Ring of Honor Wrestling TV 08/26/15 Review

Taped at the Meyers Pavilion in Baltimore, Maryland

Welcome back TJR Wrestling fans to the most detailed and analytical review of Ring of Honor weekly TV going today. We’re on the heels of a great episode from last week where it was announced that Adam Cole will reunite Future Shock with Kyle O’Reilly to take on the Addiction for the ROH tag team championship. Could this match finally be the tipping point between Adam Cole and the Kingdom? What would a Future Shock title reign mean for reDRagon? Rarely do we have so much drama and intrigue to lead in to the ROH weekly show and I couldn’t be more excited about it. Get ready to be entertained wrestling fans!

Steve Corino is back on commentary after his week long hiatus. He apologizes for letting his emotions get the best of him last week but says the issue with Whitmer is over. I will do a dance of some sort for the wrestling gods if this is true.

Opening match: The Bloodbound Warriors V The Briscoe Brothers

Side note: I’ve never seen this tag team before as Kevin Kelly tells us they’re called Red Scorpion and Grey Wolf. They’re two short but beefy guys that are obviously going for the Road Warrior gimmick. I won’t judge yet.

Grey Wolf and Jay Briscoe start this off as Grey Wolf shows his power by throwing Jay to the ground. Jay gets right back in it and hits a side headlock and tries a shoulder tackle but Grey Wolf shakes it off. Jay tries again to no effect. Grey Wolf lands a right hand and backs Jay into the ropes. Grey Wolf hits an Irish whip but Jay lands a big kick that sends Grey Wolf into his own corner to tag Red Scorpion. Mark gets the tag as well and looks prepared to match the crazy of the Bloodbound Warriors with his own brand of crazy. Red Scorpion throws Mark over the top rope to take advantage. The Bloodbound Warriors double team Mark for a bit but he flips over Red Scorpion to get the tag to Jay, who pounds Grey Wolf with strikes and heat butts. Jay allows Grey Wolf to get to his corner and Red Scorpion hits a blind tag but Jay hits a suicide dive to take Grey Wolf on to the floor. Red Scorpion and Mark Briscoe go at it in the ring and Mark winds up flipping over the turnbuckle to the floor. Jay gets back in the ring and hits a superkick on Red Scorpion. Jay then hits a Death Valley driver for a 2 count. Jay locks in a stretch submission but Grey Wolf comes in to break it up. Jay is the quicker man here and is able to hop up and deck Grey Wolf as he charges in. Mark hits a Froggy bow on Red Scorpion and Jay Briscoe hits a big lariat for the 3 count.

Winners: The Briscoe Brothers via pinfall

Post-match: The Decade appears at the entrance ramp as Adam Page tells Jay Briscoe that he called him out 2 weeks ago but Jay didn’t show. Page says he doesn’t know if Jay is deaf or just stupid. Jay calls Page a young boy and says he doesn’t even know who the hell Page is. He calls him pretty boy and says if he’s looking for a fight we can do it right now. Whitmer says it won’t happen here or now but he has an idea. He says next week Adam Page will give Jay Briscoe a chance to man up and go one on one. Jay accepts and says next week Page will get his ass whipped.

My take: Jay Briscoe hasn’t done much since losing the ROH title and has been mostly absent from ROH TV. He is one of my favorite performers and probably the best promo guy in the company. Everything he says and does has a sense of realism that very few wrestlers are able to capture these days. Working with Page will help elevate page and will also give us more Jay Briscoe on TV which is certainly a plus in my book. The match itself was pretty basic with Road Warrior rip off #1487 serving as little more than enhancement talent.

Next week on ROH: Jay Lethal and Truth Martini cut a short backstage promo about the TV title match between Lethal and Hanson from War Machine scheduled for next week.

My take: Basic scripted promo from a very good mic worker and an excellent manager. Every episode should include hooks for next week and ROH is finally making sure this happens.

Singles match: Donovan Dijak w/ Truth Martini and J. Diesel V Roderick Strong

The Story here is that Dijak is supposed to take down Strong before he gets a rematch with Jay Lethal. We start off with an adherence to the Code of Honor before the two tie up. Dijak quickly throws Strong to the floor, using his major size advantage. They tie up again and Dijak backs Strong into a corner before the ref forces a break. Dijak shoves Strong to the ground and then baits him in. Strong tries to get an advantage but the huge Dijak won’t go down. Strong chops Dijak in the corner and goes for a fireman’s carry but Dijak sends him to the mat. Dijak goes for a vertical suplex but Strong floats over, hits the apron and lands an ensiguri that only rattles Dijak. J. Diesel sends Strong to the floor when the ref isn’t looking as we cut to commercial.

