The Big Takeaway: To celebrate ROH TV’s 500th episode, they showcased two phenomenal matches that saw questionable finishes.
Quinn McKay checked in from the ROH Studio and welcomed the audience to the 500th episode of ROH TV. McKay thanked the fans and multiple executives for making it this far and said they don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
Jonathan Gresham defeated Jay Lethal in a ROH Pure Championship match (16:43)
Gresham and Lethal made their entrance together to celebrate the unity of The Foundation.
Lethal took Gresham to the mat and wrenched his ankle. Gresham escaped fast. He popped up quickly and locked arms with Lethal, and then took him to the mat with a headlock. Lethal tried to escape a few times but couldn’t muster it, so he used a rope break. This took us into a commercial break.
Back from the break and Lethal had Gresham on the mat with his knee on the shoulder of “The Octopus”. Gresham reversed the hold and applied a double hammerlock. Lethal found a way to counter and tried to bodyslam Gresham, but he followed through and applied another arm submission.
Lethal eventually found a backdoor out of that hold and tried to cinch in a figure four leglock. Gresham turned it into a cradle pin for a two count. The match picked up significantly here with Lethal catching a Gresham hurricanrana and turning it into a Boston crab. This caused Gresham to use a rope break.
In the closing sequence of the match, Lethal and Gresham were trading reversals of different holds when Gresham trapped Lethal’s leg and rolled him up for the win. This came off as a very anticlimactic ending.
******
Mark Briscoe defeated Jay Briscoe by countout (15:04)
Jay backed Mark into the corner and referee Todd Sinclair broke it up. Mark no sold a Jay hurricanrana and sent his brother to the mat with a shoulder tackle. Both brothers spilled to the outside as a commercial break ensued.
In firm control of the match, Mark jumped off the apron onto the floor with a diving elbow drop. The two fought outside the ring for a while before Jay tossed Mark back in and went to the top rope. Mark followed him up there and hit a great looking x-plex from the top rope.
Mark followed it up with a urange and rolled Jay to the apron. Jay fell from the apron after being nailed with a right hand from Mark, which was followed up with a blockbuster neckbreaker. Mark set up a chair in the ring and was looking to use it for a springboard, but Jay slid back in and caught a running Mark in a fireman’s carry slam on the chair.
Back from the break and Mark is scaling the top rope. He hit his signature Froggy Bow elbow drop, which Jay kicked out of. Jay retaliated with the Jay Driller, which Mark kicked out of. Jay hit the move a second time, but this time Mark rolled out of the ring. Jay followed and tore apart the timekeepers table. This bought Mark enough time to nail Jay with a few forearms and then set him up on the table. Mark climbed to the top turnbuckle and dove onto the table outside onto Jay with another Froggy Bow. When the referee’s count got to 19, Mark rolled in the ring and he was declared the winner via countout. Another perplexing finish.
*******
Final Thoughts: This episode of ROH TV saw 30+ minutes of really good wrestling, but just weird finishes. With a match the caliber of Gresham vs Lethal ending in a rollup pin, seems disappointing. To create some future tension within the group, I would have liked to see either man have a win over the other. For the Briscoes match, a countout finish is disappointing given their history with each other, with Mark not winning in about 15 years according to Ian Riccaboni.
A brother vs. brother matchup will headline the 500th episode of Ring of Honor television.
ROH announced today that Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe will be the main event of the 500th episode of ROH TV. The episode will premiere at 8 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday, April 15 on ROH’s free 24/7 Best on the Planet streaming channel, which is available via the STIRR and PLEX apps. The episode will then air on TV affiliates that weekend and will be uploaded to ROH’s website on Monday, April 19.
Jay and Mark Briscoe were originally scheduled to face off at ROH Past vs. Present in March 2020, but that event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With Jay being sidetracked by his feud with EC3, there’s recently been tension between Jay and Mark Briscoe in storyline. Jay and Mark’s father told them that they need to face off and settle their differences before they team together again.
The Briscoes had been in line for an ROH Tag Team title shot, but — due to Jay being focused on EC3 — Mark instead teamed with PCO at December’s Final Battle pay-per-view. Mark & PCO lost to then-ROH Tag Team Champions Jonathan Gresham & Jay Lethal at Final Battle.
