ROH on Sinclair – Episode 183 – 21st March 2015
This would be our final show before Supercard Of Honor 9, which in retrospect makes the amount of hype they packed in for the WrestleMania weekend event last week on Episode 182 even more impressive. After two big tag bouts last week, singles championships come to the fore tonight as both the TV and World Titles are scheduled to be defended. 2015 Top Prospect Tournament winner Donovan Dijak receives the traditional winners’ prize of a Television Championship opportunity, before our main event which sees Jimmy Jacobs get the World Title match he emotionally demanded last week. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino are set to call the action from Baltimore, MD.
Bobby Fish vs Roderick Strong
This match could conceivably main event a TV broadcast and deliver a hell of a match…which makes me concerned I’m going to be enormously disappointed by it’s positioning as a throwaway opener. Strong has had an excellent first quarter of 2015, and will be considered the favourite here despite the dominance of Fish and reDRagon atop ROH’s Tag division for an increasingly lengthy period of time.
Steve Corino seems particularly excited to see these two celebrated jerks go at it. Roddy smiles like an ass after out-wrestling his opponent for the opening minute…and is promptly put into his place after a rush of strikes from Fish. Roddy hits an Argentine backbreaker out of the corner to begin his attack on the back right before the first commercial break. In an annoying new development at these tapings, ROH now have a ‘Codeline’ (telephone hotline) they shill constantly and want people to call with dorky kayfabe rubbish – like you’re watching WWF in 1992. It’s hideous. Back from the break and Bobby is shaking off a few backbreakers to hit a top rope moonsault for 2. Superplex by Strong, rolled straight into Death By Roderick! End Of Heartache blocked (or ‘another suplex’ if you’re Kevin Kelly, because he’s a terrible commentator) so we get the Sick Kick instead. END OF HEARTACHE! Roderick takes a win at 07:23 (shown).
Rating - ** - Less than eight minutes for these guys? Really? The rest of this episode better be non-stop awesome to justify such a measly time allowance. The match was just kind of there…but then again if I had the sort of talent Fish and Strong have and I was given seven minutes of TV time to work a match I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to work too hard either. Couple a disappointing match with so many of the things that annoy me about the awful presentation of ROH’s televised product (Kevin Kelly, Code Lines and how ridiculously dated everything is) and I didn’t enjoy this despite liking the two men in the ring a great deal.
‘That was awesome’ – Baltimore. Are you kidding me??? I really think my time following this company might be done.
Donovan Dijak is out next for his TV Title shot. Truth Martini has a microphone and wants to talk though. He discusses his success as a manager in ROH, his history with winners of the TPT…and is convincing Dijak to join the House Of Truth rather than take his title shot. The offer is accepted, so Dalton Castle comes out to break up the party. His music, an obvious rip-off of Queen’s ‘I Want It All’ entitled ‘Dalton Wants It Now’ is fantastic. He is superb, with a knowingly camp promo style whilst reclining in a sofa made up of his ‘Boys’. I immediately see why he has become such a cult favourite. He sweet talks his way into a match with the champ…
Jay Lethal vs Dalton Castle – ROH TV Title Match
Castle is frustrated that Dijak just turned down an opportunity he’d have loved – and since he was undeniably the highlight of the 2015 TPT anyway it is fitting that he is the one getting to wrestle the TV Champion at the end of it. He has plenty of Chikara experience so is hardly a rookie and his extravagant persona may well catch Lethal out. Jay is between major title defences against world-renowned veterans having defeated Alberto El Patron in Las Vegas and now preparing to head to California where he’ll be challenged by Jushin Liger.
