ROH HITS & MISSES 11/4: Castle confronts Cody, Coast To Coast vs. Kingdom vs. Dawgs, War Machine vs. Motor City Machine Guns, Gordon, ay Lethal, Briscoes

HITS

Coast To Coast (LSG & Shaheem Ali) vs. The Kingdom (O’Ryan & Marseglia) vs. The Dawgs (Rhett Titus & Will Ferrara): I thought this was a great way to kick off the show this week. The Kingdom get the victory in a hard-fought battle where the three teams put on a great showing. After the match, The Kingdom had some words for the ROH fans. The Kingdom appear to declare that they may have their eyes on not only the 6-man tag titles in ROH but the ROH World Tag Team titles. I thought this was one of the better promos from TK O’Ryan who I’ve been down on in the past. O’Ryan demanded a shot at the ROH World Tag Team titles. I’m not 100% certain where this is going as they go after the 6-man and tag belts, but I like the possibilities.

Cody vs. Ryan Nova: Earlier in the episode we are shown the segment where Dalton Castle shocked Cody in the ring at Global Wars while wearing a mask. Then prior to the match, Cody brings Ian Riccaboni to ringside and asked Riccaboni who he wants him to face tonight. Riccaboni says Dalton Castle which gets a loud cheer. Unfortunately, Cody claims Castle is not here which get s chorus of boos and instead Cody will wrestle Ryan Nova who is currently 8 months into his training at the ROH Dojo per Riccaboni. Riccaboni says that he knows this man is talented, but this may be a bit much for him to wrestle Cody. Cody disposes of Nova very quickly. As the match concludes, Castle’s music hits. The end of this segment was excellent. Castle questions if this is what ROH’s largest contract ever is paying for? Castle says everyone should expect more than just this. Castle also says as ROH champ, Cody’s matches have been lackluster. Castle also says let’s give these people the match that everyone wants. Cody grabs the microphone and really lays it into Castle. Cody asked Castle if Castle wants him to call “Paul and his connections” to help Castle get one of those developmental contracts like the rest of his friends that have left ROH have done. Cody says he can get Castle one of those deals where Castle can go develop his skills and come back when Castle is ready. Cody then attempts to leave but Castle attacks him and sends him back to the ring where Castle hits Cody with his finisher. This leaves Cody laying and Castle then says he isn’t going anywhere. Castle says he loves it in ROH and he’s staying to take away Cody’s ROH World Title. This was an outstanding segment that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Flip Gordon: I’m not sure where to put this segment with Flip at this time. It’s not a miss but it’s not a hit either. Flip is calling out the Bullet Club and claims he is going to get his army together to face them. Let’s chalk this up to the category of giving it a chance until we see more. Gordon is certainly talented, and I have been very high on him in ROH but I need to see what more comes of this as we move forward before I can say whether this is the beginning of something great or just average. It’s in the Hits right now but more to come in the coming weeks.

Jay Lethal Promo: Lethal address the question of what is next for him in ROH. He mentions that he’s never been a tag team champion or even a 6-man champion. However, Lethal says the one thing that he still has his eyes on is the ROH World Title. Lethal says it is prestigious and he will win it again. I like this. Lethal’s run with the ROH World Title was a good one. I see no reason why him going after it again isn’t a good thing. Who that opponent will be and when it will happen is anyone’s guess, but I think Lethal in the ROH World Title picture is a positive.

Mark and Jay Briscoe: Credit ROH with calling this thing on the fly. Mark Briscoe suffered what appeared to be a brutal arm and elbow injury that stopped him from being able to battle Kenny King for the ROH World TV title this week. We’re taken to a promo where Mark and Jay are still in disagreement over Mark pursuing the ROH TV title. Jay tells Mark, “we’re a tag team man, a tag team.” I want to see how ROH handles this given the injury. Remember, Mark said he will go after the TV title next week but right after the promo Ian Riccaboni discusses a 4-way elimination style tournament match up where the winner will get a shot at the ROH TV title at Final Battle. Mark saying he will have a match next week for a title doesn’t quite lineup to what Riccaboni just said. Small miss but I give them a pass based on the fact that Mark’s injury seems to have thrown things off concerning the ROH TV title.

War Machine vs. Motor City Machine Guns: At the beginning of this week’s episode, we are shown a promo from War Machine from about a month or so ago. I think this is very effective when ROH does this. When you only have one hour of TV weekly, every second matters. Talent is also not over exposed weekly in that you don’t get tired of seeing the same people ever week wrestle. Therefore, their appearances are more valuable. Given that we haven’t seen War Machine in a while, I thought it was great to show their last promo so that we are reminded of what they said and we can pick back up with that story. This match was everything you’d expect from the best tag team in the world and that’s War Machine in my opinion. That is taking nothing from the Motor City Machine Guns. They are the current ROH World Tag champs and they deserve it. We got a clean finish in this match in a way but in a way we didn’t. The Addiction get involved in this match towards the end. I guess they technically don’t make contact with War Machine so the referee doesn’t throw the match out as a DQ. The Addition only use silly string on War Machine but don’t lay their hands on War Machine. Sabin rolls up Hanson though after The Addiction roll out the ring and Sabin and Shelley get the win. The finish was weird to me. I didn’t love it or hate it but for what it’s worth and for consistency purposes, The Addiction continues to interfere and ruin things in ROH again this week.

MISSES

Bully Ray Update: We continue to be force fed this Bully Ray angle and his retirement. I’m on record with saying I do not believe that this is the end of Bully in ROH. I am also on record as saying I have no interest in Bully Ray in ROH as we move forward. I really wish ROH would move on from Bully but again that doesn’t seem to be the case. I hope I am wrong.

Final Thoughts

This was a solid episode. War Machine was tremendous as usual. To me, the segment with Cody and Dalton Castle was outstanding though. Cody’s promo when he tells Castle that he can call Paul and get Castle one of those developmental contracts was excellent. Cody made that segment “real” and I loved it. The only thing I was down on was the Bully Ray segment. Otherwise, this was a very good episode of ROH.

Mike Mills is the PWTorch.com ROH TV Hits and Misses Specialist, providing his point of view on ROH TV weekly. You can follow Mike at @BTT_Podcast and @Mike504Saints on Twitter.

NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S COLUMN: ROH HITS & MISSES 10/28: Cody vs. Scorpio Sky, The Addiction vs. Lethal & Kushida, O’Ryan vs. Gresham, Bully Ray Update, Coleman’s Pulpit