Ring of Honor – September 16th, 2015

Howdy!

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

This Friday ROH has a PPV, All-Star Extravaganza VII; we’ll be hearing about that throughout the evening, I would assume. I wrote a preview for it that should be posted on the blog tomorrow, so check back for that if you’re interested. Otherwise, let’s get to the action!

Ring of Honor TV – 9/16/15

We are TAPED from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA! Your hosts are Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino, and tonight, it’s the Kingdom vs War Machine in tag team action! But we’re going to start off with a match very relevant to our main event this Friday at the PPV:

THE HOUSE OF TRUTH (Donovan Dijak and J. Diesel) vs reDRagon (Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish)

Jay Lethal and Truth Martini have accompanied the rest of the House of Truth to the ring, and it appears that we’ll be given the honor of having the World Champ on commentary at Corino’s invitation! And here’s reDRagon, wearing the IWGP tag belts as they make their way to the ring. Jay Lethal is on commentary, and he promises two successful title defenses this Friday!

Code of Honor is followed. O’Reilly and Diesel start. Crowd chants for O’Reilly, thus proving that Philly does have some sophisticated wrestling fans after all. Lockup and Diesel shoves Kyle down. Test of strength, but Diesel kicks Kyle in the gut. They trade forearm shots as the commentators play up the golden gloves background of Diesel vs O’Reilly’s MMA background. Diesel wins the striking battle but takes a knee to the midsection against the ropes. Snapmare by Kyle, off the ropes….but he slows down and SLAPS Diesel across the face as the crowd goes batshit. Camera cuts to Truth on the outside, then cuts back to the ring where O’Reilly applies a cross-armbreaker to Diesel but Diesel makes the ropes as Lethal yells at the ref to break the hold. Arm-wringer, tag to Fish, who uppercuts the arm and knees Diesel down. Fish puts on a arm-wringer and wrenches it while Lethal rants about Corino being privy to the House of Truth’s strategy somehow. Fish shoots Diesel off, but Diesel runs through with a shoulderblock. Diesel runs the ropes but Fish catches him in the chest with a kick. Two more high kicks by Fish and he tags in Kyle. Double arm-snap and they send Diesel off the ropes, double kick by reDRagon! 1,2, no! O’Reilly comes off with 3 straight short knees to Diesel on the mat, but a whip is reversed by Diesel, allowing Dijak to get a knee to the back of Kyle. Diesel sends Fish to the floor and tags in Dijak. He hits Kyle with a forearm and whips him, but O’Reilly catches the top rope and goes to the floor, with Dijak giving chase. O’Reilly runs him right into a shot by Fish on the floor, and then a running knee from the apron by Kyle puts Dijak down. Kyle sends him back in and goes up, but Diesel stops him enough to where a bodypress attempt is caught by Dijak in a backbreaker, and then he tosses Kyle to the outside like a sack of garbage. Diesel puts the boots to O’Reilly on the outside, and that must mean it’s time for us to watch some ads!

We’re back with Dijak again tossing O’Reilly across the ring from a suplex position this time, and if Jolly Green here injures O’Reilly doing that sloppy shit, I’m going to have a coronary. That gets a 2 count. Dijak thankfully tags in Diesel after an elbow to back of Kyle’s head. O’Reilly fires at Diesel, but comes off the ropes and gets caught with a Diesel fallaway slam. Diesel tags Dijak back in, who comes off the top with an elbow to O’Reilly. 1,2, no! Dijak mounts O’Reilly and throws some of the SHITTIEST worked punches I’ve seen in a long time from an ROH wrestler (you can see the air on the first and third ones!). He sends Kyle to the corner, but Kyle gets a boot up and kicks Diesel off the apron. Dijak eats a boot on the blind charge, but stops O’Reilly from making the tag by taking a shot at Fish. Dijak sets Kyle up for Feast your Eyes, but Kyle drops out and makes a comeback with kicks, a knee, and a back legsweep. Stereo tags by Kyle and Dijak. Fish and Diesel avoid each other’s kicks and Fish takes him down and starts working the leg. Fish sends Diesel to the corner, running knee by Fish, exploder suplex in the corner by Fish. That gets 2 as Dijak is back in with his crappy forearms. Have I made it clear how much I dislike Donovan Dijak? No? Well, I do, so there. He sucks. Fish kicks him hard to let him know how much he sucks, and now O’Reilly is back in. He and Fish double-team Dijak with multiple kicks to the legs, to the point of it being absurd that he’s still on his feet at a certain point. Dijak finally goes down and stereo reDRagon kicks to the back and chest put him all the way down to the mat. reDRagon double team Diesel in the corner, running forearm, then Fish with an overhead throw. O’Reilly goes to the other side to take out Dijak, but misses a slingshot bodypress and wipes out on the floor. Back in the ring, Fish gets a 2 count on Diesel, who has a bloodied nose, and turns the kickout into an ankle lock. Dijak comes in to try to break it up, but Bobby Fish rightfully decides to no-sell all of Dijak’s forearm shots until Kyle comes up behind Donovan and gets a sleeper. Fish falls back and turns the ankle lock into a heel hook at the same time that Kyle turns his hold into a cross-armbreaker, and it’s just a race to see who will tap first; Diesel wins that one. (reDRagon over The House of Truth, Diesel submission to Fish, 9:48)

