10 Thoughts on … Ring of Honor April 1, 2017 (Raw Rowe, Top Prospect Tournament, Kenny King versus Marty Scurll)

10 Thoughts, Reviews, Top Story

Thought Zero – I am here to give ten thoughts on the lost show of the weekend. In a weekend where we have a WrestleMania, an NXT: Takeover, and even a Ring of Honor pay-per-view (Supercard of Honor XI), Ring of Honor still has a weekly TV hour to produce. So let’s see what happens.

1) We start things off with Adam Cole attempting to fire the Young Bucks from the Bullet Club. Matt Jackson helpfully points out that Cole can’t fire them, as the Young Bucks are the ones who brought Cole into the Bullet Club. Plus, Matt says, he’s not Elite, like the true leader of the Bullet Club, Kenny Omega. Okay, so we are working on Cole putting over Omega on his way out. I can deal with that.

2) Our first match features Davey Boy Smith Jr. versus Ray Rowe. Apparently Smith’s Killer Elite Squad partner Lance Archer is hurt, so Bulldog Jr. is spending some time doing some solo work. Smith immediately goes after Rowe’s knee, viciously destroying it, including a ring post figure four. Haven’t seen that one in a while, so that’s cool.

3) Back from break and Smith has Rowe in a knee lock which he turns into an STF. A bridging leg lock and an inverted figure four follow. Smith is just destroying Rowe here. I don’t think I have ever seen Rowe being beaten down so bad. And, if on queue, Rowe starts a comeback which includes a lot of punches and the running shotgun knees, which upon second thought, probably wasn’t the best idea.

4) Rowe gets a bit more offense before he misses a charge and Smith takes back over. Smith with a sit-out power bomb, incorrectly called a Blue Thunder Bomb by Ian Riccaboni. Luckily Kevin Kelly was there to correct him. Rowe picks up the victory with something called the “Death Rowe,” which is a full nelson slam but he hits a knee into the back of the opponent’s neck on the way down. Honestly,it sounds more impressive than it actually looked. But I will pretend that is because Rowe was still selling the damage done to his knee earlier in the match.

5) Next we have a Top Prospect Tournament semi-final match between Brian Milonas versus Josh Woods. Ian drops a horrible pun early on, asking if Josh Woods can throw a strike against “The Kingpin” Brian Milonas. Woods keeps trying for submission holds, but Milonas has the power of the fat and uses it to his advantage. Eventually Woods is able to hit a German suplex, transition from a pin attempt to a leg lock, and get the tap out victory.

6) Next week, they hype up the 6-man tag title match between The Kingdom and the Briscoes with Bully Ray. This is the biggest problem with tv tapings happening long in advance. If you watched the Supercard of Honor PPV on Saturday, you know the Bricoes and Ray won the belts and have defended them already. Oh well, it will still be interesting to see the match.

7) They have a recap of Kazarian winning his World TV title shot at 15th Anniversary. Kazarian is out at ringside to scout and add commentary to the main event, the World TV title match. I have to say that I really appreciate Ring of Honor making their “seecondary” title seem very important by having it main event a television show. Can you imagine the United States title or the Intercontinental title being promoted as a main event on Raw or Smackdown?

8) I’ve mentioned it before, but Marty Scurll’s entrance video and theme is very, very good.

9) The match starts with King and Scurll cautiously working some ground wrestling. Scurll then does a bunch of flipping and rolling and purposely pointless spinning to get out of a wristlock and the crowd eats it up. Scurll’s wing-flapping taunt is pretty great as well. Scurll gains the advantage and really takes it to Kenny King which is a bit of a weird dynamic since King’s been booked as a heel for so long and no one wants to cheer for a comeback.

10) King finally gets the advantage and is able to showcase some of his impressive athleticism. But when we come back from break, Scurll hits the no-hands piledriver and once again has the advantage. King has some pretty good counters, but never seems to be able to take full control. King does get a very nice top rope blockbuster for two. Very shortly after, Scurll snaps the fingers and cinches in the crossface chickenwing. King taps out and the crowd goes nuts.

 

Another pretty good week of wrestling, headlined by another chance to see Marty Scurll in action. And even though the ROH crowd sometimes has questionable taste in who they like, they definitely have seen the light and acknowledge Scurll’s brilliance. That is always nice to see.

Until next week…

Human. I think.