Thought Zero – This is going to be a quick one, as ROH has one more television set before the 14th Anniversary Show. After reading Pat Metalhead’s excellent NJPW/ROH Honor Rising reviews, we already know there are some major changes to some things in ROH, so let’s get to it.
1. The show starts with Roderick Strong versus Jonathan Gresham. And right away, here is Veda Scott coming down to the ring trying to bribe Gresham to leave ROH forever (since her guy Cedric Alexander hasn’t been able to beat Gresham). Here’s a quick couple sub-thoughts before we dig in:
1. A. ROH sure is pushing this Gresham fellow. His offense is pretty interesting, I must say. Just check out his finger attacks against Strong in this match.
1. B. Veda Scott looks very much like a young woman I dated several years back. This isn’t a bad thing, it just makes it difficult for me to focus on what she has to say. It never seems that interesting though, so she also has that in common with my ex. Ha.
2. Post-match, Bobby Fish comes out and steals Strong’s TV title, then Strong and Fish go at it for a minute, and then Strong runs away. Not much of a brawl, I must say. And it didn’t really want me to want to see these two at the Anniversary show. Speaking of which…
3. We already know this TV title match isn’t happening at the 14th Anniversary show because Strong lost his title to Tomohiro Ishii on Day One over at the Honor Rising card. I’m cool with the title change, and Strong versus Ishii should be a pretty enjoyable little battle, but what was the whole point of having Fish troll Strong week after week now? Maybe Fish spends a little more time in Japan also going after Ishii and the TV title. That is not a bad thing either. But given that I don’t watch as much NJPW as I do ROH, I sort of feel a little disappointed.
4. Tag team action! Brutal Bob and Tim Hughes (known as Tough Guy Inc.? Really?) versus the ROH tag team champions, War Machine! I just love watching War Machine squashes. Reminds me a lot of watching old Road Warriors matches or the Miracle Violence Connection or early Acolytes (APA). There is just something about watching utter destruction.
5. Post-match, the All Night Express come out to hype up the No-DQ tag championship match at the 14th Anniversary. Good little hype segment as it made me want to see War Machine kill ANX. I am sure the match will be more competitive than that, but I wish it wouldn’t be.
6. Hey, next week Silas Young and the Beer City Bruiser take on The Boys. And our long national nightmare continues.
7. The Young Bucks are talking now. Why? I don’t really care about hearing the Jacksons talk. Just superkick someone and be done with it. But they do try to get the crowd psyched about their Elite partner, Kenny Omega. I like Omega and look forward to seeing him more often. He is definitely one of the NJPW stars I would like to see in ROH more often.
8. Hey, look at that. BJ Whitmer is going to wrestle. And they say he is still representing the Decade. Isn’t he the only member of the Decade left? So he is representing himself. But he is making it sound like he has a group behind him… Isn’t that what serial bombers do when they write to the press? Anyway, he is wrestling Chase Brown, some hick who seems to love cauliflower. I am not making this up. And Whitmer wins with an Exploder suplex. And he looked fairly unimpressive in doing so. And then Steve Corino came out. But before they could talk us to death, Adam Page came out and attacked Whitmer, getting the upper hand in the way he should have gotten it last week. If Page doesn’t win definitively at the 14th Anniversary, he’s probably dead in the water for the near future.
9. I’ll be honest, I skipped over Adam Cole talking until Jay Lethal showed up. (Here’s a quick little sub-thought. Taeler Hendrix looks nothing like any of my ex-girlfriends, and I am very sad about that.) Lethal challenges Cole to fight right there, but of course Kyle O’Reilly comes out. And it’s a quick three-way brawl with O’Reilly standing over both men.
10. ACH and Alex Shelley versus the Briscoes is the main event. ODB is out with the Briscoes, but I don’t care. Christopher Daniels is out to do color commentary for some reason. High flying, fast paced, and competitively fun match, as you would expect. The end sees Daniels distract Shelley and the Briscoes beating ACH with a Doomsday Device. Here is the rest of the Addiction now beating down Alex Shelley. But Chris Sabin refuses to participate, and that’s where we leave it.
The 14th Anniversary is this Friday on Pay-Per-View. And the addition of the NJPW stars makes the card look very intriguing. That should be fun.
Be on the lookout later this week for a new Fantasy Book column where I talk more about the ROH/NJPW working relationship. And head on over to the Inside Pulse Movie zone for a little dissection of the Academy Award Best Picture nominations I put together!
As always, comment freely! Until next time…
