Ring of Honor – August 26th, 2015

Howdy!

Let’s get the preliminaries out of the way here….

First off, let me pimp a bit for this company that we all dearly love. Field of Honor ’15 is available on VOD, and while I haven’t been able to watch it yet, the card sounds pretty stacked to me. Quick rundown of the top matches are Nakamura/Lethal vs reDRagon, Okada vs Strong, and The Timesplitters (Kushida/Shelley) vs The Briscoes. Everyone knows my love for Kyle O’Reilly, but the card looks awesome and will be receiving my money soon. If anyone happened to already watch it or was there (Yeah, I know, NXT and all), let me know what you thought in the comments. I’m in the middle of moving into a new house (Yay, 30 years of mortgage payments!), but there’s never a bad time to watch some ROH.

Second, and this is completely personal and not related to wrestling in any way, my laptop has lost the pin on the charging port. Repair shop is saying that I need a new motherboard – is that normal? If so, it might be new laptop time. I figured it was just a piece to solder in, but I know pretty much nothing about computers, so any tidbits of advice, just to make sure I’m not being taken for a ride, would be much appreciated.

Alright, that’s enough of that. Let’s get to the action!

Ring of Honor TV – 8/26/15

We are TAPED from the William J Myers Pavillion in Baltimore, Maryland! Your hosts are Kevin Kelly and a returning Steve Corino, who apologizes for putting his hands on BJ Whitmer a few weeks ago, and SWEARS it’ll never happen again. I highly doubt that. Anyway, he and Kelly are excited because tonight, Futureshock challenges The Addiction for the World Tag Team titles! Count your recapper very excited for this as well. But that’s our main event, so let’s get this week’s action underway!

The Briscoes (Mark and Jay) vs The Bloodbound Warriors (Grey Wolf and Red Scorpion)
A quick google search on The Bloodbound Warriors reveal that they’ve wrestled for ROH before, a July 25th show against the Briscoe Brothers, so I assume this is the rematch that everyone DEMANDED. When you say ‘generic Legion of Doom ripoff’, you may think The Ascension, but don’t count these guys out – I think they’d have a shot at winning that particular pageant. I assume Vince will have them signed by the time you read this. Speaking of guys Vince hasn’t signed, it amazes me that he’s never thrown enough money at The Briscoes to get them over to WWE-land. I remember them having a tryout as recently as March of this year; does anyone know why they got turned down? Too old or something along those lines?

Streamers come in for the Briscoes. Special props to the dude chanting “Man up!” while wearing a 3MB shirt. I miss them too, my friend. Code of Honor is….weird? Mark offers the shake to Red Scorpion, who ignores it and poses in his face, which Mark matches. Jay gets the handshake from Grey Wolf, but Wolf doesn’t exactly wish to release until he squeezes the hand, and he and Jay go nose to nose. So, technically, I guess the Code of Honor was followed. Mark and Scorpion have retreated to the apron, so Jay and Wolf will start us off. Jay shoves Wolf off, lockup, Wolf returns the favor. Go behind by Jay, standing side headlock. Wolf shoots him off, shoulderblock moves no one. Jay comes off the ropes and tries it again, and knocks him a few steps back, but Wolf is still on his feet. Jay misses a kick, Wolf with a right. He chokes Jay up against the ropes and hits him with a forearm to the chest. Irish whip by Wolf, but Jay comes off with a boot and that’s enough for Wolf, who tags in Scorpion. Mark wants in too, so Jay obliges. Mark somersaults past Scorpion, but comes off the ropes and gets press-slammed to the outside, rather sloppily. Jay comes in, which allows Wolf to toss Mark into the barricade. Wolf sends Mark back in. Tag to Wolf, double team sends Mark into the air and down. 1,2, no. Wolf gets Mark up, but Mark comes up firing with fists. Wolf sends him off the ropes for the back drop, but Mark lands on his feet and tags in Jay. Jay comes in with fists and uppercuts on Wolf. Headbutts by Jay send Wolf out the ring, Scorpion tagging him on the way out. Briscoe off the ropes, ducks a Scorpion clothesline, and hits a plancha to the outside on Wolf! Mark comes in with shots on Scorpion, but he charges and Scorpion alley-oops him over the post to the outside. Now Jay is back in the ring, Death Valley Driver on Scorpion! 1,2, no. Jay ties Scorpion up in a stretch plum, but Wolf is coming back in the ring, so Jay releases and hits him with a roaring elbow. Big lariat by Jay on Scorpion sets up Froggy-bow by Mark, and another big lariat by Jay(BRUTAL one, too – Scorpion ended up on his head) is enough to end it. (Briscoes over Bloodbound Warriors, pinfall, 4:22)

