10 Thoughts On … Ring Of Honor January 27, 2018 (Bully Ray Says Goodbye, War Machine Versus Coast 2 Coast, AND Dobbs!)

10 Thoughts, Reviews, Top Story

Thought Zero – Okay, I missed last week. Sorry about that. But let’s not dwell on the past. We have an hour of Ring of Honor wrestling to get to, so let’s do it!

  1. We get a video recap of The Addiction (or SoCal Uncensored I guess they are now) paying off Shane Taylor to knock out Marty Scurll while they chop block the Young Bucks. Okay, I guess that is going to be a feud now or something.
  2. First match in is Punishment Martinez versus an “already-in-the-ring” jobber simply named Dobbs. Is that a first name? A last name? A nickname? Or is it just something the ring announcer made up on the spot? I doubt this match will go long enough for me to find out.
  3. And as expected, Martinez crushes Dobbs. Ian Riccaboni talks up the run that Martinez is on and Colt Cabana makes me laugh by interjecting “And Dobbs is here!” A few seconds later, Ian starts naming all the contenders for the world title and Cabana adds “And DOBBS!” Almost immediately after, Dobbs punches Martinez and then hits a dropkick and he is the crowd’s newest favorite wrestler of all time, even getting his own chant. But that’s it and Martinez then kills him dead.
  4. Post-match, Dalton Castle comes down to the ring and suplexes Martinez who simply walks away.
  5. Caprice Coleman is out at the announce booth for some reason to make it a three man crew. This match is Coast 2 Coast versus War Machine. Given that War Machine were seen at NXT Takeover Philadelphia on Saturday (the same day this match aired in my area), I think the result is a foregone conclusion. Coast 2 Coast has stated if they don’t win this match, they will split up. C2C must be loving Triple H right about now.
  6. War Machine continues to look impressive though. They strength of Ray Rowe is just freaky. One example has him pick up Hansen with no problem, walking across the ring, and then flinging Hansen into his opponent in the corner. LSG then pops the crowd by picking up a running Hansen and delivering a back suplex. However, Hansen will not be outdone and pulls off a lucha-ish handspring elbow off the ropes to Ali just because he is a freak and can do shit like that.
  7. By the way, Caprice Coleman is making some really good points about tag team wrestling right now. He is talking about how C2C wants to tag each other where some teams look to get separation from each other, basically splitting it into two singles matches. Right on, Caprice! I’ve been saying that for years.
  8. LSG kicks out of a couple pin attempts that should have finished him and Rowe looks shocked. The crowd starts a lackluster LSG chant, but they are really here to say goodbye to War Machine. Ali starts giving all he’s got to Rowe but runs right into a pop up catch powerslam by War Machine. Now it is Ali’s turn to get the surprise kickout. C2C hits the Coast 2 Coast, both pile on top of Rowe, but he still kicks out. Hansen returns to crush them both. They hit Fallout on Ali and he KICKS OUT at 2.75. Both Rowe and Hansen are stunned. The crowd starts a “This is Awesome” chant as the crowd is finally getting into this team. Rowe hits a knee and then they go for Fallout again, but Ali rolls up Rowe while LSG hangs onto Hansen’s leg. And C2C gets the upset pinfall and stay a team. War Machine shakes and raises their hands after the match to try to give them a little more of that leaving the company rub. Let’s see if it works going forward.
  9. Now, here is the newest WWE Hall of Fame inductee Bully Ray. Of course, Bubba Ray showed up at Raw 25 with Devon and beat up Heath Slater, a good week before this show aired. Bully says he’s done, puts over Philly, and even references Bubba Ray Dudley (and thus his pro wrestling career) was born in that very arena in 1995. He says he should leave his boots in that ring. He signs off, saying he is Bully Ray and it has been his honor. He gets a standing ovation and a “Thank you Bubba” chant from the crowd as Jay Lethal leads the locker room out to wish him well and say some good things about how Bully Ray helped everyone there and was a really good guy. In fact, Lethal calls Bully Ray a legend. Maybe that is going a little too far, but it is still a nice sentiment. Okay, maybe I’m a sap, but that was a pretty nice segment and Bully Ray looked pretty touched by it. Of course, it might have been a little more impactful if I hadn’t just seen Bubba Ray giving a 3-D through a table to a former tag team champion a week ago, but still, a pretty good little segment.
  10. Back from commercial and we get a video package about the Women of Honor getting their own championship title. It is about time.They list some of the competitors for the title: Deanna Purrazzo, Kelly Klein, Karen Q, Jenny Rose, Mandy Leon, Sumie Sukai, Brandi Rhodes, “Bonesaw” Jessie Brooks, HZK, Hana Kamura, Kagestsu, and Mayu Iwatani (the last four coming from Stardom in Japan). The tournament begins in two weeks.

Bonus Thought:

11. The main event is SoCal Uncensored versus Bullet Club (Cody, Hangman Page, and Marty Scurll). I love The Villain and Christopher Daniels is awesome, Page is fun to watch, Kazarian is boring but acceptable, but Cody and Scorpio Sky annoy me, so I am just going to let you kwow that they had a fun little match with Scorpio Sky pinning Adam Page. Not the best finish, but it was okay.

 

I am going to try to get a new Fantasy Book out this week, so look for that. Also, be on the lookout for my Oscar prep column coming soon. Until next week…

 

Human. I think.