Ring of Honor – October 21st, 2015

Howdy!

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

Not much this week; seeing the Cubs go down in flames was so glorious I lack the verbiage to describe it properly. I asked my normal PPV watching group what they’re looking forward to the most on Sunday, and the overwhelming choice was John Cena vs ??? in the Open Challenge. Yes, they’ve done such a good job of building this PPV that a group of fans who haven’t missed a show together in 5 years is most excited about a match with an unnamed opponent. That’s where we are, folks.

Maybe I can convince everyone to sneak in a rewatch of ASE if the PPV gets really bad…

We’re here for a recap, though, so let’s get on with it!

Ring of Honor TV – 10/21/15

We are TAPED from the Shrine Auditorium in San Antonio, Texas! Your hosts are Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino. Tonight, our main event is a no-DQ match between Adam Page and Jay Briscoe; parental discretion IS advised! Also tonight, we’ll finally hear from Adam Cole and the Kingdom about the events of ASE; will Cole explain himself? But right now, it’s time for some tag team action, so let’s get to the ring!

All-Night Express (Rhett Titus & Kenny King) vs The Addiction (Kazarian & Daniels w/Chris Sabin)

So last week, the ANX made it known that they wanted a shot at the tag team belts and that anyone who thought differently should go through them, while the Addiction maintains that the ending of All-Star Extravaganza was a travesty and they should get their belts back. As such, we have what the kids today call a ‘beef’ and we’re going to settle it in this wrestling ring!

Code of Honor is followed, during which Chris Sabin amuses me by throwing spitballs at Rhett Titus. I miss seeing Sabin wrestle, but his annoying little shit character has been really funny. King and Kazarian look to start us off. Kick by Kazarian, forearms by Kazarian, and he takes King to the corner. He puts the badmouth on King in the corner, allowing King to fight out with forearms, Irish whip and back elbow by King. Whip, reversal, but Sabin grabs King’s leg at ringside; Kazarian charges but gets dumped over the top onto Sabin by King. Referee has had enough of this nonsense already and boots Sabin from ringside. Titus comes out and sends Frankie back in, inverted atomic drop by Titus into a clothesline by King. Daniels comes in and gets the same. King controls, but they just sort of wander around the ring until Kaz gets a kneelift and tags in Daniels. Daniels in, but he takes a hiptoss from King, tag to Rhett. Double team elbow in the corner by the ANX, and Titus sends Daniels into a spin kick from King. 1,2, no. Side headlock takeover by Titus, Daniels shoots him off and gets shoulderblocked by Titus for 1. Side headlock again by Titus, but Daniels lifts him up and Kaz rakes the eyes, allowing Daniels to bring him down by the hair. After that Greco-roman hairpull, it seems like a good time to take a break for some ads!

We’re back with the Addiction putting the double team on Titus. Leapfrog into a clothesline by Daniels, who flips Kazarian onto Titus. 2nd rope springboard moonsault by Daniels, into the single foot cover for two. He pounds away on Titus, but Titus fights up….until Daniels thumbs him in the eye. Front facelock by Daniels as Kelly ponders the whereabouts of Rhett Titus while Kenny King was gone. Two years since we’ve seen Rhett Titus! Uh….sure, Kev. Anyway, they go even more meta with Corino sitting right there and briefly mention the former members of SCUM, and how after 2 years, much like King, it must be water under the bridge for the ANX to return. BWAHAHAHA. Man, you can’t make up the levels of denial and hoop-jumping they’re doing in this commentary. Daniels sends King to the floor, and it’s time for some heel doubleteamin’ as King gets sent back out after charging into the ring. Kaz back in and stomping away on Titus. Tag to Daniels, but Kaz misses a blind charge on Titus in the corner. Daniels looks for a German, but Titus kicks Frankie away after Daniels can’t get him over. He rolls through and makes the hot tag to King, and the crowd goes nuts. Clotheslines for everyone! Have another one, Daniels! Atomic drop on Kazarian into an enzuigiri by King! Daniels with a kick to King’s midsection, but King comes back with a handstand kick to the side of Chris’ head, followed by a spinebuster. 1,2, no! Tag to Titus, and a swinging backbreaker by King on Daniels. Titus comes in with a knee with Daniels still on King’s knee, 1,2, Kazarian has to make the save! All four guys in now, and Kenny King takes a version of Total Elimination (clothesline/leg sweep in this case), while Titus gets hit with a springboard legdrop from Kazarian. 1,2, no! They set Titus up, but he wiggles out and King is back. SHOTGUN KNEES~! by Kenny King on Kaz! Spinning kick misses Daniels, and Daniels gets the STO on King. He turns his attention to Titus, but they smack heads on a charge and everyone is down. King and Kaz start to slug it out from their knees, back to their feet, head and leg suplex by King. Whip on Daniels, reversal, Daniels with a brainbuster on King. Kicks now from Titus, but Daniels catches him with a uranage…and heeerrre’s the KRD. Daniels gives chase outside the ring, so the KRD runs through it and Daniels runs right into a dropkick by Titus. Titus grabs Daniels and hoists him up, One Night Stand by the ANX! That’ll be more than enough. (ANX over The Addiction, pinfall, 9:23)

