ROH on Sinclair – Episode 202 – 5th August 2015

Episode 201 was mediocre, no matter how hard Bobby Fish and ACH tried to save it. And unfathomably, we are STILL in New York’s Terminal 5 building this week. I know it’s not all their fault, but I feel like ROH has been stuck talking about Best In The World, or airing content FROM Best In The World for a thousand years now. I think finally this is the last episode from these seemingly endless post-PPV TV tapings at least. At least the two announced matches are big ones to go out on – with the Young Bucks taking on War Machine and former Future Shock tag partners colliding in the main event as Adam Cole faces Kyle O’Reilly. Steve Corino still has a job after the incident with BJ Whitmer last week, and rejoins Kevin Kelly at ringside in Manhattan, NY.

Roderick Strong, sporting a black eye, reflects on the one hour broadway he contested with Jay Lethal at Death Before Dishonor. He thinks Lethal can’t beat him and petitions Nigel McGuinness for a rematch.

War Machine vs Young Bucks
Genuine question – why is this match getting dumped onto the undercard of a random episode of the show and not being used to draw ROH some actual money? Big, tough, beardy War Machine against the brash, athletic and ultra-over Young Bucks could have been a huge match for the promotion if marketed right. Worse still…why the hell didn’t it at least get to be a TV main event instead of some of the very average content we’ve seen coming out of this taping? When on their game both of these teams are a real pleasure to watch. The Bucks throw tag team spots around better than anyone else out there, whilst Hanson and Rowe are at their best tossing smaller athletes around like children. If they get a decent platform and serviceable time allowance this could be the best opening match in SBG history.

The Bucks tell War Machine to ‘suck it’…and get absolutely pummelled from the opening bell. I like that the big men have some strategy behind their ruggedness too, by keeping one Buck outside at all times to prevent them from using tandem offensive strikes. STEREO SUPERKICKS on the floor! STEREO MOONSAULTS BLOCKED! Hanson and Rowe pluck the Jacksons out of the air then throw them straight at each other. Nick rescues his brother from a chokeslam off the apron, then prop Rowe up against the ring for a CANNONBALL TO THE FLOOR! Frog splash/standing moonsault combo on Hanson gets 2. Early Onset Alzheimer’s sends him to the floor, with Nick in hot pursuit hitting a somersault plancha. He looks to have busted his ankle on landing though and doctors are at ringside checking on him as we go to commercials. When we return Ray Rowe has dragged Matt back into the ring where he and his partner hit the Shotgun Knee/Bronco Buster combo. AJ Styles is out checking on Nick, as inside Matt barely evades Death Rowe…then falls victim to the Cement Mixer instead. Somehow he trips Hanson to the floor, as Styles hops onto the apron. Paul Turner accepts him as a replacement…so in he comes with a flying headscissors on Rowe. Superman Punch on AJ! SUPERKICK on Hanson! NO SOLD! The ref is bumped in the ensuing melee, and back into the match hops a perfectly healthy Nick Jackson. It’s all a Bullet Club scheme, and he superkicks Rowe into BLOODY SUNDAY! STYLES CLASH! Bullet Club win at 10:02 (shown).

Rating - *** - Obviously I’d rather have seen a clean, uncomplicated match between these two teams, however (as I alluded to during my intro) I think they could do good business with these guys down the line so working in some Bullet Club shenanigans was actually a clever way to go. The match possibly wasn’t as good as it otherwise would’ve been, but it gets AJ on television (he worked a dark match with Samoa Joe and The Addiction at these tapings), gives Ring Of Honor fans a taste of some of the more nefarious tactics the BC have used in New Japan, and of course gives some protection to War Machine in defeat. An upbeat and punchy way to start the episode.

Adam Cole is backstage and admits he isn’t sure where he’s going with his career right now. He still considers himself part of The Kingdom, but admits he is friends with Kyle O’Reilly. He was at Kyle’s wedding, and it was Kyle who called to check on him when he was injured…not Mike Bennett, Maria Kanellis or Matt Taven. Cole ends by emphasising that he wants an honourable, respectful main event with his friend tonight.

Cedric Alexander vs Romantic Touch
This was technically Cedric’s first match with Veda Scott by his side as manager (albeit it airs after Death Before Dishonor). At Death Before Dishonor he scored another huge win over Moose, so is probably as close to cracking the glass ceiling in ROH as he has been in more than a year. Surely he won’t let the goofy Romantic Touch derail that momentum?

Alexander assaults Touch during his ring entrance and blasts him with repeated IED’s in the corner. He’s a total dick to RT, yanking his mask to distort his vision then popping him right in the mouth with a straight right hand. Romantic T comes back from that with a somersault plancha to the floor – but that brings him within the clutches of Veda. She distracts the masked lothario until Cedric can crotch him against the middle rope. Lumbar Check seals an emphatic victory for Alexander at 02:40

Rating - N/A - Pretty much a perfect squash/enhancement match for Cedric here. This heel turn as reinvigorated everything about his work, and really given you a reason to get interested in his matches again and I thought he did a great job showcasing some of his new mannerisms here. It was also the perfect way to use Romantic Touch – i.e. job him hard.

Veda Scott demands that Cedric unmask Romantic Touch, and he shoves his own mentor Caprice Coleman over in his desire to do just that. Moose makes the save before Touch has his true identity revealed.

