ROH on Sinclair – Episode 205 – 26th August 2015
So after events of the previous weekend in Philadelphia and Brooklyn we now know the majority of the card for All Star Extravaganza – the next pay-per-view we are building towards. Tag Team Champions The Addiction have been making enemies all over the place and have a title defence scheduled for the ppv against both The Kingdom and the Young Bucks. But as a result of their actions they might not even make it to San Antonio with the belts, as tonight they defend against the reunited Future Shock in our main event. Will they survive the challenge of one part reDRagon (the team they screwed out of the belts in the first place) and one part The Kingdom (the group they framed for their mysterious masked deeds in the angle that got them to the belts)? Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino are at ringside in Baltimore, MD to find out…
Bloodbound Warriors vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe
For some reason ROH have brought the massive, immobile, muscled up ‘Bloodbound Warriors’ back for another look. They’ve appeared on TV before and are completely jacked – with such inflated physiques that they are appalling wrestlers. Their names are ‘Grey Wolf’ and ‘Red Scorpion’, and tonight they look to earn a spot by defeating the top tag team in Ring Of Honor history.
Grey Wolf, rather confusingly, is the one covered almost head-to-toe in red bodypaint apparently. He starts with Jay Briscoe and is generally such a muscular presence that the former World Champion struggles to take him off his feet. Red Scorpion gets a tag and BRUTALLY press slams Mark to the floor! Like, he really didn’t do much to protect Mark at all! Wolf is out there waiting too; smashing Mark into the guardrails. Jay dives out after him with a tope suicida! Scorpion BACK DROPS Mark over the turnbuckles to the floor! Seriously, why is Mark taking such insane bumps for these dudes? Jay finally floors Grey Wolf with a Roaring Elbow, as Mark returns with the Froggy Bow. A big lariat puts Scorpion down for the count at 04:20
Rating - ** - I can’t pretend I didn’t somewhat enjoy that. I mean, I have no idea what ROH/SBG are doing bringing these weird, painted, muscled up oddballs back – but the match itself had some real car crash appeal. The Briscoe Brothers have been major, marquee, centrepiece acts for Sinclair’s Ring Of Honor pretty much since the day they bought our Cary. Why they just sent Mark out to take insane bumps, whilst Jay had to look weak being unable to take one of the enhancement talents off of his feet, is a total mystery to me.
The Decade are on the stage, Adam Page has a live microphone…and he starts trash talking Jay Briscoe again. Jay wants to fight him now, but BJ Whitmer makes him wait until next week.
NEXT WEEK – Jay Lethal defends the TV Title against Hanson.
Donovan Dijak vs Roderick Strong
This was booked so Dijak can act as an enforcer for Jay Lethal, doing some damage to Roddy before he travelled to Philadelphia to compete in his ROH World Title rematch as part of the Aftershock Tour TV tapings there. That match will air in a couple of weeks on television, but for now we’ll get to see just how much Dijak was able so soften up Mr ROH. It is a big opportunity for the 2015 Top Prospect Tournament winner to climb the card too…
Dijak uses his size to repeatedly shove Strong on his ass and makes quite a statement with the dominant nature of his start to the match. At the two minute mark he tackles Strong off the apron with such force that he crashes all the way down to the guardrails! Nothing Roddy tries is working, as next he springboards off the second rope straight into a crunching backbreaker by Donovan. The HOT man is using Strong’s own tactics against him and methodically picking apart his back. Soon he is rendered unable to hit Death By Roderick – and can’t even get Dijak off the mat before eating a close-range superkick. OLYMPIC SLAM by Strong, leaving them both down! He chases Dijak up the turnbuckles and hooks him up for a MASSIVE superplex! But after that big move Strong is barely able to stand either. He tries to trade strikes with Donovan and winds up walking into a CYCLONE KICK for 2! Feast Your Eyes blocked…to DEATH BY RODERICK! SICK KICK! Strong wins at 08:25 (shown).
Rating - *** - This was a strong, competitive and engaging match. In actuality, what this did was make me wish they’d have put this one onto a house show and given them 15-20 minutes to produce something really special (and really star-making for Dijak). Without a doubt this was Dijak’s strongest Ring Of Honor showing thus far. It obviously helped that he had Roddy in there with him, but his own work was crisp, precise and completely believable. He has great size, and for the first time it really felt like he was a motivated and athletic killer, rather than a tall dude showcasing some impressive feats of agility like an exhibition match. These guys need a rematch…
The House Of Truth mob Strong after the match and beat him into the canvas until War Machine come out to make a save. Hanson gestures that he is taking Lethal’s TV Title belt next week…
INSIDE ROH – Mandy Leon seems lovely, but is getting NO better at hosting this segment at all. She hypes both of Lethal’s title defences against reDRagon at All Star Extravaganza…but makes them sound about as interesting as choosing between a gerbil or a hamster at a pet store.
