SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
ROH TV REPORT
MARCH 17, 2018
ATLANTA, GA AT CENTER STAGE
AIRED ON SINCLAIR AFFILIATES & ROHWRESTLING.COM
REPORT BY HARLEY R. PAGEOT, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Commentary: Ian Riccaboni, Colt Cabana
[Q1] Video recap of last week’s backstage incidents wherein SoCal Uncensored suggested to The Kingdom that their factions team up to take down Bullet Club and Cody tried to warn his BC brethren to no avail.
-Opening theme.
-In the arena our St. Patrick’s Day episode opened with The Dawgs making their entrance with a microphone. Rhett said Atlanta hasn’t had any luck lately looking for their pot of gold but they’ll give the crowd something to believe in.
-Footage was shown of Coast 2 Coast’s big win over War Machine two months ago. Beer City Bruiser was sitting in on commentary with Brian Milonas standing next to the table. Bruiser claimed that C2C haven’t earned anything. Riccaboni defended that they’ve been unbeaten since that match.
(1) THE DAWGS (Rhett Titus & Will Ferrara) vs. COAST 2 COAST (Shaheem Ali & LSG)
Titus and LSG started things off. Ferrara was chewing on his tag rope (like a dog). Titus hit a shoulder tackle and caught LSG with a power slam. Little Willy tagged himself in and immediately ate a dropkick. LSG tagged out to Ali who hit a drive-by dropkick in the middle of the ring. Ferrara looked for a tag but Titus was too busy playing to the fans on the floor. C2C caught Ferrara and hit a type of double team fallaway slam. As Ferrara ran the ropes Titus hit a blind tag and landed a big dropkick on LSG. An excited Ferrara ran over to the face corner and blew his nose at Ali. Ali chased him around the ring and ran into a clothesline from Titus. Bruiser and Milonas laughed. “That’s not wrestling, that’s fighting!” [C]
The Dawgs hit a slingshot doggy-splash with Ferrara landing on LSG. He rolled to ringside and Titus followed up with another doggy-splash of his own for a two count. Bruiser hypothesized that the reason the Dawgs were dominating was because C2C waste their time in the gym, whereas the Dawgs are drinkers like himself. The Dawgs took turns throwing each other into LSG in the corner but LSG hit Ferrara with a boot and followed with a pop-up clothesline on Titus. Titus pulled Ali off the apron to prevent a hot tag. Titus then nailed him with a big boot that sent Ali toppling toward a nearby set of stairs to the basement. Ali stumbled down the steps and crashed into a crew of stagehands. LSG looked for his singles finisher on Ferrara but Titus made the save. Ferrara put LSG down with the BLL and Titus finished him off with a top rope doggy-splash. Both men covered for the one, two… no! The crowd wasn’t as shocked as they should have been as that definitely felt like the end.
LSG managed to fight off both men and knocked Ferrara off the top rope to the floor. Ali suddenly returned and made the hot tag. Ali unloaded on Titus with blows and a headbutt. Ferrara tagged in and took a sidewalk slam. Ali kipped up and back dropped Titus onto Ferrara. Titus clotheslined to the floor. LSG with a cannonball off the top rope onto him. Ali scooped up Ferrara in the ring and hit a big swing-out side slam. Ali returned and hit Saint Explosion while Ali followed up with a top rope splash.
WINNERS: Coast 2 Coast in 10:06.
[Q2] -Bruiser and Milonas attacked after the bell. LSG was knocked to ringside. Ali took a crossbody from Bruiser and a back senton from Milonas.
(Pageot’s Perspective: I think Bruiser, Milonas, and C2C might be the only ROH regulars not to have their own Wikipedia entries. As a result I’m not entirely sure what LSG’s finishing move is called but it sounded like Saintsplosion. This was a decent match that transitioned nicely from one lower-card tag team feud into another one. I’m big on a C2C feud with Bruiser & Milonas as it should give both teams a chance to show their personalities and put over the big men as imposing bullies and C2C as the scrappy underdogs. The moment with Ali being knocked down the stairway was unique. I don’t think I’ve ever seen stairs located near a ring like that before and they weren’t shown before Ali took the boot so it was a memorable moment.)
