ROH TV Recap: 8 Man Vegas Wildcard Match, Jay Lethal In Main Event, Chris Sabin Vs. Caprice Coleman

By Leon Milici

Ring Of Honor TV Episode #291
Taped At Sam's Town Live In Las Vegas, Nevada
Airing In Syndication, Comet TV, The Fight Network & The Fite TV App

This is the final set of tv tapings, that took place on March 11th in Las Vegas. 4 episodes of ROH TV were filmed after their last pay per view, which seems like a long time ago. A lot has transpired since then. The next set of tv tapings will begin to air next week, which took place on 4/8 in Baltimore.

Ian Riccaboni and Kevin Kelly are once again on commentary for this show. They hype this week's Vegas themed wildcard main event. Where 8 wrestlers will be randomly drawn on separate teams. The winning team will then go on to face each other in a #1 contenders 4 corner survival match.

Chris Sabin vs. Caprice Coleman w/Kenny King

This is one of ROH's current undercard feuds, pitting the Rebellion against 'Search and Destroy'. The latter group was initially formed by The Motor City Machine Guns, to combat the Bullet Club. Caprice is known for his comedy antics and is generally comic fodder in Ring Of Honor, but there are times, where he gets to showcase his in-ring ability, and this is an example of that. Sabin controls the early going here but when the action gets to the outside. Coleman takes over the match thanks to help from Kenny King. As soon as King intervenes, Lio Rush comes to ringside to even the odds and keep Kenny in check. Back in the ring, Coleman hits an impressive looking springboard missile dropkick on Sabin for a near fall. As the show heads to it's first break.

Back from the break, Caprice Coleman maintains control by hitting a trifecta of northern lights suplexes on Chris Sabin. Moments later, Sabin battles back with a penalty kick to Coleman's head. He then connects with a flurry of fast paced aerial moves. He finishes off the sequence with a falcon's arrow, which nets him a near pin fall. After some back and forth action, Caprice hits a beautiful standing hurricanrana on Sabin from the top rope. He then follows that up with a spike cutter for a near fall. This last sequence can be seen in the video above. Caprice then heads to the top rope to attempt the "sky splitter". Sabin evades it, but is thrown up and over the ropes. Sabin lands on the apron and then decides to leap off with a cannonball dive onto Kenny King at ringside. Chris Sabin then reenters the ring with a sunset flip on Coleman. Kenny King grabs Coleman's arms to try and help Caprice get the leverage pin fall. Lio Rush gets on to the apron and kicks King's arms free. With Coleman's leverage gone, He slides into the sunset flip and is pinned by Sabin.

Chris Sabin defeats Caprice Coleman by pinfall

Highlights are then shown from last week's ROH Six-Man Title change. Which saw Bully Ray and The Briscoes defeat The Kingdom and Silas Young..... This is followed by a Silas Young promo, where he hypes up the ROH Unauthorized show scheduled for April 28th. Young is scheduled to face Jay Lethal in Milwaukee. In the video below, Lethal talks about that upcoming match.

Ian Riccaboni and Kevin Kelly are now shown at ringside. They also promote the upcoming Unauthorized show. They reset the show for the next match.

RPG Vice (Trent Beretta & Rocky Romero) vs. Cheeseburger & Will Ferrara

Before the match begins. Roppongi Vice gives their attire to Kelly and Riccaboni at ringside. Kevin and Ian put on Beretta and Romero's jackets. Kelly jokes that they are going to be biased because of the gifts, that they have just received. The fans in attendance are heavily into this match and both teams. The 125 pound Cheeseburger comically wins a battle of strength with Romero. All 4 men get into the ring after the opening sequence. RPG Vice picks up Cheeseburger and Ferrara, and end up suplexing them into each other.

