Another match has been confirmed for Ring of Honor’s WrestleMania weekend show.
Coming out of last night’s 16th Anniversary pay-per-view, it was announced that Dalton Castle would defend his ROH World Championship against Marty Scurll at Supercard of Honor XII in New Orleans on April 7th. Castle retained his title against Jay Lethal in the main event of the Anniversary PPV, and Scurll was set up as his next challenger when he defeated Punishment Martinez earlier in the night.
Scurll confronted Castle at the end of the PPV. He cut a promo on the post-show, noting that he’s never gotten a shot at the World title and saying Castle’s reign is coming to an end. Bully Ray then came out, congratulated both of them on their wins, and made the match for New Orleans.
Kenny Omega vs. Cody Rhodes is the only other match that’s been confirmed for Supercard of Honor as of now. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, and Tomohiro Ishii have also been announced for the show.
Supercard of Honor will take place at the UNO Lakefront Arena and will go head-to-head with NXT TakeOver: New Orleans.
All four ROH titles will be on the line as the company celebrates its 16th anniversary in Las Vegas tonight.
Dalton Castle will defend the ROH World Championship against Jay Lethal, The Briscoes will get an ROH Tag Team title shot against Motor City Machine Guns, Kenny King takes on Silas Young for the Television title, and The Young Bucks & Hangman Page defend their Six-Man Tag Team titles against SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky).
We’re looking for your thoughts on tonight’s show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
Other matches include Flip Gordon vs. New Japan’s Hiromu Takahashi, Cody vs. Matt Taven, and Marty Scurll vs. Punishment Martinez.
Meanwhile, two more matches in the Women of Honor tournament will take place on the pre-show. Sumie Sakai will face Hana Kimura in a first round match, while Tenille Dashwood takes on Brandi Rhodes in a quarterfinal bout.
Join us for live coverage starting at 9 p.m. ET.
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SUMIE SAKAI VS. HANA KIMURA
Sakai advanced in the tournament with the win.
BRANDI RHODES VS. TENILLE DASHWOOD
Not much to this one. Rhodes faked a knee injury and poked Dashwood in the yes, then hit the crossroads but Dashwood kicked out. Rhodes missed the missile dropkick badly and Dashwood won with a running kick to advance in the tournament.
Bully Ray is giving a pep talk speech. He said this ain’t sports entertainment, it’s ROH. Says the guy who will be putting over sports entertainment big in a few weeks.
FLIP GORDON VS. HIROMU TAKAHASHI
Good match, but not the blow away match these two are capable of doing and probably will do at some point. It felt a litle too choreographed early on. Gordon went for a 450 but Takahashi got his knees up. Takahashi did a Death Valley bomb into the corner and won with the time bomb.
MARTY SCRULL VS. PUNISHMENT MARTINEZ
Good match. Martinez did three dives, hitting a springboard flip dive, then doing a dive over the corner onto Scurll and several security guards. The third was Martijez going for a flip dive but Scurll moved and Martinez went through a table. All action, Scurll won when he pulled out a bag and faked throwing powder and when Martinez went to protect his eyes, Scurll kicked him low for the pin.
KENNY KING VS. SILAS YOUNG FOR THE TV TITLE
A solid match. About what you’d expect. The story was that Young hit mizery but ref Todd Sinclair was knocked down while he did the move. By the time Sinclair recovered, King was able to kick out. King came back to win with the Royal flush.
Austin Aries came out with a ton of belts. Aries said he’s been going all over the world collecting belts. He said he’s also won belts in ROH but the one belt he’s never won is the TV title. Aries said you’ve got something on your shoulder I want and said the belt collector never gets tired of winning belts. In other words, Impact and ROH are working together.
YOUNG BUCKS & ADAM PAGE VS. SCORPIO SKY & CHRISTOPHER DANIELS & FRANKIE KAZARIAN IN A STREET FIGHT FOR THE TRIOS TITLES
This was complete insanity. A million crazy spots. SoCal Uncensored won the titles when Page was zip tied to the post, Matt’s back went out whe he tried to set up the Meltzer driver. Sky used the diamond cutter on Matt and put him in the dragon sleeper. Then he started choking Matt with a kendo stick while Kazarian put Matt in the Boston crab and he tapped out for the title change. Highlights were never ending including Matt coming off the top of a ladder with an elbow drop on Kazarian through a table. Kazarian was bleeding heavily. There was a belt used with nails on it. Shane Taylor interfered after Nick did a 450 on Sky onto a garbage can but Taylor pulled the ref out of the ring. Page laid out Taylor with a rites of passage which included Nick doing a springboard spike on him. The match opened with the Bucks doing a double dive. Page did a moonsault off the apron. Daniels took a backdrop over the top rope onto a barricade bridge. Just a nonstop series of big moves.
