Ring of Honor – January 25th, 2017

Howdy!

Tonight on Ring of Honor TV, it’ll be KUSHIDA vs Will Ospreay vs Dragon Lee in our main event! Proof that I’m on the right side of the Lord this week, I guess.

Let’s watch some wrestling, shall we?

Ring of Honor TV – 1/25/17

Video package to start focuses on the rivalry between Marty Scurll and Will Ospreay, recapping the TV title changes from the UK tour, then a few seconds on each. They make their US TV debuts…..tonight!

We are TAPED from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania! Your hosts are Nigel McGuinness & Kevin Kelly. They run down the card and tell us that (ugh) we’ll see highlights from the ROH World title match at Wrestle Kingdom 11.

But up first, that’s the music of Jonathan Gresham! Pardon me for a moment.

Hey, ROH? SIGN JONATHAN GRESHAM.

And the music that follows is that of “The Villain” Marty Scurll! So, we’re starting off with Marty Scurll vs Jonathan Gresham? Screw the main event, give ’em the whole hour! Kids, this just goes to show that when you sacrifice the goat properly, you get what you want on wrestling television! That’s a lesson that everyone should listen to!

“The Villain” Marty Scurll (c) vs Jonathan Gresham

Code of Honor is followed with a proper sneer from Scurll. Hee. I love this man so very, very much. Circle and we get a Greco-Roman knucklelock to the corner, and Marty gives a clean break, then gives us a little bit of bird call and some wing flapping to taunt Gresham. Lockup and Gresham with a go-behind, they trade wristlocks and Gresham takes Scurll to the mat with a keylock, then rolls Scurll over for one, turning the hold into a crossface and forcing Scurll to make the ropes to break. Gresham gives a clean break, then mocks Scurll’s wing flapping. They go back at it, trading holds smoother than Ryan Gosling’s jazz in La La Land, and Jon takes him to the mat with a headlock/armbar combo. Marty back up, he takes Gresham to the corner, and we’re done with the clean breaks, as Scurll chops Gresham. Armwringer by Scurll, reversed by Gresham, and he goes to the mat and puts his feet against Scurll to hold Marty in place. Marty can’t get Gresham back to his feet, Jon gets up on his own and takes Marty over with a throw. He ducks a clothesline from Scurll, O’Connor roll attempt from Gresham is blocked, Scurll avoids the Gresham charge, Jon goes over the top to Marty’s shoulders and hops off, taking Scurll over with a throw in the process. Good God, the man is just so good at making moves flow from one into another, I’m in awe. Headlock takeover by Gresham, Scurll goes to a headscissors to break, Scurll with a headlock takeover, Gresham with a headscissors to break. Jon keeps hold of the wrist and flips Scurll back over to the mat and it’s back to the headscissors. Scurll tries to headstand out of the hold with Gresham in a seated position, even clapping his legs back and forth in the air; Gresham gets into the fun and claps along with him, Scurll gets out and flaps his arms, so Gresham just grabs him by the head and shoves him back in the hold, then flaps HIS arms. Hee! Scurll rolls to the ropes to break now. Marty is non-too pleased at this mockery, giving Gresham a shove, and Gresham responds with a kick. Armwringer by Scurll and that drops Gresham to the mat. Jon rolls out and Marty runs across the ring, leaps over the top rope, and delivers a superkick to the side of Gresham’s head from the apron. Scurll takes a victory lap after that, and we’ll take a break as well to watch these great ads!

