Tag: global wars espectacular

ROH Global Wars Espectacular results: Rush & Cobb vs. Kingdom

Posted on by Justin Knipper

ROH and CMLL’s Global Wars Espectacular tour wrapped up in Milwaukee on Sunday. Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman, and Colt Cabana were the commentary team for the night.

Villain Enterprises (PCO & Brody King) defeated The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brawler Milonas)

Bruiser is from Milwaukee and sounded to have more people behind him tonight. Lots of beer-centric chants and puns were thrown out at the beginning of this.

The match slipped into a brawl outside the ring early on. Bruiser did a big plancha onto every one of these large individuals. It’d be fair to say these are the four biggest wrestlers in ROH at the moment.

Bruiser went on a run late in this and took both PCO and King out, then did a rolling senton off the apron to the floor onto PCO. Everyone in this match did a few high spots that you wouldn’t normally see from guys this big.

Vinny Marseglia from The Kingdom came out and pushed Bruiser from the top rope before The Bouncers tried finishing the match. PCO later landed a PCOsault onto Milonas, and he and King both pinned Milonas to put The Bouncers away.

This was a decent hoss tag match, not always perfect but entertaining enough to get the crowd into it. Despite the loss, The Bouncers shared two tall boys of beer before heading to the back.

ROH Television Champion Shane Taylor defeated Dysfunction to retain his title

This was less of a real match and more of an impromptu segment to get Taylor on the show without having to wrestle. Taylor has been doing an angle where he’s been upset about not being booked this weekend even though he’s the TV Champion.

Dysfunction, a veteran Milwaukee wrestler, came out to take on the champion. Taylor said that if Dysfunction could last five minutes with him, he’d award him the title.

Dysfunction slid to the floor and tried waiting out the clock. Taylor got on the mic and said he heard Dysfunction was good but didn’t know he was a “little b*tch.” Taylor said that he’d give him 10 seconds where he’d put his hands behind his back and give Dysfunction a free shot. He came in and Taylor took him out quickly.

Women of Honor World Champion Kelly Klein & Stacy Shadows defeated The Allure (Angelina Love & Mandy Leon)

This wasn’t bad. Shadows was very popular with the Milwaukee crowd. She wrestled Klein here in ROH when they visited earlier this year.

Shadows took a big bump through the ropes into the ring post to the floor, then Leon dove onto her from the apron. In the ring, Klein spiked Love hard with a DDT for the win.

Leon sprayed perfume in Klein’s eyes after the match and Love posed with the belt. They’ll have a match at Death Before Dishonor at the end of the month.

– A backstage segment aired where Coleman complimented Rhett Titus on the match he had against Mark Haskins on Friday. Haskins walked up and thanked Titus for the match. Kenny King then came up and said Titus had turned soft. Titus said, “At least I wasn’t knocked out by a punk-ass cameraman.”

Marty Scurll defeated Joe Hendry

Hendry’s over-the-top cheesy theme song is really catchy, I’m embarrassed to say. He offered Scurll a handshake before the match, but Scurll declined and flapped away like a bird instead.

Once they really got the match underway it became a crisp back-and-forth exchange of grips and holds. Things heated up when they went to the floor and Scurll whipped Hendry into the barricade, then followed up with a low running European uppercut up against the barricade. This crowd loved it.

While the attendance looked to be low, similar to ROH’s other weekend shows, the audience was enthusiastic and helped carry this and other matches along. Scurll was very popular, but they sounded to have fun booing Hendry.

Scurll landed a powerbomb with a stacking pin for two and later planted Hendry with a half-and-half suplex. He opted out of the pin attempt and used a superplex on Hendry for a two count.

Hendry later returned Scurll’s attack with a Hendry Lock, a variation on Kurt Angle’s ankle lock, but Scurll was able to break the hold. The match heated up from here, and some of the crowd was even chanting Hendry’s name as he held Scurll in a powerslam position. Dalton Castle’s music then hit.

Castle was carried out by three new Boys. He waved to Hendry, and Scurll found an opening to lock on the chicken wing to get Hendry to tap. Solid match.

– ROH prospect Brian Johnson came out and started screaming until his mic was cut. Maria Manic then came out and Johnson chopped her. She no-sold it, then Johnson rolled out of the ring. Manic took out the ring crew and put one guy in a torture rack.

Silas Young & Josh Woods defeated Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham

Tonight was Young’s birthday so the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to him. He pretended not to like it. Woods looks more comfortable in the semi-comedy role, the nice student to Young’s delusional mentor gimmick.

