SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
ROH TV REPORT (ep.438)
FEBRUARY 7, 2020
AIRED ON SINCLAIR SYNDICATED TV, ROHWRESTLING.COM
REPORT BY RYAN SULLIVAN, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Hosts: Ian Riccaboni, Quinn McKay
-The opening theme aired.
-The show starts with a video package of highlights from the PCO against Rush match from Center Stage in Atlanta.
-Ian and Quinn appear on-screen, with Ian hyping this week’s main event of La Faccion Ingobernable verses Villain Enterprises. Then, Quinn goes to highlights of the Flip Gordon and Flamita match from last month.
-Ring of Honor shows approximately two minutes of highlights from Flip Gordon and Flamita. Flip wins with his version of the STF, a/k/a Submit To Flip. After the match, Flip rips off Flamita’s mask and steals it, as they go to commercial. [c]
-Returning from commercial, Brian Johnson is shown doing dips, in preparation for his upcoming match. P.J. Black approaches Johnson with his phone, to show Johnson clips of their previous match. Johnson quickly shuts this down, and storms off. As Johnson leaves, Black says, “Phase two is about to begin”!
-Ian and Quinn are back on-air, selling future dates and matches already scheduled for these towns. Ian then throws it to highlights of Bully Ray and Maria Manic in Atlanta.
-Bully Ray is already in the ring with a microphone, and calls out Maria Manic. Coming from the crowd, Maria answers his challenge and walks to ringside. After prompting and taunting by Bully, Maria enters the ring, and immediately spears Bully. Maria has the upper-hand, and appears to be about to put Bully through a table, before The Allure (Mandy Leon and Angelina Love), storm her from behind. Love hits Maria in the face with a high-heeled shoe, knocking her out. Then, The Allure holds down Maria on a table, allowing Bully to belly-flop on her, through the table. [c]
-Ian and Quinn are back, promoting tonight’s main event and the new merchandise available at the ROH Pro Shop. Ian says he often wears a P.J. Black shirt, which gives Quinn an opportunity to talk about P.J. Black trying to mentor Brian Johnson. They then kick it to the ring, for our television main event.
(1) THE BOUNCERS (Beer City Bruiser & Brawler Milonas) vs. P.J. BLACK & BRIAN JOHNSON
As The Bouncers approached the ring, a pre-taped promo was shown, saying there were several makeshift teams in the ROH tag division, but none were unified like they are. They finished a solid, but similar promo to two weeks ago with, “2020 is the Year of the Beer.”
Black and Milonas begin the action, with Milonas using his size to overwhelm Black, before Johnson tagged himself in. The Bouncers continued to use their size advantage to work over their opponents, especially Johnson, who did not get an offensive maneuver in for many minutes. [c]
Returning “live,” The Bouncers continued to work over Johnson, before he finally got a hot tag to Black nearly six minutes into action. Johnson finally gains an advantage on Bruiser, putting him twice into a headlock and attempting to use the ropes for leverage. Black knocked his feet off the ropes both times.
The finish occurs when Brian Johnson brought a chair into the ring, but of course, Black does not allow it to happen. Bruiser then bumps Johnson into Black, knocking P.J. outside the ring. This gives Bruiser the chance to grab Johnson, and Milonas hit their “Closing Time” finisher for the victory.
WINNERS: The Bouncers at 8:27
(Ryan’s Reaction: This was an entertaining match, with the contest advancing the turbulent mentorship with Black and Johnson, while giving The Bouncers another victory on television. The Bouncers are piling up wins in 2020, and I am curious to see if this push leads to a title run later this year.)
-Post-match, Black is obviously frustrated by Johnson’s cheating tactics, while Johnson’s obviously upset that Black stifled his opportunity to win the match. Both blame each other as we go to a graphic on-screen, hyping the main event. [c]
-When we return, there is a cameraman following Johnson backstage, asking Brian, “What happened”? Johnson furiously starting saying he was about to win their match, before Black interrupted him mid-diatribe. Black said you must first defeat your opponent with your mind, and you never use a chair. Johnson began to argue, before Black interrupted him again, telling Johnson he agreed to listen to his advice. Black told Johnson to take two deep breaths: on the second breath, Johnson walked away and out of the building. Black then says, “This is going to be harder than I thought”.
-Next a graphic is shown on-screen, featuring next week’s television main event, consisting of Jeff Cobb, Dan Maff, Jonathan Gresham and Jay Lethal, against The Bouncers and Two Guys One Tag.
-We then go to the ring for our main event.
(2) LA FACCION INGOBERNABLE (Dragon Lee & Kenny King & Rush) vs. VILLAIN ENTERPRISES (Brody King & PCO & Marty Scurll w/Amy Rose)
Rhett Titus joins Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman on commentary. This match was from the Honor Reigns Supreme show in January, and was originally scheduled to be for the World Six-Man Titles. Neither team participated in the Code of Honor.
Scurll and Dragon Lee begin the contest with some impressive mat wrestling, with neither able to gain an advantage. Next, Kenny King and Brody King entered, with Brody controlling the offense. Rush and PCO soon tag-in, and they begin an absolute slugfest with each other, before La Faccion Ingobernable took the action to the outside, and gained control. This allowed La Faccion Ingobernable to isolate PCO, and they began to work him over for a while. (c)
Back “live”, PCO immediately gets the hot tag to Brody King, and Brody quickly takes control of the offense, before La Faccion Ingobernable’s chemistry (and underhanded tactics) helps them again retake the advantage. About ten minutes into action, PCO hit his “PCO-sault” for a near win, before Dragon Lee broke up the pin. This led to several minutes of wild in-ring action, with all six competitors hitting impressive offensive maneuvers on one another. The crowd began a well-deserved “This is awesome” chant.
The finish occurs when Brody King and PCO are hit with chairs off-camera and outside the ring, rendering them incapacitated. This allowed Rush and Kenny King to hold Scurll in the air, while Dragon Lee hit a double-stomp, Bucco-bomb combination for the win.
WINNERS: La Faccion Ingobernable at 15:18
(Ryan’s Reaction: This was an outstanding match and all six men worked extremely hard. I am enjoying the beginning stages of La Faccion Ingobernable and I am glad they got a decisive, clean victory here. Additionally, it feels like Marty Scurll and Villain Enterprises have taken multiple defeats in the past couple months – perhaps this is building to a much-needed split between Scurll, Brody King, PCO and Flip Gordon.)
-The show goes off-air with an obviously exhausted La Faccion Ingobernable posing for the camera and celebrating their victory.
FINAL THOUGHTS: ROH continues their streak of quality shows in 2020. The main event was terrific, and the opening contest was entertaining, and furthered interesting mid-card storylines. Now that the company has consistently been producing better content for many consecutive weeks, I feel it fair to offer a criticism – ROH needs to do a better job on the first half of the show. Far too much time is spent with Ian and Quinn talking about future dates and upcoming live event matches, when viewers are tuning in for high-level in-ring action. Rather than showing two minutes of Flip Gordon and Flamita, show the entire contest and cut time from other, more expendable, areas. The television show is far superior to what it was last year, but there is still room for improvement.
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