ROH TV Recap: The Young Bucks In Action, Cody Challenges Lethal, Top Prospect Tourney, Tag Team War

By Leon Milici

Ring Of Honor TV
Episode #286
Taped At Stage AE In Pittsburgh,PA

It's been an eventful last few weeks for Ring Of Honor. The additions of Bully Ray and The Hardy's to the company, and coming off of the heels of this past Friday's 15th Anniversary pay-per-view show. Which saw one of the founding fathers of ROH in Christopher Daniels, achieve a lifelong dream and finally become world champion.

This week's ROH TV show was taped back in February prior to the ppv. The next set of tapings will begin to air in the upcoming weeks. As ROH pushes towards their SuperCard of Honor show in Lakeland, Florida on April 1st during WrestleMania weekend. That's the main focus and theme for this week's television show.

Ian Riccaboni and Alex Shelley are on commentary to start things off. They hype the show and cue to the ring for the opening tag team match.

The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) Vs. Coast To Coast (Shaheem Ali & Leon St. Giovanni)

At the time of this taping, The Bucks were the ROH tag team champs. So, this was labeled as a proving ground match for Coast to Coast. A cool concept in ROH where a traditional non-title match has a stake added to it. With the contenders having an opportunity to earn a future title shot by winning the match. It's basically what a non title match has always been but with a cool re-branding... A brief promo by The Bucks airs prior to the match. Where the Jacksons say that they don't see The Hardy's around but Coast to Coast is.... So they tell them to prepare for a superkick party, and then Nick proceeds to superkick the camera.

The Bucks control the early action here. They take LSG & Ali to school. With the Bucks using a lot of their unique tandem offense with several different variations of leg strikes. They then attempt their terminator spot, only to have Coast to Coast thwart them. Ali trips up The Jacksons and holds them up for LSG. Who flies off the top rope and lands on the Bucks with a corkscrew tumbleweed dive. The action is back in the ring and Coast to Coast has the momentum. They hit several great looking tandem moves on both Matt & Nick..... When the show returns from the break, The Bucks now have the advantage. As per usual, There are very few instances here where this plays out as a standard tag match. With all 4 men constantly in the ring at the same time. Ali & LSG come close to defeating The Bucks when they connect on their signature spot, "Coast To Coast". Shaheem & LSG hang up Matt in the tree of woe, and they both leap from opposite corners of the ring and crash into Matt. This leads to a near fall that is broken up by Nick Jackson. The Bucks rally, and go on an offensive flurry and they re-take control of the match for good .

The closing sequence sees Matt Jackson land a thrust kick on LSG, where he ends up hanging in between the ropes. Nick Jackson then delivers a superkick on him from the apron. Matt then holds up LSG and Nick hits a springboard 450 splash. Matt then pins LSG to secure the victory.

The Young Bucks defeat Coast To Coast

After the match ends, The Bucks continue their attack. They mimic The Hardy's finishers. Matt Jackson hits a twist of fate on Shaheem Ali. Nick Jackson then climbs up to the top rope. He leads the crowd in a "delete suck it" chant and then leaps onto Ali with a swanton bomb.

A video package chronicling the recent feud between The Rebellion and Lio Rush airs. Which saw The Rebellion attempt to recruit Rush to their stable for several weeks. Only to have Rush pretend to join the Rebellion last week on TV, before turning on them...... Back in the arena, Ian Riccaboni conducts an interview with Lio Rush on the stage area. Rush explains his actions from last week and compares The Rebellion to children because of the way they play games. Lio calls The Rebellion clowns. Moments later, Kenny King arrives and takes exception to Lio's comments. King states that The Rebellion tried to back Rush and support him. That they saw something special in him but he turned out to be an ungrateful piece of garbage. Kenny King challenges Lio to a match next week and says that he is going to put "The Hush on Lio Rush".

Ring Of Honor
Top Prospect Tournament
1st Round Match
"The Lone Star" Curt Stallion Vs. Preston Quinn w/Andy Vineberg

"Brutal" Bob Evans joins the commentary team for this match. The winner of this will go on to face John Skyler in the semi-finals. Promos air for both Quinn and Stallion. Pretty basic stuff. Stallion grits his teeth and says that he is going to win the tournament. Quinn says that the pain train is coming down the tracks and he is going to be The Top Prospect.... Quick background on both these wrestlers.. Stallion is out of Texas, A 176 pounder trained by former ROH champ Michael Elgin. Preston Quinn is out of Virginia. He is 40 years old and has been wrestling on the independent scene for 23 years. It's a fact that is harped on by the commentators during this match. How the Top Prospect tournament is not just reserved for up and coming stars but for talents who have never gotten their break to shine on a national stage. So for a guy like Quinn, This is a big deal just to have a match on ROH TV.

Preston Quinn goes to the old school heel playbook. During the code of honor handshake, He asks Stallion to shake his manager, Andy "The Winner" Vineberg's hand as well. When Curt goes to do it, Preston Quinn cheap shots him from behind. Vineberg himself is pretty comical. He's a manager on the indy scene who plays a reverend who is a life guru. He looks like he is straight out of a B movie in the 80's based on wrestling. Like someone was trying to cast a "Jim Cornette" type and went with him instead.

Quinn beats down Stallion early on. The "Lone Star" rallies and hits a running double foot stomp. He gains some momentum until Vineberg intervenes by grabbing his leg from the outside. The distraction enables Quinn to get up and turn Curt Stallion inside-out with a lariat. Quinn then hits a devastating looking brainbuster. Acting as if the match is over, Quinn covers Stallion with one hand but he kicks out. Preston continues to beat down Stallion. He hits a modified torture rack back breaker on him. Minutes later, Stallion finally rallies and hits a flurry of offensive moves that lead to a near pin fall.

