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ROH TV Report
November 26, 2017
Taped October 20 in Philadelphia, PA at 2300 Arena
Aired On Fox 29
Report By Harley R. Pageot, PWTorch Contributor
Announcers: Ian Riccaboni, Colt Cabana
[Q1] Bullet Club (Marty Scurll, The Young Bucks, Hangman Page, & Cody) are backstage. The main event tonight sees them take on Flip Gordon, Scorpio Sky, & Coast 2 Coast. Scurll wonders if their team name is High Spot Of Bother. “Cause they’re a bunch of spot monkeys,” Page laughs. They promise that once they’re done with him, Flip will never be able to flip again. “Welcome to Ring Of Honor,” they all say in unison.
-Opening theme.
-The ROH World Television Champion Kenny King is sitting in on commentary for the third and final match in the qualifying series for the TV Title four-way at Final Battle. Punishment Martinez and Shane White have already qualified. Riccaboni wishes everyone a happy Thanksgiving.
(1) SILAS YOUNG (w/Beer City Bruiser) vs. JONATHAN GRESHAM – TV Championship Four-Way Qualifier
Bruiser grabs Gresham’s ankle from ringside in the early moments and Young takes advantage of the distraction. Gresham into a hammerlock but Young makes it to the ropes. When Gresham starts to go on offense, Bruiser jumps on the apron for a second distraction. Young offers a handshake to Gresham but has the fingers on his left hand crossed behind his back. Gresham shakes, Young goes for a cheap shot, but Gresham is expecting it. Gresham teases a dropkick but kicks Young in the shin instead. The crowd laughs and Gresham follows with a dropkick for real. [C]
During the break Bruiser yanked Gresham off the apron, leading Young to take control again. King reminds us that Gresham’s faction Search & Destroy was responsible for King’s former faction The Rebellion having to disband so he’d be happy to see Gresham in the title match and show him that “one on one” he can’t hang [with King]. Gresham suplexes Young and signals that the match is over. Gresham with a crossbody from the top rope for a two count. He tries for the octopus but Young fights out and hits his backbreaker/lariat combination. Gresham manages to lock the octopus in on his second try. Bruiser rolls his keg into the ring. As referee Paul Turner tosses it out the other side, Bruiser clubs Gresham in the back of the head and bails from the ring before Turner sees him.
Gresham with a hurricanrana from the second rope but, as he runs the ropes, Bruiser grabs his leg again. Gresham hits a springboard moonsault on Young and follows up with a suicide dive that drives Bruiser into the metal barricade.
[Q2] Gresham to the top rope, Young distracts the ref, and Bruiser jumps onto the apron yet again. He tries to shove Gresham off the top but Gresham manages to fight back. Gresham with a crossbody, Young ducks, and it’s Misery for the win.
WINNER: Silas Young in 11:46 to advance to Final Battle versus Kenny King, Punishment Martinez, and Shane White for the TV Title.
-Young stares down King at the commentary table before walking off.
(Pageot’s Analysis: Gresham always looks good in the ring but he’s been positioned as lower midcard whereas Young has been built up consistently via his feuds with Dalton Castle and Jay Lethal. This seemed like it would be a clear and simple victory for Silas going in so all the outside interference from Bruiser felt superfluous and hurt Young more than anything. No discussion from the announcers about whether Bruiser would be ringside for the four-way title match or if his actions tonight could be duplicated there in order to help Young steal the championship.)
-Backstage with The Kingdom. Vinny Marseglia takes off his slasher mask to remind us that there’s a conspiracy against them. TK O’Ryan says there’s no other possible explanation why he and Marseglia are not currently the ROH World Tag Team Champions or why the three of them are not the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions. Next week on television it’s Marseglia & O’Ryan versus Motor City Machine Guns for the tag titles. The Kingdom will become new champions and MCMG will become victims. [C]
-Video package recaps the terrific closing segment from last week with Bully Ray and The Briscoes. Riccaboni says that the Briscoes showed their true colors.
-War Machine (Hanson & Raymond Rowe) are making their entrance for a tag team match when they’re jumped from behind by The Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian). Cabana calls The Addiction a disgrace. The teams brawl at ringside. Hanson throws Daniels into the barricade. Rowe chucks Kaz like a lawn dart at Daniels but Daniels ducks and Kaz collides head first with a woman standing in the front row. She collapses into the aisle. Daniels rolls into the ring and looks aghast. The fan in the light blue ROH t-shirt is helped to her feet in the crowd. Both hands are pressed to her face and blood is seeping through her fingers from her nose. Riccaboni yells at Daniels, “I hope you’re happy!” Daniels runs off through the crowd. Kaz, Hanson, and Rowe stand around the ringside area, looking nervous and stunned.
-Coleman’s Pulpit: Caprice Coleman welcomes Kenny King back for his second appearance on the pulpit. Coleman says he’s proud of King’s successful title defenses so far. King calls himself a fighting champion but says his three Final Battle opponents will have to bend a knee. Coleman says he has a surprise for King. The surprise is… reality. King didn’t earn any of this. ROH is just using him for ratings. Kenny actually thinks he’s a king, but really he’s just a peasant. Coleman accuses King of using his daughter for ratings. “Where I come from, we call that pimping.” King jumps to his feet and drops a bleeped f-word. He calls Coleman a false prophet and a false bishop. “I’m a real king and on a chess board a king is higher than a bishop.” King challenges Coleman to a title match in Florida. King storms off and Coleman acts smug about having wormed his way into a title match.
-Jay Lethal joins the commentary booth for the main event. [C]
(Pageot’s Analysis: Kaz colliding with the “fan” in the crowd was surprising and looked great in the moment. Unfortunately going back to her with a follow-up camera and having the announcers discuss it as much as they did took away any semblance of buying into this as being a “legit” accident.
