10 Thoughts on … Ring of Honor September 17, 2016 (All Night Express versus Guerillas of Destiny, Keith Lee and Shawn Taylor and the destruction of Ray Rowe, The Addiction and Roponggi Vice in main event action, Okada!!!)

10 Thoughts, Columns, Reviews, Top Story

Thought Zero – Good evening, everyone. Ring of Honor television is on the air and I am here to provide ten thoughts. So let’s begin.

1) We start with the two least interesting things in ROH currently. Steve Corino comes down to return to the commentary table after his suspension. And then, The Cabinet makes their super-lame entrance with fake supporters leading the way. Apparently, the All Night Express will be involved in the first match tonight.

2) Hey, the first match looks like it is going to be the All Night Express versus the Guerillas of Destiny. This has some potential, even with the inclusion of Tanga Loa. And the reason I say this is all about Tama Tonga. He is definitely the most underrated wrestler in the Bullet Club, and probably in New Japan as well. I know I have talked about Tonga’s quickness before, but it deserves repeating – Tame Tonga is one of, if not the, quickest wrestlers I have ever seen.

3) Speaking of speed, the tempo of this match changes dramatically when Tama Tonga is in the ring against the ANX. Tanga Loa just simply can not hang with such quick wrestlers. Regardless, the match goes back and forth until some interference from Caprice Coleman backfires, and the Guerilla Warfare (a double team DDT-ish move) provides the opportunity for a three count. Coleman rants a bit on the way out, threatening the Guerillas of Destiny and all of Bullet Club that The Cabinet will finish them.

4) Next up is a recap of Naito turning his back on Jay Lethal last week. Lethal cuts a short and effective promo, telling Naito that the day he turned on him was the second worst day of his life. The worst day will be at All Star Extravaganza when Lethal gets his hands on him in the ring. I am looking forward to that match, I must say.

5) Keith Lee and Shane Taylor are taking on a couple of jobbers I have never heard of in Ricardo Rojas and Ken Phoenix. Before the match, there was a brief segment with Shane Taylor explaining how he was trained by Ray Rowe and then Rowe abandoned him to go form War Machine. Apparently, when Rowe left Cleveland, Taylor was stuck fighting the enemies Rowe had created. But really, can you blame Rowe for wanting to get the hell out of Cleveland? Well, at least we have a reason why Lee and Taylor are going after War Machine.

6) I am not getting a good feeling for Rojas’ and Phoenix’s chances or future health. Phoenix starts off with some punches and kicks but they have no effect on Keith Lee. And now the destruction begins. Lots of very impressive and dominant power moves combined with some great athleticism ends these jobbers’ night very quickly. After the match, Taylor issues a challenge to War Machine while the idiot crowd is chanting for the Young Bucks.

7) Here come War Machine to the ring, because they are tough and violent sons of bitches. Although, I have to say, War Machine has gotten the short end of this feud. In fact, Lee and Taylor have beaten them down at every turn. After the commercial break, we have a match starting between Lee and Taylor and War Machine. Nigel apparently sent out a referee to make the match happen. And the match is as hard hitting as you would imagine between these four huge men.

8) Seriously, the agility of these four men just adds to their strength moves. Very, very impressive. The match gets thrown out when Taylor hits Ray Rowe in the face with a chair. Hansen throws a chair at Taylor. Then Lee takes out Hansen. And the carnage ends with Lee hitting a double team powerbomb on Rowe on top of a couple chairs. Once again, Lee and Taylor get to walk out on top while War Machine is left laying. I am enjoying the violence between these two teams, but they probably need to do a huge blow off match. Some sort of War Games/Hell in a Cell type gimmick match. Just my thought (#8).

9) Matt Taven is out at the announce table. And he announces that The Kingdom will be part of the new 6-man tag title tournament. But he doesn’t announce who the other members of The Kingdom will be. I guess we have to wait. Now it is main event time and we are going to see The Addiction and Kamaitachi versus Rappongi Vice and Kazuchika Okada. The Addiction and Rappongi Vice are pretty good and Kamaitachi has shown himself as a solid talent. But we also get a chance to see the Rainmaker, Okada! Let’s get it on!

10) Kamaitachi wants Okada, who tags in graciously. But when Kamaitachi starts taunting Okada, then it turns bad for the young fellow. Okada quickly takes control and continues with Rappongi Vice.

10) A) I apologize, but there is a need for a brief sub-thought here. After Daniels takes over on Beretta and dropping him on his head, Matt Taven made me laugh by saying, “Yeah, but the headband probably saved him there.”

Trent Beretta gets a chance to be face-in-peril for a long time. Like, probably long enough for Ricky Morton to pay his child support. Everything is breaking down now and everyone gets to hit their finishers. After several minutes of that, The Addiction pin Rocky Romero after a moonsault/tombstone combo.

 

Next week’s main event is announced as Adam Cole and Hangman Page versus Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin. That could be pretty interesting.

Last week, you lost me a bit, ROH. But tonight, you brought the violence and it was much appreciated. Until next week,,,

Human. I think.