ROH TV Recap (9/13): Adam Cole & The Bullet Club Vs. Jay Lethal, Naito & Evil, TV Title Match

RING OF HONOR TV

Episode #260

Airing in syndication, The Fite TV app, ROH Wrestling.com & Comet TV Wednesdays

Taped at Sam's Town Live in Las Vegas, Nevada

ROH TV starts off with a video recap of Adam Cole's championship victory speech from last week's show. Which set up this week's 6 man tag between Adam Cole, Hangman Page and Yujiro Takahashi taking on Jay Lethal, Tetsuya Naito and The 'King of Darkness' Evil.

Kevin Kelly is at ringside and hypes the two big matches on this week's show. The main event will see Bobby Fish defending The ROH TV Title vs IWGP NEVER Openweight champion Katsuyori Shibata. The Six Man Tag is up first.

Adam Cole, Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi vs Jay Lethal, Tetsuya Naito & The 'King of Darkness' EVIL

Kevin Kelly makes a point on commentary to state before the match that even though Jay Lethal and Los Ingobernables De Japon are on different sides of the track. They share a common enemy in The Bullet Club... The story of the match is Lethal's obsession with getting after Adam Cole and the interaction between Lethal and his teammates as a result of his obsession. The match begins with Takahashi and EVIL. The Vegas crowd starts an EVIL chant. After Evil gets control early. Takahashi tags in Cole. Lethal pleads to be tagged in. As soon as Cole sees Lethal get in the match. Cole tags himself out. The show goes to it's first break.

Back from the break, Naito and Page are now squaring off in the ring. Naito out maneuvers Page and does some showboating to the delight of The Vegas crowd. Page tags in Cole. Lethal tags himself in to go after Cole. Naito is upset by Lethal's forced tag entry into the match. Adam Cole circles around the ring as if he is preparing to do battle with Jay Lethal. He then tags in Takahashi which further frustrates Lethal. Naito is on the apron trying to get Lethal to calm down. An upset Lethal forcefully tags in Naito to take on Takahashi instead of him. As Naito and Lethal continue to bicker in their corner. Adam Cole tags himself in and nails Naito from behind. Naito battles back and stomps on Cole. He then picks up Cole and drags him over to his corner. Naito then mocks Lethal by pretending to tag him in twice only to pull his hand away. An angry Lethal takes matters into his own hands and tags himself in by slapping Naito on the back.

Lethal now in finally with Cole. They both exchange strikes in the corner. A series of forearms, kicks and chops between both men. Jay wins the battle but both men end up on the mat worn out from it. Cole crawls over and tags in his partner Page. As Lethal goes over to tag Naito. Naito refuses the tag and entry into the match. He trash talks Lethal and jumps off of the apron. Naito and Evil decide to bail on Lethal. Tetsuya says "Adios" to Jay. Leaving him alone with The Bullet Club. Making this now a 3 on 1 match. As we go to another break.

A quick highlight package from Death Before Dishonor and Bobby Fish's win over Mark Briscoe. This is followed by a Health Alert Hotline and New Japan on AXS TV ad.

We return from the commercial break and Jay Lethal is trying to battle back and overcome the 3 on 1 odds. The Bullet Club are in full control. As Adam Cole is beating down Lethal. He mocks by him by pretending to go over to Jay's corner and make a tag to partners who are not there anymore. Cole continues to taunt Lethal. Out comes Michael Elgin. He is on the scene to be Lethal's partner, jumps up on the apron and ROH matchmaker Nigel McGuinness ok's his involvement in the match.

