ROH on Sinclair – Episode 210 – 30th September 2015
This episode should be killer, as it will feature Matt Sydal battling Kushida and Adam Cole taking on Shinsuke Nakamura – both of which were outstanding matches. For a casual fan, this is one of those episodes you needed to be going out of your way to see. We join Steve Corino and Kevin Kelly in Philadelphia, PA for the last of the episodes during the Aftershock Tour stop-off in the 2300 Arena.
Matt Sydal vs Kushida
I believe this is right before Sydal went to Japan to make his NJPW debut. He remains a big name on the independent circuit, and now has his eyes set on making a splash inside the biggest promotion in Japan too. There is no doubt that earning a pinfall win over the reigning IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion would be a hell of a way to make a first impression.
Kushida works the mat with Sydal and looks to be the more proficient grappler and spends more than a minute frustrating the former WWE superstar. He’s quicker too, cartwheeling out of a Sydal headscissors to kick him right in the head. Sydal can’t trade strikes with the Tajiri-trained athlete either, so eventually settles for trying to attack a body part. He swarms Kushida’s knee; slowing Japanese athlete and preventing him from throwing kicks. He may be struggling to walk, but Kushida still has his eye on victory and hits the arm stunner trying to set his opponent up for the Hoverboard Lock. TOP ROPE SOMERSAULT PLANCHA TO THE FLOOR! And to his credit he comes up selling the leg too! As Reborn tries to crawl back inside Kushida greets him with a running boot to the shoulder, then a moonsault for 2. Sydal kicks the legs…only to have the standing moonsault COUNTERED to the Hoverboard Lock! He finds a rope but such is Kushida’s aggression that he refuses to let go and gives him another armwrench instead. Buzzsaw Kick ducked then countered to a spinning heel kick. NO SOLD! JUMPING HEEL KICK by Kushida to leave them both down! Kicks to the arm by Kushida! Handspring heel kick COUNTERED TO A REVERSE RANA by Sydal, getting a 2-count. SYDAL PRESS MISSES! HOVERBOARD LOCK! Sydal kicks his way free! SO KUSHIDA PUNCHES HIM IN THE FACE! NO SOLD! JUMPING KNEE STRIKE gets 2! SYDAL PRESS! HE WINS! Matt Sydal shocks the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion at 14:45
Rating - **** - Both men could have done more to sell their respective injuries, but on the whole this was another amazing sprint from Kushida – who is making a real habit of producing stunning matches every time he comes to ROH. Watching two high quality athletes such as this go move for move, especially in that last three or four minutes, was a real treat.
BJ Whitmer is on crutches, but has a live microphone and is complaining that Adam Page isn’t booked in the main event.
Adam Page vs Will Ferrara vs Takaaki Watanabe vs Moose
There is an argument to be made that each one of these men won’t be happy with their current spot in Ring Of Honor, and that they’ll all currently be feeling undervalued. The best way to force your way up the card to higher profile roster spots is to string together wins, so leaving Philadelphia with a victory here is of huge significance.
Page acts like a dick before the match, but tags out to Moose at the first sign of trouble once the bell rings. Poor Ferrara is in the firing line and eats the Game Breaker…and naturally Adam tags back in the second he has been neutralised. He also has Colby Corino on hand to take a few cheap shots at Will behind the referee’s back. Watanabe ends Page’s dominance with a fisherman buster for 2. Colby trash talks with Moose and gets emphatically kicked off the apron as a result, and the big man turns right around to counter the Adam’s Apple into the Hitstick. More stupid spots with Ferrara trying to credibly hit offence on Moose are thankfully curtailed when Wata suplexes Will ON HIS HEAD! GERMAN SUPLEX ON MOOSE! Evil STO from Watanabe to Ferrara gets him the win at 06:32
Rating - * - Putting Watanabe over was such a perplexing decision it took all the shine off of this match for me. He has done nothing during his excursion, and whilst his performances have improved recently there was literally nothing (other than getting up New Japan’s butt some more) for ROH to gain from putting him over. Page keeps producing good singles matches when given the opportunity to do so…but they then get instantly made redundant when he gets relegated back to faffing around in pointless filler. He was spectacularly wasted here, and has been completely mismanaged for his entire Ring Of Honor career.
Bushwhacker Luke shows up to lick Steve Corino ahead of the main event…
NEXT WEEK – Road Rage from Field Of Honor 2015.
Adam Cole vs Shinsuke Nakamura
Cole remains desperate to get back into ROH World Title contention. He’ll know a win over the King Of Strong Style, arguably NJPW’s most recognisable face, instantly elevates him to top contendership status…and probably gets him a ticket back to New Japan as well.
Cole goes straight after the arm that Nakamura injured during the G-1 Climax Tournament which is a nice touch – especially after Nak spent most of the pre-match smirking at him like a lunatic. Naka pretending to be scared of the ‘Adam Cole BAYBAY’ stuff is one of the funniest things to happen in ROH this year. Adam responds by kicking him in the leg as he attempts a signature knee strike then makes fun of one of his poses! A running knee against the guardrails is his punishment for that insolence. Sensibly Adam takes it inside the ring and drags the King Of Strong Style to the mat – where he can use none of his aforementioned ‘strong style’. Much of his offence focuses on Nakamura’s back and neck, but doesn’t successfully kill off the foreign visitor…and pretty soon he is KNEE-ING THE SH*T out of Cole! Credit to Cole; who covers up to survive those then comes up throwing a flurry of superkicks back at Nak. Fed up of absorbing knees, Cole picks apart Shinsuke’s legs – to the extent that he struggles to run the ropes. It builds to the Figure 4 Leglock! There’s no more smiling and dancing now – Naka is screaming in pain! Finally he does escape by throwing a knee strike, only to collapse to the ground right alongside Cole. LUNGBLOWER by Nakamura, followed by a Regalplex…and again he goes down clutching his leg! Bomaye…COUNTERED with a running knee from Cole! SHINING WIZARD gets 2. Florida Key! Still 2! Last Shot blocked into a FLYING KNEE by Nakamura! BOTH MEN DOWN! Cole kicks the leg…AXE KICK! RUNNING KNEE! Nakamura gets 2! BOMAYE BLOCKED! COLE SPITS IN HIS FACE! Last Shot COUNTERED TO THE LANDSLIDE! COLE NO SELLS! BOMAYE! Nakamura wins at 17:41
Rating - **** - I liked this even more than Strong/Nakamura from Global Wars. That night it was Roddy who carried the match. This one was great thanks to all the things we love about Nakamura matches. He was violent, he was charismatic, and he sure as hell helped his opponent look fantastic too. For a guy who’s offence is 90% knee strikes, he did delivered more of a thorough and competent sell-job on the leg injury than a man of his stature (on a show of this stature) needed to. He scores the win, but he gave Adam Cole, Ring Of Honor’s ace, plenty. This stands as one of ROH’s best TV matches of the entire year.
Tape Rating - **** - The fourway in the middle was pretty awful, but the matches they opened and closed the episode with are both excellent; making this one of the better episodes of ROH on SBG for 2015. Sydal/Kushida is a quick, slick and polished example of 21st century junior heavyweight wrestling…and the Cole/Nakamura main event was really worth going out of your way to see. The most frustrating thing about Ring Of Honor is that they can lurch from a dreadfully booked pay-per-view, hopelessly underwhelming live events the following weekend…then bust out a killer show like this.