ROH TV Recap (1/18): Cody Rhodes Vs. Steve Corino, Jay Lethal Vs. Jushin Liger And More

By Leon Milici

Ring Of Honor TV
Episode #278
Taped at The 2300 Arena In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Rebellion appear on stage to start the show. They have the ROH logo flipped upside down on their entrance video. They also have it on their ring gear. The Rebellion head to the ring for this six-man match. Kevin Kelly and Mr. UK himself, Nigel McGuinness are on commentary at ringside. They hype the main event with Jay Lethal and Jushin Liger meeting in the final first round match of The Decade of Excellence Tournament. This taping took place back in December of last year. So these are Nigel's final ROH appearances.

The Rebellion (Caprice Coleman, Kenny King & Rhett Titus) vs. Donovan Dijak, Lio Rush & Jay White

The story behind the recently re-branded Rebellion is that they are anti-ROH and that they are attempting to recruit others to join their cause. One of the others happens to be facing them here in Lio Rush.

All 6 men go at it prior to the start of the match. The Rebellion end up on the losing end of the early battle when Donovan Dijak manhandles them. He throws Rhett Titus halfway across the ring. He then catches Caprice Coleman in mid air and flings him over the top rope.

The match officially begins with Lio Rush and Rhett Titus. Rush out maneuvers Titus and uses his rapid fire kicks to gain the early advantage. The Rebellion turn the odds back in their favor by doubling and triple teaming on Rush. He gets isolated in their corner. Coleman, Titus and King all take turns hitting high impact moves. They then send Rush to the outside of the ring. Coleman charges at Rush but Lio moves out of the way. Caprice ends up running into the outside barricade. Rush then avoids Titus and King. He runs into the ring and tags in Jay White. Jay comes in on fire. He hits a flurry of offensive moves on Kenny King. From back elbows to uppercuts and then finally a cross body off the top rope. The latter leads to a near pinfall. King battles back and hits a spinebuster on White to slow down his momentum. The show heads to break with both men down.

Back from the break, Jay White makes a hot tag to his partner Lio Rush. He then hits a double springboard elbow to Titus and King. The Rebellion retreat to the ringside floor but Rush follows them out there by hitting consecutive suicide dives on King and Titus. Lio Rush heads inside the ring and receives an applause from the crowd. Lio then revs up the crowd and his partners. All 3 leap onto the Rebellion simultaneously. Lio dives onto Coleman, Dijak and White leap off of the ropes. Dijak with a moonsault on Titus, and White with a senton on King.

The frantic action continues inside the ring. Jay White hits a top rope missile dropkick on Coleman. As Lio Rush prepares to leap off the top and onto Coleman. Kenny King rushes into the ring and knocks him down. Dijak grabs Coleman and goes for his finisher, "Feast Your Eyes". Caprice blocks it, rolls up Dijak with a handful of tights but Donovan manages to kick out. Dijak then attempts to hit his choke breaker on Coleman but into the ring comes King and Titus to save their partner. The Rebellion attempt to triple team and finish off Dijak but they are unsuccessful. White and Rush are back up and eliminate Titus and King from the ring. Coleman is left on his own. He gets slammed down to the mat by Jay White. Rush then heads to the top and he stands on top of Dijak's shoulders in the corner. He then proceeds to hit a frog splash on Caprice. Dijak follows that up with a moonsault. Lio rushes over to Coleman, covers and pins him for the victory.

Donovan Dijak, Lio Rush & Jay White defeat The Rebellion

As Dijak, Rush and White celebrate their victory. King and Titus ambush them. King knocks Dijak out of the ring with shotgun double knees. White is then laid out by Kenny and Rhett. They now get a hold of Lio Rush. Caprice picks up Lio and puts him on his shoulders. The Rebellion then do their signature symbol pose. Where they lock their hands together over their heads. Rather than hurting Lio, Caprice sets him down and has him do their symbol. Chris Sabin runs into the ring to help Lio and The Rebellion runs away.

Featured next on the show is a special video dedicated to Ring of Honor TV Champion Marty Scurll. This video aired in August prior to Scurll's arrival to ROH. Added in the video are recent in ring highlights of Scurll's victory over Will Ospreay in London. The video ends with Scurll being hyped for next week's ROH TV.

