ROH TV Episode 316

10/7/17

Las Vegas, NV

There are still shots & highlight videos of all the big match results from “Death Before Dishonor XV” including Jay Briscoe turning on Bully Ray, The Motor City Machine Guns and Kenny King becoming the new ROH World Tag Team and Television champions respectively, Punishment Martinez and Silas Young ending their feuds with Jay White and Jay Lethal respectively in brutal fashion, and Cody making Minoru Suzuki kiss the ring of Honor after he bested him.

Silas Young came out to show off his scars from the Last Man Standing match with Jay Lethal. Claiming he was beaten like a dog, but couldn’t be kept down, Young declares he’s better than the golden boy. But unlike Lethal, Young isn’t selfish as he wants tag team gold alongside Beer City Bruiser. “The Last Real Man” had an offer for a third man in the locker room to join forces with “Milwaukee’s Worst” because he’s a real man just like them: Minoru Suzuki. Young, stating Suzuki is up for the task, called out The Hung Bucks. Upset was Matt Jackson that they had to stop signing autographs to come out to not only officially dub themselves “The Hung Bucks”, but also accept the challenge … only when it’s the main event.

ROH World Television Championship: Kenny King (c) vs. Josh Woods

Great reception for the hometown champ before the tie up that eventually saw King be tripped to the mat and almost rolled into a pinning combination. The champ seemed a little surprised just how fluid Woods was, but King kept his composure and lured Woods into picking up the pace and running into a side headlock. While commentators Ian Riccaboni & Colt Cabana announced that we’d not only get that Six-Man Tag title match tonight, but also we’ll hear from Jay Briscoe about his actions, Woods muscled Kenny into a fall away slam against the turnbuckles for a two count heading into the commercial break.

The episode returned and Woods was crawling to the ropes to save himself from that Last Chancery. Though King was working over the neck of his opponent, that fall away slam had done some damage to the champ. Unleashing a spinning heel kick, King put Woods on the apron. The two started struggling for a chance to suplex the other, only for King to opt for the Eddy Gordo into a twisting plancha when “The Goods” hit the floor from that capoeira kick. Woods stopped what seemed to be a sure three count, kneeing & kicking his way to his feet before landing a knee strike that knocked the spit out of Kenny. The rolling gut-wrench suplexes were a precursor to Woods’ doctor bomb … that gave him a near fall!

Death By Knee failed for Woods, but not the triangle choke as King’s springboard attack sent him careening right into the submission. King was fading fast when he stood up to relieve the pressure and press Woods’ shoulders to the mat. Forgetting this isn’t MMA, Woods didn’t let go of the hold in time as the referee counted him down for a Kenny King victory.

King followed the Code of Honor before taking the microphone. King wanted everyone to know he will be a fighting champion; promising to take on anyone in honor of Las Vegas. Shane Taylor apparently heard the champ and came out to put his name on the list of future challengers. Chuckie T. soon followed, as did Punishment Martinez from the crowd and Mark Briscoe from the locker room. King didn’t care who was first, but they would bend a knee at his throne when it’s all said & done.

In the promo area stood Marty Scurll to personally invite viewers to witness Cody signing the lucrative contract in ROH history next week.

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship: The Hung Bucks (c) vs. Silas Young, Beer City Bruiser & Minoru Suzuki

Suzuki, who seemed to revel in the fans’ adulation on his way to the ring, had qualms about shaking hands with his own partners. Nick Jackson was all kinds of fired up, screaming for a tag when he realized he had angered the much larger Beer City Bruiser. Matt had to save his brother, becoming a human springboard to dropkick BCB, knock down Silas with a triple dropkick alongside Page, and threaten Minoru (to no fear in regards to the latter). Page tagged in, calling out Suzuki. Minoru unleashed a blistering chop that weakened Page’s knees, but “The Hangman” was glad to return the favor before slamming him. Suzuki crab walked off his back to cinch in the kimura. Matt tried to save Page, but got a kimura, too. The champs were all stuck in kimuras when Bruiser grabbed an incoming Nick, sending The Bullet Club scurrying to the floor as Young & Bruiser gave each other a little too sweet action prior to the commercial break.