Vinny Marseglia and TK O’Ryan beat up the Bucks after the match and laid them out. Bully Ray ran in.
CODY VS. MATT TAVEN
Good match. Cody survived a crossroads by Taven and his climax (the one percenter) but kicked out of both. There was a ref bump and Marseglia and O’Ryan came out and held Cody. Taven kicked him low but Cody had a steel cup that he pulled out to show why he wasn’t selling it. Bully Ray chased Marseglia and O’Ryan away. Cody hit the crossroads for the pin. Cody got his ring back. Both guys did dives and worked at a fast pace. Lots of big moves. It was tough following the previous match but came off pretty well.
After the match, Bury The Bear, who was at ringside cheering Cody on, unmasked and it was Kenny Omega and he hit the V trigger on Cody. The place went wild for that, Brandi yelled at Oemga and was alapping him around. Brandi then kissed Omega. She said that Ibushi couldn’t do that. Omega was all confused.
They didn’t announce it on the air, but should have, but Omega will be at the ROH TV tapings tomorrow in Las Vegas.
CHRIS SABIN & ALEX SHELLEY VS. MARK & JAY BRISCOE FOR THE TAG TITLES
This match was great. It was really hard to follow the Omega angle so it was hard to get the crowd. But Sabin was on fire tonight. Mark bled badly from being thrown into the post. Again nonstop big moves. Lots of near falls including Sabin using the cradle shock. Sabin kicked out of the Jay driller but Jay pinned Sabin next after a doomsday device for the title change.
DALTON CASTLE VS. JAY LETHAL FOR ROH TITLE
Great main event. Castle went for a bangarang, but Lethal escaped and cradled him but Castle broke out of it and hti the bangarang for the pin to keep the title. Lethal did a great job , working on the leg. Castle did cool suplexes including a German suplex off the apron to the floor. Lethal hit the Lethal injection in the middle but Caslte kicked out. Lethal did two tope’s at one point and then a third later in the match took out ring announcer Bobby Cruise when Castle moved and Cruise hit his head on the barricade. .
They shook hands. Marty Scurll came on to challenge Castle for the title as the show went off the air.
The Hammerstein Ballroom hosts the last Ring of Honor pay-per-view of the year tonight as Final Battle 2017 takes place in New York City.
We’re looking for your thoughts on this show so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
Dalton Castle will finally get his shot at Cody Rhodes and the ROH World Championship in the main event. The match has some implications for New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Tokyo Dome show as well. If Cody retains, the title will be on the line when he wrestles Kota Ibushi on January 4th. If Cody isn’t champion then, he’ll take on Ibushi in a non-title match.
The Young Bucks & Hangman Page are also set to defend their Six-Man Tag Team Championship against Flip Gordon, Dragon Lee & Titan tonight. Kenny King’s TV title will be up for grabs in a four corners elimination match against Silas Young, Shane Taylor, and Punishment Martinez, and Beretta & Chuck Taylor will challenge for Motor City Machine Guns’ Tag Team titles.
Bully Ray is set to team with Tommy Dreamer as they battle The Briscoes in a New York street fight, Marty Scurll faces Jay Lethal, Will Ospreay is in action against Matt Taven, and The Addiction take on War Machine.
Our live coverage begins at 9 p.m. Eastern time.
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WILL OSPREAY VS. MATT TAVEN
Taven won with the headlock DDT after blocking the Oscutter. This was a great opener. They are pushing Taven as a world title contender. Both did big dives in the first 30 seconds and it started so hot it was hard to sustain. Lots of interference by Vinny Marseglia and TK O’Ryan. Ospreay did a springboard shooting star to the floor on Marseglia and O’Ryan which allowed Taven to do a sliding kick through the ropes to the back of Ospreay’s head.
WAR MACHINE VS. CHRISTOPHER DANIELS & FRANKIE KAZARIAN
Another really good fast match match. The finish saw Hanson use a tope on Kazarian and then they did the double-team fallout on Daniels and Rowe pinned him. All action from start to finish. Both teams looked great.
JAY LETHAL VS. MARTY SCURLL
This was a great match. The story of the match is Scurll told Lethal he needed to go back to being a villain and Lethal said he wouldn’t do that. But for the finish.as Scurll got the ref turned around, it was Lethal who gave him a low blow and the Lethal injection. Earlier Scurll had used the umbrella and a piledriver but Lethal kicked out. Match told a great story and the crowd ended up more into this than the first two matches, and they were into the first two matches. This is turning into a great show already.
CHRIS SABIN & ALEX SHELLEY VS. BARETTA & CHUCKIE T FOR TAG TITLES
Weird finish. Cnuckie piledrove Sabin and then Sabin pinned Baretta with a jackknife cradle. It reads weird because it was weird. Fast paced match with a lot of spots and reverrsals. Good but I don’t thinki the crowd was as into this as the other matches fo far on the show.