Lethal immediately tags in Elgin. The Club tries to attack Elgin all at once. Elgin powerslams Takahashi and Page both at the same time. Showing off his strength. He then catches Cole in a press slam and covers him for the pin but it is broken up by Page. The announcers focus on the fact that Adam Cole is scheduled to defend his ROH World Title against Michael Elgin at the next ppv. All Star Extravaganza on Friday September 30th in Lowell Mass. ( Just a sidenote: WrestlingInc will provide full coverage of that PPV two weeks from this coming Friday)

Very liberal rules by the ref in this match as all 3 club members take turns trying to stop Elgin. Eventually the numbers game catches up. Takahashi hits a stun gun, followed by a slingshot lariat by Page. As Adam Cole is preparing to leap off the top rope onto Elgin. Kyle O' Reilly's music hits and he joins the party. Of course, This is ok'd by Nigel at ringside. We are now back to an even 3 on 3 match. Elgin powers out from the triple team and tags in O'Reilly. Kyle is now in the ring one on one with Adam Cole. They go toe to toe exchanging multiple strikes. O'Reilly wins the duel. He then hits a tornado DDT and a brainbuster for a near fall on Cole. As the show heads to another break.

Back from the break. O'Reilly and Cole are still battling it out. Kyle wins yet another exchange between the two. O'Reilly slaps an armbar submission on Cole but he escapes. Both men take turns kicking each other in the middle of the ring. After multiple kicks, Both men wear each other out and end up flat on the mat. When they eventually rise to seated positions. They give each other a quick stare down before racing into their corners to tag in their partners. In comes Lethal and Takahashi. After a flurry of moves between both. Jay Lethal springs off the ropes and hits his finisher, The Lethal Injection on Yujiro for the victory.

Jay Lethal, Kyle O'Reilly & Michael Elgin defeated Adam Cole, Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi

The post match visual has all 3 of Adam Cole's top world title contenders, standing side by side in the ring in Jay Lethal, Michael Elgin and Kyle O' Reilly. A dejected Adam Cole is on the outside looking back at them as he leaves with The Bullet Club.

Backstage is ROH TV Champ Bobby Fish in front of the ROH banner. Fish talks about how important he is to Ring of Honor and the TV Title. How he is the one man on the entire ROH roster who can stand up and bring the violence while others can't. Highlights are briefly shown of Shibata's win over Silas Young at Death Before Dishonor. Fish concludes his promo by hyping tonight's main event with Shibata. He says that the match will not end well for Shibata and that his fate is in his hands.

Highlights are then shown of the turn of events in last week's Ladder War announcement for All Star Extravaganza. This is followed by The Addiction's response and reaction of having to face The Young Bucks and The Motor City Machine Guns at the next pay per view. After appearing to be livid with last week's announcement by Nigel McGuinness. The Addiction take a different tone in this promo. Showing some good old fashioned heel bravado. Both Daniels and Kazarian say that they are not worried about The Guns and Young Bucks and that they will remain ROH tag champs and the best in the "Bizz A Ness".

We return to the arena and Kevin Kelly says that Jay Lethal has been pacing the ringside area and has not left since the 6 man match concluded. Lethal gets on the mic and delivers a quick and passionate promo. He states that it's one thing to have to worry about your enemies but it's even worse to be stabbed in the back by your friends. He calls out Tetsuya Naito for turning his back on him. Lethal says Naito made the biggest mistake of his life and that he wants Naito and is now coming after him. Nigel McGuinness rises out of his chair at the broadcast position. He books Lethal vs Naito at ROH's next ppv on the spot. Nigel throws in a zinger at Lethal by saying that the last time that Jay begged for a match with someone. Look what happened to him. That's a heelish comment by a babyface authority figure. Almost seemed improvised. If it wasn't. There should be a Lethal Injection In Nigel's future.

Kevin Kelly transitions to the updated All Star Extravaganza PPV lineup. He also states that Donovan Dijak will face the winner of this week's TV Title main event at A.S.E.