Woods did tons of awesome modern-style grappling with both Gresham and Lethal. He easily translates the new school Eddie Bravo/Keenan Cornelius style of grappling into pro wrestling. Lethal complimented Woods and offered to shake his hand, which Woods did and acted excited about. The crowd loved that.

Young and Gresham reignited their feud from earlier this summer, which showcased Gresham’s new more aggressive side. A good example of this was when he ripped his athletic tape from his wrist and threw it to ref Todd Sinclair, who bent over to pick it up. When he wasn’t looking, Gresham sack-tapped Young behind Sinclair’s back.

Lethal was storyline-upset with Gresham’s behavior. Gresham continued to act out and brutalize his opponents from midway through the match and on. Later, Young and Gresham got into a chop battle.

Gresham and Lethal went on an awesome tear toward the end of this. Lethal went for a flying elbow drop, but Woods caught him in an armbar. Gresham tried using a chair at the end of the match, but it backfired after Lethal wouldn’t use it. Young was able to put Lethal away after this.

Young looked pleased with Woods after the match, patting him on the back following their third win of the weekend.

Gresham and Lethal got into an argument about the chair. They played the blame game. The bickering over whether it’s ethical to use the chair to get to the top escalated into a fist fight that was quickly broken up by the ring crew. The crowd lost it and chanted “let them fight.” This was the hottest moment of the weekend so far.

PJ Black defeated Flip Gordon and Triton in a three-way match

Interesting match with tons of new-school aerial action. Triton wore his thong trunks again tonight and Cabana accurately described it as “espectacular.”

Triton did an awesome springboard quebrada to the floor early on. Gordon convincingly faked another knee injury after pretending to tweak it when he landed funny after a PJ Black moonsault. Everyone seemed to think it was a shoot until he came back a few minutes later.

Black did a big quebrada into the ring onto both Triton and Gordon. Triton was awesome when he was on offense and everything he did was over with this crowd.

When things got hotter toward the end, Gordon ripped Triton’s mask off. While the referee’s back was turned, Gordon tried using a chair on Black, but Tracy Williams ran out and took the chair from Gordon and took him to the back. Black then hit a springboard 450 splash for the win. 

Caristico, Stuka Jr. & Volador Jr. defeated Okumura, Hechicero & Rey Bucanero

This was a blast to watch and a nice change of pace from the other matches on the card. Hechicero was the standout on the rudo team. The tecnicos team was always flashy, and for some reason had a teal color-coded gear scheme among them. Caristico is still wearing kinesio tape on his back.

The pace compared to everything else on the card was so much more fluid and explosive. There was a series of dives to the floor before Volador did a super frankensteiner to Hechicero to win the match for his team.

– Silas Young and Josh Woods came out and Young expressed he was thankful for Woods and was impressed with him over the weekend. Young invited The Bouncers out to make up with them in the ring.

When The Bouncers started singing “Happy Birthday” to Young, Young attacked Beer City Bruiser from behind, then Vinny Marseglia from The Kingdom came out and ambushed Milonas. Woods acted shocked. Marseglia choked Bruiser with a wrench and his mouth started bleeding. Young said “this is MY town” as he and Marseglia left the ring.

LifeBlood (Bandido, Mark Haskins & Tracy Williams) defeated The Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe) & Barbaro Cavernario

This was great. Cavernario blended right into this, like he’s been wrestling with all of these guys for years. With the amount of talent in the ring at the same time, there was no way this was going to be bad.

Mark Briscoe did his running Cactus Jack elbow from the apron. LifeBlood did a triple dive to the floor. Later in the match, Williams and Haskins lifted Jay Briscoe so Bandido could land a 450 onto him.

The finish of this saw LifeBlood do a long sequence of team moves and synchronized spots from the ropes before Haskins hit a diving double stomp to pick up the win for his team. Really good stuff here.

Rush & Jeff Cobb defeated The Kingdom (ROH World Champion Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia)

Taven and Rush have great chemistry together, and it was really Rush who shined brightest out of the bunch. They are building towards Taven and Rush’s Death Before Dishonor title match at the end of the month, and without much time left they’ve done a good job in two nights.

Cobb looked impressive as always here. I think because Rush gives Taven a lot of respect as champion it gets both of them over with the live crowd as a result. Cobb pinned Marseglia after hitting the Tour of the Islands.

They did an angle after that built more for Death Before Dishonor. Taven said no one is as good as him and teased fighting Rush, and when a Rush went to ambush Taven, Marseglia jumped him. Taven then did his own version of the Bull’s Horns after the match with the assist from Marseglia to close the show. 

