wrestling / Columns

Csonka’s ROH Supercard of Honor X (Night Two) Thoughts

April 23, 2016 | Posted by Larry Csonka

Welcome one and all, your old pal Larry here to talk some Ring of Honor! Last week I did lot of Mania weekend related reviews and columns, including one titled Csonka’s 6 Sins of WrestleMania Weekend. In that column, I was very critical of Ring of Honor and their lack of effort to get their product out to the masses during the largest wrestling weekend of the year. I had no plans to watch and review the shows, but I had a lot of people (who were there live) tell me that they were worth my time. I found myself with a bit of free time and decided, what the hell, I’ll check them out. I looked at night one here; and I am again going the column route to discuss the some thoughts from Supercard of Honor (Night Two). Enjoy…

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Colt Cabana Shows He’s Serious

When discussing Night One, I spoke about Colt Cabana’s promo and reintroduction to the ROH family. In that promo, I felt that Cabana knocked it out of the park, and made the segment feel not only important, but also made it feel like a special segment, one that you had to see. His emotion in discussing his desire in wanting to win the ROH Title for his legacy was excellent, and it is leading to an ROH Title shot on PPV in May. At Supercard of Honor X (Night Two), Cabana confronted Lethal after a grueling title defense against Cheeseburger. Cabana played mind games, discussing that Truth Martini wasn’t there and that Lethal had to think for himself. Lethal agreed to a match, which was non-title, but they never made that clear. They had a short, and solid match overall, with Cabana picking up the roll up win to set the stage for the title match and making fans believe that Cabana has a real chance to win the title. Overall the return of Cabana has been refreshing, refreshing as a fresh face and refreshing as far as Cabana as a character goes. He feels refreshed and like he personally has something to prove; he is interesting, more interesting than he has been to me in forever. Cabana returning to the company, looking to prove himself and solidify his legacy is a fun and quality angle that I am into right now. Many are joking that “I don’t want to see LOL COLT CABANA” in the PPV main event. That’s not the guy that is back with ROH, this is a new Colt Cabana and I am all for it.

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The Poor Booking of Donovan Dijak

Following the big angle where Donovan Dijak made his return and took out Truth Martini with a big injury angle, many had high hopes for the big man. Dijak has his supporters, he is a good athlete with great size and looks to have a tremendous amount of potential. He’s been hit or miss with me, but I can say that about a lot of performers. He seemed poised for a big push and an important role, but we have witnessed that with a lot of guys in the ROH roster over the years and for one reason or another (Ok, it’s shit booking) they get derailed. And that’s what happened here. Donovan Dijak faced off with Will Ferrara, and what we got was not good in any way. They had a match that went way too long, was booked way too evenly and not only wasn’t it all that good, but they completely lost the crowd. If the goal with the Martini angle was to make Dijak into a player, a top of the card guy with designs on him being a challenger for the ROH Title, the booking simply failed him. This was one of the biggest shows of the year, in front of a sold out crowd, and you have Dijak go essentially 50-50 with Will Ferrara in a match that should have been an extended squash at best. No offense to Will Ferrara, who I find a capable performer, but in the grand scheme of things he is a mid-card guy at best. This should have been a showcase for Dijak, get in, hit your shit, destroy the guy and get out. Instead, the match failed as showcasing Dijak, and his performance was off.

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The Tag Teams Take Center Stage Again

One of the things I loved about night one was that ROH continued their commitment to the tag team division, and put on two great tag team matches. I have repeatedly said over the years that I am a huge fan of tag tea, wrestling, and while I have issues with ROH, they have been dedicated to their tag team division with the signing of the Young Bucks and the reunion of the Motor City Machine Guns. The addition of those teams to the roster they already have has been great. On this show, the tag teams got a nice showcase once again, this time in a #1 contenders match with the Bucks, Guns, Briscoes and the Addiction. This was a really fun and great match, the second best on the show overall and one of ROH’s best from the weekend as a whole. This was well done, it was chaotic in the best way possible with everyone getting their shit in (and I mean that in the best way possible) because they worked the frantic match that the fans wanted, and they reacted as you would have hoped. The match was filled with non-stop action from bell to bell, great moves and near falls and it constantly built all the way through. The Briscoes came away with the victory, which at this time was the right call, as they have been building to the clash with War Machine (with the story being that the Briscoes are the legends of the ROH tag division, but War Machine has not defeated them to have a legitimate claim to being the best). This was a high quality match with the right winners and n the end it was a blast to watch. (****)

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Cole and O’Reilly Steal The Show

The main event of night two was a No Holds Barred match between Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly, used as the culmination of their most recent feud. They battled a few years back, which broke into a bloody brawl and a match that people loved. Cole had fucked over O’Reilly, cost him his chance at the ROH Title, and here we are again. I felt that both guys did an outstanding job of not only working the match in the way it needed to be worked (with hate and violence) but they simply made it feel easy. It never felt slow, never felt labored or overly complicated; it was well laid out and easy to follow. They used their regular repertoire, and added in the tables, chairs, chains and other toys to accentuate the escalation of their feud and the hatred between them. Cole and O’Reilly started with violence, they slowly and beautifully escalated I through out and not only did they end things at the right time, but they never went too far. I appreciate violence, I can still appreciate and get into blood, but I can’t get into the over the top shit where it becomes an actual assault case. They never crossed the line, which kept it enjoyable to me. O’Reilly overcame at the end, using the chain that Cole had introduced to tie him up and then O’Reilly made Cole passed out in the arm breaker. This was an excellent effort form both men, with O’Reilly getting a marquee victory (not just a great match, but one that fans could get invested in) needed for him to move on from Cole and to eventually get back into the ROH Title scene, which feels very crowded all of the sudden. (****¼)

As a whole, ROH Supercard of Honor X (Night Two) is rock solid show, that is saved from complete mediocrity by the final two matches.

Here are the must see matches from the ROH WrestleMania weekend

SCOH Night One: War Machine and The Briscoes vs. Silas Young, Beer City Bruiser and the All Night Express [****]
SCOH Night One: Motor City Machine Guns vs. The Young Bucks [****]
SCOH Night Two: Motor City Machine Guns vs. The Addiction vs. The Young Bucks vs. The Briscoes [****]
SCOH Night One: Jay Lethal vs. Lio Rush [****]
SCOH Night One: Matt Sydal vs. Kyle O’Reilly [****]
SCOH Night Two: Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly [****¼]

In case you missed them….
Csonka Reviews The Mania Main Events (8-Part Series)
Evolve 58 Review
Evolve 59 Review
WWN Live Mercury Rising Review
CZW Welcome to the Combat Zone Review
SHIMMER 80 Review
NXT Takeover: Dallas Review
WrestleMania 32 Review
Csonka’s Top 14 Mania Weekend Matches
Csonka’s 6 Sins of WrestleMania Weekend
Csonka’s Top 5 ROH Supercard of Honor X (Night One) Moments