‘Ring of Honor’ Wrestling Review (Nov 11th 2018)
Welcome to this week’s Ring of Honor review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have the return of a big star that has been away for a little while. Matt Damon! Matt Damon! Matt Damon!
Match #1: Jeff Cobb beat Shane Taylor
My Take: 3 out of 5 – This was like watching two bulldozers ram into each other for over ten minutes… and that’s a compliment. I like-a da smash-smash! Cobb is wrestling machine who can pack a wallop into any-thing launches at his opponent. Taylor is not too far behind, but his weight is still holding back from doing all that he is capable of. How-ever, Taylor was able to show much more than he has in his last few matches and did some incredible slams that felt like they were coming out of nowhere. Make no mistake about my opinion of Shane Taylor, which is that I enjoy his work, even when he falters and while he is not quite as talented as his former partner, Keith Lee, Taylor has the potential to be a big deal. That being said, Taylor losing to Cobb is the right way to go, because the people are now paying to see Cobb and he is the one that has the superior performance record. If you like watching professional wrestling’s version of “Clash of the Titans” then you’ll love this match, which is one without finesse or logic, but is filled with the hard-hitting action that Ring of Honor has made its specialty since the beginning.
Match #2: The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser and Brian Milonas) beat Cheeseburger and Eli Isom – Tag Team Match
My Take: 2 out of 5 – I wouldn’t call this one of your great bouts, but it was effective in supplying The Bouncers with a victory to help get them back into the mix. Most of the wrestling was done by CB and Eli, but since it was the Bouncer’s match to begin with, I can’t tell you that the match really was meant to do any-thing but feature to big men squash the life out of two smaller guys. I don’t like squash matches, but at least the losers got to look good when they went down like a lead zeppelin. I’m going to avoid the obvious pun… Kashmere! If you play Stairway To Heaven in the store the clerk will get so pissed!
Match #3: (Main Event) Jay Lethal, Jonathan Gresham and Dalton Castle beat The Kingdom (Matt Taven, Vinny Marseglia and TK O’Ryan) – Six-Man Tag Match
My Take: 3 out of 5 – This was a fine little match that gave the faces a good showing, while also giving The Kingdom another solid night. Dalton was the right choice for this, despite his leg still being injured. Dalton will likely have his leg in a bandage for a bit longer. The crowd was very happy to see Dalton and treated him like a big star. Actually, every-body did well with the crowd in this match. The action was of a moderate pace that was just fast enough to stay interesting, but slow enough to let you appreciate what they were doing. The Kingdom looked a bit off here, but they were also doing more character stuff in the match, so that might have had some-thing to do with it. Over-all, this was a fun main event that made the finale of the card a success.
News Of The Night:
- Adam Page wants to fight Jeff Cobb for the TV Title.
- The feud with The Briscoes and So Cal Uncensored/The Addiction continued with a brawl.
- The Hurricane will fight Marty Scurll in a rubber match, next week.
- The Briscoes defend their Tag Team Titles against The Young Bucks and The Addiction, next week.
Final Verdict: 3/5
As wrestling television goes, this was easy and simple. It’s still hard to believe that this is the league that got a sell-out with Madison Square Garden, but they’ve got it and they need to start acting like it. Why are we getting such pedantic booking so often, when you could make these weekly ROH TV broadcasts the best hour of wrestling each week? If you want this show to actually mean some-thing, then treat it like a big deal, rather than as an ‘80s WWF card on TBS.
