The full card for NJPW’s Sakura Genesis event has been revealed, featuring a number of title matches and a couple of matches where members of the Bullet Club are set to face off against one another.
After defeating The Young Bucks at Strong Style Evolved, Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi will take on Cody Rhodes & Hangman Page in the semi-main event of Sakura Genesis. With the show taking place just days before ROH’s Supercard of Honor, the tension between Cody and Omega is sure to be a focal point of the match.
Bullet Club tensions will also flare as The Young Bucks take on Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi in the opener.
In addition to Kazuchika Okada defending his IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Zack Sabre Jr. in the main event, Will Ospreay will defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Marty Scurll, El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru will defend their Junior Tag Team titles against Roppongi 3K and Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI in a triple threat match, and Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Bad Luck Fale will defend the NEVER Six-Man titles against Togi Makabe, Michael Elgin & Ryusuke Taguchi.
Before Sakura Genesis, New Japan World will have a “Road To” show on March 30th that features the return of EVIL following a broken orbital bone. He’ll team up with the rest of Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi, BUSHI, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito) to take on the Suzuki-gun contingent of Desperado, Kanemaru, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer & Minoru Suzuki. A tag team match featuring Okada & YOSHI-HASHI squaring off against Sabre & Taichi will headline.
Sakura Genesis will take place at Sumo Hall on April 1st at 3 a.m. Eastern time. Here’s the full lineup:
IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada defending against Zack Sabre Jr.
Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi vs. Cody & Hangman Page
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay defending against Marty Scurll
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru defending against Roppongi 3K and Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI in a triple threat match
Tetsuya Naito, EVIL & SANADA vs. Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr.
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson & David Finlay vs. Hirooki Goto, Jay White & YOSHI-HASHI
NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champions Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa defending against Ryusuke Taguchi, Michael Elgin & Togi Makabe
Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano vs. Taichi & Takashi Iizuka
The Young Bucks vs. Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi
Bully Ray came out to start the show, hyping up the crowd. Said there were would be professional wrestling tonight and not sports entertainment.
They announced at the start of the show that the main event has been changed. It will now be Bullet Club vs. The Kingdom (who are replacing SoCal Uncensored) & Shane Taylor.
The Briscoes defeated Coast to Coast and The Dawgs in a triple threat match
This was a solid bout, mostly quick action between the three teams. The Dawgs were arguing with one another when the Briscoes jump then. Jay struck Will Ferrara with the Jay Driller for the win. how on Friday.
The Briscoes cut a heel promo with Jay saying they’ll do whatever the hell they want, this is their house and everyone here can go to hell. Mark says they’ll become the 9 time tag team champions. Chris Sabin, who was doing commentary, came out to the stage and posed with the title.
Tenille Dashwood and Deonna Purrazzo defeated Jenny Rose and Sumie Sakai
This was a good match, but the crowd was largely dead for it. They built a hot tag to Tenille as she finally came in and cleared house. She got some near falls on Sakai until she hit her new finisher, a running knee called the Spotlight, for the win.
Punishment Martinez defeated Soberano Jr.
Commentators said that Soberano had literally just arrived in the building. This was a total styles clash and not in a good way, as there were a ton of missed moves. Martinez is also doing the monster gimmick so he didn’t sell for a lot of Soberano’s offense early. Martinez grabbed him off the apron and chokeslammed him for the win in a short, but pretty bad match. This did no favors for Soberano, who is normally a great talent in CMLL. Beyond me why they’d book this match with this layout and finish for someone coming in from CMLL.
Martinez powerbombed Soberano Jr. on the apron after the match for good measure.
They are now having a Q&A with Jonathan Gresham.
It was revealed that, in fact, fans voted for the stipulation that if Flip Gordon wins his match tonight, he’ll be booked for All In in September.
Cody defeated Flip Gordon
This ended up being a pretty good match. To me, in terms of a heel act Cody is above and beyond everyone else right now in terms of presence and knowing his character. He stalled before the match, yelling at the crowd for being on Team Kenny and called Gordon a flat earther. He told Brandy and Bury the Bear at ringside that that they were all leaving. Eventually, Cody came back in and they did start having a match. Brandi played possum by pretending to take a bump early, so when Flip had his back turned she grabbed him, allowing Cody to strike him for the heat.
Flip came back with a dive and was going for another when Cody caught him on the top rope and attempted a superplex. Flip, well, flipped over him and hit a variation of the cheeky nandos kick Will Ospreay is known for. Cody came back with a moonsault and spiked him with the crossroads. Instead of pinning him, Cody motions that he’s going for another moonsault. He misses, allowing Flip to hit a 450 splash, but Cody kicks out.
Brandi went to the apron to confront Flip. Cody went for the disaster kick but Flip ducked and instead struck Brandi. Flip and Cody argued as Flip started to fight back, but Cody cut him off and hit the crossroads again for the win. This means Flip is still not booked for All In.
Caprice Coleman came out for his talk show, Coleman’s Culpit. He revealed that fans voted for Colt Cabana to come on the show. The Kingdom cut Cabana off as he was about to join Coleman and cut a promo running down SoCal Uncensored and hyped up tonight’s main event.
Silas Young, Beer City Bruiser and Brian Milonas defeated Chucky T, Cheeseburger and ROH TV champion Kenny King
This was solid, it told a nice story. I thought the spots between the big men (Milonas and Bruiser) and Cheeseburger were pretty good. Cheeseburger is a substitute for Baretta, who tore his pectoral and triceps muscles a few weeks ago and is out for the foreseeable future. He and Chucky T’s team are apparently called Chucky Cheese.
Kenny King and Silas Young had a good exchange early. Milonas and Bruiser worked on Cheeseburger. King made the hot tag. Cheeseburger went for a dive but Young smacked him. King followed through instead did a dive on Silas as they brawled to the back. The two big guys were in the ring with the miniscule Cheeseburger. Milonas took Cheeseburger to the top rope and launched off with a superplex, then Beer City Bruiser followed with the frog splash, in a tandem move they call the Last Call for the win.
Dalton Castle and Volador Jr. defeated Ultimo Guerrero and Jay Lethal
This was a great match. Castle and Lethal started things off, then Volador and Guerrero went at it. The latter two looked great. This turned into a really good match; Ultimo Guerrero knows exactly how to get a crowd into a match and Lethal did some great dives. He took out Castle and the Boys on the outside with a suicide dive at one point. Lots of frentic back and forth action. Lethal went for the Lethal Injection on Volador but he blocked it, allowing Castle and Ultimo Guerrero to at it. Volador stepped in and scored the win for his team with the Volador spiral on Guerrero.
Bullet Club (Hangman Page, Marty Scurll and The Young Bucks) defeated The Kingdom (Matt Taven, Vinny Marseglia and TK O’Ryan) and Shane Taylor
An absolutely crazy match, full of wild dives, crazy spots and a hot crowd. It’s your usual great Young Bucks/Bullet Club match where they put out all the stops, and people were super into it as a result.
So an Ultimate Mayhem match is akin to a War Games match in that two men start the match, with more coming in as time progresses and a winner can only be determined when all eight men are in the ring. There’s no rules beyond that, so there were a lot of weapons used during the bout.
