Cook’s ROH TV Review 5.14.21

Hey kids! We’ve got a loaded show this week. Tag team partners facing off. Six-Man Tag Team Championship on the line. A battle royal! Let’s hook ’em up.

Cook’s ROH TV Review 5.14.21

Ian Riccaboni welcomes us to Ring of Honor Wrestling! He is filling in once again for Quinn McKay, who is recovering from her hard-fought match on last week’s episode. Quinn didn’t come out victorious, but she proved she had what it took to hang with anybody in the squared circle. She’ll be back next week. This week’s main event sees “2 Guys, 1 Tag” explode, as Josh Woods takes on Silas Young. Shane Taylor has stated that the 6-Man titles will be defended against anybody, especially young wrestlers that have yet to be given a shot. This week, Primal Fear are those young wrestlers. First, it’s a Rankings Battle Royal featuring wrestlers that aren’t currently in any of the championship rankings. The final two will face off on a future episode, and the winner will get to choose if they’d like to be ranked in the Pure or Television Championship division.

Dalton Castle joins Ian & Caprice Coleman on commentary for the first match.

14-man Rankings Battle Royal: PCO & Mike Bennett get entrances, Bateman attacks Bennett during his entrance, and then there’s 11 dudes already out there. I see Danhausen & Mark Briscoe. Dalton’s excited about all these fellas going at it in front of him. Dutch makes an appearance to attack Bennett, we’re not sure if he’s under contract or not but he Black Hole Slams Bennett on the floor and it doesn’t look like Bennett will be doing much in this battle royal. Bateman & Dutch try to drag him off, but ROH security breaks that up. We go to the Ric Flair commerical.

We come back, and the ROH Dojo crew gets Ken Dixon out of there. Guess turning against them wasn’t a smart idea after all. Matk Briscoe tosses out Ryan Mooney, who was looking all right in there. Eric Martin tries to hang around, even skinning the cat one time, but PCO clotheslines him out. Mark & PCO face off, Danhausen tries to chokeslam them both and gets tossed out for his problems. Hold on a second, Danhausen’s pulling out a generic luchador mask and using it as a disguise! OLE! Well, that didn’t work, Mark & PCO toss Generico out as well. LSG hits a springboard crossbody and tosses out Dante Caballero. World Famous CB & Joe Keys work those rope & apron spots. CB tries to go up top, but Keys knocks him off and onto the floor. Keys eliminates Mark Briscoe next. Now we got Sledge & O’Shay Edwards getting it on like two men should, according to Ian. Edwards takes the tumble out. Sledge, LSG, PCO & Keys are the final four, and PCO malfunctions and takes a dive outside. Dove under the top rope though, so he’s still in the match. Sledge gets double teamed for a second before LSG goes after PCO. LSG gets judo throwed into the corner, and PCO & Sledge face off. They exchange blows for a minute there, we got double chokeholds, PCO runs Sledge over to the ropes and drives him out. Then LSG & Keys eliminate PCO, and there’s your future singles match.

Winners: LSG & Joe Keys
Match Rating: **1/2

They celebrate together & shake hands. How sportsmanlike!

Before our next match, Primal Fear talks about how they want to prove they’re the best trio on the planet. STP will regret giving them this shot, they’re starving dogs. Meanwhile, Shane Taylor tells Quinn McKay about how ROH has a whole roster of people that we never get to see, and he wants to give those people an opportunity. He isn’t too keen on these Primal Fear folks running their mouth.

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship Match: Primal Fear (Matthew Omen, Gabriel Hodder & Adrien Soriano) vs. Champions Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor, Moses & Kaun): Shane’s new music talks about how he’s a lion in the jungle. Moses & Omen start things off. Omen’s not going to win the strength battle against this guy. Big elbow block by Moses, tag to Kaun, bad miss on the dropkick by Kaun, tag to Hodder who misses a running senton. Kaun with a senton of his own, but Hodder with a big hit. 80s style hip toss & Kaun strikes Hodder down. Tag to Soriano, who wants Shane T. He’ll get him. That test of strength doesn’t go well for Soriano. Taylor a little disrespectful, which gets him a slap from Soriano. Some smack talk from Soriano leads to Soriano getting smacked down in the corner as we go to commercial.

