ROH on Sinclair – Episode 204 – 19th August 2015

A big rematch between the Young Bucks and RPG Vice headlines this episode of Ring Of Honor Wrestling. Given the calibre of some of their matches in Japan, not to mention their blistering sprint in Las Vegas for Ring Of Honor earlier in the Aftershock Tour, that one should be a lot of fun. Baltimore, MD is our host city. Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness are our commentary team – with Corino still benched following a tense exchange with The Decade during Episode 203.

Silas Young vs Dalton Castle
This feud is escalating rapidly and could provide a fiery start to the hour. Castle did defeat Young at Best In The World but had to use rather underhanded tactics to do so. Since then he and the Last Real Man have been kept separate – but that hasn’t stopped Silas from assaulting The Boys. How far will Young go to get payback for the pay-per-view loss and to avenge the embarrassment he believes he has suffered over recent weeks.

Castle attacks Young before the bell, clearly still pissed off at the treatment his Boys have had to endure. The dead-lift Gotch suplex sends Silas to the outside…and he can barely control his rage as The Boys approach him. That exchange turns out to be to his advantage though, as it gives him the chance to dump Castle into the guardrails. Another distraction from The Boys almost allows Dalton to hit the Bang-A-Rang but Young counters with a springboard clothesline. FOOTBALL TACKLE OVER THE TOP ROPE by Dalton! And of course, on the floor is where the Party Peacock is in position to hit the apron-feint headscissors…which he does so with precision. TURNBUCKLE DDT gets 2 for Young! Misery blocked…Everest German blocked…Killer Combo nailed! The Boys provide another distraction, and this time Dalton capitalises with Bang-A-Rang! He wins at 08:11 (shown).

Rating - *** - Not as outright exciting as the Watanabe/ACH match that opened last week, but I really enjoyed this. There were a few flashy moves here and there, but for the most part this felt like an uncomplicated and intensely physical fight. It was the kind of match which perfectly showcases the skills of both men. Young is a great hand but not always the most exciting wrestler to watch – and he was right in his wheelhouse playing a pissed off, old-school, aggressive alpha-male type. Likewise rugged fights like this so wonderfully contrast Dalton’s flamboyant character. I am really enjoying the ‘shades of grey’ booking of their angle. Dalton is the face, but he is the one using low blows and outside interference to win. Likewise he is the extravagant, sexually ambiguous extrovert, with a character so diametrically opposed to Young, who comes off like something of a Neanderthal looking to attack something he doesn’t understand, relate to or remotely like. It’s a fascinating angle and completely unique…

Silas grabs a microphone to rant about Castle’s character and lifestyle. He thinks somebody needs to teach The Boys to be ‘men’…and wants a third match. If he wins, he wants ‘possession’ of The Boys!

INSIDE ROH – Mandy Leon has some clips to demonstrate the history of Kyle O’Reilly and Adam Cole as tag partners in Future Shock. She has footage of their victory over The Addiction last week too, before announcing that next week it’ll be Addiction vs Future Shock for the Tag Titles.

Back in the arena Kevin Kelly is poised to interview Bobby Fish at ringside. They discuss his status as #1 contender for the TV Title, which brings Jay Lethal out too. Bobby doesn’t think Lethal will even make it past Hanson at these tapings…

Will Ferrara vs Moose
I don’t think there’s any rivalry between these two so to speak, but they do cross paths in multi-man matches an awful lot. Does the plucky Ferrara have anything up his sleeve to pose even a remote threat to Moose? How will Moose react to his loss to Cedric Alexander at Death Before Dishonor? Even with Prince Nana and Stokely Hathaway championing his cause, he looks a little lost right now.