We’re back with Scurll in control, and he stands in surfboard position over Gresham, then fish hooks Jon before jumping up and smashing Gresham’s knees to the mat. Jon gets a wristlock and ducks a back elbow from Marty, Scurll responds with forearms and a chop, Gresham fires back with a chop of his own, Scurll repays in kind, then hits Gresham with a back elbow off the ropes. Straightjacket by Scurll, Gresham bridges up, Marty forces him back down by stepping on the knee, so Gresham uses the momentum as Scurll goes down to flip over and reverse the hold. Back up and Scurll regains control, so Gresham takes him over with a throw for the break. Scurll charges and gets alley-ooped to the apron, Gresham dodges a few shots but finally gets tagged with one, and Scurll eggs on the crowd. He leaps in, but Gresham avoids it and Scurll hits the mat, with Gresham kicking the arm as he tries to get up. Armdrag by Gresham, good one, too. Gresham charges the corner, avoids a boot from Marty and gets a chop, Scurll reverses a cross-corner whip attempt but he doesn’t avoid the boot on the blind charge, and Gresham comes off the ropes with a knee to the arm of Marty. They trade waistlocks and Gresham takes Scurll down and hits a jumping knee to the arm, then ties him up with La Magistral for two. Kick by Gresham, Jon off the ropes, Marty fakes him out with a superkick then kicks Jon in the knee when he covers up. Gresham fires back with a ‘rana and they roll through two pinfall attempts before Gresham stacks him up for two. Whip attempt by Gresham is blocked by Scurll, who fires a nasty elbow to the face of Gresham before slamming him into the ropes. Scurll with a double underhook throw for two. Scurll calls for the Chicken Wing, but he can’t lock the hands as Gresham grabs the fingers, so Scurll does what a villain does best – he goes to the eyes. Kick by Marty and now he’s got the fingers of Gresham, Scurll breaks the fingers of Jon! I love, love, love Scurll looking sickened by himself after he does that. Crossface Chicken Wing attempt again, and this time Marty locks the hands and there’s no escape for Gresham, who taps. (Marty Scurll over Jonathan Gresham, submission, 10:02)

WORTH WATCHING? – Please. It’s Marty Scurll vs Jonathan Gresham. Of COURSE, the answer is YES, this one is worth your time. To be fair outside my own biases, this type of mat-based work isn’t for everyone, and it isn’t a great match or anything, but I enjoyed the shit out of it, especially the little bits of personality that were able to shine through during the match, both for Scurll and for Gresham. I would have watched 10 more minutes of this without breaking a sweat.

Post-match, Scurll holds up his belt in triumph as we see replays of the victorious chicken wing. Up next, it’s Daniels/Sabin in the Decade of Excellence tour! But first, let’s relive a little bit of O’Reilly/Cole from Wrestle Kingdom 11, as we see a few highlights from the early part of their match. Yippee. And with that, let’s take a break so we can see some great ads!

We’re back with Jay Lethal. “My quest for the Ring of Honor World Championship is in full swing!” He’s just got to get through this Decade of Excellence tournament, and he’s already through round one; he beat Jushin Liger, because Jay Lethal is the best wrestler in the world! Now, it’s on to round two, and that’s against Jay Briscoe! Briscoe has a few thoughts on that. “It’s going down, man! The semi-finals of the Decade of Excellence tournament, me versus Jay Lethal!” And Briscoe has some questions in his head, man, and that’s how he’s not sure that Lethal should be in this tournament, because ten years ago, Jay Briscoe was here in ROH, tearing the roof off this sonuvabitch, while Lethal was running around Orlando pretending to be the Macho Man! Lethal responds by pointing out that everytime he mentions Jay Briscoe, a smile comes to his face, because he loves stepping in the ring with Briscoe, and they bring out the best in each other; more to the point, Lethal has your number! Briscoe agrees, saying that Lethal has beaten him twice now, and he can’t lose again! He can’t! Lethal says that he’s already beaten Briscoe twice, and he’ll do it again, while Briscoe promises that Lethal isn’t going to win this time!

Good promo there from both guys.

“Worship us! Now!” That can only be the music of The Addiction, and here comes Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian! Hey Chris, you’re kind of a face now, might want to drop the SS jacket, man. And here comes his opponent, one-half of the Motor City Machine Guns, Chris Sabin! Kazarian has joined Kelly and Nigel on commentary in the meantime. Kazarian immediately posits that this tournament is Daniels’ last shot at the ROH World title, and they are certainly laying the groundwork for a heel turn in the future if that keeps up.

