Tag: jeff cobb

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 Saturday Night at Center Stage results: Champions vs. All-Stars

Posted on by Justin Knipper

ROH was at Center Stage in Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday for their Saturday Night at Center Stage tapings, with most of the matches streaming live on HonorClub. Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman were the announce team for the night. “The Genius” Lanny Poffo joined them for the main event.

Villain Enterprises (PCO & Brody King) defeated LifeBlood (Mark Haskins & Tracy Williams)

Williams came to the ring in a lucha mask. Haskins has a new look and wore long tights here. Early on, PCO “malfunctioned” and did a tope to the wrong side of the ring — opposite where Lifeblood was — and smashed head-first into the floor. Hardway blood but he no-sold it.

This was so hard-hitting at times. No hesitation from anyone during the match. All the guys were pumped throughout, which you could see in there faces. PCO did lots of dives into and out of the ring. Brody King murdered Haskins with a Liger Bomb at one point. Williams was real fired up in this. By the end you could see PCO’s blood stained all over the ring.

The finish saw Flip Gordon run out and crack Williams in the back with a cane as he hit the ropes, which allowed King to spike Williams with a Gonzo Bomb for the win. Awesome match, though I sometimes worry about PCO. He looked like a mess after this. 

– The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express came out and cut a promo pretty much saying thanks to the fans and that they’d become ROH World Tag Team Champions on Sunday in Nashville against The Briscoe Brothers.

They had a great short promo and pull apart together where The Briscoes asked if the Express hadn’t already had enough from their last match at the NWA-ROH Crockett Cup earlier this year.

Ricky Morton said there’s nothing that a good night’s sleep and a hot cup of soup couldn’t cure, and then they were all just riffing on soup until security came out and pulled the four apart. 

Angelina Love (w/ Mandy Leon) defeated Sumie Sakai

Kelly Klein came out to do commentary for this match. Love ambushed Sakai before the bell. Leon interfered a bit behind the ref’s back in this. Sakai worked hard. Leon sprayed perfume in Sakai’s face while the ref wasn’t looking and then Love hit an ugly Botox Injection kick for the win.

Love and Klein exchanged words after the match. 

Okumura, Felino & Silas Young defeated Shinobi Shadow Squad (Cheeseburger, Eli Isom & Ryan Nova)

This was good. Josh Woods was out with Young as his new assistant. Felino was great at times in this. Isom even more so towards the end.

They all did a big Tower of Doom spot. They showed Woods drawing stick figures in a notebook in the corner near the post ringside. Nova was impressive in this. When he went for a top rope frankensteiner, Felino countered with a super powerbomb to win the match.

Young got on the mic and called Woods a pain in the ass but said he had potential, then Woods took both the CMLL guys out. He hit a cool T-Bone suplex on Felino, with a mini-deadlift before the overhead toss.

Chase Owens defeated LSG and PJ Black in a triple threat match (winner gets a TV title shot at Honor for All on Sunday)

Lots of fast action in this. Things slowed for a second when Owens put Black in a Sharpshooter. In general, Owens really deserves more credit than he gets.

Black did a quebrada into the ring onto both guys after he’d stacked them. Black put LSG in a Japanese Swing while Owens chopped Black. Later, LSG used a 450 on Owens for two. They did a Tower of Doom spot, not even 20 minutes apart from the six-man just before.

Owens hit the package piledriver on LSG to win the match and a shot at Shane Taylor’s TV title on Sunday in Nashville. 

– Dalton Castle came out wearing a wild, shiny, really colorful suit with glittery loafers. He felt ignored in ROH, like a “kiosk at a dying mall,” assuredly a mark of his real-life time spent living in upstate New York. He got a lot of chants for his shoes.

Castle said he is the most entertaining person in ROH and that he’d win the World title soon. Joe Hendry then came out — his debut in ROH. They showed a music video of him fake-playing guitar in the Highlands of Scotland as he sang a scarily catchy but awful version of his own theme song. The lyrics went something like “I believe in Joe Hendry.”

As soon as Hendry started cutting a promo, his microphone cut out. Seriously? The crowd chanted for Castle. They bantered after that and it was good.

These two could complement each other I think. Hendry in his video was waving his arms back and forth and then some of the crowd started doing it too. Hendry then said he’d be the next World Champion and threw Riccaboni a T-shirt that said “World Champ – Joe Hendry.”

Marty Scurll defeated Bandido

I was at night one of the NJPW Super J-Cup in Tacoma this past Thursday and thought this was just as good as any of those matches. At the start of this there were a ton of chants in Spanish at Marty Scurll, expletives in English.

The two had a posedown in the ring early on and the crowd was into it. Once they really started wrestling the crowd was even more into it. Scurll went into the crowd and took one of the fan’s replica belts and held it in the air, implying he wants to be the next ROH World Champion.

Bandido did a springboard tornillo and then a Fosbury Flop to the floor, which Riccaboni topped off with one of my favorite calls of the year: “The Fosburys taste like Fosburys!” — for all the Willy Wonka fans out there.

Later, Bandido did his top rope moonsault powerslam to Scurll and it looked awesome — the crowd chanted “holy sh*t.” It was over after Scurll hit a modified cradle piledriver and the Black Plague on Bandido. Scurll won. Really good match.

– Lanny Poffo came out to do commentary and threw Frisbees into the crowd before he joined Riccaboni. He said the performers of this generation were much better than the ones from his generation. Poffo was critically slammed for his short time on the NJPW English announce team last year. 

ROH All-Stars (Rush, Jeff Cobb, Jay Lethal & Kenny King) defeated ROH Champions (The Briscoes, Matt Taven & Shane Taylor) in an elimination match

King and Lethal got into it before the match started. They brawled on the floor until they were split up and settled down. Rush was the most popular guy in this match according to the crowd. There were tons of “Toro Blanco” chants at the beginning of this.

Taylor and Cobb are awesome together. Cobb at one point lifted Taven up in a one-armed suplex for about 30 seconds and then chucked him to the mat. The All-Stars spent a few minutes chopping the hell out of Taven in the corner. The Briscoes were in and out for a while and slowed things down and beat on Lethal for a bit. 

