ROH continues its War Of The Worlds journey in Chicago tonight. It'll be a tag team-themed episode tonight as we'll see the best of what ROH and New Japan has to offer (Los Ingobernable De Japon, The Kingdom, The Bouncers, etc). So what exactly are we in for? Let's tune in to find out.
The Allure promo
The newest stable (Velvet Sky, Angelina Love & Mandy Leon) in ROH arrives to the ring to boast about their overall acumen and influence on women's wrestling. Sky and Love list their resumes as Women's champions, noting that such a list of accomplishments serve as the reason to why their first appearance in ROH was to crash the Mayu Iwatani/Kelly Klein Women Of Honor title match at G1 Supercard earlier this year. As Leon starts to speak, Jenny Rose interrupts her, flanked by WOH Champion Kelly Klein. The five women scuffle before it's eventually broken. Klein throws down the gauntlet as issues a challenge to The Allure: her and Jenny Rose vs. the three of them.
Honestly, really haven't been digging this angle. I respect the idea, as there hasn't been noteworthy WOH feuds as of late, but it's really come off quite awkwardly. The Allure is just the diet version of The Beautiful People (fitting, given the inclusion of Sky and Love) and I'm still not fully on board with babyface Klein. Who knows? Maybe they'll turn it around and pick up some more momentum as it progresses. But until then, it's a no from me.
The Kingdom (TK O'Ryan & Vinny Marseglia) vs. Coast to Coast (LSG & Shaheem Ali) vs. The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brian Milonas) vs. Clark Connors & Alex Coughlin
Milonas & LSG start this match off with an exchange of trash talk. LSG runs the ropes and Milonas hits him with a heavy shoulder block; Marseglia tags LSG out and tries to take down Milonas with a series of chops and kicks, but Milonas responds with a running crossbody. Bruiser is tagged in and peppers Marseglia with several jabs. O'Ryan gets his tag partner and bounces Bruiser off the ropes with a dropkick. Unbeknownst to O'Ryan, Coughlin tags himself in, who quickly tags to Connors as the two try to take out their opponents.
The action breaks down on the outside with Coughlin and C2C; Bruiser joins them with a cannonball off the ring apron. Taking advantage of the situation on the outside, The Kingdom start wearing down Connors in the ring numerous quick tags. Tagging out O'Ryan, Ali breaks up The Kingdom's momentum. Continuing where O'Ryan & Marseglia left off, C2C break down Connors even further. Connors eventually makes his way to Coughlin, who lights up C2C with chops. Bruiser then tags out Coughlin; he and Milonas start to take down each of their opponents.
C2C breaks up The Bouncers' momentum with a flatliner/russian leg sweep combo to Bruiser. Connors tags himself in as he and Coughlin take it to C2C with a series of hard chops, then a respective spear/spinebuster sequence to their opponents. O'Ryan tags in; he and Marseglia hit Connors with their samoan drop/back body drop combo, but are unable to capitalize as Ali tags himself in at the last second following a bicycle kick from LSG to O'Ryan.
Bruiser breaks up the pinfall as Milonas tags himself in. Connors tags out to Coughlin, who tries to put up a fight. It's all for naught, though, as The Bouncers hit him with their signature hanging second-rope leg drop combo to pick up the W tonight.
Fairly decent tag match here. All teams got a fair share of time to shine in the ring and provided some entertaining spots. I honestly think it's impossible for me to watch The Bouncers and not have fun, and this match proved it just like any other time. Aside from that, C2C seem to be picking up some steam as opportunistic heels and O'Ryan & Marseglia show off their underrated tag team chemistry once again. As far as exhibition tag matches, this a pretty good one.
Jeff Cobb Segment
After the match, we cut to the first of a two-part series focusing on the life and times of Jeff Cobb. Here, Cobb discusses his early years, his early interest in professional wrestling and his foray into amateur wrestling. The segment ends with Cobb highlighting his Olympic experience (competing for Guam at the 2004 Summer Games), lamenting his two losses but highlighting his overall heart and endurance in each of those matches.
This was short and sweet, providing us a glimpse into Cobb's life and letting us get to know the man behind the grappler. It was a nice brief look at who Cobb is as a person and what his overall personality is a wrestler.
Josh "The Goods" Woods vs. Maverick Boone
Woods makes lightning-quick work of his opponent, first planting him with a gutwrench powerbomb then putting the proverbial nail in the coffin with his new Seismic Toss finisher to pick up another quick W.
Not a lot to say here. It was quick and I dig the finisher. Moving on.
Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata vs. Los Ingobernables De Japon (EVIL & SANADA)
Nagata and SANADA start the match off with a battle for leverage. Nagata eventually gets the starting upper hand with a series of well-placed kicks to the legs, taking SANADA down. Kojima is tagged in and tries to continue his team's momentum, only for EVIL to halt it as he slows down Kojima and works Nagata over on the outside, pushing the momentum to SANADA's favor. He hits Kojima with his Paradise Lock/low dropkick combo, then brings in EVIL in an effort to further wear down Kojima.
Out of desperation, Kojima shoves SANADA into EVIL, then spikes him with a DDT. Nagata gets the hot tag, booting EVIL out of the ring and landing a series of kicks to SANADA before nailing his signature exploder suplex. The two men then trade clubbing blows and exchange fast-paced counters before Nagata grounds SANADA and puts him in his signature seated armbar. Nagata further tries to work over SANADA's left arm, only for him to escape and hit a springboard missile dropkick. EVIL is tagged in and hits Nagata with a series of chops.
He tries to further the damage, only for Nagata to fake him out and deliver a dropkick to the knees, sending EVIL into the corner. Kojima is tagged in and he delivers his signature rapid-fire chops. SANADA tries to aid his partner, only to suffer the same exact fate. After hitting EVIL with more chops, he delivers a top-rope elbow drop. EVIL kicks out, and with some quick thinking from him and SANADA, it appears as though LIJ has regained the momentum.
EVIL and SANADA attempt their Magic Killer finisher on Kojima, only for Nagata to break it up. After an enzuguiri from Nagata, Kojima drops EVIL with a cutter, then following it up with a brainbuster. EVIL kicks out and Kojima attempts a lariat; EVIL ducks and Kojima is planted with a Magic Killer. LIJ picks up the hard-fought victory.
An excellent match and a prime example of how tag team wrestling should be. The sequences were precise, the counters were well-executed and every participant got their fair share of shots both individually and with their partner. On top of that, the ending felt earned and was paced correctly. I really wish New Japan gave more of a fuck about booking their tag team division well, because they really do deserve better.
Dalton Castle promo
Castle comes to the ring and addresses his loss to RUSH at G1 Supercard. He labels him as a cheater, remarking that cheaters need to be punished. He plans to accomplish this by challenging RUSH's brother Dragon Lee to a match at Best In The World. During his declaration, his former Boys come to the ring apron. Seeking revenge, they double up on Castle, only for The Peacock to overpower them and come out on top at the end.
So Castle/Dragon Lee sounds like a good match, I'm not sure if it necessitated a main event spot. This taking over the absolute fire tag team match we had prior to it is just a disappointment. I'm interested in a heel Dalton Castle, I just don't want a segment like this to be the closing moments of the show.
So, just throwing this out here: the LIJ/Kojima & Nagata is really the only reason to watch this episode. While the first tag match was good and I dug the Jeff Cobb segment, they pale in comparison to it. The match really elevated this episode's status from "eh" to "alright, this is pretty good." If you do check this episode out, skip everything else and watch this match (unless you want to see heel Castle and learn about Jeff Cobb, then by all means, throw those into your viewing experience).
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