Final thoughts —

This was the best top-to-bottom show of the Global Wars weekend tour. The Lethal/Gresham pull-apart had great organic heat, and based on how the crowd reacted, it could be an exciting angle to follow down the line. It was the only angle to get over this weekend, really. What fans loved the most this weekend was the action.

Scurll and Hendry had the sleeper match and the first really solid one of the night. Beer City Bruiser and Silas Young were in a number of segments because they’re from the area. Josh Woods somehow improved five-fold over the weekend and seems more comfortable doing the gimmick work.

The LifeBlood vs. Briscoes & Cavernario match is worth checking out and throws yet another top-tier match onto The Briscoes’ track record for 2019. The CMLL six-man was a nice addition and added a much-needed extra flavor to the invariable ROH programming style.

While parts of the preliminary card were still weak, the Milwaukee crowd was well-behaved and were with it for pretty much the entire show. Hopefully the company can keep some of tonight’s momentum as they head into Death Before Dishonor in Las Vegas at the end of the month.

ROH Global Wars Espectacular results: Matt Taven vs. Volador Jr.

Posted on by Justin Knipper

ROH was live from Villa Park, Illinois on Saturday for the second of their Global Wars Espectacular shows with CMLL. Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman were the commentary team for the night.

Austin Gunn defeated Dante Caballero in a Top Prospect tournament semifinal match

The winner of this match is to face Dak Draper in the Top Prospect finals. Riccaboni noted that Caballero is a former MCW Heavyweight Champion. Austin Gunn is Billy’s son. He wore pretty much the same gear and had a man-bun. He played arrogant kid heel in this match. Caballero took a swig from a flask before the match.

Once these two got going it was pretty good. Brian Johnson, an ROH Top Prospect, came out and got on commentary for about 30 seconds for a brief, boisterous promo. He’s a graduate of the new ROH Dojo. His promo came out of nowhere and was sort of rambly, and he brought up “pesos” for some reason, or implied his strong distaste for them.

Towards the end of this, Caballero did the whiskey mist spot that Yoshinobu Kanemaru does, but he missed and got the referee. Gunn hit what I think was supposed to be a famouser next and that was that.

Gunn will face Draper in the Top Prospect tournament finals. This was leaps and bounds ahead of the Top Prospect match from the show in Michigan on Friday night.

Silas Young & Josh Woods defeated Okumura & PJ Black

The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brawler Milonas) came out and did guest commentary for this. The gimmick with Young and Woods is that Young is mentoring him and trying to make him tougher and meaner, but Woods just can’t help but be a nice guy. He’d high-five fans and Young would scold him. He tried to shake the other team’s hands before the match but again Young had stern words for his new associate.

Woods and Okumura were in together first and had natural chemistry together. Young later told Woods to get out of the ring so he could show him how it’s done against Black. Woods made his way back in later and did some cool suplexes. The crowd had the energy of a public library. A lot of sections in the back were empty.

Okumura used an exploder suplex on Woods at one point, and it looked fine, but the crowd had zero reaction until they realized they should probably be clapping there. Woods used an armbar with a headscissors neck-crank to tap Okumura to win the match.

The Bouncers came to the ring afterwards and celebrated. Young was hesitant but eventually took a beer and gave Woods and The Bouncers a cheers gesture before heading to the back.

Sumie Sakai & Jenny Rose defeated The Allure (Angelina Love & Mandy Leon) by DQ

This was all a big setup for Maria Manic. Rose and Sakai ran through the crowd and jumped The Allure before the bell. They had a few minutes of tornado tag-style action before the referee could get one in and one out of the ring.

The match finished when Love sprayed perfume in Rose’s face, which saved Leon from tapping to Rose but also got them disqualified. They didn’t seem to care.

Sakai went after them after the match but got laid out. For some reason they brought out a table and set it up in the ring, but the lights went out. Maria Manic appeared in the ring and The Allure ran away. Manic then threw the ref out of the ring and chokeslammed one of the ring crew guys through the table. The crowd sounded like they liked this a bit.

ROH Television Champion Shane Taylor and Joe Hendry went to a 15-minute time limit draw in a Proving Ground match (Hendry receives a future TV title shot)

Despite the flat finish, this was a great match. There was a hilarious cut to Riccaboni and Coleman waving their arms back and forth to Hendry’s sickeningly catchy theme song. They wrestled for grips at the beginning of the match, up until Taylor paused to tell Hendry that he didn’t come here for “this bullsh*t chain” but was here to throw hands.

