Episode 400
Stage AE, Pittsburgh, PA
Ian Riccaboni & Caprice Coleman on commentary
Straight into the action with a 6 man Tag Team Championship match
It will be
RUSH, Jeff Cobb & Jay Lethal Vs Villain Enterprises (PCO, Brody King & Marty Scurll)
Lethal and PCO started the match and in typical PCO fashion he offered his back to Lethal, but lethal ever the honourable man didn’t take it and placed PCO in a Side Headlock, and from then Lethal was on the offensive for next few moments.
Both Lethal & PCO made tags to their respective partners RUSH and Scurll and then the pace quickened (which the crowd and myself loved.
Kenny King joined the commentary team without fanfare at this point.
Then the 2 ‘Big’ men join the action as Cobb and King squared off and they both showed unreal athleticism with Cobb ending a sequence with a ‘Phenomenal’ combo (Leap Frog, Drop Down & Dropkick), only for King to execute and Double Crossbody and a Hurricanrana to Cobb.
King and Scurll then turned their attention to Lethal and made him suffer after delivering and Apron Superkick/Suplex to the floor (ouch).
Lethal managed to hit a desperation Cutter to Scurll so he coulsd tag in the well-rested RUSH and he wasted no time taking out all of Villain Enterprises.
Scurll did stop the momentum of RUSH with the ’51’ Fake Out and a low Enziguri.
Rush managed to tag in Cobb, who then put on a Suplex clinic on Villain Enterprises , Cobb was impressive as ever in this match, not only showcasing his herculean strength but his cruiserweight-like agility by executing a lovely Standing Moonsault to Scurll.
The end of this very entertaining match came when Lethal tried going for the Lethal Injection only to get caught in an Argentine Backbreaker by King who turned it into a thunderous Rack Bomb and with Lethal prone, PCO hit a textbook Moonsault for the 3 count.
Winners and still ROH World 6 Man Tag Team Champions – Villain Enterprises in 13:53
What a good match, could have gone either, but I guess more continuity in the teams was the key here.
During the commercial break it was shown that Kenny King attacked Jay Lethal by choking him out with a walking cane
Also shown was the vicious debut of the Sons of Savagery after they attacked Lifeblood last week, we can only assume that the paths of these 2 teams will cross sooner rather than later
Main Event Time
ROH World Heavyweight Championship match
Flip Gordon VS Matt Taven w/ TK O’Ryan
Code of Honor was adhered to by both men
Flip tries to start quickly after Taven takes his eyes off the ball and catches him with a Shotgun Dropkick into the corner turnbuckles.
Taven targeted Flip’s recently healed knee throughout the match (good strategy)
Although Flip did himself no favours by taking too many risks forcing himself to take unnatural landings, damaging his knee in the process, from then on Taven was like a shark who smelt blood in the water and he was relentless in his assault and he dominated long periods of this match , Flip got his shots in and gave the Champion more than his fair share of scares including a Springboard Russian Leg Sweep followed up with a Spinning Falcon Arrow which resulted in a very near fall for the challenger.
Taven then spat in the face of Flip who then ran into a brilliantly executed Pop-Up Powerbomb which was followed by the champion with the Tip…..of the Knee for a near fall.
Flip made one very crucial mistake and it cost him in this one, after planting Taven with the Flip5, instead of going for the cover , he decided to go to the top rope, maybe looking for his signature 450 Splash but before he could execute the move he was distracted by the Red Balloons that came up from underneath the ring (sign of fellow Kingdom member Vinny Marseglia), Tave then kicked the knee out from under Flip and delivered a Draping Climax for the victory.
Winner and Still ROH World Champion Matt Taven in 13:48.
Taven could have one this match by himself but ever the heel, he had O’ryan and Marseglia as an insurance policy and before the show went off the air the ever-confident champion stated that “you will have to defeat a kingdom to take this title from me”. Who will be next in line to crumble the kingdom……….
Show ends
For an anniversary show I think it was ok, should have been longer and maybe had some former stars show up from episode 1 etc, but that’s just my opinion.
Happy reading everyone
@BiekoDaniel