WOULD YOU WATCH IT AGAIN, RICK? This was the definition of ‘get Jay Briscoe to the ring for the angle to follow’ and was nothing as a match. Credit to the Briscoes for selling a bunch for these guys, but this one’s a solid NO, you can skip it.

The Briscoes are in the ring, when who should appear at the entranceway but The Decade! Adam Page, BJ Whitmer, and Colby Corino stand, Page with a mic. “There he is, Jay Briscoe!” Page lets Briscoe know that two weeks ago, he called him out! Is he deaf or just stupid? Briscoe: “No offense, brother, but I don’t even know who the hell you are!” But, he says, if you’re looking for a fight, come on down and let’s do it right now! Whitmer grabs the mic from Page and puts a stop to that. Next week, on ROH TV, you and Adam Page! Briscoe: “Oh, so that’s your name? Adam Page?” Briscoe accepts, to say the least.

Also next week, Truth Martini and Jay Lethal remind us, we get Lethal vs Hanson for the TV title! Lethal tells Hanson that just because Hanson beat him once, it’s never gonna happen again! With that pronouncement, I believe it’s time for some ads!

“You can’t handle the truth!” We’re back! Truth Martini and Diesel are here to lead Donovan Dijak to the ring.

Donovan Dijak (with Truth Martini & J. Diesel) vs Roderick Strong
So help me, I do not get the deal with Dijak. He’s really big. That’s just about all I see in him as a worker, honestly. Strong, obviously, is an excellent worker. Let’s see what happens here. Code of Honor is followed. Announcers speculate that The House of Truth is trying to soften up Strong before his rematch with Lethal. Lockup, Dijak pushes Strong down. Lockup again, they get to the corner, clean break from Strong, but a shove from Dijak. Strong does not take kindly to this, so he fires a chop, but Dijak shoves him down again. Strong comes out of the corner, boot by Dijak. Forearm by Dijak, Strong tries a chop, but takes a knee to the midsection. Strong gets sent to the corner, attempts to leap over a charging Dijak, but gets caught. He fights out, though, and sends Dijak into the ropes and hits a leg lariat. Chop and kick in the corner by Strong, and he attempts to get him up, but that just earns him a Dijak elbow to the back of the head. Suplex attempt by Dijak, but Strong floats over and shoves him into the ropes. Dijak hangs on, so Strong charges, but gets alley-ooped over. Strong hits a kick to Dijak’s face on the apron. Martini charges Strong on the apron with Book of Truth, which Strong jumps over, but the distraction’s enough to allow Dijak the chance to elbow Strong to the barricade. How dastardly! Let’s all share our disgust by watching these ads!