They eventually started lighting each other up with chops, which got the crowd more interested. Taylor is so agile, never moving like we expect him to.

They brawled on the outside next. Taylor laid some heavy shots in before they had another chop battle up against the barricade. They went pretty hard here. Taylor kept breaking the count so they could keep fighting outside the ring. Hendry’s chest looked like raw chicken by the end of this. Taylor talked a lot of trash and you could hear everything because of how quiet the crowd was. Thankfully, Taylor knows how to talk.

Hendry started flailing uppercuts at Taylor and later landed a big falling lariat on him. The crowd finally came around at this point and was into it. There were a couple close near falls from here on out. Taylor landed a big swinging flatliner that knocked both wrestlers out for a few moments.

A huge moment came when Taylor went for a running crossbody and Hendry caught him in midair and did a huge fallaway slam. The crowd was louder than it had been all night. They basically brawled until the bell rang, but ROH didn’t announce any time-checks, so I’m not sure if the crowd knew what happened.

Hendry was throwing knees at Taylor in the corner when the time limit expired. The crowd turned when ring announcer Bobby Cruise explained what had happened, that the time limit was up and that since it was a Proving Ground match, Hendry would now receive a shot at the Television title in the future.

The Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe) defeated The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brawler Milonas) and Rey Bucanero & Hechicero in a three-way tag match

This was a crazy brawl starring the Briscoes and Hechicero. The crowd loved those three tonight. Team CMLL and The Briscoes teamed up on The Bouncers at first. This turned into a crazy brawl quickly. Hechicero kept getting chants from the crowd. He looked excellent, but Bucanero looked like he was wrestling in slow motion. He almost ate it completely on a tope con giro

Bruiser did the “I didn’t bite, I ain’t got no teeth!” spot that I think one person caught.

After The Briscoes won, they shook hands with Bucanero and Hechicero.

Rush defeated Barbaro Cavernario

Really good but short match. This felt like the real start of the show. The audience finally sprung awake, and once Rush and Cavernario got into it they exploded. Rush was on fire.

The crowd sounded like they were unfamiliar with Cavernario, but he never gave up on them and kept trying to get them to rally behind him. They did once he started doing dives. He did that cool tope he sometimes does through the top and middle turnbuckles, from one side of the ring to the other.

Rush smashed Cavernario in the face with a flying forearm and Cavernario shot a gob of spit up into the air, to the amusement of the crowd. Rush won after a stiff Bull’s Horns dropkick in the corner.

Jeff Cobb, Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham defeated Caristico, Stuka Jr. & Triton

This was a great car crash match. All cool flying moves or innovative power moves. Triton wore long pants tonight, compared to the borderline thong he wore the night before, which Caprice Coleman even felt compelled to comment on here. Caristico had a ton of Kinesio tape on his back.

Everyone in the match was in and out quickly — lots of action and everyone looked great, or “smooth as peanut butter” as Coleman put it.

Cobb had Stuka Jr. in a vertical suplex hold for what had to be more than 30 seconds. Stuka later came back with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on the massive Cobb. People lost it when Cobb did a simultaneous Samoan drop-fall-away slam to Caristico and Triton.

Team CMLL came back quickly and did a triple tope suicida, which triggered a “lucha” chant. Triton did a sit-out fireman’s carry driver that wowed everyone who saw it — “holy hell,” indeed, Ian Riccaboni.

Lethal and Gresham hit a modified Cornette Cutter for the win, “modified” because Triton bumped on his back instead of his face. It looked fine though.

Colt Cabana defeated Dalton Castle, Kenny King, and Marty Scurll in a four corner survival match

King came out wearing a bandage over his head and eye. When King won his match on Friday night, he rolled out of the ring and face-first into the camera on the floor. They tried making an angle out of this and King accused the cameraman of conspiring with the Great Muta in a secret effort to blind him. He also called out PCO during this promo on the entrance stage.

This was a lot of improv and comedy wrestling when it got started. They found their rhythm midway through the match. King did a bunch of spots but missed because he was trying to sell the idea that he couldn’t see. He started doing a bunch of moves and finally ripped the bandages off, but Cabana poked him in the eyes, then King accidentally schoolboyed the ref.

The crowd erupted again before Scurll was about to do the chicken wing, but Castle shot in with a high knee strike. Castle then planted King with a big German suplex, but Cabana got the win after he timed a moonsault perfectly to land on Castle as he fell with the German.

ROH World Champion Matt Taven defeated Volador Jr. to retain his title

Taven and Volador squared off here after losing their hair together at CMLL’s 85th Aniversario last summer, with Taven turning against Volador.

