A wrestling show without heels? That's what ROH did for this episode, and the results were decidedly mixed.
ROH Thoughts (2/22/19)
- The opening match is Jenny Rose vs. Sumie Sakai vs. Madison Rayne. The Code of Honor is adhered to. All three women get a moment to have the advantage early on, with Rose taking Sakai to the floor to focus on Madison Rayne. Sakai dropkicks Rayne as she hits a DDT on Rose. Sakai puts a Boston Crab on Rose as Rayne gets a sleeper hold on Sakai. Sakai releases the Crab in order to flip Rayne over into a Cross Armbreaker. Rose distracts the referee while Sakai has the hold on for a good ten seconds after Rayne had gotten to the ropes. Rose gets a clothesline on Sakai to get a 2 count. Sakai gets a Fisherwoman's Suplex on Rose. She goes to the top rope and misses a moonsault. Codebreaker by Rose and a spear. Madison Rayne breaks it up.
Northern Lights Suplex by Rayne on Rose gets a 2. Ripcord Cutter by Rayne on Rose and Sakai. 1-2-Kickout by Sakai. Fisherman Swinging Neckbreaker by Sakai to Rayne. Sakai hits a Cannonball to Rayne and Rose on the floor, but she hits the ground hard coming down. Both Rayne and Sakai are in the ring. Reversals by both women. Inverted DDT by Rayne on Sakai gets the 1-2-3.
(Good match technically, but the ROH fans' indifference to this division continues to hurt the WOH concept. This has been a problem for a while, and I see nothing has been done to address it. Therefore, one has to assume ROH is just happy keeping things the way they are. It's not enough to just throw a women's match on TV or throw a title on someone. If you do not invest time in the characters of these women and make an investment in them on commentary and on social media, the fans will continue to not care. I feel bad for all the women in this division as they are working hard, and their work is met with a muted reaction.)
- It's already Main Event time as LifeBlood comes out to face Team Lethal. LifeBlood consists of David Finlay, Tracy Williams, Mark Haskins, Bandido, and Juice Robinson (with Tenille Dashwood on commentary for this match).
Team Lethal consists of ROH World Champion Jay Lethal, Jonathan Gresham, Flip Gordon, Dalton Castle (w/The Boys), and ROH World Television Champion Jeff Cobb.
Juice and Lethal start the match to an "HONOR" chant from the crowd. They work a slow pace to work up the crowd. Dalton wants to show some of his honor. Dalton wants the tag, and the fans approve. Dalton gets the tag. The fans chant "Bandido." Juice says "uno momento." Dalton says he wants Bandido. Juice almost gets the 3 on a distracted Castle. They trade a bunch of ducking of each other's moves, until... PEACOCK POSE!!!! Juice responds in kind. Juice then jabs at Castle, but Castle holds his hands up in mercy to avoid The Left Hand of God.
Tracy Williams and Jonathan Gresham get the tag. And now, let the chain wrestling commence! Gresham gets Williams in a leg scissors around the head, but Williams stands on his head and powers out. Instead of kicking Gresham while he's down, he pulls up Gresham to get to our commercial break. We return to see David Finlay and Jay Lethal in the ring. Finlay and Lethal flip and duck around some moves until Finlay gets a dropkick on Lethal. Finlay tags in Haskins. Haskins tells Lethal that he wants Cobb. Cobb gets tagged in.
Cobb is tagged in to "Cobb Is Gonna Kill You" chants. Cobb moves Haskins around with ease. Haskins throws some kicks and a punch at Cobb. Haskins misses a knee, and Cobb kips up!!!! Bandido gets the tag, as does Flip Gordon. The two teams drop to the floor as Bandido and Flip face off. They flip and spin around insanely quickly, countering each other's moves and do a couple standoffs. "ROH" chant from the crowd.
We return from another break to see Lethal in the ring with Bandido. Bandido is getting worked on by Team Lethal as Castle comes back in to work on the Luchador. Flip gets tagged in, and Bandido rams his shoulder into Flip's midsection and gets a kick in. Now, Flip is the man getting beaten up by the other team. Tracy Williams and Haskins take turns beating up on Flip. Lethal breaks up a Williams submission hold on Flip (and broke up an earlier pin attempt as well.) Juice and Finlay get some of Flip as well. LifeBlood is working as a unit on Flip until Flip hits a Springboard Sling Blade on Finlay.
