SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
ROH STATE OF THE ART
JUNE 15, 2018
SAN ANTONIO, TX AT THE AZTEC THEATER
AIRED ON ROH HONOR CLUB
REPORT BY HARLEY R. PAGEOT, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Commentary: Ian Riccaboni, Colt Cabana
We opened in the arena with a shot of the crowd chanting “ROH” and then went to the commentators. Riccaboni was wearing a cowboy hat, which was somehow more endearing than embarrassing. They broke the news that The Briscoes were unable to make it to the show so they’d be replaced in the main event and that announcement would be made soon.
(1) ROH WORLD SIX-MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS THE KINGDOM (Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia) vs. THE BOYS (Brandon & Brent)
Brent clubbed Marseglia in the back from behind before the bell. The Boys were aggressive in going after the champions and surprisingly effective, even hitting stereo splashes over the ropes. Marseglia threw Brandon under the ring and he disappeared, only to reappear dressed in a yellow raincoat that was splattered in blood. Riccaboni claimed that Marseglia lives under the ring and it’s his lair. The Kingdom double-teamed Brent. Marseglia could have got the pin but Taven told him not to and they kept inflicting more punishment. Cabana explained that Taven’s taking out his frustration at not getting a title shot against Dalton Castle on his boys. When Marseglia did finally go for a pin, Brent kicked out. Just The Tip of the knee from Taven to Brent. Brandon was absent for a long time at this point but eventually resurfaced, still dressed in the raincoat, and got the hot tag. In the end Taven hit a frog-splash on Brandon.
WINNERS: The Kingdom in 9:19.
-Taven and Marseglia beat up The Boys some more after the match, including Taven hitting Castle’s own bang-a-rang on brent. Taven took a mic and called himself the real ROH World Champion. He informed the live crowd that the Briscoes weren’t in attendance and injected The Kingdom into the main event “where they belong.” He guaranteed that he’ll be the next ROH World Champion.
(Pageot’s Perspective: For my own sanity, I’ve decided to do a slightly more abridged coverage of these “house show” events on Honor Club from now on. The Briscoes’ absence is disappointing and it seems there were no extra bodies hanging out backstage that weren’t already booked so we’ve got the six-man champions doing double-duty. With that in mind it’s kind of bizarre that The Boys got in as much offense as they did and were booked to essentially hold their own against the champs.)
-Rhett Titus made his entrance alone for a singles match. He did the usual Dawgs intro before questioning where Little Willy was. He brought up Gordon not being #ALLIN and said tonight his luck is “all out.”
(2) FLIP GORDON vs. “THE BIG DAWG” RHETT TITUS
“All In” chant for Gordon to start. Titus controlled in the early stages of the match with some old school maneuvers like a jumping back rake. When Gordon started to gain an advantage Titus looked to tag to Will Ferrara before remembering that his partner wasn’t there and this wasn’t a tag match. Gordon hit the Star-Spangled Stunner for the win.
WINNER: Flip Gordon in 9:12.
(Pageot’s Perspective: A TV-quality match with Gordon hitting his splashy offense and Titus being a fun foil. The most surprising part is that Bully Ray didn’t show up to kick Flip between the legs after the match. He has a match later, though, so place your bets on there being at least a couple low blows tonight.)
(3) WOH WORLD CHAMPION SUMIE SAKAI & TENILLE DASHWOOD vs. “THE GATEKEEPER” KELLY KLEIN & THUNDER ROSA
Thunder Rosa is a Mexican wrestler who has competed for Stardom and is known as Kobra Moon in Lucha Underground. This is her ROH debut. Sakai and Klein started but Klein said she won’t wrestle her unless it’s for the title. She tagged out. Dashwood hit a top rope crossbody on both opponents. Rosa bailed to ringside so Dashwood followed and chopped her back into the ring. Sakai hit a missile dropkick on Rosa at 4:40. The heels took over and Klein broke her earlier promise, hitting a series of back elbows on Sakai in the corner. Dashwood got the tag and unloaded on Klein. Tarantula on Klein and then The Taste Of Tenille to both Rosa and Klein in the same corner. Rosa grabbed Dashwood’s foot from the floor, which allowed Klein to hit a firewoman’s slam for two. Sakai got a blind tag and hit a neckbreaker on Rosa for two. Klein helped Rosa hit an assisted power bomb on Sakai for two. Dashwood took out Klein on the floor and Sakai hit Smash Mouth on Rosa.
WINNERS: Sakai & Dashwood in 10:13.
(Pageot’s Perspective: A good showing for the women and the guest taking the pin protects the full-timers. Rosa looked good here and would be a solid fit to be a regular in the division. I think I’ve said that about almost every woman who has made guest appearances for Women Of Honor lately, though. There’s just an abundance of talented female wrestlers in the world today.)
