ROH TV Recap: Daniels & Kazarian Vs. Cole & Page, The Villain Vs. Dijak, Top Prospect Tourney

By Leon Milici

Ring Of Honor TV
Episode #284
Taped 2/11 @ Stage AE in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The show opens with a Christopher Daniels video. Footage airs of his Decade of Excellence tournament victory, and it's followed by a Daniels promo where he talks about his long time goal of becoming the ROH World Champion.

At ringside on commentary for this show is the new ROH play by play man Ian Riccaboni. He is joined by Bobby Fish at the broadcast table. They intro the show and then Christopher Daniels music plays, and he makes his way to the ring.

Daniels receives a great response from The Pittsburgh crowd. Riccaboni on commentary hypes up Daniels world title shot at The 15th Anniversary PPV on March 10th. Bobby Fish says that he will be world champ by that time. After he defeats Adam Cole at Manhattan Mayhem........ In the ring, Daniels brings up his history with ROH. How he main evented the very first show and how it is now his destiny to finally become The Ring Of Honor World Champion.... Daniels is interrupted by Adam Cole. The ROH World Champ is on the stage and insults Daniels. He mocks his age and proclaims that he will remain ROH Champion forever. Cole then says that Daniels looks like he is ready for a fight. That it's exactly what he plans to give him. Hangman Page arrives and joins Cole. They both head towards Daniels in the ring.....

Daniels is attacked from behind by Hangman Page. Adam Cole enters the ring with his title in hand. Page holds Daniels up for Cole to hit him with the belt. Out comes Frankie Kazarian. He makes his way to the ring. Bobby Fish almost instantly on commentary criticizes Kazarian for his delay in arriving to save Daniels. Fish says "Take your time, Frankie."...... "Your boy could have used the help"..... Cole and Page retreat to the outside. Kazarian takes the house mic. He proclaims that Daniels will become the next ROH Champion, and demands a tag team match right now against Cole and Page. All 4 men square off trading punches in the center of the ring. A referee runs down to the ring to make the match official.

Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian Vs. Adam Cole & Hangman Page

Big spot early on sees Kazarian dive onto Hangman Page on the outside. On commentary, Bobby Fish continues to do the worst case of jumping the gun in wrestling history. Fish criticizes Kazarian for leaving Daniels inside the ring to take a beating from Adam Cole.... Daniels holds his own inside the ring against Cole. He dropkicks him to the outside and then performs a suicide dive onto Cole and Page. Moments later, The heels regain the advantage when Daniels attempts an Asai moonsault. Page pulls out Daniels legs from under him and Cole lands a superkick. The show goes to it's first commercial break with The Bullet Club in control.

When the show returns. Daniels is being worked over in Page & Cole's corner. They double team him for awhile. Eventually Daniels rallies and tags in Kazarian. The Addiction then team up together and hit a flurry of moves on Page and Cole. With the momentum clearly on their side. Daniels looks to put away Cole for the win. He attempts The Best Moonsault Ever on him but Cole puts up his boot at the last second. He then rolls up Daniels and pins him for the victory.

Adam Cole & Hangman Page defeated Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian.

After the match. Dissension is teased between Kazarian and Daniels. Daniels is sitting on the mat disappointed with the loss. While Kazarian begins yelling at him... Bobby Fish stands up from his commentary position and cuts a promo. He says that he is going to beat Adam Cole for the ROH Title and be the true king of the company. Something that Cole isn't fit to be. The entire opening 20 minutes of the show promoted the Manhattan Mayhem show and ROH's next Pay-Per-View.

Moments later backstage. A camera picks up Kazarian still jawing at Daniels. He tells Christopher that he is not the only one with something to lose in all of this. A frustrated Kazarian then walks away from Daniels....

Ian Riccaboni is now joined at the broadcast table by Brutal Bob Evans. They hype up the 8 wrestler ROH Top Prospect Tournament. A graphic is then shown listing the first round matches in the tournament as follows: Chris Lerusso vs. Josh Woods, Raphael King vs. Brian Milonas, Curt Stallion vs. Preston Quinn and this upcoming match.

2017 ROH Top Prospect Tournament
1st Round Match
Sean Carr Vs. John Skyler

Promos air from both competitors before this match begins. Skyler says that he is going to trample everyone in the tourney that gets in his way. Carr brags about how everyone always knew that he was going to be a star on television.