ROH TV MAIN EVENT

ROH WORLD TV TITLE MATCH

Bobby Fish vs Katsuyori Shibata

After the introductions. An aggressive code of honor handshake before this title match starts. Bobby Fish puts his mouth guard in preparing for the damage that Shibata may inflict upon him. The match starts off like any Shibata match with a lot of MMA style striking. Several inside leg kicks by Shibata. He attempts his finisher, The Penalty Kick but Fish avoids it. The first few minutes of this match belong completely to Shibata. He locks in an impressive looking figure four leg lock on Fish. While trying to get Bobby Fish to submit. Shibata also positions his body to attempt a pinfall on Fish. Very smart style of mat and submission wrestling.
After nearly being pinned while in the figure four, Fish reverses the hold. Shibata counters and turns the figure four back over. Eventually Bobby Fish finds the back door and gets to the ropes to break the hold. As the show goes to break.

We return from the break and the audience is told that during it, Bobby Fish hit a dragon screw on Shibata to get the match turned around in his favor. Fish goes to work on Shibata's left knee. He targets it and works it over and then eventually locks in a knee bar. Shibata escapes by getting to the apron and falling to the outside of the ring. The referee begins a 20 count as Shibata is clutching his left knee and trying to recover. He beats the 20 count back in but Bobby Fish is lying in wait and goes right back to the injured knee.

Prince Nana now arrives on the scene at ringside and heads to the broadcast table. He claims that he is not out to scout this match for his client, Donovan Dijak but just to watch it. This guy is growing on me. I love the accent. It's not really so much what he says but how he says it and the facial expressions he makes. The guy is funny. Back inside the ring, Shibata is getting hit with stiff kicks from Fish. He starts asking for more. Shibata rises to his feet, fires up and starts landing some very stiff kicks of his own on Bobby Fish. Shibata wins the striking battle. Fish falls into the corner. Shibata runs full speed and hits a drop kick right into Fish's head.

Referee Paul Turner checks on Fish after the that flurry of kicks. He checks to see if Fish is still with us. As the announcers note that it's within the ref's discretion to stop the match if a competitor appears to be concussed or unable to defend himself. The match continues, Shibata applies a rear naked choke on Fish. This is the usual set up for his Penalty Kick finish. That's exactly what he goes for but Fish moves out of the way at the last second. Bobby hits an inverted atomic drop on Shibata. This is followed by a spine buster and Fish then transitions quickly into an ankle lock. Great sequence here while Shibata is in the ankle lock, He grabs Fish's exposed leg and applies an ankle lock of his own. Dueling ankle locks with both men in considerable pain. There's going to be a double tap out one day with this exact spot used.....

The show goes to it's final break. Back from it. Shibata and Fish are trading strikes in the center of the ring. Both men go tit for tat. Matching each other's strikes and as well as some suplexes thrown into the mix. Great fighting spirit shown by both men. They are now both on their knees, face to face trading more stiff strikes. They both rise, Shibata hits a quick front leg sweep for a 2 count. Shibata then connects on a modified suplex and then transitions to an arm bar on Fish. Bobby counters, Shibata reverses it. Katsuyori then puts Fish into a triangle choke. Fish uses his body weight and pushes Shibata forward to pin him while being caught in the triangle choke. Nice finish.

Bobby Fish defeats Katsuyori Shibata to retain The ROH World Television TV Title

Post match. Donovan Dijak has come out on the stage and is with Nana watching on. Dijak is now scheduled to face Bobby Fish for The TV title at the ppv. Meanwhile Bobby Fish and Katsuyori Shibata are both outside the ring. They go nose to nose. Shibata tells Fish that he wants another shot at The TV title. Not clear if Fish agrees to the challenge or not. It didn't really appear that way from the body language.

Back at the commentary table. ROH matchmaker, Nigel McGuinness says he would love to see that match one more time but stops short of announcing it. He then makes a separate announcement. Nigel announces that next week, The 1 year suspension of Steve Corino is up and that he will return to re-join Kevin Kelly on commentary. Kevin Kelly expresses his pleasure with the announcement as they sign off and the show ends.