I know he’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I seem to enjoy Mr. Poffo on commentary with Riccaboni and Coleman. The stakes didn’t feel so high tonight and the way they started to gel was something I enjoyed. It’s sometimes silly but I connect with their sensibilities and it made the match fun to listen to. I’d understand how some fans may want or prefer a slightly more serious, more sportsman-like presentation.

Jay Briscoe spat at Rush and hell broke loose. Most of the wrestlers hit the floor to brawl around the ring. Jay Briscoe was rolled up by King after Jay had turned his attention to Amy Rose at ringside. Taylor later eliminated King by hitting Greetings from 216 (Bam Bam Bigelow’s old Greetings from Asbury Park).

Mark Briscoe was eliminated after being hit with the Lethal Injection, Taylor eliminated Lethal with Greetings from 216, and Taven got eliminated via DQ when he hit Rush with a chair. 

My stream of the broadcast had trouble here, but Rush and Cobb were the survivors of the match after Rush hit his Bull’s Horn dropkick and pinned Taylor. ROH continued to tease Rush challenging for Taven’s World title and that Rush had just pinned the TV Champion. 

Cobb offered Rush a handshake, but Rush kicked it away and bumped into Cobb as he walked out of the ring.

Final thoughts —

This was a solid show overall — nothing blow-away but impressive nonetheless. It was a much easier watch than their previous cards, and the Center Stage venue looks good on television. The smaller but more enthusiastic crowd helped a lot, too. And the best match was Scurll vs. Bandido, without a doubt. 

Jeff Cobb added to PWG Battle of Los Angeles

Posted on by Joseph Currier

PWG’s World Champion has officially been added to this year’s Battle of Los Angeles.

It was announced on Saturday that Jeff Cobb will be taking part in BOLA. Cobb has been PWG World Champion since winning the title from WALTER last October.

Cobb got that title shot against WALTER by winning BOLA last year. In the finals, he defeated Bandido and Shingo Takagi in an elimination match.

Cobb is the 21st entrant to be announced for BOLA. There are three wrestlers left to be confirmed for the tournament. If Cobb doesn’t win BOLA, the winner will get a future shot at his title.

BOLA is taking place at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles on Thursday, September 19, Friday, September 20 and Sunday, September 22. Here’s the updated list of entrants:

  • A-Kid
  • Jonathan Gresham
  • Artemis Spencer
  • Darby Allin
  • Mick Moretti
  • Orange Cassidy
  • Bandido
  • Caveman Ugg
  • Jake Atlas
  • Tony Deppen
  • Fenix
  • Lucky Kid
  • Joey Janela
  • Brody King
  • Barbaro Cavernario
  • Jungle Boy
  • Black Taurus
  • Rey Horus
  • David Starr
  • Laredo Kid
  • Jeff Cobb

ROH Best in the World live results: Matt Taven vs. Jeff Cobb

Posted on by Justin Knipper

ROH was in Baltimore, Maryland on Friday for their Best in the World pay-per-view live on the HonorClub and FITE streaming services. Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana were the announce team for the night.

*****

Quick results:

  • Rush defeated Flip Gordon
  • Dalton Castle defeated Dragon Lee
  • The Allure defeated Kelly Klein & Jenny Rose
  • Kenny King defeated Jay Lethal to win their Best-of-Three series
  • Jonathan Gresham defeated Silas Young in a Pure Rules match
  • Nick Aldis & Eli Drake and the Briscoe Brothes ended in a double-countout
  • Shane Taylor defeated Bandido to retain the ROH World Television Championship
  • Villain Enterprises defeated LifeBlood & PJ Black to retain the ROH World Six-Man World Tag Team Championships
  • Matt Taven defeated Jeff Cobb to retain the ROH World Heavyweight Championship

Pre-show: Rush defeated Flip Gordon
Ian Riccaboni, Colt Cabana and Caprice Coleman are on commentary for tonight’s event. There wasn’t a wide establishing shot on the pre-show feed so it was hard to gauge how many people were in the building.

Gordon came out to a good reaction from the audience and got lots of pyro. A lot of people in the crowd were into Rush as well.

Rush brawled with Gordon from the start of this one. Gordon was quickly tossed out of the ring and into the barricade.    The more he chopped and posed, the louder his reactions sounded. All charisma from him. Caprice Coleman said this was like having steak as an appetizer.

Gordon botched a uranage so Ian Riccaboni called it a throw. Rush shouted “f*ck you!” a few times during this match. After speaking with Rush in Portland, he did mention he’s trying to use more English, both in and out of the ring.

Gordon made a mid-match comeback and landed a few kicks and knee strikes. At one point Rush caught Gordon who attempted a dive but slammed him into the barricade, then threw a garbage can at him. He’s been doing this a lot in ROH recently.

Rush blasted Gordon with a brutal Bull’s Horns basement dropkick in the corner. Gordon sold it like he was murdered and fell through the ropes before being pinned.

Rush was interviewed ringside afterwards and said: “Remember people, I didn’t come to play. I’m here to destroy.” He’s also transliterated his “Se pasa nada” catchphrase so that it’s now “Nothing happens — unless I say so.”

This was good but too short and kind of shallow overall. Rush is being positioned as undefeated even though I’m pretty sure he lost that Four Corners Survival match for the TV title where Shane Taylor won the title. I think they meant he wasn’t pinned in ROH.

-NWA Worlds Champion Nick Aldis came out to announce his replacement tag partner but James Storm came out to interrupt and spouted wrestle-rhetoric until Aldis introduced Eli Drake as his tag partner for tonight.

Drake got a pretty big reaction and the crowd chanted his name when he came out. He called people j-bones and mentioned he was from Maryland and essentially explained that he’s going to turn the world of NWA upside down. He’ll team with Aldis against the Briscoes later tonight.

Dalton Castle defeated Dragon Lee
Dragon Lee got the same pyro action that Flip Gordon did as he came to the ring. Fans threw some streamers in the ring for him. Riccaboni mentioned LuchaBlog, which was pretty cool.