We’re back with Dijak stalking Strong, putting the knee on his throat in the corner. Strong tries to mount a comeback, pulling himself up in the corner and firing kicks to Dijak’s midsection, but Dijak stops that with a kick of his own, then a suplex throw that tosses Roddy halfway across the ring. 1,2, no. Dijak poses, and that gives Strong a chance to make a comeback. He fires rights, but Dijak knees him in the midsection. He sends Strong to the corner and charges, but Strong catches him with a kick to the gut. Springboard crossbody is caught by Dijak, who gets a knee to the ribs and then tosses Strong down. He applies the chinlock as this match just dies in front of us. Corino and Kelly are talking about two weeks from now, with the World and Tag belts on the line. Corino hopes it’s Futureshock with the belts – well, I guess there IS something I can agree with Corino on. Who knew? Strong fights out with a jawbreaker and a couple of running forearms. Charge by Strong, Dijak gets the boot up, but Strong catches it. He tries to get him up, but Dijak elbows him to the back of the head again. Dijak comes off the ropes, but Strong hits a beautiful dropkick. 1,2, no. Strong attempts to get him up again, but Dijak goes under and superkicks him. 1,2, no. Dijak picks up Strong for Feast Your Eyes, but Strong punches out of it. He ends up on the ropes, and kicks Dijak coming in, then hits an Olympic Slam. Big running knee in the corner! Forearm from the other corner. He puts Dijak on the top rope, they trade punches, and Strong gets the better of that deal. Superplex by Strong! 1,2, no! Strong picks him up, and they trade forearms in the center of the ring. Strong gets the better of that deal there, and hits a back elbow. They trade reversal attempts, and a jumping knee by Strong catches Dijak on the chin. Strong comes off the ropes, but HUGE boot by Dijak catches him. 1,2, no! Dijak can’t believe it. Dijak screams in Strong’s face, and gets him up for Feast Your Eyes again, but Strong flips out of it and hits the jumping knee again. Elbow, and he finally gets him up for the double knee gutbuster! Off the ropes, Sick Kick! That’ll do it here. (Roderick Strong over Donovan Dijak, pinfall, 9:28)

WOULD YOU WATCH IT AGAIN, RICK? Good lord, Donovan Dijak has a LONG way to go if he’s got a bright future. This was all punchy-kicky nonsense that Strong tried his hardest to hold together, but Dijak is just really green at this point. They were just doing moves out there, not really telling a story. Strong sold really well, I guess? Look at my match recap and see how many of Dijak’s moves didn’t involve either a) Shoving, b) Punching, or C) Kicking. It’s not nearly enough. I’d like to see some wrestling when Strong is in the ring, and there wasn’t much of that here. That’d be a NO on the ‘should you watch this’ scale, by the way.

Post-match, Jay Lethal comes flying in for the beatdown on Strong, and the rest of the House of Truth decides to get in on the fun as well. Strong fights them off, but the numbers game proves to be too much as The House of Truth lays into Strong with kicks until War Machine makes the save. Hanson challenges Lethal next week for the TV title, and he wants the belt! Corino runs down everyone who wants a shot at Lethal, furthering the idea that the champ is a hunted man, which will hopefully play into his storyline. I’d almost rather see Jay drop the WORLD title first, if only because that pays off the storyline of his arrogance being his downfall, AKA he has too many title defenses and drops the big belt as a result of not giving up the TV belt.

This week on Inside ROH, let’s take a look at All-Star Extravaganza! All the titles will be on the line! Kyle O’Reilly will challenge for the World Title, while Bobby Fish challenges for the TV Title! In an interview, O’Reilly says you can call him whatever you will, and just when I think he can’t get more awesome, he calls himself the ‘The Ambassador of Kick-Assador’. I TRULY love this man. He says to get ready to add one more moniker, and that’s Ring of Honor World Champion. But who will O’Reilly and Fish face? Well, we don’t know, because Lethal has to defend the TV title against Hanson next week, and the World title against Strong the week after. Strong cuts a promo, saying that he left Death before Dishonor unfulfilled. Jay Lethal, you’re great, but I’m just that much better. He WILL walk out as a two-time Ring of Honor Champ! Well, now that that’s all settled, let’s take an ad break!

Dalton Castle’s shirt will change. your. life. Buy it now!

And we’re back to the music of Futureshock! Here’s Cole and O’Reilly, and it’s time for our main event!

