelly talked about him doing things “the right way” over and over again. They also talked about how Coleman has been a mentor for Ferrara so this is your basic teacher vs student match.
Prince Nana showed up at ringside taking notes. Ferrara was selling his shoulder and running into the post shoulder first. The ref asked Ferrara if he needed a minute but Coleman threw him into the post. He then grabbed the shoulder in a submission move he called “Judgement Seat” and got a tapout win.
WINNER – CAPRICE COLEMAN by pinfall
Coleman shook his hand after the match and mockingly put him over to the camera afterward. On his way to the back, Nana handed Ferrara an envelope and he accepted it, acting confused. No idea where this angle is going.
Inside ROH has been replaced this week by Story Time with Adam Cole, complete with the same background music as the previous show. He talks about his feud with Kyle O’Reilly. He says there’s no question who the better man in is since he pinned O’Reilly in the 3 way main event last week. They also flashed back to June of 2012 and their hybrid fighting rules match and of course Cole won that one as well. Cole’s memory from that match was a scar on his lip that he got from an O’Reilly kick that he’ll have for the rest of his life. It’s a constant reminder that he’s better than O’Reilly. He says that he won’t stop until Kyle O’Reilly is gone from ROH.
Kevin Kelly interviewed Prince Nana at ringside and asked “what’s in the envelope”. Nana of course doesn’t answer and says that this is “The Edge of the Enlightenment” and that the Keys to Life are in that envelope. Still have no idea what’s going on and the fans sure didn’t seem to care.
Hilights of the Briscoes/ANX match from All-Star Extravaganza air to hype up the main event. The All-Night Express won of course in their return to ROH and the Briscoes will be looking for revenge tonight.
All-Night Express (Kenny King/Rhett Titus) vs The Briscoes (Jay and Mark Briscoe)
All four adhere to the Code of Honor at the start, as the fans chant MAN UP. Kevin Kelly talks about the long history of these two teams which originally culminated at Ladder Wars before picking up with the return of ANX a couple months back. Very even for the first part of the match with ANX taking over after a blind tag that even the announcers missed. A leg drop, standing splash combo from ANX got the first two-count on Jay but no one bought it. Nice spot, though.
Titus and Jay exchanged kicks to the face before Jay tagged in Mark. Mark with a series of Ric Flair chops in the corner on Titus and then takes out King outside with the ring with a suicide dive. A bit of Briscoes double-teaming culminates in a running clothesline from Mark on Titus but that only gets a two. Briscoes cut off the ring, isolating Titus in the corner. They are very much wrestling a heel style but the fans are still solidly behind them. Mark tags in and does some redneck Kung-Fu. Titus gets a brief flurry of offence but Jay runs in without a tag to prevent him from tagging out. Mark tags in Jay and then knocks Kenny King off the ring apron so he can’t make a tag, which leads into another break.
Back from break and the Briscoes are still double-teaming Titus but he makes the hot tag to King, which gets a lukewarm reaction from the crowd. King gets a two count on Mark but it’s broken up by Jay without a tag. King sets Mark up for a superplex but hits a dropkick instead. Titus then takes him down with an X-Factor from the top rope. Mark hits an exploder on Titus into the ringpost but King is the legal man.
Jay Briscoe comes in without a tag and takes out King and then Mark hits a neckbreaker on Titus. They set up for a Doomsday but King knocks Mark off the top rope. ANX sets up for the One Night Stand on Jay but Mark breaks that up. They all end up outside the ring brawling, which the Briscoes get the better of. Jay Briscoe eventually gets Titus in the ring and hits the Jay Driller and then Mark follows up with Froggie-Bo for the win.
WINNERS – THE BRISCOES by pinfall
The dynamic was all off in the main event as the Briscoes were clearly playing heel but the crowd did not want to boo them. All four guys did shake hands after the match, though and you get the sense that this might not be it between them.
