Welcome to our coverage of ROH’s Honor Reigns Supreme event from the Cabarrus Arena in Concord, North Carolina.
Ian Riccaboni, Colt Cabana, and Caprice Coleman are calling the show.
Josie Quinn, Corey Hollis, and John Skyler were in the ring at the start of the show. Skyler called the audience “inbreeds” and made an open challenge for any three in the back to set up the opening match.
Cheeseburger, Eli Isom & Ryan Nova vs. John Skyler, Corey Hollis, and Josie Quinn
The babyface unit is going by the Shinobi Shadow Squad.
Isom hit a tope con giro onto the three on the floor and a springboard splash back into the ring onto Hollis.
Cheeseburger hit Hollis with a Shotei.
Isom pressed Quinn into the air and Nova landed a kick. The three hit their finish called “Good Night” with Isom and Nova holding Quinn, Cheeseburger hit a double foot stomp off the top and sent Quinn into a DDT from Nova for the win.
WINNERS: Cheeseburger, Ryan Nova & Eli Isom at 5:49
It was a short match, I would say Isom stood out in the brief time and feels someone with a great opportunity in 2019 to break through to the next level.
Beer City Bruiser vs. Mark Haskins
Beer City Bruiser’s theme song is awesome. It consists of “get me a beer” repeated by the word “beer” over and over.
Bruiser told Haskins that “this is America, where we fight”.
Bruiser missed a Vader bomb into an elbow drop. Haskins rocked him with a left hand. Bruiser missed a splash off the top. Haskins climbed and hit a double foot stomp and pinned Bruiser.
WINNER: Mark Haskins at 6:51
They toasted and shared a beer.
Bruiser is a fantastic character for this spot on the show and could do this character until the end of time. The match was basic it was the character work of Bruiser’s the audience was into.
Juice Robinson and David Finlay vs. Chuckie T. and Beretta
Robinson gave his hat and glasses to a fan and Cabana called him “Juice Hart”.
Best Friends got the advantage on Finlay and double teamed him. Robinson tagged in as Finlay was running the ropes. Robinson held up on the Left Hand of God and hit a DDT onto Beretta and landed a cannonball. Robinson blocked the Dude Buster, ducked an enzuigiri and Pulp Friction was blocked.
Finlay and Chuckie were tagged in, Robinson saved after Finlay was hit a piledriver. Finlay hit a vertical suplex into a backbreaker, called the Trash Panda, and Finlay pinned Chuckie.
WINNERS: Juice Robinson and David Finlay at 14:52
Robinson and Beretta had a long period together and built well. This turned into a good tag match and got a lot of time.
Flip Gordon vs. Tracy Williams
Kenny King replaced Caprice Coleman on commentary for this match. Both King and Cabana announced they would be part of Tag Wars this year, Cabana revealed he would team with Gordon. Williams will team with Mark Haskins and the tournament begins January 24th.
Gordon went for a running dropkick to the corner and immediately grabbed his right knee in pain.
Gordon managed to hit a springboard spear. Gordon then rolled to the floor and was favoring his knee as Todd Sinclair called off the match.
WINNER: Tracy Williams by forfeit
Gordon was helped to the back as the audience chanted for him while Riccaboni and King killed time. It appeared like a legitimate injury.
Matt Taven, Vinny Marseglia & TK O’Ryan vs. Shane Helms, Luchasaurus & Delirious in a Proving Ground match
The Kingdom is the ROH six-man tag champions and if the challengers win, they will get a future title shot.
Helms and Luchasaurus double teamed Marseglia and Delirious wanted to tag in. He had his ribs taped and Marseglia went after them and applied a VOODOO VICE LOCK. They had the advantage with Delirious for a long time. The hot tag was made to Helms.
Helms got the audience into it after hitting O’Ryan with the Eye of the Hurricane. O’Ryan raked his eyes and Helms kicked out of a reverse DDT by Marseglia.
The Kingdom took simultaneous chokeslams from all three.
Marseglia and O’Ryan hit House of 1,000 Horses to Delirious to win the match.
WINNERS: The Kingdom at 13:51
It was alright, but a bit long and the audience only seemed engaged for a few spots from Helms and Luchasaurus being tagged in. Marseglia and O’Ryan do have a unique finisher.
Riccaboni stated that Chris Sabin was injured at the television tapings in Atlanta. He said Sabin had been scheduled for Tag Wars but didn’t provide an update.
PJ Black vs. Bandido
Bandido was doing flips around the ring leading to a Fosbury Flop onto the floor as the audience got going after being somewhat quiet throughout the show.
Black grounded him for the heat as everyone wanted to see Bandido’s offense. Black hit a tornillo over the top to the floor. Back in the ring, Bandido countered with a tilt-a-whirl head scissors and springboard corkscrew crossbody off the top.
They each did springboards and it was Black that arm dragged Bandido off the top rope. Black applied the Billy Goat’s Curse and ran his head into the bottom turnbuckle.
Bandido lifted him into his shoulders and hit the West Knee and got a two-count. Bandido later applied head scissors and armbar combination with Black reaching the rope. Bandido crotched Black on top and fell to the floor. He climbed back up, hit the fallaway slam from the top and pinned Black.
WINNER: Bandido
This match generated the most heat of the show from the crowd. They slipped up a bunch of times and this wasn’t a smooth match, including the finish, that was like Pete Dunne and Joe Coffey falling off the top prior to their finish. Bandido was the most popular guy on the show so far and is a major signing for Ring of Honor.
