ROH HITS & MISSES 10/28: Sky vs. Page, Isom vs. Taylor, The Kingdom, Gordon and Bully Ray, Liger & Kushida vs. Lethal & Gresham

HITS

Scorpio Sky vs. Adam Hangman Page: If Page stays with ROH long term, he is a future ROH World champion. There is just something about Page that has star written all over him. I had no personal investment in who would win this match when it started, but, as it got underway I was quickly interested especially as Page, who I don’t think people see as a power type guy, flung Sky around the outside of the ring like a ragdoll. He finished off this series of flings with a fling to Sky into the corner post that is hard to describe but was something I have not seem much as Page firemen carried Sky towards the corner post and then tossed him head first into it. Although there was not title on the line in this one, it was just two guys who decided they were in for a hard-hitting bar room fight without the barstools and chairs. Page ends up winning this really good opening match with his finisher “The Right of Passage”. Outstanding opening match where Page continues to be impressive getting a win against the veteran Sky. After the commercial break, Page also declares that he has proven himself in Japan and everywhere else he has gone. Page goes on to say he deserves a title shot whether it be the ROH TV title all the way to the ROH World title. I have to agree with him. He is deserving of at least a title shot at this point.

The Kingdom Promo: Please ROH, do not do the zooming in and out with the camera. That stuff makes me dizzy enough while watching WWE. Otherwise, this was another good promo from Matt Taven and The Kingdom. The Kingdom and Taven declare that the Kingdom Conspiracy is now over. I continue to be really interested in seeing how this all plays out over time with Taven’s pursuit of the title even though he holds the purple Kingdom version of it now.

Shane Taylor vs. Eli Isom: This was a good follow up to Isom defeating Taylor in a 4-corner survival match from a few weeks back. Isom has been impressive since his first match in ROH. I would not put him in any type of title contention, but he has shown he has the talent to be a star in the future. Taylor dominated this match for the most part. In the words of Ian Riccaboni, “Isom is getting mauled here so far in this matchup”. Isom does turn it around eventually and the crowd certainly reacts once Isom gets the upper hand. It really felt like in this match that Isom is becoming a bit of a crowd favorite. Unfortunately for Isom, Taylor turns the tide and finishes off Isom with his finisher. After the match, Taylor grabs a folding chair and brings it into the ring where he starts putting the boots to Isom. As Taylor is about to do more damage to Isom, Cheeseburger comes out to make the save but Taylor leaves Cheeseburger laid out when he hits Burger with “Greetings from 216”. Flip Gordon comes out though and he finally does some damage to Taylor as he unleashes a few chair shots to the back of Taylor. This is continued below. In regards to the match and before we move on, I have to say this was a good match and good showing from Isom. I like how they used the ending here to move into the next segment with Gordon and Bully.

Flip Gordon And Bully Ray: Gordon grabs the microphone after laying out Taylor in the previous match and segment. Gordon turns his attention to Bully Ray and asked Bully if this is what he wanted when Bully told Gordon he needed to get more extreme? Gordon says he is willing to get extreme via tables, ladders, and chairs or whatever is needed. Bully hits the stage and teases Gordon and the fans by asking them what they want and then he goes on to say it does not matter what kind of match they want because they are not getting it. Bully tells Gordon that he is a HOF talent and Gordon is not worth his time. However, Bully invites Gordon next week to Philly. Bully tells Gordon to bring his best guy and Bully will bring his best guy who Bully says is Silas Young. Again, Gordon has to bring his best guy too. If whoever Gordon brings wins, then Gordon can do whatever he wants to Bully. He can fire him or beat him up on the spot. But, if Young wins, Bully can do whatever he wants to Gordon. I have been tired of Bully for months now. But I can admit this is probably a good stipulation and something to look forward to even though I am almost certain this feud still ends up with Gordon vs. Bully at the last PPV of the year.

RELATED: 10/28 ROH TV RESULTS: Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham vs. Kushida & Jushin Thunder Liger, Adam Page vs. Scorpio Sky, Shane Taylor vs. Eli Isom

MISSES

Jushin Thunder Liger & Kushida vs. Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham: Please send your “hate mail” to me on this one. Yes, this was a good match, but I have gotten to the point where I do not want to see the current champ in traditional tag matches or 6-man tag matches. It just feels like a way to get a champ on the card or on TV but not have the title defended. I get it. This was taped the weekend of the last PPV and it was a way to get Liger & Kushida in a main for ROH TV, but I could do without it. Again, good match because you have four pros, but I feel like this is just thrown on air as a spectacle and that’s it. Before the match started, the commentary team did talk up Cody and Lethal and a potential match with the two since Cody says he never got his rematch after losing the title 10 months ago to Dalton Castle. Not to nitpick but Cody being all of a sudden worried about his rematch again after chasing the NWA title, holding the NWA title, and then losing the NWA title does not fit in well with him now being interested in the ROH title again. It feels like a story out of convenience with no continuity, but, I digress as we move on to the match. As I said, hold for hold and move for move there are not many who do it better thank these guys. These guys put on a clinic. Additionally, Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman have been great as a team recently. I will not point out every instance here where they threw in a pop culture reference during the match, but it was consistent and entertaining. Last thing about the match. I was glad to see that Lethal was the guy who hits “Lethal Injection” on Liger to get the win for his team. Good match, just not my cup of tea.

Final Thoughts

I think I covered everything above. I enjoyed this week. I thought the opening match was the best of the hour. I liked the segment with Bully Ray and Flip Gordon leading up to the match next week. And I really want to see what ROH does with Adam Page going forward. He is a star with ROH gold in his future. The main event was not bad. But it felt like a filler. Otherwise, a good week for ROH TV.

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 you can check out his old school wrestling podcasts HERE.

NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S COLUMN: ROH HITS & MISSES 10/21: Coast To Coast vs. The Briscoes, Lethal, Martinez vs. Cobb, Dashwood, Page, Sabin vs. Scurll