ROH TV 1/28/2018

This week on ROH TV, the Bullet Club battles SoCal Uncensored in a six man tag team match. Bully Ray speaks about his future in ROH. Coast 2 Coast take on War Machine in a match where if they lose then they must disband as a team!

ROH TV
Date: 1/28/2018
From: Philadelphia, PA

Last week, SoCal Uncensored offered money to Shane Taylor to make sure that there aren’t any Bullet Club members for what they were going to do. Taylor took out the Bullet Club.

Opening Contest: Punishment Martinez vs. Dobbs: Three weeks ago, Martinez took out ROH World Champion Dalton Castle and appears prime for a title shot. Martinez wastes no time delivering a big boot to Dobbs sending him into the corner followed by a splash. Martinez works over Dobbs and yells out “Castle” making it clear who he is sending a message to. Dobbs decides it’s a good idea to slap Martinez, but Martinez just stands there. Dobbs dropkicks Martinez and is met with a spinning kick to the face. Martinez delivers a ripcord kick and finishes Dobbs off with a chokeslam. (NR. I think I like Martinez. I like how he is being presented and the idea of a monster heel challenging for the title is appealing to me.)

ROH World Champion Dalton Castle and the Boys make their way out to the ring while Punishment Martinez stands in the ring. Castle shrugs at Martinez and avoids a clothesline before hitting a suplex causing Martinez to roll to the floor. Martinez stands on the apron but then drops off and walks away.

Coast 2 Coast cut a promo about putting everything on the line tonight against War Machine. Tonight is their do or die.

Caprice Coleman is on commentary for the next match. If Coast 2 Coast lose tonight then they have agreed to disband as a team.

Second Contest: Coast 2 Coast (LSG & Shaheem Ali) vs. War Machine (Raymond Rowe & Hanson): Ali takes Rowe and Hanson out with a somersault dive over the top to the floor before the bell sounds. Hanson is rolled into the ring and gets dropkicked by Coast 2 Coast. Rowe gets tossed into Hanson. LSG works over Hanson in the corner but War Machine deliver splashes in the corner with Hanson hitting a bronco buster on Ali. Rowe picks Hanson up and tosses him into LSG. Rowe and Ali legally start off the match with Rowe working over Ali with a chop and tags in Hanson. Hanson sends Ali into a knee strike from Rowe and plays to the crowd. Hanson rubs his beard into Ali’s face before tagging in Rowe and hitting a slam on Ali. Rowe scoop slams Hanson onto Ali. Rowe forearms LSG off the apron. Ali gets out of a supple from Rowe and manages to deliver a dropkick after hitting Hanson on the apron. Rowe grabs the leg of Ali to prevent a tag. Well, Ali makes the tag and LSG hits a springboard clothesline on Rowe followed by a kip up clothesline on Hanson. LSG hits a springboard forearm on Rowe and goes to the top rope after hitting Hanson. LSG hits a 450 splash onto Rowe and manages to drop Hanson with swinging suplex! Rowe nails LSG with a knee strike to the chin. Ali avoids a forearm strike and plants Rowe with a swinging side slam. Hanson hits a handspring back elbow to knock Ali down. We go to commercial.

LSG attempts a springboard but is caught by Rowe. Rowe holds LSG in the air as Hanson hits a middle rope clothesline and Rowe hits a German suplex for a two count. Hanson scoop slams LSG over the knee of Rowe. Rowe continues with a backbreaker and Hanson goes to the top rope. Rowe powerbombs LSG and Hanson hits a big splash for a two count. LSG avoids a clothesline and tags in Ali. Ali drops Rowe with a back suplex. Hanson splashes LSG but Ali gets a boot up and Hanson gets kicked to the floor. Rowe is driven down with an STO/facebuster combo. Rowe is pissed that he was on the mat for a one count and hammers away on both LSG and Ali. Ali kicks Rowe several times followed by chops and forearm strikes. Rowe lifts Ali into the air and Hanson delivers a powerslam. Hanson takes LSG out with a suicide dive! Rowe has the cover on Ali but only manages a two count. LSG knocks Hanson off the top and kicks Rowe. Ali forearms Rowe and Coast 2 Coast splash Rowe in the corner. LSG and Ali deliver a coast to coast stereo kicks in the corner but Rowe kicks out at two. Hanson drops LSG in the corner followed by a heel kick on Ali. War Machine hits Fallout on Ali but Ali kicks out at two! Rowe nails Ali with a knee strike to the chin but Ali counters a suplex with a rollup while LSG held Hanson on the top rope and Ali pins Rowe! (***1/4. I enjoyed the match quite a bit, but I’m not sure if this is a match that would make Coast 2 Coast a viable tag team moving forward. LSG and Ali are a good young team and they took everything War Machine had. I would have liked a more definitive finish than a rollup as that comes across like a fluke win. Regardless, the Philadelphia fans seemed to buy into the duo and I’m curious to see if ROH books them stronger moving forward.)

Backstage, Beer City Bruiser cuts a promo about finding a partner to chase after the ROH Tag Team Championships. He has found Brian Milonas, who he had a brawl with six months ago. They are going to be the biggest tag team in ROH.

