SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
ROH TV REPORT
NOVEMBER 25, 2018
PITTSBURGH, PA AT STAGE AE
AIRED ON SINCLAIR AFFILIATES & ROHWRESTLING.COM
REPORT BY HARLEY R. PAGEOT, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Commentary: Ian Riccaboni, Colt Cabana
We opened with a video recap of The Briscoes incapacitating Christopher Daniels two weeks ago, which led to Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky teaming to challenge for the tag titles last week in a three-way against The Young Bucks and defending champions The Briscoes. After a ref bump and shenanigans SoCal Uncensored (Kaz & Sky) pinned Mark Briscoe to capture the tag team gold.
-Opening theme.
-In the arena we opened with The Kingdom’s music. It was Taven and O’Ryan in tag team action with no sign of Marseglia or their six-man title belts. Taven was wearing the “real ROH world championship”, though. The Boys made their entrance without Castle as a video recap aired of The Kingdom attacking Dalton Castle and The Boys last week including a three-way steel chair shot to a downed Castle. Taven took a microphone. “Boys” chant from the crowd. Taven asked if this was a joke. He threatened to put them on the shelf just like they did to Castle. Taven said it wouldn’t even take two of them to do so. He sent O’Ryan up to commentary, essentially challenging The Boys to a handicap match, and then clocked Brent with his title belt.
(1) ROH WORLD SIX-MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPION MATT TAVEN vs. THE BOYS (Brandon & Brent)
O’Ryan dubbed it “brilliant” on commentary. Brandon ducked and dodged at first but Taven caught him and put him down. [C]
Brent made his way into the ring and went after Taven. It wasn’t clear whether the match was being contested under lucha rules or not. Marseglia of course appeared from under the ring and pulled Brandon under the ring. Taven hit The Climax on Brent.
WINNER: Matt Taven in 4:45.
(Pageot’s Perspective: Yawn. Of the multiple Castle&Boys-Kingdom segments we’ve had over the past month this one felt the least significant. It was also disappointing to see The Boys back on TV after the vicious attack they took from The Kingdom at Global Wars: Buffalo two weeks ago. I was really hoping they would sell that one by being absent up until Final Battle.)
-Pre-recorded sit-down interview with Cody. Two years ago at Final Battle he made his ROH debut against Jay Lethal. One year ago at Final Battle he lost the world title to Dalton Castle. Now this year it’s Cody vs. Lethal for the world title in Cody’s final ROH match.
-Ian Riccaboni was in the ring and introduced “The Octopus” Jonathan Gresham. Gresham made his entrance in street clothes to address his spot on Final Battle. He said he came to ROH to prove he’s the best pure wrestler in the world and issued an open challenge to the best technical wrestlers in the world to come to ROH and face him. Zack Sabre Jr. appeared on the videotron and accepted. [C]
(Pageot’s Perspective: This was a mirroring segment to September 16 TV when Jay Lethal issued an open challenge for Death Before Dishonor, which was accepted by a videotron message from another British wrestler in Will Ospreay. Like that segment it’s a bit hokey that the Brits somehow had these messages already recorded and ready to go but maybe that’s due to the fact that England is five hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. In the end it’s worth overlooking because all that matters is that we’re getting Gresham vs. Sabre. In the immortal words of Stan Lee – ‘nuff said.)
-Christopher Daniels, still wearing a neckbrace, was on a landline phone in a hotel room. He told Joe Koff that he would have the scanned copies sent to him in the morning. He hung up and the camera panned out to show Kaz and Sky sitting next to him. He told them that he was able to get the two of them new ROH contracts since they’re now the tag team champions. As to what he would do? He’d figure something out.
-Kelly Klein made her entrance for a Women Of Honor match. A video recapped a singles match they had on July 15 TV, which resulted in a stray elbow from Rose chipping Klein’s teeth and requiring her to get dental surgery. Klein got a measure of revenge on August 19 TV when she distracted Rose, causing her to lose to Karen Q in a singles match. Rose then pinned Klein in a six-woman tag on TV three weeks ago. They got into a shoving match as soon as Rose was in the ring.