Jeff Cobb vs. Jonathan Gresham vs. Rhett Titus in a Proving Ground match
Taylor cut a promo on each one, including calling Cobb “my next bitch” and walked out refusing to participate in the match.
Gresham attempted a high cross and Cobb just stood there and Gresham bounced off.
Cobb was left with Titus and hit a delayed vertical from the second turnbuckle. Gresham tried to break the pin, but Cobb no sold it and it was played for comedy.
Gresham couldn’t finish a drop toe hold on Cobb, adjusted and wrenched his knee to showcase his technical ability to break down his larger foe. Cobb suplexed Titus and dropped him onto Gresham’s ankle.
Gresham hit a quebrada to Titus and tope con giro through the ropes to Cobb on the floor. Titus stopped a shooting star press and hit a buckle bomb onto Gresham. He hit a brainbuster and Cobb stopped the cover.
Cobb hit a deadlift piledriver and Tour of the Islands to Titus to win the match.
WINNER: Jeff Cobb at 8:25
This was great for the time they were given. This was one of the better outings from Titus in a long time, there was an interesting story told with Gresham trying to break down Cobb, and Cobb is such a great talent as the big and athletic monster.
Shane Taylor attacked Cobb after the match.
Kelly Klein vs. Jenny Rose in a Street Fight for the Women of Honor title
Team Klein accompanied Klein to the ring.
On the floor, Klein was thrown into the guardrail repeatedly.
Rose brought a bungee tie into the ring, Klein got it away and choked Rose with it. Klein grabbed the tie from someone at ringside, which led to Cabana making a reference to Justin Roberts.
Klein was placed onto a table on the floor, Rose came off the apron and bounced off Klein with the table not breaking. Klein and Rose got onto the apron, Rose got onto her back and Klein leaped off the apron and both went through the table.
Rose hit a superplex to Klein onto the chairs in the ring. Klein kicked out and the announcers sold it big, although the reaction wasn’t there from the crowd. Rose grabbed the ring bell but was distracted by Team Klein on the apron. This allowed Klein to hit K-Power onto the chairs and pinned Rose.
WINNER: Kelly Klein at 12:36 to retain the Women of Honor title
It didn’t get a lot of heat but the two worked very hard and I thought this over delivered from what I expected from them.
The Briscoe Brothers and Silas Young vs. Marty Scurll, Brody King and PCO
PCO and Mark Briscoe has a lengthy chop battle.
PCO climbed to the top and was sent off by Mark Briscoe and landed back first onto the edge of the apron when thrown by his wrists.
The Briscoes attacked Scurll and knocked him down with a double team shoulder block. Young missed the plunge off the top rope as Scurll climbed to his corner and tagged King.
Cabana mentioned Young’s jaw is wired shut.
King hit a tope con giro on all three, PCO followed with King back body dropping him to the floor onto the opponents.
Jay was cut above the left eye.
PCO stood up to Mark, who said, “I thought you were dead”. Young stopped PCO on the edge of the apron and hit a brutal looking Canadian Destroyer and PCO took it terribly.
King tossed Mark Briscoe off the turnbuckle through a table on the floor.
Scurll and PCO did the Quebecers old move with Scrull placing Jay in a Boston Crab and PCO came off the turnbuckle with a leg drop. PCO then hit a suicide dive to the floor.
King hit a Gonzo bomb to Jay and PCO landed his top rope moonsault and pinned Jay.
WINNERS: Marty Scurll, Brody King, and PCO at 17:11
This was nuts and some of PCO’s stunts were frightening. They put over the finish strong with Jay Briscoe losing so infrequently that it meant a lot when PCO pinned him. They chanted for PCO after the match and this was a solid launch for the group. This match delivered and was a pay-per-view quality match.
Nick Aldis came out with Kamilla. He said the NWA and ROH are working together because they respect professional wrestling and brought together because of legacy. He announced the NWA and ROH will hold the Crockett Cup event on April 27th at this arena in Concord, North Carolina.
Jay Lethal vs. Dalton Castle for the ROH title
Aldis joined Riccaboni and Cabana on commentary.
Castle is wearing a brace on his lower back but starts the match with numerous suplexes. Lethal avoided the Bang-a-rang and hit the Lethal Injection within three minutes. Both were down but this when Lethal took over attacking his lower back.
Lethal hit a running boot and Castle crashed through the ropes to the floor.
Lethal went for a top rope elbow drop and landed in a crucifix cover, he came up for the Lethal Combination and then hit the elbow off the top. He went for another Lethal Injection into a roll-up by Castle.
Castle went for a Bang-a-rang and it was countered, Lethal attempted the Lethal Injection and was hit a German suplex. Lethal hit a buckle bomb and then hit the Lethal Injection to win the match.
WINNER: Jay Lethal at 16:30 to retain the ROH title
They didn’t waste anything in this one, it was a perfect length for the main event and these two were on for the duration. There were numerous counters to the Lethal Injection and Bang-a-rang and one of Castle’s better matches in a while since dealing with all his injuries. I enjoyed this match a lot. Also, Nick Aldis is tremendous on commentary and has a future career, if he chooses that avenue.
I’d recommend the last half of the show from the Bandido vs. PJ Black match onward as the strength of the show. The audience woke up during that match and were into most of the remainder of the show.