To the surprise of nobody, Jay Lethal doesn’t see the Death Before Dishonor main event quite like Roddy. He thinks it proves that Strong can’t beat him, and insists that Mr ROH goes to the ‘back of the line’ rather than get an immediate rematch.

INSIDE ROH – Mandy Leon shines a spotlight on the rise of Kyle O’Reilly. He has two submission victories and a 30-minute time-limit draw against him to his name in 2016 and Mandy backs that up with video clips.

Adam Cole vs Kyle O’Reilly
Interestingly, Cole comes out to The Kingdom’s mash-up version of his entrance theme rather than his individual variant. These two have a huge amount of history together in Ring Of Honor. From breaking in together, to forming a young tag team by the name of Future Shock to the epic, bloody ‘Hybrid Rules’ war they contested at Best In The World 2012. Their feud was intense, but (as we heard from Cole earlier) their friendship has been rekindled in the subsequent years. Cole shook Kyle’s hand following the main event of Episode 198 (much to the annoyance of his Kingdom partners) and has vowed that this will be a sporting, honourable contest. It’s a big match for O’Reilly, whom many now consider the top contender to the World Championship due to his unparalleled record against Jay Lethal in 2016. He can’t afford to start dropping high profile matches like this.

Chris Daniels is on commentary trashing both competitors. They stick to their word to fight with honour, but the opening exchange is still intense and culminates with both men missing the target with some big kick attempts. Some of their chain-wrestling is utterly spectacular, and deserves more than the total silence they get from the crowd and Kevin Kelly talking over it with his usual brand of total bullsh*t. They contest a length battle over a side headlock which even spills through the ropes to the outside. Cole dumps O’Reilly into the guardrails…then shoves Daniels over when he gets up to laugh about it. The Ring General then attacks both combatants, causing Todd Sinclair to declare a disappointing no contest at 04:50 (shown).

Rating - N/A - I’d like to give this the ‘DUD’ treatment as I wanted to see these guys wrestle. However, I appreciate the bigger picture and that if/as/when Cole and O’Reilly do lock horns again it should probably be at a major show rather than a filler TV main event. What they did do here was give us five minute of phenomenal mat wrestling before the non-finish. Not everyone will have liked it as much as I did, but I had a blast watching them chain.

Frankie Kazarian is soon at ringside too, giving us a four-man brawl between The Addiction and the team formerly known as Future Shock! Cole grabs a microphone to call them ‘old bastards’ and challenges them to a tag match.

The Addiction vs Future Shock
Adam Cole’s promo succinctly summed up the issues between these four guys. Daniels and Kazarian have spent too long screwing with both O’Reilly (cheating he and Bobby Fish out of the Tag Titles) and Cole (impersonating The Kingdom and framing them as the perpetrators of the KRD gimmick). For ‘one night only’ Future Shock are back together to fight a common enemy.

‘Almighty’ Christopher Daniels is competing in his street clothes and has his shirt ripped from his chest as Cole and O’Reilly pile into him with strike after strike. Kazarian at least has his gear and turns the fight in his team’s favour with a rolling neckbreaker on Kyle. Cole saves with the Last Shot on Daniels before hitting the Shining Wizard on him for 2. Figure 4 Leglock broken by a springboard legdrop from Frankie. Powerbomb/neckbreaker combo on O’Reilly! But Cole sneaks back in to roll-up Daniels and steal a big win at 04:46 (shown).

Rating - N/A - Again, I feel I’m being a little generous by giving this one an ‘N/A’ rating. It did feel like a massive waste of the Future Shock reunion in Ring Of Honor and I really find it hard to look past that. However, as with the O’Reilly/Cole match earlier, I can appreciate a ‘bigger picture’ viewpoint and can see Delirious is clearly booking some kind of longer-term angle here. Considering how rarely he actually tries to book genuine long-term storylines I really want to support it when he does try.

Chris Sabin rushes the ring to help Daniels and Kazarian, closely followed by Bobby Fish. The ring is cleared with Cole, O’Reilly and Fish standing tall…and Bennett, Taven and Maria on the stage looking pissed off about it.

Tape Rating - *** - Although the match ratings may not suggest it, this was an infinitely better episode of wrestling television than last week. There was some initial reaction to Death Before Dishonor in promo form, an enjoyable match between War Machine and the Young Bucks, an obviously beneficial squash match for Cedric and some major storyline advancement in the main event with Future Shock reuniting, The Addiction ramping up their campaign against both guys and the lingering tension between Cole and The Kingdom. I love great wrestling…but I really don’t expect Ring Of Honor to throw out four and five star classics out for free on television every week. What I do expect from them is to deliver a strong, episodic format with relevant and engaging content which makes me want to tune in again. Bob Evans and Cheeseburger don’t fall into that category…but almost everything on this episode did.

Top 5 Best In The World 2015 TV Taping Matches
5) Adam Page vs Matt Sydal (*** - Episode 199)
4) Jay Lethal vs Mark Briscoe (*** - Episode 199)
3) Young Bucks vs War Machine (*** - Episode 202)
2) Bobby Fish vs ACH (*** - Episode 201)
1) Michael Elgin/reDRagon vs The Kingdom (**** - Episode 198)

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