SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
ROH TV REPORT
JUNE 17, 2018
CHICAGO, IL AT ODEUM EXPO CENTER
AIRED ON SINCLAIR AFFILIATES & ROHWRESTLING.COM
REPORT BY HARLEY R. PAGEOT, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Commentary: Ian Riccaboni, Colt Cabana
Bullet Club (Cody, Marty Scurll, Adam Page, & The Young Bucks) were backstage standing under a banner that read “no excuses.” They addressed L.I.J. and said that tonight they have no excuses. Scurll asked them what the J in L.I.J. stands for. They guessed jobbers or juniors but he said it’s for jabronis.
-Opening theme.
-In the arena we opened with Chuckie T’s music.
(1) KENNY KING vs. “THE KENTUCKY GENTLEMAN” CHUCKIE T
They traded arm drags and hugged early on to applause. Taylor hit a belly to belly suplex. [C]
King hit some right hands and caught Taylor with a kick on the apron before posing with a fan for a selfie. Crossbody from the top rope got him a two-count. Taylor took out King on the floor and took a photo with the same fan. Taylor with a sit-out power bomb for two. Falcon arrow for another two. King called for the Royal Flush but Taylor hit a piledriver. Taylor called for the Awful Waffle but King blocked. Enziguiri and Royal Flush ends it.
WINNER: Kenny King in 9:30. [C]
(Pageot’s Perspective: Solid television match. The commentators spoke a bit about King sending a message to Austin Aries so there is still a chance we see them in a singles match at Best In The World, although the pay-per-view is only twelve days away and it feels like any matches on that card should be official by now.)
-Video recap of The Young Bucks vs. The Briscoes from May 13 television. The Bucks won by disqualification when Mark Briscoe attacked with a steel chair. Out at the chicken farm in Sandy Fork, Delaware Mark and Jay were pacing around with their ROH tag titles. People have been asking what’s wrong with them, why they’re going down this dark road. Who are we to be asking these questions? They’re the champs. We should mind our own business. Mark said the Bucks are the best in the world at selling t-shirts and making YouTube videos. Jay said they can’t take the tag titles from the Briscoes, though.
-A little promo video aired for Shane Taylor showing him dominating people. In Chicago he was in the ring with a microphone to address Josh Woods. Back on April 27 at Bound By Honor in West Palm Beach, Florida Woods defeated Taylor after Woods’ friend King Mo prevented Taylor from bringing a steel chair into the ring and Woods capitalized by hitting a TKO onto his knee. Woods claimed he would have won that one if it weren’t for Mo sticking his nose in his business. He told Chicago he’d finally give them something to cheer about. As Woods made his entrance footage played from the show on April 27 including Taylor giving Mo the finger after the match and backing off from fighting him then and there.
(2) SHANE TAYLOR vs. JOSH “THE GOODS” WOODS
Taylor swatted Woods out of a springboard. Taylor hit a running cannonball on Woods while he was slumped against the guardrail. He followed with a leg drop on the apron. [C]
Woods locked in a rear naked choke while on Taylor’s back and followed with a German suplex. A second sent Taylor into the corner. Woods with a series of strikes and knees in the corner but Taylor hit his knockout right hand while the referee pulled Woods off of him.
WINNER: Shane Taylor in 3:43.
(Pageot’s Perspective: I was never a fan of the knockout punch when Big Show used it and I still don’t like it. If one punch can win the match for him, why does he bother doing anything else? Every match should just be him trying to punch his opponent as soon as the bell rings. Are we going to see Shane Taylor vs. King Mo in ROH? I actually forgot about that Bound By Honor development as it hadn’t been mentioned since it happened and Woods has only appeared once since winning that match, in a TV loss to Chuckie T.)