(4) ROH WORLD SIX-MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPION TK O’RYAN vs. JAY LETHAL
Lethal easily toyed with O’Ryan in the early minutes until taking a clothesline on the floor. I’d spent the whole match to this point thinking how much O’Ryan reminds me of Big Cass and the crowd backed this up with a “How you doin’?” chant. O’Ryan then got a “you can’t wrestle” chant as well. Cabana predicted interference from Taven or Marseglia incoming. O’Ryan looked for Lethal’s own Hail To The King but Lethal moved. Lethal hit Lethal Injection in the end.
WINNER: Jay Lethal in 13:23.
(Pageot’s Perspective: O’Ryan’s resemblance to Big Cass aside, his reception here reminded me more of how Tino Sabbatelli is received in NXT. Yes, they’re heels but the crowd’s hatred of these guys is at an extreme that feels unwarranted. I’ve always found O’Ryan to be one of the blandest people on the roster with no personality but the crowd here acted as if he was one of the top heels around.)
-SoCal Uncensored made their entrance for a six-man tag. Riccaboni reminded me us that Daniels and Kaz will be finished with ROH after Final Battle in December as ROH COO Joe Koff has told them he has no desire to re-sign them once their contracts expire. SCU said that San Antonio is the worst town they’ve ever been in. Kaz made some comments about a basketball player who recently left Texas for California. The crowd booed as expected. Daniels gave the crowd permission to worship them.
(5) SOCAL UNCENSORED (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, & Scorpio Sky) vs. TEAM CMLL (Atlantis, Guerrero Maya Jr., & Stuka Jr.)
The veterans Daniels and Atlantis started. They have a total of 60 years of in-ring experience between them. At 6:00 SCU triple-teamed Maya. Stuka got the tag and flew around Daniels and Sky. At 8:30 CMLL whipped the SCU men into each other and locked in a trio of submission moves. Maya and Stuka took out Sky and Kaz with top rope moves on the floor. Atlantis hit a top rope crossbody and a tilt-a-whirl on Daniels in the ring.
WINNERS: Team CMLL in 9:57.
(Pageot’s Perspective: The CMLL trio are facing The Kingdom for the six-man titles tomorrow night so that pretty much foreshadowed the result here. It’s too bad they couldn’t book matches like these as #1 contender matches with whomever wins getting the title shot the following night. It would really make things less predictable. The CMLL guys impressed here, though.)
(6) ROH WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPION “THE LAST REAL MAN” SILAS YOUNG vs. CURT STALLION – NON-TITLE MATCH
Stallion is a Future Of Honor competitor who made it to the semi-finals of last year’s Top Prospect Tournament. Young didn’t even bother taking his t-shirt off but Stallion surprised him with a German suplex out of the gate followed by a Fosbury flop and a Dakota Kai-esque running kick in the corner. Young quickly came back, though. Stallion got in a surprising amount of offense and looked for the upset victory. From the top rope Stallion hit “a Spanish Fly variation into a flatliner” as described by Cabana, who exclaimed that he’d never seen that before. When Young got to his feet he was pissed off at being shown up by the rookie and yelled for Stallion to fight him. Stallion hit a headbutt but Young caught him with Misery moments later.
WINNER: Silas Young in 7:48.
-Stallion got a standing ovation from the crowd.
(Pageot’s Perspective: I always love when a young, hungry competitor is given the chance to go out and put it all on the line against an established star who’s willing to help make them look like a million bucks. And Stallion did. Even Cabana was campaigning for ROH to sign Stallion after this one.)
-Future Of Honor competitor J-Rocc joined commentary for the next match. He’s apparently friends with Shane Taylor and was invited here to help shed some light on who Taylor is.
(7) SHANE “HURRICANE” HELMS, CHEESEBURGER, & DELIRIOUS vs. BULLY RAY, PUNISHMENT MARTINEZ, & SHANE TAYLOR
Helms wore his Hurricane gear including the mask. Delirious sat in the corner with a roll of streamers in his mouth. Once the bell rang he came to life and went after Taylor. Taylor no-sold a series of chops. Delirious teased another chop but poked him in the eyes instead. He hit a couple dozen clotheslines in the corner before tagging to Burger. Burger walked past Taylor to Ray and gestured for him to get in. Taylor tagged out. Ray teased locking up with Burger but tagged to Martinez instead. Martinez roughed up Burger and then Ray was happy to tag back in. He threw Burger across the ring with a power bomb. Taylor came in and tossed Burger too, then it was Martinez’s turn. Helms finally hit the hot tag. Inverted neckbreaker to Martinez. STO to Taylor. Ray charged and clotheslined his partner by mistake. Helms dumped him to the floor. Taylor splashed Martinez by mistake in the corner. Helms hit the Hurrichokeslam on Martinez and Delirious and Burger followed with top rope moves. They dog-piled Martinez but he kicked out at two. Burger splashed Taylor and Ray on the floor. Delirious bit Martinez to escape a South Of Heaven chokeslam attempt but Martinez caught him a minute later.
