This week on ROH TV, Trent and Chuck Taylor get a tag team title match against the Motor City Machine Guns. Plus, Cody battles Matt Taven in the main event.
ROH TV
Date: 2/4/2018
From: Nashville, TN
The show opens up with a video promoting the interaction between Matt Taven and Cody on ROH TV where Taven taunted Cody an ungrateful spoiled little brat. Taven proceeded to low blow Cody and left him laying.
Opening Contest: ROH Tag Team Champions Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) vs. Best Friends (Trent & Chuck Taylor): Taylor and Sabin kick off the title match. They trade wrist locks early on in the contest. Taylor arm drags Sabin and they have a standoff after Sabin gets an arm drag. Sabin hugs Taylor but Chuck is offended and says that’s what Trent does. Trent gets tagged into the match to try his luck against Shelley. Shelley knee lifts Trent and they trade several chops. Trent pokes Shelley in the eyes before tagging in Taylor and they drop Shelley with a double back elbow. Sabin enters to prevent a hug and all four men are brawling in the ring. Trent and Taylor deliver running forearm strikes in the corners and then embrace with a hug as the show goes to commercial.
During the commercial, the Guns gained control of the match with high impact double team moves. Trent takes the Guns out with a clothesline out of the corner and Taylor is tagged in. Taylor cleans house with clotheslines and a sit down powerbomb on Sabin for a two count. Taylor goes to the top rope but misses a moonsault. Sabin kicks Taylor in the midsection and eventually plants Taylor with a tornado DDT after kicking Trent in the head. Trent kicks Sabin but the Guns deliver double kicks. Sabin collides with Shelley in the corner and Trent works over the champs with chops. Trent is worked over by the Guns as the champs hit Dream Sequence. Taylor is knocked off the apron by a dropkick from Sabin. Sabin tries for a suicide dive but Trent trips him. Shelley avoids Taylor on the floor and Trent accidentally kicks Taylor. Taylor sets Shelley up for a lawn dart on the floor and Trent hits a cutter. Sabin kicks Trent from the apron but Taylor takes the champs out with a somersault dive over the top to the floor. Best Friends hug on the floor but they are attack by the Briscoe Brothers causing the match to be thrown out. After the match, the Briscoe Brothers attack both teams. Shelley is zip tied to the ropes as a chair is introduced into the attack. Jay spikes Sabin with a Jay Driller onto the chair. (**. It felt like a good portion of the action was cut out due to the commercial, which was a bummer. They were working a decent little match before the run-in by the Briscoe Brothers. I really feel like both the Guns and Briscoe Brothers are really played out and don’t offer much excitement. These are two teams that have been around forever and there’s not much left to do to keep them fresh. ROH should consider bringing in new teams to add a freshness to the division.)
Backstage, ROH Television Champion Silas Young, Beer City Bruiser and Brian Milonas cut a promo. Bruiser and Milonas will make their debut as a tag team next week on television. Silas Young can’t wait to see it happen and he’ll be there with them. They used a few bar puns in the promo.
A video package promoting Punishment Martinez is aired. Martinez mentions he was born in a bad part of town and talks about his background. ROH has given him a platform to showcase his violence. He talks about torturing Jay White, Frankie Kazarian, Will Ospreay and Jay Lethal. He proved at the 2017 Survival of the Fittest that he was at the top of the food chain. That victory awarded him a ROH World Championship match. Martinez talks about Dalton Castle and says he’s going to be first person to offer condolences since Castle’s time as ROH World Champion is dead. He’ll have his shot next week.
