Csonka’s ROH TV Review 1.17.18

Csonka’s ROH TV Review 1.17.18

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Jay Lethal defeated Will Ospreay @ 17:05 via pin [***¾]
– Kenny King defeated Brian Milonas @ 3:51 via pin [*]
– Dalton Castle & The Boys defeated The Kingdom @ 11:26 via submission [**½]

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Jay Lethal vs. Will Ospreay: Both guys had a great 2017, with Lethal being the most consistent, high quality match guy in the company. They shake hands and we’re friends to begin. Ospreay looks to pick up the pace right away, but Jay slows it down, working the arm. Ospreay works a slick escape, but Jay follows with a shoulder block. They work into some counters, and Ospreay hits the dropkick but Jay cuts him of, pulling him to the floor and slams him to the barricade. Jay follows with a trio of suicide dives, taking control. Marty Scurll arrives to watch the match. Post break, and they work back into the ring. Jay maintains control, hitting a side back breaker and grounding Ospreay. Scurll joins commentary during this; Ospreay works to his feet and lays in strikes. Kicks follow and then the senton atomico connects. Ospreay follows with strikes, and then lays in kicks and chops. Ospreay now follows with big forearm strikes, but Jay cuts him off with a tilt a whirl back breaker for 2. Jay slams Ospreay to the buckles, and follows with chops. Jay is just lighting up Ospreay, much to the delight of Ospreay. Ospreay fires up, hits running uppercuts and hits an enziguri and 619. Jay cuts Ospreay off, but Ospreay pulls him to the floor. Ospreay now follows with a Sasuke special to the floor. Post break, jay avoids the OsCutter, but Ospreay counters the lethal injection. Jay now locks on the torture rack, and slams Ospreay down, covering for a really good near fall. Jay heads up top, but Ospreay cuts him off and follows up top. The SUPER RANA follows for Ospreay. The hook kick and powerbomb follows for 2. Ospreay hits aback fist to the back of Jay’s head for another near fall. Ospreay sets and misses the cyclone kick and Jay hits the lethal combination. Jay heads up top and the elbow drop is cut off, and Ospreay rolls him up for 2. Jay counters the OsCutter into a cutter, and follows with the lethal injection for the win. Jay Lethal defeated Will Ospreay @ 17:05 via pin [***¾] This was a very good back and forth match, with a great second half. This was quite the treat of a TV match, with Lethal maintaining momentum and continuing to deliver the goods.

– It’s time for Coleman’s Pulpit with Jonathan Gresham. Coleman has Gresham set up in a chair that resembles a highchair, mocking his size. Gresham makes short jokes, and thy talk about Gresham’s career and his style. Coleman asks how many matches Gresham has one, annoying Gresham. Gresham says he’s lost more matches than he’d like, but has learned from those losses. Gresham then says he lost for the wrong reasons, and feels that he’s mastered his style of wrestling and thinks special rules should be instated for guys like him who just love professional wrestling in its original form, teasing a form of pure wrestling rules. This was ok, and I think it’s great that Gresham got some mic time, but Coleman’s interviews come off as bland and a bit too antagonistic. I get that it’s his role, but the segments tend not to advance much of anything.

Kenny King vs. Brian Milonas: Milonas was in the top prospect tournament, and was not impressive at all. King looks to use his speed and kicks to begin, and then dumps Milonas to the floor. King follows with a dive, but Milonas doesn’t really catch him. King takes a selfie with a fan and back in they go as King hits a leg drop for 2. King follows with chops, but Milonas catches him and hits snake eyes. The clothesline follows and Milonas then stomps on King. Milonas follows with chops, and King then avoids the sit-down splash. King follows with kicks and takes Milonas down. Shotgun knees follow, but Milonas cuts off the royal flush; King hits the blockbuster for the win. Kenny King defeated Brian Milonas @ 3:51 via pin [*] The win gives King some momentum after losing the TV title, but the match was bad as Milonas offers very little in the ring.

– Post match, King calls out Silas Young. He arrived and King sent him packing. The Bruiser arrived, and that led to he, Young and Milonas beating King down. Bruiser & Milonas shook hands, as they teased that Milonas is bruiser’s new tag partner that they teased last week. Color me unimpressed, but if it gets Bruiser away from Young, something that they’ve needed to do for some time, I am all for it.

– Post commercial break, SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, & Scorpio Sky) were in the ring. We see footage the trio attacking the Six-Man Tag Team Champions, The Hung Bucks at Final Battle. ROH COO Joe Koff walked out onto the stage with a microphone and said he asked them to come out there, not Riccaboni. Koff said that fans don’t want to see him, they want to see the best wrestlers, and that doesn’t include Daniels and Kaz. All they are is a disruption to ROH. Koff said he should probably fire them. Kaz threatened to kick his ass, and then Daniels claimed that when he was World Champion he and Koff would chat about all of the plans for ROH’s brand expansions. If Koff fired him, what would stop him from going and spilling all those secrets to Don Callis or his best friend, AJ? Koff said he already consulted with his attorney and The Addiction’s contract expires in one year. After Final Battle 2018, they’re done with ROH. This was a solid segment, but I really hope that it isn’t leading to a lot of Joe Koff on TOH TV, because one thing I like about ROH TV is the lack of the cliché authority figure. An occasional appearance is ok. The angle has promise to be either really interesting or really bad.

Dalton Castle & The Boys vs. The Kingdom (Matt Taven, Vinny Marseglia, & TK O’Ryan): Castle & O’Ryan to begin. Castle gets a takedown right away, looks for a suplex but O’Ryan escapes, and Castle poses. Vinny tags in and takes over, laying in strikes and kicks. A boy tags in and Vinny lays him out with a right. The other boy is in and they work double teams as Taven tags in. Castle tags back in and Taven attacks, they work some back and forth but Taven cuts him off with an enziguri. Taven follows with chops, but Castle hits a high cross as the boys take out O’Ryan & Vinny. The Kingdom complains about Castle’s antics as Vinny tags back in. Castle works him over, and a boy tags back in. They work double teams. Post break, and Taven cuts off a boy, sending him to the floor allowing Vinny and O’Ryan to beat him down. O’Ryan rolls the boy back in, and he and Vinny continue the heat, working double teams and picking up near falls. Taven tags back in and the boy fights back, looking for a tag and hits a dropkick. The other boy tags in and eats a knee strike for his troubles. Taven covers for 2. O’Ryan tags back in, hits a belly to back suplex, and the boy fights back and tags in Castle, who runs wild on the Kingdom. Castle starts tossing bodies around, he and Taven tease tombstones and do repeated reversals as Castle finally hits the tombstone. O’Ryan makes the save. Castle hits him with bangarang, and locks in the Julie Newman (the London dungeon) and he taps as the Boys hit dives to end the match. Dalton Castle & The Boys defeated The Kingdom @ 11:26 via submission [**½] This was a perfectly solid main event, with Castle looking really strong, running wins through the end and picking up the win. I like that the champion is in the main event, but they really should have main evented with Lethal vs. Ospreay.

– Next week…

* The Dawgs vs. The Motor City Machineguns
* Titan & Dragon Lee vs. Best Friends vs. Young Bucks

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

This week’s episode of ROH TV was a perfectly solid show, with Lethal vs. Ospreay being really good and the one thing you should seek out if cherry picking the product.