WOULD YOU WATCH IT AGAIN, RICK? Well, on the one hand, it was a perfectly serviceable tag match that had one goal, which was to put reDRagon over Lethal’s minions whilst making both Fish and O’Reilly look like they could actually win on Friday. I get that. I especially liked that O’Reilly got to take down the ‘big’ guy in Dijak since he’s going for the World title and not the TV title, but Fish got the submission. That having been said, I’ll say YES, it’s worth watching but with this caveat: Donovan Dijak is just the worst at this point and actively brings down the match when he’s in there, so be prepared for that when you plop down for this one.

Post-match, O’Reilly tries to grab Lethal’s belts, something that Lethal does not look kindly upon. Lethal and reDRagon go face to face, and the announcers speculate that Jay may be losing his grip as Truth Martini tries to get Jay to back off from Kyle and Bobby, along with a gaggle of referees; Fish mugs for the camera and it seems like that would be a decent place for some ads!

Don’t cover Dalton Castle up, we’re talking about his shirt! Order now!

We’re back with Cedric Alexander and Veda Scott making their way to the ring. Alexander tosses a roll of streamers back into the crowd like an opposing team’s home run ball, something I wish more heels in ROH would do.

CEDRIC ALEXANDER (w/Veda Scott) vs DALTON CASTLE (w/the boys)

Silas Young has joined the commentary team, so I’m sure we’ll be hearing bon mots from him over the course of this match. No Code of Honor. Lockup, Alexander with a go-behind and he shoves Castle down. Alexander off the ropes, slides through Castle’s legs and gets a snap hiptoss. Alexander celebrates whiles the boys fan Castle in the corner to the crowd chanting “Fan up!”Castle gets a go-behind and snapmare this time, but a series of reversals leads to Alexander getting a toss. Another series of reversals and Alexander grabs the top rope, but he turns around into Castle doing one of his poses and freaks out, going to the corner to talk to Veda. Running kick by Alexander is blocked and Castle gets another hiptoss and front facelock into a suplex. On commentary, Young is running Castle down and reiterating that the feud is personal over Castle’s way of living and his desire to teach the boys to be “men”. Cross-corner whip by Castle is reversed, but Castle avoids Cedric’s charge by going to the apron….but he gets hung up on the top rope and crotched. Alexander tries to send Castle to the corner, but Dalton blocks and Cedric eats the buckle. Castle attempts to suplex Cedric to the floor, but Veda grabs Alexander’s leg to stop it before she’s chased off by the boys. Cedric takes advantage of the distraction with a kick to the head of Castle and a running kick to Castle’s chest on the apron. And while the boys fan Dalton off on the apron, we’re going to check out some ads!

