ROH on Sinclair – Episode 214 – 28th October 2015
Episode 198’s main event of reDRagon and Michael Elgin defeating The Kingdom was rather enjoyable, and one of the better SBG TV main events of the year thus far. Tonight the post-All Star Extravaganza fallout continues with those six men having a rematch…with the added tension of Fish and O’Reilly coming into contact with Adam Cole for the first time since he screwed Kyle out of the World Title. Kevin Kelly is joined by Nigel McGuinness for commentary, with Corino benched as a result of his assault on BJ Whitmer at the end of last week’s episode. We are taped in San Antonio, TX
Donovan Dijak vs Moose
One of the most enjoyable matches from the Glory By Honor 14 live event saw Dijak attempting to neutralise a potential challenger to Jay Lethal when he did battle with Michael Elgin. Unsuccessful on that occasion, he again steps into combat with a prospective challenger for the World Title as he squares off with Moose.
These are the two biggest men in ROH, and they make a huge sound as they crash into each other attempting shoulder blocks. Donovan tries to show off his agility…so Moose one-ups him by vertical leaping the full extent of his 6’7 height for a dropkick to the head. APRON CHOKESLAM BY DIJAK! ASAI MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR! Dijak wants to go high risk again, and flies into Moose’s knees as he attempts a springboard moonsault back into the ring. Crazily he wants to go to the top rope yet again, only for Moose to dropkick him straight out of the ring. SOMERSAULT PESCADO BY MOOSE! These guys really are letting it all hang out. Hitstick leapfrogged by a wounded Dijak…before they trade huge bicycle kicks. Chokeslam Backbreaker gets 2 for the HOT member. Feast Your Eyes blocked! ROPE RUN SPRINGBOARD ENZIGURI BY MOOSE! HITSTICK NAILED! Moose wins at 04:41
Rating - *** - I seriously considered going up to 4* on this, it was that entertaining. During the TV Title #1 Contendership Gauntlet at Field Of Honor these guys had a stunning but brief encounter, and this was like a marginally fleshed out but equally spectacular version of that. Watching two men of this size fly around like cruiserweights was an amazing sight, and an effort both men should be extremely proud of. Having been so totally dead set against Moose for so much of his ROH run, the improvements he continues to make week to week really are remarkable.
Cedric Alexander vs Dalton Castle
This is a showdown between two men who had extremely bad nights at All Star Extravaganza. Alexander comes in heavily bandaged as a result of the violent No DQ loss he suffered to Moose, whilst Castle enters sombre and alone having lost a match and his Boys to Silas Young.
Alexander pokes fun at Castle over his absent Boys, prompting Dalton to absolutely decimate him in the early minutes. Cedric barely escapes the Everest German but even then gets dropped flat on his face by the aggressive Party Peacock. No respite for Alexander either, who tries to crawl away only to be grappled again and muscled into a dead-lift gutwrench suplex. It’s only the distraction of Veda Scott which saves him, occupying Castle’s attention for just long enough to enable him to land the IED. Cedric’s springboard lariat is blocked though…and countered to a killer overhead belly to belly suplex. Bang-A-Rang wins it for Castle at 03:40
Rating - N/A - I gave this the N/A treatment because the way this progressed Castle’s storylines having lost The Boys was extremely effective. He stayed true to his character whilst reacting in a believable way to the loss of his man-props, and remained entirely credible as a wrestling machine dealing with that anguish by taking his opponent to the cleaners. I’m less happy about said opponent being Cedric Alexander. I’ll repeat what I said following his after-thought of an appearance at Glory By Honor, in that I believe he may well have already handed in his notice or informed SBG of his intention to walk away at the end of his contract. The way he has been demoted down the card as the summer gave way to autumn is incredulous…
Veda grabs the microphone to berate Nigel McGuinness for booking Cedric in a No DQ match at All Star Extravaganza (and for sending him out to work injured at these tapings). She announces her intention to begin legal proceedings for putting both herself and her client in an ‘unsafe working environment’…
Back from commercials with Truth Martini leading the Undisputed Champion to the ring for a ‘celebration of his greatness’ following the successful defence of both titles at All Star Extravaganza. He barely utters a single word before Roderick Strong interrupts them however. Roddy gives Martini all the credit for Jay’s success, which inevitably pisses the champ off. Strong wants one more match…and in comes Nigel McGuinness with a decision. Nigel admits that Lethal has already beaten Mr ROH for the World Title, meaning Strong needs to go to the back of the queue of contenders for that belt. However, there is no #1 contender for the TV Title…and McGuinness fills that spot with Roderick instead. We are going to get one more Lethal/Strong bout!
