Ring of Honor – November 9th, 2016

Howdy!

We’re less than a month away from Final Battle! Time to really start ramping up!

Let’s watch some wrestling, shall we?

Ring of Honor TV – 11/9/16

We are TAPED from the Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, Massachusetts! Your hosts are Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino. Tonight, the bottom half of the bracket in the tournament to crown the first ROH 6-Man tag team champions begins, as the New Kingdom takes on the Bullet Club! Also, Dragon Lee will have a Proving Ground match against the ROH World TV Champion, Bobby Fish!

But up first, we’ve got a rematch from the G-1 Climax, as hear the music of Toru Yano! Yay! I reiterate that I am an absolute mark for Yano’s antics, regardless of the quality of his ringwork. And his opponent will be none other than one Michael Elgin! At the G-1, Yano’s victory over Elgin was a reason why Big Mike didn’t make the final – will he get his vengeance? Let’s watch!

“Unbreakable” Michael Elgin vs Toru Yano

Yano tosses water at Elgin as Mike enters the ring, then hides in the corner. Mike offers the Code of Honor anyway, but Toru declines, and we’re off. Yano stalls to start, then comes off the ropes and Elgin stands him up on a shoulder block. A second attempt by Yano produces the same result. Third one, and this time Elgin knocks him to the mat. Yano grabs the ropes in the corner to buy some time. Yano gets back to his feet, fires himself up, and throws forearms at Elgin in the center of the ring; Mike no-sells them and knocks him down again with a big forearm of his own. Yano: “He’s very scary!” No shit, Toru. Yano decides that now would be a good time to offer the handshake, albeit with his left hand. Elgin accepts and Toru cranks on it, but Elgin ignores that and does a crank of his own that drops Yano down. Hee! Look, I freely admit that this isn’t for everyone, but I find Yano delightful. Irish whip by Mike, but Toru catches the top rope, then ducks a clothesline from Elgin and hides in the ropes again. Elgin has had ENOUGH of this shit, though, and knocks him to the floor with 4 straight shots to the jaw. Big Mike follows him to the floor and fires a few more. A charge by Elgin is met with a drop toehold into the ramp stairs by Toru, though, and Yano grabs the cutters from the ringside table. Yano goes to work on the top turnbuckle as Elgin slides back in; he gets the pad off, and nails Elgin with it after avoiding a charge in the corner from Big Mike. Yano drapes Elgin on the middle rope and chokes away while we go away for the next few minutes to watch these great ads!

We’re back and Yano is still on offense with kicks and an axehandle. He backs Elgin into a corner and unties the top buckle, then chokes Elgin with the rope. Cross-corner whip to the exposed buckle is reversed by Elgin, but Mike eats a back elbow when he charges in. Elgin blocks going into the exposed buckle, then nails Yano in the chops with a forearm. They trade attempts to send each other into the exposed buckle, and that ends with a powerslam by Mike. Corner clothesline by Elgin! Another one! Elgin’s whip gets reversed by Yano, who goes to grab the hair of Mike; Elgin turns around and points out that he doesn’t have any hair to grab, so Yano grabs him by the beard instead. Elgin puts a stop to that with an enzuigiri, following with the Falcon Arrow! 1,2, NO! More clotheslines to the front and back by Elgin, but he gets caught coming off the ropes with an inverted atomic drop from Yano. Elgin returns the favor when Yano comes off, and both guys are down with testicular pain. Now ELGIN goes out and gets the cutters, going to work on a different buckle pad. He gets it off and levels Yano with it, then threatens to buckle bomb him into the exposed pad, but Yano double legs him and catapults him into the buckle. Yano goes for the low blow, but the ref stops that, so Yano decides to use him as a shield from Elgin instead. Big Mike apologizes in advance and tries to take off both their heads, but Yano gets a back kick to the junk after they duck it, small package by Toru! 1,2, NO! Yano wants to send Elgin into the exposed buckle now, but Mike reverses that and hits Snake Eyes on Yano to the exposed buckle! Lariat by Elgin! 1,2, NO! Elginbomb hits from Big Mike! 1,2,3! (Michael Elgin over Toru Yano, pinfall, 9:55)

WORTH WATCHING? – In my never-ending quest to try to be objective in these matters, as a match, NO, this one is very skippable. If, however, you’re a mark for Toru Yano like I am, then it’s his usual tremendous fun. It’s not objectively good, almost all the spots are comedy, and there’s a ton of cheating beyond what one would normally allow; but I like the dude. Still, keeping some objectivity intact, it’s not a great match.

Post-match, Elgin celebrates as Kelly tells us that up next, it’s Dragon Lee vs Bobby Fish, as Lee will enter the Proving Ground! We see highlights of Lee/Kamaitachi (that ‘rana from the ring apron to the floor is absolutely insane to watch) before we head out to see the true highlights; these great ads!

