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Csonka’s ROH Manhattan Mayhem Review

March 15, 2017 | Posted by Larry Csonka
Adam Cole
7.1
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Csonka’s ROH Manhattan Mayhem Review  

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Csonka’s ROH Manhattan Mayhem Review (3.04.17)

OFFICIAL RESULTS
* Christopher Daniels defeated TK O’Ryan @ 4:20 via pin []
* Dalton Castle defeated Colt Cabana @ 9:25 via pin [**]
* TV Title Match: Champion Marty Scurll defeated Sonjay Dutt @ 12:10 via submission [***½]
* Dragon Lee defeated Will Ospreay @ 12:00 via pin [****]
* Tag Team Title Match: Champions The Young Bucks defeated Lio Rush & Jay White @ 11:00 via pin [***½]
* Tag Team Title Match: The Hardys defeated Champions The Young Bucks @ 8.25 via pin [***½]
* ROH Manhattan Battle Royal: Matt Taven won a future ROH title shot @ 15:30 [*]
* Hangman Page, Kazarian & Cody defeated Jay Lethal & The Briscoes @ 15:30 via pin [***]
* ROH Title Match: Champion Adam Cole defeated Bobby Fish @ 18:45 via pin [***]


– Daniels cut a quick babyface promo before the match, putting over ROH and all of the guys that have worked for the company. He then took time to pick up all of the names he dropped, and said he’d hurt ho ever the champion is to win and that they’d have to kill him to stop him. Matt Taven arrived and ran down Daniels for discussing the past. You’ll be shocked; he talked about Melvins and then told Daniels to retire. Daniels then told Taven he had a small dick and challenged him, but h got O’Ryan instead.

Christopher Daniels vs. TK O’Ryan: Daniels ran wild early, Taven took the ref and then Vinny tripped up Daniels. O’Ryan took control due to that, working a short heat on Daniels and took too much time to celebrate. Daniels was tossed to the floor; Taven took the ref again, allowing Vinny to beat down Daniels. O’Ryan hit a fisherman’s buster for 2. Daniels battled back, cut off O’Ryan and tossed him off the top. Daniels hit forearms and clotheslines and then the STO. The blue thunder bomb followed and Taven took the ref again; Daniels fought off the numbers game and hit the BME for the win. Christopher Daniels defeated TK O’Ryan @ 4:20 via pin [*½] This was a rough match with too much bullshit, but Daniels picked up the quick win and gaining momentum ahead of challenging for the title at the 15th anniversary PPV. The only real issue here is that The kingdom looked like complete jokes, more than usual. I mean, it’s just TK O’Ryan, have Daniels win but not beat all three (basically) on his own.

Dalton Castle w/The Boys vs. Colt Cabana: Cabana stalled early by going after the Boys. Castle eventually stopped that as they really did nothing early. Cabana slapped Castle, so Castle took him down and teased a German. Cabana powdered again, but the Boys rolled him in, allowing Castle to hit a belly to belly. They brawled on the floor, with Cabana sending Castle to the barricade. Cabana stole feathers off of a Boy’s fan and then beat on Castle, sending him back into the ring. Cabana worked forearm strikes, fought off the suplex attempts. Elbows followed by Cabana, but Castle hit an XPLODER. They traded strikes; Castle hit a lariat and then a corner knee strike and two more. The delayed German by Castle gets a near fall. Cabana the hit the corner ass attack, and a knee strike for 2. Cabana locked in the Billy goat’s curse, the Boys distracted Cabana, and he sent them back to the floor. Castle blocked the elbows, set Cabana up top and they battle back and forth but the Boys made the save, but got shoved to the floor; Castle hit bangarang for the win. Dalton Castle defeated Colt Cabana @ 9:25 via pin [**] these two do not have good chemistry, and there was simply too much bullshit with the Boys. Castle is about to challenge for the ROH title over Mania weekend, and should have won clean here. Cabana’s return to ROH continue to be a disappointment overall.

