ROH HITS & MISSES 8/12: The Bouncers vs. The Briscoes, WOH Four-Corner Survival Match, Cody and Aldis, SIx-Man Tag, Cabana

HITS

The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brian Milonas) vs. The Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe): I was really looking forward to this match and how The Bouncers would do against The Briscoes. The Briscoes are as established as they come in the tag division whereas The Bouncers are relatively new as a team. This match did not disappoint. It was a slugfest. It did not take long before the traditional tag match went out the window and these guys were brawling. We eventually got back to a typical tag match where tags are adhered to. Soon after that, Milonas dropped an impressive big leg drop off the second rope on to Mark before Jay made the save. That was followed by a missed cannon ball from the apron to the floor by Bruiser. As they worked towards the finish, Mark hits a Blockbuster on the floor on Milonas that takes Milonas out. Then Jay nails Bruiser with a neck breaker in the ring. Mark follows with a big elbow drop on Bruiser from the top rope. The ROH World Tag champs win the match in a heck of a battle between these two teams. Very good and solid opening match from these two teams. The Bouncers looked good in defeat. After the match, Jay grabbed the microphone and had some words for SoCal Uncensored (SCU). Jay talked about how The Briscoes are the best team on the planet and how they are now the nine-time tag champs. They let SCU know that SCU will not take the belts from them. SCU hits the stage with Scorpio Sky on the microphone. Sky does not say much and before we know it Frankie Kazarian and Christopher Daniels hit the ring to fight The Briscoes. The teams start brawling, but security comes in to break them up. The crowd is chanting “let them fight” as we go to commercial. There obviously was a pull apart that we did not get to see during commercial. While that ending tells a story between these two teams building up their feud, credit needs to be given to the match. The Bouncers held their own against the best tag team in the federation in my opinion.

Karen Q vs. Madison Rayne vs. Kelly Klein vs. Tennille Dashwood: Before the match, we are shown a couple of picture-in-picture promos from all the competitors. Although note bad, none really stood out to me. They were quick clips of the ladies talking about them wanting to win the WOH title and making their mark in the division. I really liked that ROH gave us a 4-corner survival match in order to determine a number one contender. A match such as this is a way to get multiple competitors involved without a standard tag match. I was certain going in that either Klein or Dashwood would win. Well, I was wrong. Out of nowhere, Rayne wins with the Rayne Check finisher. Rayne pinned Q to earn her shot at Sakai’s WOH title. I was not the best match but still solid with a surprising winner.

Cody and Nick Aldis Confront Each Other: Cody talks about his ROH World title rematches and complains that both of his rematches were not one on one. Cody then says he wants to bring the spirits up of the people and says he wants to bring out someone that’s all business. Ian Riccaboni assumed it would be Bernard The Business Bear, but it ends up being the NWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis who makes his way down to the ring. Riccaboni reminds us that Cody and Aldis will battle at All In in a few weeks. Aldis tells Cody that the NWA title means everything to him. But Aldis has a problem with the match at All In. Aldis tells Cody that Cody has everything to gain but nothing to lose whereas Aldis has everything to lose since he is the current NWA title holder. Cody decides to give Aldis his “Ring of Honor” as collateral. Aldis does not seem too pleased and he decides to walk off and leave. Cody then reminds Aldis as Aldis is leaving that while Cody was facing Kenny Omega in a huge match with thousands of people watching, Aldis was beating a 50-year old history teacher for the NWA title. This got a reaction from Aldis as he storms back into the ring. But, The Young Bucks and Marty Scurll come in to keep the two apart. I thought it was an excellent promo from Cody especially the shot he took at Aldis about him only beating a 50-year old history teacher for the NWA title. For those who do not know, Tim Storm was the previous champion that Aldis defeated that Cody was referring to. From there we go to commercial. Overall, this was a good segment as we build towards All In in a few weeks.

Cheeseburger, Josh “The Goods” Woods, & Flip Gordon vs. Bull Ray, Punishment Martinez, & Shane Taylor: During introductions, Bully Ray attacks Gordon and sends him into the ring post head first. We come back from commercial. Gordon is being escorted out due to what we later are told is a concussion. Bully gets on the microphone and calls for ROH to cancel the match so that he can go home. The crowd is chanting “Colt Cabana” as they want Cabana to come to the ring. Cabana is on commentary and says he cannot wrestle since he does not even have his gear on nor did he come prepared. Cheeseburger grabs the microphone and says it is not a problem because he and Goods are willing to fight 3 on 2. The match then starts. Towards the end of the match with Woods out and Cheeseburger looking for someone to make the hot tag to, Cabana comes down to be the third member of the team and the crowd goes nuts. Cabana ends up cleaning house and even hits a spring board moonsault on Taylor. The reactions to Cabana was fantastic. Unfortunately for Cheeseburger & Goods, the offense is short lived as Cheeseburger is caught in the ring with Taylor. Taylor catches Cheeseburger and hits him with his finisher. The team of Taylor, Martinez, and Ray win the match. After the match, Bully and Taylor ambush the losers of the match. Gordon heads down the ramp as he appears to be doing better. Gordon hits Martinez with a chair. Then he comes in the ring and hits Taylor with the chair but Bully Ray retreats before Gordon can get Bully. I have to admit. This was really good and that is coming from the fact that I am still completely exhausted with anything Bully Ray is involved in. However, I have to credit ROH here. If this is leading to Cabana vs. Bully down the line, I think they are doing it about as well as it can be done.

MISSES

Once again, this was not a perfect week, but they kept me engaged in the show and I enjoyed.

Final Thoughts…

I hope that the opening match is a preview of things to come for The Bouncers. I think teams like The Bouncers and even Coast To Coast (once Ali heals up) need to be given a chance to make some noise in the tag division. There are only so many times that you can keep switching the ROH Tag titles between teams like The Young Bucks and The Briscoes. More legitimate teams are needed in the division. I think The Bouncers could be one of those up and coming teams. The WOH 4-corner match was not anything special but I liked the idea of getting multiple ladies involved without it being a meaningless tag team match. Lastly, the main event was better than I expected. As stated a million times, I am exhausted with any storyline involving Bully Ray but the story they told in the match with him, Cheeseburger, and Cabana was a nice one. Overall, it was a good week to tune into ROH.

NOW CHECK OUT THIS RECENT ARTICLE: ROH HITS & MISSES 8/3: Young vs. Sabin, Helms vs. Scurll, Los Ingobernables De Japon vs. SoCal Uncensored vs. The Bullet Club

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