ROH on Sinclair – Episode 218 – 25th November 2015
Jay Lethal and Roderick Strong couldn’t be separated when they met for the World Championship at Death Before Dishonor 13 – fighting at a ferocious pace for a full hour as they went to a time limit draw. The World Title rematch took place in Philadelphia and saw Lethal win with the aid of a title belt shot, meaning the man known as Mr ROH petitioned for another shot. The main event for this episode is Lethal/Strong III, this time with the Ring Of Honor TV Title at stake. Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness will provide commentary from Kalamazoo, MI.
SIDENOTE – This is the last episode to be broadcast as part of ROH’s ill-fated experiment with Destination America. Chalk it up as a huge opportunity missed. The TV show has actually been largely decent through the six months of the deal, but from the very moment Sinclair merrily sent off their debut episode featuring J. f*cking Diesel in the main event it was evident that the union was only ever one of convenience – SBG wanting DA’s additional exposure, whilst DA only wanted cheap, freely available content. Hopefully this episode sends ROH out with a bang and encourages any casual viewers they have managed to pick up to follow the show to it’s new home – the SBG-owned ‘Comet’ network.
Moose is entering the arena as the episode begins – and he wins an enhancement squash against Dominick Carter in mere seconds. Stokely Hathaway then grabs a microphone and demands a World Title shot for his client (talking down Michael Elgin’s claims for a title shot in the process). Elgin marches out, but before those two can come to blows the House Of Truth interrupt them. Truth Martini berates them for considering themselves in Lethal’s league, Elgin hits on Taeler Hendrix (despite previously having his marriage to MsChif acknowledged on television), and a challenge is eventually laid out for Elgin and Moose against Dijak and Daddiego.
Michael Elgin/Moose vs Donovan Dijak/Joey Daddiego
As we just saw, both Elgin and Moose are angling for World Title shots in 2016 – so will view beating up Jay Lethal’s henchmen as a great way to establish their credentials. This was taped before Survival Of The Fittest, but airs afterwards meaning we know by this point that Elgin meets the winner of the Lethal/Styles Final Battle World Title match at NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom event. On the assumption that Jay can find a way past the Phenomenal One this is a huge chance for the rest of the House Of Truth to soften up the next challenger.
The match barely starts before we cut to adverts for stupid knee braces, but what we do see largely features the two babyfaces riotously dumping both HOT men into the guardrails. Elgin and Moose’s biggest problem looks to be co-existing together as each are intent on showing the other up and proving themselves the superior potential challenger. Poor Dijak has to play whipping boy for both of them for some reason. He does eventually profit from some Taeler Hendrix distraction to give Unbreakable the chokeslam backbreaker. Moose no sells all of Joey’s offence…before Elgin tosses both opponents over the top rope and wipes them out with a cannonball off the apron. Big Mike pauses for some minor sexual harassment on Taeler then dumps Diesel with a dead-lift German for 2. Back Fist knocks Babytista out entirely…but Elgin misses Moose blind-tag himself in. He gets to polish Daddiego off with the Hitstick, earning the win for his team at 06:27 (shown)
Rating - * - As I’ve discussed before, I hate the Dijak/Diesel team and particularly hate it when Dijak has to look like sh*t because Daddiego is such a poor worker he can’t even take a beating properly. The star is largely for the work of Elgin and Moose – neither of whom have anything to do for Final Battle, so throwing them together and making a token attempt at building up a potential match for them is a welcome and appreciated step.
STORYTIME WITH ADAM COLE – This week Cole wants to talk about The Kingdom; and the success of his friends (Tag Team Champions) Michael Bennett and Matt Taven. For some reason this necessitates having to replay the climactic moments of last week’s main event against The Addiction.
NEXT WEEK – Adam Cole goes one-on-one with Dalton Castle.
The Decade hijack the show so Whitmer can complain about Steve Corino backing out of a Fight Without Honor against him at Final Battle. He rounds on Nigel McGuinness, who has lost patience with him. He punishes the entire Decade by banning them from Final Battle – costing them the biggest show of the year payday.