A dropkick and a Bull’s Horns from Lee to kick off the match, for an early two. It was sold as revenge for Castle’s recent recent attacks on his brother Rush. He went for a running hurracanrana from the apron but Castle power bombed him on the apron. Lee bounced around ling one of those super-balls you get from a gum-ball machine. Castle threw him into the crowd and into the barricade.

Castle’s style as a crazy-eyed powerhouse bully works pretty well. He suplexed Lee all over the place and tried tearing his Lee’s mask off midway through.

Lee dove headfirst through the ropes onto Castle and Castle sold it with his eyes crossed ike he was Jackie Gleason or something. The crowd was quite into the match at this point.

They traded big suplexes until Lee murdered castle with an inverted hurracanrana. Brutal.

After a few attempts Castle finally caught Lee with the Bang-a-rang but didn’t pin him. He then did his own version of the Bull’s Horns for the win.

This was good. Dragon Lee has gotten even better, somehow, and was moving at 100 mph tonight. The booking makes sense considering Lee’s recent loss to Will Ospreay in New Japan.

The Allure defeated Kelly Klein & Jenny Rose
This was weak. The Allure had new gear and wore sunglasses to the ring. On commentary they were referred to a few times as “social media influencers.” Brian Hebner, son of Earl, ref’d this one.

Kelly Klein was in more professional looking gear tonight. The crowd was into her and chanted her and Jenny Rose’s names during this match a few times. They went after the Allure before the bell. This all looked like it was in slow motion compared to what Dragon Lee was doing just a few minutes before.

Velvet Sky took Rose out with a phony looking lariat on the floor. Angelina Love hit a really nice plancha to the floor a bit later.

When Jenny Rose and Mandy Leon together in the ring was like watching a regular match at half-speed. Klein was the only one to get significant reactions while she was in the ring.

After a botched spear on the apron, Rose slammed Leon onto the floor. Klein hit a super form the second rope fall-away slam for two. Velvet Sky distracted Hebner after this so Leon could hit Klein with a shoe. Love then did the Botox Injection (Yakuza Kick) for the win. They’re heading towards a program with Klein and Love based on this and the recent TV tapings.

-The lights went out and on the monitors they played the Maneater vignette that’s appeared online recently. Maria Manic came to the ring and spooked the Allure off, then attacked security. She put one guy in a torture rack and then Razor’s Edge’d the other one onto the rest of security outside the ring. People in the crowd knew who she was and chanted her name after this. This was minute-long angle was twice as effective as the match itself.

Best of Three Series: Kenny King defeated Jay Lethal (series tied 1–1)
These two had their second match of this series almost a month again in Kent, WA but it wasn’t broadcast until this week. It’s not worth watching, unfortunately. Lethal didn’t shake King’s hand beforehand.

King has been attempting a handful of Lethal’s moves but it looks really strange when he tries any of them, like the Lethal Injection that he almost botched on TV in the aforementioned match, or the springboard Jericho dropkick he did early on in this match. Despite that, the crowd was more or less on board with those one.

He did a drop toe-hold to King onto an unfolded chair. After teasing a Pillmanizer on King’s arm, he thought against it but eventually got backdropped onto the edge of the apron. It looked unsafe but if Lethal is all right then whatever.

Lethal used a Royal Flush — King’s finisher, on King, but it looked bad because King landed on his foot before bumping. Lethal then went for a suicde dive but King caught him, then dropped him. I think they were going for a spinebuster spot but King couldn’t hold Lethal up. They tried really hard to put it over as intentional on commentary but it was hard to buy.

King did a shooting star press that was five degrees away from Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania XIX but he stuck the landing, thankfully. Lethal used Lethal Injection but only got two, much to the surprise of the crowd. Crowd was relatively hot here. King then hit a Lethal Injection of his own (better than the one he used on TV) and a Royal Flush for the clean pin.

The last few minutes of this were the best part of this match. It’d have been a lot better if King wasn’t in it, I imagine.

Jonathan Gresham defeated Silas Young in a Pure/Scientific Rules match by submission
I have no idea why there is a slash mark in the ad-copy for this match. Riccaboni mentioned that this was the first match of its kind in ROH in close to a decade.

The story here is that Young lowblowed Gresham a month or so back, but Young claimed that, technically, he won with a wrestling move: a small package. Young feels more like a comedy mid-carder than anything else these days.

The basic Pure rules are that there are three rope breaks, no closed fists, no low blows, a twenty-count on the floor. Referee Todd Sinclair mumbled the convoluted list on the mic before the match.

Gresham got a rope break early on. The crowd was really quiet for this for the most part. Young sounded like he had a mic to his face when he’d taunt Gresham. Young accidentally used one of his rope breaks early on.

On commentary, Riccaboni mentioned that Cary Silkin owns the now-defunct ROH Pure Championship belt.

The wrestling itself was solid but Young didn’t necessarily shine; he was solid, but Gresham was excellent.

Young used a closed fist punch which earned him a warning. Bobby Cruise would announce whenever something of note would happen during the match which made it easier to follow.

Gresham at one point did a deadlift vertical suplex to Young, which was amazing for his size, really. He then sold this by attempting a move from the second rope and “throwing his back out,” which led to Young knocking him to the floor. At this point in the match, Gresham had used his three rope breaks. He later put Young in an octopus hold and forced Young to take his third rope break, something really subtle but clever. It sounds like the crowd didn’t apprecate it as much as I did, but the announce team did a good job over selling this.

Gresham continued selling his lower back. They did a wild double suplex over the ropes onto the floor, like how Bret Hart used to do it. Because Gresham’s back was storyline-injured, he himself snuck in a low blow on Young. This received a chorus of boos. He then put Young back in the octopus hold and Young tapped.

(Note: I initially typed this up as a DQ finish because Young didn’t have any rope breaks and he grabbed the ropes in this spot. This speaks to how convoluted everything came off as on TV.)

This was fine but Young’s schtick is just so played out that and his skill isn’t anywhere close to Gresham’s which hurt the quality of the match. The finish was creative but it didn’t get over with the crowd, and unless ROH’s booking committee has a long-term plan for Gresham, like a possible heel turn, this didn’t elevate either wrestler much at all.

