Ring of Honor – February 17th, 2016

Howdy!

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

Notable news from around the world of ROH this week:

— Two big weekends in a row are ahead for our favorite promotion. This weekend, ROH heads to Japan for Honor Rising, two shows over in Japan. Next week, NJPW returns the favor by sending their talents to the 14th Anniversary show in Vegas. I’ll post a brief recap of the Honor Rising shows this weekend, with the usual PPV preview to follow next week for the 14th Anniversary Show. Honor Rising is available on NJPWorld, so if you get the chance, check that out. Also while you’re on there, watch Omega/Tanahashi whenever you get the chance; it’s the MOTY so far, even though I preferred Bushi/Kushida.

— In less than great news, Adam Cole will not be making the trip to Japan due to personal family issues. Hope everything is well for Adam.
Shall we watch some grappling, folks?

Ring of Honor TV – 2/17/16

We are TAPED from the Cabarrus Events Center in Charlotte, North Carolina! Your hosts are Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness. Tonight, our main event will see Matt Sydal and ACH face off against The Young Bucks! But we’re going to start with our last first round match in the 2016 Top Prospect tournament!

Jason Kincaid vs Lio Rush

I’ve actually heard of Rush before, but I’ve never seen him wrestle. The announcers are all over Rush from the start, comparing him to ACH and really putting him over. Kincaid’s tights are amazing, by the way. He’s got a really unique look about him. Code of Honor is followed. Kincaid comes in with a kick to start. They start off fast after that, exchanging a whip and running the ropes, with Rush getting a matrix dodge of a Kincaid clothesline and a nice enzugiri for one. A fakeout from Rush leads to leaping strikes and a backhand, but he runs the ropes and gets caught with a clothesline from Jason. Kincaid springboards back in with a neckbreaker, still holding onto the neck to put Rush into a Gory stretch. That whole sequence was better than anything in the entire tournament so far. Rush breaks out with an armdrag, but runs the ropes and gets caught off a wheelbarrow in a unique submission that results in Kincaid dropping him knee first onto the mat. That gets two. Kincaid takes the straps down, and he puts the badmouth on Rush with a slap to the face. Rush tries to roll through and come with a kick, Kincaid rolls him up but Lio rolls through that and misses a high kick, leading to them exchanging go-behinds. They trade off with Rush taking him down and getting an enzuigiri from the mat to Kincaid on his knees. Kincaid charges, but gets dumped to the outside, and Rush follows with a big no-hands plancha to the outside! Back in and Rush gets two. Rush comes at Kincaid in the corner, but Jason pokes him in the eye and sets him down in the corner from a spinebuster position. That looked bad, and not in a good way. Kincaid looks for a chairless Van Terminator, but Rush rolls to the outside; Kincaid goes to the top and springs ACROSS THE RING and hits Rush on the outside through the ropes with a kick, and that was AWESOME. And he’s not even done yet; with Rush against the ring, Kincaid gets a running start and comes through the middle rope and gets Diamond Dust to Rush on the floor! Crowd is completely into this. Back in, Kincaid with the cover, 1,2, NO! That’s criminal. Kincaid goes to the top and comes off with a double stomp, but Rush moves. Rush charges Kincaid, flipping Uranage (apparently called the ‘Rush Hour’)! Holy FUCK. And that’s going to be just enough to finish here. (Lio Rush over Jason Kincaid, pinfall, 5:03)

WORTH WATCHING? Just end the tournament now. Seriously. YES, this one was most definitely worth your time, as both of these guys came off looking great. Rush has the look of a star in the making to be sure, but Kincaid looked extremely strong out there as well, dominating most portions of the match and only losing when he fell victim to Rush’s crazy finisher out of nowhere. No resting, unique holds, and a hell of a finish make this worth watching, but Rush and Kincaid are so far ahead of everyone else in this tournament that they may as well have been the finals, because I could eat up 10 more minutes of these guys with a spoon. I hope that Kincaid gets a regular job with ROH after this. I really, really liked this match.

Post-match, Code of Honor is followed, and Kincaid raises the hand of Rush. Let’s take a break after that for some ads!

We’re back with the music of Silas Young, who makes his way to the ring with the Beer City Bruiser, as we’ve also been joined by the dulcet tones of Prince Nana on commentary. And there’s the music of Caprice Coleman, who’s out with….Will Ferrara? Weren’t these guys trying to put each other through tables just a few weeks ago? We even get a fist bump! Whatever, we’ve got ourselves a tag team match!

