SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
HITS
SoCal Uncensored (SCU) – Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky: This was an effective promo by SCU. Daniels and Kazarian always deliver. Here is where I am confused. Daniels references getting their 6-man titles back. But is he talking about getting the titles back because they lost them in Lowell at the first night of War of the Worlds or is he saying this because the belts were stolen from them at Supercard of Honor? Or, should we give them credit for cutting a promo that works for either story? It is probably the later, but it makes me wonder if I am the only person confused at who currently holds the 6-man titles for those who are not Honor Club subscribers that did not see the recent title change. In the end, still an effective promo from SCU.
Jay Lethal Backstage Promo: Lethal discussed avenging losses that he’s had recently on last week’s show. Lethal talks about how Punishment Martinez might beat him in the “tale of the tape” but that is not all that can measure how good a fighter is. Lethal puts Martinez on notice that he will avenge his recently loss to Martinez. I liked this a lot. It follows up on the story from last week when Lethal was told he needed to go beat the people he has loss to recently. Good stuff from Lethal here in the delivery of the promo and the follow up from last week’s episode.
Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) vs. The Dawgs (Rhett Titus & Will Ferrara aka Little Willy): Motor City Machine Guns (MCMG) cut a promo right before the match. They talk about if they should part ways or continue showing how great they are. Sabin closes his part by claiming that Shelley is his brother for life. The Dawgs interrupt the promo just as Shelley was about to speak. Titus compared MCMG to Old Yeller and sometimes that means you got to put Old Yeller out to pasture. Rhett Titus was great here. From there, the match was on as The Dawgs attacked MCMG. MCMG have been floundering a little lately in my opinion since losing the tag belts. They did have a decent showing in the tag team Gauntlet a few weeks back though. That said, I was curious how this match would play out. Solid match with some good back and forth from both teams. In the end, the MCMG were too much for The Dawgs as the MCMG hit Skull & Bones for the victory. I know The Dawgs are a comedy act, but I enjoy watching them. The MCMG might not be done yet as they get a victory over The Dawgs in an enjoyable match and segment during this week’s episode.
The Young Bucks Backstage Promo: Short and to the point from The Young Bucks as they talk about winning the ROH World Tag Team titles for the fourth time. Good, quick and effective leading towards the main event later.
The Neon Ninja Façade with Danni vs. Eli Isom: Please see my thoughts in the Final Thoughts of this week as to whether this was supposed to be a Top Prospect Tournament match or not. As far as the match goes, Façade and Isom looked great. The action was fast paced and both guys looked good. The crowd was really into it. Façade hit a double springboard 450 clothesline from inside to out on to Isom. It was very impressive. The match was going great until Bully Ray interfered and caused a no contest when Ray clotheslined Façade and then dumped Isom to the outside before then dumping Façade. See the Misses section for the thoughts on Ray’s segment.
Hangman Page, Marty Scurll, & Cody Backstage Promo: Quick promo from these three where they build up next week’s match against SCU. Scurll and Cody also begin to bicker a little back and forth about who will wrestle Dalton Castle at Best in the World. The bickering was short lived though as Page interrupts to make the point that as a trio they will beat SCU next week and earn a shot at the 6-man titles. Another good, short, and effective promo building up the match between them and SCU.
The Briscoe Brothers (Jay & Mark Briscoe) vs. The Young Bucks (Nick & Matt Jackson) for the ROH World Tag Team Titles: It is on from the start with these two teams! Crowd is into it big time. Ian Riccaboni tells us that The Briscoes have a 7-4 record against The Young Bucks. This match was ROH tag team action at its finest with the two best teams in the promotion. I also felt that along with the crowd, Riccaboni and Whitmer were great on commentary giving the match even more of a big fight feel to it. There were a couple of 2 and 3 quarter counts that once again Riccaboni & Whitmer did a great job of selling. As we got towards the end with a very hot crowd, The Young Bucks are about to hit the Meltzer Driver when Mark Briscoe nails Nick Jackson on the ring apron. Todd Sinclair calls for the bell as The Briscoes are disqualified for using the chair and then continuously attacking The Young Bucks with chairs after the match. Then after all of that, The Briscoes double superplex Matt Jackson on to a pile of chairs. Mark then tricks Flip Gordon and Page into coming out on to the stage where he attacks them from behind with chairs. Cody eventually comes out to save his Bullet Club friends and teammates, but Cody gets a chair thrown at him. Cody is left laying also as we go off air with The Briscoes holding the belts high in the air. A fantastic match and great finish to the show. I am looking forward to more from The Young Bucks and Briscoes at this point.
MISSES
The Gatekeeper Kelly Klein vs. Madison Rayne: This match was slow and did not keep my attention. I have called for more Women of Honor action on ROH TV, but I have been a little underwhelmed by the performance of many of the ladies thus far not named Purrazzo and Dashwood just to name a few. Klein ends up nailing Rayne with a big knee. All in all, still a big win for Klein as she gets a convincing win against Rayne.
Bully Ray: Bully Ray comes out and interrupted the Isom vs. Façade match. Bully Ray then claims as the Enforcer of ROH that he is firing Isom and Façade. The Cheeseburger chants begin. Burger comes down to the ring and grabs the microphone. Burger calls Bully Ray a piece of crap although he used the “S” word. Bully Ray then choke slams Burger. Then Joe Koff comes out to the stage. Koff claims that he should have listened to the people who told him not to bring in Bully because he was a bad apple. Koff then fires Bully which he says he should have done a long-time age. Bully then says since he is done as an Enforcer, he is officially unretired. By now you know that I have hated the Bully “Enforcer” roll since it started. I still do. And again, it is not heat, it is go away heat as in it is lame and I have no interest in seeing Bully continue to feed his own ego. It is a channel turner. That said, here is one other issue with this segment. We just saw War of the Worlds where Bully Ray had a couple of matches with Cheeseburger where Burger technically won due to Bully being counted out in one of the matches and disqualified in another. I guess this is the new world we live in with ROH where we will see things as Honor Club members before they air on the regular episode. Beyond all of that, Bully Ray is a great in the wrestling business, but I have zero investment in seeing him at this point. The storyline gets worse by the week.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Ian Riccaboni mentioned that there would be some Top Prospect action in tonight’s show, but they never officially talk about the tournament or if the Isom vs. Façade match was a tournament match. Maybe there is not going to be a tournament and this year they’re just featuring Top Prospect type matches similar to the Future of Honor matches done on ROH’s YouTube? I am not sure based on how the match was presented. With the exception of Bully Ray’s segment, I thought this was an excellent week of ROH. The matches were almost all solid to exceptional. Especially The Briscoes vs. The Young Bucks which was tremendous. This week’s show is really worth checking out if you have not already had a chance to do so.
Mike Mills is the PWTorch.com ROH TV Hits and Misses Specialist, providing his point of view on ROH TV weekly. You can follow Mike at @BTT_Podcast and @Mike504Saints on Twitter and you can check out his old school wrestling podcasts at tinyurl.com/BTTPod
NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S COLUMN: ROH HITS & MISSES 5/7: Jay Lethal promo, Young Bucks backstage promo, Castle & Boys vs. The Kingdom
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