ROH 01/05/19 TV Review: Chris Sabin vs Flip Gordon vs Marty Scurll vs Dalton Castle
12/15/18
2300 Arena
Philadelphia, PA
This week was the first episode from the set of tapings from Philadelphia, PA.
Ian Riccaboni was mid-ring and wished the crowd ia happy new year before announcing that Chris Sabin, Flip Gordon, Marty Scurll and Dalton Castle would have a four corner survival match to determine who would challenge Jay Lethal for the title. Riccaboni thought he was introducing Jay Lethal, but instead, the Real World Champion Matt Taven came out. Taven ran down all three opponents, deriding them all pretty savagely.
An Irate Jay Lethal ran down and started jawing at Taven. Taven spat at Lethal’s world title and the two began brawling with Taven in the aisle until officials were able to pull them apart.
First Match: Proving Ground Match
Luchasaurus vs. ROH TV Champion Jeff Cobb
Luchasaurus came out firing, almost taking the win after a a series of stiff kicks. Cobb was able to toss the challenger out of the corner. Cobb later thwarted a dive from the corner with a standing dropkick before hitting a superplex. Cobb strung together a super belly to belly suplex, a piledriver a Tour of the Islands before finally putting this one away. Lucahsaurus looked good here and was given a smattering of offense, looking like he could hang with the champion.
Winner: Jeff Cobb
A Dalton Castle promo aired next. He shared that he did not fight back from injury to fight Matt Taven. He called the ROH title that Taven carries is fake, but assures him that the rage the Peacock feels for Taven is not fake.
Second Match: ROH World Women’s Champion Kelly Klein vs. Nikki Adams
Before the matchmatch, Klein announced that after winning the WOD World title, she plans on defending the title in every single one of her matches. Commentary debated whether she was a fighting champion or simply arrogant. This was short, with Klein getting most of the offense in. In the end, Klein yanked Adams off the top and despite not getting the pinfall, was able to connect with a knee to the head to end the match. Jenny Rose then came down after the match and called Klein out, citing unfinished business. She then reminded Klein about their one-on-one match at Honor Reigns Supreme, challenging Klein to make it a Street Fight, to which the champion acquiesced to.
Winner: Kelly Klein
A vignette of Beer City Bruiser looking for Silas Young. Brian Milonas tried to snap BCB out of his funk. Milonas encouraged Bruiser to confront Young in the locker room to settle everything once and for all.
A video recap of Christopher Daniels losing to Marty Scurll at Final Battle before Daniels made his way to the ring in his best suit. Daniels essentially went into a retirement speech, speaking about his pride regarding his time in ROH. Just as it seemed the segment was over, Joff Koff came out and offered Daniels a contract because of Daniels’s selfless act in protecting Cary Silkin from a Bully Ray attack.
Just as it seemed this was as feel good moment, Shane Taylor blindsided Daniels, vociferously airing his grievances that the Cleveland born grappler is more deserving of time to shine. He hit Daniels with Greetings from Cleveland before tearing up the contract and stuffing it down Daniels’s throat to end the segment. This was a strong way to reintroduce Taylor, however if this ends up being Daniels’s exit, it’s an odd one as you would imagine Koff could just print another contract.
Zack Sabre Jr. will make his TV debut next week!
Main Event: Four Corner Survival Match
Chris Sabin vs Flip Gordon vs Marty Scurll vs. Dalton Castle
Jay Lethal joined commentary for this one, airing his issues with Taven and saying that he was there to keep an eye on the proceedings.This was a short, but action packed-affair. Sabin was made to look particularly strong here and in the end it was Castle’s good timing that won him the match. Sabin had waylayed both Gordon and Scurll with stiff kicks to the chest but as he turned around he tried to sunset flip over Castle, instead finding himself hoisted up for a Bang-A-Rang, earning Castle the first title shot. This is a strong group of contenders overall and this paints the ROH title picture in a great light and was a bit of refresher so that everyone knows who is challenging in the months to come.
Winner: Dalton Castle
Final Reaction: B+
This was a strong first show of the year, showing us glimpses of what the men’s and women’s title pictures will look like going forward in the next few months. Daniels’s segment was particularly strong here and reintroducing Shane Taylor after his trip to England in an easy-heating getting segment bodes well for the big man going into 2019. Coupled with the announcement of ZSJ on ROH TV next week it felt as if ROH got off to a fresh start in 2019 and rebooting a great deal of what the company was in 2018 so far seems like a very intriguing start