Nick Aldis & Eli Drake vs. The Briscoe Brothers (Jay & Mark Briscoe) ended in a double count-out
James Storm was on commentary for this match. The Briscoes received superstar reactions all throughout this bout. They’re from Delaware, only a short drive away from Baltimore, MD, and they sure sounded like the hometown heroes here. Eli Drake is massive these days and is maybe in the best shape of his life. He screamed his own name a lot. Half-way into this match he jumped to the top rope with no-hands, like Shelton Benjamin, and did a super double-underhook suplex.

A few moments after Mark Briscoe landed the Cactus Jack elbow to the floor, but just as soon as things heated up more than they had all night, the match ended out of nowhere in a double countout.

The teams brawled around the venue for a few minutes until the Briscoes teased putting Aldis through a table until Kamille, Aldis’ bodyguard, came out and speared Jay. Security tried breaking things up and eventually got Kamille out of the ring, but the Briscoes took out security in Steve Austin-cool-heel-style and did put Aldis through Chekov’s Table with a Mark Briscoe Froggy Bow.

Marty Scurll then came out to a big response and helped Aldis out of the ring.

The crowd soured on the finish but enjoyed the post-match carnage with the Briscoes. ROH obviously didn’t want Drake to look bad on his debut night so it’s easy to understand the booking choice, but this was turning out to be the best match of the night. The same thing happened during Matt Taven’s title match with Mark Haskins a few months back, where the two were tearing down the house until the schmozz finish. Talk about a heat killer.

ROH World Television Championship match: Shane Taylor (c) defeated Bandido
This was easily the best match of the night up to this point in the card. Bandido came to the ring wearing a new mask It had teeth drawn on it. Taylor didn’t shake hands with Bandido and swore at him before the match. He actually spit in his hand a minute later after a rope-running sequence.

Bandido went for a running hurracanrana off the aprong but Taylor caught him and power bombed him onto the apron. There was a lot of that tonight. Taylor argued with a fan who was telling him to get new gear and told him off. He’s good at improvised trash talk, maybe the best at it in ROH right now.

Bandido used a beautiful tornillo on Taylor in the ring, then a big Fosbury Flop to the floor. He later tried lifting Taylor up for a slam but couldn’t Taylor up. When Taylor went for a cross body block from the second rope Bandido caught him in mid-air and did a swinging powerslam. Absolutely unreal because of the size difference. For context, Bandido is a junior heavyweight whereas Taylor is a super-heavyweight.

After almost slipping off the top rope, Bandido landed a shooting star press for a very close two-count. The crowd had finally come to life, even more so than in the Briscoes vs. Aldis/Drake match. Taylor then quickly hit a Greetings From 410 for the win. Really good match.

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship match: Villain Enterprises (Marty Scurll/PCO/Brody King) (c) defeated Tracy Williams/Mark Haskins/PJ Black
Villain Enterprises came out with a new theme song, new gear and brand new custom title belts with Marty’s plague mask logo on them. They wore Road Warriors-inspired spikey shoulder pads with spikes and chains. They all wore a black line of makeup on their faces over their eyes, similar to what PCO usually wears these days. It looked really, really cool.

PCO got a lot of “He’s not human!” chants. Tracy Williams and Brody King had a really good exchange. King wore new tights as well, basic trunks and black boots, like a NJPW Young Lion.

King did a somersault senton off the apron, then PCO did a running catapault senton to the floor onto the other team and landed clean and flat. Amazing to see, really.

Later, Haskins and PJ Black double-teamed and triple-teamed Scurll in their corner. Scurll eventually tagged out to King who went on an in-ring rampage. He reminds me of a young Terry Gordy and could really shine at the top of the card in singles matches.

PCO did a running tope con giro through the ropes. He does it so often and so well that it doesn’t even get the reactions it did a few months ago. How crazy is that?

After Williams landed a spike pildedriver with the help of his teammates, the ref accidnetally counted three because he wasn’t in synch with PCO on the count. The crowd didn’t like this, but they really saved it on commentary because this ref is actually a rookie so that’s what they chalked it up to. Williams and Haskins spiked PCO onto the apron for what might have been the fourth or fifth apron spot of the night.

King did that insane lucha sprinboard armdrag spot he did a few times in Japan during the BOSJ tournament tour, the one that Milano Collection AT freaked out for on commentary. Tope con giro directly after this from King too. Again, unreal.

PCO landed his PCOsault on PJ Black for the win. This was excellent. Villain Enterprises came off like mega-stars but LifeBlood and Black looked really good too.

-The Sons of Savagery came out and attacked the LifeBlood guys and Black. Colt Cabana sounded like he genuinely didn’t know who they were. Bandido saved his buddies but Bully Ray came out and decked Bandido with a lariat. Flip Gordon came to the ring with a kendo stick and chased Ray off. The LifeBlood guys offered Gordon to join their group and offered him one of their shirts. He put it on and then the lights went out. Marty Scurll appeared on the screen and introduced the newest member of Villain Enterprises: “The Mercernary,” Flip Gordon.

The lights came back on and Gordon laid Bandido out with a stiff superkick. Villain Enterprises then took out all of LifeBlood, but the segment was topped off with Gordon doing the dirtiest 450 splash from the top rope to the floor through a table on Williams. The crowd lost it for all of it and loved Flip’s heel turn.

ROH World Heavyweight title match: Matt Taven (c) defeated Jeff Cobb
Taven did not adhere to the Code of Honor before the match. The crowd sounded 60/40 with the majority in favor of Cobb. Taven was popular though.

Taven tried stalling around the ring before they really got started, but once they got going they were pretty much on fire. Cobb moved around like he was 180 lbs, doing leapfrogs and standing moonsaults as gracefully as a gymanst. Taven landed a tope suicida with such impact that it legitmately knocked Cobb into the barricde headfirst.

I felt like this had the same break-neck heavyweight pace that the Roderick Strong vs. Matt Riddle had match at the most recent NXT Takeover. It was one long sequence of cool spots. Cobb used what felt like at least 10 different awesome suplexes in this match. Taven finished things off sort of out of nowhere with the craziest looking Climax. Cobb bumped on top of his neck like he was Rob Van Dam. Taven retains. This was a only a taste of what I think these two could do together.

