Ring of Honor TV
Episode #397
Aired on Fite 4/29/19
Stage AE, Pittsburgh PA
VIDEO: ROH Title G1 Supercard Recap
We open with highlights from the ROH World Title Ladder Match, with Matt Taven winning the belt and becoming, officially, the REAL World Champion.
Ian Riccobani and Caprice Coleman on commentary.
IN-RING SEGMENT: The REAL World Champion Speaks
Matt Taven comes down to the ring belt in hand. Some Taven chants. Taven grabs a mic to a mix of boos and “You Deserve It” chants. Taven says he earned this, and raises the belt, and says they are right that he deserves it, and runs down the Melvin’s in the crowd. He says no one is more worthy of calling himself World Champ than Taven. He mocks the crowd, and puts over his and the Kingdom’s accomplishments in the year leading to this win. And now with his win at MSG, the memory of Matt Taven will live forever. He’s the undisputed champ because HEEEEEEEEEEEE’S MATT TAVEN. And if anyone wants a shot, they are going to have to earn it.
Music hits and out comes Flip Gordon, looking sharp in a three piece suit and with mic in hand. Flip says he already earned his shot with the Sea of Honor tournament a while back. Taven runs down Flip’s accomplishment. Flip says he spoke with ROH officials, he says his knee is 100%, and that he is now the new #1 Contender for the title. Flip says he’s gonna kick Taven’s ass, and that takes us to BREAK. (Later during the intros for Silas/Gresham we hear that the match will take place on the upcoming 400TH EPISODE of Ring of Honor TV.)
VIDEO: Gresham/Silas
We get footage of the Iron Man match between Lethal and Taven, with Gresham fighting off an interfering Kingdom and The Kingdom waylaying Gresham with a chair, and later Silas confronting him backstage and beating him down. We then see Gresham and Silas from 2 weeks ago where Silas stole the win after a low blow, and the confrontation that followed where Gresham said Silas cant beat him clean in a wrestling match. And that leads us to…
SILAS YOUNG vs JONATHAN GRESHAM
Nice crowd response for Gresham. Silas talks shit while offering the handshake. Gresham is wary. They shake and Gresham holds on tight and pulls Silas in head to head. Ref Todd Sinclair breaks them up and we get the bell. They work fast to start, with Silas hitting a tackles and Gresham hitting kicks. Silas takes it to the mat with Gresham, Silas with a gorgeous bridge out of a pin attempt, they cross the ropes and each try hip tosses with both going over the top to the floor and doing mat work at ringside. Back inside, they try hip tosses again but neither can get the other over as we go to BREAK. We’re back and they are still going fast with trading wrestling holds. Silas shows some amateur wrestling dominance over Gresham in these early moments, getting in Gresham’s head. Silas says Gresham knows he’s better than him and pokes Gresham in the chest. Chops traded, Gresham punches Silas in the mouth with a closed fist and gets admonished, and it looks like Silas is in Gresham’s head. Silas smiles at his plan working.
Silas keeps talking shit to get in Gresham’s head, and offers Gresham’s his wrist. Gresham takes it and shows great skill in the escape and grounds Gresham, outwrestling him and offers Gresham the wrist again as Gresham gets frustrated. Silas again outwrestles Gresham to take him down, but now Gresham offers Silas the wrist and playing mind games back, but Silas takes advantage and goes back to his classic brawling before then taking the wrist. They go back to counterwrestling but Silas is STILL a step ahead of Gresham. Gresham tries a monkey flip but Silas holds on, but Gresham lands a dropkick, gets Silas into the corner and hits a hesitation dropkick as we hit another BREAK. We’re back with Gresham chasing Silas back into the ring from outside, Gresham with a rollup for 1, Silas with one of his own for 2 and a nice around the world DDT from Gresham connects. Silas outside and gets a chair and brings it into the ring, and sneaks the ring bell hamnmer into his trunks and drives it into Gresham’s head! Silas now locks in an abdominal stretch and Gresham looks out of it, and the ref calls for the stoppage.
Silas Young defeats Jonathan Gresham by referee stoppage after a hammer shot and an abdominal stretch
JAY’S RATING: 2.75 out of 5
This was a fun match and very well-told story to continue this feud between Gresham and Silas, and served its purpose well in showing that Silas CAN go toe to toe with Gresham but also doesnt really give a fuck, resorting again to cheating in order to win. The storytelling was at the forefront of this match, and that worked well in my opinion. This feels headed somewhere and I’m loving the chemistry between these two, so I’m definitely interested in where this goes from here.
