Tag: Matt Taven

ROH Glory By Honor night two results: Matt Taven vs. Vincent

Posted on by Skylar Russell

The Big Takeaway: Matt Taven and Vincent met in the main event, while various ROH Champions competed throughout a very fun card.

Dalton Castle defeated Danhausen 

Dak Draper joined commentary for this bout. 

Castle started off with his usual antics, taunting Danhausen with his “boys” at ringside. After Danhausen was distracted by the “boys”, Draper jumped off commentary and helped orchestrate a sneak attack with Castle.

Both guys eventually found their way back in the ring where Danhausen was able to hit a few German suplexes. Castle was losing steam and confidence when he resorted to pouring a bottle of Danhausen’s teeth onto the ring canvas. Castle would follow it up with his signature Bang-A-Rang onto the teeth for the win. 

**********

LSG defeated World Famous CB in a pure rules match 

The offense between both men was immediately taken to the mat and it led to some fun exchanges. CB targeted the arm of LSG and nearly every form of attack that CB performed was based on the arm.

CB was clearly overwhelming LSG because he used all three of his rope breaks within the first seven minutes of the match. LSG got his offense in when he could and hit a surprise “Rocket By Baby” butterfly suplex, followed by a surprise pinning combination which was able to muster a three count.

CB refused to shake LSG’s hand afterwards. 

**********

Rok-C and Miranda Alize defeated Willow & Chelsea Green 

Willow and Alize started out the match. Alize threw some strong strikes at Willow but couldn’t seem to match the power or intensity that her opponent was giving out, so she tagged out to Rok-C.

Rok-C came in and had a fantastic exchange with Willow, one that included a top rope arm drag. Willow was shaken up so she tagged out to Chelsea Green. Green and Rok-C had a fun exchange that saw Green tag back out to Willow pretty quickly.

Willow came back in and missed a moonsault on Rok-C, which allowed the latter to hit a massive code red and pin Willow for the three count. 

***********

Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor, Moses, and Kaun) defeated Incoherence (Delirious, Hallowicked, and Frightmare) to retain the ROH Six Man Tag Team Championships 

Incoherence was joined by Ultra Mantis Black, who joined commentary after their entrance. 

Delirious and Kaun started off the match and while Delirious went for a few takedowns, none of them manifested. Frightmare and Taylor came in after which got a massive reaction from the crowd.

Frightmare slapped Taylor, which prompted Taylor to clock him with a forearm strike. The match broke down for a minute and all of Incoherence sent STP reeling to the outside, which allowed Incoherence to regroup. This would end up favoring STP, who took over the match shortly after.

Moses had Delirious down and out when Hallowicked came in. Hallowicked slammed down Moses, and hit a great standing knee-based moonsault. When Hallowicked went for the pin, Taylor came running out of nowhere and bulldozed him. 

Taylor and Delirious became the legal men. Taylor went to the second rope and was going to dive onto Delirious, but Frightmare pulled Taylor off the top rope with a cutter. This was the result of a very close near fall, but when Frightmare became legal, Taylor bulldozed him with a knee strike and followed it up with a package piledriver for the win. 

************

Brian Johnson & Mark Briscoe defeated Demonic Flamita and Flip Gordon 

Johnson and Flamita started out and Flamita absolutely handled him easily. Gordon came in and Johnson had better luck with him, having a fun slug fest. Flamita and Briscoe came in and had a really fast paced exchange that slowed down Briscoe’s energy significantly. 

Flamita and Gordon took turns tagging in and out and beating down Briscoe in their corner. Briscoe eventually made a massive hot tag to Johnson, who got a great reaction. 

After the hot tag, Johnson and Briscoe miscommunicated and crashed into one another. This led to Johnson telling Briscoe to kick rocks and he walked out of the match to a chorus of boos. 

Flamita perched on the top rope for a 450 on Briscoe, but flipped off the crowd and jumped down instead. Flamita went to grab a chair but when Gordon encouraged him to use it, Flamita flipped off Gordon and tagged himself out. Gordon started to yell at his partner which allowed Briscoe to pick him up and piledrive him into the chair for the win. 

************

The Foundation (Jonathan Gresham, Jay Lethal, Rhett Titus and Tracy Williams) defeated VLNCE UNLTD (Brody King, Chris Dickinson, Tony Deppen and Homicide) 

Kenny King joined commentary for this bout. 

Deppen and Titus started off the match. Both guys exchanged a headlock or two and once Deppen got cocky, he backed away from Titus and tagged out to King. King called for Gresham, but once Gresham came in, Lethal tagged himself in. Homicide came in afterwards, leading to Lethal and Homicide being legal.

