Csonka’s ROH TV Review 7.01.15

ROH TV 7.01.15 – Episode 197

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Non-Title Match: Champions Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian defeated Kazuchika Okada and Gedo @ 12:00 via pin [***]
– Adam Page defeated Watanabe @ 9:30 via pin [**½]
– Non-Title Match: IWGP Champion AJ Styles defeated Adam Cole via pin @ 17:20 [****¼]

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The matches come from the War of The Worlds events that were taped in May.

Champions Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian defeated Kazuchika Okada and Gedo: This was another good and fun match, which came from War of The Worlds Night Two. Okada and Gedo have worked well together and had some really good tag team matches in 2015, and they brought the act to ROH and it worked here. Daniels and Kazarian being great also helps, but overall when you have four really good wrestlers in there, putting on a quality tag team match with clean work is a given. We all knew that Gedo was going to take the pin here, but it was all about how they got there, and I felt that they did well and had solid drama and good work. Post match Okada took out Daniels and Kazarian for their post match antics, and Daniels ate the RAIN MAKA to please the crowd. This was a good tag, just not great.

Adam Page defeated Watanabe: This was a solid, but completely forgettable match (which was the opener of War of The Worlds Night Two). The match featured two guys who I think could be having better outings, and I am still waiting for that to happen. Page pulls out cool stuff, like the SSP off the apron, but find a lot of his work lacking in regards to making me care about his matches. Watanabe made his comeback with a German off the top, but Colby Corino’s interference led to Page winning with the right of passage. This was perfectly fine.

IWGP Champion AJ Styles defeated Adam Cole: This comes from War of The Worlds Night One. While this wasn’t the main event, they worked it just like it was a main event match and it delivered big time. Quality wise it was just a clip below Strong vs. KUSHIDA from that same show. There were a lot of questions about Cole here, he was coming off of a shoulder injury that had him on the shelf for a while and to come back and work a major match with Styles out of the gate is a lot to ask. But then you remember that AJ Styles is very good and Adam Cole is very good, and about halfway through all of my fears were gone. They worked in Cole’s shoulder injury down the stretch, we had some great near falls (including Cole with the clash on AJ) and this just came together so well, which is a cedit to both guys. I know that people were worried about Cole coming back and losing here, but having an excellent match with one of the top guys in the business and losing will not hurt Cole at all. I also came out of this wanting to see a rematch, because while this was really good, I think once Cole gets fully back into his groove that they can do even better. Cole came back and was still a complete asshole of a character, and he is excellent at it in all of the best ways. Seriously, they need to have another big singles match later this year. The interactions during the six-man tags they had were also good, and played well off of this match.

* Quick promotional note. On Sunday, Pwponderings.com is going to produce a 12-hour podcast marathon. They raised over $1200 for RAINN and promised to podcast one hour for every $100 they raised. The 12-hours will feature the PwPonderings crew and gests discussing ROH, Tier 1, Women’s Wrestling and a gigantic mid-year review in the final two hours (that’s when I will be on) and more. You will be able to listen to the shows on Sunday from 11AM to 11PM ET at this link.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia.”

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

The matches were from the War of The Worlds events that were taped in May, and overall provided a good night of wrestling action. The only real complaint is that we’re 12-days from the Best in the World PPV and we’re not advancing anything as far as angles and such goes because we're running matches from May. For me that takes away from the whole episodic TV deal; but if you’re looking for a good hour of wrestling, the main event will be well worth your time.