Jay Briscoe vs. EC3 was supposed to happen at Final Battle, but the match was postponed due to EC3 testing positive for COVID-19. At ROH’s 19th Anniversary PPV last week, Jay defeated EC3 in a grudge match. Jay and EC3 shook hands after the match.
Leading into the premiere of ROH TV’s 500th episode, there will be a two-hour 500th Episode Special airing on ROH’s Best on the Planet streaming channel starting at 6 p.m. Eastern on April 15. It will feature 10 of the greatest matches in ROH TV history.
Gresham defending his ROH Pure Championship against Lethal has also been announced for the 500th episode of ROH TV. Gresham and Lethal are stablemates in The Foundation.
ROH’s video announcing Jay vs. Mark Briscoe for the 500th episode of ROH TV is available to watch below:
A grudge match has been confirmed for Ring of Honor’s 19th Anniversary pay-per-view.
On the latest edition of ROH Week By Week, it was announced that Jay Briscoe vs. EC3 will take place at the promotion’s 19th Anniversary PPV on Friday, March 26. The match was originally supposed to happen at Final Battle in December, but EC3 was pulled from that show due to pre-travel COVID-19 testing.
EC3 returned to ROH television last month and helped cost The Briscoes a number one contender’s tag team match. The storyline was that EC3 paid off Flip Gordon to interfere in the match.
The latest episode of ROH TV featured Briscoe and EC3 both taking part in a four corner survival match to decide ROH World Champion Rush’s challenger for the 19th Anniversary PPV. Briscoe and EC3 fought to the back near the end of the match. Jay Lethal then pinned Matt Taven to get the win after Taven was distracted by The Righteous’ Vita VonStarr.
Rush vs. Lethal for the ROH World Championship and Briscoe vs. EC3 are the first two matches that have been announced for the 19th Anniversary PPV. The event, which is ROH’s second PPV since the COVID-19 pandemic began, will be available via PPV and HonorClub. Every ROH title will be defended on the show.
Last year’s scheduled 18th Anniversary PPV didn’t take place due to the pandemic.
A four-way number one contender’s match will decide the next challenger for Rush’s ROH World Championship.
ROH has announced that Jay Briscoe, Matt Taven, Jay Lethal, and EC3 will face off in a four corner survival match on the ROH TV episode that premieres this weekend (will begin airing on local affiliates starting Saturday, March 6). The winner will challenge for Rush’s ROH World Championship at ROH’s 19th Anniversary pay-per-view on Friday, March 26.
Rush retained the ROH World Championship by defeating Shane Taylor on the latest episode of ROH TV. Rush’s La Faccion Ingobernable stablemate Kenny King acted like he was going to stop Rush from using a chair while the referee was down during the match — but King then hit Taylor with the chair himself. La Faccion Ingobernable’s King & Dragon Lee also defeated Lethal & Jonathan Gresham to win the ROH Tag Team titles on that episode.
It was announced last week that EC3 has signed a contract with ROH and is making the company his pro wrestling home. He recently returned to ROH TV and continued his storyline with Briscoe.
After Mike Bennett defeated Bateman on ROH TV in February, Taven attacked Bateman and threatened to hit Bateman’s ankles with a chair unless Vincent Marseglia would agree to face Taven. When Marseglia said no, Taven hit Bateman’s ankles with the chair and said he’ll do this every week until Vincent faces him.
The ROH TV episode that premieres this weekend will also feature Dalton Castle vs. Josh Woods in a Pure Rules match.
The Big Takeaway: ROH Dojo competitors competed in a tag team contest, while Ring of Honor’s biggest stars battled it out in a massive Christmas ten-man tag team match.
Surrounded by Christmas decor, Quinn McKay welcomed us to the broadcast. She ran down the card for tonight, including a massive ten-man tag main event match. In this match, Jay and Mark Briscoe are captains of their own respective teams.
A video package for Jay Briscoe aired, featuring him opening “gifts” that were supposed to reveal his partners for tonight’s match. His partners were kept a secret.
*****
A promo aired for Eric Martin and Ken Dixon. Both men tell us they’re from the ROH Dojo. Martin and Dixon ran down their wrestling history with both men coming off very awkward. Dixon revealed he has worked a few ROH squash matches before.
Dante Caballero and Joe Keys, who are also from the Dojo, spoke next. Caballero revealed he’s from Puerto Rico and moved to the US to pursue his wrestling dream. Keys says they’ve earned their spot in ROH, and they’re not gonna lose it now. Keys came across well.