Lethal’s chops had Homicide reeling quickly and made him tag out to Dickinson. Williams came in and exchanged a few shoulder tackles with Dickinson. Williams perched Dickinson on the top rope and hit a masterful butterfly suplex that warranted a near fall. 

Dickinson was able to eventually tag out to Deppen, who became a target for The Foundation. They all took turns tagging in and out and targeting Deppen’s knee. Deppen would see an opening and fight off a double team from Lethal and Gresham, but it led to Gresham hitting a fantastic jumping cutter. 

The Foundation had full control of their opponents until King eventually got the hot tag. King went absolutely insane and started throwing people into other people and diving onto others. Eventually King and Gresham went face to face and had a great striking exchange, but when distracted, Dickinson would pick Gresham and drive him through a table with a falcon arrow.

The final stages of the match saw Lethal and Deppen as the legal men. Deppen would try to fend off Lethal’s offense but couldn’t and eventually ate a Lethal Injection, which allowed Lethal to win. 

**********

La Facción Ingobernable (Dragon Lee & Rush) defeated Mexisquad (Bandido & Rey Horus)

Rush attacked Bandido with a chair as he was making his entrance. 

With Bandido being hurt and out, Rush and Dragon Lee resorted to double teaming Horus. Horus wouldn’t lay down and take a beating though and valiantly fought back until Bandido was able to help him. 

LFI would still be in full control when Bandido returned. A ton of double team moves ensued and the crowd eventually willed Bandido back into the match. Bandido had a fantastic exchange with Dragon Lee where he countered a pop up DDT into a Canadian Destroyer. 

Rush showed weakness and favored his knee in the late stages in the match, but eventually was able to hit his signature running dropkick in the corner on Horus for the win. 

**********

Vincent defeated Matt Taven in a Steel Cage match

When Taven was trying to enter the cage, Vincent smacked him with the cage door and the match spilled to the outside. 

Vincent and Taven fought all over the 2300 arena before eventually making their way into the cage, where the match officially began. Taven wasted no time and went to the top rope with Vincent, where Taven was able to hit a swing neckbreaker. Taven followed that up with multiple running knees into Vincent’s face.

Taven would lift Vincent up for a suplex but Vincent would counter with a erungai submission. Taven escaped quickly and began an assault on Vincent again. Bateman would come down to the ring with barbed wire and slide it into the ring, but Mike Bennett would run in from commentary and try to eliminate the problem. 

Vincent took the barbed wire and weaved it throughout the cage walls, which allowed him to rub Taven’s forehead straight into it and cause him to bleed profusely. Taven would fight through the blood and start to wrap barbed wire around Vincent’s head like a crown. 

Once Vincent started bleeding, Taven pulled out a purple hatchet and rubbed it on Vincent’s head. Taven followed it up with multiple running knee strikes but he refused to go for a pin. 

Vita VonStarr would come to the ring with a bag of thumbtacks. VonStarr would climb to the top of the cage and attempt to dive onto Taven, but missed completely and hit Vincent instead. Taven would follow up by back body dropping VonStarr onto a pile of thumbtacks, and then hit a “Climax ” DDT on Vincent onto the pile of thumbtacks as well. 

Dutch, the final member of The Righteous, came down to the ring afterwards. Dutch climbed to the top of the cage and Taven pushed him off into two tables. Vincent took advantage of a distracted Taven and hit a cutter off the top of the cage. Vincent hesitated for a moment before pinning Taven for the three count. 

**************************************

Final Thoughts: I enjoyed Glory By Honor Night Two a lot more than I enjoyed night one. The show featured a great variety of matches that all told a different story and had different variations to it. My favorite bout was the LFI vs Mexisquad tag team match followed closely by the Six Man Tag Team Championship match, although I don’t think there was necessarily a bad match on the card. 

Also, sign Tony Deppen. Please.

Matt Taven vs. Vincent steel cage match set for ROH Glory by Honor

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Matt Taven and Vincent will face each other in a steel cage match on the second night of ROH Glory by Honor on August 21.

On tonight’s ROH Best in the World pre-show, Taven held his talk show, “Trending with Taven”. He brought in Vincent, who came in the rest of his stable The Righteous, which includes Dutch, Bateman, and Vita Von Starr. Taven proposed the match, saying he wanted to be done once and for all with Vincent after the match took place. Vincent said he would agree to the match if Taven put up his ROH World title shot, and also proposed the match to be held in a steel cage. Taven agreed to the stipulations, setting up the match.

After the agreement, Taven decided to go after Vincent, but was quickly taken down by the rest of The Righteous, who proceeded to lawn dart Taven into the Trending with Taven logo, sending Taven to the floor.

