SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
ROH TV REPORT
OCTOBER 14, 2018
LAS VEGAS, NV AT ORLEANS ARENA
AIRED ON SINCLAIR AFFILIATES & ROHWRESTLING.COM
REPORT BY HARLEY R. PAGEOT, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Commentary: Ian Riccaboni, BJ Whitmer, Caprice Coleman
We opened with footage of Jay Lethal pinning Will Ospreay at Death Before Dishonor two weeks ago and The Kingdom attacking both men and Jonathan Gresham post-match. Matt Taven then unveiled “the real ROH world championship.”
-Opening theme.
-The Kingdom were also first out in the arena. We were scheduled to open with a match so they ushered senior referee Todd Sinclair and ring announcer Bobby Cruise out of the way. Taven posed mid-ring in a shiny purple coat and crown with his walking staff. TK O’Ryan had a mic and directed traffic. Vinny Marseglia handed the purple strap world title to Sinclair. They declared the Kingdom conspiracy dead and gave Cruise a copy of Taven’s wrestling résumé to read to the live crowd. It included being a former ROH television champion, tag team champion, six-man tag team champion, Top Prospect winner, and CMLL champion and also listed off a number of venues he “singlehandedly” sold out. O’Ryan manhandled Cruise into announcing him as the real ROH World Champion. They made Sinclair raise Taven’s hand with the purple belt.
(Pageot’s Perspective: Good segment to establish the new direction of Taven and The Kingdom and put some heat on them with all the boasting and bullying of the broadcast team. The fact that no faces showed up here to try to shut them down makes me think this is going to continue a couple more times until Dalton Castle makes his big return.)
-Kenny King was shown warming up backstage. He faces Bullet Club’s Chase Owens next. [C]
-Video package on Jeff Cobb ruining this year’s Top Prospect Tournament and beating up Punishment Martinez at Death Before Dishonor following his TV title defense. Martinez defends the title against Cobb next week.
-Video recap of Kenny King stealing a victory over Adam Page three weeks ago on TV.
(1) KENNY KING vs. “THE CROWN JEWEL” CHASE OWENS
This was Owens’ first ROH match in America. Wristlocks and arm drags early on, evenly exchanged. Owens took King out with a dropkick through the ropes to the floor. Riccaboni acknowledged that King’s hometown crowd was not on his side. Draping flatliner from Owens for two. [C]
King was in control at the 7:00 mark. Owens fired up and hit an enziguiri. Running European uppercut in the corner and a knee to the face for a two-count. Owens with an inverted neckbreaker. King blocked a package piledriver. When Owens looked for a back body drop King landed on his feet and feigned a knee injury. Owens didn’t seem to believe it but King managed to roll him up anyway.
WINNER: Kenny King in 9:33.
(Pageot’s Perspective: The action wasn’t anything particularly special but the fact that this was Owens’ first ROH match outside of joint ROH/NJPW shows in Japan likely kept people’s attention more than usual. The important thing is King picking up another win over a third Bullet Club member now. Unless we see Matt or Nick Jackson in a rare singles match Cody is likely King’s next destination at this point.)
-Coast 2 Coast were walking backstage. They pumped each other up about being undefeated in 2018. They challenge The Briscoes for the tag titles next week. [C]
-Shane Taylor was shadowboxing backstage.
-Video recap of the Bully Ray & Silas Young vs. Flip Gordon & Colt Cabana tables match from Death Before Dishonor highlighting Ian Riccaboni cheering Cabana on at ringside only for Ray to shove him and powerbomb Cabana through the timekeeper’s table.
-Video recap of Shane Taylor being pinned by Eli Isom in a four-corner survival match two weeks ago. Taylor laid out Isom and Chris Sabin after the match and glared at Flip Gordon.
-Taylor made his entrance for a singles match. His opponent, Gordon, power-walked to the ring with a serious face on and asked for a microphone. He said he has no problem fighting Shane tonight but first he wanted to address Bully Ray. He said he put Ray through a table at the pay-per-view in Ray’s own match but Ray still screwed him over. He asked what Ray wanted. A TLC match? A street fight?
