SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
ROH TV REPORT
NOVEMBER 17, 2019
AIRED ON ROHWRESTLING.COM
REPORT BY HARLEY R. PAGEOT, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Hosts: Ian Riccaboni, Quinn McKay
Opening theme.
-Footage of Shane Taylor vs. Joe Hendry from Global Wars Espectacular: Chicago on September 7. They were throwing hands when the 15-minute time limit expired. The fans booed but Hendry lasting to the limit with the television champion earned him a future title shot.
-Our hosts checked in. They said that rematch, which took place on the UK tour, would be the main event of this week’s TV.
-First it was highlights of Rush vs. Jeff Cobb for the world title from Honor United: Bolton on October 27 in England. Rush retained in 15:51 following two sets of The Bull’s Horns. [C]
-Footage aired of Jay Lethal’s heel turn from Honor United: London on October 25. He and Jonathan Gresham attacked The Briscoes with a steel chair.
-The next night at Honor United: Newport Lethal explained his actions, pointing out that all the champions in ROH (Rush, The Briscoes, Villain Enterprises, Shane Taylor) are pieces of crap who break the rules and do whatever they want. He and Gresham vowed to level the playing field.
-The following night Gresham got Lethal disqualified in a singles match against PCO (guess they don’t care about win-loss records anymore either) and attacked PCO with a chair afterwards. The Briscoes eventually showed up and the teams brawled. [C]
-The hosts recapped Angelina Love holding the Women Of Honor title for two weeks before losing it back to Kelly Klein.
-Highlights aired of Klein defending against Mandy Leon at Honor United: London. Leon hit Klein with the title belt behind the referee’s back and got a three-count, only for a second referee to run out and explain the shenanigans. The match was restarted and Klein hit K-Power to officially retain in 6:43. [C]
-Highlights aired of Flamita vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey from Honor United: Bolton. Flamita won with a 450 in 13:20. [C]
(Pageot’s Perspective: Flamita signed a one-year contract with ROH this week so expect to see more of Bandido’s tag partner in 2020. Presumably he’ll join Lifeblood since Juice Robinson and David Finlay haven’t been seen since April and Mark Haskins and Tracy Williams have shot down PJ Black’s applications to join multiple times. Jerks.)
-Video package with dueling promos from Joe Hendry and Shane Taylor ahead of their title match. (It was cut together as if this was a recap of promos we’d previously seen but this was the first time this footage aired… three weeks after the match took place.)
-Back to London on October 25. Riccaboni and Dalton Castle were on commentary.
(1) SHANE TAYLOR (w/ entourage) vs. “THE PRESTIGIOUS ONE” JOE HENDRY – ROH WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP
Taylor powered out of two anklelock attempts and beat Hendry clean with a headbutt and Welcome To The Land.
WINNER: Shane Taylor in 14:31 to retain the TV title.
(Pageot’s Perspective: Taylor defends against Dragon Lee at Final Battle in three and a half weeks. No mention of that here. Presumably Hendry will be taking on Dalton Castle, though that hasn’t been announced yet. Also no mention of what to expect on next week’s TV, which has become the norm in this new clipshow era. I’m convinced by this point that ROH is purposefully putting out the worst possible TV show they can. I just haven’t figured out why or what they have to gain by doing so. I’ve got six weeks to try to figure that one out. As of December 31 I will no longer be covering ROH for the PWTorch. They’ve made it abundantly clear that there are a myriad of other promotions more deserving of my time and attention.)
Considering ROH is struggling, i’m baffled by their decision to make their show crap now (especially with their parent company Sinclair purchasing a bunch of sports channels that Fox sold before being acquired by Disney). All you get now are brief clips of matches from HonorClub shows (they showed like 20 seconds from 5 matches). It does nothing to make me want to watch more of their programming.