Taven shoved Volador and said this was his house and it wasn’t Arena Mexico. There sounded to be a number of female fans in attendance that loved Volador. It looked like Volador busted his nose open — he had a little bit of blood above his lip. Taven blasted Volador with a hard dropkick through the ropes to the floor, then a wide tope over the top rope. Taven shines at this faster tempo, plus Volador’s size allows the slightly bigger Taven to lay in more effective-looking offense.

Volador rallied back later and did another huge tope con giro over the top. Volador somehow stays completely still in midair as he floats over on those topes, it often looks unreal. They started exchanging bigger moves back and forth and Volador was able to get the crowd loud behind him when he hit the Volador Special frankensteiner from the top, then a running Mexican Destroyer for two. His nose was still bloody and the camera closed in on it.

Volador went for a moonsault, but Taven put his feet up. When Volador went for another Volador Special, Taven knocked him from the turnbuckle so that he laid draped over the top rope. Taven grabbed him in a headlock and then spiked him with a draping Climax to put him away.

This was a really good match with a clear heel and babyface story that was easy to follow. The crowd was pretty into it throughout and especially at the end.

Villain Enterprises (PCO, Brody King & Flip Gordon) defeated LifeBlood (Bandido, Mark Haskins & Tracy Williams) in a Chicago street fight

Before the broadcast in a dark match, King & PCO dropped the NWA Tag Team titles to Royce Isaacs & Thomas Latimer.

Gordon attacked Williams with a chair before the match, so then Williams grabbed the mic and suggested they have a Chicago street fight, to the complete satisfaction of the crowd.

Every wrestler started throwing weapons into the ring, mostly chairs. They had a six-man chair duel before everything spilled to the floor. Gordon grabbed a black kendo stick from under the ring, then him and Williams, who had his own kendo stick (not custom like Gordon’s), had another duel.

The rest of this was a long thread of weapon match spots, and if that’s your thing it was pretty good. The crowd liked this but still the low attendance killed any heat these guys would try to conjure up.

PCO did a big cannonball onto a pile of folding chairs. King put Williams through a table in the corner and the crowd started chanting “this is awesome.” PCO later returned and buried Williams under a pile of chairs before attempting a moonsault that Haskins broke up. King ended up planting Haskins onto the pile of chairs with a back suplex.

Later, Bandido tried doing a sunset flip powerbomb from the apron through a table on the floor, but the table was way too close to the apron and Bandido actually had to go through it to break the fall. The crowd didn’t seem to know who got the worst of the move.

The match ended after Flip Gordon landed a Flip 5 on a few unfolded chairs in the center of the ring.

Final thoughts —

This was a much easier watch than night one of the tour. The crowd was quiet until the matches with more CMLL-heavy talent showed up.

Taven and Volador had a hell of a match, and the Team ROH vs. Team CMLL six-man tag was fun to watch. Taylor and Hendry had an above average match despite a weak crowd and flat finish. Rush vs. Cavernario was great but unfortunately too short, and Cavernario was able to get over a little bit by the end.

The Chicago street fight got over live, it always does, but after a while the impact of the violence comes off as less impressive on the screen. It didn’t have much rhyme or reason, but it sounded like the match that was most popular with the crowd. It was a good booking decision to put it on last, if anything.

The final Global Wars Espectacular show will be in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Sunday.

ROH Global Wars Espectacular results: Bandido vs. Jay Briscoe

Posted on by Justin Knipper

ROH was live from Dearborn, Michigan on Friday night to kick off their three-show Global Wars Espectacular tour with CMLL. This is the first Global Wars tour not featuring talent from New Japan since 2014.

They had a bilingual ring announcer that introduced tonight’s show. Colt Cabana was back on commentary with Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman. The venue was small and it came across as very minor league on television.

Dak Draper defeated Haitian Sensation in a Top Prospect Tournament semifinal match

Haitian Sensation gave beads to fans before the match. He has a colorful gimmick and was over with the fans because of it, but he was just awful in the ring.

Draper tried shouting out a bunch of catchphrases during this, but it was always awkward because the crowd was silent. With the glut of great indie talent on the market right now, it baffles me to see these two positioned as semi-finalists.

Draper won with a fireman’s carry slam. He proceeded to cut a promo into the camera after the match and claimed he is “the future of the earth.” He’ll be in the Top Prospect finals.

