Thought Zero – Ring of Honor is providing a packed hour of television this week, so let’s not waste any time.
1) We open things up with the Ring of Honor Tag Team Championship between Roppongi Vice and the champions War Machine. Let me say that a lot of theme songs I hear in Ring of Honor are pretty bland and boring and they don’t do much to get me excited to see the wrestlers. However, the Roppongi Vice theme song is annoying and catchy and unique. I can’t say I love the song, but it definitely gets me psyched for the match. War Machine’s theme song is pretty good, but it takes a minute to get going. Too bad they couldn’t have some Alestorm or something. That would be epic.
2) War Machine appear to have matching outfits now. I like that. Adds a sense of team. Romero and Beretta attack from behind to start. Probably a good move, because soon enough War Machine take over with their strength. Funny spot with Rowe picking up Beretta for a press slam and Beretta grabs the beard to get out of it. Definite credit to Trent for that one.
3) We return from commercial with War Machine in control, but Beretta moves out of the way of Rowe’s shotgun knees and Hanson takes the hit. Romero with the hot tag and he’s taking full advantage of things until Rowe hits a superman forearm. Things break down and Roppongi Vice regains control with some good double-team moves. They go for Strong Zero on Hanson, but Rowe returns to stop that. Then, War Machine show just how awesome they are as they lift both guys up to do stereo powerbombs, but instead just throw Beretta and Romero into each other, crashing them together in mid-air!
4) It looked like War Machine was going to finish RPG Vice off, but a nice reversal and top rope hurricanrana turns the tide again. This is turning into a hell of a match. Beretta tries to dive onto Rowe, but he catches him and powerbombs him into the apron. A spinning heel kick by Hanson onto Romero followed by Fallout ends things with the champs retaining. What a super fun match with Roppongi Vice looking great and War Machine still looking like dominant champions.
5) Kenny Omega versus ACH is scheduled next, but instead we get Donovan Dijak to come to the ring and talk v….e….r….y…. s….l….o….w….l….y…. Lethal charges the ring (to a big pop, I might add) to avenge Truth Martini. A pull apart brawl ensues, and this is a pretty darn good way to establish a short-term feud for both guys. Plus, it may lead to more understanding of the Prince Nana envelope saga, so that’s good. Credit to the writers’ room for a pretty good start to this storyline.
6) Here comes Kenny Omega with the Young Bucks wear some super ugly camo tracksuits. I think maybe I haven’t seen Omega’s entrance before, or else I blocked it out. It involves a broom. Um, I get it, he’s “the cleaner,” but that’s a little too on-the-nose, isn’t it? It strikes me a little Mike Rotunda being the captain. For those too young to remember, Rotunda was the team “captain” of the Varsity Club run by Kevin Sullivan and including Rick Steiner way back when in WCW. But the Varsity Club ended and they left Rotunda’s nickname and just decided he owns a boat. Yeah. Gotta love it.
7) The crowd is hugely into Omega here, even going so far as to help out the ref with a “he slipped” chant when ACH was found laid out by the Young Bucks. You see, the Bucks dropped a banana peel on the floor to make it look like ACH slipped and the crowd backed them up. That’s some fun Eddie Guerrero level cheating there. And as they go to break, Omega uses his broom to clean up the banana peel. I have to admit I am enjoying these shenanigans, but let’s get back to the wrestling, shall we?
8) And we’ve returned with some good back and forth, including some high flying by ACH. Omega hit a viciously hard Dragon suplex which looked painful. ACH with a two-count off a brainbuster. More back and forth. I’m liking this. ACH breaks out the Stone Cold Stunner (including the flip off and kick wham portion of the move) for a two count. But he misses Midnight Star and Omega finishes him with the One Winged Angel. Color me impressed.
9) Main event is a Match Without Honor between Silas Young and Dalton Castle. Castle dispenses with his normal entrance to show how serious he is tonight. They start out with some energetic wrestling, including some nice shows of strength by both men. Fairly tame so far, just a lot of fighting outside the ring. Then we get a couple chairs used and a ladder and table set up for later, it seems. The crowd chanting “man up” is sort of annoying me though.
10) That was a fun little match, but not nearly the intensity of Tommaso Ciampa versus Cedric Alexander No-DQ match from a few months ago. That was a sick no-DQ brawl. This one, it had a couple biggish spots, but nothing crazy. Silas Young was a trooper and took a backdrop from the ring to the outside and through a table which should’ve been the end, but he also took a Bangarang onto a chair for the three count. And finally, once and for all, this feud can end. Thank goodness.
Overall, another fantastic hour of wrestling from Ring of Honor. Compare this hour of television to the three hour Raw that WWE is presenting and it is like night and day. Honestly, if you get bored with Raw or any of the WWE main roster product, don’t let it spoil your dislike for pro wrestling entirely. Check out ROH, New Japan, and NXT. You won’t be disappointed.
Check out a new Fantasy Book this week when I “fix” a bunch of wrestlers with one fantasy storyline.
Until next time…