Final thoughts —

The last three matches of this were very good and the rest of the card was fine but nothing spectacular. The crowd came across flat really until the end of Taylor vs. Bandido, and then once more for the Flip Gordon heel turn and that 450 splash through to the floor through a table onto Tracy Williams.

The last match was great the finish felt abrupt. If anything, though, it made Taven look like he actually broke Cobb’s neck because of that RVD-esque bump Cobb took for the Climax. Basically what I’m saying is you might be better off watching this card in a clipped digest form rather than sitting through the entire card.

ROH TV results: Cobb vs. Lethal vs. Rush vs. PCO

Posted on by Dan Velten

Back at the Odeum in Villa Park, Illinois, Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana called the action.

Hirooki Goto defeated Hikuleo

Hikuleo managed to get the control early with his power. However, Goto was not to be outmatched and nailed Hikuleo with a big clothesline, which earned him a two count.

Both men connected with hard strikes. Hikuleo took Goto to the top rope and hit a superplex. Goto then walked into a monster clothesline that turned him inside out. Goto ducked the next clothesline and blasted Hikuleo with a headbutt. Goto picked up Hikuleo, used a fireman’s carry onto his knee, and then hit his GTR finisher for the win.

– Kenny King talked backstage about the upcoming second match of his series with Jay Lethal.

– Kelly Klein and Jenny Rose came to the ring, but during the long video package where each match for the upcoming Best in the World pay-per-view was recapped, Allure jumped them from behind. It was Mandy Leon and Angelina Love that did the deed, setting up Klein & Rose vs. Leon & Love for Best in the World.

PJ Black & LifeBlood (Mark Haskins & Tracy Williams) defeated Shinobi Shadow Squad (Cheeseburger, Ryan Nova & Eli Isom)

Cheeseburger and Williams started off the match for their respective teams. A nice exchange of grappling kicked it off, but it ended in a stalemate. Each man tagged out, and that brought in Black and Isom. Black was knocked down with a big knee from Isom, and that took the show to commercial.

After the break, it was Nova in the ring with Haskins. Nova was mirroring Haskins until Williams got a blind tag and landed a wicked chop. Black tagged in and put Nova in a submission hold and tagged in Williams, who landed a leg drop off the second rope.

Nova fought back and was getting the better of the action until Haskins rolled through and picked him up into a slam. Haskins tagged in Black, who came in and nailed a huge moonsault. The Shinobi Shadow Squad was decimated by LifeBlood, which set up Black connecting with a huge moonsault double stomp onto Nova to pick up the pinfall victory.

Jeff Cobb defeated Jay Lethal, Rush, and PCO in a four corner survival match

ROH World Champion Matt Taven joined the announcers to call the main event.

Rush went after everyone early, but took himself out, and that left Lethal and PCO in the ring alone. Lethal knocked him to the floor but decided against doing his dive.

Cobb came in and shoulder checked Lethal and also decided not to dive on PCO. Rush knocked down Cobb and did his fake dive. Lethal came in and eventually dove on PCO, who caught him in mid-air into a chokeslam. PCO got in the ring and took out Rush with a rolling slam and a PCO bomb, but just got a two count.

Cobb went after PCO, but Rush inserted himself with a huge forearm on PCO. However, Rush ate a Cobb superkick and a delayed vertical suplex. PCO came in and took a belly-to-belly from Cobb. Lethal came in and got caught in a spinning back suplex. Cobb went for the cover on Lethal but only managed a two count.

Cobb went for the Tour of the Islands, but Lethal countered with a headscissors and a DDT on Cobb and Rush respectively. Lethal ascended the turnbuckle, and PCO followed suit. Cobb cut off both men and went for a double superplex. Then Rush came in and put all three men down with a stacked up powerbomb.

PCO was the first man up, and he landed a pop-up powerbomb on Lethal. Cobb broke up the pin. Cobb used a Samoan drop and a standing moonsault for the pin attempt on PCO, but Rush broke it up. Cobb charged into Rush but got tossed into the turnbuckle.

Lethal took a big Rush dropkick, but PCO broke up the pin. PCO leveled Rush with a clothesline and then did his patented flip dive to the apron and Rush moved.

Back in the ring, Lethal connected with the Lethal Injection on Rush. This brought Kenny King down to ringside. Lethal landed the Lethal Combination on Cobb, but King distracted Lethal, and that allowed Cobb to hit the Tour of the Islands on Lethal for the win.

NJPW reveals G1 Climax 29 participants and blocks

Posted on by Bryan Rose

The participants for the 29th G1 Climax tournament have been revealed.

Everyone who declared for the G1 last week got their wish, as KENTA, Jon Moxley, and Shingo Takagi were all announced. ROH’s Jeff Cobb was also announced, taking part in his first G1. New Japan’s biggest stars including IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito, NEVER Openweight Champion Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Kota Ibushi will all return as well.

This year’s Best of the Super Juniors winner Will Ospreay has also been confirmed. He’ll try and make history as the first person to win both tournaments.

The full list of participants is as follows:

Block A:

  • Kazuchika Okada
  • Zack Sabre Jr.
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi
  • Kota Ibushi
  • EVIL
  • SANADA
  • Bad Luck Fale
  • Lance Archer
  • Will Ospreay
  • KENTA

Block B:

  • Tetsuya Naito
  • Tomohiro Ishii
  • Juice Robinson
  • Toru Yano
  • Hirooki Goto
  • Jay White
  • Jeff Cobb
  • Shingo Takagi
  • Taichi
  • Jon Moxley

Tomorrow morning’s Kizuna Road shows will reveal the main events for each G1 card. The tournament starts on July 6 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. The finals will take place on August 12 at Budokan Hall.

Jeff Cobb to challenge for ROH World title at Best in the World

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Jeff Cobb is getting a World title shot at ROH’s next pay-per-view.

ROH has announced that Matt Taven will defend his World Championship against Cobb at Best in the World in Baltimore, Maryland on Friday, June 28. The show is taking place at the UMBC Event Center.