After the break, Rocky Romero has Cheeseburger set up in the corner. He starts hitting the running "forever clotheslines". However, Cheeseburger turns forever into just 3, when he springs out of the corner and hits a clothesline of his own on Romero. Ferrara and Beretta are now tagged in. Ferrara comes in hot after both RPG Vice members. Will hits a jumping flatliner on Beretta for a near fall. Moments later, Trent attempts to dive at Ferrara, but misses and ends up crashing to the outside. Ferrara then hits a suicide dive onto Beretta. Will spends some time showboating on the outside. This leads to Rocky Romero catching him off guard with a flying knee off of the apron. Vice is back in control now. They start utilizing their tandem offense. They set up Ferrara for the "Strong Zero" but Cheeseburger intercepts the attempt, by hitting Romero with a Shotei in mid-air. He then superkicks Beretta. This leads into a Shotei crucifix by Burger and Ferrara on Beretta. Romero breaks up the potential pin fall. Trent didn't appear to get his shoulder up off the mat when referee Paul Turner counted to three. This leads to the crowd booing and chanting "That was 3".

The final sequence sees Burger and Romero crash into each other on the outside. This leaves Beretta and Ferrara in the ring alone. After some back and forth striking between the two. Ferrara hits a release german suplex. He then heads to the air but gets caught in the Strong Zero position. Cheeseburger tries to stop Romero from leaping into the ring, and hitting RPG Vice's finish, but is unable to do so. Vice hits the Strong Zero on Ferrara and they secure the victory.

Roppongi Vice defeats Cheeseburger & Will Ferrara

After the match. Cheeseburger tries to get his partner to shake hands with RPG Vice. A frustrated Will Ferrara refuses to do so and walks off.

A video package then airs of ROH's Top Prospect Tournament. Which will see the tournament conclude on ROH TV next week. When Josh Woods faces off with John Skyler in the final.

An ad airs for ROH's next pay-per view "War Of The Worlds". Which takes place on Friday May 12th at The Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. The PPV is a part of a joint four day tour being presented by Ring Of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling. For more info, check out rohwrestling.com

The tour dates and locations are listed below:

Sunday May 7 ? Toronto, ON, Ted Reeve Arena
Wednesday May 10 ? Dearborn, MI Ford Community Center
Friday May 12 ? New York, NY The Manhattan Center's Hammerstein Ballroom
Sunday May 14 ? Philadelphia, PA 2300 Arena

The random drawing begins for The Vegas Wildcard 8 Man Match. Where two teams of four are chosen to face one another. The winning team will face off in a 4 corners survival match to determine a new #1 contender for The ROH World Heavyweight Championship.

Ring Of Honor TV Main Event
Vegas Wildcard 8-Man Match
'The Last Real Man' Silas Young 'Hangman' Page, Jay White & Jay Lethal vs. Colt Cabana, Lio Rush, 'Warbeard' Hanson & 'The Infamous' Bobby Fish

A large portion of the story of this match is the interaction between teammates. Colt Cabana, Hangman Page and Silas Young, specifically do not get along with theirs. The match starts off slow with Jay White and Lio Rush mat wrestling. The pace picks up significantly with Lio Rush's agility and evasion skills on full display. After a lightning quick sequence of counters and reversals by White and Rush. The crowd gives both men a standing ovation. Silas Young gets into the ring and mockingly applauds both men. Young tells them to start fighting like real men and offers to join the match. Young is tagged in by White to face off with Rush. When Hanson blind tags himself into the match. Silas backpedals and retreats. Jay Lethal mocks his teammate for doing so. This leads to things breaking down for their team, as Lethal and Silas Young start brawling into the commercial break.

