8/25 ROH TV RESULTS: 40 minutes of video packages, then a replay of Matt Taven vs. Alex Shelley for the world title from Summer Supercard

ROH TV REPORT
AUGUST 25, 2019
TORONTO, ON AT MAPLE LEAF GARDENS
AIRED ON ROHWRESTLING.COM
REPORT BY HARLEY R. PAGEOT, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Hosts: Ian Riccaboni, Quinn McKay

Opening theme.

-We opened with a recap from June 29 of Matt Taven and Jay Lethal being interrupted by Alex Shelley returning from not-retirement and saying he was playing his “veteran’s card” to request a world title match.

-Riccaboni and McKay checked in and recapped recent Alex Shelley news. (No mention of Shelley showing up at an Evolve show this weekend to reunite with his Time Splitters tag partner Kushida. lol)

-Highlights aired of Shelley, Lethal, & Jonathan Gresham vs. The Kingdom at Mass Hysteria on July 21. Shelley made TK O’Ryan tap to the Motor City stretch. [C]

-In first-run footage McKay was backstage at Mass Hysteria with Shelley. She asked how he was feeling heading into Summer Supercard and his world title challenge. Shelley said Taven’s good but he doesn’t represent the ROH Shelley helped found 15 years ago.

-Six weeks ago on TV (the text caption said three but it was July 14) Tasha Steelz stole Angelina Love’s pin over Stella Grey in a four-way match to become #1 contender to the Women Of Honor World Championship.

-At Mass Hysteria Steelz “defended” her #1 contendership in a three-way against Love and Karissa Rivera and again stole Love’s pin over Rivera. For her poor sportsmanship Steelz took hairspray to the eyes from Velvet Sky and a Botox Injection from Love after the match. Kelly Klein helped make the save.

-At Summer Supercard on August 9 Steelz challenged Klein for the title. Highlights aired of a botched suicide dive from Steelz, a fallaway slam from Klein, a cutter from Steelz, and K-Power for the win. Klein of course retained. Post-match Love attacked both of them.

-In first-run footage McKay was backstage afterwards with Love. Before she could ask her anything Klein tackled Love. Security tried to separate them. [C]

-At an undetermined date in an unnamed location Lifeblood were also hanging out in an arena hallway. Mark Haskins addressed Marty Scurll and said he should have seen it coming because the two of them go way back. The “it” in question was Flip Gordon betraying them to join Villain Enterprises. Tracy Williams said the villains ran the last time they had a shot at the six-man titles. He asked for their shot at the six-man titles. Bandido asked if they’re ready for them. A graphic hyped the six-man title match taking place at Honor For All but that didn’t happen due to PCO taking sixteen stitches in the head the night before.

-At Summer Supercard “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams was attacked by Flip Gordon with a kendo stick before his scheduled TV title match against Shane Taylor. 20 minutes later Williams returned to the ring and demanded his title match anyway. Taylor retained over Williams following Greetings From 216.

-In first-run footage Taylor was backstage. He ranted about people feeling sorry for Williams instead of congratulating him on the victory. Since ROH won’t put him on the event posters or advertise him he threatened to start his own company. [C]

-Riccaboni and McKay threw to highlights of The Briscoes vs. Guerrillas Of Destiny in a ladder war for the tag titles at Summer Supercard. McKay said it was too violent to show in its entirety. (What excuse do they have for not showing any of the other matches on this show in their entirety?) The Briscoes became 11-time tag champions after Jay Briscoe pulled the tag belts down first. [C]

-At Summer Supercard Alex Shelley challenged Matt Taven for the world title. Both their entrances were shown. [C]

(1) MATT TAVEN vs. ALEX SHELLEY – ROH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Shelley blew his nose on Taven. Taven with an eyepoke. Shelley avoided a couple Climax attempts and looked for the Motor City stretch but Taven escaped to ringside. [C]

Shelley wanted sliced bread off of the ring post but Taven dumped him through the timekeeper’s table. Shelley made it in before Todd Sinclair’s count out. Swing-out backbreaker from Taven. Suplex. Bow and arrow lock. Butterfly backbreaker. Boston crab. Shelley hit an inverted atomic drop but Taven put him right back down. Shelley DDTed Taven off the apron to the floor. They fought at ringside. STO drove Taven face-first into the guardrail. Sliced bread bent Taven backwards across the guardrail. Taven ran and dove over the guardrail to take out Shelley with a splash. Frog-splash but Shelley got the knees up. Superkick to Taven. A second. Shelley hit sliced bread but Taven kicked out. Taven hit a Climax but Shelley countered the pin into a backslide for a two-count. A second Climax ended things.

WINNER: Matt Taven in 18:03 (14:24 TV time) to retain the world title.

(Pageot’s Perspective: I gave it a few weeks but this format for weekly TV is horrible. It’s completely unwatchable. If you’re an Honor Club subscriber who already watched all these shows when they first aired the only new footage is brief, meaningless backstage interviews. If you’re not an Honor Club subscriber episodes like this are still skippable because it’s just one match after 40 minutes of video packages. For everything outside the main event you see who wins and another two or three moves but nothing of any real substance. The ROH TV format we had through the winter and spring had a number of problems that needed to be addressed but who in their right mind thought the solution to those problems was to showcase less wrestling?)

-Next week: it’s Lethal & Gresham vs. Bandido & Haskins from Summer Supercard and Dante Caballero vs. Joe Keys to start the 2019 Top Prospect tournament.