The challengers were still in control with Young mocking the fans for clapping for The Hung Bucks as Minoru illegally cinched in a knee bar on Matt from the apron where he performed some sit-ups during the activity. Suzuki became the legal man, going after the left ankle of Matt while mocking & threatening his other opponents. Suzuki even positioned the referee to not see illegal attacks from Young & Bruiser. Getting too mouthy with his opponent, Young couldn’t stop Matt from catching him with the springboard ace crusher. BCB tried to halt Matt’s tag, only to be lured into a chase around ringside where Nick kicked Bruiser as Page tagged in to become the proverbial house of fire. Page pulled off an impressive combo by turning a dropkick on Bruiser into a moonsault on Young after connecting with a Samoan drop on “The Last Real Man”. Bruiser recovered, taking out The Young Bucks with a cross body after they super kicked Suzuki. Page was the next to feel Bruiser’s girth when he was taken down on the floor with that cannonball. The fans were on their feet as BCB became the legal man and climbed the ropes for the frog splash off Suzuki’s Gotch Piledriver to Page … that gave BCB a near fall thanks to interference from The Young Bucks before the commercial break!

#SuperKickParty was stopped by the Suzuki Sleeper on Matt. Page saved Matt, only to anger Minoru in the process. Drilling Suzuki with a forearm after being spit on, Page had to contend with Young. Matt & Nick ran in to prevent the Peegee Waja Plunge and allowed Page to moonsault atop Young & Bruiser. Young was prone to an Indytaker on the floor that saw “The Hangman” use his shooting star press off the apron to drive Silas against the concrete. Bruiser was alone and couldn’t stop the impressive show of strength by Page as he hit the Rite of Passage on the big man to pick up the three count for his team.

Bruiser blamed Minoru for the loss, shoving him around. Suzuki responded by punching both men, locking in the sleeper on Bruiser before security ran out to stop a brawl between Minoru & Young.

Jay Briscoe came out to finally explain himself & his actions in regards to bashing Bully Ray on the head with a table that knocked the former Tag Team champion out cold. Before an obviously angered Jay Briscoe could get out anything of substance, the crowd went crazy as someone stepped onto the stage. It was Tommy Dreamer! But Dreamer wasn’t here to soak in the crowd’s adulation, but to tell Briscoe about just how tough Bully Ray is including having a permanent limp for wrestling at “Barely Legal” with a broken ankle, losing a part of his ear due to a bar fight, and being concussed by Chris Jericho in a TLC match to the point he forgot his mother passed three months prior to that match. On that night in Las Vegas in 2002, Dreamer saw the effects of years of abuse for the love of this business. Dreamer turned his attention solely to Jay Briscoe and warned him that he had seriously messed up and there might not be an opportunity to right that wrong. Dreamer thanked the crowd before leaving. Jay had no follow up and simply left as well to a booing audience.

Overall: The first official episode taped after “Death Before Dishonor XV” definitely was a good one thanks to two exhilarating matches and a pair of promos sandwiching it all together. From an in-ring perspective, both title matches had a lot of time to work and delivered in spades. The Six-Man title match wasn’t surprising for being so good considering the talent, but the TV title match really impressed because it showed just how much both men have grown as wrestlers – in regards to Woods, in a very short period of time. So far King’s reign is off to a good start and here’s to it really being accepted across the board as a main event talent. The promos at the top & bottom of the episode were also very good as Silas Young not only got a chance to gloat over defeating Jay Lethal, but also give the fans knowledge of his goals – something that wrestling has been lacking a lot as of late where the viewing audience has no idea what a wrestler’s current motivations are. Dreamer coming out to explain Bully’s status and why Jay should be looking for forgiveness was enthralling and still left the big question for Jay as to why he did what he did to be explained down the road (maybe when Bully comes back to confront him).

The episode wasn’t perfect though. Having Silas on the losing end of a match so quickly after “DBD” is disheartening even if he didn’t take the fall. It would’ve been great to see Young, Bruiser & Suzuki win a match here and then maybe get the title shot during the “Global Wars” tour that all three are a part of. It also would’ve been nice to have some type of build for the TV title match – Woods dominating the competition while he was being ducked by every other TV champ before King; being a little upset that Kenny leapt over him in the figurative rankings; how Las Vegas could’ve been his night if Woods got what was due to him instead of King. Also there was no “Coleman’s Pulpit”, or at least a promo by Coleman to promote a future guest. But most of those things don’t even come to mind during the actual show because of how good the episode is while pushing forward a couple of stories both major and minor heading into ROH’s next inter-promotional series of events.