Taven and Scurll started things off for their team. The Kingdom won the coin toss, with Vinny Marseglia coming in from what may have been under the ring. Matt Jackson came out not too long after that to even the odds, wiping out Taven with a dive off the stairs, ran to the ring and took out Marseglia with a dive to the floor. TK O’Ryan came in next, masquerading as a Bullet Club fan. He took out Matt Jackson with a trash can and was being escorted out when he revealed himself.
Nick Jackson entered the match next and was able to take out The Kingdom on his own. Matt joined in as the two continued to dominate. Matt put Marseglia through a table with an elbow. Shane Taylor came in and cleaned house on the Bullet Club. He got a table and was setting it up as Hangman Page came out with a steel chair and started whalloping people with it. He took out the Kingdon and Taylor on the outside with moonsaults, then the Young Bucks followed, then a hesitant Marty Scurll pulled one off as well.
Hangman Page went to the balcony and did an amazing dive off the balcony to the floor, wiping out pretty much anyone who could catch him. He met Shane Taylor in the ring and tried for the Rites of Passage but couldn’t get it. The Young Bucks came in and started to wipe people out with superkicks. Marseglia put Page through a table as the Kingdom started to get their heat back. So much crazy stuff going on, including a shooting star Indytaker and another Indytaker on the outside. O’Ryan was put through a table as well. Nick Jackson jumped off the top rope to the outside with a 450 splash, taking out Shane Taylor who was, you guessed it, on a table.
O’Ryan was put back in the ring, where Hangman Page grabbed him and finished him with the Rites of Passage for the win. Overall, a pretty good show with the top two matches delivering.
New Japan was back at Korakuen Hall today for the second night of action featuring members of the Ring of Honor roster, featuring a big main event putting the Golden Lovers in action against Cody and Marty Scurll, as well as Dalton Castle defending the Ring of Honor world title.
Show results:
Beer City Bruiser defeated Toa Henare
Short match, mostly an exhibition for the Beer City Bruiser, who didn’t look bad here. In fact, he worked hard the entire tour. He won with a frog splash.
Jay Lethal & Juice Robinson & David Finlay vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens & Hikuleo
I liked the last few minutes of this, very good action. Hikuleo is way better than he was a few months ago. Still green, but getting there. Yujiro and Owens were clearing house until Owens accidently superkicked Yujiro. He walked into the Lethal Injection as the babyfaces returned to the ring. Hikuleo entered but ate a stunner, pulp friction and a top rope elbow from Lethal for the win.
Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI defeated Ryusuke Taguchi & Flip Gordon
This was fun, with some cools spots here and there. BUSHI beat up Taguchi on the west side of Korakuen Hall while Takahashi beat up Flip on the east. Gordon and Takahashi worked a lot of the match together and had good chemistry with one another. BUSHI got involved towards the end of the match and eventually pinned Gordon after he took an MX as he was on Takahashi’s shoulders in a cool finish.
Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa & Bad Luck Fale defeated Jushin Liger & Cheeseburger & Delirious to retain the Never Openweight Six-Man tag team titles
This was what it was, guess you can say it was fine. Cheeseburger worked a lot of the match and got a bunch of near falls. He’s super over with this crowd. His size discrepancy is also amazing compared to everyone else in the ring (he is TINY), but clearly that is part of his charm. GoD eventually isolate Cheeseburger and pin him after the Guerilla Warfare.
Young Bucks & Hangman Page defeated Jay White & Chuckie T & YOSHI-HASHI
This was your usual very good Young Bucks style match. A lot of cool moves, including a Rite of Passage/Meltzer driver combo that almost happened, but unfortunately was thwarted. Page picked up the win for his team, pinning Jay White with his finish, almost certainly giving him a future United States title shot.
There was an angle after the match where Page was going for a chair and looked to use it on White. The Bucks intervened, talking him out of it. He agreed as the Bucks go to the back. However, once the Bucks were out of sight, he took the chair back from the outside and used it on White, drilling him with his finish on the chair.
The next match was set to begin when Beer City Bruiser came out and said that since he was screwed out of the NEVER title match last night, he was putting himself in this one. He attacked both Castle and Baretta until Castle fended him off and said he would take him on too. So the match was switched to a triple threat, likely due to Baretta tearing his bicep and pectoral muscle last week.
Dalton Castle defeated Baretta and the Beer City Bruiser to retain the Ring Of Honor World title
This was a good bout given the situation. Baretta was in the match, but was in and out as Castle and Bruiser worked the bulk of it. At one point, Baretta tried to take out Bruiser with a piledriver on the apron, but Bruiser countered and laid him out on the apron with a death valley driver. There was a great near fall spot where Castle tumbled to the floor and Bruiser hit a frog splash, but Baretta kicked out at 2.99. Should’ve heard the reaction to that one. Castle came back into the match and hit a deadlift German suplex on Bruiser to retain the title
Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi defeated Marty Scurll & Cody
This was a good main event. I think most of all they did a great job in getting over the Golden Lovers as a top tag team, even though that doesn’t require much effort. In one of the first big spots of the match, Ibushi tagged in Omega, which caused Cody to immediately exit the ring, not wanting to get near Omega. He sat in the second row, but Omega went to the top rope and launched himself all the way over to the second row, wiping out Cody. Omega and Ibushi tried to go for the Cross Slash, a stereo Golden triangle moonsault to the floor, but didn’t get it.
Cody got the heat on Ibushi until Omega finally got the hot tag and cleared house. Some great back and forth until Scurll uses a umbrella and strikes Omega to escape the One Winged Angel. Scurll traps Omega in the chicken wing and Cody sinks in a trailer hitch but both Golden Lovers manage to escape.
They look to finish Ibushi off with a dropkick/doomsday device combo, but Ibushi landed on his feet as he and Omega rallied back. They hit the cross slash, but Cody fired back and planted Omega with the crossroads. Scurll followed with the last shot on Ibushi. Cody then instructed Scurll to hold Ibushi. He managed to escape, but Cody grabs him and kisses him. This angers Ibushi, who plants him with the press powerbomb. He and Omega focus on Scurll, drilling him then pinning him after hitting the Golden Trigger, a kamigoye/V-trigger combination.
Omega after the match said this was one of the greatest weekends in his life, and declared that they are the best tag team in the world. That brought out the Young Bucks, who weren’t too happy about that last statement. Matt said that when they went to the hotel room (at the end of the Being the Elite episode), the Golden Lovers made a peace offering, and they accepted. They didn’t have a problem with them until Omega said they were the greatest tag team in the world.
Matt announced that The Young Bucks have officially moved up to the heavyweight division, and that they would see them around. Omega then finished off the show translating the Bucks’ promo and wondered if what just happened was a challenge.
“Let’s face it. You’re either Team Kenny, or Team Cody.”
The Bullet Club dissension storyline that has played out on Being the Elite and New Japan shows over the past two months took center stage on the first night of Honor Rising 2018.
