ROH 9/22/18 TV Review: Silas Young and Bully Ray vs. Jonathan Gresham and Jay Lethal
08/25/18
2300 Arena
Philadelphia, PA
This week was the second episode from the set of tapings from Philadelphia, GA. Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman were on commentary and welcomed everyone to show.
First Match: The Boys vs Best Friends
This was a fun opening contest. It is not often that the Boys are in a match that treats them as legitimate challengers. Despite having to battle “heavyweights” here, the match felt even and believable here. Baretta’s injury derailed the Best Friends getting the push that seemingly would have come to them when they first arrived, but having the time away seems to have been a good thing, as they can continue to pick up wins and perhaps be named challengers after Final Battle. The end came after Baretta and Taylor hit a Dude Buster and an Awful Waffle at the same time, with Baretta scoring the pin.
Winners: Best Friends
Second Match: Adam Page vs. Kenny King
King came down to the ring sporting swimming accoutrements, specifically two floatation devices. This was a nice back and forth content-nothing particularly significant, except that King has now continued to show his proclivity for bending the rules to win and he now has picked up his second victory against a Bullet Club member.King tried to use the ropes to win as had with Marty Scurll. This time, referee Paul Turner noticed and did not continue the count, forcing King to try a different method. Page countered King’s Royal Flush attempt into a small package but the two traded pinfall attempts until King used a hand full of tights to gain the advantage and walk away with another questionable victory.
Winner: Kenny King
Third Match: Top Prospect Tournament
Dante Caballero vs. Brian Johnson
The two locked up but did not get a chance to getting anything really going before Jeff Cobb came down and once again decimated the top prospect participants. Cobb then grabbed a mic and said that the top prospect tournament is over because he is the top prospect in Ring of Honor. The presentation of Jeff Cobb has continued to be excellent and now that he’s finally gotten a chance to wield a mic it seems that he will be moving towards a program after destroying the “top prospects”.
Winner: No Contest
Video recap of how the title match between Tenille Dashwood and WOH World champion Sumie Sakai.
Main Event: Silas Young and Bully Ray vs. Jonathan Gresham and Jay Lethal
A lot of mind games to start here. After a bit of back and forth, Gresham slapped Bully Ray and the legend walked down to the ramp before heading back into the ring to finally wrestle. The end came about when Lethal hit Hail to the King on Young and then rolled Young over, allowing Gresham to hit a shooting star press. Ray shoved Lethal into Todd Sinclair, breaking up the pinfall. With Sinclair down, Ray backdropped Lethal over the top rope and hit Gresham with a low blow. Young scooped Gresham up and hit Misery, picking up the pinfall victory.
Winners: Young and Ray
Final Reaction: B-
This was a good solid episode of ROH television this week. The opener was a fun bout that allowed two teams that haven’t had a chance to make a real impact in the company thus far. King’s issues with the Bullet Club are brewing, Cobb’s longplay development seems to be paying off and the main event was successful in drawing the ire of the fans, while keeping Gresham relevant here. Overall a good show, albeit one that was missing some key players in terms of being the show right before the PPV.
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