10 Thoughts on … Ring of Honor April 22, 2017 (Lio Rush, Top Prospect Finals, Frankie Kazarian versus Marty Scurll)

10 Thoughts, Reviews, Top Story

Thought Zero – No time to waste. Let’s get to some Ring of Honor wrestling.

1) We start with a recap of the last PPV, Supercard of Honor XI. We are alerted via still shots that Marty Scurll is still the TV champion, Jay Lethal beat Cody Rhodes, Christopher Daniels is still World Champ (and then was attacked by Cody Rhodes), and the Young Bucks won back their tag titles. Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana are at the broadcast table today in case you were wondering.

2) The first thing that happens is that we have Christopher Daniels in the ring to talk about his upcoming opponents. As if he heard his name, here comes Cody Rhodes to talk. We get a cheesy stardust joke from Cody to begin. What follows is a very stilted and convoluted back and forth. These two are not the best at improvising. Cody did have a nice line when he said he wasn’t going to compete in “wherever the hell we are.” Baltimore was not liking that. Daniels also magically changed the four-way match to determine a number one contender at War of the World to a three-way halfway through this exchange. Eh, let’s move on.

3) The first match is Lio Rush versus “The Notorious” Shane Taylor. I don’t think this will go very well for Rush. As expected, Taylor pretty much squashes Rush, even though they tried hard to make it appear that Rush had a shot. But in the end, the power of the fat guy defeated the power of the fast 80 pound guy.

4) Caprice Coleman is having a blast at ringside, goofing around and mocking Rush. Cabana even points out Caprice’s antics because they are so good. Colt: “Look at Caprice Coleman. He’s got no pity on Lio Rush.” Good work by Coleman making the match slightly more watchable.

4)A) I should mention that Taylor looks like he has lost some weight. Don’t get me wrong, he is still a quintessential pro wrestling fat guy, but he does look a little slimmer.

5) The Motor City Machine Guns run out after the match to take care of Rush, so Taylor and Coleman beat them up as well. Taylor does a second rope splash on Sabin (Colt: “Do it on Shelley too”) and then stand tall making that silly Rebellion pose. This Rebellion vs. Lio Rush and Search and Destroy (which is still a dumb name for the group) is starting to get old. Bring it to a head already, guys.

6) The finals of the Top Prospect tournament is now – Josh “The Goods” Woods versus John “The Southern Savior” Skyler. Woods still looks very green, despite Skyler’s best attempt to help him. Woods has a good look and has an amateur wrestling and MMA style which makes me think he’s here to take over the Kyle O’Reilly position. Skyler is good, but I don’t buy him as a main guy, but Woods could be if he continues to get better. But Skyler is a solid pro and it would be wise to keep him around to help get some people over in the undercard.

7) Woods finishes things off with a kneebar, forcing Skyler to tap out. He is then attacked by somebody I have never seen before. Apparently, this guy is named David Starr. Sorry, “The Product” David Starr. I have no clue who he is, but the announcers are making him sound like a big deal. Starr talks and runs through a bunch of catchphrases/nicknames/etc. and then says he is “really good at professional wrestling.” Um, okay? Hey, let’s watch a wrestling match. Okay, is it the best guys? Nah, but one is really good. Cool, maybe he’ll wrestle that guy who is above average. Ooo, that would be very okay.

8) Main event time is Frankie Kazarian challenging Marty Scurll for the TV title. Kazarian’s been on a roll lately, so let’s hope he stays crisp and doesn’t get sloppy again. I would hate for him to hurt Scurll. Ian points out during Scurll’s awesome entrance, that he is undefeated in Ring of Honor and runs down the impressive list of defenses he’s made, including over Adam Cole at Supercard of Honor. By the way, check out my Fantasy Book column later this week to see how I would book Scurll and the rest of the ROH wrestlers.

9) And then we get two moves that pretty much sums up Kazarian. Scurll goes to the outside and tries to shoulderblock Frankie’s stomach through the ropes. Kazarian jumps up to dodge the shouldblock and comes down with a legdrop to the back of Scurll’s head in between the ropes. Very athletic, innovative, impressive, looks good, crisp, etc. Basically, Frankie Kazarian at his very best. Then, Kazarian slingshots over the ropes, grabs Scurll on the way over and goes for a DDT on the apron. Except he’s jumped too far and Scurll misses the apron completely. So both men tumble to the floor in what is one of the more dangerous looking things I have ever seen. Kazarian immediately grabs at his knee (which is probably legit injured after all of Scurll’s weight landing on him) and I am honestly concerned Scurll might have a broken neck. Very athletic, innovative, impressive, looks good, and sloppy.  This move had all the markings of good Kazarian, but the sloppiness almost cost two wrestlers their careers at the very least. This is why I can’t ever seem to get behind Kazarian for any amount of time. The sloppiness is just scary at times.

10) Kazarian got a little more offense than I would have liked, but Scurll got the win after some powder in the ref’s face and interference by Hangman Page who hit Kazarian in the head with a chair. I don’t like that the match was used just to advance the Kazarian versus Page storyline, but I am still okay with those two feuding. After, Scurll takes a mic and talks about how he has beaten all the competition. This brings out a returning Matt Sydal who wants to challenge for the TV belt. Why he deserves it, I am not sure, but it should still be a good match.

 

Until next time, enjoy your week…

Human. I think.