This is a unique concept that ROH has run for the last few years. It's like airing an open tryout/audition. It's even noted on commentary by Brutal Bob Evans that even the referee is from ROH's training seminar..... The match and the commentary itself feel like an open audition for everyone involved. Riccaboni has big shoes to fill with Kelly gone and pairing him with a novice like Evans isn't doing him any favors..... Evenly contested back and forth action with both men trading the advantage throughout. Skyler was more impressive in this showing. He hits a couple of high impact moves early. With a tiger bomb and a swanton bomb. Netting him two close near falls. Sean Carr on the other hand had timing issues. He nearly whiffed on a superkick early. He did rebound with a suicide dive onto Skyler. Both men battled to the ring apron. Skyler hits a nice looking spear on Carr and then brings him into the ring and attempts to pin him. Carr eventually rallies and hits an awkward looking codebreaker that barely connects. Carr and Skyler then battle on the ropes, Skyler hits a rolling senton on Carr and scores the pinfall victory.

John Skyler defeats Sean Carr to advance to the next round of The ROH Top Prospect Tournament

Ian Riccaboni promotes next week's show. With the main event featuring The Bullet Club comprised of Adam Cole, Cody Rhodes & The Young Bucks taking on Bobby Fish, Jay Lethal and The Briscoes. A preview of that show is in the video below.

After the break, The current ROH Six-Man Champions, The Kingdom cut a promo backstage. They hype up their title defense against The Rebellion next week on ROH TV. The Kingdom jokes that The Rebellion are just peasants. Vinny Marseglia makes a bad joke about farting in the food of Rhett Titus.... The winner of that match will go on defend the six man titles against Dalton Castle & The Boys at the 15th anniversary pay-per-view.

A match was supposed to take place next between The Tempura Boyz and The Motor City Machine Guns. The Guns were reportedly attacked backstage but no footage was shown during the rest of the broadcast. Despite it being teased by Ian Riccaboni on commentary. The Guns would appear later in the show. More on that to come.

ROH TV MAIN EVENT
Ring Of Honor World Television Match
'The Villain' Marty Scurll (c) Vs. Donovan Dijak

It's worth noting and there's been very little fanfare with so many different comings and goings in all the wrestling promotions. That this is potentially Donovan Dijak's last ROH appearance. For now..... There's quite a bit of speculation as to where he will eventually end up. It's fitting that he would leave on a show where The Top Prospect tournament begins. A tournament where he won and made his big impression on the company..... Dijak also initially gave up his ROH TV title shot after winning that tournament to become a member of Truth Martini's House of Truth faction. That seems like an eternity ago.

After the in-ring introductions. Marty Scurll refuses to adhere to the Code of Honor, when he kicks away the extended hand of Donovan Dijak. The match kicks off with Dijak literally kicking Scurll with a big boot. That sends him reeling to the outside. Dijak then leaps and meets Scurll out there when he hits "The Fosbury Flop". The action is now back in the ring. Dijak hits a top rope elbow drop. He then follows that up with a torture rack. Scurll gets out of it by raking Donovan in the eyes.

The show heads to break and when it returns. Dijak for some reason attempts to get Scurll to once again shake his hand. No go for The Villain here. As he not only kicks away Dijak's hand again but then proceeds to nearly kick Dijak's head off. After grounding Donovan, The Villain now controls the match for the next few minutes. Out comes Lio Rush. Who brings out a chair, sets it up on the stage area, so that can he watch the rest of the match.

Back from the break. Marty Scurll is still in control. The action and pace picks up as Dijak tries to rally and hit a discus clothesline. Scurll blocks it. Dijak then goes for a discus kick and this time he connects. Scurll is back on his feet. He counters Dijak and hits an impressive looking brainbuster. Scurll covers Dijak and gets a near pinfall victory. Scurll then hits a piledriver on Dijak. Donovan surprisingly kicks out at the count of one..... Dijak fires up and then grabs Scurll and hits his finisher "Feast Your Eyes". That looked great... Scurll kicks out at the last moment. Dijak is impressed by this and once again attempts to shake Scurll's hand. The Villain reaches out and snaps his finger. Scurll then stands on Donovan's hands and repeatedly slaps him. Dijak gets out of this predicament. He fires up yet again and hits a chokeslam/backbreaker on Scurll. Dijak then attempts to hit a corkscrew dive onto Scurll but misses. He lands hard. Scurll then applies his chicken wing submission. Scurll wrenches on his injured finger, He clamps on the chicken wing again and Dijak is forced to tap out.

Marty Scurll defeats Donovan Dijak by submission to retain The ROH World Television Championship

After the match. Lio Rush makes his way to the ring and has a staredown with Scurll. The Villain pretends to leave and then blindsides Rush with his championship belt. Scurll then sets up to apply his chicken wing submission but The Rebellion runs out presumably to aid Rush and continue their recruitment of him. Marty Scurll flees the scene. The Machine Guns also run out with Jay White here. Not sure if the non televised backstage attack earlier had anything to do with Marty Scurll because all the men in the ring with the exception of The Rebellion, were a part of the six-man scramble to get a shot at Scurll's title weeks ago.

A video teaser airs for ROH's 15th anniversary PPV on March 10th. As the show comes to an end.

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