The second night of Glory By Honor will take place at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The OGK to challenge for ROH Tag Team titles

Posted on by Joseph Currier

A Tag Team title match will take place on ROH television later this month.

ROH has announced that The OGK (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) will challenge The Foundation’s Tracy Williams & Rhett Titus for the ROH Tag Team titles on the ROH TV episode that premieres the weekend of Saturday, May 22. This will be Williams & Titus’ first title defense since defeating La Faccion Ingobernable’s Kenny King & Bestia del Ring at March’s ROH 19th Anniversary pay-per-view to become Tag Team Champions.

Bestia del Ring was replacing Dragon Lee in the Tag Team title match at ROH’s 19th Anniversary PPV. Dragon Lee suffered a ruptured eardrum and had to be pulled from the PPV.

The OGK are 3-0 in tag team action since Bennett made his return to ROH last November. Their most recent win was against Beer City Bruiser & Ken Dixon.

Taven & Bennett formerly held the ROH Tag Team titles for three months in 2015. They also held the IWGP Tag Team titles together in 2015.

Unsanctioned match announced for ROH 19th Anniversary PPV

Posted on by Joseph Currier

An unsanctioned match is the latest addition to the card for Ring of Honor’s 19th Anniversary pay-per-view.

ROH has announced that Matt Taven and Vincent Marseglia will face off in an unsanctioned match at the 19th Anniversary PPV. The match will take place at PAL Hall in Fall River, Massachusetts, which is where Taven and Vincent’s professional wrestling careers began at the Lock-Up Wrestling Academy.

In storyline, Taven has been trying to get Vincent to face him in one more match. Vincent agreed under the stipulation that the match takes place where their careers began.

Taven and Vincent were formerly stablemates in The Kingdom but have been feuding since Vincent turned against Taven in November 2019. Vincent defeated Taven at Final Battle 2019 and then attacked Taven’s ankle with a steel chair. Taven & Mike Bennett defeated Vincent & Bateman at Final Battle 2020, but Vincent and Bateman attacked Bennett’s ankle after that match.

On ROH TV earlier this month, Taven took part in the four corner survival match to decide ROH World Champion Rush’s challenger for the 19th Anniversary PPV. Jay Lethal pinned Taven to win that match after Taven was distracted by Vita VonStarr. VonStarr is part of The Righteous with Vincent and Bateman.

ROH’s 19th Anniversary event will air on PPV and HonorClub on Friday, March 26. Here’s the updated card for the show:

  • ROH World Champion Rush defends against Jay Lethal
  • Grudge match: Jay Briscoe vs. EC3
  • ROH Television Champion Dragon Lee defends against Tracy Williams
  • Unsanctioned match: Matt Taven vs, Vincent
  • ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor & The Soldiers of Savagery) defend against MexiSquad (Bandido, Flamita & Rey Horus)

Number one contender’s match announced for ROH TV

Posted on by Joseph Currier

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.

ROH TV results: Mike Bennett returns

Posted on by Josiah MacDonald

Quinn McKay opened the show, running down the card for us tonight.

Jay Briscoe cut a promo on EC3. Briscoe said that he had been derailed from his purpose of winning the tag team titles, and had to take on EC3. EC3 said he was looking to find out if honour is real, and he wanted to see if Briscoe would live up to the ROH name and if he had what it took to show him if honour is real.

EC3 defeated Jay Briscoe via DQ

EC3 kept offering to shake hands with Briscoe, but he wouldn’t meet Briscoe’s eyes. After a brief exchange, EC3 connected with an elbow and offered to shake the hand again, as the announcers speculated that EC3 has lost his mind, as he refused to look directly at Briscoe. Jay refused the handshake and attacked. Briscoe choked EC3 in the corner and didn’t stop at the 5 count, so the referee disqualified him.

Briscoe continued to attack and claw at EC3 as EC3 begged Briscoe to hit him, yelling “Control your narrative!”. He offered himself for a Jay Driller, but security broke it up.

**********

Quinn McKay asked why Jay Briscoe, of all people, wouldn’t uphold the Code of Honor when against EC3. Briscoe said “Because f*** him.” A simple enough reason, I suppose.

**********

A video aired for LSG telling us how he became a fan of ROH, and how seeing Jay Lethal live is why he became a wrestler. He said after years of work, and a bad 2019 with his tag team Coast 2 Coast he’s now in the position Lethal was years ago – no longer a young boy. He’s ready to step it up.

LSG said he was training harder than ever during the break from the pandemic, and that this match with Lethal meant everything to him because he wanted to prove he could hang with Lethal, saying “The boy who wanted to be you is now going to beat you!”