Silas Young & The Beer City Bruiser vs Caprice Coleman & Will Ferrara

Prince Nana takes credit for getting Coleman and Ferrara together as we see footage of them destroying each other in Philly. Nana STILL won’t answer what’s in the envelopes he’s been handing out, and while I’m all for a slow burn, if we’re getting a new Embassy, let’s just get that over with. Code of Honor is declined by Young and the Bruiser. Coleman and Young look to start us off. Lockup to the corner, and Young takes a cheap shot off the break, with Coleman taking umbrage and firing at Young in retaliation. Coleman with a nice dropkick and a seated leg lariat on Young, that gets one. Coleman takes Young to the corner and in comes Will. Will gets caught by Young and taken to the corner, and Silas unloads with shots. Cross-corner whip by Young is blocked by Ferrara, Young with a go-behind off that, but Will rolls him up for 2. Ferrara with a German suplex, and Young rolls to his corner and tags in the Bruiser. Ferrara wiggles out of a slam attempt by the Bruiser and goes for a suplex, but Bruiser blocks that with a back elbow. Will avoids a clothesline but tries for a slam, and the Bruiser falls on top of him with a splash. Bruiser slams Will in the heel corner and tags in Young, who springboards in with a rolling double stomp. That gets two. Young cuts the ring in half on Will and tags in the Bruiser. Bruiser sends Will to the corner and goes for a big corner splash, but Ferrara moves and takes a shot at Young on the apron, then catches a charging Bruiser with a boot. He wanders along the ropes a little too long, though, and Young recovers and snaps him on the top rope, followed by a Bruiser backdrop driver. Young comes in with a Lionsault on Will, followed by a Bruiser splash off the ropes, 1,2, Coleman makes the save! Ferrara tries to sneak past the Bruiser to make the tag, but Bruiser takes him back to the corner with Young and tags Silas back in. Young with a shot on Will in the corner, Bruiser is next with a butt splash (that misses by a mile, oy), then Young from the other corner a knee, and now Bruiser comes with the cannonball, but Will moves! Young attempts a powerbomb, but Will goes over the top of Silas and finally tags in Caprice. Coleman goes to work on Young with shots and a clothesline, then a kick to the midsection and back kick across a bent over Silas. Caprice shoves Silas headfirst into the second turnbuckle in the corner, then hits a springboard heel kick to the Bruiser to send him outside. Coleman eats a Young boot on a running charge, but he goes up and Caprice gets a standing ‘rana from the top to the mat. 1,2, Bruiser makes the save. Bruiser sets Coleman on the top rope, looking for the superplex, but Will is back. Ferrara powerbombs Bruiser out of the corner! Coleman gets set up for the Skysplitta, but Young crotches him on the buckles. Will charges but Young gets the backbreaker/clothesline combo on him. Young wants to finish, but heeeerrree’s the Boys, who run out and distract the Bruiser on the floor. Young avoids a charging Will, who turns that into a suicide dive into a DDT on the Bruiser outside the ring. Young can’t believe it, but he should turn around….too late. Skysplitta by Caprice Coleman is going to get the 1,2,3. (Caprice Coleman/Will Ferrara over Silas Young/Beer City Bruiser, pinfall, 6:47)

WORTH WATCHING? Well, it was a pretty decent tag match in spots, but this was all storyline stuff; what with the Boys distracting Young and Bruiser, or whatever is going on with Nana and his mysterious envelopes, but the match as a whole just lacked something. I’m going to go with NO, you can skip this one; everything felt like a setup for the angles as opposed to the match itself telling us any type of story, and that sort of bugged me.

After the match, Castle appears with the Boys on the rampway to feed them, while Prince Nana stands and applauds at the commentary desk. I think we should all applaud these great ads!

We’re back to the music of The Decade, and BJ Whitmer strolls out to the ring with Adam Page in tow. “Let’s hope BJ gets this over with sooner rather than later.” Nigel McGuinness, speaking for the audience. BJ has a mic, and he tells us that someone has approached Steve Corino and wants to take him out! Well, BJ has scoured the dressing room, and no one back there wants a piece of him! Frankly, Corino only has 3 friends left in the world, and two of them don’t work here anymore and have forgotten that Corino even exists! (I assume he’s referring to Jimmy Jacobs and Kevin Steen there) But he’s calling Corino out! Bring out whoever wants to take BJ out! And there’s the music of Steve Corino….alone. BJ thinks that means it’s Steve that wants to take him out, and he couldn’t be happier about that development, inviting Corino to come to the ring so BJ can break his neck again. Corino tells him that BJ comes out every week, and no one cares about what he has to say! Steve Corino, speaking for the audience. Well, Corino promises the crowd that someday in future, he’s going to be the one to kick BJ’s ass; not today, not tomorrow, but someday! But Corino knows that there’s someone who wants to take BJ out, and if there’s one thing he’s learned in this business, it’s always to have eyes in the back of your head….and Adam Page grabs the mic from BJ Whitmer! “You turn around and look me in the eyes!” says Page, while BJ asks if he really wants to do this. Well, Page does, because he tells him that in 5 seconds, he’s going to put down the microphone and beat the holy hell out of Whitmer….and he does it! Page firing right hands at BJ, BJ trying to fight back as the crowd chants for Adam Page! The refs and security storm the ring from the back to stop this melee, but Page takes a few of them out to get to BJ as Corino stands with a satisfied smile on his face in the entranceway.

