ROH TV 1/21/2018

This week on ROH TV, Cody addresses the fans for the first time since losing the ROH World Championship. The main event this week sees Best Friends, Titan & Dragon Lee and the Young Bucks battle it out in a triple threat tag team match! All this and much more!

ROH TV
Date: 1/21/2018
From: Philadelphia, PA

After ROH went off the air last week, Matt Taven laid out ROH World Champion Dalton Castle. He cut a promo backstage saying that everyone that gets in his way ends up laid out. He’s going to take opportunities and believes he’s the next ROH World Champion.

The Dawgs come out and cut promo saying they are just like Caron Wentz and are here to tear it up. Cheap heat.

Opening Contest: ROH Tag Team Champions Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) vs. The Dawgs (Rhett Titus & Will Ferrera): Shelley and Ferrea start the match with Ferrera going to the apron only to be kicked by Sabin. Titus gets kicked by the champs, too. Sabin takes the challengers out with a suicide dive to the floor as we go to a quick commercial.

During the break, Dawgs hit a tornado DDT on Sabin to get the advantage. Shelley is getting worked over in the corner with shoulder rams. Ferrera is catapulted into the corner and clotheslines Shelley for a two count. Shelley fights out of the corner and hits a cross body on Titus. Shelly plants Ferrera with a back suplex. Shelley goes to tag in Sabin, but Titus yanks Sabin off the apron. Ferrera clotheslines Shelley but Titus misses a frog splash. Sabin gets tagged in and cleans house on Ferrera with forearms followed by a kick to a seated Ferrera. Titus avoids Sabin in the corner but Sabin hits a middle rope hurricanrana. Sabin elbows Titus in the corner and along with Shelley delivers a kick in the corner. Ferrera fights out of Sabin’s grasp and attempts a tornado DDT. Titus gets sent into Ferrera and the Guns hit the Dream Sequence (shotout to the Backsteat Boys, nicely done). Guns hit the Jars of Heart to pin Ferrera. (**. They did quite a bit in a sprint of a match. Guns seem to be rather stale to me, but it was a fine extended squash.) After the match, the Briscoe Brothers appear and give the champs some props for winning the match. They tell the Guns to enjoy the titles because it is their property and they will reclaim their property. There isn’t anything they can do to stop them.

Backstage, SoCal Uncensored meet up with Shane Taylor and give him a check to do a job. Taylor threatens them that the check better clear, and they assure him that it will.

Backstage, Kenny King cuts promo about Silas Young and not being at his best at Final Battle. King isn’t going to stop until he gets back on his golden throne.

Second Contest: Josh Woods vs. Jonathan Gresham: Woods takes Gresham down to the mat early on but Gresham gets to the ropes quickly. Gresham kicks Woods while on his back and tries to take Woods down to the mat, but isn’t able to. Woods taunts Gresham for trying to take him down, and Gresham promptly bends his knee. Woods tosses Gresham into the corner but misses a boot and Gresham kicks him again. Gresham comes out of the corner with a dropkick to the knee. Gresham twists the left leg of Woods on the mat and tries to get a submission. Gresham comes off the ropes to kick Woods again and they both remain on the mat for a moment. Woods knee lifts and elbow strikes Gresham. Gresham blocks a kick to dropkick the knee of Woods again. We go to commercial.

Gresham catapults Woods out of the corner, but a second attempt fails. Gresham hooks Woods under his arms and they both crash to the floor. Gresham takes Woods out with a cross body on the floor. Gresham goes to the top rope but is met with a knee strike right under his chin. Woods delivers another knee strike on the apron and tosses Gresham with a gut wrench suplex twice before hitting a powerbomb for a two count. Woods nails Gresham with a knee lift in the corner but Gresham counters with a rollup for a near gall. Gresham dragon screw leg whips, which bothers Woods. Gresham hits a springboard moonsault and another knee drop to the legs. Gresham is able to get a rollup and pins Woods. (**. Look at this storytelling, I like it! This had happened before and Woods didn’t adapt at all. I liked the style that Woods has and he has a good look. Gresham has an old-school wrestler feel and he does a good job. This was a fine match, too.)

Caprice Coleman hosts his talk show up next and he has guests who say if they don’t win then they will disband. Coleman talks to Coast 2 Coast. They don’t want to disband but if it happens then they will start from the bottom. They are brothers and it sucks that their losses continue to add up. They have a lot of respect for teams in ROH that could take their spot. They are offended when Coleman says he knows who the weakest link is. They are confident that they will win. Coleman has the scoop on who they are going to wrestle this week and tells them that it will be War Machine. They don’t look excited about that matchup.