Cobb lost the ROH Television Championship to Shane Taylor in a four corner survival match earlier this month, with Taylor pinning Brody King to win the title. In a segment on the ROH TV episode that aired this week, Cobb cut an in-ring promo and talked about never being pinned or submitted in ROH. Cobb said he wasn’t out there to ask for his rematch against Taylor, he wanted Taven.

Taven then came out and responded to Cobb, telling him he has no problem defending the title against Cobb anytime or anywhere. Taven teased having the match right then and there, but the segment ended with Taven saying “not tonight” and throwing the microphone at Cobb.

Taven became ROH World Champion by defeating Jay Lethal and Marty Scurll in a triple threat ladder match at G1 Supercard last month.

This is the second match to be announced for Best in the World. Taylor will defend his TV title against Bandido at the PPV.

ROH TV results: Two title matches on episode 400

Posted on by Dan Velten

From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman called the action.

ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Villain Enterprises (PCO, Marty Scurll & Brody King) defeated Jay Lethal, Jeff Cobb & Rush to retain their titles

Lethal and PCO started it off for their respective teams. Lethal nailed PCO with a lot of kicks, but PCO was barely phased. PCO begged Lethal to dive on him, which distracted Lethal long enough for Scurll to cut off Lethal. PCO tagged in Scurll, and Lethal tagged in Rush.

Kenny King and Amy Rose joined the announce team mid-match and Kenny immediately brought up his “eye surgery.” Throughout the match, he kept asking what was happening because he couldn’t see.

In the ring, Rush and Scurll wrestled to a stalemate. Rush tagged in Cobb, and Scurll tagged in King. A quick exchange led to Cobb nailing a dropkick. However, King fired back and landed a running crossbody and then pulled off a hurricanrana on Cobb.

King was sent to the floor by Rush. Lethal dove on him, but King caught him. With a kick assist by Scurll, King suplexed Lethal onto the floor.

After the break, Lethal was in the ring with King attempting to suplex him but instead used a cutter to drop the big man. King tagged in Scurll, and Lethal tagged in Rush. Rush ran wild and decimated his foes until he got arrogant and Scurll cut him off with a superkick to the knee.

Scurll called for the chicken wing, but Rush nailed him with a headbutt and tagged in Cobb, who came in and gave two stalling suplexes to King and PCO. He then launched Scurll and followed it up with a moonsault.

PCO broke up the pin, but Cobb managed to hoist King and Scurll up at the same time for a double suplex. This brought in PCO, who came in and tossed Cobb to the floor. King hit a flipping dive onto Cobb and Lethal, then PCO hit a Scurll-assisted flip dive of his own and took out all three of their opponents.

Back in the ring, Scurll and King combined forces to hit a sunset German suplex on Cobb. They then hit a 619 and cannonball combo on him. Scurll tagged in PCO and grabbed Cobb, but he ate a Cobb superkick. Lethal then came off the top with an elbow, but PCO stood up. Rush then hit him with an overhead belly-to-belly.

Lethal again hit a top rope elbow, but Scurll broke up the pin. In the chaos, Lethal hit a Lethal Injection on Scurll and went for it again on King, but King caught him on his shoulders and landed a crazy spinning powerbomb. PCO followed it up with a moonsault, which got the win for Villain Enterprises.

During the commercial, as Lethal was leaving, Kenny King jumped Lethal from behind and used his cane to choke him out.

ROH World Champion Matt Taven defeated Flip Gordon to retain his title

After an early exchange sent Taven to the floor, Gordon hit a suicide dive. As Gordon was on the ring apron, TK O’Ryan attempted to get involved. That distracted Gordon enough to allow Taven to knock him to the floor. Taven launched Gordon into the ring post and then threw him back into the ring.

Gordon got the advantage and landed a kick and a one-legged moonsault. Taven kicked out at two and bailed to the floor. Taven baited him to the outside and then drilled Gordon in the knee. Taven went to follow that up with a running dropkick to the floor, but Gordon evaded and landed a superkick. Gordon charged after Taven, but Taven hip tossed him into the guardrail.

After the commercial, Taven was attacking Gordon’s injured knee with punches. Gordon fought to his feet and landed a knee to the head of Taven. However, Taven kept going back to the knee with a dragon screw leg whip, which sent Gordon to the floor. As he was out there, Taven distracted the referee. That allowed O’Ryan to attack Gordon.

Taven locked on a half Boston crab back inside the ring, but Gordon got to the ropes. Finally, Gordon managed to hit a springboard spear to buy himself some recovery time. A striking exchange ended with a huge knee by Gordon. He then hit an inverted driver to get a two count.

After the final break, Taven had Gordon perched atop the turnbuckle and landed a superplex, but it was Gordon who hooked the inside cradle. He only got a two count. Gordon fired up and landed a Russian leg sweep from the second rope and a spinning Falcon Arrow, getting a two count.

Taven spit in the face of Gordon and landed a pop-up powerbomb and a Just the Tip knee. He went for a cover, but Gordon kicked out at two.

Gordon fought back up and hit a swinging TKO. He went up top, but as he was on the top rope, the red balloons floated up from ringside, distracting Gordon long enough to allow Taven to hit the Climax DDT off the top to pick up the victory and retain his title.

TV title changes hands at ROH War of the Worlds: Toronto

Posted on by Joseph Currier

The ROH Television Championship changed hands at Thursday night’s War of the Worlds show in Toronto.

Shane Taylor defeated Jeff Cobb, Brody King, and Hirooki Goto in a four corner survival match to win the TV title. The story of the finish was that Cobb lost the championship without being pinned. Cobb hit the Tour of the Islands on King, but Taylor gave Cobb a knee strike and then hit Greetings from 216 on King to win the title.

Taylor grabbed the championship from Cobb after the match and told him to get to the back of the line.

Prior to losing the title, Cobb had retained against Taylor at ROH’s 17th Anniversary pay-per-view this March.

The War of the Worlds tour will continue in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Saturday with a show airing live on HonorClub. The tour will then conclude with a set of TV tapings in Villa Park, Illinois on Sunday.

Three more wrestlers seeking releases from Lucha Underground

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Three Lucha Underground wrestlers are seeking legal representation to get out of their contracts, with a fourth possibly doing the same soon.

