ROH Episode #395 Review

Another week, another ROH review.  This week’s show, taped after the G1 Supercard, was a definite step up from last week and was focusing on building to the Crockett Cup.  The main event featured a Crockett Cup qualifying match between The Briscoes and Jeff Cobb and Willie Mack. We also saw the return of Luchasaurus and had the Women of Honor in action in what was a packed episode.

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Quick Results:

Shane Taylor defeated Luchasaurus

Mayu Iwatani and Sumie Sakai defeated Katie Forbes and Mazzerati

The Briscoes defeated Willie Mack and Jeff Cobb to qualify for the Crockett Cup

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Shane Taylor vs. Luchasaurus

https://twitter.com/DSportINLive/status/1118391398779301888

This match featured two big men in a hard-hitting fight. Luchasaurus has some impressive kicks and really got in a good amount of offence. He hit a PUNishing Shining Lizard for a near fall.  Luchasaurus followed up with a standing moonsault, but Taylor got his knees up at the last second.  Taylor hit a big knee and Greetings from 216 for the victory.

It is clear ROH is pushing Shane Taylor after his impressive victory this week.  I’m not sure what his ceiling is, but I feel a TV Title challenge program is in the works for him  I’m not sure if he’s the one to take the title off Jeff Cobb, but I do think we’ll see him at least get a shot sooner rather than later.

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Katie Forbes and Mazzerati vs. Mayu Iwatani and Sumie Sukai

https://twitter.com/CUTTlNGEDGE/status/1117937652978917376

This was the first match I can recall for Forbes and Mazzerati on ROH TV, with the former being trained by Rob Van Dam. If you’ve never seen Katie Forbes wrestle, she is definitely proud of her lower body strength.  At one point during the match, she had both Sakai and Iwatani on her shoulders, hitting a double Samoan drop after a few squats. Iwatani got the worst of the move and had a bit of trouble getting back into the action for the final sequence.  It looked a little botchy and appeared someone may have missed a planned spot.

However, Iwatani and Sukai got it together and pulled out the victory after Sukai hit her Smash Mouth for the win.  ROH has lost some women of the last few weeks.  First, Madison Rayne left the company and Tenille Dashwood followed soon after. WOH was not a deep division and two of the bigger stars walking out isn’t a great sign for the company.

Iwatani is definitely impressive, but she needs talented people to work against.  Forbes was the standout tonight, but Mazzerati showed promise.  Forbes, while impressive, harkens back to WWE Diva days with some of her moves and taunts/flaunts.  I’m not sure if she fits the mould of the ROH we all know and love. Although, ROH has shown some signs of trying to move in a more WWE like fashion lately.

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Jeff Cobb and Willie Mack vs. The Briscoes

This match had about 30 minutes of TV time left when the bell rang.  It used all 30 minutes to put on one heck of a TV main event.  Go to rohwrestling.com and watch this match, it will be well worth your time.

This was probably one of the better matches ROH has put on their television show in quite some time.  It was also the best match I watched on “free” tv last week.  Sometimes, simple stories are the best to tell.  The story in this match was the Briscoes have been a tag team for all their lives, and while they were facing two really talented wrestlers, Cobb and Mack are not used to being in tag team matches.  It’s also amazing what good commentary can add to a match.  Ian Riccaboni and the ROH announcing crew can at times be a little heavy on 90’s references, but in this match they focused on telling the story and did so to perfection.

Mack took the pin after a Jay Driller and a Froggy Bow.  This came after he kicked out of a Doomsday Device.  Cobb and Mack had a lot of really good spots in this match, for heavyweights, these two can really move.  Both men hit standing moonsaults, Mack hit an impressive frog splash, running knee, and several other moves.  However, the move of the match was Jeff Cobb hitting a double Olympic Slam on both Briscoes.   This match had several near falls and some really great tag team offence from the Briscoes.

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Final Take

Mainly because of the main event, this is probably the best show ROH has had in a while.  I’m giving this a 4 out of 5. 

Luchasaurus vs. Shane Taylor, while sloppy at some points, was a good opener.  The Women of Honor put on a match which exceeded my expectations.  There were also two solid video packages.  One hyped the rematch between Bandido and PJ Black main eventing next week. The other focused on hyping tonight’s main event.

ROH has had a few missteps the last few weeks, but tonight was solid.  The good commentary work and the action on the show really made this one hour enjoyable.

Jeff Cobb needs to be the building block for ROH right now.  Whilst Matt Taven has put the time in and been loyal to ROH, but Cobb needs to be headlining sooner than later.

For tag teams, no one has been more consistent in ROH than the Briscoes.  Mark and Jay have to be favourites to win the Crockett Cup on April 27th.  I’ll be attending in person and I’m looking forward to the tag team tournament and the Main Event between Nick Aldis and Marty Scurll.  Be sure to check out our coverage of that event and more.

Let us know what you thought of the show in the comments below!

• the briscoes
• jeff cobb
• review
• ROH

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