“Bullet Club is fine. And I’ll add one more thing. Bullet Club is mine,” Cody said, after his team defeated the reunited Golden Lovers and Chase Owens in the main event, adding another layer of tension and drama to the schism in the most popular faction in the wrestling world.
That storyline will continue to play out on night two of the event, with the Golden Lovers set to take on Cody and Marty Scurll in tag team action in the main event.
Show Recap
Yujiro Takahashi & Bad Luck Fale defeated Katsuya Kitamura & Toa Henare
The story here was Kitamura and Henare showing great heart and fighting spirit even as they went down in defeat to the veteran team. Takahashi worked over Kitamura with chops and a legdrop. Fale tagged in and clobbered Kitamura with forearms. Henare got a hot tag but was cut off. Kitamura tagged back in and went for the jackhammer on Bad Luck, but he could not get him all the way up. Fale got a nearfall with a lariat, then hit the Grenade for the pinfall victory on Kitamura. Kitamura tripped over his own feet at one point and was less than graceful, but Henare’s offense looked good.
Liger and HIKULEO worked the bulk of the match for thier teams, mixing a decent amount of comedy with Liger selling big for HIKULEO. Delirious has slowed down a lot since I saw him last. The crowd loved Cheeseburger. The finish saw Cheeseburger hit HIKULEO with the Shotei, and he and Liger helped the legal man, Delirious, hold HIKULEO down for the pin. After the bout, Liger and the babyfaces kissed the referee’s head. Nothing special, but it’s fun to see the continuing progression of HIKULEO.
The Young Bucks defeated David Finlay & Juice Robinson
The Bucks put on a clinic in the early part of the match, showcasing a bunch of cool double team moves and playing to the crowd, who loved every bit of it. Juice tagged in and hit multiple belly-to-belly suplexes on the Bucks, which got over big. Juice hit a standing senton for a nearfall on Matt. Finlay and Juice worked over Matt’s bad back, but Matt fired back with right hands, and made the tag to Nick. Nick ran wild on Finlay and Juice, and hit a dive to the outside. The Bucks used stereo Sharpshooters, but Juice and Finlay reached the ropes.
Juice went for a powerbomb, but Matt rolled through, and they did a double down. Nick made the tag and the Bucks hit stereo dropkicks. The Bucks teased a Meltzer Driver, but Finlay rolled up Nick for a nearfall. Juice tagged in and hit his Dusty Rhodes jabs and crotch chopped the Bucks. Finlay made a tag and ate a knee to the face for a nearfall. Nick took Juice out with a dive from the apron, then followed up with a Meltzer Driver on Finlay, allowing Matt to score the pin. Good stuff, and the crowd loved it.
Flip Gordon defeated KUSHIDA & Hiromu Takahashi
Flip got the opportunity to shine in the opening minute, showcasing his athleticism. KUSHIDA cut him off, tossed Takahashi to the outside, and went to work on Flip’s left arm. Takahashi worked his way into the match and pounded on Flip’s right leg, including employing a dragon screw. Flip fought back and hit a one-legged standing moonsault for a nearfall. The action spilled outside, and Flip was sent into the barricade, leaving Takahashi and KUSHIDA to do spots together in the ring. These guys were working at about three-quarters speed, and they still athletically blew away everything on the show to this point.
Flip worked his way back inside and missed a 450 on KUSHIDA, landing on his feet and selling the bad knee. He followed with a standing shooting star for a nearfall. KUSHIDA hit a flying armbar off the top rope on to Takahashi, but Flip broke it up with a springboard attack from the ropes. KUSHIDA locked the Hoverboard on Flip, but Takahashi broke up an attempt to transition to Back to the Future. Takahashi went for Time Bomb, but Flip slipped out.
Flip hit a crossbody on both men, then tossed KUSHIDA to the floor, as KUSHIDA took a crazy bump off the apron. Flip hit a 450 on Takahashi to earn the victory. The finish was a little bit out of the blue, and a little flat, but the action was excellent, and this is worth going out of your way to check out.
“Chuckie T” Chuck Taylor, Beretta, & IWGP United States Champion Jay White defeated ROH World Champion Dalton Castle, Ryusuke Taguchi, & Jay Lethal
A lot of your typical Taguchi comedy kicked things off here, including the mandatory butt spot. Taylor and Beretta worked over Taguchi, before Lethal tagged in and ran wild on both of them. Lethal used a figure four on White, but the Best Friends broke it up. Taguchi tagged in and hit a hip attack on White for a nearfall. They traded cradle attempts for a series of nearfalls, before Taguchi transitioned to the ankle lock. White slipped out, before hitting the Blade Runner on Taguchi for the victory. Way too much Taguchi for this to be taken seriously as a match, and it felt like this was a step down for White in terms of positioning, having to sell for Taguchi.
Hiroki Goto defeated The Beer City Bruiser to retain the NEVER Openweight Title
The Bruiser sent Goto to the outside and hit a flip dive off the apron. They exchanged chops on the floor, with Bruiser getting the best of the exchange, and sipping his beer. The Bruiser continued to work over Goto, including using a nerve hold, before Goto came back with a desperation lariat. Goto hit a leg lariat and a suplex for a nearfall. Bruiser hit a cannonball in the corner, and followed with a Vader Bomb for a nearfall.
Goto used a sleeper, as they slowed the pace down before working towards the finish. Goto used a top rope-assisted ushigoroshi for a nearfall. Bruiser missed a frog splash off the top, and Goto followed with another leg lariat. After a double down, they traded lariats, with Bruiser getting the best of the exchange. Goto fired back with a headbutt, and hit the GTR for the win, retaining his championship. Bruiser matches are always a spectacle, but this one was missing something.
Cody got real heel heat coming out, and the Golden Lovers got a massive babyface reaction. Ibushi and Page were in first. They started slow, before the Lovers and Owens used a series of quick tags to take over on Page. Cody jumped in and knocked Ibushi off the apron before Omega and Ibushi could execute their first tag, though, which got a lot of heat. Omega and Scurll became the legal men, and worked on each other’s left arms. Page and Cody attacked Omega from the apron, and Scurll stomped on Omega’s hand. Cody ordered him to do the finger break spot on Omega, but Scurll wasn’t sure he should, and the hesitation allowed Ibushi to cut him off.
Page and Cody sent Ibushi and Omega to the floor, and with Scurll, triple-teamed Owens. Scurll hit a superplex on Owens, and made a tag to Cody. Cody and Page taunted Omega, and tried to get Scurll to join in, but again, he teased feeling conflicted about it. Cody and Page hit their version of the Rise of the Terminator on to Owens on the outside. Back in the ring, Cody worked over Owens. Owens was able to make a tag, and Omega and Ibushi did their first real team spots of the match, including stereo Golden Triangles. Korakuen broke out into a big “Golden Lovers” chant.
Ibushi hit a Last Ride on Scurll for a nearfall. Things broke down into a six-way, and four men brawled to the outside, leaving Omega and Cody alone in the ring. Omega hit a V-Trigger and went for another, but Hangman cut him off with a springboard forearm. Cody went for Cross Rhodes, but Ibushi made the save. Scurll cut Ibushi off and used the chicken wing on Ibushi, while Page did a shooting star from the apron to the floor. They teased a submission, but Ibushi reached the ropes. Scurll went for a pin after an assist from Cody, but Omega made the save.