Back from the break, We get another video package. This one chronicles the buildup to Cody and Jay Lethal at Final Battle. Highlights of that match are shown in the video below. Which ended with Cody making his turn against Lethal and Ring of Honor.

Back to The 2300 arena and "The American Nightmare" Cody makes his entrance. Cody takes the mic in ring. He addresses "The Honor" fans. He says that he and the fans have gotten off on the wrong foot. He says that the fans judged him when it should have been the other way around. Cody calls ROH, The Ring of Mediocrity. Cody mockingly tells Kevin Kelly to tell the fans that he wrestled in Japan. That maybe they will cheer that. Cody says that he is only here because he is contractually obligated to do so. Cody continues to rip on the fans, A fan screams out a profanity about Cody's wife Brandi. Cody starts looking for the fan who said it, and then demands that security remove that person. Cody then asks the crowd if they want to see Brandi. When they cheer for her, Cody says that they don't deserve to see her.

Cody then instructs the fans to buy his new shirt, follow him on Twitter and take their pictures because he is only going to be in the ring for a few more seconds. Cody says that it must feel good for the fans to have a star that hasn't faded, in front of them for the very first time. Steve Corino's music hits, He is on the stage and slowly walks down the ramp dressed in his ring gear.

Kevin Kelly mentions on commentary that this is what BJ Whitmer meant last week. When he said that a brother would be sacrificed. Kelly suggests that Whitmer was referring to Corino, and that somehow Cody is tied up in all of this. Just as Kelly says this, Kevin Sullivan, Whitmer and Punishment Martinez appear on the stage. They are standing behind Corino. Steve heads to the ring and has a mic with him. The fans are chanting King Corino. As he goes to speak, Cody interrupts him. Cody mocks Corino for being the king of old school. Cody brings up how Steve Corino told his father Dusty Rhodes, back in 1999 at ECW, that he didn't respect him. That Corino told Dusty to look into his eyes when he said that. Cody returns the favor here. He repeats the same line, Corino said to Dusty. Corino gets on the mic and tells Cody, that he loved his dad. Corino says that Dusty was his hero. He says that The American Dream paved the road that he is currently on. Corino then refers to what his father (Kevin Sullivan) has told him about Genghis Khan. How Khan had two sons and that one needed to be sacrificed. Corino offers Cody a choice of sacrificing himself or his brother. Cody slaps Steve and Corino knocks Cody down in retaliation. The bell rings for their match, as the show heads to break.

The American Nightmare Cody vs. Steve Corino

Back from the break, Cody is at ringside recovering when Steve meets him out there with a baseball slide. Corino then throws Cody into the barricade. On commentary, Kevin Kelly mentions that this is the arena where Steve Corino defeated Dusty Rhodes for his one and only time back in 1999. The 2300 Arena was then known as The infamous ECW arena. Kelly then ties in the entire Sullivan-Corino ROH storyline to the Rhodes-Sullivan feud dating back over three decades. How Corino's "father" in Kevin Sullivan has called for the sacrifice of a brother, but that this whole time, it was never meant to be Whitmer or Corino. That it was meant to be the sacrifice of Cody Rhodes. That Steve has finally accepted who he truly is and has embraced the dark side............. Oh what the hell, I'll accept that. Kelly spends this entire match trying very hard to sell this storyline.

Corino beats up on Cody at ringside. They then head inside the ring. Cody battles back when he hits a missile dropkick on Corino. Cody then does cartwheels in the ring and does his signature "Stardust" poses. The fans cheer and boo this at the same time. Cody is in full control of the match now. He borrows some more from The Rhodes family playbook. As he imitates his brother Dustin's moves. Cody then heads to ringside, grabs a water bottle from Kevin Kelly's desk. He takes a swig of it and then spews it into Corino's face. Cody continues to beat down and taunt Corino. Cody now borrows from The Dream playbook and goes for the bionic elbow. Corino battles back and hits one of his own on Cody. He then hits a nice looking STO on Rhodes. Steve Corino then does the signature Dusty "flip, flop and fly" and then hits another Bionic Elbow on Cody. After doing this, Steve points to the heavens to salute The Dream.

