ROH on Sinclair – Episode 198 – 8th July 2015
I’d argue that July 8th is far too long to wait for the fall-out of a pay-per-view that aired on June 19th, but such is the schedule ROH organised for themselves. At Best In The World we saw a new World Champion crowned in Jay Lethal, Roderick Strong positioned as the new #1 contender, the Bullet Club stronger than ever after defeating The Kingdom and The Addiction still reigning supreme as Tag Champions. Now we return back to the much-maligned Terminal 5 building in Manhattan, NY for the first episode taped the same weekend as Best In The World – a set of tapings which will include ROH’s landmark 200th episode under the Sinclair umbrella. A graphic kindly informs me that our main event this evening is The Kingdom in trios tag action against reDRagon and Michael Elgin. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino will call the action.
A moody and rather impressive montage of still-frames captures Jay Lethal’s victory over Jay Briscoe to become the new Ring Of Honor Champion.
Takaaki Watanabe vs Dalton Castle
According to Kevin Kelly, ‘Watanabe has been on fire lately’. I must have missed that. Indeed, his presence on this show merely serves an opportunity for he and Corino to pimp the return of Okada, Nakamura and other more prestigious New Japan stars at Field Of Honor 2015. This should be an interesting battle since both of these men have made use of rather impressive German suplexes to inflict punishment to their opponents in recent months.
Watanabe seems to only have three fans amongst an entire audience of Castle supporters, but they will no doubt be thrilled as he flattens the Party Peacock with an early shoulder tackle. Dalton isn’t impressed when Watanabe instructs ‘The Boys’ to fan him too! It’s tough to separate the two competitors, who work through an elongated rolling cradle sequence without either having been able to get a pinfall, then get up to simultaneously sock each other with duelling clotheslines. Watanabe shows personality again as he makes fun of Castle before landing a standing senton splash for the first significant nearfall. Castle retaliates with the EVEREST GERMAN for 2! He hit that so easily considering the size of his opponent. Cloverleaf catapult by Wata, followed by a wrist clutch back suplex for another nearfall. He takes too long celebrating that though, and walks into the Bang-A-Rang, which gives Castle the win at 06:39 (shown).
Rating - * - This was as flat as a pancake. Even Castle’s huge personality couldn’t save this from being completely mundane. It was impossible to escape the feeling that both men were really just going through the motions given their spot on the card and their restrictive ring-time allocation. It was fun seeing Watanabe show some glimpses of character (which would go on to become more prevalent when he returned to NJPW as EVIL), and backing up Dalton’s win at Best In The World with a follow-up victory here obviously gets my approval, but there just wasn’t enough here to make this worthwhile television in any meaningful way.
Dalton reclines on a sofa formed of his ‘Boys’ and proclaims himself to be the only ‘real man’ in Ring Of Honor. Unsurprisingly that brings Silas Young out to the stage, where he has to be restrained by referees and ring crew. Clearly the issue between those two isn’t over.
Nigel McGuinness heads to the ring next to introduce the new World Champion (and still the reigning TV Champion) Jay Lethal. Steve Corino spots that Lethal has gone back to carrying the ‘old’ TV Title belt, rather than the new plates he had made which called that belt a ‘World Title’. Truth Martini proclaims him to be the ‘Undisputed Champion’ of Ring Of Honor…to which Nigel asks if Jay plans to vacate the TV Title. Obviously Lethal refuses to forfeit either of his championships, and is therefore informed by Nigel that he’ll be required to defend both belts separately (i.e. he could have to defend both on the same show). Roderick Strong crashes the party and gets in Jay’s face ahead of their World Title match at Death Before Dishonor.
NEXT WEEK – Jay Lethal defends the TV Title against Mark Briscoe
INSIDE ROH – What exactly makes Mandy Leon an ‘Exotic Goddess’? She has highlights of the Briscoe/Lethal World Title Match at Best In The World, then has some comments from new #1 contender Roderick Strong.