WORTH WATCHING? Well, it was basic tag formula stuff, so a lot of it depends on how much you like both teams. I’d argue that it wasn’t anything special as a tag match, but if you dig both teams (and I do), then you’ll have a good time with it, although I’m never a huge fan of screwy finishes in ROH. That all having been said, YES, I think this was perfectly acceptable wrestling for a ten minute match.

Up next, The Kingdom! First, these ads!

“Thy Kingdom come.” Ladies and gentlemen, here comes the Kingdom! Led by Maria, there’s Taven, Bennett, and Cole, resplendent in black and a very nice shade of smug douchebag. Highlights from ASE show the tag title match ending and the way in which the Kingdom won the belts; let’s go to Michael Bennett, who’s got himself the stick! “We are BEST FRIENDS!” He goes into the snake/farmer metaphor, which to explain quickly, involves an idiot farmer who gets bit by a snake. My words, not his. “We are SNAKES!” sayeth Bennett! And now, let’s recap Adam Cole’s part in this, as we see him costing Kyle O’Reilly the World Title after most of the roster had already interfered in the match.

Excuse me, but I need to mark out for a second here:

YOU SUCK, COLE! YOU SCREWED O’REILLY, YOU PRICK! I HOPE YOU GET WHAT’S COMING TO YOU! IT’S STILL REAL TO ME, DAMNIT!!

Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction after watching that match. Maria with the mic now, and she explains that she’s the manager of the greatest faction in pro wrestling history! Taven: “Everyone knows that you measure greatness in wrestling by the gold you wear!” They’re the greatest tag team in the world today! And now, let’s talk about Adam Cole and his quest to get back the World Heavyweight title, and the Kingdom won’t sleep until that happens! Let’s hear what Cole has to say about this. “I assume that everyone wants me to answer the question ‘Why Adam Cole, why did you turn your back on Kyle O’Reilly’?” Well, that’s simple – Kyle O’Reilly doesn’t belong anywhere near that title, because that title belongs to Adam Cole, the better member of Future Shock! They’ve been compared their entire careers, and the fact that after Best in the World Nigel McGuinness stood there and listed the top contenders for the World Title, including Kyle O’Reilly and not Adam Cole, well, that made Adam Cole sick! And not just Kyle, but AJ Styles, or Michael Elgin, a guy who had such a great run that he had to go to Japan to become relevant again! Long story short, once the Kingdom has the World TV and World Heavyweight titles, it will all be complete and Adam Cole is the man to do it! Annnndd here’s reDRagon, and they may wish to offer a rebuttal to Mr. Cole and his associates. Security his holding Bobby and Kyle out of the ring, but Bobby has a mic himself. “Adam Cole! You obviously have no idea what you’ve done!” Bobby tells Taven that it’s only a matter of time before he and Kyle take back the tag team belts, but first off, they’ve got a mission, and that’s to take Adam Cole out! Cole taunts him, saying that he’d love to see the two of them take on the three members of the Kingdom….until Elgin’s music hits. Bennett goes flying from the ring and Taven takes a shot and gets sent to the outside; Cole decides that discretion is the better part of valor and retreats as well. Elgin ALMOST gets his hands on Maria, but she escapes too, and Mike grabs the mic – you wanna challenge reDRagon 3 on 2? Well, looks like they have some backup in Big Mike! “BIG MIKE!” chant! The Kingdom heads back up the aisle as reDRagon and Elgin go after them. Whew. That was a GREAT promo, which set up what could potentially be multiple matches in multiple combinations. One of the benefits to having as stacked a tag division as ROH does is that they’ll be able to move between feuds and still give guys like O’Reilly and Fish singles chances, since there’s always another team to take over. Just really, really good work by everyone involved. And with all that out of the way, I think we need to take a moment…for some ads!

