10 Thoughts on … Ring of Honor January 28, 2017 (Marty Scurll, Young Bucks, Jay Lethal versus Jay Briscoe)

10 Thoughts, Reviews, Top Story

Thought Zero – Well, it is the weekend of the Royal Rumble, so I am sure no one cares about Ring of Honor’s little TV show, but here I am with ten thoughts on it anyway. Here we go…

1) We start before the theme song with Adam Cole talking about beating Kyle O’Reilly to become the first 3-time ROH champion. Okay, that’s good and all, but what’s next? Maybe we will find out later?

2) The first in ring action is a three-way tag team match between Coast 2 Coast, The Tempura Boys, and Will Ferrara and Cheeseburger. Ferrara has to wear the damn Cheeseburger hat on the way to the ring now. He must be hating life right now.

3) Lots of action to start with all three teams taking turns holding the advantage. Kevin Kelly, alone at the announce table, talks about the Young Bucks like these three teams are actually serious challengers. Right on time, the Young Bucks come out and announce that the winners of the match will get a tag team championship match. Then they superkick both of the Tempora Boys, because they can’t decide if they are faces or heels. Now they introduce Adam Cole who has a nice lump on the side of his head. And the Ring of Honor title. Cole then talks and runs down his various challengers. Honestly, he said a bunch of nothing.

4) We get a little promo to introduce everyone to Juice Robinson who will be challenging Marty “The Villain” Scurll for the ROH TV title.  Scurll’s entrance video is pretty cool if you haven’t seen it. Alex Shelley has joined Kevin Kelly at the announce table which is a good choice to help out on color commentary. Did you know Scurll is only 5’7″? I mention this because his height is really the only reason I can see as for why he isn’t a massive superstar. The dude has a great gimmick, a good look, incredible skills, and that elusive “it” factor.

5) Juice Robinson has a lot of energy, but needs quite a bit more seasoning, I feel. He was able to get the crowd behind him and a “Juice” chant even started out. But Scurll was just too much. His crossface chickenwing finisher is impressive and he hit a vicious no-hands piledriver as well. Scurll grabs a mic after the match and issues an open challenge to anyone in the back. So Chris Sabin, Jay White, Jonathan Gresham, Lio Rush, and Donovan Dijak all come out onto the ramp to stake their claims to challenge the villain.

6) Back from break and Kevin Kelly is in the midst of the ROH TV challengers. Alex Shelley is now with the the challengers and Chris Sabin announces that all six men will fight each other next week to determine the #1 contender for the TV title. Did Chris Sabin get the ROH matchmaker job now that Nigel is gone?

7) Immediately after, we get a cool spot with Jay Lethal and Jay Briscoe cutting the same promo with the cameras cutting back and forth between them. Frankie Kazarian is out as guest color commentator for this match. I have to admit that I laughed when Kevin Kelly asked for Kazarian’s analysis of this match. Kazarian went on for a while reciting the same old stuff, but ended with him saying, “I know Jay will win.” Ha.

8) Early on, Adam Cole comes out to observe the match and scout, again saying that one of these two will be the winner of the Decade of Excellence tournament. Kelly rightly points out that Cole didn’t mention Christopher Daniels. Cole claims “all due respect to Christopher Daniels,” but he says that no one really believes that Daniels will win the Decade of Excellence tournament. The following back and forth between Cole and Kazarian is a pretty good setup for whatever they decide the storyline will be going into the title match.

9) This match has been mostly dominated by Jay Briscoe after an accidental collision caused Lethal to stagger into a Jay Driller very early. Back from break, we see Briscoe reverse a Lethal Combination, but Lethal came right back and hit a nice cutter. That got a condescending clap from Adam Cole at the announce table. A Lethal Combination hits this time and Lethal takes control for a little while. Lethal fakes a Hail to the Chief elbowdrop and ties up Briscoe in a Figure Four leglock.

10) At this point, they go into a quick finishing sequence which continues to show how well these two men know each other. A Lethal Injection is countered by a backwards backflip by Briscoe. Lethal then flips Briscoe when another Jay Driller is attempted. Briscoe then catches Lethal with a hard elbow and a vicious clothesline which got the three count. Show of respect post-match between the two competitors while Adam Cole says it looks like he will be facing Jay Briscoe for the title. Kazarian ends the show with a “Not so fast” comment. And we’re out.

 

Another good episode of ROH television. Nothing was as amazing as the Dragon Lee/Will Ospreay/Kushida three-way match from last week, but you can’t go wrong having Jay Lethal versus Jay Briscoe and a match involving the ROH TV champion Marty Scurll. Those things more than balanced out Cheeseburger. Until next week…

Human. I think.