ROH HITS & MISSES 5/14: Sabin, Ferrara, Cheeseburger, Lethal, Fish, Rebellion, Briscoes, Bully Ray, Riccaboni, Cabana

PWTORCH ROH TV HITS & MISSES
MAY 13, 2017
TAPED IN DALLAS-FT. WORTH, TEX.
AIRED ON SINCLAIR SYNDICATIONS NATIONWIDE

HITS

Will Ferrara & Cheeseburger w/Joey Daddiego vs. Chris Sabin & Jonathon Gresham w/Alex Shelley: Shelley is not wrestling due to a concussion. Shelley mentions Gresham at the beginning of the match and asked for the fans to acknowledge Gresham’s hard work in earning his spot in ROH. The audience gives a nice applause. Remember Ferrara and Cheeseburger have had a little dissension between themselves lately. Although they seem to get along fine and even display some nice teamwork throughout the match until Cheeseburger unintentionally hits Ferrara which Ferrara is obviously not happy about. This leads to a very nice sequence with Gresham eventually getting Cheeseburger to submit giving the win to Sabin & Gresham. I enjoyed this match. I’d advise anyone reading this to check out the closing sequence with Gresham and Cheeseburger. I just think Gresham is a very solid talent that deserves to be given a chance to show his skills. This was a good opening match. It did end with Ferrara not wanting to shake hands with the victors and Ferrara rolling out of the ring mad again at his tag partner. More is obviously coming in this story between Cheeseburger and Ferrara.

Jay Lethal Attacked by Silas Young: Lethal is getting ready to do a commercial shoot. Young interrupts it and tells Lethal, “great another sponsorship for the Golden Boy.” After some back and forth verbal insults between Young and Lethal, Young attacks Lethal as he was standing over him. I loved this segment. I sit there and watch other wrestling organizations sometimes and I watch people cut 15-minute scripted promos which come off as fake as fake can sound. And here we have two pros with Young and Lethal show us how it’s done. Young is quick and to the point as he leaves Lethal with what appears to be a leg injury. I could go on and on about how effective this short segment was but in a summary, here are two guys who did a great job and within less than two minutes told a short story that will lead to more down the road we are to assume.

Bobby Fish vs. Silas Young w/Beer City Bruiser: Outstanding short recap of when these two guys locked horns at Supercard of Honor last month. Nice little interesting note in ROH history given by Ian Riccaboni when he mentions that Young and Fish teamed up as a tag team in their ROH debuts. I for one didn’t know this. In regards to Young, he’s one of the most believable pro wrestlers in the world today in my opinion. When I look at him, I see a guy that I 100% believe wants to drink beer, wrestler, and beat the heck out of folks while doing so. This match is my kind of match. It felt like where new school type wrestling meets old school. And for anyone who thinks Young isn’t agile, watch this match and watch Young move inside and outside of the ring. I really liked the old-school finish. We see Young working to get his right knee brace off towards the end of the match. Bruiser distracts referee Todd Sinclair. As Fish looks to land some offense on Young, Young reaches for his knee brace  down on the canvas and clocks Fish on the head with it. Fish is knocked out. Young goes for the pin. Sinclair is there for the count and Young gets the 1-2-3 for the victory. Like I said, I loved the old-school finish with the heel cheating to get the win while the referee is distracted. Another solid aspect of this week’s ROH TV.

Dalton Castle Promo: Castle cuts a short promo. But again, it was effective as he talked about losing his ROH World title match to Christopher Daniels. Castle says, “I lost once but I’m not done fighting.” Once again, looks like more is to come and we shall see in the coming weeks.

The Rebellion (Shane Taylor, Rhett Titus, & Caprice Coleman) vs. Bully Ray & The Briscoe’s: This was the type of match where I didn’t take a ton of notes because I was extremely entertained by the action. I also thought the commentary did another solid job throughout it. It felt like Riccaboni and Cabana were selling us on a potential singles match with Taylor and Bully Ray. As we approach the end of the match, Mark Briscoe makes the hot tag to Bully Ray. Bully Ray comes in and cleans house. Mark Briscoe tags back in. Mark Briscoe also comes in cleaning house with Briscoe eventually nailing a moonsault from the top rope on to the outside on to Coleman and Titus. We then get a dive through the ropes by Jay Briscoe on to Mark, Coleman, and Titus as the action is speeding up. Titus back in the ring gets back on offense again against Mark Briscoe. But Mark turns the tide on Titus and before we know it, it’s time for 3D on Titus as The Briscoe’s & Bully Ray finish off The Rebellion by getting the pin on Titus. However, that’s not the end. The Briscoe’s break out a table at the end and them and Bully Ray put Coleman through it in the ring as we go off air. I enjoyed the match. I’ve not seen Shane Taylor in a 6-man tag before but I thought he did an excellent job in it. The Briscoe’s did what they normally do and that’s put on a show for us. Bully Ray was solid as well and Titus and Coleman did their jobs in the ring too. Again, solid match and nice way to go off air.

Ian Riccaboni & Colt Cabana: Throughout the show, these guys are just solid to me on commentary. While they do plug a few upcoming shows, for the most part they spend their time calling the action and putting over what’s happening in the ring. During the Rebellion match they put over Shane Taylor losing a few pounds lately and Titus adding a few pounds of muscle along with also mentioning the possibility of Taylor and Bully Ray locking up at some point in a singles match. Just little things like that as they call the action and put over the guys doing what they do best in the ring. And lastly, Riccaboni and Cabana have good chemistry.

MISSES

Nothing to report as far as misses go. I thought this was a very good episode of ROH TV this week.

Final Thoughts

I am always skeptical going into a weekend where there is an ROH PPV that same weekend. In the past, it feels like they have mailed in those episodes periodically. However, in 2017 I have not gotten that feeling. I thought this was a very solid episode of ROH. I thought all the matches were good. I thought the short promos and other miscellaneous segments were fine as well. Additionally, once again for the record, let’s make Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana a permanent announce team on ROH TV. They complement each other very well. A very solid hour overall from ROH this week.

NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S COLUMN: ROH HITS & MISSES 5/7: Cody, Cole, Castle, Lethal, Daniels, Young Bucks, Doane, Mondo, Martinez, Bruiser