Bully Ray makes his way down to the ring for a promo. He has his wrestling boots in his hand likely meaning he’s going to retire. Bully Ray says that ROH Final Battle was his final battle. Ray talks about his life flashing before his eyes, similar to death. Ray smiled when his career flashed before his eyes. Ray feels like he had a pretty damn good career. That gets a standing ovation. Ray knows that taking off his boots was the right call. In life he was born in NYC, but in wrestling he was born in Philadelphia. He talks about being born in this building in October 1995. Ray declares the ring being where he should leave his boots in. He feels like the ECW Arena is the arena he should leave his boots in. Ray thanks the fans for everything. “I am Bully Ray, and it has been my honor.” Ray salutes the fans and leaves his boots in the ring. It looks like the ROH locker room is emptying and showing respect for Bully Ray.

Jay Lethal gets in the ring and has a microphone saying he has known Bully for a longtime. Lethal says he has to get Bully off his chest if this is the last time he’ll see Bully. Lethal says they didn’t know what to expect when Bully was going to come into ROH. Some of the rumors were good and then there are some really bad ones. Lethal puts over Bully for helping out the wrestlers from the top to the bottom and going above and beyond. Lethal credits Bully for putting the company over in interviews and says that nobody forced Bully to come to ROH. Lethal says that Bully is a legend. Lethal tells Bully that the door is open if he ever wants to come back. Lethal thanks Bully again and gives him a big hug.

Another reminder about the Women of Honor getting a championship is aired. The tournament starts on January 20th in Nashville. It is part of the next set of TV tapings starting next week. Deonna Purrazzo, Kelly Klein (who is undefeated), Karen Q, Jenny Rose, Mandy Leon, Sumie Sakai, Brandi Rhodes, Jessie Brooks and four Stardom wrestlers will be joining the tournament.

Matt Taven is on commentary for the main event. Taven’s buddies in the Kingdom are by his side, too.

Main Event: Bullet Club (Cody, Hangman Page & Marty Scurll) vs. SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky): Sky and Scurll kick off the main event with Sky nearly winning with a rollup. Sky kicks Scurll to the mat and delivers a double stomp to the back of Scurll. Marty stomps on the hands of Sky followed by a kick to the head. Sky breaks free and tags in Daniels. Daniels wants a piece of Cody. Cody gets tagged in and trades hammerlocks with Daniels. Cody punches Daniels and attempts the Cross Rhodes, but settles for a hurricanrana. Rhodes comes off the ropes with a forearm for a one count. Cody drops down and poses. Kazarian knee lifts Cody from behind. Kazarian and Page pummel each other with right hands. Page forearms Kazarian and Kazarian fights back with a forearm. Page clotheslines himself and Frankie to the floor. All six men are brawling in the ring and around ringside. They are now all on the floor bawling until Cody gets in the ring and takes everyone out with a cross body over the top to the floor. Cody rolls Daniels into the ring and Daniels is begging off. Daniels is sent into the corner and they do the Bullet Club Train. Daniels boots Scurll as he’s the only one who can’t hit a forearm. Marty boots Daniels and plays to the crowd as we go to commercial.

Kazarian has Cody in the corner but Cody fights out with several right hands and elbows. Cody tries to make the tag but Kazarian tosses him away. Cody hits a snap powerslam on Kazarian. Sky and Page get tagged in and Page hammers away on Sky in the corner. Page turns Sky inside out with a clothesline and sends Daniels to the floor. Page hits a suicide dive on Daniels and sends him into the guard railing several times. Kazarian is met with a superkick from Page. Sky kicks Page in the corner but is met with a boot to the gut. Page powerbombs Sky for a two count. Sky forearms Page several times but Page hits a dropkick on Daniels and hit a standing moonsault on Sky for a two count! Addiction hit a sit out powerbomb/neckbreaker combo on Page for a two count. Page sends Sky into the corner with a slam. Daniels hits an STO on Page. Cody hits the Disaster Kick on Daniels. Scurll uppercuts Sky and has him on his shoulders leading to Cody hitting a springboard dropkick. Scurll goes for the chicken wing on Sky but Daniels makes the save. Scurll grabs Daniels hand but Daniels sends Scurll to the floor and takes him out with a moonsault to the floor. Cody hits a double springboard dive onto Daniels. Kazarian takes Cody out with a hurricanrana. Sky hits a cutter on Cody. Page comes off the top to hit a moonsault on Sky and his legs hit the railing. Page screams in pain, causing silence but he powers through it. Page stands on the apron and he flips into the ring where Kazarian hit a backstabber. Sky hits a high knee strike and pins Page. (**3/4. How in the world do you have Page lose the match? The guy nearly shatters his shins and has a defining moment where he is on the apron having the crowd rallied behind him and then loses to a high knee strike. That just felt like a lame finish to me. It was a decent main event, but they did the usual constant highspots towards the end so that everyone can get their stuff in.)

Final Thoughts:
ROH finishes off their Philadelphia taping session with a fine showing this week. I’m interested to see Martinez/Castle in a title match, which I believe will be on TV. The Bully Ray segment was just seemingly filler for their product and was just a way to put him over as he likely departs from the company. I’ve been enjoying ROH on TV thus far in 2018.

Thanks for reading.