Does Adam Page wear eyeliner now? Next week he faces Matt Sydal, and plans to defeat him to send a message to ACH…
Adam Cole/Michael Bennett/Matt Taven vs Michael Elgin/Bobby Fish/Kyle O’Reilly
At Best In The World The Kingdom lost a spectacular match to the Bullet Club (AJ Styles and the Young Bucks). During that match Bennett’s wife Maria was violently taken out with a devastating Early Onset Alzheimer’s/Pele Kick combo – and in the aftermath it appeared that he and Taven blamed Adam Cole for both that and their loss. Have they been able to patch up their differences? If not, despite having more experience as a trio, they will find it extremely hard to overcome a former World Champion and one of the most dominating teams in ROH Tag Title history. We are also well aware of the history between Cole has with the likes of O’Reilly and Elgin.
The Kingdom appear tense before the bell, with Maria declaring that she ‘forgives’ Cole for Best In The World whilst he looks less than impressed. Meanwhile Elgin has apparently had a ‘change in attitude’ (i.e. ROH want him to be babyface again now but can’t be bothered to book an angle to get there) and smiles as he puts Bennett in a lengthy vertical suplex – with reDRagon putting the rest of The Kingdom in submissions around him. Taven pulls him out of the ring moments later, leaving him in the path of a somersault plancha from Bennett. Together they isolate Elgin; putting him at a serious advantage as we cut to the final commercial of the episode. That lasts for several minutes, until Elgin hits a Codebreaker/senton combo on Cole and Bennett and makes the much-needed tag. reDRagon hit the backbreaker/knee drop combo on Cole, then the LAUNCHPAD GERMAN on Taven for 2! Fish slingshots over the turnbuckles into a senton on Bennett…as Cole SUPERKICKS O’Reilly! FLYING SUICIDE DIVE TO THE FLOOR by Taven! Back inside the ring Unbreakable scoops both IWGP Tag Champions up for a double Samoan drop, even finding time to take out Adam Cole as well in the process. Buckle Bomb blocked by Matt, leaving the way clear for Bennett to scoop Elgin up for the Backpack Stunner/Bicycle Kick combo! STEREO PESCADOS by reDRagon! AWESOME BOMB TO THE FLOOR from Elgin to Taven! CHASING THE DRAGON/AVALANCHE ELGIN BOMB COMBO! COLE BREAKS THE FALL! PANAMA SUNRISE ON ELGIN! HAIL MARY NAILED! Elgin kicks out! He then evades another Panama Sunrise as Fish spears Matt into the guardrails. Cole and O’Reilly come face-to-face! SUPERKICK! NO SOLD! JAWBREAKER LARIAT! CHASING THE DRAGON! O’Reilly pins Cole at 13:30 (shown).
Rating - **** - I settled into my chair expecting a good-but-not-great, perfectly solid but probably forgettable Sinclair TV main event, so was actually blown away by how much fun this was. It was hard to get past the whole deal with Elgin randomly being babyface again, but the wrestling was so much fun here. Elgin dominated the early-going, meaning The Kingdom need to launch assorted multi-man attacks to isolate and weaken him as the strongest member of the opposing team. reDRagon are more than proficient at multi-man/combo moves – and proved that when they got the tag and spearheaded an all-out war between the two trios in a mad dash for victory. I know this was mostly a spotfest, but I actually saw a lot of logic behind what they were doing. Definitely one to check out using your Ringside Membership…
Cole shakes O’Reilly’s hand and congratulates him on the win, then walks out on The Kingdom as they berate him at ringside…
Tape Rating - *** - A couple of weeks too late, but now it is finally here this was a really strong episode to follow up on Best In The World. The main event was the kind of smash-mouthed, fast-paced, exciting pro-wrestling product Ring Of Honor should be presenting every week, and the in-ring segment in the middle efficiently recapped the events of Best In The World and then set the stage for the next major offering – Lethal/Strong at Death Before Dishonor. Castle/Watanabe wasn’t great (although the Castle/Silas stuff was ok) but on the whole this was a snappy hour of television. There’s no reason ROH can’t produce solid episodes like this every week.