ROH on Sinclair – Episode 184 – 28th March 2015
This episode promotes itself as Samoa Joe’s big homecoming to Ring Of Honor. Since his match in this episode was taped right after the 13th Anniversary Show it does technically make it his return contest. The unfortunate irony, however, is that it broadcasts on the same weekend as what would effectively become the end of his latest Ring Of Honor run (against Jay Briscoe in California). You can decide for yourself whether to call that a tough break in ROH’s schedule or bad management/lack of interest in Supercard Of Honor 9. Whatever you think of ROH’s management at this point, at least we can relax and agree that the Samoa Joe vs Kyle O’Reilly main event tonight should be superb – perhaps even the best match Joe has on his brief comeback tour. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino are in Baltimore, MD.
Moose vs Caprice Coleman
I’ve criticised Moose’s very presence in Ring Of Honor, but have had to begrudgingly concede that his work inside the ring has started to improve recently. He’s still booked very strangely though. Delirious is shooting for this rather strange ‘babyface trapped inside a heel gimmick’ thing with him whereby he wants to shake hands and has his crowd-pleasing entrance theme but mean old Veda Scott won’t let him. Except we’re also supposed to buy him as this big bad imposing bad-ass…that lets a 5-foot-nothing sort of lawyer, sort of manager type order him around. And what is the point of Stokely Hathaway at all? Once Moose does get into the ring tonight he’ll be in the hands of an ultra-slick and experienced veteran to help him look good. Caprice is basically still around at every taping for the sole purpose of making ROH’s contracted talents look decent.
Moose tosses Coleman to the ground...but the veteran isn’t stupid enough to fall for that a second time. He rides Moose’s grapple into a shortarm scissors then hits a springboard rana to topple the big man. Pescado blocked by Ojinnaka and again Coleman’s experience helps him out as he dodges a powerslam into the ringpost. Moose finally does manage to grab CC though – to crunch him repeatedly into the guardrails. Running Mind Trip by Caprice, into a flying Edge-O-Matic for 2. INSIDE OUT MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR! Even though he does that in every match it still blows my mind. Moose dismisses him with an incredible vertical leap dropkick as Caprice prepares for the Leap Of Faith – and ends it with the rolling Spear at 04:50
Rating - ** - I thought this was more even than necessary (Coleman has no credibility left to protect), but it actually told a far more satisfying story than I was expecting too. Moose was the big, dumb muscle-head just looking to Hulk-Smash the smaller man in front of him…but his naïve and heavy-handed offence was continually thwarted by a wily old-timer who has seen this type of act a million times before. Moose is still lacking that hook or charisma to really get people into him…
The Decade come out next to make mincemeat of a couple of training camp jobbers who bought their way onto TV. One of them is Shaheem Ali though – and ROH has seen enough in him that he appears in dark matches at almost every show. Whitmer tells Page that he has found their next young boy, and the big reveal is that it’s Colby Corino. Jimmy Jacobs berates BJ (Steve Corino is his friend after all), which is all the build you’ll get for Whitmer/Jacobs at Supercard Of Honor 9 btw…
Donovan Dijak/J. Diesel vs Brutal Burgers
ROH is basically like WWE before the NXT era. Their product is booked terribly, their midcard is packed with talent all booked to go absolutely nowhere and the only new talent they sign are big muscled up guys who come through their internal farm system regardless of whether they can actually work or not. Dijak is a beneficiary of that scheme – but at least he is SO tall (almost seven feet) that he stands out on the roster. He’s surrounded by hopeless cases tonight, all of whom should be busting their humps to make him look good. The fact that Cheeseburger and Bob Evans get on television remains a complete disgrace. I don’t care how much Liger and New Japan like Cheeseburger. ROH’s attempts to make him their Spike Dudley figure continue to make me sad. All I can actually think about approaching this match is how much time is it going to take away from Joe/O’Reilly?
Diesel looks like an Oompa Loompa on steroids when standing next to Dijak. Cheeseburger wants a fight with the 2015 TPT winner, egged on by a another one of those annoying crowds who actually like him. CHOKESLAM BACKBREAKER by Dijak! He and Diesel bully the little man…until the natural ineptitude of Diesel comes to the fore and he lets Burger slip through his grasp and make the hot tag to Brutal Bob. FEAST YOUR EYES on Cheesey! Donovan wins at 04:56
Rating - * - I did consider giving this the ‘N/A’ treatment but ultimately felt it went too long for that. Dijak could have been made to look just as impressive in a fraction of the time this took, and none of the other three should get anywhere near the ROH roster – let alone onto national television.