We’re back with a recap of the Bullet Club’s attack on Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish, including the multiple chairshots to Bobby’s ribs. Let’s hear what Fish has to say, shall we? “Adam Page. Somehow, you have convinced Ring of Honor, you’ve convinced the Bullet Club that you are ready for the spotlight.” He’s convinced them that he can handle the pressure! But you’re untested, Adam Page, you’re listening to the wrong advice! You’ve convinced them that the night you spend across the ring from me, that you can deliver the goods! But when the lights are shining brightest, that’s when Fish delivers his best work, and Page, you are not the man to unseat the king!

Hey. Hey, pssst; Fish just recently won the Survival of the Fittest tournament. That gives him a shot at the World title, which will probably be held by either Adam Cole or his teammate, Kyle O’Reilly, when it happens. Just food for thought.

And there’s the music of Dragon Lee! He makes his way to the ring as Corino talks about his match against Kamaitachi at ASE. And there’s the music of Bobby Fish! The champ is out, walking a little slower than normal, ribs taped up extensively. Fish gets in the ring, even selling the ribs as he poses on the buckle.

Bobby Fish vs Dragon Lee – Proving Ground match

If Dragon Lee wins, he gets a title shot at a later date. Code of Honor is followed. Waistlock by Fish and they trade hammerlocks into a headlock by Bobby. Lee rolls that over into an armbar and Fish makes the ropes to break. Commentators are doing a good job in pointing out that Fish has to defend the TV title against Page next week and should not be wrestling this match. Fish rolls out to think it over for a second, then comes back in. Wristlock by Fish is countered to an arm drag by Lee, and Fish rolls out again. Bobby is selling really well here. Fish comes back in, but gets taken down into a left leg scissors by Lee. Fish makes the ropes to break that. Fish with a chinlock, but again Lee breaks it easily into a wristlock, as Bobby has no force behind anything he’s doing out there. Fish mans up and tries a forearm, which Lee responds to in kind, they exchange a few, then Lee hits a back kick to the ribs of Fish that drops him. Lee with a chinlock, Fish gets back to his feet, off the ropes, Lee with a ‘rana that takes Fish to the floor. Lee gets a running start and hits an awesome tope, nailing Bobby headfirst in the ribs and sending him to the barricade. The ref starts the count, and we’ll count – count the minutes until we return from watching these great ads!

We’re back with Fish suplexing Lee for two. They get to their feet and slug it out, with Lee hitting a kick to the ribs. Lee off the ropes, but he gets turned inside-out by a lariat from Bobby. Fish can’t capitalize because the ribs are hurting too much, and Lee easily sidesteps a charge from Fish and hits a snap German suplex. Another slugfest, which Lee wins with a high knee, then rolling Northern Lights suplexes into a brainbuster. That gets two. Fish avoids a shot from Lee and knocks him to his knees, then wipes him out with a big kick to the head. 1,2, no! Kicks from Fish, but the last one is caught and Lee turns it into an STF. Fish makes the ropes to break that, and reverses a cross-corner whip to slam Lee into the corner. Fish goes for a brainbuster, but he can’t even lift him up for it, and Lee manages to turn it into La Magistral for the 1,2,3. (Dragon Lee over Bobby Fish, pinfall, 8:01)

WORTH WATCHING? – This was a clinic in selling by Fish. Everything he did in the match that reverberated into his ribs was expertly sold, and Lee got enough to win without hurting Fish in any way. YES, this one is well worth your time. The match itself was mostly an angle, but it managed to put over Dragon Lee while at the same time planting the seeds of doubt in your mind about Fish’s chances next week when he has to defend against Adam Page. Overall, this was a well-done piece of work.

Post-match, Lee celebrates while Bobby lies on the mat in agony, spitting out his mouthpiece. Dragon Lee goes over and helps him to his feet with a hug as the graphic reminds us that Fish only has 7 days to recover before defending against Adam Page. Can he possibly recover?

Let’s go to Matt Taven. I don’t like him very much. “Tick tock, tick tock. Tick tock. Time is up.” In a matter of moments, his kingdom will come! And after almost a year of being out of this ring, the time has come to bring about the end of the Bullet Club! And that time….is now.

Yeah, still don’t like him. Let’s see how I feel after these great ads!

We’re back with highlights of the 6-man tournament so far. ACH, KUSHIDA, and Jay White have punched their ticket to Final Battle by winning the top half of the bracket. Who will win the bottom half? Well, next week, we get Team CMLL against the Addiction and Kamaitachi! But there’s the music of the Bullet Club! And here come the guys with all the gold, as the ROH World Tag team champs the Young Bucks and the ROH World champ Adam Cole will be representing Bullet Club in this match. And now we’ve got….a dude with a scroll? “Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye! I present to you now thy Kingdom, built in the image of Matt Taven!” Hey, the music is BITCHIN’. And Taven comes out, and now he calls out the newest members of the Kingdom; man, I can’t wait to see who it is! Could be someone who needs a push in ROH like Will Ferrara, or Jonathan Gresham, or…..hey, it’s two guys I’ve never heard of! Let’s go to Google to find out more!