Ibushi made a tag to Owens, and Scurll did the same to Page. Owens went for the piledriver, but Page slipped out. They traded superkicks and lariats, before Page hit the Rite of Passage for the pin.
After the match, as Omega and Cody began to brawl outside, the Bucks ran out, and tried to play peacemaker. While Omega left with Ibushi, Matt and Nick left with Page, leaving Cody alone in the ring to cut his promo.
Submitted by reader Dan Lennard. Additional thanks to Joseph Reynolds.
– KUSHIDA defeated Rocky Romero
The fans loved both guys. KUSHIDA won by submission with the Hoverboard Lock.
– Yuji Nagata defeated Jack J. Bonza
They essentially had a squash match, with Nagata beating him with a backdrop hold. There was nothing wrong with this, but it was too short.
– SANADA & EVIL defeated Robbie Eagles & Mick Moretti
This was the only match where the fans were solidly behind the locals, though there were plenty of Los Ingobernables de Japon fans in the crowd. EVIL got the pin on Eagles in a very fast-paced bout.
– The Bullet Club (Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens & Guerrillas of Destiny) defeated TMDK (Jonah Rock, Damian Slater, Marcius Pitt, Slex & Elliott Sexton)
The best match of the night up to this point. The Bullet Club was super over, especially Omega. Everyone hit their big moves and all the Aussies got in some great offense, including an interesting spot where Slex got heat on Omega.
In the end, Omega hit the One Winged Angel on Slater for the finish. Omega spoke to the crowd after, mentioning that it’s funny they’re booed in Japan but cheered in Sydney. He thanked everyone and pointed out that Fale helped put the tour together.
– Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer defeated Juice Robinson & Toa Henare
Everyone was into everything Suzuki did. He was probably the third most over wrestler of the night (behind Okada and Omega), with the fans singing along to his theme music before and after the show.
The match was fun and ended when Suzuki hit Henare with a Gotch-style piledriver. Suzuki beat the heck out of Henare for most of the bout. The crowd also loved Suzuki when he did a brief post-match promo.
– Tomohiro Ishii defeated Gino Gambino
This match started slow — there were mostly NJPW fans in the crowd and they clearly didn’t know many of the Australian wrestlers. Despite that, this got a big reaction by the end.
Ishii gave Gambino a lot and it was very back and forth. The ending seemed slightly botched as Ishii appeared to deadlift Gambino for a brainbuster. Ishii then stormed to the back, but maybe that’s how he is all the time.
– Chaos (Kazuchika Okada, Jay White & Will Ospreay) defeated The Bullet Club (Cody Rhodes & The Young Bucks)
The crowd hatedCody, and he played up being the bad guy throughout the match. There was a lot of comedy in the opening minutes, but it soon turned into a sensational bout and was probably the match of the night.
The MVP for the show had to be Ospreay, who was on fire. Everyone was great, though. The ending came when Okada hit Matt Jackson with a Rainmaker for the pin.
Everyone in Chaos spoke following the match. White got booed mercilessly when he accidentally called us Melbourne fans instead of Sydney fans. Ospreay was rolling on the mat laughing — even Okada mocked him when he had the microphone. Okada also said NJPW will definitely be coming back to Australia for another tour.
All in all, this show was sensational from top to bottom. Every match was good, and a couple were great. Lines for all merchandise, particularly Bullet Club and Young Bucks merch, was insane.
Going up against an NXT house show in the same city, ROH’s Survival of the Fittest tournament kicked off in San Antonio last night. In the main event, Stephen Amell (the star of Arrow) teamed with Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes & The Young Bucks against The Addiction, Flip Gordon & Scorpio Sky.
– Cheeseburger defeated Jastin Taylor
This was the pre-show match. Cheeseburger won with a Shotei and a diving double stomp.
– Amell came out as the guest host for the show. The Addiction quickly interrupted him, but Cody defended his buddy. Amell took off his jacket to reveal an Arrow-inspired Bullet Club shirt.
The Addiction proposed changing the two scheduled tag matches (them vs. Omega & Cody and The Young Bucks vs. Flip Gordon & Scorpio Sky) to The Addiction, Gordon & Sky vs. Bullet Club. Cody accepted the proposal.
During both the opening and closing promo, Cody pointed out that ROH’s show sold out while NXT’s didn’t.
– Silas Young defeated Josh Woods in a Survival of the Fittest first round match
– Shane Taylor defeated Beer City Bruiser in a Survival of the Fittest first round match
This was a very good “mean guy match.” Taylor won with a punch.
– Punishment Martinez defeated Jay Lethal in a Survival of the Fittest first round match
Martinez hit his sit-out chokeslam to win. Marty Scurll, who is facing Lethal at Final Battle, came out during the match and offered Lethal his umbrella as a weapon. Lethal hit Scurll with it instead.
– The Kingdom (Matt Taven, Vinny Marseglia & TK O’Ryan) defeated Search and Destroy (Motor City Machine Guns & Jonathan Gresham)
Taven cradled Gresham for the pin after blocking a Shooting Star Press with his knees.
– Deonna Purrazzo defeated Britt Baker in a Women of Honor match
Purrazzo submitted her with a Fujiwara armbar.
– Rey Cometa & Esfinge defeated The Dawgs (Rhett Titus & Will Ferrara)
This was a wild match, with the crowd very into the CMLL guys. Esfinge pinned Ferrara with a lucha cradle.
– ROH World Television Champion Kenny King defeated Joey Ryan to retain his title
They had a typical Joey Ryan match before King retained with the Royal Flush.
– Dalton Castle defeated Marty Scurll
Castle hit the Bang-a-Rang to win.
– Bullet Club (Cody, Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks & Stephen Amell) defeated The Addiction, Flip Gordon & Scorpio Sky
This match was five-on-four with Amell becoming an official participant in it. He did a lot, including a dive to the floor and being put through a table by Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian. He looked good for a non-wrestler.
Gordon stopped Daniels from using a chair, which led to a brawl. Gordon and Sky then abandoned The Addiction. The finish was a double Indytaker as Omega and Nick Jackson did the move to Kazarian and Matt Jackson and Amell hit it on Daniels.
Bullet Club did their usual post-match promo, referencing the NXT show in San Antonio. Omega said he and Cody were going back to the autograph table to sign for all of the fans who they couldn’t get to earlier.
Playing off of his firing from WWE, Jimmy Jacobs made an appearance at last night’s Ring of Honor Global Wars: Chicago iPPV and took another picture with the Bullet Club.
Bullet Club were in the ring celebrating and cutting a promo after Kenny Omega successfully defended his IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against YOSHI-HASHI in the main event. The bit was that they wanted to take a selfie together, but no one had a phone on them. Bullet Club asked if anyone in the audience had one, leading to them pointing out Jacobs in the crowd and taking the picture.
Nick Jackson then grabbed the microphone to say, “Sorry we got your ass fired, Jimmy.”