*****
Dante Caballero & Joe Keys defeated Eric Martin & Ken Dixon (10:20)
Caballero and Martin began the match. Caballero trapped Martin in some early pinfall attempts, but Martin escaped quickly. After Martin began to pick up some steam, Caballero tagged in Keys. Keys and Caballero tagged in and out constantly, hitting multiple double team maneuvers. Martin finally got some space and tagged in Dixon. Dixon hit a few really nice shoulder tackles on Keys. With Dixon in control, we went to commercial break.
Back from the break and Martin and Keys are in the ring. Keys power slammed Martin and made the hot tag to Caballero. Caballero clotheslined Martin in the corner but Dixon had tagged himself in. Caballero caught Dixon in a crossface immediately but Martin broke it up. Dixon threw Caballero into the turnbuckle and used the bounce back momentum to hit a Buzz Sawyer Slam. Keys got the hot tag from Caballero and unloaded on Dixon. Joe Keys locked in a high angle Boston Crab and Dixon tapped out.
*****
Brian Johnson joined Riccaboni and Coleman at the announce desk. He gave both of them gifts. The gifts were shirts that said “Bozo #1” and “Bozo #2”.
Team Jay Briscoe defeated Team Mark Briscoe (14:12)
Team Jay included Jay Briscoe, Flip Gordon, Brawler Milonas, John Walters, and PCO.
Team Mark included Mark Briscoe, Beer City Bruiser, Dak Draper, Tracy Williams, and Dalton Castle.
Walters and Williams began the contest. Williams downed Walters quickly after picking his ankle. Draper tagged himself in while Williams was plotting his next move. Gordon tagged himself in while Walters was distracted and drop kicked Draper. Gordon tagged in Milonas. Draper tagged in Beer City Bruiser to combat Milonas being in the ring. Milonas and Bruiser brawled for a moment before colliding into each other while running. Castle and PCO both tagged in. PCO hit an awful looking spine-buster to take us into a commercial break.
Back from break as Castle tagged in Mark Briscoe. PCO also tagged in Jay Briscoe. After running the ropes together for a minute, Mark chopped Jay. Jay retaliated with an hurricanrana. This prompted both teams to rush the ring and all hell broke loose.
Everybody spilled to the outside, which prompted a PCO moonsault onto an entire crowd of competitors. Both Briscoe brothers made their way back to the ring and began fighting again. Jay tagged in Walters who delivered a back elbow to Mark. Walters tagged in Gordon who kicked Mark once and tagged out to PCO. PCO did light work on Mark then tagged out to Walters. Mark finally tagged out to Beer City Bruiser, who delivered a few clotheslines to Walters.
Back from break and Williams was the legal man with Walters. Bruiser tagged in and hit a chokeslam cutter on Walters. All hell broke loose again as both teams were fought on the outside again. Williams was poached on the top rope and Jay Briscoe followed him up there, but Williams planted Jay with an elevated DDT.
Williams locked in a figure four leg lock on Walters while Bruiser came flying off the top rope onto Walters. Draper came in and tried to boot PCO, but he was caught and planted into the ground with a DDT. PCO went to the top and hit his signature PCO-sault for the win.
*****
Final Thoughts:
This was a fun, easy-going holiday filler episode of ROH TV. The Dojo tag team match didn’t really wow me or anything; it was bare bones and average.
While the ten-man tag contest was fun, the result was questionable. With this ROH “reset”, I figured guys like PCO wouldn’t be pinning up and comers like Dak Draper. PCO almost botched a few moves too, which is concerning. I also think Tracy Williams deserved a lot more shine in the match, considering he’s a part of the biggest stable in the company right now. I assume that next week we’ll get back to progressing storylines for the next PPV event.
The first match has been announced for next month’s ROH Final Battle.
Jay Briscoe will face EC3 in a singles match, ROH confirmed today. EC3 made his debut for the company during their latest tapings, first appearing in a match against Briscoe two weeks ago. EC3 repeatedly refused to look Briscoe in the eye and extended his hand to adhere to the Code of Honor. This caused Briscoe to get upset, and was eventually disqualified after refusing to take his foot off of EC3’s throat.
EC3 said after the match that he has come to ROH to find out “if honor is real”, and said that Briscoe attacking him after extending his hand proved that it isn’t.
The feud has become heated enough that Mark Briscoe is looking for another tag team partner, as Jay has become too obsessed with EC3.
