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ROH TV REPORT
AUGUST 26, 2018
ATLANTA, GA AT CENTER STAGE
AIRED ON SINCLAIR AFFILIATES & ROHWRESTLING.COM
REPORT BY HARLEY R. PAGEOT, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Commentary: Ian Riccaboni, Colt Cabana, Caprice Coleman
Opening theme.
-Video recap of SoCal Uncensored saving The Young Bucks and attacking The Briscoes with steel chairs at Best In The World, followed by SCU and The Briscoes brawling two weeks ago on TV.
(1) ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPION JAY BRISCOE vs. “ALMIGHTY” CHRISTOPHER DANIELS
They locked up and tussled around the ropes before shoving each other. Daniels with a dropkick as Briscoe came off the ropes. Daniels tossed Briscoe over the top rope and followed with an Arabian moonsault. Briscoe thrown head-first into the guardrail. Daniels with a series of right hands and boots in the corner but Briscoe caught him with a flatliner into the middle turnbuckle. [C]
Briscoe was still in control out of the break. The crowd rallied behind Daniels as he fought out of a chinlock. Daniels avoided a charging Briscoe in the corner. STO and a blue thunder for a two-count for Daniels. Briscoe avoided Angel’s Wings. Daniels avoided a neckbreaker. Daniels backdropped out of a Jay Driller attempt. Mark Briscoe appeared from nowhere and cracked a chair across Daniels’ back.
WINNER: Christopher Daniels in 7:24 by disqualification.
-Mark hit Daniels with a chair a second time and beat on him. He threw the chair to his brother but Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky hit the ring to clear the tag champs.
(Pageot’s Perspective: This Briscoes-SCU feud has been booked like a WWE Raw tag title feud. Basically effective but fairly straightforward and boring.)
-Video package on the Jay Lethal-Jonathan Gresham rivalry including footage from their previous two matches and comments from Lethal and Gresham. The third round is a 30-minute iron man match for the ROH World Championship in two weeks on television. [C]
-Video recap of Madison Rayne winning a four-way match two weeks ago on TV to become #1 contender to the Women Of Honor Championship. She gets her title match next week.
-Silas Young got a picture-in-picture promo ahead of our next match. If the sky’s the limit for Flip Gordon, Silas is outer space. Gordon also got a PIP. The last time he and Silas faced off it was for Young’s television title and Gordon lost but a lot has changed since then. Loud “book Flip” chant from the crowd before the bell.
(2) FLIP GORDON vs. “THE LAST REAL MAN” SILAS YOUNG
Young with some chops, Gordon with some arm drags. Young worked over Gordon through the opening minutes. Gordon came back with a springboard dropkick at 2:45. Corner to corner one-leg dropkick and a kinder surprise sent Young to the floor. Jumping cannonball over the top rope onto Young. [C]
High crossbody from Gordon for a two-count. Springboard spear for another two. Young Combination for a two-count of his own. Hanging swinging neckbreaker from Young. They traded blows with Gordon falling. Gordon reversed a suplex into a falcon arrow. More trading of blows. Gordon with a Pele kick. More trading of blows. Gordon with a roll-up into a bridging pin for the win.
WINNER: Flip Gordon in 11:30.
-Gordon offered the code of honor and Young hesitated. Before he could commit, Bully Ray ran down to the ring and low blowed Flip from behind. Ray glared at Young, who wouldn’t look away. Ray shook his head in disapproval while Young watched him from his knees.
(Pageot’s Perspective: Young used to be one of my favorites in ROH but his stock has really fallen lately. First he lost the TV title, then took a clean loss to Chris Sabin, and now another to Gordon. His character work is usually good but I’ll admit he hasn’t expanded his moveset in years. I thought Young joining The Bouncers in the trios division might provide a change of scenery but then we got the post-match here. Was Ray looking down on Young for losing to a rookie like Gordon or disapproving that it looked like Young was about to shake Gordon’s hand? Will this lead to a face turn for Young or is this simply serving as a warning that he’s gotten soft and needs to get back to what made him a success?)
