We've got what should be an interesting night of action for ROH this week. We're kicking off a mini-tournament to determine the new #1 contender to Jeff Cobb's World Television Title (most notably former best friends turned bitter rivals Silas Young and the Beer City Bruiser duking it out), as well as the ROH TV debut of CMLL star Rush. Let's not waste any more time and get right into it.
Facade vs. Eli Isom
It's time for the first match of the #1 contendership mini-tournament. The match is pretty back-and-forth for the most part from the beginning, with neither man really gaining the advantage; Facade surprisingly eschewing his trademark high-flying style for a more grounded game. As the match progresses, he begins to bring out more of his typical flippy shit, including an impressive 450 plancha. Despite a late showing from Facade, Isom recovers and drops him with a brainbuster to pick up the W and advance to face the winner of Bruiser/Young.
This was okay. I ventured to guess it wasn't going to be anything special, and sure enough, I was right. But it wasn't anything to get upset about. It was a harmless, inoffensive (albeit mediocre) way to kick off the show.
TK O'Ryan vs. Rush
The match starts off at a surprisingly even pace, trading offense (including an impressive trade-off of rebound german suplexes and chops); Rush displays his recognizable brand of bravado and charisma he typically displays in CMLL. This continues for a while before O'Ryan surprisingly gets the upped hand on Rush, going to work on the lucha superstar and seemingly finding an answer for everything Rush throws at him (that belly-to-belly into the corner, though). Despite this impressive display, Rush seems to turn the tables with one momentous superplex.
Following this, he corners O'Ryan with a stinger splash and multiple stomps before landing a shotgun dropkick to pick up his first victory in ROH. The celebration was short-lived, however, as O'Ryan's Kingdom constituents Vinny Marseglia and Matt Taven come out to assist in attacking Rush after the match.
A pretty decent match. It gave fans a nice taste of what's to come of Rush in ROH, while also building up O'Ryan's credibility as a singles performer. While he isn't amazing, he's improved by leaps and bounds. And as for Rush, it build his reputation in America as well as provides some momentum towards his start in ROH. Rounding it out, The Kingdom did get some decent heat by attacking Rush after the match and ruining his debut. At the end of it, everyone looks good here.
Silas Young vs. Beer City Bruiser
It's time for our main event as Young and Bruiser duke it out to see who will face Isom to become the #1 contender for Cobb's TV Title. It suddenly becomes a No DQ match and the two brawl both in and out of the ring, trying to get the momentum. Bruiser uses the fanfare to his advantage as he fights off Young on the ring apron and hits him with a cannonball onto a chair to the outside. Getting back in the ring, Young turns the tables following a legsweep onto the ring apron.
He hits Bruiser with multiple slingshot double stomps followed by a rope-assisted neckbreaker/suplex combo. Bruiser perseveres and cannonballs Young once again, this time in the ring through a table lodged in the corner. Following another cannonball attempt from Bruiser, Young evades this time and the two take it to the outside once again. Young attempts an outside superplex, but Bruiser blocks it with an avalanche hip toss onto chairs inside the ring.
Young seemingly gains the advantage by tossing Bruiser onto some chairs, then zip-tying his former tag partner while he unloads numerous chair shots before Bruiser's tag partner Brian Milonas comes to his aid, getting some shots in on Young and releasing Bruiser from the zip-ties. While Bruiser comes to, Milonas and Young go at it for a bit longer; Milonas attempts a banzai drop but Young blocks and shoves Milonas off the second rope through a table on the outside.
Showing his fatigue following a second-rope elbow drop, Bruiser sets up a table and attempts a frog splash; Young gets out of the way hits him with Misery to advance, facing Eli Isom in two weeks' time.
So, real talk: I was way more invested in this match than I thought I was going to be. I mean, I love Silas Young, but I didn't really expect this match to be all that great. And while it certainly wasn't amazing, it was better than it had any reason to be. These two really brought it and I was impressed, especially by Bruiser, who's really morphing into his babyface role quite nicely and getting over with the crowd. Not the best thing I've ever seen, but by far the MOTN.
So while this episode has been the weakest of 2019 so far (really wasn't into Isom/Facade at all), it was still pretty solid. It was a nice debut for Rush, O'Ryan displayed some surprisingly impressive singles prowess and Young/Bruiser put on a pretty good street fight (if you decide to check this episode out, make it a point to watch this one). Nothing really shock-and-awe levels of impressive, but definitely okay. Plus, it's only 50 minutes, so it's not like it's eating up too much of your time.
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