KENNY KING VS. SILAS YOUNG VS. PUNISHMENT MARTINEZ VS. SHANE TAYLOR FOR TV TITLE
Young ended up as champion in the elimination match. Young and Martinez were the last two. Martinez did a running dive over the top onto Beer City Bruiser but Martinez injured his ribs. So Young kept working on the ribs with repeated knees to the body and hit mizery for the pin. With the story of match the crowd ended up pretty into it by the end. The first part of the match didn’t have much heat. Martinez came across like a star and the smart move here is Martinez chasing Young. Martinez pinned Taylor first with a springboad senton. Young pinned King after hitting him in the head with a beer bottle. Long match and overall good by the end.
MARK & JAY BRISCOE VS. BULLY RAY & TOMMY DREAMER STREET FIGHT
Long match, pretty much what you’d expect. The crowd was very into this. The finish saw the Briscoes use 3D on Bully on a table, but Bully didn’t go up well adn the table didn’t break. So Mark came off he top rope with an elbow off the top on Bully and Jay pinned him. A ton of action using kendo sticks, Star Wars sabres, Dreamer did a Spicolli driver on on Mark off the apron with table on the floor. Bully bled like crazy and they.used a cheese grater on him. Lots of ECW chants as well. .
They brought out Brandi Rhodes, Deonna Purrazzo, Jenny Rose, Jessie Brooks, Kelly Klein, Mandy Leon, Stella Gray, Sumie Sakai and Stardom star Mayu Iwatani. They announced a tournament to crown the firrst Women of Honor champion. Tournament starts on 1/20 in Nashville. Said other women from Stardom would also be coming.
YOUNG BUCKS & HANGMAN PAGE VS. DRAGON LEE & TITAN & FLIP GORDON FOR THE TRIOS TITLES
This was what you’d expect. They did almost no schtick, past a ton of missed dropkicks in successon. The rest was all the flying moves on both sides. Gordon is phenomenal as far as what he can do but he still doesn’t connect well with the crowd. Dragon Lee was super as usual as Lee & Titan have no issues working with Americans because of their time in Japan. age is standig out more including a crazy moonsault off the top to the floor. Page & Matt did a shooting star Meltzer driver off the apron to the floor to take out Lee. The finish saw Page have both Lee & Gordon in the rites of passage and Matt & Nick came off the top rope with a double indy taker on them and Matt pinned Gordon. Daniels & Kazarian & Scorpio Sky (who they put over as a friend of Gordon’s but the turned on Gordon after the match) came out and beat up both teams so they look like the next challengers.
Cody is wearing a mink coat like Flair & Dusty wore in the 80s.
CODY VS. DALTON CASTLE FOR ROH TITLE
Castle won the title clean with the bangarang. Good match, I don’t think the fans expected the title change at all. Big confetti celebration at the end. Cody came out with bleached blonde hair. Brandi Rhodes did a plancha on The Boys and Todd Sinclair kicked them all out. Cody bled heavily from being pulled into the post. There was a ref bump and Castle got Cody in the Julie Newmar submission and Cody tapped out but no ref. Cody escaped from the bangarang the first time and hit crossroads but Castle kicked out. Then they went to the finish.
A new look for the Ring of Honor World Championship will be making its first televised appearance on tonight’s Final Battle pay-per-view.
ROH uploaded a video yesterday with Cody Rhodes unveiling the new title belt, with the storyline being that his nameplate isn’t on the belt yet and that the winner of tonight’s main event will be first to have their name put on the title. Cody will defend the championship against Dalton Castle at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City as ROH presents their last PPV of the year.
If Cody wins tonight and is still ROH World Champion heading into New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Tokyo Dome show, the title will be on the line when he faces Kota Ibushi on January 4th. If he’s not champion, Cody will still wrestle Ibushi in a non-title match at the Dome.
Click play below to watch the video of Cody unveiling the new title belt:
Ring of Honor was at the Soaring Eagle Casino in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan on Saturday night for a show that included a one-night tournament to crown the first winner of the Soaring Eagle Cup. Here’s a rundown of the event:
– Jay Briscoe interrupted an opening match between a local wrestler and someone from the ROH school. Briscoe interfered, challenged them to a handicap match, and then destroyed both of them. He did some heel mic work after.
– Dalton Castle defeated Flip Gordon in a first round Soaring Eagle Cup match
This was a fun match and both guys were pretty over. The finish came out of nowhere, with Castle countering one of Gordon’s various flips into the Bang-a-Rang.
– Frankie Kazarian defeated Jay White in a first round Soaring Eagle Cup match
White was seemingly in control until Kazarian kicked him in the groin to steal the win. That was after they had a pretty good match that got some time.
