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Csonka’s ROH Masters of The Craft Preview

April 15, 2018 | Posted by Larry Csonka
ROH Masters of The Craft

WELCOME back to column time with Larry! Today, I am going to discuss and preview tonight’s ROH Masters of The Craft event. This is one of the many ROH events that will be steamed live on the Honor Club service, and will serve as fallout from the Supercard of Honor event. Feel free to make your picks in the comment section. Thanks for reading! It’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful, and don’t be a dick.”

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ROH TV Title Match: Champion Silas Young vs. Cheeseburger: This was a late addition to the card, and it’s just filler. Cheeseburger will do his act, the fans will love t, he’ll get some near falls and Young will end him. If it’s kept short, it’s fine. WINNER: Champion Silas Young

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Sumie Sakai, Tennille Dashwood, & Deonna Purrazzo vs. Madison Rayne, Jenny Rose, & Brandi Rhodes: You’d think that they’d use this match as a prime place for someone to pin Sakai and set up a title match. But with Sakai just winning the belt, and the entire tournament being such a letdown, I think having her take the fall here would be a huge mistake. There’s a lot of talent in there with Dashwood, Purrazzo, Rayne, & Rose; Sakai is usually really solid and often times keeps things together, there’s no Mandy Rose, and only Brandi to have to hide. At the very least, this should be solid, but if all goes well and Dashwood, Purrazzo, Rayne, & Rose get to let go a bit, this could end up being good. WINNERS: Sumie Sakai, Tennille Dashwood, & Deonna Purrazzo

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The Dawgs vs. Coast-to-Coast: This is a battle of lower card tag teams, looking to gain some momentum and climb the card. Coast-to-Coast is a tremendously fun babyface tag team that has been on a roll since beating War Machine in War Machine’s last ROH match. The Dawgs are, in my opinion, the worst act in all of ROH; they are a solid enough team, but their act is just bad. I get that they are supposed to be annoying heels, but they have channel-changing heat with me and have extremely little upside other than filing out the card. This will likely be a solid and maybe even fun undercard tag, but Coast-to-Coast should win in order to keep up their momentum. WINNERS: Coast-to-Coast

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Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, Scorpio Sky, & Shane Taylor vs. The Young Bucks, Adam Page, & Flip Gordon: At the Supercard of Honor event, ROH Six-Man tag team Champions So Cal Uncensored defeated Flip Gordon & The Young Bucks (with some help from the Kingdom) to retain the titles. This is fallout from that. Shane Taylor is a man that’s willing to do anything for money and has been hired by the champions in the past to do their dirty work, so they have an established connection., The Bucks work exceptionally well with Daniels & Kazarian, and I expect that to continue here. Add into that the fact that the Young Bucks and Adam Page are a great trios team, and Flip is great at what he does. On paper this has the chance to bean absolutely great match, I expect a ton of wild spots and a high-speed pace, but there is something to consider; Adam Page. Page has been team Cody since day one and has never liked Flip. With that being the case, I think he costs his team here, leading to Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, Scorpio Sky, & Shane Taylor picking up the win, likely pinning poor Flip. WINNERS: Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, Scorpio Sky, & Shane Taylor

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Jonathan Gresham vs. Jay Lethal: These two previously faced off in a great match at the ROH Honor Reigns Supreme back in February. And that was with Gresham suffering a knee injury about halfway through the match, but both men were smart enough to work around it and continue on with a great and compelling match. With Gresham at 100%, I fully expect another great outing here as they will have some stuff to play off of. But the question is who wins? Gresham is coming off of a loss at the Supercard of Honor event, and ROH seemingly has no idea what to do with him. Lethal recently lost in his attempt to win the world title, so I can see them booking him to get a rebound win here. But on the other hand, it’s a smaller show and feels like a prime time to give Gresham a surprise win to possibly set up a rubber match. With that being the case, I think I’ll go with the Gresham win here. WINNER: Jonathan Gresham

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First Blood Match: Matt Taven vs. Cody: Cody is coming off of a big win over Kenny Omega at the Supercard of Honor event. It feels like a lock that he’ll win here due to that. But ROH has really played up Taven’s “Kingdom conspiracy theory,” and he’s it really feels as if ROH wants to get behind him as they have been teasing his run at a grand slam. He has had past dealings with Cody, so they have some history to work with. The thing about the “First Blood” stipulation is that while there is a clear winner, one who can be elevated, it doesn’t come off as a traditional loss and can be played up as an accident, or they could use interference. Cody also has a history of accidentally bring cut open, which could be used as an excuse if he bleeds here. Cody has also been more than willing to get juice from time to time, one of those things he does in order to be like his dad. Due to the reasons discussed here, it really feels like they give Taven the win here and start heating him up for a possible world title shot. And if they do, I could see him winning the title down the line, and then going back full circle, going back to feud with Cody and losing the title to him. WINNER: Matt Taven

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Defy or Deny Match: Champion Dalton Castle vs. Marty Scurll vs. Punishment Martinez vs. Beer City Bruiser: This match is a non-title, Defy or Deny match. Under “Defy or Deny” rules, if the Castle wins, whoever is last eliminated cannot challenge for the World Championship as long as Castle is still the champion. I think that Marty Scurll and Punishment Martinez are safe from eating the final pin, but are also unlikely to win, due to just losing to Castle. That leaves the Beer City Bruiser as a prime candidate to eat the final pin. Quality wise, I don’t expect anything great here, but hope that they surprise me. Castle has been pretty solid in-ring as champion, although I thought the recent match with Scurll was extremely poor. Martinez is a fun guy who tends to deliver in big matches and had a good outing with Castle previously. The Bruiser can be surprisingly good, or really bad. I’ll go with a castle win, pinning the Bruiser, and hope for the best quality wise. WINNER: Dalton Castle

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– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

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“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”