Note: Due to deadlines and Ring of Honor running a six hour broadcast with a replay system that barely worked, I prioritized the fights based on importance so I could discuss them on the podcast. As far as a review on the Honor Club Service itself, what seemed to be a great idea has been a massive failure in execution. Their servers have been overloaded, and caused our live coverage writers to miss crucial parts of the show, blamed on bandwidth issues. Keep in mind, ROH is owned by a BROADCAST COMPANY.
After concluding the UFC podcast I set out to watch the SIX HOUR SHOW in its entirety. I immediately ran into issues even finding the event. Why wouldn't Supercard of Honor be the first thing you see when you get there? After that, I wanted to skip ahead (six hours on a WrestleMania weekend? I'll pass up the entrances) and the skip feature wouldn't work. Not only that, I could only skip to the first half of their uStream based service, which automatically rolls over into the next half. Novel concept -- run a three hour show, like most humans prefer to consume. When I finally got it to skip, I ran into buffering issues for an ON DEMAND VIDEO. I'll have John Moorehouse on the post-show review to fill in the gaps.
I'll have match ratings with a blurb about each match
Chuckie T defeated Jonathan Gresham
5/10
Chuckie had to win here. He has the momentum, and despite Gresham's ability, Ring of Honor haven't seemed interested in having Gresham as much of anything despite his televised wins here and there. I don't think I've seen him with a victory on ROH TV this year. Solid work and a fine match.
Punishment Martinez defeated Tomohiro Ishii
6.75/10
Punishment Martinez has a Lita-esque plancha that sees him face scoot the floor. Then a tope con hilo, then a super frankensteiner. Insane stuff. Ishii almost didn't get his shoulder up at one point, which was kind of scary. Punsihment Martinez looked outstanding in this match and really needed a big victory. I'll be doing a "Making a Finisher" on Martinez's South of Heaven Chokeslam this year.
Kota Ibushi defeated Hangman Page
8.5/10
This is the exact opposite of Page's match with Jay White. Ibushi's skill set and performance gel with Page's, and they work a faster style. Page gets suplexed on his neck and shoulder from the barricade, and it's scary. Even Colt Cabana says he doesn't like it. Incredible work from these guys, and honestly was the kind of match Page deserved at Long Beach. An awesome series of reversals led to Ibushi winning.
ROH Women Of Honor Championship
Tournament Final
Sumie Sakai defeated Kelly Klein
4.25/10
I'm glad Iwatani wasn't in this main event, but if Sakai ends up dropping the title to Mandy Leon, that would be gross. Deonna Purrazzo, Tenille Dashwood were both better choices to be in this final for what ROH does in my opinion. That being said, Sakai has a schoolboy powerbomb I really like. Other than that, the work was good, but the finish abrupt. For the life of me, I don't understand having a 46 year old woman beat Klein's streak and win the title. Maybe it's because Sakai wrestled for them way back in 02.
ROH Six Man Tag Team Championships
SoCal Uncensored defeated Young Bucks & Flip Gordon
(7.25/10)
This is the high flying mayhem you'd expect. The TKO from the ladder in this match wasn't executed as well as the one from Takeover, but was higher up. I enjoy Matt Jackson using heavyweight spots like the spear since he moved up. I liked Flip Gordon's kip up spot for the first time ever when he used it to avoid a ladder. A back body drop 450 by Bucks/Flip onto the ladder was very cool. Some of the offense from the Bucks got sloppy, but they've sold Matt's back injury so well, it's tough to tell if that's what they were doing or not. Nick's ladder walks were insane, and I really liked Matt tossing all the other ladders out of the ring. The Kingdom got involved, and they very much have "go away" heat. The Flip Gordon spot on top of the ladder is one of the craziest spots I've ever seen. There's an insane in stereo 450 spot through tables from Flip and Nick. Matt gets pushed off a ladder and elbows Vinny through a table. Daniels gets the title and wins. Kingdom steal the belts and run away.
ROH Tag Team Championship
The Briscoes defeated Jay Lethal and Hiroshi Tanahashi
5.5/10
This match didn't have any sense of urgency early on, and little reaction. I'm glad Mark Briscoe kicked out of Lethal's finish, because it portrays him as a main eventer, and the crowd was cooking after that. Unfortunately the match just didn't click. Briscoes won with a Doomsday Device
ROH Television Championship
Last Man Standing
Silas Young defeated Kenny King (c) to become ROH Television Champion
5.5/10
Why Austin Aries was here and didn't wrestle, I'm not sure. This was a hardcore match, with a couple of big table spots. Kenny King hits an unbelievable shooting star press from the top rope though a table that I didn't even know he could do. Beer City Bruiser is underneath the ring and and zipties Kenny King's feet so Silas can win.
Bully Ray
Bully Ray heels Cheeseburger and Joe Koff. I hope Joe doesn't become an on screen character. Flip Gordon comes out and tries to make the save. Bully threatens to piledrive Cheeseburger, which would get the show pulled. A lot of people know ROH is exempt, but I thought that was still a nice touch.
Cody (w/ Brandi Rhodes) defeated Kenny Omega
8.5/10
Phenomenal match and story, and left me with a lot of questions without feeling like I got ripped off. This added even more to the story that I thought could end as a result of this match. There was the aspect of Young Bucks superkicking Omega on accident, Brandi getting put through a table and Flip Gordon helping her, Cody winning in general and likely continuing to be a big time heel. This was a great story, and great in-ring work. A lot of people will say it was only good because of Omega, and he was a big part, but Cody's character work over the last 16 months made this feel like one of the weekend's big main events.
ROH World Championship
Dalton Castle (c) (w/ The Boys) defeated Marty Scurll
5.5/10
Nick Aldis at ringside, interesting. I don't necessarily like the match being called like a golf tournament. I know it's to help build it as the voices raise, but with everything that preceded the match, it's a tough sell. This is a tough match to get going after the non-stop spots we've seen in the past few hours. It's a lot like NXT Championship matches between 2015-2017. There are these fast paced matches from start to finish, and when the main event comes on it's worked different and called different. You could hear a pin drop with 5,800 there at some points. Todd Sinclair continues to be portrayed as an oaf. Aldis hands Scurll clippers to take the turnbuckle off. Castle flat out botched kicking out and the crowd isn't happy. It's 26 minutes in, they want the match to be over and haven't been that into it for any extended period of time. The old powder spot happens, and Todd Sinclair gets his fingers broken and can't count Castle's pin. Scurll locks in the chickenwing, then breaks Castles finger. ROH can't use a good wide shot from the hard cam, because the turnbuckle that Scurll pulled off has stayed on the ropes, right in the view of the camera. Castle gets Bangarang for the win.
