Thought Zero – Word of warning, I am watching this coming off a subpar SummerSlam (although the main event was suitably crazy) and a very good NXT:Takeover Brooklyn III. The latter had some great ROH flavor as well, as reDRagon reformed to destroy the top two tag teams in NXT and Adam Cole debuted to destroy the new NXT champion. Good stuff. Let’s see what the actual ROH does tonight.
- The main event tonight is a 6-man tag team title match between Dalton Castle and the Boys versus Colt Cabana and the Tempura Boys. That does not sound like a main event anywhere in the world. Rather, it sounds like a kickoff match for a poorly received house show. But, I guess they have to do something to make it seem like Castle and the Boys are worthy champs.
- Since Colt Cabana is not announcing today, we get the broadcast team of Ian Riccaboni and BJ Whitmer. I am intrigued by Whitmer as a color commentary guy. I don’t want to see him wrestle, and I got super tired of his endless feud with Steve Corino, but he can talk, so let’s see how he does. Hopefully he has shaken off the curse of Kevin Sullivan and can speak like a human being again.
- The first match is Coast 2 Coast versus the Best Friends, Trent Beretta and Chuck Taylor. Before the match begins, Caprice Coleman joins the announce table. I approve of this and am curious if Coleman or Whitmer will do better in this role.
- I still can not get into Coast 2 Coast. Meanwhile, Beretta and Chucky T seem to be doing a lot of stalling and working very lackadaisical. LSG sure likes doing rolls and flips before hitting his moves. (Both Whitmer and Coleman are doing a pretty darn good job on commentary. Coleman is making some very interesting and valid points and Whitmer sounds engaged and excited to be there.) The Best Friends pick up the victory after hitting LSG with two consecutive piledrivers.
- We cut to a promo by Jay Lethal who is interrupted by Silas Young. As Young and Lethal brawl, the Beer City Bruiser comes out and makes it a 2-on-1 brawl. A chair gets slammed into Jay Lethal’s back before security can get in to separate everyone. I guess that feud is going to continue for a while then.
- Back from commercial and we see Lethal getting up from the beatdown to threaten Young and Bruiser. Okay then. The next match is the match that probably should be the main event – Jay Briscoe versus Matt Taven. Taven has the rest of the Kingdom with him but Jay Briscoe comes to the ring alone. That doesn’t seem very smart. By the way, Vinny Marseglia has an actual ax with him. That distracts Briscoe so he goes to get a chair and Taven attacks from behind to take control.
- Matt Taven is a little plain, but the dude can definitely work. And Jay Briscoe brings his usual energy and strong striking consistently. As such, this match is exciting and hard hitting and quite enjoyable. The rest of the Kingdom get involved, as could be expected. Briscoe takes out Marseglia (who tried to attack with the hockey mask instead of the ax) and then Briscoe pulls TK O’Ryan into the ring by the crutch.
- What comes next would have been better served as being the end of the show. Apparently, TK O’Ryan has healed and suckered Briscoe in, resulting in a sneak attack with his walking boot cast which he removed after a creepy wink to the camera. Taven then throws a bunch of chairs into the ring, lays one under Briscoe’s head, and hand out some to his partners. They then hit a triple conchairto onto Jay before Mark can come to his brother’s aid. Whitmer laughing hysterically throughout this whole thing because O’Ryan fooling Briscoe was great.
- This main event is much more comedy than anything, including a teased chicken fight between the Boys and the Tempura Boys. Cabana knocked down the boys before it could happen though. I will say that BJ Whitmer was doing a great job trying to call the technical aspects of the match whenever they occurred. It was an attempt make this match feel a little less pointless. It didn’t work, but it was a nice try.
- Of note, the Boys attempted to pull twin magic but Cabana saw it and switched them back. Later the Boys were able to pull off an actual twin magic switcheroo in case you were worried. Castle and the Boys retained the belts after a Bangarang. Post-match, Dalton Castle talks directly to Colt Cabana, asking him if he respects him now that he has pinned him three times. Cabana shakes his hand, apparently ending that feud and allowing Cabana to be goofy while being cheered again.
And we’re out. Other than the wrong match being the main event, this was another good hour of TV. I am liking BJ Whitmer in the announce booth, so maybe they keep that up. And where are they going to go with the fully healthy Kingdom now? Stay tuned and we shall see. Until next week…