ROH TV Champion Marty Scurll vs. Sonjay Dutt: With all of the recent departures, Scurll has been a great addition to the ROH roster; he has a character the fans are into and his dedication to his character and style sets him apart from the rest of the roster. Dutt is a guy I have always been a fan of and it’s cool to see him get the shot here. They grappled early with Scurll looking to target the arm early. Scurll largely controlled early until Dutt picked up the pace, hitting a RANA and sending him to the floor and working him over. Back in and Scurll avoided a springboard attack and attacked the arm. The apron superkick followed, and the crowd is really into this as Scurll tortures the arm. Nice control from Scurll here, but Dutt escapes only for Scurll to go back to the arm to cut him off. Nice focused work by Scurll here. Dutt tied to fire back, got a sunset flip and then a flatliner to the buckles. Dutt followed with a moonsault to the floor, back in and Dutt hit the running corner kick and then a RANA off the ropes and standing moonsault for 2. Scurll fought off sliced bread and then hit the neck breaker for the near fall. They traded strikes, and Scurll hits the brain buster for a near fall. Scurll goes right back to the arm, hits the superkick, but runs into an enziguri. They trade kicks, German by Dutt and Scurll then turns him inside out with a lariat. Scurll looks for the chicken wing, Dutt fights it off and hits the tornado DDT and running shooting star press for 2. Dutt up top, but the splash eats knees and Scurll cradles him for 2. Scurll kicks the arm, does the finger break spot but Dutt fires back with a superkick; Scurll quickly hits the dump suplex into the chicken wing for the win. Champion Marty Scurll defeated Sonjay Dutt @ 12:10 via submission [***½] This was a very good title defense for Scurll, Dutt was more than competitive and had some great fire and near falls. This is exactly what the show needed after such a soft start.

Dragon Lee vs. Will Ospreay: They worked a fast pace, back and forth opening stretch. It was a great athletic display with it ending in a stand off, showing that they are evenly matched. Ospreay fired up with chops, and then kicks sent Lee to the floor; Ospreay followed with a shooting star press from the apron. Back in and Ospreay covered for 2. Ospreay then lit up Lee with forearm strikes and a corner dropkick, which got 2. Ospreay grounded Lee with an octopus hold and attempted to get a pin off of it, but Lee fired back with chops, only to be taken down again as Ospreay grounds him with a side headlock. Lee escaped, picked up the pace and hot a running kick and then a snap German, sending Ospreay to the floor. A beautiful dive by Lee followed. Once back in, he took control and hit a RANA, but Ospreay landed on his feet. They then did some really spectacular counter work, ending with Lee leaping over the ropes and hitting a RANA on the floor. Back in and Lee hit the delayed German suplex for the near fall. Ospreay fired back with the springboard kick, running shooting star and the springboard 630 for a near fall. Ospreay up top, cut off by Lee but Ospreay hits the trapped superkick in the corner. They traded forearms center ring, both guys are fired up, and again worked into some effortlessly done counter work. Ospreay then hits a German into the buckles, but Lee then fired back, suplexing him to the buckles. Lee up top, Ospreay follows with the back handspring kick. Ospreay tried to go up with Lee, but Lee hits the double stomp for the near fall. Ospreay countered the Phoenix bomb, hit the reverse RANA and spiking kick. Lee catches the springboard cutter into the Phoenix bomb for the win. Dragon Lee defeated Will Ospreay @ 12:00 via pin [****] This was exactly what I wanted to be, what it needed to be and what it should have been; a hard hitting, chaotic but smoothly worked athletic contest. This was absolutely tremendous.

ROH Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks vs. Lio Rush & Jay White: White and Rush cleared the Bucks to the floor and hit a pair of dives. They then ran wild early, using some good double team on the champions. The Bucks finally cut them off, working double teams and taking back control. Great crowd for this match so far, Rush tried to make the save but the Bucks hit a doomsday superkick on him before hitting the apron bomb on White, and then powerbombing Rush onto White. The rise of the terminator dives followed, and back in the ring the Bucks isolated White. Some miscommunication allowed White to make his comeback. Great babyface fire by White here, but the Bucks kept Rush beat down on the floor. White continued to fight back, hot tag to Rush, dives included for free. Rush countered the x-factor; hit another dive and White returned as it broke down. They worked a great back and forth break down spot, there were of course superkicks. Rush hit a reverse RANA on the floor and back in hit the frog splash for the near fall. Rush and White then laid in superkicks, but the Bucks fired up and fought back, hitting the buckle bomb and assisted 450. White made one more run, hitting the uppercut train and Rush stopped the Meltzer driver, but he ate an indie-taker for his trouble and also a Meltzer driver and the Bucks retain. Champions The Young Bucks defeated Lio Rush & Jay White @ 11:00 via pin [***½] This was a very good tag match, with White and Rush proving to be very competitive challengers. On a secondary show like this, they played it smart, sticking to a mostly balls to the wall spirit format. It could have been just a bit shorter to maximize the format and tighten it up, but this was very good and a lot of fun.

