DOJO PRO TV REPORT (Season 1, Episode 9): Aaron Solow vs. White Belt

DOJO PRO TV REPORT – S1E09
RELEASED JULY 9, 2018
TAPED IN NASHVILLE, TN
AVAILABLE IN THE U.S. AND U.K. THROUGH AMAZON PRIME
REPORT BY HARLEY R. PAGEOT, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Commentary: Marc Warzecha

DOJO PRO presents the ultimate professional wrestling opportunity. A gauntlet competition in which 13 independent wrestlers fight their way up the ladder. The winner of each match receives the Dojo Pro White Belt and continues on. At the top, the Dojo Pro Black Belt, and a shot at the Ring Of Honor World Television Championship.

Opening video.

-In the studio Matt Lott recapped Ricky Starks defeating Joey Janela and Janela attacking him after the match. On this episode Starks faces his tag partner Aaron Solow. Starks insists he’s able to compete but declined the usual interview here and won’t let anyone know how badly he’s hurt.

-Video package on Aaron Solow. He’s been wrestling for nine years and was introduced to it by his father. The red in his hair is an homage to Tatanka, one of his favorites when he was a kid. He’s moved around a lot since becoming a wrestler and met Starks in Texas. They’ve had multiple tag title reigns and wrestled on TV (including a loss to The Revival on WWE Raw earlier this year). Solow said he’s talked to Starks since the last episode but he’s not 100% sure about what happened [to him].

(Pageot’s Perspective: So the guys in the gauntlet don’t watch the other matches in the gauntlet? That just seems foolish. You should definitely be taking any opportunity to study your future opponents, shouldn’t you?

Solow was trained by Lance Storm and Davey Richards and hails from San Francisco, California. He’s wrestled for Progress Wrestling, WrestleCircus, and Full Impact Pro.)

-Starks slowly limped out to the ring. Solow wore a sleeveless black hoodie over black pants. They slapped hands. Ring announcer Dominic Malnar handled the introductions. The referee is Adam Real.

(1) DOJO PRO WHITE BELT “THE STROKE DADDY” RICKY STARKS vs. AARON SOLOW

Solow took Starks down. Break and reset. Solow tried whipping Starks into the ropes but Starks just collapsed to the mat. Starks tried to run at him for a lock-up but collapsed again. The referee called it.

WINNER: Aaron Solow in 1:52 by referee stoppage to capture the Dojo Pro White Belt.

(Pageot’s Perspective: Okay, I’m intrigued. Now what?)

-Solow took a mic and called for the medics. Two referees helped Starks to the back. Solow said he guesses he’s the new white belt but he literally didn’t do anything to earn it. He volunteered to issue an open challenge to anyone in the back. After a long pause some unfamiliar music hit. Ring Of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling fan favorite Cheeseburger made his entrance!

(Pageot’s Perspective: Cheeseburger was trained by Delirious, Lance Storm, and Tom Prichard among others and hails from Trenton, New Jersey.)

(2) DOJO PRO WHITE BELT AARON SOLOW vs. CHEESEBURGER

Code of honor from both men. Back and forth in the early minutes. Test of strength at 3:00. Solow got the better of Burger. Roll-up on Solow for two. Waist-lock exchanges. Ankle lock from Solow but Burger kicked him off. Double clothesline put both men down. Burger with a bulldog. Solow with a superkick. Burger with an arm submission. Warzecha spoke about how evenly-matched both men were. Solow ended things with a cradle DDT.

WINNER: Aaron Solow in 6:17 to retain the Dojo Pro White Belt.

-Code of honor followed again after the match. Solow will defend the white belt against MJF on our next episode.

(Pageot’s Perspective: Obviously this creates some questions like why Cheeseburger was backstage in his wrestling gear or why someone like Janela didn’t jump at the opportunity to get back into white belt contention but try to forget those. For the ROH and NJPW fans familiar with Cheeseburger this was a fun, unexpected surprise. It didn’t make Solow look particularly credible as we now head into the top three rankings but, hey, there are only three episodes left and we know absolutely nothing about MJF or Shane Strickland at this point anyway so they’re basically all on an even playing field.)

Find Harley on Twitter @talkinghonor and listen to he and Emily Fear talk all things ROH every Tuesday on the PWTorch Livecast “Talking Honor.”