We’re back with Castle making a comeback, firing at Cedric. Off the ropes, but he runs into a big dropkick by Alexander. 1,2, no! Cedric comes off the ropes and mocks Castle’s walk to huge heel heat before dropping a knee to Dalton. They exchange shots and Castle wins that exchange, including a boot to Cedric’s face on a corner charge. Silas Young goes off on a tangent about how the boys are currently peeing sitting down, and they need to learn to be men and start to pee standing up. Yeah. I promise you, it actually happened. Elbows from Castle put Alexander down, and a clothesline from Castle puts him on the floor. Dalton gives chase, but Cedric hides behind Veda; she ducks and Cedric gets a shot to Castle’s face. Cedric hoists him up, but Castle slips out and sends Alexander to the post. He follows that up with a ‘rana to Cedric on the floor. Back in the ring now, Castle charges Alexander in the corner and gets a running knee. Dalton puts Alexander on top, but Cedric elbows him off. Springboard attempt is caught by Castle into an overhead suplex! 1,2, no! Standing switch, couple of reversal attempts, and Cedric gets a nice 540 for a two count. He misses a second shot, and Castle gets the slooooow german suplex with a bridge. 1,2, no! Castle can’t believe it, and the boys get up on the apron to fan his disbelief away. Unfortunately, that gives Young the chance to pull the boys off the apron, distracting Castle and allowing Alexander to get the rollup. 1,2,3. (Cedric Alexander over Dalton Castle, pinfall, 9:12)

WOULD YOU WATCH IT AGAIN, RICK? I have grown to hate the distraction/rollup finish, so while I think that the match itself was fine, I’m REALLY sick and tired of ending a match with it anymore. I liked the interactions with Veda and the boys on the outside, but the end of the match might was well have been spotlit in the middle of the ring. Boring ending that does nothing to advance either guy, and ROH used to be the place you could count on not seeing shit like this. I’ll go NO, you can skip this one, but it was going decent before the end of the match.

After the match, Young tries to drag the boys with them while Kevin Kelly says on commentary that ‘Silas Young is trying to steal the boys!’, thus reinforcing the fact that they are basically property and not people, along with the fact that they don’t fight back and wait for Castle to come save them. Blech. After they’re gone, here comes Stokely Hathaway with the trusty wrench down the aisle to get Cedric’s attention, which allows Moose to sneak into the ring through the crowd and get the spear on Alexander. Better take a break after all that excitement with these ads!

We’re back with Inside ROH, and Mandy Leon has been joined this week by the one and only Adam Cole, bay-bay! He wants to talk about his match, and the match of his former tag partner Kyle O’Reilly, and how they’re going to have a great match for the title after both of them win their matches. Mandy runs down the rest of the card for Friday; it’s gonna be awesome, dontcha know?

It’s time for the main event, folks! Maria Kanellis leads The Kingdom down to the ring, as the announcers consider their chances on Friday in the 3-way match for the tag belts. In the meantime, the music of War Machine hits, and we’re ready to go!

THE KINGDOM (Matt Taven and Michael Bennett w/Maria Kanellis) vs WAR MACHINE (Hanson and Rowe)

Code of Honor is followed, but Taven and Bennett follow it up with kicks to the members of War Machine. This goes….poorly, as they celebrate and turn around into an elbow and a clothesline, respectively. They toss Taven into the corner and go to work, whipping him cross-corner and catching him with knees from both members of War Machine, followed by a clothesline to the back of the head by Hanson. Rowe with a double leg on Taven, who he then just picks up and slams to the mat. Tag to Hanson, but Taven goes to the eyes. Taven off the ropes, but Hanson gets a spinning side slam. Tag to Rowe and War Machine gets a double slam on Taven, allowing Rowe to slam Hanson onto Taven; this is followed by Hanson powerbombing Rowe onto Taven, who may now be legally deceased. That gets 2, so he’s apparently alive and well. Rowe sends Taven to the corner and gets a belly-to-belly on Taven out of the corner. This has been a complete slaughter so far. Tag to Hanson and they look to double-team Taven again, but he wiggles out and tags in Bennett. Bennett gets pretty much the same treatment, getting dropped almost immediately by a double-teaming War Machine, and now Hanson is the legal man. He sets Bennett up on the top rope to drop the sledgehammers, but Maria just walks into the ring in front of the referee (“Hey, that should be a DQ!” says Kevin Kelly) and pulls him off by the hair. For some reason, the ref basically does nothing, so Hanson shrugs and puts Maria on top of Bennett (insert joke here), and threatens the forearms again, but Taven pulls Hanson to the floor and gets a kick off the barricade. Hanson basically doesn’t sell it, but Bennett comes off the apron with a cannonball and that puts Hanson down. Taven puts the boots to Hanson as we MUST take an ad break!