Apparently Moose is Nana’s protégé? Personally I’d rather have Nana booked for every Moose appearance than Stokely if so. He shrugs off some ineffective Ferrara strikes then strolls outside to swing the unfortunately Dojo graduate into the railings. Will hits a couple of completely impossible DDT’s – one from a tope to the floor – instantly shattering the credibility of this match. It gets worse when Moose stumbles attempting a rope-run belly to belly suplex. The Hitstick wins it at 03:23

Rating - DUD - I found almost nothing to like about this one. It was sluggish and really did nothing to advance either man. Watching Moose have to take those bumps for the miniscule Ferrara was entirely silly and killed it for me. There have actually been some effective squashes and enhancement matches in recent weeks (Kingdom vs Hollis/Gresham, Cedric vs Romantic Touch, ACH vs Watanabe etc), and this fell well short of that standard. And I’m still totally confused about what the relationship is between Moose, Stokely and Nana. Having Nana mutter garbled gibberish on commentary during every Moose match is doing NOTHING to rectify that either.

Adam Cole has some promo time, touching most of the points he raised when commentating on the Kingdom/reDRagon tag last week. He is on hype duty for the Future Shock vs Addiction Tag Title Match at Episode 205

RPG Vice vs Young Bucks
VQ for this episode on the ROHWrestling.com archive is appalling (maybe it’s just my set-up), so this could degenerate into a totally pixelated mess! Vice scored an impressive victory over their great rivals from the New Japan Jr. Heavyweight tag division back in Las Vegas, and the disappointed Young Bucks have been granted an immediate rematch. These two teams (plus the Forever Hooligans before that) have been trading wins for a long time. Now they bring the rivalry to ROH television.

Beretta sensibly avoids an early Superkick…but in turn Matt counters the Forever Clotheslines from Romero, as Nick hits a tornado DDT to the floor on Trent. More Bang For Your F*ck blocked! SOMERSAULT PLANCHA TO THE FLOOR by Nick! The precocious Young Bucks have too much in the tank in the early going and have succeeded in isolating Romero before we go to commercials. Beretta saves with a Gobstopper and turns the tables to that RPG Vice can start wearing down Matt. SUPERKICK on Trent! Forever Clothesline on Matt! SUPERKICK on Romero! APRON MOONSAULT/TOPE SUICIDA COMBO! Romero ducks the double Superkick to counter into his double rana spot…but isn’t doing enough damage and is put on the canvas with the assisted standing Shiranui spot. Nick and Rocky have an INCREDIBLE near-miss exchange! GERMAN by Beretta! LARIATOOO by Romero! All four down! DOOMSDAY KNEE ON THE FLOOR from RPG Vice to Matt! Nick grabs the ropes to block Strong Zero, then counters to a FLIP PILEDRIVER! ROPE RUN GERMAN SUPERPLEX BY BERETTA…BUT MATT LANDS ON HIS F*CKING FEET! SUPERKICK! TOPE ATOMICO BY NICK! MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK! The Bucks get their win back at 12:48 (shown).

Rating - **** - I preferred the Vegas match which didn’t have commercials to make it feel disjointed, had a better crowd and generally felt a lot more rapid, slick and polished. But, this was a worthy sequel and any time these two teams get together it is usually pretty fun to watch. I’m sure I said during my Aftershock Vegas review that the amount of familiarity counters these guys do in any match now is mind-boggling. That back flip off the top out of a German superplex by Matt Jackson at the end was a stunning spot. For free-to-air television this was a hell of a main event.

The Addiction and Chris Sabin (or is Sabin considered part of an ‘Addiction’ stable?) run in and assault the Young Bucks, then take a few shots at RPG Vice too. Matt Jackson is tied to the ropes and assaulted, before Daniels and Kaz hit an INDYTAKER on Nick! Daniels, Kazarian and Sabin stand tall to close the show.

Tape Rating - *** - A strong start, an even stronger main event and another heated Jay Lethal exchange over the Television Title in the middle made this another enjoyable episode. Moose vs Ferrara was every bit as appalling as you might expect, but the rest of the content more than made up for it. Putting a Bucks/Vice main event on their TV show is a surefire way for Ring Of Honor to make their product standout. It isn’t to everyone’s taste, but even a middle-of-the-road match for them (as this one was) will contain some really cutting edge stuff.

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