16th Oct2018

‘Ring of Honor’ Wrestling Review (Oct 14th 2018)

by Nathan Favel

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Welcome to this weeks Ring of Honor review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have lots of action to get to, so let’s do so. That doesn’t sound very exciting, does it? Well, take it up with the Indian from that old recycling commercial from the 70s… who happened to be Italian.

Match #1: Kenny King beat Chase Owens

My Take: 3 out of 5

This was good match that featured one of King’s best performances in some time, while giving Owens a rare chance to show his skills in outside of Japan. The action was slow but audacious, with Owens flying around with precision, at certain junctures, of course. Owens is looking more and more like James Storm, by the way, in both look and wrestling method. I don’t know if Owens could have a run in the WWE without taking steroids, but he has the talent to make it on the independent circuit and, when you consider how much better it is out in the open now, he might do his best wrestling outside of Vince, any-way. If you look at King, on the other hand, who has made strides in his physique and personality in addition to his wrestling abilities, you can see some-one who could have a good run in NXT and the WWE itself. The problem with King is that he spends too much time focusing on his character work, which often makes his wrestling feel secondary to the match he is in. It could even be argued that King is too selfish to make it beyond the independent circuit, which is seen in various parts of this match, such as when he spends more time posing and preening, rather than focusing on psychology. Take King’s heel work in this match, which started off defective to a point when he made too much of a show of it. It’s necessary to make your movements exaggerated so people in the back can see what you’re doing, but Shawn Michaels would tell you that subtlety is what makes your work last, so it was nice to see King be more gentle with the way he handled the finish, which saw him feign a knee injury and steal a roll-up pin after Owens went to check on his opponent. I liked the wrestling here from both men, even with my complaints tossed in, and I’d like to see another match from these two, considering that King screwed Owens out of a fair decision. Well, I wrote a whole paragraph. Do I get a cookie and a spank on the ass, or what?

Match #2: Flip Gordon versus Shane Taylor (No Contest)

My Take: 0 out of 5

The match never really started, so it doesn’t get any numbers in the rating. The whole thing here was Flip wasted his fight on calling out a certain, special some-one, who we will discuss in the News Of The Night section. Over-all, this whole thing sucked.

Match #3: (Main Event) – The Young Bucks [Nick Jackson and Matt Jackson] beat The Addiction [Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian], Best Friends [Trent Baretta and Chuck Taylor] and Los Ingernobles De Japon [EVIL and SANADA] – Four-Corner Survival Match For A Tag Team Title Shot

My Take: 3.5 out of 5

This was a great spectacle with lousy wrestling. It has the Young Bucks, so the fact that this match had lousy wrestling shouldn’t surprise you. Ooooohhhh, ain’t I just a stinker? Actually, the Bucks are fabulous wrestlers, but when they get into these massive tag matches, there is really only room for spots and stunts, which is what this match was. This started off a bit slower than the bombastic matches that Ring of Honor has produced over the years, like the ones with the Dragon Gate wrestlers from several years back. I could attempt a full work-up of every move done here, but my head would explode due to the volume of moves performed here, so you can blow that out your ass… with respect, of course. Over-all, I’d say this thing made my head hurt… hurt so good.

News Of The Night:

  1. The Kingdom cut a promo on why Matt Taven is already the ROH World Champion and held half the crew hostage until they got someone to crown Taven as a symbolic champion.
  2. Kenny King played a trick on Chase Owens to win the match, by feigning a knee injury.
  3. Jay Lethal promised to be champion for the Madison Square Garden show.
  4. Flip Gordon challenged Bully Ray to a fight, but got ambushed by Ray, Silas Young and Shane Taylor.
  5. No one came to Flip’s aid when Ray mockingly begged some-one to help him.
  6. Coast 2 Coast will fight The Briscoes for the World Tag Titles, next week.
  7. Punishment Martinez will defend the World TV Title against Jeff Cobb, next week.
  8. Chris Sabin will fight Marty Scurll, next week.

Final Verdict: 3/5

This was a good week for Ring of Honor, but a bit on the stale side, if we are being honest. While the main event was excellent, the remaining matches, one being good and the other being dismal, were not quite so enthralling regardless of their success or failure. Some-times, it feels like these matches are just a little too randomly booked. Take the opener, which should have been a big deal, but was just tacked on to the beginning of the card without any pageantry. If Ring of Honor is going to make a mark on Madison Square garden next year, then they need to practice making every card feel important.

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