ROH HITS & MISSES 6/25: Castle, Lethal vs. Chuckie T, Martinez & The Briscoes vs. The Hung Bucks, Bully Ray and Gordon, Final Build to Best in the World

HITS

Dalton Castle: Dalton Castle opens up the show coming down to the ring with The Boys. Castle received a loud ovation of “Dalton Castle” chants from the crowd. Castle answers the question as to why he is putting his title on the line against two members of The Bullet Club. His response was why not put it up against two members of Bullet Club. Castle claims he is just that dam good at this. He says he is not afraid to fight two guys. He puts Cody and Marty Scurll on notice with a very confident promo as he tells us he is walking in and walking out of Best in the World as the ROH World Champion. Solid promo from Castle heading into Best in the World. Unfortunately, due to his injury he has not had much TV time other than a promo or some time on commentary lately. While you cannot make up for that lost time due to his injury, I applaud this promo leading into the three-way match for the ROH World title. I am still not convinced who walks out as the champion at Best in the World which is a good thing. Solid opening to the show and good promo from Castle to get us going this week.

Jay Lethal Promo Recap: I really liked that ROH revisited this promo with Lethal. I specifically mentioned this in last week’s column because it felt like this aired 3-4 weeks ago and then nothing came from it. It is good to see that this did not get lost in the shuffle and will play out. Lethal avenging his losses over the course of a 4-5 week time span can lead to some good TV matches with a nice “redemption” story of sorts from Lethal who did lose a handful of matches over the last few months. Credit ROH for coming back to this when it seemed it had been forgotten.

Jay Lethal vs. Chuckie T: This was an enjoyable match that did not disappoint. The crowd was quiet for the most part although at times they got into it with a few chants for both guys. As we work towards the finish of the match, I felt it came out of nowhere (although not complaining). Chuckie T hits a snap pile driver. Then Chuckie T misses an Awful Waffle as Lethal ducked under it and hits Lethal Injection. Lethal avenges the loss he had in a 3-way match with he, Jay White, and Chuckie T. Good win for Lethal that plays into the promo mentioned in the previous segment.

Quick Shot Promos: Kenny King, Flip Gordon, Adam Page, Jay Lethal, The Briscoes, Dalton Castle & The Boys, Cody, and Marty Scurll all cut a bunch of really quick promos talking about their matches at Best in the World. Nothing spectacular but good placement since we are just a few days away from the PPV.

Punishment Martinez and The Briscoes (Mark & Jay Briscoe) vs. The Hung Bucks (The Young Bucks [Matt and Nick Jackson] & Adam Page): There was not a dull moment in this match. Technically nothing was on the line during this one, but you did have six guys who will do battle in some way at Best in the World. Technically nothing was on the line except for maybe momentum but it did not feel like a “nothing” match at all. Throughout the match, the six guys traded back and forth offense and there was never a dull moment. I need to mention Paul Turner the referee during this match. I am not sure how he did it, but he found a way to never get in the way even with these guys flying around all over the place. Turner really deserves credit because I know it was not easy for him just staying out of the way, but he did. Towards the end of the match, after Matt Jackson kicked out of a Jay Driller, Jay has Matt up for the doomsday device. However, Matt ducks Mark and rolls through with Jay. Jay is pinned under Matt and Turner counts to three. Jay Briscoe is pinned, and The Hung Bucks get the victory over Martinez and The Briscoes in a heck of a main event match. After Jay was pinned, The Briscoes begin attacking The Young Bucks’ but then Cody makes the save and we go off air. If you are on the fence about watching this week’s ROH, make sure you watch this episode and especially this match. This was a very good main event with six of the best guys in the promotion.

MISSES

Recap of Bully Ray and Flip Gordon: I disliked this when it aired two weeks ago, and I dislike it just as much now. The sooner Bully Ray is gone from any ROH storyline, the better the company will be. I am not saying I want Bully out of a job. I am simply saying there are other ways he can contribute to ROH without being on camera. The first half of the year has been painful watching him in ROH. Once again, this segment when it aired originally made Flip Gordon look absolutely foolish and it did not get any better for Flip during this abbreviated recap. Assuming Flip defeats Bully at Best in the World, I still think the last six months of Bully in ROH has made no sense from the start.

Final Thoughts

I was very critical in last week’s column about how ROH had handled what they were doing with Jay Lethal when it seemed like they dropped his storyline of avenging his losses. Although it took an estimated three weeks, I do like that they brought back this story with Lethal. Lethal is probably the most underutilized person on the ROH roster right now. While his match at Best in the World has not had any build to it, he and Kushida will no doubt have a solid match. Additionally, Castle’s promo to kick things off was good. Since we have not heard from him much lately, I thought having him come out and promote his match at Best in the World was a smart move. I have no clue how he has healed up from his injuries, but I am certain he will be well enough to give us a heck of a match at the PPV. Lastly, this week’s main event was incredible. I highly recommend watching it. Those six guys left it all out there in one of the best matches I think we have seen on ROH weekly episodes this year.

NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S COLUMN: ROH HITS & MISSES 6/18: Bullet Club vs. Los Ingobernables, Young Bucks-Briscoes fallout, Lack of new stars, Punishment Martinez

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 attinyurl.com/BTTPod