ROH on Sinclair – Episode 220 – 5th December 2015

The more I reflected upon it, the more I realised that the Glory By Honor TV taping cycle we’ve just completed was actually a rather poor affair. The Lethal/Strong title switch was excellently done, and the production team should be commended for piecing the episodes together effectively…but inside the ropes (you know, what ROH is supposedly known for) it was overwhelmingly flat. I wouldn’t consider that ideal, and we’re now down to just two TV episodes, plus a house show in Florida, left to promote Final Battle. We’re on the ‘Road To Final Battle Tour' in Nashville, TN with Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness. Nothing was promoted last week so I’m unsure as to what we have in store.

Silas Young/Beer City Bruiser vs reDRagon
This is reDRagon’s return to television having missed the Kalamazoo taping. O’Reilly is preparing for his huge grudge match with Adam Cole at the pay-per-view, but last week Fish also had a major match announced; he’ll be challenging Roderick Strong for the TV Title. Silas and the Bruiser are an imposing duo and will make stiff competition for them just two weeks out from the big show. The Boys are still being forcibly hauled around by Silas, posing the question as to whether their presence will help or distract the Last Real Man.

The styles of Bruiser and Fish could not be further apart, so it’s actually quite interesting watching the two of them tentatively probing each other for weaknesses in the first minute. BCB’s size presents such a problem that O’Reilly decides he has no choice but to sneak in to attack him from behind. Not one to complicate things, Beer City counteracts O’Reilly’s speed with a simple series of right-handed jabs to the face. FATTY CANNONBALL NAILED! It gets two, with the big man then sensibly tagging out so he can retreat to the apron gasping for air. With his arch rival flat on the mat, Adam Cole picks an opportune time to saunter to ringside and join commentary. He watches Silas and Beer City take turns roughing Kyle up. He remains way too quick for them though, finally bewildering Bruiser with rapid-fire strikes and making the hot tag to Bobby. He throws Young into the turnbuckles with the exploder for a nearfall and floats straight into a leg grapevine submission. FATTY LARIAT from Bruiser to Kyle! Young flips out of the corner to DDT Fish into the bottom turnbuckles! FAT ASS FROG SPLASH MISSES for BCB! BIG BOOT TO ONE OF THE BOYS! The other Boy has better luck and trips Bobby into Misery by Silas! But then distracts the ref so Young can’t get the win. A second attempt at Misery is blocked with a Samoan drop…then O’Reilly traps BCB in a guillotine choke. Silas makes a desperate save when it looks like Bruiser is about to tap. Two Man Smash Machine on him! CHASING THE DRAGON ON BRUISER! reDRagon win at 10:05 (shown).

Rating - *** - This was more fun than almost everything other than Lethal/Roddy from the last taping. I’ve slated him for the entirety of his ROH run thus far, but BCB is actually building a niche for himself as Young’s tag partner. They aren’t pretty, and Bruiser has laughably little stamina…but in TV-length sprints they’ve proven to be rather enjoyable to watch. Here the way they blended the no nonsense styles of Silas and BCB with the intricacies of reDRagon’s offence was a real spectacle. All four deserve a lot of credit.

Nigel McGuinness jumps up from the announce table to keep Cole and O’Reilly coming to blows, and they all pile to the locker room. With the Match Maker out of the way Silas orders The Boys to attack the referee, which they regretfully do. Dalton Castle emerges and is understandably upset at this development…but looks heartbroken when The Boys apparently choose to remain with Silas.

TONIGHT – Our main event is Briscoes vs Young Bucks. Wow! Nice job promoting that one ROH…

Chris Sabin is in the ring after commercials, complaining about the mysterious new Red Mask character who has been stealing his moves and costing The Addiction matches. He refuses to leave until the unknown Red Mask comes out to face him. The Red Mask obliges…and immediately removes the mask to reveal ALEX SHELLEY! Sabin recoils in confusion at the sight of his former Tag partner and walks back up the aisle…

Roderick Strong vs Samson Walker – ROH TV Title Match
ROH are doing a terrible job at promoting even the few storylines they are running with right now. They are pushing a ‘Roddy vs The World’ angle whereby he is willing to defend his newly won TV Title against all comers from all over the planet, not that you'd know it because it hasn't been mentioned on TV before. As such, Walker qualifies for this having achieved a measure of success on the Puerto Rico scene. It’s a huge opportunity for the unpredictable and sizeable challenger, particularly since Strong may well have one eye on his rematch with Bobby Fish (which ROH have also done an appalling job promoting) at Final Battle. Fish himself joins commentary for this one.

