08/03/19 TV Review: ROH World Champion Matt Taven vs Jay Lethal vs Kenny King
07/20/19
Hammerstein Ballroom
New York City, New York
This week’s episode of ROH television was the first in a format change for the show. Starting at Manhattan Mayhem on July 20th, ROH began to air parts of the television tapings live on the company’s streaming service, Honor Club. The new-look show features highlights of matches and is more storyline driven. This week’s episode featured Quinn McKay, who has already added a great benefit as a backstage interviewer, alongside Ian Riccaboni for the first time as they discuss the clips and highlights.
As the show has changed, so will these reviews, as they will be a bit more of a recap and segment strength as a whole.
First Segment: The show started with Matt Taven coming out at the Hammerstein Ballroom, cutting a promo on Jay Lethal before their world title match. After Taven reminisced about his title victory in New York months earlier, Kenny King injected himself and demanded that he be added to the title match. Taven agreed, but not without the consent of his challenger, Jay Lethal. Lethal come down to the ring, visibility irritated that his title match had been changed. After that footage promo packages from all three men ran. This was refreshing. Normally, this segment would have run a week ahead of the match as hype, despite the match having already taken place. With this new look ROH hypes the match for the end of the show and helped the viewing audience understand the motivations of everyone involved.
Second Segment: The Briscoes/Guerillas of Destiny
The show returned from the break with highlights from the Guerillas of Destiny and The Briscoes from Chicago when G.O.D. retained their titles through nefarious means. Highlights of their match at Manhattan Mayhem, namely a death-defying Doomsday device delivered off a ladder and through a table by Mark and Jay Briscoe. The last action clip showed the Guerillas attacking the Briscoes after a successful title defense against the Bruisers the very next night in Lowell, Massachusetts during the Mass Hysteria event. The segment closed with the Guerillas cutting a promo before Riccaboni and McKay spoke about the culmination of the issues between these two taking place at Summer Supercard August 9th in a Ladder War.
Third Segment: Rush vs Dalton Castle
Following the next break, the show resumed with clips of Dalton Castle evolution from fan-favorite to heel after his historic squash loss to Rush at G1 Supercard. Footage of Castle posing as a Rush fan from the Manhattan Mayhem event aired next, setting the stage for their rematch in Lowell the very next night. Mckay interview castle backstage afterward, explaining that he plans on humbling Rush and forcing him to use the “usted” form as he will be his superior, even grammatically. Easily the BEST grammar-based promo I’ve ever seen. Highlights of the match were shown, focusing on the end as Castle hit a Lowell Blow on Rush to lose the match, but ultimately stand strong and keep the issues between the two going. Rush cut a promo afterward, challenging Castle to a no disqualification match at Summer Supercard, reminding him that No Happens…unless he says so.
Fourth Segment: Proving Ground Four Corner Survival Match for ROH Television Title
Silas Young vs. Josh “The Goods” Woods vs. Tracy Williams vs. Shane Taylor (c)
This match was aired as highlights as well and is a Youtube exclusive. Some of the bigger moments here were Woods hitting Young with a low blow as a measure of revenge. Williams later took advantage and hit Young with a piledriver, picking up the win, earning a title shot against Taylor at Summer Supercard. Post-match Williams extended his hand to Taylor, only have the champ spit in his hand. The two cut fiery promos afterward, hyping up their confrontation in Toronto. Taylor’s promo took some jabs at William’s career in Evolve, teasing him about not evolving like his buddies and mentoring Catch-Point as well. The segment ended with a video of Young and Woods talking outside, with Young seemingly slightly impressed by Woods’s actions during the match.
Fifth Segment: ROH World Champion Matt Taven vs Jay Lethal vs Kenny King
Alex Shelley, the challenger set for Summer Supercard in Toronto, joined commentary before the match got underway. This match was shown in its entirety here, which I think is important. The new format has been great so far, but there will need to be full matches on here, especially for non-HonorClub viewers. Taven started out this one on the sidelines, taking advantage of the triple threat format and waiting to pick his spot., All three men worked really well together here, although Lethal not getting a one-on-one match at the last minute seemed to be an odd choice. The crowd was hot for this match and it really did seem to fuel all three to push themselves to the limit. In the end, Lethal hit a Lethal Injection that seemed to be the start of a new reign, but Taven was able to kick out. King then hit Lethal with his own Lethal Injection, only to have Taven hit him with the Climax to pick up the clean victory.
Final Reaction: A
Covering ROH has generally meant that television results are something I know beforehand-I simply can’t resist looking. That has made some of the episodes, primarily the first episode after a major PPV, feel dated. This new format worked really well here. The onus then switches to the diting team who must have a herculean task in editing as well as commentary, knowing that only certain portions will be used. It will be important to see how the television exclusives play a part here going forward but for the first time around, this was very well done and a much-needed change. If the tapings themselves aren’t changing, the release of live tapings on Honor Club, coupled with a redesigned delivery system for television had to and bodes well for the company moving forward.