BUT WAIT… BUCKS OF YOUTH… I KNEW YOU’D COME! The Broken just plain old Hardys have arrived to the honorable ring. The Hardys challenged the Bucks for the tag titles, and The Bucks accepted.

ROH Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks vs. The Hardys: The crowd went wild for this, doing dueling “DELETE” vs. “SUCK IT” chants. They largely played the hits, which worked here because that’s what the crowd wanted to see and that’s what they gave them. The Bucks eventually cut off the Hardys with superkicks and hit stereo 450s for the near fall. Broken Matt got the hot tag, tried to eat young Matt’s face off. The Bucks hit double teams; Jeff made the save and ate a superkick. The Bucks went twist of fate and swanton on Matt for the near fall. Jeff sent Nick off the top and to the floor; Broken Matt hit the twist of fate allowing Jeff to hit the swanton for the win.

Sometimes the smartest thing is the simplest thing, which is to just give the fans what they want. The Hardys defeated Champions The Young Bucks @ 8.25 via pin [***½] This was very good as well but in a completely different way. They used their time very well, and were able to get away with doing less, because the crowd was absolutely loving anything and everything they did; this was the most over thing on the show with ease. I think putting the tile on the Hardys was a smart move, as it allows them to build into the important match over Mania weekend and also got the Hardys on PPV in what was a great match with the Bucks and RPG Vice. The Hardys are here for a months, ROH gets a bump in interest from them, and they get to add another title to their long list of accomplishments. This came off well, felt like a big deal and the Bucks lose nothing; they’re essentially bullet proof, and also just worked a match before accepting this challenge.

– Broken Matt proclaimed themselves the champions of the honorable ring, and many thought when they left that dreadful TNA (fuck TNA chants) many thought that they would sign with the dastardly Meekmahan. But now he and the nefarious brother Nero will exist in the honorable ring. The nefarious brother Nero then sang obsolete.

ROH Manhattan Battle Royal: The Kingdom, Punishment Martinez, Leon St. Giovanni, Will Ferrara, Shaheem Ali, Cheeseburger, The Rebellion, Tanaka, Komatsu, Hanson, Rowe, The Beer City Bruiser, Chris Sabin, & Silas Young. It’s amazing that you can have so many people in one ring doing so little. We then started to weed out the low card guys as Silas Young used Cheeseburger as a weapon. Young & the Bruiser beat down Cheeseburger once he refused to listen to them. Rowe ran wild, went to heck on Cheeseburger but he hit Rowe with the palm strike for the elimination. They tossed Cheeseburger but War Machine caught him and tossed him back in; Young then quickly eliminated him. The final three were Taven, Sabin and Vinny Marseglia. Sabin put up a good fight, but Marseglia low blowed him. Sabin looked to eliminate him, but Taven ran over and eliminated them both. ROH Manhattan Battle Royal: Matt Taven won a future ROH title shot @ 15:30 [*] Taven wins an extremely bland and basic battle royal to become a random contender of the month on TV or some low level live event. This felt like such a huge mistake in terms of placement; they started slow and got momentum going with the TV title match, followed by Dragon Lee vs. Will Ospreay and then the big angle with the tag titles. To follow that up with the random man rumble; this had next to no heat, with the crowd sounding like background noise in a bar as we got a lot of aimless walking around the ring. No one came out of this looking good or actually gaining some momentum; I was really hoping Martinez would get a big run, but he was just another guy.

Hangman Page, Kazarian & Cody vs. Jay Lethal & The Briscoes : Cody teased starting, but tagged in Kaz to avoid Lethal. Lethal then attacked Cody; it broke down with the Briscoes double-teaming Kaz. Page and Jay Briscoe paired off for a bit, the Briscoes teased a doomsday device on the ramp; Cody slammed Lethal to the barricade. The Briscoes worked over Kaz for a while, but he tagged out and that allowed Bullet Club to take the heat on Lethal and to continue the Cody vs. Lethal feud, they will battle over Mania weekend. Fluid heat by Bullet Club, good moving parts as they kept it interesting. Lethal managed to hit the Lethal combination on Page, and tagged in Mark and he ran wild for a bit, with brother Jay hitting a dive. Mark escaped cross Rhodes, hitting the fisherman’s buster. The Briscoes worked over Cody but Page made the save. Jay Briscoe grabbed Page’s bull rope, and they brawled. Page tried to use the rope and then hit a superkick. They teased finishers and did a double down. Lethal and Cody back in, they traded strikes and just threw bombs. Cody then countered the Lethal injection into cross Rhodes for a great near fall. Cody & Page teased a doomsday device, but Lethal escaped but ate a lariat by page. It broke down, and the Briscoes got a near fall off of a super suplex and froggy bow on Cody; Lethal followed with the elbow drop. He and the Briscoes teased a triple team doomsday device; Lethal sent to the floor. Page hit the shooting star press to the floor, we got dives and Kaz then rolled up Mark out of nowhere for the win. Hangman Page & Kazarian & Cody Rhodes defeated Jay Lethal & The Briscoes @ 15:30 via pin [***] Good match with nice attention paid to the past feuds and current ones as well. The home stretch was particularly fun.

