Thought Zero – Tonight, the 6-man tournament continues. Plus, the TV title is on the line! Let’s get to it!
1) We start with a 6-man tournament match between The Addiction and Kamaitachi and Team CMLL. Team CMLL includes Ultimo Guerrero, Hechiero, and Okimura. I have never seen any of these guys, and my assumption is it will be difficult to get a feel for who they are with this being their introductory match. Much like The Kingdom’s new members last week. Let’s see how it goes.
2) Good point brought up by the announce team of Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino that Team CMLL might have the advantage due to all of their trios experience in Mexico. Unfortunately, I am not as familiar with Mexican lucha wrestling, but that does sound correct. Fun fact – We have just been informed by Steve Corino that CMLL is the oldest wrestling promotion in the world. “CMLL has beenaround since 1933, which coincides with Christopher Daniels’ debut.” Ha! That was a good one.
3) Ultimo Guerrero looks a little bit like Tanaka to me. Odd. Hechiero has a cool looking scary mask on and what appears to be leftover Demolition tights. And Okimura looks like a supervisor at Staples. Sorry, physical descriptions are not my forte. Also, apparently luchadores like doing handstands before, during, and after their moves.
4) Kamaitachi comes into the ring and I am not joking when I say it looks like he is moving at twice the speed of everyone else in the ring. And all of these guys can move. That’s how fast Kamaitachi was moving. Pretty impressive, I’d say.
5) Some heel miscommunication between Daniels and Kamaitachi results in Team CMLL picking up the victory. After the match, Kamitachi is upset with Daniels, but while Kazarian tries to calm everyone down, Daniels takes responsibility for the loss and allows Kamaitachi to take a shot at him. Kamaitachi instead spits at Daniels’ boots and walks off. I’m not sure where they are going with this, but it could be interesting.
5) A) Team CMLL all hit a bunch of big moves and things you don’t see too often. There was no hint of a personality difference between the three, but they made the most of their opening round match. They move on to face The Kingdom in the second round.
6) The next match is Shane Taylor and Keith Lee versus Dalton Castle and Colt Cabana. But before that match, The Cabinet comes out but not dressed like The Cabinet. Rhett Titus, Kenny King, and Caprice Coleman then shit all over The Cabinet gimmick, saying it is lame and beneath them. I don’t think this was meant to turn them face, but it does trash the ridiculousness of the Cabinet gimmick, so thank goodness. Coleman has a great line at the end though when he says, “There are more of us than you think there are.” That line works as a pretty scary threat. It would also work if they were still doing The Cabinet gimmick, unfortunately. (Seriously, why would ANYONE vote for Trump?)
7) Before the match, Castle can’t find his boys and we are left with the impression that Cabana trapped them in a closet or something. To the match, we get the usual Castle and Cabana goofiness to start before Taylor and Lee just start using their size to overpower them. Castle plays Ricky Morton for a while, including getting a busted up nose, while Lee and Taylor just dominate. I often think fat guys in wrestling are just too slow and don’t look imposing enough, but Lee and Taylor are both very athletic and play to the crowd so well, that everything they do looks impressive.
8) Cabana fights back for a while until Castle recovers and they team up on Taylor and Lee. This is more punishment than War Machine has put on these guys in months. Weird. After Lee drops Cabana with a Death Valley Driver into a sledgehammer, Castle comes in and hits a dead lift German suplex on Lee and the crowd seriously went bananas. Then he tried to do it to Taylor too, and the crowd would have had a collective orgasm if he had hit it. That’s some good shit right there.
8) A) Some face miscommunication causes Cabana to fall victim to powerbomb and second rope splash for the pin. Castle tries to apologize, but Cabana shoos him away. Between that and the apparent abduction of the boys, I ampretty sure the Cabana turn is coming.
9) Main event time as the ROH TV title is on the line. Hangman Page goes for the gold against Bobby Fish. Earlier in the show, they showed clips of the damage Page and Bullet Club have done to Fish the past few weeks, plus Fish’s loss to Dragon Lee last week. That combined with Page attacking before the bell is pretty effective. Corino says Page is the most vicious member of the Bullet Club. I don’t know if that is true or not, but they have done a pretty darn good job of building up Page as a tough and mean SOB.
9) A) AFTER the pre-match beatdown, Kyle O’Reilly wanders down to the ring to help out his tag team partner. That’s Fish’s move, so maybe it is payback to his partner. At least O’Reilly is wearing a shirt. When Fish comes down to the ring late to be ineffective he is always shirtless.
9) B) At this point, I wouldn’t says Bobby Fish has bruised or broken ribs. I would say his ribs have probably been ground into dust given the punishment he’s taken lately.
10) After Page dominates the entire match, Fish wins by grabbing a kneelock and Page has to tap out. Then Adam Cole comes out to confront O’Reilly. While staring at O’Reilly, Jay Lethal comes out to make this show great! But then Cole leaves the ring and we’re out.
Overall, another good hour of ROH television. Most of it seemed to be storyline progression, but I am intrigued, so that’s a positive in my book. Until next week!