Lethal jumps Castle before the bell and punts The Boys out of the ring for good measure. We cut to a quick ad break, and when we come back we see Castle prancing and preening at ringside before 619-ing off the apron into a headscissors on the floor! Jay uses his rolling topes to recover and is so thrown off his game he doesn’t even stop to piss the fans off with that spot as he usually does. Lethal also makes a point to taunt the fan who always dresses up like Liger when ROH runs Baltimore which is a nice touch. Capture belly to belly by Dalton, soon followed by a dead-lift bridging German for 2. FEAST YOUR EYES ON THE FLOOR from Dijak to Castle! The ref didn’t see it and it deals a catastrophic blow to Dalton’s championship prospects. He is fed to the Lethal Injection and loses the match at 05:50 (shown).
Rating - N/A - As a match it wasn’t up to much, and seeing the winner of the 2015 TPT quickly relegated to a random henchman in a stable is a fair assessment of the level of quality in the tournament field this year. But I think this segment on the whole was extremely promising. We didn’t have to sit through a Lethal/Dijak title match which would have been passable at best. Donovan has been put into a position where he can quietly develop his skills without risk of the over-exposure which crippled Taven and Bennett the years they won. And best of all this segment introduced Dalton Castle to Ring Of Honor. I know he was in the tournament – but this was the night he arrived. His entrance was stunning, his promo was suitably flamboyant and he instantly looked to have all the tools to be a really unique and interesting talent acquisition.
It’s supposed to be a reDRagon promo, but the show is hacked by the Knights Of The Rising Dawn who claim they cannot be stopped and now have the Tag Champions firmly in their sights.
Jay Briscoe vs Jimmy Jacobs – ROH World Title Match
Since forming The Decade Jimmy has made it crystal clear that he dislikes outsiders coming into ROH and stealing the limelight. So with The Decade falling apart at the seams, his turbulent relationship with Decade ally BJ Whitmer becoming increasingly frayed and rumours about his wrestling future starting to circulate on the internet, the sight of a returning Samoa Joe walking back into Ring Of Honor and being a granted a World Title shot without doing a thing to ‘earn it’ made Jacobs snap. He crashed the broadcast last week and staked his own claim for a shot at the belt, feeling he’d earned it through years of blood, sweat and sacrifice in this company. Can he spectacularly derail Supercard Of Honor 9’s main event by ending the two year undefeated streak of the champion tonight?
Jimmy is dressed in all black tonight, with no hint of the traditional black and pink Decade attire. He’s no match for Briscoe in a straight fist fight…but after getting clocked with a big boot bounces right back up and dives through the ropes into a CRAZY tope suicida! REBOUND ACE CRUSHER OFF THE GUARDRAILS! Jay is on the run but is able to shake off a flurry of slaps and elbows to floor the challenger with the military press DVD. End Time blocked so Jimmy Spears Briscoe so hard his gum flies out of his mouth…and still only gets a 2. Avalanche Jay Driller COUNTERED TO A SUPER CONTRA CODE! Jacobs is despondent after only getting a nearfall there…and he stares longingly at the World Championship belt to get a second wind. CONTRA CODE AGAIN! SPEAR AGAIN! END TIME LOCKED IN! Briscoe escapes into KNEE STRIKES! JAY DRILLER! Briscoe retains in an enjoyable 09:00 (shown).
Rating - *** - Not the epic or all-time classic Steve Corino and Kevin Kelly try to promote it as, but this told an enjoyable little story and was a nice way for Jimmy to set up the end of his Ring Of Honor career. Briscoe took some big bumps for him and actually showed a lot of skill in letting Jimmy take the lead on offence without ever really damaging his own credibility as a tough guy.
Jacobs got cut open in the concluding moments of that match, so is left with blood pouring from a wound and pondering where his career goes next after such a crushing defeat. He still finds time to accept Briscoe’s offer of a handshake though.
Tape Rating - ** - A step down from last week, but perhaps I’m basing a lot of that on how disappointed I was by Strong/Fish. The positives definitely outweighed the negatives though as the additions of Dalton Castle and Donovan Dijak to the regular roster compliment a very decent main event. If you aren’t as fundamentally irritated by the presentation of ROH’s product as I am right now you may have liked this even more than I did.