SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
HITS
Storylines Continue: I have been critical of ROH in the past in regards to taking breaks and pauses in their TV program especially the weeks of their PPVs. I don’t mean that they skip a week of programming. I mean that whenever it is the week of a PPV, such as the one that they had on Friday March 10, 2017, they have in the past aired older matches from months before. I enjoyed the fact that although there was a PPV the previous night before this aired in my area, that we continued with some of the ongoing storylines that have been airing on ROH TV recently.
The Young Bucks vs. Coast to Coast (LSG & Shaheem Ali): This is a proving ground match. Good to see Coast to Coast getting some TV time against the ROH World Tag Team champions, The Young Bucks. Outstanding and acrobatic flip/corkscrew move from LSG off the top to the outside on to The Young Bucks and his partner Ali around the middle of the match. Overall, good showing by Coast to Coast. The Young Bucks end up picking up the win. However, the actual match played second fiddle to the antics after the match by The Young Bucks. The Young Bucks mock The Hardy’s by delivering a Twist of Fate and then a Swanton Bomb on to Shaheem Ali. Good opening match and nice ending with The Young Bucks mocking Matt and Jeff which plays into the ongoing story with The Hardy’s and Young Bucks.
Lio Rush/Kenny King: Last week, Lio Rush appeared to be helping The Rebellion in their match with The Kingdom. However, Rush then turned on King enabling The Kingdom to win and retain their ROH World Six Man Titles. Ian Ricabonni interviews Rush. Rush says he is tired of The Rebellion playing games with him and that they are a bunch of clowns. King comes out to respond to Rush. King doesn’t appreciate being called a clown. King tells Rush that “Rush likes to fly around with the speed and grace of a cruiserweight but Kenny King gets live at 225.” Furthermore, he tells Rush that “Kenny King will put the hush on Lio Rush.” Once again, another storyline being progressed. Kenny King is a tremendously talented wrestler. I’ve got no doubt that next week’s match with these two will be a good one.
Preston Quinn (w/Andy Vineberg) vs. Curt Stallion: This is a first round Top Prospect match. I’ve never seen Andy Vineberg and my first reaction was that I love a weasel sounding manager. As far as Preston Quinn, he is what I like about wrestling’s past. This was the first time I have ever seen him but he reminds me of an old-school bruiser that is there to kick some butt and take names. You aren’t going to see this guy doing many flips nor take flight often but that doesn’t matter because at the end of the day he’s there to pound on his opponents. Quinn dominates most of the match that includes a nice brain buster at one point. Quinn reminds me of a smaller version of the Beer City Bruiser. Additionally, Quinn deliver a very nice pile driver. Stallion somehow finds a way to deliver a flying headbutt when Quinn misses an elbow drop from the second rope. Stallion pulls off the upset win according to Brutal Bob Evans and Ian Ricabonni. As an old-school wrestling guy, this reminded me of the good old days of wrestling and I found it to be a solid match.
Cody and Hangman Page: Cody first calls out Jay Lethal and wants to know where he is. Cody basically says that Lethal is missing in action these days. Cody then transitions to talking about Hangman Page as Page comes out to the ring with his hangman’s noose. Page takes the noose apart as Cody describes installing a cowbell to the rope. He says the same type of cowbell that has been in the Rhodes family for four decades. I really like how Cody set this up. I had no idea what was coming being that I have not read any spoilers on this. Cody then challenges Jay Lethal to a Texas Bull Rope match. Nice promo and challenge to Lethal by Cody. Texas Bull Rope matches were a big deal 30 years ago. I look forward to seeing how this one turns out.
Jonathan Gresham vs. Dalton Castle: It is amazing the reaction that Dalton Castle always gets. The guy continues to just exude charisma. Good match. Nothing very flashy except for Gresham’s running knee off the ring apron down to Castle on the floor. it was a quick match where Castle gets the win.
War Machine vs. Punishment Martinez & B.J. Whitmer: You have to love when a falls count anywhere match starts with War Machine attacking Martinez & Whitmer before we can even get the teams formally introduced. For those who need a reminder, this is a continuation of what went down between these teams in Atlanta a few weeks back. If you enjoy four guys beating the snot out of each other, then this is your match. For my money, War Machine is my favorite and best tag team in the world. At one point in the match, Whitmer throws a chair at WarBeard Hanson that nails Hanson in the head. Chair head shots are very rare these days which to me made Whitmer’s head shot to Hanson that much more impactful. We go to commercial and when we come back Hanson is going corner to corner delivering line after line to Whitmer and Martinez. We also get a nice German suplex from Whitmer on to Ray Rowe. Martinez hits a nice dive on to War Machine as he dives over the near corner from inside to the outside. This leads us to the finish where it appears Hanson has the edge on Martinez as Martinez is on the far-right corner on the second rope. As Hanson goes to get the fans into it, Martinez hits Hanson in the gut with a punch and then Martinez delivers a choke slam from the second rope thru the table set up in the ring. Martinez goes for the pin and gets the 1-2-3. Hanson took a heck of a fall and bump. In what I would consider an upset, Martinez and Whitmer defeat the former ROH World Tag Team Champions War Machine in a solid no rules falls count anywhere match. But that’s not the end, as we are about to go off air, Martinez turns on his tag partner Whitmer. He delivers a choke slam to Whitmer.
MISSES
None to speak of. See my final thoughts below on the main reason that I say this.
Final Thoughts
I was fully ready to not enjoy this week’s ROH TV. In the past when it was a PPV weekend, I generally felt that ROH would air old matches from months or weeks ago in order to pass the time while they reset things post PPV. That did not happen this week and I was glad to see this. This was a strong episode with storylines continuing from previous weeks.
NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S ARTICLE: ROH HITS & MISSES 3/4: Kingdom, Kazarian in Bullet Club, Commentary of Ian Riccaboni, Fish, Lethal, Briscoes
Mike Mills is the PWTorch.com ROH TV Hits and Misses Specialist, providing his point of view on ROH TV weekly. You can follow Mike at @BTT_Podcast and @Mike504Saints on Twitter and e-mail him at BookingTheTerritory@gmail.com.
This show was far from perfect. For one thing, this show was the prime example of why ROH taping 2-3 months worth of TV at a time is a terrible idea. The Young Bucks appeared as champs, even though they had actually lost the titles over a week earlier AND failed to win them back the day before this show aired. And ROH was too bush league to at least do post-production and add it in (for example, in 2011 John Cena lost the WWE Championship to Sheamus at TLC. When Tribute to the Troops aired after that, he appeared with the belt because TTTT had been taped before TLC. WWE handled this by displaying a notice at the bottom of the screen informing fans of this fact.). And the Young Bucks continued to show why they are over-rated, they are spot monkies who don’t know hot to tell a good story in the ring. The fact that anyone cheers for them is mind boggling. I guess ROH fans like spot monkies who couldn’t come up with their own original gimmick if their lives depended on it.
The only thing mind-boggling is being critical while only reading about the results. I was there on Saturday, and no article can do it justice. VOD isn’t the same either. You got to be there. If you’ve gone to PWG, then just imagine this without the smell and the sardine-feeling. ROH knows what they are doing. Every wrestler brought their A game. Do yourself a favor and save up to go to 16th Anniversary next year.