SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
ROH TV REPORT
MAY 16, 2017
AIRED ON SINCLAIR MEDIA
REPORT BY ADAM R., PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana
(1) Seek & Destroy (Chris Sabin & Jonathan Gresham w/Alex Shelley) beat Cheeseburger & Will Ferrara (w/Joey Daddiego)
Cheeseburger and a glum looking Ferrara are first out, Seek & Destroy have matching gear and look the part. Alex Shelley cuts a promo pre-match blaming the Rebellion for putting him on the sidelines and then puts over Gresham to a decent pop. Gresham starts out the match and reminds me somewhat of Bryan Danielson back in his first ROH run, a little undersized but very solid. The crowd are baying for Burger but Ferrara refuses to tag so Burger tags HIMSELF in and gets a German Suplex from Gresham. Nice teamwork by Seek & Destroy on Ferrara and the pace picks up with a neckbreaker on the outside by Sabin and a suicide dive by Ferrara. Back in the ring and more dissension in the Burger/Ferrara team leads to confusion and Gresham applies the octopus submission on Burger for the win. Ferrara sells frustration after the match and storms of.
Adam’s Reax: Basic, story driven match focused on getting Gresham over and building dissension within the Burger/Ferrara pairing. Gresham stood out with slick offense.
-Jay Lethal is show preparing to do an ad for a sponsor when Silas Young interrupts. Young labels Lethal a golden boy and blames him for injuring his leg on purpose, Young then attacks Lethal with punches and rams his leg into some Lockers.
(2) Silas Young (w/Beer City Bruiser) beat Bobby Fish.
These two brawled after a match at Supercard of Honor. Silas cuts a promo before the match calling Fish a “dime store chump”, chain Wrestling to start with Fish controlling into the Ad Break. Back from the break and Silas hits a springboard lariat sending Fish to the outside before Fish replies with a nasty looking spinebuster into the guardrail. Both mean barely beat the 20 count to reset the match, Fish begins to focus on the knee but gets caught with an Ace Crusher. Near falls from both guys as they trade back and forth with Fish still targeting the leg of Young with repeated attacks and submission attempts. The action spills to the outside with Beer City Bruiser getting involved, once back inside the Bruiser distracts the ref long enough for Young to take off his metal knee brace and hit Fish with it for the pin and the win at around 12 minutes of TV time.
Adam’s Reax: Good TV match that was booked very evenly as a true 50/50 contest between two top tier guys in the company. Young looks set to see a bigger push, at least in the short term given the uncertainty surround Fish’s contract, I would expect to see Fish in a World Title feud shortly, his mic work is good and he can get the job done in the ring.
-Dalton Castle cuts a short promo saying despite defeat to Christopher Daniels he isn’t done yet and will keep fighting.
(3) The Briscoes & Bully Ray vs. The Rebellion (Caprice Coleman & Keith Lee & Rhett Titus) for the Six-man Tag Titles
Alex Shelley has joined the commentary team for the main event. The Rebellion are out first – nothing excites me about this team at all, despite the addition of Keith Lee they have long been a stale act, on the flip side The Briscoes & Ray have breathed life into the division and given the six-man titles a certain credibility with Bully Ray playing his role very well so far in his short run. All six-men get into it early, with Keith Lee and Bully Ray giving a brief glimpse of the fun match they could have. They Brawl in to the Ad Break. [c]
The Rebellion build heat on Jay as the pace of the match slows and focuses on rest holds, after what seems an eternity Jay gets the hot tag to Bully Ray who cleans house and the intensity of the match improves with a Moonsault from the top to the outside by Jay and a suicide dive by Mark. Titus responds with a brief flurry of offence but gets cut off and The Briscoes & Bully Ray hit 3D for the win. The champs then powerbomb Caprice through a table and the show closes with them celebrating.
Adam’s Reax: Pretty lacklustre match that was very slow in the middle part and only really picked up right near the end, basic formula of heat building from the heels leading to a hot tag and comeback from the Babyface team. Two things of note I took away from the match: (a) Bully Ray and Keith Lee hook it up, i’m sure they could have a stellar big man match. (b) As and when the Briscoe/Ray team split I can see an intense feud between Bully Ray and Jay Briscoe being something that is very interesting, and whilst it may be a long way off it has me excited.
FINAL THOUGHTS: A very standard show coming off the War Of The Worlds PPV with lots of filler. Not a show you need to go out of your way to see.
“Keith Lee”
Shane Taylor. Keith Lee is the bloke from their team who signed with EVOLVE.