After the match, Silas mockingly shakes Gresham’s hand on the ground.
VIDEO: Kelly Klein becomes a 2x WOH Champ / The Allure
We see footage of Klein regaining the WOH Title at G1 Supercard. We then see the debut of “The Allure” (The Beautiful People + Mandy Leon for some reason), taking out Klein, Jenny Rose and Stella Gray. We then get Klein talking about her win and the outsiders wanting attention. She says all that matters is her title. She says “Honor” is in the name, and she says she sees The Allure and she will clean up the mess that they are. A better promo from Klein, which is nice to see. I’m actually down for The Beautiful People and Love can still throw those Botox Injections… but why Mandy Leon though? Her commentary work has been lackluster at best and her ring work hasnt been at the level of the others, so I just dont get it.
VIDEO: Dalton beats down The Boys
We see Rush’s utter DOMINANCE of Dalton Castle at G1 Supercard and the subsequent beatdown of The Boys by Dalton. Ian says we will hear from Dalton next week. So ready for a Dalton heel turn. Hopefully they book this well.
FLASHBACK: Bully Ray Takes Out Tenille
We see Tenille laid out by Bully, which was how she was written out of the company.
VIDEO: Haskins/Williams Speak
Haskins calls out Bully Ray and calls him a scared little boy. Tracy says before they handle Bully Ray they need to finish business with The Kingdom. After they finish that, they are officially calling out Bully Ray. This was fine.
CARISTICO & SOBERANO, JR. vs THE BRISCOES
Caristico (the original Mistico/the original WWE Sin Cara) showed some GREAT stuff in ROH recently, so this could be fun. We see footage of Guerrillas of Destiny becoming co-holders of the ROH Tag Titles and IWGP Heavyweight Tag Titles at G1 Supercard. We get s psuedo Code of Honor but tensions start flaring. Mark and Soberano start off at the bell. They trade holds to start. Kick to the back by Mark. Soberano with a quick rollup for 2. Wrist clutch and kicks, some decent rope work into a rana by Soberano who then almost takes out Jay and we get a standoff. Tag to Caristico, tag to Jay. They tie up, run the ropes and Caristico flips out into a standoff. Running rana by Caristico, great rope step corkscrew armdrag sends Jay outside. The CMLL guys look to dive and the Briscoes move to evade. Mark slides in and takes down Caristico and are able to take out Soberano, double team on Caristico takes him down. Wrecking ball dropkick by Mark connects, Jay slams Soberano on the floor and Mark hits a Cactus Elbow on the floor as we go to BREAK.
We’re back as Jay goes for Caristico’s mask and lands a solid dropkick. Tag to Mark and they keep the pressure on. Elbow drop by Mark and a cover for barely 2. Mark with an elbow to Soberano as he stays on Caristico who fires back but Mark keeps control. Tag to Jay who stomps the mudhole. Tag to Mark who lands a nice tope atomico. Tag to Jay, Caristico tries to fight back, Jay cuts him off, tag to Mark but Caristico hits a handspring double back elbow, tag to Soberano who hits a high cross body and assisted double dropkick, the Briscoes bail and Soberano hits a Fosbury Flop on both. Caristico follows with a cross body from the top all the way to the floor. Mark sent back in with Caristico but Mark takes him down, Caristico elevated to the apron and kicks Mark and Jay and hits a spring crossbody into a cover on Mark for 2. Tag to Soberano. Caristico hoists Mark and Soberano hits a crossbody Doomsday Device and covers but Jay breaks it at 2. Caristico pulls Jay outside but Jay sends him into a chair. The Briscoes get the double team in the ring, tag to Jay and Soberano runs into a DVD for 2. Jay looks for Jay Driller but Caristico breaks it up before eating a superkick and gets dumped again, Redneck Boogie connects but its only 2. The Jay Driller connects, Mark climbs and plants Froggy Bow and thats the 3.
The Briscoes defeat Caristico & Soberano Jr by pinfall after Froggy Bow
JAY’S RATING: 3 out of 5
This was a fun little tag match, Soberano definitely still shows a bit of greenness here and there but Caristico is so confident and fun to watch, and I honestly dont recall the last time I’ve seen the Briscoes have a bad match – they are such an anchor wherever and whenever they work. Good work by all.
JAY’S THOUGHTS:
A fine little episode of TV to start ramping up some new and/or newer stories following G1 Supercard. We have a new #1 Contender for the ROH Title, Silas/Gresham is getting good and we got a fun tag main event to cap it off. Not the most exciting episode, but solid and moved things forward in a few places.