We’re back, and Taylor gives Soriano a shot. Misses the cannonball in the corner though, which leads to both Hodder & Omen coming in to stomp Taylor down while Todd is distracted with SOS. Now the Primal Fear boys are working Taylor over. Some innovative double teams here. Taylor finally gets some daylight with a lariat and both men are down. Moses & Omen come in, and Moses is the proverbial house of fire. Hodder wants some, Todd’s not stopping it so Moses sends Hodder over the top rope. Moses tags Kaun and decides he wants to do a flip dive off the apron, but nobody’s there to catch Moses. Kaun with the gutbuster, probably should have been three but Todd sees the Primal Fear guys finally come in to break it up. It’s 2 on Moses now, big spear from Hodder leads to a two count. Soriano with the flip dive onto Taylor outside. Hodder climbs the barricade, runs across, gets caught by Moses, who fallaway slams him over the barricade! Very impressive. Kaun up top with Omen, hits an avalanche jackhammer! That leaves Soriano, who gets dropped by a doubleteam for the three count.

Winners: STP (10:17 via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***

A little spotty, but a good showing for the kids here. They got some potential.

Silas Young keeps being asked why he did what he did to Josh Woods. He’s a former ROH TV Champion that was flourishing as a singles wrestler. He put his own needs aside for the company & Josh Woods’ career. Before he took Josh under his wing, nobody gave a damn about the guy. He taught him all he could, asked him for one favor, and Josh blew him off. Every decision has a repercussion, and this is Josh’s. He still has a few lessons to teach Josh.

Josh Woods pauses before taking a seat. He’s asked to give his thoughts on Silas Young. Woods stares off into the distance, pondering the question. He shakes his head and walks off.

Josh Woods vs. Silas Young: Silas attacks from behind during the entrance, which was a new one but we’ll have to wait to see all of it. Silas sends Josh into the barricade a couple of times & talks some smack. Woods tries to fight back, but gets nowhere. Young tries to utilize a chair, but Woods kicks it right into Young’s face. Young is sent into the barricade as we go to commercial.

Now the bell rings when we return. Woods throws his t-shirt into Young’s face and goes for the waistlock. Young with a nifty counter, ramming Woods’ face into the top rope. Kitchen sink knee strike, Young talks some smack & puts the boots to Woods. Front suplex & a seated dropkick to Woods. It’s all offense for Silas Young here, Woods tries to fight back but eats a codebreaker for two. Chinlock with a bodyscissors by Young. Woods fights out and keeps gaining momentum bit by bit until eating a big boot. Young chokes Woods with his boot as we go to commercial.

Young locks in the abdominal stretch. Woods with the counter, then Young with the counter. Woods with the hip toss. Young with some fancy flips, sets up a suplex but Woods reverses and drives Young headfirst into the corner. Didn’t look fun. Woods with a series of knee strikes in the corner, a butterfly suplex gets two. German with a bridge gets two, then he goes for the gorilla lock, which Young reverses into a nearfall. Young gets a two count with the anarchist suplex. Hits the Finlay roll, but Woods back up quickly. Woods goes for the Chaos Theory, but Young blocks it into a rollup for two. Woods on the apron, Silas clotheslines him down. They fight over a suplex, both men end up on the apron to exchange shots. Woods asks if that’s all Silas has. He goes for a German suplex to the outside, but when that doesn’t happen, vaults Young over the top rope back into the ring into a head & arm submission. It’s one that Young can counter into a pinfall though, using the ropes of course, and that’s exactly what he does. Not sure if the shoulders were completely down, but the referee’s decision is final.

Winner: Silas Young (12:06 via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***1/4

Young says he might have taught Woods everything that Woods knows, but he hasn’t taught him everything that Silas Young knows.

Next Week: Fred Yehi vs. Rocky Romero & The Foundation defend the Tag Team Championship against The OGK!

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

Pretty solid show of pro wrestling here. Dug the Woods/Young stuff and should lead to good things for Woods once he learns his lessons. Also liked the featuring of young talent like Primal Fear and most of the guys in the battle royal. Hopefully that'll pay off down the road.