Silas Young & Josh Woods defeated The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brawler Milonas)

The Bouncers called Silas Young a buzzkill before the match. Bruiser did a few jabs and did his “I didn’t bite — I ain’t got no teeth!” catchphrase that never gets over. The crowd once again no-sold it here. He did a cool sidewinder slam and tagged out to Milonas, who did a crazy running crossbody. It’s easy to forget how nimble this guy is.

Later on, Woods did a hip toss to Bruiser off the apron onto the two others. Woods later did a big German suplex to Bruiser.

The Kingdom came out to taunt the Brawlers. Milonas left the ring to yell at them — and Woods rolled Bruiser up for the win. Didn’t see that coming. The Bouncers then offered beers to their opponents. Woods accepted but Young didn’t.

Rush defeated Triton

This was originally scheduled to be Stuka Jr. vs. Rush, but alas we had Triton. The announcers were audibly shocked at how high Triton’s trunks rode up his behind. Coleman was convinced it was a thong.

This was all top quality high-speed action in about five minutes, and both really went for it here despite the short time. Rush got the first real star treatment of the night from the crowd. Triton went for a tope suicida, but Rush moved out of the way and Triton hit the floor. Triton hit a “cheeky” hurricanrana as Cabana called it. Rush used the Bull’s Horns to put Triton away quickly.

– Mark Haskins came out and explained that even though he hadn’t been scheduled for tonight, he came for competition. He said LifeBlood was in the spirit of competition

 Rhett Titus then came out to thank him and LifeBlood for “restoring honor to Ring of Honor” and explained how he has lost his way since the first ROH show in 2002. He insisted on a match with Haskins tonight and Haskins accepted.

Mark Haskins defeated Rhett Titus

Haskins did a really good job at trying to pump up the crowd despite the circumstances. When the bell rang, the two started out with a deliberate flow, up until Haskins caught Titus on the way down from a flying back elbow attempt and turned it into an armbar submission.

Titus hit some bigger high spots towards the end of this. Both worked really hard, especially Haskins, but the crowd was quiet and at times it felt like a slog to watch. Haskins tapped Titus out with a sharpshooter in the end. They shook hands after the match.

– Mandy Leon and Angelina Love came out next and called out Kelly Klein. Klein offered to give her a match right then. Love said “Detroit” was too trashy of a city to have a title match in and offered to wrestle her in Las Vegas at Death Before Dishonor.

Before they shook on it, Leon decked Klein. She then mounted Klein and proceeded to lay in elbows and punches that’d make the Miz’s kicks look like Donald Cerrone’s. Sumie Sakai and Jenny Rose came out to save Klein.

Kenny King defeated Jeff Cobb and Tracy Williams in a three-way match to become the number one contender to the ROH Television title

ROH Television Champion Shane Taylor came out to do commentary for this match. Kenny King didn’t shake hands before the match.

They did a couple of three-way headlock spots. Cobb was popular with the crowd in Michigan. On commentary, Taylor explained how disgruntled he’s been as the TV Champion and mentioned that he hadn’t been on too many posters recently, didn’t go to CMLL with the other champions, etc.

King whipped Williams into his valet, Amy Rose, then superkicked him. King and Williams exchanged suplexes in the ring. Cobb later took both out and used the Tenryu jab-and-chop combo to both in the corner, then planted both with spinning back suplexes and topped it off with a standing moonsault onto both and an apology to Amy Rose on the outside. Like a gentleman.

The crowd really got behind Cobb towards the final run in this. Williams hit a frog splash on Cobb, but King broke up the pin. Those two exchanged hard chops. Williams blocked Cobb’s pop-up with a guillotine choke that brought Cobb to his knees. Williams then spiked Cobb with a jumping piledriver. The match looked to be finished until Flip Gordon came out and broke up the pin.

While Williams argued with Gordon, King schoolboyed Williams for the sneaky pin.

Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham defeated Dalton Castle & Joe Hendry

Hendry made a new tag team entrance song called “Joe Hendry and friends” where he sang, put himself over, and made fun of “second best” Dalton Castle.

The crowd chanted “some guy” at Castle, which kayfabe upset him. He shrieked “I’m somebody!” before the match. There was a lot of comedy between Castle and Hendry, and while it was pretty entertaining, it’s ready-made for a YouTube miniseries and would work better outside the ring.

Hendry and Gresham were good together and did general but fun World of Sport-style grappling. There’s been a soft storyline in ROH that has Gresham getting more aggressive, and in the middle of this he grabbed a chair but Lethal talked him out of using it.