Jay Lethal cut a promo about how the Pure title tournament didn’t quite go as he planned, losing to Tracy Williams. He had no problem that Williams was the better man that night, and that his goal is rebuilding ROH and bringing structure to it. He wanted to have this match with LSG because LSG was in the same position he was with Samoa Joe years ago.

These video packages were phenomenal. I understood the motivation and character of both right away, with Lethal being the experienced veteran and LSG looking to Lethal as a mentor that he needed to overcome.

**********

Jay Lethal defeated LSG in a Pure Rules Match via split decision

This was contested under Pure Match rules, meaning it went for 15 minutes and each wrestler would get 3 rope breaks the entire match. LSG watched Lethal for years, so he was able to counter a lot of Lethal’s offence staying with him throughout the match. Lethal went for a figure four, but LSG used his first rope break. LSG stayed with Lethal as the match went on, with Lethal being one step ahead for most of the match.

Lethal went to the top rope, but LSG read him and knocked Lethal to the floor before hitting a dropkick to the floorl. LSG targeted the neck from that point forward. Lethal finally hit his cartwheel dropkick and dropkicked LSG to the floor before hitting a suicide dive. Lethal went for a Lethal Injection, but LSG caught him and hit the Rock-a-By-Baby Suplex and locked in the Muta Lock, pulling Lethal’s arm across his face.

Lethal managed to reach the ropes just as the time limit expired. It went to the judges decision, where they awarded Lethal the victory via split decision. They shook hands after the match, with LSG making it clear that he thought he could have beaten Lethal with more time. Lethal smiled and looked like he was embracing the challenge.

**********

Matt Taven defeated Bateman

This match marked Taven’s official return to the ring after his injury that left him out for almost a year. In storyline, Bateman and Vincent took out Taven, and he wants revenge en route to Final Battle, when he faces Vincent.

Taven took it to Bateman quite aggressively in this match. Taven hit a suplex early, so he went for one again later, but Bateman countered into a Twist and Shout. Taven countered an Irish whip with a complete shot then locked on the Trend Setter, but Bateman made the ropes.

Taven hit a dive over the top rope and nailed Bateman, but immediately began selling his knee. Taven then missed a frog splash, but succeeded in rolling Bateman up for a pinfall. Bateman attacked Taven after the match and hit a tombstone in Vincent’s direction.

Vincent cut a promo about how Taven was embarrassing and that there wasn’t a single soul in the arena, yet he was still desperate for attention. Vincent said that he would never get the approval he was looking for, and his legacy is that of a failure. 

Vincent went to throw a dart at Taven’s chest, but the lights went out and it ended up being none other than Mike Bennett. Bennett ran Bateman and Vincent off and hugged Taven as the show went off the air. The Kingdom is back.

Mike Bennett returns to ROH, reunites with Matt Taven

Posted on by Joseph Currier

The ending of the latest episode of Ring of Honor television saw Mike Bennett make his return to the promotion.

Matt Taven defeated Bateman in the main event of this week’s ROH TV but was attacked by Bateman immediately after. Vincent Marseglia then came out, cut a promo on Taven, and was about to attack Taven with a dart, but the lights went out and Bennett’s theme music started to play. The lights then went out again and Bennett was in the ring when they came back. He made the save and fought off Marseglia and Bateman until they bailed.

Bennett and Taven raised each other’s arms and hugged at the end of the show. They were formerly stablemates in The Kingdom and held the ROH Tag Team titles and NJPW’s IWGP Tag Team titles while Bennett was with ROH. After Bennett departed the promotion, Taven introduced a new version of The Kingdom in 2016 with Marseglia and TK O’Ryan as his stablemates. Marseglia turned against Taven in November 2019.

Marseglia is now the leader of The Righteous in ROH.

Bennett and his wife Maria Kanellis were released by WWE during the promotion’s roster cuts this April. Bennett is also currently part of the United Wrestling Network’s World Championship tournament and will face Chris Dickinson in the finals on a future edition of UWN Primetime Live.

Left My Wallet: NBA roundtable with Matt Taven & Paul Crockett

Posted on by Antonio Garza

Left My Wallet is back with an NBA roundtable edition featuring former ROH World Champion Matt Taven and the voice both Beyond Wrestling and Northeast Wrestling, Paul Crockett.

We start off discussing if we think the NBA season will resume, and our beloved Boston Celtics. We give our outlook for which teams from each conference are contenders and pretenders, what jerseys we own, our favorite players, Paul’s love for Sean Kemp, and we attempt to play the NBA/wrestling name with less than optimal results.

