SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
ROH TV REPORT
DECEMBER 1, 2019
PITTSBURGH, PA AT STAGE AE
AIRED ON ROHWRESTLING.COM
REPORT BY HARLEY R. PAGEOT, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Hosts: Ian Riccaboni, Quinn McKay
Opening theme.
-Recap of Jay Lethal turning heel to help Jonathan Gresham lay out The Briscoes on the UK tour and Jay Briscoe officially challenging them to a Final Battle tag title match the next night.
-Riccaboni and McKay checked in. They said we’d see the four-way match from The Experience as the main event of this show and an exclusive-to-TV four-way tag match to open.
-Josh Woods backstage meditating when Silas Young interrupted. Young mocked him and told him to be ready. We cut abruptly to the ring where eight men were already on the apron. The bell rang. Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman were on commentary.
(1) YOUNG WOODS (Silas Young & Josh Woods) vs. COAST 2 COAST (Shaheem Ali & LSG) vs. THE BOUNCERS (Beer City Bruiser & Brawler Milonas) vs. SOLDIERS OF SAVAGERY (Moses & Kaun) – FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL
LSG and Woods started. Woods tagged Young and LSG tagged Ali. Milonas tagged Young as he ran the ropes. More quick tags between C2C and The Bouncers. One of S.O.S. tagged in. [C]
S.O.S. isolated Bruiser. Milonas got a hot tag. S.O.S. eventually hit a double-team on Woods but he kicked out. They threw Young into the guardrail. Milonas took them out at ringside. Ali flipped onto all three. LSG fell onto them too. Bruiser very slowly climbed the turnbuckle. Woods cut him off. Woods superplexed Bruiser onto the other five men at ringside. In the ring everyone took turns hitting moves on each other. Young catapulted LSG into a knee strike from Woods. Woods covered for the win.
WINNERS: Young Woods in 13:45. [C]
(Pageot’s Perspective: Young Woods are now 5-0 as a team, the second best record in ROH this year behind only world champion Rush. Unfortunately none of these men are currently booked for Final Battle and there are already eight matches announced so it seems unlikely any more will be added. This appearance might have been their consolation prize, barring any sort of big match at Final Battle: Fallout on December 15. Actually all of these men are strong contenders to be entrants in the annual Christmas Surprise ten-man tag, which will likely take place there.)
-An ad aired for Shane Taylor Promotions.
-Taylor got a promo filmed at night atop a building. It was all close-ups and had him discussing his TV title match at Final Battle against Dragon Lee.
(Pageot’s Perspective: The promo stood out for being filmed somewhere different and in a different style than the usual “standing backstage” videos we normally get. Taylor continues to be a bright light in the continually dimming darkness that has been ROH in 2019. One of my many complaints about this promotion is that their big pay-per-view matches get quietly announced offhand on their website instead of on TV or their big events with viewers left on their own to try to remember what, if any, kayfabe reason there is for these matches to be happening.)
-A video recapped the rivalry between Dalton Castle and Joe Hendry. [C]
-A hype video played for Rush.
-Up next was the women’s tag match from ROH Unauthorized: Hanukkah Comes Early on November 3 in Columbus, Ohio. My original report was as follows…
(2) THE ALLURE (Angelina Love & Mandy Leon) vs. SUMIE SAKAI & JENNY ROSE – NO DISQUALIFICATION
The babyfaces met The Allure in the aisle and went to work. Leon choked Rose with a chain early on. Sakai brought out a Daryl plush cat in support of the return of Hiromu Takahashi to NJPW last night! Daryl took out Leon and Love. Sakai bowed to him. Rose suplexed Leon on the stage. Sakai went for a top rope moonsault onto Love on a steel chair but Love moved and Sakai crashed onto the chair. Rose speared Leon on the stage. Sakai and Love fought over the chair. Sakai let go and the chair hit Love in the gut. Botox Injection to Daryl and Sakai.
WINNERS: The Allure in 5:42.
-Love took a mic. Maria Manic’s music hit. She entered the ring and stared down Love. “At Final Battle you’re dead, bitch.” [C]
(Pageot’s Perspective: In my original report I hypothesized ROH stripping Kelly Klein of the Women Of Honor title and making the Manic-Love match for the vacant belt. They did me one better and fired Klein altogether instead. No word on the status of the championship since then or how they’ll kayfabe explain her departure. This match was starting to get good and then it was over. But hey, for $20,000 per year each, who can blame them for not wanting to be out there longer than six minutes?)
-Our main event was from ROH The Experience on November 2 in Pittsburgh. My original report was as follows…
(3) CMLL WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION ÚLTIMO GUERRERO vs. “DAREWOLF” PJ BLACK vs. ELI ISOM vs. KENNY KING (w/ Amy Rose) – NON-TITLE MATCH
Rose tripped Black as he wrestled with King on the turnbuckle. In the end Black hit Isom with the Placebo Effect for the win, though.
WINNER: PJ Black in 10:12.
(Pageot’s Perspective: Fine match. Surprised Guerrero didn’t go over but Black could use the win more at this point.)
-A video package ran through the Final Battle pay-per-view lineup. The announced matches are:
Rush vs. PCO for the world title
The Briscoes vs. Lethal & Gresham for the tag titles
Shane Taylor vs. Dragon Lee for the TV title
Maria Manic vs. Angelina Love
Mark Haskins vs. Bully Ray in a street fight
Matt Taven vs. Vincent Marseglia
Jeff Cobb vs. Dan Maff
Marty Scurll & Flip Gordon vs. Bandido & Flamita
(Pageot’s Perspective: Would you believe we’re less than two weeks away from what is traditionally ROH’s biggest pay-per-view of the year? I wouldn’t blame if you didn’t. Especially since this week’s TV was structured around PJ Black, Young Woods, and The Allure picking up wins when only one of those five people are even scheduled for the event. By my count four of those matches have no heat going in while the others were pretty much set up via just one angle alone. I’ll have my full pay-per-view preview column posted next week to summarize those handful of occurrences and give my official predictions for the last ROH event I cover for this site.)
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