ROH HITS & MISSES 4/30: Young vs. Gordon for the ROH World TV Title, Sumie Sakai vs. Stella Grey, The Kingdom, Scurll, Chuckie T vs. Woods, Bully Ray

HITS

Supercard of Honor Recap Video Package: They air a short video package of the critical moments from Supercard of Honor. This was a good. I wish they would have started one of the last two weeks with this, but I have to give them credit on putting such a solid and concise package together with the big moments from Supercard.

Cody and Brandi Rhodes Backstage: This was a weird promo but a good one. Cody first mentioned how keyboard warriors and hobby journalists are ranking Dalton Castle’s title reign as a failure. Cody says he likes Castle. Brandi mentions to Cody that Cody beat Jay Lethal and Kenny Hoe-mega (yes, she clearly said Hoe-mega). Brandi then makes the belt gesture to her mid-section. Cody asked her what she was doing and if she was pregnant. Brandi says no and then mentions the title insinuating that Cody should and could be champion. I liked this. We got a little comedy, but they turned it into something serious where it appears Cody is throwing himself into the ROH World Title chase. For what it’s worth, I am all for a return to Cody vs Castle although I guess we need to see where Castle vs. Scurll plays out first. Or I guess they could also build towards a 3-way match with Cody, Scurll, and Castle as well. There are a lot of possibilities with these three guys and for that reason this is a hit.

The Kingdom Backstage: The Kingdom are backstage with the ROH World 6-Man titles. And they are gloating as they do best while holding the belts that they stole. This was short but good. These guys are heels. They are good at being heels and gloating while holding the belts they have stolen in this short promo works for me. Of course, there is more to come between them and SoCal Uncensored in the coming weeks and in this show.

Sumie Sakai vs. Stella Grey: Jenny Rose joins the commentary booth for this WOH match. Nice short video package and promo before the match from Stella Grey as Sakai made her entrance to the ring. Stella congratulated Sakai on winning the WOH title, but Stella makes her own point that she is still here and insinuates she will be going after the WOH title. The crowd was into this match more than the previous one. Sakai defeats Grey in a quick match. But after the match Rose makes her way to the ring. Rose blames Sakai for costing her the match when Sakai battled Rose and Tenille Dashwood. Rose then challenges Sakai to her title. Sakai offered a handshake as she agrees to giving her a title shot but Rose refused and walked out without shaking. I like that the WOH were given some time on a “regular” episode of ROH. Let’s hope ROH does more of this and builds some nice feuds with personal issues between the ladies just as has been done with the men through the years.

SoCal Uncensored Backstage: SoCal Uncensored is backstage and they are disgusted with The Kingdom and their actions at Supercard of Honor. They are adamant about getting back at The Kingdom. Daniels tells The Kingdom that they are all children. Daniels promises that consequences are coming for The Kingdom and that SCU will do ROH a favor by getting rid of The Kingdom. I thought this was another good promo for Daniels as we progress the feud with SCU and The Kingdom.

Marty Scurll Backstage: We get a quick video recap of when Scurll pinned Castle at Masters of the Craft a few weeks ago. Good job by ROH of airing this quick clip of that 4-way match with Scurll, Castle, Bruiser, and Martinez that Scurll won. In a world where these televised house shows are being seen by more people, I think it is going to be important the ROH airs these quick clips of important moments on those shows. This win made Scurll the number 1 contender to Castle’s title. Scurll mentions the fact that Castle calls himself a world champion makes him sick. Scurll closes by telling Castle that he wants his shot at the ROH World title at Best in the World. Scurll promises that Castle’s days as championed are numbered. Solid promo from Scurll as they build towards Castle and Scurll clashing.

Dalton Castle Backstage: Without going word for word, Castle list all the talent in ROH that he has beaten since becoming the champion. The list is impressive. Martinez, Bruiser, Lethal, and Scurll just to name a few. He tells his critics to shut up because he definitely is championship material. Unfortunately for Castle, the Omega and Cody feud somewhat overshadowed Castle’s first few months as champion which I guess is what Castle may be speaking of here. It is hard to blame that on Castle though. In the end, this promo was good, and I think another match or two between Castle and Scurll for the ROH World title will be good.