After some action back and forth. Preston Quinn hits a spike piledriver on Curt Stallion. Quinn has the match won but instead decides to go to the top rope. He leaps off and attempts a flying elbow but misses. He lands hard and clutches his elbow from a seated position. Curt Stallion then gets up and runs full steam at Quinn and lands a diving headbutt on him. He covers Quinn and pins him for the victory.

Curt Stallion defeats Preston Quinn to advance to the semi-finals of The Top Prospect tournament

After the break, "The American Nightmare" Cody makes his way to the ring. He grabs the mic and asks the crowd to play a game with him called "Where is Jay?"... He starts asking crowd members if they can tell him where Jay Lethal is and where he may have gone. Cody states that the old Jay Lethal, that was an ROH TV champ and World Champ at the same time no longer exists. That when Cody gave Jay Lethal a low blow and defeated him at Final Battle. That Jay Lethal then became "Lazy Jay".... Cody then introduces and invites fellow Bullet Club member Adam "Hangman" Page to the ring. When Page enters the ring, Cody reveals that he and Adam have been working on a project together. Cody points to Hangman's noose and mentions how a cowbell was used by his father Dusty Rhodes on Superstar Billy Graham back in 1977. Cody says that the cowbell has been in The Rhodes family for 4 decades. Cody says that this gift given by Hangman Page of a noose, will now turn into a cowbell. Cody challenges Jay Lethal to a Texas Bullrope match at SuperCard of Honor on April 1st.

A promo by Jay Briscoe airs. Where he hypes his matchup with Jay White next week on ROH TV. Which is being billed as Jay White vs. Jay Briscoe 2. This is a rematch coming off of their tv time limit draw in Philly a few months back.

Dalton Castle w/The Boys Vs. Jonathon Gresham

Nice opening sequence by these two. A lot of standing switches, go behinds and mat wrestling early on. Both men showing off their catch style of wrestling. It leads to an entertaining standoff between the two. As featured in the video above. This is a good contrast in characters and it plays into the story and finish of this match. Gresham is a no frills type cut in The Bryan Danielson/Dean Malenko mode. Castle is as charismatic as it gets and puts on quite a show as usual. Dalton's style forces someone like Gresham to play along and he does here. In a cool looking spot, Gresham hits a smooth looking hurricanrana on Castle, that sends him to the outside. He then attempts to leap onto Castle but The Boys pull Dalton out of the way. Gresham parks his brakes in mid-air, readjusts and then runs off the apron and hits a running high knee. Gresham then does the signature Castle strut after pulling off this move. But by not staying in serious mode, It ends up costing Gresham the match. When the action gets back into the ring, Gresham stalls on the top rope and then leaps off. Castle catches him in mid-air and hits The Bang-A-Rang finisher on Gresham and pins him.

Dalton Castle defeats Jonathon Gresham by pinfall

It's worth mentioning that Dalton Castle was in line to face Adam Cole for the ROH World Championship at Supercard Of Honor XI on April 1st. It stands to reason, although it hasn't been officially announced that Castle will still get his shot, only it will be against the new champ now in Christopher Daniels.

ROH TV MAIN EVENT

NO DQ TAG TEAM MATCH
War Machine (Hanson & Rowe) Vs. 'Punishment' Martinez & BJ Whitmer

Mark Briscoe is in on commentary for this one. Whitmer and Martinez are attacked on the stage during their ring entrance by War Machine. This leads to an all out brawl throughout the arena. With very little time spent inside the ring. Evenly contested with both teams taking turns hitting high impact moves on each other. It doesn't take long for weapons to be added into the mix. Whitmer is the first to utilize a steel chair on Hanson. When the show returns from it's final break. Hanson has Martinez and Whitmer lined up in opposite corners. He does his signature "war cry" running clotheslines on the both of them. Moments later, Punishment Martinez hits a super spinning heel kick from the top rope on Hanson. Rowe is in and takes out Martinez with a high knee. Seconds later, Whiter hits a german suplex on Rowe.

Everyone is down and they struggle to get back to their feet. Whitmer and Rowe make it back up first followed by Martinez. BJ and Punishment then double team Rowe. Martinez hits a springboard superman punch. Whitmer follows that up with an exploder suplex on Rowe that leads to a near fall. Hanson is back in and aids his partner. Hanson and Rowe then hit a tandem pop up powerslam on Martinez. That also leads to a near pin fall. War Machine then sets up a table inside the ring. They attempt to chokeslam Whitmer through it. He breaks free momentarily. War Machine then attempts to hit their finisher "Fallout" on Whitmer but he escapes their clutches yet again. War Machine then chases Whitmer to the outside. In a great display of athleticism, Punishment Martinez is up in the ring and leaps over the ringpost and onto War Machine on the ringside floor. Mark Briscoe compares Martinez to a young Undertaker on commentary.....Just moments later, The final sequence of this match sees Punishment Martinez pin Hanson after choke slamming him from the top rope and through a table.

'Punishment' Martinez & BJ Whitmer defeat War Machine

After the match, BJ Whitmer comes into the ring to celebrate the victory. Punishment Martinez turns on him. He grabs him by the throat and chokeslams him. This officially ends their storyline alliance that started out as a Kevin Sullivan-Steve Corino feud. The show ends with Punishment Martinez standing over Whitmer.

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