-ROH World Champion Dalton Castle and The Boys made their entrance. Castle was joining commentary for the main event. [C]
(3) BULLET CLUB (Cody, Marty Scurll, Adam Page, Matt Jackson, & Nick Jackson w/Burnard The Business Bear) vs. LOS INGOBERNABLES DE JAPÓN (Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi, Evil, Sanada, & Bushi)
This is a rematch of the main event from War Of The Worlds last year on August 18 in London, England. Cody and Naito started things off. Cody posed and Naito spit on him. He then cleared Cody to the floor, ran the ropes, and did his own pose in the ring. Cody threw some chairs in a fit of rage at ringside. Scurll asked for the tag. Bushi also tagged in. They didn’t last long before the Bucks and Evil and Sanada faced off instead. Everyone entered the ring and all ten stood off against each other while referee Todd Sinclair tried to get the illegal men out. Instead a big brawl broke out. Cody was left alone in the ring and channeled Kenny Omega’s Rise Of The Terminator. Daryl the cat entered the ring and took out Cody, Page, and Scurll but he and Takahashi ate double superkick from the Bucks. Sanada prevented a Meltzer Driver and Evil brought a steel chair into the ring. [C]
Scurll and Takahashi threw hands. Ghostbuster got a two-count on Takahashi. Takahashi countered a chicken-wing attempt into a roll-up. Overhead throw sent Scurll back-first into the corner. Nick Jackson came in and went on a flurry of offense including a facebuster to Evil for two. Stereo sharpshooters from the Bucks to Evil and Sanada. Naito and Takahashi made the save but fell to Page. New ROH World Television Champion Punishment Martinez walked down the ramp and Page spotted him. Page jumped out of the ring and they fought up the ramp to the back. [C]
Bushi with a missile dropkick to Matt. A trio of dropkicks to a seated Matt. Scurll pushed Matt out of the way of another top rope attack. Bodies went back and forth everywhere ending with Matt falling to a Magic Killer from Evil and Sanada. Nick pulled Sinclair from the ring to break the count. Takahashi tried for a sunset bomb to Nick from the apron to the floor but Burnard saved Nick and hit a punch to Takahashi’s gut. Bushi responded by spraying mist into Burnard’s face. Cody went after Bushi for this, as did Scurll. Scurll swung with his umbrella, Bushi dodged, and Scurll cracked Cody across the stomach. Naito took out Scurll. The Bucks hit superkicks on all their opponents. Matt caught Bushi and a Meltzer Driver ended it.
WINNERS: Bullet Club in 17:24.
(Pageot’s Perspective: How strange that ROH didn’t promote this match in advance, even simply as an offhand comment on last week’s television. Bullet Club winning is never a surprise these days but you had ten men in this match and the only feud that was really furthered in any way was Page vs. Martinez. And to say the two of them brawling again furthered the feud in any way is a big stretch.)
-Riccaboni narrated a slideshow of some of the matches on the Best In The World lineup so far to close the show.
(Pageot’s Perspective: The way ROH books their television is very odd sometimes. We’re less than two weeks away from their first pay-per-view in two months and half this episode featured talent not even booked for that show. The Kingdom will be defending the six-man titles against Evil, Sanada, & Bushi at Best In The World but there wasn’t one mention of them here. Castle was on commentary but didn’t really add anything to his forthcoming defense and Scurll hitting Cody with his umbrella by accident is just more of the same from those two. With the creation of Honor Club and the ability to stream every ROH live event now, you would think we’d be getting more detailed stories and highly-enriched feuds and greater levels of storytelling but it seems like things are actually worse than they used to be. Most Honor Club events are just a series of random matches with no real implications on anything outside of that night and the television feuds we’ve been presented with lately are just a single small idea (Cody and Marty accidentally hit each other, Page and Martinez brawl, Bully low blows Flip) repeated over and over and over. ROH has one episode of television left to sell us on Best In The World but almost all the matches on the card feel pretty two-dimensional at this point, as great as the talent are and the actual wrestling may end up being.)
-Next week: it’s the Best In The World go-home show. Once again nothing was announced.
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