Strong tries to overwhelm Walker with a fast paced and high octane opening flurry; driving the challenger out of the ring in a frenzy of kicks and elbows. Samson shows his experience by surviving that then using his size to repeatedly drive the champ spine-first into the ringpost. He wisely slows the pace right down, cranking onto the back with a snug bearhug then decking Mr ROH again with a spinebuster the moment he escapes. A huge lariat steamrolls through Roderick once more and puts him down for a close two-count. Strong desperately tries to distance himself from his challenger – getting some distance then sprinting in for more fast strikes. NECK DROP OLYMPIC SLAM! Despite Fish seemingly trying to distract Strong by putting his hands on the TV Title belt. DEATH BY RODERICK! SICK KICK! Roddy retains at 05:31

Rating - *** - As far as squash/enhancement matches go, I really liked this. Samson has impressed every time ROH has booked him recently and this was another strong performance by him. They didn’t go long, but I really appreciated the fact that they still told a sound and logical story. Roderick flew out of the blocks looking to overwhelm his bigger challenger, but Walker demonstrated all of the experience he’s gained working in places like Puerto Rico to survive it and wisely slow the pace right down. The quality of the champion was too much though, and once Walker relinquished his grip and allowed Roddy to move up through his notorious ‘gears’ the match was as good as lost. This has been a really fun episode so far…

Post-match Bobby Fish mocks Strong by wearing his TV Title belt.

INSIDE ROH – Mandy Leon is back, this week recapping this year’s Survival Of The Fittest tournament.

NEXT WEEK – ACH and Matt Sydal reunite their team to take on RPG Vice, and Jerry Lynn makes an appearance.

Young Bucks vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe
I appreciate that neither team has much creative direction right now, but there really isn’t an excuse for not doing more to promote these guys working together on free television. This match could really draw for ROH if properly marketed. It’s the Briscoes – men who have spent their whole careers building their legacies in ROH – against the Young Bucks; Californians who have hopped from promotion to promotion winning belts wherever they go. Will it be the brash, athletic punks or the tough, aggressive rednecks who leave victorious? All Night Express, who have history with both teams, assume a place at the table for commentary.

Mark and Nick start but tensions threaten to boil over extremely early and all four bundle in for an argument. Matt DESTROYS both Briscoes with Superkicks to the delight of the Nashville fans! No panic from the Briscoes though – who quickly fire back with a flying knee strike on Nick then Mark’s urinage on Matt. Sensibly they slow the match down, grounding Nick for several minutes and preventing any tandem offence from the Bucks. That is until Mark ventures too close to the Jackson corner…and walks into a Superkick from the apron! The springboard corkscrew cutter scores too as the Bucks start to build momentum. Jay comes to the rescue with a roaring elbow…but leaves his head bowed and eats a facebuster from Nick. BLOCKBUSTER FROM THE APRON TO THE FLOOR BY MARK! CACTUS ELBOW…COUNTERED WITH A MID-AIR SUPERKICK! ELBOW SUICIDA BY JAY! SUPERKICK TO BLOCK THE JAY DRILLER! SUPERKICK FROM JAY TO NICK! Rude Awakening/Froggy Bow combo gets 2! DOOMSDAY DEVICE…BUT MATT BACK FLIPS OUT OF IT! EARLY ONSET ALZHEIMER’S! MORE BANG FOR YOUR F*CK! JAY BREAKS THE PIN AT THE VERY LAST! MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK NAILED! The Young Bucks successfully pin Mark at 09:12 (shown).

Rating - *** - These two teams have had better matches in ROH in the past, but they’ve also had worse. I’m disappointed we couldn’t even find ten minutes for them, but they are all plenty good enough to kill it in a short, compressed, spot-heavy sprint. As they’ve gotten older, more experienced and developed increasingly divergent in-ring styles the chemistry between the Jacksons and the Briscoes has improved markedly. I’d suggest a lengthy feud between them might be a productive use of their time if ROH do want to go back to using Jay and Mark as a full-time team.

ANX hop into the ring to share pleasantries with all four combatants…and inevitably everyone comes to blows. I think we now know what these three tag teams will be doing at Final Battle.

Tape Rating - *** - I thought this episode was extremely solid and even considered going higher on my rating. Three very different but equally enjoyable free matches, every segment delivering effective hype and promotion for Final Battle, the shock (well, somewhat) reveal of Alex Shelley as the tormentor of Sabin and The Addiction, some promotion for Elgin’s forthcoming Wrestle Kingdom ROH Title shot too. There was a lot to like about this, if you can look past some obvious shortcomings like how badly ‘Roddy vs The World’ has been promoted, or disappointment that Briscoes/Bucks only got nine minutes of air time.

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