ROH Bound By Honor Night 2 4/28/18 Review
4/28/18
RP Funding Center
Lakeland, Florida
Ring of Honor presented Bound By Glory, live from Lakeland, Florida on the company’s HonorClub service. Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana were on commentary to start the show.
The Motor City Machine Guns vs. Coast to Coast
Shelley and Ali started off for their respective squads after all four adhered to the code of honor. After a quick exchange proving the two to be equal, LSG and Sabin came in next. Coast to Coast were in control early on, but MCMG were able to control Ali for quite a bit until LSG was finally able to make the tag in.LSG was able to take on both Shelley and Sabin, taking them out with his impressive springboard clothesline. Coast to Coast went for coast to coast, but Shelly pulled LSG down and prevented the move. This allowed MCMG to go for Skull and Bones, but LSG returned the favor and pulled Shelley down, allowing Ali to roll up a distracted Sabin to pick up the victory. A good opening match here and the right team won. MCMG walked away frustrated, but Sabin still adhered to the code of honor
Winners: Coast to Coast
Serpentico vs. Cheeseburger
This started off a fun fast-paced sprint between two men with very similar builds. Serpentico, in the short time that he was in the ring, showed a good deal of promise here, but just as Cheeseburger was going for his patented Shotei, Bully Ray ran down and hit him with a low blow, for the second night in a row. As Ray was attacking Serpentico, Flip Gordon ran down to the ring and chased Bully Ray off. Ray teased coming back in, but ultimately left without doing anything. The match was good for what it was, but it would have been nice to see some more of Serpentico’s work before this one ended.
Winner: No Contest
Four Corner Survival
Matt Taven w/ The Kingdom vs. Josh Woods vs.The Beer City Bruiser vs. Kenny King
This followed the general pattern of these four corner survival matches, although all involved were able to hit their spots and look strong at different times after the initial period of the heels and faces working together briefly ended. Woods was really the focus here and got a lot of offense here during the match. Just as it seemed he was going to win after hitting the GTS variation on BCB, Marseglia distracted him and Taven rolled him, putting his feet up on the top rope for leverage, assisted by Marseglia and O’Ryan. Good, short four way here. It gave everyone a chance to get their offense in, saw Woods look strong and allowed Taven to continue his winning ways as he matches towards a title shot.
Winner: Matt Taven
The Kingdom (Vinny Marseglia & TK O’Ryan) vs. The Addiction
After Taven’s win, the Kingdom celebrated mid-ring as O’Ryan grabbed a mic. He congratulated Taven and told the leader to take the night off and watch the Celtics win as he and Marseglia try to Kill the Kingdom Conspiracy by taking out the Addiction. All four started in the ring brawling, with the Addiction gaining control, even with Taven coming back down to ringside. Marseglia crawled under the ring and crawled out with a balloon, but Kazarian rudely took it and popped it. Marseglia then went to get revenge using his axe, but Daniels saved his partner’s life just in time. The match then became more of a traditional tag, with O’Ryan and Kazarian squaring off. Daniels and Marseglia spilled into the ring and brawled, tossing Todd Sinclair to the outside. All the while, O’Ryan grabbed his bat, preparing to strike. Kazarian came in with a chair and then both faked being knocked out with their weapons. Todd Sinclair did not fall for it and tossed the weapons outside as he admonished them for their behavior. In the end, O’Ryan hit Daniels with a low blow as Taven ran down to ringside with his staff. He went to hit Daniels, but Scoprio Sky came down and pulled him off the apron. Marseglia went out to help Taven, leaving O’Ryan on the receiving end of Celebrity Rehab.
Winners: The Addiction
Scorpio Sky vs. Flip Gordon
Sky stayed in the ring and cut a promo, insulting Lakeland and saying he can’t wait to go back to beautiful SOuthern California. He then called Flip Gordon out for getting into other people’s business and challenged him to a match. Although there was high-flying fast paced action, this also felt as if both were trying to tell a story here and not just go for a full tilt of high spots. The end came when Gordon went for a Samon Pop that saw Sky reverse it and applying a dragon sleeper variation that almost won the match. Gordon was able to survive and slip out, hitting the Star-Spangled Cutter on Sky to pick up the win.