Dave Meltzer confirmed last week that Jacobs, who had been working as a writer, was no longer with WWE and that the picture he posted with Bullet Club from their “invasion” of Raw was the reason that ultimately led to him being let go. When the news got out, Jacobs put out a T-shirt that referenced his firing.
The picture wasn’t the first time that Bullet Club mentioned WWE last night. Cody Rhodes opened the show with a promo where he took a shot at Roman Reigns, saying that he thought Reigns only wore a vest to hide his gut and failed drug test — but he’s really hiding envy. That was in response to Reigns tweeting that Cody was “talking silly” in a promo where he claimed to be the biggest draw in pro wrestling.
ROH’s Global Wars tour hit its second stop as they came to Pittsburgh last night. Here’s a rundown of the show:
– Coast to Coast defeated One Mean Team
This was the pre-show match.
– Hiromu Takahashi defeated Mark Briscoe after the match was stopped due to Briscoe suffering an injury
Unfortunately, this only went for a couple of minutes. Takahashi was in control in the corner throwing some kicks, then Briscoe rolled out of the ring. The referee checked on him and called off the match, declaring Takahashi the winner. It wasn’t clear what happened from my point of view, but Briscoe ended up suffering a dislocated elbow.
– Best Friends (Trent Barreta & Chuck Taylor) defeated The Dawgs (Rhett Titus & Will Ferrara)
This was supposed to be Best Friends vs. The Addiction, but Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian came out in their street clothes and said they weren’t going to wrestle tonight. Titus and Ferrara replaced them, with Barreta eventually pinning Titus after Best Friends hit their combo finisher.
– Jay Lethal defeated Jay White
This started slow, eventually going fairly long and getting hotter and hotter by the end. Lethal hit the Lethal Injection to get the pin. They both sold heavily after the match and shook each other’s hand.
– ROH World Tag Team Champions Motor City Machine Guns defeated The Kingdom and The Young Bucks to retain their titles
Vinny Marseglia and TK O’Ryan represented The Kingdom here. The crowd went nuts when The Young Bucks made their entrance. The match had a lot of high flying, about a dozen superkicks, and Chris Sabin pinned Matt Jackson with a cradle in a surprise finish to retain.
– Deonna Purrazzo, Mandy Leon & Jenny Rose defeated Faye Jackson, Britt Baker & Sumie Sakai in a Women of Honor match
Purrazzo submitted Jackson with an armbar.
– ROH World Television Champion Kenny King defeated Josh Woods, Punishment Martinez, Hangman Page, Matt Taven, and KUSHIDA in a Proving Ground Instant Reward match
The winner would have gotten a shot at the ROH World Television Championship if it wasn’t King, but King won with two not-so-smooth Royal Flushes on Woods.
– War Machine defeated Killer Elite Squad
Ray Rowe pinned Lance Archer after War Machine hit a double team backbreaker/knee drop from the top rope.
– Bully Ray came out and gave an emotional speech saying he has a head injury and doesn’t know if he’ll ever wrestle again. He said he wanted to see the Pittsburgh crowd one more time if that was the case.
– Minoru Suzuki defeated Silas Young (w/ Beer City Bruiser)
Suzuki got a huge reaction, then had a fun match with Young. Eventually, Davey Boy Smith Jr. came back out. The referee was bumped, Smith Jr. interfered, and Suzuki hit Young with a chair and the Gotch-style piledriver to get the victory.
– Bullet Club (Kenny Omega, ROH World Champion Cody & Marty Scurll) defeated Chaos (Will Ospreay, Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI) to retain the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship for Bullet Club
The Bullet Club said they were invoking the Freebird rule, or rather the Bullet Club rule, before the match and that this would be for The Young Bucks & Hangman Page’s six-man tag titles. The match went about 20 minutes, with the crowd going absolutely nuts for it.
The crowd was definitely there to see the Bullet Club, and there to see Omega in particular. The Young Bucks and Page ran in towards the end of the match, resulting in Scurll running Yano into all 10 boots of the Bullet Club in the corner. Scurll submitted Yano with the chicken wing shortly after.
After the match, pretty much everyone stayed in the venue to listen to Cody and Omega’s promos. They taunted WWE and thanked the crowd to close the show.
Report submitted by reader James Ryder with additional notes from Martin Bentley
– The show was being taped for VOD with commentators at ringside.
– Mark Briscoe defeated Ryan Smile
Briscoe got a good pop for his entrance, then the crowd was behind Smile during the match but with dueling chants in parts. It was a good opener to begin with and then heated up as it went on. Briscoe won with a Cutthroat Driver.
– The Addiction defeated Ultimo Guerrero & Rey Bucanero
This was a good match with plenty of back-and-forth action. The crowd got into the CMLL team as it went on. Christopher Daniels pinned Bucanero with his feet on the ropes, then there was a post-match brawl with Guerrero launching himself onto The Addiction on the outside. Daniels and Kazarian retreated after that.
– Jay Briscoe defeated Kenny King
They had a basic match. There was brawling on the outside early, but the crowd wasn’t into this as much as the other matches. Briscoe won with the Jay Driller and refused a handshake after.
– Bully Ray defeated Jay Lethal, Silas Young, and Sha Samuels in a four-way match
Bully Ray and Lethal got big reactions. There were some Attitude Era fans who were into everything Bully Ray did. The match itself was fun, with everyone getting their chance to get some stuff in.
In the closing moments, Bully Ray and Lethal did the “Wassup” spot and Bully shouted for him to get the tables. Bully won with a top rope splash. After the match, he called for Lethal to come back to the ring. Bully said that ECW was his company, but ROH is Lethal’s.
– ROH SIx-Man Tag Team Champions Dalton Castle & The Boys defeated Jushin Thunder Liger, Mistico & Delirious to retain their titles
Liger and Castle got big reactions and there were really loud chants for them. The match had a lot of comedy, but it was really fun and the audience loved it. Castle launched both Boys separately over the top rope onto Mistico and Liger near the end. He then hit Delirious with the Bang-a-Rang to retain.
– ROH World Television Champion KUSHIDA defeated Titan to retain his title
Brilliant match. It got the first “this is awesome” chant of the night, as well as “fight forever” chants and a standing ovation from the crowd as soon as it was over.
Titan got himself over big with his high-flying and lucha transitions. He kept fighting off the Hoverboard Lock, but KUSHIDA eventually won with Back to the Future. Titan got a standing ovation despite many people not being familiar with him going into it.
– Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI) defeated Bullet Club (Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, Marty Scurll & Hangman Page)
Takahashi came out with Daryl (his stuffed cat), resulting in a loud “Daryl” chant. Naito also got a big reaction. Bullet Club came out together and got a big pop. There were loud “F*ck The Revival” chants, along with other Bullet Club and LIJ ones.
LIJ worked on Scurll for a short time before he got the hot tag and the Bucks cleaned house. Cody, Page, and The Bucks all wiped out LIJ with dives to the outside. There was a cool moment in the match where the Bullet Club all applied a figure four, getting “Nature Boy” chants in the process.