Dalton Castle wants you to buy the shirt. Don’t you want your life to change? Because his shirt will do it!

On Inside ROH this week, we’re going to take a look at the Young/Castle feud. We see the end of ASE, with Young hitting Misery after a low blow and ‘winning’ the boys. Last week, he dropped a beating on the Boys with the help of the Beer City Bruiser, complete with Silas’ suh-weet slingshot brainbuster. Next week, Dalton Castle returns to the show; what will he be like without his Boys? Who knows? Well, guess there’s only going to be one way to find out! Until then, let’s take a look at some ads!

We’re back with the music of the Decade, with Adam Page and BJ Whitmer heading out to the ring. But the bigger news is that during the commercial break, Nigel McGuinness has made a match for next week; a 6-man tag with The Kingdom vs reDRagon/Elgin! Nigel sure is busy during those commercials, not that I’m complaining. It appears that BJ will be sitting in on commentary during this match, and he and Corino start sniping at each other almost immediately.

Jay Briscoe vs Adam Page (w/BJ Whitmer) – No Holds Barred

Briscoe heads to the ring as they once again advise that parental guidance is suggested for this match. Man, after saying that over and over throughout the show, somebody better be bleeding by the end of this. Not trying to encourage blading, mind you, but they’ve pretty much guaranteed that we’re in for some old-fashioned vi-oh-lence here.
Code of Honor is offered by Page? Ah, when Briscoe reaches for the hand, Page pulls it back and slaps Jay in the face. Jay is less than happy with that and here he comes, kicking Page in the face and firing forearms. Punches and headbutts by Jay are followed by a running Cactus clothesline to send Page and Jay to the floor, Jay follows up by sending Page to the barricade shoulder first. Briscoe goes back in to set up for a tope, but his charge is met with a chair to the face. Page on the offense now, sending Briscoe to the barricade and rubbing his forearm over Briscoe’s face. He sets a table up on the outside, but that gives Briscoe enough time to recover and toss a chair of his own into Page’s face. Page reverses a Briscoe whip and sends Jay to the barricade. Back in the ring now, and Page sets up a chair. He and Briscoe exchange shots, and Page calls for the crutch from BJ, but here’s Mark to steal the crutch! BJ reminds everyone that he’s an announcer, and you can’t touch an announcer! This will become important later. Meanwhile, Jay has taken over in the ring with jabs to Page. Fireman’s carry by Briscoe, but Page fights out and drops Briscoe’s head on the chair. Page gets a running start and jumps off the chair, grabbing Briscoe and DDT’ing him through the chair on the way back down! Very cool. It also only gets two, so we’re in for a lot more violence if that can’t get a pinfall. Since we’ve clearly got awhile to go in this match, seems like a fine time for this ad break!