Haskins and Lethal are the legal men. Lethal starts getting in his signature offense on Haskins. Cartwheel Dropkick on Haskins. Juice runs in and attacks Lethal with some clotheslines. CANNONBALL!!!! Cue the multi-man "everyone gets a moment" offense these types of matches tend to break down into. Everyone is fighting on the floor now, except for Flip. Flip hits a Somersault Dive off the top rope onto 8 of the wrestlers on the floor. Bandido, not to be outdone, hits a Corkscrew Dive off the top rope onto the horde of wrestlers below. Lethal and Haskins are back in the ring. Gresham and Lethal double team Haskins with a Rolling Ball into a Cutter. 2 count only as LifeBlood saves the match.
Castle tags in and goes after Haskins. Bang-A-Rang countered into a Sharpshooter! Castle taps out as LifeBlood holds off Team Lethal. LifeBlood wins. After the match, nine of the ten men face off. The fans chant "ALL THESE GUYS!" Lethal and Juice shake hands, and the Code of Honor is adhered to by everyone in the ring. Castle is not there to shake hands with anyone as he's being checked on.
(A very good main event match here with all ten men having moments to shine. Haskins gets a huge boost from this match by making former ROH World Champion Dalton Castle tap out. The only problem I have with this match is that there was no "heat" to it. It was simply a wrestling exhibition. While that was cool and showed off the talent, it lacked a little bit of emotional connection to really drive this into the next level. As it was though, it was very good.)
Overall, this was a well-wrestled, if uneventful, episode of Ring of Honor. If you want great in-ring action without any emotional investment in what is happening, this was your show. But this is going to be one of those shows that are forgotten in a few days. Even when Los Ingobernables de Japon wrestled Bullet Club on some random ROH shows in the past, there was some heat to the match given that both groups were rivals in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Here, this felt like a video game where Juice Robinson and Jay Lethal might as well have been 13 year olds picking characters to go into Battle Mode on Mario Kart 8. Good for them, but it doesn't make me want to see it multiple times. Nothing about anything that happened on this show would make me want to pay a ticket to go to an ROH show. Friendly competition is ok, but ROH needed to have some heels on this show to get some emotional investment on this show.
Until next time, take care of yourselves. Spread some awesomeness.
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It's All About Honor on a Heel-less Edition of ROH
ROH 2/22/19
HonorClub
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ROH Thoughts (2/22/19)
- The opening match is Jenny Rose vs. Sumie Sakai vs. Madison Rayne. The Code of Honor is adhered to. All three women get a moment to have the advantage early on, with Rose taking Sakai to the floor to focus on Madison Rayne. Sakai dropkicks Rayne as she hits a DDT on Rose. Sakai puts a Boston Crab on Rose as Rayne gets a sleeper hold on Sakai. Sakai releases the Crab in order to flip Rayne over into a Cross Armbreaker. Rose distracts the referee while Sakai has the hold on for a good ten seconds after Rayne had gotten to the ropes. Rose gets a clothesline on Sakai to get a 2 count. Sakai gets a Fisherwoman's Suplex on Rose. She goes to the top rope and misses a moonsault. Codebreaker by Rose and a spear. Madison Rayne breaks it up.
Northern Lights Suplex by Rayne on Rose gets a 2. Ripcord Cutter by Rayne on Rose and Sakai. 1-2-Kickout by Sakai. Fisherman Swinging Neckbreaker by Sakai to Rayne. Sakai hits a Cannonball to Rayne and Rose on the floor, but she hits the ground hard coming down. Both Rayne and Sakai are in the ring. Reversals by both women. Inverted DDT by Rayne on Sakai gets the 1-2-3.
(Good match technically, but the ROH fans' indifference to this division continues to hurt the WOH concept. This has been a problem for a while, and I see nothing has been done to address it. Therefore, one has to assume ROH is just happy keeping things the way they are. It's not enough to just throw a women's match on TV or throw a title on someone. If you do not invest time in the characters of these women and make an investment in them on commentary and on social media, the fans will continue to not care. I feel bad for all the women in this division as they are working hard, and their work is met with a muted reaction.)
- It's already Main Event time as LifeBlood comes out to face Team Lethal. LifeBlood consists of David Finlay, Tracy Williams, Mark Haskins, Bandido, and Juice Robinson (with Tenille Dashwood on commentary for this match).
Team Lethal consists of ROH World Champion Jay Lethal, Jonathan Gresham, Flip Gordon, Dalton Castle (w/The Boys), and ROH World Television Champion Jeff Cobb.