Futureshock (Kyle O’Reilly & Adam Cole) vs The Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Kazarian) – Tag Team Title match
Well, this should be, as we say in academia, FUCKING SWEET. The Addiction enters with Chris Sabin in tow. “I don’t know what it is, I’m addicted!” sayeth Sabin to the camera. He’ll be joining Kelly and Corino at the commentary booth for this one. Code of Honor is followed, and it will never get less weird to see Christopher Daniels following the Code. It just feels wrong. Sabin swears that his career isn’t over; hey, the doctors told him he shouldn’t wrestle, but what do doctors know? He knows his own body! Looks like Cole and Daniels will be starting us out here. Okay, one more from Sabin before we start: he says he’ll be back soon because of his super-mutant heel powers! That’s why he’s wearing a Wolverine shirt! Sabin is awesome. Lockup, arm-wringer by Daniels. Cole reverses, and when Daniels tries his own reversal, Cole drops down into a headlock on the mat. Daniels rolls him over for a quick 1 count. Daniels goes to the hair and backs Cole to the corner. No clean break here, as Daniels elbows Cole in the gut and follows with kicks. He grabs a headlock, Cole shoots him off, and Daniels runs over him with a shoulderblock. Cole drops down off a criss-cross, but Daniels just puts the boots to him. He backs Cole into the corner with kicks, attempts to whip him to the other corner. Cole reverses and backdrops Daniels coming out. Hiptoss by Cole puts Daniels in the wrong part of town, as he eats a shot from O’Reilly and then one from Cole, and there’s a tag to O’Reilly. Irish whip, leapfrog by O’Reilly, and he catches Daniels with a knee and then a kick to the back, while Cole gets a seated dropkick. A kick from O’Reilly to Daniels’ chest is the last thing we’ll see before some great ads!

We’re back with Daniels tagging in Kazarian, who is promptly met with a hiptoss from O’Reilly. Inverted Atomic Drop and a kick from O’Reilly puts Kazarian down. O’Reilly gets a 1 count and tags in Cole. Double whip attempt is blocked by Kazarian, but a second one gets a flapjack combo from Futureshock. Daniels comes in to protest this harsh treatment, so Cole superkicks him so well that every other wrestler who superkicks people probably saw it and will stop superkicking people out of shame that they’re not as awesome as Adam Cole when he superkicks people. He goes for the Adam Cole pose, but Kyle stops him and it’s “Futureshock, Bay-Bay!” as they pose. Cole goes back to Kazarian and sends him to the turnbuckle. Cross-corner whip is reversed by Kazarian, but his blind charge meets Cole’s boot. Cole goes to the top and he fights off Daniels charging from the apron, but that allows Kazarian the chance to dropkick him to the floor. Kazarian then charges O’Reilly on the apron, sending HIM to the floor, which gives Daniels the chance to sneak around and send Cole to the barricade. Daniels sends Cole to the other barricade. I should note that Chris Sabin is being hilarious on commentary, pointing out that Daniels and Kazarian are just cool people, the kind that you just want to hang out with outside wrestling. They are real! Real COOL! Daniels sends Cole back in to Kazarian. He sends Cole into Daniels’ boot, and tags in the Fallen Angel. Double Irish whip, leapfrog by Kazarian, clothesline by Daniels. Daniels suplexes Kazarian onto Cole. 2nd rope moonsault from Daniels gets 2 before O’Reilly breaks it up. The referee escorts Kyle back to the apron, so Daniels attempts to rip the eyes from the head of Adam Cole. Kazarian holds up the boot this time for Cole to run into, then Daniels snapmares him over and goes to the apron. He tags in Kazarian, springs in with an elbow, and then Kazarian springs in with a legdrop. 1,2, no! Kazarian taunts O’Reilly in the corner, and while the ref is distracted, Kazarian and Daniels switch off. Daniels takes Cole to the corner, stomping away. The Addiction has cut the ring in half, says Kevin Kelly, and so they have. Daniels headbutts Cole against the ropes, tags in Kazarian. Kazarian with knees, and then the BADMOUTH, which doesn’t work the way he intended, as Cole is fired up and starts shooting rights at Kaz. Cole looks for the tag, but Kazarian pulls him back by the trunks, but Cole turns around and gets and enzuguiri. Cole looks for the tag again, so Daniels runs around and pulls Kyle off the apron, sending him to the barricade. Cole has gotten to his feet in the corner, and catches a charging Kazarian with a back elbow. He fires rights at Frankie and gets a jumping neckbreaker. He runs over and sends Daniels to the floor from the apron, and now he wants a figure-four on Kazarian. Kazarian shoves him off and a small package gets 2. Kazarian kick is caught by Cole, who wants the figure-four again; this time, Kaz just goes straight to the eyes. Atta-boy. Kazarian gets a leglock, but Cole kicks out of it. They both get back to their feet, and Cole fakes a superkick to Kaz, and then kicks him in the knee. And this time, we go to school, as Cole locks in the figure-four! Kazarian rocks back and forth, and he turns over the figure-four….but O’Reilly runs in and applies an armbar as soon as he does. Well, Christopher Daniels wants in on this action, so he comes in and gets a Koji Clutch on Kyle. So, to recap, we’ve basically got a human centipede of submissions, as Daniels has the clutch on Kyle, who has the armbar on Kaz, who has a reverse figure-four on Cole. Finally the referee breaks it up and sends Daniels and O’Reilly back to the apron and sends US to our final ad break of the evening.