It’s a glorious and chaotic mashup of NBA banter in this roundtable edition of Left My Wallet. Enjoy!

Right click save

ROH adds two matches to Final Battle card

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Two more matches have been added to the card for ROH’s final pay-per-view of the year.

ROH Television Champion Shane Taylor will defend his title against Dragon Lee at Final Battle. A grudge match between former Kingdom stablemates is also set for the PPV, with Matt Taven facing off with Vincent Marseglia.

ROH began building to Taylor vs. Lee when Taylor retained his title against Flip Gordon, Tracy Williams, and Lee in a four corner survival match at Death Before Dishonor this September. Taylor pinned Gordon, then Lee indicated that he wanted a one-on-one match with Taylor.

Marseglia turned against Taven and attacked him with an axe in an angle at ROH’s The Experience show earlier this month.

Final Battle is taking place at the UMBC Event Center in Baltimore, Maryland on Friday, December 13. Here’s the updated card for the PPV:

  • ROH World Champion Rush defending against PCO
  • ROH Tag Team Champions The Briscoes defending against Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham
  • ROH Television Champion Shane Taylor defending against Dragon Lee
  • Mark Haskins (w/ Vicky Haskins) vs. Bully Ray in a street fight
  • Matt Taven vs. Vincent Marseglia

Former World Champion Matt Taven staying with ROH

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Matt Taven is staying with Ring of Honor.

One night after losing the ROH World Championship, Taven appeared at the promotion’s post-Death Before Dishonor television tapings in Las Vegas and addressed the crowd.

“I want to tell each and every one of you that I am going nowhere. I am here to stay,” Taven said. “The story of Matt Taven is far from done. I have a lot more to prove to everyone here. I have a championship to get back — and this Kingdom will rise again.”

Taven was accompanied by his Kingdom stablemates (Vinny Marseglia and TK O’Ryan) during the segment. He cut a babyface promo, putting ROH over as being the best wrestling on the planet and saying that — whether the fans love or hate him — they’re the reason he continues to do this and continues to push himself.

Taven lost the ROH World title to Rush in the main event of Death Before Dishonor on Friday night. He then shook hands with Rush after the match.

Before dropping the title to Rush, Taven had been ROH World Champion since defeating Jay Lethal and Marty Scurll in a ladder match at G1 Supercard at Madison Square Garden this April.

Taven’s contract with ROH had been set to expire at the end of this month. He was interviewed by the Orlando Sentinel prior to Death Before Dishonor and answered a question about his future: “You don’t get to have too many surprises in this business, but I’m keeping this one close to the vest. This is a life-changing decision and a million different things go into it, so I have to weigh my options. No matter what, I’m grateful for every opportunity I’ve been given so far in my career and I don’t forget where I came from. I’m just going into this with an open mind and let the chips fall where they may.”

Rush wins ROH World title at Death Before Dishonor

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Ring of Honor has a new World Champion.

Rush won the ROH World title by defeating Matt Taven in the main event of Friday night’s Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view at Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas. Rush pinned Taven after hitting two Bull’s Horns dropkicks.

Rush and Taven shook hands after the match. Rush also celebrated with his family, including his brother Dragon Lee. Lee appeared at Death Before Dishonor and was added to Shane Taylor, Flip Gordon, and Tracy Williams’ Television title match. Taylor retained by pinning Gordon, but it was teased that Lee will be getting another shot at the TV title.

Taven’s contract with ROH has been set to expire at the end of this month. Prior to Death Before Dishonor, he spoke to the Orlando Sentinel about his future:

“You don’t get to have too many surprises in this business, but I’m keeping this one close to the vest. This is a life-changing decision and a million different things go into it, so I have to weigh my options. No matter what, I’m grateful for every opportunity I’ve been given so far in my career and I don’t forget where I came from. I’m just going into this with an open mind and let the chips fall where they may.”

In an interview with CBS Local Sports that was published this Thursday, ROH COO Joe Koff was asked if contract talks with Taven are trending in the right direction:

“I think so. First of all, Matt has been a tremendous champion for Ring of Honor. He has taken on every single person that’s come at him, and he’s done an amazing job. His matches are just, bar none, some of the best matches I’ve ever watched. And this goes back to his first match back in Brooklyn when he won the tournament to get a title shot at Jay Lethal. I remember it being in Brooklyn, and in the cage was their first match, and the amount of athleticism and artistry and just smart, ring smarts, that Matt Taven has. He’s just been a superb champion. I see an unbelievable future with Ring of Honor. We’re happy to have him, happy to have him as our champion. … So, yeah, I think things are looking up with Matt.”