Now then, I thought this was going to happen at the PPV next week, but whatever; I’m just happy to see Page get away from BJ while there’s still time for him to have at least something of a career. The angle isn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination for a few reasons; Corino can’t wrestle, so he can’t be one to get revenge; and, of course, the angle involves BJ Whitmer. That having been said, they’ve executed this one pretty well, considering the constraints put upon it by Corino’s neck surgery, so kudos. I hope they’ve got a good blowoff planned for it. Speaking of blowoffs, don’t blow off these great ads, and we’ll be back in a few minutes!

We’re back as Kelly runs down the PPV card for next week, but of course we’ll have the best damn ROH PPV preview next week on Scott’s Blog of Doom! They announce that ANX vs War Machine for the tag belts will be No-DQ , and throw it to last week’s footage to show us why. And of course, our main event: Cole vs O’Reilly vs Lethal. They throw it to footage from reDRagon vs Lethal/Cole from a few weeks back, showing Lethal accidentally hitting Cole with the Lethal Injection, followed by Chasing the Dragon for the pin.

Hype for the PPV over, we hear the music of Mark Briscoe!

Mark Briscoe vs Tim Hughes

Code of Honor is declined by Tim, who tells Mark that Brutal Bob told him never to shake anyone’s hand! Okey-dokey, then. Lockup, Briscoe with a side headlock and he goes through the legs of Hughes and gets a kick off the ropes. He lays into Tim with more kicks, Hughes reverses a whip but Mark comes off with a clothesline. That gets two. Briscoe with rights and a delayed suplex for two. Briscoe with a side Russian legsweep for two, as this has just been a shitkicking. Fireman’s carry by Briscoe, but Hughes goes to the eyes to get out. Charge by Tim hits a back elbow by Briscoe, but he gets Mark up off a charge for a delayed sideslam. That gets two for Hughes. Hughes tells Briscoe “This one’s for Bob!” and slaps him, and I don’t think that’s going to go well for Tim. Palm strike by Mark, and it’s time for some redneck Kung Fu, as Mark slaps Tim back. Chops and fists against the ropes by Mark, followed by an enzuigiri. Corner clothesline by Mark, he whips him to the other corner and gets a corner dropkick. Fisherman’s Buster and the Froggy-bow end the slaughter for Briscoe. (Mark Briscoe over Tim Hughes, pinfall, 3:54)

WORTH WATCHING? I have no idea why this match was on TV. This was a complete and total squash by Mark Briscoe, with almost no offense from Hughes. That would be a NO on this one; skip it with extreme prejudice.

After the match, Briscoe shakes the hand of the woozy Tim Hughes on the mat, as the commentators remind us that the main event is next! That’ll be after these ads!

We’re back with the music of ACH! Time to do some dancing! He’s followed by his partner, Matt Sydal, who promises that the party tonight won’t be at his expense. And there’s the music of The Young Bucks! Mark and Nick Jackson make their way to the ring, superkicking everything in sight as usual. Time for what will surely be a truly scientific affair.

The Young Bucks vs Matt Sydal & ACH

First guy to sell a move loses. Okay, that’s not an actual stipulation, but it probably should be. The two teams go nose to nose in the ring as the announcers tell us that ACH and Sydal already have a victory over the Bucks….and we fade out for an ad break!

We’re back with the ref ringing the bell, and we’re underway! Matt Jackson still has his IWGP Jr Tag belt in the ring with him and he puts it in the face of Sydal, but Sydal isn’t having that and tosses the belt to the outside! Jackson doesn’t exactly like that, so he spits on Sydal and takes him down with a double leg and fires punches. ACH comes in to pull Matt off his partner, but Nick takes that as a signal to also come in with our first superkick of the match less than a minute after the bell rang. Sigh. Bucks, I want to LIKE you! Stop doing that shit! ACH rolls out as the Jacksons toss Sydal to the apron and get the headscissors/dropkick combo to send Sydal to the floor with ACH. Stereo topes by the Bucks put Sydal and ACH down on the outside. They toss Sydal in and take time to pose for the crowd and give each other a ‘too sweet’, but that backfires as Sydal runs the ropes and gets a twisting press over the top to both Bucks on the outside. Sydal kicks Matt Jackson and sends him back into the ring. Jackson pokes Sydal in the eyes but Sydal clotheslines him into the ropes as ACH goes up, tag to ACH as Sydal holds Jackson open, double stomp onto Matt Jackson by ACH! He lands on his feet and runs over to the Bucks’ corner to take Nick out, then turns around and hits Matt with a leg lariat. ACH back to his feet and he flips to the apron, running kick to Nick on the outside! Get Over Here is blocked by Matt, but ACH cartwheels past him and gets a dropkick to put him down. ACH gives us a baller pose, but that leaves him wide open to Nick coming in with another superkick on ACH. Sydal comes in and gets a double ‘rana on both Jacksons, but they pop right up and get a double superkick on Sydal. They mock ACH’s basketball pose, superkicking the ‘ball’ into the crowd. Matt Jackson tells us all to ‘suck it!’ as we get sent to a break for some ads!