-“The Villain” Marty Scurll was backstage. He congratulated Kenny King on embracing his inner villain to steal a pin over Scurll last week. He told King to enjoy the feeling because Scurll’s out to get revenge. [C]
-Video recap of King pinning Scurll last week with his feet on the ropes. King narrated footage of himself defeating Kushida to win the television title last year in his hometown. Since then it’s been downhill. He lost to Austin Aries at Best In The World, perhaps due to his inability to match Aries’ heel tactics. King pointed out that Ric Flair was “the dirtiest player in the game” but it got him 16 world title reigns and the love of the fans. King’s never had any world title reigns. He’s not the bad guy, but if he has to do what bad guys do, that’s a different story. Now he has options.
-NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis replaced Coleman on commentary in order to scout his All In opponent Cody. Video recap of Cody saving Scurll from a Kingdom gang attack at Honor For All on July 20. Both teams made their entrance for the main event. [C]
(3) THE KINGDOM (Matt Taven, TK O’Ryan, & Vinny Marseglia) vs. BULLET CLUB (Cody, Matt Jackson, & Nick Jackson w/Brandi Rhodes & Burnard The Business Bear) – ROH WORLD SIX-MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
Cody and Aldis went face to face at the commentary table early in the match. The Kingdom targeted Matt Jackson’s left leg. Matt tossed Taven but he skinned the cat and chopblocked Matt’s knee. Quick tags in and out from The Kingdom as they kept Matt isolated. [C]
Matt finally made the hot tag to Nick. House of fire. Marseglia popped a balloon in Nick’s ear. Taven took over but Cody got the tag. He unloaded on The Kingdom and reconnected with his old rival Taven. Cody with a sharpshooter on Taven. The Bucks followed up on O’Ryan and Marseglia to make it three. Taven made it to the ropes. Everyone exchanged signature moves. Cody stood tall but Marseglia brought another balloon into the ring. Nick superkicked the balloon and Bullet Club cleared the goons before hitting a triple superkick on Taven. Cody with CrossRhodes to Taven but O’Ryan pulled him off the pin. Everyone took turns diving to the floor onto everyone else. It ended with Brandi going up top for a crossbody onto everybody. Burnard climbed onto the apron and shook the ropes Ultimate Warrior-style. Taven enziguiried him off the apron. Cody jumped Taven. Taven with The Climax and Marseglia with a top rope senton but Matt broke up the pin. Brandi checked on Burnard at ringside. All six men threw hands in the ring. Cody was left alone and The Kingdom set up for Rockstar Supernova but the Bucks returned to superkick the goons. Brandi cautioned Cody that Marseglia was trying to jump him from behind. This allowed Cody to hit CrossRhodes on Marseglia for the win.
WINNERS: Cody & The Young Bucks in 13:42 to capture the six-man titles.
-Matt Taven freaked out and yelled at referee Paul Turner that he was the legal man, not Marseglia. The commentators confirmed that Taven was right. Turner was confused so Taven shoved him down. The Kingdom vented to the commentators as Bullet Club celebrated.
(Pageot’s Perspective: A surprising outcome on the one hand as this marked the first time ever that Cody and the Bucks teamed together as a trio. Not surprising on the other hand as Bullet Club are the top stars in ROH and none of them were holding ROH gold. Now you have the All In organizers carrying tag team titles and The Kingdom are freed up to do something new. I suspect O’Ryan and Marseglia enter the traditional tag division and Taven begins a permanent move into the main event scene starting by challenging Lethal for the ROH world title at Death Before Dishonor. It’s unclear who there is to feud with the new six-man champions, though. Maybe the Bullet Club vs. Chaos ten-man tag at Death Before Dishonor will set up Rocky Romero & Best Friends challenging for the belts.)
-Next week: it’s Sumie Sakai vs. Madison Rayne for the Women Of Honor Championship.
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