-Ray walked out onto the stage. He asked if he was under Gordon’s skin. As Ray jawed at Gordon, Taylor grabbed a steel chair. Gordon noticed but didn’t see Silas Young slide into the ring from the other side. Young low blowed Gordon from behind. Taylor hit Gordon across the back with the chair. Ray joined them and sarcastically called for help from the back. He shoved Todd Sinclair down as Taylor choked Gordon with the chair. Taylor hit him again. Ray tried to goad Riccaboni and Cruise into coming into the ring to help Gordon. Young hit Misery on Gordon. Riccaboni questioned why there was nobody in the locker room who wanted to help. [C]
(Pageot’s Perspective: There’s been no mention of Colt Cabana tonight so a big question mark is why he’s not on commentary and why he wasn’t around here. For that matter, isn’t Flip friends with all of the Bullet Club crew? And Sabin and Isom and Cheeseburger and Ryan Nova? I guess not. It is nice to see Ray using some of his nuclear heat to give a rub to Young and now Taylor. Do the three of them challenge for the six-man titles at Final Battle in December?)
-The Briscoes were backstage. They said Coast 2 Coast don’t stand a chance against them next week.
-Video package featuring ROH World Champion Jay Lethal talking about the Madison Square Garden sellout and what it means for him and the rest of the roster to wrestle in the historic arena.
-The Kingdom were shown in their locker room, getting ready to head out to hit the Vegas strip.
-The four teams made their entrances for the main event. [C]
(2) ROH WORLD SIX-MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS THE YOUNG BUCKS (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) vs. LOS INGOBERNABLES DE JAPÓN (Evil & Sanada) vs. BEST FRIENDS (Beretta & Chuckie T) vs. SOCAL UNCENSORED (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) – FOUR-CORNER SURVIVAL MATCH
Everyone was brawling. It was unclear whether the match had officially started or not. The Bucks took out Daniels. Best Friends took out the Bucks. L.I.J. prevented their big hug. SCU took out L.I.J. People took turns flipping onto everyone else on the floor.
Three minutes out of the commercial break the bell finally rang to start the match with Daniels and Beretta alone in the ring. Sanada tagged Beretta and put Daniels in the paradise lock. Kaz got locked up as well. Sanada dropkicked them free. Evil with a sidewalk slam to Daniels and a chin-lock. [C]
Daniels put down Evil and looked for a tag. Best Friends strolled around the ring with their sunglasses on and lazily pulled Kaz off the apron to prevent the tag. Daniels tagged Nick Jackson. Nick was a house of fire on Evil and Sanada. He took out Best Friends as well. People were rapidly in and out, hitting their moves one at a time. Evil used Todd Sinclair to help him hit a magic killer. Chuckie hit the awful waffle on Matt. Best Friends hit a dudebuster on Matt but Nick broke up the pin with a swanton. Daniels rushed the ring but Nick superkicked everyone in sight. Sanada leapt off the top rope into superkicks from Matt and Nick. The Bucks hit a Meltzer Driver on Beretta for the win.
WINNERS: The Young Bucks in 7:23.
(Pageot’s Perspective: This felt like it was solely booked for the live crowd. The action was your standard Bullet Club multi-man TV main event that we see at least once a month. L.I.J. returned to ROH TV with zero fanfare. SCU, who I would have assumed were still feuding with the Briscoes for the tag titles, were bit players here. Best Friends had been picking up some wins and gaining momentum since Beretta returned from injury only for him to take the pinfall here. And the Bucks won. Why? They’re already the six-man champions. Are they going to go back and face the Briscoes again? No clue what purpose this match served.)
-Next week: it’s Punishment Martinez vs. Jeff Cobb for the TV title, The Briscoes vs. Coast 2 Coast for the tag titles, and Marty Scurll vs. Chris Sabin.
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