Thought Zero – We’re back inside this week and dealing with the fallout of All Star Extravaganza. Let’s see what Ring of Honor has in store for us this week.
1) We start off with the Bullet Club in the ring. The Young Bucks have the ROH tag team titles again after the crazy Ladder Wars match at All Star Extravaganza. The Young Bucks make the claim that they are the best tag team of all time, ever, anywhere, world over, any company, blah blah blah. Adam Cole reiterates that claim and then says Hangman Page will soon win the ROH TV title and the Bullet Club will take the new Trios title. I am not against uber-dominant factions in wrestling, but Bullet Club just reeks of nWo, and that is not a pleasant smell.
2) Jay Lethal cuts a brief promo on Silas Young, which is the main event today. I had to smile at Lethal’s line, “Silas, I don’t even know where this began, why you have a problem with me, but I don’t care. I only care about where it ends.” And just like that Lethal buries some of ROH’s lackluster booking and writing while still making me interested in seeing the match. That, my friends, is talent.
3) Next up we have War Machine versus Shane Taylor and Keith Lee. Let’s hope it is a little more competitive this time and War Machine isn’t left laying at the end. I am sure this match will be energetic and hopefully the ring has been reinforced for all the power moves set to take place.
4) Before the match starts, War Machine dives through the ropes onto Taylor and Lee. It’s a donnybrook on the floor! That’s the way you start a match that is based on a blood feud between two huge teams. The match starting any other way would not have felt genuine.
5) It’s chaos with bodies flying everywhere. The audience eats it up as well with “Whoas!” at every hard hit and “Aaaas” at every high flying spot (and yes there were quite a few of those). We go to break and return with all four men in the ring still beating on each other. Very nice sequence with Ray Rowe hitting Shane Taylor with an Exploder suplex (which honestly was VERY impressive) and then Keith Lee hitting a big pounce (!) on Rowe, only to be caught by Hanson with an inverted power slam. These guys are massive and are hitting very impressive moves. I am loving this.
6) Hanson is busted open, but he still kicks out from a double chokeslam. Later, he also kicked out from a Death Valley Driver into a jackhammer type move from Keith Lee. Again, damn impressive stuff here. Not to be outdone, Shane Taylor kicked out of Fallout which had both members of War Machine, and the entire audience, just in shock. Finally, in a great ending sequence which wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Young Bucks match, Shane Taylor missed a second rope splash on Rowe, then Hanson said “Fuck you, I can do better,” and missed a top rope splash on Taylor, then Lee said, “Fuck you, I can do even better,” and missed a top rope MOONSAULT on Hanson, then Rowe said, “Fuck all of y’all, I’m winning this match,” and hit a sick looking destroyer piledriver on Lee for the pin. The crowd sure got their money’s worth in this one.
6) A) After the match, Shane Taylor levels both members of War machine with a chair to keep the feud going. And I am okay with that.
7) Next up is a six-man tag team tournament match between The Cabinet and the team of Leon St. Giovanni, Shaheen Ali, and Jason Kincaid! Love me some crazy Kincaid action! Although I am sure The Cabinet will be the ones moving on. The security guy The Cabinet has looks like King Kong Bundy’s son. Now they’ve added taking a knee during the Code of Honor handshake to their schtick. Caprice Coleman’s shrieking while going crazy on his opponent is pretty darn funny too.
8) You know what I want to have happen? Have the WWE sign Jason Kincaid and make him the Wyatt Family’s entrant into the Cruiserweight division where he can run roughshod over everyone. That would make my year.
8) A) Funny exchange at the broadcast table I will try to transcribe for you:
Kevin Kelly: (to Steve Corino) You don’t remember teaming with Rhett Titus ever?
Steve Corino: No.
Kevin Kelly: I’ve got a DVD I might want to show you sometime.
Steve Corino: Hope it’s Field of Dreams. That’s my favorite movie.
Kevin Kelly (reacting to an insane springboard move by Kincaid in the ring): I’ve never seen anything like that before!
Steve Corino: Oh, it’s a great movie!
Not quite sure how Kelly kept from laughing there. Good stuff.
8) B) My suspension of disbelief just folded. Rhett Titus, while hanging in the tree of woe, just got hit with the following: a coast to coast dropkick from the left by LSG, a coast to coast dropkick from the right by Kincaid, and a running, jumping dropkick from the front by Ali, all simultaneously. It was a very impressive move visually. Then he kicks out of the pin attempt. No way. The move shouldn’t have even been attempted if you weren’t going to have it be the endgame.
8) C) The end came with Caprice Coleman picking up the win after a diving leg lariat from the top rope.
9) Main event time with Silas Young taking on Jay Lethal. Only about ten minutes left in the show though, so my expectations are not as high as they would be for this match. While I may not be a big fan of Silas Young’s one-note character, I do think he is excellent in the ring. And Jay Lethal, well, he’s my guy, there’s no question about that. After some very good back and forth technical wrestling, Lethal takes control. The crowd is really into Lethal tonight, cheering him on with every move.
10) Back from break and Adam Cole is at the announce table. I smell shenanigans. Good back and forth match with both men showcasing their talents. The end comes when Lethal pins Young after a Kyle O’Reilly distraction. Cole and O’Reilly get into it after the match and we’re out.
Another really good episode of Ring of Honor. Whether you are a fan of their storytelling or not, you normally can not go wrong with an hour of Ring of Honor in-ring product. Until next week…