We’re back with Page getting an elbow on a charging Jay for two. Page goes to the eyes in the corner and stands on the second turnbuckle, choking Briscoe while repeatedly shouting “SAY MY NAME!” in Jay’s face. Uh, yeah. That happened exactly as I wrote it, I promise you. He sends Jay cross-corner, but a second one results in Page ramming the post with his shoulder and falling onto the table he set up earlier. Uh-oh. And indeed, here comes Jay off the apron….double stomp through the table by Briscoe! Back in the ring now, and Briscoe gets a vicious neckbreaker, then a second one. He decides to get creative on the third, though, and wraps a chair around Page’s head and does it. Man, that looked BRUTAL. Jay decides that he isn’t done yet, though, and gets a himself a table of his own. He sets it up in the corner and lays into Page in the corner with boots. He sets Page up against the table with headbutts, but gets caught on a charge, Page with a pumphandle, exploder suplex on Briscoe through the table! 1,2, no! This seems like it would be an excellent time to take our final ad break, don’t you think?

We’re back with Jay and Adam slugging it out on the apron. Briscoe gains the edge and signals that he’s going to hit the Jaydriller through the timekeeper’s table, but he gets backdropped on the apron by Page. Page stalks Briscoe on the floor from the apron, Shooting Star Press by Page to Briscoe! Page looks under the ring for plunder and finds another table, which he sets up. He sends Jay back in, but Jay is back to his feet and they slug it out, with Page catching a charging Briscoe in the face with a boot. Page flips back in…right into a Jay Briscoe running forearm. Briscoe drags Page to the apron and looks for the Jaydriller through the table on the floor. Page reverses and tries for the Rite of Passage, but he can’t get it and Jay grabs a chair and just THROWS it with a clang off Page’s face. OUCH. Jay gets him up and this time, Jaydriller through the table on the floor hits! Adam Page should probably be toe-tagged and the fans agree, chanting “You just killed him!” at Briscoe as he rolls Page in…for TWO. On the one hand, COME ON, but on the other hand, HOLY FUCK. The look on Jay Briscoe’s face is awesome, as is the reaction of the announcers and fans. Briscoe gets to his feet and dares Adam Page to get up, telling him to come on, boy…so Adam Page spits on him. That was what I would call a very, very bad idea. Jay lays into him with punches and kicks as BJ continues to taunt Corino about his family, and now it looks like something might happen. Reversal by Page, but Briscoe just takes his head off with a clothesline. Gets him up, Jaydriller! Unlike the last time, there’s no getting up here. 1,2,3. (Jay Briscoe over Adam Page, pinfall, 14:09)

WORTH WATCHING? So yeah, this was possibly Adam Page’s best match ever. Stiff as hell and everything that a hardcore match is supposed to be was in this one, with Jay getting the win but Page getting to kick out of the super finisher that was the Jaydriller to the floor, I would say that YES, this is worth watching if you’re a fan of hardcore wrestling. Not exactly great ringwork, but intense as hell most of the way through. Very fun to watch.

After the match, BJ gets in the ring and goes to town on Briscoe with the crutch, which looks only slightly ridiculous as the streamers get mixed in. I don’t know where Mark is in the back, but no one is coming out to help as Kelly screams for someone….and Corino gets up. FINALLY. He gets in the ring, takes off his jacket, and reaches into his pocket, BJ is begging him for it..Corino KNOCKS HIM OUT with a roll of quarters in his hand! Well, if you wanted old-school work, the old roll of quarters KO is about as old-school as it gets. Corino calmly puts his jacket back on, leaves the ring, hugs Kelly, and walks to the back. Now, I’m fine with burning an angle for awhile before finally boiling over, but food for thought – shouldn’t this have happened during any one of the moments that involved his son being abused by Whitmer or Page instead of him randomly saving Jay Briscoe? Whatever; it was still pretty cool, I must admit.

Corino taps the ROH sign on his way out, and we’re done for the week.

FINAL THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: This was a welcome change from last week. One really good match, one pretty decent match, an epic promo to set up matches for the next few weeks, and a show-closing angle that had been teased for months. ROH actually did a great job this week at more than in-ring work, and that’s something that they sometimes have problems with. Big thumbs up this week, check it out.

Thanks for reading,
Rick Poehling
@MrSoze on Twitter