This week marks episode 400 for ROH. The show featured Villain Enterprises versus Jeff Cobb, RUSH, and Jay Lethal. In the main event, ROH World Champion, Matt Taven defends his title against Flip Gordon.
Quick Results:
Villain Enterprises defeat Jeff Cobb, RUSH, and Lethal
Matt Taven defeats Flip Gordon to retain the ROH World Heavyweight Championship
ROH 6-Man Titles Are On The Line
Villain Enterprises are defending their titles against an unlikely trio of Jeff Cobb, Jay Lethal, and RUSH. The latter 3 men have never teamed before, but definitely make for an intriguing combination. The beginning of the match saw PCO start off against Jay Lethal. PCO turned his back on the former world champion and begged for Lethal to hit him in the back. Lethal is too ethical to do that. Therefore, he turned him around and attacked him head on.
If you are a fan of 6 man/trios matches, then this match was the prototypical 6-man match. It had a ton of action and high spots throughout the match. Jeff Cobb hits a double olympic slam on Marty Scurll and Brody King. Brody King hit an over the top rope summersault splash onto Cobb, Lethal, and RUSH. This was followed up by PCO getting back body dropped over the top rope onto the men on the floor. King and Scurll hit a fantastic combination move with Scurll hitting a 619 while King landed a cannonball. RUSH belly to belly suplexed PCO into the corner. Lethal finally hit his elbow drop from the top rope onto PCO for a near fall. However, Marty made the save. From there, Lethal goes for Lethal Injection, but Brody King hits a sit-out powerbomb. PCO climbs to the top rope and hits the moonsault for the win.
ROH EPISODE #400 IS AVAILABLE NOW ON #HONORCLUB!! https://t.co/vS7fcMBTTh or Download the #ROHApp! 📱
Watch Jeff Cobb •Rush •Jay Lethal vs Marty Scurll •PCO • Brody King #MAINEVENT: Flip Gordon vs Matt Taven FOR THE #ROH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP! https://t.co/1hBDMheVKZ pic.twitter.com/rQIgqSDz0R
— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) May 21, 2019
Holy cow, this was a fun match. This is the type of action ROH fans live for. Marty Scurll remains super over with the fans and has transitioned nicely into the leader of this faction. Cobb can do it all in the ring. What can you say about PCO, except for he’s absolutely nuts. Brody King pairs well with Marty. With all that said, RUSH has the ability to almost kick it up another notch. He seems to have a higher gear than just about anyone in the ring. He moves with a snap that is fun to watch.
RUSH also has an it factor that cannot be taught. The only thing holding him back from being a megastar in ROH is potentially his lack of being able to speak proficient English in promos. I’m not sure who the person would be, but he could so benefit from a manager. All-in-all, this was a fantastic way to start off Episode 400.
Kenny King attacks Jay Lethal
After the 6-man tag, Kenny King, who had been on commentary, jumps Lethal as he’s making his way to the back. Kenny King has been claiming he has lost his vision due to the poison mist from The Great Muta at G1 Supercard. Clearly, King was faking it. He used his walking stick to choke out Jay Lethal. This was to set up a match at ROH State of the Art on June 1.
‼️KENNY KING SETS SIGHTS ON JAY LETHAL AT STATE OF THE ART IN KENT 6/1‼️
Read More: https://t.co/foD0qGLMib
Don’t miss #ROHSOTA International TV Taping June 1st in Kent, WA!
🎟Tickets: https://t.co/hkSK4iX4yh pic.twitter.com/HldaJMFTPb
— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) May 21, 2019
Matt Taven vs. Flip Gordon
The story of this match was Flip Gordon’s knee. Had he come back too soon? Could Matt Taven exploit the injury? Early on, Gordon hit a shotgun dropkick sending Taven into the corner. However, we see TK O’Ryan on the outside of the ring. Despite the outside presence, Gordon is able to hit a suicide dive. Ultimately, O’Ryan interfere’s allowing Taven to hit a suicide dive on his own. Taven then tossed Gordon into the ring post and guard rail. After getting Flip back in the ring, Taven worked over Gordon’s leg.
The end of the match came after Gordon hits a jumping knee strike to stop Taven’s momentum. However, Taven got it back quickly hitting a nasty pop-up powerbomb. He then hit Just the Tip for a 2 count. Taven couldn’t believe it. Gordon took advantage and hit a spinning cutter. He climbed to the top rope, but Vinny Marseglia released his red balloons from under the ring to distract Gordon. Taven took the opportunity and hit a draping Climax for the win.
https://twitter.com/TheFlipGordon/status/1130623955658846209
This was a really, really good TV main event. ROH does a good job of not overexposing their champion. Taven defended his title tonight against a young up-and-comer. Taven looked strong even with the outside interference. However, the loss did nothing to damage Gordon. Gordon’s time will come, but it’s clear he’s not quite ready to be the World Champion. Pairing someone who was a long shot to win, but was able to be seen as a serious threat made for an entertaining match.
Final Take:
In last week’s review, I said given this week’s line-up it would be hard for ROH not to score a 4 or 5 out of 5 this week. I’m giving this show a 4 out of 5. It wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty close. While the main event was really good, I think Taven could have beaten Gordon clean. In the tale of the tape, he has the experience and size advantage. Also, Gordon is still coming back from an injury. All of those factors meant Taven had the upper hand. I understand he is a heel and has a faction, but this is one of those times he could have won without the shenanigans to prove he can do it on his own. All of those factors also would have been an easy sell to not do any damage to Flip. To me, this prevents it from being a 5 out of 5.
Another masterpiece by @manthony7784 pic.twitter.com/Iezu0et5yh
— ᴛʜᴇ ᴛʀᴇɴᴅ MʌTT TʌVEN (@MattTaven) May 21, 2019
The 6-man match was pretty fantastic. When you think about the line-up of this week’s show compared to previous weeks, I have to wonder why ROH doesn’t use these guys in a more balanced fashion. It’s almost like ROH has decided to film a house show and we get the card as 4 episodes of TV each month. We go from the opening inconsequential matches in weeks 1 and 2 to the more important bouts in week 4. ROH needs to spread the wealth to provide a more consistent product.
If they could produce shows with this quality of wrestling and the level of stars of this weeks show each week, then they would be doing themselves a favor. Even with that said, ROH has been producing pretty solid TV. Given the Double or Nothing Event coming this weekend, it will be interesting to see if ROH continues to step up their game or folds under the pressure.
5 years ago by Nate
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