Jeff Cobb is scheduled to challenge for Rush’s World title at ROH’s Honor United show in Bolton, England on October 27.

The Women of Honor World Championship also changed hands at Death Before Dishonor, with Angelina Love defeating Kelly Klein to win the title. Love was attacked by Maria Manic after the match.

ROH Death Before Dishonor live results: Matt Taven vs. Rush

Posted on by Justin Knipper

ROH returns to Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas tonight for the promotion’s 17th annual Death Before Dishonor event.

Matt Taven will defend the ROH World Championship in the main event against Rush. The latter hasn’t been pinned or submitted since his debut for ROH earlier this year.

In other title matches, Shane Taylor will face Flip Gordon and Tracy Williams in a triple threat match for the Television title, while The Briscoes will defend the ROH Tag Team titles against Bandido & Mark Haskins of LifeBlood. Kelly Klein will put the Women of Honor World Championship on the line against Angelina Love.

Two first-round matches in ROH’s number one contender’s tournament will also take place. PCO will face Kenny King, while Marty Scurll will take on Colt Cabana. The winner of the tournament will challenge for the ROH World title at Final Battle in December.

Also on tonight’s show, Jay Lethal will square off against Jonathan Gresham, and The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brawler Milonas) will face Vinny Marseglia & Silas Young in a barroom brawl. Jeff Cobb vs. Brody King is also set for the pre-show.x

Join us for live coverage starting with the pre-show at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time.

**********

Pre-show: Jeff Cobb defeated Brody King

This is being touted as King’s first singles match in ROH. Ian Riccaboni really made sure to put both Cobb and King over as superstars and explained that this was a conscious decision to put these two on first, knowing that the audience “has a choice,” in a phrase Riccaboni repeated a few times.

Sam’s Town always looks really nice onscreen for these bigger ROH events, small but slick, professional. The 6’5″ King took Cobb out midway through this match with a springboard crossbody block, as nimble as anyone half his size. Later they had a chop-off and Riccaboni referred to King’s hands as non-regulation size. Cobb came back with a stalling superplex, then a standing moonsault onto King for a two-count. King responded with a tope suicida and then a jumping piledriver for a very close two–almost an accidental three. Things really got heated from here. They traded snap German suplexes, then Cobb planted King with Tour of the Islands. Cobb tossed King around like nothing. This was really good for what it was. They need to wrestle each other in singles more often. They shook hands as the crowd chanted “both these guys.”

–Brian Zane, host of popular YouTube show Wrestling With Wregret, made his debut as a backstage interviewer and did a small spot with the Bouncers. They did a serious promo about their Bar Room brawl tonight with Vinny Marseglia and Silas Young. It was short but came off fine. Zane is cut out for this kind of thing and I think this was a smart hire, even if it’s temporary.

–Quinn McKay interviewed Dalton Castle in the ring. Castle had a custom teal-and-white microphone. He insisted that the crowd didn’t want to see a fight but wanted to see entertainment. Joe Hendry’s awesomely bad music then hit and he came down to the ring. Castle unveiled a mimosa made from Ecudorian oranges and French wine, with bubbles put in by shouting monks. Ok. Hendry then grabbed the mic and did a karaoke version of a song that basically craps all over Castle. Someone went to a lot of trouble making the custom karaoke music video. I appreciate the hard work. Once the song was finished, Castle threw his mimosa in Hendry’s face and then he stormed out of the ring. This was fine, kind of fun, and seemed to really get over with the live crowd. Having Quinn McKay there seemed to help the segment along, as well.

Marty Scurll defeated Colt Cabana in a Final Battle number one contender’s tournament first round match

Scurll is still red-hot with every ROH crowd. Cabana was nearly was popular here. This was a good light technical match, easy to watch. There was a worrisome apron-to-floor spot where it looked like Scurll really ate it, but he didn’t show it during the rest of the match.

When Cabana went for a quebrada, Scurll landed a low superkick in mid-air. The crowd was really into this towards the end and in favor of Marty. Cabana did a springboard moonsault for a close two, and later landed the Chicago Skyline for another close nearfall. Scurll rallied back and won with the Black Plague. This was good.