Winner: Flip Gordon
Ava Storie vs. Deonna Purrazzo
Kelly Klein joined commentary before the match. Storie looked good and was allowed to score some extended offense in a short contest. Purrazzo essentially won out of nowhere here after locking on the Fujiwara armbar. Post-match, Klein attacked Purrazzo and but the very large heels to her before ringside crew was able to pull her away and she walked away with a smug look on her face. The match was used to further the angle with Klein, but it seemed odd that Purrazzo was beaten down so much by an unknown in terms of the ROH audience.
Winner: Deonna Purrazzo
Adam Page vs. Punishment Martinez
Before Page could even hit the ring Martinez came down to the ring in his street clothes and ambushed Page. Martinez chokeslammed page through a table and left through the crowd, apparently never there to actually have a match, only intending to hurt one of Cody’s Bullet Club brethren. Riccaboni and Cabana nicely transitioned into postulating whether or not Martinez did this to send a message to Jay White ahead of his IWGP United States title challenge during the War of the Worlds tour next month. Cabana still felt that throwing the match away was needless. An interesting segment that pts two men who have not faced off before against each other and puts Martinez back in the role of a menacing heel, especially after attacking a fan favorite like Page.
Winner: No Contest
Jay Lethal vs. Shane Taylor
All night references were made to Lethal doing something cool during this match. Lethal grabbed a mic as he got into the ring and announced that as his birthday is on Sunday, he had some friends offer to come to the show to celebrate. Lethal put his special guest over, saying that the guest was part of wrestling Royalty and he introduced none other than LANNY POFFO! The Genius thanked Lethal for keeping his brother’s memory alive and then said that he had a special birthday treat for him. Poffo presented Lethal with a pair of Macho Man sunglasses. Lethal put them on and asked Poffo to recite a poem in full Macho Man impression. Lethal took a great deal of punishment from taylor who looked extra sharp and focused during this match. Taylor seemed to have the win, but pulled Lethal up and allowed the former champion to fight back. Lethal was able to hit a Lethal Injection before scaling the ropes and hitting his homage to Macho Man, Hail to the King for the win. The pre-match stuff was a fantastic fun and heart-warming nostalgic segment that made the match feel far more important and established a very clear story to the match. An absolute treat if you have ever called yourself a Macho Man Randy Savage match. Taylor and Lethal worked very well together and another match down the road promises to deliver as these two have good chemistry.
Winner: Jay Lethal
The Bullet Club (Cody Rhodes, Marty Scurll & The Young Bucks) vs ROH Champions (Dalton Castle, Silas Young and The Briscoes)
This match was contested under elimination style rules.The Bullet Club ran their Boots routine early on, almost hitting Mark with six boots, but Jay jumped in and stopped them with a chair, earning himself a disqualification. Matt hit a dropkick through the ropes on Jay while he was outside, but was quickly rolled up by Mark and eliminated as well. Nick eliminated Mark after going on an absolute tear, finishing it all off with a 450 splash. To give the Bullet Club the edge in numbers, but Young quickly evened the numbers up after hitting Misery on Nick and scoring a pinfall afterward. Scurll came in next and was hpoisted up for Misery, but he grabbed Young’s hand and went to break his fingers. Young was able to counter and went for Misery again, but this time Scurll locked on the Chicken Wing and made him tap out. Castle fought valiantly, but eventually fell victim to a Cross Rhodes. Scurll was irritated that Cody upstaged him and didn’t go for the pin right away. Cody then went for a disaster kick and Scurll became annoyed again, allowing Castle to hit a Bang-A-Rang to eliminate Scurll. Cody quickly slid into the ring and rolled Castle up with a crucifix to win the match for the Bullet Club as the lone survivor, but with clear dissension. The two jawed at each other as Castle looked on and eventually just left the two to bicker.
Winners: The Bullet Club, Lone Survivor: Cody
Final Thoughts:B-/C+
Night two of Bound by Honor was a much better show than the first night. Everything seemed to hold more importance on this show and as an unabashed fan of everything Macho Man Randy Savage, the appearance of Lanny Poffo and the interaction with Lethal made this a really enjoyable show. The main event was well done and had a number of layers for future matches coming up. Martinez attacking Page was unexpected and worked well here. The Kingdom continue their winning ways and ROH seemed to have finally pulled the trigger on Coast to Coast, giving them their second major win of the weekend.