INSIDE ROH – Mandy Leon presents highlights from the first four thrilling encounters between Matt Sydal and ACH in their Best Of 5 Series. The series decider will take place in Milwaukee as part of the 2015 Survival Of The Fittest tournament.
Adam Cole/Michael Bennett/Matt Taven vs Michael Elgin/Bobby Fish/Kyle O’Reilly
The last time these six men locked horns we thought there was tension within The Kingdom, with Cole seemingly torn between the wayward allies within his current stable and his former Future Shock tag partner Kyle O’Reilly. But at All Star Extravaganza we learned that it was all a lie; an elaborate (or, if you prefer, ‘complete bullsh*t’) hoax orchestrated by the bitter Cole and cohorts who were overwhelmingly jealous at the success of O’Reilly and his proximity to the World Title. reDRagon have declared Adam the ‘most wanted man in ROH’, and one of his greatest rivals in his ROH career is their tag partner Michael Elgin…so this could be a rough night for him!
O’Reilly wastes no time in pursuing Cole, who has to hide behind his team-mates to prevent his former partner from ripping his head off. Fish scatters then with a somersault pescado to the floor…with Kyle trying to snap Taven’s arm with a hanging armbreaker. SOMERSAULT PLANCHA OVER THEM TO THE FLOOR by Elgin! Taven is the unfortunate focal point of the aggression of all three opponents; dragged back into the ring with a dead-lift German by Elgin then left to be armbreakered by Kyle soon after. It takes several minutes for Bennett and Cole to come to his rescue, which they eventually do by sneak-attacking and double-teaming Fish. With his arch-rival’s partner on the defensive Adam is more than happy to tag in; taking great pleasure in antagonising O’Reilly as he beats up the other member of reDRagon. Fish is hauled deep into The Kingdom’s half of the ring with each member taking turns to do a number on him – which repeatedly draws Kyle in to break up pinfall attempts. They keep Cole’s contributions to a minimum though, which certainly makes sense as he is scheduled to face AJ Styles in singles action next week too. Bobby does toss him into the turnbuckles eventually though, then Samoan drops his way through Taven into a hot tag to Big Mike. Unbreakable scoops up both Tag Champions at once for a DOUBLE POWERSLAM! Bennett avoids the Buckle Bomb but can’t dodge the big lariat…and seconds later Taven gets the same treatment! O’Reilly gets a tag, gets jumped from behind…then THROTTLES Cole! Adam dives to the floor, where Fish is waiting to give him the GUARDRAIL SPEAR! Taven saves his partner from Chasing The Dragon, then joins him to hit Elgin with the Proton Pack Stunner combo. Elgin retorts by powerbombing Bennett into Taven! CHASING THE DRAGON! O’Reilly pins Bennett at 13:03 (shown).
Rating - *** - The Episode 198 match was better, but this was still a decent TV main event which did a competent job following up on the Cole/O’Reilly angle coming out of the pay-per-view and ends in a finish which gives reDRagon an easy route to a Tag Title shot giving Bennett and Taven something to do between now and Final Battle. With a scheduled match against AJ next week Cole didn’t contribute much more than his presence…so the fact that he was still the best thing going here tells you just how good he truly is.
Cole lays out all the babyfaces with one of the Tag Title belts, but doesn’t succeed in knocking O’Reilly out. Kyle grabs a microphone and screams at Nigel to give him Cole 1-on-1. Nigel can’t book it tonight…but CAN add Kyle to Cole vs AJ next week! It will now be a triple threat.
Tape Rating - *** - Other than being mildly perplexed at what Cedric Alexander did to get treated like garbage, I really liked this episode. Nothing blew me away, but everything had purpose and advanced a storyline; starting and ending the night with very solid free-TV matches – and in the middle talking our way into Lethal/Strong III for the TV Title. In many ways this is another example of why I get so frustrated with the Ring Of Honor product sometimes. Even with the TV show as their top priority I don’t expect them to churn out high-end 4* matches or feature Nakamura and Okada every week. But that doesn’t mean they can’t produce solid matches and an overall package which promotes and builds storylines in a coherent, consistent and understandable manner. Without having a single killer match, this episode did exactly that.