Cody comes out and addresses the crowd noting that he isn’t the ROH World Champion anymore. Cody thought that if he stripped everything away from Dalton Castle, that all would remain was a man. However, at Final Battle, Dalton Castle proved to be the better man. Cody says he spent thirteen years wanting the ROH World Championship, but he reminds Castle that he has a rematch coming his way. Cody may not have the ROH World Championship, but he does have the official ROH ring. That brings out Matt Taven, the leader of the Kingdom. Taven says that Cody has been given everything because of his last name, which they cant’ mention here. Taven says that Cody had to kiss the ass of the Bullet Club to succeed in ROH. Taven isn’t fooled by Cody and he is tired of getting looked over for someone like Cody. Taven says that Cody did him a big favor. Taven thinks that Cody is going to be known as a spoiled brat and is now going to be known as a bleach blonde bitch. Taven drops the microphone but Cody cuts him off. Cody says that his hair got a bigger pop than anything Taven will ever get in his life. Cody wants Taven to kiss his ring. Taven kisses the ring but then low blows Cody. Taven leaves Cody holding his groin.

A video promoting Punishment Martinez is shown. Martinez is the executioner.

Main Event: Titan & Dragon Lee vs. Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent) vs. Young Bucks: Titan and Taylor kick off the match trading chops. Taylor connects with a big boot but Titan does a handstand followed by a head scissors to end Taylor to the corner. Titan kicks Taylor from the apron and attempts a springboard but is met with a dropkick in midair. Trent gets tagged in and hugs Taylor followed by an elbow drop. Trent drops Titan with a chop to keep control of the match. Dragon Lee kicks Trent from the apron and Titan hits a running head scissors. Nick enters and trades arm drags with Lee. Lee hits a slingshot dropkick in the corner for a two count on Nick. Lee dropkicks Nick after a drop toe hold from Titan. Matt enters and hits a Slice Bread on Titan after using Lee for assistance. Nick dropkicks Lee to the floor and sends Titan to the floor with a hurricanrana. Best Friends are knocked off the apron following a kick. Bucks take out Trent and Taylor with a suicide dive. Titan holds the ropes open to allow Lee to hit a somersault suicide dive. Titan takes the Bucks out with a springboard moonsault and flies into the crowd! Taylor is in the ring but Trent stops him with a hug. Trent and Taylor take everyone out with stereo somersault dives over the top to the floor! Taylor slams Matt and Trent is on the apron where he gets met with a super kick from Nick. Taylor is super kicked by Matt. Bucks put double sharpshooters on Titan and Dragon as the show goes to commercial.

Nick backdrops Lee to the apron but Lee kicks Nick only to get crotched on the top. Nick attempts a hurricanrana but Lee blocks it and this a double stomp while Nick was in a tree of woe. Lee tags in Trent and Trent hits an overhead suplex on Matt. Trent elbows Matt in the corner followed by a boot. Friends hit a double team Sole Food/German for a two count. Matt backdrops Taylor to the floor and Titan springboard dropkicks Trent. Nick hits a slingshot face buster on Titan and takes Taylor out with a moonsault to the floor from the apron . Lee hits a hurricanrana on Nick sending him off the apron to the floor! Titan clotheslines Trent and Lee hits a reverse hurricanrana. Titan hits a springboard frog splash on Trent for a two count. Taylor is working over Lee with stomps in the corner. Taylor clotheslines Lee and Matt clotheslines Titan leading to a hug between Matt and Chuck, but Matt holds Chuck for a super kick from Nick. That leads to the Bucks hitting superkicks. Matt accidentally kicks Nick and is nearly pinned by Titan with a rollup. Matt has Titan but Titan sends Matt into Nick. Nick power bombs Lee on the apron! Matt has Titan setup for a tombstone. Nick takes Lee out with a dive to the floor and the Bucks hit the Meltzer Driver on Titan for the win! (****. So, that was just an insane tag match with the closing few minutes being incredible. That was just a great match and there’s no way I properly recapped it without missing something, I’m sure.) After the match, SoCal Uncensored attack the Bucks until Adam Page runs down with a chair to make the save.

Final Thoughts:
ROH has been on a role in 2018 thus far with their television product. They had a couple of solid undercard matches and then hit a home run with the main event. I don’t think I have much interest in a Taven/Cody feud since that seems like a major drop down the card for Cody, but I’ll try and give it a chance. Regardless, this was a strong episode for ROH.

Thanks for reading.