When the show returns, footage is shown of what transpired during the break. With Jay Lethal and Silas Young continuing to brawl on the outside. Back in the ring now is Colt Cabana and Lethal. Cabana hits a big splash on Lethal, and then taunts Lethal's team by trying to get them to fight each other again. Hanson is in and overpowers Lethal for a bit. Fish is in next and he maintains control for his team. Unbeknownst to Lethal, When Fish attempts to spring off the ropes. He receives cheap shots from his partners, Silas Young and Hangman Page. Lethal sees Fish down on the mat, and admonishes his teammates for their actions. Page tags himself in and goes to work on Bobby Fish. The next couple of minutes sees Page and Silas Young work together in beating down Bobby Fish. They taunt their own teammate Jay Lethal during all of this. Lethal tries to tag himself in but Silas Young tags him out and himself in. The heels refuse to work with White and Lethal.

When the show returns from the final break. Hangman Page hits a beautiful shooting star press off of the apron and onto Bobby Fish. Silas Young then hits Misery on Fish but he kicks out. Kelly and Riccaboni start criticizing the heels for not tagging in Lethal and White, who are fresher at this point of the match. Young and Page's selfishness backfires, when Bobby Fish rallies. Fish hits an exploder suplex on Page and sends him crashing into Young. Fish tags in Hanson, who charges in and knocks off Lethal and White from the apron. Hanson then sets up Page and Young in opposite corners, and does his running war cry lariats on them. Cabana then puts Lethal into one of the corners and White ends up in the other. This sets up Hanson to do his running lariats to all 4 men at the same time. When the dust settles, Lethal, Young, Page and White are all laid out. This leads to a really cool spot where Lio Rush and Hanson team up and hit tandem offense on the fallen Hangman Page. Hanson slams Rush on top of him. Hanson then asks Lio to slam him on top of Page. The crowd erupts when Lio Rush scoop slams Warbeard Hanson onto Page. The ensuing pinfall attempt is broken up by Silas Young and Jay White.

Chaos ensues with all 8 men inside the ring. Jay Lethal ends up getting isolated and quadruple teamed, but he somehow kicks out of a spinning tornado DDT by Lio Rush. While Lethal and Rush are left battling inside the ring. The remaining six men are involved in a slugfest on the outside. Rush ends up leaping onto all of them. This leads to a frantic sequence where each competitor takes turns laying each other out with high impact moves. It starts off with Rush blocking a cutter by Lethal and taking him down with a kick. Young comes in and takes out Rush with a backbreaker/lariat combo. Fish takes down Young with a samoan drop. Jay White is in, and he hits a dragon suplex on Fish. Hanson does a cartwheel clothesline on White. Hangman leaps off the ropes with a springboard lariat on Hanson. Colt Cabana is in and takes down Page with a running forearm. Lethal then grabs Cabana and hits the Lethal Combination on him. The obligatory "this is awesome" chant follows this sequence.

The closing moments of the match sees Page hit his own partner Lethal, and then attempt to leave. When he reaches the rampway, Frankie Kazarian shows up on the stage and attacks him. They fight to the back. Lio Rush is in the ring now. He hits a flurry of offensive moves on Lethal. Rush then attempts to hit the dragon's call splash from the top rope but Lethal brings his knees up at the last second. Lethal then hits the Lethal Injection and pins Rush to secure the victory for his team.

Jay Lethal, Jay White, Silas Young & Hangman Page defeated Lio Rush, Bobby Fish, Hanson & Colt Cabana to qualify for the #1 contenders 4 Corners Survival Match

The post match sees Lethal, White and Young left in the ring. Silas in true heel fashion, acts as if he single handedly won the match. He then berates Lethal and walks off. This was a very exciting match with good psychology. It's worth going out of your way to see. It's a shame that Lio Rush has left ROH. He was arguably the star of this match. If there was ever a match to showcase his abilities as a free agent. This would be it. Lio seems destined to be a star in the WWE's cruiserweight division, if that's where he ends up.

A preview for next week's ROH TV show, can be seen in the video below. It's the first set of tapings that took place in "Charm City". Next week's show features a Ring of Honor TV title match between Marty Scurll and Frankie Kazarian. A title match that Kazarian earned at the last pay-per-view.

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