The Addiction vs Future Shock – ROH Tag Title Match
I love that Cole and O’Reilly are using ‘Get Off The Stoves’ to enter the arena with, just like they did during their full-time run as a team. They could be set for another full-time run as well, should they repeat the events of Episode 202 and defeat Daniels and Kazarian once again. That night they made an impromptu reunion and defeated The Addiction, effectively jumping both the Young Bucks and Cole’s Kingdom stable-mates Mike Bennett and Matt Taven to become top contenders for the Tag Titles. This time Daniels and Kazarian have had time to prepare, and have masses of tag team experience which gives them an obvious advantage over their opponents second time around. They also have Chris Sabin in their corner – and we saw how devastating they can be as a trio last week at Episode 204.
Depending on your perspective we either have a prelude to or sequel to Field Of Honor 2015 as Daniels and Cole start the match for their respective teams. Both younger men appear to have the edge over The Addiction and comprehensively out-wrestle their opposite numbers in one-on-one situations. The Addiction are way more experienced as a duo though, and that comes to the fore as Frankie preoccupies the official whilst Daniels viciously assaults Cole outside the ring. Within seconds the champs are rattling off effortless double teams and fluent tag team sequences to isolate Cole. The experience comes into play again when Daniels jerks O’Reilly off the apron to block his partner from making a tag. It leaves Adam trying to fight both opponents at once – eventually applying a Figure 4 on Kaz! Fujiwara armbar by Kyle! KOJI CLUTCH ON O’REILLY by Daniels! ARM-AGEDDON ON FRANKIE! KNEEBAR ON DANIELS! O’Reilly scoops Daniels up to deposit him into Total Elimination for 2! Frankie saves with a discrete low blow on Cole…so Kyle gives him a brainbuster than slaps on Arm-ageddon again! Bennett and Taven swarm the ring and distract the ref AS FRANKIE TAPS OUT! They try to feed O’Reilly into Celebrity Rehab…but Cole SAVES with a superkick! Roll-up on Kaz…THREE COUNT! But Todd Sinclair still isn’t looking! TAVEN SUPERKICKS O’REILLY! FOR 2! Maria Kanellis grabs O’Reilly’s leg next…only for Adam Cole to chase her up the aisle! He leaves Kyle alone and vulnerable to Celebrity Rehab! Addiction have had plenty of good fortune, but retain the belts at 12:29 (shown).
Rating - **** - Obviously this wasn’t a MOTYC or anything like that, but for a free TV show I thought this was a really entertaining main event. There was some great wrestling on view, with the awesome dynamic of Future Shock being superior singles wrestlers but unable to outwit The Addiction as a tag team a particular treat for me. There were so many neat moments where either Cole or O’Reilly would break out a spot which works well for them in singles matches, but left them vulnerable as a team – like Cole trying the Figure 4 or Kyle trying Arm-ageddon without Bobby Fish watching his back as with his reDRagon matches. The overbooking at the end was done in an entertaining way, and knowing where the Kingdom/Addiction/O’Reilly stuff was leading meant that in hindsight some of the stuff they did with The Kingdom’s interference here was actually rather clever. This whole angle has been enjoyable so far and clearly we’re going to see more of it, which I’m fine with. It was also a much more fitting ‘reunion’ match for Future Shock than the throwaway segment they had in New York a few episodes ago.
The Addiction and Sabin try to beat O’Reilly up some more, but are chased off by Bobby Fish and the Young Bucks. Bennett and Taven are still at ringside too, so are more than happy to get involved in a fight with both of their All Star Extravaganza opponents. STEREO TOPE SUICIDAS by the Bucks as the show ends!
Tape Rating - *** - Without being knock-your-socks-off incredible too often, Ring Of Honor has actually been consistently quite enjoyable since the forgettable ‘Road To Best In The World Tour’ ended. This was another seriously solid episode; packing in an exciting main event, a crisp and punchy undercard battle and even an enhancement match opener which produced some genuine (albeit baffling) moments of amazement. The Tag Title match and Strong/Dijak make this incredibly easy to recommend if you’re using your Ringside Membership to surf through old SBG TV episodes.