Christopher Daniels (w/ Frankie Kazarian) vs Chris Sabin – Decade of Excellence Tournament, Round 2

Code of Honor is declined by Sabin, who probably hasn’t totally forgiven Daniels for the beatdowns last year during the Addiction/Guns feud. Lockup, side headlock by Daniels, they trade wristlocks out of that, back to the headlock for Daniels as they’re really playing up the ‘Daniels has never been ROH World Champ’ story on commentary. I’m honestly starting to believe that he’s going to win this tournament. Sabin shoots Daniels off, Daniels knocks him to the mat with a shoulderblock. Daniels off the ropes, Sabin catches him with a wristlock, cross-corner whip by Daniels, Sabin goes over the top as Daniels charges in, Sabin runs the ropes and slides through the legs of Daniels, enzuigiri by Sabin sends Daniels to the floor. Sabin wants to fly, tope by Sabin sends Daniels to the barricade! Sabin tosses Daniels back in and stomps, then snapmares him over and drops a knee. Chinlock by Sabin. Daniels back up, elbows out of the hold, Daniels off the ropes and he eats a knee from Sabin and goes to the floor. Sabin follows with a baseball slide dropkick to Daniels, then a ‘rana off the apron to flip Daniels to the mat on the outside. Sabin takes a minute to jaw with Kaz at the announce table, then charges right into Daniels, who catches him in a uranage position and just drives Sabin right into the barricade. Cool. You know what else is cool? The following great ads!

We’re back with Daniels springing in over the top rope with an elbow to Sabin. 1, 2, no! Daniels attempts a suplex, holds him up for the delayed vertical, hits it for two. Daniels hits knees to the back of Sabin and puts on a chinlock, knee squarely in the back. Sabin fights up with right hands to break, but comes off the ropes right into an inverted atomic drop from Daniels. Enzuigiri by Daniels now and he goes for Angel’s Wings, but Sabin turns that into a ‘rana and both guys are down. Daniels approaches Sabin in the corner, back kick by Sabin, running clothesline by Sabin, a second clothesline by Sabin, Daniels comes off the ropes with a sunset flip, Sabin rolls through and runs through him with a knee strike to the face! Daniels rolls out, Sabin follows to the apron, Sabin with a down the line kick to Daniels, Cannonball off the apron by Sabin takes out Daniels! Sabin tosses Daniels back in and goes up, missile dropkick hits! Sabin picks Daniels up for a backbreaker over the shoulder, then turns him and drops him face-first to the mat. 1, 2, NO! Spinning back kick by Sabin, he comes off the ropes and hits Daniels in the back of the head, comes off the ropes again, Daniels stops him with a kick to the knee and an excellent Sickle clothesline to the back of Sabin’s head! Split-legged moonsault by Daniels hits! 1, 2, NO! Daniels catches the shoulder and arm of Sabin off the kickout and turns it into the Koji Clutch now, but Sabin is able to stretch out a leg to get the rope to break. Daniels charges Sabin in the corner, but Sabin catches him with an enzuigiri, springboard Tornado DDT by Sabin! 1, 2, NO! Fireman’s carry by Sabin, Daniels turns it into a crucifix for two. Back up, Sabin with a superkick, Daniels fires a palm strike back and now we’ve got a slugfest in the middle of the ring with chops and forearms, Sabin gets the advantage, but comes off the ropes and gets caught with a Samoan drop by Daniels. Best Moonsault Ever attempt, but Sabin moves and Daniels lands on his feet. Blind charge by Daniels and he eats boot from Sabin, Sabin charges out and Daniels drops him with a uranage. Daniels goes for it again, Best Moonsault Ever hits! 1, 2, 3! (Christopher Daniels over Chris Sabin, pinfall, 10:03)

WORTH WATCHING? – Two good wrestlers put on a wrestling match. It’s not that complicated, every other company in the world. YES, this was very fine stuff. In a rare case, the commentary was just as good, with Kazarian really, really selling the idea that this is Daniels’ last shot. I suspect he’s going to win this thing and end up losing his title match against Cole, but we’ll see. The match itself was good, with both guys able to do this type of match in their sleep. Good work from both wrestlers here.

Post-match, we see replays of the BME, then Daniels offers the Code of Honor handshake to Sabin, pulling Sabin to his feet and embracing him as the crowd chants “ROH!” Man, if they’re smart, Daniels might get over enough as a face to actually turn Cole and the Bullet Club heel. We’ll ponder that during the following great ads!