We return to see Strong backed into the corner as he attempts to fight off the larger man. Dijak hits a throwing vertical suplex that gets him a 2 count. Dijak is firmly in control and taunts Strong. Strong gets to his feet and delivers several shots to Dijak to no effect. Strong goes for a cross body but Dijak catches him into a backbreaker before he slings him across the ring. Dijak locks in a rear chinlock as the crowd gets behind Strong. Strong hits a jawbreaker and forearm after forearm before finally taking down Dijak with a dropkick that gets a 2 count. Strong tries the fireman’s carry again but Dijak reverses into a big kick to the face that gets him another 2 count. Strong fights back and hits an Olympic slam out of nowhere that finally rattles Dijak. Strong charges him and lands a big knee, a big elbow, and multiple rib shots before hitting a Superplex for a near fall. Both men get to their feet and exchange blows in the center of the ring. Strong hits a big elbow but Dijak is able to recover and nail a vicious kick to the head. It only gets a 2 count, much to the disbelief of Dijak. Dijak misses Feast your Eyes and Strong hits the double knee gutbuster and a knee to the face for the 3 count.

Winner: Roderick Strong via pinfall

Post-match: The House of Truth jump Roderick Strong and deliver a vicious beat down before War Machine runs out to make the save.

My take: Dijak did well here and it’s nice to see tangible in ring improvement from a guy with so many great physical gifts. I’m really glad they’re doing the Strong/Lethal rematch on free TV, mostly because I am not paying for it again. I’ve seen these guys go at it so many times and while the matches are good the last encounter really drained my interest in this feud.

Inside ROH: Mandy Leon is up to help promote the card for All Star Extravaganza. She talks about Kyle O’Reily getting a World title shot and bobby Fish getting a TV title shot. She says the TV title will be defended next week (Hanson/Lethal) and the World title will be defended the following week (Strong/Lethal). O’Reilly and Strong both get short backstage promos to hype their matches.

My take: Now we have not one but two weeks of main events lined up for ROH TV. I really enjoy this little segment every week and it’s a shame Destination America cuts it out. Mandy Leon does a great job of either filling us in on a storyline or hyping future matches and if you only casually follow the ROH product it can be very informative.

Main event: Future Shock V the Addiction w/ Chris Sabin © for the ROH World Tag Team Championship

Bobby Cruise gives us that big fight intro for the match. Chris Sabin joins the commentary booth. Both teams follow the Code of Honor as Adam Cole and Christopher Daniels start this off. Full arm drag and twist by Daniels but Cole rolls out of it to reverse the move. Daniels tries to do the same but gets caught in a side headlock. He fights to his feet and backs Cole into the turnbuckle. Daniels hits and elbow and several stomps before taking down Cole with a shoulder block. Christopher Daniels then puts the boots to Adam Cole and takes control of the match. Adam Cole reverses and Irish whip into the turnbuckle and nails a back body drop. Adam Cole tags in Kyle O’Reilly as we get a throwback to the Future Shock offense. Kyle lands a big kick to the chest of Christopher Daniels as we cut to break.

