Ring of Honor Wrestling TV 07/29/15 Review

Welcome one and all to the TJR wrestling recap and review of the best wrestling on the planet, Ring of Honor! This is the first week since debuting on Destination America that ROH will not be featured in a prime time slot. Once I get my DVR all sorted out I will start reviewing the weekend syndicated version of the show, but tonight I had no choice but to make it a late one. We’re back at Terminal 5 in New York and this has to be one of the last if not the last show from this venue as a little research shows that this set of tapings took place at the end of June. Let’s get to the action!

Opening Contest: IWGP Tag Team Champions Matt Taven and Michael Bennett w/Maria V Hollis and Grisham

Recap of kingdom drama where Adam Cole’s baby face tendencies have not been meshing with Maria’s vision for the group. The opponents of the Kingdom are already in the ring and appear to be a run of the mill jobber team. The code of Honor is adhered to and the Kingdom quickly starts things off with double superkicks to their opponents before tossing them to the arena floor. We get a “let’s go jobbers” chant for the plucky unknown tag team that is absolutely dwarfed by the Kingdom. Maria is on commentary and says everything is fine with the Kingdom during the outside the ring beat down. 2 count by Matt Taven. Matt Taven accidentally kicks Michael Bennett and gives Grisham a little momentum. He gets a tag to Hollis who hits a Missile Dropkick on Matt Taven and Michael Bennett. A kick from Matt Taven and a spear from Michael Bennett results in a 2 count. Grisham breaks it up, hits an ensiguri on Michael Bennett and nails a release German Suplex. The Kingdom takes control again with double superkicks to Hollis and a Hail Mary to get the win.

Winner:Matt Taven and Michael Bennett via pinfall

My take: Sometimes a good squash match is the way to go. We haven’t seen many on ROH TV since coming to cable so it isn’t an overused tactic for them. It’s a great way to showcase a team like the Kingdom that hasn’t really done anything memorable on ROH TV as of late but are really benefitting from the cross promotion with NJPW. It keeps them strong and allows their finisher to get over and actually finish something.

6 Man Mayhem: Caprice Coleman v Brutal Bob Evans v Silas Young v Cheeseburger v Moose v Dalton Castle

Castle is up last and gets a really good ovation. He’s with the boys of course. This guy improves noticeably every time he’s on my screen and has a polish of someone who has been at this for a lot longer than Castle has. 2 men start off the match and it appears anyone can tag anyone but usually the faces and the heels team up on their own for something like this. Moose and Castle are up first. Brutal bob hits a blind tag and Dalton Castle tags in Cheeseburger. Bob plays the heel and tags in Silas Young. Test of strength between Silas Young and Cheeseburger which gives the much stronger Silas Young early control of the match. Silas Young takes charge and sends Cheeseburger to the floor. Caprice Coleman sneaks up behind Silas Young and rolls him up for 2. Silas Young gets up but Coleman does it again. We see a Sunset Flip for another 2 by Coleman. Silas Young counters and applies a headlock. Silas Young then sends Coleman to the mat with a big shoulder tackle. He takes a moment to run his mouth and Coleman recovers enough to hit a dropkick before we cut to commercial.

After the break Moose and Silas Young are legal and Moose has Silas Young pinned down in the corner. Silas Young gouges the eyes and Coleman hits a hurricanrana on Silas Young. Brutal Bob throws Coleman off the turnbuckle and then throws Moose to the ground. Castle takes him down with a dropkick and stands tall hitting his peacock poses until Silas Young recovers enough to blindside him. Silas Young works over Castle and tags Brutal who hits a sidewalk slam on Castle for not even a one count. Young makes a quick tag to Silas Young who hits a vertical suplex on Castle for a 2 count. The boys are nervous as Silas Young applies a chin lock. Silas Young gets a Fireman’s Carry but Dalton Castle rolls through it. The boys go for a distraction but are taken down by Silas Young. Castle recovers enough to hit an exploder suplex before Bob tags himself in and gets a back body drop from Dalton Castle who is trying to rally to tag in one of the faces. He finally gets to Moose who comes in and cleans house. Moose is by far the most physically impressive wrestler in this match and he really looks like a beast here. Moose throws Cheeseburger over the top rope. Coleman does a creative dive over the top to the floor. Silas Young ambushes Moose, but Moose takes control by hitting his now signature jumping drop kick with his opponent seated on the top turnbuckle. It’s a great move for an athletic big man and just as good as the one Cesaro busts out occasionally which is high praise indeed. He then dives over the top rope in a senton to the floor, taking out everyone. Cheeseburger is legal and Moose goes for the win but Dalton Castle counters out of nowhere with a big knee. Finishers are traded until is it Moose and Dalton Castle standing tall face to face. Dalton Castle hits a delayed German that looked amazing and really showed his strength. Castle misses a knee on Brutal Bob and crashes to the outside. Brutal Bob tries to pin Moose with his feet on the ropes for leverage but Cheeseburger breaks it up. Moose recovers enough to hit a big spear and we have a winner as Moose pins Brutal Bob.

