ROH 02/23/19 TV Review: Main Event: 10- Man Tag Life Blood vs Team ROH
01/12/18
Center Stage
Atlanta, GA
This week was the fourth episode from the set of tapings from Atlanta, GA. Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman and Colt Cabana were on commentary and welcomed us to the show.
First Match: Jenny Rose vs. Sumie Sakai vs. Madison Rayne
A solid opener here that was given a good amount of time. This was a rare triple threat WOH match, without much heat amongst the ladies other than vying for title contention. Rayne seemed to have injured her arm and the story here was that it seemed she would not be able to walk away the victor here due to the injury. Rayne hit a ripcord cutter on first Rose, sending her out to the arena floor. Rayne followed with a second on Sakai, but it was not enough to keep the former champion down. Sakai was able to hit a swinging neck breaker but could not follow up with a pin attempt. Sakai then went for Smashmouth, but in lieu of hitting the move rolled Rayne up for a two count. Once they were both upright Rayne counter Sakai and hit an inverted DDT, taking the win via pinball. A good match with little crowd reaction here but a sign that ROH is invested in the division nonetheless.
Winner: Madison Rayne
An awkward cut from the ring to a video package recapping the formation of LifeBlood and the confrontation with Jay Lethal. Lethal and Robinson agreed to having both their squads squaring off and then the entrance got underway.
Main Event: 10- Man Tag Life Blood vs Team ROH
Jay Lethal, Jonathan Gresham, Flip Gordon, Dalton Castle &
Vs. Life Blood (Juice Robinson, David Finlay, Bandido, Tracy Williams & Mark Haskins)
Tenille Dashwood replaced Coleman on commentary for the match. A bit of odd editing here, possibly for television time constraints, did not show either side exchange the code of honor handshake and seeing how this is one of the things that both sides are pushing, it came off as a bit odd here. Robinson and Lethal started off for their prospective teams in this one, feeling each other out to start the contest as the fans chanted Honor. A nice little comment from Riccaboni mentioned that it was Honor Rising weekend, showing that there is some concentrated effort to make sure the television episodes are in line with the current happenings in the company. The match was given plenty of time and some of the pairings were fantastic, such as Gordon and Bandido’s section of the match. In the end of an action filled match, Castle had a Bang-A-Rang attempt reversed into sharpshooter by Haskins, giving Life Blood the win via submission.
Winners: LifeBlood
Final Reaction: C-
This show established who are the like-minded fellows in the company, those who plan on striving for honor moving forward. The match itself was fun and allowed us to see some match ups that might spring forth in the future, but did little in the way of establishing anything solid other than who the faces are in ROH are right now. The WOH match was given a good amount of time but the crowd felt a bit flat here and never really did get into the match. As a whole, the episode did not really feel like it moved the dial much overall.