Silas Young vs. Flip Gordon for the ROH World TV Title: Shane Taylor joins the commentary team for this one. They show the end of the match recently where Gordon defeated Taylor. Taylor is down there to get a bird’s eye view to see how Gordon does in this title match. Good and quick recap showing how Young defeated Kenny King at Supercard of Honor to regain the TV title. Ian Riccaboni continues to do the little things on commentary that make a difference. Look, we all know that this is pre-taped. Riccaboni mentions that the plan is to bring you this match in its entirety if TV time allows. I am one of those old fans that remember when we did not always get to see the finish of a match because TV time expired. Riccaboni mentioning that gives it that old school feel that I can appreciate. Gordon represented himself well in this match. He hung tough with Young throughout the match. Gordon hit a springboard spear on Young, per Riccaboni. I could not tell if it was planned that way or botched but, in any case, it looked solid. After a series of counters and back and forth, Gordon follows up with an incredible super kick to Young. That was followed by a 2.95 count near fall where Young barely gets his shoulders up. Not long after, Young gets back on the offensive and hits Gordon with Misery. Young retains the ROH World TV title in a very good main event on this week’s ROH. This was very good. Gordon continues to prove how good he is and that he is a big-time future star. He hung with Young throughout and proved he belongs in the ROH TV Title picture.

MISSES

Chuckie T vs. Josh “The Goods” Woods: Josh Woods’ victory in the Top Prospect tournament in 2017 seems like it was ages ago. I recall writing the ROH roster rankings at the beginning of the year and Woods was one of the last talent’s I ranked. It seems like ROH just never got behind him. Woods is clearly talented, but I think as a whole he has not connected with the ROH audience. This match was fine for an opener. Chuckie T ends up winning the match when Taylor, who was in a cross armbar, rolls into a pin and Chuckie T wins by pin. As a performer and wrestler Woods is fine but as I said above something is missing where he is just not connecting with the ROH audience a year after winning the tournament.

Bully Ray Speaks, Again: If not for writing this column, I would fast forward through this. This entire angle continues to exhaust me. Bully Ray retired once. Then came back to wrestle The Briscoes with Tommy Dreamer. Then he retired again. After retiring, he claimed he was going to be an enforcer and bring honor back to ROH which really made no sense. We all saw what happened at Supercard of Honor and when he turned on Cheeseburger and told Burger he was what’s wrong with the business. Bully Ray went on to say these young wrestlers do not respect the business and blah blah blah. Now, he comes out on this episode and flaps his chops some more about the young wrestlers in ROH and how he despises them. He blames Joe Koff and says that Koff is an enabler of these young guys. Bully claims he is still an Enforcer around here and that he is a WWE HOF and his WWE HOF ring says he’s better than every single person in the building. Seriously ROH, is anyone not seeing how completely unrealistic this entire story with Bully Ray is? As easy as Joe Koff “hired” Bully to be an Enforcer, Joe Koff can just as easily fire him and be done with it. There is really no logic in this. Bully thinks this promo where he complains about the young guys in ROH and him putting on his WWE HOF ring makes him a heel when all the while I am sitting there thinking this angle cannot get any more pathetic. I do not care if Bully goes on to battle Flip Gordon and/or Cheeseburger (assuming that is where this may be heading based on Supercard of Honor) at the next PPV where we see Bully put one of the young guys over. From start to where we are now it makes ZERO sense. The entire storyline with Bully feels like a textbook example of a guy who just does not know how to let go. Go away heat is not what you want but Bully Ray has perfected it. But, at this point I have repeated this at least six or seven times so I shall once again digress.

Final Thoughts

It was good to see ROH get back to regular programming. Last week we saw old footage from Supercard of Honor. This week we got a bunch of backstage promos that are leading to future encounters and matches. I thought the WOH match and challenge from Jenny Rose is a step in the right direction with the division. Gordon and Young for the ROH TV Title was exceptional for a TV main event. The only really bad thing about this week was the Bully Ray segment. All of that said, this was a good episode worth checking out if you have not already done so.

NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S COLUMN: ROH HITS & MISSES 4/23: Women of Honor Semi-Finals and Final, Klein vs. Iwatani, Sakai vs. Dashwood, Klein vs. Sakai in Women of Honor Tournament Final

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 and you can check out his old school wrestling podcasts at tinyurl.com/BTTPod