ROH on Sinclair – Episode 191 – 16th May 2015
This should be Ring Of Honor at absolute fever pitch. A successful New Japan tour of the promotion has taken place all week, and we are on the road to Best In The World 2015 – now scheduled to be headline by the massive showdown between World Champion Jay Briscoe and TV Champion Jay Lethal. Even the last TV tapings (in San Antonio) produced some of the strongest episodes of ROH television since Sinclair took the reigns. So one can’t help but he disappointed that, when we should be hyping the biggest pay-per-view event of ROH’s calendar year, instead we’re pausing the BITW hype and stopping off for a Road Rage episode from the recent Conquest Tour live event in Hopkins. It was a really decent house show with a stunning main event…but by this point ROH really need to be planning their schedules better than this. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino were in position in Hopkins, MN to call all the action…
Road Rage episodes have sweet new graphics which I really like. As I’ve always said, I love the idea of Road Rage and promoting house shows on the TV show. It’s just the timing I’m questioning here. How much is a house show taped in late-April going to do to promote a pay-per-view in June?
Adam Page vs ACH
The Decade have had problems with ACH for a long time, and they resurfaced again at Episode 188 of the TV show when Page tried to burn one of ACH’s shirts. Although their impromptu match didn’t amount to anything in San Antonio, I’m hoping they get twenty minutes tonight to product the sort of breakout match that I’m certain Page is capable of. He is pissed off that ACH gets opportunities he can only dream of – and tonight is his chance to make a point, steal a show and start getting a few more of those high profile matches for himself.
ACH enforces his popularity by shaking hands with the entire front row, plus the commentators. He is too quick for Page inside the ring too, bouncing around off the canvas to level him with a precise dropkick. FLAGPOLE HEADSCISSORS nailed on the floor! Page desperately runs away from his opponent…before adopting a classic BJ Whitmer tactic of tying him in the ring apron in order to lay in some shots. The Decade member shows his in-ring intelligence by grounding ACH and slowing the pace. He doesn’t want to take flight or give his agile opponent any distance – he rides him on the ground with chinlocks and abdominal stretches. He looks to be targeting the midsection (shades of former Decade member Roderick Strong perhaps?), and attacks the body part with another Whitmer move – the rapid powerslam as a counter to an oncoming opponent. Eventually the two men collide mid-ring attempting crossbody blocks, but of course that damages ACH far more due to the existing injury he is battling through. Gone are the flips and tricks from ACH’s repertoire – he fires back at Adam with a kick flurry and a RUNNING LARIAT for 2! Freebird Crossbody misses though and he pays for that more extravagant offence with a JUMPING DDT by Page! He shoulders at the ribs again to leave ACH in position for the slingshot somersault clothesline. They battle over a suplex AND BOTH MEN CRASH TO THE FLOOR! ACH is the first man up…but his rib injuries mean he doesn’t attempt his normal dive spot and PAGE RAMS HIM INTO THE GUARDRAILS! SSP OFF THE APRON BY PAGE! ACH blocks a superplex and hits a flying double stomp to the back of the head for 2. 450 SPLASH MISSED! HERO’S GRIP BLOCKED WITH A LOW BLOW! PAGE WINS! It’s a huge moment in the career of Adam Page as he’s stolen a win over ACH at 16:38
Rating - **** - Yes, the finish was lame, but I’ll try to give Delirious a pass on that since my hope is that this won’t be the last time we see Page and ACH in the ring together again. Focusing on what matters, this is the match I’ve been waiting to see from Adam Page for a long time. He and ACH are stylistically so suited as opponents – with Page’s aggression and Decade-influenced old school sensibilities perfectly juxtaposed to ACH’s showmanship and athleticism. ACH wrestled a great match too, really selling me on both the injury to his ribs and the general importance of this match to him. A genuinely enjoyable undercard bout, which isn’t something you can always say about Ring Of Honor shows these days.
NEXT WEEK – More Road Rage from Hopkins, featuring the epic Lethal/O’Reilly TV Title match.
In the House Of Truth locker room, Truth Martini shills Jay Lethal’s new DVD but the merriment comes to a prompt halt when they start discussing Jay Briscoe. They both know they need to end his undefeated streak to cement Lethal’s legacy…
The Briscoes lament the fact that their battles with War Machine in 2014 led to unfinished business due to Ray Rowe’s injury…and plan to finish it in the main event of the hour.
War Machine vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe
Before Ray Rowe got injured, these two teams were starting to develop a pretty intense rivalry. They’d contested some really physical brawls, we’d seen men go through tables and matches thrown out. Now War Machine are back on the scene it seems obvious they’d want to revisit this issue as soon as possible – particularly since they now have the added incentive of potentially pinning the World Champion.
Mark and Hanson are first in, and neither holds anything back when it comes to their strikes. As I’ve spoken about before, serious Mark Briscoe is SO much better than goofball Chicken Briscoe. He gets a pasting from both sides by War Machine though and is left on the deck, probably seeing little cartoon chickens flittering round his head. At the five minute point Jay hasn’t even been allowed into the ring having been restricted to watching from the apron as his little brother takes a hell of a beating. The World Champ is a talented individual though and quickly turns the match around by dropping Rowe on his neck with a stiff lariat. The Briscoes show their veteran instincts by isolating Rowe who is clearly the weaker link and untested as this match has gone longer than any other since his return from injury. He survives the onslaught and hits the Cement Mixer before bringing Hanson back. Jay Driller blocked as Mark hits the Uncle Mule Kick on Rowe. All four men are in the ring and ready to fight! Cactus clothesline from Jay to Hanson! BACK BODY DROP OVER THE TURNBUCKLES from Rowe to Mark! He returns to save Jay from the Fallout…so Hanson stops the Briscoes from hitting the Doomsday Device. DOUBLE CHOKESLAM on Jay gets 2. MARK DIVES OFF THE TOP AND GETS POWERBOMBED ON HIS HEAD! Fallout blocked…DOOMSDAY DEVICE ON ROWE! He falls out of the ring so Mark hits a BLOCKBUSTER TO THE FLOOR! JAY DRILLER ON HANSON! HE KICKS OUT! Nobody saw that coming! JAY DRILLER AGAIN! It’s over at 14:24
Rating - **** - Perhaps I’m in a minority, but I loved this. We got to see four big, tough dudes beating the absolute hell out of each other. At first it was a solid if rather by-the-numbers tag match, but it exploded into life at ten minutes and was electric in the final act. War Machine traded big double team spots with the legends of tag team wrestling in Ring Of Honor, and Hanson getting to kick out of the Jay Driller was a GREAT nearfall. Personally I’d have liked to see War Machine go over here. The Briscoes are over anyway, Jay didn’t exactly need a win either – where as Hanson and Rowe going over would have been huge for them. Call that a missed opportunity to create a really hot new act in the tag division.
Tape Rating - N/A - As an hour of wrestling television this was great. Both matches were awesome, and they did plenty to promote deserving undercard talents (War Machine and Adam Page). When done correctly, Road Rage TV shines a superb spotlight on ROH house shows – adding to their credibility and in theory making it easier to sell tickets whenever Ring Of Honor comes to an SBG TV market. My issues with this stem largely from the fact that, other than a brief House Of Truth promo it does almost nothing to promote ROH’s biggest pay-per-view of the year. The WWE has the WWE Network now and has, to a certain extent, abandoned the traditional ppv model…and even they put more effort into promoting their monthly extravaganzas than ROH is into Best In The World 2015 right now.