ROH 12/09/17 TV Review: Cody and Castle Sign the Dotted Line

ROH 12/09/17 TV Review: Cody and Castle Sign the Dotted Line
11/18/17
RO Funding Center
Lakeland, Florida

This week was the second episode from the set of tapings Lakeland, Florida. Ian Riccaboni,Colt Cabana and Silas Young were on commentary and welcomed everyone to show.

First Match: ROH World Television Championship Match
Kenny King vs. Caprice Coleman
Show began with Coleman walking down to ringside, but not before handing Shane Taylor an envelope. Once King hit the ring, Coleman declined the code of honor by throwing up the same gesture he and King used to signal before a match as part of the Rebellion. King overpowered Coleman during the initial lock up and backed Coleman into the corner, but broke away cleanly. The second lock up saw Coleman gain control with a hammerlock that he switched to a side headlock quickly. Kenny escaped and sent Coleman packing to the outside as we hit the first commercial break. During the break King leapt off the apron to take Coleman out, but upon the return Coleman pulled King’s arm into the ring post and kicked him into the barricade before mugging for the camera and claiming that “he killed Kenny”. Coleman worked King over back in the ring, but was not able to put him away. Taylor jumped to apron to distract King, but received a forearm and a tornillo over the top for his troubles. Nevertheless, Coleman did roll King up, but only got a two count. A spinebuster and Royal Flush later led King to a pinfall victory. Coleman still looks great in the ring and does all the little things. The Pulpit segment is fun, but he really should be getting more ring time.

Winner: Kenny King

The Addiction,Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian, came out to the ramp, mic in hand. Daniels spoke about War Machine’s “cowardly” attack. Daniels demanded that Ray Rowe be fired for the accident with the fan from a few weeks back. As Kazarian made it clear that they didn’t care about the fan, Warbeard Hanson attacked Daniels. Kazarian ambushed him from behind and laced into him with a chair before they taped Hanson to the second rope. Daniels grabbed the mic again and pulled out a box cutter to cut Hanson’s warbeard off. Daniels then intimated that he wanted to reenact Reservoir dogs and cut Hanson’s ear off, but security freed Hanson and allowed him to clear the ring of the Addiction.

The Briscoes came to the ring and called out Bully Ray and Tommy Dreamer, who eventually came out , but Joe Koch prevented them from making to the ring. As security formed a barrier, Jay mocked Bully Ray, saying that he can’t believe he let a stupid old man held him back. At that, Koff became incensed and told the Briscoes that they have let their fans down, but if they want a match it is going to be violent, extreme and f’ning hardcore-he really said f’ning and it was amazing. Bully and Dreamer hit the ring and the four brawled as security tired to pull them apart. Really great segment that the crowd went absolutely wild for.

Matt Taven w/ TK O’Ryan & Vinny Marseglia vs Jay Lethal
Scurll joined commentary, making it clear that he’s hoping to face the old Jay Lethal, the one who caused a spot of bother. Taven attacked Lethal straightaway and the two brawled outside, with Lethal getting the advantage and suplex Taven on the arena floor. Back inside, the Kingdom distracted Lethal, but it was not for long, as he quickly hip tossed Taven and hit his cartwheel dropkick, which Scurll derided Lethal. Cabana retorted that Scurll’s spin before the chicken wing is just as superfluous. Meanwhile, Marseglia grabbed Lethal’s leg from the outside and it allowed Taven to begin a stretch of domination through the commercial break. Lethal hit a sunset flip and then a Lethal combination before locking on a figure four, dead in the middle of the ring. Taven kicked out of a Hail to the King and it prompted Scurll to head to the ring. He slid the umbrella to Lethal who considered it, but decided against it, allowing Taven to win via roll up.

Winner: Matt Taven

Main Event: Cody vs. Dalton Castle Contract Signing
Cody came out resplendent in fur, sitting with Brandi with a meat and cheese plate, as well as a waiter with two glasses of wine. He essentially said that he is a big deal, the Ring of Honor champion and that Castle can’t change that. Astle retorted by saying that he was happy to hear Cody was coming to the company to raise ROH’s profile, but that he hated him from jump and that Cody is dresses ridiculously. At this Cody was furious and he signed the contract, as did Castle. They stared each other down as the show went to black.

Final Reaction: B-
As a regular episode of television, this lacked a bit, as it was really storyline heavy. However, this was a great episode before the big show and built off last week’s show. As someone who has been watching all year, the non-match segments were excellent and increased my enjoyment. Definitely worth a watch, especially if you’re still on the fence about ordering Final battle.

Thanks for stopping by again this week and look for more Ring of Honor coverage the same time next week. Until then, please go over to Running Wild Podcast and take a listen to a show that covers oodles of wrestling news and ridiculous conversations. You can find us on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud

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