– Christopher Daniels joined commentary.

ROH Champion Adam Cole vs. Bobby Fish: Cole stalled early, and when he entered got in a few shots, celebrated and bailed again to take another powder. Back in and they traded strikes and Fish attacked the leg of Cole. Fish picked up the pace, hitting the slingshot senton. Cole then sent him to the floor, and slammed Fish to the barricade. Fish battled back, spearing Cole to the barricade. Back in the ring, Fish worked over Cole with leg kicks and a snap suplex for a near fall. Fish up top, but Cole knocked him off and to the floor. Cole then took control back in the ring, but Fish quickly countered into a crossface. Cole escaped, whipped Fish to the buckles and Cole then basically took his time and slowly beat Fish down. Fish tried for a standing heel hook, and then transitioned to a German suplex. Fish followed with a head kick, which scored a near fall. Knees and then an XPLODER to the corner by Fish got a near fall. Fish in control, and looked to work the legs. He then fired away with leg kicks, and then forearm strikes. More leg kicks by Fish, but back in and Cole cuts him off with the running kick. Fish looked for the choke, but Cole escaped and hit a Saito suplex for the near fall. Fish countered the destroyer, and hit the falcon arrow (HE DID THE DEAL!) Fish then hits the brain buster and rolled into the arm bar, but Cole made the ropes. Fish up top, but dives off into a superkick; last shot by Cole and that gets 2 as he was slow to cover, favoring the knee. Cole takes Fish to the corner, heads up top, but Fish fights back, hitting the SUPER FALCON ARROW (HE DID THE SUPER DEAL!!!!!!!) 1…2…no! Cole survives. They traded strikes, into a series of counters and then a trio of superkicks by Cole. Fish shoots Cole the double bird salute, counters the shining wizard into the heel hook. Cole struggles, but Cole escapes, rolls him up but Fish escapes. Fish goes for the knee bar, but Cole stacks him up and grabs the tights for the win. Champion Adam Cole defeated Bobby Fish @ 18:45 via pin [***] This was a good wrestling match, but lacked the drama of a great title match. Fish was so consumed with winning with the knee bar that it bit him in the ass and it cost him.

– Post match, Bullet Club put the beat down on Fish. They brought a table in the ring, but the Briscoes made the save, they tried their best, but the numbers game got to them. But wait, Bully Ray is here. Ray hit the ring, and chokeslammed Cole through the table! The rest of Bullet Club just stood there, doing nothing to save Cole. Ray helped Fish and the Briscoes to their feet. Ray then cut a promo, noting that he’s almost at a loss for words. This building is special to him, and this city is where he’s from. Last week, Matt Hardy said this would be an interesting week, and he says this has been an interesting night. He’s been at home with some different offers on the table (we get the FUCK TNA chants) and that’s why I didn’t take their offer he says. He had another offer, a Ring of Honor offer. For 15-years he has enjoyed ROH because it reminds him of ECW. There is so much passion, and ROH is the only company that has captured the ECW vibe. But he’s never been to an ROH show so he came to check it out. If he comes to ROH, he would come not to take a spot or tell them what to do, if he comes because he wants to be there. He wants to be able to say that he fought for ROH, so what do you guys think? Ray then says, “Do you know who I am, I am Bully Ray, and as of right now, I am in Ring of Honor.”

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

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“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia.”

7.1
The final score: review Good
The 411
While not at the level of the 15th anniversary PPV (and it wasn’t designed to be) the 2017 ROH Manhattan Mayhem is a good show. The show felt important with the appearance of Bully Ray, the hot tag title angle. The middle of the show is absolutely great, with Scurll vs. Dutt, Ospreay vs. Lee and the tag title matches. I enjoyed.
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