We’re back with the Bucks double-teaming ACH with a double armdrag followed by a double seated dropkick. That gets two as Nick takes out Sydal on the apron with a springing dropkick. Nick mocks ACH by attempting to make the tag on his behalf, then sitting on the top rope and posing. Nick sends ACH to the Bucks’ corner and tags in Matt. Nick gets on the top turnbuckle as Matt pretends to dribble the imaginary basketball for about half an hour, allowing ACH to avoid the Jackson charge as Matt takes out his brother on accident and sends Nick to the floor. Matt clubs ACH from behind to prevent a tag, but ACH hooks the ropes on a whip and gets a bicycle kick on a charging Matt Jackson, sending ACH to the apron where he takes out Nick with a straight right hand. ACH gets a shoulder to Matt and Get Over Here hits on Matt Jackson. ACH somersaults to his corner and tags in Matt Sydal, who comes in with a ‘rana on Jackson. Superkick attempt by Nick is avoided by Sydal, who gets a kick of his own to Nick’s head. Matt Jackson charges, but Sydal turns an Irish Whip into the leg version of the Final Cut, followed by a standing moonsault for two by Sydal. “Shades of Nigel McGuinness!” says Kevin Kelly, which made me almost spit out my coffee. Sydal calls for ACH to double whip Matt, but Nick Jackson pulls Sydal out to the floor and Matt Jackson comes through the ropes with a dropkick off the Irish whip to Sydal. ACH charges, but eats a shoulder and Nick springs in with a facebuster. He attempts to slide back to the ring apron to moonsault Sydal, but Sydal avoids it and grabs the foot of Nick, forcing him to superkick Matt Jackson. Sydal gets a jumping knee to send Nick to the barricade, but lands right into a Matt Jackson superkick. ACH looks for a tope, but eats a double superkick from the Bucks as a result. He also hung up his leg on the dive, so it’s fortunate he wasn’t injured as well. Nick tosses Sydal back in as the Bucks are looking for More Bang for Your Buck, but Sydal slips out and ‘ranas Nick off the top rope onto Matt Jackson! Sydal goes up for the Shooting Star, but Nick rolls out of the way and Matt lands on his feet, right into a Matt Jackson superkick. Powerbomb/enzuigiri combo in the corner by the Bucks, followed by the cannonball/enzuigiri on Sydal as well. Matt Jackson drapes Sydal against the ropes as Nick comes off with the Swanton, 1,2, NO! The Bucks set up for More Bang for Your Buck, rolling fireman’s carry hits but Sydal gets his knees up for Nick coming off the top and his boots up for Matt coming off the top. Both Bucks are staggered and ACH comes back in off the top with a double stomp to the back of Matt Jackson’s head, and Sydal goes up, Shooting Star Press! No one does it better. Well, maybe Ricochet. Either way, that’ll be enough to get the duke. (Matt Sydal/ACH over The Young Bucks, pinfall, 7:52)

WORTH WATCHING? Well, this one depends entirely on you. This was a complete spotfest, with ridiculous double team moves and superkicks used as transitions. In short, a Young Bucks match. And while I can completely understand why people like this sort of thing, I’m going to go with NO on this one, as the Bucks had been having better matches recently and this was the same tired formula that they’ve used in the past. Now, for the record, a lot of people love that formula; if you’re one of them, this is right up your alley, because if there’s anyone who can keep up with the spottiness of the Jacksons, it’s Sydal and ACH. I did like the booking here, as we all know it’s inevitable that the Bucks are getting the tag belts at some point, so now Sydal and ACH can claim two victories over them to get their shot at the belts when that happens.

Post-match, Sydal and ACH celebrate as the commentators wrap things up for the week on ROH TV.

FINAL THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK: This was a much better show than last week, albeit not the greatest week that ROH has had. The opener was a keeper, and the Whitmer/Corino/Page stuff was well-done, and I can understand why people enjoyed the main. On the flip side, the other tag match was pretty vanilla and boring, and I still don’t know why Mark Briscoe was given TV time for a squash match. Overall, there was much better stuff here, but I have to admit that I was less than impressed by a lot of it. Your mileage this week may vary.

Thanks for reading this thing I wrote,
Rick Poehling
@MrSoze on Twitter