As for the Pulpit, that was the most heelish Coleman has been since he started this. On past editions he was fairly in-the-middle but he was definitely the bad guy here. Accusing King of using his daughter to advance his career is a perfectly-skewed take on the story of King’s babyface turn and championship run so far but I didn’t find his wording or delivery quite as disgusting or deplorable as King and the announcers made it out to be.)
[Q3] -Recap of Dalton Castle’s submission victory over Hangman Page last week before being beat down by Page and Cody. Cody made an unconscious Castle kiss his ring.
-Flip Gordon’s team makes their entrance as a group for the main event. Bullet Club are out next as a foursome followed by ROH World Champion Cody entering separate to his own music. Cody hugs his stablemates in the ring and takes a microphone to address Flip’s team. Their pipe dream of defeating the Bullet Club is just that – a dream, not unlike Dalton Castle defeating him at Final Battle. Loud chant for Dalton Castle from the crowd. Cody calls him a choke artist. [C]
(2) FLIP GORDON, SCORPIO SKY, & COAST 2 COAST (Leon St. Giovanni & Shaheem Ali) vs. BULLET CLUB (“The Villain” Marty Scurll & ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Hung Bucks [Hangman Page, Matt Jackson, & Nick Jackson])
Scurll and LSG start the match. Scurll flaps his arms at LSG and the rest of Bullet Club join in, including Cody jumping onto the apron. Referee Todd Sinclair isn’t having it and orders Cody to the back. Cabana points out that referee Paul Turner was much more lenient with Beer City Bruiser earlier in the night. Cody reluctantly leaves.
Matt Jackson wants the code of honor from Gordon. LSG doesn’t believe he’s genuine so he tags in Sky instead. Matt and Sky exchange a series of counters before tagging out to Nick Jackson and Gordon. Nick wants the code of honor but Gordon refuses so Nick shakes Todd Sinclair’s hand instead. Gordon does his handstand dance but eats a dropkick. Arm drags, cartwheels, and monkey flips from both men. Both men attempt moonsaults from the apron to ringside, only for their opponent to duck. Nick attempts a series of superkicks only for Gordon to flip out of the way of each one. [C]
Nick again asks for a handshake from Gordon. Gordon hesitates and looks to his teammates for their thoughts. With his back turned, the Young Bucks swap out and Matt grabs Gordon’s hand. Matt holds him for Scurll, who shushes the crowd and snaps Gordon’s fingers. Matt has a microphone. “Hey Flip, welcome to Ring Of Honor!” Nick superkicks a kneeling Flip. “This is awesome!” from the crowd.
[Q3] Page enters the match for the first time and clotheslines Coast 2 Coast. Page with a dropkick on Ali into a splash on LSG. Page with a moonsault from the top rope onto Coast 2 Coast at ringside. Young Bucks with stereo suicide dives. Scurll flaps his arms and teases a dive of his own but he’s interrupted by a superkick from Gordon to loud boos. Gordon springs from the top rope onto everyone at ringside.
Gordon and Nick are your legal men. Bullet Club give Gordon a back body drop train across the ring to his corner. Sky tags in and hits a crossbody on all four men. Scurll punches Sky into the corner. The Bullet Club members take turns hitting running clotheslines on Sky. Page and the Bucks connect but Scurll takes a boot to the face each time. [C]
Gordon with a Samoan drop and running shooting star press on Matt. Matt rolls out of the way of a 450 attempt. Scurll locks Gordon in the chickenwing. Sky saves him with an elbow drop from up top. Nick springboards into a cutter from Sky. Sky takes superkicks from Matt and Page. Coast 2 Coast take superkicks from The Hung Bucks. Everyone is down. Lethal compliments Riccaboni and Cabana for being able to keep up with all the fast-paced action.
LSG takes out his partner Ali by accident. Ali takes a German suplex on the apron from Nick. Page double-stomps LSG. Sky gives Nick a cutter on the apron. Matt gives Sky a springboard DDT onto the apron. Gordon is left alone in the ring. He attempts a suicide dive onto Bullet Club but flies into a mass of superkicks. Page rolls Gordon into the ring. Flip rolls out of the way of More Bang For Your Buck and flips onto Scurll on the entrance ramp. Coast 2 Coast hit a double team coast to coast on Matt. Sky hurricanranas Nick into the middle of the ring. Gordon with a 450 but the two-count is broken up by Page and Scurll. Riccaboni puts over the rookies’ resilience.
Gordon flips into two superkicks from the Jacksons. Coast 2 Coast take two of their own. Sky is left alone in the ring but manages to duck a series of superkick attempts, allowing Nick to accidentally take out Page and Scurll himself. The heels recover quickly. Page sets up Sky for the Rite Of Passage while Scurll holds Gordon in tombstone position on Page’s front. The Young Bucks go to opposite corners and jump off for a combination Meltzer Driver/Rite Of Passage/Indytaker for the win.
WINNERS: Bullet Club in 20:07.
(Pageot’s Analysis: Exactly what you would expect from the wrestlers involved. If you’re a fan of The Young Bucks, superkicks, moonsaults, and suicide dives, this is the match for you. I can’t say Team Flip walked away looking as good as I thought they might but just sharing the ring with four of the top names in the company is something that will elevate them going forward. Gordon was obviously the standout of the babyfaces here and has already made a great name for himself in his short time in ROH. Lethal’s presence on commentary didn’t amount to much of anything.)
-Next Week: it’s Motor City Machine Guns vs. The Kingdom for the ROH World Tag Team Championships.
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