ROH News: ROH to air six live matches from Manhattan Mayhem TV taping, ROH World Champion Taven set to throw out first pitch at Red Sox game tonight (w/Radican’s Analysis)

-Ring of Honor World Champion Matt Taven will be throwing out a ceremonial first pitch at tonight’s Boston Red Sox game prior to their game vs. the Toronto Blue Jays. Taven is a Massachusetts native.

Radican’s Analysis: This should be a cool moment for Taven prior to the Red Sox vs. Blue Jays game tonight. Hopefully I can catch it on NESN prior to the start of the game. 

-ROH is changing up the TV taping experience for fans watching live and at home beginning on July 20 at Manhattan Mayhem at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. Instead of waiting for ROH matches to air on TV and having tapings that last around four hours long,  the top matches at all TV tapings going forward will air live on HonorClub with a select number of matches being taped exclusively for TV starting. Fans attending the show live this Saturday will see four matches taped for TV starting at 7 p.m. Eastern before ROH goes live on HonorClub.

The matches that will air live from Manhattan Mayhem starting at 8 p.m. Eastern this Saturday include:

• ROH World Champion Matt Taven vs. Jay Lethal
• ROH  World Tag Team Champions Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) vs. The Briscoes in a New York City street fight
• Villain Enterprises (Marty Scurll & PCO & Brody King & Flip Gordon) vs. LifeBlood (Bandido & Mark Haskins & Tracy Williams) & PJ Black.
• Dragon Lee vs. Jonathan Gresham
• Rush vs. T.K. O’Ryan
• The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brawler Milonas) vs. Soldiers of Savagery (Moses Maddox & Jasper Kaun) vs. Coast 2 Coast (LSG & Shaheem Ali)

WOH Champion Kelly Klein vs. Karissa Rivera has been announced as one of the matches that’s being taped exclusively for TV.

Radican’s Analysis: ROH TV doesn’t get a lot of buzz, so this is a big step in the right direction for the company to deliver quality content and drive subscriptions up for HonorClub for those that want to watch the TV tapings live. Ideally ROH would have live TV, but that simply isn’t the case right now.

Hopefully ROH steps it up and puts a fresh coat of pain on the TV product and gives it a new look starting this weekend at Manhattan Mayhem. The product has had the same look and feel to it for awhile and a small makeover wouldn’t hurt. 

This also makes the TV tapings a better experience for live fans. Most TV tapings have gone four hours or so in the past, but this move will ensure the fans in attendance get a better experience now that the bulk of the matches are being taped live for HonorClub. Four hour is just too long for a TV taping from my past experience. 

In the long-term, if this move is going to pay off, ROH has to get people talking about the product and generate some positive buzz while getting over some of the key members of their roster that they want to build around.