Lucha Central reports that Jeff Cobb (Matanza Cueto), Famous B and Sonny Kiss (XO Lishus) have all sought legal representation in order to secure their release from the promotion. Cobb in particular is an interesting situation as his character was killed off during the fourth season.

Cobb has since been wrestling for NJPW and Ring of Honor, while Sonny Kiss will wrestle at AEW’s Double or Nothing Over the Budget battle royal.

Willie Mack was also mentioned in the report as a name that could be seeking legal representation as well, though he has yet to do so. He recently dropped the NWA National title this past weekend to Colt Cabana, with SoCal Uncensored reporting that LU/AAA’s Dorian Roldan threatened to send both ROH and NWA cease and desists over using Mack.

A class action lawsuit between the El Rey Network/Baba-G Productions (the show’s network and the production company) and El Hijo del Fantasma (King Cuerno), Ivelisse, Joey Ryan and Kobra Moon (Thunder Rosa) was settled recently that allowed the four to get out of their contracts.

Six-Man Tag Team title match set for ROH War of the Worlds: Buffalo

Posted on by Joseph Currier

ROH has announced several matches for War of the Worlds: Buffalo, including a Six-Man Tag Team title defense by Villain Enterprises.

Villain Enterprises (Marty Scurll, PCO & Brody King) will defend their titles against Jeff Cobb, Yuji Nagata & Satoshi Kojima in Buffalo. The show is the first stop on the War of the Worlds tour.

Cobb is the ROH Television Champion and NEVER Openweight Champion. He defeated Will Ospreay in a title vs. title match at G1 Supercard to win the NEVER Openweight title.

War of the Worlds: Buffalo is taking place at Buffalo Riverworks on Wednesday, May 8. There are three other shows on the tour, with stops in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on May 9, Grand Rapids, Michigan on May 11, and Villa Park, Illinois on May 12. The Villa Park show is a television taping, while the rest of the tour will stream on HonorClub.

Guerrillas of Destiny defending their ROH Tag Team titles against Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham is the main event of the Buffalo show. Here’s the updated card:

  • ROH Tag Team Champions Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) defending against Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham
  • ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Villain Enterprises (Marty Scurll, PCO & Brody King) defending against Jeff Cobb, Yuji Nagata & Satoshi Kojima
  • Flip Gordon vs. Bandido
  • Rush vs. Silas Young
  • Los Ingobernables de Japon (SANADA & EVIL) vs. LifeBlood (Mark Haskins & Tracy Williams)
  • Hikuleo vs. Shane Taylor
  • PJ Black vs. Alex Coughlin
  • The Kingdom (Vinny Marseglia & TK O’Ryan) vs. Clark Connors & Karl Fredericks

ROH TV results: Crockett Cup qualifying match

Posted on by Dan Velten

The Briscoes started off the episode with a promo about Jeff Cobb & Willie Mack. They’re facing off in a Crockett Cup qualifying match in this week’s main event.

Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman called the action on this week’s episode.

Shane Taylor defeated Luchasaurus

A pie-face contest started it off. Luchasaurus then used a vast display of kicks to knock Taylor off balance, but Taylor caught the monster with a draping cutter. That sent the show to its first commercial break.

After the commercial, Taylor was in control of the dinosaur-man until Luchasaurus used a snakebite and Shining Lizard to get the edge. Taylor fought back to his feet and a striking exchange ensued. Taylor ended that exchange with a big clothesline that earned him a two count.

Taylor wasted time jawing with his downed foe, who then managed to sit up and grab Taylor for a chokeslam. Luchasaurus followed that up with a standing moonsault, but Taylor got his knees up. Taylor used a side slam and a big knee to set him up for the Greetings from the 216. It connected and got Taylor the victory.

Silas Young was backstage talking trash about Jonathan Gresham until Gresham walked up. There was about to be a scuffle until security broke them up.

Tenille Dashwood joined Riccaboni and Coleman at the announce table for the next match.

Sumie Sakai & Mayu Iwatani defeated Mazzerati & Katie Forbes

Iwatani and Sakai went for the Code of Honor handshake before the match, but Mazzerati and Forbes weren’t having any of that. Mazzerati instead slapped Iwatani in the face. That only served to fire up Iwatani, who tossed Mazzerati around by the hair. Each woman then tagged in their partner.

Upon locking up, Forbes launched Sakai, but Sakai fought back until Forbes used a stink face to Sakai in the corner.

After the break, Mazzerati and Sakai were in the ring. Mazzerati missed a leg drop and Sakai went for the tag, but Forbes pulled Iwatani off the apron. Mazzerati used a DDT and went for a cover, but Iwatani broke it up at two.

Mazzerati missed a kick and Sakai hit a swinging neckbreaker. She then managed to get the tag to Iwatani, who came in and used a double flipping arm drag on her opponents and followed that up with a running dropkick on each.

Sakai and Iwatani ran into each other, and that allowed Forbes to pick up both on her shoulders. She delivered a double Samoan drop. There was a bit of miscommunication on the part of Mazzerati and Forbes as all four women were in the ring. Iwatani then superkicked Mazzerati right into Sakai’s Smash Mouth finisher to pick up the pinfall victory.

PJ Black talked about his loss to Bandido and how he’s since changed his mindset. Those two will have another singles match next week.

Nick Aldis joined Riccaboni and Coleman to call the main event.

The Briscoes defeated NWA National Champion Willie Mack & ROH TV Champion Jeff Cobb in a Crockett Cup qualifying match

At the start, Cobb held Mark Briscoe up for a delayed vertical suplex. The Briscoes seemed rattled by that. Mark tagged in Jay Briscoe, who went for a waistlock on Cobb. Jay used some nice ground work to put down Cobb, but Cobb just used his strength to stand back up. Cobb went for a test of strength, but Jay booted him in the gut and tagged in Mark.

After a break, Cobb was in trouble as the Briscoes went to work with a double shoulder tackle. The Briscoes illustrated why they are 10-time ROH Tag Team Champions with some impressive double-team moves. Mark landed a twisting moonsault on both of his foes on the outside. Jay put the boots to Cobb in the corner and then tagged Mark back in.