We’re back with a recap of last week’s Rhodes/Corino debacle. What the hell, ROH has been tremendous this week so far, I’ll give them a pass as long as they keep this short. Anyway, Cody wins the match and now we see Corino, Whitmer, Sullivan & Martinez around a fire. Anyway, Corino says that now he sees the light, and Sullivan welcomes him back to the family. Anyway, Sullivan tells Corino that he has to now go find ‘the golden one’ and take him out. 3 guesses as to who that is, first two don’t count.

And that appears to be the end for Steve Corino in Ring of Honor.

Back to the ring now, as Kevin Kelly says that he doesn’t know what the future holds for Steve Corino in ROH, but he’s sure that Steve has the answers. And there’s the music of Dragon Lee! He makes his way to the ring and the music of our next participant, one Will Ospreay! Ospreay gets a nice pop as he enters the ring by leaping over the top rope. And finally, here’s the (former) IWGP Light Heavyweight champion, KUSHIDA! See, he was the champ at this taping, so he’s got the belt with him; of course, he lost that belt at Wrestle Kingdom 11, but we’ve been seeing highlights of O’Reilly/Cole from Wrestle Kingdom 11, thus indicating that it’s in the past, yet KUSHIDA still has the belt here even though he dropped it at that event, so that would make it the future for KUSHIDA even though it’s the past for all the viewers this week and –

Fuck it, KUSHIDA used to be a Timesplitter. That’s what I’m going with here.

KUSHIDA vs Will Ospreay vs Dragon Lee

Code of Honor is followed by everyone as the crowd chants “All these guys!” That is correct, crowd. Ring the bell! Ospreay makes the first move, shoving Lee into KUSHIDA from behind, then taking Lee down with an armdrag. KUSHIDA armdrags Ospreay in response, but takes one from Dragon Lee as a result. Lee with a spinning back kick to Ospreay, then a fun sequence as Lee rolls KUSHIDA up, KUSHIDA escapes and sunset flips Ospreay, who rolls through that and attempts a kick that KUSHIDA ducks, moonsault attempt by Ospreay lands on his feet after KUSHIDA moves, Lee jumps over a sweep by Will, Will ducks a roundhouse kick from Lee, Lee sends KUSHIDA at Will, ‘rana attempt by KUSHIDA is cartwheeled out of by Ospreay, ‘rana attempt by Ospreay on Lee ends the same way, so you know what now happens when Lee tries to ‘rana KUSHIDA, right? All 3 guys hit their poses in the ring after that, and the crowd shows some appreciation. I could use a break right now, so let’s show some appreciation for these following great ads!

We’re back to more highlights from Cole/O’Reilly, with Cole sending Kyle to the floor, then hitting Kyle with a chair against the post. As usual, that’s not a DQ in ROH. Why? Who knows, really.

Back to the actual main event now, as Ospreay ends up on the apron with KUSHIDA right after him. Shoulder from Will and he springs in, but tries a handstand off the ropes and KUSHIDA just kicks him in the face. Lee back in now with strikes and a back kick to KUSHIDA, Lee off the ropes, inverted atomic drop by KUSHIDA, then a followup dropkick to the knee of Lee and a cartwheel dropkick…..but Lee catches the leg and applies an STF! KUSHIDA escapes and grapevines the arm of Lee, then smashes it into the mat by falling backwards. KUSHIDA goes for the Hoverboard Lock, but Lee manages to fight him off long enough for Ospreay to come back in to make the save. Will tosses Lee and goes after KUSHIDA, but KUSHIDA takes him to the mat by wringing the arm. Ospreay kneels on the elbow of Will, then stomps on the hand of Will, applying an armbar soon thereafter on poor Ospreay. Will fires rights to free himself, but KUSHIDA just kicks him in the arm for his insolence. Handspring attempt by KUSHIDA, but Will moves and goes for one of his own, flipping kick drops KUSHIDA! Will charges KUSHIDA in the corner with a back splash, KUSHIDA sends him to the apron on a second attempt, Will responds by smashing KUSHIDA’s head into the buckle and kicking him in the face. Springboard forearm by Ospreay sends KUSHIDA to the floor, Ospreay with a cartwheel across the ring into a moonsault onto KUSHIDA! He turns around right into a HUGE Tope Con Hilo by Dragon Lee! Everybody back in the ring now, as Lee sets Ospreay and KUSHIDA up in opposite corners, running forearm to Will, running forearm to KUSHIDA, second attempt gets met with a kick to the gut from Ospreay. Ospreay off the ropes, he goes for a tornado DDT, blocked by Lee, suplex attempt from Lee is countered into a ‘rana from Ospreay to send Lee back to the floor. Will tosses KUSHIDA as well and goes to the apron, he somersaults off the apron as KUSHIDA moves, Ospreay lands on his feet, back kick to KUSHIDA, who responds with a straight right hand to the face of Will. KUSHIDA back up on the apron, Dragon runs across the ring and jumps over the top rope, hitting KUSHIDA with a ‘rana to send him flying from the apron onto Ospreay! Neato! Let’s think about how neat it was while watching the following great ads!