Winner:Moose via pinfall

My Take: Moose and Dalton Castle really shined in this match. Moose has his eye catching signature spots down he just needs to work a little more on what happens in between but quick matches and multi man matches really cover that up. Dalton Castle could walk out on NXT next week and be one of their best acts right away, but I hope he sticks around for a while. A singles match down the road between these two would really grab my attention.

In Ring Segment

We return from commercial break with the Decade in the ring and BJ Whitmer on the microphone. He says everyone has watched the maturation of a youngster and how he’s shown more toughness than anyone in the locker room or at ringside with an eye to Steve Corino as he addresses Colby Corino. There is a loud “Shut the F*** up” chant from the rowdy NYC crowd which gets censored. Whitmer talks about how proud he is of Colby and talks about all the matches he almost won. BJ says he looks at Colby like he’s his own son and is like the father Colby has never had. BJ tells Colby he’s got him a gift tonight. He says it’s a gauntlet match against four new talents who want a shot in ROH.

A ref is brought out and it looks like the Decade Gauntlet Invitational is going to happen. Four enormous gentlemen come to ringside as Steve Corino gets in their way. Whitmer taunts Corino as the two come face to face as BJ asks Steve how long it’ll be before he abandons his wife and baby. This sets Corino off and they have to be held back by ROH officials.

My Take: I like the real life elements of the story line but with only an hour of TV weekly it is not something I would really showcase. I have limited interest in any of the matches that could come out of this feud so hopefully it wraps up sooner rather than later and we can get a more exciting feud instead.

Main Event: Bobby Fish V ACH

We kick off the main event with a Tale of the Tape. Both men adhere to the Code of Honor before the tie up. Fish backs ACH into the corner and throws a big kick that ACH easily dodges. Rear waistlock by ACH as he and Fish exchange holds and chain wrestle before Fish slaps the back of ACH’s head and lets him up. They ease back into another tie up but ACH hits a quick drop toe hold into a side headlock. The high flier ACH surprisingly works a mat based game early on. He then reverts to his high flying instincts and hits a cartwheel, a backflip, and then a big drop kick. ACH works over Fish and hits a tornado snap suplex from the corner resulting in a near fall. Fish takes control with an uppercut only to be thrown to the floor. ACH dives over the top, but misses completely as we head into the break.

We return with Bobby Fish in control with his mat game. ACH fights to his feet and breaks Fish’s grip with elbows to the head. He chops Fish, hits an Irish Whip, and lands several stiff kicks. ACH turns up the speed as he bounces around the ring and hits a big clothesline for a 2 count. Fish takes advantage and hits a splash in the corner and caps it off with an exploder suplex into the turnbuckle for a 2 count. Fish and ACH trade elbows, knees and chops before Fish goes for a cross body only to be countered by a Matrix-like back bend from ACH. Fish flies to the floor and ACH kicks him right in the face from the apron. ACH then flies over the top rope with a modified running Shooting Star Press and it was beautiful. ACH rolls fish in the ring, climbs the turnbuckle and misses a stomp. Fish takes control with kicks and a Dragon Screw Leg Whip to buy a moment to set up a knee to ACH. He misses and ACH catches him with a kick to the face. ACH slowly climbs to the top rope and goes for a 450 but Fish gets the knees up and gets a 2 count. Fish lands elbows and kicks before locking in the fish hook leg lock. ACH reverses it into a pin but Fish kicks out at 2. Fish charges ACH in the corner but he misses and crashes into the turnbuckle. ACH goes up top again and is Superplexed into a Falcon Arrow for the win.

Winner: Bobby Fish via pinfall

My Take: The match was pretty good but a cut below the main events we’ve been getting aside from last week. They told the story of ACH getting too reckless and going to the well one too many times and a technician like Bobby Fish was able to capitalize on the overly high risk style of ACH. It was a fun showcase but I’m looking for a little more substance in a main event match up.

Final Take

I enjoyed every match on the card to a degree but if you missed this week you really didn’t miss much. It’s a hell of a struggle to have to tape TV so far in advance like ROH does if you want to maintain storyline continuity. The shows immediately following the iPPV’s are going to struggle because they are going to be made up of the matches from the previous taping that haven’t aired yet and are going to be unrelated to what happened on iPPV. One of the cool things about the WWE model is that you get to tune in live the night after a PPV to witness the fallout on Monday Night RAW and currently ROH is unable to capture that momentum. It isn’t as noticeable if the weekly show is strong enough to stand on its own but this week it just wasn’t. They announced next week’s main event however and business will most certainly pick up as Adam Cole goes one on one with Kyle O’Reilly. Now that is a match I can get excited for!

What did you think of the show? Did the time change affect how you watch? Tweet me all about it @webbanderson2 or send me an email webbanderson2@gmail.com if that Twitter nonsense isn’t your style. Also please use the comment section below; we writers really enjoy the feedback. Thanks for reading!