ROH on Sinclair – Episode 207 – 9th September 2015
I’ve already reviewed the in-ring content from the next four episodes as they were released for DVD. That means I know that this episode, dubbed a ‘Championship Edition’ should be something of a cracker. It features The Addiction defending the Tag Titles against the Young Bucks, followed by the much-anticipated World Championship rematch between Jay Lethal and Roderick Strong. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino called the action for us in Philadelphia, PA.
Jay Lethal and Truth Martini open the show with promo time and vow to destroy Roderick Strong tonight – to the extent that even Cheeseburger will be a more viable World Title contender.
Roddy obviously doesn’t agree with that and states that however good Lethal is, he’s even better. He thinks he’ll be a two-time Ring Of Honor Champion by the end of the show.
The Addiction vs Young Bucks – ROH Tag Title Match
At Episode 204 we saw Daniels, Kazarian and Sabin violently assault the Jackson brothers in an attempt to crush them out of the title picture. Clearly that didn’t work and now Matt and Nick want the belts The Addiction worked (and schemed) so hard to attain. Sabin is here and in the corner of the champions.
EARLY ONSET ALZHEIMER’S on Daniels! Sabin acts quickly to rescue Frankie from a similar fate, but the Bucks are rampant and moonsault out after them! Paul Turner ejects Sabin from ringside, but only after a DOUBLE SUPERKICK from the Jacksons! This is an insane pace and it doesn’t stop there, with Kaz shoving Nick to the floor from the top rope and Daniels piling out after them with the Arabian Press. STEEL CHAIR SHOT on Nick! Did the ref see that? The editing on this is awful, although I appreciate they are trying to leave in the content that will be clipped out during the commercial breaks when it goes out on TV. The sound is shockingly out of sync with the action too. Obviously Nick has been neutralised which has left the champs easily able to isolate and wear down his brother. REBOUND CORKSCREW STUNNER from Matt to Daniels! TORNADO DDT TO THE FLOOR by Nick! Daniels somehow recovers to join his partner in hitting the powerbomb/neckbreaker for 2. Best Moonsault Ever blocked…and all four men go down! WAVE OF THE FUTURE on Matt! The Kingdom are at ringside assaulting Chris Daniels, with Taven looking like a cross-dresser for some reason!? TOP ROPE MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR AT THEM BY NICK! MORE BANG FOR YOUR F*CK! DANIELS PULLS THE REF OUT! Then as Turner argues with The Kingdom on the floor he runs in and uses the title belt on Nick! Matt snatches it and wants to do the same…but has it snatched from him by Maria! Kazarian grabs him for a sneaky roll-up and wins the match at 11:50
Rating - **** - A generous 4* rating from an open and well-documented fan of the Young Bucks’ style, but I can’t deny that I was thoroughly entertained here. It wasn’t the best match they could have had, but it never stopped being fun and I just loved the contrast between the constant insanity coming from the Bucks and the persistent cheating and veteran cheating from Daniels and Kaz. Bearing in mind that this is a TV taping, for an UNDERCARD match on the television show this was exceptional.
Nigel McGuinness isn’t happy with that finish. He berates Daniels for betraying ROH’s principles and calls The Kingdom ‘wankers' for interfering…then punishes them both by adding the Young Bucks to the scheduled Addiction/Kingdom Tag Title Match at All Star Extravaganza.
INSIDE ROH – Mandy Leon runs through the bullet points of the Dalton Castle/Silas Young feud.
Jay Lethal vs Roderick Strong – ROH World Title Match
These two wrestled to a memorable 60-minute draw at Death Before Dishonor, and now bring the rivalry to television for the rematch. Both men felt the initial draw backed up their claim that the other man couldn’t beat them. Will we see a clean winner this evening?
The start is frantic, with Strong almost countering the hiptoss/dropkick spot into the Stronghold only to be kicked out of the ring into the path of Lethal’s big tope suicida. He no sells that and hits a hell of a dropkick – with such force that it draws a ‘holy sh*t’ chant from an ECW Arena crowd! His head takes more of a pounding soon after with Roddy rattling it against the guardrails. The full House Of Truth are at ringside and it takes a distraction from Martini, Dijak and Diesel to buy Lethal some time. Wisely Jay slows it right down; grinding onto a chinlock trying to catch his breath as much as work his opponent’s neck. One of Lethal’s punches has opened up a cut on Strong’s forehead making things even more difficult for the challenger. The champion’s gameplan is becoming clear – keep the pace methodical, kill any momentum Strong tries to build and work the neck where possible. It is clearly working too; as he’s now able to shrug off the normally potent chops of his foe and easily haul him down into a front facelock. Lethal Combination blocked…Olympic Slam blocked…Lethal Injection COUNTERED TO A CRADLE BACKBREAKER! RUNNING ELBOW FLURRY! MUSO gets 2! Jay drops to his knees to evade End Of Heartache before exploding from below like a snake into the Lethal Combination. Roderick climbs to the top rope, and hits Hail To The King on Lethal…for 2! Neither man can stand too well now but still come up throwing strikes from their knees. Superplex by Strong…only for Lethal to roll through into a small package! SUPERKICK! LETHAL INJECTION COUNTERED TO THE SICK KICK! FOR 2 AGAIN! Lethal tries to use the TV Title belt but it’s blocked, and Roddy even finds time to take out Diesel and Dijak for good measure! The distraction means Jay is able to escape Death By Roderick…then NAIL him with the World Title behind Sinclair’s back. LETHAL INJECTION! STRONG KICKS OUT! An irate Lethal kicks him right in the face then gives him ANOTHER Lethal Injection. This time it is over at 18:24
Rating - **** - I can’t think of too many better matches taped for the SBG TV show all year. This was an outstanding sequel to the Death Before Dishonor match. Seriously intense stuff, with very little filler dragging it down and every move and counter legitimately meaning something. The Philly crowd provided a raucous atmosphere for them to perform in too which certainly helped.
Both members of reDRagon stand in the aisle gesturing at Jay Lethal. He has to defend both of his championships against them at All Star Extravaganza.
Tape Rating - **** - As predicted, this made for a superb episode of ROH’s weekly show. Both matches were great and didn’t lose as much through being chopped up for television as I’d feared. Strong/Lethal in particular is about as must-see as the Sinclair show has gotten in a long time. If you didn’t fork out for the Aftershock Philadelphia DVD but do have Ringside Membership this is an easy and convenient way to check out a couple of great free-TV matches.