Final Battle is scheduled to take place on December 18. It will be held without an audience.
The last time the Briscoes faced each other was on Chris Jericho’s first Rock ‘n’ Wrestling Rager at Sea cruise in 2018. Jay defeated Mark during the Sea of Honor tournament.
ROH announced last month that The Briscoes have re-signed with the promotion. They’ve held the ROH Tag Team titles together 11 times.
Sam’s Town Live is hosting ROH’s 18th Anniversary pay-per-view on Friday, March 13 and Past vs. Present the next night.
Generation Next (Alex Shelley & Matt Sydal) vs. Villain Enterprises (Marty Scurll & Flip Gordon), Homicide vs. Brody King, Doug Williams vs. Jonathan Gresham, and Jay Lethal vs. Xavier have also been confirmed for Past vs. Present.
The most decorated tag team in Ring of Honor history has re-signed with the promotion.
In a video that was posted this morning, Jay & Mark Briscoe announced that they’ve re-signed with ROH. Jay Briscoe said that their deals had been scheduled to expire in a couple of months.
Further details about the contracts they’ve signed haven’t been revealed.
The Briscoes have held the ROH Tag Team titles 11 times. While announcing that they’ve re-signed with ROH, The Briscoes hyped that a 12th title reign is what they’re focused on next.
The Briscoes first won the ROH Tag Team titles in 2003, and their most recent reign was during last year. They lost the titles to Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham at Final Battle in December.
Jay Briscoe is also a former two-time ROH World Champion.
ROH named The Briscoes their Tag Team of the Year for 2019 and their Tag Team of the Decade for the 2010s.
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.
Ring of Honor television from Sam’s Town in Las Vegas featured a double main event on a two-match show that was the go-home to Supercard of Honor XI.
In a battle between teaming brothers, The Hardys defended the ROH World Tag Team Championship against The Briscoes in the advertised main event. For the other half of the double main event, the Bullet Club’s Superkliq found themselves challenged to a six-man tag match. Challenges were a constant theme throughout the show.
A challenge by The Young Bucks amended the stipulations for the main event at Supercard of Honor this Saturday in Lakeland, Florida. Likewise, yet another challenge during a backstage skit set up a World TV title match on an upcoming episode.
This TV episode began airing over the past weekend in syndication. Available this week via the FITE TV app, the show airs Wednesday at midnight ET on Comet TV affiliates and that channel’s free online live stream. The episode is then available on Thursday to watch for free via the official ROH website.
Bryan and Vinny reviewed the show this past Sunday evening on the B&V Show available to our subscribers.
This episode was the first to air from the set of shows taped for TV the night after the last pay-per-view, so storylines were fresh and focused on the upcoming supercard.
The show opened with a video package highlighting Christopher Daniels’ title win in the main event of the 15th Anniversary PPV. Daniels then addressed the audience for the first time since winning the ROH World Championship.
Daniels had an alcoholic beverage to celebrate. He poured himself an appletini as Frankie Kazarian introduced him as the new champion. Daniels gave credit to Kazarian for the plan he implemented that led Daniels to capture the title. He also said the only thing sweeter than his drink of choice was winning the title.
Kazarian added he had championship goals of his own, noting he earned an opportunity to challenge for the ROH World TV Championship. He gave a warning to the current champion, Marty Scurll.
Kazarian closed the promo talking about them going their own way in singles matches for now, but they will always be brothers and “The Addiction you just can’t kick.”
Dalton Castle, the top contender for the ROH World title, strolled onstage as The Addiction concluded their remarks. After a commercial break, Castle tried a sip of the appletini and was thoroughly impressed. He asked Daniels for a full drink.
Daniels said he only had one glass. Castle told him not to worry and snapped his fingers. Racing to the ring, The Boys rushed in with a martini glass that was much bigger than Daniels’ own drinkware. Castle grasped a freshly poured drink while he began to warn Daniels about being a marked man as the champion. The Bullet Club theme song interrupted them as Adam Cole and The Young Bucks walked onstage.
The Superkliq was on the scene.
Cole cut a promo that began with him categorizing Daniels’ title win as him capturing “lightning in a bottle.” Besides calling it a fluke, Cole also said The Addiction stole the title from him. Cole went on to demean Castle before saying the only deserving contender is “Adam Cole BAY BAY!”