Hendry and Castle’s sub-story throughout this was one of one-upsmanship. Castle did a Vader Bomb at one point, then looked to Hendry and said “Pretty cool, huh,” indignant. Hendry did a double fallaway slam to his opponents and started waving his arms in celebration until Castle got into his partner’s face. He actually then threw Hendry out of the ring, claiming “I got it!”

This led to a hot start-and-stop finishing sequence that saw Castle almost stick the Bang-A-Rang, but Hendry insisted on giving Castle a piece of his mind and created an opening for Lethal and Gresham to take Castle out with a Cornette Cutter to win the match.

This was good, and it had a unique dynamic between Hendry and Castle that turned out to be something that could become more interesting down the road.

Villain Enterprises (Marty Scurll, Brody King, PCO & Flip Gordon) defeated Team CMLL (Barbaro Cavernario, Rey Bucanero, Hechicero & Okumura)

This was fun, and it looked like a blast for the fans. It had a big match feel to it from the moment everyone was in the ring together and the lights were turned on.

Scurll and Hechicero were in first and started slow — lots of grappling centered around wristlock work. Hechicero is very talented. Scurll got the crowd fired up and then tagged PCO in. Cavernario tagged in and did his worm spot, where he gets punched and then does the worm and kind of wakes back up. He did that.

The rudos teamed up on Gordon and dictated the pace for the middle of this. They did lots of double and triple-teaming. Things fell to the floor and there was some brawling outside. The place absolutely erupted when King did his rope-walk arm drags and a tope con giro to the floor. They gave him a standing ovation.

Pretty much everyone in the match did their own dive, including PCO hitting a moonsault from the top to the floor. Back in the ring, Scurll snapped Okumura’s fingers and King and Scurll did a senton backcracker kind of move for the win. Pretty good stuff that seemed really over live.

Volador Jr. & Stuka Jr. defeated The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia)

This wasn’t bad, but the crowd started to fade after the match prior. They perked up by the end, though. Taven shouted at Volador before they got started. Instead of slapping or chopping, he dashed to the ropes and they started in at full gear.

The match spilled to the floor and everyone did a tope or a plancha. The crowd quieted again after this. Volador was often able to squeeze some energy out of the crowd when he was in the ring, and he still somehow has the capacity to explode at 200 mph out of nowhere, the Volador pace.

Volador landed a super frankensteiner on Taven, then monkey flipped Stuka into both of the Kingdom members. Stuka did a crazy torpedo plancha to Taven on the floor, and Volador pinned Marseglia after a super Spanish Fly for the win. Lots of cool spots in this setup match for Saturday’s main event where Taven will defend his ROH World Championship against Volador.

– Alex Shelley came out next wearing a Triton mask. He unmasked in the ring to some applause. Some chanted “welcome home.”

Shelley mentioned that he was a free agent. He said he wanted to wrestle Tracy Williams, Mark Haskins, Matt Taven again, and Jay Lethal. Jonathan Gresham came out next and said he didn’t understand why Shelley was even out there. He said Shelley dropped the ball against Taven and that he was disappointed in Shelley.

Shelley then grabbed the mic and cut an overstuffed promo challenging Gresham to a match at Glory By Honor on October 12.

Bandido (w/ Mark Haskins) defeated Jay Briscoe (w/ Mark Briscoe)

They put this over on commentary as a dream match. There were a lot of people in the crowd in support of The Briscoes.

Bandido did a big Fosbury flop to the floor early on. Jay controlled much of the middle part of this. They brawled around the ring, with Jay dominating. He did a snap suplex on the floor to Bandido. Haskins and Mark Briscoe kept each other in check on the floor. Mark got on commentary for a second at one point.

Bandido’s comeback started after he launched himself from the top onto Jay with a tornillo. They fought back to the floor and had a sort of standoff with chairs, neither man making the first move until Jay was able to trick Bandido into the ring with a sneak attack. Things began to heat up after a vicious-looking dragon suplex followed by a hard falling lariat.

Bandido landed a shining wizard, or as Cabana called it, a “shining Hechicero,” in excellent usage of the Spanish he learned earlier tonight. Bandido countered the Jay Driller with a frankensteiner, which was really impressive, though even still the crowd chanted “Dem Boys,” over and over.

When Jay finally landed the Jay Driller, Bandido kicked out. Bandido returned with his insane moonsault fallaway slam from the top rope for two. Jay came back with a spike hurricanrana and a hard running lariat. Bandido bumped on his head RVD-style. This was the first time the crowd chanted “this is awesome” all night.

The next moments saw Bandido put Jay out with an inverted Go-2-Sleep and the 21 Plex for the clean victory over one half of the current ROH Tag Team Champions.