Each Bullet Club member then missed a top rope moonsault, with the crowd having to encourage Scurll to do it. The Bucks hit all of LIJ with a superkick to the delight of the fans.
Scurll fired up the crowd by going for the chicken wing on Daryl. Takahashi made the save, but he got hit with a superkick. The Bucks then gave Daryl the Meltzer Driver. All of the members of the Bullet Club gave Takahashi a superkick at the same time, but Naito pinned Page with the Destino to a massive pop.
That was a great main event and the audience loved it. LIJ posed after while the Bullet Club stayed in the ring and Cody got the mic. He put over that it was Page’s first time in the UK, then hyped up Saturday’s iPPV in Liverpool (which the crowd booed).
Cody called SANADA a young boy and said he’s going to beat him half to death. He gave Scurll the mic, with Scurll saying The Villain in the Bullet Club in the UK is too sweet. He put over the UK wrestling scene and how long he’s been wrestling here.
Scurll mentioned the bet Cody has with Dave Meltzer and said ROH can run a 10,000 seat arena in the USA. He then asked why ROH doesn’t run a 10,000 seat UK arena instead. He mentioned they should run Wembley Arena to a huge pop.
Matt Jackson got the mic and said the figure four in the match was in homage to Ric Flair. He plugged The Elite’s YouTube show and their T-shirts before ending with a “F*ck The Revival” chant.
The Bullet Club showed their devious side when Adam Cole swerved the audience by teasing dissension in the main event where he teamed with Cody (Rhodes) for a tag team match against Dalton Castle and ROH World Champion Christopher Daniels.
Elsewhere on the show, The Young Bucks defended their ROH World Tag Team titles against the challenge of a cheerleading team. Also, Punishment Martinez looked to tap a keg.
Where to Watch —
The episode is currently available via the official ROH website to watch for free until a new episode is uploaded next Thursday. A new episode begins airing this weekend in syndication so check local listings for availability in your area.
That new episode streams on the FITE TV app starting Monday evening before it airs on Wednesday at midnight ET on Comet TV, including that channel’s free online live stream.
Show Recap —
The episode opened with an entrance by The Young Bucks for a tag match set up after an angle on a previous show. The Squad came through the crowd and hopped a guardrail for a sneak attack on Nick and Matt Jackson.
ROH World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks defeated The Squad to retain their titles
The Squad (formerly the Spirit Squad in WWE) was Mike Mondo and Ken Doane. They were getting the better of the Jacksons after the sneak attack, but The Young Bucks soon fired up to cut them off. Moments later, The Squad turned the tide and got heat on Matt Jackson.
That led to a hot tag where Nick Jackson ran wild. The Bucks eventually executed the Meltzer Driver and Matt pinned Mondo for the pinfall. In winning, The Young Bucks retained their tag team titles.
Flanked by The Kingdom, Matt Taven cut a promo hyping him challenging for the World title match against Christopher Daniels. Taven called Daniels a “dinosaur” while also saying other unkind things as he waved his walking stick. The Kingdom cohorts nodded their approval.
In another promo, Mark & Jay Briscoe hyped a tag match with their tag partner, Bully Ray, defending the six-man titles against The Rebellion. That match is the main event on the next episode.
Damian “Punishment” Martinez defeated Beer City Bruiser
Silas Young joined the announce booth to provide guest commentary. This was a mean guy match and heel against heel. They went back-and-forth throughout much of the match like the proverbial unstoppable force meeting the immovable object.
Bruiser is a big proponent of the cannonball. He must be fun at pool parties. Well, he also brought a keg of beer to the ring with him so he is probably quite fun at parties.
Anyway, back to the cannonballs. Bruiser did one off the apron before doing some others in the ring. On commentary, Colt Cabana pondered Bruiser’s weight when converted from pounds to chili dogs. I was unaware chili dogs were a unit of measure, but you learn something new every day.
Bruiser would eventually walk into a superkick and a goozle, then Martinez delivered a chokeslam for the pinfall.
ROH World TV Champion Marty Scurll cut a brief promo on Matt Sydal. Scurll basically said he would remain champ even after their match at War of the Worlds.
In another promo, Adam Cole again tried to reiterate that the Bullet Club is stronger than ever despite recent dissension with himself and the Elite trifecta of The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega.
Jay Lethal provided guest commentary for the main event tag match. This led to an angle afterwards as Lethal has an ongoing feud with Cody.
Adam Cole & Cody defeated Christopher Daniels & Dalton Castle (w/ The Boys)
Beforehand, Cody demanded that The Boys leave ringside but they stayed anyhow.
Cody squared off with Castle at the start, with Castle getting the better of the exchanges. Daniels then also began to dominate exchanges with Cody until he was cut off. Cole tagged in as the Bullet Club appeared to get heat on Daniels. It wasn’t for long, as the babyfaces quickly regrouped.
Cody hit Castle with a low blow to set up the heat spot. Bullet Club began working over Castle as The Boys tried to rally support from the crowd. Cody went for a disaster kick only to inadvertently hit Cole. Dissension then emerged as an angry Cole stormed off to leave Cody hanging. Or did he?
Daniels unleashed a volley of offense on Cody as he looked to set up his Angel’s Wings finisher. With Cody hooked, Daniels went to hoist him up when Cole suddenly rushed into the ring to superkick Daniels.
Cole executed the Last Shot and Cody delivered Cross Rhodes. Cody then covered Daniels for the pinfall. So, Cody scored a pin on the World Champion ahead of him challenging for the title.
Following the match, Cody and Cole stood over a beaten Daniels to taunt him. The Young Bucks joined them in the ring as they all posed.
After the Bullet Club left the scene, Jay Lethal got in the ring to confront Daniels. An aggressive Lethal was upset the PPV match was a triple threat match. He wanted a singles match. He and Daniels began arguing when Cody returned to the ring to jump them.
They began brawling and Lethal wiped out the other two with a Lethal Injection. Lethal posed with the World title belt as the show closed.
– Kelly Klein won a dark match before the show started.
– Dalton Castle defeated Bobby Fish
Castle hit the Bang-a-Rang to win a good opener.
– Jay White & Motor City Machine Guns defeated The Rebellion
People were into MCMG in Michigan and Shane Taylor got a good response from the crowd tonight. The match was all action, with Jay White looking very good.
– Silas Young defeated KUSHIDA
Young won clean with his finisher. This was good, though it wasn’t great.
– War Machine defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Jay Lethal
Lethal took the pin. The match was good, with Tanahashi working hard again tonight. I think some fans were upset with some of the NJPW guys losing as much as they did as they were really over, more so than in Toronto.
– ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions Bully Ray & The Briscoes defeated EVIL, SANADA & BUSHI to retain their titles
BUSHI got put through a table by a Dudley bomb for the finish. EVIL and SANADA were accidentally hit by the green mist leading up to that. The match was declared a “no disqualification match” by Bully Ray at the start. It was a wild brawl mostly. Bully Ray was over huge tonight, giving away the broken pieces of table heading into intermission.
