Thought Zero – Ring of Honor is here and so am I. Let’s see how the company sets up their War of the World events.
1) We start with the Young Bucks. I can’t say like the beginning of their entrance music. It just doesn’t match the energy of their matches. Here come their opponents through the crowd – Mikey Mondo and Kenny Doane, the (Spirit) Squad. The Squad jumps the champs from behind but eat superkicks quickly. The Jacksons appear to be trying out a few new moves early and they don’t look as smooth as their normal double teams.
2) Colt Cabana is still on color commentary and annoying me already. He is just non-stop dismissive with those he doesn’t like. It takes away from the action in the ring. Plus, the Spirit is a new team in ROH, so it would be beneficial to build them up. I know they were treated as jokes in the WWE, but I always thought Kenny was very talented and Mondo has been in Ring of Honor before and has game. Why not make them seem credible when you’re on commentary?
3) The Young Bucks won the match with the Meltzer Driver. The result was never really in doubt, but the Squad looked pretty good, hitting some impressive moves and showing that they are not just a gimmick. If only Cabana would have built on that in his commentary then maybe we would be excited about seeing the Squad again against any number of teams in ROH.
4) Matt Taven talks for a little bit to make us think he has a shot against Christopher Daniels in a few days. I am not sure anyone buys Matt Taven as ROH World Champion, but they sure are pushing the possibility of him being the first Grand Slam champion in ROH. On a plus side, Taven is getting better in his promos. He didn’t call anyone a Melvin once, and he had a nice line at the end that he is the comet coming to wipe out all the dinosaurs, like Daniels.
5) The Briscoes now hype up their six-man tag titles. I don’t think the six-man titles have very much cache yet, but I do like the platinum look of the belts. Maybe I’m just getting sick of gold.
6) Next match could be pretty good – Punishment Martinez versus the Beer City Bruiser. Bruiser still doesn’t have his own entrance theme. He has to still use Silas Young’s theme. Poor guy. The match starts off fast and both men are showing off their impressively athletic and hard hitting moveset. The crowd really has no one to cheer for, so they just cheer for the moves. By the way, Cabana just continues to annoy me by laughing and making constant jokes about Bruiser’s weight. Ugh.
7) The pace of this match has started to slow. Both men appear to be winded but are still throwing bombs out there. Martinez gets the victory with the South of Heaven chokeslam. Decent match with both men looking strong. I am not sure it really elevates either man very much though, as it was very back and forth until the finish. If you are going to make Martinez look like an unstoppable monster, he has to run through competition. But still, a good TV match.
8) Marty Scurll is next with a short little promo to hype his match against Matt Sydal at War of the Worlds on May 12. He mentions that he is not surprised Sydal is coming after him, since he is the one everyone pays to see. He then adds that Sydal has his attention but will never has his belt. Short and sweet. Nicely done. Just a word on what Scurll is facing at the War of the Worlds events. On night 2, he faces five other men (Beer City Bruiser, Cheeseburger, Frankie Kazarian, Gedo, and Will Ferrara) and if any one of them pin Scurll, he has to put his TV title on the line in another match immediately. Then, on the 12th, he defends his title against Matt Sydal. Then, on the 4th night, he defends his title against Kushida, which should be a HELL of a match. If he doesn’t come out of next weekend as a superstar, I am not sure what to say.
9) Main event is Christopher Daniels and Dalton Castle versus Cody and Adam Cole. Cody requests the Boys be sent out to get some heat. Jay Lethal has joined the commentary table to rightfully complain about the title shot he earned last week by beating 3 other guys is now a triple threat match because Cody was added to the match for no real reason. And after being beaten by Jay Lethal at the last PPV. (By the way, Cabana keeps calling Dalton Castle the weak link on the team which just makes me want to smack him.) Funny bit as Daniels takes one of the boys’ fans and uses it to waive at Castle. The fans then start chanting “Fan Up!” which is pretty hilarious actually.
10) I am ignoring most of the Bullet Club dissension talk because I am sick of the Bullet Club. Unfortunately, that silliness played into the end of the match as Cody accidentally hit Cole with the Beautiful Disaster kick and Cole walked out on his partner. Cody held his own for a little while but Cole charged back out to jump Daniels from behind and Cody got the pin with the Crossroads. So all is well with the Bullet Club again, I guess, but don’t really care. After the match, Jay Lethal confronts Daniels about the triple threat match, but Cody charges back out and jumps both men. And we’re out with Lethal hitting a double Lethal Injection.
Another pretty good show, but Ring of Honor was sort of in a weird position with this show. They have a PPV on May 12, but that PPV is the third of four shows on the War of the Worlds event. So not only did they have to pimp the PPV, but the other events as well. They did the best they could, and I am excited about where they are going to go with things. Until next week, stay honorable…
