Csonka’s ROH TV Review 11.22.17

Csonka’s ROH TV Review 11..17

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Matt Taven defeated Jay White @ 10:30 via pin [***]
– TV Title Match Qualifier: Shane Taylor defeated Cheeseburger @ 2:26 via pin [NR]
– Dalton Castle defeated Adam Page @ 12:37 via submission [**½]

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Matt Taven vs. Jay White: Taven attacks at the bell, taking White to the corner and laying in strikes. White quickly battles back, picks up the pace and lays in big time strikes; the dropkick follows, and now White locks in a Muta lock. Taven makes the ropes, he then crotches White and hits the springboard kick and sends him to the floor. White avoids the dive, rushes back in and he hits a suicide dive. Post break, White avoids a corner attack and gets a roll up for 2. They trade strikes and we get a double down. White rolls to the floor, grabs Taven and lays in uppercuts, and then fights off TK and Vinny; White then about kills Taven with an apron brainbuster. Back in and White hits a Saito suplex, covering for 2. Taven fights back, hits a spin kick, but misses the lionsault. White hits rolling suplexes, and then a DDT. The German connects for a good near fall. TK distracts the ref, Taven tries to use a bat but White gets a roll up for 2. Taven up top, but the elbow drop eats knees. White hits the uranage, but Taven kicks out. Vinny and TK get involved, crotching White up top, which allowed Taven to his the super-sized climax for the win. Matt Taven defeated Jay White @ 10:30 via pin [***] White With White back in NJPW, this appears to be the last match he taped for TV, so his loss makes perfect sense. The match was an overall good one, but I could have done without the Kingdom interference bullshit. White is leaving, Taven is your guy and sticking around, put him over clean and do he beat down post match.

– The Kingdom beats down White post match, but the Guns & Gresham make the save.

– Flip Gordon meets with Coast to Coast, and recruits them to battle Bullet Club next week. They say they have a guy that can join them and everyone is happy.

Shane Taylor vs. Cheeseburger: The winner makes it into the Final Battle ROH TV Title match. Burger shoves Taylor around and Taylor doesn’t really want to hurt the little fella. Burger slaps the big man, and he’s going to die. Burger superkicks Taylor, again and hits the shotei! Burger done fucked up. Taylor hits a huge chokeslam, covers with one foot and Burger kicks out at 2. Taylor hits the KO punch and Burger’s night is done. Shane Taylor defeated Cheeseburger @ 2:26 via pin [NR] This was exactly what it needed to be, Cheeseburger got a fun hope spot and fought with all he had and then got killed.

– The Dawgs arrive and try to pay off Taylor with a beer mug full of pennies to take out Cheeseburger. Taylor refuses and runs them off.

– We get highlights from last week’s show, where Jay Briscoe threw in the towel on Mark during his TV Title match.

– Silas Young cuts a promo about his match with Jonathan Gresham next week, which is a TV tile qualifier match.

– Flip Gordon and Coast to Coast recruit Scorpio Sky to battle Bullet Club next week.

– Cody is out on commentary.

Dalton Castle vs. Adam Page: As Cody tries to talk strategy with page, Castle hits a suicide dive and wipes him out. This leads to a short brawl on the floor, and back in Castle hits suplexes and Page powders. Post break and Page has taken control on the floor, slamming Castle to the barricade repeatedly. Page heads up top and hits a moonsault to the floor, and rolls Castle back in. Page takes the heat, beating down Castle in the corner. Page climbs up top, gets cut off and Castle sends him to the floor. Castle follows and slams Page onto the apron. Back in the ring and Castle starts throwing Page around with ease. Castle then starts dropping down elbows on Page, grounding the action. Post break they trade back and forth, Page hits a superkick, but Castle cuts him off with a Saito suplex and the bangarang for 2 as Cody pulls out the ref. Castle chases Cody around the ring, but Page hits the shooting star press off the apron. Back in, they work counters and Cody grabs Castle but Page accidentally takes out Cody. Castle locks in a version of Nigel’s old London Dungeon and wins via submission. Dalton Castle defeated Adam Page @ 12:37 via submission [**½] This was a perfectly fine match, and I loved Castle busting out a new move ahead of Final Battle. But the match was held back by overbooking, which has really been a problem on ROH TV in the second half of the year. It may not seem like it was much and it made sense what they did, but it just doesn’t mean anything when they do it so often.

– Post match, Page and Cody attack and leave the challenger laid out.

Bully Ray Talks: This was filmed at the old ECW arena, so Bully waxes poetically about what happened in the building and how it changed the business before he gets into his “retirement” speech. He has a written speech, and then puts on the old Dudley Boy glasses to Bubba chants. He then says “who the hell needs a script,” and says he will shoot straight. It says it’s time [to retire], and he wants the fans happy because he’s happy. He believes in ROH and hopes to stick around to help out. ROH COO Joe Koff arrives in the ring and praises Bully for what he’s done for ROH, and welcomes him to stay. Jay Briscoe now arrives. Briscoe says Bully is supposed to be a legend but he’s going out looking like a big bitch. They tease fighting, but Koff tries to talk Bully down. Briscoe spits at Bully and Koff shoves Briscoe back. Officials arrive as Briscoe lays out Bully. He gets a chair, but Tommy Dreamer arrives as does Velvet Sky, who covers up Bully to protect him. Mark Briscoe arrives and takes the chair from Jay, BUT IT’S A TRAP as he low blows Dreamer. Jay hits dreamer with a chair shot and they scare Sky away. The Briscoes hit a 3D on Bully. While I am not exactly excited about the match, I felt that the angle played out well and that the segment was a good one. They played into the venue well, with Bully pulling the nostalgia strings, the Briscoes coming together, and not only laying out the ECW legends in the building they helped build, but also doing so with the 3D.

– Thanks for reading.

– End scene.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

This week’s episode was an overall good episode, with angles designed to build to Final Battle, which is the priority right now.