10/28 ROH in Mt. Pleasant, Mich.: Bullet Club, Dalton Castle, Kazarian, Cody, Bully Ray, Daniels, Lethal, Taven, Soaring Eagle tournament

ROH LIVE EVENT
OCTOBER 28, 2017
MT. PLEASANT, MICH. AT SOARING EAGLE CASINO
REPORT BY JASON D., PWTORCH CORRESPONDENT

(1) J-Roc wrestled Ryan Nova to a no contest. A few slow match ends in a no-contest with the fans totally dead when suddenly Jay Briscoe’s music hits.

(2) J-Roc & Ryan Nova defeated Jay Briscoe by disqualification. Briscoe badly beats both men for a few minutes and hits all of his signature moves. The match comes to a quick DQ end when Briscoe digs a folding chair out from under the ring and throws it into Nova’s face.

(3) Dalton Castle defeated Flip Gordon by pinfall in a Soaring Eagle Cup Qualifying Round match. The first few minutes of this match were slow, but it picked up quickly, lots of high-spots and reverses. Castle wins with a Bang-a-Rang.

(4) Frankie Kazarian defeated Jay White by pinfall. This was kind of a mess. Kazarian got good heat with the crowd, who were chanting “TNA” at him. These two didn’t seem to have great timing on a lot of moves, and White hit the damnedest baseball slide I’ve ever seen (between the 1st and 2nd ropes). Kazarian eventually hit Wave of the Future to win.

(5) Matt Taven defeated Jay Lethal by pinfall. Crowd was super hot for Lethal, and he had the advantage throughout the match. He hit a Randy Savage-style flying elbow, then locked in a good figure four, but Taven managed to get to the ropes. Taven then got his scepter (or selfie-stick? I couldn’t tell). The referee takes the stick away, but is distracted, allowing for a low blow and a headlock driver.

(6) Cody wrestled Christopher Daniels to a time-limit draw. With 15 minute time limits in the qualifying round, these two had limited time, but got a lot of back and forth, and a couple near-finishes. This leads to a draw. Cody proposes five more minutes, but Daniels declines, saying his next match against Cody will be for the title. Cody offers to put the title up too, but Daniels declines again. Daniels argues he’ll only fight Cody on his terms, and also insists that with them both eliminated, Kazarian is in a better position to win because there are only three men left. Cody, however, insists he intends to defend his title anyhow, leading to.

-In a special segment, Cody’s niece (?) defeated Cody to win the ROH World Heavyweight Title. Cody introduces his in-laws, and some of Brandi’s other relatives, gets the crowd to applaud, and invites a little girl, apparently his niece, in for a match. He lays down and takes the pin, and emphasizes that this was for the title, and insists that she take the title with her.

INTERMISSION

Bully Ray is signing autographs in the merch booth. Cody is finishing his own autograph session from before the show, because apparently he had so many people who bought autograph tickets they didn’t have time. Intermission was pretty short and led to…

Extra Soaring Eagle Cup Qualifying Match:

-Silas Young comes out and announces he’s talked to management and there’s going to be another qualifying match to make up for the Cody-Daniel no contest. He also announces he’s in it.

(7) Silas Young defEATED Cheeseburger by pinfall. Very good, if a bit silly. Cheeseburger got a big pop and did a lot of high-flying moves that seem to do zero damage. Silas seems to hurt himself more missing his own offense, leading to a couple close TWO counts, but eventually wins decisively.

(8) Motor City Machine Guns defeated The Dawgs and Bullet Club (Nick Jackson & Adam Page) to retain the ROH Tag Titles. This was the Match of the Night, in my opinion. Lots of “Elite” chants, and Nick started multiple Terminator-Theme clapping rounds. Will Ferrera took a terrible beating over the course of this, in no small part from Rhett Titus throwing him at people. He then eats a four-way superkick and a double-team combo by the Guns for the pin.

(9) Dalton Castle beat Matt Taven, Frankie Kazarian, and Silas Young in a Four-Way Elimination match to win the Soaring Eagle Cup. Three heels and Castle as the only face, everyone seems to be ganging up on him early on, though Silas fairly quickly starts attacking everyone, and then gets clobbered and pinned.

First Elimination: Silas Young

Castle is now taking double-teams, with Kazarian and Matt Taven working together very closely. For some unknown reason, Taven breaks up a likely Kazarian pin, which leads to some arguing and the two fight. Kazarian then tries to pin Taven, and Castle also breaks it up. Apparently that this is an elimination match is lost on everyone else, and Kazarian looks really mad. Kazarian then hits Castle with an RKO, and even though it looks like Castle took all of it, he pops back up and gets Kazarian into an Ankle Lock. Kazarian taps shockingly quickly.

Second Elimination: Frankie Kazarian

Taven is struggling at this point, but tries to mount some more offensive. Still, it doesn’t take much longer for Castle to hit another Bang-a-Rang for the pin.

Dalton Castle defeated Matt Taven to win the Soaring Eagle Cup

Castle shows off his trophy, saying he’s going to leave it at the casino so people can see it and remember how great the ROH show was. He also cuts a promo about how he’s a peacock that’s rising to the top, adding that it makes him “top cock,” which leads to a loud chant.

FINAL THOUGHTS: An excellent show for ROH’s first appearance in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. They didn’t announce attendance, but for a venue that seats upwards of 3,000 people it seemed to have quite a few fans. The number of Bullet Club shirts was almost ridiculous, and the crowd seemed very aware of who everyone was, despite ROH having never done a show in northern Michigan before.

With Lethal, Cody, and Dalton Castle on the poster, it was a bit predictable to have the only one left in the final match win it, but the crowd seemed quite happy with his victory.

NOW CHECK OUT THIS REPORT: 10/28 Wrestling Revolver in Clive, Iowa: Swagger, Riddle, Callihan, Tessa Blanchard, Ricochet, Joey Ryan

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