– Matt Taven defeated Jay Lethal in a first round Soaring Eagle Cup match
Taven was better than I expected here and worked really hard to get heel heat. The fans didn’t care about him much at first, but he got some good boos later on. He won with another kick to the groin while the referee was distracted.
– ROH World Champion Cody and Christopher Daniels went to a time limit draw in a first round Soaring Eagle Cup match
Another solid match. It wasn’t spectacular but had solid work. Cody demanded five more minutes at the end, but Daniels said he wouldn’t wrestle him any longer unless the ROH title was on the line, plus Daniels said he wanted Kazarian to win the cup so both of them being eliminated was fine with him.
Cody offered to put his title on the line, but Daniels still refused. Cody then got the fans to cheer for his wife’s family at ringside, with him bringing in a young girl who pinned him to “win the title.”
– Silas Young defeated Cheeseburger in a first round Soaring Eagle Cup match
Young came out and said that they added a fifth qualifying match due to Cody and Daniels going to a draw. He then got the pin on Cheeseburger in an impromptu match. The people who knew Cheeseburger had a lot of fun with this, but there wasn’t much to the match.
– ROH World Tag Team Champions Motor City Machine Guns defeated The Dawgs (Rhett Titus & Will Ferrara) and Nick Jackson & Adam Page to retain their titles
Jackson and Page were very over, to the point that some people turned against the hometown MCMG. This was a really fun match in the typical Young Bucks style, even though there was only one of them.
There was lots of comedy and high flying. The Dawgs got fairly over comedy wise with a lot of miscommunication-based offense, but no one cared about them as much as the other teams. MCMG retained after pinning Ferrara. The Bullet Club’s stuff was insanely over, including tons of “One Sweet” and “One Buck” chants.
– Dalton Castle defeated Matt Taven, Frankie Kazarian, and Silas Young in an elimination match to win the Soaring Eagle Cup
This was a pretty fun main event. They started with some comedy as everyone (including the referee) got kicked in the groin. Kazarian’s facial reaction to the fans chanting “one more time” after that was pretty funny. Later, Castle and Taven did a long tombstone reversal exchange, ending when Castle hit the move and did the Undertaker pin with his tongue sticking out.
Castle ended up eliminating Young with a Bang-a-Rang and tapping Kazarian out with an ankle lock. That left Castle and Taven alone, with them having a good little match that ended when Castle hit the Bang-a-Rang to win the Soaring Eagle Cup.
After the match, Castle did a speech saying that ROH would come back to Mt. Pleasant and that everyone had a great time.
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.
Submitted by reader Michael Leach with additional notes added by Clay Link
– Vinny Marseglia (w/ Matt Taven) defeated Shaheem Ali
Ali missed a coast-to-coast as Taven helped Marseglia move out of the way. That allowed Marseglia to hit a swanton for the win. Taven then cut a promo on Adam Cole after.
– Colt Cabana got a pop as he came out to do commentary.
– Jay Lethal defeated Beer City Bruiser
Lethal was very over and won clean with a springboard cutter. Bruiser got some boos and made this a lot of fun.
– War Machine defeated The Rebellion
– Matt Taven defeated Adam Cole
This was very good. They traded small package attempts until Taven won. There was a sendoff that seemed to imply that Hopkins won’t see Cole come to the city with ROH again. He lost to Taven clean and walked out to a standing ovation after Taven left the ring.
– Marty Scurll defeated Ken Anderson
Scurll ended up being face in the match because Anderson is from Green Bay. Scurll hit a low blow when the ref was distracted, then used a roll-up for the win. The crowd sang Scurll’s theme throughout and he cut a very pro-Hopkins promo after the match.
– Cheeseburger & Will Ferrara defeated The Carnies
Cheeseburger was very over. The Carnies had some nice tag team moves, but didn’t come out to much of a reaction.
– Jay White defeated Punishment Martinez
They were able to get the crowd into it after not getting much of a pop at the start. White won after reversing a chokeslam and rolling Martinez up. Martinez attacked White after the match.
– The Briscoes defeated Motor City Machine Guns
This had a ton of great spots and the crowd was loving it. The Briscoes won after a Froggy Bow and a Jay Driller. This was billed as a “rubber match” between the teams, and they said they’d do another match in Hopkins in 10 years after it was over.
– Bully Ray defeated Silas Young
There was a no DQ stipulation established before the match. Lethal and Beer City Bruiser ended up getting involved, with Bully Ray winning with a Bubba Bomb. Bully Ray cut a babyface promo after, saying that he wrestles for the fans before leaving the ring.
– The Addiction & Dalton Castle defeated The Young Bucks & Hangman Page
This match was fun. There were lots of superkicks and spots, though nothing out of the ordinary. The Addiction hit their finish on Page for the win, then Daniels thanked the audience and put over that it was the largest crowd for a show ROH has done in the city.
