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RING OF HONOR – WAR OF THE WORLDS – TV TAPING (SPOILERS)
MAY 13, 2018
CHICAGO, ILL. AT THE ODEUM IN VILLA PARK
REPORT BY E.A. KROL & JOSEPH ECKL III, PWTORCH CORRESPONDENTS
If you attend a live event, please send results to pwtorch@pwtorch.com
Ring of Honor concluded its 2018 War of the Worlds weekend on Sunday night with aTV tapingin suburban Chicago. The Odeum in Villa Park was maybe two-thirds full (but not a sellout) to see three title matches on the day All In tickets went on sale for a local event.
We got started at 6:40 p.m. with an unadvertised tag match.
(A) The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brian Milonas) defeated Two guys with #1 and #2 (Mitch Meanest in the Game) on their tights in 7:00. Guy in the crowd yelled “I loved you in ‘Mike and Molly’” at Bruiser to a pop. Bruiser won with the frog splash.
(B) Stacy Shadows beat Stella Grey in 6:00 with a back side suplex with a bridge.
Main card started right at 7 p.m. Ian Riccaboni and “Chicago’s own” Colt Cabana take their spots at the announce table.
(1) Tenille Dashwood beat Karen Q at 8:22 with a reversal into a sunset flip out of nowhere. They blew a head scissors spot early. Q got much of the offense. Q stood on Dashwood’s hair and lifted her up. Dashwood powered out of a crav attempt but Q hit a side slam for a two count. Dashwood couldn’t get the package piledriver and Q got the Boston crab. Dashwood escaped.
(2) Jushin Liger & Cheeseburger defeated The Dawgs when Liger landed a brainbuster on Rhett Titus for the win in 8:00. Liger was over, like you’d expect. Big reaction for the dive off the apron onto Ferrara. Then a surfboard. Heels worked over Cheese, but Liger made the save. Hot tag. Liger sitout powerbomb for a near fall. Liger chest slaps on both heels.
(3) Sumie Sakai beat Jenny Rose in 7:00 to retain the WOH Title. Rose took most of the offense, working Sakai over on the outside. Lots of near falls. Sakai hit her finisher for the win. Good for the time they had.
(4) The Briscoes defeated Roppongi 3K (Sho & Yoh) in 14:00 to retain the ROH Tag Titles. This was billed as a TV main event. Briscoes attacked before the bell. Roppongi recovered briefly but Briscoes worked over Yoh, who was spitting blood. Yoh dropkicked Mark as he came off the turnbuckle but Jay prevented the hit tag. Yoh double teamed some more as distracted ref kept Sho in the corner. Hot tag to Sho, three back suplexes on Mark. Briscoes hit a top rope double team move on Sho, but Yoh made the save. Superplex off top and flying elbow but Sho kicked out to a big pop. Double backflips over the top onto the Briscoes. Roppongi hit their finisher but Mark kicked out. Jay threw in a chair. Mark hit a low blow. Jay for the pin. It was good.
(5) Silas Young defeated Austin Aries via DQ at 15:40 to retain the ROH World TV Title. This was billed as a TV main event. Aries came out with three title belts. Young threw his shirt but Aries caught it, Mr. Perfect style. Aries on top with chain wrestling and Young bails to the floor. Young with some chain wrestling of his own. Deep arm drags by Aries. Aries am elbow to the back off the ropes for a two count. Aries went for a dive through ropes but Young met him with a punch and then into the barricade. Young sweats a lot. And some rest holds. Aries broke a full nelson by dumping Young outside, setting up a dive through the ropes. Top rope drop kick for two. Series of reversals and Aries backdrops Young on the apron. Back in the ring for two. Young hit a forward roll slam and a moonsault for a near fall and a “This is awesome” chant. Young grabbed belt and ref yanked it, Aries small package for two. Aries grabbed one of his belts, ref took it away, Young two count with tights. They traded blows. Ref bump. Beer City Bruiser tries to hit ring but Kenny King stops it. King takes belt away from Young, hits him with it. Aries with the cover and announced as winner. Second ref (Todd Sinclair) tells first ref what happened and it’s reversed. Fun bout. Aries hit Sinclair after as crowd chanted “You deserved it.” King lectured Aries about the ref move and got a brainbuster for his trouble.
Intermission
Cody came out with Burnard and the crowd chanted “All In.” Bragged about quenching the flame of the Golden Lovers, defeating Ibushi and Kenny. Says he’s taken over leadership of Bullet Club, will be the next senator from Texas and will be the next NWA champ. But the world is not enough and he deserves his ROH championship rematch. Said the match will be him, champ Dalton Castle and “my Bullet Club subordinate” Marty Scurll. Bird whoops from the crowd and Scurll comes out. Big reaction, name chanting, streamers. “I don’t have to tell everyone how great I am because they already know it,” Scurll says. “You’re a little bit intimated by me.” Scurll offered his hand, Cody shook it and Marty teased the finger breaking spot before letting go.