Cobb finally got the tag to Mack, who came in and cleaned house. He isolated Mark, but the numbers game caught up with him as the Briscoes used a sneak attack to get Mack to the ground. The Briscoes stomped Mack down in the corner and kept control with big punches and kicks. However, Mark got caught with a pop-up flatliner and Mack tagged in Cobb.

Cobb came in and overhead belly-to-belly suplexed each Briscoe in opposite corners. Cobb picked up both Briscoes and launched them overhead. He followed that up with a standing moonsault but only got a two count.

Mark tagged Jay. Jay leveled Cobb with a lariat. Cobb finally got to his feet and tagged in Mack, who also used a standing moonsault. Mack went after Jay on the outside, but Mark cut him off with a dropkick. The Briscoes used a blockbuster on the floor to take out Cobb.

Mack and Jay were the legal men in the ring. Jay caught Mack on his shoulders, allowing Mark to hit the Doomsday Device on Mack. Jay made the cover, but Cobb broke it up at two.

Jay tagged Mark in and they went for a combo move, but Cobb broke it up before it happened. Cobb went for the Tour of the Islands, but he was taken out by Jay on the outside.

Mack and Mark got into a heavy chop exchange. Mack caught him with a big boot, but Jay slid in and landed a hurricanrana before Mack could follow up. Jay then hit the Jay Driller on Mack and Mark hit the Froggy Elbow for the win.

Jeff Cobb-Will Ospreay title vs. title match set up for G1 Supercard

Posted on by Joseph Currier

A second title vs. title match has been set up for Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling’s G1 Supercard at Madison Square Garden.

After Jeff Cobb retained his TV title against Shane Taylor at Friday’s ROH 17th Anniversary pay-per-view, ROH announced that Cobb had challenged Ospreay to a title vs. title match at G1 Supercard. Cobb’s TV title and Ospreay’s NEVER Openweight Championship will both be on the line.

Ospreay pinned Cobb in a tag match at NJPW-ROH Honor Rising night two on February 23.

Cobb vs. Ospreay likely won’t be officially announced for G1 Supercard until Ospreay is eliminated from the New Japan Cup. Ospreay is facing Kazuchika Okada in a quarterfinal match on Wednesday (March 20).

The winner of the New Japan Cup will challenge for Jay White’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship at G1 Supercard.

IWGP Tag Team Champions Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa are also set to face ROH Tag Team Champions The Briscoes (who are defending their titles against PCO & Brody King at ROH’s Anniversary PPV) in a title vs. title match at G1 Supercard, which is taking place on Saturday, April 6.

Rush vs. Haskins, Crockett Cup qualifier added to ROH TV tapings

Posted on by Joseph Currier

A matchup between two recent additions to the roster and a Crockett Cup qualifier have been announced for this month’s Ring of Honor television tapings.

Rush vs. Mark Haskins has been made official for the tapings, along with ROH Tag Team Champions The Briscoes vs. ROH Television Champion Jeff Cobb & NWA National Champion Willie Mack in a non-title Crockett Cup qualifying match. The tapings are being held at Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, March 16, which is the night after the venue hosts ROH’s 17th Anniversary pay-per-view.

The Kingdom (Matt Taven, Vinny Marseglia & TK O’Ryan) defending their ROH Six-Man Tag Team titles against Villain Enterprises (Marty Scurll, PCO & Brody King) is also set for this month’s tapings.

The NWA and ROH are partnering together for the Crockett Cup. It’s taking place at Cabarrus Arena in Concord, North Carolina on Saturday, April 27, and PCO & King and Jax Dane & Crimson are the first two teams that have been confirmed for the tournament.

PWG Two Hundred results: Jeff Cobb vs. Bandido

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Image: Dave Doyle

Here are results from last night’s PWG Two Hundred show at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles.

– Jungle Boy defeated Trey Miguel and Jake Atlas in a three-way match

Really good stuff. A little too synchronized at times but creative as hell. Miguel is really good and Atlas has improved a ton in the last several months. Jungle Boy pinned Miguel.

Jungle Boy was really popular and I was surprised to see him there given his father suffering a stroke two days ago. He just has the ability to get over with a crowd.

– Puma King defeated Laredo Kid

Excellent Lucha match. There were tons of moves and dives with a lot of creativity. It’s just what this crowd wanted from this match. Laredo Kid was great here, kind of doing so much stuff because he was losing.

– Best Friends (Trent Barreta & Chuckie T) defeated Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher)

Long match. Some really good stuff, a few misses. Basic tag stuff. They worked hard and went long.

While making a comeback, Davis did a spot where he went to bodyslam both at the same time and lost them. But there was a lot of good stuff in this one and it was more psychology based than the first bouts.

– Brody King defeated Darby Allin

Great for what it was. A big bruiser type and a smaller guy selling great for him.

Allin got his mouth busted open. He took some insane bumps being thrown around, and he did two backwards dives like Kofi Kingston, including one off the balcony. 

– Jonathan Gresham defeated David Starr

This was a technical match that got more wide open with big moves later. A lot of people saw this as the best match. It was different from everything else because of the level of modern technical skill and — while there was flying late — it built to it.

Gresham is one of the most underrated guys in the business and Starr was great working in that style. 

– PWG Tag Team Champions The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) defeated LAX (Santana & Ortiz) and The Lucha Bros (Penta 0M & Rey Fenix) to retain their titles

Fenix was pinned by Xavier. These guys went out like it was hell on wheels with nothing but big moves. The creativity was awesome and the execution was mostly good with a few exceptions.

But the ending came out of nowhere. It was patterned to look like a save was coming and it was too slow and the ref counted to three. It was also shorter than expected, but the first nine minutes were incredible.

– PWG World Champion Jeff Cobb defeated Bandido to retain his title

Cobb retained with the Tour of the Islands. There was a lot of really good stuff here as well, but unfortunately these two had such an incredible match at BOLA, and following the craziness of the tag match, the crowd only went nuts for it in spots.

This was excellent and on another show people would be raving about it like it was a classic. The most memorable spot was Cobb coming off the top with a crossbody and Bandido catching him and powerslamming him. I also think people badly wanted a title change and they never got them biting on that happening.