ROH Sea of Honor Tournament Review
10/27/18-10/31/18
Jericho Cruise (or is it Cruise of Jericho)
Colt Cabana welcomed everyone to the show an introduced a video package that quickly showed highlights of the first round before Socal Val came out to take up the ring announcing duties for the first full match
Sea of Honor Tournament Quarter-final
Christopher Daniels vs. Ashley Remington
Jay Lethal joined Colt on commentary and for the night. Socal Val then announced that Dalton Castle was concussed and in his place, a suitable opponent would be taking Daniels on. Out came Ashley Remington, missing since his days in Chikara to the delight of the crowd. A fun match here, if a bit confusing that Remington took Castle’s place. The end came when Daniels went to hoist Remington up for a Blue Thunder Bomb but Ashley was able to counter into an inside cradle to pick up the victory pinfall and move on to take on the winner of Gordon/Scull later on in the tournament. Remington then unveiled a fruit basket that he graciously offered Daniels. The Ring General enjoyed a bit and the two hugged before the next match was queued up. A fun opener here that felt like a real treat for the live crowd.
Winner: Ashley Remington/Dalton Castle
Sea of Honor Tournament Quarter-final
Flip Gordon vs. Marty Scurll
Scurll offered a handshake to start but just as Gordon went to, Scurll ramped it up to a huge offer. The two embraced but it was not long before Scurll hit a Rock Bottom before flying in and out of the ring, picking up a near fall on Gordon. Scurll was in control for a good deal of the contest, with Gordon getting his licks in, but continually falling back into Scurll’s clutches. The end came when Gordon reversed a Scurll roll up into a jackknife of his own and came away the winner. Gordon continued on in the tournament after a fun match against a former television champion.
Winner: Flip Gordon
Sea of Honor Tournament Quarter-final
Jay Briscoe vs. Cheeseburger
Jay offered Cheeseburger a chance to forfeit because no one wanted to see Cheeseburger die. The Burgerman turned him down by flipping Jay the bird and the match got underway. Jay was in complete control. Typical underdog match here- Cheeseburger had brief spurts of offense but was largely dominated for the entirety of the match. Eventually, Jay hit a Jay Driller and that was all she wrote. Cabana delivered an amazing line, saying that Cheeseburger had to be scraped off the grill. A good contest for what it was-the fans got to see Cheeseburger and Jay’s dominant display made him look even stronger here as he steamed rolled into the semi-final.
Winner: Jay Briscoe
Sea of Honor Tournament Quarter-final
Mark Briscoe vs. Adam Page
The two engaged in a chop war to start, with Page on the losing end here, although he kept trying to go back to it. Briscoe scaled the ropes to try and gain some control, but Page caught Briscoe with a big boot that dazed the former tag team champion. Out of nowhere, A BIRD LANDED ON A FAN DURING THE MATCH and both Cabana and Lethal have lost their minds and deservedly so. Back in the ring, Briscoe took control with some red neck kung-fu, only to be dropped on his neck with a bridging German Suplex.Mark dodged a clothesline and rolled up Page to head into the semi-finals against his brother. Briscoe picked up the unexpected win in a strong match between the two.
Winner: Mark Briscoe
Sea of Honor Tournament Semi-finals
Dalton Castle vs. Flip Gordon
Matt Taven, the Real ROH World champion, and Mandy Leon joined commentary for the match. Castle had Socal Val announced that he would appreciate it if Gordon did not touch any part of his body, as he was suffering from a severe sunburn. Gordon showed no remorse and mercilessly chopped Castle in a disgusting display of sportsmanship. This was a good back and forth and it just as Castle was rolling
Castle seemed to injure his arm and take a spill to the outside. Gordon stole a win here with an unexpected roll up on Castle to move onto the finals.
Winner: Flip Gordon
Sea of Honor Tournament Semi-finals
Mark Briscoe vs. Jay Briscoe
Neither Briscoe pulled punches in this one and their familiarity led to arguably the strongest match of the night. The match was not a no disqualification match but both men stretched that definition a bit- using a chair in various spots here. Easily the hardest hitting contest of the night and even though Jay always felt like the right call here, Mark gave him a run for his money and there were stretches where it felt like anyone’s contest to win. In the end, Mark went to hit a Froggy bow from the top onto Jay and chair. Instead, Mark caught a chair to the face before he could leap. Jay followed by hitting Jay Driller to win the match and move onto the finals.
Winner: Jay Briscoe
Sea of Honor Tournament Finals
Flip Gordon vs. Jay Briscoe
Jay Lethal rejoined Colt for commentary for the match. Jay Briscoe has been teaming with his brother as of late and it almost makes you forget just how crisp he is as a singles competitor. Gordon continued his stretch of excellent wrestling, displaying how well he meshes with different styles. It felt like Jay’s tournament to lose and the story told in the ring was that he just could not put the young upstart away. Gordon absorbed a Jay Driller and managed to kick out. Gordon then hit a Flip Five cutter and score a pinfall victory to earn a future title shot. A really good match here- Jay Briscoe has the ability to elevate others and Gordon took the opportunity and ran with it.
Winner: Flip Gordon
Bucks of Jericho (or is Y2Jackson) vs. The Bullet Club (Cody, Kenny Omega & Marty Scurll)
Before this got underway. Scurll saved the match as it seemed Jericho had Omega set to tap out to the Walls of Jericho. Omega crawled over for the pin but only got a two count. Jericho tagged out and the Bucks set Omega up for a Meltzer that was thwarted by Cody/ Omega’s back failed him as he went for a One-Winged Angel on Matt. After some back and forth strong strikes Omega was finally able to get Matt up in the One-Winged Angel for the win. A fun main event that you would expect from these six. Nick taking a ton of punishment here inverted some of the other matches these six have been in before and therefore some of the spots and layout of the match were different, which was a nice change of pace. Tons of fun moments here and even if this was more of a fun dream match than a particularly relevant bout, it was still a fun way to end the show.
Winners: The Bullet Club
Final Reaction: B
The unique atmosphere and the layout of the card made this a really enjoyable event. Colt Cabana really shouldered the load on commentary here and did an excellent job navigating working with different sets of partners. The Bird moment was just one example of how Cabana’s honest and humorous commentary can add to a show. Gordon really took the opportunity given here and is now set up to be pushed into a prominent role in 2019. This was a fun show and definitely worth checking out.