PCO defeated Kenny King in a No DQ Final Battle number one contender’s tournament first round match

PCO came out to his new theme music by Jim Johnston and wrestled in a Gary Numan-esque jacket for the first few minutes of this. He used a pop-up power bomb on Kenny King early on, and from here the match spilled to the floor. PCO suplexed King onto the ramp, then a senton. This Vegas barebones crowd was pretty hyped for PCO’s debauchery tonight. He did a somersault onto King as King lay on the apron, but since the distance between himself and King was so short that he almost overshot the flip and landed almost-face-first into a table that had been set up. PCO then “short-circuited” again and dove out to the wrong side of the floor, landing face first. King attacked PCO as he was being carried out by officials, suplexing him onto the floor and beating him over the head with a ladder. King then laid PCO on the ladder and did a running tornillo onto the prone monster of Quebecois. I was under the impression that the match was over but it wasn’t, because King went for a pin and PCO kicked out; the officials disappeared. Amy Rose later smacked PCO in the face when the match spilled back to the floor. When he went to chase her, King caught PCO on the apron with what I think was supposed to be a sunset flip power bomb to the floor, but someone didn’t rotate properly and PCO landed flat onto King’s face/head. It looked brutal but King no-sold it and continued the match. The final convoluted spot saw King pour some sort of fluid onto the PCO, the plan apparently being to electrocute him with a cattle prod that Amy Rose passed him, but the electrical current from the fluid “re-shocked” PCO and he chokeslammed King out of nowhere for the win. It sounds crazier than it looked.

Angelina Love (w/ Mandy Leone) defeated Kelly Klein to become the new Women of Honor World champion

Velvet Sky has been absent from a number recent ROH shows. She was not with her Allure partners tonight. They brawled on the floor early on. Love whipped Klein into the barricade and Klein crashed hard into it. Back in the ring Klein used a nice back suplex on Love, but Love returned and locked on a Koji clutch until Klein made it to the ropes. They traded high spots at the end, Klein with a big fall-away slam from the second rope, Love landing a draping cutter from the opposite top turnbuckle. Klein planted Love with K-Power a close two-count. Mandy Leone stood on the apron to distract the ref so Love could spray Klein in the face with perfume. She hit the Botox Injection kick but only got two. They did a few more close nearfall spots until Mandy Leone interfered again and Love hit another Botox Injection to win the title from Klein. This wasn’t a bad match compared to some of theirs in the past, and both worked hard to put on a good one; the predictable booking is what hampered the quality. Maria Manic came out and destroyed the new champion, Love, as well as pretty much anyone else who got into the ring. She put a few people into torture racks and screamed a lot. Seemed like people liked that more than the title match.

Jonathan Gresham defeated Jay Lethal via submission

Gresham didn’t shake hands with Lethal before the match. They went hold-for-hold over in the first few minutes of this match until Lethal hip toss’d Gresham to the floor. When they came back to the ring they built to bigger and more athletic moves; Gresham at one point landed a surprise quebrada to mute Lethal’s offense for a bit.

The middle part of this match was all about the figure four leglock. Lethal did have it locked in at one point, but as he and Gresham jockeyed for leverage they both rolled under the ropes and crashed to the floor. When Gresham went to use a chair, referee Todd Sinclair grabbed it out of Gresham’s hands. The crowd started chanting “Todd!” after this. Gresham and Lethal started arguing on the floor after this, after Lethal audibly asked “That’s the only way you can beat me?” in reference to the steel chair. Gresham slapped Lethal and began punching away at each other at ringside. Gresham began the double countout until both rolled back into the ring.

The rest of the match was even more back and forth, and the last part of this match ignited the crowd behind babyface Jay Lethal. Gresham finally unloaded a flurry of hard palm strikes, then locked on a varation of the Octopus Hold that  got Lethal to tap. The two faced off afterwards and the crowd chanted “shake his hand” at Gresham. After a few moments, Gresham and Lethal embraced. This was a really good match. If this is the end of their program together, it’s a shame. These two are always great together.

Bar Room Brawl: The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser and Brawler Milonas) defeated Vinny Marseglia & Silas Young

Beer City Bruiser attacked Marseglia during his entrance. Bruiser did a somersault senton to the floor early on. Marseglia bled early. Bruiser brought out a pool cue. Zip-ties and darts were also involved later on. Yes, darts. Until Marseglia started throwing darts at Bruiser’s pasty back, this match nothing good really going for it. Some of these poor guys were bleeding all over the place for zero applause at times. After given their tweet-able moment of the match, the crowd sounded to wake up, sort of, and chanted things like “TA-BLES” at the wrestlers. They got their wish later, too, when Marseglia did the Redrum senton through a table on the floor. Bruiser did a superplex to Marseglia through two chairs, which looked unpleasant for both wrestlers, then a modified DDT onto a chair for the win. This was pretty bad.

ROH World TV championship match: Shane Taylor defeated Tracy Williams, Flip Gordon, and Dragon Lee in a four-corners match

PJ Black was on commentary for this. Shane Taylor had a Floyd Mayweather/TMT-esque entourage with him before the match. Taylor supposed to be the Floyd Mayweather character of ROH now. Dragon Lee came out as the surprise entrant, for what reason I’m not sure. Big spots and big dives from pretty much everyone early on. Taylor did a running somersault senton off the apron. Williams looked really good in this. Taylor pinned Gordon with Greetings From 215 to retain the Television title.