We’re back with Taven tagging in Bennett and using his boot to keep Hanson in the corner. Hanson tries to fight out, but Bennett puts him back to the corner with a dropkick. Taven chokes him from the apron and gets a tag, he and Bennett get set up, but Hanson sends Bennett to the corner and crotches Taven on the top rope. Hanson with a spinning powerslam on Bennett. Tag to Rowe. Taven comes off the top, but Rowe catches him and suplexes him. Bennett takes a judo throw as well. Shotgun knees~! to Taven in one corner, but he takes a shot from Bennett in the other corner. Bennett goes up, but Rowe gets a shot to him sitting on the top rope, sending him to the floor. Taven with a shot on Rowe, and he no-sells that. Chop, but Rowe no-sells that. Taven gets a running start, but Rowe catches him and slams him to the mat. Tag to Hanson and they set up for Fallout, but Bennett breaks it up. Double whip, but the Kingdom catch themselves on the top rope and dump a charging War Machine, who then catch Taven on dive and set him on the apron, allowing them to catch a Bennett dive and powerbomb him onto Matt. That sequence must have sounded better when they planned it than when it was executed, because it was slow, obviously choreographed, and plodding as opposed to the smooth way I would assume they envisioned it. Back in, Taven goes for a sunset flip, but Hanson blocks it by attempting a suplex, which Taven wiggles out of, and those reversals lead to a CARTWHEEL BATTLE~! between Taven and Hanson, which is easily the best part of this match so far. Taven gets an enzuigiri while Bennett gets a spear on Rowe on the apron. They double-team Hanson in the ring with corner splashes and spinebuster. Be-yoo-ti-ful second rope moonsault by Taven gets 2. Superkick by Bennett, but a jumping Taven gets caught and put in a fireman’s carry by Hanson, with Hanson also kicking a charging Bennett. Rowe is back in the ring now, and War Machine gets the Path of Resistance. Powerbomb by Rowe on Taven, but Maria interferes AGAIN with the ref doing nothing about it, holding onto Hanson’s leg with him on the top rope until Rowe gets tossed into Hanson. This will not stand, as the Young Bucks have joined us at ringside and pull Maria off the apron. Corino: “Oh, give it to her, give it to her, give it to her!” I’m guessing it’s not what I think most guys would give to Maria. Bennett turns around into a double chokeslam from War Machine as the Bucks are sticking around to make sure that Maria doesn’t interfere; that doesn’t last much longer, as Taven takes Fallout from War Machine. (War Machine over The Kingdom, pinfall, 9:27)

WOULD YOU WATCH IT AGAIN, RICK? Ugh, No, I wouldn’t. First off, the match itself was all but a squash, so why do it the same week as you have The Kingdom working for you in a title match, while War Machine is going off to work NOAH? I don’t totally mind War Machine squashing people; but this should have been them winning despite the Kingdom pulling out all the stops if that’s what they wanted to do, not them basically getting all the offense in the whole match. The match itself wasn’t that great either, with a whole bunch of spots that just reiterated over and over again how the Kingdom was going to lose. I never had a single inkling that the Kingdom could win, so fuck this. I don’t care for this type of thing in the main event, especially not one but TWO blatant pieces of interference ignored by the ref; I don’t care that it’s Maria doing it, I like when heels at least TRY to be sneaky about their cheating, and that only works if they have to actually be sneaky, instead of just being blatant about it.

Post-match, the Bucks come in and Bennett gets the double superkick; but after that, The Addiction and Sabin run in and drop both Bucks with the belts and stand tall to end the show.

FINAL THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: This show was weird. It was the go-home show for All-Star Extravaganza, and most of the feuds were touched on, but the matches themselves were underwhelming and used fuck finishes that aren’t the type of thing ROH is known for; the main event especially was silly, at least to me, in the way that they chose to book the guys actually working the show as giant losers against the team that isn’t working the show. Yes, it could be used to set up a future match, but that’s not what you do for the go-home show before the PPV. Despite this being a gigantic step down from last week, you should check out the PPV on Friday. I’ll have a preview up sometime that day. Next week, NJPW returns to ROH!

Thanks for reading,
Rick Poehling
@MrSoze on Twitter