Csonka’s ROH TV Review 11.18.15

ROH TV 11.18.15 – Episode 217

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– War Machine defeated Silas Young and The Beer City Bruiser @ 9:25 via pin [**¾]
– Michael Elgin defeated Kevin lee Davidson @ 0:09 via pin [NR]
– ROH Tag Team Title Match: Champions The Kingdom defeated The Addiction @ 1:05 via pin [**½]

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– Silas Young is still trying to make the Boys into men by having them change the tire on his care. Hilarity ensues when the boys have issues with the tire and try to use hand sanitizer. They also cannot drive a stick shift.

War Machine (Hanson and Rowe) vs. Silas Young and The Beer City Bruiser w/The Boys: Hanson and the Bruiser did power spots early, with Hanson getting the better of the Bruiser and Young. War Machine then scored with double teams on Young as the Boys attempted to pick up the Bruiser and get him back into the ring. Rowe was running with some nice power stuff, but as he charged at Young the Bruiser connected with a POUNCE, which allowed Young and the Bruiser to get the heat. The Bruiser hit a frog splash for a near fall, and then they worked through the break. Hanson got the hot tag, and did really well with it, cleaning house and getting a good reaction. The Boys got involved to try and stop Hanson, it didn’t work out well for them as Hanson sandwiched them in the corner and connected with clubbing strikes. Rowe hit the stalling XPLODER on the Bruiser, which was pretty impressive. The Boys got involved again as Rowe was sent to the floor, but he moved and then the Bruiser wiped out the boys with a cannonball off the apron. The Bruiser ended up by himself, and ate the fallout, allowing War Machine to get some momentum on TV as they head into their Final Battle tag title match. That was way more enjoyable than I thought it would be; some great hoss spots here and they simply worked well together.

– We get footage of the Corino vs. Whitmer feud, and the punch that may have cost Corino his job.

STEVE CORINO TALKY TIME: Nigel McGuinness brings Steve Corino out to the ring to address his status with ROH. Nigel explains that Corino broke the zero tolerance policy when he attacked Whitmer. Nigel cannot reinstate Corino as a commentator, BUT he can reinstate him as a wrestler. Nigel started to explain that Whitmer will be ready for Final Battle and that they were booking a fight without honor, but Corino’s facial expressions and body language here let you know something was up. Corino then took the mic and explained why he attacked Whitmer, and said that wrestling was all he wanted; but he’s over 40 now and breaking down. He went on to explain that he had pain in his neck, arms and hands, he had an MRI and needs major neck surgery; his in ring career is over. He won’t say this is goodbye and wrestlers never retire until their last breath. He then thanks ROH and a ton of talent and office guys. Corino showed some great emotion here, and that is not just because he is good on the mic, but because it is real and he got to pull the words from a place of truth. The crowd reacted well to this, and if he can’t return and this is it, then it is a great send off. It sucks that the feud got delayed due to Whitmer’s injury and then dropped (for now) due to Corino’s surgery, but he gave a hell of a send off.

– Silas Young tries to teach the Boys to use a urinal, one of them tries to sit on it.

– We get Inside ROH with Adam Cole (BAY BAY). He vows to make it so that Kyle O’Reilly never wrestles again. I would assume they are going to face at Final Battle.

Michael Elgin vs. Kevin Lee Davidson: Davidson threw a kick, we got an odd clip and then Elgin murder death killed Davidson (a giant hoss of a ma) with a lariat, and that was that. He then cut a promo about his time in Japan, and how it made him realize that his focus was the ROH Title, since it was the thing that was most important to him. This was a fine little segment to reset Elgin as a singles performer.

Champions The Kingdom (Taven and Bennett) w/Maria vs. The Addiction (Daniels and Kazarian) w/Chris Sabin: Both teams tried to out heel each other early, they had a stand off and went to a commercial. Lots of back and forth after the break, as they continued to try and out heel each other. It had its moments, including Sabin and Maria getting involved, leading to them getting ejected. Thy worked through another commercial break, and when we came back the back and forth continued, and we got some dives and the crowd got into it. The Kingdom went for Hail Mary, but Daniels stopped that as all four were in. The Kingdom made the comeback and hit the proton pack for a near fall as Daniels again made a save. We got a ref bump, Maria returned and Daniels tried to take her out, but Bennett saved her, and she low blowed Daniels and then superkicked him. And then the dude in the red mask arrived, superkicked Kazarian and the kingdom retained. For a heel vs. heel match they actually did a nice job of getting the crowd involved, and keeping them excited, which I appreciated. That was until the ending as the red mask run in deflated the crowd. The Kingdom are defending the titles at Final Battle, and they apparently wanted to protect the Addiction, but I think they could have done it better, and all of the bullshit down the stretch really killed my enjoyment of the match. It felt as if they were killing time until the heatless finish.

– War Machine appeared, stared and pointed. DRAMA.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia.”

6.4

The final score: review Average

The 411

Tonight’s show was fine, but also one you could easily skip. The opening match was fun, and better than I thought we’d get. Unfortunately the stuff with the Boys (the videos) feels as if it is coming too late. These should have ran before they returned to TV with Young, it feels like an after thought. Corino did an excellent job with his promo segment, and used his real life neck issues to take his time away, while also teasing that he could return. The Elgin segment was fine in re-establishing his goals as a singles performer, but the editing of the match came off poorly. The main event had its moments of fun, but fell victim to the run in/shenanigan finish, which I feel ROH has used too much this year. The dude in the red mask kills all heat, and ended the show on a down note.