(2) JENNY ROSE vs. “THE GATEKEEPER” KELLY KLEIN – QUALIFYING MATCH FOR THE WOH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FOUR-CORNER SURVIVAL MATCH AT FINAL BATTLE
Rose got an early roll-up for a one-count. Klein unloaded with back elbows in the corner. She hit a series of knees on the apron but Rose swept her legs. Rose dropkicked her to the floor and they fought briefly at ringside. [C]
WOH World Champion Sumie Sakai brought a chair out onto the stage quietly to sit down and watch the match. Rose hit an overhead throw on Klein from off the second turnbuckle. A facebuster and spear gave her a two-count. Klein hit K-Power for the win.
WINNER: Kelly Klein in 6:10.
-Klein gestured to Sakai that she was coming for her title.
(Pageot’s Perspective: Way too short for a PPV qualifier and the blow-off match to one of the only feuds in the women’s division. Klein joins Sakai, Karen Q, and Madison Rayne in the WOH World Championship four-corner survival match at Final Battle.)
-A video package showed the dominance of TV champion Jeff Cobb as Adam Page spoke about not being impressed. Page claimed he’s just as strong and hits just as hard. He asked what Cobb will do when he finally faces a real challenge? They face off for the TV title at Final Battle. [C]
(3) THE YOUNG BUCKS (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) vs. THE BRISCOES (Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe) – WINNERS EARN A ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH AT FINAL BATTLE
Mark and Nick started. Nick had the early edge so Jay jumped in. Matt joined too and the Briscoes took an assisted split-leg dropkick from Nick. Jay was cleared from the ring. [C]
The Briscoes double-teamed Matt as referee Todd Sinclair preoccupied himself with ensuring Nick was on the apron. Mark punched Nick off the apron to prevent a tag. Matt made it a moment later, though. Stereo sharpshooters to the Briscoes but they both made it to the ropes. Nick tagged Matt back in. Mark went after his back. The Briscoes hit redneck boogie for a two-count. Jay put Matt in a sharpshooter. He made the rope break. [C]
Matt avoided a doomsday device and tagged Nick. Nick took out Jay with a tornado DDT on the floor and the Bucks double-teamed Mark. All four men threw hands in the middle of the ring. Superkicks from the Briscoes, then a pair from the Bucks. The Bucks set up Mark for a Meltzer Driver so Jay slid a steel chair into the ring. As Jay grabbed a second Matt got hold of the first one. They squared off before both throwing their chairs into the heads of Nick and Mark. Sinclair called for the bell.
DECISION: Double disqualification in 13:15.
-The fans booed the non-finish. Jay and Matt dueled with the chairs, which resulted in Sinclair taking a shot and going down to a loud pop. The two teams brawled. Nick threw a chair at Mark’s head again. Jay took a superkick. Mark took a third chair to the head. Matt took a chair shot. Mark choked Nick. Four security guards hit the ring to separate them.
SCU’s music hit and Kaz and Sky walked out onto the stage with the tag titles over their shoulders. Kaz said the last time he held the ROH tag titles he lost them to the Bucks (in Ladder War VI at All Star Extravaganza, September 2016.) He offered to defend against both teams in Ladder War VII at Final Battle.
(Pageot’s Perspective: You knew there was no way either the Briscoes or the Bucks would be left off the Final Battle card but the Ladder War stipulation surprises me. Back in the summer I was convinced we were headed to this exact match at Death Before Dishonor in September but instead the fall was largely focused on Briscoes-SCU with the Bucks doing six-man stuff with Cody. So another big match for the pay-per-view, just peaking at an odd time in the story.
On a personal note, this week’s column marks my one-year anniversary with PWTorch. It’s been a blast covering ROH for the site and I very much look forward to continuing to do so, especially if all of the various rumors floating around come true and we see a big upheaval in the ROH landscape over the next month. Of course in addition to my written columns covering weekly TV and Honor Club events you can always catch myself and Emily Fear talk the week in ROH on the Tuesday livecast “Talking Honor” and we also co-host the VIP podcast “Elite Repeat” where we re-watch and annotate old episodes of Being The Elite. Thanks for reading!)
-Next week: it’s SCU vs. Guerrero Maya Jr. & Stuka Jr. for the tag titles, Jeff Cobb vs. Josh Woods, and Christopher Daniels vs. Kenny King.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.