Jay Lethal vs Roderick Strong – ROH TV Title Match
Roddy has spent the entire year in pursuit of Jay Lethal. Back during the Winter Warriors Tour he unsuccessfully challenged for the TV Title and lost amidst a sea of outside interference. He was the first man to challenge Lethal after he won the World Title – and pushed him to the limit in an epic 60-minute draw at Death Before Dishonor, then controversially dropped the rematch on television (again thanks to outside interference from the HOT). He is insistent that he can beat Lethal and petitioned Nigel for one more match. It was granted, with Jay’s Television Championship on the line…and the rest of the House Of Truth banned from ringside. Lethal will be getting déjà vu right now as it was Roddy who ended his first TV Title reign at Showdown In The Sun weekend back in 2012. Can he back up his claims to be the ‘greatest first generation wrestler’ by scoring a clean win over the most consistent and impressive Ring Of Honor performer of the year?
This being hyped as ‘Lethal/Strong 3’, so I guess we are ignoring the Winter Warriors Tour match, which is a shame as it was really good. Roddy is quick as a cat in looking to take the champion to the ground…and Jay is so aware of his mat skills that he flees the ring to evade his grip. He wants to walk out but is chased back into the ring by the challenger and pummelled with a succession of hard strikes. In the end Lethal drags the match to the floor where he succeeds in throwing Strong into the guardrails; doing obvious damage to the back and arm. Quick to capitalise, even when he returns to the ring he inflicts more punishment with repeated Irish whips to the turnbuckles. Strong dropkicks out of a Lethal Injection attempt – but is too injured to take advantage and slumps to his haunches in the ropes. He blocks the Lethal Combination and tags the champ with more strikes, but is still moving noticeably slowly and even drops Jay inadvertently on his way to delivering a cradle backbreaker for 2. Jay absorbs that and retaliates with the Lethal Combo…into the Koji Clutch to put more pressure on the back and neck. Now it’s Roddy who is having to crawl out of the ring for some respite! TOPE TRIFECTA INTO THE RAILS! NO SOLD! OLYMPIC SLAM ON THE FLOOR BY STRONG! Still the champion refuses to stay down…and plants Strong on his neck again with a DDT. Hail To The King blocked…AVALANCHE MUSO NAILED! STRONGHOLD! Lethal counters to a pin sitting high on the neck for 2. LETHAL INJECTION! STRONG KICKS OUT! He knees Lethal in the face repeatedly and looks to set up the superplex. COUNTERED TO A FLYING LETHAL INJECTION! RODDY KICKS OUT AGAIN! He slaps the champ in the face! SUPERKICKS BY LETHAL! NO SOLD! JUMPING KNEE! DEATH BY RODERICK! SICK KICK FLIPS LETHAL IN MID-AIR! END OF HEARTACHE! STRONGHOLD! LETHAL TAPS! We have a new champ at 14:45 (shown).
Rating - **** - It’s a shame they’ve had to condense the last two matches of this rivalry right down due to television time constraints because some of the story-telling they’ve delivered across all four matches they’ve had in 2015 has been great. This was a killer main event, making both winner and loser look great in the process...and even clipped for TV stands out as one of my favourite ROH matches all year. Lethal lost obviously (and as I’ve said previously, having a World Champion who can loses matches every now and then is a welcome change from the Briscoe era) but produced a killer performance; outwitting Strong in the early stages then beating the hell out of his neck to take him to the cusp of victory. Roddy in turn looks heroic for surviving that punishment then unloading every finishing move he has at the dominant TV Champion to end his historic, record-breaking reign. It wasn’t on the same level as the Death Before Dishonor match of course, but having no interference and great wrestling from bell to bell puts this a touch ahead of the Winter Warriors TV Title Match and Aftershock Tour World Title rematch too.
Tape Rating - *** - This is the kind of episode I like, with very little wasted time and a great main event to round off the hour. The Elgin/Moose vs HOT match wasn’t particularly good, but as I said in my rating paragraph I certainly appreciated the effort to give both men something to do at Final Battle. The Decade interlude segment plausibly explained why we won’t be seeing two of the most prominent heels the company has had all year at the biggest show of 2015. And crucially neither of those segments dramatically outstayed their welcome and left us with enough broadcast time remaining to allow Lethal/Strong sufficient space to produce something special. Their match is definitely one to use your Ringside Membership for.