-“The Villain” Marty Scurll was backstage. He congratulated Dalton Castle on beating Lethal at 16th Anniversary. Scurll and Castle will face off at Supercard Of Honor for the ROH World Championship. Scurll will get what is rightfully his and become the world champion. [C]
-Dalton Castle was backstage in a suit with the ROH World Championship over his shoulder. He spoke directly to Scurll. This must be so exciting for him. Facing off in N’Orleans. Castle has never been good with Cajun accents but he is good with big matches. The title belongs to him. He worked his ass off to get here and there’s no way Scurll is walking off with his world championship.
-Riccaboni and Cabana spoke on camera about the top two Supercard Of Honor matches: Cody vs. Kenny Omega and Castle vs. Scurll. Also announced online this week was Hangman Page vs. Kota Ibushi and Punishment Martinez vs. Tomohiro Ishii. Also the Women Of Honor Championship tournament semi-finals will take place on the pre-show with the winners facing off in the finals on the main card later that night.
-The commentators sent us to a Women Of Honor tournament match filmed at a Stardom show in Osaka, Japan. Riccaboni handled English commentary by himself. He mentioned that HZK was the youngest woman in the tournament. Mayu Iwatani has held all five Stardom championships and was showered with streamers by the Osaka fans.
(2) HZK vs. MAYU IWATANI – WOMEN OF HONOR CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT EIGHTH-FINAL MATCH
Fast-paced to start with trading arm drags and quick roll-ups. Iwatani hit a kick to the spine and slapped HZK. HZK wrapped Iwatani’s arm around the top rope and paintbrushed her face repeatedly with her boot. Iwatani hit a dropkick on a seated HZK that sent her through the ropes to the floor. Iwatani went up top and followed with a crossbody while HZK’s seconds looked on. [C]
HZK hit a senton across the lower back of Iwatani and transitioned into a crossface. Iwatani squirmed toward the ropes and made it for the break. HZK wrapped her legs around Iwatani’s arms and rolled her around the ring in circles before trying for another pin.
[Q3] Iwatani looked for a northern lights suplex but HZK countered into a DDT and followed with a dropkick. Michinoku Driver from HZK. Seated frog-splash from the top rope for another two on Iwatani. The rookie HZK desperately went for another cover but Iwatani kicked out again. Iwatani pulled off a German suplex for a two of her own. Double stomp from the top rope but HZK kicked out. Iwatani with a ripcord kick and a crucifix bomb. She followed with a bridging dragon suplex for the win. [C]
WINNER: Mayu Iwatani in 9:35.
(Pageot’s Perspective: It’s too bad we didn’t get a video package before the match on both women like all the other tournament matches thus far but Riccaboni did his best to make up for it on commentary. The rookie HZK looked strong but the multi-time champion pulled off the expected victory. This was a great match overall and I’d definitely love to see more of both women in WOH. Iwatani moves on to face Deonna Purrazzo in the quarter-finals. With Stardom joining New Japan, CMLL, and RevPro on the list of promotions with working relationships with ROH the future potential for continued growth is huge.)
-The Addiction made their entrance without Scorpio Sky for the main event. The commentators reminded us that ROH COO Joe Koff told them that their ROH contracts expire after Final Battle in December and will not be renewed.