That led to Kazarian challenging the Bullet Club’s Superkliq to a six-man tag match for later in the show. Cole accepted on behalf of the Bucks.
In a backstage skit, ROH World TV Champion Marty Scurll cut a promo bemoaning what he called the lack of challengers in ROH. He called out anyone on the roster to challenge him for his title.
The director yelled “cut” as the camera kept rolling. Kenny King entered the scene, saying he overheard Scurll’s comments. King challenged Scurll to a title match and the champion accepted. They glared at each other before each smirked.
ROH World Tag Team Champions Matt & Jeff Hardy defeated Mark & Jay Briscoe to retain their titles
Besides the ROH tag titles, The Hardys also had possession of the Superkick titles they stole from The Young Bucks. Of course, there was no mention of the Broken Hardys gimmick. That didn’t stop the crowd from chanting “delete” and “obsolete” at one point during the match.
In Matt Hardy’s last run with ROH, he feuded with The Briscoes. They picked up here where they left off, with Jeff Hardy added to the mix making it that much better.
The Hardys gained the early advantage. The Briscoes cut them off when The Hardys attempted Poetry in Motion, leading to Jay diving through the ropes with a tope suicida followed by Mark leaping off the apron with a Cactus Jack elbow on the floor.
The match went through two commercial breaks. Upon returning from the first break, Mark and Jay were taking turns working over Jeff.
Jeff fired up and springboarded into Whisper in the Wind. On a hot tag, Matt cleaned house on Mark. The Hardys had Mark grounded heading into the second commercial break of the match.
On a double clothesline, both Mark and Jeff were down. They each tagged their brother. Jay and Matt began brawling and Matt backed Jay into a corner, where he began biting him. Adding color to the match, Jay bled after being bitten by Matt. They continued fighting, then everyone got involved.
Mark superplexed Jeff into the ring and Jay superplexed Matt onto brother Jeff. Mark followed up with a Froggy-bow for a near fall on Matt. The Briscoes set up for the Doomsday Device. Jeff shoved Mark off the top turnbuckle. Mark landed on the apron to regroup and springboard off the top rope to complete the Doomsday Device on Matt.
Jeff broke up the subsequent pinning attempt. He brawled with Jay, which led to Jeff dispatching Jay with a Twist of Fate on the floor. Matt gave Mark a Twist of Fate in the ring, setting up a Swanton from Jeff. Matt went to cover Mark, but Mark countered with a crucifix for a near fall.
At the finish, The Hardys got the win with a backslide/cradle combo.
Afterwards, The Young Bucks sauntered onstage to amend the tag title match set for Supercard of Honor on April 1st. They wanted to add a stipulation to the match.
Nick and Matt Jackson challenged Matt and Jeff Hardy to make the bout a ladder match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship with both the ROH titles and the stolen Superkick titles hanging overhead.
The Hardys accepted the stipulation in the TV angle setting up the ladder match this weekend. Notably, The Hardys only nonverbally conveyed the message they would accept the new stipulations.
The Hardys have yet to cut a promo as characters on ROH TV since the legal wrangling began over ownership of intellectual property associated with their unique personas.
The Addiction & Dalton Castle (w/ The Boys) defeated The Young Bucks & Adam Cole
A brawl erupted with the match joined in progress. It started off wild, leading to Nick Jackson jumping off the ropes into a Swanton onto a pile of bodies. Bullet Club then powerbombed the three babyfaces onto the ring apron. The Young Bucks and Cole knelt down for the Rise of the Terminator.
With Cole still kneeling, The Boys tripped up The Bucks when they went to run the ropes. The Boys comedically joined Cole as they knelt down mocking the Terminator spot. They tried running the ropes only to get tripped and superkicked. All the while, Cole continued kneeling in a pose.
The Bucks slid back into the ring to rejoin Cole and complete the Rise of the Terminator, leading to dives out of the ring. Bullet Club singled out Kazarian and worked him over. The Young Bucks did some wild high spots.
This led into a hot tag where Daniels ran wild on the Bullet Club. Daniels went for Angel’s Wings, but Cole made the save with a superkick. Castle then saved Daniels.
Castle shined in the closing moments with a series of suplexes. After a flurry of offense and big moves, Daniels dropped Matt with Angel’s Wings and everybody lay prone selling. Everyone began to rise and moments later Cole executed a Canadian Destroyer on Kazarian. The Young Bucks unleashed a Superkick Party as the Superkliq dominated.