We’re back to The Addiction double-teaming Cole in the ring, but a whip ends up with heel miscommunication and The Addiction take out each other. Cole finally makes the tag to Kyle O’Reilly, and he immediately kicks a charging Daniels. Top rope, double dropkick to Kaz and Daniels! Running forearm to Daniels in the corner, cross-corner whip. O’Reilly crawls out of it and hits kicks and a jumping knee, ending in a legsweep. Kazarian comes in and attempts a sunset flip, but O’Reilly locks in the cross-armbreaker! Daniels tries to break that up, but O’Reilly is ready for that and gets a kneebar on Daniels! Daniels makes the ropes, so O’Reilly goes to the other side of the ring, jumps over the top rope, and gets a running knee off the apron onto Kazarian on the floor. O’Reilly goes to the top rope, but jumps over a charging Daniels and gets him in a fireman’s carry. Cole comes in with a superkick to Daniels in that position. High and Low combo from Futureshock! 1,2, Kazarian comes in with the save. Cole fires forearms at Kaz; when the ref tries to pull him off, he shoves the ref. This proves to be a poor decision, as Kaz fires a kick to Cole’s groin while the ref is shaking it off. Cole is OUT in the corner, and Kyle comes in. Kyle boots Daniels off the apron and catches Kazarian coming in with a boot. Rolling tornado DDT into a Brainbuster gets 2, but as Kaz kicks out, O’Reilly floats over and gets the cross-armbreaker again! And now The Kingdom are out here, Bennett is up on the apron and the ref doesn’t see Kazarian tapping out in the middle of the ring. Of course. O’Reilly goes over to Taven on the apron and takes a swing, but Taven ducks and gets a kick to O’Reilly. Kyle stumbles back as The Addiction is looking for Celebrity Rehab, but Cole comes to and superkicks Daniels into next week. O’Reilly flips out and gets a rollup for about a 5-count or so, but the ref is still busy with Bennett on the apron. Finally, Kaz pushes O’Reilly off right into a superkick from Matt Taven on the floor, allowing Kazarian to schoolboy him. 1,2, no! I was sure that was the finish. Kazarian sends O’Reilly off the ropes, but O’Reilly goes through on the other side and gets a dropkick on Taven. O’Reilly looks to come back in, but now Maria grabs the leg on the outside….but Cole saw it this time, and he chases Maria and the Kingdom back to the dressing room….leaving Kyle O’Reilly alone in the ring. Yeah. O’Reilly fires at Kazarian, but a quick reversal into a boot from Daniels is enough to set up Celebrity Rehab. (The Addiction over Futureshock, pinfall, 12:28)

WOULD YOU WATCH IT AGAIN, RICK? Duh. It’s 4 good workers putting on a match, that’s always worth watching. Was it the best match they’ll ever have? No, I’ve seen better, but this was a perfectly fun TV main event before the storyline kicked in and ruined the finish. The ref distraction at the end went on FAR too long, for one thing. But it’s minor. This one gets a YES, watch it and marvel at how awesome Chris Sabin is at commentary along with some fun tag team wrestling.

After the match, Sabin comes in and it’s looking like a triple-team beatdown, but Bobby Fish comes out, followed closely by the Young Bucks and by The Kingdom, as this is what a real tag division looks like. Take note, WWE. The Bucks superkick The Addiction to the floor and follow with planchas. They head back into the ring with reDRagon to end the show for this week.

Thanks for reading,
Rick Poehling
@MrSoze on twitter