-Scurll, Page, and The Young Bucks came out to the Bullet Club music. It looked like it might potentially be a handicap match before Cody entered to his own music. He paused on the ramp before being joined by Brandi and Bury The Drug-Free Bear. Cody handed out “Bullet Club is fine” t-shirts to his teammates.[C]
(3) THE ADDICTION (Frankie Kazarian & Christopher Daniels) & THE KINGDOM (Matt Taven, Vinny Marseglia, & TK O’Ryan) vs. BULLET CLUB (Marty Scurll, Hangman Page, Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson, & Cody) (w/Brandi Rhodes & Bury The Drug-Free Bear)
Bullet Club huddled up in the middle of the ring while their opponents watched them warily from the apron. They suddenly exploded out and hit superkicks on all the Kingdom and Addiction members. BC took turns jumping off the apron and top rope to take out everyone on the floor. Cody and Page called for a one-sweet. Scurll joined in. The Bucks hesitated and were about to before everyone else returned to break it up. Taven and Scurll fought in the crowd. Page threw a piece of the barricade at O’Ryan and body slammed him onto it on the ground. Cody and Daniels fought in the ring. Matt Jackson just noticed that Cody’s pants have the word “leader” up the side and questioned him about it. They teamed up to take out Daniels, though.
[Q4] O’Ryan and Scurll tagged in. Scurll worked over the hands and yanked on O’Ryan’s hair. Page and Kaz tagged in. The bitter archenemies immediately went after each other with a hockey brawl. Page hit the dropsault on The Addiction. Cody tagged back in and hit a power slam to Kaz. Kaz called for a time out and taunted Cody with a too sweet. Daniels grabbed Cody’s boot as he ran the ropes and Kaz landed a guillotine leg drop. Tag to Taven. Taven unloaded with boots on Cody in the corner. Tag to Marseglia. Taven with a leg grapevine while Marseglia punched away at Cody. Quick tag to O’Ryan. Scurll threw a fit about the cheating behind the referee’s back. Marseglia back in. O’Ryan with a blind tag. Marseglia with a flying headbutt. Bullet Club cleared from the apron by The Addiction. Double teams on Cody. Daniels with a cover for two. [C]
Taven arrogantly worked over Cody. Cody with a cutter out of nowhere (in a nod to his former Legacy teammate). The Young Bucks with the hot tag and they hit their signature offense on The Addiction and Marseglia. Scurll ran into the crowd and went nuts with his cheering. Cody hit a blind tag and jumped in. Cody hit Kenny Omega’s Snapdragon on Marseglia. Matt and Nick seemed annoyed but Scurll and Page joined the party and everything broke down with all ten men again. Kaz ended up alone against all of Bullet Club and took five simultaneous superkicks. Cody went into Omega’s Terminator pose to boos from the crowd. The Bucks hesitated but eventually went for it. Trio of suicide dives but Daniels hit an Arabian press and Page followed with a moonsault off the top and Taven followed that with a dive over the ropes taking out everyone on the floor. Bury sold shock before climbing to the top rope himself. Bury hit a huge stage dive off the top onto everyone. Brandi and Matt were blown away. Cody hugged Bury as the crowd went nuts.
Cody and Marseglia were apparently the legal men in the ring. As Daniels argued with the referee Scorpio Sky ran down to the ring. He went for a top rope missile dropkick but Cody moved and Sky took out Marseglia. Cody immediately tossed Sky to the floor and hit the CrossRhodes on Marseglia.
WINNERS: Bullet Club in 15:19.
-Bullet Club exited and The Kingdom and SoCal Uncensored turned on each other. The heel teams paired off and brawled around ringside while the seven Bullet Club members looked on from the stage.
(Pageot’s Perspective: SoCal Uncensored vs. The Kingdom for the six-man titles at Supercard Of Honor? Fans would be hard pressed to cheer for anyone in that match but the setup is logical. I’m very surprised Flip Gordon wasn’t involved here after Sky attacked him last week and The Young Bucks made the save. The match was the usual fun Bullet Club multi-man chaos. They were all on the same page by the end of the night as “it’s complicated” seems to continue to be the status of BC heading into the long-awaited Cody vs. Omega showdown in three weeks. That has to be the night where lines are drawn and the next chapter in Bullet Club history begins.)
-Nothing was advertised for next week, though it’s possible we get Jenny Rose vs. Kagetsu as that is the only first-round Women Of Honor Championship tournament match yet to air.
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