Well, their names are TK O’Ryan and Vinny Marseglia! Vinny looks to be the more experienced of the two, having worked for Chikara, Beyond Wrestling, Dragon Gate USA, and ROH amongst others. TK on the other hand….I got nothing.

Now, I know what you’re probably thinking: “Rick, these guys are facing off with the Bullet Club, who are ostensibly heels, but Taven continually insults the fans and is kind of a huge jackass even though he has legit beef with Cole, so that kind of makes him a heel, while the Bucks play to the fans even though they’re supposed to be heels, so I guess the real question is WHO ARE THE FACES?”

As always in ROH, the answer is: “I DON’T KNOW AND IT VERY MUCH ANNOYS THE CRAP OUT OF ME!”

Ahem.

So, here we go, I guess.

The Kingdom (Matt Taven, TK O’Ryan, & Vinny Marseglia) vs the Bullet Club (Adam Cole, Matt Jackson, & Nick Jackson)

Man, I do like that Kingdom music, though. It’s neato. No Code of Honor, obviously, and the Kingdom attacks. Everyone ends up outside except Taven and Nick, and Matt rectifies that by sending Jackson to the barricade with a forearm. The Kingdom has the advantage as Taven comes off the barricade with a kick to Nick. Taven and the Kingdom pose on the apron now, with Taven saying “This is MY Kingdom!” as we go off to the Kingdom of great ads!

We’re back with the Kingdom still standing on the apron, but the Bullet Club is back in the ring now, and a triple superkick produces one of the most annoying calls of ‘SUPERKICK!’ from Corino that I’ve heard in awhile. Terminator pose from Bullet Club, but the Kingdom pulls them to the floor; the Bullet Club no-likey that, and we get a triple powerbomb to the apron on the Kingdom.

By the way, the Bullet Club, the jerks who attacked Fish and O’Reilly just last week and beat on them with chairs? They’re clearly the faces in this match. Because, you know, reasons.

Bullet Club is back in the ring now, and we get the full Terminator into triple topes to the Kingdom on the outside. They toss Vinny back in now and Cole puts on the camel clutch while the Bucks run the ropes, and we get the double kiss to the cheek from the Bucks, and now TK and Taven are back in to break this up. They toss Cole and Nick, then triple team Matt Jackson. Matt heroically fights out against all three, because he’s a face this week, but gets whipped into a knee from Vinny, then a kick from Taven and a facebuster from TK. Vinny covers off that for two. Matt Jackson gets abused in the corner with forearms from Vinny into a suplex slam, then a slingshot stomp from TK and Vinny covers for two. Matt Jackson reverses an Irish whip attempt, but Vinny gets a blind tag from Taven before hitting a side Russian Legsweep, and Taven follows that up with a Lionsault. 1,2, no! In all fairness, nice sequence there. Tag to TK, and he and Taven double-team with a kick from Taven into a spear from TK for two. Matt Jackson tries to fight TK off with a waistlock, but TK backs him into the Kingdom corner where Taven hits an enzuigiri. Another triple team now, as TK sets Matt on the top rope then brings him down on his shoulders, dropping him into a jawbreaker while Taven comes off with a dropkick, with Vinny adding a seated dropkick right after. That gets two. Triple team by the Kingdom again on Matt Jackson in the corner and Matt fights out, dropping both Taven and TK. Vinny tries a suplex but Matt goes over the top, into a suplex attempt by TK that Matt goes over the top of, into a suplex attempt by Taven that Matt goes over the top of in what was a relatively funny bit. The last one ends up with a tag to Nick Jackson, who pulls down the top rope to send a charging Taven flying to the floor. Jackson takes out the other two Kingdom members with kicks, then a combination bulldog/clothesline combo that leaves Nick Jackson as the only man standing in the ring and sends us to our final ad break of the evening!