ROH didn’t play up that this was their six-man tag champs against the NEVER six-man tag champions at all despite both teams bringing their belts.
– Tetsuya Naito defeated Punishment Martinez
Naito hit the Destino to win after Martinez countered the move earlier. This was okay.
– Cheeseburger defeated Beer City Bruiser, Marty Scurll, Frankie Kazarian, Will Ferrara, Gedo, and Vinny Marseglia in an Instant Reward Proving Ground match
Cheeseburger pinned Beer City Bruiser to get an immediate shot at Scurll’s TV title. This had lots of comedy, including Gedo forming a “tag team” with Scurll and a “human centipede” of head scissors that got reversed by Scurll and everyone sold big. Marseglia got on the mic and added himself to the match before it started. It was very entertaining.
– ROH World Television Champion Marty Scurll defeated Cheeseburger to retain his title
Scurll submitted Cheeseburger with the crossface chicken wing in a quick match.
– ROH World Champion Christopher Daniels defeated Matt Taven to retain his title
Daniels won with the Best Moonsault Ever in a better match than expected. Both guys worked hard and this would’ve been a great match, but nobody thought Taven could win, even though everyone was into it at the end.
Taven busted Daniels’ nose with a knee strike at one point and it bled for the rest of the match and may have been broken.
– Hirooki Goto, Will Ospreay & Roppongi Vice defeated Cody, Hangman Page & The Young Bucks
Ospreay pinned Nick Jackson after hitting a double OsCutter on both Bucks. The match went around 25:00. It was another very good multi-man match from the Bucks, but more serious with less comedy than usual.
Ospreay was the star of the night by far, and his performance in this match was nothing short of incredible, doing all of his usual flying stuff. He did a double reverse hurricanrana on the Bucks and the spectacular finishing move. I took a friend who doesn’t follow modern wrestling and all he could talk about was Ospreay on the ride home. It was a very good main event.
To take nothing away from The Young Bucks at all, without Kenny Omega their reaction coming out was nothing compared to Toronto. In fact, Cody might have got the most cheers coming out for their team.
Ring of Honor television from this past week was the go-home show ahead of tonight’s 15th Anniversary pay-per-view. The main development heading into the PPV was the heel turn of Frankie Kazarian, where he joined the Bullet Club in the aftermath of this show’s main event eight-man tag match.
The show opened with a promo from one team involved in the main event later on. The Briscoes, Jay Lethal, and Bobby Fish hyped their eight-man tag match with the Bullet Club.
They took turns insulting their opponents.
Dalton Castle provided guest commentary for the first match alongside Ian Riccaboni. In storyline, Castle and his Boys have issues to settle with The Kingdom and they face them on the PPV tonight for the World Six-Man Championship.
World Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Kingdom defeated The Rebellion to retain their titles
TK O’Ryan and Rhett Titus had a hair pulling contest at the outset, followed by comedy spots with Caprice Coleman and Vinny Marseglia. Matt Taven and Kenny King then started having a wrestling match.
Though the match was originally heels against heels, Titus left the match selling an injury to his knee. That left The Kingdom with a three-on-two advantage, seemingly making The Rebellion the de facto babyfaces. Thusly, The Kingdom worked over Coleman for the heat.
Coleman made a comeback and tried to tag out, but King was knocked off the apron and unable to tag. Suddenly, Lio Rush hit the ring dressed in camouflage gear. The Rebellion previously tried to recruit him for their stable. Here he looked to have joined them, or did he?
Rush ran wild off a hot tag, only to turn on The Rebellion when he dropped King with a cutter. The Kingdom executed a triple-team powerbomb and Taven covered King for the pinfall.
In a pre-taped promo, Jay White challenged Jay Briscoe to a rematch after their last bout ended in a draw. On another pre-taped promo with Briscoe in Sandy Fork, he accepted the challenge for a match that airs on TV in two weeks.
Brian Milonas defeated Raphael King (w/ Devyn Nicole) to advance in the Top Prospect Tournament
Brutal Bob Evans was back for guest commentary as he does on every match in this tourney. They had a slugfest at the outset, then King got to shine briefly before being cut off. King made a quick comeback and used a Rock Bottom for a near fall.
When he attempted a second Rock Bottom, Milonas blocked it and dropped King with a sidewalk slam, followed by a senton to cover him for the pin.
Christopher Daniels provided guest commentary for the main event, setting the stage for the angle that closed the show.
Adam Cole, Cody & The Young Bucks defeated Jay Lethal, Bobby Fish & The Briscoes
The action got wild from the start when a huge brawl erupted with dives all over the place. After the ring emptied, Cody squared off with Lethal in the ring since they have an ongoing feud.
Fish and Cole squared off next as they also have ongoing issues. The Young Bucks and Briscoes then squared off since those two teams have been battling each other. At first the Briscoes appeared to block superkicks, only for both to eat superkicks from Nick and Matt Jackson. Lethal hit the ring and attempted the Lethal Injection, but the Jacksons superkicked him.
With an ode to Kenny Omega, Nick and Matt Jackson did the Rise of the Terminator spot leading to them doing flip dives to the outside. That led to Jay Briscoe doing a tope con hilo to the outside, then his brother Mark followed with a blockbuster off the apron. Mark also climbed to the top turnbuckle, but Cody cut him off and superplexed him to the floor onto a pile of bodies.
Back in the ring, Bullet Club got heat on Mark Briscoe. That built to a hot tag that brought Lethal in like a house of fire, leading to a trifecta of topes. On the third tope, Lethal inadvertently hit Fish and that caused dissension between the two tag partners.
The dissension led to a shoving match, then a brawl between Fish and Lethal. They brawled around the building, leaving the two Briscoes to face the four members of the Bullet Club. They fought valiantly and were able to single out Matt Jackson.
The Briscoes went for the Doomsday Device, but Jackson landed on his feet to superkick them. A superkick party began and Jay Briscoe fell victim to Cross Rhodes. Cole executed the Last Shot on Mark Briscoe as the Jacksons also superkicked Mark. The Young Bucks finished off Mark with the Meltzer Driver and Matt pinned him.
In the aftermath, the dust settled and Cole was in the ring gloating over the victory while holding his ROH World title overhead. Christopher Daniels left his perch at the commentary table to rush the ring and sneak up behind Cole. They began to slug it out and Daniels hoisted Cole to deliver Angel’s Wings.
Daniels retrieved hair clippers and a pair of scissors, threatening to cut Cole’s long locks. Cole tried to fight back and Daniels delivered Angel’s Wings again. Daniels’ tag team partner, Frankie Kazarian, hit the ring to seemingly assist in giving Cole a hair cut.
Kazarian removed his hoodie to reveal a Bullet Club t-shirt. Kazarian faced off with Daniels. The distraction allowed for The Young Bucks to superkick Daniels. The rest of Bullet Club surrounded a prone Daniels to welcome Kazarian as their newest member.
The latest episode begins airing this weekend in syndication. The show is then available Monday evening via the FITE TV app before airing on Wednesday at midnight ET on Comet TV, including that channel’s online live stream. The episode is then available to watch on Thursday via the official ROH website.