Juice and Lethal start the match to an "HONOR" chant from the crowd. They work a slow pace to work up the crowd. Dalton wants to show some of his honor. Dalton wants the tag, and the fans approve. Dalton gets the tag. The fans chant "Bandido." Juice says "uno momento." Dalton says he wants Bandido. Juice almost gets the 3 on a distracted Castle. They trade a bunch of ducking of each other's moves, until... PEACOCK POSE!!!! Juice responds in kind. Juice then jabs at Castle, but Castle holds his hands up in mercy to avoid The Left Hand of God.
Tracy Williams and Jonathan Gresham get the tag. And now, let the chain wrestling commence! Gresham gets Williams in a leg scissors around the head, but Williams stands on his head and powers out. Instead of kicking Gresham while he's down, he pulls up Gresham to get to our commercial break. We return to see David Finlay and Jay Lethal in the ring. Finlay and Lethal flip and duck around some moves until Finlay gets a dropkick on Lethal. Finlay tags in Haskins. Haskins tells Lethal that he wants Cobb. Cobb gets tagged in.
Cobb is tagged in to "Cobb Is Gonna Kill You" chants. Cobb moves Haskins around with ease. Haskins throws some kicks and a punch at Cobb. Haskins misses a knee, and Cobb kips up!!!! Bandido gets the tag, as does Flip Gordon. The two teams drop to the floor as Bandido and Flip face off. They flip and spin around insanely quickly, countering each other's moves and do a couple standoffs. "ROH" chant from the crowd.
We return from another break to see Lethal in the ring with Bandido. Bandido is getting worked on by Team Lethal as Castle comes back in to work on the Luchador. Flip gets tagged in, and Bandido rams his shoulder into Flip's midsection and gets a kick in. Now, Flip is the man getting beaten up by the other team. Tracy Williams and Haskins take turns beating up on Flip. Lethal breaks up a Williams submission hold on Flip (and broke up an earlier pin attempt as well.) Juice and Finlay get some of Flip as well. LifeBlood is working as a unit on Flip until Flip hits a Springboard Sling Blade on Finlay.
Haskins and Lethal are the legal men. Lethal starts getting in his signature offense on Haskins. Cartwheel Dropkick on Haskins. Juice runs in and attacks Lethal with some clotheslines. CANNONBALL!!!! Cue the multi-man "everyone gets a moment" offense these types of matches tend to break down into. Everyone is fighting on the floor now, except for Flip. Flip hits a Somersault Dive off the top rope onto 8 of the wrestlers on the floor. Bandido, not to be outdone, hits a Corkscrew Dive off the top rope onto the horde of wrestlers below. Lethal and Haskins are back in the ring. Gresham and Lethal double team Haskins with a Rolling Ball into a Cutter. 2 count only as LifeBlood saves the match.
Castle tags in and goes after Haskins. Bang-A-Rang countered into a Sharpshooter! Castle taps out as LifeBlood holds off Team Lethal. LifeBlood wins. After the match, nine of the ten men face off. The fans chant "ALL THESE GUYS!" Lethal and Juice shake hands, and the Code of Honor is adhered to by everyone in the ring. Castle is not there to shake hands with anyone as he's being checked on.
(A very good main event match here with all ten men having moments to shine. Haskins gets a huge boost from this match by making former ROH World Champion Dalton Castle tap out. The only problem I have with this match is that there was no "heat" to it. It was simply a wrestling exhibition. While that was cool and showed off the talent, it lacked a little bit of emotional connection to really drive this into the next level. As it was though, it was very good.)
Overall, this was a well-wrestled, if uneventful, episode of Ring of Honor. If you want great in-ring action without any emotional investment in what is happening, this was your show. But this is going to be one of those shows that are forgotten in a few days. Even when Los Ingobernables de Japon wrestled Bullet Club on some random ROH shows in the past, there was some heat to the match given that both groups were rivals in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Here, this felt like a video game where Juice Robinson and Jay Lethal might as well have been 13 year olds picking characters to go into Battle Mode on Mario Kart 8. Good for them, but it doesn't make me want to see it multiple times. Nothing about anything that happened on this show would make me want to pay a ticket to go to an ROH show. Friendly competition is ok, but ROH needed to have some heels on this show to get some emotional investment on this show.
Until next time, take care of yourselves. Spread some awesomeness.
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