ROH World Tag Team championship match: The Briscoe Brothers (Mark & Jay Briscoe) defeated LifeBlood (Bandido and Mark Haskins) to retain

Haskins wife was at ringside for this. You could hear that the crowd started to tire and stayed quiet during the more technical (but no less impressive) opening part of the bout. Again, it wasn’t until the match spilled onto the floor. Bandido dove over the corner and the match turned into a non-stop brawl from here. Haskins chopped Jay really hard win the chest against the barricade. Mark did a wild tope con giro to the floor. The match somehow found its way back inside the ropes where Jay Briscoe slowed things down and worked Bandido over with submissions until Haskins tagged in. In a few moments he and Bandido used some innovative double-team moves, inlcuding once where Haskins did a reverse U-crusher while Bandido superkick’d Mark in the head on his way down. The Briscoes came back quick after this, and as Jay worked Bandido over in the corner the crowd chanted “TA-BLES.”

The teams exchanged pin attempts over the last couple minutes, but in the end Jay Briscoe was able to put Haskins away for good after what came to be two Jaydrillers. Really good match that the crowd undersold, unfortunately.

–Bully Ray came out and power bombed both Bandido and Mark Haskins after the match. Tracy Williams came out to make the save, but Flip Gordon attacked Williams with a kendo stick, which happened to move Bully out of harm’s way. They did an angle with Vickie Haskins and Bully Ray after that, and Ray referred to her as a “female woman,” whatever that means. She slapped Bully and then he put Mark Haskins through a table on the floor. Haskins mouth was still bleeding from a spot in the match before. It made for a good visual.

ROH World Heavyweight Title match: Matt Taven (c) vs. Rush

Taven’s vignette was cut off midway through because Rush’s entrance music and video started playing early. The crowd sounded to be really excited about Rush tonight. Dragon Lee and Bestia del Ring were in the front row for this. This was sold on commentary as “three years in the making.”

They went full-blast at each other from the bell and Rush went for his finish, the Bull’s Horns dropkick in the corner, in what had to be less than a minute into the match. Taven slid out of the way and started throwing Rush into the barricades on the floor. Taven got in Bestia del Ring and Dragon Lee’s face and they looked to be shooting some sort of angle for the future.

Rush returned by smashing Taven into the guardrails on the other side of the ring. I guess there’s no countout in this match. Taven used a stalling suplex hold as he stood on the apron, then dumped Rush to the floor, splat. Taven used a series of dives to the floor to keep Rush out. When the two were back in the ring the crowd still chanted for Rush.

Rush made another comeback and suplexed Taven onto the floor, then unlocked on of the barricades and threw one of them at Taven, then suplexed Taven onto the ring announcer’s table. Back in the ring he unloaded on Taven and gave the crowd the tranquilo pose. Rush used a missile dropkick from the apron to the floor, a possible nod to his brother’s rival, Hiromu Takahashi. Rush later hit a big Jaydriller, but Taven powered up and landed Just the Tip and the Climax for a very close two-count. The crowd started chanting “that was three” over and over. They started slapping each other really hard in the face. Rush then landed two Bull’s Horns and won clean. Rush is your new ROH World Heavyweight champion. Rush and the Munoz family celebrated together in the ring until Taven came back in to shake Rush’s hand. Cary Silkin presented the belt to Rush as he celebrated with his family in the ring before the show went off the air.

Final thoughts —

This was a decent show with a handful of very good matches. Matt Taven and Rush had an excellent match that saw Rush win the ROH World Heavyweight title, and the Briscoes vs. LifeBlood and Lethal vs. Gresham were also strong. Tonight’s crowd ended up less enthusiastic as previous ones at Sam’s Town, and their awkward silences between spots sometimes brought down the intensity levels of the matches. ROH will have their Fallout: Death Before Dishonor TV tapings tomorrow night in Las Vegas, which will most likely expand on whatever the angle they’ve planned for Rush and his family.

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

Posted on by Justin Knipper

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ROH Television Champion Shane Taylor defeated Dysfunction to retain his title

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Marty Scurll defeated Joe Hendry

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Silas Young & Josh Woods defeated Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Final thoughts —

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on by Justin Knipper

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

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

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

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

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

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

Silas Young & Josh Woods defeated Okumura & PJ Black

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rush defeated Barbaro Cavernario

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Final thoughts —

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

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

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

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

ROH 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.