Second Contest: Shane Taylor vs. Marty Scurll: Scurll delivers a few forearms but gets tossed to the mat and corner. Scurll stops Taylor by stomping on his hands. Taylor knee lifts Scurll but goes over the top to the floor. Scurll kicks Taylor from the apron to keep control of the match. Taylor catches Scurll’s boot but gets eye raked. Taylor catches Scurll on a hurricanrana attempt but Scurll breaks free. Taylor ends up sending Scurll hard back first into the guard railing a couple of times. Taylor staggers Scurll with a forearm shot and chokeslams Scurll onto the apron as we go to commercial. Scurll attempts a sunset flip and avoids a sit down splash attempt from Taylor. Scurll uppercuts Taylor followed by a clothesline that staggers Shane. Scurll hits a missile dropkick sending Taylor to the floor. Taylor catches Scurll on a suicide dive attempt but Scurll still connects with a tornado DDT on the floor. Scurll goes for the cover but Taylor easily kicks out at two. Scurll can’t lift Taylor up and is met with a forearm shot. Taylor knee lifts Scurll followed by a big splash for a two count. Scurll drops Taylor’s arm over the top rope but is met with another knee strike. Taylor forearms Scurll and plants Marty with a Baldo Bomb for a two count. Taylor misses a clothesline and Scurll tries to break his finger. They trade a few more strikes until Scurll drives Taylor down with a brainbuster for a two count. Scurll tries for the chicken wing but is met with a jab. Taylor tries for a slam but Scurll goes for the chicken wing. Taylor backs Scurll into the corner and Marty tries to bring an umbrella into the ring. Taylor grabs the umbrella but the referee tries to take it away. Scurll goes to the floor and tosses powder into Taylor’s eyes for the win. (**. It was okay for what it was. Taylor wasn’t all that impressive here and the finish didn’t do much for me, either. Scurll is super over with the crowd and it’s rather evident that the Bullet Club are being used as faces at this point. They could have cut a few minutes off from this, though.) After the match, Scurll calls out Punishment Martinez. Martinez comes in through the crowd and Scurll is unaware. Scurll turns around just in time and talks about Martinez wrestling Dalton Castle next week for the title. Scurll thinks that Martinez will be victorious. Scurll thinks everyone wants to see him as the next ROH World Champion. Scurll tells Martinez that he wants the first title shot. Martinez just shakes his head yes. Scurll goes to leave but Martinez plants Scurll with South of Heaven chokeslam to leave him laying.
A video package looking back at Bully Ray retiring last week is shown.
Next week, the Women of Honor Title Tournament begins. Madison Rayne will take on Mandy Leon in the first round match. Coast 2 Coast will wrestle Brian Milonas and Beer City Bruiser. Plus, ROH World Champion Dalton Castle defends against Punishment Martinez.
Main Event: Cody vs. Matt Taven: Taven shoves Cody to start and is met with several chops in the corner. Taven bails to the floor to regroup for a few moments. Cody goes to the floor and chases Taven. Taven goes for the Climax but settles for a big boot. Cody attempts Cross Rhodes and Disaster Kick but misses. Taven attempts a springboard kick but misses and they have a standoff as we go to commercial.
Taven and Cody trade right hands in the middle of the ring until Taven knee lifts Cody and sends him over the top to the floor. Taven comes off the ropes missing a baseball slide dropkick. Cody drives Taven face first onto the apron. Cody gets back in the ring and hits a double springboard dive to the floor onto the Kingdom! Taven quickly gets up and rams Cody into the ring post and guard railing shoulder first. Taven focuses his attack on the left arm. Cody goes to the cover to try and get away from the onslaught but Taven taunts him a few times before sending Cody shoulder first into the ring post again. Taven plants Cody with a single arm DDT for a two count. Taven taunts Cody about his ring and delivers a Codebreaker to the left arm. Cody rolls to the floor where the Kingdom gets a few cheap shots in on Cody. Taven keeps control of Cody on the mat wrenching on the left arm of Cody. Cody is sent to the floor and is sent into the guard railing a few times. Taven goes to the floor and wraps Cody’s arm around the post. Taven sends Cody shoulder first into the top turnbuckle. Cody avoids being sent into the corner again and collides with Taven. They both attempt springboard kicks and they both connect causing them to both be laid out as we go to another commercial.
Taven misses a springboard moonsault and is punched by Cody. Taven nails Cody with a heel kick allowing him to hit a springboard moonsault for a two count. Taven rolls Cody towards the corner and goes to the top but misses an attack. Cody plants Taven with a double leg slam but Taven kicks out at two. Taven kicks Cody in the corner and connects with a swinging neckbreaker. Taven attempts a top rope frog splash but Cody gets his knees up. Taven rolls through a sunset flip to deliver a knee strike to Cody’s face. TK O’Ryan gets on the apron to try and distract the referee, but the referee instead ejects the Kingdom from ringside! Taven has a walking stick only for Cody to deliver a low blow. Cody has an inside cradle and gets the win. (*3/4. I didn’t really enjoy the action here. Taven did alright focusing his offense on the left arm, but this was overall quite dull and the crowd only reacted for the finish. The finish played into their program since Taven had hit a low blow on Cody, but the action was rather boring.) After the match, Cody is attacked by the Kingdom. Cody is held up by the Kingdom and Taven delivers another low blow. Taven spikes Cody down to the mat with the Climax. Taven takes the ring off of Cody’s hand and puts the ring on himself. Taven forces Cody to kiss his ring and taunts the crowd.
Final Thoughts:
This was the first week of TV in 2018 that wasn’t very entertaining. It kind of felt like a filler week before the Castle/Martinez title match next week. They setup a few feuds, but the tag title feud with the Briscoe Brothers isn’t interesting to me at all. I’m interested to see how well Castle and Martinez work together next week.
Thanks for reading.