Thanks to reader Andy Stowell and Internet reports for the notes | Image: Rolling Stone
From Stage AE in Pittsburgh, PA
The announcing was done by Ian Riccoboni and a revolving cast including Alex Shelley, Dalton Castle, Bob Evans, Bobby Fish, Chris Sabin, and Mark Briscoe.
Dark Matches —
– Cheeseburger, Will Ferrara, and Joey Daddiego def. three ROH dojo wrestlers.
– Taeler Hendrix def. Jenny Rose
Show 1 —
– Chris Daniels does a promo hyping his match with ROH Champion Adam Cole. That brought out the champion and Hangman Page which brought out Kazarian, setting up an impromptu tag match.
– Bullet Club (Cole/Page) def. The Addiction when Cole pinned Daniels
– Top Prospect Tournament quarterfinals: John Skyler def. Sean Carr
– Tempura Boyz vs. Motor City Machine Guns was a no-contest as it was announced the Guns and Jay White were attacked backstage.
– ROH TV Champion Marty Scurll submitted Donavan Dijak in an outstanding match. Lio Rush was out on the stage watching and later walked down to challenge Scurll, prompting the Rebellion to come out. That led to MCMG and White coming out to even the odds and run off the heels.
Show 2 —
– ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Kingdom def. The Rebellion. Rush was out again and appeared to turn heel as he attacked the Kingdom members, but then turned on Kenny King and went to the back. Rhett Titus may have suffered a knee injury during the match.
– Top Prospect Tournament quarterfinals Brian Milonas def. Raphael King
– Jay Briscoe def. Jay White to snap the unbeaten streak in a great match. Briscoe refused to adhere to the Code of Honor. Briscoe put White through a table on the outside and hit a clothesline for the win.
— Show 3
– ROH Tag Champions The Young Bucks def. Coast 2 Coast
– Lio Rush did an interview which set up a match with Kenny King.
– Cody Rhodes was out and cut a great promo on Jay Lethal, bringing out Hangman Page who gave him one of his hangman’s ropes. Cody said he was going to get a cowbell that has been in the Rhodes family for 40 years — the same bell that Dusty used to beat Superstar Graham all over MSG — and challenged Lethal to a Texas bullrope match “on April 1st”. They pushed Supercard of Honor more than the PPV.
– Dalton Castle (w/The Boys) def. Jonathan Gresham
– BJ Whitmer and Punisher Martinez def. War Machine in a wild no DQ match after Martinez put Hanson through a table. This went everywhere. After the win, Martinez laid out Whitmer with a chokeslam and walked away.
— Show 4
– Silas Young and Beer City Bruiser def. Cheeseburger and Will Ferrera
– Top Prospect Tournament quarterfinals: Josh Woods def. Chris Le Russo by ref stoppage
– Kenny King (w/Caprice Coleman) def. Lio Rush. Shane Taylor came out and initially sided with Rush before turning on him.
– Bullet Club (Cody, ROH Champion Adam Cole, ROH Tag Champions The Young Bucks) def. Jay Lethal, Bobby Fish, and The Briscoes in a great brawl. Fish and Lethal couldn’t get along and brawled through the crowd, leaving the Briscoes to fend for themselves and for Jay to take the fall.
After the match, Cole was in the ring and Daniels left the commentary table to confront him. He threatens to shave Cole’s head which brings down Kazarian to help. However, Kazarian revealed a Bullet Club t-shirt and turned on his longtime partner to close the show.
Submitted by Aaron Keeler from the William J. Myers Pavilion. Thanks to Lex for additional details.
Crowd estimated around 500 or so | Kevin Kelly & Matt Taven on commentary
Women Of Honor Pre-Show —
– Taeler Hendrix def. “Crazy” Mary Dobson
Good match to start off the WOH show. Good brawling at ringside during the match as well.
– Veda Scott def. Jenny Rose
Rose was introduced as being fresh from the ROH dojo. Definitely looked good in defeat. Later saw her up in the stands filming her surroundings. Have to think this was an emotional moment for her.
– Deonna Purrazo, Amber Gallows, & Kennadi Brink beat Sumie Sakai, Faye Jackson & Solo Darling after Brink pinned Jackson
Good main event. Both Sakai and Darling took extended turns being beat on by the heels.
– Mandy Leon def. Hania the Huntress in a 2 out of 3 falls match. Mandy won 1st and final falls.
Flat start after the main event, but the ladies built up as the match went on. Hendrix was out on commentary. Hanna won the first fall. Mandy won the 2nd and 3rd falls.
After the match, both women were respectful to each other. Hendrix came into the ring with a chair and said there was no place in the industry for friends. Appears to be setting up a program between her and Leon.
– Kelly Klein def. Candice LeRae via submission
This was LeRae’s WOH debut. Whitmer was incensed after the match that the ring announcer called Klein the victor from the floor and ordered her into the ring.
After having her repeat after him verbatim (and further dressing her down), the ring announcer slapped Whitmer. Klein tore into the ring announcer but Sakai ran in to make the save.
Main Card —
– War Machine defeated Ali and St. Giovanni
Surprising amount of offense from Giovanni and Ali.
– Jay White defeated Lio Rush
Rush got a great crowd reaction. White got the clean pin and put Lio over after the match. White told Rush that he wasn’t sure what all the hubbub was about him before tonight, but he understands now.
– The Cabinet (ANX w/Caprice Coleman) defeated Will Ferrara and Cheesburger
Kenny King was hilarious on the mic. He said Baltimore was full of redemption stories as we thought of a murderer, Ray Lewis, as our hero.
Also, when the crowd started to chant for Cheeseburger during his entrance, he turned to the crowd and said he could tell they love cheeseburgers.
– Bobby Fish defeated Kamatachi (with Christopher Daniels)
Kamaitachi used some heel tactics (and Daniels’ help) to gain the upper hand, but Fish was able to make him tap in the end.
– Joey Diesel defeated “Cauliflower” Chase Brown
Cauliflowers entrance music is so great and the Tiny ‘Tista chants aimed at Diesel are hilarious. As Cauliflower was laid out after the match, one of the ringside workers brought his cauliflower to him.
– Mark Briscoe def. Chris Sabin, Donovan Dijak and Kazarian in a four-way
Sabin suffered a severe cut during the match. ROH tweeted the somewhat graphic photo.
– Christoper Daniels defeated Moose
Daniels used the ropes to get a leverage pin. Good match. Kazarian helped Daniels win and helped beat down Moose until White and Alex Shelley came out to help Moose. Crowd chanted “Please don’t leave” and “Thank you Moose”. Moose tweeted farewell to ROH after the show.
– Silas Young defeated ACH in a falls count anywhere match
ACH gives a nice superplex onto a table, but Silas rolls into the ring on his feet at the count of ten for the win.
– Colt Cabana, ROH Champion Jay Lethal & Jay Briscoe defeated Bullet Club (Adam Cole/Adam Page/Nick Jackson) when Cabana pinned Jackson
Match actually felt a little rushed. Still, the faces were showcased and we had our share of superkicks to send the crowd home happy.
– 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.