But it wasn’t for long as the Jackson brothers accidentally superkicked Cole. Daniels did a springboard moonsault on the Jacksons. Castle then delivered a Bang-a-Rang and pinned Cole.
The show closed with promos hyping Supercard of Honor this weekend in Florida. That show is available live this Saturday as an iPPV via the FITE app and the ROH website.
Both intentionally and unintentionally, Ring of Honor television from this past week summoned the spirit of World Championship Wrestling with the first in a series of episodes taped at Center Stage Theater in Atlanta. That same venue for years hosted countless tapings for WCW Saturday Night.
Marketed with the tagline “Saturday Night at Center Stage,” the tapings in Atlanta were the first episodes taped in 2017 for ROH. The vibe of the episode almost felt like a heated episode of WCW Saturday Night.
For a time in the early 1990s, WCW would plug their major house shows at the Omni in Atlanta even though the matches would rarely air on TV. From this taping at a former home of WCW, ROH did the same on this episode. Plugs on TV kept pushing the house shows in Texas this weekend, even though those dates are not televised (aside from online VOD viewing later on).
Also similar to WCW in that a broadcasting company owned the wrestling promotion, ROH continues to improve the production of their TV shows even amid recent departures and uncertain futures for some personnel.
The audio of the crowd was very much improved on this show. That could also possibly be a product of the environment. The theater seating and intimacy of Center Stage allows for better acoustics than the usual flat floor seating arrangements of many ROH shows.
The episode from this past week opened with a video package recap highlighting the ROH World title match at Wrestle Kingdom 11 in the Tokyo Dome. Adam Cole won the title by defeating Kyle O’Reilly. Footage of the match was mixed with a Cole promo boasting about himself being the first three-time ROH World Champion. Cole also indicated that was the end of his feud with O’Reilly.
The Tempura Boyz (Sho & Yo) defeated Coast 2 Coast (Shaheem Ali & Leon St. Giovanni) and Cheeseburger & Will Ferrara in a three-way tag match
Still on excursion from New Japan, Yo and Sho look to be getting a small push on these tapings as the focus of this match was making the Tempura Boyz into contenders. Everybody got to shine in this match and it got wild despite being short on time.
Cheeseburger did a dive to the outside after springboarding off the top rope. Sho followed that with a flip dive to the floor. Giovanni then did a crazy 450 splash on a pile of bodies. With that, The Young Bucks appeared on stage as the show cut to commercial.
After the break, Nick and Matt Jackson were providing guest commentary alongside Kevin Kelly when they announced the winners of this match would get a shot at their ROH tag team titles.
Ali and Giovanni got their moment to shine as they hooked Ferrara in the tree-of-woe. They then delivered stereo missile dropkicks into the corner. In doing so, Giovanni leapt into his dropkick after springboarding off the top rope going “coast to coast” to the opposite corner, hence their tag team name.
Soon thereafter, Yo and Sho singled out Ali and executed their Shock and Awe finisher. Sho covered Ali for the pinfall.
Afterwards, The Young Bucks got in the ring to congratulate the Boyz. The Bucks offered them a title shot for the ROH World tag titles “next week.” As The Tempura Boyz high-fived each other, Nick and Matt superkicked them.
After the superkick party, the Bucks introduced Adam Cole and he sauntered to the ring for a promo. During “story time with Adam Cole, BAY BAY,” Cole ran down his list of potential challengers and dismissed them all.
When mentioning the Decade of Excellence tournament, it was notable that he failed to mention Christopher Daniels.
ROH World TV Champion Marty Scurll defeated Juice Robinson to retain his title
Alex Shelley provided guest commentary. In the match itself, Scurll and Robinson began by having exchanges to showcase their technical wrestling abilities. When the action spilled outside of the ring, Scurll dropped Robinson with a soccer kick as the show went to a commercial break.
After that break, Robinson had the advantage as he jumped off the top rope with a flying headbutt for a near fall. Robinson followed with a few more near falls. Scurll cut him off and hoisted Robinson for a brainbuster.
Robinson made a comeback and got another near fall with a falling powerbomb after he blocked Scurll from applying his submission finisher. Robinson rolled through when Scurll gave him a superplex, and Robinson cradled Scurll for a near fall. Moments later as they battled on the floor, Scurll moved out of the way as Robinson cannonballed into a guardrail.