We’re back with Nick springing off the top rope into a facebuster on TK, then back out with a moonsault off the apron onto Vinny. Nick goes up but Taven distracts him; Nick punches him down and then leaps over a charging TK, escaping a pumphandle and turning it into a superkick on TK. TK stumbles over and tags in Taven, so Nick shrugs and tags in Cole, and now we’ve finally got our Cole/Taven showdown. They fire away at each other and Taven gains the advantage, and he spits on Cole. Cole responds by faking the high kick and going to the knee instead, then blowing his snot on Taven and hitting a Shining Wizard. 1,2, NO! Cole goes for the Last Shot, but the Kingdom is back in to break that up. Funniest moment of the match next: as the Kingdom knocks the Bucks off the apron, a guy yells clear as day “YOU GUYS SUCK!” Hee! TK goes to kick Cole, but Adam catches it and ducks an enzuigiri attempt that ends up hitting Vinny instead. Superkick by Cole takes out TK and Cole goes for the Last Shot on Taven again, but Taven blocks it and ends up rolling the dice on Cole for two. Triple team powerbomb (awkwardly put together) on Cole, but the Bucks make the save at two. This match is an absolute mess. Nick Jackson ends up hitting both TK and Vinny with superkicks on the outside as it’s Cole and Taven in the ring alone again, big kick to the face by Taven. He runs right into a kick from Cole, though, and Adam goes up, Panama Sunrise attempt is rolled through into a Sharpshooter by Taven, but he promptly gets superkicked by both Bucks as soon as the move is applied. Vinny and TK are back in now, and what do you know, they get superkicked too. God, this match is my worst nightmare when it comes to the Bucks’ excess and bullshit. Bucklebomb into the double enzuigiri hits Taven from the Bullet Club, and now Cole hits the Panama Sunrise! 1,2, the Kingdom makes the save! Matt Jackson gets tagged in (Ha! A tag. How quaint.) and gets set up for the Indytaker; TK tries to make the save, but Cole hits him with a superkick and now we’re set up for a double Indytaker. Nick goes for it, but Vinny is there to yank him off the apron and to the floor, where he sends him to the barricade; meanwhile, Taven and TK manage to escape and hit double lowblows to Cole and Matt Jackson in the ring behind the ref’s back. Sure. Pumphandle into a sitout shoulderbreaker from TK takes out Cole, while Taven hits Climax on Matt Jackson and Vinny follows that up with a Swanton off the top. Taven covers Matt Jackson, 1,2,3! (The Kingdom over the Bullet Club, pinfall, 12:02)

WORTH WATCHING? – This was a mess from start to finish. There was no through narrative to the match, it was just a series of stuff, with no selling that was very apparent and a million superkicks. In short, the reason that I hate the Bucks. The Cole/Taven stuff looked like it might go somewhere, but it was way too short and didn’t factor into the finish. NO, this one is completely skippable unless you’re a mark for the Bucks, in which case have at it. It’s right up your alley. As usual, Ring of Honor just doesn’t seem to know how to make heels; why in God’s name do you have Adam Cole out there fighting alongside the Bucks? Like it or not, the Bucks are faces in ROH and booking them as heels isn’t doing you a bit of good. Meanwhile, you’re trying to build this awesome storyline where the Cole and Page keep attacking O’Reilly and Fish and in general are cheating pricks, etc, yet here they were the clear faces. And yes, I understand that Taven and Cole had a beef, but that wasn’t enough to justify making Cole the face just one week removed from smashing a guy’s ribs with a chair. And why is the Kingdom two guys that no one has ever heard of? You could tell that the crowd was just not at all sure how to react to these dudes. And the sad part is, in looking at the bracket, I’m guessing the Kingdom is going to win this whole thing unless Team CMLL does, especially if the rumors of ACH leaving are true. This was NOT the way to debut this team.

Post-match, the Kingdom celebrates as Taven tells us that tonight is just the beginning! The announcers are stunned. “A huge, monumental upset! The world will be talking about it for a long, long time!” says Kevin Kelly. Go home, Kevin. You’re drunk. Next week, Bobby Fish will defend the ROH World TV title against Adam Page! And we’re done this week on ROH TV.

FINAL THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: Tommy Hall reviews ROH on his website. And I always read his stuff, even though I don’t agree with it a lot. But one of the things I do agree with him on is that ROH fans tend to not really cheer the faces and boo the heels, and booking like tonight’s doesn’t help at all. We’re less than a month away from ROH’s biggest PPV of the year, and the dastardly heel stable in the company were complete babyfaces in the main event tonight. And yeah, it’s a minor thing on one episode of the show, but the point remains. You want people to boo, have the heels act like heels. I mean, I’m the biggest Kyle O’Reilly homer on the planet, but I remain deathly afraid that he’s gonna get booed against Cole at Final Battle, even though the storyline has dictated the exact opposite. ROH doesn’t need to be helping that nonsense along. Book the heels like heels and the faces like faces and do it consistently, and the rest will take care of itself.

As for the rest of the show, it was alright. Not a great one; the Fish/Lee match in the middle was more angle advancement than it was a match, but that’s okay since the title match is looming next week. The opener was fun for me, but it’s all about whether or not you dig Yano, because it was 10 minutes of Yano being Yano. Proceed at your own risk.

As always, thanks for reading this thing I wrote,

Rick Poehling
@MrSoze on Twitter