WINNERS: Martinez, Taylor, & Ray in 11:13.
-The trio of misfit heroes licked their wounds together in the ring once the heels left.
(Pageot’s Perspective: I think Martinez is hurt the most by these matches. Sure, he got the clean pin but it completely defines him down from credible world champion contender to Saturday morning cartoon villain. Taylor’s always been positioned low on the card so these encounters actually help him a bit. There wasn’t a lot to Helms’ appearance in the match, which furthers my belief that tonight and tomorrow are merely brief in-ring appearances for the record books before he officially becomes the new ROH enforcer.)
(8) “THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE” CODY (w/Brandi Rhodes & Burnard The Business Bear) vs. “THE OCTOPUS” JONATHAN GRESHAM
Gresham wouldn’t kiss the ring of honor so Cody made Riccaboni. Cody was so happy that Riccaboni did that he then kissed Riccaboni on the forehead in return. Fun humor early on with Cody being baffled by Gresham’s artistry. Cody tried to wring Gresham’s arm but he twisted with it, causing the move to have no effect. Cody tried the same thing with referee Todd Sinclair which drew a “Don’t touch Todd” chant from the crowd. Every time Cody stopped to pose for the crowd Gresham would kick him in the leg. Gresham went to work on Cody with submission moves and pure wrestling that left Brandi screeching in protest from ringside. Both men tumbled over the top rope to the floor. Cody had a temporary advantage but Gresham ended up out-wrestling him again. When Cody kicked out of a bridging pin Gresham landed across Sinclair’s legs, which left the referee limping. Beautiful Disaster kick from Cody. Gresham countered two CrossRhodes attempts into cradle pins. Gut-wrench German suplex from Gresham for two. Gresham looked for another but Cody landed on his feet and immediately followed with CrossRhodes.
WINNER: Cody in 16:59.
-Cody took off his weight belt and looked like he was going to whip Gresham with it. Instead he threw it to ringside and shook Gresham’s hand.
(Pageot’s Perspective: One guy almost never wins and the other guy is challenging for the IWGP, ROH, and NWA world championships over the next two and a half months. But that actually didn’t hurt this one. This wasn’t a match about wondering who will win. This was similar to Young-Stallion in that it was about an established star giving a rub to a younger competitor and allowing Gresham to really show what he can do. And make no mistake, Gresham is a wonder in the ring. Match of the night so far.)
(9) ROH WORLD SIX-MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS THE KINGDOM (Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia) & KILLER ELITE SQUAD (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer) vs. BULLET CLUB (Marty Scurll, Adam Page, Matt Jackson, & Nick Jackson)
The Kingdom and K.E.S. bickered before the bell. Scurll and Taven started. Things quickly broke down with everyone brawling and people taking turns hitting flips onto other people on the floor. The heels isolated Page and took turns beating him down. Tag to Nick. At 12:00 Scurll looked for the chicken-wing on Taven but he escaped. At 14:30 Scurll broke Archer’s fingers and Bullet Club hit superkicks on everyone. At 17:20 Archer tried to spray a mouthful of water at Scurll but Scurll got his umbrella open to block it. Scurll and the Bucks then each jumped from from a turnbuckle to assist Page with a Rite Of Passage on Marseglia. Page pinned him for the victory.
WINNERS: Bullet Club in 18:03.
(Pageot’s Perspective: A fairly formulaic ROH main event with Bullet Club in a multi-man match and hitting all of their usual signature moments. I’m admittedly a little bored of Bullet Club in ROH as of late. Nothing truly significant has really changed in the past year save for Cody ruffling people’s feathers and even that didn’t lead to any permanent shake-up or new dynamic. We’re getting closer and closer to All In and we still only have one match announced and no apparent stories taking shape. Marseglia was the most obvious of the eight men to take the pin here. K.E.S. are supposed to challenge The Briscoes for the tag titles tomorrow night. If we had got the original match as planned the outcome would have likely hinged around a miscommunication between the heel duos. Instead they’ll be going into tomorrow night with no previous interaction.)
Find Harley on Twitter @talkinghonor and listen to he and Emily Fear talk all things ROH every Tuesday on the PWTorch Livecast “Talking Honor.”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.