Csonka’s ROH: State of The Art San Antonio Preview

WELCOME back to column time with Larry! Today, I am going to discuss and preview tonight’s ROH: State of The Art San Antonio event. This is one of the many ROH events that will be steaming live on the Honor Club service this year. 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.”

Sumie Sakai & Tenille Dashwood vs. Kelly Klein & Thunder Rosa: You know, it just came to me as I was about to preview this and was also looking ahead to Best in the World that outside of a few commentary appearances, Mandy Leon has fallen off the face if the earth. She last appeared on ROH TV in March, isn’t scheduled for BITW in the big tag match, and isn’t on these shows. It makes me think that she and the lizard man had a falling out. I guess it’s just one of those things I notice when looking at so many shows. So here we have the champion Sumie Sakai & Tenille Dashwood battling gatekeeper and top heel Kelly Klein along with Thunder Rosa (aka Kobra Moon). I like that ROH keeps bringing in new women to give them a look, but they desperately need to lock in some names and actually start booking the division outside of random tags. It feels like Rosa is simply here to lose, which I expect, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Klein pick up a win to set her up for a rematch with Sakai for the title. WINNERS: Sumie Sakai & Tenille Dashwood

Flip Gordon vs. Rhett Titus: This was a late addition to the card. Flip has a PPV match coming up against Bully Ray, while Titus has been floundering in a tag team with Will Ferarra. The match should be solid at the very least, but should be here so that Flip can pickup a win ahead of the PPV to give him some momentum. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get some post match Bully Ray shenanigans as well. WINNER: Flip Gordon

Bully Ray, Shane Taylor, & Punishment Martinez vs. Delirious, Cheeseburger, & Hurricane Helms: When this Bully Ray angle started, everyone wanted to jump on me for not liking it, telling me to “let it play out” and that it’s genuine heel heat and that in the end he’ll do the right thing and put over Cheeseburger after murdering him several times. It’s go away heat, he’s assassinated Burger repeatedly, and now they have fully transitioned the feud to Bully Ray vs. Flip Gordon for the PPV. I don’t blame them as Flip has more upside and Burger is more of a cult figure, but the feud was never about putting Burger over. I don’t like Shane Taylor, & Punishment Martinez being buddying up with Bully either as they are tasked with doing all of the work for Bully while he yells a lot and, “gets heat.” The bully team will likely win, Delirious should take the fall, but it will likely be Burger again. WINNERS: Bully Ray, Shane Taylor, & Punishment Martinez

Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia vs. The Boys: For the most part, this feels like a tag match with no real stakes. The Boys winning, and winning clean would be huge for them, but the way that they are booked makes it nearly impossible to care about them. The Boys have talent, but are booked in such a limited fashion that they are essentially jobbers with an over gimmick. The Boys are really nothing more than accessories for Castle at this point an card fillers, while the Kingdom is a pushed act. The Boys will likely create some fun moments, but the Kingdom should pick up a win here. WINNERS: Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia

Cody vs. Jonathan Gresham: Jonathan Gresham is an extremely talented guy that ROH seemingly has no idea what to do with as he was left off of the last two tours, and found himself on a milk carton. He’s had some great matches with Jay Lethal this year, being more than competitive and felt as if he was getting over, but his sporadic booking constantly halts his momentum. Cody is the star here and is about to challenge for the world title, so he will take the win. The question will be what kind of match we’ll get. Will Cody want to show off his amateur wrestling skills and show he can go with Gresham, or will it be the take a night off smoke and mirrors show. With BITW coming up, I actually won’t blame him for taking it easy, I just hope that it’s fun and entertaining. WINNER: Cody

Jay Lethal vs. TK O’Ryan: TK O’Ryan is part of the Kingdom, but not the featured part, as that is Matt Taven. Jay Lethal is still in the top of the mix in ROH, recently defeating every man that had held a recent win over him, but on, KUSHIDA. Lethal is working his way back to a title shot. He’s unlikely to even win the title again unless Cody leaves or they abandon the Taven project, but is a guy that fans buy as a challenger and can always be a believable threat to the world or TV title, and main event when needed. This is actually a huge singles opportunity here for O’Ryan, who most times is relegated to tags and trios action. A good performance here against Lethal will show that he’s capable of more, but on the other side, a poor performance against one of the company’s best will show that for now, he’s slotted properly. Lethal should win as he hopefully gets his clash with KUSHIDA at BITW. WINNERS: Jay Lethal

SoCal Uncensored (Daniels, Kaz, & Sky) vs. Atlantis, Stuka Jr., & Guerrero Maya Jr.: With ROH running in Texas, they have smartly tapped into their CMLL relationship, bringing in Atlantis, Stuka Jr., & Guerrero Maya Jr. Atlantis is a legit legend, but at 55 is rather limited, so using him in a trios match, where he can be protected and “get his signature shit in” is smart. In the past Daniels & Kaz have been charged with working with CMLL stars, due to their experience and fact that they adapt well, and can work with about anyone. With SoCal Uncensored out of the trios title picture for now, it also allows for the CMLL stars to pick up a win here, especially with them challenging on night two for the trios titles. WINNERS: Atlantis, Stuka Jr., & Guerrero Maya Jr.

Bullet Club (The Young Bucks, Adam Page, & Marty Scurll) vs. The Briscoes & Killer Elite Squad: This will likely be the best match on the show, as the Bucks are always working to steal the show, and work extremely well as a team with both Marty & Page; it also helps that they have great chemistry with the Briscoes. The Bullet Club team being under sized also allows the Killer Elite Squad to utilize their size advantage and play monster to add a fun dynamic to the match. This will likely be 19 to 20 minutes or so of balls to the wall insanity once they really get into it, and it should really be a ton of fun. In the end, the unity between Bullet Club will likely pay off, and issues between The Briscoes & Killer Elite Squad will likely be their down fall as part of the set up for their match on night two. WINNERS: The Young Bucks, Adam Page, & Marty Scurll

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– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”