Steve now lifts up Cody and hits a nice looking package piledriver on him. Corino heads to ringside and goes into a black box that Sullivan left for him. Steve opens up the box and takes out a golden spike. Corino attempts to strike Cody with it but the referee steps in to stop him. While Corino is distracted, Cody rises up and hits a low blow on Corino. Rhodes then springs off the ropes and hits the beautiful disaster on Corino. Cody then calls for the bionic elbow. He hits Corino with it and pins him.

Cody Rhodes defeats Steve Corino by pinfall

After the match, Jay Lethal runs out and attacks Cody. Rhodes high tails it and escapes through the crowd. The show heads to break and when it returns. Jay Lethal is in the ring and on the mic. Lethal states that Cody came to ROH because they have the best wrestlers in the world. That he came here to prove himself but that he failed. Jay says that Cody proved to him at Final Battle that he is just smoke and mirrors, and that he doesn't belong in Ring of Honor. Lethal promises to exact revenge on Cody in the future but tonight, his goal is advancing in The Decade of Excellence tournament. Lethal plans on winning the whole thing to earn a shot at The ROH Championship at the 15th anniversary show in March. Lethal calls out Jushin Liger so that they can start their match.

RING OF HONOR TV MAIN EVENT
ROH DECADE OF EXCELLENCE TOURNAMENT
FIRST ROUND MATCH
Jay Lethal Vs. Jushin Thunder Liger

The winner of this match will go on to face Jay Briscoe. The other bracket will see Christopher Daniels take on Chris Sabin. The whole concept of this tournament is to reward the wrestlers who have been with ROH in the last decade.

The tale of the tape for this is something else. Lethal is listed as being a 16 year pro. He's got nothing on Liger though. Jushin made his pro debut in 1984. He's been doing this for 33 years. He has worked for every single promotion with the exception of The WWE. Technically he worked for The WWE at NXT Takeover in 2015. It would be funny to see him in a Rumble or even at WrestleMania one day. Maybe that's why this international icon/legend is still living the dream in his 50's.

Lethal controls the first few minutes of the action. He beats down on Liger and hits multiple suplexes on him. Lethal then sends Liger out to the floor with a springboard dropkick. He follows that up with 3 consecutive suicide dives. Liger struggles to beat the Dillinger count back into the ring after this. Lethal slams Liger and then goes for The Hail to The King elbow drop. Liger rushes to the top to meet Lethal there. Jay drops down and Liger hits a tilt a whirl backbreaker on him. Lethal retreats to the outside, Liger then does a running tumbleweed senton on him off of the apron.

Now Jay Lethal is being counted out by the ref. The fans participate in the Tye Dillinger count again. Lethal just makes back into the ring to beat the count, as the show goes to it's final break. When the show returns, The pace has picked up inside the ring between both men. Jay hits the Lethal combination on Liger, after a frantic sequence. Lethal then hits a succession of moves on Liger. He hits an enzuguri, lifts up Liger in a torture rack and then transitions that into a rolling crossface submission. Liger breaks the hold by getting to the ropes. Lethal then hits a backbreaker on Liger. He goes for The Hail to The King elbow drop. When he lands, Jushin catches him and rolls him up in a cradle pin attempt. Lethal kicks out but eats a shotei lariat from Liger, when he rises to his feet. Liger then sets up Lethal up top and hits a hurricanrana. This leads to a near pinfall. Liger tries to put Lethal away with a brainbuster. Lethal fights out of it. He catches Liger with a superkick and then hits the lethal injection for the victory.

Jay Lethal defeats Jushin Thunder Liger to advance to the semifinals of The ROH Decade of Excellence Tournament

In the post match. The fans chant "Thank You Liger". Lethal and Liger shake hands and hug. Liger raises Lethal's hands as the victor. Liger and Lethal then both bow towards one another in a show of respect.

The episode ends with Kevin Kelly promoting next week's show. The show will feature ROH TV Champ Marty Scurll, A triple threat match between Will Ospreay, Dragon Lee and Kushida, As well as The Decade of Excellence semi-final match between Christopher Daniels and Chris Sabin.

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