Ted Reeve Arena, Toronto, ON
Ian Riccaboni & Colt Cabana on commentary
Opening Contest
NJPW Young Lions (Alex Coughlin, Clark Conners & Karl Fredericks) Vs Bullet Club (Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Hikuleo)
Another HUGE test and great experience for the Young Lions going against arguably one of the best teams on the planet G.o.D.
I learnt my lesson from night one not to discount the Young Lions even against a great team like Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa and Hikuleo, they were not fazed, and they took the fight to the fight to the more experienced team, although the match was dominated, as you can expect by Bullet Club, the Young Lions impressed again, teaming very well together and seems to be showing steady progress as a unit.
Conners, Coughlin and Fredericks will no doubt be stars either in Japan or the USA and being put in matches like this will no doubt speed up their development.
After a gutsy performance by the Young Lions, it was Hikuleo picking up the victory for his team with a Two-Handed Chokebomb on Conners.
Winners – Bullet Club in exactly 10 minutes.
Next Up
Yuji Nagata Vs Silas Young
Before the match started the crowd were all over Silas with a ‘last real princess’ chant which was pretty funny.
The match its self was a hard- hitting technical affair, with both men having periods in control , Silas made the mistake of trying to trade strikes with Nagata ( big no no) and paid for it dearly.
Nagata made use of all his knowledge and experience in this match even if it was to get a highly dubious but brilliant victory, Silas had just hit his finisher ‘Misery’ but in the process wiped out the referee with Nagata’s legs, he brought a Steel Chair into the ring and played the old Guerrero fake chair shot routine, but Nagata had other plans, he decided to were the chair as a hat (odd but brilliant) and laid down , so when the ref came to he saw Silas trying to Pull the chair off Nagata’s head and called for the bell.
Winner – Yuji Nagata by DQ in 10:14
Silas not happy with the result, but Justice was served in the end.
Silas cheap shots Nagata but gets caught in a Nagata Lock for his trouble, crowd love it.
More Tag Team Action up next
The Kingdom (TK O’Ryan & Vinny Marseglia) Vs Los ingobernables de Japon (Sanada & EVIL)
TK claims to have the keys to the Paradise Lock, only time will tell.
A lightning technical exchange by Sanada & O’Ryan started the match with both men coming to a stand-off (crowd showed appreciation), O’Ryan then tried to put Sanada in the Paradise Lock and failed miserably much to his displeasure.
The match overall was an even contest and both teams have valid claims to be in the running for a title shot either in ROH or NJPW.
Marseglia & O’Ryan had multiple near falls in the match after numerous combinations and tandem moves (Double Flapjack & Top Rope Legdrop/Splash Combo) was a particular highlight in the match, but near falls don’t get you the winners share of the purse, and EVIL and Sanada made their openings count with LIJ getting the victory after Sanada dazed Marseglia with a Swinging Skull End (Dragon Sleeper) that went straight into a Magic Killer for the 3 count
Winners – EVIL & Sanada in 9:03
Crowd showing LIJ some love with the ‘LIJ LIJ LIJ’ chant.
Why is Rhett Titus out here………ok he goes on commentary
Up next
RUSH Vs ‘The Darewolf’ PJ Black
RUSH still undefeated in ROH, PJ on a roll of his own of late.
The match started at a breakneck speed, with RUSH get the advantage early on, but the veteran Black got himself back into the match when he stopped RUSH in his tracks with a Gamengiri to avoid a Suicide Dive from RUSH.
PJ then had the majority of the offence with multiple moves off the Top Rope including a Crossbody Block that scored a near fall, he kept the pressure on with a flurry of hard Kicks and a Roaring Elbow.
RUSH seized the slightest opening that PJ gave him when PJ tried to attack he countered with a Rebound German Suplex and Knee Strike combination, he then faked out PJ to end up in the ‘Tranquillo’ pose in the middle of the ring.
Rush assaulted PJ on the ringside area sending him into numerous barricades , before getting him back in the ring, countering another PJ attack to deliver a Belly to Belly Suplex into the corner(rough landing for PJ), Rush ended the match with a horrific ‘Bulls Horns’ Dropkick that nearly sent PJ out of the ring for the 3 count.
Winner and still undefeated RUSH in 06:07
I am running out of superlatives for RUSH, he is very impressive and my guess is, he will be wearing championship sooner rather than later.
Dalton Castle makes his way to the ring and cuts a promo, complains about Canada and how he feels free without The Boys. (comes across slightly deranged) and claims that we are witnessing the ‘renaissance of Dalton Castle’
Next on the card
Lifeblood (‘Hot Sauce’ Tracy Williams & ‘Overkill’ Mark Haskins) Vs The Briscoes (Mark & Jay)
Both teams adhere to the Code of Honor – always good to see
The pleasantries ended with the handshake in this one, both teams were playing a very deliberate, smash mouth pace, the offence was crisp and stiff, no team pulled any punches.
Haskins & Williams’s stock in the Tag Team division is certainly on the rise as they pushed The Briscoes to the limit throughout this match, nearly even causing an upset on more than one occasion.
Watching Jay Briscoe and Mark Haskins go at it was brilliant, both very aggressive and nothing keeps them down for long (I’d like to see a singles match between the two).
Tracy Williams and Mark Briscoe took things a little slower, wanting more to try ‘out wrestle’ each other and it was pretty even in that respect.
