Ring of Honor continues to both recover from the loss of the Bullet Club/Elite while building towards the G1 Supershow.
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ROH 2/8/19; Honor Club (rohwrestling.com)
The Formation of Lifeblood
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ROH Thoughts (2/8/19)
- We get an interruption of the announcement of the card by a few jobb... enhancement talents in the ring. They introduce themselves as the "meanest three man team" in ROH. Enter Villain Enterprises. Woop Woop! Marty does a walking promo shooting down the three young men in the ring. They'll be huge stars one day. But tonight, they feel the wrath of Villain Enterprises. Villain Enterprises proceeds to beat the tar out of these three guys and leave them laying on the floor as we go to commercial break.
We return from break to see Josey Quinn try to beat down on the 50-year-old freak of nature PCO. PCO knocks him back into the corner and chops him repeatedly. Chokeslam. PCO does a Senton Splash onto the apron, and he hits it square in the back. He gets up like nothing happened! This Quebecer is unstoppable. (See what I did there? Se... Let's just get back to this match.)
Marty Scurll gets the tag, and "Skylar, Hollis, and Quinn" get the advantage. (Like you can imagine PCO and Brody King selling the offense of the younger guys with much credibility.) A Tornado DDT helps Scurll get out of the opponents' corner. Tag to Brody King. Cannonball into the back of Skylar. King and Scurll hit a flurry of moves on Skylar. Powerbomb to Hollis. PCO hits a Cannonball through the ropes to the floor. More combination offense by King and Scurll. Gonzo Bomb into the Crossface Chickenwing. Tap out.
After the match, balloons are flying from under the ring. The Kingdom are on the stage and start talking smack. They tease defending their 6-Man Tag Team Championships and get their cheap heat by faking the crowd into believing they were going to defend the titles.
(You need to have enhancement matches to build up acts in a company. So, I have no issues with Villain Enterprises having an enhancement match on this show. The Kingdom continue to get their cheap heat. This probably works for a small portion of ROH's fan base. But nothing about The Kingdom appeals to a larger audience. By the way, for a 50-year-old man to take the bumps and do the moves he can, I am starting to believe that PCO is truly inhuman.)
We return from break to get another promo by The Kingdom. Meanwhile, Jay Lethal cuts another promo about people lining up to challenge him for his title. He's tired of Matt Taven walking around with the fake ROH World Championship.
- Next, we get the NWA World Championship match between challenger PJ Black (the former Justin Gabriel in WWE) and champion Nick Aldis (the former Magnus in TNA). They announce that this is the first time in 25 years that the NWA World Championship has been defended in Atlanta.
The Ten Pounds of Gold are on the line as the bell rings. Both men working close to the ropes in the early going, using the ropes to get the break and keep the pace of the match slow. Both men try to out pose the other before going back to a more traditional wrestling exchange. PJ keeps calling for a time out in a funny little bit. (The pace of the first few minutes is completely old school. Instead of going full speed in the opening minutes, these guys are setting a pace to work the crowd before taking it to the next level.)
The "feeling out" process ends as Aldis and Black kick into the next gear. Aldis is sent out to the floor. Aldis and Black go back at it in the ring. Aldis goes for a leapfrog, but Black just fingerpokes him to cause a break. Black goes to dive out on Aldis, but Aldis's valet stands between the two.
We return from commercial break to see Aldis with the advantage on Black. Aldis just uses his strength and size to dominate this part of the match. Black gets a big spinning kick on Aldis and starts using the speed and aerial attacks to get the advantage. He starts jumping off the top rope to hit simple elbow and forearm strikes. Black botches a Springboard Moonsault Reverse DDT, and Aldis stands there waiting for Black to come back and hit the Reverse DDT. (Hey. They can't all be AJ Styles.) Aldis catches Black diving one too many times and hits a German Suplex to dump Black on his head. Both men trade moves and reversals. Black goes for the Top Rope Moonsault, but Aldis pushes him to saddle him on the top of the corner. Aldis climbs up and German Suplexes Black off the corner, sending Black face first on the mat.
We come back from ANOTHER commercial break. Aldis goes to the top rope, but it's Black that stops him this time. He climbs up to go for the Superplex. Black gets a Super Hurricanrana on Aldis followed by a moonsault (that barely connected, I might add) for a 2 count. Dragon Sleeper by Black. Aldis reverses it into a Tombstone Piledriver. Aldis climbs up the corner and hits the Elbow Drop. 2 count only. Aldis's valet throws in the belt and distracts the referee. Black takes the belt and throws it in Aldis's hands. He flops down and tries to pull an Eddie Guerrero. But the ref doesn't DQ Aldis. Still, Black rolls up Aldis for a 2 count. Black gets the Reverse Boston Crab on Aldis, but Aldis easily gets the ropes. Black hits a Suicide Dive on Aldis, and he hits Aldis's valet with a dropkick through the ropes by accident. (She pushed Aldis out of the way to take the hit for him. That's new.) They end up going back to work in the ring. Black tries a Sunset Flip, but Aldis sits in on it and grabs the ropes. 2 count before the ref sees it. Aldis gets The Cloverleaf in. Black taps out.
(That was hardly a perfect match. Still, it was a very entertaining one. It's great to see the NWA getting reborn in the 21st Century to have some prestige back on the Ten Pounds of Gold. All In helped a lot with this. And hopefully this relationship with ROH will only continue to help the cause. While there were a few botched moves here and there, the overall presentation was very well done.)
(The following is a video of the last segment of the show. Check it out and a review/thoughts on it below)
- The flamboyant IWGP United States Champion Juice Robinson comes out to make an announcement. Juice tells the crowd that he'll be in ROH for a lot longer than just doing Global War tours. Juice goes over the guys who helped create ROH: Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan in WWE), and Tyler Black (Seth Rollins in WWE). He talks about mutual respect being what ROH is all about. He calls for a reset button to be hit to restore ROH. He promises to bring ROH to the next level.
The lights go out. The Heartbeat Monitor that hasa been showing at the end of the ROH shows in recent weeks plays. When we come back, we see David Finlay, Bandido, Mark Haskins, Tracy Williams, and Tenille Dashwood around the ring. "We are Lifeblood. And together, we put honor back in Ring of Honor."
(Well, that was somewhat spoiled for me by social media and the recent ROH Honor Club live events. Still, it's a nice concept to see a bunch of guys gang together to form a new stable. It seems like ROH seems to be dividing up similar to how New Japan has for almost a decade now. Faction Warfare is coming. You have The Kingdom, Villain Enterprises, Bully Ray's group (which Silas and Taylor seem to be in), and Lifeblood. I'm probably forgetting a few there. But there's a lot you can do with these as far as factional warfare and eventual splits to build off future programs. And I'm not going to argue with anything that gives guys like this an extra push to get more over. It's also good to see Dashwood back on TV.)
Overall, this was a very good but odd episode of ROH. The best match was a match from the NWA which was somewhat different. But partnerships like this help everyone involved. If you need more proof, look at the last segment when you are able to create a stable with a couple New Japan wrestlers involved. ROH continues to make smart, effective moves in their program to build up their roster and create a unique style of programming different from other promotions. Faction Warfare, if done right, has proven to be successful in professional wrestling. So, if ROH chooses to go this route, I hope they follow the example of New Japan or the Nation-DX rivalry in WWF in 1998. (The less said about groups like Los Boricuas, The Truth Commission, and D.O.A., the better for all of us.)
The road to the G1 Supercard continues to prove quite interesting.
Until next time, take care of yourselves. Spread some awesomeness.
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