(6) Flip Gordon pinned Jonathan Gresham at 9:45. A “Please book Flip” chant at the start, an “All In” reference. Flip with the “You Can’t See Me” to laughs. A nice rope leap sequence that ended with a Gresham elbow on a prone Flip. Gresham stretched Flip for a bit. Flip a drop kick that sent Gresham over the top, followed up by a leap from the top corner to the outside. Nice. Back in, Flip with a missile dropkick off the top rope. Gresham went to work on the arm again but Flip hip tossed out. Flip was selling his back. They traded chops and forearms. Near falls and then Flip hit an Os-cutter type move off the ropes for the win.
Bully Ray came out. Said he owed Flip an apology, for being so hard on him lately. Bully said something changed his perception of him: Gordon’s family is from family. Bully’s parents wanted to retire there, but his mom died of cancer and his dad died of a heart attack. He gave Flip the funeral Mass cards. Bully said he also found out Flip was in the Army for six years. Bully says he is patriotic. So the least I can do is show you the respect you deserve. Shake my hand, we have no more heat. Bully salutes Flip, low blow. “Do you know who I am? I’m Bully Ray. And Flip, you’re nothing but a stupid young boy.” Mic drop.
(7) Kelly Klein defeated Deonna Purrazzoin 10:00. Deonna hit the ring and dove onto Klein on the outside. Later, Klein a fall away slam on the floor, leading to a period of sustained offense. Three German suplexes by Deonna. Klein had a soft brace on her left arm, and Deonna kept going to submissions on that body part. Klein hit a fall away slam from the top but only a near fall. Ref bump. Deonna hit a finisher but no ref. Shortly after, Klein rolled on top and submitted Deonna.
(8) SoCal Uncensored defeated The Kingdom via DQ in 13:00. This was billed as a TV main event. This was a rematch for the six man titles. Don’t recall this being advertised. Nice back and forth action throughout. Taven hit a dive over the top rope onto the floor, then backward off the top rope onto the others on the floor. Followed by Scorpio Sky backward flip over the top onto the crew. Impressive stuff. Weird finish: Ref DQ’ed The Kingdom in 12:30 for SoCal guy (either Daniels or Kazarian) using a chair on himself after it accidentally sling shotted off the ropes.
(9) Chuckie T. defeated Kenny King (subbing for the advertised Jay Lethal) at 9:57. Ref rolled in late. A couple of amusing hug spots and T turned the second into a belly to belly to take charge. Kenny back on offense, paused ringside to take a selfie with a guy in a Cubs jersey, but the guy couldn’t get his camera to work. Chuckie hi fives the guy for the distraction and hits his own dive over, and actually does do a selfie with the fan. Chuckie got some near falls before King hit his finisher for the win.
(10) Shane Taylor beat Josh Woods in 5:00. Taylor came out for a pro on and got go away heat, this coming three hours and 40 minutes in.
(11) The Bullet Club (Cody & Marty Scurll & Adam Page & The Young Bucks) defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon (Naito & EVIL & Sanada & Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI) in 20:00. Dalton Castle came out to do commentary along with his boys Everyone got a great reaction that should sound good on TV. The most over thing all night as you’d expect. Naito and Cody started, took forever to lock up. Cody thrown over the top, went to re-enter the ring and Scurll tagged himself in against BUSHI. Then Bucks in against Evil and Sanada for a staredown. Then all 10 in the ring for a staredown and brawl. They did a spot where Takahashi cleaned house with his stuffed cat, Daryl. LIJ settles in and works over Nick. Super kick on BUSHI into a hot tag. Scurll and Takahashi in to trade spots. Marty kicks LIJ from the apron. Matt outduels the New Japan tag champs and then its double sharpshooters. Page flips onto the ring and takes out Naito and BUSHI with clotheslines. But Punishment Martinez comes down and he and Page brawl to the back. Sanada and Evil hit their finisher on one of the Jacksons. But the other Jackson yanks the ref out of the ring. Burnard saves Matt from taking a power bomb off the apron but takes the BUSHI mist. Scurll hits Cody with the umbrella on a double team gone bad. Super kick party, Meltzer driver on BUSHI for the win. Really enjoyable match. Crowd super hot for everything.
After the match, in a dark promo about All In, Matt Jackson talked about the Sears Centre selling out in 30 minutes today. He thought it would take a week or so. He hands it over to Cody, who gets a “Thank you, Cody!” chant. Cody says he finished the presser, tried to buy a ticket, and ended up in a virtual waiting room. Said he figured they’d sell 4,000 seats the first week. Then he got a text from arena person telling him it was a sellout. Cody said everyone in the room has been made to feel undesirable, but you have to stand up and make yourself undeniable. Crowd called for C.M. Punk. Cody closed with with “F—- Mike Jackson,” who is Punk’s next opponent.
If you attend a live event, please send results to pwtorch@pwtorch.com
NOW CHECK OUT THIS RECENT REPORT: 5/11 ROH WAR OF THE WORLDS (Night 2) in Toronto, Ont.: Cody vs. Liger, Takahashi & Evil & Sanada vs. King & Lethal & Cabana, Young Bucks vs. Super Smash Brothers
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