Leave it to a 50 year old to help usher in a new era for a wrestling company. That's not a knock. That's just a fact after this episode of ROH.
ROH Thoughts
- We get Tracy Williams taking on Zack Sabre Jr. Williams has his shoulder taped up so heavily that he looks like he is something out of a gladiator movie or something. A really good technical match here with Williams and Sabre both exchanging submission holds. At one point, Williams just stomps the hell out of Sabre's ankles and torques one of them in a sickening fashion. Sabre returns the favor moments later. Both men exchange Cross Armbreakers and stand off as we go to break.
(Technical wrestling lives thanks to men like these guys. Jonathan Gresham deserves a lot of credit too.)
We come back from break to have Williams and Sabre continue their classic. Williams takes an advantage during these first moments after the break, including a Death Valley Driver and kicks to Sabre's chest. Sabre goes after the ankle of Williams, while Williams rolls over into an arm bark. Texas Cloverleaf by Williams. Williams almost gets rolled up by Sabre. Heavy chops by Williams despite having his arm worked over by Sabre. Williams gets a version of a Cactus Clothesline in on Sabre for a 2 count. Sabre escapes a piledriver and locks in an Octopus Lock. He locks in both arms, and Williams has no choice but to submit.
(A very fun match to start off the show with two submission specialists showing that technical wrestling is alive and well. This is what ROH can do with talents like Williams, Gresham, and Sabre: focus in on technical wrestling and allow it to help differentiate its product from the other wrestling companies in the states. )
- Beer City Bruiser meets up with Silas Young. Bruiser doesn't want to wrestle Silas next week. Silas tells Bruiser they were never friends. Silas tells Bruiser that he can't hang.
- The Briscoes cut a promo backstage about facing SCU (SCU!) later tonight. SCU has no hope. It's a cause of death to invoke their rematch clause.
- The Twisted Sisterz take on Madison Rayne and Britt Baker. (Obviously, this was before Baker signed a contract with AEW.) Rayne goes for a bunch of roll-ups to start off the match. Then she tags in Baker to continue pressing the attack. (Apparently, the Twisted Sisterz were trained by Gangrel. So, I guess you can see they were part of his coven then?) As expected, the Twisted Sisterz eventually get control and work over Baker. After a commercial break, Baker continues to fight off the Twisted Sisterz. She gets in a superkick and tags in Madison. This leads to a back and forth exchange between the two teams. The Sisterz try a double team move to no avail. Baker gets the win for her team after a Pumphandle Faceplant.
(The match was technically fine, but there was no heat to this whatsoever. The crowd noise during the WOH matches continues to be a factor during ROH's TV tapings.)
- The main event is here with SCU taking on The Briscoes for the ROH World Tag Team Championships. Both teams fling chairs at the other before the match even starts. But this is a regular tag team match as the bell rings. The Briscoes spend the first few minutes working over Scorpio Sky, keeping him isolated in their part of the ring. At one point, Sky hits a sickening high knee on the jaw of Jay Briscoe that looked stiff as hell. After that, Kaz gets the hot tag and clears house on The Briscoes. Sky dives over the top rope onto The Briscoes to send us to our (probably first) commercial break.
We return to see The Briscoes reassert control and start double-teaming Kaz. Moments later, Sky and Kaz get a Lungblower/Slingshot Cutter in on Jay Briscoe for a 2 count. Knee lift by Sky on Mark Briscoe. Kaz cutters Mark Briscoe. Pop-Up Tornado DDT by SCU gets a 2 count. The referee gets distracted while a chair gets thrown in. SCU avoids the chair shot. SCU hits their finisher, but Mark pulls the referee out at 2. Kaz's slingshot hurricanrana to Mark Briscoe (on the floor) sends him right into the referee. Ref Bump! Ref Bump! Ref Bump! Jay Briscoe uses the chair on the back of Scorpio Sky. Kaz gets a chair shot of his own. SCU avoids a Doomsday Device. Kaz has one of the Briscoes rolled up in a victory roll, but a new referee runs down after an 8-9 count to count to 2. Gotta love the consistent inconsistency of the referees in wrestling to be there some moments and be absent in others. Jay Driller to Sky. Kaz is on the corner. Jay climbs up and nails a SUPERPLEX! Froggy Bow by Mark only gets a 2 count. Kaz continues to fight off The Briscoes by himself. Redneck Boogie ends the match for The Briscoes.
(A good main event if you can get past the ref bumps. The Briscoes' formula continues to work, but it gets to the point of "been there, done that" if you watch it too many times.)
- Apparently, we are getting Marty Scurll coming out to the ring after our main event to say some things. Scurll says he's been the best for a long time. He won "Survival of the Fittest." He's made his intentions clear in challenging the ROH World Champion Jay Lethal. And here comes Matt Taven with The Kingdom. Taven tells Scurll that HE is the ROH World Champion, not Jay Lethal. Taven has been waiting for a long time for this moment. All of Scurll's friends are gone. The Kingdom surround Scurll. Scurll admits that his friends have left him. But that doesn't mean he can't make new ones. The lights go out. The lights come back on. Brody King is in the ring. The lights go back out. Electricity plays on the video screen. The lights come back on. and it's PCO! The Kingdom get dumped out of the ring. Brody hits an overhead piledriver to Vinny. PCO climbs the ropes and HITS A MOONSAULT TO THE KINGDOM ON THE FLOOR! "WELCOME TO VILLAIN ENTERPRISES!"
(A good ending to the show here as Scurll now has a new faction to back him up on his quest to be ROH World Champion. The question is how long is Scurll in ROH and will this faction still exist by this time next year? Still, ROH getting Brody King and PCO (along with the recently announced hires of Bandido and Rush) proves that the company is taking steps to help strengthen its long-term viability.)
Overall, this was a decent episode of ROH TV. The opening match was a great example that pure wrestling can be just as entertaining as any "spot-fest." And while the WOH match didn't exactly excite me, the four women involved showed that they can work. The thing ROH needs to do is make people care. The performers can only do so much without some emphasis being put on their division. The Tag Title Match was more of the same between SCU and The Briscoes, but it also is probably the last time we'll ever see this combination go at it. And as I said earlier, the Scurll segment helped usher in a new era for ROH which could be profitable if booked correctly.
Until next time, take care of yourselves. Spread some awesomeness.
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