11/24 ROH TV RESULTS: Chapter 427 in the slow death of a once-great promotion, Dak Draper vs. Ryan Nova, footage from The Experience

ROH TV REPORT
NOVEMBER 24, 2019
PITTSBURGH, PA AT STAGE AE
AIRED ON ROHWRESTLING.COM
REPORT BY HARLEY R. PAGEOT, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Hosts: Ian Riccaboni, Quinn McKay

Opening theme.

-Dragon Lee made his entrance in footage from The Experience on November 2. It was a fan-voting determined show. In this instance they chose Jeff Cobb to face Lee over PJ Black, Kenny King, and Eli Isom. Highlights aired of Lee vs. Cobb with Lee countering a Tour Of The Islands into a crucifix pin for the win in 12:02.

(Pageot’s Perspective: This was Cobb’s third loss in a short period after a ten-month undefeated streak. The first two losses came from world champion Matt Taven and world champion Rush but this one’s obviously more significant as Lee only makes scattered appearances for ROH and has been presented as a midcarder for the most part, himself losing to Dalton Castle and Kenny King in singles matches this summer. Cobb faces Dan Maff at Final Battle in a random “big man” match with nothing behind it. It’s quite disappointing.)

-Riccaboni and McKay checked in. They said all of tonight’s footage would come from The Experience on November 2 in Pittsburgh.

-Up next was a tag match. The fans chose for the world champion & TV champion to team together against Castle & Matt Taven rather than a Rush-Castle vs. Taylor-Taven match.

(1) ROH WORLD CHAMPION RUSH & ROH WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPION SHANE TAYLOR vs. MATT TAVEN & DALTON CASTLE

Taylor pinned Castle with Welcome To The Land.

WINNERS: Taylor & Rush in 11:04.

-A short vignette aired on Tyler Bateman.

-From the same night as The Experience came an exclusive-to-TV match. 2019 Top Prospect tournament winner Dak Draper was taking on the third man in Shinobi Shadow Squad. Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman were on commentary. Draper handed Nova a participant ribbon before the bell.

(2) DAK DRAPER vs. RYAN NOVA

Nova hit a kick but Draper threw him aside. Riccaboni said Draper is 6’7”. Powerslam from Draper. Draper worked over Nova slowly. Nova got an armbar locked on but Draper powered him up and slammed him down. Magnum Drop for the win.

WINNER: Dak Draper in 4:37.

-Draper gave Nova the ribbon again.

(Pageot’s Perspective: This was Draper’s first match since winning the tournament two months ago. Nova had more energy and was arguably more exciting to watch. Draper was your typical big man, just walking around lethargically and hitting some basic strikes and slams. He’s still owed a TV title match but they’re obviously reluctant to do a heel vs. heel match against Taylor so he’ll probably wait to face Dragon Lee for the title in January.)

-A video aired on PCO defeating Marty Scurll at Glory By Honor to advance to the main event of Final Battle. Brody King and Flip Gordon turning on PCO to help Scurll was included. Post-match they were all best buddies again, though, because PCO’s apparently a doormat.

-Brian Zane had another top 5 segment. This time it was his favorite Final Battle matches in chronological order:

1. Austin Aries vs. Samoa Joe for the world title, 2004
2. Kenta vs. Low Ki, 2005
3. Daniel Bryan vs. Takeshi Morishima in a fight without honor, 2008
4. El Generico vs. Kevin Owens in mask vs. career, 2010
5. The Briscoes vs. SCU vs. The Young Bucks in a ladder war, 2018

-Our TV main event was the six-man titles main event from The Experience. My original report was as follows…

-Villain Enterprises (Marty Scurll & PCO) were out first for the main event. Brody King was injured and management replaced him with Dan Maff. (Maff was around in the very early days of ROH and won the tag titles twice with BJ Whitmer. Riccaboni said it had been at least 13 years since he’d appeared in ROH.) Fans were able to vote for their three challengers from a list that included Shaheem Ali, PJ Black, Beer City Bruiser, Colt Cabana, Dalton Castle, Cheeseburger, Jeff Cobb, Caprice Coleman, Delirious, Dak Draper, Joe Hendry, Eli Isom, Kenny King, LSG, Brian Milonas, Ryan Nova, Matt Taven, Rhett Titus, Josh Woods, and Silas Young. Cabana was out first. Cobb was the second man, forced into doing double duty due to his popularity. Cheeseburger was the third and final man.

(Pageot’s Perspective: Confirmed – Cheeseburger is more popular than The Bouncers, Taven, Castle, Joe Hendry, and Kenny King.)

(3) DAN MAFF & VILLAIN ENTERPRISES (Marty Scurll & PCO) vs. CHEESEBURGER, JEFF COBB, & COLT CABANA – ROH WORLD SIX-MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

Scurll and Cabana started. Cobb and Maff had a showdown early on. Cabana took out all three opponents at 10:00 and got a near-fall on Scurll off a Flying Apple. Tags to Cobb and PCO. PCO no-sold a German suplex. Scurll backdropped him over the top rope onto Cobb and Cabana at ringside. Maff with a suicide dive. Maff and the villains continued to work well together. Scurll made a blind tag to PCO and called for a chicken-wing on Cobb. He took so long calling for it that Cobb nailed him with a forearm. Deadlift suplex to Maff on the apron with Cobb standing on the second rope. The babyfaces hit a trio of moves on Scurll. Burger got a two-count. Scurll ducked a shotei. Tag to PCO. He went up top but fell off and hit the apron on his way down. Triple-teaming to PCO. Shotei from Burger! A second. A third turned into a simultaneous tombstone to Burger + double chokeslam to Cabana and Cobb. He went up for the PCOsault. Maff tagged. PCOsault landed on Burger. Maff pulled him off and hit a burning hammer to Burger for the pin.

WINNERS: Maff & Villain Enterprises in 16:53 to retain the six-man titles.

(Pageot’s Perspective: Maff and Cobb face each other at Final Battle while Scurll & Flip Gordon will face Bandido & Flamita in what has to be Scurll’s final match for ROH. Meanwhile Cabana will defend the NWA National Championship at NWA Into The Fire the following night. Cheeseburger and the still-injured(?) Brody King are not booked for the pay-per-view as of today. How ROH will get the six-man titles off of Villain Enterprises and the women’s title off of Kelly Klein when neither Scurll nor Klein are expected to wrestle for ROH again post-Final Battle is a story that remains to be told. Maybe they’ll pull a WCW and just strip all the champions and do a hard reset on the entire promotion.)