Back in the ring, Scurll used a piledriver, and Robinson kicked out. Scurll hushed the crowd so they could listen as he snapped the fingers of Robinson. Still, Robinson fought back. As he went for his Pulp Friction finisher, Scurll countered and trapped Robinson with a crossface chicken wing. Robinson tapped out and Scurll retained via submission.
Following the match, Scurll got the house mic to cut a promo about wanting more competition. Scurll said he was declaring an open challenge. Chris Sabin led a group on stage that included Jay White, Jonathan Gresham, Lio Rush, and Donovan Dijak. They all glared at Scurll.
After a commercial break, Kevin Kelly conducted an interview with all the prospective challengers that Sabin led out. They will have a six-person match on the next episode to determine a challenger for the TV title.
Jay Lethal defeated Jay Briscoe to advance in the Decade of Excellence tournament
In the rotating guest commentator role, Frankie Kazarian was in the announce booth for color commentary on this match. As the match began, Adam Cole appeared on the stage and would eventually also provide guest commentary at ringside.
Early on, Briscoe hit a Jay Driller and Lethal kicked out. During the match, Kevin Kelly noted that Lethal was like kryptonite to Briscoe, in that Jay had rarely ever beaten the other Jay. That played into the story of the match with Briscoe finally overcoming a Lethal obstacle.
Briscoe definitely got his licks in, and he dove outside with a tope suicida at one point. From there, Briscoe dominated on offense for a while. Lethal cut him off and dropped Briscoe with a Diamond Cutter. Lethal followed that with a Lethal Combination for a two count. Briscoe also kicked out of a couple more near falls.
Lethal countered an attempted superplex to knock Briscoe off the top rope, setting up Lethal jumping off the top attempting Hail to the King. Briscoe put a boot up to block it only for Lethal to land on his feet, grab Briscoe’s boot, and apply a figure four.
In the closing moments, Briscoe kept going for his finisher and Lethal would counter. Briscoe also countered a Lethal Injection as they traded moves. Briscoe finally delivered a roaring elbow and a lariat to cover Lethal for the pinfall.
Briscoe and Lethal shook hands afterwards as Cole stared them down. Cole said on commentary that he figured Briscoe would win the tournament. Or will he? Find out in the coming weeks on ROH TV.
On the next episode of ROH TV, a six-man scramble match to determine a number one contender for the World TV title. Plus, The Young Bucks defend the World tag team titles against The Tempura Boyz.
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.
H returns to traditional PPV Friday night for Best In The World, the seventh such event in company history. The event emanates from Concord, NC, the first time BITW has been held there.
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Headlining the show is ROH World Champion Jay Lethal vs. Jay Briscoe, a rematch from last year’s BITW event where Lethal downed Briscoe for the belt in a winner takes all match.
KYLE O’REILLY VS. KAMAITACHI
O’Reilly won with a brainbuster and armbar. Very good technically. The crowd reacted but didn’t go wild. Kamaitachi reufsed to shake hands and left. The crowd isn’t mic’d well as you can see them reactingbut dont’ hear it that well. Kamaitachi didn’t look as impressive as he usually does. But his role was to put O’Reilly over as the whole thing they pushed was how O’Reilly gets a shot at the winner of the main event tomorrow.
SILAS YOUNG VS. ACH
Yeah, we’ve got the same problem with the bad crowd micing whicnh hurts the matches. You can see people are into it and hear it lightly. This was a good match. ACH did a great springobard flip dive. Young missed a springboard move, and ACH won with jumping double knees, a brainbuster and a 450 splash.
They just introudced Jay White at ringside. He looks like a teenager in the crowd.
Mark Briscoe was hilarious on his pre-match interview.
MARK BRISCOE VS. RODERICK STRONG
With Strong leaving, Mark got the pin after a brainbuster and fisherman buster in a really good match. Strong was excellent here and Mark hung with him. Mark has shaved his head but came out with a wig to surprise Strong. Both worked at a hard pace, with Mark doing all kinds of cool stuff and Strong solid with everything he did. Mark survived the sick kick and gutbuster. Mark used a sick kick on Strong. I think if the crowd was mic’d this would have come across as excellent. Fans were chanting “Thank you Roddy” and he was shaking hands on the way out.