It was only going to take one mistake in this match and unfortunately Williams made it, not checking to see where Jay Briscoe was before trying to take Mark off the Top Rope, he was then caught and defeated by a wicked Doomsday Device for the victory.
Winners The Briscoes in 13:17
Bully Ray came out shortly after and admitted to Williams that it was him who put Tenille Dashwood through a table and sent her packing out of ROH, and he wants to do the same to all of Lifeblood.
He went on to mention Lifeblood members Juice Robinson and David Finlay, Saying that Juice was in Japan doing ’Jobs’ and he wished Finlay a speedy recovery so he can beat him like he did his dad (Fit Finlay) years ago, then he went personal on Haskins asking him to tell his wofe that he said “Hi”, Haskins flipped and grabbed a steel chair and rushed the ring as did Williams, Bully told them to leave or he would wrap a steel chain around their faces, Lifeblood stood tall and Bully Ray got Punked Out.
Kelly Klein Came to the ring and cut a promo about being a fighting champion and wanted the best that Toronto had to offer.
The ALLURE (Mandy Leon, Velvet Skye & Angelina Love) come to the ring and Angelina (a Toronto native) wants a match……but only in the USA (nice and patriotic) and tells Kelly that she is not letting her defend the title tonight (so she is upper management now, wow), Klein takes exception and Hip Tosses Angelina into the ring , before the rest of The ALLURE get her out of dodge, Klein will be getting fined because of her “Nothing but a bunch of bitches” comment but I doubt that she cares.
Next up a long-awaited rematch between
Satoshi Kojima & Jay Lethal
This match would not have been out of place in any New Japan venue, Hard- Hitting, both men technically sound and double tough, many near falls but all done with an element of respect.
Both men adhered to the Code of Honor
And the striking contest started shortly after, with Kojima getting the upper hand, Lethal had a different strategy –attacking the left knee of Kojima and it worked, from Dropkicks, to Shin Breakers even Lethal applied a Full Windsor Knot Leg Lock (which I’ve not seen in ages) and eventually the dreaded Figure 4 Leg Lock was applied for an extended amount of time, leaving Kojima in a lot of discomfort.
But the ever-tough veteran Kojima battled his way into the match regardless of the pain, turning the tide of momentum in his favour after a nasty Apron DDT to Lethal.
He soon followed that up with his Koji Cutter for a near fall.
Lethal hit the Lethal Combination and went for the Lethal Injection only for Kojima to hit him with a brutal Lariat to the back of the head and then hit a Brainbuster for another near fall.
Both men tried to close the match out on multiple occasions, but in the end Lethal, at the 4th attempt hit the Lethal Injection for the victory.
Winner- Jay Lethal in 15:06
A hard-fought victory for Jay Lethal, which on any other night could have been a different outcome, both men shake hands an adhere to the Code of Honor
The ROH World TV Championship is up for grabs next
4 Corners Survival Match
Brody King Vs Hirooki Goto Vs Shane Taylor Vs Jeff Cobb
All men adhere to the Code of Honor apart from the brash Shane Taylor who spits on the hand of King.
To keep track of the action was difficult as it seemed 2 matcher were going on at once and the 2 men in the ring changed very quickly, but if you were looking for scientific wrestling, this wasn’t the match for you, it was smash- mouth, in-your-face brutality between these 4 heavy hitters, spots of notice was the Hurricanrana performed by Brody King on Shane Taylor followed by a Tope Con Hilo by King to everyone on the outside of the ring.
It was back and forth, near fall after near fall but in the end it was a great piece of awareness and opportunism by Taylor , after he saw Cobb hit ‘ Tour of the islands’ on King he took out Cobb and delivered the ‘Greetings from 216’ on King to become the NEW ROH World TV Champion
Winner Shane Taylor in 09:14
Jeff Cobb was graceful in defeat by handing the title belt to Taylor who snatched it from him and the bad-mouthed Cobb saying he was now “back of the line”.
Don’t take anything away from Shane Taylor he has fought for that title and deserve a chance to be a champion.
In my opinion Jeff Cobb should now go after the ROH World Championship.
Main Event Time
ROH World Championship Match
PCO Vs Matt Taven
For a main event it was ok, PCO put on an ok match, Taven carried the match in my opinion, there was some good action and spots such as Taven Delivering a Facebuster to PCO onto an Axe head which busted him open, after that Taven worked on the lacerated eye of PCO and hitting 4 DDT’s consecutively but chose not to cover his opponent.
Taven continued the assault to which he delivered the Climax (Headlock Driver) to a Steel Chair and a Sunset Bomb to the ringside area (PCO took a sick bump on this), and followed it up with a Frog Splash for a near fall.
PCO somehow got back into the match after using a Dragon Screw Leg Whip, Package Piledriver and Cannonball Senton Bomb to get a near fall, A PCOSault followed and only the ring awareness of Taven saved his title after he got a foot on the bottom rope.
Marseglia caused a distraction when he grabbed Destro only to be put the through the timekeepers table for his trouble. In that time TK O’Ryan handed Taven a Spike which he hit PCO in the Eye with it to claim the victory.
Winner and still ROH World Champion Matt Taven in 17:10
Taven couldn’t get out of the arena quick enough even leaving the rest of The Kingdom behind.
Night 2 over with, now onto Grand Rapids, Michigan
And the match I cannot wait for is The Briscoes verses Guerrillas of Destiny for the ROH Tag Team Championship
Happy Reading Everyone
@BiekoDaniel
