ROH 03/31/19 Road to G1 Supercard Review
UMBC Center
Baltimore, Maryland
With less than six days to go before the company’s biggest show ever, ROH presented Road to G1 Supercard from Baltimore, Maryland.
Rush vs. Tracy Williams
Rush is well-suited to a hard-hitting style and Williams was a perfect compliment to that. These two worked each other over early, hitting with hard strikes throughout the match. Williams hit two fantastic looking DDTs, one of the turnbuckle and one jumping from the second rope to mid-ring. Rush thwarted Williams’s next attempt to scale the turnbuckles and countered with a superplex that almost won him the match. After threatening Sinclair for a moment Rush continued his attack, albeit slowly. He then missed a senton from the top, only for Rush to evade Williams’s top rope dive also. suplex him into the buckles and charge at Williams in the corner, connecting with the Bull’s Horn to pick up the win in a fun opening contest. Rush continued his winning streak in ROH.
Winner: RUSH
Colin Delaney & Coast 2 Coast (Leon St. Giovanni & Shaheem Ali) vs. Shinobi Shadow Squad (Cheeseburger, Ryan Nova, & Eli Isom)
Rhett Titus, bodybuilder extraordinaire, joined commentary before this match got underway. A really great, fast-paced Coast to Coast went for their eponymous move with Delaney positioned to make the leap from the diagonal. Ali was knocked off the top and Isom then tried to superplex Delaney, only to have his opponent hoist him up for an electric chair drop. Isom escaped and Delaney was blindsided by Cheeseburger’s shotei. He and his partners hoisted Delaney up for a top rope double stomp/ DDT combination for the win. Both sides adhered to the code of honor after the match. This was a fun back and forth from two sides that felt very evenly matched here. As C2C does not often tag with Delaney the loss does not hurt the team much at all and allowed 3S to grab a win and continue their position as a quasi-formidable trio in the division.
Winners: Shinobi Shadow Squad
#ShinobiShadowSquad @CheeseburgerROH @RyanNovaSuper @EliEyeSum want ALL of the @ringofhonor Titles? …🤔 pic.twitter.com/Zdp1s5fgZr
— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) March 31, 2019
#C2C GOING TO #MSG!!! pic.twitter.com/5MKYkd6pue
— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) April 1, 2019
Mark Haskins vs. Silas Young
Haskins showed his versatility here, matching up very well with Young. The story of the match unfurled rather early, as Haskins seemed to injure his right knee and leg. Despite the injury, Haskins continued to be one step ahead of Young. In the closing moments, Young opted to grab the rope as he had Haskins wrapped in a jackknife pin. Sinclair noticed and kicked Young’s arm, allowing Haskins to counter into a Young beat Haskins down after the match and was joined by his crony, Bully Ray. As the two waylaid Haskins, referee Todd Sinclair became the focus of Bully’s rage, cornering him for once again “changing” the outcome of a match. Just as Bully Ray seemed ready to pummel the ROH senior official, Life Blood came down to the ring and chased him off. Juice Robinson grabbed a mic and ran down Bully Ray and accept Ray’s open challenge for Supercard. This may have been the spot that Gordon was going to fill but this is just as logical-Ray has represented everything that Robinson has said is wrong with ROH, so a program between the two makes all the sense in the world. Ray has been a heat magnet and anyone up against him, especially in New York, will benefit from the match.
Winner: Mark Haskins
Juice Robinson is ready for @bullyray5150 open challenge at @TheGarden!! #G1Supercard pic.twitter.com/CNL1gdknWp
— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) March 31, 2019
https://t.co/TK7t4IuHzx journalist @TheKevinEck tries to get a word with @bullyray5150 about Juice Robinson answering his open challenge at @TheGarden… pic.twitter.com/kBNzdzK7GG
— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) March 31, 2019
Sumie Sakai & Jenny Rose vs. Kris Stadtlander & Tasha Steelz vs. Gabby Ortiz & Karissa Rivera
While Rose and Sakai have solidly been a part of the division since before the title was introduced, the other four have only gotten shots here and there, so their inclusion in this match on a PPV was a bit of a test which all passed very well here. All three teams had control at one point here, working fluidly as tandems. There have been times when the pairings in WOH did not always seem to include real teams but here all three sides, particularly Rivera and Ortiz worked very well together. In the end, Sakai hit Smash Mouth on Stradlander but all hell broke loose and Stadtlander was able to recover, hitting a stiff knee before wrapping things up with Big Bang Theory. This was a solid contest showcasing some of the possible talent that the company will bring in to round out the division. After the match Kelly Klein came down to the ring and congratulated all of the participants, complimenting their growth and development as wrestlers. She then graciously offered them all a chance at the title once she wins it back from Iwatani. Sakai did not buy this showing of kindness, insisting that her friend Iwatani will in fact retain at MSG.