We return to see Kazarian get a tag from Christopher Daniels. Kyle O’Reilly hits an arm drag and an atomic drop before nailing Kazarian with a boot to the face. Kyle O’Reilly tries to get a pin but only gets a one count. Cole gets the tag in as Future shock continues to work their tag team offense. Daniels tries to interfere but Adam Cole nails him with a superkick that sends him to the floor. Adam Cole takes Kazarian to the turnbuckle but Kazarian reverses an Irish whip only to run into a boot from Adam Cole. The Addiction hit a quick double team move that sends Adam Cole to the floor. Christopher Daniels sends Adam Cole into the guard rail on the floor as he taunts the fans. Cole is thrown back in the ring and Kazarian tags in Christopher Daniels before hitting a leapfrog/clothesline/back body drop/moonsault combo. Daniels hits another quick tag to Kazarian as they take turns elbow dropping Cole for a 2 count. Kazarian taunts O’Reilly who tries to get in the ring but the ref stops him, allowing the addiction to double team Adam Cole. Kazarian gets the tag and trash talks Cole. Cole takes advantage and nails an elbow and a big ensiguri as he tries to get to his fresh partner. Both men are down and crawling to their corner but Christopher Daniels runs around the ring and takes down Kyle O’Reilly. Adam Cole is able to take control in the ring and hits a reverse cutter before trying a figure-four leg lock. Kazarian counters into a small package but only gets a one count. Adam Cole tries the figure four again but Kazarian fights out and hits an arm grapevine submission. Kazarian breaks the hold and both men get to their feet. Cole takes him down and the 3^rd time is the charm as he locks in a figure four. Kazarian reverses it but Kyle O’Reilly hits the ring and locks in an arm bar on Kazarian. Daniels runs in and hits a koji clutch on O’Reilly but he doesn’t break the hold on Kazarian. We get a pretty cool visual with everyone tied up in a submission as we cut to the final break.

We return to see O’Reilly get the hot tag and take down the Addiction with a double missile dropkick. Kyle tries to fight off both men and locks Kazarian in an arm bar before Christopher Daniels breaks it up only to get caught in an O’Reilly knee bar. Kyle runs the length of the apron to take down Kazarian with a running knee. O’Reilly climbs to the top rope but Christopher Daniels is ready for him. Cole rejoins the fight and they hit a clothesline/legsweep combo on Christopher Daniels for the near fall. Kazarian breaks up the pin but Cole charges Kazarian. Cole shoves the ref in the heat of the moment and Kazarian is able to hit a low blow on Cole. Kyle is on his own for now as he hits a tornado DDT on Kazarian in the middle of the ring. He holds on and turns it into a brainbuster for a 2 count. He then locks on another cross armbreaker. Kazarian taps but the Kingdom hits the ring to distract the ref. Kyle hits a roll up and Kazarian and should have pinned him but the ref is still distracted. Matt Taven nails Kyle O’Reilly with a kick but Kazarian can’t get the pin. The ref has lost control at this point and ole leaves the match to deal with the Kingdom. The addiction hits celebrity rehab on O’Reilly for the 3 count.

Winners: The Addiction via pinfall

Post-match: The addiction plus Chris Sabin beat down O’Reilly until Bobby Fish hits the ring. Then The Young Bucks run out as well as the Kingdom as the action becomes chaotic. We end the show with the Young Bucks hitting suicide dives on the tag team champions.

My take: The match was entertaining but was designed to advance the Cole/Kingdom saga as well as the hotly contested tag team title picture. If this doesn’t finally send Adam Cole over the edge with the Kingdom I don’t know what will. From a character standpoint Cole has no reason to be affiliated with the Kingdom at this point as they have screwed him out of a title and are actively working against him in matches. It’s time to take this angle to the next level and break up Cole and the Kingdom once and for all.

Honorable Mention: Jay Briscoe. It’s great to see Jay as well as Mark back on ROH TV and involved in a feud with an interesting up-and-comer like Adam Page. None of the in ring action really stood out as being exceptional this week but a strong victory coupled with the best mic work of the show leads me to give the nod to Jay Briscoe.

Final Take

The in ring action wasn’t quite on the level of what we got last week but the table is being set nicely for future episodes and the upcoming PPV. It’s all about balance and right now ROH is doing a good job of managing in ring action as well as storylines. We should get at least one really good TV match every week leading up to All-Star Extravaganza. The show will be live on Pay-per-view Friday, September 18^th from San Antonio. I plan to do my first ever ROH PPV review for this show and AJ Styles will be on the card so I am really looking forward to it. For next week we have Adam Page V Jay Briscoe as well as Jay Lethal V Hanson and I expect both of those matches to be highly entertaining. I’m glad to see that ROH has prioritized weekly episodic storytelling which is essential for any show that expects people to tune in week after week. Production quality is up and the roster is delivering in the ring. In spite of the Destination America fiasco, ROH is really on the upswing right now and if you haven’t been following regularly I encourage you to head on over to http://www.rohwrestling.com/tv/current to see what you have been missing.

What did you think of the show? Feel free to email me webbanderson2@gmail.com or follow me on twitter @webbanderson2 or reply in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!