WAR MACHINE & MOOSE VS. YOUNG BUCKS & ADAM COLE IN A TORNADO MATCH
Excellent match. Non stop action and the crowd was pretty hot. Finish saw them use the Meltzer driver on Moose and all three kissed each other after winning. We’ll update this later because it was a crazy match with all kinds of big spots and a ton of superkicks. Once again it was hurt by the crowd micing. Hanson in particular did crazy stuff for a guy his size.
CHRISTOPHER DANIELS & FRANKIE KAZARIAN VS. CHRIS SABIN & ALEX SHELLEY FOR THE TAG TITLES
Another good match. Actually this at first had a hard time following the previous match. Kamaitachi came out and attacked Jay White at ringside. They were brawling and distracted ref Paul Turner and Daniels hit Shelley with a low blow and he was out of commission. Daniels & Kazarian then pinned Sabin after the Best Meltzer ever. You’d think at this point I was the booker and had an ego twice the size of Dusty Rhodes. Daniels & Kazarian & Kamaitachi left together so they are forming a group.
STEVE CORINO VS. B.J. WHITMER IN AN UNSACNTIONED FIGHT WITHOUT HONOR
Corino came out to Shinya Hashimoto’s theme music. Corino bleached his hair blond. The commentators said this is a match that nobody wanted to see happen. This match was crazy. It came from another era as Whitmer went to hardway him. Corino bled like crazy. Whitmer juiced and it was a bloodbath. The crowd loved it. Whitmer put Corino through a table with an exploder suplex. They beat each other with broken pieces of the table. The lights went out and Kevin Sullivan showed up, teased hitting Whitmer with the spike but instead spiked Corino and Whitmer pinned him. Because nobody does this kind of match, it really worked. They saved things like tables, never do blood like this and used rolls of quarters but didn’t over do the foreign objects like in TNA where the shots meant nothing.
BOBBY FISH VS. DALTON CASTLE FOR THE TV TITLE
Another good match. Castle dominated. Castle suplexed Fish on his head and they teased Fish being hurt, but he then went for the bang a rang and Fish turned it into a front rolling cradle for the pin.
The All Night Express and Caprice Coleman came out. They came out to Presidential music. Coleman noted they were never defeated for the titles. He claimed they had to pay for this segment. Said each watched each others back and said all three are underrated and underpaid and now they are uniting and are now the group is called The Cabinet. Coleman is the Minister of Information. Rhett Titus said this whole show has been young punks flip flying around and nobody looks like pro wrestlers, said guys need to do bench presses and squats, how the tag champs have no abs and how the Young Bucks skip leg day and keep doing superkicks. Said there is an Olympic gold medalist is selling T-shirts to make wrestling great again. The Cabinet will will make wrestling great, won’t skip leg day and will win all the gold.
JAY LETHAL VS. JAY BRISCOE FOR THE ROH TITLE
Great match. Shorter than you’d think but time got out of control. The crowd loved it, chanting “That was awesome” after the finish. Lethal retained with a diamond cutter and Lethal iinjection. So right after the match ended, they turned up the crowd mic and you could hear how loud they were. If they’d done that during the show every match would have come across better. Both shook hands after the match. Briscoe nearly go the pin earlier with the Lethal injection and Jay driller. Lethal did two tope’s in a row and Briscoe came back with two of his own and a running flip dive. A lot of near falls. Crowd may have been hottest in this match.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez returns today with a packed show! Notes from WWE Takeover on Wednesday night, tons of MMA and wrestling news notes with Dave Meltzer, then Jay Briscoe joins us to talk ROH FINAL BATTLE on PPV this coming Friday night! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Roderick Strong defeated Jay Lethal to win the ROH TV Title tonight at the TV tapings in Kalamazoo, MI.
Strong and Lethal had a series of ROH title matches the last few months with Lethal winning the series with a television match after a 60-minute match at the Death Before Dishonor iPPV in July. Lethal held both the World and TV Champions, a storyline that ROH had done prior to WWE doing the same storyline with Seth Rollins.
Lethal, who remains the current ROH World Champion having ended the year-plus win streak of Jay Briscoe, hadn’t lost a singles match in ROH in nearly one year.
Strong, considered by many to be one of the best wrestlers in the world, is now a two-time ROH TV Champion; a former ROH World Champion; a former ROH Tag Team Champion with Austin Aries; the 2005 Survival of the Fittest winner; the 2010 Honor Gauntlet winner; the 2010 Toronto Gauntlet winner; and the second Triple Crown Champion in company history.
