10 Thoughts on … Ring of Honor June 17, 2017 (300th Episode, Tanahashi, Everyone Hates the Boys)

10 Thoughts, Reviews, Top Story

Thought Zero – If you needed a reason to watch Ring of Honor wrestling instead of WWE programming, here’s one for you. After the Money in the Bank PPV this weekend, your WWE World champion is Jinder Mahal and the keeper of the Money in the Bank briefcase is Baron Corbin. So let’s get to it…

1) This is the 300th episode of Ring of Honor television. I didn’t know it had been on the air for that long. Aside from an introductory promo from Jay Lethal celebrating the 300th episode, it doesn’t seem like there is anything big scheduled. Oh well.

2) The first match is Silas Young and Beer City Bruiser versus Bobby Fish and Jay Lethal. Lethal and Fish do a quick little bit where they wear out the out-of-shape Bruiser by making him run the ropes. But … strategy. They are doing this to try to force Silas Young to tag in. But … response strategy. Young, instead of tagging in, gives Bruiser another beer. That backfires though as Bruiser ends up spewing all over after being run to death again. And that takes us to a commercial.

3) Back from break where Lethal and Fish have the advantage on Silas Young. Bruiser finally gets his second wind and Colt Cabana comments that he must have had some “Energy Beers.” Everything breaks down after that. Lethal was able to hit the Lethal Injection on Bruiser, but Silas Young was able to hit Misery on Lethal to get the pin. They have been having Lethal take pinfalls way too often lately, in my humble opinion.

4) We are back and see Jay Briscoe being ticked off at Dalton Castle’s boys for their part in accidentally causing Briscoe to be pinned the other week. Mark Briscoe and Bully Ray are trying to talk him down. When Bully Ray is the voice of reason, you might want to rethink some life changes.

5) Next match up are the Boys versus The Kingdom. The Kingdom attack the Boys on the ramp because The Kingdom blame them for TK O’Ryan’s injury. Matt Taven and Vinny Marseglia destroy the Boys in short order. After the match, Jay Briscoe, who has apparently not calmed down enough, hits the ring to go after the Boys. Mark Briscoe, Dalton Castle, and Bully Ray all try to talk him down.

6) In addition to all that, Colt Cabana continues to bury the Boys on commentary and actively cheer for their destruction. Man, those Boys can’t catch a break. The segment ends as we are reminded Castle and the Boys will challenge for the 6-man titles against the Briscoes and Bully Ray soon.

7) Punishment Martinez comes out to take on Joey “Diesel” Daddiego. I would not bet on Daddiego here. Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana take the time to hype up the Martinez and Jay White issue, which just adds credence to this being nothing more than a squash. And just like that, the South of Heaven chokeslam ends things. Post-match, Will Ferrara and Cheeseburger come out to check on Daddiego and get crushed as well. Then, Jay White comes out and they go at it. That ends with a stalemate as they continue to build that feud.

8) Main event time is Chaos (represented by Hirooki Godo, Gedo, and Will Ospreay) versus The Addiction and Hiroshi Tanahashi. Cody Rhodes has joined the commentary table because he is challenging Christopher Daniels at Best in the World.I doubt he will add much to the commentay, but so be it.

9) Very quick break after the introductions and some brief flipping by Ospreay. Come on, we could have gotten a little more flipping before the commercial. Actually, Ospreay looks more confident and cocky these days. I am not sure how well that would work in the long run. This attitude appears much more heelish and his offense is built to be fan-friendly. Weird.

10) Tanahashi is still extremely over with the ROH crowd, even getting a “New Japan” chant going. Maybe it is just me, but Tanahashi looks like he has lost a step or two. He’s still pretty darn good, but I wouldn’t say he is the ace anymore. Post-match, Hangman Page attacks Frankie Kazarian and Cody attacks Daniels. We end with Cody hitting the Angel’s Wings on the ROH champ. Final promos for the matches at Best in the World (it actually looks like a pretty good card) and that’s a wrap on episode #300.

 

Not bad for a PPV-go-home show, but maybe I was hoping for something a little more for a 300th episode. We’ll see what next week brings. Until then…

 

Human. I think.