Winners: Kris Stadtlander & Tasha Steelz
Victorious! @callmekrisstat & @RealTSteelz win their match tonight in Baltimore! pic.twitter.com/03FTx2kUfJ
— women of honor (@Women_of_Honor) March 31, 2019
ROH World Tag Team Championship Match
Villain Enterprises (PCO & King) vs. Briscoes
As has happened every time these two square off, this was a war between the two sides. Their previous encountered featured brutal violence and the same occurred here. As the match was not a NO DQ match, the two sides continually teased using implements to gain the advantage, but that did not come into play until the very end of the match. Just as it seemed that the Briscoes were poised to regain the titles after a Mark Froggy-bow onto PCO, King broke up the pinfall and then went looking for some hardware. He tossed a number of chairs into the ring but as Jay grabbed a chair to defend himself referee Todd Sinclair prevented him from using the chair. King felt no such compunction and swung away, catching Jay across the back. The Briscoes then both grabbed chairs and retaliated. The Sandy Fork natives then superplexed PCO onto a pile of chairs and a barricade cover before sending King through a table on the outside. This match was a perfect build to the insanity that these two teams, G.O.D. And Los Ingobernables.
Winners: No contest
PJ Black vs. Kenny King
The story of this match was PJ Black’s change of attitude. According to commentary, Black has decided to turn over a new leaf and seems dedicated to the ideals of sportsmanship and respect and honor. Black started by offering a code of honor handshake to start this match. Black wrestled differently here and was much more of a face, which seems to suit him far better in the company. The match itself was a strong back and forth contest, with Black pulling out all the stops to beat King, but not being able to keep his opponent down. King continues to be featured prominently and picks up wins even outside of the title picture. No matter who the champion is after the Supercard show he can easily be a contender once again this year.
Winner: Kenny King
Number One Contendership On The Line
Marty Scurll vs. Shane Taylor
Before the match began we were reminded that Scurll has put his opportunity at G1 Supercard on the line to make the match a bit more interesting. Taylor got on the mic and reminded the live crowd what was on the line and immediately insulted the crowd, swaying the earlier crowd support he had firmly in Marty’s corner. The action quickly spilled to the outside, giving Scurll a chance to take control here and slow things down a bit. Scurll focused on Taylor’s arm but then made the error of going for a suplex that Taylor easily reversed. Scurll got his bearings together and actually was able to suplex Taylor, which was really impressive. Just as he seemed poised to secure his spot in the ROH World title match, Matt Taven marched down to ringside and distracted the ref. Taylor was able to grab the Briscoes chain which was still around from earlier in the night and hit Scurll with a One-Hitter-Quitter to score the pinfall. As Taylor celebrated Todd Sinclair ran down to ringside and informed Paul Turner of the shenanigans that occurred. Turner ordered the match to restart and Scurll quickly locked on a Chickenwing and won via submission, securing his spot in the ladder match at MSG. A hard-hitting match here and the Taylor pin was legitimately surprising, albeit for a moment. The stipulation seemed like a no-brainer at first and thusly the match seemed like a foregone conclusion but the twist at the end made this far more interesting.
Winner: Marty Scurll
The Kingdom vs. Jay Lethal & Jeff Cobb vs. Life Blood (Juice Robinson & Bandido)
Lethal and Juice started off for their respective sides, leaving the Kingdom to plot as the match got underway. Lethal and Cobb tried to double team Robinson, but Lethal was tossed to the outside. Cobb was more successful on his own here, catching Robinson and showing off his strength with a stalling suplex before hitting a standing moonsault moments later. Despite this Juice was able to corral Cobb and tag Bandido in, just after taunting the Kingdom.
During the match, Riccaboni reported that Haskins had been taken out backstage.
. @ThisIsHaskins found laid out backstage … pic.twitter.com/Z4oGXM9FME
— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) April 1, 2019
Bandido hit a 21plex on Marseglia but Cobb was able to break up the pin. TK and Marseglia then combined to hit House of A Thousand Horses. In the ensuing calamity, Bandido took TK to the outside with a high cross body block, allowing Lethal to tag in and hit a Lethal Injection on Marseglia to pick up the pinfall victory for his team. This was a strong match, with all three teams getting a chance to shine here and the champions won, looking strong heading into the big show. Post-match, Taven and then Scurll confronted Lethal in the ring as the show went off the air.
Winners: Jay Lethal & Jeff Cobb
Final Reaction: C+/B-
There was not a particular standout before this show started in terms of a big money match, as the company smartly kept their big money matches for the G1 Supercard itself. However, as often happens, this show turned out to be a solid night of wrestling with a number of enjoyable matches. The main event was particularly action packed here and overall on the night everyone who needs to look strong for the big show was presented that way.