This was good overall but great at the end. It’s a smart booking choice, getting Bandido over with the established and credentialed Jay Briscoe. The two shook hands and celebrated afterwards until Taven came out and hit both guys with the belt. Rush made the save in his loafers, took Taven out, and did the Tranquilo pose.

Final thoughts —

This wasn’t the best of ROH shows. Bandido vs. Jay Briscoe was the show-stealer and thankfully it was put on last, because anything other than the Villain Enterprises vs. Team CMLL match would have died a horrible death in Dearborn.

The crowd was there and polite but were a quiet bunch, for the most part. Like other ROH shows from the past few months, the fans only seem to react if there are huge, spectacular spots, like we saw in the aforementioned eight-man tag, or even the match building Volador vs. Taven.

Considering how the final segment was booked, don’t be surprised to see Rush involved in Saturday’s match between Taven and Volador. Knowing that Rush has already challenged Taven to a World title match at Death Before Dishonor at the end of the month would lead one to believe that Volador is not winning against Taven.

ROH announces more matches for Global Wars Espectacular tour

Posted on by Joseph Currier

ROH has made several match announcements for next month’s Global Wars Espectacular tour with CMLL.

The tour is taking place across three days in September. Night one is at the Ford Community Center in Dearborn, Michigan on Friday, September 6. Night two is at the Odeum Expo in Villa Park, Illinois on Saturday, September 7, and night three is at the Potawatomi Casino in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Sunday, September 8.

All three shows will air live on HonorClub. Here are the updated lineups:

Night one (Dearborn) —

  • The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia) vs. Volador Jr. & Triton
  • Villain Enterprises (Marty Scurll, PCO, Brody King & Flip Gordon) vs. Okumura, Rey Bucanero, Hechicero & Barbaro Cavernario
  • Rush vs. Stuka Jr.

Night two (Villa Park) —

  • ROH World Champion Matt Taven defending against Volador Jr.
  • Rush vs. Barbaro Cavernario
  • Jay Lethal, Jonathan Gresham & Jeff Cobb vs. Caristico, Stuka Jr. & Triton

Night three (Milwaukee) —

  • The Briscoes & Barbaro Cavernario vs. LifeBlood (Bandido, Mark Haskins & Tracy Williams)
  • Flip Gordon vs. PJ Black vs. Triton

Caristico will only be appearing at the Villa Park and Milwaukee shows.

ROH World title match set for Global Wars Espectacular tour

Posted on by Joseph Currier

A World title match is set for ROH’s Global Wars Espectacular tour with CMLL.

ROH and CMLL have announced that Matt Taven will defend his ROH World Championship against Volador Jr. at the Global Wars Espectacular show in Villa Park, Illinois on Saturday, September 7. The tour also has stops in Dearborn, Michigan on Friday, September 6 and Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Sunday, September 8.

Taven turned against Volador at last year’s CMLL anniversary show, with them losing to Rush & Barbaro Cavernario in a hair vs. hair main event.

Taven has been ROH World Champion since defeating Jay Lethal and Marty Scurll in a ladder match at G1 Supercard at Madison Square Garden this April.

In addition to Volador, CMLL’s Stuka Jr., Triton, Cavernario, Hechicero, Rey Bucanero, and Okumura have been announced for all three Global Wars Espectacular shows. Caristico will be in action at the Villa Park and Milwaukee events.

The Dearborn show is taking place at the Ford Community Center, Villa Park is at the Odeum Expo, and Milwaukee is at the Potawatomi Casino. The events will stream live on HonorClub.

ROH announces Global Wars Espectacular tour with CMLL

Posted on by Joseph Currier

ROH and CMLL are partnering together for a three-show tour this September.

It was announced today that the Global Wars Espectacular tour will take place across three days in September. It will begin in Dearborn, Michigan on Friday, September 6.  The tour will then continue in Villa Park, Illinois on Saturday, September 7 and then conclude in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Sunday, September 8.

Here are the CMLL wrestlers who have been announced for the tour:

  • Caristico (Villa Park and Milwaukee only)
  • Volador Jr.
  • Stuka Jr.
  • Triton
  • Barbaro Cavernario
  • Hechicero
  • Rey Bucanero
  • Okumura

The Dearborn show is taking place at the Ford Community Center, the Villa Park show is at the Odeum Expo, and the Milwaukee show is at the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino. The events will air live on HonorClub.

There will also be a CMLL trios match at ROH Summer Supercard in Toronto on August 9. Caristico, Stuka Jr. & Soberano Jr. will face Cavernario, Hechicero & Templario.