Bob Evans turns on Cheeseburger after the match. If you listen hard you can hear the groan of many long-time Ring Of Honor fans as they realise they are going to have to pretend they care about this…
The Knights Of The Rising Dawn hack a Jay Briscoe promo, proclaiming that they have finalised their targets and their agenda…
Kyle O’Reilly vs Samoa Joe
There will come a point soon when ROH simply have to get the Tag Titles off of reDRagon to give someone else a turn. Fish and O’Reilly have dominated the division for more than two years and as good as they are as a team it is starting to feel like time for some new faces with the belts. When that time comes Kyle is so ready to have the trigger pulled on a major singles push. He is perhaps the best worker in the company now and has perfected the kind of nerdy, aggressive charisma that makes someone like Bryan Danielson so special. Michael Elgin and Jay Briscoe were obvious ‘dream matches’ for Joe’s return, but this is the one I’m looking forward to the most. Joe is a fine wrestler and an imposing striker…but how will age and years in TNA have impacted his ability to go toe-to-toe with a younger, smaller, faster and perhaps hungrier combatant like O’Reilly. Joe needs to validate his immediate insertion into the World Title picture with a win here.
Joe is clearly concerned about O’Reilly’s striking ability as he actively seeks to grapple him, use his size against him and generally negate the skills of the Tag Champion. His lack of speed is clearly an issue – as it means he needs to get MUCH closer to Kyle than he’d like in order to swing a massive leg or clubbing chop. It’s a smart approach from Joe and it sees him utterly dominant in the first five minutes. We cut to commercials there, and irritatingly miss a key portion of the match – which sees O’Reilly turn the tables on the Samoan and take the fight to him on the floor. He tries to steal the Ole Kick…and gets HORRIBLY punted in the face as punishment – and that’s before he gets the inevitable Ole Kick treatment himself. Bobby Fish is lurking at ringside though, and manages to distract Joe and give O’Reilly a window of opportunity. He strikes with an arm wrench to the floor then a shoulder smash against the ring apron. An injury to the arm is firmly in play now and made very apparent as Joe tries the same overwhelming tactics that worked against Kyle earlier…but this time are totally nullified by another snapping arm wrench. It has done too much damage for Joe to use the powerbomb/STF sequence…until Kyle tries a leapfrog and accidentally assists Joe in pulling off that spot. The submission sequence comes next – but the arm injury means that all the while O’Reilly is able to squirm to the safety of the ropes. Musclebuster COUNTERED to a hanging guillotine! INTO A HANGING KIMURA! FUJIWARA ARMBAR! But before he can lock in Arm-ageddon Joe makes the ropes. The Samoan former World Champion retreats to the floor…RUNNING MISSILE DROPKICK TO THE FLOOR – AND ON THE BAD ARM TOO! PK KICK TO THE ARM! ARM CRADLE BRAINBUSTER! Arm-ageddon blocked again! He tries to kick at the arm…AND GETS KNEE’D IN THE F*CKING FACE! JAWBREAKER LARIAT! JOE NO SELLS! JUMPING ENZI! Both men go down! ST-Joe scores, along with more knees to the head. RUNNING MUSCLEBUSTER NAILED! That was all Joe had left, but it’s enough to get him the win at 13:14 (shown)
Rating - **** - This was Joe’s first match back in ROH, and I have it down as the second best of this run (only behind the Joe/Jay Supercard Of Honor match). He did a better job selling Kyle’s arm than I expected and this match, more than any other in his brief comeback stint, felt like a DIFFERENT match and not simply a Samoa Joe highlight reel. Kyle’s vicious attack on the arm meant he couldn’t just lazily reel off his usual combos – and when he did he was constantly having to modify them due to the damage done. I felt this was very reminiscent of Joe’s vintage battles with Bryan Danielson, which is obviously a huge compliment.
Tape Rating - *** - There was some lousy stuff on this card, but the great main event and the reveal of Colby Corino being The Decade’s new young boy mean it was an enjoyable watch overall. Putting Samoa Joe’s ROH comeback match onto free TV was a bold move, and one rewarded with arguably his best performance during his 2015 run.