Thought Zero – Ring of Honor is here, filling my television screen from corner to corner. But will it fill me with good vibes? Let’s find out.
- Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana are at the announce desk. I’d rather have BJ Whitmer out there, I think, but maybe they can do a three person booth. Maybe that would cut down on Cabana’s goofiness a tad.
- First match features one of the best in the world right now, “The Villain” Marty Scurll. He is taking on Jay White. Colt Cabana says this is a dream match. I am not sure I’d go that far as White hasn’t been around enough, I think. But White has been impressive, so let’s see how this goes. White is wearing an odd white denim jacket with the sleeves cut off and a Danzig skull on the back. Honestly, I am not sure what to make of that look.
- Scrunchie update – Jay White still doesn’t have one. I forsee a neck injury in young Mr. White’s future with all those hair flips he has to do.
- We start off with some impressive mat wrestling from both men. Nice counters and trading of moves with neither one getting an advantage. It goes on until White “hits” a dropkick to take control. And by “hits” I mean he jumps in the air while Scurll is running past him and then falls down when he gets to his back. The timing was way off there. White follows up the blunder with an impressive Muta lock though.
- Now we get a pinfall reversal sequence that seems to be a bit slow, but Scurll redeems it by getting his feet on the ropes for additional leverage on a backslide. After a poke to the eyes, Scurll traps White in the ring skirt and then hits a double stomp on White’s hand to take us into commercial.
- Back from break with The Villain in complete control. Jay White does have impressive chops though. He is tall and long and the chops look visually impressive. Scurll takes too long showboating and White is able to mount a comeback. White hits two rolling suplexes and then a third into the turnbuckle. Of note here, White hit a snap Flatliner counter to a big lariat attempt by Scurll which was pretty darn cool. Also of note, Scurll slapped on a crucifix into a modified Octopus Stretch while keeps his full weight on White’s shoulders.
- Why do I think Marty Scurll is awesome? Here is just one example. Jay White grabs a back waist lock on Scurll to go for a back suplex. Scurll grabs the top turnbuckle to resist. White pulls him harder and Scurll loses his grip on the turnbuckle. But no worries, because he is still HOLDING ONTO THE TAG ROPE IN THE CORNER! Of course this stretches another foot or two, creating a visual I have never seen in all my years of watching wrestling.
- Scurll wins after distracting White and the ref with the umbrella, kitting White in the kiwis, and rolling him up in a small package. I normally hate cheap finishes like that, but this one worked based on how equal the two men looked in the match. Plus it sets up what could be a very good rematch. And I know, I am 8 thoughts in already. Marty Scurll is awesome, okay. That is all.
- The Addiction cuts a promo on Jay Lethal and Kushida. I know they have the tag match coming up, but I’d be good with a Lethal/Daniels feud and Kazarian/Kushida feud. After commercials, Jay Lethal cuts a counter-promo on The Addiction and defending the honor of Ring of Honor.
- Next match is The Tempura Boyz versus The Dawgs (Rhett Titus and Will Ferrara). Apparently this is a rematch from a Death Before Dishonor match won by the Tempura Boyz. Listening to Riccaboni and Cabana overpronounce “Dawgs” was funny the first three times. The 485 times after that, not so much. The Dawgs get into a little argument and then use each other as weapons. Interesting. The Tempura Boyz look much better than I’ve seen them before. That’s good to see but The Dawgs get the win with a gordbuster/bulldog type combo.
- Bonus – We get a weird Bullet Club promo with everyone doing very fake laughs. All the way through the commercial break actually. Caprice Coleman has joined the announce desk for the main event – a #1 TV title contender match between Shane Taylor, Chuckie T (Chuck Taylor, no relation), Punishment Martinez, and Mark Briscoe. I’m sorry, but I can’t take the name Chuckie T seriously. This is going to be a crazy match, so I am not even going to attempt any type of play by play. Every man played their role in this match – Martinez was the scary monster, Shane Taylor was the big, fat guy, Chuck Taylor was the bland wrestler fodder, and Briscoe was the wild card. By the way, I am not going to call Chuck Taylor Chuckie T or the Kentucky Gentleman. Because both names are stupid.Eventually we get the Martinez/Shane Taylor staredown, but the crowd does not seem to be into it too too much. But they do pop huge for Martinez to do a crazy dive onto everyone outside the ring. And the end of the match was cool with Mark Briscoe hitting a Froggy Bow on Chuckie T, jumping off the back of Punishment Martinez who was unconscious and laying on the top rope. Post-match, Jay Briscoe came out to confront his brother, asking him if his last name is still Briscoe or if it is Dudley. Then asking him if he is still part of a team or if he’s just doing the singles thing. I don’t really want to see a Briscoe versus Briscoe feud, but that seems to be what they are building to.
Anyway, a pretty good week for ROH. Until next week…