We’re back with Lee hitting a Northern Lights suplex on KUSHIDA, then rolling through and hoisting KUSHIDA up in Fisherman’s Buster position and dropping him down in a powerbomb! 1, 2, NO! Will made the save! Lee and Will slug it out, with Lee briefly winning that before coming off the ropes and eating a high knee from Ospreay. That sends Lee to the floor and leaves Will with KUSHIDA, and Will starts with a spinning back kick and a spinning neckbreaker on the lad from Japan. Ospreay goes up now, moonsault into moonsault into Shooting Star Press, he goes back up but gets tripped on the top by Dragon Lee, as now Ospreay is in the Tree of Woe for a few seconds before Lee flattens him with a double stomp off the top rope. Lee with a deadlift German suplex on KUSHIDA, Lee bridges, 1, 2, Ospreay breaks it up by hitting a Shooting Star Press onto Lee! Showoff. Everyone is down now, with KUSHIDA back up first, but he collapses and it’s KUSHIDA and Will trading chops and palm strikes now in the middle of the ring. Will gets the advantage with strikes on Lee, but Dragon pays him back with a knee to the face. Reverse ‘rana by Dragon Lee on Will Ospreay! Lee goes over to KUSHIDA now, looking for the Phoenixplex, KUSHIDA fights out and comes off the ropes, drops him with an armbar, then rolls him over into the Hoverboard Lock! Lee’s about to tap…..Ospreay breaks it up with a spinning kick to KUSHIDA! Another one to Lee! Ospreay goes for the Cutter, KUSHIDA catches the arm coming off (I swear, KUSHIDA comes up with a new way to go for the Lock EVERY match!), Hoverboard Lock, he can’t get it on and Ospreay rolls him up! 1, 2, NO! Roundhouse kick from Ospreay to KUSHIDA! Pele kick from KUSHIDA to Ospreay! KUSHIDA off the ropes, Tornado DDT to Ospreay! He keeps the facelock on and gets Ospreay up, Fisherman’s DDT on Ospreay! 1, 2, 3!! (KUSHIDA over Will Ospreay & Dragon Lee, pinfall, 10:03)

WORTH WATCHING? – Good Christ, YES, watch this match! Just non-stop from bell to bell with these guys, as everyone got the chance to hit their moves and the match flowed well from beginning to end. 205 Live WISHES they could put together a spotfest like this, where the wrestlers are good at moving from move to move without making it look staged. KUSHIDA is always worth watching, and Ospreay and Lee are more than up to the task of hanging with him. Good main event this week, would have been far more shocking if it had sucked.

Post-match, we see three different angles of Ospreay getting dropped on his head by KUSHIDA. Yoinks, Ospreay’s gonna be in a wheelchair by the time he’s 30 at this rate.

And let’s end the show by watching the end of Cole/O’Reilly from WK 11, as Cole hits a bunch of superkicks and a Last Shot to regain the title from Kyle, as Kelly tells us that next week, the Bullet Club will be in the house. What will Cole have to say? We’ll find out next week, as that’s all for this week on ROH TV.

FINAL THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: This was like my dream show, with more than 30 minutes of bell to bell action and all 3 matches worth watching. Young guys and new guys were showcased in both the first match and the main event, while we used the middle to move forward the main angle of the tournament for the World title shot. Yeah, I had to relive WK 11, but it was a small price to pay for a show this awesome. Thumbs way the fuck up to ROH TV this week.

SIGN JONATHAN GRESHAM.

As always, thanks for reading this thing I wrote,

Rick Poehling
@MrSoze on Twitter