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Cook’s ROH TV Review 7.11.20

July 12, 2020 | Posted by Steve Cook
ROH logo, Jay Lethal, ROH Week By Week Gabe Sapolsky, Kevin Eck Image Credit: ROH
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Cook’s ROH TV Review 7.11.20  

Hey kids! Tonight, we’re taking a look at VINCENT and the Righteous. I’ll be honest here, this is somebody I am not familiar with at all. Never heard anything good or bad about this stuff, so we’re operating with a clean slate.

Cook’s ROH TV Review 7.11.20

VINCENT thanks ROH for having him. Thanks for the pedestal they’ve put him on just like they put Matt Taven on all these years. He speaks of the stepping stones around him, and talks about our first match tonight, man. It’s possible to be a puppet on strings without noticing. Welcome to Ring of Horror, man.

ROH Final Battle 2016: ROH Six-Man Tag Team Championship Tournament Final: The Kingdom vs. Jay White, Lio Rush & KUSHIDA: Kevin Kelly & Steve Corino on commentary! We’re going way back here, and Matt Taven nearly gets finished off mere seconds after the match starts. There’s been a Final Battle curse surrounding Taven prior to now. ACH apparently took Rush’s place in the first round, but everybody’s ok with this situation anyway. This Jay White looks nothing like the Jay White I’ve seen in recent years. KUSHIDA looks about the same. Lio takes it to TK O’Ryan, some back & forth, Taven tags in, hits the DDT for a nearfall. Vinny tags in and beats Lio down briefly before tagging TK back in. Lio’s been eating this offensive attack for awhile, and continues to do so as we go to a commercial. Well, when we come back KUSHIDA hits a double handspring elbow and tags in White. Running elbow in the corner, White suplexes the Kingdom into each other in the corner. Multiple corner moves from the good guy team on Vinny. Crack smashes on the outside, missile dropkick by White on Vinny gets 2. Up to the high rent district, Vinny & Jay face off, Jay gets manipluated into a Liontamer on the ropes, KUSHIDA locks in the Hoverboard lock on Vinny, and now it’s splashes, elbows & suplexes all around as we’re cooking here. Good sequence that I can’t call for you. Rush with kicks, tope suicidas all around! White follows in his footsteps, Vinny does a flip of his own, KUSHIDA with the flip dive off the top! Lio flips, Air Taven! Flip flip flip flip! Taven nearly gets pinned by Lio, but then hits the Climax for a two count. Dropkicks from all three on Taven, setting up a nearfall broken up by Vinny swantoning the referee! Pretty obvious even if Corino isn’t sure. We got some cane involvement, but Lio gets the upperhand on strikes, but then Vinny hits a cane shot to the head! The triple powerbomb finishes the match for the Kingdom.

Winners: The Kingdom (12:40 via pin)
Larry’s Star Rating: **1/2

– I think I would rate this a little higher than Larry did. He was more offended by the ref bump & cane chicanery than I was, probably because ROH was doing a lot of it at the time.

– Recap of the angle splitting VINCENT & Matt Taven and turning VINCENT into the maniac we see today. They faced off at the most recent Final Battle!

ROH Final Battle 2019: VINCENT vs. Matt Taven: Taven is all business and starts this match off fast. TOPE SUICIDA! Taven’s unrolling those pretty black mats and wants to suplex VINCENT on the concrete, but that isn’t happening yet. VINCENT into the crowd, and Taven follows him with the Flight of the Conquerer & a thrown chair. Caprice tells us that VINCENT doesn’t care and he’s there. He’s there getting his ass kicked right now. Taven’s rop rope move leads to nothing, but he’s still got the advantage with a spin kick. Blue Thunder bomb gets 2. Taven goes for a variation of the Texas Cloverleaf, but VINCENT grabs the rope. Taven still dominating here and running through the moveset as we hit commercial. We come back and now VINCENT finally gets some offense. Side Effect leads into a Redrum Swanton for a two count. VINCENT asking Taven if he digs what he’s saying, apparently now, series of reversals leads to Just The Tip. Climax follows, and VINCENT’s foot is under the ropes. Another climax leads to a two count, and I’m just amazed somebody can hit the climax twice in under a minute. I’m old, what can I say? Taven goes under the ring and finds an axe. AN AXE? WHO PUTS AN AXE UNDER A RING? Either way, VINCENT gets the advantage, hits the Sliced Bread and gets the 3 count, to the utter shock of the fans & announcers.

Winner: VINCENT (13:40 via pin)
Larry’s Star Rating: ***

– Bateman attacks Taven from behind after the match, and he’s working with VINCENT. Taven’s ankle gets smashed with a chair.

– VINCENT going over was the absolutely right move for the story they were/are telling. The match was perfectly fine, but didn’t break out into another level.

– VINCENT has a chat with a poor depressed soul at the bar. He motivates the guy to do something about his pain. His name is Chuckles!

– VINCENT listens in on a domestic dispute where the woman gets taken out of the car and shoved down to the ground. He talks to the lady afterwards, and mentions how he had to deal with somebody controlling him too, and he had to cut him out of his life. Is this how she wants to live her life, or does she want to change forever? The lady digs what VINCENT is saying.

– Apparently a blood oath is involved when you dig what VINCENT is saying. This is some weird stuff.

– VINCENT tells us to picture writing the best love song of all time, or doing all the things to become ROH Champion, but not getting recognized for it. He’s not pulling Matt Taven by the hand anymore. He’s got the keys to the kingdom, dig what he’s saying?

– VINCENT talks about his family, the Righteous, and the next match.

ROH Free Enterprise: VINCENT & Bateman vs. Dalton Castle & Joe Hendry: Chuckles & Vita Von Starr, the woman from the previous segment, are at ringside here. Castle & Hendry offer handshakes but that doesn’t happen. Dalton playing mind games early. He & VINCENT start. Dalton wants to wrestle, and VINCENT tags Bateman since apparently he’s not interested. As expected, Castle outwrestles Bateman, and Hendry tags in. After some counter-wrestling, Hendry does some singing! Joe just working this Bateman kid over here. Castle tags in, high knees from both men, and Castle gets the advantage on the mat. Dalton gets distracted by VINCENT holding Matt Taven’s crutch, and Bateman gets advantage. Doesn’t last long, Hendry gets the tag, but more distraction leads to the Righteous getting the advantage as we head to commercial. We back and VINCENT locks in the guillotine choke. Hendry fights out into a vertical suplex. Castle makes the tag, he’s exploding all over these guys as you’d expect. His physical strength is ridiculous to be honest. Catching guys off the top and suplexing them? Yowie. Castle sets up a move but VINCENT breaks it up. Castle takes some punishment, tags in Hendry, who fallaway slams both of them. Some back & forth, Chuckles takes Castle out of the ring, which allows VINCENT to hit the sliced bread on Hendry for the victory!

Winners: VINCENT & Bateman (12:25 via pin)
Larry’s Star Rating: **3/4

– I came away pretty impressed with Castle & Hendry to be honest. Hope we see more of those guys.

– The journey doesn’t end here. It’s another path man, that we all must take. It’s just a righteous beginning. Dig what he’s saying?

6.0
The final score: review Average
The 411
I can't really say that I dig what VINCENT is saying. Feels like a knockoff of the early Wyatt Family gimmick. I will give him credit for playing the role, and the matches on this show certainly weren't bad. I'm willing to let it play out and see where it goes, but they don't need to re-play Bray's complete life story.
legend

article topics :

ROH TV, Steve Cook